1 2 

 ends, ignorance begins. " x Elsewhere he stated that the 



history of science is a long commentary on the situation 

 that the material for one's knowledge of the outer world 

 is collected by detailed observation, and that these are 

 processed by the natural ability of meditation. No dis- 

 covery is done a priori. "I doubt that man would have, in 

 general, any information about the existence of the world, 

 if he did not make certain of it by his senses. "H 



The statement that the endlessly variable world 

 exists independently of our consciousness, and is perceived 

 by means of the organs of sense, was connected in Baer with 

 confidence in the unlimited cognitive power of human intel- 

 ligence and his creation, the sciences. As to the question 

 of the importance of science, Baer repeatedly clothed his 

 discussion either in a pathetic or a sarcastic form. 



"Science," Baer stated, "is eternal in its source, 

 not limited in its activity either by time, or by distance, 

 immeasurable in its size, endless in its tasks, unachievable 

 in its aims. "14 This aphorism, especially its Russian 

 translation published in the journal of the Ministry of 

 Public Education and not re-edited by Baer, needs some 

 explanation. Baer spoke of science "eternal in its source" 

 (EWIG IN IHREM QUELLE) ,15 i. e . having its source in 

 eternal nature, but the translator turned it into science 

 "resulting from eternal beginnings," i.e. as if having its 

 source in relevation. Speaking of the unachievability of 

 aims in science, Baer undoubtedly meant the impossibility 

 of exhausting by scientific knowledge the endless variable 

 phenomena of the world, and not the presence in it of anything 

 beyond the grasp of the mind. That this interpretation of 

 Baer's ideas is correct is confirmed to other places. For 

 example, in the speech, "View on the Development of Science," 



12. Baer, "Uber Zielstrebigkeit in den organischen Korpern 



insbesondere," REDEN, II, 2te Aufl. (1886), pp. 170-234. 



13 • Akad. ber Vzglyed na razvitie nauk. Zhurn. Min. Nar- 

 Prosv., May 1836, p. 207. 



14. Ibid ., p. 245. 



15. Baer, "Blicke auf die Entwickelung der Wissenschaft," 

 REDEN, I, 2nd ed., p. 121. 



495 



