544 



Miscellaneous. 



that period many phenomena have been placed without the pale 

 of the mystical system. Kepler, Newton, and La Place, at least, 

 have completely succeeded in liberating the movements of the hea- 

 venly bodies from all spiritual influence, and in subjecting them 

 to the laws of motion. That portion of natural philosophy which 

 is called physics, and chemistry, have likewise gradually attained 

 their true position, and achieved their independence. But in those 

 branches of natural philosophy, whose object is the investigation 

 of organic nature, the old disorder still remains, on account of dif- 

 ficulties arising from the complication of the problem to be solved ; 

 and more especially, because in the most perfect organic body, 

 in man, we continually encounter the mysterious union of mental 

 operations and of matter, which probably will remain unexplained 

 to all eternity. Nevertheless, in these branches, too, science conti- 

 nues its progress on a safe road, although for a moment it has been 

 led astray by the poetical fictions of Schelling and his adherents. 

 The whole science of the organic world, both in physiology and 

 medicine, advances irresistibly, propelled by the united efforts of 

 those who apply themselves to the investigation of these subjects. 

 All researches now tend towards one ultimate end, namely, the esta- 

 blishment of a complete independence, on the part of the material 

 world, of explanations drawn from the spiritual world, and the 

 securing it on scientific principles. This is the bond which invisibly 

 connects all the distinguished investigators of nature of our own 

 times, and which unites all the different individuals engaged in 

 the pursuit into one great school, however widely they may dif- 

 fer in their opinions and views. This it is which impresses on 

 the natural philosophy of our days a peculiar character, of which 

 it will not be deprived by the quickly-vanishing dreams of philo- 

 sophical mysticism. Here I might confess that the manner in 

 which organic chemistry is treated by Dr. Liebig, tends to the 

 same goal, and I repeat, that on that account his book deserves 

 to be noticed ; though perhaps it will be in the end discovered 

 that the author has solved a single problem of vegetable physiolo- 

 gy — that most of them he did not understand — and that consequently 

 his book is useless, as far as the advancement of vegetable physio- 

 logy is concerned. 



