233 
eatisfy the five following essentials — (1) that the cause assigned be a vera 
causa ; (2) that it be verifiable ; (3) that the facts explained^do not admit 
of being accounted for by other causes ; (4) that it cannot be seen to lead to 
other consequences just as well as the actual facts ; and (5) that it tend to 
farther our knowledge of the unity of nature. The theory is thus essentially 
unscientific, and Dr. Wigand goes on to characterize it as a return to the 
method of speculation of Schelling (in his Natur -philosophic) and Geoffroy 
St. Hilaire, which consists in the attempt to deduce the complex and varied 
phenomena of nature from a few general ideas and principles, instead of 
gradually ascending to general laws by induction. But, again, Darwinism is 
no less false as philosophy than as science. All attempts to reach a theoretic 
unity in nature, whether by reducing all forces to one fundamental force, or 
by bringing all processes and effects under one universal law of causation, 
are destined to failure. Such attempts overlook the limits of our knowledge. 
Nature is made up of individual bodies with qualitatively unlike materials, 
forces, forms, and functions, and the universal laws of force are wholly 
inadequate to explain these complex existences. So, too, even though the 
processes of organic development invariably illustrate the law of cause and 
effect, we are for ever precluded from knowing how these intricate combina- 
tions and changes have been brought about. The question of the origin of 
species and of life is thus an insoluble one. Our author concludes his second 
part by seeking to re-affirm the inadequacy of all mechanical conceptions of 
the world and the necessity of assuming a personal intelligence as the source 
of universal law and of purpose in nature.” 
(G. p. 226.) 
DARWINISM IN GERMANY. 
Times Newspaper, 1877. 
“ The extraordinary success of the Darwinian doctrine in Germany may be 
traced to two causes. Science admired the conscientious accuracy displayed 
by Mr. Darwin in investigating the propagation of existing organisms, and 
the theorizing propensity of the German mind jumped at conclusions con- 
cerning the origin and primary production of animal life. While professors 
approved the laborious method pursued by the patient investigator of nature, 
the boldest inferences were regarded as reasonable and true by more 
speculative spirits when drawn from well-ascertained facts. 
“Nor did the numerous metaphysicians native to the soil suffer the new 
theory to remain confined to the physical world. If animated bodies could 
be evolved from the slime of the sea, the power of motion and sensibility 
instinct in them seemed to differ from the human soul in degree rather than 
in kind. If a combination of chymical elements produced the rudimentary 
intellect of medusa and polyp, it was considered a rational inference that a 
compound of nobler ingredients sufficed to make up the thinking apparatus 
of Animal Homo. 
