IX \WWARTEI ILA? WCIEIUISSURUAINIDY [ON RINVAIL, ONY SC MINED 
“To the solid ground 
Of Nature trusts the mind which buzlds for aye.”’—WoORDSWORTH. 
: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 65, 1806. 
THE PHILOSOPAY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
Studien zu  Methodenlehre 
Von Friedrich Dreyer. 
Engelmann, 1895.) 
und Erkenninisskritik. 
Pp. viii + 223. (Leipzig : 
Erkenninistheoretische Grundztige der Naturwissen- 
schaften und thre Beziehungen zum Geistesleben der 
Gegenwart. Allgemein wissenschaftliche 
Von Dr. P. Volkmann. Pp. xii + 181. 
Teubner, 1896.) 
Vortrage. 
(Leipzig : 
F we were to examine these two works purely from 
the standpoint of the critical reviewer, we should 
probably content ourselves by recommending the busy 
man of science to pass them by. We might, indeed, 
justify the sternness of our judgment by illustrating the 
hopelessly involved style of Herr Dreyer—his page-long 
footnotes on footnotes, his misinterpretations of mathe- 
matical and physical theories, and his obvious, but 
nowhere justified, bias against Darwinism. We might 
then pass to Dr. Volkmann and show the vagueness of 
his definitions, the unphilosophical character of his 
epistemology, and indicate the danger which arises when 
loose analogies drawn from natural science are applied to 
other fields of thought. We might not unreasonably 
conclude with a sigh over the departing glory of German 
science. We might moan over the death or old age of 
the giants of a quarter of a century back, and regret that 
the strong and clear intellects of young Germany seem 
drawn rather to military and commercial pursuits than to 
the service of science. That Germany has become the 
first military, and is rapidly becoming the first commercial 
nation, are now familiar ideas ; but that these victories 
have been won at the expense of literature and pure science, 
is an aspect of evolution which other nations are only 
just beginning to realise, and Germany herself will only 
realise last of all. It is a subtle qualitative, not a quanti- 
tative change which has been going on since 1870 in 
German science and literature. Few realise it, but it 
is none the less a reality. It is, perhaps, as well 
that leadership in all spheres should not fall to one 
NO. I410, VOL. 55] 
people. From the historical stand-point accordingly, these 
two books are of interest, for they are very typical of 
much work which Germany has of recent years put 
forth. Their authors fully recognise that there are great 
problems still unsolved in the philosophical basis of the 
natural sciences, but it cannot be said that they throw 
any light on the solution of these problems, nay, that 
they even assist us in their clear enunciation. Herr 
Dreyer indeed tells us with much truth that : 
“Auf dem Gebiete der Biologie sieht es noch recht 
wild und windig aus” ; 
but his lengthy defence of “vital force” is hardly calcu- 
lated to bring more system into biological thought. 
Prof. Volkmann is evidently not quite at his ease in 
his endeavours to define such fundamental concepts as 
“natural law” and “ physical hypothesis.” Yet for him 
natural laws like the law of gravitation lie outside us 
while the conclusions of mathematics are thought-laws 
which lie inside us : 
“Diese Naturnothwendigkeiten ausser uns nirgends in 
Widerspruch treten mit den Denknothwendigkeiten im 
uns.” 
This arises apparently from a pre-established harmony 
the source of which is accounted for in a manner which 
the writer tells us is the ‘“‘Kernpunkt meiner erkennt- 
nistheoretischen Studien auf naturwissenschaftlichem 
Boden.” It lies namely in this : 
“dass die Logik in uns ihren Ursprung in dem gesetz- 
massigen Geschehen der Dinge ausser uns hat, dass die 
aussere Nothwendigkeit des Naturgeschehens unsere 
erste und recht eigentliche Lehrmeisterin ist.” 
We are only given this sentence, without oe word more 
description of the process by which such harmony has 
been established! A poet might have thrown out the 
idea, but put thus in a scientific treatise it is hardly 
calculated to help us in clearing up our fundamental 
notions. 
It would, however, be wrong to merely smile over what 
we feel compelled to term trivialities, or to think that they 
are solely characteristic of German naturalists. A very 
superfcial study of current English physical and 
dynamical text-books will suffice to demonstrate how 
much we ourselves need a thorough Au/Alavung in our 
B 
