than in maturity. The birth marks, whose origin is still 

 in question, serve as the main evidence by which this idea 

 is confirmed and defended." C5 499, p, 328) 



Mentioning J. T. Needham as one of the supporters of 

 epigenesis, who acknowledged "in the same substance the 

 diffusing and the opposing force," Pekken turned to Wolff's 

 opinion. "K. F. Wolff, a member of the Imp. Russian Academy 

 of Science, proposed a certain essential force (vis 

 essentialis) , which acts on the unformed initial substance, 

 distributes it, forms the vessels, constructs and creates 

 the body. His opinion has many defenders and successors; 

 however those opposing him also disprove it with important 

 evidence." Presenting Haller's idea ("scientific sophistica- 

 tion") which he characterized as "conventional, although it 

 was disproved by many important arguments," and Blumenbach's 

 studies about "the formative efforts (nisus formativus)," 

 Pekken concluded as follows: "However, all that is known about 

 creation is not covered by true studies and is higher than 

 the human intellect." (S 501, p. 331) 



Mundir, who was a bureaucrat and professor, evidently 

 obliged Pekken, especially in the manual, by being careful 

 in expressing opinions in a certain way so that they appeared 

 as opposing the official approbated church opinions. This, 

 apparently explains Pekken' s conclusive agnostic declarations. 

 However, from all that he had said previously it appears that 

 his scientific sympathy is on the side of epigenesis, on the 

 side of explaining the manifestations of development by 

 essential reasons. 



Within four years after Pekken 's book appeared, a manual 

 of natural science appeared in the Russian language. This 

 was issued in Petersburg by the academician, N. Ozeretskovskii. 

 Although this work is not original but a translation of the 



THE INITIAL BASICS OF NATURAL HISTORY CONCERNS 

 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, PLANTS AND INSECTS. THE 

 ANIMAL KINGDOM, issued by the Academician Nikolai 

 Ozeretskovskii for the systematics of the animals, 

 translated by G. Leske into German and written in 

 St. Petershurg, 1791. 



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