The freedom of science in the modern state : A discourse delivered at the third general meeting of the 50th conference of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians at Munich, on the 22nd of September, 1877. With a new pref. by the author. Translated from the German, with the author's sanction.

Virchow, Rudolf, 1821-1902.

Date:: 1878

Credit: The freedom of science in the modern state : A discourse delivered at the third general meeting of the 50th conference of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians at Munich, on the 22nd of September, 1877. With a new pref. by the author. Translated from the German, with the author's sanction. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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the subjective spirit. Every year I am con- tiaually seeing afresh that I myself, on the very points where I thought I had become entirely objective, have still always retained a large por- tion of subjective ideas. I do not go so far as to make from human nature the impossible demand, that everyone should express himself without a subjective vein of thought; but I do say that we must set ourselves the task, to put forth in the first place what is properly actual know- ledge, and whenever we go beyond this we must always say to the learners, *' Observe that this is not proved, but it is my opinion, my idea, my theory, my speculation. But we can only take this course with those who are already advanced, who are already cultivated. We cannot carry the same method into the schools for the people: we cannot say to every peasant child,^—This is actual; this is known; and that is only sup- posed. On the contrary, what wo know and what we only suppose blend themselves, as a general rule, so completely into a single picture,

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