86 THE HISTORY OF CREATION, 
much interwoven with a mass of useless philosophical 
fancies, that the latter greatly detract from the former. 
Nothing is perhaps more characteristic of the extraordi- 
nary interest which Goethe took in the investigation of 
organic nature than the lively way in which, even in his 
last years, he followed the dispute which broke out in 
France between Cuvier and Geoffroy de St. Hilaire. Goethe, 
in a special treatise which was only finished a few days 
before his death, in March, 1832, has given an interesting 
description of this remarkable dispute and its general im- 
portance, as well as an excellent sketch of the two great 
opponents. This treatise bears the title “Principes de 
Philosophie Zoologique par M. Geoffroy de Saint Hilaire” ; 
it is Goethe’s last work, and forms the conclusion of the 
collected edition of his works. The dispute itself was, in 
several respects, of the highest interest. It turned essentially 
upon the justification of the theory of development. It 
was carried on, moreover, in the bosom of the French 
Academy, by both opponents, with a personal vehemence 
almost unheard of in the dignified sessions of that learned 
body ; this proved that both naturalists were fighting for 
their most sacred and deepest convictions. The conflict 
began on the 22nd of February, and was followed by 
several others; the fiercest took place on the 19th of 
July, 1830. Geoftroy, as the chief of the French nature- 
philosophers, represented the theory of natural development 
and the monistic conception of nature. He maintained the 
mutability of organic species, the common descent of the 
individual species from common primary forms, and the 
unity of their organization—or the unity of the plan of 
structure, as it was then called. 
