not seeing what is under their eyes and what is 

 confirmed by direct healthy understanding . Also , in 

 pathology, instead of explaining the disease from the 

 affected structure, which is not easy, they think it 

 easier to look for sophisticated reasons abstracted 

 from the material form. 63 



The incidents of December 1825, after which not only 

 unrestricted but also unclear ideas became dangerous to 

 Nicholas's government, led to the dissolution of the 

 "Society of Philosophy-Lovers," that weak bulwark of 

 Naturphilosophie in Russia. Persecution trials sought to 

 eliminate German idealistic philosophy from university 

 departments. However, the failure of idealistic and Natur- 

 philosophical ideas in Russia did not depend on government 

 regulations. The government was trying to restrict philosophical 

 thought by limiting orthodox theology. The decisive resistance 

 which met Naturphilosophie in the environment of the advanced 

 Russian intelligentsia persuaded the "philosophy-lovers" of 

 their separation from reality, and of the idealistic character 

 of their opinions. 



It is possible to draw that judgment from a letter to 

 V. F. Odoevskii from his cousin A. I. 0doevskii,64 the poet of 

 the December Revolution, and from the literary and philosophical 

 controversy which appeared in the pages of the newspapers 

 "Son of the Motherland," "Moscow Telegraph," "Moscow Herald," 

 and others. A negative view of speculative German philosophy 

 was expressed frequently by Pushkin. P. V. Amekov, in "Materials 

 for a Biography of Pushkin," stated that the poems "Poet," 

 "Niello," "To the Poet," and others indicating the influence 

 of German idealistic philosophy, were actually propaganda 

 from the editorial staff of the "Moscow Herald." One of the 

 managers of this newspaper, S. P. Shevysev, says in his memoirs 

 that Pushkin "has declared vivid feelings to those young 



63. Matvei Yakovlevich Mudrov, cited in the introduction of 

 an article by A. G. Gukasyan on the "Selected Works of 

 M. Ya. Mudrov," PUBLICATION OF THE ACADEMY OF 

 MEDICAL SCIENCE (1949), p. 30. 



64. See KhCachatur] S(edrakovich) Koshtoiants, OUTLINE OF 

 THE HISTORY OF PHYSIOLOGY IN RUSSIA, pp. 70-71. 



189 



