218 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



IT. 



Vitalistic 



nd psycho- 



physical 



aspects. 



physical views of nature. Thus four distinct chapters, 

 dealing severally with the morphological, the genetic, 

 the vitalistic, and the psycho-physical aspects of nature, 

 will together attempt to describe the manifold and 

 changing methods of reasoning by which our century 

 has approached the actual things and events which 

 surround us. 



" Nature does not employ all figures, but only certain 

 ones of those which are possible : and of these, the deter- 

 mination is not to be fetched from the brain, or proved 

 a priori, but obtained by experiments and observations." 

 These words, set down nearly two centuries ago by a 

 now forgotten natural philosopher, 1 express clearly the 

 object of a study which, towards the end of the eigh- 

 teenth century, had received definite expression in vari- 



or not is not yet decided, makes 

 it necessary to retain in a history 

 of Thought a special term com- 

 prising all speculations which deal 

 with the purely scientific solution 

 of that problem. In fact, the ques- 

 tion what is life is still unanswered. 

 A fortiori, these remarks refer 

 also to the question, What is mind 

 or consciousness ? But the two 

 chapters referring to these problems 

 will limit themselves to an historical 

 exposition of what has been done 

 to solve them by purely scientific, 

 i.e. , exact, methods. The full name 

 of the author of the ' Biologic ' 

 was Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus 

 (1776 - 1837) of Bremen. Though 

 introducing the larger conception 

 of biology, bis own original lab- 

 ours were mainly in the domain 

 of zoology. His brother, Ludolf 

 Christian Treviranus (1779-1864), 

 devoted himself mainly to botanical 



science, and was largely influenced 

 by the doctrines of the " Xatur- 

 philosophie. " On the former, see 

 Carus, ' Geschichte der Zoologie ' 

 (Miinchen, 1872), passim; on the 

 latter, Sachs, ' Geschichte der Bo- 

 tanik' (ibid., 1875, p. 291). 



1 They are quoted by Whewell 

 ('Hist. Indue. Sciences,' 3rd ed., 

 vol. iii. p. 165), from a work en- 

 titled ' Dissertatio de Salibus ' 

 (1707), by the Italian Professor at 

 Padua, Dominico Gulielmini (1655- 

 1710). He was a practical physician 

 as well as a natural philosopher. He 

 was the forerunner of Rome de Lisle 

 and Haiiy, inasmuch as he estab- 

 lished the principle, not then suffi- 

 ciently appreciated, that the con- 

 stancy of the angles is characteristic 

 of all crystals. See Kopp's ' Gesch- 

 ichte der Chemie,' vol. ii. pp. 83- 

 404. 



