subject. Empiricists accepted all of Goethe's great thoughts 

 and evaluated them." Hertzen noted the vertebral theory of 

 the skull, the metamorphosis of all parts of the plant from 

 the original organ — the leaves — and a number of Goethe's 

 osteological discoveries, 97 Goethe, according to Hertzen, 

 "was endowed to a high degree with the direct view of things; 

 but he knew that, and he himself looked through everything; 

 he was not a university professor or a department scientist; he 

 was a thoughtful artist; he established, for the first time, 

 the actual, true relationship of man to the world and his 

 surroundings; by himself he gave the naturalists a great 

 example, "9° 



Howeyer, Goethe did not establish a complete materialistic 

 synthesis of philosophy and the empirical study of nature; 

 moreover, this was not done, and could not be done, by the 

 nature-philosophers. "Every success in the study of nature 

 has been achieved outside Naturphilosophie," 99 



In Russia, German Naturphilosophie does not appear to 

 have had a marked effect on the development of the natural 

 sciences. 



Why, in the first half of the nineteenth century, 

 K. A. Timiryasev asked, did 



the waves of metaphysical speculation, barely 

 touching German science, hardly coming into contact with 

 our borders, not leave traces on our sciences? .... 

 I assume that all of that was not accidental, that in 

 the selection of their teachers, as well as worldwide 

 brilliance and distinction of results, Russians had 

 shown their natural tendency to go more willingly and 

 successfully along the tracks of Newton, than along 

 the route of Plato. 100 



With these words K. A. Timiryasev underlines the materialistic 

 tradition persisting in Russian science from the time of 

 Lomonosoy. The successful aspects of embryology in Russia 

 were thus not connected with Naturphilosophie. 



97. ibid . 



98. Ibid ., p. 114. 



99. Ibid ., p. 118. 



100. Ktliment] A(rkad'evich) Timiriazev, "The Festival of 

 Russian Science," ASSEMBLY, Vol. V (1939), p. 43. 



204 



