The freedom of science in the modern state : a discourse delivered at the third general meeting of the fiftieth conference of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians at Munich, on the 22nd of September, 1877 / by Rudolf Virchow ; with a new preface by the author ; translated from the German, with the author's sanction.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The freedom of science in the modern state : a discourse delivered at the third general meeting of the fiftieth conference of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians at Munich, on the 22nd of September, 1877 / by Rudolf Virchow ; with a new preface by the author ; translated from the German, with the author's sanction. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Having contended that the Biblical account of this planet's creation has long been denaolished by geology, Hen- Hackel -wondered that morphology should have been so slow to come forward and explain the origin and diversity of the animal world. According to him, the two principles of inheritance and adaptation explain the development of the manifold existing organisms from a single organic cell; while, were further argument needed to disprove supernatural intervention, we have only to tui'n to the fi-equent occurrence of tmdeveloped and useless organs in many types of the animal world, to realize the truth. In this way the Creator is disposed of, not only as super- fluous, but as a being who, if He existed, instead of being all-wise, would every now and then have com- mitted the indiscretion of attempting to create eyes and wings which His power did not suffice to perfect. Then, passing on to the omnipotent ceU constituting the g^undwork of animal bodies, he referred his audience to certain zoological enquiries proving the possession of motion and sensibility, of perception and will, even by those primary organisms consisting of but a single cell. Everything being thus dependent upon the cell, the lecturer at this stage became interested in the matter forming this marvellous organism. The cell, then, consists of matter called protoplasm, composed chiefly of carbon, with an admixture of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulphur. These component parts, pro-