,this e,book was produced by ,adam ,kane4 ,,man ,,or ,,matter ,introduction to a ,spiritual ,understanding of ,nature on the ,basis of ,goethe's ,method of ,training ,observation and ,thought by ,,ernst ,,lehrs ,ph4 ,d4 ,part ,i ,,science ,,at ,,the ,,threshold ,i4 ,,introductory ,the author's search for a way of extending the boundaries of scientific understanding4 ,a meeting with ,rudolf ,steiner1 and with the work arising from his teachings4 ,,ii4 ,,where ,,do ,,we ,,stand ,,to-,,day8 ,the self-restriction of scientific inquiry to one-eyed colourblind observation4 ,its effect3 ,the lack of a true conception of 'force'4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,onlooker',s ,,philosophic ,,malady ,thought - the sole reality and yet a pure non-entity for the modern spectator4 ,descartes and ,hume4 ,robert ,hooke's 'proof' of the non-reality of conceptual thinking4 ,the modern principle of ,indeterminacy - a sign that science is still dominated by the ,humean way of thinking4 ,,iv4 ,,the ,,country ,,that ,,is ,,not ,,ours ,electricity1 man's competitor in modern civilization4 ,the onlooker in search of the soul of nature4 ,galvani and ,crookes4 ,paradoxes in the discovery of electricity4 ',something unknown is doing we don't know what4' ,part ,,ii ,,goetheanism - ,,whence ,,and ,,whither ,v4 ,,the ,,adventure ,,of ,,reason ,kant and ,goethe4 ,goethe's study of the plant - a path toward seeing with the eye-of-the-spirit4 ,nature a script that asks to be read4 ,,vi4 ,,except ,,we ,,become 444 ,spiritual kinsmen of ,goethe in the ,british sphere of human culture4 ,thomas ,reid's philosophic discovery1 its significance for the overcoming of the onlooker-standpoint in science4 ,the picture of man inherent in ,reid's philosophy4 ,man's original gift of remembering his pre-earthly life4 ,the disappearance of this memory in the past1 and its re-appearance in modern times4 ,pelagius versus ,augustine4 ,wordsworth and ,traherne4 ,traherne1 a ',reidean before ,reid was born'4 ,,vii4 ',,always ,,stand ,,by ,,form' ,ruskin and ,howard - two readers in the book of nature4 ,goethe's meteorological ideas4 ,his conception of the urphenomenon4 ,goethe and ,howard4 ,,viii4 ,,dynamics ,,versus ,,kinetics ,the onlooker science - by necessity a 'pointer-reading' science4 ,the onlooker's misjudgment of the cognitive value of the impressions conveyed by the senses4 ,the ,parallelogram of ,forces - its fallacious kinematic and its true dynamic interpretation4 ,the roots in man of his concepts 'mass' and 'force'4 ,the formula ,fma4 ,the origin of man's faculty of mathematical thinking4 ,,ix4 ,,pro ,,levitate 7a7 ,,alertness ,,contra ,,inertness ,limitations of the validity of the concept 'inertia'4 ,restatement of ,newton's first law4 ,introduction of the term 'magical' as opposed to mechanical4 ,the phenomenon of the rising arm4 ,introduction of the term 'alertness' as opposed to 'inertness' 7inertia74 ,van ,helmont's discovery of the gaseous state of matter4 ,the four ,elements4 ,the old concept of ',chaos'4 ,young and old matter4 ,the natural facts behind the ancient fire rites4 ,the event on ,mount ,sinai4 7b7 ,,levity ,,contra ,,gravity ,the ,contra ,levitatem maxim of the ,florentine ,academicians4 ,ruskin's warning against science as an interpreter of its own observations4 ,how man's inner nature and the outer universe interpret one another4 ,the ,solfatara phenomenon4 ,the super-physical character of ,levity4 ,x4 ,,the ,,fourth ,,state ,,of ,,matter ,the need of raising scientific inquiry to nature's upper border4 ,the laws of ,conservation1 their origin and their validity4 ,joule and ,mayer4 ,extension of the field-concept from the central to the peripheral field-type4 ,natural phenomena brought about by the suctional effect of the earth's levity-field4 ,the different conditions of matter seen in the light of the levity-gravity polarity4 ,heat1 the fourth state of matter4 ,procreation of physical substance - a natural fact4 ,the case of ,tillandsia4 ,the problem of the trace-elements4 ,homeopathy1 an example of the effect of dematerialized matter4 ,the meteorological circuit of water4 ,the nature of lightning4 ,,xi4 ,,matter ,,as ,,part ,,of ,,nature',s ,,alphabet ,the origin of the scientific conception of the chemical element4 ,study of some prototypes of physical substances in the light of the levity-gravity polarity4 ,the functional concept of matter4 ,the complete order of polarities - cold-warm1 dry-moist - in the doctrine of the four elements4 ,the position of sulphur and phosphorus in this respect4 ,vulcanism and snow-formation as manifestations of functional sulphur and phosphorus respectively4 ,the process of crystallization4 ,carbon as a mediator between sulphur and phosphorus4 ,the alchemical triad4 ,,xii4 ,,space ,,and ,,counter-,,space ,geometrical considerations required by the recognition of levity4 ,the value in this respect of projective geometrical thinking4 ,geometrical polarities of the first and second order4 ,,xiii4 ',,radiant ,,matter' ,electricity and magnetism as manifestations of interacting levity and gravity4 ,electricity - a product of disintegrating matter4 ,modern physics1 no longer a 'natural' science4 ,eddington's question1' ,manufacture or ,discovery8' ,man's enhanced responsibility in the age of physical science4 ,,xiv4 ,,colours ,,as ',,deeds ,,and ,,sufferings ,,of ,,light' ,goethe's ,farbenlehre - the foundation of an optical science based on the colour-seeing faculty of the eye4 ,the modern physicist's view of the ,newtonian interpretation of the spectrum4 ,a short history of ,goethe's search for a satisfactory conception of ,light and ,colour4 ,his discovery of ,newton's cardinal error4 ,first results of his own studies4 ,the 'negative' spectrum4 ,,xv4 ,,seeing ,,as ',,deed' - ,i ,goethe's way of studying the totality of the act of seeing4 ,the 'inner light'4 ,,xvi4 ,,seeing ,,as ',,deed' - ,,ii ,extension of ,goethe's inquiry to a pursuit of the act of seeing beyond the boundaries of the body4 ,,xvii4 ,,optics ,,of ,,the ,,doer ,purging optics from its onlooker-concepts4 ,the role of foregone conclusions in the physical conception of light4 ,the true aspect of the so-called velocity of light4 ,,xviii4 ,,the ,,spectrum ,,as ,a ,,script ,,of ,,the ,,spirit ,evaluation of the foregoing studies for a new understanding of the prismatic phenomenon4 ,the secret of the rainbow4 ,intimation of new possibilities of experimental research guided by the new conception of the spectrum4 ,part ,,iii ,,towards ,a ,,new ,,cosmology ,,xix4 ,,the ,,country ,,in ,,which ,,man ,,is ,,not ,a ,,stranger 7a7 ,,introductory ,,note ,from ,goethe's seeing with the eye-of-the-spirit to ,spiritual ,imagination4 ,levity 7,ether7 as revealed to ,spiritual ,imagination4 7b7 - 7e7 ,,warmth ,,light ,,sound ,,life ,the four modifications of ether4 ,their relation to the four elements4 ,,xx4 ,,pro ,,anima 7a7 ,,the ,,well-,,springs ,,of ,,nature',s ,,deeds ,,and ,,sufferings ,the sentient 7astral7 forces of the cosmos as governors of the various interactions between levity and gravity4 ,the astral aspect of the planetary system4 ,its reflexion in earthly substances4 ,beginnings of an astral conception of the human organism in modern physiology4 7b7 ,,hearing ,,as ,,deed ,a ,goetheanistic study of acoustic phenomena and of the sense of hearing4 ,from hearing with the ear-of-the-spirit to ,spiritual ,inspiration4 7c7 ,,kepler ,,and ,,the ',,music ,,of ,,the ,,spheres' ,goethe's view of ,kepler4 ,kepler's third law - a revelation of the musical order of the universe4 ,,xxi4 ,,know ,,thyself ,,index ,illustrations ,,in ,,colour ,a ,the relation of the electrical polarity to ,levity and ,gravity ,b ,the ,spectrum phenomenon as conceived by ,goethe ,c ,light under the action of a transverse field-gradient ,,monochrome ,i4 ,robert ,hooke's 'proof' of the non-reality of human concepts ,,ii4 ,leaf-metamorphosis ,,iii4 ,leaf-metamorphosis ,,iv4 ,goethe's sketch of a cloud-formation ,v4 ,a ,snow-,crystal ,,vi4 ,a cluster of ,calcite crystals ,,vii4 ,various species of bacteria ,,viii4 ,various species of fresh-water algae ,author's ,note ,the author makes grateful acknowledgment of the help he has gained from other works in the wide field opened up by ,rudolf ,steiner1 and of his debt to the friends who in various ways assisted him in preparing his manuscript4 ,quotations have been made from the following books by kind permission of their respective publishers3 ,the ,life of ,sir ,william ,crookes by ,e4 ,e4 ,fournier d',albe 7,messrs4 ,ernest ,benn ,ltd472 ,man the ,unknown by ,a4 ,carrel 7,messrs4 ,hamish ,hamilton ,ltd472 ,the ,philosophy of ,physical ,science and ,the ,nature of ,the ,physical ,worldly ,a44 ,eddington 7,university ,press1 ,cambridge72 ,science and the ,human ,temperament by ,e4 ,schrdinger 7,messrs4 ,george ,allen and ,unwin ,ltd472 ,centuries of ,meditations and ,poetical ,works by ,th4 ,traherne 7,messrs4 ,p4 ,j4 and ,a4 ,e4 ,dobell74 ,preface ,in this book the reader will find expounded a method of investigating nature by means of which scientific understanding can be carried across the boundaries of the physical-material to the supersensible sources of all natural events1 and thereby into the realm where is rooted the true being of man4 ,the beginnings of this method were worked out by ,goethe more than #aej years ago4 ,the nineteenth century1 however1 failed to provide any fertile ground for the development of the seeds thus sown4 ,it was left to ,rudolf ,steiner1 shortly before the end of the century1 to recognize the significance of ',goetheanism' for the future development not only of science but of human culture in general4 ,it is to him1 also1 that we owe the possibility of carrying on ,goethe's efforts in the way required by the needs of our own time4 ,the following pages contain results of the author's work along the path thus opened up by ,goethe and ,rudolf ,steiner - a work begun twenty-seven years ago1 soon after he had made the acquaintance of ,rudolf ,steiner4 ,with the publication of these results he addresses himself to everyone - with or without a specialized scientific training - who is concerned with the fate of man's powers of cognition in the present age4 99 ,the reader may welcome a remark as to the way in which this book needs to be read4 ,it has not been the author's intention to provide an encyclopaedic collection of new conceptions in various fields of natural observation4 ,rather did he wish1 as the sub-title of the book indicates1 to offer a new method of training both mind and eye 7and other senses as well71 by means of which our modern 'onlooking' consciousness can be transformed into a new kind of 'participating' consciousness4 ,hence it would be of no avail to pick out one chapter or another for first reading1 perhaps because of some special interest in its subject-matter4 ,the chapters are stages on a road which has to be travelled1 and each stage is necessary for reaching the next4 ,it is only through thus accepting the method with which the book has been written that the reader will be able to form a competent judgment of its essential elements4 ,e4 ,l4 ,hawkwood ,college ,easter #aiej ,,part ,i ,science at the ,threshold ,,chapter ,i ,introductory ,if ,i introduce this book by relating how ,i came to encounter ,rudolf ,steiner and his work1 more than twenty-five years ago1 and what decided me not only to make his way of knowledge my own1 but also to enter professionally into an activity inspired by his teachings1 it is because in this way ,i can most directly give the reader an impression of the kind of spirit out of which ,i have written4 ,i am sure1 too1 that although what ,i have to say in this chapter is personal in content1 it is characteristic of many in our time4 ,when ,i first made acquaintance with ,rudolf ,steiner and his work1 ,i was finishing my academic training as an electrical engineer4 ,at the end of the #aiad-ah war my first thought had been to take up my studies from where ,i had let them drop1 four years earlier4 ,the war seemed to imply nothing more than a passing interruption of them4 ,this1 at any rate1 was the opinion of my former teachers2 the war had made no difference whatever to their ideas1 whether on the subject-matter of their teaching or on its educational purpose4 ,i myself1 however1 soon began to feel differently4 ,it became obvious to me that my relationship to my subject1 and therefore to those teaching it1 had completely changed4 ,what ,i had experienced through the war had awakened in me a question of which ,i had previously been unaware2 now ,i felt obliged to put it to everything ,i came across4 ,as a child of my age ,i had grown up in the conviction that it was within the scope of man to shape his life according to the laws of reason within him2 his progress1 in the sense in which ,i then understood it1 seemed assured by his increasing ability to determine his own outer conditions with the help of science4 ,indeed1 it was the wish to take an active part in this progress that had led me to choose my profession4 ,now1 however1 the war stood there as a gigantic social deed which ,i could in no way regard as reasonably justified4 ,how1 in an age when the logic of science was supreme1 was it possible that a great part of mankind1 including just those peoples to whom science had owed its origin and never-ceasing expansion1 could act in so completely unscientific a way8 ,where lay the causes of the contradiction thus revealed between human thinking and human doing8 ,pursued by these questions1 ,i decided after a while to give my studies a new turn4 ,the kind of training then provided in ,germany at the so-called ,technische ,hochschulen was designed essentially to give students a close practical acquaintance with all sorts of technical appliances2 it included only as much theory as was wanted for understanding the mathematical calculations arising in technical practice4 ,it now seemed to me necessary to pay more attention to theoretical considerations1 so as to gain a more exact knowledge of the sources from which science drew its conception of nature4 ,accordingly ,i left the ,hochschule for a course in mathematics and physics at a university1 though without abandoning my original idea of preparing for a career in the field of electrical engineering4 ,it was with this in mind that ,i later chose for my ,ph4,d4 thesis a piece of experimental research on the uses of high-frequency electric currents4 ,during my subsequent years of stuffy1 however1 ,i found myself no nearer an answer to the problem that haunted me4 ,all that ,i experienced1 in scientific work as in life generally1 merely gave it an even sharper edge4 ,everywhere ,i saw an abyss widening between human knowing and human action4 ,how often was ,i not bitterly disillusioned by the behaviour of men for whose ability to think through the most complicated scientific questions ,i had the utmost admiration6 ,on all sides ,i found this same bewildering gulf between scientific achievement and the way men conducted their own lives and influenced the lives of others4 ,i was forced to the conclusion that human thinking1 at any rate in its modern form1 was either powerless to govern human actions1 or at least unable to direct them towards right ends4 ,in fact1 where scientific thinking had done most to change the practical relations of human life1 as in the mechanization of economic production1 conditions had arisen which made it more difficult1 not less1 for men to live in a way worthy of man4 ,at a time when humanity was equipped as never before to investigate the order of the universe1 and had achieved triumphs of design in mechanical constructions1 human life was falling into ever wilder chaos4 ,why was this8 ,the fact that most of my contemporaries were apparently quite unaware of the problem that stirred me so deeply could not weaken my sense of its reality4 ,this slumber of so many souls in face of the vital questions of modern life seemed to me merely a further symptom of the sickness of our age4 ,nor could ,i think much better of those who1 more sensitive to the contradictions in and around them1 sought refuge in art or religion4 ,the catastrophe of the war had shown me that this departmentalizing of life1 which at one time ,i had myself considered a sort of ideal1 was quite inconsistent with the needs of to-day4 ,to make use of art or religion as a refuge was a sign of their increasing separation from the rest of human culture4 ,it implied a cleavage between the different spheres of society which ruled out any genuine solution of social problems4 ,i knew from history that religion and art had once exercised a function which is to-day reserved for science1 for they had given guidance in even the most practical activities of human society4 ,and in so doing they had enhanced the quality of human living1 whereas the influence of science has had just the opposite effect4 ,this power of guidance1 however1 they had long since lost1 and in view of this fact ,i came to the conclusion that salvation must be looked for in the first place from science4 ,here1 in the thinking and knowing of man1 was the root of modern troubles2 here must come a drastic revision1 and here1 if possible1 a completely new direction must be found4 ,such views certainly flew in the face of the universal modern conviction that the present mode of knowledge1 with whose help so much insight into the natural world has been won1 is the only one possible1 given once for all to man in a form never to be changed4 ,but is there any need1 ,i asked myself1 to cling to this purely static notion of man's capacity for gaining knowledge8 ,among the greatest achievements of modern science1 does not the conception of evolution take a foremost place8 ,and does not this teach us that the condition of a living organism at any time is the result of the one preceding it1 and that the transition implies a corresponding functional enhancement8 ,but if we have once recognized this as an established truth1 why should we apply it to organisms at every stage of development except the 4highest1 namely the human1 where the organic form reveals and serves the self-conscious spirit8 ,putting the question thus1 ,i was led inevitably to a conclusion which science itself had failed to draw from its idea of evolution4 ,whatever the driving factor in evolution may be1 it is clear that in the kingdoms of nature leading up to man this factor has always worked on the evolving organisms from outside4 ,the moment we come to man himself1 however1 and see how evolution has flowered in his power of conscious thought1 we have to reckon with a fundamental change4 ,once a being has recognized itself as a product of evolution1 it immediately ceases to be that and nothing more4 ,with its very first act of self-knowledge it transcends its previous limits1 and must in future rely on its own conscious actions for the carrying on of its development4 ,for me1 accordingly1 the concept of evolution1 when thought through to the end1 began to suggest the possibility of further growth in man's spiritual capacities4 ,but ,i saw also that this growth could no longer be merely passive1 and the question which now beset me was3 by what action of his own can man break his way into this new phase of evolution8 ,i saw that this action must not consist merely in giving outer effect to the natural powers of human thinking2 that was happening everywhere in the disordered world around me4 ,the necessary action must have inner effects2 indeed1 it had to be one whereby the will was turned upon the thinking-powers themselves1 entirely transforming them1 and so removing the discrepancy between the thinker and the doer in modern man4 ,thus far ,i could go through my own observation and reflexion1 but no further4 ,to form a general idea of the deed on which everything else depended was one thing2 it was quite another to know how to perform the deed1 and above all where to make a start with it4 ,anyone intending to make a machine must first learn something of mechanics2 in the same way1 anyone setting out to do something constructive in the sphere of human consciousness - and this1 for me1 was the essential point - must begin by learning something of the laws holding sway in that sphere4 ,but who could give me this knowledge8 ,physiology1 psychology and philosophy in their ordinary forms were of no use to me1 for they were themselves part and parcel of just that kind of knowing which had to be overcome4 ,in their various accounts of man there was no vantage point from which the deed ,i had in mind could be accomplished1 for none of them looked beyond the ordinary powers of knowledge4 ,it was the same with the accepted theory of evolution2 as a product of the current mode of thinking it could be applied to everything except the one essential - this very mode of thinking4 ,obviously1 the laws of the development of human consciousness cannot be discovered from a standpoint within the modern form of that consciousness4 ,but how could one find a viewpoint outside1 as it were1 this consciousness1 from which to discover its laws with the same scientific objectivity which it had itself applied to discovering the laws of physical nature8 ,it was when this question stood before me in all clarity that destiny led me to ,rudolf ,steiner and his work4 ,the occasion was a conference held in #aiba in ,stuttgart by the ,anthroposophical ,movement2 it was one of several arranged during the years #aibj-b especially for teachers and students at the ,hochschulen and ,universities4 ,what chiefly moved me to attend this particular conference was the title of a lecture to be given by one of the pupils and co-workers of ,rudolf ,steiner - ',the ,overcoming of ,einstein's ,theory of ,relativity'4#a ,the reader will readily appreciate what this title meant for me4 ,in the circles where my work lay1 an intense controversy was just then raging round ,einstein's ideas4 ,i usually took sides with the supporters of ,einstein1 for it seemed to me that ,einstein had carried the existing mode of scientific thinking to its logical conclusions1 whereas ,i missed this consistency among his opponents4 ,at the same time ,i found that the effect of this theory1 when its implications were fully developed1 was to make everything seem so 'relative' that no reliable world-outlook was left4 ,this was proof for me that our age was in need of an altogether different form of scientific thinking1 equally consistent in itself1 but more in tune with man's own being4 ,what appealed to me in the lecture-title was simply this1 that whereas everyone else sought to prove ,einstein right or wrong1 here was someone who apparently intended1 not merely to add another proof for or against his theory-there were plenty of those already - but to take some steps to overcome it4 ,from the point of view of orthodox science1 of course1 it was absurd to speak of 'overcoming' a theory1 as though it were an accomplished fact1 but to me this title suggested exactly what ,i was looking for4 ,although it was the title of this lecture that drew me to the ,stuttgart ,conference 7circumstances prevented me from hearing just this lecture71 it was the course given there by ,rudolf ,steiner himself which was to prove the decisive experience of my life4 ,it comprised eight lectures1 under the title3 ',mathematics1 ,scientific ,experiment and ,observation1 and ,epistemological ,results from the ,standpoint of ,anthroposophy'2 what they gave me answered my question beyond all expectation4 ,in the course of a comprehensive historical survey the lecturer characterized1 in a way ,i found utterly convincing1 the present mathematical interpretation of nature as a transitional stage of human consciousness - a kind of knowing which is on the way from a past pre-mathematical to a future post-mathematical form of cognition4 ,the importance of mathematics1 whether as a discipline of the human spirit or as an instrument of natural science1 was not for a moment undervalued4 ,on the contrary1 what ,rudolf ,steiner said about ,projective 7,synthetic7 ,geometry1 for instance1 its future possibilities and its role as a means of understanding higher processes of nature than had hitherto been accessible to science1 clearly explained the positive feelings ,i myself had experienced - without knowing why - when ,i had studied the subject4 ,through his lectures and his part in the discussions - they were held daily by the various speakers and ranged over almost every field of modern knowledge - ,i gradually realized that ,rudolf ,steiner was in possession of unique powers4 ,not only did he show himself fully at home in all these fields2 he was able to connect them with each other1 and with the nature and being of man1 in such a way that an apparent chaos of unrelated details was wrought into a higher synthesis4 ,moreover1 it became clear to me that one who could speak as he did about the stages of human consciousness past1 present and future1 must have full access to all of them at will1 and be able to make each of them an object of exact observation4 ,i saw a thinker who was himself sufficient proof that man can find within the resources of his own spirit the vantage-ground for the deed which ,i had dimly surmised1 and by which alone true civilization could be saved4 ,through all these things ,i knew that ,i had found the teacher ,i had been seeking4 ,thus ,i was fully confirmed in my hopes of the ,conference2 but ,i was also often astonished at what ,i heard4 ,not least among my surprises was ,rudolf ,steiner's presentation of ,goethe as the herald of the new form of scientific knowledge which he himself was expounding4 ,i was here introduced to a side of ,goethe which was as completely unknown to me as to so many others among my contemporaries1 who had not yet come into touch with ,anthroposophy4 ,for me1 as for them1 ,goethe had always been the great thinker revealing his thoughts through poetry4 ,indeed1 only shortly before my meeting with ,rudolf ,steiner it was in his poetry that ,goethe had become newly alive to me as a helper in my search for a fuller human experience of nature and my fellow-men4 ,but despite all my ,goethe studies ,i had been quite unaware that more than a century earlier he had achieved something in the field of science1 organic and inorganic alike1 which could help modern man towards the new kind of knowledge so badly needed to-day4 ,this was inevitable for me1 since ,i shared the modern conviction that art and science were fields of activity essentially strange to one another4 ,and so it was again ,rudolf ,steiner who opened the way for me to ,goethe as botanist1 physicist and the like4 ,i must mention another aspect of the ,stuttgart ,conference which ,belongs to this picture of my first encounter with ,anthroposophy1 and gave it special weight for anyone in my situation at that period4 ,in ,stuttgart there were many different activities concerned with the practical application of ,rudolf ,steiner's teachings1 and so one could become acquainted with teachings and applications at the same time4 ,there was the ,waldorf ,school1 founded little more than a year before1 with several hundred pupils already4 ,it was the first school to undertake the transformation of anthroposophical knowledge of man into educational practice2 later it was followed by others1 in ,germany and elsewhere4 ,there was one of the clinics1 where qualified doctors were applying the same knowledge to the study of illness and the action of medicaments4 ,in various laboratories efforts were made to develop new methods of experimental research in physics1 chemistry1 biology and other branches of science4 ,further1 a large business concern had been founded in ,stuttgart in an attempt to embody some of ,rudolf ,steiner's ideas for the reform of social life4 ,besides all this ,i could attend performances of the new art of movement1 again the creation of ,rudolf ,steiner and called by him ',eurhythmy'1 in which the astounded eye could see how noble a speech can be uttered by the human body when its limbs are moved in accordance with its inherent spiritual laws4 ,thus1 in all the many things that were going on besides the lectures1 one could find direct proof of the fruitfulness of what one heard in them4#b ,under the impression of this ,conference ,i soon began to study the writings of ,rudolf ,steiner4 ,not quite two years later1 ,i decided to join professionally with those who were putting ,anthroposophy into outer practice4 ,because it appeared to me as the most urgent need of the time to prepare the new generation for the tasks awaiting it through an education shaped on the entire human being1 ,i turned to ,rudolf ,steiner with the request to be taken into the ,stuttgart ,school as teacher of natural science4 ,on this occasion ,i told him of my general scientific interests1 and how ,i hoped to follow them up later on4 ,i spoke of my intended educational activity as something which might help me at the same time to prepare myself for this other task4 ,anyone who learns so to see nature that his ideas can be taken up and understood by the living1 lively soul of the growing child will thereby be training himself1 ,i thought1 in just that kind of observation and thinking which the new science of nature demands4 ,rudolf ,steiner agreed with this1 and it was not long afterwards that ,i joined the school where ,i was to work for eleven years as a science master in the senior classes1 which activity ,i have since continued outside ,germany in a more or less similar form4 ,this conversation with ,rudolf ,steiner took place in a large hall where1 while we were talking1 over a thousand people were assembling to discuss matters of concern to the ,anthroposophical ,movement4 ,this did not prevent him from asking me about the details of my examination work1 in which ,i was still engaged at that time2 he always gave himself fully to whatever claimed his attention at the moment4 ,i told him of my experimental researches in electrical high-frequency phenomena1 briefly introducing the particular problem with which ,i was occupied4 ,i took it for granted that a question from such a specialized branch of physics would not be of much interest to him4 ,judge of my astonishment when he at once took out of his pocket a note-book and a huge carpenter's pencil1 made a sketch and proceeded to speak of the problem as one fully conversant with it1 and in such a way that he gave me the starting point for an entirely new conception of electricity4 ,it was instantly borne in on me that if electricity came to be understood in this sense1 results would follow which in the end would lead to a quite new technique in the use of it4 ,from that moment it became one of my life's aims to contribute whatever my circumstances and powers would allow to the development of an understanding of nature of this kind4 #a ,the speaker was the late ,dr4 ,elizabeth ,vreede1 for some years leader of the ,mathematical-,astronomical ,section at the ,goetheanum1 ,dornach1 ,switzerland4 #b ,the activities mentioned above do not exhaust the practical possibilities of ,spiritual ,science4 ,at that time 7#aiba7 ,rudolf ,steiner had not yet given his indications for the treatment of children needing special care of soul and body1 or for the renewal of the art of acting1 or for the conquest of materialistic methods in agricultural practice4 ,nor did there yet exist the movement for religious renewal ,which ,dr4 ,fr4 ,rittelmeyer later founded1 with the help and advice of ,rudolf ,steiner4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,where ,do ,we ,stand ,to-day8 ,in the year #aicb1 when the world celebrated the hundredth anniversary of ,goethe's death1 ,professor ,w4 ,heisenberg1 one of the foremost thinkers in the field of modern physics1 delivered a speech before the ,saxon ,academy of ,science which may be regarded as symptomatic of the need in recent science to investigate critically the foundations of its own efforts to know nature4#a ,in this speech ,heisenberg draws a picture of the progress of science which differs significantly from the one generally known4 ,instead of giving the usual description of this progress as 'a chain of brilliant and surprising discoveries'1 he shows it as resting on the fact that1 with the aim of continually simplifying and unifying the scientific conception of the world1 human thinking1 in course of time1 has narrowed more and more the scope of its inquiries into outer nature4 ',almost every scientific advance is bought at the cost of renunciation1 almost every gain in knowledge sacrifices important standpoints and established modes of thought4 ,as facts and knowledge accumulate1 the claim of the scientist to an understanding of the world in a certain sense diminishes4' ,our justifiable admiration for the success with which the unending multiplicity of natural occurrences on earth and in the stars has been reduced to so simple a scheme of laws - ,heisenberg implies - must therefore not make us forget that these attainments are bought at the price 'of renouncing the aim of bringing the phenomena of nature to our thinking in an immediate and living way'4 ,in the course of his exposition1 ,heisenberg also speaks of ,goethe1 in whose scientific endeavours he perceives a noteworthy attempt to set scientific understanding upon a path other than that of progressive self-restriction4 ',the renouncing of life and immediacy1 which was the premise for the progress of natural science since ,newton1 formed the real basis for the bitter struggle which ,goethe waged against the physical optics of ,newton4 ,it would be superficial to dismiss this struggle as unimportant3 there is much significance in one of the most outstanding men directing all his efforts to fighting against the development of ,newtonian optics4' ,there is only one thing for which ,heisenberg criticizes ,goethe3 ',if one should wish to reproach ,goethe1 it could only be for not going far enough - that is1 for having attacked the views of ,newton instead of declaring that the whole of ,newtonian ,physics-,optics1 ,mechanics and the ,law of ,gravitation - were from the devil4' ,although the full significance of ,heisenberg's remarks on ,goethe will become apparent only at a later stage of our discussion1 they have been quoted here because they form part of the symptom we wish to characterize4 ,only this much may be pointed out immediately1 that ,goethe - if not in the scientific then indeed in the poetical part of his writings - did fulfil what ,heisenberg rightly feels to have been his true task4#b ,we mentioned ,heisenberg's speech as a symptom of a certain tendency1 characteristic of the latest phase in science1 to survey critically its own epistemological foundations4 ,a few years previous to ,heisenberg's speech1 the need of such a survey found an eloquent advocate in the late ,professor ,a4 ,n4 ,whitehead1 in his book ,science and the ,modern ,world1 where1 in view of the contradictory nature of modern physical theories1 he insists that 'if science is not to degenerate into a medley of ad hoc hypotheses1 it must become philosophical and enter upon a thorough criticism of its own foundations'4 ,among the scientists who have felt this need1 and who have taken pains to fulfil it1 the late ,professor ,a4 ,eddington obtains an eminent position4 ,among his relevant utterances we will quote here the following1 because it contains a concrete statement concerning the field of external observation which forms the basis for the modern scientific world-picture4 ,in his ,philosophy of ,physical ,science we find him stating that 'ideally1 all our knowledge of the universe could have been reached by visual sensation alone - in fact by the simplest form of visual sensation1 colourless and non-stereoscopic'4#c ,in other words1 in order to obtain scientific cognition of the physical world1 man has felt constrained to surrender the use of all his senses except the sense of sight1 and to limit even the act of seeing to the use of a single1 colour-blind eye4 ,let us listen to yet another voice from the ranks of present-day science1 expressing a criticism which is symptomatic of our time4 ,it comes from the late physiologist1 ,professor ,a1 ,carrel1 who1 concerning the effect which scientific research has had on man's life in general1 says in his book1 ,man the ,unknown3 ',the sciences of inert matter have led us into a country that is not ours4 444 ,man is a stranger in the world he has created4' ,of these utterances1 ,eddington's is at the present point of our discussion of special interest for us2 for he outlines in it the precise field of sense-perception into which science has withdrawn in the course of that general retreat towards an ever more restricted questioning of nature which was noted by ,heisenberg4 ,the pertinence of ,eddington's statement is shown immediately one considers what a person would know of the world if his only source of experience were the sense of sight1 still further limited in the way ,eddington describes4 ,out of everything that the world brings to the totality of our senses1 there remains nothing more than mere movements1 with certain changes of rate1 direction1 and so on4 ,the picture of the world received by such an observer is a purely kinematic one4 ,and this is1 indeed1 the character of the world-picture of modern physical science4 ,for in the scientific treatment of natural phenomena all the qualities brought to us by our other senses1 such as colour1 tone1 warmth1 density and even electricity and magnetism1 are reduced to mere movement-changes4 ,as a result1 modern science is prevented from conceiving any valid idea of 'force'4 ,in so far as the concept 'force' appears in scientific considerations1 it plays the part of an 'auxiliary concept'1 and what man naively conceives as force has come to be defined as merely a 'descriptive law of behaviour'4 ,we must leave it for later considerations to show how the scientific mind of man has created for itself the conviction that the part of science occupied with the actions of force in nature can properly be treated with purely kinematic concepts4 ,it is the fact itself which concerns us here4 ,in respect of it1 note as a characteristic of modern text-books that they often simply use the term 'kinetics' 7a shortening of kinematics7 to designate the science of 'dynamics'4#d ,in the course of our investigations we shall discover the peculiarity in human nature which - during the first phase1 now ended1 of man's struggle towards scientific awareness - has caused this renunciation of all sense-experiences except those which come to man through the sight of a single colour-blind eye4 ,it will then also become clear out of what historic necessity this self-restriction of scientific inquiry arose4 ,the acknowledgment of this necessity1 however1 must not prevent us from recognizing the fact that1 as a result of this restriction1 modern scientific research1 which has penetrated far into the dynamic substrata of nature1 finds itself in the peculiar situation that it is not at all guided by its own concepts1 but by the very forces it tries to detect4 ,and in this fact lies the root of the danger which besets the present age4#e ,he who recognizes this1 therefore1 feels impelled to look for a way which leads beyond a one-eyed1 colour-blind conception of the world4 ,it is the aim of this book to show that such a way exists and how it can be followed4 ,proof will thereby be given that along this way not only is a true understanding achieved of the forces already known to science 7though not really understood by it71 but also that other forces1 just as active in nature as for example electricity and magnetism1 come within reach of scientific observation and understanding4 ,and it will be shown that these other forces are of a kind that requires to be known to-day if we are to restore the lost balance to human civilization4 99 ,there is a rule known to physicians that 'a true diagnosis of a case contains in itself the therapy'4 ,no true diagnosis is possible1 however1 without investigation of the 'history' of the case4 ,applied to our task1 this means that we must try to find an aspect of human development1 both individual and historical1 which will enable us to recognize in man's own being the cause responsible for the peculiar narrowing of the scope of scientific inquiry1 as described by the scientists cited above4 ,a characteristic of scientific inquiry1 distinguishing it from man's earlier ways of solving the riddles of the world1 is that it admits as instruments of knowledge exclusively those activities of the human soul over which we have full control because they take place in the full light of consciousness4 ,this also explains why there has been no science1 in the true sense of the word1 prior to the beginning of the era commonly called 'modern' - that is1 before the fifteenth century4 ,for the consciousness on which man's scientific striving is based is itself an outcome of human evolution4 ,this evolution1 therefore1 needs to be considered in such a way that we understand the origin of modern man's state of mind1 and in particular why this state of mind cannot of itself have any other relationship to the world than that of a spectator4 ,for let us be clear that this peculiar relationship by no means belongs only to the scientifically engaged mind4 ,every adult in our age is1 by virtue of his psycho-physical structure1 more or less a world-spectator4 ,what distinguishes the state of man's mind when engaged in scientific observation is that it is restricted to a one-eyed colour-blind approach4 99 ',death is the price man has to pay for his brain and his personality' - this is how a modern physiologist 7,a4 ,carrel in his aforementioned book1 ,man the ,unknown7 describes the connexion between man's bodily functions and his waking consciousness4 ,it is characteristic of the outlook prevailing in the nineteenth century that thinking was regarded as the result of the life of the body2 that is1 of the body's matter-building processes4 ,hence no attention was paid at that time to the lonely voice of the ,german philosopher1 ,c4 ,fortlage 7#ahjf-ha71 who in his ,system of ,psychology as ,empirical ,science suggested that consciousness is really based on death processes in the body4 ,from this fact he boldly drew the conclusion 7known to us today to be true7 that if 'partial death' gave rise to ordinary consciousness1 then 'total death' must result in an extraordinary enhancement of consciousness4 ,again1 when in our century ,rudolf ,steiner drew attention to the same fact1 which he had found along his own lines of investigation1 showing thereby the true role of the nervous system in regard to the various activities of the soul1 official science turned a deaf ear to his pronouncement4#f ,to-day the scientist regards it as forming part of 'unknown man' that life must recede - in other words1 that the organ-building processes of the body must come to a standstill - if consciousness is to come into its own4 ,with the recognition of a death process in the nervous system as the bodily foundation of consciousness1 and particularly of man's conceptual activities1 the question arises as to the nature of those activities which have their foundation in other systems1 such as that of the muscles1 where life1 not death1 prevails4 ,here an answer must be given which will surprise the reader acquainted with modern theories of psycho-physical interaction2 but if he meets it with an open mind he will not find it difficult to test4 ,just as the conceptual activity has as its bodily foundation the brain1 with the nervous appendages1 so it is volitional activity which is based on processes taking place in the muscular region of the body and in those organs which provide the body's metabolism4 ,a statement which says that man's will is as directly based on the metabolic processes of the body1 both inside and outside the muscles1 as is his perceiving and thought-forming mind on a process in the nerves1 is bound to cause surprise4 ,firstly1 it seems to leave out the role commonly ascribed to the so-called motoric part of the nervous system in bringing about bodily action2 and secondly1 the acknowledgment of the dependence of consciousness on corporeal 'dying' implies that willing is an unconscious activity because of its being based on life processes of the body4 ,the first of these two problems will find its answer at a later stage of our discussion when we shall see what entitles us to draw a direct connexion between volition and muscular action4 ,to answer the second problem1 simple self-observation is required4 ,this tells us that1 when we move a limb1 all that we know of is the intention 7in its conceptual form7 which rouses the will and gives it its direction1 and the fact of the completed deed4 ,in between1 we accompany the movement with a dim awareness of the momentary positions of the parts of the body involved1 so that we know whether or not they are moving in the intended manner4 ,this awareness is due to a particular sense1 the 'sense of movement' or 'muscular sense' - one of those senses whose existence physiology has lately come to acknowledge4 ,nothing1 however1 is known to us of all the complex changes which are set into play within the muscles themselves in order to carry out some intended movement4 ,and it is these that are the direct outcome of the activity of our will4 ,regarding man's psycho-physical organization thus1 we come to see in it a kind of polarity - a death-pole1 as it were1 represented by the nerves including their extension into the senses1 and a life-pole1 represented by the metabolic and muscular systems2 and connected with them a pole of consciousness and one of unconsciousness - or as we can also say1 of waking and sleeping consciousness4 ,for the degree of consciousness on the side of the life-pole is not different from the state in which the entire human being dwells during sleep4 ,it is by thus recognizing the dependence of consciousness on processes of bodily disintegration that we first come to understand why consciousness1 once it has reached a certain degree of brightness1 is bound to suffer repeated interruptions4 ,every night1 when we sleep1 our nervous system becomes alive 7though with gradually decreasing intensity7 in order that what has been destroyed during the day may be restored4 ,while the system is kept in this condition1 no consciousness can obtain in it4 ,in between the two polarically opposite systems there is a third1 again of clearly distinct character1 which functions as a mediator between the two4 ,here all processes are of a strictly rhythmic nature1 as is shown by the process of breathing and the pulsation of the blood4 ,this system1 too1 provides the foundation for a certain type of psychological process1 namely feeling4 ,that feeling is an activity of the soul distinct from both thinking and willing1 and that it has its direct counterpart in the rhythmic processes of the body1 can be most easily tested through observing oneself when listening to music4 ,as one might expect from its median position1 the feeling sphere of the soul is characterized by a degree of consciousness half-way between waking and sleeping4 ,of our feelings we are not more conscious than of our dreams2 we are as little detached from them as from our dream experiences while these last2 what remains in our memory of past feelings is usually not more than what we remember of past dreams4 ,this picture of the threefold psycho-physical structure of man will now enable us to understand the evolution of consciousness both in individual life and in the life of mankind4 ,to furnish the foundation of waking consciousness1 parts of the body must become divorced from life4 ,this process1 however1 is one which1 if we take the word in its widest sense1 we may call1 ageing4 ,all organic bodies1 and equally that of man1 are originally traversed throughout by life4 ,only gradually certain parts of such an organism become precipitated1 as it were1 from the general organic structure1 and they do so increasingly towards the end of that organism's life-span4 ,in the human body this separation sets in gently during the later stages of embryonic development and brings about the first degree of independence of bones and nerves from the rest of the organism4 ,the retreat of life continues after birth1 reaching a certain climax in the nervous system at about the twenty-first year4 ,in the body of a small child there is still comparatively little contrast between living and non-living organs4 ,there is equally little contrast between sleeping and waking condition in its soul4 ,and the nature of the soul at this stage is volition throughout4 ,never1 in fact1 does man's soul so intensively will as in the time when it is occupied in bringing the body into an upright position1 and never again does it exert its strength with the same unconsciousness of the goal to which it strives4 ,what1 then1 is the soul's characteristic relationship to the world around at this stage8 ,the following observations will enable us to answer this question4 ,it is well known that small children often angrily strike an object against which they have stumbled4 ,this has been interpreted as 'animism'1 by which it is meant that the child1 by analogy with his experience of himself as a soul-filled body1 imagines the things in his surroundings to be similarly ensouled4 ,anyone who really observes the child's mode of experience 7of which we as adults1 indeed1 keep something in our will-life7 is led to a quite different interpretation of such a phenomenon4 ,for he realizes that the child neither experiences himself as soul-entity distinct from his body1 nor faces the content of the world in so detached a manner as to be in need of using his imagination to read into it any soul-entities distinct from his own4 ,in this early period of his life the human being still feels the world as part of himself1 and himself as part of the world4 ,consequently1 his relation to the objects around him and to his own body is one and the same4 ,to the example of the child beating the external object he has stumbled against1 there belongs the complementary picture of the child who beats himself because he has done something which makes him angry with himself4 ,in sharp contrast to this state of oneness of the child's soul1 in regard both to its own body and to the surrounding world1 there stands the separatedness of the adult's intellectual consciousness1 severed from both body and world4 ,what happens to this part of the soul during its transition from one condition to the other may be aptly described by using a comparison from another sphere of natural phenomena4 7,later descriptions in this book will show that a comparison such as the one used here is more than a mere external analogy47 ,let us think of water in which salt has been dissolved4 ,in this state the salt is one with its solvent2 there is no visible distinction between them4 ,the situation changes when part of the salt crystallizes4 ,by this process the part of the salt substance concerned loses its connexion with the liquid and contracts into individually outlined and spatially defined pieces of solid matter4 ,it thereby becomes optically distinguishable from its environment4 ,something similar happens to the soul within the region of the nervous system4 ,what keeps the soul in a state of unconsciousness as long as the body1 in childhood1 is traversed by life throughout1 and what continues to keep it in this condition in the parts which remain alive after the separation of the nerves1 is the fact that in these parts - to maintain the analogy - the soul is dissolved in the body4 ,with the growing independence of the nerves1 the soul itself gains independence from the body4 ,at the same time it undergoes a process similar to contraction whereby it becomes discernible to itself as an entity distinguished from the surrounding world4 ,in this way the soul is enabled1 eventually1 to meet the world from outside as a self-conscious onlooker4 99 ,what we have here described as the emergence of an individual's intellectual consciousness from the original1 purely volitional condition of the soul is nothing but a replica of a greater process through which mankind as a whole1 or more exactly ,western mankind1 has gone in the course of its historical development4 ,man was not always the 'brain-thinker' he is to-day4#g ,directly the separation of the nerve system was completed1 and thereby the full clarity of the brain-bound consciousness achieved1 man began to concern himself with science in the modern sense4 ,to understand why this science became restricted to one-eyed1 colour-blind observation we need only apply to the human sense system1 in particular1 what we have learnt concerning man's threefold being4 ,sharply distinguished by their respective modes of functioning though they are1 the three bodily systems are each spread out through the whole body and are thus to be found everywhere adjacent to each other4 ,hence1 the corresponding three states of consciousness1 the sleeping1 dreaming and waking1 are also everywhere adjacent and woven into one another4 ,it is the predominance of one or other which imparts a particular quality of soul to one or other region of the body4 ,this is clearly shown within the realm of sense activity1 itself the most conscious part of the human being4 ,it is sufficient to compare1 say1 the senses of sight and smell1 and to notice in what different degree we are conscious of the impressions they convey1 and how differently the corresponding elements of conception1 feeling and willing are blended in each4 ,we never turn away as instinctively from objectionable colour arrangement as from an unpleasant smell4 ,how small a part1 on the other hand1 do the representations of odours play in our recollection of past experiences1 compared with those of sight4#h ,the same is valid in descending measure for all other senses4 ,of all senses1 the sense of sight has in greatest measure the qualities of a 'conceptual sense'4 ,the experiences which it brings1 and these alone1 were suitable as a basis for the new science1 and even so a further limitation was necessary4 ,for in spite of the special quality of the sense of sight1 it is still not free from certain elements of feeling and will - that is1 from elements with the character of dream or sleep4 ,the first plays a part in our perception of colour2 the second1 in observing the forms and perspective ordering of objects we look at4 ,here is repeated in a special way the threefold organization of man1 for the seeing of colour depends on an organic process apart from the nerve processes and similar to that which takes place between heart and lungs1 whilst the seeing of forms and spatial vision depend upon certain movements of the eyeball 7quick traversing of the outline of the viewed object with the line of sight1 alteration of the angle between the two axes of sight according to distance71 in which the eye is active as a sort of outer limb of the body1 an activity which enters our consciousness as little as does that of our limbs4 ,it now becomes clear that no world-content obtained in such more or less unconscious ways could be made available for the building of a new scientific world-conception4 ,only as much as man experiences through the sight of a single1 colour-blind eye1 could be used4#i 99 ,if we would understand the role of science in the present phase of human development1 we must be ready to apply two entirely different and seemingly contradictory judgments to one and the same historical phenomenon4 ,the fact that something has occurred out of historical necessity - that is1 a necessity springing from the very laws of cosmic evolution - does not save it from having a character which1 in view of its consequences1 must needs be called tragic4 ,in this era of advanced intellectualism1 little understanding of the existence of true tragedy in human existence has survived4 ,as a result1 the word 'tragedy' itself has deteriorated in its meaning and is nowadays used mostly as a synonym for 'sad event'1 'calamity' 'serious event'1 even 'crime' 7,oxford ,diet474 ,in its original meaning1 however1 springing from the dramatic poetry of ancient ,greece1 the word combines the concept of calamity with that of inevitability2 the author of the destructive action was not held to be personally responsible for it1 since he was caught up in a nexus of circumstances which he could not change4 ,this is not the place to discuss why tragedy in this sense forms part of man's existence4 ,it suffices to acknowledge that it does and1 where it occurs1 to observe it with scientific objectivity4 ,our considerations1 starting from certain statements made by some leading scientific thinkers of our time1 have helped us not only to confirm the truth inherent in these statements1 but to recognize the facts stated by them as being the outcome of certain laws of evolution and thereby having an historic necessity4 ,this1 however1 does not mean that man's scientific labours1 carried out under the historically given restrictions1 great and successful as these labours were and are1 have not led to calamitous effects such as we found indicated by ,professor ,carrel4 ,the sciences of matter have led man into a country that is not his1 and the world which he has created by means of scientific research is not only one in which he is a stranger but one which threatens to-day to deprive him of his own existence4 ,the reason is that this world is essentially a world of active forces1 and the true nature of these is something which modern man1 restricted to his onlooker-consciousness1 is positively unable to conceive4 ,we have taken a first step in diagnosing man's present spiritual condition4 ,a few more steps are required to lead us to the point where we can conceive the therapy he needs4 #a ,this address and another by the same author are published together under the common title1 ,wandlungen in den ,grundlagen der ,naturwissenschaft 7',changes in the foundations of ,natural ,science'74 ,heisenberg's name has become known above all by his formulation of the so-called ,principle of ,indeterminacy4 #b ,see1 in this respect1 ,faust's dispute with ,mephistopheles on the causes responsible for the geological changes of the earth4 7,faust ,,ii1 ,act #d7 #c ,see also ,eddington's more elaborate description of this fact in his ,new ,pathways in ,science4 ,the above statement1 like others of ,eddington's1 has been ,contested from the side of professional philosophy as logically untenable4 ,our own further discussion will show that it accords with the facts4 #d ,both words1 kinematics and kinetics1 are derivatives of the ,greek word kinein1 to move4 ,the term 'kinematic' is used when motion is considered abstractly without reference to force or mass4 ,kinetics is applied kinematics1 or1 as pointed out above1 dynamics treated with kinematic concepts4 #e ,these last statements will find further illustration in the next two chapters4 #f ,first published in #aiag in his book ,von ,seelenrtseln4 #g ,homer's men still think with the diaphragm 7phrenes74 ,similarly1 the ancient practice of ,yoga1 as a means of acquiring knowledge1 shows that at the time ,when it flourished man's conceptual activity was felt to be seated elsewhere than in the head4 #h ,this must not be confused with the fact that a smell may evoke other memories by way of association4 #i ,for one who endeavours to observe historical facts in the manner here described1 it is no mere play of chance that the father of scientific atomism1 ,john ,dalton1 was by nature colour blind4 ,in fact1 colour blindness was known1 for a considerable time during the last century1 as ',daltonism'1 since it was through the publication of ,dalton's self-observations that for the first time general attention was drawn to this phenomenon4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,the ,onlooker's ,philosophic ,malady ,in his isolation as world spectator1 the modern philosopher was bound to reach two completely opposite views regarding the objective value of human thought4 ,one of these was given expression in ,descartes' famous words3 ,cogito ergo sum 7',i think1 therefore ,i am'74 ,descartes 7#aeif-afej71 rightly described as the inaugurator of modern philosophy1 thus held the view that only in his own thought-activity does man find a guarantee of his own existence4 ,in coming to this view1 ,descartes took as his starting-point his experience that human consciousness contains only the thought pictures evoked by sense-perception1 and yet knows nothing of the how and why of the things responsible for such impressions4 ,he thus found himself compelled1 in the first place1 to doubt whether any of these things had any objective existence1 at all4 ,hence1 there remained over for him only one indubitable item in the entire content of the universe - his own thinking2 for were he to doubt even this1 he could do so only by again making use of it4 ,from the ',i doubt1 therefore ,i am'1 he was led in this way to the ',i think1 therefore ,i am'4 ,the other conception of human thought reached by the onlooker-consciousness was diametrically opposed to that of ,descartes1 and entirely cancelled its conceptual significance4 ,it was put forward - not long afterwards - by ,robert ,hooke 7#afce-agjc71 the first scientist to make systematic use of the newly invented microscope by means of which he made the fundamental discovery of the cellular structure of plant tissues4 ,it was1 indeed1 on the strength of his microscopic studies that he boldly undertook to determine the relationship of human thought to objective reality4 ,he published his views in the introduction to his ,micrographia1 the great work in which1 with the lavish help of carefully executed copper engravings1 he made his microscopic observations known to the world4 ,hooke's line of thought is briefly as follows3 ,in past ages men subscribed to the naive belief that what they have in their consciousness as thought pictures of the world1 actually reproduces the real content of that world4 ,the microscope now demonstrates1 however1 how much the familiar appearance of the world depends on the structure of our sense apparatus2 for it reveals a realm just as real as that already known to us1 but hitherto concealed from us because it is not accessible to the natural senses4 ,accordingly1 if the microscope can penetrate through the veil of illusion which normally hides a whole world of potentially visible phenomena1 it may be that it can even teach us something about the ideas we have hitherto formed concerning the nature of things4 ,perhaps it can bring us a step nearer the truth in the sphere of thought1 as it so obviously has done in that of observation4 ,of all the ideas that human reason can form1 ,hooke considered the simplest and the most fundamental to be the geometrical concepts of point and straight line4 ,undoubtedly we are able to think these1 but the nave consciousness takes for granted that it also perceives them as objective realities outside itself1 so that thoughts and facts correspond to each other4 ,we must now ask1 however1 if this belief is not due to an optical deception4 ,let us turn to the microscope and see what point and line in the external world look like through it4 ,for his investigation ,hooke chose the point of a needle and a knife-edge1 as providing the best representatives among physical objects of point and straight line4 ,in the sketches here reproduced we may see how ,hooke made clear to his readers how little these two things1 when observed through the microscope1 resemble what is seen by the unaided eye4 ,this fact convinced ,hooke that the apparent agreement between the world of perception and the world of ideas rests on nothing more solid than an optical limitation 7,plate ,i74 ,compared with the more refined methods of present-day thought1 ,hooke's procedure may strike us as somewhat primitive4 ,actually he did nothing more than has since been done times without number2 for the scientist has become more and more willing to allow artificially evoked sense-perceptions to dictate the thoughts he uses in forming a scientific picture of the world4 ,in the present context we are concerned with the historical import of ,hooke's procedure4 ,this lies in the fact that1 immediately after ,descartes had satisfied himself that in thinking man had the one sure guarantee of his own existence1 ,hooke proved in a seemingly indubitable manner that thinking was entirely divorced from reality4 ,it required only another century for philosophy to draw from this the unavoidable consequence4 ,it appeared in the form of ,hume's philosophic system1 the outcome of which was universal scepticism4 ,as we shall see in due course1 ,hume's mode of reasoning continues to rule scientific thought even to-day1 quite irrespective of the fact that science itself claims to have its philosophical parent in ,kant1 the very thinker who devoted his life's work to the refutation of ,hume4 99 ,on the basis of his investigations into human consciousness ,hume felt obliged to reason thus3 ,my consciousness1 as ,i know it1 has no contact with the external world other than that of a mere outside onlooker4 ,what it wins for its own content from the outer world is in the nature of single1 mutually unrelated parts4 ,whatever may unite these parts into an objective whole within the world itself can never enter my consciousness2 and any such unifying factor entertained by my thought can be only a self-constructed1 hypothetical picture4 ,hume summed up his view in two axioms which he himself described as the alpha and omega of his whole philosophy4 ,the first runs3 ',all our distinct perceptions are distinct existences4' ,the other3 ',the ,mind never perceives any real connexions between distinct existences4' 7,treatise of ,human ,nature47 ,if once we agree that we can know of nothing but unrelated thought pictures1 because our consciousness is not in a position to relate these pictures to a unifying reality1 then we have no right to ascribe1 with ,descartes and his school1 an objective reality to the self4 ,even though the self may appear to us as the unifying agent among our thoughts1 it must itself be a mental picture among mental pictures 2 and man can have no knowledge of any permanent reality outside this fluctuating picture-realm4 ,so1 with ,hume1 the onlooker-consciousness came to experience its own utter inability to achieve a knowledge of the objective existence either of a material world be - behind all external phenomena1 or of a spiritual self behind all the details of its own internal content4 ,accordingly1 human consciousness found itself hurled into the abyss of universal scepticism4 ,hume himself suffered unspeakably under the impact of what he considered inescapable ideas - rightly described from another side as the 'suicide of human intelligence' - and his philosophy often seemed to him like a malady1 as he himself called it1 against whose grip he could see no remedy4 ,the only thing left to him1 if he was to prevent philosophical suicide from ending in physical suicide1 was to forget in daily life his own conclusions as far as possible4 ,what ,hume experienced as his philosophical malady1 however1 was the result not of a mental abnormality peculiar to himself1 but of that modern form of consciousness which still prevails in general today4 ,this explains why1 despite all attempts to disprove ,hume's philosophy1 scientific thought has not broken away from its alpha and omega in the slightest degree4 ,a proof of this is to be found1 for example1 in the principle of ,indeterminacy which has arisen in modern physics4 99 ,the conception of ,indeterminacy as an unavoidable consequence of the latest phase of physical research is due to ,professor ,w4 ,heisenberg4 ,originally this conception forced itself upon ,heisenberg as a result of experimental research4 ,in the meantime the same idea has received its purely philosophical foundation4 ,we shall here deal with both lines of approach4 ,after the discovery by ,galileo of the parallelogram of forces1 it became the object of classical physics - unexpressed1 indeed1 until ,newton wrote his ,principia - to bring the unchanging laws ruling nature into the light of human consciousness1 and to give them conceptual expression in the language of mathematical formulae4 ,since1 however1 science was obliged to restrict itself to what could be observed with a single1 colour-blind eye1 physics has taken as its main object of research the spatio-temporal relationships1 and their changes1 between discrete1 ideally conceived1 point-like particles4 ,accordingly1 the mathematically formulable laws holding sway in nature came to mean the laws according to which the smallest particles in the material foundation of the world change their position with regard to each other4 ,a science of this kind could logically maintain that1 if ever it succeeded in defining both the position and the state of motion1 in one single moment1 of the totality of particles composing the universe1 it would have discovered the law on which universal existence depends4 ,this necessarily rested on the presupposition that it really was the ultimate particles of the physical world which were under observation4 ,in the search for these1 guided chiefly by the study of electricity1 the physicists tracked down ever smaller and smaller units2 and along this path scientific research has arrived at the following peculiar situation4 ,to observe any object in the sense world we need an appropriate medium of observation4 ,for ordinary things1 light provides this4 ,in the sense in which light is understood to-day1 this is possible because the spatial extension of the single light impulses1 their so-called wavelength1 is immeasurably smaller than the average magnitude of all microscopically visible objects4 ,this ensures that they can be observed clearly by the human eye4 ,much smaller objects1 however1 will require a correspondingly shorter wave-length in the medium of observation4 ,now shorter wave-lengths than those of visible light have been found in ultra-violet light and in ,x-rays2 and these1 accordingly1 are now often used for minute physical research4 ,in this way1 however1 we are led by nature to a definite boundary2 for we now find ourselves in a realm where the dimensions of the observation medium and the observed object are more or less the same4 ,the result1 unfortunately1 is that when the 'light' meets the object1 it changes the latter's condition of movement4 ,on the other hand1 if a 'light' is used whose wave-length is too big to have any influence on the object's condition of movement1 it precludes any exact determination of the object's location4 ,thus1 having arrived at the very ground of the world - that is1 where the cosmic laws might be expected to reveal themselves directly - the scientist finds himself in the remarkable situation of only being able to determine accurately either the position of an observed object and not its state of motion1 or its state of motion and not its position4 ,the law he seeks1 however1 requires that both should be known at the same time4 ,nor is this situation due to the imperfection of the scientific apparatus employed1 but to its very perfection1 so that it appears to arise from the nature of the foundation of the world - in so far1 at least1 as modern science is bound to conceive it4 ,if it is true that a valid scientific knowledge of nature is possible only in the sphere open to a single-eyed1 colour-blind observation1 and if it is true - as a science of this kind1 at any rate1 is obliged to believe - that all processes within the material foundation of the world depend on nothing but the movements of certain elementary particles of extremely small size1 then the fact must be faced that the very nature of these processes rules out the discovery of any stable ordering of things in the sense of mathematically formulable laws4 ,the discovery of such laws will then always be the last step but one in scientific investigation2 the last will inevitably be the dissolution of such laws into chaos4 ,for a consistent scientific thinking that goes this way1 therefore1 nothing is left but to recognize chaos as the only real basis of an apparently ordered world1 a chaos on whose surface the laws that seem to hold sway are only the illusory picturings of the human mind4 ,this1 then1 is the principle of ,indeterminacy as it has been encountered in the course of practical investigation into the electrical processes within physical matter4 ,in the following way ,professor ,schrdinger1 another leading thinker among modern theoretical physicists1 explains the philosophical basis for the principle of ,indeterminacy1 which scientists have established in the meantime3#a ',every quantitative observation1 every observation making use of measurement1 is by nature discontinuous4 444 ,however far we go in the pursuit of accuracy we shall never get anything other than a finite series of discrete results4 444 ,the raw material of our quantitative cognition of nature will always have this primitive and discontinuous character4 444 ,it is possible that a physical system might be so simple that this meagre information would suffice to settle its fate2 in that case nature would not be more complicated than a game of chess4 ,to determine a position of a game of chess thirty-three facts suffice4 444 ,if nature is more complicated than a game of chess1 a belief to which one tends to incline1 then a physical system cannot be determined by a finite number of observations4 ,but in practice a finite number of observations is all that we could make4' ,classical physics1 the author goes on to show1 held that it was possible to gain a real insight into the laws of the universe1 because in principle an infinite number of such discrete observations would enable us to fill in the gaps sufficiently to allow us to determine the system of the physical world4 ,against this assumption modern physics must hold the view that an infinite number of observations cannot in any case be carried out in practice1 and that nothing compels us to assume that even this would suffice to furnish us with the means for a complete determination1 which alone would allow us to speak of 'law' in nature4 ',this is the direction in which modern physics has led us without really intending it4' ,what we have previously said will make it clear enough that in these words of a modern physicist we meet once more the two fundamentals of ,hume's philosophy4 ,it is just as obvious1 however1 that the very principle thus re-affirmed at the latest stage of modern physical science was already firmly established by ,hooke1 when he sought to prove to his contemporaries the unreality of human ideas4 ,let us recall ,hooke's motives and results4 ,the human reason discovers that certain law-abiding forms of thought dwell within itself2 these are the rules of mathematical thinking4 ,the eye informs the reason that the same kind of law and order is present also in the outer world4 ,the mind can think point and line2 the eye reports that the same forms exist in nature outside4 7,hooke could just as well have taken as his examples the apex and edge of a crystal47 ,the reason mistrusts the eye1 however1 and with the help of the microscope 'improves' on it4 ,what hitherto had been taken for a compact1 regulated whole now collapses into a heap of unordered parts2 behind the illusion of law a finer observation detects the reality of chaos6 ,had science in its vehement career from discovery to discovery not forgotten its own beginnings so completely1 it would not have needed its latest researches to bring out a principle which it had in fact been following from the outset - a principle which philosophy had already recognized1 if not in quite the same formulation1 in the eighteenth century4 ,indeterminacy1 as we have just seen it explained by ,schrdinger1 is nothing but the exact continuation of ,humean scepticism4 #a ,in his book1 ,science and the ,human ,temperament 7,dublin1 #aice74 ,,chapter ,,iv ,the ,country that is ,not ,ours ,the last two chapters have served to show the impasse into which human perception and thinking have come - in so far as they have been used for scientific purposes - by virtue of the relationship to the world in which man's consciousness found itself when it awoke to itself at the beginning of modern times4 ,now although the onlooker in man1 especially in the earliest stage of our period1 gave itself up to the conviction that a self-contained picture of the universe could be formed out of the kind of materials available to it1 it nevertheless had a dim inkling that this picture1 because it lacked all dynamic content1 had no bearing on the real nature of the universe4 ,unable to find this reality within himself1 the world-onlooker set about searching in his own way for what was missing1 and turned to the perceptible world outside man4 ,here he came1 all unexpectedly1 upon 444 electricity4 ,scarcely was electricity discovered than it drew human scientific thinking irresistibly into its own realm4 ,thereby man found himself1 with a consciousness completely blind to dynamics1 within a sphere of only too real dynamic forces4 ,the following description will show what results this has had for man and his civilization4 99 ,first1 let us recall how potent a role electricity has come to play in social life through the great discoveries which began at the end of the eighteenth century4 ,to do this we need only compare the present relationship between production and consumption in the economic sphere with what it was before the power-machine1 and especially the electrically driven machine1 had been invented4 ,consider some major public undertaking in former times - say the construction of a great mediaeval cathedral4 ,almost all the work was done by human beings1 with some help1 of course1 from domesticated animals4 ,under these circumstances the entire source of productive power lay in the will-energies of living beings1 whose bodies had to be supplied with food1 clothing and housing2 and to provide these1 other productive powers of a similar kind were required near the same place4 ,accordingly1 since each of the power units employed in the work was simultaneously both producer and consumer1 a certain natural limit was placed on the accumulation of productive forces in any one locality4 ,this condition of natural balance between production and consumption was profoundly disturbed by the introduction of the steam engine2 but even so there were still some limits1 though of a quite different kind1 to local concentrations of productive power4 ,for steam engines require water and coal at the scene of action1 and these take up space and need continual shifting and replenishing4 ,owing to the very nature of physical matter1 it cannot be heaped up where it is required in unlimited quantities4 ,all this changed directly man succeeded in producing energy electro-magnetically by the mere rotation of material masses1 and in using the water-power of the earth - itself ultimately derived from the cosmic energies of the sun - for driving his dynamos4 ,not only is the source of energy thus tapped practically inexhaustible1 but the machines produce it without consuming on their own account1 apart from wear and tear1 and so make possible the almost limitless accumulation of power in one place4 ,for electricity is distinguished from all other power-supplying natural forces1 living or otherwise1 precisely in this1 that it can be concentrated spatially with the aid of a physical carrier whose material bulk is insignificant compared with the energy supplied4 ,through this property of electricity it has been possible for man to extend the range of his activity in all directions1 far and near4 ,so the balance between production and consumption1 which in previous ages was more or less adequately maintained by natural conditions1 has been entirely destroyed1 and a major social-economic problem created4 ,in yet another way1 and through quite another of its properties1 electricity plays an important part in modern life4 ,not only does it compete with the human will2 it also makes possible automatically intelligent operations quite beyond anything man can do on his own4 ,there are innumerable examples of this in modern electrical technology2 we need mention here only the photo-electric cell and the many devices into which it enters4 ,to an ever-increasing1 quite uncontrolled degree - for to the mind of present-day man it is only natural to translate every new discovery into practice as soon and as extensively as possible - electricity enters decisively into our modern existence4 ,if we take all its activities into account1 we see arising amongst humanity a vast realm of labour units1 possessed in their own way not only of will but of the sharpest imaginable intelligence4 ,although they are wholly remote from man's own nature1 he more and more subdues his thoughts and actions to theirs1 allowing them to take rank as guides and shapers of his civilization4 ,turning to the sphere of scientific research1 we find electricity playing a role in the development of modern thinking remarkably similar to its part as a labour-force in everyday life4 ,we find it associated with phenomena which1 in ,professor ,heisenberg's words1 expose their mutual connexions to exact mathematical thinking more readily than do any other facts of nature2 and yet the way in which these phenomena have become known has played fast and loose with mathematical thinking to an unparalleled degree4 ,to recognize that in this sphere modern science owes its triumphs to a strange and often paradoxical mixture of outer accident and error in human thought1 we need only review the history of the subject without prejudice4 99 ,the discovery of electricity has so far been accomplished in four clearly distinct stages4 ,the first extends from the time when men first knew of electrical phenomena to the beginning of the natural scientific age2 the second includes the seventeenth and the greater part of the eighteenth centuries2 the third begins with ,galvani's discovery and closes with the first observations of radiant electricity2 and the fourth brings us to our own day4 ,we shall here concern ourselves with a few outstanding features of each phase1 enough to characterize the strange path along which man has been led by the discovery of electricity4 ,until the beginning of modern times1 nothing more was known about electricity1 or of its sister force1 magnetism1 than what we find in ,pliny's writings4 ,there1 without recognizing a qualitative distinction between them1 he refers to the faculty of rubbed amber and of certain pieces of iron to attract other small pieces of matter4 ,it required the awakening of that overruling interest in material nature1 characteristic of our own age1 for the essential difference between electric and magnetic attraction to be recognized4 ,the first to give a proper description of this was ,queen ,elizabeth's doctor1 ,gilbert4 ,his discovery was soon followed by the construction of the first electrical machine by the ,german ,guericke 7also known through his invention of the air pump7 which opened the way for the discovery that electricity could be transmitted from one place to another4 ,it was not1 however1 until the beginning of the eighteenth century that the crop of electrical discoveries began to increase considerably3 among these was the recognition of the dual nature of electricity1 by the ,frenchman1 ,dufais1 and the chance invention of the ,leyden jar 7made simultaneously by the ,german1 von ,kleist1 and two ,dutchmen1 ,musschenbroek and ,cunaeus74 ,the ,leyden jar brought electrical effects of quite unexpected intensity within reach4 ,stimulated by what could be done with electricity in this form1 more and more people now busied themselves in experimenting with so fascinating a force of nature1 until in the second third of the century a whole army of observers was at work1 whether by way of profession or of hobby1 finding out ever new manifestations of its powers4 ,the mood that prevailed in those days among men engaged in electrical research is well reflected in a letter written by the ,englishman1 ,walsh1 after he had established the electric nature of the shocks given by certain fishes1 to ,benjamin ,franklin1 who shortly before had discovered the natural occurrence of electricity in the atmosphere3 ',i rejoice in addressing these communications to ,you4 ,he1 who predicted and shewed that electricity wings the formidable bolt of the ,atmosphere1 will hear with attention that in the deep it speeds a humbler bolt1 silent and invisible2 ,he1 who analysed the electrical ,phial1 will hear with pleasure that its laws prevail in animate ,phials2 ,he1 who by ,reason became an electrician1 will hear with reverence of an instinctive electrician1 gifted in his birth with a wonderful apparatus1 and with the skill to use it4' 7,phil4 ,trans4 #aggc47 ,dare one believe that in electricity the soul of nature had been discovered8 ,this was the question which at that time stirred the hearts of very many in ,europe4 ,doctors had already sought to arouse new vitality in their patients by the use of strong electric shocks2 attempts had even been made to bring the dead back to life by such means4 4 ,in a time like ours1 when we are primarily concerned with the practical application of scientific discoveries1 we are mostly accustomed to regard such flights of thought from a past age as nothing but the unessential accompaniment of youthful1 immature science1 and to smile at them accordingly as historical curiosities4 ,this is a mistake1 for we then overlook how within them was hidden an inkling of the truth1 however wrongly conceived at the time1 and we ignore the role which such apparently fantastic hopes have played in connexion with the entry of electricity into human civilization4 7,nor are such hopes confined to the eighteenth century2 as we shall see1 the same impulse urged ,crookes a hundred years later to that decisive discovery which was to usher in the latest phase in the history of science1 a phase in which the investigating human spirit has been led to that boundary of the physical-material world where the transition takes place from inert matter into freely working energy47 ,if there was any doubt left as to whether in nature the same power was at work which1 in animal and man1 was hidden away within the soul1 this doubt seemed finally to have been dispelled through ,galvani's discovery that animal limbs could be made to move electrically through being touched by two bits of different metals4 ,no wonder that 'the storm which was loosed in the world of the physicists1 the physiologists and the doctors through ,galvani's publication can only be compared with the one crossing the political horizon of ,europe at the same time4 ,wherever there happened to be frogs and two pieces of different metals available1 everyone sought proof with his own eyes that the severed limbs could be marvellously re-enlivened4'#a ,like many of his contemporaries1 ,galvani was drawn by the fascinating behaviour of the new force of nature to carry on electrical experiments as a hobby alongside his professional work1 anatomical research4 ,for his experiments he used the room where his anatomical specimens were set out4 ,so it happened that his electrical machine stood near some frogs' legs1 prepared for dissection4 ,by a further coincidence his assistant1 while playing with the machine1 released a few sparks just when some of the specimens were in such contact with the surface beneath them that they were bound to react to the sudden alteration of the electric field round the machine caused by its discharge4 ,at each spark the frogs' legs twitched4 ,what ,galvani saw with his own eyes seemed to be no less than the union of two phenomena1 one observed by ,franklin in the heights of the atmosphere1 the other by ,walsh in the depths of the sea4 ,galvani1 as he himself describes1 proceeded with immense enthusiasm to investigate systematically what accident had thus put into his hands4#b ,he wanted first to see whether changes occurring naturally in the electrical condition of the atmosphere would call forth the same reaction in his specimens4 ,for this purpose he fastened one end of an iron wire to a point high up outside his house2 the lower end he connected with the nervous substance of a limb from one of his specimens1 and to the foot of this he attached a second wire whose other end he submerged in a well4 ,the specimen itself was either enclosed in a glass flask in order to insulate it1 or simply left lying on a table near the well4 ,and all this he did whenever a thunderstorm was threatening4 ,as he himself reported3 ',all took place as expected4 ,whenever the lightning flashed1 all the muscles simultaneously came into repeated and violent twitchings1 so that the movements of the muscles1 like the flash of the lightning1 always preceded the thunder1 and thus1 as it were1 heralded its coming4' ,we can have some idea of what went on in ,galvani's mind during these experiments if we picture vividly to ourselves the animal limbs twitching about every time the lightning flashed1 as if a revitalizing force of will had suddenly taken possession of them4 ,in the course of his investigations - he carried them on for a long time - ,galvani was astonished to observe that some of his specimens1 which he had hung on to an iron railing by means of brass hooks1 sometimes fell to twitching even when the sky was quite clear and there was no sign of thunder4 ,his natural conclusion was that this must be due to hitherto unnoticed electrical changes in the atmosphere4 ,observations maintained for hours every day1 however1 led to no conclusive result2 when twitchings did occur it was only with some of the specimens1 and even then there was no discoverable cause4 ,then it happened one day that ,galvani1 'tired out with fruitless watching'1 took hold of one of the brass hooks by which the specimens were hung1 and pressed it more strongly than usual against the iron railing4 ,immediately a twitching took place4 ',i was almost at the point of ascribing the occurrence to atmospheric electricity1' ,galvani tells us4 ,all the same he took one of the specimens1 a frog1 into his laboratory and there subjected it to similar conditions by putting it on an iron plate1 and pressing against this with the hook that was stuck through its spinal cord4 ,immediately the twitching occurred again4 ,he tried with other metals and1 for checking purposes1 with non-metals as well4 ,with some ingenuity he fixed up an arrangement1 rather like that of an electric bell1 whereby the limbs in contracting broke contact and in relaxing restored it1 and so he managed to keep the frog in continuous rhythmical movement4 ,whereas ,galvani had been rightly convinced by his earlier observations that the movement in the specimens represented a reaction to an electric stimulus from outside1 he now changed his mind4 ,in the very moment of his really significant discovery he succumbed to the error that he had to do with an effect of animal electricity located somewhere in the dead creature itself1 perhaps in the fashion of what had been observed in the electric fishes4 ,he decided that the metal attachment served merely to set in motion the electricity within the animal4 ,whilst ,galvani persisted in this mistake until his death1 ,volta realized that the source of the electric force1 as in the first of ,galvani's observations1 must still be sought outside the specimens1 and himself rightly attributed it to the contacting metals4 ,guided by this hypothesis1 ,volta started systematic research into the ,galvanic properties of metals1 and presently succeeded in producing electricity once more from purely mineral substances1 namely from two different metals in contact with a conductive liquid4 ,this mode of producing electricity1 however1 differed from any previously known in allowing for the first time the production of continuous electrical effects4 ,it is this quality of the cells and piles constructed by ,volta that laid open the road for electric force to assume that role in human civilization which we have already described4 ,that ,volta himself was aware of this essentially new factor in the ,galvanic production of electricity is shown by his own report to the ,royal ,society3 ',the chief of my results1 and which comprehends nearly all the others1 is the construction of an apparatus which resembles in its effects1 viz4 such as giving shocks to the arms1 c1 the ,leyden phial1 and still better electric batteries weakly charged2 4 4 4 but which infinitely surpasses the virtue and power of these same batteries2 as it has no need1 like them1 of being charged beforehand1 by means of a foreign electricity2 and as it is capable of giving the usual commotion as often as ever it is properly touched4' ,whilst ,volta's success was based on avoiding ,galvani's error1 his apparatus nevertheless turned out inadvertently to be a close counterpart of precisely that animal organ which ,galvani had in mind when misinterpreting his own discoveries6 ,that ,volta himself realized this is clear from the concluding words in his letter3 ',this apparatus1 as it resembles more the natural organ of the torpedo1 or of the electrical eel1 than the ,leyden ,phial or the ordinary electric batteries1 ,i may call an artificial electric organ4' ,this new method of producing continuous electrical effects had far-reaching results1 one of which was the discovery of the magnetic properties of the electric current by the ,dane1 ,oersted - once again a purely accidental discovery1 moving directly counter to the assumptions of the discoverer himself4 ,about to leave the lecture room where he had just been trying to prove the non-existence of such magnetic properties 7an attempt seemingly crowned with success71 ,oersted happened to glance once more at his demonstration bench4 ,to his astonishment he noticed that one of his magnetic needles was out of alignment2 evidently it was attracted by a magnetic field created by the current running through a wire he had just been using1 which was still in circuit4 ,thus what had escaped ,oersted throughout his planned researches - namely1 that the magnetic force which accompanies an electric current must be sought in a direction at right angles to the current - a fortuitous event enabled him to detect4 ,these repeated strokes of chance and frequently mistaken interpretations of the phenomenon thus detected show that men were exploring the electrical realm as it were in the dark2 it was a realm foreign to their ordinary ideas and they had not developed the forms of thought necessary for understanding it4 7,and this1 as our further survey will show1 is still true1 even to-day47 ,in our historical survey we come next to the researches of ,faraday and ,maxwell4 ,faraday was convinced that if electrical processes are accompanied by magnetic forces1 as ,oersted had shown1 the reverse must also be true - magnetism must be accompanied by electricity4 ,he was led to this correct conviction by his belief in the qualitative unity of all the forces of nature - a reflexion1 as his biography shows1 of his strongly monotheistic1 ,old ,testament faith4 ,precisely this view1 however - which since ,faraday natural science has quite consciously adopted as a leading principle - will reveal itself to us as a fundamental error4 ,it seems paradoxical to assert that the more consistently human thought has followed this error1 the greater have been the results of the scientific investigation of electricity4 ,precisely this paradox1 however1 is characteristic of the realm of nature to which electricity belongs2 and anyone earnestly seeking to overcome the illusions of our age will have to face the fact that the immediate effectiveness of an idea in practice is no proof of its ultimate truth4 ,another eloquent example of the strange destiny of human thought in connexion with electricity is to be found in the work of ,clark ,maxwell1 who1 starting from ,faraday's discoveries1 gave the theory of electricity its mathematical basis4 ,along his purely theoretical line of thought he was led to the recognition of the existence of a form of electrical activity hitherto undreamt of - electro-magnetic vibrations4 ,stimulated by ,maxwell's mathematical conclusions1 ,hertz and ,marconi were soon afterwards able to demonstrate those phenomena which have led on the one hand to the electro-magnetic theory of light1 and on the other to the practical achievements of wireless communication4 ,once again1 there is the paradoxical fact that this outcome of ,maxwell's labours contradicts the very foundation on which he had built his theoretical edifice4 ,for his starting-point had been to form a picture of the electro-magnetic field of force to which he could apply certain well-known formulae of mechanics4 ,this he did by comparing the behaviour of the electrical force to the currents of an elastic fluid - that is1 of a material substance4 ,it is true that both he and his successors rightly emphasized that such a picture was not in any way meant as an explanation of electricity1 but merely as an auxiliary concept in the form of a purely external analogy4 ,nevertheless1 it was in the guise of a material fluid that he thought of this force1 and that he could submit it to mathematical calculation4 ,yet the fact is that from this starting-point the strict logic of mathematics led him to the discovery that electricity is capable of behaviour which makes it appear qualitatively similar to 444 light6 ,whilst practical men were turning the work of ,faraday and ,maxwell to account by exploiting the mechanical working of electricity in power-production1 and its similarity to light in the wireless communication of thought1 a new field of research1 with entirely new practical possibilities1 was suddenly opened up in the last third of the nineteenth century through the discovery of how electricity behaves in rarefied air4 ,this brings us to the discovery of cathode rays and the phenomena accompanying them1 from which the latest stage in the history of electricity originated4 ,and here once more1 as in the history of ,galvani's discoveries1 we encounter certain undercurrents of longing and expectation in the human soul which seemed to find an answer through this sudden1 great advance in the knowledge of electricity - an advance which has again led to practical applications of the utmost significance for human society1 though not at all in the way first hoped for4 ,interest in the phenomena arising when electricity passes through gases with reduced pressure had simultaneously taken hold of several investigators in the seventies of the nineteenth century4 ,but the decisive step in this sphere of research was taken by the ,english physicist1 ,william ,crookes4 ,he was led on by a line of thought which seems entirely irrelevant2 yet it was this which first directed his interest to the peculiar phenomena accompanying cathode rays2 and they proved to be the starting-point of the long train of inquiry which has now culminated in the release of atomic energy4#c ,in the midst of his many interests and activities1 ,crookes was filled from his youth with a longing to find by empirical means the bridge leading from the world of physical effects to that of superphysical causes4 ,he himself tells how this longing was awakened in him by the loss of a much-beloved brother4 ,before the dead body he came to the question1 which thereafter was never to leave him1 whether there was a land where the human individuality continues after it has laid aside its bodily sheath1 and how that land was to be found4 ,seeing that scientific research was the instrument which modern man had forged to penetrate through the veil of external phenomena to the causes producing them1 it was natural for ,crookes to turn to it in seeking the way from the one world into the other4 ,it was after meeting with a man able to produce effects within the corporeal world by means of forces quite different from those familiar to science1 that ,crookes decided to devote himself to this scientific quest4 ,thus he first came into touch with that sphere of phenomena which is known as spiritualism1 or perhaps more suitably1 spiritism4 ,crookes now found himself before a special order of happenings which seemed to testify to a world other than that open to our senses2 physical matter here showed itself capable of movement in defiance of gravity1 manifestations of light and sound appeared without a physical source to produce them4 ,through becoming familiar with such things at seances arranged by his mediumistic acquaintance1 he began to hope that he had found the way by which scientific research could overstep the limits of the physical world4 ,accordingly1 he threw himself eagerly into the systematic investigation of his new experiences1 and so became the father of modern scientific spiritism4 ,crookes had hoped that the scientists of his day would be positively interested in his researches4 ,but his first paper in this field1 ',on ,phenomena called ,spiritual'1 was at once and almost unanimously rejected by his colleagues1 and as long as he concerned himself with such matters he suffered through their opposition4 ,it passed his understanding as a scientist why anything should be regarded in advance as outside the scope of scientific research4 ,after several years of fruitless struggle he broke off his investigations into spiritism1 deeply disillusioned at his failure to interest official science in it4 ,his own partiality for it continued1 however 7he served as ,president of the ,society for ,psychical ,research from #ahif-i71 and he missed no opportunity of confessing himself a pioneer in the search for the boundary-land between the worlds of matter and spirit4 ,through all his varied scientific work the longing persisted to know more of this land4 ,just as ,crookes had once sought to investigate spiritism scientifically1 so in his subsequent scientific inquiries he was always something of a spiritist4 ,he admitted1 indeed1 that he felt specially attracted by the strange light effects arising when electricity passes through rarefied gases1 because they reminded him of certain luminous phenomena he had observed during his spiritistic investigations4 ,besides this1 there was the fact that light here showed itself susceptible to the magnetic force in a way otherwise characteristic only of certain material substances4 ,accordingly1 everything combined to suggest to ,crookes that here1 if anywhere1 he was at the boundary between the physical and the superphysical worlds4 ,no wonder that he threw himself into the study of these phenomena with enthusiasm4 ,he soon succeeded in evoking striking effects - light and heat1 and also mechanical - along the path of electricity passing invisibly through the tube later named after him4 ,thus he proved for the first time visibly1 so to say1 the double nature - material and supermaterial - of electricity4 ,what ,crookes himself thought about these discoveries in the realm of the cathode rays we may judge from the title1 ',radiant ,matter'1 or ',the ,fourth ,state of ,matter'1 which he gave to his first publication about them4 ,and so he was only being consistent when1 in his lectures before the ,royal ,institution in ,london1 and the ,british ,association in ,sheffield in #ahgi1 after showing to an amazed scientific audience the newly discovered properties of electricity1 he came to the climax of his exposition by saying3 ',we have seen that in some of its properties ,radiant ,matter is as material as this table1 whilst in other properties it almost assumes the character of ,radiant ,energy4 ,we have actually touched here the borderland where ,matter and ,force seem to merge into one another1 the shadowy realm between ,known and ,unknown1 which for me has always had peculiar temptations4' ,and in boldly prophetic words1 which time has partly justified1 he added1 ',i venture to think that the greatest scientific problems of the future will find their solution in this ,borderland1 and even beyond2 here1 it seems to me1 lie ,ultimate ,realities1 subtle1 far-reaching1 wonderful4' ,no one can read these words of ,crookes without hearing again1 as an undertone1 the question which had forced itself on him at the bedside of his dead brother1 long before4 ,all that is left of the human being whom death has taken is a heap of substances1 deserted by the force which had used them as the instrument of its own activity4 ,whither vanishes this force when it leaves the body1 and is there any possibility of its revealing itself even without occupying such a body8 ,stirred by this question1 the young ,crookes set out to find a world of forces which differ from the usual mechanical ones exercised by matter on matter1 in that they are autonomous1 superior to matter in its inert conglomeration1 yet capable of using matter1 just as the soul makes use of the body so long as it dwells within it4 ,his aim was to secure proof that such forces exist1 or1 at any rate1 to penetrate into the realm where the transition from matter to pure1 matter-free force takes place4 ,and once again1 as in ,galvani's day1 electricity fascinated the eyes of a man who was seeking for the land of the soul4 ,what spiritism denied1 electricity seemed to grant4 ,the aversion to spiritism which ,crookes met with in contemporary science was1 from the standpoint of such a science1 largely justified4 ,science1 in the form in which ,crookes himself conceived it1 took for granted that the relationship of human consciousness to the world was that of external onlooking4 ,accordingly1 if the scientist remained within the limits thus prescribed for consciousness1 it was only consistent to refuse to make anything beyond these limits an object of scientific research4 ,on the other hand1 it says much for the courage and open mindedness of ,crookes that he refused to be held back from what was for him the only possible way of extending the boundaries of science beyond the given physical world4 ,moreover1 it was only natural that in his search for a world of a higher order than the physical he should1 as a man of his time1 first turn his attention to spiritistic occurrences1 for spiritism1 as it had come over to ,europe from ,america in the middle of the nineteenth century1 was nothing but an attempt by the onlooker-consciousness to learn something in its own way about the supersensible world4 ,the spiritist expects the spirit to reveal itself in outwardly perceptible phenomena as if it were part of the physical world4 ,towards the end of his life ,crookes confessed that if he were able to begin again he would prefer to study telepathic phenomena - the direct transference of thought from one person to another - rather than the purely mechanical1 or so-called telekinetic1 expressions of psychic forces4 ,but although his interest was thus turning towards a more interior field of psychic investigation1 he remained true to his times in still assuming that knowledge about the world1 whatever it might be1 could be won only by placing oneself as a mere onlooker outside the object of research4 99 ,the stream of new discoveries which followed ,crookes's work justified his conviction that in cathode ray phenomena we have to do with a frontier region of physical nature4 ,still1 the land that lies on the other side of this frontier is not the one ,crookes had been looking for throughout his life4 ,for1 instead of finding the way into the land whither man's soul disappears at death1 ,crookes had inadvertently crossed the border into another land - a land which the twentieth-century scientist is impelled to call 'the country that is not ours'4 ,the realm thrown open to science by ,crookes's observations1 which human knowledge now entered as if taking it by storm1 was that of the radioactive processes of the mineral stratum of the earth4 ,many new and surprising properties of electricity were discovered there - yet the riddle of electricity itself1 instead of coming nearer1 withdrew into ever deeper obscurity4 ,the very first step into this newly discovered territory made the riddle still more bewildering4 ,as we have said1 ,maxwell's use of a material analogy as a means of formulating mathematically the properties of electro-magnetic fields of force had led to results which brought electricity into close conjunction with light4 ,in his own way ,crookes focused1 to begin with1 his attention entirely on the light-like character of electric effects in a vacuum4 ,it was precisely these observations1 however1 as continued by ,lenard and others1 which presently made it necessary to see in electricity nothing else than a special manifestation of inert mass4 ,the developments leading up to this stage are recent and familiar enough to be briefly summarized4 ,the first step was once more an accident1 when ,rntgen 7or rather one of his assistants7 noticed that a bunch of keys1 laid down by chance on top of an unopened box of photographic plates near a cathode tube1 had produced an inexplicable shadow-image of itself on one of the plates4 ,the cathode tube was apparently giving off some hitherto unknown type of radiation1 capable of penetrating opaque substances4 ,rntgen was an experimentalist1 not a theorist2 his pupils used to say privately that in publishing this discovery of ,x-rays he attempted a theoretical explanation for the first and only time in his life - and got it wrong6 ,however1 this accidental discovery had far-reaching consequences4 ,it drew attention to the fluorescence of minerals placed in the cathode tube2 this inspired ,becquerel to inquire whether naturally fluorescent substances gave off anything like ,x-rays1 and eventually - yet again by accident - he came upon certain uranium compounds4 ,these were found to give off a radiation similar to ,x-rays1 and to give it off naturally and all the time4 ,soon afterwards the ,curies succeeded in isolating the element1 radium1 an element which was found to be undergoing a continuous natural disintegration4 ,the way was now clear for that long series of experiments on atomic disintegration which led finally to the splitting of the nucleus and the construction of the atomic bomb4 99 ,a typical modern paradox emerges from these results4 ,by restricting his cognitive powers to a field of experience in which the concept of force as an objective reality was unthinkable1 man has been led on a line of practical investigation the pursuit of which was bound to land him amongst the force-activities of the cosmos4 ,for what distinguishes electric and sub-electric activities from all other forces of physical nature so far known to science1 is that for their operation they have no need of the resistance offered by space-bound material bodies2 they represent a world of pure dynamics into which spatial limitations do not enter4 ,equally paradoxical is the situation of theoretical thinking in face of that realm of natural being which practical research has lately entered4 ,we have seen that this thinking1 by virtue of the consciousness on which it is founded1 is impelled always to clothe its ideas in spatial form4 ,wherever anything in the pure spatial adjacency of physical things remains inexplicable1 resort is had to hypothetical pictures whose content consists once more of nothing but spatially extended and spatially adjacent items4 ,in this way matter came to be seen as consisting of molecules1 molecules of atoms1 and atoms of electrons1 protons1 neutrons1 and so forth4 ,in so far as scientific thought has held to purely spatial conceptions1 it has been obliged to concentrate on ever smaller and smaller spatial sizes1 so that the spatially conceived atom-picture has finally to reckon with dimensions wherein the old concept of space loses validity4 ,when once thinking had started in this direction1 it was electricity which once more gave it the strongest impulse to go even further along the same lines4 ,where we have arrived along this path is brought out in a passage in ,eddington's ,the ,nature of the ,physical ,world4 ,there1 after describing the modern picture of electrons dancing round the atomic nucleus1 he says3 ',this spectacle is so fascinating that we have perhaps forgotten that there was a time when we wanted to be told what an electron is4 ,this question was never answered4 ,no familiar conceptions can be woven round the electron2 it belongs to the waiting list4' ,the only thing we can say about the electron1 if we are not to deceive ourselves1 ,eddington concludes1 is3 ',something unknown is doing we don't know what4'#d ,let us add a further detail from this picture of the atom1 as given in ,eddington's ,philosophy of ,physical ,science4 ,referring to the so-called positron1 the positive particle regarded as the polar opposite of the negative electron1 he remarks3 ',a positron is a hole from which an electron has been removed2 it is a bung-hole which would be evened up with its surroundings if an electron were inserted4 444 ,you will see that the physicist allows himself even greater liberty than the sculptor4 ,the sculptor removes material to obtain the form he desires4 ,the physicist goes further and adds material if necessary - an operation which he describes as removing negative material4 ,he fills up a bung-hole1 saying he is removing a positron4' ,eddington thus shows to what paradoxical ideas the scientist is driven1 when with his accustomed forms of thought he ventures into regions where the conditions necessary for such forms no longer exist2 and he concludes his remarks with the following caution3 ',once again ,i would remind you that objective truth is not the point at issue4' ,by this reminder ,eddington shows how far science has reconciled itself to the philosophic scepticism at which man's thinking had arrived in the days of ,hume4 ,in so far as the above remark was intended to be a consolation for the bewildered student1 it is poor comfort in the light of the actions which science has let loose with the help of those unknown entities4 ,for it is just this resignation of human thought which renders it unable to cope with the flood of phenomena springing from the sub-material realm of nature1 and has allowed scientific research to outrun scientific understanding4 #a ,e4 du ,bois-,raymond3 ,investigations into ,animal ,electricity 7#ahhd74 ,galvani published his discovery when the ,french ,revolution had reached its zenith and ,napoleon was climbing to power4 #b ,the above account follows ,a4 ,j4 von ,oettingen's edition of ,galvani's monograph1 ,de viribus electricitatis in motu musculari4 #c ,for what follows see ,the ,life of ,sir ,william ,crookes1 by ,e4 ,e4 ,fournier ,d',albe 7,london1 #aibc74 #d ,eddington's italics4 ,see also1 in this respect1 ,professor ,white head's criticism of the hypothetical picture of the electron and its behaviour4 ,,part ,,ii ,goetheanism - ,whence and ,whither8 ,,chapter ,v ,the ,adventure of ,reason ,in #agij1 a year before ,galvani's monograph1 ,concerning the ,forces of ,electricity1 appeared1 ,goethe published his ,metamorphosis of ,plants1 which represents the first step towards the practical overcoming of the limitations of the onlooker-consciousness in science4 ,goethe's paper was not destined to raise such a storm as soon followed ,galvani's publication4 ,and yet the fruit of ,goethe's endeavours is not less significant than ,galvani's discovery1 for the progress of mankind4 ,for in ,goethe's achievement lay the seed of that form of knowing which man requires1 if in the age of the electrification of civilization he is to remain master of his existence4 99 ,among the essays in which ,goethe in later years gave out some of the results of his scientific observation in axiomatic form1 is one called ',intuitive ,judgment' 7',anschauende ,urteilskraft'71 in which he maintains that he has achieved in practice what ,kant had declared to be for ever beyond the scope of the human mind4 ,goethe refers to a passage in the ,critique of ,judgment1 where ,kant defines the limits of human cognitional powers as he had observed them in his study of the peculiar nature of the human reason4 ,we must first go briefly into ,kant's own exposition of the matter4#a ,kant distinguishes between two possible forms of reason1 the intellectus archetypus and the intellectus ectypus4 ,by the first he means a reason 'which being1 not like ours1 discursive1 but intuitive1 proceeds from the synthetic universal 7the intuition of the whole as such7 to the particular1 that is1 from the whole to the parts'4 ,according to ,kant1 such a reason lies outside human possibilities4 ,in contrast to it1 the intellectus ectypus peculiar to man is restricted to taking in through the senses the single details of the world as such2 with these it can certainly construct pictures of their totalities1 but these pictures never have more than a hypothetical character and can claim no reality for themselves4 ,above all1 it is not given to such a thinking to think 'wholes' in such a way that through an act of thought alone the single items contained in them can be conceived as parts springing from them by necessity4 7,to illustrate this1 we may say that1 according to ,kant1 we can certainly comprehend the parts of an organism1 say of a plant1 and out of its components make a picture of the plant as a whole2 but we are not in a position to think that 'whole' of the plant which conditions the existence of its organism and brings forth its parts by necessity47 ,kant expresses this in the following way3 ',for external objects as phenomena an adequate ground related to purposes cannot be met with2 this1 although it lies in nature1 must be sought only in the supersensible substrata of nature1 from all possible insight into which we are cut off4 ,our understanding has then this peculiarity as concerns the judgment1 that in cognitive understanding the particular is not determined by the universal and cannot therefore be derived from it4' ,the attempt to prove whether or not another form of reason than this 7the intellectus archetypus7 is possible - even though declared to be beyond man - ,kant regarded as superfluous1 because the fact was enough for him 'that we are led to the ,idea of it - which contains no contradiction - in contrast to our discursive understanding1 which has need of images 7intellectus ectypus71 and to the contingency of its constitution'4 ,kant here brings forward two reasons why it is permissible to conceive of the existence of an extra-human1 archetypal reason4 ,on the one hand he admits that the existence of our own reason in its present condition is of a contingent order1 and thus does not exclude the possible existence of a reason differently constituted4 ,on the other hand1 he allows that we can think of a form of reason which in every respect is the opposite of our own1 without meeting any logical inconsistency4 ,from these definitions emerges a conception of the properties of man's cognitional powers which agrees exactly with those on which1 as we have seen1 ,hume built up his whole philosophy4 ,both allow to the reason a knowledge-material consisting only of pictures - that is1 of pictures evoked in consciousness through sense-perception1 and received by it from the outer world in the form of disconnected units1 whilst denying it all powers1 as ,hume expressed it1 ever 'to perceive any real connections between distinct existences'4 ,this agreement between ,kant and ,hume must at first sight surprise us1 when we recall that1 as already mentioned1 ,kant worked out his philosophy precisely to protect the cognizing being of man from the consequences of ,hume's thought4 ,for1 as he himself said1 it was his becoming acquainted with ,hume's ,treatise that 'roused him out of his dogmatic slumber' and obliged him to reflect on the foundations of human knowing4 ,we shall understand this apparent paradox1 however1 if we take it as a symptom of humanity's close imprisonment in recent centuries within the limits of its onlooker-consciousness4 ,in his struggle against ,hume1 ,kant was not concerned to challenge his opponent's definition of man's reasoning power4 ,his sole object was to show that1 if one accepted this definition1 one must not go as far as ,hume in the application of this power4 ,all that ,kant could aspire to do was to protect the ethical from attack by the intellectual part of man1 and to do this by proving that the former belongs to a world into which the latter has no access4 ,for with his will man belongs to a world of purposeful doing1 whereas the reason1 as our quotations have shown1 is incapable even in observing external nature1 of comprehending the wholes within nature which determine natural ends4 ,still less can it do this in regard to man1 a being who in his actions is integrated into higher purposes4 ,kant's deed is significant in that it correctly drew attention to that polar division in human nature which1 after all1 was already established in ,kant's own time4 ,kant demonstrated also that to win insight into the ethical nature of man with the aid of the isolated intellect alone implied a trespass beyond permissible limits4 ,in order to give the doing part of the human being its necessary anchorage1 however1 ,kant assigned it to a moral world-order entirely external to man1 to which it could be properly related only through obedient submission4 ,in this way ,kant became the philosopher of that division between knowledge and faith which to this day is upheld in both the ecclesiastical and scientific spheres of our civilization4 ,nevertheless1 he did not succeed in safeguarding humanity from the consequences of ,hume's philosophy2 for man cannot live indefinitely in the belief that with the two parts of his own being he is bound up with two mutually unrelated worlds4 ,the time when this was feasible is already over1 as may be seen from the fact that ever greater masses of men wish to determine their behaviour according to their own ideas1 and as they see no alternative in the civilization around them but to form ideas by means of the discursive reason which inevitably leads to agnosticism1 they determine their actions accordingly4 ,meanwhile1 the ethical life as viewed by ,kant accordingly shrinks ever further into a powerless1 hole-and-corner existence4 99 ,it is ,goethe's merit to have first shown that there is a way out of this impasse4 ,he had no need to argue theoretically with ,kant as to the justification of denying man any power of understanding apart from the discursive1 and of leaving the faculty of intuitive knowledge to a divinity somewhere outside the world of man4 ,for ,goethe was his own witness that ,kant was mistaken in regarding man's present condition as his lasting nature4 ,let us hear how he expresses himself on this fact at the beginning of his essay written as an answer to ,kant's statement3 ',it is true1 the author here seems to be pointing to an intellect not human but divine4 ,and yet1 if in the moral sphere we are supposed to lift ourselves up to a higher region through faith in ,god1 ,virtue and ,immortality1 so drawing nearer to the ,primal ,being1 why should it not be likewise in the intellectual8 ,by contemplation 7,anschauen7 of an ever-creative nature1 may we not make ourselves worthy to be spiritual sharers in her productions8 ,i at first1 led by an inner urge that would not rest1 had quite unconsciously been seeking for the realm of ,type and ,archetype1 and my attempt had been rewarded3 ,i had been able to build up a description1 in conformity with ,nature herself4 ,now therefore nothing more could hinder me from braving what the ,old ,man of the ,king's ,hill#b himself calls the ,adventure of ,reason4' ,goethe started from the conviction that our senses as well as our intellect are gifts of nature1 and that1 if at any given moment they prove incapable through their collaboration of solving a riddle of nature1 we must ask her to help us to develop this collaboration adequately4 ,thus there was no question for him of any restriction of sense-perception in order to bring the latter in line with the existing power of the intellect1 but rather to learn to make an ever fuller use of the senses and to bring our intellect into line with what they tell4 ',the senses do not deceive1 but the judgment deceives'1 is one of his basic utterances concerning their respective roles in our quest for knowledge and understanding4 ,as to the senses themselves1 he was sure that 'the human being is adequately equipped for all true earthly requirements if he trusts his senses1 and so develops them as to make them worthy of trust'4 ,there is no contradiction in the statement that we have to trust our senses1 and that we have to develop them to make them trustworthy4 ,for1 'nature speaks upwards to the known senses of man1 downwards to unknown senses of his'4 ,goethe's path was aimed at wakening faculties1 both perceptual and conceptual1 which lay dormant in himself4 ,his experience showed him that 'every process in nature1 rightly observed1 wakens in us a new organ of cognition'4 ,right observation1 in this respect1 consisted in a form of contemplating nature which he called a 're-creating 7creating in the wake7 of an ever-creative nature' 7,nachschaffen einer immer schaffenden ,natur74 99 ,we should do ,goethe an injustice if we measured the value of his scientific work by the amount of factual knowledge he contributed to one or other sphere of research4 ,although ,goethe did bring many new things to light1 as has been duly recognized in the scientific fields concerned1 it cannot be gainsaid that other scientists in his own day1 working along the usual lines1 far exceeded his total of discoveries4 ,nor can it be denied that1 as critics have pointed out1 he occasionally went astray in reporting his observations4 ,these things1 however1 do not determine the value or otherwise of his scientific labours4 ,his work draws its significance not so much from the 'what'1 to use a ,goethean expression1 as from the 'how' of his observations1 that is1 from his way of investigating nature4 ,having once developed this method in the field of plant observation1 ,goethe was able1 with its aid1 to establish a new view of animal nature1 to lay the basis for a new meteorology1 and1 by creating his theory of light and colour1 to provide a model for a research in the field of physics1 free from onlooker-restrictions4 ,in the scientific work of ,goethe his botanical studies have a special place4 ,as a living organism1 the plant is involved in an endless process of becoming4 ,it shares this characteristic1 of course1 with the higher creatures of nature1 and yet between it and them there is an essential difference4 ,whereas in animal and man a considerable part of the life-processes conceal themselves within the organism1 in order to provide a basis for inner soul processes1 the plant brings its inner life into direct and total outer manifestation4 ,hence the plant1 better than anything1 could become ,goethe's first teacher in his exercise of re-creating nature4 ,it is for the same reason that we shall here use the plant for introducing ,goethe's method4 ,the following exposition1 however1 does not aim at rendering in detail ,goethe's own botanical researches1 expounded by him in two extensive essays1 ,morphology and ,the ,metamorphosis of ,plants1 as well as in a series of smaller writings4 ,there are several excellent translations of the chief paper1 the ,metamorphosis1 from which the ,english-speaking reader can derive sufficient insight into ,goethe's way of expressing his ideas2 a pleasure as well as a profit which he should not deny himself4 ,our own way of procedure will have to be such that ,goethe's method1 and its fruitfulness for the general advance of science1 come as clearly as possible into view4#c ,botanical details will be referred to only as far as seems necessary for this purpose4 ,the data for observation1 from which in ,goethe's own fashion we shall start1 have been selected as best for our purpose1 quite independently of the data used by ,goethe himself4 ,our choice was determined by the material available when these pages were being written4 ,the reader is free to supplement our studies by his own observation of other plants4 99 ,plates ,,ii and ,,iii show two series of leaves which are so arranged as to represent definite stages in the growth-process of the plant concerned4 ,in each sequence shown the leaves have been taken from a single plant1 in which each leaf-form was repeated1 perhaps several times1 before it passed over into the next stage4 ,the leaves on ,plate ,,ii come from a ,sidalcea 7of the mallow family71 those on ,plate ,,iii from a ,delphinium4 ,we will describe the forms in sequence1 so that we may grasp as clearly as possible the transition from one to another as presented to the eye4 ,starting with the right-hand leaf at the bottom of ,plate ,,ii1 we let our eye and mind be impressed by its characteristic form1 seeking to take hold of the pattern after which it is shaped4 ,its edge bears numerous incisions of varying depths which1 however1 do not disturb the roundness of the leaf as a whole4 ,if we re-create in our imagination the 'becoming' of such a leaf1 that is1 its gradual growth in all directions1 we receive an impression of these incisions as 'negative' forms1 because1 at the points where they occur1 the multiplication of the cells resulting from the general growth has been retarded4 ,we observe that this holding back follows a certain order4 ,we now proceed to the next leaf on the same plate and observe that1 whilst the initial plan is faithfully maintained1 the ratio between the positive and negative forms has changed4 ,a number of incisions1 hardly yet indicated in the first leaf1 have become quite conspicuous4 ,the leaf begins to look as if it were breaking up into a number of subdivisions4 ,in the next leaf we find this process still further advanced4 ,the large incisions have almost reached the centre1 while a number of smaller ones at the periphery have also grown deeper into the leaf4 ,the basic plan of the total leaf is still maintained1 but the negative forms have so far got the upper hand that the original roundness is no longer obvious4 ,the last leaf shows the process in its extreme degree4 ,as we glance back and along the whole series of development1 we recognize that the form of the last leaf is already indicated in that of the first4 ,it appears as if the form has gradually come to the fore through certain forces which have increasingly prevented the leaf from filling in the whole of its ground-plan with matter4 ,in the last leaf the common plan is still visible in the distribution of the veins1 but the fleshy part of the leaf has become restricted to narrow strips along these veins4 ,the metamorphosis of the delphinium leaf 7,plate ,,iii7 is of a different character4 ,here the plant begins with a highly elaborate form of the leaf1 while in the end nothing remains but the barest indication of it4 ,the impression received from this series of leaves is that of a gradual withdrawal of the magnificent form1 revealed in its fullness only in the first leaf4 ,a more intense impression of what these metamorphoses actually mean is achieved by altering our mode of contemplation in the following way4 ,after repeated and careful observation of the different forms on either of the plates1 we build up inwardly1 as a memory picture1 the shape of the first leaf1 and then transform this mental image successively into the images of the ensuing forms until we reach the final stage4 ,the same process can also be tried retrogressively1 and so repeated forward and backward4 ,this is how ,goethe studied the doing of the plant1 and it is by this method that he discovered the spiritual principle of all plant life1 and succeeded also in throwing a first light on the inner life-principle of animals4 99 ,we chose the transformation of leaf forms into one another as the starting-point of our observations1 because the principle of metamorphosis appears here in a most conspicuous manner4 ,this principle1 however1 is not confined to this part of the plant's organism4 ,in fact1 all the different organs which the plant produces within its life cycle - foliage1 calyx1 corolla1 organs of fertilization1 fruit and seed - are metamorphoses of one and the same organ4 ,man has long learnt to make use of this law of metamorphosis in the plant for what is called doubling the flower of a certain species4 ,such a flower crowds many additional petals within its original circle1 and these petals are nothing but metamorphosed stamens2 this1 for instance1 is the difference between the wild and the cultivated rose4 ,the multitude of petals in the latter is obtained by the transformation of a number of the former's innumerable stamens4 7,note the intermediate stages between the two1 often found inside the flower of such plants47 ,this falling back from the stage of an organ of fertilization to that of a petal shows that the plant is capable of regressive metamorphosis1 and we may conclude from this that in the normal sequence the different organs are transformed from one another by way of progressive metamorphosis4 ,it is evident that the regressive type occurs only as an abnormality1 or as a result of artificial cultivation4 ,plants once brought into this condition frequently show a general state of unrest1 so that other organs also are inclined to fall back to a lower level4 ,thus we may come across a rose1 an outer petal of which appears in the form of a leaf of the calyx 7sepal71 or one of the sepals is found to have grown into an ordinary rose leaf4 ,we now extend our mental exercise to the plant's whole organism4 ,by a similar mental effort as applied to the leaf-formations we strive to build up a complete plant4 ,we start with the seed1 from which we first imagine the cotyledons unfolding1 letting this be followed by the gradual development of the entire green part of the plant1 its stem and leaves1 until the final leaves change into the sepals of the calyx4 ,these again we turn into the petals of the flower1 until via pistil and stamens the fruit and seed are formed4 ,by pursuing in this way the living doing of the plant from stage to stage we become aware of a significant rhythm in its total life cycle4 ,this1 when first discovered by ,goethe1 gave him the key to an understanding of nature's general procedure in building living organisms1 and in maintaining life in them4 ,the plant clearly divides into three major parts3 firstly1 the one that extends from the cotyledons to the calyx1 the green part of the plant1 that is1 where the life principle is most active2 secondly1 the one comprising the flower itself with the organs of fertilization1 where the vitality of the plant gives way to other principles2 and lastly1 the fruit and seed1 which are destined to be discharged from the mother organism4 ,each of these three contains two kinds of organs3 first1 organs with the tendency to grow into width-leaf1 flower and fruit2 second1 organs which are outwardly smaller and simpler1 but have the function of preparing the decisive leaps in the plant's development3 these are the calyx1 the stamens1 etc41 and the seed4 ,in this succession1 ,goethe recognized a certain rhythm of expansion and contraction1 and he found that the plant passes through it three times during any one cycle of its life4 ,in the foliage the plant expands1 in the calyx it contracts2 it expands again in the flower and contracts in the pistil and stamens2 finally1 it expands in the fruit and contracts in the seed4 ,the deeper meaning of this threefold rhythm will become clear when we consider it against the background of what we observed in the metamorphosis of the leaf4 ,take the mallow leaf2 its metamorphosis shows a step-wise progression from coarser to finer forms1 whereby the characteristic plan of the leaf comes more and more into view1 so that in the topmost leaf it reaches a certain stage of perfection4 ,now we observe that in the calyx this stage is not improved on1 but that the plant recurs to a much simpler formation4 ,whilst in the case of the mallow the withdrawal from the stage of the leaf into that of the calyx occurs with a sudden leap1 we observe that the delphinium performs this process by degrees4 ,whilst the mallow reaches the highly elaborate form of the leaf only in the final stage1 the delphinium leaps forth at the outset1 as it were1 with the fully accomplished leaf1 and then protracts its withdrawal into the calyx over a number of steps1 so that this process can be watched with our very eyes4 ,in this type of metamorphosis the last leaf beneath the calyx shows a form that differs little from that of a calyx itself1 with its simple sepals4 ,only in its general geometrical arrangement does it still remind us of the original pattern4 ,in a case like this1 the stem-leaves1 to use ,goethe's expression1 'softly steal into the calyx stage'4#d ,in the topmost leaf the plant has already achieved something which1 along the other line of metamorphosis1 is tackled only after the leaf plan itself has been gradually executed4 ,in this case the calyx stage1 we may say1 is attained at one leap4 ,whatever type of metamorphosis is followed by a plant 7and there are others as well1 so that we may even speak of metamorphoses between different types of metamorphosis67 they all obey the same basic rule1 namely1 that before proceeding to the next higher stage of the cycle1 the plant sacrifices something already achieved in a preceding one4 ,behind the inconspicuous sheath of the calyx we see the plant preparing itself for a new creation of an entirely different order4 ,as successor to the leaf1 the flower appears to us time and again as a miracle4 ,nothing in the lower realm of the plant predicts the form1 colour1 scent and all the other properties of the new organ produced at this stage4 ,the completed leaf1 preceding the plant's withdrawal into the calyx1 represents a triumph of structure over matter4 ,now1 in the flower1 matter is overcome to a still higher degree4 ,it is as if the material substance here becomes transparent1 so that what is immaterial in the plant may shine through its outer surface4 99 ,in this 'climbing up the spiritual ladder' ,goethe learned to recognize one of nature's basic principles4 ,he termed it ,steigerung 7heightening74 ,thus he saw the plant develop through ,metamorphosis and ,heightening towards its consummation4 ,implicit in the second of these two principles1 however1 there is yet another natural principle for which ,goethe did not coin a specific term1 although he shows through other utterances that he was well aware of it1 and of its universal significance for all life4 ,we propose to call it here the principle of ,renunciation4 ,in the life of the plant this principle shows itself most conspicuously where the green leaf is heightened into the flower4 ,while progressing from leaf to flower the plant undergoes a decisive ebb in its vitality4 ,compared with the leaf1 the flower is a dying organ4 ,this dying1 however1 is of a kind we may aptly call a 'dying into being'4 ,life in its mere vegetative form is here seen withdrawing in order that a higher manifestation of the spirit may take place4 ,the same principle can be seen at work in the insect kingdom1 when the caterpillar's tremendous vitality passes over into the short-lived beauty of the butterfly4 ,in the human being it is responsible for that metamorphosis of organic processes which occurs on the path from the metabolic to the nervous system1 and which we came to recognize as the precondition for the appearance of consciousness within the organism4 ,what powerful forces must be at work in the plant organism at this point of transition from its green to its coloured parts6 ,they enforce a complete halt upon the juices that rise up right into the calyx1 so that these bring nothing of their life-bearing activity into the formation of the flower1 but undergo a complete transmutation1 not gradually1 but with a sudden leap4 ,after achieving its masterpiece in the flower1 the plant once more goes through a process of withdrawal1 this time into the tiny organs of fertilization4 7,we shall return later to this essential stage in the life cycle of the plant1 and shall then clear up the misinterpretation put upon it ever since scientific biology began47 ,after fertilization1 the fruit begins to swell2 once more the plant produces an organ with a more or less conspicuous spatial extension4 ,this is followed by a final and extreme contraction in the forming of the seed inside the fruit4 ,in the seed the plant gives up all outer appearance to such a degree that nothing seems to remain but a small1 insignificant speck of organized matter4 ,yet this tiny1 inconspicuous thing bears in it the power of bringing forth a whole new plant4 ,in these three successive rhythms of expansion and contraction the plant reveals to us the basic rule of its existence4 ,during each expansion1 the active principle of the plant presses forth into visible appearance2 during each contraction it withdraws from outer embodiment into what we may describe as a more or less pure state of being4 ,we thus find the spiritual principle of the plant engaged in a kind of breathing rhythm1 now appearing1 now disappearing1 now assuming power over matter1 now withdrawing from it again4 ,in the fully developed plant this rhythm repeats itself three times in succession and at ever higher levels1 so that the plant1 in climbing from stage to stage1 each time goes through a process of withdrawal before appearing at the next4 ,the greater the creative power required at a certain stage1 the more nearly complete must be the withdrawal from outer appearance4 ,this is why the most extreme withdrawal of the plant into the state of being takes place in the seed1 when the plant prepares itself for its transition from one generation to another4 ,even earlier1 the flower stands towards the leaves as something like a new generation springing from the small organ of the calyx1 as does the fruit to the flower when it arises from the tiny organs of reproduction4 ,in the end1 however1 nothing appears outwardly so unlike the actual plant as the little seed which1 at the expense of all appearance1 has the power to renew the whole cycle4 ,through studying the plant in this way ,goethe grew aware also of the significance of the nodes and eyes which the plant develops as points where its vital energy is specially concentrated2 not only the seed1 but the eye also1 is capable of producing a new1 complete plant4 ,in each of these eyes1 formed in the axils of the leaves1 the power of the plant is present in its entirety1 very much as in each single seed4 ,in other ways1 too1 the plant shows its capacity to act as a whole at various places of its organism4 ,otherwise1 no plant could be propagated by cuttings2 in any little twig cut from a parent plant1 all the manifold forces operative in the gathering1 transmuting1 forming of matter1 that are necessary for the production of root1 leaf1 flower1 fruit1 etc41 are potentially present1 ready to leap into action provided we give it suitable outer conditions4 ,other plants1 such as gloxinia and begonia1 are known to have the power of bringing forth a new1 complete plant from each of their leaves4 ,from a small cut applied to a vein in a leaf1 which is then embedded in earth1 a root will soon be seen springing downward1 and a stalk with leaves rising upward4 ,a particular observation made by ,goethe in this respect is of interest for methodological reasons4 ,in the introduction to his treatise ,metamorphosis of ,plants1 when referring to the regressive metamorphosis of stamens into petals as an example of an irregular metamorphosis1 he remarks that 'experiences of this kind of metamorphosis will enable us to disclose what is hidden from us in the regular way of development1 and to see clearly and visibly what we should otherwise only be able to infer'4 ,in this remark ,goethe expresses a truth that is valid in many spheres of life1 both human and natural4 ,it is frequently a pathological aberration in an organic entity that allows us to see in physical appearance things that do not come outwardly to the fore in the more balanced condition of normal development1 although they are equally part of the regular organic process4 ,an enlightening experience of this kind came to ,goethe's aid when one day he happened to see a 'proliferated' rose 7durchgewachsene ,rose71 that is1 a rose from whose centre a whole new plant had sprung4 ,instead of the contracted seed-pod1 with the attached1 equally contracted1 organs of fertilization1 there appeared a continuation of the stalk1 half red and half green1 bearing in succession a number of small reddish petals with traces of anthers4 ,thorns could be seen appearing further up1 petals half-turned into leaves1 and even a number of fresh nodes from which little imperfect flowers were budding4 ,the whole phenomenon1 in all its irregularity1 was one more proof for ,goethe that the plant in its totality is potentially present at each point of its organism4#e 99 ,goethe's observation of the single plant in statu agendi had trained him to recognize things of quite different outer appearance as identical in their inner nature4 ,leaf1 sepal1 petal1 etc41 much as they differ outwardly1 yet showed themselves to him as manifestations of one and the same spiritual archetype4 ,his idea of ,metamorphosis enabled him to reduce what in outer appearance seems incompatibly different to its common formative principle4 ,his next step was to observe the different appearances of one and the same species in different regions of the earth1 and thus to watch the capacity of the species to respond in a completely flexible way to the various climatic conditions1 yet without concealing its inner identity in the varying outer forms4 ,his travels in ,switzerland and ,italy gave him opportunity for such observations1 and in the ,alpine regions especially he was delighted at the variations in the species which he already knew so well from his home in ,weimar4 ,he saw their proportions1 the distances between the single parts1 the degree of lignification1 the intensity of colour1 etc41 varying with the varied conditions1 yet never concealing the identity of the species4 ,having once advanced in his investigations from metamorphosis in the parts of the single plant to metamorphosis among different representatives of single plant species1 ,goethe had to take only one further1 entirely decisive1 step in order to recognize how every member of the plant kingdom is the manifestation of a single formative principle common to them all4 ,he was thus faced with the momentous task of preparing his spirit to think an idea from which the plant world in its entire variety could be derived4 ,goethe did not take such a step easily1 for it was one of his scientific principles never to think out an idea prematurely4 ,he was well aware that he who aspires to recognize and to express in idea the spirit which reveals itself through the phenomena of the sense-world must develop the art of waiting - of waiting1 however1 in a way intensely active1 whereby one looks again and yet again1 until what one looks at begins to speak and the day at last dawns when1 through tireless 're-creation of an ever-creating nature'1 one has grown ripe to express her secrets openly4 ,goethe was a master in this art of active waiting4 99 ,it was in the very year that ,galvani1 through his chance discovery1 opened the way to the overwhelming invasion of mankind by the purely physical forces of nature1 that ,goethe came clearly to see that he had achieved the goal of his labours4 ,we can form some picture of the decisive act in the drama of his seeking and finding from letters written during the years #aghe-g4 ,in the spring of #aghe he writes to a friend in a way that shows him fully aware of his new method of studying nature1 which he recognized was a reading of her phenomena3 ',i can't tell you how the ,book of ,nature is becoming readable to me4 ,my long practice in spelling has helped me2 it now suddenly works1 and my quiet joy is inexpressible4' ,again in the summer of the following year3 ',it is a growing aware of the ,form with which again and again nature plays1 and1 in playing1 brings forth manifold life4' ,then ,goethe went on his famous journey to ,italy which was to bear such significant fruit for his inner life1 both in art and in science4 ,at ,michaelmas1 #aghf1 he reports from his visit to the botanical garden in ,padua that 'the thought becomes more and more living that it may be possible out of one form to develop all plant forms'4 ,at this moment ,goethe felt so near to the basic conception of the plant for which he was seeking1 that he already christened it with a special name4 ,the term he coined for it is ,urpflanze1 literally rendered archetypal plant1 or ur-plant1 as we propose quite simply to call it4#f ,it was the rich tropical and sub-tropical vegetation in the botanical gardens in ,palermo that helped ,goethe to his decisive observations4 ,the peculiar nature of the warmer regions of the earth enables the spirit to reveal itself more intensively than is possible in the temperate zone4 ,thus in tropical vegetation many things come before the eye which otherwise remain undisclosed1 and then can be detected only through an effort of active thought4 ,from this point of view1 tropical vegetation is 'abnormal' in the same sense as was the proliferated rose which confirmed for ,goethe's physical perception that inner law of plant-growth which had already become clear to his mind4 ,during his sojourn in ,palermo in the spring of #aghg ,goethe writes in his notebook3 ',there must be one 7ur-plant73 how otherwise could we recognize this or that formation to be a plant unless they were all formed after one pattern8' ,soon after this1 he writes in a letter to the poet ,herder1 one of his friends in ,weimar3 ',further1 ,i must confide to you that ,i am quite close to the secret of plant creation1 and that it is the simplest thing imaginable4 ,the ur-plant will be the strangest creature in the world1 for which nature herself should envy me4 ,with this model and the key to it one will be able to invent plants ad infinitum2 they would be consistent2 that is to say1 though non-existing1 they would be capable of existing1 being no shades or semblances of the painter or poet1 but possessing truth and necessity4 ,the same law will be capable of extension to all living things4' 99 ,to become more familiar with the conception of the ur-plant1 let us bring the life-cycle of the plant before our inner eye once again4 ,there1 all the different organs of the plant-leaf1 blossom1 fruit1 etc4 - appear as the metamorphic revelations of the one1 identical active principle1 a principle which gradually manifests itself to us by way of successive heightening from the cotyledons to the perfected glory of the flower4 ,amongst all the forms which thus appear in turn1 that of the leaf has a special place2 for the leaf is that organ of the plant in which the ground-plan of all plant existence comes most immediately to expression4 ,not only do all the different leaf forms arise1 through endless changing1 out of each other1 but the leaf1 in accordance with the same principle1 also changes itself into all the other organs which the plant produces in the course of its growth4 ,it is by precisely the same principle that the ur-plant reveals itself in the plant kingdom as a whole4 ,just as in the single plant organism the different parts are a graduated revelation of the ur-plant1 so are the single kinds and species within the total plant world4 ,as we let our glance range over all its ranks and stages 7from the single-celled1 almost formless alga to the rose and beyond to the tree71 we are following1 step by step1 the revelation of the ur-plant4 ,barely hinting at itself in the lowest vegetable species1 it comes in the next higher stages into ever clearer view1 finally streaming forth in full glory in the magnificence of the manifold blossoming plants4 ,then1 as its highest creation1 it brings forth the tree1 which1 itself a veritable miniature earth1 becomes the basis for innumerable single plant growths4 ,it has struck biologists of ,goethe's own and later times that contrary to their method he did not build up his study of the plant by starting with its lowest form1 and so the reproach has been levelled against him of having unduly neglected the latter4 ,because of this1 the views he had come to were regarded as scientifically unfounded4 ,goethe's note-books prove that there is no justification for such a reproach4 ,he was in actual fact deeply interested in the lower plants1 but he realized that they could not contribute anything fundamental to the spiritual image of the plant as such which he was seeking to attain4 ,to understand the plant he found himself obliged to pay special attention to examples in which it came to its most perfect expression4 ,for what was hidden in the alga was made manifest in the rose4 ,to demand of ,goethe that in accordance with ordinary science he should have explained nature 'from below upwards' is to misunderstand the methodological basis of all his investigations4 ,seen with ,goethe's eyes1 the plant kingdom as a whole appears to be a single mighty plant4 ,in it the ur-plant1 while pressing into appearance1 is seen to observe the very rule which we have found governing its action in the single plant - that of repeated expansion and contraction4#g ,taking the tree in the sense already indicated1 as the state of highest expansion along the ur-plant's way of entering into spatial manifestation1 we note that tree-formation occurs successively at four different levels - as fern-tree 7also the extinct tree-form of the horsetail7 among the cryptogams1 as coniferous tree among the gymnosperms1 as palm-tree among the monocotyledons1 and lastly in the form of the manifold species of the leaf-trees at the highest level of the plant kingdom1 the dicotyledons4 ,all these levels have come successively into existence1 as geological research has shown2 the ur-plant achieved these various tree-formations successively1 thus giving up again its state of expansion each time after having reached it at a particular level4 ,from the concept of the ur-plant ,goethe soon learned to develop another concept which was to express the spiritual principle working in a particular plant species1 just as the ur-plant was the spiritual principle covering the plant kingdom as a whole4 ,he called it the type4 ,in the manifold types which are thus seen active in the plant world we meet offsprings1 as it were1 of the mother1 the 'ur-plant'1 which in them assumes differentiated modes of action4 ,the present part of our discussion may be concluded by the introduction of a concept which ,goethe formed for the organ of cognition attained through contemplating nature in the state of becoming1 as the plant had taught him to do4 ,let us look back once again on the way in which we first tried to build up the picture of leaf metamorphosis4 ,there we made use1 first of all1 of exact sense-perceptions to which we applied the power of memory in its function as their keeper4 ,we then endeavoured to transform within our mind the single memory pictures 7leaf forms7 into one another4 ,by doing so we applied to them the activity of mobile fantasy4 ,in this way we actually endowed1 on the one hand1 objective memory1 which by nature is static1 with the dynamic properties of fantasy1 and1 on the other hand1 mobile fantasy1 which by nature is subjective1 with the objective character of memory4 ,now1 for the new organ of cognition arising from the union of these two polar faculties of the soul1 ,goethe coined the significant expression1 exact sensorial fantasy4#h ,in terms of our knowledge of man's psycho-physical make-up1 acquired earlier1 we can say that1 just as the nervous system forms the basis for memory1 and the blood the basis for fantasy1 so the 'exact sensorial fantasy' is based on a newly created collaboration of the two4 99 ,our observations have reached a point where we may consider that stage in the life cycle of the single plant where1 by means of the process of pollination1 the seed acquires the capacity to produce out of itself a new example of the species4 ,our discussion of this will bring home the fundamental difference in idea that arises when1 instead of judging a process from the standpoint of the mere onlooker1 we try to comprehend it through re-creating it inwardly4 ,biological science of our day takes it for granted that the process uniting pollen with seed in the plant is an act of fertilization analogous to that which occurs among the higher organisms of nature4 ,now it is not to be gainsaid that to external observation this comparison seems obvious1 and that it is therefore only natural to speak of the pollen as the male1 and of the ovule as the female1 element1 and of their union as entirely parallel to that between the sexes in the higher kingdoms of nature4 ,goethe confesses that at first he himself 'had credulously put up with the ruling dogma of sexuality'4 ,he was first made aware of the invalidity of this analogy by ,professor ,schelver who1 as ,superintendent of the ,jena ,botanical ,institute1 was working under ,goethe's direction and had trained himself in ,goethe's method of observing plants4 ,this man had come to see that if one held strictly to the ,goethean practice of using nothing for the explanation of the plant but what one could read from the plant itself1 one must not ascribe to it any sexual process4 ,he was convinced that for a ,goethean kind of biology it must be possible to find1 even for the process of pollination1 an idea derived from nothing but the two principles of plant life3 growth and formation4 ,goethe immediately recognized the ,tightness of this thought1 and set about the task of relating the pollination process to the picture of the plant which his investigations had already yielded4 ,his way of reporting the result shows how fully conscious he was of its revolutionary nature4 ,nor was he in any doubt as to the kind of reception it would be given by official biology4 ,in observing the growth of the plant1 ,goethe had perceived that this proceeds simultaneously according to two different principles4 ,on the one hand the plant grows in an axial direction and thereby produces its main and side stems4 ,to this growth principle ,goethe gave the name 'vertical tendency'4 ,were the plant to follow this principle only1 its lateral shoots would all stand vertically one above the other4 ,but observation shows that the different plant species obey very different laws in this respect1 as may be seen if one links up all the leaf buds along any plant stem2 they form a line which winds spiral fashion around it4 ,each plant family is distinguishable by its own characteristic spiral1 which can be represented either geometrically by a diagram1 or arithmetically by a fraction4 ,if1 for example1 the leaves are so arranged in a plant that every fifth leaf recurs on the same side of the stem1 while the spiral connecting the five successive leaf-buds winds twice round the stem1 this is expressed in botany by the fraction #b _/ #e4 ,to distinguish this principle of plant growth from the vertical tendency1 ,goethe used the term 'spiral tendency'4 ,to help towards a clear understanding of both tendencies1 ,goethe describes an exercise which is characteristic of his way of schooling himself in what he called exact sensorial fantasy4 ,he first looks out for a phenomenon in which the 'secret' of the spiral tendency is made 'open'4 ,this he finds in such a plant as the convolvulus2 in this kind of plant the vertical tendency is lacking1 and the spiral principle comes obviously into outer view4 ,accordingly1 the convolvulus requires an external support1 around which it can wind itself4 ,goethe now suggests that after looking at a convolvulus as it grows upwards around its support1 one should first make this clearly present to one's inner eye1 and then again picture the plant's growth without the vertical support1 allowing instead the upward-growing plant inwardly to produce a vertical support for itself4 ,by way of inward re-creation 7which the reader should not fail to carry out himself7 ,goethe attained a clear experience of how1 in all those plants which in growing upwards produce their leaves spiral-wise around the stem1 the vertical and spiral tendencies work together4 ,in following the two growth-principles1 ,goethe saw that the vertical comes to a halt in the blossom2 the straight line here shrinks together1 so to say1 into a point1 surviving only in the ovary and pistil as continuations of the plant's stalk4 ,the spiral tendency1 on the other hand1 is to be found in the circle of the stamens arranged around these2 the process which in the leaves strove outwards in spiral succession around a straight line is now telescoped on to a single plane4 ,in other words1 the vertical-spiral growth of the plant here separates into its two components4 ,and when a pollen grain lands on a pistil and joins with the ovule prepared in the ovary1 the two components are united again4 ,out of the now complete seed a new and complete plant can arise4 ,goethe understood that he would be taught a correct conception of this process only by the plant itself4 ,accordingly1 he asked himself where else in the growing plant something like separation and reunion could be seen4 ,this he found in the branching and reuniting of the veins in the leaves1 known as anastomosis4 ,in the dividing of the two growth-principles in the plant through the formation of carpel and pistil1 on the one hand1 and the pollen-bearing stamens on the other1 and in their reunion through the coming together of the pollen with the seed1 ,goethe recognized a metamorphosis of the process of anastomosis at a higher level4 ,his vision of it caused him to term it 'spiritual anastomosis'4 ,goethe held a lofty and comprehensive view of the significance of the male and female principles as spiritual opposites in the cosmos4 ,among the various manifestations of this polarity in earthly nature he found one1 but one only1 in the duality of the sexes as characteristic of man and animal4 ,nothing compelled him1 therefore1 to ascribe it in the same form to the plant4 ,this enabled him to discover how the plant bore the same polarity in plant fashion4 ,in the neighbourhood of ,weimar1 ,goethe often watched a vine slinging its foliaged stem about the trunk and branches of an elm tree4 ,in this impressive sight nature offered him a picture of 'the female and male1 the one that needs and the one that gives1 side by side in the vertical and spiral directions'4 ,thus his artist's eye clearly detected in the upward striving of the plant a decisively masculine principle1 and in its spiral winding an equally definite feminine principle4 ,since in the normal plant both principles are inwardly connected1 'we can represent vegetation as a whole as being in a secret androgynous union from the root up4 ,from this union1 through the changes of growth1 both systems break away into open polarity and so stand in decisive opposition to each other1 only to unite again in a higher sense4' ,thus ,goethe found himself led to ideas regarding the male and female principles in the plant1 which were the exact opposite of those one obtains if1 in trying to explain the process of pollination1 one does not keep to the plant itself but imports an analogy from another kingdom of nature4 ,for in continuance of the vertical principle of the plant1 the pistil and carpel represent the male aspect in the process of spiritual anastomosis1 and the mobile1 wind- or insect-borne pollen1 in continuing the spiral principle1 represents the female part4 ,if the process of pollination is what the plant tells us it is1 then the question arises as to the reason for the occurrence of such a process in the life cycle of the fully developed plant4 ,goethe himself has not expressed himself explicitly on this subject4 ,but his term 'spiritual anastomosis' shows that he had some definite idea about it4 ,let us picture in our mind what happens physically in the plant as a result of pollination and then try to read from this picture1 as from a hieroglyph1 what act of the spiritual principle in the plant comes to expression through it4 ,without pollination there is no ripening of the seed4 ,ripening means for the seed its acquisition of the power to bring forth a new and independent plant organism through which the species continues its existence within nature4 ,in the life cycle of the plant this event takes place after the organism has reached its highest degree of physical perfection4 ,when we now read these facts in the light of the knowledge that they are deeds of the activity of the type1 we may describe them as follows3 ,stage by stage the type expends itself in ever more elaborate forms of appearance1 until in the blossom a triumph of form over matter is reached4 ,a mere continuation of this path could lead to nothing but a loss of all connexion between the plant's superphysical and physical component parts4 ,thus1 to guarantee for the species its continuation in a new generation1 the formative power of the type must find a way of linking itself anew to some part of the plant's materiality4 ,this is achieved by the plant's abandoning the union between its two polar growth-principles and re-establishing it again1 which in the majority of cases takes place even in such a way that the bearers of the two principles originate from two different organisms4 ,by picturing the process in this way we are brought face to face with a rule of nature which1 once we have recognized it1 proves to hold sway at all levels of organic nature4 ,in general terms it may be expressed as follows3 ,in order that spiritual continuity may be maintained within the coming and going multitude of nature's creations1 the physical stream must suffer discontinuity at certain intervals4 ,in the case of the plant this discontinuity is achieved by the breaking asunder of the male and female growth-principles4 ,when they have reunited1 the type begins to abandon either the entire old plant or at least part of it1 according to whether the species is an annual or a perennial one1 in order to concentrate on the tiny seed1 setting1 as it were1 its living seal on it4 ,this is as far as we can go in describing this mysterious process1 at least at the present stage of our considerations4 99 ,our pursuit of ,goethe's way of observing the life of the plant has brought us to a point where it becomes possible to rectify a widespread error concerning his position as an evolutionary theorist4 ,goethe has been honourably mentioned as a predecessor of ,darwin4 ,the truth is1 that the idea of evolution emerging from ,goethe's mode of regarding nature is the exact opposite of the one held by ,darwin and - in whatever modified form - by his followers4 ,a brief consideration of the ,darwinian concepts of inheritance and adaptation will show this4 ,goethe's approach to his conception of the type is clear evidence that he did not undervalue the factor of adaptation as a formative element in nature2 we have seen that he became acquainted with it in studying the same plant species under different climatic conditions4 ,in his view1 however1 adaptation appears not as the passive effect of a blindly working1 external cause1 but as the response of the spiritual type to the conditions meeting it from outside4 ,the same applies to the concept of inheritance4 ,through inheritance ,goethe saw single1 accessory characteristics of a species being carried over from one generation to the next2 but never could the reappearance of the basic features of the species itself be explained in this way4 ,he was sufficiently initiated into nature's methods to know that she was not in need of a continuity of the stream of physical substance1 in the sense of the theory of inheritance1 to guarantee a continuance of the features of the species through successive generations1 but that it was her craft to achieve such continuance by means of physical discontinuity4 99 ,goethe was not temperamentally given to reflecting deliberately about his own cognitional processes4 ,moreover1 the excess of reflexion going on around him in the intellectual life of his younger days inclined him to guard himself with a certain anxiety against philosophical cogitations4 ,his words to a friend - ',dear friend1 ,i have done it well1 and never reflected about thinking' - bring this home to us4 ,if in his later years ,goethe could become to some degree epistemologically conscious of his spiritual achievements1 as1 for instance1 his essay on ,intuitive ,judgment shows1 he owed this to his friendship with ,schiller1 who became for him a kind of soul mirror1 in which he could see the reflexion of his own processes of consciousness4 ,indeed1 at their first personal encounter1 significant as it was for their whole later relationship1 ,schiller - though all unconsciously - performed a decisive service of this kind for him4 ,goethe himself speaks of the occasion in his essay ,happy ,encounter 7,gliickliches ,ereignis71 written twelve years after ,schiller's death4 ,the occasion was1 outwardly regarded1 fortuitous3 both men were leaving a lecture on natural science at the ,university of ,jena1 ,schiller having been present as ,professor of ,history in the ,university1 and ,goethe as its patron and as a ,weimar ,minister of ,state4 ,they met at the door of the lecture hall and went out into the street together4 ,schiller1 who had been wanting to come into closer contact with ,goethe for a long time1 used the opportunity to begin a conversation4 ,he opened with a comment on the lecture they had just heard1 saying that such a piecemeal way of handling nature could not bring the layman any real satisfaction4 ,goethe1 to whom this remark was heartily welcome1 replied that such a style of scientific observation 'was uncanny even for the initiated1 and that there must certainly be another way altogether1 which did not treat of nature as divided and in pieces1 but presented her as working and alive1 striving out of the whole into the parts'4 ,schiller's interest was at once aroused by this remark1 although as a thorough ,kantian he could not conceal his doubts whether the kind of thing indicated by ,goethe was within human capacity4 ,goethe began to explain himself further1 and so the discussion proceeded1 until the speakers arrived at ,schiller's house4 ,quite absorbed in his description of plant metamorphosis1 ,goethe went in with ,schiller and climbed the stairs to the latter's study4 ,once there1 he seized pen and paper from ,schiller's writing desk1 and to bring his conception of the ur-plant vividly before his companion's eyes he made 'a symbolic plant appear with many a characteristic stroke of the pen'4 ,although ,schiller had listened up to this point 'with great interest and definite understanding'1 he shook his head as ,goethe finished1 and said - ,kantian that he was at that time3 ',that is no experience1 that is an idea4' ,these words were very disappointing to ,goethe4 ,at once his old antipathy towards ,schiller rose up1 an antipathy caused by much in ,schiller's public utterances which he had found distasteful4 ,once again he felt that ,schiller and he were 'spiritual antipodes1 removed from each other by more than an earth diameter'4 ,however1 ,goethe restrained his rising annoyance1 and answered ,schiller in a tranquil but determined manner3 ',i am glad to have ideas without knowing it1 and to see them with my very eyes4' ,although at this meeting ,goethe and ,schiller came to no real agreement1 the personal relationship formed through it did not break off2 both had become aware of the value of each to the other4 ,for ,goethe his first meeting with ,schiller had the significant result of showing him that 'thinking about thought' could be fruitful4 ,for ,schiller this significance consisted in his having met in ,goethe a human intellect which1 simply by its existing properties1 invalidated ,kant's philosophy4 ,for him ,goethe's mind became an object of empirical study on which he based the beginnings of a new philosophy free from onlooker-restrictions4 ,an essay1 written by ,goethe about the same time as the one just quoted1 shows how he came to think at a later date about the raising of human perception into the realm of ideas4 ,in this essay1 entitled ,discovery of an ,excellent ,predecessor1#i ,goethe comments on certain views of the botanist1 ,k4 ,f4 ,wolff1 regarding the relationships between the different plant organs1 which seemed to be similar to his own1 and at which ,wolff had arrived in his own way4 ,wolff had risen up as an opponent of the so-called preformation theory1 still widespread at that time1 according to which the entire plant with all its different parts is already present in embryonic physical form in the seed1 and simply grows out into space through physical enlargement4 ,such a mode of thought seemed inadmissible to ,wolff1 for it made use of an hypothesis 'resting on an extra-sensible conception1 which was held to be thinkable1 although it could never be demonstrated from the sense world4 ,wolff laid it down as a fundamental principle of all research that 'nothing may be assumed1 admitted or asserted that has not been actually seen and cannot be made similarly visible to others'4 ,thus in ,wolff we meet with a phenomenologist who in his way tried to oppose certain trends of contemporary biological thinking4 ,as such1 ,wolff had made certain observations which caused him to ascribe to the plant features quite similar to those which ,goethe had grasped under the conception of progressive and regressive metamorphosis4 ,in this way ,wolff had grown convinced that all plant organs are transformed leaves4 ,true to his own principle1 he had then turned to the microscope for his eyes to confirm what his mind had already recognized4 ,the microscope gave him the confirmation he expected by showing that all the different organs of the plant develop out of identical embryonic beginnings4 ,in his absolute reliance on physical observation1 however1 he tried to go further than this and to detect in this way the reason why the plant does not always bring forth the same organ4 ,he saw that the vegetative strength in the plant diminishes in proportion as its organism enters upon its later stages4 ,he therefore attributed the differentiated evolution of plant organs from identical beginnings to an ever weaker process of development in them4 ,despite his joy in ,wolff as someone who in his own fashion had arrived at certain truths which he himself had also discovered1 and despite his agreement with ,wolff's phenomenalistic principle1 ,goethe could in no way accept his explanation of why metamorphosis took place in plants4 ,he said3 ',in plant metamorphosis ,wolff saw how the same organ continuously draws together1 makes itself smaller2 he did not see that this contraction alternates with an expansion4 ,he saw that the organ diminishes in volume1 but not that at the same time it ennobles itself1 and so1 against reason1 he attributed decline to the path towards perfection4' ,what was it1 then1 which had prevented ,wolff from seeing things aright8 ',however admirable may be ,wolff's method1 through which he has achieved so much1 the excellent man never thought that there may be a difference between seeing and seeing1 that the eyes of the spirit have to work in perpetual living connection with those of the body1 for one otherwise risks seeing and yet seeing past a thing 7zu sehen und doch vorbeizusehen74' ,wolff's case was to ,goethe a symptom of the danger which he saw arising for science from the rapidly increasing use of the microscope 7and similarly the telescope71 if thinking was not developed correspondingly but left at the mercy of these instruments4 ,his concern over the state of affairs speaks from his utterance3 ',microscopes and telescopes1 in actual fact1 confuse man's innate clarity of mind4' ,when we follow ,goethe in this way he comes before us in characteristic contrast to ,robert ,hooke4 ,we remember ,hooke's microscopic 'proof of the unrelatedness of human thought to outer reality 7,chapter ,,iii74 ,there can be no doubt how ,goethe1 if the occasion had arisen1 would have commented on ,hooke's procedure4 ,he would have pointed out that there would be no such thing as a knife with its line-like edge unless man were able to think the concept 'line'1 nor a needle with its point-like end unless he were able to think the concept 'point'4 ,in fact1 knife and needle are products of a human action which is guided by these two concepts respectively4 ,as such they are embodiments1 though more or less imperfect ones1 of these concepts4 ,here too1 therefore1 just as ,goethe had discovered it through his way of observing the plant1 we see ,ideas with our very eyes4 ,what distinguishes objects of this kind from organic entities1 such as the plant1 is the different relationship between ,object and ,idea4 ,whereas in the case of an organism the ,idea actively indwells the object1 its relationship to a man-made thing 7and similarly to nature's mineral entities7 is a purely external one4 ,hooke1 so ,goethe would have argued1 allowed the microscope to confuse his common sense4 ,he would have seen in him an example confirming his verdict that he who fails to let the eye of the spirit work in union with the eye of the body 'risks seeing yet seeing past the thing'4 99 ',thus not through an extraordinary spiritual gift1 not through momentary inspiration1 unexpected and unique1 but through consistent work did ,i eventually achieve such satisfactory results4' ,these words of ,goethe - they occur in his essay1 ,history of my ,botanical ,studies1 which he wrote in later life as an account of his labours in this field of science - show how anxious he was that it should be rightly understood that the faculty of reading in the ,book of ,nature1 as he knew it1 was the result of a systematic training of his mind4 ,it is important for our further studies to make clear to ourselves at this point the nature of the change which man must bring to pass within himself in order to brave ,kant's 'adventure of reason'4 ,goethe's concept for the newly acquired faculty of cognition1 exact sensorial fantasy1 can give us the lead4 ,we remember that1 to form this faculty1 two existing functions of the soul1 as such polarically opposite1 had to be welded together - memory based on exact sense-perception and the freely working fantasy2 one connected with the nervous system of the body1 the other with the blood4 ,we also know from earlier considerations 7,chapter ,,ii7 that in the little child there is not yet any such polarization1 in body or soul1 as there is in man's later life4 ,thus we see that training on ,goethe's lines aims at nothing less than restoring within oneself a condition which is natural in early childhood4 ,in saying this we touch on the very foundations of the new pathway to science discovered by ,goethe4 ,we shall hear more of it in the following chapter4 #a ,critique of ,judgment1 ,,ii1 #aa1 #bg4 ,goethe chose the title of his essay so as to refute ,kant by its very wording4 ,kant1 through his inquiry into man's ,urteilskraft1 arrived at the conclusion that man is denied the power of ,anschauung 7intuition74 ,against this1 ,goethe puts his ,anschauende ,urteilskraft4 #b ',der ,alte vom ,knigsberge' - a play upon words with the name of ,kant's native town1 ,knigsberg4 #c ,it is naturally to be expected that new light will also be thrown on the various realms of knowledge as such dealt with in these pages4 #d ,delphinium1 in particular1 has the peculiarity 7which it shares with a number of other species7 that its calyx appears in the guise of a flower1 whilst the actual flower is quite inconspicuous4 #e ,goethe also describes a proliferated pink4 #f ,the terms 'primeval' or 'primordial' sometimes suggested for rendering the prefix 'ur' are unsuitable in a case like this4 ',primeval plant'1 for instance1 used by some translators of ,goethe1 raises the misunderstanding - to which ,goethe's concept has anyhow been subject from the side of scientific botany - that by his ur-plant he had in mind some primitive1 prehistoric plant1 the hypothetical ancestor in the ,darwinian sense of the present-day plant kingdom4 #g ,the following observation is not one made by ,goethe himself4 ,it is presented here by the author as an example of the heuristic value of ,goethe's method of pictorial-dynamic contemplation of the sense-world4 #h ',exakte sinnliche ,phantasie4' #i ,entdeckung eines trefflichen ,vorarbeiters4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,except ,we ,become 444 ,in this chapter we shall concern ourselves with a number of personalities from the more or less recent past of the cultural life of ,britain1 each of whom was a spiritual kinsman of ,goethe1 and so a living illustration of the fact that the true source of knowledge in man must be sought1 and can be found1 outside the limits of his modern adult consciousness4 ,whilst none of them was a match for ,goethe as regards universality and scientific lucidity1 they are all characteristic of an immediacy of approach to certain essential truths1 which in the sense we mean is not found in ,goethe4 ,it enabled them to express one or the other of these truths in a form that makes them suitable as sign-posts on our own path of exploration4 ,we shall find repeated opportunity in the later pages of this book to remember just what these men saw and thought4 99 99 99 ,the first is ,thomas ,reid 7#agaj-if71 the ,scottish philosopher and advocate of common sense as the root of philosophy4#a ,after having served for some years as a minister in the ,church of ,scotland1 ,reid became professor of ,philosophy at the ,university of ,aberdeen1 whence he was called to ,glasgow as the successor of ,adam ,smith4 ,through his birth in ,strachan1 ,kincardine1 he belonged to the same part of ,scotland from which ,kant's ancestors had come4 ,two brief remarks of ,goethe show that he knew of the ,scotsman's philosophy1 and that he appreciated his influence on contemporary philosophers4#b ,reid1 like his contemporary ,kant1 felt his philosophical conscience stirred by ,hume's ,treatise of ,human ,nature1 and1 like ,kant1 set himself the task of opposing it4 ,unlike ,kant1 however1 whose philosophic system was designed to arrest man's reason before the abyss into which ,hume threatened to cast it1 ,reid contrives to detect the bridge that leads safely across this abyss4 ,even though it was not granted to him actually to set foot on this bridge 7this1 in his time1 only ,goethe managed to do71 he was able to describe it in a manner especially helpful for our own purpose4 ,the first of the three books in which ,reid set out the results of his labours appeared in #agfd under the title1 ,inquiry into the ,human ,mind on the ,principles of ,common ,sense4 ,the other two1 ,essays on the ,intellectual ,powers of ,man and ,essays on the ,active ,powers of ,man1 appeared twenty years later4 ,in these books ,reid had in view a more all-embracing purpose than in his first work4 ,the achievement of this purpose1 however1 required a greater spiritual power than was granted to him4 ,comparing his later with his earlier work1 ,reid's biographer1 ,a4 ,campbell ,fraser1 says3 ',reid's ,essays form1 as it were1 the inner court of the temple of which the ,aberdonian ,inquiry is the vestibule4 ,but the vestibule is a more finished work of constructive skill than the inner court1 for the aged architect appears at last as if embarrassed by accumulated material4 ,the ,essays1 greater in bulk1 perhaps less deserve a place among modern philosophical classics than the ,inquiry1 notwithstanding its narrower scope1 confined as it is to man's perception of the extended world1 as an object lesson on the method of appeal to common sense4' ,whilst the ideas of ,kant1 by which he tried in his way to oppose ,hume's philosophy1 have become within a short space of time the common possession of men's minds1 it was the fate of ,reid's ideas to find favour among only a restricted circle of friends4 ,moreover1 they suffered decisive misunderstanding and distortion through the efforts of well-meaning disciples4 ,this was because ,kant's work was a late fruit of an epoch of human development which had lasted for centuries and in his time began to draw to its close1 while ,reid's work represents a seed of a new epoch yet to come4 ,here lies the reason also for his failure to develop his philosophy beyond the achievements contained in his first work4 ,it is on the latter1 therefore1 that we shall chiefly draw for presenting ,reid's thoughts4 99 ,the convincing nature of ,hume's argumentation1 together with the absurdity of the conclusions to which it led1 aroused in ,reid a suspicion that the premises on which ,hume's thoughts were built1 and which he1 in company with all his predecessors1 had assumed quite uncritically1 contained some fundamental error4 ,for both as a ,christian1 a philosopher1 and a man in possession of common sense1 ,reid had no doubt as to the absurdity and destructiveness of the conclusions to which ,hume's reasoning had led him4 ',for my own satisfaction1 ,i entered into a serious examination of the principles upon which this sceptical system is built2 and was not a little surprised to find that it leans with its whole weight upon a hypothesis1 which is ancient indeed1 and hath been very generally received by philosophers1 but of which ,i could find no solid proof4 ,the hypothesis ,i mean is1 ,that nothing is perceived but what is in the mind which perceives it3 ,that we do not really perceive the things that are external1 but only certain images and pictures of them imprinted upon the mind1 which are called impressions and ideas4 ',if this be true1 supposing certain impressions and ideas to exist presently in my mind1 ,i cannot1 from their existence1 infer the existence of anything else2 my impressions and ideas are the only existences of which ,i can have any knowledge or conception2 and they are such fleeting and transitory beings1 that they can have no existence at all1 any longer than ,i am conscious of them4 ,so that1 upon this hypothesis1 the whole universe about me1 bodies and spirits1 sun1 moon1 stars1 and earth1 friends and relations1 all things without exception1 which ,i imagined to have a permanent existence whether ,i thought of them or not vanish at once3 ',and1 like the baseless fabric of this vision 444 ,leave not a rack behind4 ',i thought it unreasonable1 upon the authority of philosophers1 to admit a hypothesis which1 in my opinion1 overturns all philosophy1 all religion and virtue1 and all common sense3 and finding1 that all the systems which ,i was acquainted with1 were built upon this hypothesis1 ,i resolved to enquire into this subject anew1 without regard to any hypothesis4' ,the following passage from the first chapter of the ,inquiry reveals ,reid as a personality who was not dazzled to the same extent as were his contemporaries by the brilliance of the onlooker-consciousness3 ',if it the mind is indeed what the ,treatise of ,human ,nature makes it1 ,i find ,i have been only in an enchanted castle1 imposed upon by spectres and apparitions4 ,i blush inwardly to think how #a have been deluded2 ,i am ashamed of my frame1 and can hardly forbear expostulating with my destiny3 ,is this thy pastime1 ,o ,nature1 to put such tricks upon a silly creature1 and then to take off the mask1 and show him how he hath been befooled8 ,if this is the philosophy of human nature1 my soul enter thou not into her secrets4 ,it is surely the forbidden tree of knowledge2 ,i no sooner taste it1 than ,i perceive myself naked1 and stript of all things - yea even of my very self4 ,i see myself1 and the whole frame of nature1 shrink into fleeting ideas1 which1 like ,epicurus's atoms1 dance about in emptiness4 ',but what if these profound disquisitions into the first principles of human nature1 do naturally and necessarily plunge a man into this abyss of scepticism8 ,may we not reasonably judge from what hath happened8 ,des ,cartes no sooner began to dig in this mine1 than scepticism was ready to break in upon him4 ,he did what he could to shut it out4 ,malebranche and ,locke1 who dug deeper1 found the difficulty of keeping out this enemy still to increase2 but they laboured honestly in the design4 ,then ,berkeley1 who carried on the work1 despairing of securing all1 bethought himself of an expedient3 ,by giving up the material world1 which he thought might be spared without loss1 and even with advantage1 he hoped by an impregnable partition to secure the world of spirits4 ,but1 alas6 the ,treatise of ,human ,nature wantonly sapped the foundation of this partition and drowned all in one universal deluge4' 7,chapter ,i1 ,sections vi-vii47 ,what ,reid so pertinently describes here as the 'enchanted castle' is nothing else than the human head1 which knows of no occurrence beyond its boundaries1 because it has forgotten that it is only the end-product of a living existence outside of1 and beyond1 itself4 ,we see here that ,reid is gifted with the faculty of entering this castle without forfeiting his memory of the world outside2 and so even from within its walls1 he could recognize its true nature4 ,to a high degree this helped him to keep free of those deceptions to which the majority of his contemporaries fell victim1 and to which so many persons are still subject to-day4 ,it is in this way that ,reid could make it one of the cardinal principles of his observations to test all that the head thinks by relating it to the rest of human nature and to allow nothing to stand1 which does not survive this test4 ,in this respect the argument he sets over against the ,cartesian1 'cogito ergo sum' is characteristic3 ' ,i am thinking1 says he1 therefore ,i am3 and is it not as good reasoning to say1 ,i am sleeping1 therefore ,i am8 ,if a body moves1 it must exist1 no doubt2 but if it is at rest1 it must exist likewise4' ,the following summarizes the position to which ,reid is led when he includes the whole human being in his philosophical inquiries4 ,reid admits that1 when the consciousness that has become aware of itself surveys that which lies within its own horizon1 it finds nothing else there but transient pictures4 ,these pictures in themselves bring to the mind no experience of a lasting existence outside itself4 ,there is no firm evidence of the existence of either an outer material world to which these pictures can be related1 or of an inner spiritual entity which is responsible for them4 ,to be able to speak of an existence in either realm is impossible for a philosophy which confines its attention solely to the mere picture-content of the waking consciousness4 ,but man is not only a percipient being2 he is also a being of will1 and as such he comes into a relationship with the world which can be a source of rich experience4 ,if one observes this relationship1 one is bound to notice that it is based on the self-evident assumption that one possesses a lasting individuality1 whose actions deal with a lasting material world4 ,any other way of behaviour would contradict the common sense of man2 where we meet with it we are faced with a lunatic4 ,thus philosophy and common sense seem to stand in irreconcilable opposition to each other4 ,but this opposition is only apparent4 ,it exists so long as philosophy thinks it is able to come to valid conclusions without listening to the voice of common sense1 believing itself to be too exalted to need to do so4 ,philosophy1 then1 does not realize 'that it has no other root but the principles of ,common ,sense2 it grows out of them1 and draws its nourishment from them3 severed from this root1 its honours wither1 its sap is dried up1 it dies and rots4' 7,i1 #e47 ,at the moment when the philosophical consciousness ceases to regard itself as the sole foundation of its existence and recognizes that it can say nothing about itself without considering the source from which it has evolved1 it attains the possibility of seeing the content of its experience in a new light4 ,for it is no longer satisfied with considering this content in the completed form in which it presents itself4 ,rather does it feel impelled to investigate the process which gives rise to this content as an end-product 7the 'impressions' and 'ideas' of ,hume and his predecessors74 ,reid has faith in the fact - for his common sense assures him of it - that a lasting substantiality lies behind the world of the senses1 even if for human consciousness it exists only so long as impressions of it are received via the bodily senses4 ,similarly1 he has faith in the fact that his consciousness1 although existing but intermittently1 has as its bearer a lasting self4 ,instead of allowing this intuitively given knowledge to be shaken by a mere staring at fugitive pictures1 behind which the real existence of self and world is hidden1 he seeks instead in both directions for the origin of the pictures and will not rest until he has found the lasting causes of their transient appearances4 ,in one direction ,reid finds himself led to the outer boundary of the body1 where sense perception has its origin4 ,this prompts him to investigate the perceptions of the five known senses3 smelling1 tasting1 hearing1 touching and seeing1 which he discusses in this order4 ,in the other direction he finds himself led - and here we meet with a special attribute of ,reid's whole philosophical outlook - to the realm of human speech4 ,for speech depends upon an inner1 intelligent human activity1 which1 once learnt1 becomes a lasting part of man's being1 quite outside the realm of his philosophizing consciousness1 and yet forming an indispensable instrument for this consciousness4 ,the simplest human reasoning1 prompted only by common sense1 and the subtlest philosophical thought1 both need language for their expression4 ,through his ability to speak1 man lifts himself above an instinctive animal existence1 and yet he develops this ability at an infantile stage1 when1 in so far as concerns the level of his consciousness and his relationship to the world1 he hardly rises above the level of the animal4 ,it requires a highly developed intelligence to probe the intricacies of language1 yet complicated tongues were spoken in human history long before man awoke to his own individual intelligence4 ,just as each man learns to think through speaking1 so did humanity as a whole4 ,thus speech can become a means for acquiring insight into the original form of human intelligence4 ,for in speech the common sense of man1 working unconsciously within him1 meets the fully awakened philosophical consciousness4#c ,the way in which the two paths of observation have here been set out must not give rise to the expectation that they are discussed by ,reid in a similarly systematic form4 ,for this1 ,reid lacked the sufficient detachment from his own thoughts4 ,as he presents his observations in the ,inquiry they seem to be nothing but a systematic description of the five senses1 broken into continually by linguistic considerations of the kind indicated above4 ,so1 for example1 many of his more important statements about language are found in his chapter on ',hearing'4 ,our task will be to summarize ,reid's work1 taking from his description1 so often full of profound observations1 only what is essential to illustrate his decisive discoveries4 ,this requires that 7keeping to ,mr4 ,eraser's picture7 we consider separately the two pillars supporting the roof of the temple's forecourt3 speech and sense-impressions4 ,we will start with speech4 99 ,reid notes as a fundamental characteristic of human language that it includes two distinct elements3 first1 the purely acoustic element1 represented by the sheer succession of sounds1 and secondly the variety of meanings represented by various groups of sounds1 meanings which seem to have nothing to do with the sounds as such4 ,this state of language1 where the sound-value of the word and its value as a sign to denote a thing signified by it1 have little or nothing to do with one another1 is certainly not the primeval one4 ,in the contemporary state of language1 which ,reid calls artificial language1 we must see a development from a former condition1 which ,reid calls natural language4 ,so long as this latter condition obtained1 man expressed in the sound itself what he felt impelled to communicate to his fellows4 ,in those days sound was not merely an abstract sign1 but a gesture1 which moreover was accompanied and supported by the gestures of the limbs4 ,even to-day man1 at the beginning of his life1 still finds himself in that relationship to language which was natural to all men in former times4 ,the little child acquires the ability to speak through the imitation of sounds1 becoming aware of them long before it understands the meaning accorded to the various groups of sounds in the artificial state of contemporary adult speech4 ,that the child's attention should be directed solely to the sound1 and not to the abstract meaning of the individual words1 is indeed the prerequisite of learning to speak4 ,if1 says ,reid1 the child were to understand immediately the conceptual content of the words it hears1 it would never learn to speak at all4 ,when the adult of to-day uses language in its artificial state1 words are only signs for things signified by them4 ,as he speaks1 his attention is directed exclusively towards this side of language2 the pure sound of the words he uses remains outside the scope of his awareness4 ,the little child1 on the other hand1 has no understanding of the meaning of words and therefore lives completely in the experience of pure sound4 ,in the light of this1 ,reid comes to the conclusion1 so important for what follows1 that with the emergence of a certain form of consciousness1 in this case that of the intellectual content of words1 another form submerges1 a form in which the experience of the pure sound of words prevails4 ,the adult1 while in one respect ahead of the child1 yet in another is inferior1 for the effect of this change is a definite impoverishment in soul-experience4 ,reid puts this as follows3 ',it is by natural signs chiefly that we give force and energy to language2 and the less language has of them1 it is the less expressive and persuasive4 444 ,artificial signs signify1 but they do not express2 they speak to the understanding1 as algebraic characters may do1 but the passions and the affections and the will hear them not3 these continue dormant and inactive1 till we speak to them in the language of nature1 to which they are all attention and obedience4' ,we have followed ,reid so far in his study of language1 because it is along this way that he came to form the concepts that were to serve him as a key for his all-important findings in the realm of sense-experience4 ,these are the concepts which bear on the connexion between the sign and the thing signified2 the distinction between the artificial and the natural state of language2 and the disappearance of certain primeval human capacities for experience1 of which ,reid says that they are brought by the child into the world1 but fade as his intellectual capacities develop4 99 ,as soon as one begins to study ,reid's observations in the realm of sense-experience1 one meets with a certain difficulty1 noticeable earlier but not so strikingly4 ,the source of it is that ,reid was obliged to relate the results of his observations only to the five senses known in his day1 whereas in fact his observations embrace a far greater field of human sense-perception4 ,thus a certain disharmony creeps into his descriptions and makes his statements less convincing1 especially for someone who does not penetrate to its real cause4 ,however this may be1 it need not concern us here2 what matter to us are ,reid's actual observations4 ,for these led him to the important distinction between two factors in our act of acquiring knowledge of the outer world1 each of which holds an entirely different place in ordinary consciousness4 ,reid distinguishes them as 'sensation' and 'perception'4 ,it is through the latter that we become aware of the object as such4 ,but we are mistaken if we regard the content of this perception as identical with the sum total of the sensations which are caused in our consciousness by the particular object4 ,for these sensations are qualitatively something quite different1 and1 although without them no perception of the object is possible1 they do not by themselves convey a knowledge of the thing perceived4 ,only1 because our attention is so predominantly engaged by the object under perception1 we pay no heed to the content of our sensation4 ,to take an example1 the impressions of roundness1 angularity1 smoothness1 roughness1 colour1 etc41 of a table contain1 all told1 nothing that could assure us of the existence of the object 'table' as the real content of an external world4 ,how1 then1 do we receive the conviction of the latter's existence8 ,reid's answer is1 by entering into an immediate intuitive relationship with it4 ,it is true that to establish this relationship we need the stimuli coming from the impressions which our mind receives through the various senses4 ,yet this must not induce us to confuse the two4 ,when nature speaks to man through his senses1 something occurs exactly analogous to the process when man communicates with man through the spoken word4 ,in both cases the perception1 that is1 the result of the process of perception1 is something quite other than the sum of sensations underlying it4 ,per-ceiving by means of the senses is none other than a re-ceiving of nature's language2 and this language1 just like human language1 bears two entirely different elements within it4 ,according as one or the other element prevails in man's intercourse with nature1 this intercourse will be either 'natural' or 'artificial' - to use the terms by which ,reid distinguished the two stages of human speech4 ,just as every human being must once have listened only to the pure sound of the spoken word on a wholly sentient level in order to acquire the faculty of speaking1 so also1 in order to learn nature's language1 the soul must once have been totally surrendered to the pure impressions of the senses4 ,and just as with time the spoken word becomes a symbol for that which is signified by it1 the consciousness turning to the latter and neglecting the actual sound-content of the word1 so also in its intercourse with nature the soul1 with its growing interest in the thing signified1 turns its attention more and more away from the actual experiences of the senses4 ,from this it follows that a philosophy which seeks to do justice to man's whole being must not be satisfied with examining the given content of human consciousness1 but must strive to observe the actual process to which this content owes its emergence4 ,in practice this means that a philosopher who understands his task aright must strive to reawaken in himself a mode of experience which is naturally given to man in his early childhood4 ,reid expresses this in the ,inquiry in the following way3 ',when one is learning a language1 he attends to the sounds1 but when he is master of it1 he attends only to the sense of what he would express4 ,if this is the case1 we must become as little children again1 if we will be philosophers3 we must overcome habits which have been gathering strength ever since we began to think2 habits1 the usefulness of which atones for the difficulty it creates for the philosopher in discovering the first principles of the human mind4' ',we must become as little children again1 if we will be philosophers6' ,the phrase appears here almost in passing1 and ,reid never came back to it again4 ,and yet in it is contained the ,open ,sesame which gives access to the hidden spirit-treasures of the world4 ,in this unawareness of ,reid's of the importance of what he thus had found we must see the reason for his incapacity to develop his philosophy beyond its first beginnings4 ,this handicap arose from the fact that in all his thinking he was guided by a picture of the being of man which - as a child of his time1 dominated by the contemporary religious outlook - he could never realize distinctly4 ,yet without a clear conception of this picture no justice can be done to ,reid's concept of common sense4 ,our next task1 therefore1 must be to evoke this picture as clearly as we can 99 99 99 ,the following passage in ,reid's ,inquiry provides a key for the understanding of his difficulty in conceiving an adequate picture of man's being4 ,in this passage ,reid maintains that all art is based on man's experience of the natural language of things1 and that in every human being there lives an inborn artist who is more or less crippled by man's growing accustomed to the state of artificial language in his intercourse with the world4 ,in continuation of the passage quoted on page #ii ,reid says3 ',it were easy to show1 that the fine arts of the musician1 the painter1 the actor1 and the orator1 so far as they are expressive2 although the knowledge of them requires in us a delicate taste1 a nice judgment1 and much study and practice2 yet they are nothing else but the language of nature1 which we brought into the world with us1 but have unlearned by disuse and so find the greatest difficulty in recovering it4 ',abolish the use of articulate sounds and writing among mankind for a century1 and every man would be a painter1 an actor1 and an orator4 ,we mean not to affirm that such an expedient is practicable2 or if it were1 that the advantage would counterbalance the loss2 but that1 as men are led by nature and necessity to converse together they will use every means in their power to make themselves understood2 and where they cannot do this by artificial signs1 they will do it as far as possible by natural ones3 and he that understands perfectly the use of natural signs1 must be the best judge in all expressive arts4' ,when ,reid says that there are certain characteristics - and these just of the kind whose development truly ennobles human life - which the soul brings with it into the world1 a picture of man is evoked in us in which the supersensible part of his being appears as an entity whose existence reaches further back than the moment of birth and even the first beginnings of the body4 ,now such a conception of man is in no way foreign to humanity1 in more ancient times it was universally prevalent1 and it still lives on to-day1 if merely traditionally1 in the eastern part of the world4 ,it is only in the ,west that from a certain period it ceased to be held4 ,this was the result of a change which entered into human memory in historical times1 just as the re-dawning of the old knowledge of man's pre-existence1 of which ,reid is a symptom1 is a result of another corresponding alteration in the memory-powers of man in modern times4 ,for men of old it was characteristic that alongside the impressions they received in earthly life through the senses 7which in any case were far less intense than they are to-day71 they remembered experiences of a purely supersensible kind1 which gave them assurance that before the soul was knit together with a physical body it had existed in a cosmic state purely spiritual in nature4 ,the moment in history when this kind of memory disappeared is that of the transition from the philosophy of ,plato to that of ,aristotle4 ,whereas ,plato was convinced by clear knowledge that the soul possesses characteristics implanted in it before conception1 ,aristotle recognized a bodiless state of the soul only in the life after death4 ,for him the beginning of the soul's existence was identical with that of the body4 ,the picture of man1 taught for the first time by ,aristotle1 still required about twice four hundred years - from the fourth pre-,christian to the fourth post-,christian century - before it became so far the common possession of men that the ,church ,father ,augustine 7#ced-dcj7 could base his teaching on it - a teaching which moulded man's outlook on himself for the coming centuries right up to our own time4 ,the following passage from ,augustine's ,confessions shows clearly how he was compelled to think about the nature of the little child3 ',this age1 whereof ,i have no remembrance1 which ,i take on others' words1 and guess from other infants that ,i have passed1 true though the guess be1 ,i am yet loath to count in this life of mine which ,i live in this world4 ,for no less than that which ,i lived in my mother's womb1 is it hid from me in the shadows of forgetfulness4 ,but if ,i was shapen in iniquity and in sin my mother did conceive me1 where1 ,i beseech thee1 ,o my ,god1 where1 ,lord1 or when1 was ,i thy servant guiltless8 ,but lo6 that period ,i pass by2 and what have ,i to do with that of which ,i can recall no vestige8'#d ,on the grounds of such experience1 ,augustine was unable to picture man's being in any other way than by seeing him1 from the first moment of his life1 as subject to the condition of the human race which resulted from the ,fall4 ,thus he exclaims in his ,confessions3 ',before ,thee1 ,o ,god1 no-one is free from sin1 not even the child which has lived but a single day on the earth4' ,in so far as there was any question of the soul's arising from this fallen state1 it was deemed unable to attain this by any effort of its own1 but to depend on the gifts of grace which the ,church was able to dispense through the ,sacraments4 ,compare with this the present-day scientific conception of human nature1 as it dominates the thought of specialist and layman alike4 ,here man appears1 both in body and soul1 as a sum of inherited characteristics1 of characteristics1 that is to say1 which have been passed on by way of sexual propagation and gradually emerge into full manifestation as the individual grows up4 ,apart from this inherited predestination the soul is held to present itself1 in ,locke's classical phrase1 as a tabula rasa upon which are stamped all manner of external impressions4 ,the similarity between this modern picture of man and the earlier theological one is striking4 ,in both cases the central assumption is that human development from child to man consists in the unfolding of certain inherited characteristics which are capable of further specific modification under influences proceeding from outside4 ,the only difference between the two pictures is that in the modern one the concepts of heredity and adaptation have been formed without special application to the ethical characteristics of the soul4 ,it is clear that from both ,augustine's and the modern scientific viewpoint there is no sense in requiring - as ,reid did - those who seek the truth about themselves and the world to recover a condition which had been theirs as children4 ,nor from this point of view is there any justification to call on a ,common ,sense1 innate in man1 to sit in judgment on the philosophical efforts of the adult reason4 99 ,that even in the days of ,augustine the original conception of human nature had not disappeared entirely1 is shown by the appearance of ,augustine's opponent ,pelagius1 called the 'arch-heretic'4 ,to consider him at this point in our discussion will prove helpful for our understanding of ,reid's historic position in the modern age4 ,what interests us here in ,pelagius's doctrine 7leaving aside all questions concerning the meaning of the ,sacraments1 etc471 is the picture of man which must have lived in him for him to teach as he did4 ,leaving his ,irish-,scottish homeland and arriving about the year #djj in ,rome1 where on account of the unusual purity of his being he soon came to be held in the highest esteem1 ,pelagius found himself obliged to come out publicly against ,augustine1 for he felt that ,augustine's teachings denied all free will to man4 ,in the purely passive surrender of man to the will of ,god1 as ,augustine taught it1 he could not but see danger for the future development of ,christian humanity4 ,how radically he diverged from ,augustine in his view of man we may see from such of his leading thoughts as follow3 ',each man begins his life in the same condition as ,adam4' ',all good or evil for which in life we are deserving of praise or blame is done by ourselves and is not born with us4' ',before the personal will of man comes into action there is nothing in him but what ,god has placed there4' ',it is therefore left to the free will of man whether he falls into sin1 as also whether through following ,christ he raises himself out of it again4' ,pelagius could think in this way because he came from a part of ,europe where the older form of human memory1 already at that time almost extinct in the ,south1 was in some degree still active4 ,for him it was therefore a matter of direct experience that the development of man from childhood onwards was connected with a diminution of certain original capacities of the soul4 ,yet he was so far a child of his age as to be no longer capable of seeing whence these capacities originated4 ,to provide the necessary corrective to ,augustine's doctrine of inheritance1 ,pelagius would have had to be able to see in the first years of life both a beginning of the earthly and a termination of the pre-earthly existence of the soul4 ,the imperfections of his picture of man1 however1 led him to underestimate1 even to deny1 the significance of heredity and so of original sin in human life4 ,for an age which no longer had any direct experience of the soul's pre-natal life1 the doctrines of ,augustine were undoubtedly more appropriate than those of ,pelagius2 ,augustine was in fact the more modern of the two4 ,and now1 if we move forward a dozen centuries and compare ,thomas ,reid and ,immanuel ,kant from this same point of view1 we find the same conception of man again triumphant4 ,but there is an essential difference3 ,kant carried all before him because he based himself on an age-old view of human nature1 whereas ,reid1 uncomprehended up to our own day1 pointed to a picture of man only just then dawning on the horizon of the future4 ,just as through ,pelagius there sounded something like a last call to ,european humanity not to forget the cosmic nature of the soul1 so through ,reid the memory of this nature announced its first faint renewal4 ,it is common to both that their voices lacked the clarity to make themselves heard among the other voices of their times2 and with both the reason was the same3 neither could perceive in fullness - the one no longer1 the other not yet - the picture of man which ensouled their ideas4 ,the certainty of ,reid's philosophical instinct1 if such an expression be allowed1 and at the same time his tragic limitations1 due to an inability fully to understand the origin of this instinct1 come out clearly in the battle he waged against the 'idea' as his immediate predecessors understood it4 ,we know that ,plato introduced this word into the philosophical language of mankind4 ,in ,greek 7from 1 to see7 means something of which one knows that it exists1 because one sees it4 ,it was therefore possible to use the word 'to see' as ,plato did1 because in his day it covered both sensible and supersensible perception4 ,for ,plato1 knowing consisted in the soul's raising itself to perceiving the objective1 world-forming ,,ideas1 and this action comprised at the same time a recollection of what the soul had seen while it lived1 as an ,idea among ,ideas1 before its appearance on earth4 ,as long as ,plato's philosophy continued to shape their thought1 men went on speaking more or less traditionally of ,ideas as real supersensible beings4 ,when1 however1 the ,aristotelian mode of thinking superseded the ,platonic1 the term ',idea' ceased to be used in its original sense2 so much so that1 when ,locke and other modern philosophers resorted to it in order to describe the content of the mind1 they did so in complete obliviousness of its first significance4 ,it is thus that in modern philosophy1 and finally in ordinary modern usage1 'idea' came to be a word with many meanings4 ,sometimes it signifies a sense-impression1 sometimes a mental representation1 sometimes the thought1 concept or essential nature of a thing4 ,the only thing common to these various meanings is an underlying implication that an idea is a purely subjective item in human consciousness1 without any assured correspondence to anything outside4 ,it was against this view of the idea that ,reid took the field1 going so far as to label the philosophy holding it the 'ideal system'4 ,he failed to see1 however1 that in attacking the abstract use of the term he was actually in a position to restore to it its original1 genuine meaning4 ,if1 instead of simply throwing the word overboard1 he had been able to make use of it in its real meaning1 he would have expressed himself with far greater exactitude and consistency4#e ,he was prevented from doing this by his apparent ignorance of the earlier ,greek philosophers1 ,plato included4 ,all he seems to have known of their teachings came from inferior1 second-hand reports of a later and already decadent period4 99 99 99 ,there are two historic personalities1 both in ,england1 who witness to the fact that the emergence of ,reid's philosophy on the stage of history was by no means an accidental event but that it represents a symptom of a general reappearance of the long-forgotten picture of man1 in which birth no more than death sets up an absolute limit to human existence4 ,they are ,thomas ,traherne 7#afch-gd7 and ,william ,wordsworth 7#aggj-ahej74 ,wordsworth's work and character are so well known that there is no need to speak of them here in detail4#f ,for our purpose we shall pay special attention only to his ,ode on ,intimations of ,immortality from ,recollections of ,early ,childhood1 where he shows himself in possession of a memory 7at any rate at the time when he wrote the poem7 of the pre-natal origin of the soul1 and of a capacity for experiencing1 at certain moments1 the frontier which the soul crosses at birth4 ,if1 despite the widespread familiarity of the ,ode1 we here quote certain passages from it1 we do so because1 like many similar things1 it has fallen a victim to the intellectualism of our time in being regarded merely as a piece of poetic fantasy4 ,we shall take the poet's words as literally as he himself uttered them4 ,we read3 ',our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting3 ,the ,soul that rises with us1 our life's ,star1 ,hath had elsewhere its setting1 ,and cometh from afar3 ,not in entire forgetfulness1 ,and not in utter nakedness1 ,but trailing clouds of glory do we come ,from ,god who is our home3 ,heaven lies about us in our infancy6 ,shades of the prison house begin to close ,upon the growing ,boy4 ,but he beholds the light1 and whence it flows1 ,he sees it in his joy2 ,the ,youth1 who daily farther from the east ,must travel1 still is ,nature's ,priest1 ,and by the vision splendid ,is on his way attended4 ,and later3 ',hence in a season of calm weather ,though inland far we be1 ,our ,souls have sight of that immortal sea ,which brought us hither1 ,can in a moment travel thither1 ,and see the ,children sport upon the shore1 ,and hear the mighty waters rolling evermore4'' ,the fact that ,wordsworth in his later years gave no further indication of such experiences need not prevent us from taking quite literally what he says here4 ,the truth is that an original faculty faded away with increasing age1 somewhat as happened with ,reid when he could no longer continue his philosophical work along its original lines4 ,wordsworth's ,ode is the testament of the childhood forces still persisting but already declining within him2 it is significant that he set it down in about the same year of life 7his thirty-sixth7 as that in which ,traherne died and in which ,goethe1 seeking renewal of his being1 took flight to ,italy4#g 99 ,of ,traherne1 too1 we shall say here only as much as our present consideration and the further aims of this book require4 ,we cannot concern ourselves with the remarkable events which led1 half a century ago1 to the discovery and identification of his long-lost writings by ,bertram ,dobell4 ,nor can we deal with the details of the eventful life and remarkable spiritual development of this contemporary of the ,civil ,war4 ,these matters are dealt with in ,dobell's introduction to his edition of ,traherne's poems1 as also by ,gladys ,i4 ,wade in her work1 ,thomas ,traherne4 ,our gratitude for the labours of these two writers by which they have provided mankind with the knowledge of the character and the work of this unique personality cannot hinder us1 however1 from stating that both were prevented by the premises of their own view of the world from rightly estimating that side of ,traherne which is important for us in this book1 and with which we shall specially concern ourselves in the following pages4 ,later in this chapter we shall discuss ,dobell's philosophical misinterpretation of ,traherne1 to which he fell victim because he maintained his accustomed spectator standpoint in regard to his object of study4 ,miss ,wade has1 indeed1 been able to pay the right tribute to ,traherne1 the mystic1 whose inner 7and also outer7 biography she was able to detect by taking seriously ,traherne's indications concerning his mystical development4 ,her mind1 however1 was too rigidly focused on this side of ,traherne's life - his self-training by an iron inner discipline and his toilsome ascent from the experience of ,nothingness to a state of ,beatific ,vision4 ,this fact1 combined with her disinclination to overcome the ,augustinian picture of man in herself1 prevented her from taking ,traherne equally seriously where he speaks as one who is endowed with a never interrupted memory of his primeval cosmic consciousness - notwithstanding the fact that ,traherne himself has pointed to this side of his nature as the most significant for his fellow-men4 ,of the two works of ,traherne which ,dobell rescued from oblivion1 on both of which we shall draw for our exposition1 one contains his poems1 the other his prose writings4 ,the title of the latter is ,centuries of ,meditations4 ,the title page of one of the two manuscripts containing the collection of the poetical writings introduces these as ,poems of ,felicity1 ,containing ,divine ,reflections on the ,native ,objects of an ,infant-,eye4 ,as regards the title ',centuries of ,meditations' we are ignorant of the meaning ,traherne may have attached to it1 and what he meant by calling the four parts of the book1 ',first'1 ',second'1 etc41 ,century4 ,the book itself represents a manual of devotion for meditative study by the reader4 ,let our first quotation be one from the opening paragraph of the third ',century' in which ,traherne introduces himself as the bearer of certain uncommon powers of memory and1 arising from these powers1 a particular mission as a teacher3 ',those pure and virgin apprehensions ,i had from the womb1 and that divine light wherewith ,i was born are the best unto this day1 wherein ,i can see the ,universe4 ,by the gift of ,god they attended me into the world1 and by ,his special favour ,i remember them till now4 ,verily they seem the greatest gifts ,his wisdom could bestow1 for without them all other gifts had been dead and vain4 ,they are unattainable by books1 and therefore ,i will teach them by experience4' 7,ill1 #a47 ,the picture thus remaining with him of his nature of soul in his earliest years on earth he describes as follows3 ',certainly ,adam in ,paradise had not more sweet and curious apprehensions of the world1 than ,i when ,i was a child4 ,all appeared new1 and strange at first1 inexpressibly rare and delightful and beautiful4 ,i was a little stranger1 which at my entrance into the world was saluted and surrounded with innumerable joys4 ,my knowledge was ,divine4 ,i knew by intuition those things which since my ,apostacy1 ,i collected again by the highest reason4 ,i was entertained like an ,angel with the works of ,god in their splendour and glory1 ,i saw all in the peace of ,eden2 ,heaven and ,earth did sing my ,creator's praises1 and could not make more melody to ,adam1 than to me4 ,all ,time was ,eternity1 and a perpetual ,sabbath4 ,is it not strange1 that an infant should be the heir of the whole world1 and see those mysteries which the books of the learned never unfold8' 7,ill1 #a1 #b47 ,in a different form the same experience comes to expression in the opening lines of ,traherne's poem1 ,wonder3 ',how like an ,angel came ,i down6 ,how bright are all things here ,i ,when first among his ,works ,i did appear ,o how their ,,glory did me crown6 ,the ,world resembled his ,,eternitie1 ,in which my ,soul did ,walk2 ,and evry ,thing that ,i did see ,did with me talk4'#h ,the picture of man thus sketched by ,traherne is as close to ,reid's as it is remote from ,augustine's4 ,this remoteness comes plainly to expression in the way ,traherne and ,augustine regard the summons of ,christ to ,his disciples to become as little children1 a summons to which ,reid was led1 as we have seen1 on purely philosophical grounds4 ,let us first of all recall the words of ,christ as recorded by ,matthew in his #ahth and #aith chapters3 ',and ,jesus called a little child unto him1 and set him in the midst of them1 and said3 ,verily ,i say unto you1 except ye be converted1 and become as little children1 ye shall not enter into the kingdom of ,heaven4 ,whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child1 the same is the greatest in the kingdom of ,heaven4' 7xviii1 #b-d47 ',suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me3 for of such is the kingdom of ,heaven4' 7xix1 #ad47 ,augustine refers to these words when he concludes that examination of his childhood memories which he undertook in order to prove the depravity of the soul from its first day on earth4 ,he says3 ',in the littleness of children didst ,thou1 our king1 give us a symbol of humility when ,thou didst say3 ,of such is the kingdom of ,heaven4' ,if we glance back from what ,augustine says here to the original passages in the ,gospel just quoted1 we see what a remarkable alteration he makes4 ,of the first passage only the last sentence is taken1 and this in ,augustine's mind is fused into one with the second passage4 ,thereby the admonition of ,christ through one's own effort to become as one once was as a child disappears completely4 ,the whole passage thus takes on a meaning corresponding to that passive attitude to the divine will inculcated by ,augustine and opposed by ,pelagius1 and it is in this sense that the words of ,christ have sunk into the consciousness of ,western ,christianity and are usually taken to-day4 ,we may see how differently this injunction of ,christ lived in ,traherne's consciousness from the following passage out of his ,centuries3 ',our ,saviour's meaning1 when ,he said1 ye must be born again and become a little child that will enter into the ,kingdom of ,heaven1 is deeper far than is generally believed4 ,it is not only in a careless reliance upon ,divine ,providence1 that we are to become little children1 or in the feebleness and shortness of our anger and simplicity of our passions1 but in the peace and purity of all our soul4 ,which purity also is a deeper thing than is commonly apprehended4' 7,ill1 #e47 ,with ,traherne also the passage in question has been fused together with another utterance of ,christ1 from ,john's account of ,christ's conversation with ,nicodemus3 ',verily1 verily ,i say unto you1 except a man be born again1 he cannot see the ,kingdom of ,god4' 7,john iii1 #c47 ,what conception of the infant condition of man must have existed in a soul for it to unite these two passages from the ,gospels in this way8 ,whereas for ,augustine it is because of its small stature and helplessness that the child becomes a symbol for the spiritual smallness and helplessness of man as such1 compared with the overwhelming power of the divine ,king1 for ,traherne it is the child's nearness to ,god which is most present to him1 and which must be regained by the man who strives for inner perfection4 ,traherne could bear in himself such a picture of man's infancy because1 as he himself emphasizes1 he was in possession of an unbroken memory of the experiences which the soul enjoys before it awakens to earthly sense-perception4 ,the following passage from the poem1 ,my ,spirit1 gives a detailed picture of the early state in which the soul has experiences and perceptions quite different from those of its later life4 7,we may recall ,reid's indication of how the child receives the natural language of things47 ',an ,object1 if it were before ,mine ,ey1 was by ,dame ,nature's ,law ,within my ,soul3 ,her ,store ,was all at once within me2 all her ,treasures ,were my immediat and internal ,pleasures2 ,substantial ,joys1 which did inform my ,mind4 '444 ,i could not tell ,whether the ,things did there ,themselvs appear1 ,which in my ,spirit truly seem'd to dwell3 ,or whether my conforming ,mind ,were not ev'n all that therein shin'd4' ,further detail is added to this picture by the description1 given in the poem ,the ,praeparative1 of the soul's non-experience of the body at that early stage4 ,the description is unmistakably one of an experience during the time between conception and birth4 ',my ,body being dead1 my ,limbs unknown2 ,before ,i skill'd to prize ,those living ,stars1 mine ,eys2 ,before or ,tongue or ,cheeks ,i call'd mine own1 ,before ,i knew these ,hands were mine1 ,or that my ,sinews did my ,members join2 ,when neither ,nostril1 ,foot1 nor ,ear1 ,as yet could be discerned or did appear2 ,i was within ,a ,house ,i knew not2 newly cloath'd with ,skin4 ,then was my ,soul my only ,all to me1 ,a living endless ,ey1 ,scarce bounded with the ,sky1 ,whose ,power1 and ,act1 and ,essence was to see2 ,i was an inward ,sphere of ,light1 ,or an interminable ,orb of ,sight1 ,exceeding that which makes the ,days1 ,a vital ,sun that shed abroad its ,rays3 ,all ,life1 all ,sense1 ,a naked1 simple1 pure ,intelligence4'' ,in the stanza following upon this1 ,traherne makes a statement which is of particular importance in the context of our present discussion4 ,after some additional description of the absence of all bodily needs he says3 ',without disturbance then ,i did receiv ,the tru ,ideas of all ,things' ,the manuscript of this poem shows a small alteration in ,traherne's hand in the second of these two lines4 ,where we now read 'true ,ideas'1 there originally stood 'fair ,ideas'4 ',fair' described ,traherne's experience as he immediately remembered it2 the later alteration to 'true' shows how well aware he was that his contemporaries might miss what he meant by ',idea'1 through taking it in the sense that had already become customary in his time1 namely1 as a mere product of man's own mental activity4 ,this precaution1 however1 has not saved ,traherne from being misinterpreted in our own day in precisely the way he feared - indeed1 by no less a person than his own discoverer1 ,dobell4 ,it is the symptomatic character of this misinterpretation which prompts us to deal with it here4 99 ,in his attempt to classify the philosophical mode of thought behind ,traherne's writings1 ,dobell1 to his own amazement1 comes to the conclusion that ,traherne had anticipated ,bishop ,berkeley 7#afhd-agec74 ,they seemed to him so alike that he does not hesitate to call ,traherne a ',berkeleyan before ,berkeley was born'4 ,in proof of this he refers to the poems1 ,the ,praeparative and ,my ,spirit1 citing from the latter the passage given above 7page #aab71 and drawing special attention to its two concluding lines4 ,regarding this he says3 ',i am much mistaken if the theory of non-existence of independent matter1 which is the essence of ,berkeley's system1 is not to be found in this poem4 ,the thought that the whole exterior universe is not really a thing apart from and independent of man's consciousness of it1 but something which exists only as it is perceived1 is undeniably found in ,my ,spirit3 ,the reader who has followed our exposition in the earlier parts of this chapter can be in no doubt that1 to find a philosophy similar to ,traherne's1 he must look for it in ,reid and not in ,berkeley4 ,reid himself rightly placed ,berkeley amongst the representatives of the 'ideal system' of thought4 ,for ,berkeley's philosophy represents an effort of the onlooker-consciousness1 unable as it was to arrive at certainty regarding the objective existence of a material world outside itself1 to secure recognition for an objective ,self behind the flux of mental phenomena4 ,berkeley hoped to do this by supposing that the world1 including ,god1 consists of nothing but 'idea'-creating minds1 operating like the human mind as man himself perceives it4 ,his world picture1 based 7as is well known7 entirely on optical experiences1 is the perfect example of a philosophy contrived by the one-eyed1 colourblind world-spectator4 ,we shall understand what in ,traherne's descriptions reminded ,dobell of ,berkeley1 if we take into account the connexion of the soul with the body at the time when1 according to ,traherne1 it still enjoys the untroubled perception of the true1 the light-filled1 ,ideas of things4 ,in this condition the soul has only a dim and undifferentiated awareness of its connexion with a spatially limited body 7',i was within a house ,i knew not1 newly clothed with skin'7 and it certainly knows nothing at all of the body as an instrument1 through which the will can be exercised in an earthly-spatial way 7',my body being dead1 my limbs unknown'74 ,instead of this1 the soul experiences itself simply as a supersensible sense-organ and as such united with the far spaces of the universe 7',before ,i skilled to prize those living stars1 mine eyes4 444 ,then was my soul my only ,all to me1 a living endless eye1 scarce bounded with the sky'74 ,at the time when the soul has experiences of the kind described by ,traherne1 it is in a condition in which1 as yet1 no active contact has been established between itself and the physical matter of the body and thereby with gravity4 ,hence there is truth in the picture which ,traherne thus sketches from actual memory4 ,the same cannot be said of ,berkeley's world-picture4 ,the fact that both resemble each other in certain features need not surprise us1 seeing that ,berkeley's picture is1 in its own way1 a pure 'eye-picture' of the world4 ,as such1 however1 it is an illusion - for it is intended for a state of man for which it is not suited1 namely for adult man going upright on the earth1 directing his deeds within its material realm1 and in this way fashioning his own destiny4 ,indeed1 compared with ,berkeley's eye-picture of the world1 that of ,reid is in every respect a 'limb-picture'4 ,for where he seeks for the origin of our nave assurance that a real material world exists1 there he reverts - guided by his common sense - to the experiences available to the soul through the fact that the limbs of the body meet with the resistant matter of the world4 ,and whenever he turns to the various senses in his search1 it is always the will-activity of the soul within the sense he is investigating - and so the limb-nature within it - to which he first turns his attention4 ,because1 unlike ,berkeley1 he takes into account the experiences undergone by the soul when it leaves behind its primal condition1 ,reid does not fall into illusion1 but discovers a fundamental truth concerning the nature of the world-picture experienced by man in his adult age4 ,this1 in turn1 enables him to discover the nature of man's world picture in early childhood and to recognize the importance of recovering it in later life as a foundation for a true philosophy4 ,assuredly1 the philosopher who discovered that we must become as little children again if we would be philosophers1 is the one to whom we may relate ,traherne1 but not ,berkeley4 ,and if we wish to speak of ,traherne1 as ,dobell tried to do1 we speak correctly only if we call him a ',reidean before ,reid was born'4 99 99 99 ,a little more than a hundred years after ,thomas ,traherne taught his fellow-men 'from experience' that there is an original condition of man's soul1 before it is yet able to prize 'those living stars1 mine eyes'1 in which it is endowed with the faculty to see 'the true 7fair7 ,ideas of all things'1 ,goethe was led to the realization that he had achieved the possibility of 'seeing ,ideas with the very eyes'4 ,although he was himself not aware of it1 the conception of the ,idea was at this moment restored through him to its true and original ,platonic significance4 ,the present chapter has shown us how this conception of the ,idea is bound up with the view that is held of the relationship between human nature in early childhood and human nature in later life4 ,we have seen that1 when ,plato introduced the term ,idea as an expression for spiritual entities having a real and independent existence1 men were still in possession of some recollection of their own pre-earthly existence4 ,we then found ,traherne saying from his recollections that in the original form of man's consciousness his soul is endowed with the faculty of seeing 'true' ,ideas1 and we found ,reid on similar grounds fighting the significance which the term 'idea' had assumed under his predecessors4 ,by their side we see ,goethe as one in whom the faculty of seeing ,ideas appears for the first time in adult man as a result of a systematic training of observation and thought4 ,if our view of the interdependence of the ,platonic conception of the ,idea with the picture man has of himself is seen rightly1 then ,goethe must have been the bearer of such a picture4 ,our expectation is shown to be right by the following two passages from ,goethe's autobiography1 ,truth and ,fiction4 ,in that part of his life story where ,goethe concludes the report of the first period of his childhood 7,book ,,ii71 he writes3 ',who is able to speak worthily of the fullness of childhood8 ,we cannot behold the little creatures which flit about before us otherwise than with delight1 nay1 with admiration2 for they generally promise more than they perform and it seems that nature1 among the other roguish tricks that she plays us1 here also especially designs to make sport of us4 ,the first organs she bestows upon children coming into the world1 are adapted to the nearest immediate condition of the creature1 which1 unassuming and artless1 makes use of them in the readiest way for its present purposes4 ,the child1 considered in and for itself1 with its equals1 and in relations suited to its powers1 seems so intelligent and rational1 and at the same time so easy1 cheerful and clever1 that one can hardly wish it further cultivation4 ,if children grew up according to early indications1 we should have nothing but geniuses4'#i ,we find further evidence in ,goethe's account of an event in his seventh year1 which shows how deeply his soul was filled at that time with the knowledge of its kinship with the realm from which nature herself receives its existence4 ,this knowledge led him to approach the 'great ,god of ,nature' through an act of ritual conceived by himself4 ,the boy took a four-sectioned music stand and arranged on it all kinds of natural specimens1 minerals and the like1 until the whole formed a kind of pyramidal altar4 ,on the top of this pyramid he placed some fumigating candles1 the burning of which was to represent the 'upward yearning of the soul for its ,god'4 ,in order to give nature herself an active part in the ritual1 he contrived to kindle the candles by focusing upon them through a magnifying-glass the light of the rising sun4 ,before this symbol of the unity of the soul with the divine in nature the boy then paid his devotions4 ',unity of the soul with the divine in nature' - this was what lived vividly as a conviction in the seven-year-old boy1 impelling him to act as 'nature's priest' 7,wordsworth74 ,the same impulse1 in a metamorphosed form1 impelled the adult to go out in quest of an understanding of nature which1 as ,traherne put it1 was to bring back through highest reason what once had been his by way of primeval intuition4 #a ,the present writer's interest in ,reid was first aroused by a remark of ,rudolf ,steiner1 in his book ,a ,theory of ',knowledge according to ,goethe's ,world ,conception4 #b ,in a comment on a letter ,carlyle had written to him1 and in a note dealing with the contemporary philosophy in ,germany4 #c ,this observation of ,reid's shows that the origin of language is very different from what the evolutionists since ,darwin have imagined it to be4 #d ,confessions1 ,book ,i1 ,chapter #h4 #e ,as we have seen1 the word had better luck with ,goethe4 #f ,wordsworth1 with all his limitations1 had a real affinity with ,goethe in his view of nature4 ,mr4 ,norman ,lacey gives some indication of this in his recent book1 ,wordsworth's ,view of ,nature4 #g ,this same period of life played a decisive part in the spiritual evolution of ,rudolf ,steiner1 as may be seen in his autobiography1 ,the ,story of ,my ,life4 #h ,the difference in spelling between the prose and poetry excerpts arises from the fact that whereas we can draw on ,miss ,wade's new edition of the poems for ,traherne's original spelling1 we have as yet only ,dobell's edition of the ,centuries1 in which the spelling is modernized4 #i ,oxenford's translation4 ,,chapter ,,vii ',always ,stand by ,form' ,immediacy of approach to certain essentials of nature as a result of their religious or artistic experience of the sense-world1 is the characteristic of two more representatives of ,british cultural life4 ,they are ,luke ,howard 7#aggb-ahfd7 and ,john ,ruskin 7#ahai-aijj71 both true readers in the book of nature4 ,like those discussed in the previous chapter they can be of especial help to us in our attempt to establish an up-to-date method of apprehending nature's phenomena through reading them4 ,at the same time we shall find ourselves led into another sphere of ,goethe's scientific work4 ,for we cannot properly discuss ,howard without recognizing the importance of his findings for ,goethe's meteorological studies or without referring to the personal connexion between the two men arising out of their common interest and similar approach to nature4 ,we shall thus come as a matter of course to speak of ,goethe's thoughts about meteorology1 and this again will give opportunity to introduce a leading concept of ,goethean science in addition to those brought forward already4 ,of ,ruskin only so much will appear in the present chapter as is necessary to show him as an exemplary reader in the book of nature4 ,he will then be a more or less permanent companion in our investigations4 ,the following words of ,ruskin from ,the ,queen of the ,air reveal him at once as a true reader in the book of nature3 ',over the entire surface of the earth and its waters1 as influenced by the power of the air under solar light1 there is developed a series of changing forms1 in clouds1 plants and animals1 all of which have reference in their action1 or nature1 to the human intelligence that perceives them4' 7,,ii1 #hi47 ,here ,ruskin in an entirely ,goethean way points to form in nature as the element in her that speaks to human intelligence - meaning by form1 as other utterances of his show1 all those qualities through which the natural object under observation reveals itself to our senses as a whole4 ,by virtue of his pictorial-dynamic way of regarding nature1 ,ruskin was quite clear that the scientists' one-sided seeking after external forces and the mathematically calculable interplay between them can never lead to a comprehension of life in nature4 ,for in such a search man loses sight of the real signature of life3 form as a dynamic element4 ,accordingly1 in his ,ethics of the ,dust1 ,ruskin does not answer the question3 ',what is ,life8' with a scientific explanation1 but with the laconic injunction3 ',always stand by ,form against ,force4' ,this he later enlarges pictorially in the words3 ',discern the moulding hand of the potter commanding the clay from the merely beating foot as it turns the wheel4' 7,lect4 ,x47 ,in thus opposing form and force to each other1 ,ruskin is actually referring to two kinds of forces4 ,there exist those forces which resemble the potter's foot in producing mere numerically regulated movements 7so that this part of the potter's activity can be replaced by a power-machine71 and others1 which like the potter's hand1 strive for a certain end and so in the process create definite forms4 ,ruskin goes a step further still in ,the ,queen of the ,air1 where he speaks of selective order as a mark of the spirit3 ',it does not merely crystallize indefinite masses1 but it gives to limited portions of matter the power of gathering1 selectively1 other elements proper to them1 and binding these elements into their own peculiar and adopted form4 444 ',for the mere force of junction is not spirit1 but the power that catches out of chaos1 charcoal1 water1 lime and what not1 and fastens them into given form1 is properly called spirit2 and we shall not diminish1 but strengthen our cognition of this creative energy by recognizing its presence in lower states of matter than our own4' 7,,ii1 #ei47a ,when ,ruskin wrote this passage1 he could count on a certain measure of agreement from his contemporaries that the essence of man himself is spirit1 though certainly without any very exact notion being implied4 ,this persuaded him to fight on behalf of the spirit1 lest its activity on the lower levels of nature should not be duly acknowledged4 ,to-day1 when the purely physical conception of nature has laid hold of the entire man1 ,ruskin might have given his thought the following turn3 '444 and we shall certainly attain to no real insight into this creative force 7of the spirit7 at the level of man1 unless we win the capacity to recognize its activity in lower states of matter4' ,what ,ruskin is really pointing towards is the very thing for which ,goethe formed the concept 'type'4 ,and just as ,ruskin1 like ,goethe1 recognized the signature of the spirit in the material processes which work towards a goal1 so he counted as another such signature what ,goethe called ,steigerung1 though certainly without forming such a universally valid idea of it3 ',the ,spirit in the plant - that is to say1 its power of gathering dead matter out of the wreck round it1 and shaping it into its own chosen shape - is of course strongest in the moment of flowering1 for it then not only gathers1 but forms1 with the greatest energy4' ,it is characteristic of ,ruskin's conception of the relationship between man's mind and nature that he added3 ',and where this life is in it at full power1 its form becomes invested with aspects that are chiefly delightful to our own senses4' 7,,ii1 #fj47 ,obviously1 a mind capable of looking at nature in this way could not accept such a picture of evolution as was put forward by ,ruskin's contemporary1 ,darwin4 ,so we find ,ruskin1 in ,the ,queen of the ,air1 opposing the ,darwinistic conception of the preservation of the species as the driving factor in the life of nature3 ',with respect to plants as animals1 we are wrong in speaking as if the object of life were only the bequeathing of itself4 ,the flower is the end and proper object of the seeds1 not the seed of the flower4 ,the reason for the seed is that flowers may be1 not the reason of flowers that seeds may be4 ,the flower itself is the creature which the spirit makes2 only1 in connection with its perfectedness1 is placed the giving birth to its successor4' 7,,ii1 #fj47 ,for ,ruskin the true meaning of life in all its stages lay not in the maintenance of physical continuity from generation to generation1 but in the ever-renewed1 ever more enhanced revelation of the spirit4 ,he was never for a moment in doubt regarding the inevitable effect of such an evolutionary theory as ,darwin's on the general social attitude of humanity4 ,men would be led1 he realized1 to see themselves as the accidental products of an animal nature based on the struggle for existence and the preservation of the species4 ,enough has been said to stamp ,ruskin as a reader in the book of nature1 capable of deciphering the signature of the spirit in the phenomena of the sense-world4 99 ,outwardly different from ,ruskin's and yet spiritually comparable1 is the contribution made by his older contemporary1 ,luke ,howard1 to the foundation of a science of nature based on intuition4 ,whereas ,ruskin throws out a multitude of aphoristic utterances about many different aspects of nature1 which will provide us with further starting-points for our own observation and thought1 ,howard is concerned with a single sphere of phenomena1 that of cloud formation4 ,on the other hand1 his contribution consists of a definite discovery which he himself methodically and consciously achieved1 and it is the content of this discovery1 together with the method of research leading to it1 which will supply us ever and again with a model for our own procedure4 ,at the same time1 as we have indicated1 he will help us to become familiar with another side of ,goethe1 and to widen our knowledge of the basic scientific concepts formed by him4 ,anyone interested to-day in weather phenomena is acquainted with the terms used in cloud classification - ,cirrus1 ,cumulus1 ,stratus1 and ,nimbus4 ,these have come so far into general use that it is not easy to realize that1 until ,howard's paper1 ,on the ,modification of ,clouds1 appeared in #ahjc1 no names for classifying clouds were available4 ,superficially1 it may seem that ,howard had done nothing more than science has so often done in grouping and classifying and naming the contents of nature4 ,in fact1 however1 he did something essentially different4 ,in the introduction to his essay1 ,howard describes the motives which led him to devote himself to a study of meteorological phenomena3 ',it is the frequent observation of the countenance of the sky1 and of its connexion with the present and ensuing phenomena1 that constitutes the ancient and popular meteorology4 ,the want of this branch of knowledge renders the prediction of the philosopher 7who in attending his instruments may be said to examine the pulse of the atmosphere71 less generally successful than those of the weather-wise mariners and husbandmen4' ,when he thus speaks of studying 'the countenance of the sky'1 ,howard is not using a mere form of speech2 he is exactly describing his own procedure1 as he shows when he proceeds to justify it as a means to scientific knowledge4 ,the clouds with their ever-moving1 ever-changing forms are not1 he says1 to be regarded as the mere 'sport of the winds'1 nor is their existence 'the mere result of the condensation of vapour in the masses of the atmosphere which they occupy'4 ,what comes to view in them is identical1 in its own realm1 with what the changing expression of the human face reveals of 'a person's state of mind or body'4 ,it would hardly be possible to represent oneself more clearly as a genuine reader in the book of nature than by such words4 ,what is it but ,ruskin's ',stand by ,form against ,force' that ,howard is here saying in his own way8 99 ,before entering into a further description of ,howard's system1 we must make clear why we disregard the fact that modern meteorology has developed the scale of cloud-formation far beyond ,howard1 and why we shall keep to his own fourfold scale4 ,it is characteristic of ,goethe that1 on becoming acquainted with ,howard's work1 he at once gave a warning against subdividing his scale without limit4 ,goethe foresaw that the attempt to insert too many transitory forms between ,howard's chief types would result only in obscuring that view of the essentials which ,howard's original classification had opened up4 ,obviously1 for a science based on mere onlooking there is no objection to breaking up an established system into ever more subdivisions in order to keep it in line with an increasingly detailed outer observation4 ,this1 indeed1 modern meteorology has done with ,howard's system1 with the result that1 to-day1 the total scale is made up of ten different stages of cloud-formation4 ,valuable as this tenfold scale may be for certain practical purposes1 it must be ignored by one who realizes that through ,howard's fourfold scale nature herself speaks to man's intuitive judgment4 ,let us1 therefore1 turn to ,howard's discovery1 undisturbed by the extension to which modern meteorology has subjected it4 ,luke ,howard1 a chemist by profession1 knew well how to value the results of scientific knowledge above traditional folk-knowledge4 ,he saw the superiority of scientifically acquired knowledge in the fact that it was universally communicable1 whereas folk-wisdom is bound up with the personality of its bearer1 his individual observations and his memory of them4 ,nevertheless1 the increasing mathematizing of science1 including his own branch of it1 gave him great concern1 for he could not regard it as helpful in the true progress of man's understanding of nature4 ,accordingly1 he sought for a method of observation in which the practice of 'the weatherwise mariner and husbandman' could be raised to the level of scientific procedure4 ,to this end he studied the changing phenomena of the sky for many years1 until he was able so to read its play of features that it disclosed to him the archetypal forms of cloud-formation underlying all change4 ,to these he gave the now well-known names 7in ,latin1 so that they might be internationally comprehensible73 ,cirrus3 ,parallel1 flexuous or divergent fibres extensible in any and all directions4 ,cumulus3 ,convex or conical heaps1 increasing upwards from a horizontal base4 ,stratus3 ,a widely extended1 continuous1 horizontal sheet1 increasing from below4 ,nimbus3 ,the rain cloud4 ,let us1 on the background of ,howard's brief definitions1 try to form a more exact picture of the atmospheric dynamics at work in each of the stages he describes4#b ,among the three formations of cirrus1 cumulus and stratus1 the cumulus has a special place as representing in the most actual sense what is meant by the term 'cloud'4 ,the reason is that both cirrus and stratus have characteristics which in one or the other direction tend away from the pure realm of atmospheric cloud-formation4 ,in the stratus1 the atmospheric vapour is gathered into a horizontal1 relatively arched layer around the earth1 and so anticipates the actual water covering below which extends spherically around the earth's centre4 ,thus the stratus arranges itself in a direction which is already conditioned by the earth's field of gravity4 ,in the language of physics1 the stratus forms an equipotential surface in the gravitational field permeating the earth's atmosphere4 ,as the exact opposite of this we have the cirrus4 ,if in the stratus the form ceases to consist of distinct particulars1 because the entire cloud-mass runs together into a single layer1 in the cirrus the form begins to vanish before our eyes1 because it dissolves into the surrounding atmospheric space4 ,in the cirrus there is present a tendency to expand2 in the stratus to contract4 ,between the two1 the cumulus1 even viewed simply as a form-type1 represents an exact mean4 ,in how densely mounded a shape does the majestically towering cumulus appear before us1 and yet how buoyantly it hovers aloft in the heights6 ,if one ever comes into the midst of a cumulus cloud in the mountains1 one sees how its myriads of single particles are in ceaseless movement4 ,and yet the whole remains stationary1 on windless days preserving its form unchanged for hours4 ,more recent meteorological research has established that in many cumulus forms the entire mass is in constant rotation1 although seen from outside1 it appears as a stable1 unvarying shape4 ,nowhere in nature may the supremacy of form over matter be so vividly observed as in the cumulus cloud4 ,and the forms of the cumuli themselves tell us in manifold metamorphoses of a state of equilibrium between expansive and contractive tendencies within the atmosphere4 ,our description of the three cloud-types of cirrus1 cumulus and stratus1 makes it clear that we have to do with a self-contained symmetrical system of forms1 within which the two outer1 dynamically regarded1 represent the extreme tendencies of expansion and contraction1 whilst in the middle forms these are held more or less in balance4 ,by adding ,howard's nimbus formation to this system1 we destroy its symmetry4 ,actually1 in the nimbus we have cloud in such a condition that it ceases to be an atmospheric phenomenon in any real sense of the word2 for it now breaks up into single drops of water1 each of which1 under the pull of gravity1 makes its own independent way to the earth4 7,the symmetry is restored as soon as we realize that the nimbus1 as a frontier stage below the stratus1 has a counterpart in a corresponding frontier stage above the cirrus4 ,to provide insight into this upper frontier stage1 of which neither ,howard nor ,goethe was at that time in a position to develop a clear enough conception to deal with it scientifically1 is one of the aims of this book47 99 ,in order to understand what prompted ,goethe to accept1 as he did1 ,howard's classification and terminology at first glance1 and what persuaded him to make himself its eloquent herald1 we must note from what point ,goethe's labours for a natural understanding of nature had originated4 ,in his ,history of my ,botanical ,studies ,goethe mentions1 besides ,shakespeare and ,spinoza1 ,linnaeus as one who had most influenced his own development4 ,concerning ,linnaeus1 however1 this is to be understood in a negative sense4 ,for when ,goethe1 himself searching for a way of bringing the confusing multiplicity of plant phenomena into a comprehensive system1 met with the ,linnaean system1 he was1 despite his admiration for the thoroughness and ingenuity of ,linnaeus's work1 repelled by his method4 ,thus by way of reaction1 his thought was brought into its own creative movement3 ',as ,i sought to take in his acute1 ingenious analysis1 his apt1 appropriate1 though often arbitrary laws1 a cleft was set up in my inner nature3 what he sought to hold forcibly apart could not but strive for union according to the inmost need of my own being4' ,linnaeus's system agonized ,goethe because it demanded from him 'to memorize a ready-made terminology1 to hold in readiness a certain number of nouns and adjectives1 so as to be able1 whenever any form was in question1 to employ them in apt and skilful selection1 and so to give it its characteristic designation and appropriate position4' ,such a procedure appeared to ,goethe as a kind of mosaic1 in which one ready-made piece is set next to another in order to produce out of a thousand details the semblance of a picture2 and this was 'in a certain way repugnant' to him4 ,what ,goethe awoke to when he met ,linnaeus's attempt at systematizing the plant kingdom was the old problem of whether the study of nature should proceed from the parts to the whole or from the whole to the parts4 ,seeing1 therefore1 how it became a question for ,goethe1 at the very beginning of his scientific studies1 whether a natural classification of nature's phenomena could be achieved1 we can understand why he was so overjoyed when1 towards the end of his life1 in a field of observation which had meanwhile caught much of his interest1 he met with a classification which showed1 down to the single names employed1 that it had been read off from reality4 99 ,the following is a comprehensive description of ,goethe's meteorological views1 which he gave a few years before his death in one of his conversations with his secretary1 ,eckermann3 ',i compare the earth and her hygrosphere#c to a great living being perpetually inhaling and exhaling4 ,if she inhales1 she draws the hygrosphere to her1 so that1 coming near her surface1 it is condensed to clouds and rain4 ,this state ,i call water-affirmative 7,wasser,bejahung74 ,should it continue for an indefinite period1 the earth would be drowned4 ,this the earth does not allow1 but exhales again1 and sends the watery vapours upwards1 when they are dissipated through the whole space of the higher atmosphere4 ,these become so rarefied that not only does the sun penetrate them with its brilliancy1 but the eternal darkness of infinite space is seen through them as a fresh blue4 ,this state of the atmosphere ,i call water-negative 7,wasser,verneinung74 ,for just as1 under the contrary influence1 not only does water come profusely from above1 but also the moisture of the earth cannot be dried and dissipated - so1 on the contrary1 in this state not only does no moisture come from above1 but the damp of the earth itself flies upwards2 so that1 if this should continue for an indefinite period1 the earth1 even if the sun did not shine1 would be in danger of drying up4' 7llth ,april #ahbg47 ,goethe's notes of the results of his meteorological observations show how in them1 too1 he followed his principle of keeping strictly to the phenomenon4 ,his first concern is to bring the recorded measurements of weather phenomena into their proper order of significance4 ,to this end he compares measurements of atmospheric temperature and local density with barometric measurements4 ,he finds that the first two1 being of a more local and accidental nature1 have the value of 'derived' phenomena1 whereas the variations in the atmosphere revealed by the barometer are the same over wide areas and therefore point to fundamental changes in the general conditions of the earth4 ,measurements made regularly over long periods of time finally lead him to recognize in the barometric variations of atmospheric pressure the basic meteorological phenomenon4 ,in all this we find ,goethe carefully guarding himself against 'explaining' these atmospheric changes by assuming some kind of purely mechanical cause1 such as the accumulation of air-masses over a certain area or the like4 ,just as little would he permit himself lightly to assume influences of an extra-terrestrial nature1 such as those of the moon4 ,not that he would have had anything against such things1 if they had rested on genuine observation4 ,but his own observations1 as far as he was able to carry them1 told him simply that the atmosphere presses with greater or lesser intensity on the earth in more or less regular rhythms4 ,he was not abandoning the phenomenal sphere1 however1 when he said that these changes are results of the activity of earthly gravity1 or when he concluded from this that barometric variations were caused by variations in the intensity of the field of terrestrial gravity1 whereby the earth sometimes drew the atmosphere to it with a stronger1 and sometimes with a weaker1 pull4 ,he was again not departing from the realm of the phenomenal when he looked round for other indications in nature of such an alternation of drawing in and letting forth of air1 and found them in the respiratory processes of animated beings4 7,to regard the earth as a merely physical structure was impossible for ,goethe1 for he could have done this only by leaving out of account the life visibly bound up with it47 ,accordingly1 barometric measurements became for him the sign of a breathing process carried out by the earth4 ,alongside the alternating phases of contraction and expansion within the atmosphere1 ,goethe placed the fact that atmospheric density decreases with height4 ,observation of differences in cloud formation at different levels1 of the boundary of snow formation1 etc41 led him to speak of different 'atmospheres'1 or of atmospheric circles or spheres1 which when undisturbed are arranged concentrically round the earth4 ,here also he saw1 in space1 phases of contraction alternating with phases of expansion4 99 ,at this point in our discussion it is necessary to introduce another leading concept of ,goethean nature-observation1 which was for him - as it will be for us - of particular significance for carrying over the ,goethean method of research from the organic into the inorganic realm of nature4 ,this is the concept of the ur-phenomenon 7,urphnomen74 ,in this latter realm1 nature no longer brings forth related phenomena in the ordering proper to them2 hence we are obliged to acquire the capacity of penetrating to this ordering by means of our own realistically trained observation and thought4 ,from among the various utterances of ,goethe regarding his general conception of the ur-phenomenon1 we here select a passage from that part of the historical section of his ,theory of ,colour where he discusses the method of investigation introduced into science by ,bacon4 ,he says3 ',in the range of phenomena all had equal value in ,bacon's eyes4 ,for although he himself always points out that one should collect the particulars only to select from them and to arrange them1 in order finally to attain to ,universals1 yet too much privilege is granted to the single facts2 and before it becomes possible to attain to simplification and conclusion by means of induction 7the very way he recommends71 life vanishes and forces get exhausted4 ,he who cannot realize that one instance is often worth a thousand1 bearing all within itself2 he who proves unable to comprehend and esteem what we called ur-phenomena1 will never be in a position to advance anything1 either to his own or to others' joy and profit4' ,what ,goethe says here calls for the following comparison4 ,we can say that nature seen through ,bacon's eyes appears as if painted on a two-dimensional surface1 so that all its facts are seen alongside each other at exactly the same distance from the observer4 ,goethe1 on the other hand1 ascribed to the human spirit the power of seeing the phenomenal world in all its three-dimensional multiplicity2 that is1 of seeing it in perspective and distinguishing between foreground and background4#d ,things in the foreground he called ur-phenomena4 ,here the idea creatively determining the relevant field of facts comes to its purest expression4 ,the sole task of the investigator of nature1 he considered1 was to seek for the ur-phenomena and to bring all other phenomena into relation with them2 and in the fulfilment of this task he saw the means of fully satisfying the human mind's need to theorize4 ,he expressed this in the words1 ',every fact is itself already theory'4 ,in ,goethe's meteorological studies we have a lucid example of how he sought and found the relevant ur-phenomenon4 ,it is the breathing-process of the earth as shown by the variations of barometric pressure4 99 ,once again we find ,thomas ,reid1 along his line of intuitively guided observation1 coming quite close to ,goethe where he deals with the question of the apprehension of natural law by the human mind4 ,he1 too1 was an opponent of the method of 'explaining' phenomena by means of abstract theories spun out of sheer thinking1 and more than once in his writings he inveighs against it in his downright1 humorous way4#e ,his conviction that human thinking ought to remain within the realm of directly experienced observation is shown in the following words3 ',in the solution of natural phenomena1 all the length that the human faculties can carry us is only this1 that from particular phenomena1 we may1 by induction1 trace out general phenomena1 of which all the particular ones are necessary consequences4'#f ,as an example of this he takes gravity1 leading the reader from one phenomenon to the next without ever abandoning them1 and concluding the journey by saying3 ',the most general phenomena we can reach are what we call laws of nature4 ,so that the laws of nature are nothing else but the most general facts relating to the operations of nature1 which include a great many particular facts under them4' 99 ,it was while on his way with the ,grand ,duke of ,weimar to visit a newly erected meteorological observatory that ,goethe1 in the course of informing his companion of his own meteorological ideas1 first heard of ,howard's writings about the formation of clouds4 ,the ,duke had read a report of them in a ,german scientific periodical1 and it seemed to him that ,howard's cloud system corresponded with what he now heard of ,goethe's thoughts about the force relationships working in the different atmospheric levels4 ,he had made no mistake4 ,goethe1 who immediately obtained ,howard's essay1 recognized at first glance in ,howard's cloud scale the law of atmospheric changes which he himself had discovered4 ,he found here1 what he had always missed in the customary practice of merely tabulating the results of scientific measurements4 ,and so he took hold of the ,howard system with delight1 for it 'provided him with a thread which had hitherto been lacking'4 ,moreover1 in the names which ,howard had chosen for designating the basic cloud forms1 ,goethe saw the dynamic element in each of them coming to immediate expression in human speech4#g ,he therefore always spoke of ,howard's system as a 'welcome terminology'4 ,all this inspired ,goethe to celebrate ,howard's personality and his work in a number of verses in which he gave a description of these dynamic elements and a paraphrase of the names1 moulding them together into an artistic unity4 ,in a few accompanying verses he honoured ,howard as the first to 'distinguish and suitably name' the clouds4#h ,the reason why ,goethe laid so much stress on ,howard's terminology was because he was very much aware of the power of names to help or hinder men in their quest for knowledge4 ,he himself usually waited a long time before deciding on a name for a natural phenomenon or a connexion between phenomena which he had discovered4 ,the ,idea which his spiritual eye had observed had first to appear so clearly before him that he could clothe it in a thought-form proper to it4 ,seeing in the act of name - giving an essential function of man 7we are reminded of what in this respect the biblical story of creation says of ,adam71#i ,goethe called man 'the first conversation which ,nature conducts with ,god'4 ,it is characteristic of ,goethe that he did not content himself with knowing the truth which someone had brought forward in a field of knowledge in which he himself was interested1 but that he felt his acquaintance with this truth to be complete only when he also knew something about the personality of the man himself4 ,so he introduces his account of his endeavours to know more about ,howard1 the man1 with the following words3 ',increasingly convinced that everything occurring through man should be regarded in an ethical sense1 and that moral value is to be estimated only from a man's way of life1 ,i asked a friend in ,london to find out if possible something about ,howard's life1 if only the simplest facts4' ,goethe was uncertain whether the ,englishman was still alive1 so his delight and surprise were considerable when from ,howard himself he received an answer in the form of a short autobiographical sketch1 which fully confirmed his expectations regarding ,howard's ethical personality4 ,howard's account of himself is known to us1 as ,goethe included a translation of it in the collection of his own meteorological studies4 ,howard in a modest yet dignified way describes his ,christian faith1 his guide through all his relationships1 whether to other men or to nature4#aj ,a man comes before us who1 untroubled by the prevailing philosophy of his day1 was able to advance to the knowledge of an objective truth in nature1 because he had the ability to carry religious experience even into his observation of the sense-world4 99 ,in view of all this1 it is perhaps not too much to say that in the meeting between ,howard and ,goethe by way of the spiritual bridge of the clouds1 something happened that was more than a mere event in the personal history of these two men4 #a ,these words should be weighed with the fact in mind that they were written at the time when ,crookes was intent on finding the unknown land of the spirit by means of just such 'a mere force of junction'4 #b ,see also ,goethe's sketch of the basic cloud forms on ,plate ,,iv4 #c ,goethe's ,dunstkreis - meaning the humidity contained in the air and1 as such1 spherically surrounding the earth4 ,i had to make up the word 'hygrosphere' 7after hygrometer1 etc47 to keep clear the distinction from both atmosphere and hydrosphere4 ,except for this term in the first two sentences1 the above follows ,oxenford's translation 7who1 following the dictionaries1 has rendered ,goethe's term inadequately by 'atmosphere'74 #d ,we may here recall ,eddington's statement concerning the restriction of scientific observation to 'non-stereoscopic vision'4 #e ,an example of this is ,reid's commentary on existing theories about sight as a mere activity of the optic nerve4 7,inq41 ,,vi1 #ai47 #f ,see ,inq41 ,,vi1 #ac4 ,this is precisely what ,kant had declared to be outside human possibility4 #g ,stratus means layer1 cumulus - heap1 cirrus - curl4 #h ,there exists no adequate translation of these verses4 #i ,genesis ii1 #ai1 #bj4 #aj ,a fact which ,howard did not mention1 and which presumably remained unknown to ,goethe1 was the work he had done as chairman of a relief committee for the parts of ,germany devastated by the ,napoleonic wars4 ,for this work ,howard received a series of public honours4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,dynamics versus ,kinetics ,at the present time the human mind is in danger of confusing the realm of dynamic events1 into which modern atomic research has penetrated1 with the world of the spirit2 that is1 the world whence nature is endowed with intelligent design1 and of which human thinking is an expression in terms of consciousness4 ,if a view of nature as a manifestation of spirit1 such as ,goethe and kindred minds conceived it1 is to be of any significance in our time1 it must include a conception of matter which shows as one of its attributes its capacity to serve ,form 7in the sense in which ,ruskin spoke of it in opposition to mere ,force7 as a means of manifestation4 ,the present part of this book1 comprising ,chapters ,,viii-,,xi1 will be devoted to working out such a conception of matter4 ,an example will thereby be given of how ,goethe's method of acquiring understanding of natural phenomena through reading the phenomena themselves may be carried beyond his own field of observation4 ,there are1 however1 certain theoretical obstacles1 erected by the onlooker-consciousness1 which require to be removed before we can actually set foot on the new path4 ,the present chapter will in particular serve this purpose4 99 ,science1 since ,galileo1 has been rooted in the conviction that the logic of mathematics is a means of expressing the behaviour of natural events4 ,the material for the mathematical treatment of sense data is obtained through measurement4 ,the actual thing1 therefore1 in which the scientific observer is interested in each case1 is the position of some kind of pointer4 ,in fact1 physical science is essentially1 as ,professor ,eddington put it1 a 'pointer-reading science'4 ,looking at this fact in our way we can say that all pointer instruments which man has constructed ever since the beginning of science1 have as their model man himself1 restricted to colourless1 non-stereoscopic observation4 ,for all that is left to him in this condition is to focus points in space and register changes of their positions4 ,indeed1 the perfect scientific observer is himself the arch-pointer-instrument4 ,the birth of the method of pointer-reading is marked by ,galileo's construction of the first thermometer 7actually1 a thermoscope74 ,the conviction of the applicability of mathematical concepts to the description of natural events is grounded in his discovery of the so-called ,parallelogram of ,forces4 ,it is with these two innovations that we shall concern ourselves in this chapter4 ,let it be said at once that our investigations will lead to the unveiling of certain illusions which the spectator-consciousness has woven round these two gifts of ,galileo4 ,this does not mean that their significance as fundamentals of science will be questioned4 ,nor will the practical uses to which they have been put with so much success be criticized in any way4 ,but there are certain deceptive ideas which became connected with them1 and the result is that to-day1 when man is in need of finding new epistemological ground under his feet1 he is entangled in a network of conceptual illusions which prevent him from using his reason with the required freedom4 ,a special word is necessary at this point regarding the term illusion1 as it is used here and elsewhere4 ,in respect of this1 it will be well to remember what was pointed out earlier in connexion with the term 'tragedy' 7,chapter ,,ii74 ,in speaking of 'illusion'1 we neither intend to cast any blame on some person or another who took part in weaving the illusion1 nor to suggest that the emergence of it should be thought of as an avoidable calamity4 ,rather should illusion be thought of as something which man has been allowed to weave because only by his own active overcoming of it can he fulfil his destiny as the bearer of truth in freedom4 ,illusion1 in the sense used here1 belongs to those things in man's existence which are truly to be called tragic4 ,it loses this quality1 and assumes a quite different one1 only when man1 once the time has come for overcoming an illusion1 insists on clinging to it4 ,as our further studies will show1 the criticism to be applied here does not only leave the validity of measurement and the mathematical treatment of the data thus obtained fully intact1 but by giving them their appropriate place in a wider conception of nature it opens the way to an ever more firmly grounded and1 at the same time1 enhanced application of both4 99 ,our primary knowledge of the existence of something we call 'warmth' or 'heat' is due to a particular sense of warmth which modern research has recognized as a clearly definable sense4 ,naturally1 seen from the spectator-standpoint1 the experiences of this sense appear to be of purely subjective value and therefore useless for obtaining an objective insight into the nature of warmth and its effects in the physical world4 ,in order to learn about these1 resort is had to certain instruments which1 through the change of the spatial position of a point1 allow the onlooker-observer to register changes in the thermal condition of a physical object4 ,an instrument of this kind is the thermometer4 ,in the following way an indubitable proof seems to be given of the correctness of the view concerning the subjectivity of the impressions obtained through the sense of warmth1 and of the objectivity of thermometrical measurement4 ,a description of it is frequently given in physical textbooks as an introduction to the chapter on ,heat4 ,to begin with1 the well-known fact is cited that if one plunges one's hands first into two different bowls1 one filled with hot water and the other with cold1 and then plunges them together into a bowl of tepid water1 this will feel cold to the hand coming from the hot water and warm to the hand coming from the cold4 ,next1 it is pointed out that two thermometers which are put through the same procedure will register an equal degree of temperature for the tepid water4 ,in this way the student is given a lasting impression of the superiority of the 'objective' recording of the instrument over the 'subjective' character of the experiences mediated by his sense of warmth4 ,let us now test this procedure by carrying out the same experiment with the help of thermometrical instruments in their original form1 that is1 the form in which ,galileo first applied them4 ,by doing so we proceed in a truly ,goethean manner1 because we divest the experiment of all accessories which prevent the phenomenon from appearing in its primary form4 ,to turn a modern thermometer into a thermoscope we need only remove the figures from its scale4 ,if we make the experiment with two such thermoscopes we at once become aware of something which usually escapes us1 our attention being fixed on the figures recorded by the two instruments4 ,for we now notice that the two instruments1 when transferred from the hot and cold water into the tepid water1 behave quite differently4 ,in one the column will fall1 in the other it will rise4 ,it is important to note that by this treatment of the two instruments we have not changed the way in which they usually indicate temperature4 ,for thermometrical measurement is in actual fact never anything else than a recording of the movement of the indicator from one level to another4 ,we choose merely to take a certain temperature level - that of melting ice or something else - as a fixed point of reference and mark it once for all on the instrument4 ,because we find this mark clearly distinguished on our thermometers1 and the scales numbered accordingly1 we fail to notice what lies ideally behind this use of the same zero for every new operation we undertake4 ,what the zero signifies becomes clear directly we start to work with thermometers not marked with scales4 ,for in order to be used in this form as real thermometers1 they must be exposed on each occasion first of all to some zero level of temperature1 say1 that of melting ice4 ,if we then take them into the region of temperature we want to measure1 we shall discern the difference of levels through the corresponding movement of the column4 ,the final position of the column tells us nothing in itself4 ,it is always the change from one level to another that the thermometer registers - precisely as does the sense of warmth in our hands in the experiment just described4 ,hence we see that in the ordinary operation with the thermometers1 and when we use our hands in the prescribed manner1 we are dealing with the zero level in two quite different ways4 ,while in the_/two instruments the zero level is the same1 in accordance with the whole idea of thermometric measurement1 we make a special arrangement so as to expose our hands to two different levels4 ,so we need not be surprised if these two ways yield different results4 ,if1 after placing two thermometers without scales in hot and cold water1 we were to assign to each its own zero in accordance with the respective height of its column1 and then graduate them from this reference point1 they would necessarily record different levels when exposed to the tepid water1 in just the same way as the hands do4 ,our two hands1 moreover1 will receive the same sense-impression from the tepid water1 if we keep them in it long enough4 ,seen in this light1 the original experiment1 designed to show the subjective character of the impressions gained through the sense of warmth1 reveals itself as a piece of self-deception by the onlooker-consciousness4 ,the truth of the matter is that1 in so far as there is any subjective element in the experience and measurement of heat1 it does not lie on the side of our sense of warmth1 but in our judgment of the significance of thermometrical readings4 ,in fact1 our test of the alleged proof of the absolute superiority of pointer-readings over the impressions gained by our senses gives us proof of the correctness of ,goethe's statement1 quoted earlier1 that the senses do not deceive1 but the judgment deceives4 ,let it be repeated here that what we have found in this way does not lead to any depreciation of the method of pointer-reading4 ,for the direct findings of the senses cannot be compared quantitatively4 ,the point is that the idea of the absolute superiority of physical measurement as a means of scientific knowledge1 in all circumstances1 must be abandoned as false4 99 ,we now turn to ,galileo's discovery known as the theorem of the ,parallelogram of ,forces4 ,the illusion which has been woven round this theorem expresses itself in the way it is described as being connected ideally with another theorem1 outwardly similar in character1 known as the theorem of the ,parallelogram of ,movements 7or ,velocities71 by stating that the former follows logically from the latter4 ,this statement is to be found in every textbook on physics at the outset of the chapter on dynamics 7kinetics71 where it serves to establish the right to treat the dynamic occurrences in nature in a purely kinematic fashion1 true to the requirements of the onlooker-consciousness4#a ,the following description will show that1 directly we free ourselves from the onlooker-limitations of our consciousness in the way shown by ,goethe - and1 in respect of the present problem1 in particular also by ,reid - the ideal relationship between the two theorems is seen to be precisely the opposite to the one expressed in the above statement4 ,the reason why we take pains to show this at the present point of our discussion is that only through replacing the fallacious conception by the correct one1 do we open the way for forming a concrete concept of ,force and thereby for establishing a truly dynamic conception of nature4 99 ,let us begin by describing briefly the content of the two theorems in question4 ,in ,fig4 #a1 a diagrammatical representation is given of the parallelogram of movements4 ,it sets out to show that when a point moves with a certain velocity in the direction indicated by the arrow a1 so that in a certain time it passes from ,p to ,a1 and when it simultaneously moves with a second velocity in the direction indicated by b1 through which alone it would pass to ,b in the same time1 its actual movement is indicated by c1 the diagonal in the parallelogram formed by a and b4 ,an example of the way in which this theorem is practically applied is the well-known case of a rower who sets out from ,p in order to cross at right angles a river indicated by the parallel lines4 ,he has to overcome the velocity a of the water of the river flowing to the right by steering obliquely left towards ,b in order to arrive finally at ,c4 ,it is essential to observe that the content of this theorem does not need the confirmation of any outer experience for its discovery1 or to establish its truth4 ,even though the recognition of the fact which it expresses may have first come to men through practical observation1 yet the content of this theorem can be discovered and proved by purely logical means4 ,in this respect it resembles any purely geometrical statement such as1 that the sum of the angles of a triangle is two right angles 7#ahj74 ,even though this too may have first been learnt through outer observation1 yet it remains true that for the discovery of the fact expressed by it - valid for all plane triangles - no outer experience is needed4 ,in both cases we find ourselves in the domain of pure geometric conceptions 7length and direction of straight lines1 movement of a point along these71 whose reciprocal relationships are ordered by the laws of pure geometric logic4 ,so in the theorem of the ,parallelogram of ,velocities we have a strictly geometrical theorem1 whose content is in the narrowest sense kinematic4 ,in fact1 it is the basic theorem of kinematics4 ,we now turn to the second theorem which speaks of an outwardly similar relationship between forces4 ,as is well nown1 this states that two forces of different magnitude and direction1 when they apply at the same point1 act together in the manner of a single force whose magnitude and direction may be represented by the diagonal of a parallelogram whose sides express in extent and direction the first two forces4 ,thus in ,fig4 #b1 ,r exercises upon ,p the same effect as ,f#a and ,f#b together4 ,expressed in another way1 a force of this magnitude working in the reverse direction 7,r'7 will establish an equilibrium with the other two forces4 ,in technical practice1 as is well known1 this theorem is used for countless calculations1 in both statics and dynamics1 and indeed more frequently not in the form given here but in the converse manner1 when a single known force is resolved into two component forces4 7,distribution of a pressure along frameworks1 of air pressure along moving surfaces1 etc47 ,it will now be our task to examine the logical link which is believed to connect one theorem with the other4 ,this link is found in the well-known definition of physical force as a product of 'mass' and 'acceleration' - in algebraic symbols ,fma4 ,we will discuss the implications of this definition in more detail later on4 ,let us first see how it is used as a foundation for the above assertion4 ,the conception of 'force' as the product of 'mass' and 'acceleration' is based on the fact - easily experienced by anyone who cycles along a level road - that it is not velocity itself which requires the exertion of force1 but the change of velocity - that is1 acceleration or retardation 7'negative acceleration' in the sense of mathematical physics72 also that in the case of equal accelerations1 the force depends upon the mass of the accelerated object4 ,the more massive the object1 the greater will be the force necessary for accelerating it4 ,this mass1 in turn1 reveals itself in the resistance a particular object offers to any change of its state of motion4 ,where different accelerations and the same mass are considered1 the factor m in the above formula remains constant1 and force and acceleration are directly proportional to each other4 ,thus in the acceleration is discovered a measure for the magnitude of the force which thereby acts4 ,now it is logically evident that the theorem of the parallelogram of velocities is equally valid for movements with constant or variable velocities4 ,even though it is somewhat more difficult to perceive mentally the movement of a point in two different directions with two differently accelerated motions1 and to form an inner conception of the resulting movement1 we are nevertheless still within a domain which may be fully embraced by thought4 ,thus accelerated movements and movements under constant velocity can be resolved and combined according to the law of the parallelogram of movements1 a law which is fully attainable by means of logical thought4 ,with the help of the definition of force as the product of mass and acceleration it seems possible1 indeed1 to derive the parallelogram of forces from that of accelerations in a purely logical manner4 ,for it is necessary only to extend all sides of an a parallelogram by means of the same factor m in order to turn it into an ,f parallelogram4 ,a single geometrical figure on paper can represent both cases1 since only the scale needs to be altered in order that the same geometrical length should represent at one time the magnitude a and on another occasion ma4 ,it is in this way that present-day scientific thought keeps itself convinced that the parallelogram of forces follows with logical evidence from the parallelogram of accelerations1 and that the discovery of the former is therefore due to a purely mental process4 ,since the parallelogram of forces is the prototype of each further mathematical representation of physical force-relationships in nature1 the conceptual link thus forged between it and the basic theorem of kinematics has led to the conviction that the fact that natural events can be expressed in terms of mathematics could be1 and actually has been1 discovered through pure logical reasoning1 and thus by the brain-bound1 day-waking consciousness 'of the world-spectator4 ,justification thereby seemed to be given for the building of a valid scientific world-picture1 purely kinematic in character4 99 ,the line of consideration we shall now have to enter upon for carrying out our own examination of what is believed to be the link between the two theorems may seem to the scientifically trained reader to be of an all too elementary kind compared with the complexities of thought in which he is used to engage in order to settle a scientific problem4 ,it is therefore necessary to state here that anyone who wishes to help to overcome the tangle of modern theoretical science must not be shy in applying thoughts and observations of seemingly so simple a nature as those used both here and on other occasions4 ,some readiness1 in fact1 is required to play where necessary the part of the child in ,hans ,andersen's fairy-story of ,the ,emperor's ,new ,clothes1 where all the people are loud in praise of the magnificent robes of the ,emperor1 who is actually passing through the streets with no clothes on at all1 and a single child's voice exclaims the truth that 'the ,emperor has nothing on'4 ,there will repeatedly be occasion to adopt the role of this child in the course of our own studies4 99 ,in the scientific definition of force given above force appears as the result of a multiplication of two other magnitudes4 ,now as is well known1 it is essential for the operation of multiplication that of the two factors forming the product at least one should exhibit the properties of a pure number4 ,for two pure numbers may be multiplied together - e4g4 #b and #d - and a number of concrete things can be multiplied by a pure number - e4 g4 #c apples and the number #d - but no sense can be attached to the multiplication of #c apples by #d apples1 let alone by #d pears6 ,the result of multiplication is therefore always either itself a pure number1 when both factors have this property2 or when one of the two factors is of the nature of a concrete object1 the result is of the same quality as the latter4 ,an apple will always remain an apple after multiplication1 and what distinguishes the final product 7apples7 from the original factor 7apples7 is only a pure number4 ,if we take seriously what this simple consideration tells us of the nature of multiplication1 and if we do not allow ourselves to deviate from it for whatever purpose we make use of this algebraic operation1 then the various concepts we connect with the basic measurements in physics undergo a considerable change of meaning4 ,let us test1 in this respect1 the well-known formula which1 in the conceptual language of physics1 connects 'distance' 7s71 'time' 7t71 and 'velocity' 7c74 ,it is written c s _/ t1 or s ct4 ,in this formula1 s has most definitely the meaning of a 'thing'1 for it represents measured spatial distance4 ,of the two factors on the other side of the second equation1 one must needs have the same quality as s3 this is c4 ,thus for the other factor1 t1 there remains the property of a pure number4 ,we are1 therefore1 under an illusion if we assume the factor c to represent anything of what velocity implies in outer cosmic reality4 ,the truth is that c represents a spatial distance just as s does1 with the difference only that it is a certain unit-distance4 ,just as little does real time enter into this formula - nor does it into any other formula of mathematical physics4 ',time'1 in physics1 is always a pure number without any cosmic quality4 ,indeed1 how could it be otherwise for a purely kinematic world-observation8 ,we now submit the formula ,fma to the same scrutiny4 ,if we attach to the factor a on the right side of the equation a definite quality1 namely an observable acceleration1 the other factor in the product is permitted to have only the properties of a pure number2 ,f1 therefore1 can be only of the same nature as a and must itself be an acceleration4 ,were it otherwise1 then the equation ,fma could certainly not serve as a logical link between the ,velocity and ,force parallelograms4 ,our present investigation has done no more than grant us an insight into the process of thought whereby the consciousness limited to a purely kinematic experience has deprived the concept of force of any real content4 ,let us look at the equation ,fma as a means of splitting of the magnitude ,f into two components m and a4 ,the equation then tells us that ,f is reduced to the nature of pure acceleration1 for that which resides in the force as a factor not observable by kinematic vision has been split away from it as the factor m4 ,for this factor1 however1 as we have seen1 nothing remains over but the property of a pure number4 ,let us note here that the first thinker to concern himself with a comprehensive world-picture in which the non-existence of a real concept of force is taken in earnest-namely1 ,albert ,einstein - was also the first to consider mass as a form of energy and even to predict correctly1 as was proved later1 the amount of energy represented by the unit of mass1 thereby encouraging decisively the new branch of experimental research which has led to the freeing of the so-called atomic energy4 ,is it then possible that pure numbers can effect what took place above and within ,nagasaki1 ,hiroshima1 etc48 ,here we are standing once again before one of the paradoxes of modern science which we have found to play so considerable a part in its development4 ,to find an interpretation of the formula ,fma1 which is free from illusion1 we must turn our attention first of all to the concepts 'force' and 'mass' themselves4 ,the fact that men have these two words in their languages shows that the concepts expressed by them must be based on some experience that has been man's long before he was capable of any scientific reflexion4 ,let us ask what kind of experience this is and by what part of his being he gathers it4 ,the answer is1 as simple self-observation will show1 that we know of the existence of force through the fact that we ourselves must exert it in order to move our own body4 ,thus it is the resistance of our body against any alteration of its state of motion1 as a result of its being composed of inert matter1 which gives us the experience of force both as a possession of our own and as a property of the outer world4 ,all other references to force1 in places where it cannot be immediately experienced1 arise by way of analogy based on the similarity of the content of our observation to that which springs from the exertion of force in our own bodies4 ,as we see1 in this experience of force that of mass is at once implied4 ,still1 we can strengthen the latter by experimenting with some outer physical object4 ,take a fairly heavy object in your hand1 stretch out your arm lightly and move it slowly up and down1 watching intently the sensation this operation rouses in you4#b ,evidently the experience of mass outside ourselves1 as with that of our own body1 comes to us through the experience of the force which we ourselves must exert in order to overcome some resisting force occasioned by the mass4 ,already this simple observation - as such made by means of the sense of movement and therefore outside the frontiers of the onlooker-consciousness - tells us that mass is nothing but a particular manifestation of force4 ,seen in the light of this experience1 the equation ,fma requires to be interpreted in a manner quite different from that to which scientific logic has submitted it4 ,for if we have to ascribe to ,f and m the same quality1 then the rule of multiplication allows us to ascribe to a nothing but the character of a pure number4 ,this implies that there is no such thing as acceleration as a self-contained entity1 merely attached to mass in an external way4 ,what we designate as acceleration1 and measure as such1 is nothing else than a numerical factor comparing two different conditions of force within the physical-material world4 ,only when we give the three factors in our equation this meaning1 does it express some concrete outer reality4 ,at the same time it forbids the use of this equation for a logical derivation of the parallelogram of forces from that of pure velocities4 99 ,the same method which has enabled us to restore its true meaning to the formula connecting mass and force will serve to find the true source of man's knowledge of the parallelogram of forces4 ,accordingly1 our procedure will be as follows4 ,we shall engage two other persons1 together with whom we shall try to discover by means of our respective experiences of force the law under which three forces applying at a common point may hold themselves in equilibrium4 ,our first step will consist in grasping each other by the hand and in applying various efforts of our wills to draw one another in different directions1 seeing to it that we do this in such a way that the three joined hands remain undisturbed at the same place4 ,by this means we can get as far as to establish that1 when two persons maintain a steady direction and strength of pull1 the third must alter his applied force with every change in his own direction in order to hold the two others in equilibrium4 ,he will find that in some instances he must increase his pull and in other instances decrease it4 ,this1 however1 is all that can be learnt in this way4 ,no possibility arises at this stage of our investigation of establishing any exact quantitative comparison4 ,for the forces which we have brought forth 7and this is valid for forces in general1 no matter of what kind they are7 represent pure intensities1 outwardly neither visible nor directly measurable4 ,we can certainly tell whether we are intensifying or diminishing the application of our will1 but a numerical comparison between different exertions of will is not possible4 ,in order to make such a comparison1 a further step is necessary4 ,we must convey our effort to some pointer-instrument - for instance1 a spiral spring which will respond to an exerted pressure or pull by a change in its spatial extension4 7,principle of the spring balance47 ,in this way1 by making use of a certain property of matter - elasticity - the purely intensive magnitudes of the forces which we exert become extensively visible and can be presented geometrically4 ,we shall therefore continue our investigation with the aid of three spring balances1 which we hook together at one end while exposing them to the three pulls at the other4 ,to mark the results of our repeated pulls of varying intensities and directions1 we draw on the floor on which we stand three chalk lines outward from the point underneath the common point of the three instruments1 each in the direction taken up by one of the three persons4 ,along these lines we mark the extensions corresponding to those of the springs of the instruments4 ,by way of this procedure we shall arrive at a sequence of figures such as is shown in ,fig4 #c4 ,this is all we can discover empirically regarding the mutual relationships of three forces engaging at a point4 ,let us now heed the fact that nothing in this group of figures reveals that in each one of these trios of lines there resides a definite and identical geometrical order2 nor do they convey anything that would turn our thoughts to the parallelogram of velocities with the effect of leading us to expect1 by way of analogy1 a similar order in these figures4 ,and this result1 we note1 is quite independent of our particular way of procedure1 whether we use1 right from the start1 a measuring instrument1 or whether we proceed as described above4 99 ,having in this way removed the fallacious idea that the parallelogram of forces can1 and therefore ever has been1 conceived by way of logical derivation from the parallelogram of velocities1 we must then ask ourselves what it was1 if not any act of logical reason1 that led ,galileo to discover it4 ,history relates that on making the discovery he exclaimed3 ',la natura scritta in lingua matematica6' 7',nature is recorded in the language of mathematics4'7 ,these words reveal his surprise when he realized the implication of his discovery4 ,still1 intuitively he must have known that using geometrical lengths to symbolize the measured magnitudes of forces would yield some valid result4 ,whence came this intuition1 as well as the other which led him to recognize from the figures thus obtained that in a parallelogram made up of any two of the three lines1 the remaining line came in as its diagonal8 ,and1 quite apart from the particular event of the discovery1 how can we account for the very fact that nature - at least on a certain level of her existence - exhibits rules of action expressible in terms of logical principles immanent in the human mind8 99 ,to find the answer to these questions we must revert to certain facts connected with man's psycho-physical make-up of which the considerations of ,chapter ,,ii have already made us aware4 ,let us1 therefore1 transpose ourselves once more into the condition of the child who is still entirely volition1 and thus experiences himself as one with the world4 ,let us consider1 from the point of view of this condition1 the process of lifting the body into the vertical position and the acquisition of the faculty of maintaining it in this position2 and let us ask what the soul1 though with no consciousness of itself1 experiences in all this4 ,it is the child's will which wrestles in this act with the dynamic structure of external space1 and what his will experiences is accompanied by corresponding perceptions through the sense of movement and other related bodily senses4 ,in this way the parallelogram of forces becomes an inner experience of our organism at the beginning of our earthly life4 ,what we thus carry in the body's will-region in the form of experienced geometry - this1 together with the freeing and crystallizing of part of our will-substance into our conceptual capacity1 is transformed into our faculty of forming geometrical concepts1 and among them the concept of the parallelogram of movements4 ,looked at in this way1 the true relationship between the two parallelogram-theorems is seen to be the very opposite of the one held with conviction by scientific thinking up to now4 ,instead of the parallelogram of forces following from the parallelogram of movements1 and the entire science of dynamics from that of kinematics1 our very faculty of thinking in kinematic concepts is the evolutionary product of our previously acquired intuitive experience of the dynamic order of the world4 ,if this is the truth concerning the origin of our knowledge of force and its behaviour on the one hand1 and our capacity to conceive mathematical concepts in a purely ideal way on the other1 what is it then that causes man to dwell in such illusion as regards the relationship between the two8 ,from our account it follows that no illusion of this kind could arise if we were able to remember throughout life our experiences in early childhood4 ,now we know from our considerations in ,chapter ,,vi that in former times man had such a memory4 ,in those times1 therefore1 he was under no illusion as to the reality of force in the world4 ,in the working of outer forces he saw a manifestation of spiritual beings1 just as in himself he experienced force as a manifestation of his own spiritual being4 ,we have seen also that this form of memory had to fade away to enable man to find himself as a self-conscious personality between birth and death4 ,as such a personality1 ,galileo was able to think the parallelogram of forces1 but he was unable to comprehend the origin of his faculty of mathematical thinking1 or of his intuitive knowledge of the mathematical behaviour of nature in that realm of hers where she sets physical forces into action4 ,deep below in ,galileo's soul there lived1 as it does in every human being1 the intuitive knowledge1 acquired in early childhood1 that part of nature's order is recordable in the conceptual language of mathematics4 ,in order that this intuition should rise sufficiently far into his conscious mind to guide him1 as it did1 in his observations1 the veil of oblivion which otherwise separates our waking consciousness from the experiences of earliest childhood must have been momentarily lightened4 ,unaware of all this1 ,galileo was duly surprised when in the onlooker-part of his being the truth of his intuition was confirmed in a way accessible to it1 namely through outer experiment4 ,yet with the veil immediately darkening again the onlooker soon became subject to the illusion that for his recognition of mathematics as a means of describing nature he was in need of nothing but what was accessible to him on the near side of the veil4 ,thus it became man's fate in the first phase of science1 which fills the period from ,galileo and his contemporaries up to the present time1 that the very faculty which man needed for creating this science prevented him from recognizing its true foundations4 ,restricted as he was to the building of a purely kinematic world-picture1 he had to persuade himself that the order of interdependence of the two parallelogram-theorems was the opposite of the one which it really is4 99 ,the result of the considerations of this chapter is of twofold significance for our further studies4 ,on the one hand1 we have seen that there is a way out of the impasse into which modern scientific theory has got itself as a result of the lack of a justifiable concept of force1 and that this way is the one shown by ,reid and travelled by ,goethe4 ',we must become as little children again1 if we will be philosophers'1 is as true for science as it is for philosophy4 ,on the other hand1 our investigation of the event which led ,galileo to the discovery that nature is recorded in the language of mathematics1 has shown us that this discovery would not have been possible unless ,galileo had in a sense become1 albeit unconsciously1 a little child again4 ,thus the event that gave science its first foundations is an occurrence in man himself of precisely the same character as the one which we have learnt to regard as necessary for building science's new foundations4 ,the only difference is that we are trying to turn into a deliberate and consciously handled method something which once in the past happened to a man without his noticing it4 ,need we wonder that we are challenged to do so in our day1 when mankind is several centuries older than it was in the time of ,galileo8 #a ,as to the terms 'kinetic' and 'kinematic'1 see ,chapter ,,ii1 page #cj1 footnote4 #b ,for the sake of our later studies it is essential that the reader does not content himself with merely following the above description mentally1 but that he carries out the experiment himself4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,pro ,levitate 7a7 ,,alertness contra ,,inertness ,in the preceding chapter we gained a new insight into the relationship between mass and force4 ,we have come to see that our concept of force is grounded on empirical observation in no less a degree than is usually assumed for our concept of number1 or size1 or position1 provided we do not confine ourselves to non-stereoscopic1 colourless vision for the forming of our scientific world-picture1 but allow other senses to contribute to it4 ,as to the concept mass1 our discussion of the formula ,fma showed that force and mass1 as they occur in it1 are of identical nature1 both having the quality of force4 ,the factors ,f and m signify force in a different relationship to space 7represented by the factor a74 ,this latter fact now requires some further elucidation4 ,in a science based on the ,goethean method of contemplating the world of the senses1 concepts such as 'mass in rest' and 'mass in motion' lack any scientific meaning 7though for another reason than in the theory of ,relativity74 ,for in a science of this kind the universe - in the sense propounded lately by ,professor ,whitehead and others - appears as one integrated whole1 whose parts must never be considered as independent entities unrelated to the whole4 ,seen thus1 there is no mass in the universe of which one could say with truth that it is ever in a state of rest4 ,nor is there any condition of movement which could be rightly characterized by the attributes 'uniform' and 'straight line' in the sense of ,newton's first law4 ,this does not mean that such conditions never occur in our field of observation4 ,but as such they have significance only in relation to our immediate surroundings as a system of reference4 ,even within such limits these conditions are not of a kind that would allow us to consider them as the basis of a scientific world-picture4 ,for as such they occur naturally only as ultimate1 never as primeval conditions4 ,all masses are originally in a state of curvilinear movement whose rates change continuously4 ,to picture a mass as being in a state of rest1 or of uniform motion in a straight line1 as the result of no force acting on it1 and to picture it undergoing a change in the rate and direction of its motion as the result of some outer force working on it1 is a sheer abstraction4 ,in so far as mass appears in our field of observation as being in relative rest or motion of the kind described1 this is always the effect of some secondary dynamic cause4 ,if we wish to think with the course of the universe and not against it1 we must not start our considerations with the state of 7relative7 rest or uniform motion in a straight line and derive our definition of force from the assumption that there is a primary 'force-free' state which is altered under the action of some force1 but we must arrange our definitions in such a way that they end up with this state4 ,thus ,newton's first law1 for instance1 would have to be restated somewhat as follows3 ,no physical body is ever in a state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line1 unless its natural condition is interfered with by the particular action of some force4 ,seen dynamically1 and from the aspect of the universe as an interrelated whole1 all aggregations of mass are the manifestation of certain dynamic conditions within the universe1 and what appears to us as a change of the state of motion of such a mass is nothing but a change in the dynamic relationship between this particular aggregation and the rest of the world4 ,let us now see what causes of such a change occur within the field of our observation4 99 ,in modern textbooks the nature of the cause of physical movement is usually defined as follows3 ',any change in the state of movement of a portion of matter is the result of the action on it of another portion of matter4' ,this represents a truth if it is taken to describe a certain kind of causation4 ,in the axiomatic form in which it is given it is a fallacy4 ,the kind of causation it describes is1 indeed1 the only one which has been taken into consideration by the scientific mind of man4 ,we are wont to call it 'mechanical' causation4 ,obviously1 man's onlooker-consciousness is unable to conceive of any other kind of causation4 ,for this consciousness is by its very nature confined to the contemplation of spatially apparent entities which for this reason can be considered only as existing spatially side by side4 ,for the one-eyed1 colour-blind spectator1 therefore1 any change in the state of movement of a spatially confined entity could be attributed only to the action of another such entity outside itself4 ,such a world-outlook was bound to be a mechanistic one4 ,we cannot rest content with this state of affairs if we are sincerely searching for an understanding of how spirit moves1 forms1 and transforms matter4 ,we must learn to admit non-mechanical causes of physical effects1 where such causes actually present themselves to our observation4 ,in this respect our own body is again a particularly instructive object of study4 ,for here mechanical and non-mechanical causation can be seen working side by side in closest conjunction4 ,let us therefore ask what happens when we move1 say1 one of our limbs or a part of it4 ,the movement of any part of our body is always effected in some way by the movement of the corresponding part of the skeleton4 ,this in turn is set in motion by certain lengthenings and contractions of the appropriate part of the muscular system4 ,now the way in which the muscles cause the bones to move falls clearly under the category of mechanical causation4 ,certain portions of matter are caused to move by the movement of adjacent portions of matter4 ,the picture changes when we look for the cause to which the muscles owe their movements4 ,for the motion of the muscles is not the effect of any cause external to them1 but is effected by the purely spiritual energy of our volition working directly into the physical substance of the muscles4 ,what scientific measuring instruments have been able to register in the form of physical1 chemical1 electrical1 etc41 changes of the muscular substance is itself an effect of this interaction4 ,to mark the fact that this type of causation is clearly distinguished from the type called mechanical1 it will be well to give it a name of its own4 ,if we look for a suitable term1 the word 'magical' suggests itself4 ,the fact that this word has gathered all sorts of doubtful associations must not hinder us from adopting it into the terminology of a science which aspires to understand the working of the supersensible in the world of the senses4 ,the falling into disrepute of this word is characteristic of the onlooker-age4 ,the way in which we suggest it should be used is in accord with its true and original meaning1 the syllable 'mag' signifying power or might 7,sanskrit maha1 ,greek megas1 ,latin magnus1 ,english might1 much1 also master74 ,henceforth we shall distinguish between 'mechanical' and 'magical' causation1 the latter being a characteristic of the majority of happenings in the human1 animal and plant organisms4#a 99 ,our next step in building up a truly dynamic picture of matter must be to try to obtain a direct experience of the condition of matter when it is under the sway of magical causation4 ,let us first remember what is the outstanding attribute with which matter responds to mechanical causation4 ,this is known to be inertia4 ,by this term we designate the tendency of physical matter to resist any outwardly impressed change of its existing state of movement4 ,this property is closely linked up with another one1 weight4 ,the coincidence of the two has of late become a puzzle to science1 and it was ,albert ,einstein who tried to solve it by establishing his ,general ,theory of ,relativity4 ,the need to seek such solutions falls away in a science which extends scientific understanding to conditions of matter in which weight and inertia are no longer dominant characteristics4 ,what becomes of inertia when matter is subject to magical causation can be brought to our immediate experience in the following way4 7,the reader1 even if he is already familiar with this experiment1 is again asked to carry it out for himself47 ,take a position close to a smooth wall1 so that one arm and hand1 which are left hanging down alongside the body1 are pressed over their entire length between body and wall4 ,try now to move the arm upward1 pressing it against the wall as if you wanted to shift the latter4 ,apply all possible effort to this attempt1 and maintain the effort for about one minute4 ,then step away quickly from the wall by more than the length of the arm1 while keeping the arm hanging down by the side of the body in a state of complete relaxation4 ,provided all conditions are properly fulfilled1 the arm will be found rising by itself in accordance with the aim of the earlier effort1 until it reaches the horizontal4 ,if the arm is then lowered again and left to itself1 it will at once rise again1 though not quite so high as before4 ,this can be repeated several times until the last vestige of the automatic movement has faded away4 ,having thus ascertained by direct experience that there is a state of matter in which inertia is1 to say the least1 greatly diminished1 we find ourselves in need of giving this state 7which is present throughout nature wherever material changes are brought into existence magically7 a name of its own1 as we did with the two types of causation4 ,a word suggests itself which1 apart from expressing adequately the peculiar self-mobility which we have just brought to our experience1 goes well alongside the word 'inert' by forming a kind of rhyme with it4 ,this is the term 'alert'4 ,with its help we shall henceforth distinguish between matter in the inert and alert conditions4 ,we shall call the latter state 'alertness'1 and in order to have on the other side a word as similar as possible in outer form to alertness1 we suggest replacing the usual term inertia by 'inertness'4 ,thus we shall speak of matter as showing the attribute of 'inertness'1 when it is subject to mechanical causation1 of 'alertness'1 when it is subject to magical causation4 ,anyone who watches attentively the sensation produced by the rising arm in the above experiment will be duly impressed by the experience of the alertness prevailing in the arm as a result of the will's magical intervention4 99 ,in our endeavour to find a modern way of overcoming the conception of matter developed and held by science in the age of the onlooker-consciousness1 we shall be helped by noticing how this conception first arose historically4 ,of momentous significance in this respect is the discovery of the gaseous state of matter by the ,flemish physician and experimenter1 ,joh4 ,baptist van ,helmont 7#aegg-afdd74 ,the fact that the existence of this state of ponderable matter was quite unknown up to such a relatively recent date has been completely forgotten to-day4 ,moreover1 it is so remote from current notions that anyone who now calls attention to van ,helmont's discovery is quite likely to be met with incredulity4 ,as a result1 there is no account of the event that puts it in its true setting4 ,in what follows pains are taken to present the facts in the form in which one comes to know them through van ,helmont's own account1 given in his ,ortus ,medicinae4 ,for reasons which need not be described here1 van ,helmont studied with particular interest the various modifications in which carbon is capable of occurring in nature - among them carbon's combustion product1 carbon dioxide4 ,it was his observations of carbon dioxide which made him aware of a condition of matter whose properties caused him the greatest surprise4 ,for he found it to be1 at the same time1 'much finer than vapour and much denser than air'4 ,it appeared to him as a complete 'paradox'1 because it seemed to unite in itself two contradictory qualities1 one appertaining to the realm of 'uncreated things'1 the other to the realm of 'created things'4 ,unable to rank it with either 'vapour' or 'air' 7we shall see presently what these terms meant in van ,helmont's terminology71 he found himself in need of a special word to distinguish this new state from the other known states1 both below and above it4 ,since he could not expect any existing language to possess a suitable word1 he felt he must create one4 ,he therefore took1 and changed slightly1 a word signifying a particular cosmic condition which seemed to be imaged in the new condition he had just discovered4 ,the word was ,,chaos4 ,by shortening it a little1 he derived from it the new word ,,gas4 ,his own words explaining his choice are3 ',halitum ilium ,,gas vocavi non longe a ,chaos veterum secretum4' 7',i have called this mist ,gas1 owing to its resemblance to the ,chaos of the ancients4'7#b ,van ,helmont's account brings us face to face with a number of riddles4 ,certainly1 there is nothing strange to us in his describing carbon dioxide gas as being 'finer than vapour and denser than air'2 but why did he call this a 'paradox'8 ,what prevented him from ranking it side by side with air8 ,as to air itself1 why should he describe it as belonging to the realm of the 'uncreated things'8 ,what reason was there for giving 'vapour' the rank of a particular condition of matter8 ,and last but not least1 what was the ancient conception of ,chaos which led van ,helmont to choose this name as an archetype for the new word he needed8 ,to appreciate van ,helmont's astonishment and his further procedure1 we must first call to mind the meaning which1 in accordance with the prevailing tradition1 he attached to the term ,air4 ,for van ,helmont1 ,air was one of the four ',elements'1 ,,earth1 ,,water1 ,,air1 and ,,fire4 ,of these1 the first two were held to constitute the realm of the 'created things'1 the other two that of the 'uncreated things'4 ,a brief study of the old doctrine of the ,four ,elements is necessary at this point in order to understand the meaning of these concepts4 99 ,the first systematic teaching about the four elementary constituents of nature1 as they were experienced by man of old1 was given by ,empedocles in the fifth century ,b4,c4 ,it was elaborated by ,aristotle4 ,in this form it was handed down and served to guide natural observation through more than a thousand years up to the time of van ,helmont4 ,from our earlier descriptions of the changes in man's consciousness it is clear that the four terms1 'earth'1 'water'1 'air'1 'fire'1 must have meant something different in former times4 ,so 'water' did not signify merely the physical substance which modern chemistry defines by the formula ,h#b,o2 nor was 'air' the mixture of gases characteristic of the earth's atmosphere4 ,man in those days1 on account of his particular relationship with nature1 was impressed in the first place by the various dynamic conditions1 four in number1 which he found prevailing both in his natural surroundings and in his own organism4 ,with his elementary concepts he tried to express1 therefore1 the four basic conditions which he thus experienced4 ,he saw physical substances as being carried up and down between these conditions4 ,at first sight some relationship seems to exist between the concept 'element' in this older sense and the modern view of the different states of material aggregation1 solid1 liquid1 aeriform4 ,there is1 however1 nothing in this modern view that would correspond to the element ,fire4 ,for heat in the sense of physical science is an immaterial energy which creates certain conditions in the three material states1 but from these three to heat there is no transition corresponding to the transitions between themselves4 ,heat1 therefore1 does not rank as a fourth condition by the side of the solid1 liquid and aeriform states1 in the way that ,fire ranks in the older conception by the side of ,earth1 ,water and ,air4 ,if we were to use the old terms for designating the three states of aggregation plus heat1 as we know them to-day1 we should say that there is a border-line dividing ,fire from the three lower elements4 ,such a border-line existed in the older conception of the elements as well4 ,only its position was seen to be elsewhere - between ,earth and ,water on the one hand1 ,air and ,fire on the other4 ,this was expressed by saying that the elements below this line constituted the realm of the 'created things'1 those above it that of the 'uncreated things'4 ,another way of expressing this was by characterizing ,earth and ,water with the quality ,cold2 ,air and ,fire with the quality ,warm4 ,the two pairs of elements were thus seen as polar opposites of one another4 ,the terms 'cold' and 'warm' must also be understood to have expressed certain qualitative experiences in which there was no distinction as yet between what is purely physical and what is purely spiritual4 ,expressions such as 'a cold heart'1 'a warm heart'1 to 'show someone the cold shoulder'1 etc41 still witness to this way of experiencing the two polar qualities1 cold and warm4 ,quite generally we can say that1 wherever man experienced some process of contraction1 whether physical or non-physical1 he designated it by the term 'cold'1 and where he experienced expansion1 he called it 'warm'4 ,in this sense he felt contractedness to be the predominant characteristic of ,earth and ,water1 expansiveness that of ,air and ,fire4 ,with the help of these qualitative concepts we are now in a position to determine more clearly still the difference between the older and the modern conceptions3 in particular the difference between the aeriform condition of matter1 as we conceive of it to-day1 and the element ,air4 ,contractedness manifests as material density1 or the specific weight of a particular substance4 ,we know that this characteristic of matter diminishes gradually with its transition from the solid to the liquid and aeriform states4 ,we know also that this last state is characterized by a high degree of expansiveness1 which is also the outstanding property of heat4 ,thus there is reason to describe also from the modern point of view the solid and liquid states as essentially 'cold'1 and the aeriform state as 'warm'4 ,but aeriform matter still has density and weight1 and this means that matter in this state combines the two opposing qualities4 ,contrary to this1 ,air1 as the second highest element in the old sense1 is characterized by the pure quality1 warm4 ,thus1 when man of old spoke of 'air'1 he had in mind something entirely free from material density and weight4#c ,by comparing in this way the older and newer conceptions of 'air'1 we come to realize that ancient man must have had a conception of gravity essentially different from ours4 ,if we take gravity in the modern scientist's sense1 as a 'descriptive law of behaviour'1 then this behaviour is designated in the older doctrine by the quality 'cold'4 ,if1 however1 we look within the system of modern science for a law of behaviour that would correspond to the quality 'warm'1 we do so in vain4 ,polarity concepts are certainly not foreign to the scientific mind1 as the physics of electricity and magnetism show4 ,yet there is no opposite pole to gravity1 as there is negative opposite to positive electricity1 etc4#d ,in the older conception1 however1 the gravitational behaviour 'cold' was seen to be counteracted by an autonomous anti-gravitational behaviour 'warm'4 ,experience still supported the conviction that as a polar opposite to the world subject to gravity1 there was another world subject to levity4 ,we refrain at this point from discussing how far a science which aspires to a spiritual understanding of nature1 including material processes1 needs a revival - in modern form - of the old conception of levity4 ,in our present context it suffices to realize that we understand man's earlier view of nature1 and with it the one still held by van ,helmont1 only by admitting levity equally with gravity into his world-picture4 ,for the four elements1 in particular1 this meant that the two upper ones were regarded as representing ,levity1 the two lower ones ,gravity4 ,in close connexion with this polar conception of the two pairs of elements1 there stands their differentiation into one realm of created1 another of uncreated1 things4 ,to understand what these terms imply1 we must turn to the ancient concept1 ,chaos1 borrowed by van ,helmont4 ,to-day we take the word ,chaos to mean a condition of mere absence of order1 mostly resulting from a destruction of existing forms1 whether by nature or by the action of man4 ,in its original sense the word meant the exact opposite4 ,when in ancient times people spoke of ,chaos1 they meant the womb of all being1 the exalted realm of uncreated things1 where indeed forms such as are evident to the eye in the created world are not to be found1 but in place of them are the archetypes of all visible forms1 as though nurtured in a spiritual seed-condition4 ,it is the state which in the biblical narration of the creation of the world is described as 'without form and void'4 ,from this ,chaos all the four elements are born1 one by one1 with the two upper ones retaining ,chaos's essential characteristic in that they are 'without form' and tend to be omnipresent1 whilst the two lower ones constitute a realm in which things appear in more or less clearly outlined space-bound forms4 ,this is what the terms 'uncreated' and 'created' imply4 ,how strictly these two realms were distinguished can be seen by the occurrence of the concept 'vapour'4 ,when with the increasing interest in the realm of created things - characteristic of the spectator-consciousness which1 in view of our earlier description of it1 we recognize as being itself a 'created thing' - the need arose for progressive differentiation within this realm1 the simple division of it into 'earth' and 'water' was no longer felt to be satisfactory4 ,after all1 above the liquid state of matter there was another state1 less dense than water and yet presenting itself through more or less clearly distinguishable space-bound objects1 such as the mists arising from and spreading over ponds and meadows1 and the clouds hovering in the sky4 ,for this state of matter the term 'vapour' had become customary1 and it was used by van ,helmont in this sense4 ,by its very properties1 ,vapour belonged to the realm of the created things1 whereas ,air did not4 ,it was the intermediary position of the newly discovered state of matter between ,vapour and ,air1 that is1 between the created and the uncreated world1 which caused van ,helmont to call it a paradox2 and it was its strange resemblance1 despite its ponderable nature1 to ,chaos1 which prompted him to name it - ,gas4 99 ,since it could not have been the gaseous state of matter in the form discovered by van ,helmont1 what particular condition of nature was it to which the ancients pointed when using the term ,air8 ,let us see how the scriptures of past human cultures speak of air4 ,in all older languages1 the words used to designate the element bound up with breathing1 or the act of breathing1 served at the same time to express the relationship of man to the ,divine1 or even the ,divine itself4 ,one need think only of the words ,brahma and ,atma of the ancient ,indians1 the ,pneuma of the ,greeks1 the ,spiritus of the ,romans4 ,the ,hebrews expressed the same idea when they said that ,jehovah had breathed the breath of life into man and that man in this way became a living soul4 ,what lies behind all these words is the feeling familiar to man in those times1 that breathing was not only a means of keeping the body alive1 but that a spiritual essence streamed in with the breath4 ,so long as this condition prevailed1 people could expect that by changing their manner of breathing they had a means of bringing the soul into stronger relationship with spiritual ,powers1 as is attempted in ,eastern ,yoga4 ,remembering the picture of man's spiritual-physical evolution which we have gained from earlier chapters1 we are not astonished to find how different this early experience of the breathing process was from our own4 ,yet1 together with the recognition of this difference there arises another question4 ,even if we admit that man of old was so organized that the experience of his own breathing process was an overwhelmingly spiritual one1 it was1 after all1 the gaseous substance of the earth's atmosphere which he inhaled1 and exhaled again in a transformed condition4 ,what then was it that prevented men - apparently right up to the time of van ,helmont - from gaining the slightest inkling of the materiality of this substance8 ,to find an answer to this question1 let us resort once more to our method of observing things genetically1 combined with the principle of not considering parts without considering the whole to which they organically belong4 ,in modern science the earth is regarded as a mineral body whereon the manifold forms of nature appear as mere additions1 arising more or less by chance2 one can very well imagine them absent without this having any essential influence on the earth's status in the universe4 ,the truth is quite different4 ,for the earth1 with everything that exists on it1 forms a single whole1 just as each separate organism is in its own way a whole4 ,this shows that we have no right to imagine the earth without men1 and to suppose that its cosmic conditions of being would then remain unaltered - any more than we can imagine a human being deprived of some essential-organ and remaining human4 ,mankind1 and all the other kingdoms of nature1 are bound up organically with the earth from the start of its existence4 ,moreover1 just as the highest plants1 seen with ,goethe's eyes1 are the spiritual originators of the whole realm of plants - the creative ,idea determining their evolution - so we see man1 the highest product of earth evolution1 standing behind this evolution as its ,idea from the first1 and determining its course4 ,the evolutionary changes which we observe in the earth and in man are in fact a single process1 working through a variety of manifested forms4 ,from this conception of the parallel evolution of earth and man light falls also on the historic event represented by van ,helmont's discovery4 ,besides being a symptom of a revolution in man's way of experiencing the atmosphere1 it speaks to us of some corresponding change in the spiritual-physical condition of the atmosphere itself4 ,it was then that men not only came to think differently about air1 but inhaled and exhaled an air that actually was different4 ,to find out what kind of change this was1 let us turn once more to man's own organism and see what it has to say concerning the condition under which matter is capable of being influenced by mechanical and magical causation respectively1 in the sense already described4 ,what is it in the nature of the bones that makes them accessible to mechanical causation only1 and what is it in the muscles that allows our will to rouse them magically8 ,bones and muscles stand in a definite genetic relationship to each other1 the bones being1 in relation to the muscles1 a late product of organic development4 ,this holds good equally for everything which in the body of living nature takes the form of mineralized deposits or coverings4 ,every kind of organism consists in its early stages entirely of living substance2 in the course of time a part of the organism separates off and passes over into a more or less mineralized condition4 ,seen in this light1 the distinction between bones and muscles is that the bones have evolved out of a condition in which the muscles persist1 though to a gradually waning degree1 throughout the life-time of the body4 ,the substance of the muscles1 remaining more or less 'young'1 stands at the opposite pole from the 'aged' substance of the bones4 ,hence it depends on the 'age' of a piece of matter whether it responds to magical or mechanical causation4 ,let us state here at once1 that this temporal distinction has an essential bearing on our understanding of evolutionary processes in general4 ,for if mineral matter is a late product of evolution - and nothing in nature indicates the contrary - then to explain the origins of the world 7as scientific theories have always done7 with the aid of events similar in character to those which now occur in the mineral realm1 means explaining them against nature's own evidence4 ,to find pictures of past conditions of the earth in present-day nature1 we must look in the regions where matter1 because it is still 'youthful'1 is played through by the magical working of purposefully active spiritual forces4 ,thus1 instead of seeing in them the chance results of blind volcanic and similar forces1 we must recognize in the formation and layout of land and sea an outcome of events more closely resembling those which occur during the embryonic development of a living organism4 ,what1 then1 does van ,helmont's discovery of the gaseous state of matter tell us1 if we regard it in the light of our newly acquired insight into the trend of evolution both within and without man8 ,when1 in the course of its growing older1 mankind had reached the stage which is expressed by the emergence of the spectator-consciousness-consciousness1 that is1 based on a nervous system which has grown more or less independent of the life forces of the organism - the outer elements had1 in their way1 arrived at such a state that man began to inhale an air whose spiritual-physical constitution corresponded exactly to that of his nervous system3 on either side1 ,spirit and ,matter1 in accordance with the necessities of cosmic evolution had lost their primeval union4 99 ,our extension of the concept of evolution to the very elements of nature1 whether these are of material or non-material kind1 and our recognition of this evolution as leading in general from a more alert to a more inert condition1 at once open the possibility of including in our scientific world-picture certain facts which have hitherto resisted any inclusion4 ,we mean those manifold events of 'miraculous' nature1 of which the scriptures and the oral traditions of old are full4 ,what is modern man to make of them8 ,the doubts which have arisen concerning events of this kind have their roots on the one hand in the apparent absence of such occurrences in our day1 on the other in the fact that the laws of nature derived by science from the present condition of the world seem to rule them out4#e ,in the light of the concept of the world's 'ageing' which we have tried to develop here1 not only do the relevant reports become plausible1 but it also becomes understandable why1 if such events have taken place in the past1 they fail to do so in our own time4 ,to illustrate this1 let us take a few instances which are symptomatic of the higher degree of youthfulness which was characteristic in former times in particular of the element of ,fire4 ,the role which ,fire was capable of playing in man's life at a time when even this element1 in itself the most youthful of all1 was more susceptible to magic interference than of late1 is shown by the manifold fire-rites of old4 ,in those days1 when no easy means of fire-lighting were available1 it was usual for the needs of daily life to keen a fire burning all the time and to kindle other fires from it4 ,only in cases of necessity was a new fire lit1 and then the only way was by the tedious rubbing together of two pieces of dry wood4 ,then both the maintenance of fires1 and the deliberate kindling of a new fire1 played quite a special role in the ceremonial ordering of human society4 ,historically1 much the best known is the ,roman usage in the ,temple of ,vesta4 ,on the one hand1 the unintentional extinction of the fire was regarded as a national calamity and as the gravest possible transgression on the part of the consecrated priestess charged with maintaining the fire4 ,on the other hand1 it was thought essential for this 'everlasting' fire to be newly kindled once a year4 ,this took place with a special ritual at the beginning of the ,roman year 7#ast ,march74 ,the conception behind such a ritual of fire-kindling will become clear if we compare with it certain other fire-rites which were practised in the northern parts of ,europe1 especially in the ,british ,isles1 until far on in the ,christian era4 ,for example1 if sickness broke out among the cattle1 a widespread practice was to extinguish all the hearth-fires in the district and then to kindle with certain rites a new fire1 from which all the local people lit their own fires once more4 ,heavy penalties were prescribed for anyone who failed to extinguish his own fire - a failure usually indicated by the non-manifestation of the expected healing influence4 ,in ,anglo-,saxon speaking countries1 fires of this kind were known as 'needfires'4 ,the spiritual significance of these fires cannot be expressed better than by the meaning of the very term 'needfire'4 ,this word does not derive1 as was formerly believed1 from the word 'need'1 meaning a 'fire kindled in a state of need'1 but1 as recent etymological research has shown1 from a root which appears in the ,german word nieten - to clinch or rivet4 ',needfire' therefore means nothing less than a fire which was kindled for 'clinching' anew the bond between earthly life and the primal spiritual order at times when for one reason or another there was a call for this4 ,this explanation of the 'needfire' throws light also on the ,roman custom of re-kindling annually the sacred fire in the ,temple of ,vesta4 ,for the ,romans this was a means of reaffirming year by year the connexion of the nation with its spiritual leadership2 accordingly1 they chose the time when the sun in its yearly course restores - 're-clinches' - the union of the world-spirit with earthly nature1 for the rebirth of the fire which throughout the rest of the year was carefully guarded against extinction4 ,just as men saw in this fire-kindling a way of bringing humanity into active relation with spiritual powers1 so on the other hand were these powers held to use the fire element in outer nature for the purpose of making themselves actively known to mankind4 ,hence we find in the records of all ancient peoples a unanimous recognition of lightning and thunder on the one hand1 and volcanic phenomena on the other1 as means to which the ,deity resorts for intervening in human destiny4 ,a well-known example is the account in the ,bible of the meeting of ,moses with ,god on ,mount ,sinai4 ,as occurrence in the early history of the ,hebrews it gives evidence that even in historical times the fire element of the earth was sufficiently 'young' to serve the higher spiritual powers as an instrument for the direct expression of their will4 99 99 99 7b7 ,,levity contra ,,gravity ,we said earlier in this chapter that a science which aspires to a spiritual understanding of the physical happenings in nature must give up the idea that inertness and weight are absolute properties of matter4 ,we were able at once to tackle the question of inertness by bringing to our immediate observation matter in the state of diminished inertness1 or1 as we proposed to say1 of alertness4 ,we are now in a position to go into the other question1 that of weight or gravity4 ,just as we found inertness to have its counterpart in alertness1 both being existing conditions of matter1 so we shall now find in addition to the force of gravity another force which is the exact opposite of it1 and to which therefore we can give no better name than 'levity'4 99 ,already1 indeed1 the picture of nature which we gained from following ,goethe's studies both of the plant and of meteorological happenings has brought us face to face with certain aspects of levity4 ,for when ,goethe speaks of systole and diastole1 as the plant first taught him to see them and as later he found them forming the basic factors of weather-formation1 he is really speaking of the ancient concepts1 'cold' and 'warm'4 ,goethe's way of observing nature is1 in fact1 a first step beyond the limits of a science which kept itself ignorant of levity as a cosmic counterpart to terrestrial gravity4 ,to recognize the historical significance of this step1 let us turn our glance to the moment when the human mind became aware that to lay a proper foundation for the science it was about to build1 it had to exclude any idea of levity as something with a real existence4 ,many a conception which is taken for granted by modern man1 and is therefore assumed to have been always obvious1 was in fact established quite deliberately at a definite historical moment4 ,we have seen how this applies to our knowledge of the gaseous state of matter2 it applies also to the idea of the uniqueness of gravity4 ,about half a century after van ,helmont's discovery a treatise called ,contra ,levitatem was published in ,florence by the ,accademia del ,cimento4 ,it declares that a science firmly based on observation has no right to speak of ,levity as something claiming equal rank with1 and opposite to1 ,gravity4 ,this attitude was in accord with the state into which human consciousness had entered at that time4 ,for a consciousness which is itself of the quality 'cold'1 because it is based on the contracting forces of the body1 is naturally not in a position to take into consideration its very opposite4 ,therefore1 to speak of a force of levity as one felt able to speak of gravity was indeed without meaning4 ,just as there was historical necessity in this banishing of levity from science at the beginning of the age of the spectator-consciousness1 so was there historical necessity in a renewed awareness of it arising when the time came for man to overcome the limitations of his spectator - relationship to the world4 ,we find this in ,goethe's impulse to search for the action of polarities in nature4 ,as we shall see later1 it comes to its clearest expression in ,goethe's optical conceptions4 ,another witness to this fact is ,ruskin1 through a remark which bears in more than one sense on our present subject4 ,it occurs in his essay1 ,the ,storm-,cloud of the ,ninteenth ,century4 ,in its context it is meant to warn the reader against treating science1 which ,ruskin praises as a fact-finding instrument1 as an interpreter of natural facts4 ,ruskin takes ,newton's conception of gravity as the all-moving cause of the universe1 and turns against it in the following words3 ',take the very top and centre of scientific interpretation by the greatest of its masters3 ,newton explained to you - or at least was once supposed to explain1 why an apple fell2 but he never thought of explaining the exact correlative but infinitely more difficult question1 how the apple got up there4' ,this remark shows ,ruskin once again as a true reader in nature's book4 ,looking with childlike openness and intensity of participation into the world of the senses1 he allows nature's phenomena to impress themselves upon his mind without giving any preconceived preference to one kind or another4 ,this enables him not to be led by the phenomenon of falling bodies to overlook the polarically opposite phenomenon of the upward movement of physical matter in the living plant4 ,ruskin's remark points directly to the new world-conception which must be striven for to-day - the conception in which death is recognized as a secondary form of existence preceded by life2 in which levity is given its rightful place as a force polar to gravity2 and in which1 because life is bound up with levity as death is with gravity1 levity is recognized as being of more ancient rank than gravity4 99 ,in proceeding now to a study of levity we shall not start1 as might be expected1 with plants or other living forms4 ,we are not yet equipped to understand the part played by levity in bringing about the processes of life2 we shall come to this later4 ,for our present purpose we shall look at certain macrotelluric events - events in which large areas of the earth are engaged - taking our examples from meteorology on the one hand and from seismic 7volcanic7 processes on the other4 ,in pursuing this course we follow a method which belongs to the fundamentals of a ,goetheanistic science4 ,a few words about this method may not be out of place4 ,when we strive to read the book of nature as a script of the spirit we find ourselves drawn repeatedly towards two realms of natural phenomena4 ,they are widely different in character1 but studied together they render legible much that refuses to be deciphered in either realm alone4 ,these realms are1 on the one hand1 the inner being of man1 and1 on the other1 the phenomena of macrotelluric and cosmic character4 ,the fruitfulness of linking together these two will become clear if we reflect on the following4 ,the field of the inner life of man allows us1 as nothing else does1 to penetrate it with our own intuitive experience4 ,for we ourselves are always in some sense the cause of the events that take place there4 ,in order to make observations in this region1 however1 we need to bring about a certain awakening in a part of our being which - so long as we rely on the purely natural forces of our body - remains sunk in more or less profound unconsciousness4 ,if this realm of events is more intimately related than any other to our intuitive experience1 it has also the characteristic of remaining closed to any research by external means4 ,much of what lies beyond the scope of external observation1 however1 reveals itself all the more clearly in the realms where nature is active on the widest scale4 ,certainly1 we must school ourselves to read aright the phenomena which come to light in those realms4 ,and once more we must look to the way of introspection1 previously mentioned1 for aid in investing our gaze with the necessary intuitive force4 ,if we succeed in this1 then the heavens will become for us a text wherein secrets of human nature1 hidden from mere introspection1 can be read2 while at the same time the introspective way enables us to experience things which we cannot uncover simply by observing the outer universe4 ,apart from these methodological considerations1 there is a further reason for our choice4 ,among the instances mentioned earlier in this chapter as symptoms of a greater 'youthfulness' prevailing in nature1 and particularly in the element ,fire1 at a comparatively recent date1 were the manifestations of the ,divine-,spiritual ,world to man reported in the ,bible as the event on ,mount ,sinai4 ,there1 thunder and lightning from above and volcanic action from below form the setting for the intercourse of ,jehovah with ,moses4 ,to-day the function of these types of phenomena1 though metamorphosed by the altered conditions of the earth1 is not essentially different4 ,here1 more than in any other sphere of her activities1 nature manifests that side of her which we are seeking to penetrate with understanding4 99 ,let us start with an observation known to the present writer from a visit to the ,solfatara1 a volcanic region near ,naples4 ,the ,solfatara itself is a trough surrounded by hilly mounds2 its smooth1 saucepan-like bottom1 covered with whitish pumice-sand1 is pitted with craters containing violently boiling and fuming mud - the so-called fango1 famous for its healing properties4 ,all around sulphurous fumes issue from crevices in the rocks1 and in one special place the ,solfatara reveals its subterranean activity by the emergence of fine1 many-coloured sand1 which oozes up like boiling liquid from the depths below4 ,the whole region gives the impression of being in a state of labile balance4 ,how true this is becomes apparent if one drops pieces of burning paper here and there on the ground3 immediately a cloud of smoke and steam rises4 ,the effect is even more intense if a burning torch is moved about over one of the boiling fango holes4 ,then the deep answers instantly with an extraordinary intensification of the boiling process4 ,the hot mud seems to be thrown into violent turmoil1 emitting thick clouds of steam1 which soon entirely envelop the spectator near the edge4 ,the scientific mind is at first inclined to see in this phenomenon the mechanical effect of reduced air-pressure1 due to the higher temperatures above the surface of the boiling mud1 though doubts are raised by the unusual intensity of the reaction4 ,the feeling that the physical explanation is inadequate is strengthened when the vapours have thinned out and one is surprised to see that every crack and cranny in the ,solfatara1 right up to the top of the trough1 shows signs of increased activity4 ,certainly1 this cannot be accounted for by a cause-and-effect nexus of the kind found in the realm of mechanical causation1 where an effect is propagated from point to point and the total effect is the sum of a number of partial effects4 ,it looks rather as if the impulse applied in one spot had called for a major impulse which was now acting on the ,solfatara as a whole4 ,as observers who are trying to understand natural phenomena by recognizing their significance as letters in nature's script1 we must look now for other phenomena which can be joined with this one to form the relevant 'word' we have set out to decipher4 ,all scientific theories concerning the causes of seismic occurrences1 both volcanic and tectonic1 have been conceived as if the spatial motion of mineral matter were the only happening that had to be accounted for4 ,no wonder that none of these theories has proved really satisfactory even to mechanistically orientated thinking4 ,actually there are phenomena of a quite different kind connected with the earth's seismic activities1 and these need to be taken into equal account4 ,there is1 for instance1 the fact that animals often show a premonition of volcanic or tectonic disturbances4 ,they become restive and hide1 or1 if domestic1 seek the protection of man4 ,apparently1 they react in this way to changes in nature which precede the mechanical events by which man registers the seismic occurrence4 ,another such phenomenon is the so-called earthquake-sky1 which the present writer has had several occasions to witness4 ,it consists of a peculiar1 almost terrifying1 intense discoloration of the sky1 and1 to those acquainted with it1 is a sure sign of an imminent or actual earthquake somewhere in the corresponding region of the earth4 ,this phenomenon teaches us that the change in the earth's condition which results in a violent movement of her crust1 involves a region of her organism far greater than the subterranean layers where the cause of the purely mechanical events is usually believed to reside4#f ,that man himself is not excluded from experiencing directly the super-spatial nature of seismic disturbances is shown by an event in ,goethe's life1 reported by his secretary ,eckermann1 who himself learnt the story from an old man who had been ,goethe's valet at the time4#g ,this is what the old man1 whom ,eckermann met by accident one day near ,weimar1 told him3 ',once ,goethe rang in the middle of the night and when ,i entered his room ,i found he had rolled his iron bed to the window and was lying there1 gazing at the heavens4 ,have you seen nothing in the sky8 asked he1 and when ,i answered ,no1 he begged me to run across to the sentry and inquire of the man on duty if he had seen nothing4 ,he had not noticed anything and when ,i returned ,i found the master still in the same position1 gazing at the sky4 ,listen1 he said1 this is an important moment2 there is now an earthquake or one is just going to take place4 ,then he made me sit down on the bed and showed me by what signs he knew this4' ,when asked about the weather conditions1 the old man said3 ',it was very cloudy1 very still and sultry4' ,to believe implicitly in ,goethe was for him a matter of course1 'for things always happened as he said they would'4 ,when next day ,goethe related his observations at ,court1 the women tittered3 ',goethe dreams' 7',goethe schwrmt'71 but the ,duke and the other men present believed him4 ,a few weeks later the news reached ,weimar that on that night 7#eth ,april1 #aghc7 part of ,messina had been destroyed by an earthquake4 ,there is no record by ,goethe himself of the nature of the phenomenon perceived by him during that night1 except for a brief remark in a letter to ,mme de ,stein1 written the following day1 in which he claims to have seen a 'northern light in the south-east' the extraordinary character of which made him fear that an earthquake had taken place somewhere4 ,the valet's report makes us inclined to think that there had been no outwardly perceptible phenomenon at all1 but that what ,goethe believed he was seeing with his bodily eyes was the projection of a purely supersensible1 but not for that reason any less objective1 experience4 ,in a picture of the seismic activities of the earth which is to comprise phenomena of this kind1 the volcanic or tectonic effects cannot be attributed to purely local causes4 ,for why1 then1 should the whole meteorological sphere be involved1 and why should living beings react in the way described8 ,clearly1 we must look for the origin of the total disturbance not in the interior of the earth but in the expanse of surrounding space4 ,indeed1 the very phenomenon of the ,solfatara1 if seen in this light1 can reveal to us that at least the volcanic movements of the earth's crust are not caused by pressure from within1 but by suction from without - that is1 by an exceptional action of levity4 ,we recall the fact that the whole ,solfatara phenomenon had its origin in a flame being swayed over one of the fango holes4 ,although it remains true that the suction arising from the diminished air pressure over the hole cannot account for the intense increase of ebullition in the hole itself1 not to speak of the participation of the entire region in this increase1 there is the fact that the whole event starts with a suctional effect4 ,as we shall see in the next chapter1 any local production of heat interferes with the gravity conditions at that spot by shifting the balance to the side of levity4 ,that the response in a place like the ,solfatara is what we have seen it to be1 is the result of an extraordinary lability of the equilibrium between gravity and levity1 a characteristic appertaining to the earth's volcanism in general4 ,for the people living near the ,solfatara it is indeed common knowledge that there are times when this lability is so great that the slightest local disturbance of the kind we have described can provoke destructive eruptions of great masses of subterranean mud4 7,at such times access to the ,solfatara is prohibited47 ,we shall understand such an eruption rightly if we picture it as the counter-pole of an avalanche4 ,the latter may be brought about by a fragment of matter on a snow-covered mountain1 perhaps a little stone1 breaking loose and in its descent bringing ever-accumulating masses of snow down with it4 ,the levity-process polar to this demonstration of gravity is the production of a mightily growing 'negative avalanche' by comparatively weak local suction1 caused by a small flame4 99 ,earlier in this chapter 7page #aej7 we said that if we want to understand how spirit moves1 forms and transforms matter1 we must recognize the existence of non-mechanical 7magical7 causes of physical effects4 ,we have now found that the appearance of such effects in nature is due to the operations of a particular force1 levity1 polar to gravity4 ,observation of a number of natural happenings has helped us to become familiar in a preliminary way with the character of this force4 ,although these happenings were all physical in appearance1 they showed certain definitely non-physical features1 particularly through their peculiar relationship to three-dimensional space4 ,more characteristics of this kind will appear in the following pages4 ,in this way it will become increasingly clear that in levity we have to do with something which1 despite its manifesting characteristics of a 'force' not unlike gravity and thereby resembling the latter1 differs essentially from anything purely physical4 ,it is only by its interactions with gravity that levity brings about events in the physical world-events1 however1 which are themselves partly of a physical1 partly of a superphysical kind4 ,seeing things in this aspect1 we are naturally prompted to ask what causes there are in the world which make gravity and levity interact at all4 ,this question will find its answer in due course4 ,first1 we must make ourselves more fully acquainted with the various appearances of the gravity-levity interplay in nature4 #a ,in this sense ,ruskin's description of the working of the spirit in the plant as one that 'catches from chaos water1 etc41 etc41 and fastens them into a given form' points to magical action4 #b ,for ,van ,helmont1 owing to the ,flemish pronunciation of the letter ,g1 the two words sounded more alike than their spelling suggests4 #c ,in a later chapter we shall have opportunity to determine what distinguishes ,air from ,fire1 on the one hand1 and ,water from ,earth on the other4 #d ,it is this apparent uni-polarity of gravity which has given ,professor ,einstein so much trouble in his endeavour to create a purely gravitational world-picture with bipolar electricity and magnetism fitting into it mathematically4 #e ,see the ',bishop ,barnes' controversy of recent date4 #f ,to the same category belong the mighty thunderstorms which in some parts of the world are known to occur in conjunction with earthquakes4 #g ,see ,goethe's ,conversations with ,eckermann 7translated by ,j4 ,oxenford71 #acth ,november1 #ahbc4 ,,chapter ,x ,the ,fourth ,state of ,matter ,when ,william ,crookes chose as one of the titles of his paper on the newly discovered properties of electricity1 ',the ,fourth ,state of ,matter'1 it was to express his belief that he had found a state of matter1 additional to the three known ones1 which represented 'the borderland where matter and force seem to merge into one another1 the shadowy realm between known and unknown' for which his soul had been longing ever since the death of his beloved brother4#a ,all that has followed from his discovery1 down to the transformation of matter itself into freely working energy1 shows that he was right in thinking he had reached some borderland of nature4 ,but the character of the forces which are thus liberated makes it equally clear that this is not the borderland he was looking for4 ,nature - by which we mean physical nature - has in fact two borders1 one touching the realm of the intramaterial energies which are liberated by disrupting the structure of atomic nuclei1 the other leading over into creative ,chaos1 the fountain-head of all that appears in nature as intelligent design4 ,it was ,crookes's fate to open the road which has brought man to nature's lower border and even across it1 although he himself was in search of her upper border4 ,what he was denied1 we are in a position to achieve to-day1 provided we do not expect to succeed by methods similar to those of atomic physics1 and do not look for similar results4 ,to show that there is a fourth state of matter1 rightly so called1 which represents in actual fact the upper border of nature1 and to point the way that leads to it and across it1 is the purpose of this chapter4 99 ,from our previous comparison of the older conception of the four elementary conditions of nature with that now held of the three states of ponderable matter1 we may expect that the fourth state will have something in common with heat4 ,heat is indeed the energy which transforms matter by carrying it from the solid to the liquid and gaseous states4 ,not so obvious is the fact that heat1 apart from being an agent working at matter in this way1 is the very essence underlying all material existence1 out of which matter in its three ponderable states comes into being and into which it is capable of returning again4 ,such a conception of matter was naturally absent from the age of the ,contra-,levitatem orientation of the human mind4 ,to create this conception1 a new ,pro-,levitate orientation is required4 ,apart from producing liquefaction and vaporization1 heat has also the property of acting on physical matter so that its volume increases4 ,both facts are linked together by science through the thermodynamic conception of heat4 ,as this conception firmly blocks the road to the recognition of the role of heat as the fourth state of matter1 our first task will be to determine our own standpoint with regard to it4 ,further obstacles on our way are the so-called ,laws of ,conservation1 which state that no matter and no energy - which for present-day science have become one and the same thing - can ever disappear into 'nothing' or come into being out of 'nothing'4 ,this idea1 also1 will therefore require our early attention4#b 99 ,in the light of our previous studies we shall not find it difficult to test the reality-value of the thermodynamic conception of heat4 ,as we know of mass through a definite sense-perception1 so we know of heat4 ,in the latter case we rely on the sense of warmth4 ,in ,chapter ,,viii we took the opportunity to test the objectivity of the information received through this sense4 ,still1 one-eyed1 colour-blind observation is naturally unable to take account of these sense-messages4 ,to this kind of observation nothing is accessible1 we know1 except spatial displacements of single point-like entities4 ,hence we find ,bacon and ,hooke already attributing the sensation of warmth to minute fast-moving particles of matter impinging on the skin4 ,some time later we find ,locke taking up the same picture4 ,we see from this how little the mechanical theory of heat owes to empirical facts4 ,for even in ,locke's time the connexion between heat and mechanical action1 as recognized to-day1 was completely unknown4 ,with this idea firmly rooted in his mind1 modern man had no difficulty in using it to explain both thermal expansion and the effect of heat on the different states of matter1 and so1 finally1 these states themselves4 ,thermal expansion was thus attributed to an increase in the average distance between the assumed minute particles1 caused by an increase in their rate of movement2 the liquid state was held to differ from the solid1 and similarly the gaseous from the liquid1 by the interspaces between the particles becoming relatively so great that the gravitational pull between them became too weak to hold them together4 ,tested from a view-point outside the onlooker-consciousness1 this whole picture of the interaction between matter and heat appears to run counter to the cosmic order of things in a way typical of other spectator-theories4 ,ancient man1 if confronted with this picture1 would have said that it means explaining the element ,fire by the quality ,cold4 ,for each of those minute particles1 in its solidity and state of spatial separation from the others1 represents an effigy of the earth and thereby the element ,earth itself4 ,he would be unable to understand why phenomena of the 'warm' element ,fire should be explained by its very opposite4 ,moreover1 ,fire forms part of the ever 'youthful' realm of the world1 whereas anything which exists as a spatially discernible entity1 capable of being moved about mechanically1 must have grown cosmically 'old'4 ,that ,ruskin was as much on the alert in regard to this theory as he was in regard to ,newton's theory of gravitation1 is shown by the following utterance from his ,the ,queen of the ,air4 ,obviously stirred by ,tyndall's newly published treatise1 ,heat as a ,mode of ,motion1 ,ruskin felt the need to criticize the endeavour of contemporary science 'to simplify the various forms of energy more and more into modes of one force1 or finally into mere motion1 communicable in various states1 but not destructible'1 by declaring that he would himself 'like better in order of thought#c to consider motion as a mode of heat than heat as a mode of motion'4 ,these words of ,ruskin touch also on the law of conservation of energy1 of which we said that it also called for a preliminary examination4 ,what we now have to find out is the factual basis on which this law rests4 99 ,the conception of the law of conservation of energy arose from the discovery of the constant numerical relation between heat and mechanical work1 known as the mechanical equivalent of heat4 ,this discovery was made at about the same time by ,joule in ,england and ,j4 ,r4 ,mayer in ,germany1 although by entirely different routes4 ,joule1 a brewer1 was a man of practical bent4 ,trained by ,dalton1 the founder of the atomic theory1 in experimental research1 he continued ,rumford's and ,davy's researches which they had undertaken to prove that heat is not1 as it was for a time believed to be1 a ponderable substance1 but an imponderable agent4 ,as a starting-point he took the heating effect of electric currents4 ,the fact that these could be generated by turning a machine1 that is1 by the expenditure of mechanical energy1 gave him the idea of determining the amount of work done by the machine and then comparing this with the amount of heat generated by the current4 ,a number of ingenious experiments enabled him to determine with increasing exactitude the numerical relation between work and heat1 as well as to establish the absolute constancy of the relation4 ,this he regarded as proof of the mechanical theory of heat1 which he had taken from ,rumford and ,davy4 ,what simpler explanation could there be for the constant numerical relation between work and heat than the conception that transformation of one form of energy into another was simply a transmission of motion from one object to another8 ,from the quantitative equality of expended and generated energy was it not natural to argue the qualitative similarity of the two forms of energy1 which only externally seemed different8 ,it was by quite a different path that the ,heilbronn doctor1 ,mayer1 arrived at his results4 ,to escape from the narrowness of his ,south ,german home town1 he went1 while still a youth1 as doctor to a ,dutch ship sailing to ,java4 ,when in the tropics he treated a number of sailors by blood-letting1 he observed that the venous blood was much nearer in colour to the paler arterial blood than was usual at home4 ,this change in the colour he attributed to the diminished intensity of bodily combustion1 due1 he believed1 to the higher temperature of the tropics4 ,scarcely had this thought passed through his mind than it induced another - that of a universal interrelationship between all possible forms of energy4 ,this last idea so took possession of him that during the return voyage1 as he himself related1 he could scarcely think of anything but how to prove the correctness of his idea and what the consequences would be for the general view of nature4 ,from the moment of his return he devoted his life to practical research into the connexion between the various manifestations of energy4 ,it was in this way that he was led to the determination of the so-called mechanical equivalent of heat1 shortly before the same discovery was made in a quite different manner by ,joule4 ,if one considers how slender a connexion there was between ,mayer's observation on the sailors in ,java and the idea of the quantitative equilibrium of all physical nature-forces1 and if one contrasts this with the fanaticism he showed during the rest of his life in proving against all obstacles the correctness of his idea1 one must feel that the origin of the thought in ,mayer's mind lay elsewhere than in mere physical observations and logical deductions4 ,confirmation of this may be found in what ,mayer himself declared to be his view concerning the actual grounds for the existence of a constant numerical association between the various manifestations of natural energy4 ,so far as science allowed ,mayer any credit for his work1 this was based on the opinion that through his discovery he had provided the final vindication of the mechanical theory of heat4 ,this judgment1 however1 was only piling one wrong upon another4 ,mayer's destiny was truly tragic4 ,when he began to publicize his conviction of the numerical equilibrium between spent and created energy1 he met with so much scepticism1 even derision1 that from sheer despair his mind at times became clouded4 ,when at last toward the end of his life he received the recognition his discovery deserved 7not before being dragged through a painful priority dispute which ,joule forced upon him and lost71 the scientists had begun to use his idea for bolstering up a hypothesis directly counter to the idea which had led him to his discovery1 and for the sake of which he had accepted so much suffering4 ,mayer's spiritual kin are not to be found among the heat-theorists of his time1 such as ,helmholtz and others1 but among thinkers of the stamp of ,goethe1 ,howard and ,ruskin4 ,his basic idea of the inner connexion between all forms of energy in nature corresponds entirely with ,goethe's idea of metamorphosis4 ,just as ,goethe saw in the ur-plant the ,idea common to all plant-forms or1 in the various plant-organs1 the metamorphosis of one and the same ur-organ1 so was ,mayer convinced of the existence of an ur-force which expressed itself in varying guises in the separate energy-forms of nature4 ,in the picture of the physical universe which hovered before him1 the transformation of one form of energy into another - such as mechanical energy into electrical1 this into chemical and so on - was somewhat similar to ,goethe's picture of the organic life of the earth1 in which the metamorphosis of one living form into another constantly occurred4 ',there is in nature'1 said ,mayer1 'a specific dimension of immaterial constitution which preserves its value in all changes taking place among the objects observed1 whereas its form of appearance alters in the most manifold ways4' ,for the physicist1 accustomed to a purely quantitative observation of nature1 it is difficult to comprehend that ,mayer could have arrived at the thought of a constant quantitative relation between the various manifestations of natural energy1 without deriving from it the conviction of their qualitative indentity - i4e41 without concluding from the existence of the mechanical heat - equivalent that heat is itself nothing else than a certain form of spatial movement4 ,mayer actually had a picture directly contrary to the mechanistic conception4 ,for him1 the arising of heat represented a disappearance of mechanical energy4 ,if this1 then1 was ,mayer's belief1 what was it that convinced him of the existence of a numerical balance between appearing and vanishing energy1 even before he had any experimental proof8 ,later in this book there will be occasion to introduce a concept of number in tune with our qualitative world-outlook4 ,what led ,mayer to look upon number as an expression of existing spiritual associations in nature will then become clear4 ,let this much be said here1 that number in the universe has quite different functions from that of serving merely as an expression for a total of calculable items1 or as a means of comparing spatial distances4 ,it is in the nature of the onlooker-consciousness that it is unable to interpret numerical equality between natural phenomena save as indicating the presence of an equal number of calculable objects or of spatial movements of equal magnitude4 ,it was therefore consistent for such a consciousness to regard the discovery by ,mayer of the mechanical heat-equivalent as a confirmation of the existing mechanical conception of heat4 ,for ,mayer such an interpretation was not necessary4 ,his conviction of the existence of an ur-force1 manifesting through metamorphosis in all natural forces1 led him to expect a constant numerical relation amongst these1 without requiring him to deny the objective existence of qualitative differences1 as these displayed themselves in the field of phenomena4 ,he was spiritually akin to ,goethe1 also1 in that he guarded himself strictly against substituting for the contents of our perception conveyed by nature purely hypothetical entities which1 while fashioned after the world of the senses1 are1 in principle1 imperceptible4 ,mayer sought after a truly empirically founded concept of force1 and his method was that of reading from all the various manifestations of force which were open to sense observation4 ,one such manifestation1 capable of empirical determination1 was the balance between appearing and disappearing energy4 ,science treated ,mayer in the same way as it treated ,howard4 ,it took from him what it wanted for its purpose without concerning itself with the epistemological principle which had led him to his discovery4 ,thus it was that ,mayer's discovery led to most important consequences for the development of modern technical devices1 whereas it was the fate of his guiding idea to be first derided1 then misunderstood and finally forgotten4 ,the consequence was that the knowledge of the numerical equilibrium between created and expended energy in the economy of nature has widened more and more the abyss separating spirit and matter in human life1 instead of leading1 as indeed it might have done1 to a bridging of the abyss4 ,the thought1 therefore1 regarding the appearing and disappearing of measurable cosmic substance1 to which we are led when following ,goethe's method of observing nature1 stands in no sort of contradiction to what ,mayer himself conceived as the relation of the various forms of energy to one another1 and the maintenance of the numerical balance between them4 99 ,having thus determined our standpoint with regard to the thermodynamic theory of heat and the law of conservation1 we may proceed to the study1 first of the phenomenon of thermal expansion1 and then of the effect of heat on the various states of physical matter1 by applying to them1 unimpeded by any preconceived mechanistic idea1 what we have learnt through our previous studies4 ,we must start by developing a proper picture of the dynamic condition of matter in the solid state4 ,in a solid body the material substance is centred on an inner point1 the so-called centre of gravity - a characteristic which such a body shares with the earth as a whole4 ,likewise1 two such bodies exert on one another the same influence that the earth exerts on each of them3 they try to assume the shortest possible distance from each other4 ,since the days of ,faraday science has been accustomed to ascribe these phenomena to the existence of certain fields of force1 connected with each body and working on one another through the intermediary space4 ,it is to this concept of the field of force that we must now give special attention4 ,for the field-concept1 in the form introduced by ,faraday into scientific thinking1 is one of the few scientific concepts which have been obtained by being 'read' from the corresponding phenomena themselves1 and which therefore retain their validity in a science which is based on the method of reading4 ,according to the field-concept1 terrestrial manifestations of gravity are due to the earth's being the bearer of a gravitational field centred within the globe1 and extending thence in all directions through space1 across and beyond the earth's body4 ,every point in space1 both inside and outside the earth1 is characterized by a definite intensity of this field1 the so-called gravitational potential4 ,this is subject to variations due to the presence of other physical masses1 which carry their own fields of gravity4 ,what happens between such masses and that of the earth1 as well as mutually between such masses themselves1 is brought about by the particular conditions in space resulting from the interpenetration of the various fields4 ,it is essential to realize that all fields dealt with by physical science1 the gravitational1 electric1 magnetic - however much they differ otherwise - have this one characteristic in common1 that they have a centre where the field is at its highest intensity1 diminishing as the distance from the centre increases4 ,motion in such a field naturally takes place from regions of lower to those of higher intensity - in other words1 it follows the rising potential of the field4 ,this accounts for the tendency of physical masses to arrive at the shortest possible distance between them4 ,it was natural for the modern mind to picture a dynamic condition of the kind just described1 that is1 one in which the centre and source1 as it were1 is a point round which the dynamic condition spreads with steadily diminishing strength as the distance from the point grows4 ,for such is the condition of man's head-bound consciousness4 ,the locus from which modern man watches the world is a point within the field of this consciousness1 and the intensity with which the world acts on it diminishes with increasing spatial distance from this point4 ,this is the reason why levity was banished from scientific inquiry1 and why1 when the field-concept was created by the genius of ,faraday1 it did not occur to anyone that with it the way was opened to comprehend field-types other than the centric one characteristic of gravity and kindred forces4 ,to make use of the field-concept in this other way is one of the tasks we have to undertake if we are to overcome the impasse in which present-day scientific cognition finds itself4 ,to develop a picture of the type of field represented by levity1 let us recall certain results from the observations of the last chapter4 ,there the volcanic phenomenon1 when taken in its wider implications1 made us realize that the upward movement of physical masses1 in itself part of the total phenomenon1 is due to a dynamic cause which we had to describe1 in contrast to centripetally working pressure1 as peripherally working suction4 ,of this concept of suction we must now observe that we may apply it with justification only if we realize that suction can be caused in two different ways4 ,in the sense in which we are wont to use the term1 suction is the result of a difference of pressure in adjacent parts of space1 the action taking place in the direction of the minor pressure4 ,apart from this1 however1 suction can occur also as a result of the outward-bound increase of the strength of a levity-field4 ,it is in this sense that we may speak of the seismic movements of the earth as being caused by suction acting from without4 ,in the same sense we may say that the upward movement of the saps in the plant 7to which ,ruskin pointed as being responsible for the apple appearing at the top of the tree7 and with it the entire growth-phenomenon in the plant world1 is due to peripheral suction4 ,considerations of this kind lead one to a picture in which the earth is seen to be surrounded and penetrated by a field of force which is in every respect the polar opposite of the earth's gravitational field4 ,as the latter has its greatest intensity at its centre1 which is identical with the centre of the earth's globe1 so has the levitational field its greatest intensity at its circumference which is somewhere in the width of the universe4 7,later considerations will enable us to locate its position more precisely47 ,as the gravity-field decreases in strength with increasing distance from the centre of the field1 that is1 in the outward direction1 so does the levity-field decrease in strength with increasing distance from its periphery1 or in the inward direction4 ,in both fields the direction of movement is from regions of lower to those of higher intensity4 ,this is why things 'fall' under the influence of gravity and 'rise' under the influence of levity4#d 99 ,how does thermal expansion read as a letter in nature's script when seen in the light of the two contrasting field-concepts8 ,let us1 for simplicity's sake1 imagine a spherically shaped metallic body1 say1 a ball of copper1 which we expose to the influence of heat4 ,as we have seen1 it is the centrically orientated gravity-field which gives the ball its permanency of shape4 ,consequently1 the dynamic orientation of the material constituting its body is directed towards the interior of the body itself4 ,now1 the moment we bring heat to bear on the body we find its surface moving in the outward direction4 ,the whole mass is clearly under the influence of some suction which is directed on to the body from outside4 ,just as the plants grow in the anti-gravitational direction as a result of the suctional effect of levity 7other factors which account for its growing into a particular shape1 etc41 being left out of consideration71 so our copper ball grows in volume by being sucked away from its centre of gravity4 ,it is the action of heat which has changed the ratio between gravity and levity at this spot in such a way as to allow levity to produce this effect4#e ,what we have thus found to be the true nature of the event perceived as a body's growth in volume under the influence of heat has a definite effect on our conception of spatially extended matter as such4 ,for a physical body is always in some thermal state which may be regarded as higher than another1 and it may therefore be regarded as being at all times thermally expanded to some extent4 ,hence1 it is all the time under the sway of both gravitational pressure and anti-gravitational suction4 ,in fact1 we may say ideally that1 if there were no field working inwards from the cosmic periphery1 the entire material content of the earthly realm would be reduced by gravitation to a spaceless point2 just as under the sole influence of the peripheral field of levity it would dissipate into the universe4 ,to ordinary scientific thinking this may sound paradoxical1 but in reality it is not4 ,observation of the nature of solid matter has led atomistic thought to regard a physical body as a heap of molecules so far apart that by far the greater part of the volume occupied by the body is just 'empty' space4 ,in the scientific picture of molecules constituting a physical body1 of atoms constituting the molecules1 of electrons1 protons1 etc41 constituting the atoms1 all separated by spaces far exceeding the size of the elementary particles themselves1 we find reflected1 in a form comprehensible to the onlooker-consciousness1 the fact that matter1 even in the solid state1 is kept in spatial extension by a field of force relating it to the cosmic periphery4 99 ,with this picture of solid matter as being held in spatial extension by its subjection to gravity and levity alike1 we proceed to a study of the liquid and gaseous states of matter1 while taking into account the role of heat in bringing these states about4 ,following out our method of seeking to gain knowledge of a phenomenon by regarding it as part of a greater whole1 let us ask what sort of change a portion of physical substance undergoes in its relation to the earth as a whole when1 for instance1 through the influence of heat1 it passes from a solid to a liquid state4 ,here we must keep in mind that it is part of the nature of a liquid to have no form of its own4 ,the only natural boundary of a liquid substance is its upper surface4 ,since this surface always lies parallel with the surface of the earth it forms part of a sphere1 the centre point of which is identical with that of the gravitational centre of the earth4 ,the passage of a portion of matter from solid to liquid thus signifies that it ceases to possess a centre of gravity of its own and is now merely obedient to the general gravity-field of the earth4 ,we can thus speak of a transition of matter from the individual to the planetary condition4 ,this is what heat brings about when a solid body melts4 ,a large part of the heat used in melting is known to be absorbed by the substance during the process of melting4 ,this is indicated by the thermometer remaining at the temperature of the melting-point once this has been reached1 until the whole of the melting substance has liquefied4 ,physics here speaks of 'free' heat becoming 'latent'4 ,from the ,goethean point of view we see heat passing through a metamorphosis4 ,whereas1 previously1 heat was perceptible to our sense of warmth1 it now manifests as a gravity-denying property of matter4 ,in order to obtain an idea of the liquid state of matter corresponding to reality1 we must take into account yet another of its characteristics4 ,when the heat becomes latent1 it goes even further in contradicting gravity than by robbing matter of its own point of gravity and relating it to the earth's centre of gravity4 ,this effect is shown in the well-known urge of all liquids to evaporate4 ,hence we must say that even where matter in a liquid state preserves its own surface1 this does not by any means represent an absolute boundary4 ,above the surface there proceeds a continuous transition of substance into the next higher condition through evaporation4 ,we see here the activity of heat going beyond the mere denial of gravity to a positive affirmation of levity4 ,with the help of this conception of the integration of the liquid state within the polarity of gravity and levity1 we are now able to draw a picture of the earth which1 once obtained1 answers many a question left unanswered by current scientific notions1 among them the question why the earth's volcanic activity is confined to maritime regions4 ,regarding the distribution of land and water on the earth's surface1 we may say that to an observer in cosmic space the earth would not look at all like a solid body4 ,rather would it appear as a gigantic 'drop' of water1 its surface interspersed with solid formations1 the continents and other land masses4 ,moreover1 the evidence assembled ever since ,professor ,a4 ,wegener's first researches suggests that the continents are clod-like formations which 'float' on an underlying viscous substance and are able to move 7very slowly7 in both the vertical and horizontal directions4 ,the oceanic waters are in fact separated from the viscous substratum by no more than a thin layer of solid earth1 a mere skin in comparison with the size of the planet4 ,further1 this 'drop' of liquid which represents the earth is in constant communication with its environment through the perpetual evaporation from the ocean1 as well as from every other body of water4 ,this picture of the earth shows it lying under the twofold influence of the compressive force of gravity and the sucking force of levity4 ,wherever land meets sea1 there levity tends to prevail over gravity4 ,it is in maritime regions1 accordingly1 that the inner strata of the earth succumb most readily to those sudden changes in the gravity-levity tension wherein we have recognized the origin of seismic occurrences4 99 ,turning to the gaseous condition1 we realize that although even here matter retains traces of a connexion with terrestrial gravity1 levity is now the dominant factor4 ,there are three characteristics of the gaseous condition which bring this out4 ,one is the extreme readiness of gases to expand when heated2 we see here how much easier than with solid substances it is for heat to overcome the influence of gravity4 ,the second characteristic is the property of gases1 peculiar to them1 of expanding spontaneously1 even when not heated4 ,here we find gaseous matter displaying a dynamic behaviour which at lower stages occurs only under the stimulus of heat4 ,the third characteristic is shown by the fact that all gases1 unlike solids or liquids1 respond with the same increase of volume to a given rise of temperature1 however diverse their other qualities may be4 ,once gases are mixed1 therefore1 they cannot be separated merely by raising or lowering the temperature4 ,here we find the unifying effect of the cosmic periphery prevailing over the differentiating effect of terrestrial gravity4 ,at this point we may recall ,goethe's reply to the botanist1 ,wolff1 who had ascribed the metamorphosis of plant-organs from root to blossom to a gradual stunting or atrophy of their vegetative force1 whereas it was clear to ,goethe that simultaneously with a physical retrogression1 there is a spiritual progress in the development of the plant4 ,the fact that all ,wolff's efforts to see clearly did not save him from 'seeing past the thing' seemed to ,goethe an inevitable result of ,wolff's failure to associate with the eyes of the body those of the spirit4 ,exactly the same thing holds good for the sequence of physical states of matter which we are considering here4 ,observation of this sequence with the bodily eyes alone will show nothing but a reduction of the specific gravity of the material concerned4 ,he who is at pains to observe also with the eye of the spirit1 however1 is aware of a positive increase of lightness going hand in hand with a decrease of heaviness4 ,regarded thus1 the three ponderable conditions form what ,goethe would have called a 'spiritual ladder'4 ,as 'rungs' of such a ladder they clearly point to a fourth rung - that is1 a fourth state in which levity so far prevails over gravity that the substance no longer has any weight at all4 ,this picture of the fourfold transformation of matter calls for an inquiry into the transition between the third and fourth states1 corresponding to the well-known transitions between the three ponderable states4 99 ,our observations have led us to a concept of heat essentially different from that held by modern science4 ,science looks on heat simply as a condition of ponderable matter4 ,we1 on the contrary1 are led to recognize in heat a fourth condition into which matter may pass on leaving the three ponderable conditions1 and out of which it may emerge on the way to ponderability4 ,before showing that such transitions are actually known in nature1 it may be well to discuss here an objection which the customary way of thinking might plausibly advance against our whole method4 ,it could be said that to assume a continuation of the sequence of the three ponderable conditions in the manner suggested is justified only if1 as solids can be turned into liquids and these into gases1 so gases could be transformed into a fourth condition and1 conversely1 be produced from the latter4 ,in reply it can be said that the fact of our not being able at present to change gases artificially into pure heat does not justify the conclusion that this is in principle impossible4 ,we know from previous considerations that the earth has reached an evolutionary stage at which all elements1 including fire1 have in certain degree grown 'old'4 ,this applies in quite a special degree to the manipulations to which man1 led by his death-bound consciousness1 has learnt to submit matter in his laboratories4 ,to decide what is possible or not possible in nature1 therefore1 can by no means be left to the judgment of laboratory research4 ,as is shown by the following instance1 taken from the realm of vegetable life1 a case of the creation of matter 'out of nothing' is already known to biology - though biology1 bound in its concepts to the ,law of ,conservation1 shows some natural reluctance to recognize the true significance of the phenomenon4 ,the plant which performs this strange feat is the ,tillandsia usneoides1 indigenous to tropical ,america1 and generally known as ',spanish ,moss'4 ,its peculiarity is that it grows and flourishes without taking from its support any material whatsoever for the building up of its substance4 ,its natural habitat is the dry bark of virgin forest trees4 ,since civilization invaded its home it has acquired the habit of growing even on telegraph wires1 which has given it the popular name of 'telegraph tresses'4 ,chemical analysis of this plant shows the presence of an average of #ag per cent iron1 #cf per cent silicic acid and #afe per cent phosphoric acid4 ,this applies to samples taken from districts where the rainwater - the only source from which the plant could extract these substances in physical form - contains at most #afe per cent iron1 #jja per cent silicic acid and no phosphoric acid at all4 ,the ,tillandsia phenomenon is to a certain extent reminiscent of another well-known plant activity4 ,this is the process of assimilation of carbon from the carbon dioxide of the air4 ,if we leave aside the change in the chemical combination which the carbon undergoes1 there remains the picture of the plant drawing this matter to itself from its environment and at the same time subjecting it to a spatial condensation4 ,a similar but even more far-reaching process is exhibited by the ,tillandsia as regards the three substances referred to above4 ,from the conditions given1 it follows that the plant cannot possibly get these substances elsewhere than out of the surrounding atmosphere1 and that in drawing upon them it submits them to a high degree of condensation4 ,a special role1 however1 is played by the phosphorus1 which shows that the assimilative power of the plant is sufficient to transform phosphorus from a physically not traceable state into one of spatially bounded materiality4 ,following ,goethe in his coining of the concept of 'spiritual anastomosis' for the pollinating process of plants1 we can here speak of 'spiritual assimilation'4 ,in this respect ,tillandsia provides an instance 'worth a thousand1 bearing all within itself4 ,for what nature here unmistakably demonstrates serves as an eye-opener to a universal fact of the plant kingdom and of nature in general4 ,the problem of the so-called trace-elements may serve as an illustration of this4 ,modern agricultural chemistry has found of a number of chemical elements that their presence in the soil in scarcely traceable amounts is necessary in order to enable the plant to unfold healthily its latent characteristics4 ,all sorts of deficiencies in cultivated plants have led to a recognition that the soil is impoverished of certain elements by intensive modern cultivation1 and that it is to the lack of these elements that the deficiencies are due4 ,much work has meanwhile been done in classifying the various deficiencies and in devising ways of giving the soil chemical substitutes for what is lacking4 ,a large part of the work here involved could be saved were it only to be acknowledged that the soil owes the natural occurrence of the proper elements to a process which the plants themselves bring about in the soil1 if men refrain from hindering them by cleverly thought-out methods of cultivation which fail to reckon with the nature of a living organism4 ,let us be clear what it is that occurs when a plant exhibits any of the observed abnormalities4 ,expressed in a ,goethean manner1 these are the consequence of an insufficient direction of the organic processes in the plant body by the spiritual plant-type underlying it4 ,that which ,ruskin called the 'spirit' of the plant1 and to which he drew attention in his aphorism ',stand by ,form against ,force' 7by 'form' all the peculiar qualities of the plant are to be understood71 is unable to express itself in full measure4 ,now we know that1 in order to unfold its activities on the physical plane1 spirit requires 'young' matter - that is1 matter which is either in1 or has just emerged from1 a purely dynamic state4 ,normally a definite spiritual type co-ordinates the dynamic functions present in the superphysical sphere of nature in the manner required to give the plant-organism its appropriate form4 ,as1 through the action of the type1 these functions are brought down from the sphere of levity into that of gravity1 they condense to the corresponding material elements and thus reach the soil in material form via the physical organism of the plant4 ,the pattern as usually seen is now reversed2 the presence of the various elements in the soil no longer appears as the origin of one or another function in the building up of the plant-body1 but quite the reverse4 ,the functions appear now as the cause1 and the soil-elements as the effect4 ,we may thus recognize the value of the latter as symptoms from which we can read the existence of a healthy connexion between the plant and the corresponding form-creating functions working on it from its surroundings4 ,with this reversal of the relationship between cause and effect it is not1 however1 intended to represent the commonly accepted order of things as entirely incorrect4 ,in the realm of life1 cause and effect are not so onesidedly fixed as in the realm of mechanical forces4 ,we may therefore admit that a reverse effect of the soil-elements upon the plant does take place4 ,this is plainly demonstrable in the case of phosphorus which1 however1 by reason of its appearance in the soil in proportions hardly to be called a mere 'trace'1 represents a borderline case4 ,what may apply within limits to phosphorus is wholly valid for the trace-elements - namely1 that they are playing their essential role while they are themselves about to assume ponderable form4 ,it thus becomes clear how mistaken it is to attempt to cure deficiencies in plants by adding to the soil chemical substitutes for the trace-elements4 ,in the condition in which this material is offered to the plant1 it is truly 'old' material4 ,in order to be able to use it functionally1 the plant has first to convert it into the 'young' condition4 ,this indeed happens whilst the material is rising in the plant combined with the juices drawn by the plant from the soil under the influence of levity-force4 ,only when this has occurred are the chemical elements able to serve the plant functionally4 ,thus1 by trying to give help to the plant in this way1 we injure it at the same time4 ,for by forcing it to perform the operation described1 its general life-forces are diminished4 ,a seeming success brought about in this manner1 therefore1 will not last long4#f ,there is1 nevertheless1 a way of helping the plant by adding to the soil certain material substances1 provided these are first brought into a purely dynamic condition4 ,that this can be done is a fact long since known1 even if not recognized in its true significance4 ,so far then1 as serves the purpose of this book1 we shall deal with it here4 99 ,the method in question is associated with the school of medicine known as ,homoeopathy1 founded by the ,german doctor1 ,hahnemann4 ,the word 'homoeopathy' means 'healing through like'2 the basic principle is to treat disease symptoms with highly diluted substances which produce similar symptoms if ingested in normal quantity4 ,experience has in fact shown that the physiological effect of a substance taken from external nature is reversed when the substance is highly diluted4 ,the method of diluting1 or 'potentizing'1 is as follows3 ,a given volume of the material to be diluted is dissolved in nine times its volume of distilled water4 ,the degree of dilution thus arrived at is #a3aj1 usually symbolized as ,ix4 ,a tenth part of this solution is again mixed with nine times its bulk of water4 ,the degree of dilution is now #a3ajj1 or #bx4 ,this process is continued as far as is found necessary for a given purpose4 ,insoluble substances can be dealt with in the same manner by first grinding them together with corresponding quantities of a neutral powder1 generally sugar of milk4 ,after a certain number of stages the powder can be dissolved in water2 the solution may then be diluted further in the manner described4 ,here we have to do with transfer of the quality of a substance1 itself insoluble1 to the dissolving medium1 and then with the further treatment of the latter as if it were the original bearer of the quality concerned4 ,this fact alone shows that potentization leads into a realm of material effects at variance with the ordinary scientific conception of matter4 ,moreover1 we can carry the dilutions as far as we please without destroying the capacity of the substance to produce physiological reactions4 ,on the contrary1 as soon as its original capacity is reduced to a minimum by dilution1 further dilution gives it the power to cause actually stronger reactions1 of a different and usually opposite kind4 ,this second capacity rises through stages to a variable maximum as dilution proceeds4 ,a simple calculation shows - if we accept the ordinary scientific view as to the size of a molecule - that not a single molecule of the original substance will remain in the solution after a certain degree of dilution has been reached4 ,yet the biological and other reactions continue long after this1 and are even enhanced4 ,what this potentizing process shows is that1 by repeated expansions in space1 a substance can be carried beyond the ponderable conditions of matter into the realm of pure functional effect4 ,the potentizing of physical substances thus gains a significance far wider than that of its medical use4#g ,there opens up1 for example1 the possibility of stimulating deficient functions in the plant by giving it the corresponding elements in homoeopathic doses4 ,by this means the plant is brought into direct connexion with the relevant spiritual energy1 and then left to carry out for itself the necessary process of materialization1 instead of being forced by mere chemical additions to the soil first to potentize the substance itself4#h ,the same principle holds good for man and beast4 ,they also need 'young material' for their nourishment1 so that the type active in them - which in animals is the group-soul of the species and in man is the single individual - can express its true form and character4 7,we saw earlier that the will requires 'young' material in order to penetrate into the material layers of the muscles1 as happens when the limbs are set in motion74 ,in this respect1 the difference between ensouled creatures and plants is that1 what is harmful to plants is natural for men and animals3 when taking nourishment the latter are able to bring about quickly and purposefully a transformation of matter into the purely dynamic state4 ,their metabolic system is designed to enable them to take alien material from outer nature and to transform it through the forces of the various digestive enzymes2 in the course of this process the material passes through a condition of complete 'chaos'4 99 ,having in this way established the existence of certain processes of materialization and dematerialization in single organisms within the earth's vegetable and other kingdoms1 we shall now turn to the earth as a whole to find out where - organic being that she herself is - she manipulates corresponding processes on a macrotelluric scale4 ,in an age following van ,helmont's discovery of the gaseous state of matter and the statement of the ,contra ,levitatem maxim1 men were bound to think that the circulation of atmospheric moisture was limited to the three stages of liquid1 vaporous 7peculiar to the clouds1 etc47 and the invisible aeriform condition4 ,yet the role played by clouds in the myths of early peoples shows that they were once given a quite different status1 between the 'created' and 'uncreated' worlds4 ,our observations lead to a corresponding conception1 but along the path of knowledge1 guided by sense-perception1 as befits our own age4 ,in discussing ,howard's discovery of the stages of cloud-formation we found something lacking1 for it was clear that the three stages of cloud proper - stratus1 cumulus and cirrus - have a symmetry which is disturbed by the addition of a fourth stage1 represented by the nimbus4 ,this showed that there was need for a fifth stage1 at the top of the series1 to establish a balanced polarity4 ,we can now clear up this question of a fifth stage1 as follows4 ,in the three actual cloud-forms1 gravity and levity are more or less in equilibrium1 but in the nimbus gravity predominates1 and the atmospheric vapour condenses accordingly into separate liquid bodies1 the drops of rain4 ,the polar opposite of this process must therefore be one in which cloud-vapour1 under the dominating influence of levity1 passes up through a transitional condition into a state of pure heat4 ,such a conception by no means contradicts the findings of external research4 ,for meteorology has come to know of a heat-mantle surrounding the earth's atmosphere for which various hypothetical explanations have been advanced4 ,naturally1 none of them envisages the possibility of atmospheric substance changing into the heat-condition and back again4 ,but if we learn to look on the chain of cloud-forms as a 'spiritual ladder'1 then we must expect the chain to conclude with a stage of pure heat1 lying above the cirrus-sphere4#i ,the line of consideration pursued in the last part of this chapter has led us from certain observations in the plant kingdom1 concerning the coming into being of ponderable matter from 'nothing'1 to a corresponding picture of the earth's meteorological sphere4 ,when discussing the plant in this respect we found as an instance 'worth a thousand1 bearing all within itself the case of ,tillandsia and more particularly the surprising appearance of phosphorus in it4 ,now1 in the meteorological realm it is once more phosphorus which gives us an instance of this kind4 ,for there is the well-known fact of the presence of phosphorus in conspicuous quantities in snow without a source being traceable in the atmosphere whence this substance can have originated in ponderable condition4 ,the phosphorus appearing in snow1 therefore1 brings before our very eyes the fact that the heights of the atmosphere are a realm of procreation of matter4 7,in our next chapter we shall learn what it is in phosphorus that makes it play this particular role in both fields of nature4 ,what interests us in the present context is the fact itself47 99 ,the knowledge we have now gained concerning the disappearance and appearance of physical water in the heights of the atmosphere will enable us to shake off one of the most characteristic errors to which the onlooker-consciousness has succumbed in its estimation of nature4 ,this is the interpretation of thunderstorms1 and particularly of lightning1 which has held sway since the days of ,benjamin ,franklin4 ,before developing our own picture of a thunderstorm let us recognize that science has found it necessary to reverse the explanation so long in ,vogue4 ,whereas it was formerly taken for granted - and the assumption was supposed to rest upon experimental proof - that the condensing of atmospheric vapour which accompanied lightning was the consequence of a release of electrical tension by the lightning1 the view now held is that the electrical tension responsible for the occurrence of lightning is itself the effect of a sudden condensing process of atmospheric moisture4 ,the reason for this uncertainty is that the physical conditions in the sphere where lightning occurs1 according to other experiences of electric phenomena1 actually exclude the formation of such high tensions as are necessary for the occurrence of discharges on the scale of lightning4 ,if we look at this fact without scientific bias we are once again reminded of the ,hans ,andersen child4 ,we cannot help wondering how this child would behave in a physics class if the teacher1 after vainly trying to produce a lightning-flash in miniature with the help of an electrical machine1 explained that the moisture prevalent in the air was responsible for the failure of the experiment1 and that he would have to postpone it to a day when the air was drier4 ,it would scarcely escape the ,hans ,andersen child that the conditions announced by the teacher as unfavourable to the production of an electric spark by the machine1 prevail in a much higher degree exactly where lightning1 as a supposed electric spark1 actually does occur4 ,to conclude from the presence of electric tensions in the earth's atmosphere as an accompaniment of lightning1 in the way first observed by ,franklin1 that lightning itself is an electrical process1 is to be under the same kind of illusion that led men to attribute electrical characteristics to the human soul because its activity in the body was found to be accompanied by electrical processes in the latter4 ,the identification of lightning with the electric spark is a case of a confusion between the upper and lower boundaries of nature1 characteristic of the onlooker-consciousness4 ,as such1 it has stood in the way of a real understanding both of non-electrical natural phenomena and of electricity itself4 ,what we observe in lightning is really an instantaneous execution of a process which runs its course continually in the atmosphere1 quietly and unnoticed4 ,it is the process by which water reverts from the imponderable to the ponderable condition1 after having been converted to the former through levity set in action by the sun 7as usually happens in a high degree just before a thunderstorm74 ,we form a true picture of the course of a storm if we say that nature enables us to witness a sublime display of the sudden bringing to birth of matter in earthbound form4 ,what falls to the ground as rain 7or hail7 is substantially identical with what was perceptible to the eye1 a moment before1 as a majestic light-phenomenon4 ,the accompanying electrical occurrence is the appropriate counter-event at nature's lower boundary4 ,since the two form part of a larger whole they necessarily occur together2 but the electrical occurrence must not be identified with the event in the heavens4 ,the reason for their conjunction will become clear later1 when we shall show how electrical polarity arises from the polarity between gravity and levity4 ,if one learns to view a thunderstorm in this way1 its spiritual connexion with the earth's volcanic processes becomes manifest2 there is in fact a polar relationship between them4 ,for just as in volcanic activity heavy matter is suddenly and swiftly driven heavenwards under the influence of levity1 so in a storm does light matter stream earthwards under the influence of gravity4 ,it is this combination of kinship and polar opposition which led people of old to regard both lightning in the heights and seismic disturbances in the depths as signs of direct intervention by higher powers in the affairs of men4 ,a trace of this old feeling lingers in the ,greek word 7theion71 divine1 which was used to denote both lightning and sulphur4 ,influenced by the same conception1 the ,romans regarded as holy a spot where lightning had struck the earth2 they even fenced it off to protect it from human contact4 ,note in this respect also the biblical report of the event on ,mount ,sinai1 mentioned before1 telling of an interplay of volcanic and meteorological phenomena as a sign of the direct intervention of the ,godhead4 #a ,see ,chapter ,,iv4 ,the other title of the paper1 ',radiant ,matter'1 will gain significance for us in a later context4 #b ,since the above was written1 certain conclusions drawn from modern subatomic research have led some astro-physicists to the idea that hydrogen is continuously created in the cosmos 'out of nothing'4 ,this does not affect the considerations of the present chapter4 #c ,note the expression6 #d ,for a vivid description of the interplay of both types of force in nature1 see ,e4 ,carpenter's account of his experience of a tree in his ,pagan and ,christian ,creeds4 #e ,note how this picture of thermal expansion fits in with the one obtained for the ,solfatara phenomenon when we took into account all that is implicit in the latter1 #f ,this throws light also on the problem of the use of chemicals as artificial fertilizers4 #g ,see ,l4 ,kolisko3 ,wirksamkeit kleinster ,entitten 7',effects of ,smallest ,entities'71 ,stuttgart1 #aibb1 an account of a series of experiments undertaken by the author at the ,biological ,institute of the ,goetheanum following suggestions by ,rudolf ,steiner4 ,her aim was to examine the behaviour of matter on the way to and beyond the boundary of its ponderable existence4 #h ,instead of using the trace-elements in mineral form1 it is still better to use parts of certain plants with a strong 'functional tendency'1 specially prepared4 ,this is done in the so-called ,bio-,dynamic method of farming and gardening1 according to ,rudolf ,steiner's indications4 #i ,note1 in this respect1 the close of ,goethe's poem dedicated to the cirrus-formation and the poem inspired by his sight of a waterfall in the ,bernese ,alps as indications of the fact that he was himself aware of the water-rejuvenating process in the higher reaches of the atmosphere4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,matter as ,part of ,nature's ,alphabet ,in the preceding chapter we drew attention to the fact that any spatially extended mass is under the sway of both gravity and levity4 ,we then saw that with the transition of matter from the solid via the liquid to the gaseous state1 not only does the specific gravity of the substance decrease1 but at the same time an increase takes place of what we might call 'specific levity'4 ,in the gaseous state1 therefore1 we find gravity-bound matter becoming so far levity-bound that it assumes the property of actively expanding in space4 ,having once adopted the ,goethean way of thinking-in-polarities1 we may feel sure that there is somewhere in nature a phenomenon which represents the polar opposite of the levity-gravity relationship peculiar to the gaseous state4 ,in this latter state we find ponderable matter so far brought under the sway of levity that its behaviour is of a kind which van ,helmont1 when he first observed it1 could not help describing as 'paradoxical'4 ,where1 we must now ask1 do we find imponderable essence so much under the sway of gravity that it shows the correspondingly paradoxical features8 ,in other words1 where does nature show levity concentrated in a limited part of space - that is1 in a condition characteristic of ponderable matter8 ,such concentrations of levity do indeed exist in varied forms4 ,one is the 'warmth-body' represented by the blood-heat of the higher animals and man4 ,there is1 however1 an occurrence of this kind also on the purely mineral level of nature1 and it is this which has particular significance for our present study of matter4 ,we meet it in all physical substances which have the peculiarity of being combustible4 ,our next task is to study certain fundamentals in regard to the different ways in which levity and gravity are found to be intertwined in combustible substances1 manifesting through the difference of their relation to the process of combustion - that is1 the process by which levity is restored to its original condition4 ,it is the aim of the present chapter to show that by doing justice to the imponderable aspect of combustion1 the way is opened to a view of the 'elements'1 as scientific chemistry understands them1 which will be in line with our dynamic conception of matter4 ,there is nothing surprising in the fact that a new conception of the chemical element can arise from a re-study of the process of combustion1 if we remember that it was the picture of combustion1 characteristic of the spectator-consciousness1 which determined the conception of the chemical element as it prevails in modern science4 ,let us see how this conception came to pass historically in order to find where we stand to-day4 99 ,with the establishment of the knowledge of a state of physical matter which1 as the definition ran1 'neither results from a combination of other physical substances nor is resolvable into such'1 the conviction arose that man's searching mind had reached 'rock-bottom'4 ,this conviction1 however1 was shaken when1 with the discovery of radium1 an element became known whose property it is to disintegrate into two other elements1 helium and lead4 ,although this did not force science to abandon the element-concept altogether1 it became necessary to find a new definition for it4 ,this definition was established by ,professor ,w4 ,ostwald at the beginning of the present century1 when he stated that the chemical element represents a condition of physical matter in which 'any chemical change results in an increase of weight'4 ,in this way1 the chemical concept of the element achieved a meaning which had actually been implicit in it from its first conception4 ,for its very formation had been the outcome of the ,contra-,levitatem maxim4 ,the following glance over the history of chemistry will show this4 ,the birth of chemistry as a science1 in the modern sense1 is closely connected with a revolutionary change in the conception of what can be called the chemical arch-process-combustion1 or1 to use a more scientific term1 oxidation4 ,this change arose out of the ,contra-,levitatem maxim and the new conception of heat which this maxim required4 ,in the old doctrine of the four ,elements1 ,heat had been conceived as a manifestation of the element of ,fire1 and so1 together with ,air1 as belonging to the realm of the 'uncreated things'4 ,hence the release of heat from created substance was always felt to be a sacred act1 as is shown by the fire rites of old4 ,modern man's conception of the same process is revealed in the answer one invariably receives from both layman and scientist when they are asked what they understand by combustion4 ,it is described as a process through which oxygen combines with the combustible substance4 ,and yet this side of combustion1 first observed by ,j4 ,priestley 7#agga71 is neither the one for the sake of which man produces combustion in the service of his everyday life1 nor is it at all observed by ordinary sense-perception4 ,nevertheless1 to describe the obvious fact1 that combustion is liberation of heat from the combustible substance1 will hardly occur to anyone to-day4 ,this shows to what extent even the scientifically untrained consciousness in our time turns instinctively to the tangible or weighable side of nature1 so that some effort is required to confess simply to what the eye and the other senses perceive4 ,during the first hundred years after the establishment of the ,contra-,levitatem maxim1 man's situation was in a certain sense the opposite of this4 ,then1 people were struggling hard to get away from the old concept which saw in combustion nothing but the liberation of a super-terrestrial element from earthly fetters4 ,this struggle found expression in a theory of heat which at that time greatly occupied scientific thinking4 ,it is the so-called phlogiston-theory first proposed by the chemist ,stahl 7#affj-agcd74 ,this theory reveals the great uncertainty into which man's thinking about the world of the senses had arrived at that time4 ,clinging to ideas inherited from antiquity1 man's consciousness was already so far restricted to the forming of pure matter-bound concepts that he was tempted to conceive heat as a material element4 ,to this heat-substance the name 'phlogiston' was given4 ,at the same time1 under the ,contra-,levitatem maxim1 it was impossible to conceive of substance except as ponderable substance4 ,this led to the conviction that whenever heat appears as a result of some treatment of matter 7combustion or friction71 the material substance subject to this treatment must lose weight4 ,the experiments of ,lavoisier 7#agdc-id71 which he undertook following ,priestley's discovery of the role of oxygen in combustion1 put an end to this theory4 ,these experiments are rightly regarded as the actual beginning of modern chemistry4 ,in ,lavoisier we find an observer of nature who was predominantly interested in what the scales could tell about changes in substances4 ,it was from this aspect that he investigated the process of oxidation4 ,what had already been observed by a few others1 though without being taken seriously by them1 he found confirmed - that1 contrary to the phlogiston - theory1 matter does not lose weight through oxidation but gains weight4 ,further experiments proved beyond doubt that in all chemical reactions the total weight of the components remained constant4 ,however much the substance resulting from the chemical reaction of others might differ from these1 its weight always proved to be the same as their total weight4 ,what else could be concluded from the apparent unchangeability of weight throughout all the chemical happenings in nature than that the ponderable world-content was of eternal duration8 ,we see here how much modern chemistry and its concept of the chemical element has been ruled right from the start by the one-sided gravity concept of the onlooker-consciousness4 ,together with the overcoming of the fallacy that heat is a ponderable substance 7full certainty was indeed established only some time later through the investigations of ,davy and ,rumford into heat generated by friction7 - human thinking was led into a one-sided conception of combustion which was merely the opposite of the one held earlier4 ,whereas formerly man's mind was pre-eminently occupied by the liberation of the imponderable element through combustion1 it now turned entirely to what goes on in the ponderable realm4 ,as we have seen1 one outcome of this one-sided view of combustion was the modern concept of the chemical element4 ,to-day our task is to overcome this concept by taking a step corresponding to the one that led to it1 that is1 by a study of combustibility which does justice to both sides of the process involved4 99 ,as objects of our observation we choose three chemical elements all of which have the property of combustibility3 ,sulphur1 ,phosphorus1 and ,carbon4 ,as will become clear1 our choice of these three is determined by the fact that together they represent an instance 'worth a thousand1 bearing all within itself4 ,we begin by comparing ,sulphur and ,phosphorus4 ,in their elementary state they have in common the fact that any chemical change is bound up with an increase in their weight4 ,in this state both are combustible4 ,apart from this similarity1 there is a great difference between them1 as the way of storing them illustrates4 ,for while elementary sulphur needs only an ordinary container1 phosphorus has to be kept under cover of water in order to prevent the atmospheric oxygen from touching it4 ,the reason is that the combustible state is natural for sulphur1 but not for phosphorus1 the latter's natural state being the oxidized one4 ,this different relationship of sulphur and phosphorus to the oxidizable 7reduced7 and the oxidized state manifests itself in all their chemical reactions4 ,to object here that the different reactions of the two substances are due only to the difference of their respective temperatures of ignition1 and that above these temperatures the difference will more or less disappear 7all combustible substances at a sufficiently high temperature becoming more or less similar to phosphorus71 would not meet the argument4 ,for what matters here is just how the particular substance behaves at that level of temperature on which the earth unfolds her normal planetary activity4 ,to ignore this would be to violate one of the principles we have adopted from ,goethe1 which is never to derive fundamental concepts of nature from observations obtained under artificial conditions4 ,sulphur and phosphorus are thus seen to represent two polarically opposite tendencies with regard to the levity-gravity coherence which breaks up when combustion occurs4 ,in the case of sulphur1 the ponderable and imponderable entities appear to cling together2 in the case of phosphorus1 they seem to be anxious to part4 ,these two different tendencies - which are characteristic of many other substances and represent a basic factor in the chemical happenings of the earth - are in their own way a pair of opposites4 ,since each of them represents in itself a relationship between two poles of a polarity-gravity and levity - so in their mutual relationship they represent a 'polarity of polarities'4 ,in ,fig4 #d an attempt has been made to represent this fact by a symbolic diagram4 ,in this figure the shaded part represents the imponderable1 the black part the ponderable entity4 ,in the left-hand symbol both are shown in a relationship corresponding to the one characteristic of sulphur2 in the right-hand figure the relationship is characteristic of phosphorus4 ,here we have an instance of a kind of polarity which belongs to the fundamentals of nature as much as does the levity-gravity polarity itself4 ,wherever two poles of a polarity meet1 they have the possibility of being connected in two ways which in themselves are again polarically opposite4 ,our further studies will bring up various other instances of this kind1 and will show us that part of the epistemological trouble in which science finds itself to-day results from the fact that the scientific mind has been unable to distinguish between the two kinds of polarity - that is1 as we shall say henceforth1 between polarities of the first order 7primary polarities7 and polarities of the second order 7secondary polarities74 ,in actual fact1 the distinction between the two orders of polarity has been implicit in the descriptions given in this book right from the start4 ,remember1 in this respect1 how the picture of the threefold psycho-physical structure of man1 which has proved a master-key for unlocking the most varied scientific problems1 was first built up4 ,there1 'body' and 'soul' represented a polarity which is obviously one of the first order4 ,by our observation of the human organism1 in relation both to the different functions of the soul and to the different main organic systems1 we further recognized the fact that the ways in which body and soul are interrelated are polarically opposite in the region of the brain and nerves and in the region of the metabolic processes1 which again results in two polarically opposite activities of the soul1 mental on the one hand1 and volitional on the other4 ,in what we called the pole-of-consciousness and the pole-of-life we therefore have a clear polarity of the second order1 and so in everything that is connected with these two1 as our further discussions will show4 ,remembering that our first occasion to concern ourselves overtly with the concept of polarity was in connexion with the four elements1 we may now ask whether the old doctrine did not embrace some conception of secondary polarity as well as of primary polarity1 and if so1 whether this might not prove as helpful in clarifying our own conceptions as was the primary polarity1 cold-warm4 ,that this is indeed so1 the following description will show4 ,beside the two qualities cold and warm the doctrine of the four elements pointed to two further qualities forming in themselves a pair of opposites1 namely1 dry and moist4 ,just as the four elements were seen as grouping themselves in two pairs1 ,fire-,air on the one hand1 ,water-,earth on the other1 the first being characterized by the quality warm1 the second by cold1 so were they seen to form two opposing groups1 ,fire-,earth and ,air-,water1 of which one was characterized by the quality dry1 the other by the quality moist4 ,fig4 #e shows how the four elements in their totality were seen to arise out of the various combinations of the four qualities4 ,in this diagram the element ,earth appears as a combination of the qualities ,dry and ,cold2 ,water of ,cold and ,moist2 ,air of ,moist and ,warm2 ,fire of ,warm and ,dry4 ,as a result1 ,earth and ,fire1 besides representing opposite poles1 are also neighbours in the diagram4 ,here we encounter a picture characteristic of all earlier ways of looking at the world3 the members of a system of phenomena1 when ranked in due order of succession1 were seen to turn back on themselves circle-wise - or1 more precisely1 spiral-wise4 ,in what way do the qualities dry and moist form a polarity of the second order1 and how do they represent the chemical polarity characteristic of sulphur and phosphorus as well as all the other secondary polarities dealt with in this book8 ,to understand this we must submit the couple dry-moist to the same scrutiny as we applied to cold and warm in our earlier discussion of the four elements4 ,it lies in the nature of things that we instinctively associate these qualities with the solid and liquid states of matter respectively4 ,this certainly agrees with the diagram given above1 where the elements ,earth and ,water are distinguished precisely by their connexion with these two characteristics4 ,yet1 in addition to this1 the qualities dry and moist are found to be characteristic also of ,fire and ,air respectively1 though with the difference that they are linked not with the quality cold1 as in the case of the lower elements1 but with the quality warm4 ,so we see that the concepts ,dry and ,moist1 as they lived in the old picturing of them1 mean a good deal more than we understand by them to-day4 ,that these two respective attributes do not belong exclusively to the solid and the liquid states of matter can be seen at once by observing the different reactions of certain liquids to a solid surface which they touch4 ,one need only recall the difference between water and quicksilver4 ,if water runs over a surface it leaves a trail2 quicksilver does not4 ,water clings to the side of a vessel2 again1 quicksilver does not4 ,a well-known consequence of this difference is that in a narrow tube the surface of the liquid - the so-called meniscus - stands higher at the circumference than at the centre in the case of water2 with quicksilver it is just the reverse4 ,in the sense of the two qualities1 dry and moist1 water is a 'moist' liquid2 quicksilver a 'dry' one4 ,on the other hand1 the quality of moistness in a solid substance appears in the adhesive power of glue4 ,let us now see how1 in accordance with the scheme given in ,fig4 #e1 the four qualities in their respective combinations constitute the four elements4 ,from the description we shall give here it will be realized how little such ancient schemes were based on abstract thoughts1 and how much they were read from the facts of the world4 ,moreover1 a comparison with our description of the four stages of matter1 given in the previous chapter1 would show how far the conceptual content of the old doctrine covers the corresponding facts when they are read by the eye of the modern reader in nature1 notwithstanding the changes nature has undergone in the meantime4 ,the element ,fire reveals its attributes of warm and dry in a behaviour which combines a tendency to dynamic expansion with a disinclination to enter into lasting combination with the other elements4 ,correspondingly1 the behaviour of the element ,earth unites a tendency to contraction with an inclination to fall out of conjunction with the other elements4 ,thus the attribute1 dry1 belongs equally to pure flame and sheer dust1 though for opposite reasons4 ,distinct from both these elements are the middle elements ,water and ,air2 with them the attribute1 moist1 comes to expression in their tendency both to interpenetrate mutually and to absorb their neighbours - the liquid element absorbing solid matter and the aeriform element taking up heat4 ,what distinguishes them is that water has a 'cold' nature1 from which it gains its density2 while air has a 'warm' nature1 to which it owes its tendency to expand4 ,in the most general sense1 the quality 'moist' applies wherever two different entities are drawn into some kind of intimate relationship with one another2 'dry' applies where no such relationship prevails4 ,seen thus1 they reveal themselves as a true polarity of the second order1 for they describe the relationship between two entities which already exists1 and1 in the case of the four elements1 are themselves a polarity4 ,as such1 they characterize precisely those polar relationships of the second order on which the threefold structure of man1 we found1 is based4 ,for from the physical1 as much as from the superphysical aspect the nerve-system represents the 'dry' part1 and the metabolic system the 'moist' part of man's being4 ,the same is true of the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world at both poles4 ,here we have the antithesis between the 'dry' onlooker-relationship of the intellect to the world1 conceived as a mere picture whose essence remains outside the boundaries of the soul1 and the 'moist' intermingling of the will-force with the actual forces of the world4 99 ,it needs no further explanation to realize that sulphur and phosphorus1 by the way in which levity and gravity are interlinked in each of them1 are representatives of these very qualities 'moist' and 'dry'4 ,as such they are universally active bearers of these qualities in every realm of nature's varied activities1 as their physical presence in such cases confirms4 ,consequently1 sulphur is found in the protein-substances of the human body wherever they are bearers of metabolic processes1 while the presence of phosphorus is characteristic of the nerves and bones4 7,although its full significance will become clear to us only later1 the fact may here be mentioned that the composition of the bone-material in the different parts of man's skeleton1 as scientific analysis has shown1 is such that the content of phosphate of calcium in proportion to carbonate of calcium is higher in all those parts which are spherically shaped1 such as the upper parts of the skull and the upper ends of the limb-bones47 ,in particular the plant reveals clearly the functional significance of phosphorus as the bearer of the quality 'dry'4 ,for its healthy growth the plant needs the quality 'dry' in two places3 at the root1 where it unites with the element earth1 and in the flower1 where it opens itself to the fire element4 ,root and flower as distinct from the middle parts of the plant are both 'dry' formations4 ,in a still higher degree this applies to the seed1 which must separate itself from the mother plant to produce a separate new organism4 ,all these are functions in the plant which1 as was mentioned in the last chapter1 require phosphorus for their healthy performance4 ,our examination of phosphorus and sulphur from the functional point of view throws light also on their effect on the alternating conditions of waking and sleeping1 necessary for the life of the higher organisms4 ,this rhythmic change1 which affects especially the nervous system1 is an alternation between the qualities dry and moist4 ,disturbance of this alternation in one direction or the other makes it difficult for the organism to react in full wakefulness or normal sleep4 ,it follows that treatment with phosphorus or sulphur in suitable preparations1 according to the nature of the disturbance1 can be beneficial4 ,if we study the functional properties of such substances we see that they can teach us a rational understanding of therapeutic practices1 which otherwise must remain mere results of trial and error4 ,the same applies to phosphorus and sulphur treatment in cases where in the functionally 'dry' bone system or in the functionally 'moist' metabolic system of the organism the wrong quality predominates4 ,if the bones remain too 'moist' there is a tendency to rickets2 against this1 certain fish-oils are a well-known remedy on account of their highly phosphoric nature4 ,conversely1 the application of sulphur can help where weakness of the metabolic forces produces rheumatic or gouty sediments in parts of the body whose function is to serve by their mobility the activities of the will4 ,in this case the abnormal predominance of the quality 'dry' can be counteracted by the medical application of sulphur4 99 ,having observed the action of sulphur and phosphorus in the laboratory and in living organisms1 we will now turn to phenomena of a macrotelluric nature which reveal the participation of sulphur and phosphorus4 ,there1 sulphur points unmistakably to the earth's volcanism4 ,it is a fact that1 wherever mineral sulphur occurs in the earth1 there we find a spot of former or present volcanic activity4 ,similarly1 there is no such spot on the earth without sulphur being present in one form or another4 ,hence the name ,solfatara for the fumarole described in ,chapter ,,ix4 ,once again it is the ,solfatara which offers us a phenomenon1 this time in connexion with the special role sulphur plays in its activities1 which1 regarded with the eye of the spirit1 assumes the significance of an instance 'worth a thousand'4 ,in spite of the very high temperature of the sulphurous fumes emitted from various crevices on the edge of the ,solfatara1 it is possible1 thanks to the complete dryness of the fumes1 to crawl a little way into the interior of these crevices4 ,not far away from the opening of the crevice1 where the hot fumes touch the cooler rock surface1 one is met by a very beautiful spectacle - namely1 the continual forming1 out of nothing as it seems1 of glittering yellow sulphur crystals1 suspended in delicate chains from the ceiling4 ,in this transformation of sulphurous substance from a higher material state1 nearer to levity1 to that of the solid crystal1 we may behold an image of the generation of matter4 ,for every physical substance and1 therefore1 every chemical element1 exists originally as a pure function in the dynamic processes of the universe4 ,wherever1 as a result of the action of gravity1 such a function congeals materially1 there we meet it in the form of a physical-material substance4 ,in the same sense1 sulphur and phosphorus1 in their real being1 are pure functions1 and where they occur as physical substances1 there we meet these functions in their congealed state4 ,one of the characteristics of the volcanic regions of the earth is the healing effect of substances found there4 ,fango-mud1 for instance1 which was mentioned in the last chapter1 is a much-used remedy against rheumatism4 ,this is typical of functional sulphur4 ,we may truly characterize the earth's volcanism as being qualitatively sulphurous4 ,it is the sulphur-function coming to expression through a higher degree of 'moistness' in the relationship between gravity and levity which distinguishes volcanic regions from the rest of the otherwise 'dry' earth's crust4 99 ,to develop a corresponding picture of the function of phosphorus1 we must try to find the macrotelluric sphere where this function operates similarly to that of sulphur in volcanism4 ,from what has been said in the last chapter it will be evident that we must look to the atmosphere1 as the site of snow-formation4 ,it is this process which we must now examine more closely4 ,in the atmosphere1 to begin with1 we find water in a state of vapour1 in which the influence of the terrestrial gravity-field is comparatively weak4 ,floating in this state1 the vapour condenses and crystallization proceeds4 ,obeying the pull of gravity1 more and more crystals unite in their descent and gradually form flakes of varying sizes4 ,the nearer they come to earth1 the closer they fall1 until at last on the ground they form an unbroken1 more or less spherical1 cover4 ,imagine a snow-covered field glistening in the sun on a clear1 quiet winter's day4 ,as far as we can see1 there is no sign of life1 no movement4 ,here water1 which is normally fluid and1 in its liquid state1 serves the ever-changing life-processes1 covers the earth in the form of millions of separate crystals shaped with mathematical exactitude1 each of which breaks and reflects in a million rays the light from the sun 7,plate ,v74 ,a contrast1 indeed1 between this quiet emergence of forms from levity into gravity1 and the form-denying volcanism surging up out of gravity into levity1 as shown by the ever-restless activity of the ,solfatara4 ,as we found volcanism to be a macrotelluric manifestation of functional sulphur1 we find in the process of snow-formation a corresponding manifestation of functional phosphorus4 ,in the formation of snow1 nature shows us in statu agendi a process which we otherwise meet in the earth only in its finished results1 crystallization4 ,we may1 therefore1 rightly look upon snow-formation as an ur-phenomenon in this sphere of nature's activities4 ,as such it allows us to learn something concerning the origin in general of the crystalline realm of the earth2 and1 vice versa1 our insight into the 'becoming' of this realm will enable us to see more clearly the universal function of which phosphorus is the main representative among the physical substances of the earth4 ,it has puzzled many an observer that crystals occur in the earth with directions of their main axes entirely independent of the direction of the earthly pull of gravity4 ,plate ,,vi shows the photograph of a cluster of ,calcite crystals as an example of this phenomenon4 ,it tells us that gravity can have no effect on the formation of the crystal itself4 ,this riddle is solved by the phenomenon of snow-formation provided we allow it to speak to us as an ur-phenomenon4 ,for it then tells us that matter must be in a state of transition from lightness into heaviness if it is to appear in crystalline form4 ,the crystals in the earth1 therefore1 must have originated at a time when the relation between levity and gravity on the earth was different from what it is1 in this sphere1 to-day4 ,the same language is spoken by the property of transparency which is so predominant among crystals4 ,one of the fundamental characteristics of heavy solid matter is to resist light - in other words1 to be opaque4 ,exposed to heat1 however1 physical substance loses this feature to the extent that at the border of its ponderability all matter becomes pervious to light4 ,now1 in the transparent crystal matter retains this kinship to light even in its solid state4 ,a similar message comes from the1 often so mysterious1 colouring of the crystals4 ,here again nature offers us an instance which1 'worth a thousand'1 reveals a secret that would otherwise remain veiled4 ,we refer to the pink crystals of tourmaline1 whose colour comes from a small admixture of lithium4 ,this element1 which belongs to the group of the alkaline metals1 does not form coloured salts 7a property only shown by the heavier metals74 ,if exposed to a flame1 however1 it endows it with a definite colour which is the same as that of the lithium-coloured tourmaline4 ,read as a letter in nature's script1 this fact tells us that precious stones with their flame-like colours are characterized by having kept something of the nature that was theirs before they coalesced into ponderable existence4 ,in fact1 they are 'frozen flames'4 ,it is this fact1 known from ancient intuitive experience1 which prompted man of old to attribute particular spiritual significance to the various precious stones of the earth and to use them correspondingly in his rituals4 ,crystallization1 seen thus in its cosmic aspect1 shows a dynamic orientation which is polarically opposite to that of the earth's seismic activities4 ,just as in the latter we observe levity taking hold of ponderable matter and moving it in a direction opposite to the pull of gravity1 so in crystallization we see imponderable matter passing over from levity into gravity4 ,and just as we found in volcanism and related processes a field of activity of 'functional sulphur'1 so we found in snow-formation and related processes a field of activity of 'functional phosphorus'4 ,both fields are characterized by an interaction between gravity and levity1 this interaction being of opposite nature in each of them4 ,here1 again1 sulphur and phosphorus appear as bearers of a polarity of the second order which springs from the two polarically opposite ways of interaction between the poles of the polarity of the first order3 levity-gravity4 99 ,as in man there is a third system1 mediating between the two polar systems of his organism1 so between sulphur and phosphorus there is a third element which in all its characteristics holds a middle place between them and is the bearer of a corresponding function4 ,this element is carbon4 ,to see this we need only take into consideration carbon's relationship to oxidation and reduction respectively4 ,as it is natural for sulphur to be in the reduced state1 and for phosphorus to be in the oxidized state1 so it is in the nature of carbon to be related to both states and therefore to oscillate between them4 ,by its readiness to change over from the oxidized to the reduced state1 it can serve the plant in the assimilation of light1 while by its readiness to make the reverse change it serves man and animal in the breathing process4 ,we breathe in oxygen from the air2 the oxygen circulates through the blood-stream and passes out again in conjunction with carbon1 as carbon dioxide1 when we exhale4 ,in the process whereby the plants reduce the carbon dioxide exhaled by man and animal1 while the latter again absorb with their food the carbon produced in the form of organic matter by the plant1 we see carbon moving to and fro between the oxidized and the reduced conditions4 ,within the plant itself1 too1 carbon acts as functionary of the alternation between oxidation and reduction4 ,during the first half of the year1 when vegetation is unfolding1 there is a great reduction process of oxidized carbon1 while in the second half of the year1 when the withering process prevails1 a great deal of the previously reduced carbon passes into the oxidized condition4 ,as this is connected with exhaling and inhaling of oxygen through carbon1 carbon can be regarded as having the function of the lung-organ of the earth4 ,logically enough1 we find carbon playing the same role in the middle part of the threefold human organism4 ,another indication of the midway position of carbon is its ability to combine as readily with hydrogen as with oxygen1 and1 in these polar combinations1 even to combine with itself4 ,in this latter form it provides the basis of the innumerable organic substances in nature1 and serves as the 'building stones' of the body-substances of living organisms4 ,among these1 the carbohydrates produced by the plants show clearly the double function of carbon in the way it alternates between the states of starch and sugar4 ,when the plant absorbs through its leaves carbonic acid from the air and condenses it into the multiple grains of starch with their peculiar structure characteristic for each plant species1 we have a biological event which corresponds to the formation of snow in the meteorological realm4 ,here we see carbon at work in a manner functionally akin to that of phosphorus4 ,sugar1 on the other hand1 has its place in the saps of the plants which rise through the stems and carry up with them the mineral substances of the earth4 ,here we find carbon acting in a way akin to the function of sulphur4 ,this twofold nature of carbon makes itself noticeable down to the very mineral sphere of the earth4 ,there we find it in the fact that carbon occurs both in the form of the diamond1 the hardest of all mineral substances1 and also in the form of the softest1 graphite4 ,here also1 in the diamond's brilliant transparency1 and in the dense blackness of graphite1 carbon reveals its twofold relation to light4 ,in ,fig4 #f an attempt has been made to represent diagrammatically the function of ,carbon in a way corresponding to the previous representation of the functions of ,sulphur and ,phosphorus4 99 ,by adding carbon to our observations on the polarity of sulphur and phosphorus we have been led to a triad of functions each of which expresses a specific interplay of levity and gravity4 ,that we encounter three such functions is not accidental or arbitrary4 ,rather is it based on the fact that the interaction of forces emanating from a polarity of the first order1 produces a polarity of the second order1 whose poles establish between them a sphere of balance4 ,through our study of levity and gravity in the matter-processes of the earth1 a perspective thus opens up into a structural principle of nature which is actually not new to us4 ,we encountered it at the very beginning of this book when we discussed the threefold psycho-physical order of man's being4 ,in the days of an older intuitive nature-wisdom man knew of a basic triad of functions as well as he knew of the four elementary qualities4 ,we hear a last echo of this in the ,middle ,ages1 when people striving for a deeper understanding of nature spoke of the trinity of ,salt1 ,mercury and ,sulphur4 ,what the true alchemists1 as these seekers of knowledge called themselves1 meant by this was precisely the same as the conception we have here reached through our own way of studying matter 7',salt' standing for 'functional phosphorus'1 ',mercury' for 'functional carbon'74 ,only the alchemist's way was a different one4 ,this is not the place to enter into a full examination of the meaning and value of alchemy in its original legitimate sense 7which must not be confused with activities that later on paraded under the same name74 ,only this we will say - that genuine alchemy owes its origin to an impulse which1 at a time when the onlooker-consciousness first arose1 led to the foundation of a school for the development of an intuitive relationship of the soul with the world of the senses4 ,this was to enable man to resist the effects of the division which evolution was about to set up in his soul-life - the division which was to give him1 on the one hand1 an abstract experience of his own self1 divorced from the outer world1 and on the other a mere onlooker's experience of that outer world4 ,as a result of these endeavours1 concepts were formed which in their literal meaning seemed to apply merely to outwardly perceptible substances1 while in truth they stood for the spiritual functions represented by those substances1 both within and outside the human organism4 ,thus the alchemist who used these concepts thought of them first as referring to his own soul1 and to the inner organic processes corresponding to the various activities of his soul4 ,when speaking of ,salt he meant the regulated formative activity of his thinking1 based on the salt-forming process in his nervous system4 ,when he spoke of ,mercury he meant the quickly changing emotional life of the soul and the corresponding activities of the rhythmic processes of the body4 ,lastly1 ,sulphur meant the will activities of his soul and the corresponding metabolic processes of the body4 ,only through studying these functions within himself1 and through re-establishing the harmony between them which had been theirs in the beginning1 and from which1 he felt1 man had deviated in the course of time1 did the alchemist hope to come to an understanding of their counterparts in the external cosmos4 ,older alchemical writings1 therefore1 can be understood only if prescriptions which seem to signify certain chemical manipulations are read as instructions for certain exercises of the soul1 or as advices for the redirection of corresponding processes in the body4 ,for instance1 if an alchemist gave directions for a certain treatment of ,sulphur1 ,mercury and ,salt1 with the assertion that by carrying out these directions properly1 one would obtain ,aurum 7gold71 he really spoke of a method to direct the thinking1 feeling and willing activities of the soul in such a way as to gain true ,wisdom4#a 99 ,as in the case of the concepts constituting the doctrine of the four elements1 we have represented here the basic alchemical concepts not only because of their historical significance1 but because1 as ingredients of a still functional conception of nature1 they assume new significance in a science which seeks to develop1 though from different starting-points1 a similar conception4 ,as will be seen in our further studies1 these concepts prove a welcome enrichment of the language in which we must try to express our readings in nature4 #a ,roger ,bacon in the thirteenth1 and ,berthold ,schwartz in the fourteenth century1 are reputed to have carried out experiments by mixing physical salt 7in the form of the chemically labile saltpetre7 with physical sulphur and - after some initial attempts with various metals - with charcoal1 and then exposing the mixture to the heat of physical fire4 ,the outcome of this purely materialistic interpretation of the three alchemical concepts was not the acquisition of wisdom1 or1 as ,schwartz certainly had hoped1 of gold1 but of 444 gunpowder6 ,,chapter ,,xii ,space and ,counter-,space ,with the introduction1 in ,chapter ,x1 of the peripheral type of force-field which appertains to levity as the usual central one does to gravity1 we are compelled to revise our conception of space4 ,for in a space of a kind we are accustomed to conceive1 that is1 the three-dimensional1 ,euclidean space1 the existence of such a field with its characteristic of increasing in strength in the outward direction is a paradox1 contrary to mathematical logic4 ,this task1 which in view of our further observations of the actions of the levity-gravity polarity in nature we must now tackle1 is1 however1 by no means insoluble4 ,for in modern mathematics thought-forms are already present which make it possible to develop a space-concept adequate to levity4 ,as referred to in ,chapter ,i1 it was ,rudolf ,steiner who first pointed to the significance in this respect of the branch of modern mathematics known as ,projective ,geometry4 ,he showed that ,projective ,geometry1 if rightly used1 carries over the mind from the customary abstract to a new concrete treatment of mathematical concepts4 ,the following example will serve to explain1 to start with1 what we mean by saying that mathematics has hitherto been used abstractly4 ,one of the reasons why the world-picture developed by ,einstein in his ,theory of ,relativity deserves to be acknowledged as a step forward in comparison with the picture drawn by classical physics1 lies in the fact that the old conception of three-dimensional space as a kind of 'cosmic container'1 extending in all directions into infinity and filled1 as it were1 with the content of the physical universe1 is replaced by a conception in which the structure of space results from the laws interrelating this content4 ,our further discussion will show that this indeed is the way along which1 to-day1 mathematical thought must move in order to cope with universal reality4 ,however1 for reasons discussed earlier1 ,einstein was forced to conceive all events in the universe after the model of gravity as observable on the earth4 ,in this way he arrived at a space-structure which possesses neither the three-dimensionality nor the rectilinear character of so-called ,euclidean space - a space-picture which1 though mathematically consistent1 is incomprehensible by the human mind4 ,for nothing exists in our mind that could enable us to experience as a reality a space-time continuum of three dimensions which is curved within a further dimension4 ,this outcome of ,einstein's endeavours results from the fact that he tried by means of gravity-bound thought to comprehend universal happenings of which the true causes are non-gravitational4 ,a thinking that has learnt to acknowledge the existence of levity must indeed pursue precisely the opposite direction4 ,instead of freezing time down into spatial dimension1 in order to make it fit into a world ruled by nothing but gravity1 we must develop a conception of space sufficiently fluid to let true time have its place therein4 ,we shall see how such a procedure will lead us to a space-concept thoroughly conceivable by human common sense1 provided we are prepared to overcome the onlooker-standpoint in mathematics also4 ,einstein owed the possibility of establishing his space-picture to a certain achievement of mathematical thinking in modern times4 ,as we have seen1 one of the peculiarities of the onlooker-consciousness consists in its being devoid of all connexion with reality4 ,the process of thinking thereby gained a degree of freedom which did not exist in former ages4 ,in consequence1 mathematicians were enabled in the course of the nineteenth century to conceive the most varied space-systems which were all mathematically consistent and yet lacked all relation to external existence4 ,a considerable number of space-systems have thus become established among which there is the system that served ,einstein to derive his space-time concept4 ,some of them have been more or less fully worked out1 while in certain instances all that has been done is to show that they are mathematically conceivable4 ,among these there is one which in all its characteristics is polarically opposite to the ,euclidean system1 and which is destined for this reason to become the space-system of levity4 ,it is symptomatic of the remoteness from reality of mathematical thinking in the onlooker-age that precisely this system has so far received no special attention4#a ,for the purpose of this book it is not necessary to expound in detail why modern mathematical thinking has been led to look for thought-forms other than those of classical geometry4 ,it is enough to remark that for quite a long time there had been an awareness of the fact that the consistency of ,euclid's definitions and proofs fails as soon as one has no longer to do with finite geometrical entities1 but with figures which extend into infinity1 as for instance when the properties of parallel straight lines come into question4 ,for the concept of infinity was foreign to classical geometrical thinking4 ,problems of the kind which had defeated ,euclidean thinking became soluble directly human thinking was able to handle the concept of infinity4 ,we shall now indicate some of the lines of geometrical thought which follow from this4 99 ,let us consider a straight line extending without limits in either direction4 ,projective geometry is able to state that a point moving along this line in one direction will eventually return from the other4 ,to see this1 we imagine two straight lines a and b intersecting at ,p4 ,one of these lines is fixed 7a72 the other 7b7 rotates uniformly about ,c4 ,fig4 #g indicates the rotation of b by showing it in a number of positions with the respective positions of its point of intersection with a 7,p#a1 ,p#b4 4 474 ,we observe this point moving along a1 as a result of the rotation of b1 until1 when both lines are parallel1 it reaches infinity4 ,as a result of the continued rotation of b1 however1 ,p does not remain in infinity1 but returns along a from the other side4 ,we find here two forms of movement linked together - the rotational movement of a line 7b7 on a point 7,c71 and the progressive movement of a point 7,p7 along a line 7a74 ,the first movement is continuous1 and observable throughout within finite space4 ,therefore the second movement must be continuous as well1 even though it partly escapes our observation4 ,hence1 when ,p disappears into infinity on one side of our own point of observation1 it is at the same time in infinity on the other side4 ,in order words1 an unlimited straight line has only one point at infinity4 ,it is clear that1 in order to become familiar with this aspect of geometry1 one must grow together in inward activity with the happening which is contained in the above description4 ,what we therefore intend by giving such a description is to provide an opportunity for a particular mental exercise1 just as when we introduced ,goethe's botany by describing a number of successive leaf-formations4 ,here1 as much as there1 it is the act of 're-creating' that matters4 ,the following exercise will help us towards further clarity concerning the nature of geometrical infinity4 ,we imagine ourselves in the centre of a sphere which we allow to expand uniformly on all sides4 ,whilst the inner wall of this sphere withdraws from us into ever greater distances1 it grows flatter and flatter until1 on reaching infinite distance1 it turns into a plane4 ,we thus find ourselves surrounded everywhere by a surface which1 in the strict mathematical sense1 is a plane1 and is yet one and the same surface on all sides4 ,this leads us to the conception of the plane at infinity as a self-contained entity although it expands infinitely in all directions4 ,this property of a plane at infinity1 however1 is really a property of any plane4 ,to realize this1 we must widen our conception of infinity by freeing it from a certain one-sidedness still connected with it4 ,this we do by transferring ourselves into the infinite plane and envisaging1 not the plane from the point1 but the point from the plane4 ,this operation1 however1 implies something which is not obvious to a mind accustomed to the ordinary ways of mathematical reasoning4 ,it therefore requires special explanation4 ,in the sense of ,euclidean geometry1 a plane is the sum-total of innumerable single points4 ,to take up a position in a plane1 therefore1 means to imagine oneself at one point of the plane1 with the latter extending around in all directions to infinity4 ,hence the journey from any point in space to a plane is along a straight line from one point to another4 ,in the case of the plane being at infinity1 it would be a journey along a radius of the infinitely large sphere from its centre to a point at its circumference4 ,in projective geometry the operation is of a different character4 ,just as we arrived at the infinitely large sphere by letting a finite sphere grow1 so must we consider any finite sphere as having grown from a sphere with infinitely small extension2 that is1 from a point4 ,to travel from the point to the infinitely distant plane in the sense of projective geometry1 therefore1 means that we have first to identify ourselves with the point and 'become' the plane by a process of uniform expansion in all directions4 ,as a result of this we do not arrive at one point in the plane1 with the latter extending round us on all sides1 but we are present in the plane as a whole everywhere4 ,no point in it can be characterized as having any distance1 whether finite or infinite1 from us4 ,nor is there any sense in speaking of the plane itself as being at infinity4 ,for any plane will allow us to identify ourselves with it in this way4 ,and any such plane can be given the character of a plane at infinity by relating it to a point infinitely far away from it 7i4e4 from us74 ,having thus dropped the one-sided conception of infinity1 we must look for another characterization of the relationship between a point and a plane which are infinitely distant from one another4 ,this requires1 first of all1 a proper characterization of ,point and ,plane in themselves4 ,conceived dynamically1 as projective geometry requires1 ,point and ,plane represent a pair of opposites1 the ,point standing for utmost contraction1 the ,plane for utmost expansion4 ,as such1 they form a polarity of the first order4 ,both together constitute ,space4 ,which sort of space this is1 depends on the relationship in which they are envisaged4 ,by positing the point as the unit from which to start1 and deriving our conception of the plane from the point1 we constitute ,euclidean space4 ,by starting in the manner described above1 with the plane as the unit1 and conceiving the point from it1 we constitute polar-,euclidean space4 ,the realization of the reversibility of the relationship between ,point and ,plane leads to a conception of ,space still free from any specific character4 ,by ,g4 ,adams this space has been appositely called archetypal space1 or ur-space4 ,both ,euclidean and polar-,euclidean space are particular manifestations of it1 their mutual relationship being one of metamorphosis in the ,goethean sense4 ,through conceiving ,euclidean and polar-,euclidean space in this manner it becomes clear that they are nothing else than the geometrical expression of the relationship between gravity and levity4 ,for gravity1 through its field spreading outward from an inner centre1 establishes a point-to-point relation between all things under its sway2 whereas levity draws all things within its domain into common plane-relations by establishing field-conditions wherein action takes place from the periphery towards the centre4 ,what distinguishes in both cases the plane at infinity from all other planes may be best described by calling it the all-embracing plane2 correspondingly the point at infinity may be best described as the all-relating point4 ,in outer nature the all-embracing plane is as much the 'centre' of the earth's field of levity as the all-relating point is the centre of her field of gravity4 ,all actions of dynamic entities1 such as that of the ur-plant and its subordinate types1 start from this plane4 ,seeds1 eye-formations1 etc41 are nothing but individual all-relating points in respect of this plane4 ,all that springs from such points does so because of the point's relation to the all-embracing plane4 ,this may suffice to show how realistic are the mathematical concepts which we have here tried to build up4 99 ,when we set out earlier in this book 7,chapter ,,viii7 to discover the source of ,galileo's intuition1 by which he had been enabled to find the theorem of the parallelogram of forces1 we were led to certain experiences through which all men go in early childhood by erecting their body and learning to walk4 ,we were thereby led to realize that man's general capacity for thinking mathematically is the outcome of early experiences of this kind4 ,it is evident that geometrical concepts arising in man's mind in this way must be those of ,euclidean geometry4 ,for they are acquired by the will's struggle with gravity4 ,the dynamic law discovered in this way by ,galileo was therefore bound to apply to the behaviour of mechanical forces - that is1 of forces acting from points outward4 ,in a similar way we can now seek to find the source of our capacity to form polar-,euclidean concepts4 ,as we were formerly led to experiences of man's early life on earth1 so we are now led to his embryonic and even pre-embryonic existence4 ,before man's supersensible part enters into a physical body there is no means of conveying to it experiences other than those of levity1 and this condition prevails right through embryonic development4 ,for while the body floats in the mother's foetal fluid it is virtually exempt from the influence of the earth's field of gravity4 ,history has given us a source of information from these early periods of man's existence in ,traherne's recollections of the time when his soul was still in the state of cosmic consciousness4 ,among his descriptions we may therefore expect to find a picture of levity-space which will confirm through immediate experience what we have arrived at along the lines of realistic mathematical reasoning4 ,among poems quoted earlier1 his ,the ,praeparative and ,my ,spirit do indeed convey this picture in the clearest possible way4 ,the following are relevant passages from these two poems4 ,in the first we read3 ',then was my ,soul my only ,all to me1 ,a living endless ,ey1 ,scarce bounded with the ,sky ,whose ,power1 and ,act1 and ,essence was to see3 ,i was an inward ,sphere of ,light1 ,or an interminable ,orb of ,sight1 ,exceeding that which makes the ,days 4 4 4' ,in the second poem the same experience is expressed in richer detail4 ,there he says of his own soul that it - 444 being ,simple1 like the ,deity1 ,in its own ,centre is a ,sphere1 ,not limited but everywhere4 ,it acts not from a ,centre to ,its ,object1 as remote2 ,but present is1 where it doth go ,to view the ,being it doth note 444 ,a strange extended ,orb of ,joy ,proceeding from within1 ,which did on ev'ry side display ,its force2 and being nigh of ,kin ,to ,god1 did ev'ry way ,dilate its ,self ev'n instantaneously1 ,yet an ,indivisible ,centre stay1 ,in it surrounding all ,eternity4 ',twas not a ,sphere2 ,yet did appear ,one infinite3 ',twas somewhat everywhere4' ,observe the distinct description of how the relation between circumference and centre is inverted by the former becoming itself an 'indivisible centre'4 ,in a space of this kind there is no ,here and ,there1 as in ,euclidean space1 for the consciousness is always and immediately at one with the whole space4 ,motion is thus quite different from what it is in ,euclidean space4 ,traherne himself italicized the word 'instantaneous'1 so important did he find this fact4 7,the quality of instantaneousness - equal from the physical point of view to a velocity of the value - will occupy us more closely as a characteristic of the realm of levity when we come to discuss the apparent velocity of light in connexion with our optical studies47 ,by thus realizing the source in man of the polar-,euclidean thought-forms1 we see the discovery of projective geometry in a new light4 ,for it now assumes the significance of yet another historical symptom of the modern re-awakening of man's capacity to remember his prenatal existence4 99 ,we know from our previous studies that the concept of polarity is not exhausted by conceiving the world as being constituted by polarities of one order only4 ,besides primary polarities1 there are secondary ones1 the outcome of interaction between the primary poles4 ,having conceived of ,point and ,plane as a geometrical polarity of the first order1 we have therefore to ask what formative elements there are in geometry which represent the corresponding polarity of the second order4 ,the following considerations will show that these are the radius1 which arises from the point becoming related to the plane1 and the spherically bent surface 7for which we have no other name than that again of the sphere71 arising from the plane becoming related to the point4 ,in ,euclidean geometry the sphere is defined as 'the locus of all points which are equidistant from a given point'4 ,to define the sphere in this way is in accord with our post-natal1 gravity-bound consciousness4 ,for in this state our mind can do no more than envisage the surface of the sphere point by point from its centre and recognize the equal distance of all these points from the centre4 ,seen thus1 the sphere arises as the sum-total of the end-points of all the straight lines of equal length which emerge from the centre-point in all directions4 ,fig4 #h indicates this schematically4 ,here the radius1 a straight line1 is clearly the determining factor4 ,we now move to the other pole of the primary polarity1 that is to the plane1 and let the sphere arise by imagining the plane approaching an infinitely distant point evenly from all sides4 ,we view the process realistically only by imagining ourselves in the plane1 so that we surround the point from all sides1 with the distance between us and the point diminishing gradually4 ,since we remain all the time on the surface1 we have no reason to conceive any change in its original position2 that is1 we continue to think of it as an all-embracing plane with regard to the chosen point4 ,the only way of representing the sphere diagrammatically1 as a unit bearing in itself the character of the plane whence it sprang1 is as shown in ,fig4 #i1 where a number of planes1 functioning as tangential planes1 are so related that together they form a surface which possesses everywhere the same distance from the all-relating point4 ,since ,point and ,plane represent in the realm of geometrical concepts what in outer nature we find in the form of the gravity-levity polarity1 we may expect to meet ,radius and ,sphere as actual formative elements in nature1 wherever gravity and levity interact in one way or another4 ,a few observations may suffice to give the necessary evidence4 ,further confirmation will be furnished by the ensuing chapters4 ,the ,radius-,sphere antithesis appears most obviously in the human body1 the radial element being represented by the limbs1 the spherical by the skull4 ,the limbs thus become the hieroglyph of a dynamic directed from the ,point to the ,plane1 and the skull of the opposite4 ,this indeed is in accord with the distribution in the organism of the sulphur-salt polarity1 as we learnt from our physiological and psychological studies4 ,inner processes and outer form thus reveal the same distribution of poles4 ,in the plant the same polarity appears in stalk and leaf4 ,obviously the stalk represents the radial pole4 ,the connexion between leaf and sphere is not so clear3 in order to recognize it we must appreciate that the single plant is not a self-contained entity to the same degree as is the human being4 ,the equivalent of the single man is the entire vegetable covering of the earth4 ,in man there is an individual centre round which the bones of his skull are curved2 in the plant world the equivalent is the centre of the earth4 ,it is in relation to this that we must conceive of the single leaves as parts of a greater sphere4 ,in the plant1 just as in man1 the morphological polarity coincides with the biological4 ,there is1 on the one hand1 the process of assimilation 7photosynthesis71 so characteristic of the leaf4 ,through this process matter passes over from the aeriform condition into that of numerous separate1 characteristically structured solid bodies - the starch grains4 ,besides this kind of assimilation we have learnt to recognize a higher form which we called 'spiritual assimilation'4 ,here1 a transition of substance from the domain of levity to that of gravity takes place even more strikingly than in ordinary 7physical7 assimilation 7,chapter ,x74 ,the corresponding process in the linear stalk is one which we may call 'sublimation' - again with its extension into 'spiritual sublimation'4 ,through this process matter is carried in the upward direction towards ever less ponderable conditions1 and finally into the formless state of pure 'chaos'4 ,by this means the seed is prepared 7as we have seen7 with the help of the fire-bearing pollen1 so that after it has fallen to the ground1 it may serve as an all-relating point to which the plant's ,type can direct its activity from the universal circumference4 ,in order to find the corresponding morphological polarity in the animal kingdom1 we must realize that the animal1 by having the main axis of its body in the horizontal direction1 has a relationship to the gravity-levity fields of the earth different from those of both man and plant4 ,as a result1 the single animal body shows the sphere-radius polarity much less sharply4 ,if we compare the different groups of the animal kingdom1 however1 we find that the animals1 too1 bear this polarity as a formative element4 ,the birds represent the spherical 7dry1 saline7 pole2 the ruminants the linear 7moist1 sulphurous7 pole4 ,the carnivorous quadrupeds form the intermediary 7mercurial7 group4 ,as ur-phenomenal types we may name among the birds the eagle1 clothed in its dry1 silicic plumage1 hovering with far-spread wings in the heights of the atmosphere1 united with the expanses of space through its far-reaching sight2 among the ruminants1 the cow1 lying heavily on the ground of the earth1 given over entirely to the immensely elaborated sulphurous process of its own digestion4 ,between them comes the lion - the most characteristic animal for the preponderance of heart-and-lung activities in the body1 with all the attributes resulting from that4 ,within the scope of this book it can only be intimated briefly1 but should not be left unmentioned for the sake of those interested in a further pursuit of these lines of thought1 that the morphological mean between radius and sphere 7corresponding to ,mercurius in the alchemical triad7 is represented by a geometrical figure known as the 'lemniscate'1 a particular modification of the so-called ,cassinian curves4#b #a ,for further details1 see the writings of ,g4 ,adams and ,l4 ,locher-,ernst who1 each in his own way1 have made a beginning with applying projective geometry on the lines indicated by ,rudolf ,steiner4 ,professor ,locher-,ernst was the first to apply the term 'polar-,euclidean' to the space-system corresponding to levity4 #b ,for particulars of the lemniscate as the building plan of the middle part of man's skeleton1 see ,k4 ,knig1 ,m4,d43 ,beitrage zu einer reinen ,anatomic des menschlichen ,knochenskeletts in the periodical ,natura 7,dornach1 #aicj-a74 ,some projective-geometrical considerations concerning the lemniscate are to be found in the previously mentioned writings of ,g4 ,adams and ,l4 ,locher-,ernst4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ',radiant ,matter' ,when man in the state of world-onlooker undertook to form a dynamic picture of the nature of matter1 it was inevitable that of all the qualities which belong to its existence he should be able to envisage only those pertaining to gravity and electricity4 ,because his consciousness1 at this stage of its evolution1 was closely bound up with the force of gravity inherent in the human body1 he was unable to form any conception of levity as a force opposite to gravity4 ,yet1 nature is built bipolarically1 and polarity-concepts are therefore indispensable for developing a true understanding of her actions4 ,this accounts for the fact that the unipolar concept of gravity had eventually to be supplemented by some kind of bipolar concept4 ,now1 the only sphere of nature-phenomena with a bipolar character accessible to the onlooker-consciousness 'was that of electricity4 ,it was thus that man in this state of consciousness was compelled to picture the foundation of the physical universe as being made up of gravity and electricity1 as we meet them in the modern picture of the atom1 with its heavy electro-positive nucleus and the virtually weightless electro-negative electrons moving round it4 ,once scientific observation and thought are freed from the limitations of the onlooker-consciousness1 both gravity and electricity appear in a new perspective1 though the change is different for each of them4 ,gravity1 while it becomes one pole of a polarity1 with levity as the opposite pole1 still retains its character as a fundamental force of the physical universe1 the gravity-levity polarity being one of the first order4 ,not so electricity4 ,for1 as the following discussion will show1 the electrical polarity is one of the second order2 moreover1 instead of constituting matter as is usually believed1 electricity turns out to be in reality a product of matter4 99 ,we follow ,goethe's line when1 in order to answer the question1 ',what is electricity8' we first ask1 ',how does electricity arise8' ,instead of starting with phenomena produced by electricity when it is already in action1 and deriving from them a hypothetical picture1 we begin by observing the processes to which electricity owes its appearance4 ,since there is significance in the historical order in which facts of nature have come to man's knowledge in the past1 we choose as our starting-point1 among the various modes of generating electricity1 the one through which the existence of an electric force first became known4 ,this is the rousing of the electric state in a body by rubbing it with another body of different material composition4 ,originally1 amber was rubbed with wool or fur4 ,by picturing this process in our mind we become aware of a certain kinship of electricity with fire1 since for ages the only known way of kindling fire was through friction4 ,we notice that in both cases man had to resort to the will-power invested in his limbs for setting in motion two pieces of matter1 so that1 by overcoming their resistance to this motion1 he released from them a certain force which he could utilize as a supplement to his own will4 ,the similarity of the two processes may be taken as a sign that heat and electricity are related to each other in a certain way1 the one being in some sense a metamorphosis of the other4 ,our first task1 therefore1 will be to try to understand how it is that friction causes heat to appear in manifest form4 ,there is no friction unless the surfaces of the rubbed bodies have a structure that is in some way interfered with by the rubbing1 while at the same time they offer a certain resistance to the disturbance4 ,this resistance is due to a characteristic of matter1 commonly called cohesion4 ,now we know that the inner coherence of a physical body is due to its point-relationship1 that is to the gravitational force bound up with it4 ,indeed1 cohesion increases as we pass from the gaseous1 through the liquid1 to the solid state of matter4 ,whilst a body's cohesion is due to gravity1 its spatial extendedness is1 as we have seen1 due to levity4 ,if we reduce the volume of a piece of physical matter by means of pressure1 we therefore release levity-forces previously bound up in it1 and these1 as always happens in such cases1 appear in the form of free heat4 ,figuratively speaking1 we may say that by applying pressure to matter1 latent levity is pressed out of it1 somewhat like water out of a wet sponge4 ,the generation of free heat by friction rests on quite similar grounds4 ,obviously1 friction always requires a certain pressure4 ,this alone1 however1 would not account for the amount of heat easily produced by friction4 ,to the pressure there is in this case added a certain measure of encroachment upon the unity of the material substance4 ,in the case of friction between two solid bodies1 this may go so far that particles of matter are completely detached from the cohesive whole4 ,the result is an increase in the number of single mass-centres on the earth1 as against the all-embracing cosmic periphery4 ,this diminishes the hold of levity on the total amount of physical matter present on the earth4 ,again1 the levity thus becoming free appears as external heat4 7,in the reverse case when1 for instance through melting1 a number of single physical bodies become one1 free heat becomes latent47 ,both the diminishing of spatial extension and the breaking up of a whole into parts entail an increase in the quality 'dry'4 ,this applies not only in the sense that the parts which have become independent units are 'dry' in relation to each other - formerly coherent matter being turned into dust - but also in the other sense1 and one valid in both cases1 that levity and gravity are losing part of their previous inter-connexion4 ,if this twofold process of 'becoming dry' reaches a certain intensity1 the substances concerned1 provided they are inflammable1 begin to burn1 with the result that dry heat escapes and dry ash is formed4 ,we note that in each case we are dealing with a change in the relationship between the poles of a polarity of the first order4 ,we will now apply this picture of the process of friction to the instance when1 as a result of this action1 electricity appears4 ,originally the evoking of the electric condition was ascribed solely to the nature of amber1 the only substance known to possess this property4 ,to-day we know that not the amber alone1 but its coming together with another substance of different nature1 in this instance an animal substance of the nature of hair or silk1 is required4 ,whatever substances we use for friction1 they must always be different in nature1 so as to allow both kinds of electricity to appear at once4 ,which of the two kinds imposes its presence the more strongly upon the observer depends on purely extraneous conditions which have nothing to do with the process itself4 ,obviously1 if we wish to understand the qualitative difference between the two kinds of electricity1 we must investigate the qualitative difference in the material substances1 which give rise to electricity when they are rubbed together4 ,we shall again follow the historical line by examining the two substances which first taught man the polar nature of electricity4 ,they are glass and resin1 after which1 as we mentioned1 the two electricities were even named in the beginning4 ,our functional conception of matter1 developed earlier 7,chapter ,,xi71 allows us to recognize in these two substances representatives of the ,salt-,sulphur polarity4 ,indeed1 glass as a mineral substance1 which actually owes its specific character to the presence of silicon in it1 clearly stands on the phosphoric-crystalline side1 while resin1 being itself a sort of 'gum'1 on the sulphurous-volcanic side4 ,in fact1 sulphur itself was soon found to be a particularly suitable substance for producing 'resin'-electricity4 ,now the usual way of producing one kind of electricity is by rubbing resin 7or sulphur1 or ebonite7 with wool or fur1 and the other by rubbing glass with leather4 ,at first sight1 it does not seem as if the two counter-substances represent the required alchemic counter-poles to resin and glass4 ,for both hair and leather are animal products and therefore seem to be of like nature4 ,closer inspection1 however1 shows that they do obey the rule4 ,for hair1 like all horny substances1 is a dead product of external secretion by the animal organism4 ,an ur-phenomenal example of it1 showing its kinship to glass-like substances1 is the transparent cornea of the eye1 close to the crystal-lens4 ,leather1 on the other hand1 is a product of the hypodermic part of the body and1 as such1 belongs to those parts of the organism which are filled with blood1 and1 therefore1 permeated with life4 7,note as a characteristic of leather that it requires a special treatment1 tanning1 to make it as immune from decay as hair is by nature47 ,hair and leather1 therefore1 represent in themselves a salt-sulphur polarity1 and thus fulfil the corresponding function when brought together with resin or glass respectively4 ,what is true for the particular substances which originally led man to discover the dual nature of electricity1 holds good equally for any pair of substances capable of assuming the electric state when rubbed against each other4 ,if we examine from this point of view the series of such substances1 as usually given in the textbooks on electricity1 we shall always find a substance of extreme salt-character at the one end1 and one of extreme sulphur-character at the other1 the substances as a whole forming a gradual transition from one extreme to the other4 ,which kind of electricity appears on each1 when submitted to friction1 depends on whether the counter-substance stands on its right or left1 in the series4 ,it is the particular relation between the two which makes them behave in one way or the other4 ,there are cases which seem to elude this law1 and investigation has shown that other characteristics of the rubbed bodies1 such as surface quality1 can have a modifying influence4 ,for lack of a guiding idea they are treated in the textbooks as 'irregularities'4 ,observation led by a true polarity concept shows that in these cases also the rule is not violated4 ,in this respect1 interesting information can be gained from the observations of ,j4 ,w4 ,ritter 7#aggf-ahaj71 an ingenious ,naturphilosoph from the circle round ,goethe1 but to whom1 also1 physical science is indebted for his discovery of the ultra-violet part of the spectrum and of galvanic polarization4 ,among his writings there is a treatise on electricity1 giving many generally unknown instances of frictional electricity which are in good accord with our picture and well worth investigating4 ,according to ,ritter1 even two crystalline substances of different hardness1 such as ,calcite and quartz1 become electric when rubbed together1 the softer playing the part of 'resin' and the harder that of 'glass'4 ,these few facts connected with the generation of frictional electricity are enough to allow us to form a picture of the nature of the polarity represented by the two kinds of electricity4 ,we remember that in the case of the generation of heat through friction1 as a result of an encroachment upon the cohesion of the material body involved1 the relationship between levity and gravity in it changes from 'moist' to 'dry' and that the effect of this is the appearance of 'fire' and 'dust' as poles of a primary polarity4 ,this process1 however1 is altered when the bodies subjected to friction are opposed to each other in the sense of a salt-sulphur polarity4 ,the effect then is that the liberated levity1 under the influence of the peculiar tension between the two bodies1 remains bound in the realm of substance and becomes itself split up polarically4 ,clearly1 then1 in the case of electrical polarity we encounter a certain form of gravity-bound levity1 and this in a twofold way4 ,owing to the contrasting nature of the two bodies involved in the process1 the coupling of gravity and levity is a polar one on both sides4 ,the electrical polarity thus turns out to be itself of the nature of a secondary polarity4 ,two more recently discovered means of evoking the electric condition in a piece of matter confirm this picture4 ,they are the so-called piezo-electricity and pyro-electricity4 ,both signify the occurrence of the electrical polarity at the two ends of an asymmetrically built 7hemimorphous7 crystal1 as the result of changing the crystal's spatial condition4 ,in piezo-electricity the change consists in a diminution of the crystal's volume through pressure2 in pyro-electricity1 in an increase of the crystal volume by raising its temperature4 ,the asymmetry of the crystal1 due to a one-sided working of the forces of crystallization1 plays the same role here as does the alchemic opposition between the two bodies used for the production of frictional electricity4 99 ,it is typical of the scientist of the past that he was dependent on phenomena brought about by a highly developed experimental technique for becoming aware of certain properties of the electrical force1 whereas for the realistic observer these properties are revealed at once by the most primitive electric phenomena4 ,we remember ,eddington's description of the positron as 'negative material'1 and his subsequent remarks1 which show the paradoxical nature of this concept if applied to the hypothetical interior of the atom 7,chapter ,,iv74 ,the quite primitive phenomenon of electrical repulsion and attraction shows us the same thing in a manner of which it is not difficult to form a conception4 ,modern physics itself1 with the help of ,faraday's field-concept1 describes these phenomena as caused by pressure - resulting from the meeting in space of two similar electrical fields - and suction - resulting from the meeting of two dissimilar fields4 ,in the first case the space between the two electrically charged bodies assumes a degree of density1 as if it were filled with some elastic material4 ,in the second instance the density of the space where the two fields intermingle is lower than that of its surroundings4 ,here1 clearly1 we have a state of negative density which acts on the electrically charged bodies just as a lowering of pressure acts on a gas3 in both cases movement occurs in the direction leading from the higher to the lower density4 ,electricity thus shows itself capable of producing both gravity and levity effects1 thereby once more confirming our picture of it4 99 ,our next task will be to examine the galvanic form of generating electricity1 in order to gain further light on our picture of the electrical polarity4 ,galvanism1 as it became established through ,volta's work1 rests on certain properties of the metallic substances of the earth4 ,compared with the substances which may be used for producing electricity through friction1 the metals hold a mid-position4 ,they are all essentially mercurial substances4 7,in quicksilver1 which for this reason was given the name 'mercury' by the alchemists1 this fact comes to an ur-phenomenal appearance47 ,among the many facts proving the mercurial nature of the metals1 there is one of particular interest to us4 ,this is their peculiar relationship to the processes of oxidation and reduction4 ,metals1 in their metallic state1 are bearers of latent levity1 which can be set free either through combustion or through corrosion4 ,they differ from one another by their relative degree of eagerness to enter into and remain in the metallic1 that is1 the reduced state1 or to assume and keep the state of the oxide 7in which form they are found in the various metallic oxides and salts74 ,there are metals such as gold1 silver1 etc41 for which the reduced state is more or less natural2 others1 such as potassium1 sodium1 etc41 find the oxidized state natural and can be brought into and kept in the reduced state only by artificial means4 ,between these extremes there are all possible degrees of transition1 some metals more nearly resembling the 'noble'1 others more nearly the 'corrosive'1 metals4 ,we remember that it was the different relationship of sulphur and phosphorus to reduction and oxidation which led us to envisage them as ur-phenomenal representatives of the alchemic polarity4 ,we may therefore say that there are metals which from the alchemic point of view more nearly resemble sulphur1 others more nearly phosphorus1 whilst others again hold an intermediary position between the extremes4 ,it is on these differences among the various metals that their galvanic properties are based4 ,let us from this point of view contemplate the following series of chemical elements1 which is a representation of the so-called voltaic series3 ,graphite1 ,platinum1 ,gold1 ,silver1 ,copper1 ,iron1 ,tin1 ,lead1 ,zinc1 ,aluminium1 ,magnesium1 ,sodium1 ,potassium4 ,any two of these metals constitute a voltaic cell4 ,its electromotive force is determined by the distance in the series between the metals used4 ,just as in the case of frictional electricity1 the kind of electricity which is supplied by a certain metal depends on whether the other metal with which it is coupled stands to the right or to the left of it in the series4#a ,let us now see what happens in a galvanic cell when the two different metals are simultaneously exposed to the chemical action of the connecting fluid4 ,each metal by itself would undergo oxidation with greater or less intensity1 and the calorific energy hidden in it would become free in the form of heat4 ,this process suffers a certain alteration through the presence of the second metal1 which sets up an alchemic tension between the two4 ,instead of a proper segregation of the primary polarity1 heat-dust 7in this case1 heat-oxide71 the heat remains matter-bound and appears on the surface of the two metals in a secondarily split form as positive and negative electricity4 ,the similarity between this process and the frictional generation of electricity is evident4 99 ,our observations have shown that the emergence of the electric state1 whether it be caused by friction or galvanically1 depends on matter entering into a condition in which its cohesion is loosened - or1 as we also put it1 on its being turned into 'dust' - and this in such a way that the escaping levity remains dust-bound4 ,this picture of electricity now enables us to give a realistic interpretation of certain phenomena which1 in the interpretation which the physicist of the past was bound to give them1 have contributed much to the tightening of the net of scientific illusion4 ,some sixty years after ,dalton had established1 purely hypothetically1 the theory of the atomistic structure of matter1 scientific research was led to the observation of actual atomistic phenomena4 ,crookes found electricity appearing in his tubes in the form of discrete particles1 with properties hitherto known only as appertaining to mass4 ,what could be more natural than to take this as evidence that the method of thought developed during the past era of science was on the right course8 ,the same phenomena appear in quite a different light when we view them against the background of the picture of electricity to which our observations have led4 ,knowing that the appearance of electricity depends on a process of atomization of some sort1 we shall expect that where electricity becomes freely observable1 it will yield phenomena of an atomistic kind4 ,the observations of electricity in a vacuum1 therefore1 yield no confirmation whatsoever of the atomistic view of matter4 ,the same is true of the phenomena bound up with radioactivity1 which were discovered in direct consequence of ,crookes's work4 ,we know that the naturally radioactive elements are all in the group of those with the highest atomic weight4 ,this fact1 seen together with the characteristics of radioactivity1 tells us that in such elements gravity has so far got the upper hand of levity that the physical substance is unable to persist as a spatially extended1 coherent unit4 ,it therefore falls asunder1 with the liberated levity drawn into the process of dispersion4 ,seen thus1 radioactivity becomes a symptom of the earth's old age4 99 ,before entering into a discussion of the question1 which naturally arises at this point1 as to how levity and gravity by their two possible ways of interaction - 'sulphurous' or 'saline' - determine the properties of so-called positive and negative electricity1 we shall first study the third mode of generating electricity1 namely1 by electromagnetic induction4 ,along this way we shall arrive at a picture of the magnetic force which corresponds to the one already obtained of electricity4 ,this will then lead us to a joint study of the nature of electric polarity and magnetic polarity4 ,the discovery of the phenomena we call electromagnetic depended on the possibility of producing continuous electrical processes4 ,this arose with ,volta's invention4 ,when it became necessary to find a concept for the process which takes place in an electric conductor between the poles of a galvanic cell1 the concept of the 'current'1 borrowed from hydrodynamics1 suggested itself4 ,ever since then it has been the rule to speak of the existence of a current within an electric circuit2 its strength or intensity is measured in terms of a unit named in honour of ,ampere4 ,this concept of the current has had a fate typical of the whole relation of human thought to the facts connected with electricity4 ,long after it had been coined to cover phenomena which in themselves betray no movement of any kind between the electrical poles1 other phenomena which do in fact show such movements became known through ,crookes's observations4 ,just as in the case of atomism1 they seemed to prove the validity of the preconceived idea of the current4 ,soon1 however1 radiant electricity showed properties which contradicted the picture of something flowing from one pole to the other4 ,the cathode rays1 for instance1 were found to shoot forth into space perpendicularly from the surface of the cathode1 without regard to the position of the anode4 ,at the same time ,maxwell's hydrodynamic analogy 7as our historical survey has shown7 led to a view of the nature of electricity by which this very analogy was put out of court4 ,by predicting certain properties of electricity which come to the fore when its poles alternate rapidly1 he seemed to bring electricity into close kinship with light4 ,mathematical treatment then made it necessary to regard the essential energy process as occurring1 not from one pole to the other1 but at right angles to a line joining the poles 7,poynting's vector74 ,this picture1 however1 satisfactory though it was in the realm of high frequency1 failed as a means of describing so-called direct-current processes4 ,as a result of all this the theory of electricity has fallen apart into several conceptual realms lying1 as it were1 alongside one another1 each consistent in itself but lacking any logical connexion with the others4 ,although the old concept of the electric current has long lost its validity1 scientific thought 7not to speak of the layman's7 has not managed to discard it4 ,to do this must therefore be our first task1 if we want to attain to a realistic picture of electromagnetism4 99 ,while keeping strictly to the historical order of things1 we shall try first to form a picture of what happens when we connect two electrically charged bodies by a conductor4 ,we know that we rightly describe the change of the dynamic properties of the part of space1 in which the two bodies are present1 by saying that a certain electric field prevails in it4 ,this field possesses different 'potentials' at its various points and so there exists a certain potential difference between the two electric charges4 ,what then happens when a so-called 'conductor' is brought into such a field8 ,from the point of view of the field-concept1 conductivity consists in the property of a body not to allow any change of potential along its surface4 ,such a surface1 therefore1 is always an equipotential4 ,in the language of alchemy1 conductivity is a mercurial property4 ,in the presence of such a body1 therefore1 no ,salt-,sulphur contrasts can obtain4 ,in view of what we found above as the mean position of the metals in the alchemic triad1 it is significant that they1 precisely1 should play so outstanding a role as electrical conductors4 ,if we keep to pure observation1 the only statement we can make concerning the effect produced by the introduction of such a body into the electric field is that this field suddenly disappears4 ,we shall see later in which direction this vanishing occurs4 ,for the present it is sufficient to have formed the picture of the disappearance of the electrical condition of space as a result of the presence of a body with certain mercurial properties4 ,nothing else1 indeed1 happens when we make the process continuous by using a galvanic source of electricity4 ,all that distinguishes a galvanic cell from the sources of electricity used before the time of ,volta is its faculty of immediately re-establishing the field which prevails between its poles1 whenever this field becomes extinguished by the presence of a conductor4 ,volta himself saw this quite correctly4 ,in his first account of the new apparatus he describes it as ',leyden jars with a continuously re-established charge'4 ,every enduring electrical process1 indeed1 consists in nothing but a vanishing and re-establishment of the electrical field with such rapidity that the whole process appears continuous4 ,here1 also1 pure observation of the effect of a conductor in an electric field tells us that its action consists in the annihilation of the field4 ,there is no phenomenon which allows us to state that this process takes place along the axis of the conductor4 ,if we wish to obtain a picture of the true direction1 we must consider the condition of space which arises in place of the electric condition that has disappeared4 ,with the possibility of turning the cancellation of the electrical condition of space into a continuous process1 it became possible to observe that the neutralization of electric charges entails the appearance of heat and magnetism4 ,we must now ask which are the qualities of electricity on the one hand1 and of heat and magnetism on the other1 which account for the fact that where electricity disappears1 the two latter forces are bound to appear4 ,since magnetism is the still unknown entity among the three1 we must now deal with it4 99 ,unlike electricity1 magnetism was first known in the form of its natural occurrence1 namely as a property of certain minerals4 ,if we follow the same course which led us to start our study of electricity with the primitive process of generating it1 we shall turn now to the basic phenomenon produced by a magnetic field already in existence4 7,only when we have learnt all we can from this1 shall we proceed to ask how magnetism comes into being47 ,obviously1 we shall find this basic phenomenon in the effect of a magnet on a heap of iron filings4 ,let us1 to begin with1 compare a mass of solid iron with the same quantity of it in powdered form4 ,the difference is that the powder lacks the binding force which holds the solid piece together4 ,now lei us expose the powdered iron to the influence of a magnet4 ,at once a certain ordering principle takes hold of the single particles4 ,they no longer lie at random and unrelated1 apart from the inconspicuous gravitational effect they exert on one another1 but are drawn into a coherent whole1 thus acquiring properties resembling those of an ordinary piece of solid matter4 ,read thus1 the phenomenon tells us that a part of space occupied by a magnetic field has qualities which are otherwise found only where a coherent solid mass is present4 ,a magnetic piece of solid iron1 therefore1 differs from a non-magnetic piece by giving rise in its surroundings to dynamic conditions which would otherwise exist only in its interior4 ,this picture of the relatedness of magnetism to solidity is confirmed by the fact that both are cancelled by heat1 and increased by cold4#b ,by its magnetic properties iron thus reveals itself as a substance capable of assuming the condition of solid matter to a degree surpassing ordinary solidity4 ,as an exceptional kind of metal it forms the counter-pole to mercury1 in which the solid-fluid condition characteristic of all metallic matter is as much shifted towards the fluid as in iron it is to the solid4 7,note in this respect the peculiar resistance of iron to the liquefying effect which mercury has on the other metals47 ,this picture of magnetism enables us to understand at once why it must occur together with heat at the place where an electric polarity has been cancelled by the presence of a conductor4 ,we have seen that electricity is levity coupled in a peculiar way with gravity2 it is polarized levity 7accompanied by a corresponding polarization of gravity74 ,an electric field1 therefore1 always has both qualities1 those of levity and of gravity4 ,we saw a symptom of this in electrical attraction and repulsion1 so called2 the attraction1 we found1 was due to negative density1 the repulsion to positive density1 imparted to space by the electrical fields present there4 ,now we see that when1 through the presence of a conductor1 the electrical field round the two opposing poles vanishes1 in its place two other fields1 a thermal and a magnetic1 appear4 ,clearly1 one of them represents the levity-part1 the other the gravity-part1 of the vanished electric field4 ,the whole process reminds one of combustion through which the ponderable and imponderable parts1 combined in the combustible substance1 fall apart and appear on the one hand as heat1 and on the other as oxidized substance 7'ash'74 ,yet1 between these two manifestations of heat there is an essential qualitative difference4 ,although1 from our view-point1 magnetism represents only one 'half of a phenomenon1 the other half of which is heat1 we must not forget that it is itself a bipolar force4 ,thus1 despite its apparent relation to gravity it does not represent1 as gravity does1 one pole of a primary polarity1 with heat as the other pole4 ,rather must it carry certain qualities of levity which1 together with those of gravity1 appear in a polarically opposite manner at its two poles4 7,details of this will be shown later when we come to investigate the individual qualities of the two poles of magnetism and electricity47 ,hence the heat that forms the counterpart to magnetism cannot be pure levity either4 ,as the result of a certain coupling with gravity1 it too has somehow remained polarically split4 ,this can easily be seen by considering the following4 ,unlike the levity-gravity polarity1 in which one pole is peripheral and the other point-centred1 both ,doles of the electrical polarity are point-centred2 both are located in physical space1 and thereby determine a definite direction within this space4 ,it is this direction which remains a characteristic of both the magnetic and the thermal fields4 ,the direction of the thermal field as much as that of the magnetic is determined by its having as its axis the conductor joining the poles of the antecedent electrical field4 ,both fields supplement each other in that the thermal radiation forms the radii which belong to the circular magnetic lines-of-force surrounding the conductor4#c ,our picture of the process which is commonly called an electric current is now sufficiently complete to allow us to make a positive statement concerning the direction in which it takes place4 ,let us once more sum up3 ,in order that this process may occur1 there must be present in an electrically excited part of space a body which does not suffer the particular polarization of space bound up with such a field4 ,as a result1 the electrical field disappears1 and in place of it appear a thermal field and a magnetic field1 both having as their axis the line connecting the two poles4 ,each of them spreads out in a direction at right angles to this fine4 ,obviously1 therefore1 it is in this radial direction that the transformation of the electrical into the thermo-magnetic condition of space must take place4 ,this picture of the electro-thermo-magnetic happening1 as regards its direction1 is in complete accord with the result obtained 7as indicated earlier7 by the mathematical treatment of high-frequency phenomena4 ,once more we see that quite primitive observations1 when properly read1 lead to findings for which scientific thought had to wait until they were forced on it by the progress of experimental technique - as even then science was left without a uniformly valid picture of the dynamic behaviour of electricity4 ,further1 we can now see that when we apply electricity to practical purposes1 we are in fact seldom using electricity itself1 but other forces 7that is1 other combinations of gravity and levity7 which we make effective by making electricity disappear4 ,the same is true of most of the methods of measuring electricity4 ,as a rule1 the force which sets the instrument in motion is not electricity but another force 7magnetism1 heat1 etc47 which appears in the place of the vanishing electricity4 ,thus the so-called intensity of an electric current is actually the intensity with which the electricity in question disappears6 ,electricity serves us in our machines in the same way that food serves a living organism3 it gets itself digested1 and what matters is the resulting secondary product4 ,just as alterations in the electrical condition of space give rise to the appearance of a magnetic field1 any alteration of the magnetic state of space gives rise to the appearance of an electrical field4 ,this process is called electromagnetic induction4 ,with its discovery1 the generation of electricity through friction and in the galvanic way was supplemented by a third way4 ,by this means the practical use of electricity on a large scale became possible for the first time4 ,if our picture of the two earlier processes of generating electricity is correct1 then this third way must also fit into the picture1 although in this case we have no longer to do with any direct atomization of physical matter4 ,our picture of magnetism will indeed enable us to recognize in electromagnetic induction the same principle on which we found the two other processes to rest4 ,magnetism is polarized gravity4 ,hence it has the same characteristic of tending always to maintain an existent condition4 ,in bodies subject to gravity1 this tendency reveals itself as their inertia4 ,it is the inertia inherent in magnetism which we employ when using it to generate electricity4 ,the simplest example is when1 by interrupting a 'primary current'1 we induce a 'secondary current' in a neighbouring circuit4 ,by the sudden alteration of the electric condition on the primary side1 the magnetic condition of the surrounding space is exposed to a sudden corresponding change4 ,against this the magnetic field 'puts up' a resistance by calling forth1 on the secondary side1 an electrical process of such direction and strength that the entire magnetic condition remains first unaltered and then1 instead of changing suddenly1 undergoes a gradual transformation which ideally needs an infinite time for its accomplishment 7asymptotic course of the exponential curve74 ,this principle rules every process of electromagnetic induction1 whatever the cause and direction of the change of the magnetic field4 ,we know that electromagnetic induction takes place also when a conductor is moved across a magnetic field in such a way that1 as the technical term goes1 it 'cuts' the field's lines of force4 ,whereas the process discussed above is employed in the transformer1 this latter process is used in generation of electricity by dynamo4 ,we have seen that a magnetic field imparts to the relevant part of space qualities of density which otherwise prevail only in the interior of solid masses4 ,we remember further that the appearance of electricity1 in the two other modes of generating it1 is caused by the loosening of the coherence of the material substance4 ,a similar loosening of the coherence of the magnetic field takes place when its field-lines are cut by the movement of the conductor across it4 ,just as heat occurs when we move a solid object through a liquid1 electricity occurs when we move a conductor across a magnetic field4 ,in each case we interfere with an existing levity-gravity relationship4 99 ,having established thus far the picture of both electricity and magnetism which shows each as an outcome of certain levity-gravity interactions1 we now ask how1 in particular1 negative and positive electricity on the one hand and north and south magnetism on the other are determined by these interactions4 ,let us again begin with electricity4 ,we remember that ,galvani was led to his observations by the results of ,walsh's study of the electric fishes4 ,while ,galvani clung to the view that in his own experiments the source of the electrical force lay within the animal bodies1 ,volta saw the fallacy of that4 ,he then conceived the idea of imitating with purely inorganic substances the set-up which ,galvani had come upon by accident4 ,the paradoxical result - as he himself noticed with surprise - was that his apparatus turned out to be a close replica of the peculiar organ with which the electric fishes are endowed by nature4 ,we must now take a closer view of this organ4 ,the electric organ of such a fish consists of many thousands of little piles1 each made up of a very great number of plates of two different kinds1 arranged in alternating layers4 ,the two kinds differ in substance3 in one case the plate is made from a material similar to that present in the nervous system of animals2 in the other the resemblance is to a substance present in the muscular system1 though only when the muscles are in a state of decay4 ,in this way the two opposing systems of the animal body' seem to be brought here into direct contact1 repeated many thousands of times4 ,in the electric fishes1 accordingly1 sensation and will are brought into a peculiar interrelation4 ,for the will-pole is related to its bodily foundation in a manner which otherwise obtains only between the nervous system and the psychological processes co-ordinated with it4 ,these fishes then have the capacity to send out force-currents which produce in other animals and in man 'concussion of the limbs'1 or in extreme cases paralysis and even death4 ,through describing the process in this way we realize that electricity appears here as metamorphosed animal will1 which takes this peculiar form because part of the animal's volitional system is assimilated to its sensory system in an exceptional manner4 ,it is known to-day that what nature reveals so strikingly in the case of the electric fish1 is nothing but the manifestation of a principle at work in the bodies of all beings endowed with sensation and volition - in corporeal terms1 with the duality of a nervous and a muscular system - and therefore at work also in the human body4 ,observation has shown that the activities of these two systems in man and animal are accompanied by the occurrence of different electric potentials in different parts of the body4 ,plate ,a1 ,fig4 iii1 shows the distribution of the two polar electric forces in the human body4 ,the bent lines in the diagram stand for curves of equal electric potential4 ,the straight line between them is the neutral zone4 ,as might be expected1 this line runs through the heart4 ,what seems less obvious is its slanting position4 ,here the asymmetry1 characteristic of the human body1 comes to expression4 ,if we remember that the nervous system represents the salt-pole1 and the metabolic system the sulphur-pole1 of the human organism1 and if we take into account the relationship between levity and gravity at the two poles1 we can see from the distribution of the two electricities that the coupling of levity and gravity at the negative pole of the electrical polarity is such that levity descends into gravity1 while at the positive pole gravity rises into levity4 ,negative electricity therefore must have somehow a 'spherical' character1 and positive electricity a 'radial'4 ,this finding is fully confirmed by electrical phenomena in the realm of nature most remote from man 7though it was an effort to solve the enigma of man which led to the discovery of this realm74 ,since ,crookes's observations of the behaviour of electricity in a vacuum it is common knowledge that only the negative kind of electricity occurs as a freely radiating force 7though it retains some properties of inertia71 whereas positive electricity seems to be much more closely bound to minute particles of ponderable matter4 ,here again we find gravity-laden levity on the negative side1 levity-raised gravity on the positive4 ,the same language is spoken by the forms in which the luminous phenomena appear at the two poles of a ,crookes tube4 ,fig4 i on ,plate ,a represents the whole phenomenon as far as such a diagram allows4 ,here we see on the positive side radial forms appear1 on the negative side planar-spherical forms4 ,as symbols of nature's script1 these forms tell us that cosmic periphery and earthly centre stand in a polar relation to each other at the two ends of the tube4 7,our optical studies will later show that the colours which appear at the anode and cathode are also in complete accord with this47 ,at this point in our discussion it is possible to raise1 without risk of confusing the issue1 the question of the distribution of the two electric forces over the pairs of substances concerned in the generation of electricity both by friction and in the galvanic way4 ,this distribution seems to contradict the picture to which the foregoing observations have led us1 for in both instances the 'sulphurous' substances 7resin in one1 the nobler metals in the other7 become bearers of negative electricity2 while the 'saline' substances 7glass and the corrosive metals7 carry positive electricity4 ,such a criss-crossing of the poles-surprising as it seems at first sight - is not new to us4 ,we have met it in the distribution of function of the plant's organs of propagation1 and we shall meet a further instance of it when studying the function of the human eye4 ,future investigation will have to find the principle common to all instances in nature where such an interchange of the poles prevails4 ,while the electric field arising round an electrified piece of matter does not allow any recognition of the absolute characteristics of the two opposing electrical forces1 we do find them revealed by the distribution of electricity in the human body4 ,something similar holds good for magnetism4 ,only1 to find the phenomena from which to read the absolute characteristics of the two sides of the magnetic polarity1 we must not turn to the body of man but to that of the earth1 one of whose characteristics it is to be as much the bearer of a magnetic field as of gravitational and levitational fields4 ,there is significance in the fact that even to-day1 when the tendency prevails to look for causes of natural phenomena not in the macrocosmic expanse1 but in the microscopic confines of space1 the two poles of magnetism are named after the magnetic poles of the earth4 ,it indicates the degree to which man's feeling instinctively relates magnetism to the earth as a whole4 ,in our newly developed terminology we may say that magnetism1 as a polarity of the second order1 represents a field of force both of whose poles are situated within finite space1 and that in the macro-telluric mother-field this situation is such that the axis of this field coincides more or less with the axis of the earth's physical body4 ,thus the magnetic polarization of the earth as a letter in nature's script bids us rank it alongside other phenomena which in their way are an expression of the earth's being polarized in the north-south direction4 ,the ,austrian geographer1 ,e4 ,suess1 in his great work ,the ,countenance of the ,earth1 first drew attention to the fact that an observer approaching the earth from outer space would be struck by the onesided distribution and formation of the earth's continents4 ,he would notice that most of the dry land is in the northern hemisphere1 leaving the southern hemisphere covered mainly with water4 ,in terms of the basic elementary qualities1 this means that the earth is predominantly 'dry' in its northern half1 and 'moist' in its southern4 ,in this fact we have a symbol which tells us that the earth represents a polarity of the second order1 with its 'salt'-pole in the north and its 'sulphur'-pole in the south4 ,hence the magnetism called ',north' must be of saline and therefore spherical nature1 corresponding to the negative pole in the realm of electricity1 while ',south' magnetism must be of sulphurous - i4e4 radial-nature1 corresponding to positive electricity4 ,moreover1 this must hold good equally for the fields of magnetic force generated by naturally magnetic or artificially magnetized pieces of iron4 ,for the circumstance that makes a piece of matter into a magnet is simply that part of the general magnetic field of the earth has been drawn into it4 ,of especial interest in this respect is the well-known dependence of the direction of an electrically produced magnetic field on the position of the poles of the electric field4 99 ,the insight we have now gained into the nature of electricity has led us to the realization that with every act of setting electromagnetic energies in motion we interfere with the entire levity-gravity balance of our planet by turning part of the earth's coherent substance into cosmic 'dust'4 ,remembering our picture of radioactivity1 in which we recognized a sign of the earth's old age1 we may say that whenever we generate electricity we speed up the earth's process of cosmic ageing4 ,obviously this is tremendously enhanced by the creation of artificial radioactivity along the lines recently discovered1 whereby it has now become possible to transmute chemical elements into one another1 or even to cancel altogether their gravity-bound existence4 ,to see things in this light is to realize that with our having become able to rouse electricity and magnetism from their dormant state and make them work for us1 a gigantic responsibility has devolved upon mankind4 ,it was man's fate to remain unaware of this fact during the first phase of the electrification of his civilization2 to continue now in this state of unawareness would spell peril to the human race4 ,the fact that modern science has long ceased to be a 'natural' science is something which has begun to dawn upon the modern scientific researcher himself4 ,what has thus come to him as a question finds a definite answer in the picture of electricity we have been able to develop4 ,it is again ,eddington who has drawn attention particularly to this question3 see the chapter1 ',discovery or ,manufacture8' in his ,philosophy of ,physical ,science4 ,it will be appropriate at this point to recall his remarks1 for they bear not only on the outcome of our own present discussion1 but also1 as the next chapter will show1 on the further course of our studies4 ,eddington starts by asking3 ',when ,lord ,rutherford showed us the atomic nucleus1 did he find it or did he make it8' ,whichever answer we give1 ,eddington goes on to say1 makes no difference to our admiration for ,rutherford himself4 ,but it makes all the difference to our ideas on the structure of the physical universe4 ,to make clear where the modern physicist stands in this respect1 ,eddington uses a striking comparison4 ,if a sculptor were to point in our presence to a raw block of marble saying that the form of a human head was lying hidden in the block1 'all our rational instinct would be roused against such an anthropomorphic speculation'4 ,for it is inconceivable to us that nature should have placed such a form inside the block4 ,roused by our objection1 the artist proceeds to verify his theory experimentally - 'with quite rudimentary apparatus1 too3 merely using a chisel to separate the form for our inspection1 he triumphantly proves his theory4' ',was it in this way'1 ,eddington asks1 'that ,rutherford rendered concrete the nucleus which his scientific imagination had created8' ,one thing is certain3 ',in every physical laboratory we see ingeniously devised tools for executing the work of sculpture1 according to the designs of the theoretical physicist4 ,sometimes the tool slips and carves off an odd-shaped form which he had not expected4 ,then we have a new experimental discovery1' ,to this analogy ,eddington adds the following even more drastic one3 ',procrustes1 you will remember1' he says1 'stretched or chopped down his guests to fit the bed he constructed4 ,but perhaps you have not heard the rest of the story4 ,he measured them up before they left the next morning1 and wrote a learned paper ,on the ,uniformity of ,stature of ,travellers for the ,anthropological ,society of ,attica4' 99 ,besides yielding a definite answer to the question of how far the seemingly discovered facts of science are manufactured facts1 our newly won insight into the nature of the electric and magnetic polarties throws light also on the possibility of so handling both that their application will lead no longer to a cancellation1 but to a true continuation1 of nature's own creative deeds4 ,an example of this will appear in the next part of our studies1 devoted to observations in the field of optics4 #a ,note that the series starts on the left with graphite1 i4e4 with carbon4 ,this substance appears here as a metal among metals1 and indeed as the most 'noble' of all4 ,electricity in this way reveals a secret of carbon well known to the mediaeval alchemist and still known in our day to people in the ,orient4 #b ,there is even a gas which assumes magnetic properties when exposed to extreme cold-oxygen in the solid state4 #c ,by watering plants with water that had been exposed to heat from different sources1 ,e4 ,pfeiffer has shown in the chemical laboratory of the ,goetheanum that heat engendered by means of electricity is 'dead' heat4 ,it follows that it is not the same for human health whether the heat used for cooking or heating purposes is obtained by burning wood or coal1 or by means of electricity4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,colours as ',deeds and ,sufferings of ,light' ',as for what ,i have done as a poet1 ,i take no pride in it whatever4 ,excellent poets have lived at the same time as myself2 poets more excellent have lived before me1 and others will come after me4 ,but that in my century ,i am the only person who knows the truth in the difficult science of colours - of that1 ,i say1 ,i am not a little proud1 and here ,i have a consciousness of a superiority to many4' ,in these words spoken to his secretary1 ,eckermann1 in #ahbi1 a few years before his death1 ,goethe gave his opinion on the significance of his scientific researches in the field of optical phenomena4 ,he knew that the path he had opened up had led him to truths which belong to the original truths of mankind4 ,he expressed this by remarking that his theory of colour was 'as old as the world'4 ,if in this book we come somewhat late to a discussion of ,goethe's colour-theory1 in spite of the part it played in his own scientific work1 and in spite of its significance for the founding of a physics based on his method1 the reasons are these4 ,when ,goethe undertook his studies in this field he had not to reckon with the forms of thought which have become customary since the development of mechanistic and above all - to put it concisely - of 'electricalistic' thinking4 ,before a hearing can be gained in our age for a physics of ,light and ,colour as conceived by ,goethe1 certain hindrances must first be cleared away4 ,so a picture on the one hand of matter1 and on the other of electricity1 such as is given when they are studied by ,goethean methods1 had first to be built up2 only then is the ground provided for an unprejudiced judgment of ,goethe's observations and the deductions that can be made from them to-day4 ,as ,professor ,heisenberg1 in his lecture quoted earlier 7,chapter ,,ii71 rightly remarks1 ,goethe strove directly with ,newton only in the realms of colour-theory and optics4 ,nevertheless his campaign was not merely against ,newton's opinions in this field4 ,he was guided throughout by the conviction that the fundamental principles of the whole ,newtonian outlook were at stake4 ,it was for this reason that his polemics against ,newton were so strongly expressed1 although he had no fondness for such controversies4 ,in looking back on that part of the ,farbenlehre which he had himself called ',polemical' in the title1 he said to ,eckermann3 ',i by no means disavow my severe dissections of the ,newtonian statements2 it was necessary at the time and will also have its value hereafter2 but at bottom all polemical action is repugnant to my nature1 and ,i can take but little pleasure in it4' ,the reason why ,goethe chose optics as the field of conflict1 and devoted to it more than twenty years of research and reflexion1 amidst all the other labours of his rich life1 lay certainly in his individual temperament - 'zum ,sehen geboren1 zum ,schauen bestellt'4#a ,at the same time one must see here a definite guidance of humanity4 ,since the hour had struck for mankind to take the first step towards overcoming the world-conception of the one-eyed1 colour-blind onlooker1 what step could have been more appropriate than this of ,goethe's1 when he raised the eye's capacity for seeing colours to the rank of an instrument of scientific cognition8 ,in point of fact1 the essential difference between ,goethe's theory of colour and the theory which has prevailed in science 7despite all modifications7 since ,newton's day1 lies in this3 ,while the theory of ,newton and his successors was based on excluding the colour-seeing faculty of the eye1 ,goethe founded his theory on the eye's experience of colour4 99 ,in view of the present scientific conception of the effect which a prismatic piece of a transparent medium has on light passing through it1 ,goethe's objection to ,newton's interpretation and the conclusions drawn from it seems by no means as heretical as it did in ,goethe's own time and for a hundred years afterwards4 ,for1 as ,lord ,rayleigh and others have shown1 the facts responsible for the coming into being of the spectral colours1 when these are produced by a diffraction grating1 invalidate ,newton's idea that the optical apparatus serves to reveal colours which are inherent in the original light4 ,today it is known that these colours are an outcome of the interference of the apparatus 7whether prism or grating7 with the light4 ,thus we find ,professor ,r4 ,w4 ,wood1 in the opening chapter of his ,physical ,optics1 after having described the historical significance of ,newton's conception of the relation between light and colour1 saying3 ',curiously enough1 this discovery1 which we are taking as marking the beginning of a definite knowledge about light1 is one which we shall demolish in the last chapter of this book1#b for our present ideas regarding the action of the prism more nearly resemble the idea held previous to ,newton's classical experiments4 ,we now believe that the prism actually manufactures the coloured light4' ,we find ourselves faced here with an instance of the problem1 ',discovery or ,manufacture8' dealt with by ,eddington in the manner described in our previous chapter4 ,this very instance is indeed used by ,eddington himself as a case in which the answer is definitely in favour of 'manufacture'4 ,nevertheless1 ,eddington complains1 experts1 in spite of knowing better1 keep to the traditional way of speaking about the spectral colours as being originally contained in the light4 ',such is the glamour of a historical experiment4'#c ,it is for the same reason that ,goethe's discovery continues to be unrecognized by the majority of scientists1 who prefer1 instead of examining the question for themselves1 to join in the traditional assertion that ',goethe never understood ,newton'4 99 ,as ,goethe relates at the conclusion of the 'historical' part of his ,farbenlehre1#d he was drawn to study colour by his wish to gain some knowledge of the objective laws of aesthetics4 ,he felt too close to poetry to be able to study it with sufficient detachment1 so he turned to painting - an art with which he felt sufficiently familiar without being connected with it creatively - hoping that if he could discover the laws of one art they would prove applicable to others4 ,his visit to ,italy1 a land rich both in natural colour and in works of art1 gave him a welcome opportunity to pursue this inquiry1 but for a long time he made no headway4 ,the paintings he saw suggested no inherent law in their arrangement of colours1 nor could the painters he questioned tell him of one4 ,the only qualitative distinction they seemed to recognize was between 'cold' and 'warm' colours4 ,his own observations led him to a definite experience of the quality of the colour blue1 for which he coined the phrase 'feebleness of blue' 7',ohnmacht des ,blau'74 ,in some way this colour seemed to him to be related to black4 ,in order to rouse his artist friends and to stimulate their reflexions1 he liked to indulge in paradoxes1 as when he asserted that blue was not a colour at all4 ,he found1 however1 as time went on1 that in this way he came no nearer his goal4 ,although the splendour of colour in the ,italian sky and the ,italian landscape made a powerful impression on ,goethe1 he found not enough opportunity for systematic study to allow him to arrive at more than a dim surmise of some law underlying the occurrence of colour in nature4 ,still1 there was one thing he took home with him as a result of his labours4 ,he had grown convinced that 'the first approach to colours as physical phenomena had to be sought from the side of their occurrence in nature1 if one would gain an understanding of them in relation to art'4 ,back at home1 he strove to recollect the theory of ,newton as it was being taught in schools and universities - namely1 that 'colours in their totality are contained in light'4 ,hitherto he had had no occasion to doubt the correctness of this theory4 ,like everyone else1 he had heard it expounded in lectures as an incontestable result of empirical observation1 though without this ever having been shown to him by way of experiment4 ,he convinced himself by consulting a manual that his recollection was correct1 but at the same time he found that the theory there set forth gave no help in answering his questions4#e ,so he decided to examine the phenomena for himself4 ,for this purpose he borrowed a set of prisms from a friend living in near-by ,jena1 the physicist1 ,bttner4 ,since1 however1 he had at that time no opportunity of arranging a dark chamber on ,newton's lines1 where the necessary ray of light from a tiny hole in the window-covering was sent through a prism1 he postponed the whole thing1 until in the midst of all his many other interests and duties it was forgotten4 ,in vain ,bttner pressed many times for the return of the prisms2 at last he sent a mutual acquaintance with the injunction not to return without them4 ,goethe then searched for the long-neglected apparatus and determined to take a rapid glance through one of the prisms before he gave them back4 ,he recalled dimly his pleasure as a boy at the vision of the world given him through a bit of similarly shaped glass4 ',i well remember that everything looked coloured1 but in what manner ,i could no longer recollect4 ,i was just then in a room completely white2 remembering the ,newtonian theory1 ,i expected1 as ,i put the prism to my eye1 to find the whole white wall coloured in different hues and to see the light reflected thence into the eye1 split into as many coloured lights4 ',but how astonished was ,i when the white wall seen through the prism remained white after as before4 ,only where something dark came against it a more or less decided colour was shown1 and at last the window-bars appeared most vividly coloured1 while on the light-grey sky outside no trace of colouring was to be seen4 ,it did not need any long consideration for me to recognize that a boundary or edge is necessary to call forth the colours1 and ,i immediately said aloud1 as though by instinct1 that the ,newtonian doctrine is false4' ,for ,goethe1 there could be no more thought of sending back the prisms1 and he persuaded ,bttner to leave them with him for some time longer4 ,goethe adds a short account of the progress of the experiments he now undertook as well as of his efforts to interest others in his discovery4 ,he makes grateful reference to those who had brought him understanding1 and who had been helpful to him through the exchange of thoughts4 ,among these1 apart from ,schiller1 whom ,goethe especially mentions1 we find a number of leading anatomists1 chemists1 writers and philosophers of his time1 but not a single one of the physicists then active in teaching or research4 ,the ',guild' took up an attitude of complete disapproval or indifference1 and so have things remained till a hundred years after his death1 as ,goethe himself prophesied4 ,one of the first systematic pieces of work which ,goethe undertook in order to trace the cause of the ,newtonian error was to go through ,book ,i of ,newton's ,optics1 sentence by sentence1 recapitulate ,newton's experiments and rearrange them in the order which seemed to him essential4 ,in so doing he gained an insight which was fundamental for all future work1 and often proved very beneficial in the perfecting of his own methods4 ,his examination of the ,newtonian procedure showed him that the whole mistake rested on the fact that 'a complicated phenomenon should have been taken as a basis1 and the simpler explained from the complex'4 ,nevertheless1 it still needed 'much time and application in order to wander through all the labyrinths with which ,newton had been pleased to confuse his successors'4 99 ,it seems a small thing1 and yet it is a great one1 which ,goethe1 as the above description shows1 discovered almost by chance4 ,this is shown by the conclusions to which he was led in the systematic prosecutions of his discovery4 ,an account of them is given in his ,beitrge zur ,optik1#f published in #agia1 the year in which ,galvani came before the public with his observations in the sphere of electricity4 ,goethe describes in this book the basic phenomena of the creation of the prismatic colours1 with particulars of a number of experiments so arranged that the truth he had discovered1 contrary to ,newton's view1 comes to light through the very phenomena themselves4 ,only much later1 in the year #ahaj1 and after he had brought to a certain conclusion four years previously the researches which he had pursued most carefully the whole time1 did he make public the actual masterpiece1 ,entwurf einer ,farbenlehre4#g 7,an ,english translation of the didactic part appeared about ten years after ,goethe's death47 ,while leaving a more detailed description of the composition of ,goethe's ,entwurf for our next chapter1 we shall here deal at once with some of the essential conclusions to which the reader is led in this book4 ,as already mentioned1 ,goethe's first inspection of the colour-phenomenon produced by the prism had shown him that the phenomenon depended on the presence of a boundary between light and darkness4 ,newton's attempt to explain the spectrum out of light alone appeared to him1 therefore1 as an inadmissible setting aside of one of the two necessary conditions4 ,colours1 so ,goethe gleaned directly from the prismatic phenomenon1 are caused by both light and its counterpart1 darkness4 ,hence1 to arrive at an idea of the nature of colour1 which was in accord with its actual appearance1 he saw himself committed to an investigation of the extent to which the qualitative differences in our experience of colours rests upon their differing proportions of light and darkness4 ,it is characteristic of ,goethe's whole mode of procedure that he at once changed the question1 ',what is colour8' into the question1 ',how does colour arise8' ,it was equally characteristic that he did not1 as ,newton did1 shut himself into a darkened room1 so as to get hold of the colour-phenomenon by means of an artificially set-up apparatus4 ,instead1 he turned first of all to nature1 to let her give him the answer to the questions she had raised4 ,it was clear to ,goethe that to trace the law of the genesis of colour in nature by reading her phenomena1 he must keep a look-out for occurrences of colours which satisfied the conditions of the ,ur-phnomen1 as he had learned to know it4 ,this meant that he must ask of nature where she let colours arise out of light and darkness in such a way that no other conditions contributed to the effect4 ,he saw that such an effect was presented to his eye when he turned his gaze on the one hand to the blue sky1 and on the other to the yellowish luminous sun4 ,where we see the blue of the heavens1 there1 spread out before our eyes1 is universal space1 which as such is dark4 ,why it does not appear dark by day as well as by night is because we see it through the sun-illumined atmosphere4 ,the opposite role is played by the atmosphere when we look through it to the sun4 ,in the first instance it acts as a lightening1 in the second as a darkening1 medium4 ,accordingly1 when the optical density of the air changes as a result of its varying content of moisture1 the colour-phenomenon undergoes an opposite change in each of the two cases4 ,whilst with increasing density of the air the blue of the sky brightens up and gradually passes over into white1 the yellow of the sun gradually darkens and finally gives way to complete absence of light4 ,the ur-phenomenon having once been discovered in the heavens1 could then easily be found elsewhere in nature on a large or small scale-as1 for instance1 in the blue of distant hills when the air is sufficiently opaque1 or in the colour of the colourless1 slightly milky opal which looks a deep blue when one sees it against a dark background1 and a reddish yellow when one holds it against the light4 ,the same phenomenon may be produced artificially through the clouding of glass with suitable substances1 as one finds in various glass handicraft objects4 ,the aesthetic effect is due to the treated glass being so fashioned as to present continually changing angles to the light1 when both colour-poles and all the intermediate phases appear simultaneously4 ,it is also possible to produce the ur-phenomenon experimentally by placing a glass jug filled with water before a black background1 illuminating the jug from the side1 and gradually clouding the water by the admixture of suitable substances4 ,whilst the brightness appearing in the direction of the light goes over from yellow and orange to an increasingly red shade1 the darkness of the black background brightens to blue1 which increases and passes over to a milky white4 ,it had already become clear to ,goethe in ,italy that all colour-experience is based on a polarity1 which he found expressed by painters as the contrast between 'cold' and 'warm' colours4 ,now that the coming-into-being of the blue of the sky and of the yellow of the sun had shown themselves to him as two processes of opposite character1 he recognized in them the objective reason why both colours are subjectively experienced by us as opposites4 ',blue is illumined darkness - yellow is darkened light' - thus could he assert the urphenomenon1 while he expressed the relation to ,light of colours in their totality by saying3 ',colours are ,deeds and ,sufferings of ,light4' ,with this1 ,goethe had taken the first decisive step towards his goal - the tracing of man's aesthetic experience to objective facts of nature4 ,if we use the expressions of preceding chapters1 we can say that ,goethe1 in observing the coloured ur-phenomenon1 had succeeded in finding how from the primary polarity1 ,light-,dark1 the opposition of the yellow and blue colours arises as a secondary polarity4 ,for such an interplay of light and darkness1 the existence of the air was seen to be a necessary condition1 representing in the one case a lightening1 in the other1 a darkening element4 ,that it was able to play this double role arose from its being on the one hand pervious to light1 while yet possessing a certain substantial density4 ,for a medium of such a nature ,goethe coined the expression trbes ,medium4 ,there seems to be no suitable word in ,english for rendering the term trbe in the sense in which ,goethe used it to denote the optical resistance of a more or less transparent medium4 ,the following remarks of ,goethe's1 reported by his secretary ,riemer1 will give the reader a picture of what ,goethe meant by this term1 clear enough to allow us to use the ,german word4 ,goethe's explanation certainly shows how inadequate it is to translate trbe by 'cloudy' or 'semi-opaque' as commentators have done4 ',light and ,dark have a common field1 a space1 a vacuum in which they are seen to appear4 ,this space is the realm of the transparent4 ,just as the different colours are related to ,light and ,dark as their creative causes1 so is their corporeal part1 their medium1 ,trbe1 related to the transparent4 ,the first diminution of the transparent1 i4e4 the first slightest filling of space1 the first disposition1 as it were1 to the corporeal1 i4e4 the non-transparent - this is ,trbe4'#h ,after ,goethe had once determined from the macrotelluric phenomenon that an interplay of light and darkness within ,trbe was necessary for the appearance of colour in space1 he had no doubt that the prismatic colours1 too1 could be understood only through the coming together of all these three elements4 ,it was now his task to examine in what way the prism1 by its being trbe1 brings light and darkness1 or1 as he also expressed it1 light and shadow1 into interplay1 when they meet at a boundary4 ,we must remember that on first looking through the prism ,goethe had immediately recognized that the appearance of colour is always dependent on the existence of a boundary between light and darkness - in other words1 that it is a border phenomenon4 ,what colours appear on such a border depends on the position of light and darkness in relation to the base of the prism4 ,if the lighter part is nearer to the base1 then blue and violet tints are seen at the border1 and with the reverse position tints of yellow and red 7,plate ,b1 ,fig4 i74 ,along this path of study ,goethe found no reason for regarding the spectrum-phenomenon as complete only when both kinds of border-phenomena appear simultaneously 7let alone when - as a result of the smallness of the aperture through which the light meets the prism - the two edges lie so close that a continuous band of colour arises74 ,hence we find ,goethe - unlike ,newton - treating the two ends of the spectrum as two separate phenomena4 ,in this way1 the spectrum phenomenon gave ,goethe confirmation that he had succeeded in expressing in a generally valid form the law of the origin of the blue and the yellow colours1 as he had read it from the heavens4 ,for in the spectrum1 too1 where the colour blue appears1 there he saw darkness being lightened by a shifting of the image of the border between light and dark in the direction of darkness2 where yellow appears1 he saw light being darkened by a shifting of the image in the direction of light4 7,see the arrow in ,fig4 i47 ,in the colours adjoining these - indigo and violet on the blue side1 orange and red on the yellow side - ,goethe recognized 'heightened' modifications of blue and yellow4 ,thus he had learnt from the macro-telluric realm that with decreasing density of the corporeal medium1 the blue sky takes on ever deeper tones1 while with increasing density of the medium1 the yellow of the sunlight passes over into orange and finally red4 ,prismatic phenomenon and macrotelluric phenomenon were seen to correspond in this direction1 too4 ,faithful to his question1 ',how does colour arise8' ,goethe now proceeded to investigate under what conditions two borders1 when placed opposite each other1 provide a continuous band of colour - that is1 a colour-band where1 in place of the region of uncoloured light1 green appears4 ,this1 he observed1 came about if one brought one's eye1 or the screen intercepting the light1 to that distance from the prism where the steadily widening yellow-red and the blue-violet colour-cones merge 7,fig4 ii74#i ,obviously1 this distance can be altered by altering the distance between the two borders4 ,in the case of an extremely narrow light-space1 the blue and yellow edges will immediately overlap4 ,yet the emergence of the green colour will always be due to a union of the blue and yellow colours which spread from the two edges4 ,this convinced ,goethe that it is inadmissible to place the green in the spectrum in line with the other colours1 as is customary in the explanation of the spectrum since ,newton's time4 ,this insight into the relation of the central colour of the continuous spectrum to its other colours still further strengthened ,goethe's conviction that in the way man experiences nature in his soul1 objective laws of nature come to expression4 ,for just as we experience the colours on the blue side of the spectrum as cold colours1 and those on the yellow side as warm colours1 so does green give man the impression of a neutral colour1 influencing us in neither direction4 ,and just as the experience of the two polar colour-ranges is an expression of the objective natural law behind them1 so too is the experience of green1 the objective conditions of whose origin give it a neutral position between the two4 ,with this it also became clear why the vegetative part of the plant organism1 the region of leaf and stem formation1 where the light of the sun enters into a living union with the density of earthly substance1 must appear in a garment of green4 99 ,having in this way found the clue to the true genesis of the spectrum1 ,goethe could not fail to notice that it called for another - a 'negative' spectrum1 its polar opposite - to make the half into a whole4 ,for he who has once learnt that light and darkness are two equally essential factors in the birth of colour1 and that the opposing of two borders of darkness so as to enclose a light is a 'derived' 7abgeleitet7 experimental arrangement1 is naturally free to alter the arrangement and to supplement it by reversing the order of the two borders1 thus letting two lights enclose a darkness between them4 ,if one exposes an arrangement like this to the action of the prism1 whose position has remained unchanged1 colours appear on each of the two edges1 as before1 but in reverse order 7,fig4 iii74 ,the spectral phenomenon now begins at one side with light blue and passes into indigo and violet1 with uncoloured darkness in the centre4 ,from this darkness it emerges through red and passes through orange to yellow at the other end4 ,again1 where the two interior colour-cones merge1 there an additional colour appears4 ,like green1 it is of a neutral character1 but at the same time its quality is opposite to that of green4 ,in ,newtonian optics1 which assumes colour to be derived from light only1 this colour has naturally no existence4 ,yet in an optics which has learnt to reckon with both darkness and light as generators of colour1 the complete spectrum phenomenon includes this colour equally with green4 ,for lack of an existing proper name for it1 ,goethe termed it 'pure red' 7since it was free from both the blue tinge of the mauve1 and the yellow tinge of the red end of the ordinary spectrum71 or 'peach-blossom' 7pfirsichblt71 or 'purple' 7as being nearest to the dye-stuff so called by the ancients after the mollusc from which it was obtained74#aj ,it needs only a glance through the prism into the sunlit world to make one convinced of the natural appearing of this delicate and at the same time powerfully luminous colour4 ,for a narrow dark object on a light field is a much commoner occurrence in nature than the enclosing by two broad objects of a narrow space of light1 the condition necessary for the emergence of a continuous colour-band with green in the middle4 ,in fact1 the spectrum which science since the time of ,newton regards as the only one1 appears much more rarely among natural conditions than does ,goethe's counter-spectrum4 ,with the peach-blossom a fresh proof is supplied that what man experiences in his soul is in harmony with the objective facts of nature4 ,as with green1 we experience peach-blossom as a colour that leaves us in equilibrium4 ,with peach-blossom1 however1 the equilibrium is of a different kind1 owing to the fact that it arises from the union of the colour-poles1 not at their original stage but in their 'heightened' form4 ,and so green1 the colour of the plant-world harmony given by nature1 stands over against 'purple'1 the colour of the human being striving towards harmony4 ,by virtue of this quality1 purple served from antiquity for the vesture of those who have reached the highest stage of human development for their time4 ,this characteristic of the middle colours of the two spectra was expressed by ,goethe when he called green 'real totality'1 and peach-blossom 'ideal totality'4 ,from this standpoint ,goethe was able to smile at the ,newtonians4 ,he could say that if they persisted in asserting that the colourless1 so-called 'white' light is composed of the seven colours of the ordinary spectrum - red1 orange1 yellow1 green1 blue1 indigo1 violet - then they were in duty bound to maintain also that the colourless1 'black' darkness is composed of the seven colours of the inverted spectrum - yellow1 orange1 red1 purple1 violet1 indigo1 blue4 ,despite the convincing force of this argument1 the voice of the ,hans ,andersen child speaking through ,goethe failed to gain a hearing among the crowd of ,newtonian faithful4 ,so has it been up to the present day - regardless of the fact that1 as we have shown1 modern physics has reached results which make a contradiction of the ,newtonian concept of the mutual relation of light and colour no longer appear so heretical as it was in ,goethe's time4 99 ,when we compare the way in which ,goethe1 on the one hand1 and the physical scientist1 on the other1 have arrived at the truth that what ,newton held to be 'discovery' was in actual fact 'manufacture'1 we find ourselves faced with another instance of a fact which we have encountered before in our study of electricity4 ,it is the fact that a truth1 which reveals itself to the spectator-scientist only as the result of a highly advanced experimental research1 can be recognized through quite simple observation when this observation is carried out with the intention of letting the phenomena themselves speak for their 'theory'4 ,furthermore1 there is a corresponding difference in the effect the knowledge of such truth has on the human mind4 ,in the field of electricity we saw that together with the scientist's recognition of the absolute qualities of the two polar forms of electricity a false semblance of reality was lent to the hypothesis of the atomic structure of matter4 ,something similar has occurred in the field of optics4 ,here1 after having been forced to recognize the fallacy of ,newton's theory1 the spectator's mind has been driven to form a concept of the nature of light which is further than ever from the truth4 ,for what then remains of light is - in ,eddington's words - a 'quite irregular disturbance1 with no tendency to periodicity'1 which means that to light is assigned the quality of an undefined chaos 7in the negative sense of this word7 sprung from pure chance4 ,moreover1 as ,eddington shows1 the question whether the optical contrivance 'sorts out' from the chaotic light a particular periodicity1 or whether it 'impresses' this on the light1 becomes just 'a matter of expression'4#aa ,so here1 too1 the modern investigator is driven to a resigned acknowledgment of the principle of ,indeterminacy4 ,no such conclusions are forced upon the one who studies the spectrum phenomenon with the eyes of ,goethe4 ,like the modern experimenter1 he1 too1 is faced with the question ',discovery or ,manufacture8' and he1 too1 finds the answer to be ',manufacture'4 ,but to him nature can disclose herself as the real manufacturer1 showing him how she goes to work in bringing about the colours1 because in following ,goethe he is careful to arrange his observations in such a way that they do not veil nature's deeds4 #a ',to see is my dower1 to look my employ4' ,words of the ,tower-,watcher in ,faust1 ,,ii1 #e1 through which ,goethe echoes his own relation to the world4 #b ,the last chapter but two in the edition of #aibd4 #c ,for the drastic and as such very enlightening way in which ,eddington presents the problem1 the reader is referred to ,eddington's own description4 #d ,konfession des ,verfassers4 #e ,colour as quality being no essential factor in the scientific explanation of the spectrum4 #f ,contributions to ,optics4 #g ,outline of a ,theory of ,colour4 #h ,see ,rudolf ,steiner's edition of ,goethe's ,farbenlehre under ,paralipomena zur ,chromatik1 ,no4 #bg4 #i ,goethe's own representation of the phenomenon4 7,the diagram is simplified by omitting one colour on each side47 #aj ,this is not to be confused with the meaning of 'purple' in modern ,english usage4 #aa ,this follows from the application of ,fourier's ,theorem1 according to which every vibration of any kind is divisible into a sum of periodic partial vibrations1 and therefore is regarded as compounded of these4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,seeing as ',deed' - ,i ,having made ourselves so far acquainted with the fundamentals of ,goethe's approach to the outer phenomena of colour involved in the spectrum1 we will leave this for a while to follow ,goethe along another no less essential line of inquiry4 ,it leads us to the study of our own process of sight1 by means of which we grow aware of the optical facts in outer space4 99 ,the importance which ,goethe himself saw in this aspect of the optical problem is shown by the place he gave it in the didactic part of his ,farbenlehre4 ,the first three chapters1 after the ,introduction1 are called ',physiological ,colours'1 ',physical ,colours'1 and ',chemical ,colours'4 ,in the first chapter1 ,goethe summarizes a group of phenomena which science calls 'subjective' colours1 since their origin is traced to events within the organ of sight4 ,the next chapter deals with an actual physics of colour - that is1 with the appearance of colours in external space as a result of the refraction1 diffraction and polarization of light4 ,the third chapter treats of material colours in relation to chemical and other influences4 ,after two chapters which need not concern us here comes the sixth and last chapter1 entitled ',physical-,moral ,effect of ,colour' 7',sinnlich-sittliche ,wirkung der ,farben'71 which crowns the whole4 ,there1 for the first time in the history of modern science1 a bridge is built between ,physics1 ,aesthetics and ,ethics4 ,we remember it was with this aim in view that ,goethe had embarked upon his search for the solution of the problem of colour4 ,in this chapter the experiencing of the various colours and their interplay through the human soul is treated in many aspects1 and ,goethe is able to show that what arises in man's consciousness as qualitative colour-experience is nothing but a direct 'becoming-inward' of what is manifested to the 'reader's' eye and mind as the objective nature of colours4 ,so1 in one realm of the sense-world1 ,goethe succeeded in closing the abyss which divides existence and consciousness1 so long as the latter is restricted to a mere onlooker-relationship towards the sense-world4 ,if we ask what induced ,goethe to treat the physiological colours before the physical colours1 thus deviating so radically from the order customary in science1 we shall find the answer in a passage from the ,introduction to his ,entwurf4 ,goethe1 in giving his views on the connexion between light and the eye1 says3 ',the eye owes its existence to light4 ,out of indifferent auxiliary animal organs the light calls forth an organ for itself1 similar to its own nature2 thus the eye is formed by the light1 for the light1 so that the inner light can meet the outer4' ,in a verse1 which reproduces in poetic form a thought originally expressed by ,plotinus1 ,goethe sums up his idea of the creative connexion between eye and light as follows3 ' ,unless our eyes had something of the sun1 ,how could we ever look upon the light8 ,unless there lived within us ,god's own might1 ,how could the ,godlike give us ecstasy8#a 7,trans4 ,stawell-,dickinson7 ,by expressing himself in this way in the ,introduction to his ,farbenlehre1 ,goethe makes it clear from the outset that when he speaks of 'light' as the source of colour-phenomena1 he has in mind an idea of light very different from that held by modern physics4 ,for in dealing with optics1 physical science turns at once to phenomena of light found outside man - in fact to phenomena in that physical realm from which1 as the lowest of the kingdoms of nature1 the observations of natural science are bound to start4 ,along this path one is driven1 as we have seen1 to conceive of light as a mere 'disturbance' in the universe1 a kind of irregular chaos4 ,in contrast to this1 ,goethe sees that to gain an explanation of natural physical phenomena which will be in accord with nature1 we must approach them on the path by which nature brings them into being4 ,in the field of light this path is one which leads from light as creative agent to light as mere phenomenon4 ,the highest form of manifestation of creative light most directly resembling its ,idea is within man4 ,it is there that light creates for itself the organ through which1 as manifest light1 it eventually enters into human consciousness4 ,to ,goethe it was therefore clear that a theory of light1 which is to proceed in accord with nature1 should begin with a study of the eye3 its properties1 its ways of acting when it brings us information of its deeds and sufferings in external nature4 ,the eye with its affinity to light comes into being in the apparently dark space of the mother's womb4 ,this points to the possession by the human organism of an 'inner' light which first forms the eye from within1 in order that it may afterwards meet the light outside4 ,it is this inner light that ,goethe makes the starting-point of his investigations1 and it is for this reason that he treats physiological colours before physical colours4 99 ,of fundamental significance as regards method is the way in which ,goethe goes on from the passage quoted above to speak of the activity of the inner light3 ',this immediate affinity between light and the eye will be denied by none2 to consider them identical in substance is less easy to comprehend4 ,it will be more intelligible to assert that a dormant light resides in the eye1 and that this light can be excited by the slightest cause from within or from without4 ,in darkness we can1 by an effort of imagination1 call up the brightest images2 in dreams1 objects appear to us as in broad daylight2 if we are awake1 the slightest external action of light is perceptible1 and if the organ suffers a mechanical impact light and colours spring forth4' ,what ,goethe does here is nothing less than to follow the development of sight to where it has its true origin4 ,let us remember that a general source of illusion in the modern scientific picture of the world lies in the fact that the onlooker-consciousness accepts itself as a self-contained ready-made entity1 instead of tracing itself genetically to the states of consciousness from which it has developed in the course of evolution4 ,in reality1 the consciousness kindled by outer sense-perception was preceded by a dreaming consciousness1 and this by a sleeping consciousness1 both for the individual and for humanity as a whole4 ,so1 too1 outer vision by means of the physical apparatus of the eye was preceded by an inner vision4 ,in dreams we still experience this inner vision2 we use it in the activity of our picture-forming imagination2 and it plays continuously upon the process of external sight4 ,why we fail to notice this when using our eye in the ordinary way1 is because of that dazzling process mentioned earlier in this book4 ,goethe's constant endeavour was not to become the victim of this blindness - that is1 not to be led by day-time experience to forget the night-side of human life4 ,the passage quoted from the ,introduction to his ,farbenlehre shows how1 in all that he strove for1 he kept this goal in view4 ,how inevitably a way of thinking that seeks an intuitive understanding of nature is led to views like those of ,goethe is shown by the following quotations from ,reid and ,ruskin1 expressing their view of the relationship between the eye1 or the act of seeing1 and external optical phenomena4 ,in his ,inquiry1 at the beginning of his review of visual perceptions1 ,reid says3 ',the structure of the eye1 and of all its appurtenances1 the admirable contrivances of nature for performing all its various external and internal motions and the variety in the eyes of different animals1 suited to their several natures and ways of life1 clearly demonstrate this organ to be a masterpiece of nature's work4 ,and he must be very ignorant of what hath been discovered about it1 or have a very strange cast of understanding1 who can seriously doubt1 whether or not the rays of light and the eye were made for one another with consummate wisdom1 and perfect skill in optics4''#c ,the following passage from ,ruskin's ,ethics of the ,dust 7,lecture ,x7 brings out his criticism of the scientific way of treating of optical phenomena3 ',with regard to the most interesting of all their the philosophers' modes of force-light2 they never consider how far the existence of it depends on the putting of certain vitreous and nervous substances into the formal arrangement which we call an eye4 ,the ,german philosophers began the attack1 long ago1 on the other side1 by telling us there was no such thing as light at all1 unless we choose to see it4#b ,now1 ,german and ,english1 both1 have reversed their engines1 and insist that light would be exactly the same light that it is1 though nobody could ever see it4 ,the fact being that the force must be there1 and the eye there1 and 'light' means the effect of the one on the other - and perhaps1 also - 7,plato saw farther into that mystery than anyone has since1 that ,i know of7 - on something a little way within the eyes4' ,remarks like these1 and the further quotation given below1 make it seem particularly tragic that ,ruskin apparently had no knowledge of ,goethe's ,farbenlehre4 ,this is the more remarkable in view of the significance which ,turner1 with whom ,ruskin stood in such close connexion1 ascribed to it from the standpoint of the artist4 ,for the way in which ,ruskin in his ,modern ,painters speaks of the effect of the modern scientific concept of colours upon the ethical-religious feeling of man1 shows that he deplores the lack of just what ,goethe had long since achieved in his ,farbenlehre where1 starting with purely physical observations1 he had been able to develop from them a 'physical-moral' theory of colour4 ,ruskin's alertness to the effect on ethical life of a scientific world-picture empty of all qualitative values led him to write3 ',it is in raising us from the first state of inactive reverie to the second of useful thought1 that scientific pursuits are to be chiefly praised4 ,but in restraining us at this second stage1 and checking the impulses towards higher contemplation1 they are to be feared or blamed4 ,they may in certain minds be consistent with such contemplation1 but only by an effort2 in their nature they are always adverse to it1 having a tendency to chill and subdue the feelings1 and to resolve all things into atoms and numbers4 ,for most men1 an ignorant enjoyment is better than an informed one1 it is better to conceive the sky as a blue dome than a dark cavity1 and the cloud as a golden throne than a sleety mist4 ,i much question whether anyone who knows optics1 however religious he may be1 can feel in equal degree the pleasure and reverence an unlettered peasant may feel at the sight of a rainbow4' ,what ,ruskin did not guess was that the rudiments of the 'moral theory of light' for which he craved1 as this passage indicates1 had been established by ,goethe long before4 99 ,in the section of his ,farbenlehre dealing with 'physiological colours'1 ,goethe devotes by far the most space to the so-called 'afterimages' which appear in the eye as the result of stimulation by external light1 and persist for some little time4 ,to create such an afterimage in a simple way1 one need only gaze at a brightly lit window and then at a faintly lit wall of the room4 ,the picture of the window appears there1 but with the light-values reversed3 the dark cross-bar appears as light1 and the bright panes as dark4 ,in describing this phenomenon ,goethe first gives the usual explanation1 that the part of the retina which was exposed to the light from the window-panes gets tired1 and is therefore blunted for further impressions1 whereas the part on which the image of the dark frame fell is rested1 and so is more sensitive to the uniform impression of the wall4 ,goethe1 however1 at once adds that although this explanation may seem adequate for this special instance1 there are other phenomena which can be accounted for only if they are held to derive from a 'higher source'4 ,goethe means experiences with coloured after-images4 ,this will be confirmed by our own discussion of the subject4 ,what we first need1 however1 is a closer insight into the physiological process in the eye which causes the after-images as such4 ,wherever ,goethe speaks of a simple activity of the retina1 we are in fact concerned with a co-operation of the retina with other parts of our organ of sight4 ,in order to make this clear1 let us consider how the eye adapts itself to varying conditions of light and darkness4 ,it is well known that if the eye has become adjusted to darkness it is dazzled if suddenly exposed to light1 even though the light be of no more than quite ordinary brightness4 ,here we enter a border region where the seeing process begins to pass over into a pathological condition4#d ,a 'secret' of the effect of light on the eye is here revealed which remains hidden in ordinary vision1 for normally the different forces working together in the eye hold each other in balance1 so that none is able to manifest separately4 ,this equilibrium is disturbed1 however1 when we suddenly expose the eye to light while it is adapted to darkness4 ,the light then acts on the eye in its usual way1 but without the immediate counter-action which normally restores the balance4 ,under these conditions we notice that the sudden dazzling has a painful influence on the eye - that is1 an influence in some way destructive4 ,this will not seem surprising if we remember that when light strikes on the background of the eye1 consciousness is quickened1 and this1 as we know1 presupposes a breaking down of substance in some part of the nervous system4 ,such a process does in fact occur in the retina1 the nerve-part of the eye1 when external light falls upon it4 ,if the eye were solely a structure of nerves1 it would be so far destroyed by the impact of light that it could not be restored even by sleep1 as are the more inward parts of the nervous system4 ,but the eye receives also a flow of blood1 and we know that throughout the threefold human organism the blood supplies the nervous system with building-up forces1 polarically opposite to the destructive ones4 ,in sleep1 as we have already seen1 the interruption of consciousness allows the blood to inundate the nervous system1 as it were1 with its healing1 building-up activity4 ,it is not necessary1 however1 for the whole of the body to pass into a condition of sleep before this activity can occur4 ,it functions to some extent also in the waking state1 especially in those parts of the organism which1 like the eye1 serve in the highest degree the unfolding of consciousness4 ,having established this1 we have a basis for an understanding of the complete process of vision4 ,we see that it is by no means solely the nerve part of the eye which is responsible for vision1 as the spectator-physiology was bound to imagine4 ,the very fact that the place where the optic nerve enters the eye is blind indicates that the function of mediating sight cannot be ascribed to the nerve alone4 ,what we call 'seeing' is far more the result of an interplay between the retina carrying the nerves1 and the choroid carrying the blood-vessels4 ,in this interplay the nerves are the passive1 receptive organ for the inworking of external light1 while the blood-activity comes to meet the nerve-process with a precisely correlated action4 ,in this action we find what ,goethe called the 'inner light'4 ,the process involved in adaptation now becomes comprehensible4 ,the cause of the dazzling effect of light of normal intensity on an eye adapted to the dark1 is that in such an eye the blood is in a state of rest1 and this prevents it from exercising quickly enough the necessary counter-action to the influence of the light4 ,a corresponding effect occurs when one suddenly exposes to darkness the eye adapted to light4 ,one can easily observe what goes on then1 if1 after looking for a time at an undifferentiated light surface such as the evenly luminous sky1 one covers the opened eyes with the hollowed hands4 ,it will then be found that the space before the eyes is filled by a sort of white light1 and by paying close attention one recognizes that it streams from the eyes out into the hollowed space4 ,it may even be several minutes before the field of vision really appears black1 that is1 before the activity of the inner light in the choroid has so far died away that equilibrium prevails between the non-stimulated nerves and the non-stimulated blood4 ,with this insight into the twofold nature of the process of vision we are now able to describe more fully the negative after-image4 ,although in this case1 as ,goethe himself remarked1 the ordinary explanation seems to suffice1 yet in view of our later studies it may be well to bring forward here this wider conception4 ,on the basis of our present findings it is no longer enough to trace the appearing of the after-image solely to a differential fatigue in the retina4 ,the fact is that as long as the eye is turned to the bright window-pane a more intensive blood-activity occurs in the portions of the eye's background met by the light than in those where the dark window-bar throws its shadow on the retina4 ,if the eye so influenced is then directed to the faintly illumined wall of the room1 the difference in the activity of the blood persists for some time4 ,hence in the parts of the eye adapted to darkness we experience the faint brightness as strongly luminous1 even dazzling1 whereas in the parts more adapted to light we feel the same degree of brightness to be dark4 ,that the action of the inner light is responsible for the differences becomes clear if1 while the negative after-image is still visible1 we darken the eye with the hollowed hands4 ,then at once in the dark field of vision the positive facsimile of the window appears1 woven by the activity of the blood which reproduces the outer reality4 ,having traced the colourless after-image to 'higher sources' - that is1 to the action of the blood - let us now examine coloured afterimages4 ,we need first to become conscious of the colour-creating light-activity which resides in the blood4 ,for this purpose we expose the eyes for a moment to an intense light1 and then darken them for a sufficient time4 ,nothing in external nature resembles in beauty and radiance the play of colour which then arises1 unless it be the colour phenomenon of the rainbow under exceptionally favourable circumstances4 ,the physiological process which comes to consciousness in this way as an experience of vision is exactly the same as the process which gives us experiences of vision in dreams4 ,there is indeed evidence that when one awakens in a brightly lit room out of vivid dreaming1 one feels less dazzled than on waking from dreamless sleep4 ,this indicates that in dream vision the blood in the eye is active1 just as it is in waking vision4 ,the only difference is that in waking consciousness the stimulus reaches the blood from outside1 through the eye1 whereas in dreams it comes from causes within the organism4 ,the nature of these causes does not concern us here2 it will be dealt with later4 ,for the moment it suffices to establish the fact that our organism is supplied with a definite activity of forces which we experience as the appearance of certain images of vision1 no matter from which side the stimulus comes4 ,all vision1 physiologically considered1 is of the nature of dream vision2 that is to say1 we owe our day-waking sight to the fact that we are able to encounter the pictures of the outer world1 brought to us by the light1 with a dreaming of the corresponding after-images4 ,just as the simple light-dark after-image shows a reversal of light-values in relation to the external picture1 so in the coloured afterimages there is a quite definite and opposite relationship of their colours to those of the original picture4 ,thus1 if the eyes are exposed for some time to an impression of the colour red1 and then directed to a neutral surface1 not too brightly illuminated1 one sees it covered with a glimmering green4 ,in this way there is a reciprocal correspondence between the colour-pairs ,red-,green1 ,yellow-,violet1 ,blue-,orange4 ,to whichever of these six colours one exposes the eye1 an after-image always appears of its contrast colour1 forming with it a pair of opposites4 ,we must here briefly recall how this phenomenon is generally explained on ,newtonian lines4 ,the starting-point is the assumption that the eye becomes fatigued by gazing at the colour and gradually becomes insensitive to it4 ,according to ,newton's theory1 if an eye thus affected looks at a white surface1 the sum of all the colours comes from there to meet it1 while the eye has a reduced sensitivity to the particular colour it has been gazing at4 ,and so among the totality of colours constituting the 'white' light1 this one is more or less non-existent for the eye4 ,the remaining colours are then believed to cause the contrasting colour-impression4 ,if we apply the common sense of the ,hans ,andersen child to this1 we see where it actually leads4 ,for it says no less than this3 as long as the eye is in a normal condition1 it tells us a lie about the world1 for it makes white light seem something that in reality it is not4 ,for the truth to become apparent1 the natural function of the eye must be reduced by fatigue4 ,to believe that a body1 functioning in this way1 is the creation of ,god1 and at the same time to look on this ,god as a ,being of absolute moral perfection1 would seem a complete contradiction to the ,hans ,andersen child4 ,in this contradiction and others of the same kind to which nowadays every child is exposed repeatedly and willy-nilly in school lessons and so on - we must seek the true cause of the moral uncertainty so characteristic of young people today4 ,it was because ,ruskin felt this that he called for a 'moral' theory of light4 ,since ,goethe did not judge man from artificially devised experiments1 but the latter from man1 quite simple reflexions led him to the following view of the presence of the contrasting colour in the coloured after-images4 ,nature outside man had taught him that life on all levels takes it course in a perpetual interplay of opposites1 manifested externally in an interplay of diastole and systole comparable to the process of breathing4 ,he1 therefore1 traced the interchange of light-values in colourless after-images to a 'silent resistance which every vital principle is forced to exhibit when some definite condition is presented to it4 ,thus1 inhalation presupposes exhalation2 thus every systole1 its diastole4 ,when darkness is presented to the eye1 the eye demands brightness1 and vice versa3 it reveals its vital energy1 its fitness to grasp the object1 precisely by bringing forth out of itself something contrary to the object4' ,consequently he summarizes his reflexions on coloured afterimages and their reversals of colour in these words3 ',the eye demands actual completeness and closes the colour-circle in itself4' ,how true this is1 the law connecting the corresponding colours shows1 as may be seen in the following diagram4 ,here1 red1 yellow and blue as three primary colours confront the three remaining colours1 green1 violet and orange in such a way that each of the latter represents a mixture of the two other primary colours4 7,fig4 #aj47 ,colour and contrast-colour are actually so related that to whatever colour the eye is exposed it produces a counter-colour so as to have the sum-total of all the three primary colours in itself4 ,and so1 in consequence of the interplay of outer and inner light in the eye1 there is always present in it the totality of all the colours4 ,it follows that the appearance of the contrast-colour in the field of vision is not1 as the ,newtonian theory asserts1 the result of fatigue1 but of an intensified activity of the eye1 which continues even after the colour impression which gave rise to it has ceased4 ,what is seen on the neutral surface 7it will be shown later why we studiously avoid speaking of 'white light'7 is no outwardly existing colour at all4 ,it is the activity of the eye itself1 working in a dreamlike way from its blood-vessel system1 and coming to our consciousness by this means4 ,here again1 just as in the simple opposition of light and dark1 the perception of coloured after-images is connected with a breaking-down process in the nerve region of the eye1 and a corresponding building-up activity coming from the blood4 ,only in this case the eye is not affected by simple light1 but by light of a definite colouring4 ,the specific destructive process caused by this light is answered with a specific building-up process by the blood4 ,under certain conditions we can become dreamily aware of this process which normally does not enter our consciousness4 ,in such a case we see the contrasting colour as coloured after-image4 ,only by representing the process in this way do we do justice to a fact which completely eludes the onlooker-consciousness - namely1 that the eye produces the contrasting colour even while it is still exposed to the influence of the outer colour4 ,since this is so1 all colours appearing to us in ordinary vision are already tinged by the subdued light of the opposite colour1 produced by the eye itself4 ,one can easily convince oneself of this through the following experiment4 ,instead of directing the eye1 after it has been exposed to a certain colour1 to a neutral surface1 as previously1 gaze at the appropriate contrasting colour4 7,the first and second coloured surfaces should be so arranged that the former is considerably smaller than the latter47 ,then1 in the middle of the second surface 7and in a field about the size of the first71 its own colour appears1 with a strikingly heightened intensity4 ,here we find the eye producing1 as usual1 a contrast-colour from out of itself1 as an after-image1 even while its gaze is fixed on the same colour in the outer world4 ,the heightened brilliance within the given field is due to the addition of the after-image colour to the external colour4 ,the reader may wonder why this phenomenon is not immediately adduced as a decisive proof of the fallacy of the whole ,newtonian theory of the relation of 'white' light to the various colours4 ,although it does in fact offer such a proof1 we have good reason for not making this use of it here4 ,throughout this book it is never our intention to enter into a contest of explanations1 or to defeat one explanation by another4 ,how little this would help will be obvious if we realize that research was certainly not ignorant of the fact that the opposite colour arises even when the eye is not turned to a white surface4 ,in spite of this1 science did not feel its concept of white light as the sum of all the colours to be an error1 since it has succeeded in 'explaining' this phenomenon too1 and fitting it into the prevailing theory4 ,to do so is in thorough accord with spectator-thinking4 ,our own concern1 however1 as in all earlier cases1 is to replace this thinking with all its 'proofs' and 'explanations' by learning to read in the phenomena themselves4 ,for no other purpose than this the following facts also are now brought forward4 99 ,besides ,rudolf ,steiner's fundamental insight into the spiritual-physical nature of the growing human being1 through which he laid the basis of a true art of education1 he gave advice on many practical points4 ,for example1 he indicated how by the choice of a suitable colour environment one can bring a harmonizing influence to bear on extremes of temperament in little children4 ,to-day it is a matter of practical experience that excitable children are quietened if they are surrounded with red or red-yellow colours1 or wear clothes of these colours1 whereas inactive1 lethargic children are roused to inner movement if they are exposed to the influence of blue or blue-green colours4 ,this psychological reaction of children to colour is not surprising if one knows the role played by the blood in the process of seeing1 and how differently the soul-life of man is connected with the blood-nerve polarity of his organism in childhood and in later life4 ,what we have described as the polar interplay of blood and nerve in the act of sight is not confined to the narrow field of the eye4 ,just as the nerve processes arising in the retina are continued to the optic centre in the cerebrum1 so must we look for the origin of the corresponding blood process not in the choroid itself1 but in the lower regions of the organism4 ,wherever1 therefore1 the colour red influences the whole nerve system1 the blood system as a whole answers with an activity of the metabolism corresponding to the contrasting colour1 green4 ,similarly it reacts as a whole to a blue-violet affecting the nerve system1 this time with a production corresponding to yellow-orange4 ,the reason why in later years we notice this so little lies in a fact we have repeatedly encountered4 ,the consciousness of the grown man to-day1 through its one-sided attachment to the death-processes in the nerve region1 pays no attention to its connexion with the life-processes centred in the blood system4 ,in this respect the condition of the little child is quite different4 ,just as the child is more asleep in its nerve system than the grown-up person1 it is more awake in its blood system4 ,hence in all sense-perceptions a child is not so much aware of how the world works on its nerve system as how its blood system responds4 ,and so a child in a red environment feels quietened because it experiences1 though dimly1 how its whole blood system is stimulated to the green production2 bluish colours enliven it because it feels its blood answer with a production of light yellowish tones4 ,from the latter phenomena we see once more the significance of ,goethe's arrangement of his ,farbenlehre4 ,for we are now able to realize that to turn one's attention to the deeds and sufferings of the inner light means nothing less than to bring to consciousness the processes of vision which in childhood1 though in a dreamlike way1 determine the soul's experience of seeing4 ,through placing his examination of the physiological colours at the beginning of his ,farbenlehre1 ,goethe actually took the path in scientific research to which ,thomas ,reid pointed in philosophy4 ,by adapting ,reid's words we can say that ,goethe1 in his ,farbenlehre1 proclaims as a basic principle of a true ,optics3 that we must become again as little children if we would reach a philosophy of light and colours4 #a,wr' nicht das ,auge sonnenhaft1 ,wie knnten wir das ,licht erblicken8 ,lebt' nicht in uns des ,gottes eigne ,kraft1 ,wie knnt' uns ,gttliches entzucken6 #b ,inquiry1 ,,vi1 #a4 ,the italics are ,reid's4 #c ,presumably ,kant and his school4 ,schopenhauer was definitely of this opinion4 #d ,as regards the principle underlying the line of consideration followed here1 see the remark made in ,chapter ,v in connexion with ,goethe's study of the 'proliferated rose' 7p4 #gf;f474 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,seeing as ',deed' - ,,ii ,the observation of our own visual process1 which we began in the last chapter1 will serve now to free us from a series of illusory concepts which have been connected by the onlooker-consciousness with the phenomena brought about by light4 ,there is first the general assumption that light as such is visible4 ,in order to realize that light is itself an invisible agent1 we need only consider a few self-evident facts - for instance1 that for visibility to arise light must always encounter some material resistance in space4 ,this is1 in fact1 an encounter between light1 typifying levity1 and the density of the material world1 typifying gravity4 ,accordingly1 wherever visible colours appear we have always to do with light meeting its opposite4 ,optics1 therefore1 as a science of the physically perceptible is never concerned with light alone1 but always with light and its opposite together4 ,this is actually referred to in ,ruskin's statement1 quoted in the last chapter1 where he speaks of the need of the 'force' and of the intercepting bodily organ before a science of optics can come into existence4 ,ruskin's 'light'1 however1 is what we have learnt with ,goethe to call 'colour'1 whereas that for which we reserve the term 'light' is called by him simply 'force'4 ,all this shows how illusory it is to speak of 'white' light as synonymous with simple light1 in distinction to 'coloured' light4 ,and yet this has been customary with scientists from the time of ,newton until today1 not excluding ,newton's critic1 ,eddington4 ,in fact1 white exists visibly for the eye as part of the manifested world1 and is therefore properly characterized as a colour4 ,this is1 therefore1 how ,goethe spoke of it4 ,we shall see presently the special position of white 7and likewise of black71 as a colour among colours4 ,what matters first of all is to realize that white must be strictly differentiated from light as such1 for the function of light is to make visible the material world without itself being visible4 ,to say that light is invisible1 however1 does not mean that it is wholly imperceptible4 ,it is difficult to bring the perception of light into consciousness1 for naturally our attention1 when we look out into light-filled space1 is claimed by the objects of the illuminated world1 in all their manifold colours and forms4 ,nevertheless the effect of pure light on our consciousness can be observed during a railway journey1 for instance1 when we leave a tunnel that has been long enough to bring about a complete adaptation of the eyes to the prevailing darkness4 ,then1 in the first moments of the lightening of the field of vision1 and before any separate objects catch the attention1 we can notice how the light itself exercises a distinctly expanding influence on our consciousness4 ,we feel how the light calls on the consciousness to participate1 as it were1 in the world outside the body4 ,it is possible also to perceive directly the opposite of light4 ,this is easier than the direct perception of light1 for in the dark one is not distracted by the sight of surrounding objects4 ,one need only pay attention to the fact that1 after a complete adapting of the eyes to the dark1 one still retains a distinct experience of the extension of the field of vision of both eyes4 ,we find here1 just as in the case of light1 that our will is engaged within the eye in a definite way2 a systolic effect proceeds from dark1 a diastolic effect from light4 ,we have a distinct perception of both1 but not of anything 'visible' in the ordinary sense4 ,with regard to our visual experience of white and black1 it is quite different4 ,we are concerned here with definite conditions of corporeal surfaces1 just as with other colours1 although the conditions conveying the impressions of white or black are of a special character4 ,a closer inspection of these conditions reveals a property of our act of seeing which has completely escaped scientific observation1 but which is of fundamental importance for the understanding of optical phenomena dynamically4 ,it is well known that a corporeal surface1 which we experience as white1 has the characteristic of throwing back almost all the light that strikes it1 whereas light is more or less completely absorbed by a surface which we experience as black4 ,such extreme forms of interplay between light and a corporeal surface1 however1 do not only occur when the light has no particular colour1 but also when a coloured surface is struck by light of the same or opposite colour4 ,in the first instance complete reflexion takes place2 in the second1 complete absorption4 ,and both these effects are registered by the eye in precisely the same manner as those mentioned before4 ,for example1 a red surface in red light looks simply white2 a green surface in red light looks black4 ,the usual interpretation of this phenomenon1 namely1 that it consists in a subjective 'contrast' impression of the eye - a red surface in red light looking brighter1 a green surface darker1 than its surroundings1 and thereby causing the illusion of white or black - is a typical onlooker-interpretation against which there stands the evidence of unprejudiced observation4 ,the reality of the 'white' and the 'black' seen in such cases is so striking that a person who has not seen the colours of the objects in ordinary light can hardly be persuaded to believe that they are not 'really' white or black4 ,the fact is that the white and the black that are seen under these conditions are just as real as 'ordinary' white and black4 ,when in either instance the eye registers 'white' it registers exactly the same event1 namely1 the total reflexion of the light by the surface struck by it4 ,again1 when the eye registers 'black' in both cases it registers an identical process1 namely1 total absorption of the light4#a ,seen thus1 the phenomenon informs us of the significant fact that our eye is not at all concerned with the colour of the light that enters its own cavity1 but rather with what happens between the light and the surface on which the light falls4 ,in other words1 the phenomenon shows that our process of seeing is not confined to the bodily organ of the eye1 but extends into outer space to the point where we experience the visible object to be4#b ,this picture of the visual process1 to which we have been led here by simple optical observation1 was reached by ,thomas ,reid through his own experience of how1 in the act of perceiving the world1 man is linked intuitively with it4 ,we remember that he intended in his philosophy to carry ad absurdum the hypothesis that 'the images of the external objects are conveyed by the organs of sense to the brain and are there perceived by the mind'4 ,common ,sense makes ,reid speak as follows3 ',if any man will shew how the mind may perceive images of the brain1 ,i will undertake to shew how it may perceive the most distant objects2 for if we give eyes to the mind1 to perceive what is transacted at home in its dark chamber1 why may we not make the eyes a little longer-sighted8 ,and then we shall have no occasion for that unphilosophical fiction of images in the brain4' 7,inq41 ,,vi1 #ab47 ,reid proceeds to show this by pointing out1 first1 that we must only use the idea of 'image' for truly visual perceptions2 secondly1 that the sole place of this image is the background of the eye1 and not any part of the nervous system lying beyond2 thirdly1 that even this retina-image1 as such1 does not come to our consciousness1 but serves only to direct the consciousness to the cause of the image1 namely1 the external object itself4 ,in what follows we shall deal with an observation which will show how right ,reid was in this respect4 ,those familiar with this observation 7well known indeed to those living in the hilly and mountainous districts both here and on the ,continent7 know that when distant features of the landscape1 in an otherwise clear and sunlit atmosphere1 suddenly seem almost near enough to touch1 rainy weather is approaching4 ,likewise a conspicuous increase in distance1 while the sky is still overcast1 foreshadows fine weather4 ,this effect 7the customary 'explanation' of which is1 as usual1 of no avail to us and so need not concern us here7 ranks with phenomena described in optics under the name of 'apparent optical depth'1 a subject we shall discuss more fully in the next chapter4 ,it suffices here to state that it is the higher degree of humidity which1 by lending the atmosphere greater optical density 7without changing its clarity71 makes distant objects seem to be closer to the eye1 and vice versa4 7,if we could substitute for the air a much lighter gas - say1 hydrogen - then the things we see through it would look farther off than they ever do in our atmosphere47 ,observations such as these show us that 7a7 when external light strikes the retina of our eye1 our inner light is stimulated to move out of the eye towards it2 7b7 in pressing outward1 this inner light meets with a certain resistance1 and the extent of this determines at what distance from the eye our visual ray comes to rest as the result of a kind of exhaustion4 ,just as the outer light reaches an inner boundary at our retina1 so does the inner light meet with an outer boundary1 set by the optical density of the medium spread out before the eye1 ,outer and inner light interpenetrate each other along the whole tract between these two boundaries1 but normally we are not conscious of this process4 ,we first become conscious of it where our active gaze - that is1 the inner light sent forth through the eye - reaches the limit of its activity4 ,at that point we become aware of the object of our gaze4 ,so here we find confirmed a fact noted earlier1 that consciousness - at least at its present state of evolution - arises where for some reason or other our volition conies to rest4 99 ,the foregoing observations have served to awaken us in a preliminary way to the fact that an essential part of our act of seeing takes place outside our bodily organ of vision and that our visual experience is determined by what happens out there between our gaze and the medium it has to penetrate4 ,our next task will be to find out how this part of our visual activity is affected by the properties of the different colours4 ,we shall thereby gain a further insight into the nature of the polarity underlying all colour-phenomena1 and this again will enable us to move a step further towards becoming conscious of what happens in our act of seeing4 ,we shall start by observing what happens to the two sides of the colour-scale when the optical medium assumes various degrees of density4 ,for the sky to appear blue by day a certain purity of the atmosphere is needed4 ,the more veiled the atmosphere becomes the more the blue of the sky turns towards white2 the purer and rarer the atmosphere1 the deeper the blue1 gradually approaching to black4 ,to mountain climbers and those who fly at great heights it is a familiar experience to see the sky assume a deep indigo hue4 ,there can be no doubt that at still higher altitudes the colour of the sky passes over into violet and ultimately into pure black4 ,thus in the case of blue the field of vision owes its darkening to a decrease in the resistance by which our visual ray is met in the optical medium4 ,it is precisely the opposite with yellow4 ,for here1 as the density of the medium increases1 the colour-effect grows darker by yellow darkening first to orange and then to red1 until finally it passes over into complete darkness4 ,this shows that our visual ray is subject to entirely different dynamic effects at the two poles of the colour-scale4 ,at the blue pole1 the lightness-effect springs from the resistant medium through which we gaze1 a medium under the influence of gravity1 while the darkness is provided by the anti-gravity quality of cosmic space1 which as a 'negative' resistance exercises a suction on the eye's inner light4 ,at the yellow pole it is just the reverse4 ,here1 the resistant medium brings about a darkening of our field of vision1 while the lightness-effect springs from a direct meeting of the eye with light1 and so with the suctional effect of negative density4 ,our pursuit of the dynamic causes underlying our apperception of the two poles of the colour-scale has led us to a point where it becomes necessary to introduce certain new terms to enable us to go beyond ,goethe's general distinction between ,finsternis 7darkness7 and ,licht 7light74 ,following ,goethe1 we have so far used these two terms for what appears both in blue and yellow as the respective light and dark ingredients4 ,this distinction cannot satisfy us any more4 ,for through our last observations it has become clear that the ,finsternis in blue and the ,licht in yellow are opposites only in appearance1 because they are both caused by ,levity1 and similarly that the lightening effect in blue and the darkening effect in yellow are both effected by ,gravity4 ,therefore1 to distinguish between what appertains to the primary polarity1 ,levity-,gravity1 on the one hand1 and their visible effects in the secondary polarity of the colours1 on the other1 we shall henceforth reserve the term darkness and1 with it1 lightness for instances where the perceptible components of the respective colours are concerned1 while speaking of ,dark and ,light where reference is made to the generating primary polarity4 99 ,if we are justified in thus tracing the colour-polarity to a polarically ordered interplay between levity and gravity1 we may then pursue the following line of thought4 ,we know from earlier considerations that wherever such an interplay between the poles of the primary polarity takes place1 we have to do1 in geometric terms1 with the polarity of sphere and radius4 ,we may therefore conclude that the same characteristics will apply to the way in which the blue of the sky and the yellow of the sunlight are encountered spatially4 ,now we need only observe how the blue heavens arch over us spherically1 on the one hand1 and how the yellow brightness of the sun penetrates the air ray-wise1 on the other1 in order to realize that this really is so4 ,having thus established the connexion of the two poles of the colour-scale with the spherical and radial structure of space1 we are now able to express the ,goethean ur-phenomenon in a more dynamic way as follows3 ,on the one hand1 we see the blue of the heavens emerging when levity is drawn down by gravity from its primal invisibility into visible1 spherical manifestation4 ,in the yellow of the sunlight1 on the other hand1 we see gravity1 under the influence of the sun's levity1 gleaming up radially into visibility4 ,the aspect of the two colour-poles which thus arises before us prompts us to replace ,goethe's 'lightened ,dark' by ,earthward-dawning-,levity1 and his 'darkened ,light' by ,heavenward-raying-,gravity4 ,we have now to show that this picture of the dynamic relationship which underlies the appearance of the colour-polarity in the sky is valid also for other cases which are instances of the ur-phenomenon of the generation of colour in ,goethe's sense1 but seem not to lend themselves to the same cosmic interpretation4 ,such a case is the appearance of yellow and blue when we look through a clouded transparent medium towards a source of light or to a black background4 ,there is no special difficulty here in bringing the appearance of yellow into line with its macrotelluric counterpart1 but the appearance of blue requires some consideration4 ,we have seen that a corporeal surface appears as black if light striking it is totally absorbed by it4 ,thus1 wherever our eye is met by the colour black1 our visual ray is engaged in a process whereby light disappears from physical space4 ,now we need only bring this process into consciousness - as we have tried to do before in similar instances - to realize that what happens here to the visual ray is something similar to what it undergoes when it is directed from the earth into cosmic space4 ,note1 in this respect1 the principle of the mirror as another instance of the fact that the interplay between light and an illumined surface can have on the visual ray an effect similar to that of external space4 ,for the optical processes which occur on the surface of a mirror are such that1 whilst taking place on a two-dimensional plane1 they evoke in our consciousness pictures of exactly the same nature as if we were looking through the mirror into the space behind it4 99 ,the value of our picture of the colour-polarity is shown further if we observe how natural phenomena based on the same kind of polarity in other realms of nature fit in with it4 ,we remember that one of ,goethe's starting-points in his investigation of the riddle of colour was the observation that of the totality of colours one part is experienced as 'warm' and the other as 'cold'4 ,now we can go further and say that the colours of the spherical pole are experienced as cold1 those of the radial pole as warm4 ,this corresponds precisely to the polarity of snow-formation and volcanic activity4 ,the former1 being the spherically directed process1 requires physically low temperatures2 the latter1 being the radially directed process1 requires high temperatures4 ,here1 once more1 we see with what objectivity the human senses register the facts of the outer world4 ,another realm of phenomena based on a similar polar order is that of electricity4 ,when we studied the negative and positive poles of the vacuum tube1 with regard to the polar distribution of radius and sphere1 our attention was drawn to the colours appearing on the two electrodes - red at the 7positive7 anode1 blue at the 7negative7 cathode4 ,again we find a coincidence with the natural order of the colours4 ,note how the qualitative dynamic method employed here brings into direct view the relationship between light and electricity1 while it precludes the mistake of tracing light processes to those of electricity1 as modern science does4 ,nor are electric processes 'explained' from this point of view merely as variations of light processes4 ,rather is the relation between light and electricity seen to be based on the fact that all polarities arising perceptibly in nature are creations of the same primeval polarity1 that of ,levity and ,gravity4 ,the interplay of ,levity and ,gravity can take on many different forms which are distinguished essentially by differences in cosmic age4 ,thus the colour-polarity in its primal form1 made manifest by the heavens1 differs as much from the corresponding polarity shown by the vacuum tube1 as does the lightning in the heights from the electric spark4 99 ,with the aid of what we have learnt here concerning outer light-processes we shall turn once more to the activity of our own inner light4 ,we may expect by now that our eye is fitted with two modes of seeing activity1 polar to each other1 and that the way in which they come into operation depends on whether the interplay of positive and negative density outside the eye leads to the appearance of the blue-violet or of the yellow-red side of the colour-scale4 ,such a polarity in the activity of the eye can indeed be established4 ,along with it goes a significant functional difference between the two eyes 7not unlike that shown of the two hands74 ,to observe this we need simply to compare the two eyes of a person in a photograph by covering alternately the right and the left half of the face4 ,nearly always it will be found that the right eye looks out clearly into the world with an active expression1 and the left eye with a much gentler one1 almost held back4 ,artists are well aware of this asymmetry1 as of others in the human countenance1 and are careful to depict it4 ,an outstanding example is ,raphael's ,sistine ,madonna1 where in the eyes and whole countenance both of ,mother and ,child this asymmetry can be studied in a specially impressive way4 ,inner observation leads to a corresponding experience4 ,a convenient method is to exercise the two eyes in complete darkness1 in the following way4 ,one eye is made to look actively into the space in front of it1 as if it would pierce the darkness with its visual ray1 while the activity of the other eye is held back1 so that its gaze rests only superficially1 as it were1 on the darkness in front of it4 ,experience shows that most people find it natural to give the active note to the right eye1 and the passive note to the left4 ,once one has grown conscious of this natural difference between the two eyes1 it is quite easily detected while one is looking normally into the light-filled environment4 ,we thereby realize that for the two eyes to act differently in this way is the usual thing4 ,as an instance where this fact is well observed and effectively made use of1 that of shooting may be mentioned here1 especially shooting at flying game4 ,those who train in this sport learn to make a completely different use of the two eyes in sighting the target4 ,the naturally more active eye - only once in about fifty cases is it the left - is called by them the 'master-eye'4 ,whilst the less actively gazing eye is usually employed for surveying the field as a whole into which the target is expected to enter1 the master-eye is used for making active contact with the target itself 7'throwing' oneself on the target 'through' the eye74 ,one further observation may be added4 ,if one looks with rested eyes and in very faint daylight 7perhaps in the early morning on awakening7 at a white surface1 while opening and closing the eyes alternately1 then the white surface looks faintly reddish to the 'master-eye'1 and faintly bluish to the other4 99 ,following the lines of our treatment of after-images in the last chapter1 we will next inquire into the anatomical and physiological basis of the two opposite sight-activities4 ,in the previous instance we found this in the polarity of nerve and blood4 ,this time we must look for it in a certain twofold structure of the eye itself4 ,we shall best perceive this by watching the 'becoming' of the eye1 thus again following a method first shown by ,goethe4 ,fig4 #aa shows the human eye in different stages of its embryonic formation4 ,the eye is clearly seen to consist of two parts essentially different in origin4 ,growing out from the interior of the embryonic organism is a structure that is gradually pushed in1 and in its further development becomes the entire posterior part of the eye1 destined to carry its life-imbued functions4 ,a second independent part grows towards this from outside2 this is at first a mere thickening of the embryonic skin formation1 but later it loosens itself and presses forward into the interior of the cup-shaped structure4 ,it is gradually enclosed by this1 and evolves finally into that part of the finished eye which embodies the optical apparatus functioning according to purely physical laws4 ,this series of forms shows that in the embryonic formation of the eye we are confronted with two processes1 one of spherical1 and the other of radial orientation4 ,consequently the two parts of the eye are differentiated in such a way that the posterior part1 which has grown forth radially from the embryonic organism1 as the life-filled element represents the sulphur-pole of the total eye1 while the anterior part1 with its much more crystalline nature1 having grown spherically towards the organism1 represents the eye's salt-pole4 ,closer inspection into the connexion of the two visual activities of the eye with its basic corporeal parts reveals that here1 at the outermost boundary of the human organism1 we encounter once more that peculiar reversal of functions which we have already several times met in various realms of nature4 ,for the anterior part of the eye - its salt-pole - which has come into being through a spherically directed formative process1 seems to be the one through which we exercise the perceptive activity streaming out radially from the eye1 whilst the posterior part - the eye's sulphur-pole - which has come into being through radially directed formative action1 serves that form of seeing which is more receptive and is carried out in a plane-wise manner4 ,considerations of this kind1 and they alone1 enable us also to draw true comparisons between the different sense-organs4 ,take the organ of hearing4 ,usually the ear is assumed to fill the same role in the field of hearing as does the eye in the field of seeing4 ,in fact the ear corresponds to only one half of the eye2 the other half must be looked for in the larynx4 ,in other words1 the two parts of the eye are represented in the realm of hearing by two separate organs1 ear and larynx4 ,speaking from the aspect of metamorphosis1 the vital part of our eye may be regarded as our 'light-ear'2 the crystalline part1 as our 'light-larynx'4 ,in order to come consciously to a perception of sight we must 'listen' to the 'deeds and sufferings' of light1 while at the same time we meet them with the help of the 'speaking' of our inner light4 ,something similar holds good for hearing4 ,in fact1 observation reveals that we take in no impression of hearing unless we accompany it with an activity of our larynx1 even though a silent one4 ,the significance of this fact for the total function of hearing will occupy us more fully later4 99 ,our insight into the polar nature of visual activity will enable us now to link the external interplay of ,light and ,dark - to which the physical colours owe their existence - to that play of forces which we ourselves set in motion when our eye meets the world of colours in their polar differentiation4 ,we established earlier that in the cold colours the role of darkness belongs to the pole of levity or negative density1 and the role of lightness to the pole of gravity or positive density1 whereas in the case of the warm colours the roles are reversed4 ,let us now unite with this the insight we have meanwhile gained into the two kinds of activity in seeing - the receptive1 'left-eyed' and the radiating1 'right-eyed' - which mediate to us the experience of the positive or negative density of space spread out before our eyes4 ,taking together the results of outer and inner observation1 we can express the polarity ruling in the realm of colour as follows4 ,if lightness and darkness as elements of colour1 meet us in such a way that lightness1 by reason of its positive density1 calls forth 'left-eyed' activity1 and darkness1 by reason of its negative density1 'right-eyed' activity1 then our soul receives the impression of the colour blue and colours related to blue4 ,if lightness and darkness meet us so that we see the former in a 'right-eyed'1 and the latter in a 'left-eyed' way1 then we experience this as the presence of yellow and the colours related to it4 ,the reason why we usually fail to observe the different kinds of interplay of the two modes of seeing1 when we perceive one or other of the two categories of colour1 is because in ordinary sight both eyes exercise each of the two activities without our becoming aware which is the leading one in a particular eye4 ,if1 however1 one has come to a real experience of the inner polarity of the visual act1 one needs only a little practice to realize the distinction4 ,for example1 if one looks at the blue sky1 notably at noon-time1 on the side away from the sun1 or at the morning or evening sky1 shining yellow and red1 one quickly becomes conscious of how our eyes take hold of the particular contribution which ,light and ,dark make to one or other of the two colour appearances4 99 ,in the natural course of our argument we had to keep at first to the appearance of colours as they come freely before us in space4 ,the results we have obtained1 however1 hold good equally well for the permanent tints of material objects1 as the following example will show4 ,a fact known to science is that red and blue surface colours1 when illumined by light of steadily diminishing intensity1 are seen to reverse their normal ratio of brightness4 ,this phenomenon can be seen in nature1 if1 for instance1 one observes a bed of blue and red flowers in the fading evening light and compares the impression with that which the same flowers make in bright daylight4 ,if the phenomenon is reproduced artificially1 the actual transition from one state to the other can be clearly observed4 ,the easiest way is to place a red and a blue surface side by side under an electric light whose intensity can be gradually lessened by means of a sliding resistance4 ,here1 as much as in the natural phenomenon1 our reason finds it difficult to acknowledge that the surface gleaming in a whitish sheen should be the one which ordinarily appears as darkling blue1 and that the one disappearing into darkness should be the surface which normally presents itself as radiant red4 ,this riddle is readily solved if we apply what we have learnt about the particular shares of lightness and darkness in these two colours1 and if we link this up with the respective forms of seeing exercised by our two eyes4 ,to the dim light1 clearly1 our eyes will respond more with the 'left-eyed' than with the 'right-eyed' form of vision4 ,now we know that it is 'left-eyed' vision which is roused by the lightness-component in blue and the darkness-component in red4 ,it is only to be expected1 therefore1 that these elements should become conspicuous when in the dim light our seeing is mainly 'left-eyed'4 ,this solution of the problem makes us realize further1 that the laws which ,goethe first found for the coming into appearance of colours freely hovering in space are indeed applicable to the fixed material colours as well4 #a ,it will be well to remember here the discussion of our experience of temperature through the sense of warmth in ,chapter ,,viii 7p4 #acd;f474 #b ,along these lines the true solution of the problem of the so-called coloured shadows will be found1 ,goethe studied this without finding1 however1 a satisfactory answer4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,optics of the ,doer ,three basic concepts form the foundation for the present-day scientific description of a vast field of optical phenomena1 among them the occurrence of the spectral colours as a result of light passing through a transparent medium of prismatic shape4 ,they are3 'optical refraction'1 'light-ray'1 and 'light-velocity' - the latter two serving to explain the first4 ,in a science of optics which seeks its foundation in the intercourse between man's own visual activity and the doings and sufferings of light1 these three concepts must needs undergo a decisive change1 both in their meaning and in their value for the description of the relevant optical phenomena4 ,for they are all purely kinematic concepts typical of the onlooker-way of conceiving things - concepts1 that is1 to which nothing corresponds in the realm of the actual phenomena4 ,our next task1 therefore1 will be1 where possible1 to fill these concepts with new meaning1 or else to replace them by other concepts read from the actual phenomena4 ,once this is done the way will be free for the development of the picture of the spectrum phenomenon which is in true accord with the ,goethean conception of ,light and ,colour4 99 ,the first to be brought in this sense under our examination is the concept of the 'light-ray'4 ,in present-day optics this concept signifies a geometrical line of infinitely small width drawn1 as it were1 by the light in space1 while the cone or cylinder of light actually filling the space is described as being composed of innumerable such rays4 ,in the same way the object producing or reflecting light is thought of as composed of innumerable single points from which the light-rays emerge4 ,all descriptions of optical processes are based upon this conception4 ,obviously1 we cannot be satisfied with such a reduction of wholes into single geometrically describable parts1 followed by a reassembling of these parts into a whole4 ,for in reality we have to do with realms of space uniformly filled with light1 whether conical or cylindrical in form1 which arise through certain boundaries being set to the light4 ,in optical research we have therefore always to do with pictures1 spatially bounded4 ,thus what comes before our consciousness is determined equally by the light calling forth the picture1 and by the unlit space bordering it4 ,remembering the results of our earlier study1 we must say further of such a light-filled realm that it lacks the quality of visibility and therefore has no colour1 not even white4 ,goethe and other 'readers'1 such as ,reid and ,ruskin1 tried continually to visualize what such a light-filled space represents in reality4 ,hence they directed their attention first to those spheres where light manifests its form-creative activity1 as in the moulding of the organ of sight in animal or man1 or in the creation of the many forms of the plant kingdom - and only then gave their mind to the purely physical light-phenomena4 ,let us use the same method to form a picture of a light-filled space1 and to connect this with the ideas we have previously gained on the co-operation in space of levity and gravity4 ,suppose we have two similar plant-seeds in germ2 and let one lie in a space filled with light1 the other in an unlit space4 ,from the different behaviour of the two seeds we can observe certain differences between the two regions of space4 ,we note that within the light-filled region the spiritual archetype of the plant belonging to the seed is helped to manifest itself physically in space1 whereas in the dark region it receives no such aid4 ,for in the latter the physical plant1 even if it grows1 does not develop its proper forms4 ,this tells us1 in accordance with what we have learnt earlier1 that in the two cases there is a different relation of space to the cosmically distant1 all-embracing plane4 ,thus inside and outside the light-region there exists a quite different relation of levity and gravity - and this relation changes abruptly at the boundaries of the region4 7,this fact will be of especial importance for us when we come to examine the arising of colours at the boundary of ,light and ,dark1 when light passes through a prism47 99 ,after having replaced the customary concept of the light-bundle composed of single rays by the conception of two dynamically polar realms of space bordering each other1 we turn to the examination of what is going on dynamically inside these realms4 ,this will help us to gain a proper concept of the propagation of light through space4 ,in an age when the existence of a measurable light-velocity seems to belong to the realm of facts long since experimentally proved2 when science has begun to measure the universe1 using the magnitude of this velocity as a constant1 valid for the whole cosmos2 and when entire branches of science have been founded on results thus gained1 it is not easy1 and yet it cannot be avoided1 to proclaim that neither has an actual velocity of light ever been measured1 nor can light as such ever be made subject to such measurement by optical means - and that1 moreover1 light1 by its very nature1 forbids us to conceive of it as possessing any finite velocity4 ,with the last assertion we do not mean to say that there is nothing going on in connexion with the appearance of optical phenomena to which the concept of a finite velocity is applicable4 ,only1 what is propagated in this way is not the entity we comprise under the concept of 'light'4 ,our next task1 therefore1 will be to create a proper distinction between what moves and what does not move spatially when light is active in the physical world4 ,once more an historical retrospect will help us to establish our own standpoint with regard to the existing theories4 ,the first to think of light as possessing a finite velocity was ,galileo1 who also made the first1 though unsuccessful1 attempt to measure it4 ,equally unsuccessful were attempts of a similar nature made soon afterwards by members of the ,accademia del ,cimento4 ,in both cases the obvious procedure was to produce regular flashes of light and to try to measure the time which elapsed between their production and their observation by some more or less distant observer4 ,still1 the conviction of the existence of such a velocity was so deeply ingrained in the minds of men that1 when later observations succeeded in establishing a finite magnitude for what seemed to be the rate of the light's movement through space1 these observations were hailed much more as the quantitative value of this movement than as proof of its existence1 which was already taken for granted4 ,a clear indication of man's state of mind in regard to this question is given in the following passage from ,huygens's famous ,trait de la ,lumire1 by which the world was first made acquainted with the concept of light as a sort of undulatory movement4 ',one cannot doubt that light consists in the movement of a certain substance4 ,for if one considers its production one finds that here on the earth it is chiefly produced by fire and flame1 which without doubt contain bodies in rapid motion1 for they dissolve and melt numberless other bodies4 ,or1 if one considers its effects1 one sees that light collected1 for instance1 by a concave mirror has the power to heat like fire1 i4e4 to separate the parts of the bodies2 this assuredly points to movement1 at least in true philosophy in which one traces all natural activity to mechanical causes4 ,in my opinion one must do this1 or quite give up all hope of ever grasping anything in physics4' ,in these words of ,huygens it must strike us how he first provides an explanation for a series of phenomena as if this explanation were induced from the phenomena themselves4 ,after he has drawn quite definite conclusions from it1 he then derives its necessity from quite other principles - namely1 from a certain method of thinking1 accepting this as it is1 unquestioned and unalterably established4 ,we are here confronted with an 'unlogic' characteristic of human thinking during its state of isolation from the dynamic substratum of the world of the senses1 an unlogic which one encounters repeatedly in scientific argumentation once one has grown aware of it4 ,in circles of modern thinkers where such awareness prevails 7and they are growing rapidly to-day7 the term 'proof of a foregone conclusion' has been coined to describe this fact4#a ',proof of a foregone conclusion' is indeed the verdict at which one arrives in respect of all the observations concerned with the velocity of light - whether of existing phenomena detectable in the sky or of terrestrial phenomena produced artificially - if one studies them with the attitude of mind represented by the child in ,hans ,andersen's story4 ,in view of the seriousness of the matter it will not be out of place if we discuss them here as briefly as possible1 one by one4#b ,the relevant observations fall into two categories3 observations of certain astronomical facts from which the existence of a finite velocity of light and its magnitude as an absolute property of it has been inferred2 and terrestrial experiments which permitted direct observation of a process of propagation connected with the establishment of light in space resulting in the measurement of its speed4 ,to the latter category belong the experiments of ,fizeau 7#ahdi7 and ,foucault 7#ahej7 as well as the ,michelson-,morley experiment with its implications for ,einstein's ,theory of ,relativity4 ,the former category is represented by ,roemer's observations of certain apparent irregularities in the times of revolution of one of ,jupiter's moons 7#afgf71 and by ,bradley's investigation into the reason for the apparent rhythmic changes of the positions of the fixed stars 7#agbh74 ,we shall start with the terrestrial observations1 because in their case alone is the entire path of the light surveyable1 and what is measured therefore is something appertaining with certainty to every point of the space which spreads between the source of the light and the observer4 ,for this reason textbooks quite rightly say that only the results drawn from these terrestrial observations have the value of empirically observed facts4 7,the interpretation given to these facts is another question47 ,now1 it is a common feature of all these experiments that by necessity they are based on an arrangement whereby a light-beam can be made to appear and disappear alternately4 ,in this respect there is no difference between the first primitive attempts made by ,galileo and the ,academicians1 and the ingeniously devised experiments of the later observers1 whether they operate with a toothed wheel or a rotating mirror4 ,it is always a flash of light - and how could it be otherwise8 - which is produced at certain regular intervals and used for determining the speed of propagation4 ,evidently what in all these cases is measured is the speed with which a beam of light establishes itself in space4 ,of what happens within the beam1 once it is established1 these observations tell nothing at all4 ,the proof they are held to give of the existence of a finite speed of light1 as such1 is a 'proof of a foregone conclusion'4 ,all they tell us is that the beam's front1 at the moment when this beam is first established1 travels through space with a finite velocity and that the rate of this movement is such and such4 ,and they tell us nothing at all about other regions of the cosmos4 ,that we have to do in these observations with the speed of the light-front only1 and not of the light itself1 is a fact fully acknowledged by modern physical optics4 ,since ,lord ,rayleigh first discussed this matter in the eighties of the last century1 physicists have learnt to distinguish between the 'wave-velocity' of the light itself and the velocity of an 'impressed peculiarity'1 the so-called 'group-velocity'1 and it has been acknowledged that only the latter has been1 and can be1 directly measured4 ,there is no possibility of inferring from it the value of the 'wave-velocity' unless one has a complete knowledge of the properties of the medium through which the 'groups' travel4 ,nevertheless1 the modern mind allows itself to be convinced that light possesses a finite velocity and that this has been established by actual measurement4 ,we feel reminded here of ,eddington's comment on ,newton's famous observations3 ',such is the glamour of a historical experiment4' 7,chapter ,,xiv47#c ,let us now turn to ,roemer and ,bradley4 ,in a certain sense ,roemer's observations and even those of ,bradley rank together with the terrestrial measurements4 ,for ,roemer used as optical signals the appearance and disappearance of one of ,jupiter's moons in the course of its revolution round the planet2 thus he worked with light-flashes1 as the experimental investigations do4 ,hence1 also1 his measurements were concerned - as optical science acknowledges - with group-velocity only4 ,in fact1 even ,bradley's observations1 although he was the only one who operated with continuous light-phenomena1 are exposed to the charge that they give information of the group-velocity of light1 and not of its wave-velocity4 ,however1 we shall ignore these limitations in both cases1 because there are quite other factors which invalidate the proofs they are held to give1 and to gain a clear insight into these factors is of special importance for us4 ,roemer observed a difference in the length of time during which a certain moon of ,jupiter was occulted by the planet's body1 and found that this difference underwent regular changes coincident with the changes in the earth's position in relation to ,jupiter and the sun4 ,seen from the sun1 the earth is once a year in conjunction with ,jupiter1 once in opposition to it4 ,it seemed obvious to explain the time-lag in the moon's reappearance1 when the earth was on the far side of the sun1 by the time the light from the moon needed to cover the distance marked by the two extreme positions of the earth - that is1 a distance equal to the diameter of the earth's orbit4 ,on dividing the observed interval of time by the accepted value of this distance1 ,roemer obtained for the velocity of light a figure not far from the one found later by terrestrial measurements4 ,we can here leave out of account the fact that ,roemer's reasoning is based on the assumption that the ,copernican conception of the relative movements of the members of our solar system is the valid conception1 an assumption which1 as later considerations will show1 cannot be upheld in a science which strives for a truly dynamic understanding of the world4 ,for the change of aspect which becomes necessary in this way does not invalidate ,roemer's observation as such2 it rules out only the customary interpretation of it4 ,freed from all hypothetical by-thought1 ,roemer's observation tells us1 first1 that the time taken by a flash of light travelling from a cosmic light-source to reach the earth varies to a measurable extent1 and1 secondly1 that this difference is bound up with the yearly changes of the earth's position in relation to the sun and the relevant planetary body4 ,we leave equally out of account the fact that our considerations of the nature of space in ,chapter ,,xii render it impermissible to conceive of cosmic space as something 'across' which light 7or any other entity7 can be regarded as travelling this or that distance in this or that time4 ,what matters to us here is the validity of the conclusions drawn from ,roemer's discovery within the framework of thought in which they were made4 ,boiled down to its purely empirical content1 ,roemer's observation tells us solely and simply that within the earth's cosmic orbit light-flashes travel with a certain measurable speed4 ,to regard this information as automatically valid1 firstly for light which is continuously present1 and secondly for everywhere in the universe1 rests again on nothing but a foregone conclusion4 ,precisely the same criticism applies to ,bradley's observation1 and to an even higher degree4 ,what ,bradley discovered is the fact that the apparent direction in which we see a fixed star is dependent on the direction in which the earth moves relatively to the star1 a phenomenon known under the name of 'aberration of light'4 ,this phenomenon is frequently brought to students' understanding by means of the following or some similar analogy4 ,imagine that a machine-gun in a fixed position has sent its projectile right across a railway-carriage so that both the latter's walls are pierced4 ,if the train is at rest1 the position of the gun could be determined by sighting through the shot-holes made by the entrance and exit of the bullet4 ,if1 however1 the train is moving at high speed1 it will have advanced a certain distance during the time taken by the projectile to cross the carriage1 and the point of exit will be nearer the rear of the carriage than in the previous case4 ,let us now think of an observer in the train who1 while ignorant of the train's movement1 undertook to determine the gun's position by considering the direction of the line connecting the two holes4 ,he would necessarily locate the gun in a position which1 compared with its true position1 would seem to have shifted by some distance in the direction of the train's motion4 ,on the other hand1 given the speed of the train1 the angle which the line connecting the two holes forms with the true direction of the course of the projectile - the so-called angle of aberration - provides a measure of the speed of the projectile4 ,under the foregone conclusion that light itself has a definite velocity1 and that this velocity is the same throughout the universe1 ,bradley's observation of the aberration of the stars seemed indeed to make it possible to calculate this velocity from the knowledge of the earth's own speed and the angle of aberration4 ,this angle could be established by comparing the different directions into which a telescope has to be turned at different times of the year in order to focus a particular star4 ,but what does ,bradley's observation tell us1 once we exclude all foregone conclusions8 ,as the above analogy helps towards an understanding of the concept of aberration1 it will be helpful also to determine the limits up to which we are allowed to draw valid conclusions from the supposed occurrence itself4 ,a mind which is free from all preconceived ideas will not ignore the fact that the projectile1 by being forced to pierce the wall of the carriage1 suffers a considerable diminution of its speed4 ,the projectile1 therefore1 passes through the carriage with a speed different from its speed outside4 ,since1 however1 it is the speed from hole to hole which determines the angle of aberration1 no conclusion can be drawn from the latter as to the original velocity of the projectile4 ,let us assume the imaginary case that the projectile was shot forth from the gun with infinite velocity1 and that the slowing-down effect of the wall was great enough to produce a finite speed of the usual magnitude1 then the effect on the position of the exit hole would be precisely the same as if the projectile had moved all the time ' with this speed and not been slowed down at all4 ,seeing things in this light1 the scientific ,andersen child in us is roused to exclaim3 ',but all that ,bradley's observation informs us of 1 with certainty is a finite velocity of the optical process going on inside the telescope6' ,indeed1 if someone should claim with good reason 7as we shall do later on7 that light's own velocity is infinite1 and 7as we shall not do7 that the dynamic situation set up in the telescope had the effect of slowing down the light to the measured velocity - there is nothing in ,bradley's observation which could disprove these assertions4 99 ,having thus disposed of the false conclusions drawn by a kinematically orientated thinking from the various observations and measurements of the velocity which appears in connexion with light1 we can carry on our own studies undisturbed4 ,two observations stand before us representing empirically established facts3 one1 that in so far as a finite velocity has been measured or calculated from other observations1 nothing is known about the existence or magnitude of such a velocity except within the boundaries of the dynamic realm constituted by the earth's presence in the universe2 the other1 that this velocity is a 'group'-velocity1 that is1 the velocity of the front of a light-beam in process of establishment4 ,let us see what these two facts have to tell us when we regard them as letters of the 'word' which light inscribes into the phenomenal world as an indication of its own nature4 ,taking the last-named fact first1 we shall make use of the following comparison to help us realize how little we are justified in drawing from observations of the front speed of a light-beam any conclusions concerning the kinematic conditions prevailing in the interior of the beam itself4 ,imagine the process of constructing a tunnel1 with all the efforts and time needed for cutting its passage through the resisting rock4 ,when the tunnel is finished the activities necessary to its production are at an end4 ,whereas these continue for a limited time only1 they leave behind them permanent traces in the existence of the tunnel1 which one can describe dynamically as a definite alteration in the local conditions of the earth's gravity4 ,now1 it would occur to no one to ascribe to the tunnel itself1 as a lasting quality1 the speed with which it had been constructed4 ,yet something similar happens when1 after observing the velocity required by light to lay hold on space1 this velocity is then attributed to the light as a quality of its own4 ,it was reserved for a mode of thought that could form no concept of the real dynamic of ,light and ,dark1 to draw conclusions as to the qualities of light from experiences obtained through observing its original spreading out into space4 ,to speak of an independently existing space within which light could move forward like a physical body1 is1 after what we have learnt about space1 altogether forbidden4 ,for space in its relevant structure is itself but a result of a particular co-ordination of levity and gravity or1 in other words1 of ,light and ,dark4 ,what we found earlier about the qualities of the two polar spaces now leads us to conceive of them as representative of two limiting conditions of velocity3 absolute contraction representing zero velocity2 absolute expansion1 infinite velocity 7each in its own way a state of 'rest'74 ,thus any motion with finite velocity is a mean between these two extremes1 and as such the result of a particular co-ordination of levity and gravity4 ,this makes it evident that to speak of a velocity taking its course in space1 whether with reference to light or to a physical body in motion1 is something entirely unreal4 ,let us now see what we are really told by the number #ahf1jjj miles a second1 as the measure of the speed with which a light-impulse establishes itself spatially4 ,in the preceding chapter we learnt that the earth's field of gravity offers a definite resistance to our visual ray4 ,what is true for the inner light holds good equally for the outer light4 ,using an image from another dynamic stratum of nature we can say that light1 while appearing within the field of gravity1 'rubs' itself on this4 ,on the magnitude of this friction depends the velocity with which a light-impulse establishes itself in the medium of the resisting gravity4 ,whereas light itself as a manifestation of levity possesses infinite velocity1 this is forced down to the known finite measure by the resistance of the earth's field of gravity4 ,thus the speed of light which has been measured by observers such as ,fizeau and ,foucault reveals itself as a function of the gravitational constant of the earth1 and hence has validity for this sphere only4#a ,the same is true for ,roemer's and ,bradley's observations1 none of which1 after what we have stated earlier1 contradicts this result4 ,on the contrary1 seen from this viewpoint1 ,roemer's discovery of the light's travelling with finite speed within the cosmic realm marked by the earth's orbit provides an important insight into the dynamic conditions of this realm4 99 ,among the experiments undertaken with the aim of establishing the properties of the propagation of light by direct measurements1 quoted earlier1 we mentioned the ,michelson-,morley experiment as having a special bearing on ,einstein's conceptual edifice4 ,it is the one which has formed the foundation of that 7earlier7 part of ,einstein's theory which he himself called the ,special ,theory of ,relativity4 ,let us see what becomes of this foundation - and with it the conceptual edifice erected upon it - when we examine it against the background of what we have found to be the true nature of the so-called velocity of light4 ,it is generally known that modern ideas of light seemed to call for something 7,huygens's 'certain substance'7 to act as bearer of the movement attributed to light4 ,this led to the conception of an imponderable agency capable of certain movements1 and to denote this agency the ,greek word ether was borrowed4 7,how this word can be used again to-day in conformity with its actual significance will be shown in the further course of our discussions47 ,nevertheless1 all endeavours to find in the existence of such an ether a means of explaining wide fields of natural phenomena were disappointed4 ,for the more exact concepts one tried to form of the characteristics of this ether1 the greater the contradictions became4 ,one such decisive contradiction arose when optical means were used to discover whether the ether was something absolutely at rest in space1 through which physical bodies moved freely1 or whether it shared in their movement4 ,experiments made by ,fizeau with running water seemed to prove the one view1 those of ,michelson and ,morley1 involving the movement of the earth1 the other view4 ,in the celebrated ,michelson-,morley experiment the velocity of light was shown to be the same1 in whatever direction1 relative to the earth's own motion1 it was measured4 ,this apparent proof of the absolute constancy of light-velocity - which seemed1 however1 to contradict other observations - induced ,einstein to do away with the whole assumption of a bearer of the movement underlying light1 whether the bearer were supposed to be at rest or itself in motion4 ,instead1 he divested the concepts of space and time1 from which that of velocity is usually derived1 of the absoluteness hitherto attributed to them1 with the result that in his theory time has come to be conceived as part of a four-dimensional 'space-time continuum'4 ,in reality the ,michelson-,morley experiment presents no problem requiring such labours as those of ,einstein for its solution4 ,for by this experiment nothing is proved beyond what can in any event be known - namely1 that the velocity of the propagation of a light-impulse is constant in all directions1 so long as the measuring is confined to regions where the density of terrestrial space is more or less the same4 ,with the realization of this truth1 however1 ,einstein's ,special ,theory loses its entire foundation4 ,all that remains to be said about it is that it was a splendid endeavour to solve a problem which1 rightly considered1 does not exist4#a 99 ,now that we have realized that it is inadmissible to speak of light as consisting of single rays1 or to ascribe to it a finite velocity1 the concept of the refraction of light1 as understood by optics to-day and employed for the explanation of the spectrum1 also becomes untenable4 ,let us find out what we must put in its place4 ,the phenomenon which led the onlooker-consciousness to form the idea of optical refraction has been known since early times4 ,it consists in the fact1 surprising at first sight1 that an object1 such as a coin1 which lies at the bottom of a vessel hidden from an observer by the rim1 becomes visible when the vessel is filled with water4 ,modern optics has explained this by assuming that from the separate points of the floor of the vessel light-rays go out to all sides1 one ray falling in the direction of the eye of the observer4 ,hence1 because of the positions of eye and intercepting rim there are a number of points from which no rays can reach the eye4 ,one such point is represented by the coin 7,p in ,fig4 #ab;a74 ,now if the vessel is filled with water1 light-rays emerging from it are held to be refracted1 so that rays from the points hitherto invisible also meet the eye1 which is still in its original position4 ,the eye itself is not conscious of this 'break' in the light-rays1 because it is accustomed to 'project' all light impressions rectilinearly out into space 7,fig4 #ab;b474 ,hence1 it sees ,p in the position of ,p'4 ,this is thought to be the origin of the impression that the whole bottom of the vessel is raised4 ,this kind of explanation is quite in line with the peculiarity of the onlooker-consciousness1 noted earlier1 to attribute an optical illusion to the eye's way of working1 while charging the mind with the task of clearing up the illusion4 ,in reality it is just the reverse4 ,since the intellect can form no other idea of the act of seeing than that this is a passive process taking place solely within the eye1 it falls1 itself1 into illusion4 ,how great is this illusion we see from the fact that the intellect is finally obliged to make the eye somehow or other 'project' into space the impressions it receives - a process lacking any concrete dynamic content4 ,once more1 it is not our task to replace this way of 'explaining' the phenomenon by any other1 but rather to combine the phenomenon given here with others of kindred nature so that the theory contained in them can be read from them direct4 ,one other such phenomenon is that of so-called apparent optical depth1 which an observer encounters when looking through transparent media of varying optical density4 ,what connects the two is the fact that the rate of the alteration of depth1 and the rate of change of the direction of light1 are the same for the same media4 ,in present-day optics this phenomenon is explained with reference to the former4 ,in proceeding like this1 optical science makes the very mistake which ,goethe condemned in ,newton1 saying that a complicated phenomenon was made the basis1 and the simpler derived from the complex4 ,for of these two phenomena1 the simpler1 since it is independent of any secondary condition1 is the one showing that our experience of depth is dependent on the density of the optical medium4 ,the latter phenomenon we met once before1 though without reference to its quantitative side1 when in looking at a landscape we found how our experiences of depth change in conformity with alterations in atmospheric conditions4 ,this1 then1 served to make us aware that the way we apprehend things optically is the result of an interplay between our visual ray and the medium outside us which it meets4 ,it is exactly the same when we look through a vessel filled with water and see the bottom of it as if raised in level4 ,this is in no sense an optical illusion2 it is the result of what takes place objectively and dynamically within the medium1 when our eye-ray passes through it4 ,only our intellect is under an illusion when1 in the case of the coin becoming visible at the bottom of the vessel1 it deals with the coin as if it were a point from which an individual ray of light went out44 44 etc41 instead of conceiving the phenomenon of the raising of the vessel's bottom as one indivisible whole1 wherein the coin serves only to link our attention to it4 99 ,having thus cleared away the kinematic interpretation of the coin-in-the-bowl phenomenon1 we may pass on to discuss the optical effect through which the so-called law of refraction was first established in science4 ,instead of picturing to ourselves1 as is usually done1 light-rays which are shifted away from or towards the perpendicular at the border-plane between two media of different optical properties1 we shall rather build up the picture as light itself designs it into space4 ,we have seen that our inner light1 as well as the outer light1 suffers a certain hindrance in passing through a physical medium - even such as the earth's gravity-field4 ,whilst we may not describe this retardation1 as is usually done1 in terms of a smaller velocity of light itself within the denser medium1 we may rightly say that density has the effect of lessening the intensity of the light4 7,it is the time required for the initial establishment of a light-filled realm which is greater within such a medium than outside it47 ,now by its very nature the intensity of light cannot be measured in spatial terms4 ,yet there is a phenomenon by which the decrease of the inner intensity of the light becomes spatially apparent and thus spatially measurable4 ,it consists in the alteration undergone by the aperture of a cone of light when passing from one optical medium to another4 ,if one sets in the path of a luminous cone a glass-walled trough filled with water1 then1 if both water and surrounding air are slightly clouded1 the cone is seen to make a more acute angle within the water than outside it 7,fig4 #ac74 ,here in an external phenomenon we meet the same weakening in the light's tendency to expand that we recognized in the shortening of our experience of depth on looking through a dense medium4 ,obviously1 we expect the externally observable narrowing of the light-cone and the subjectively experienced change of optical depth to show the same ratio4 ,in order to compare the rate of expansion of a luminous cone inside and outside water1 we must measure by how much less the width of the cone increases within the water than it does outside4 7,to be comparable1 the measurements must be based upon the same distances on the edge of the cone1 because this is the length of the way the light actually travels47 ,in ,fig4 #ac this is shown by the two distances1 a-b and a'-b'4 ,their ratio is the same as that by which the bottom of a vessel appears to be raised when the vessel is filled with water 7#d3c74 ,thus by means of pure observation we have arrived at nothing less than what is known to physical optics as ,snell's ,law of ,refraction4 ,this law was itself the result of pure observation1 but was clothed in a conceptual form devoid of reality4 ,in this form it states that a ray of light in transition between two media of different densities is refracted at their boundary surface so that the ratio of the angle which is formed by the ray in either medium with a line at right angles to the boundary surface is such that the quotient of the sines of both angles is for these media a constant factor4 ,in symbols sin _/ sin c4 ,it will be clear to the reader familiar with trigonometry that this ratio of the two sines is nothing else but the ratio of the two distances which served us as a measure for the respective apertures of the cone4 ,but whereas the measurement of these two distances is concerned with something quite real 7since they express an actual dynamic alteration of the light71 the measuring of the angle between the ray of light and the perpendicular is founded on nothing real4 ,it is now clear that the concept of the ray1 as it figures in the usual picture of refraction1 is in reality the boundary between the luminous space and its surroundings4 ,evidently the concept of the perpendicular on the boundary between the two media is in itself a complete abstraction1 since nothing happens dynamically in its direction4 ,to a normal human understanding it is incomprehensible why a ray of light should be related to an external geometrical line1 as stated by the law of refraction in its usual form4 ,physical optics1 in order to explain refraction1 had therefore to resort to light-bundles spatially diffused1 and by use of sundry purely kinematic concepts1 to read into these light-bundles certain processes of motion1 which are not in the least shown by the phenomenon itself4 ,in contrast to this1 the idea that the boundary of a luminous cone is spatially displaced when its expansion is hindered by an optical medium of some density1 and that the measure of this displacement is equal to the shortening of depth which we experience in looking through this medium1 is directly evident1 since all its elements are taken from observation4 99 ,from what we have here found we may expect that in order to explain the numerical relationships between natural phenomena 7with which science in the past has been solely concerned71 we by no means require the artificial theories to which the onlooker in man1 confined as he is to abstract thinking1 has been unavoidably driven4 ,indeed1 to an observer who trains himself on the lines indicated in this book1 even the quantitative secrets of nature will become objects of intuitive judgment1 just as ,goethe1 by developing this organ of understanding1 first found access to nature's qualitative secrets4 7,the change in our conception of number which this entails will be shown at a later stage of our discussions47 #a ,compare with this our account in ,chapter ,x of the rise of the atomistic-kinematic interpretation of heat4 #b ,the following critical study leaves1 of course1 completely untouched our recognition of the devotion which guided the respective observers in their work1 and of the ingenuity with which some of their observations were devised and carried out4 #c ,the assumption is that the wave-velocity differs from the group-velocity1 if at all1 by a negligible amount4 #d ,once this is realized there can be no doubt that with the aid of an adequate mathematical calculus 7which would have to be established on a realistic understanding of the respective properties of the fields of force coming into play7 it will become possible to derive by calculation the speed of the establishment of light within physical space from the gravitational constant of the earth4 #e ,the grounds of ,einstein's ,general ,theory were dealt with in our earlier discussions4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,the ,spectrum as a ,script of the ,spirit ,the realization that ,newton's explanation of the spectrum fails to meet the facts prompted ,goethe to engage in all those studies which made him the founder of a modern optics based on intuitive participation in the phenomena4 ,in spite of all that he achieved1 however1 he never reached a real solution of the riddle of the colour-phenomenon produced when light passes through a transparent body of prismatic shape4 ,for his assumption of certain 'double images'1 which are supposed to appear as a result of the optical displacement of the boundaries between the ,light-filled and the ,dark-filled parts of space and the mutual superposition of which he believed to be responsible for the appearance of the respective colours1 does not solve the problem4#a ,what hindered ,goethe in this field was his limited insight into the nature of the two distinct kinds of forces which1 as we have noted in the course of our own inquiries1 correspond to his concepts of ,licht and ,finsternis4 ,with the aid of this distinction - which we have indeed established through a consistent application of ,goethe's method - we shall now be able to develop precisely that insight into the coming-into-being of the spectral colours which ,goethe sought4#b 99 ,dynamically1 the process of the formation of the spectrum by light that passes through a prism divides into two clearly distinguishable parts4 ,the first consists in the influence which the light undergoes inside the prism as a result of the latter's special shape1 the other1 in what happens outside the prism at the boundary between the ,light-space - influenced by the shape of the prism - and the surrounding ,dark-space4 ,accordingly1 we shall study these two parts of the process separately4 ,as an aid to distinguishing clearly one process from the other1 we shall suppose the prism experiment to be so arranged that the light area is larger than the width of the prism1 which will then lie completely within it4 ,we shall further suppose the dimensions of the whole to be such that the part observable on the screen represents only a portion of the total light-realm situated between the boundaries of the prism4 ,the result is that the screen depicts a light-phenomenon in which there is no trace of colour4 ,for normal eyesight1 the phenomenon on the screen differs in no way from what it would be if no prism intervened in the path of the light4 ,these two seemingly identical light-phenomena reveal at once their inner dynamic difference if we narrow the field of light from either side by introducing into it an object capable of casting shadow4 ,if there is no prism we see simply a black shadow move into the illumined area on the screen1 no matter from which side the narrowing comes4 ,if1 however1 the light has come through a prism 7arranged as described above7 certain colours appear on the boundary between the regions of light and shadow1 and these differ according to the side from which the darkening is effected4 ,the same part of the light area may thus be made to display either the colours of the blue pole of the colour-scale1 or those of the yellow pole4 ,this shows that the inner dynamic condition of the light-realm is altered in some way by being exposed to an optically resistant medium of prismatic shape4 ,if we are to find the cause and nature of this alteration we must revert to the prism itself1 and inquire what effect it has on light in the part of space occupied by it4 ,by proceeding in this way we follow ,goethe's model3 first1 to keep the two border-phenomena separate1 and1 secondly1 not to ascribe to the light itself what is in fact due to certain boundary conditions4 ,in order to realize what happens to the light in passing through the prism1 let us remember that it is a characteristic of an ordinary light-beam to direct itself through space in a straight line if not interfered with1 and to illuminate equally any cross-section of the area it fills4 ,both these features are altered when the light is exposed to a transparent medium of prismatic shape - that is1 to an optically resistant medium so shaped that the length of the light's passage through it changes from one side of the beam to the other1 being least at the so-called refracting edge of the prism1 greatest at the base opposite to that4 ,the dimming effect of the medium1 therefore1 has a different magnitude at each point of the width of the beam4 ,obviously1 the ratio between levity and gravity inside such a light-realm1 instead of being constant1 varies from one side to the other4 ,the result is a transverse dynamic impulse which acts from that part of the light-realm where the weakening influence of the prism is least towards the part where it is strongest 7see long arrow in ,plate ,c1 ,fig4 i74#c ,this impulse manifests in the deflection of the light from its original course4 ,apart from this1 nothing is noticeable in the light itself when caught by an observation screen1 the reason being that the transverse impulse now immanent in the light-realm has no effect on the reflecting surface4 ,the situation changes when the light-realm is narrowed down from one side or the other - in other words1 when an abrupt change of the field-conditions1 that is1 a sudden leap from light to dark or from dark to light1 is introduced within this realm4 ,in this case1 clearly1 the effect of the transverse field-gradient on such a leap will be different1 depending on the relation between the directions of the two 7see small arrows in ,fig4 i74 ,our eyes witness to this difference by seeing the colours of the blue pole of the colour-scale appear when the field-gradient is directed towards the leap 7a71 and the colours of the yellow pole when the gradient is directed away from it 7b74 ,for our further investigation it is very important to observe how the colours spread when they emerge at the edge of the shadow-casting object thus introduced into the light-realm from the one side or the other4 ,figs1 ii and iii on ,plate ,c show1 closely enough for our purpose1 the position of the colour-bearing areas in each case1 with the dotted line indicating the direction which the light would have at the place of origin of the colours if there were no object interfering with its free expansion4#d ,we observe a distinct difference in the widening out of the two colour-areas on both sides of the original direction of the light3 in each case the angle which the boundary of the colour-area forms with this direction is smaller on the side of the colours nearest the light-realm 7blue and yellow respectively7 than on the opposite side 7violet and red74 ,remembering what we have learnt about the dynamic characteristics of the two colour-poles1 we are now in a position to state the following4 ,when a light-area subject to a lateral gradient is narrowed down1 so that the gradient is directed towards the narrowing object1 colours arise in which the interaction between the two polarically opposite forms of density is such that positive density makes for lightness1 and negative density for darkness4 ,whereas1 when the border is so situated that the gradient is directed away from it1 the interaction is such that positive density makes for darkness1 and negative density for lightness4 ,further1 the fact that on both occasions the darkness element in the colour-band increases in the outward direction tells us that in this direction there is on the blue-violet side a gradual decrease in positive1 and increase in negative1 density1 while on the opposite side we find just the reverse4 ,we note again that both processes occupy a considerable part of the space originally outside the boundaries of the light-area - that is1 at the violet end the part towards which the light-beam is deflected1 and at the red end the part from which it turns away4 ,the visual ray1 when penetrating actively into the two colour-phenomena thus described1 receives evidence of a dynamic happening which may be expressed as follows4 ,where the transverse impulse1 which is due to the varying degree of ,trbung in the light-realm1 is directed towards the latter's edge1 the intermingling of the ,dark-ingredient and the ,light-ingredient1 contained in that realm1 is such that ,dark follows ,light along its already existing gradient1 thereby diminishing steadily4 ,hence our visual ray1 meeting conditions quite similar to those occurring when we look across the light-filled atmosphere into universal space1 notifies us of the presence of the blue-violet colour-pole4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the edge is in the wake of the transverse impulse1 then a kind of dynamic vacuum arises in that part of space from which the beam is deflected1 with the effect that the ,dark-ingredient1 imprinted on the light within the prism1 is drawn into this vacuum by following a kind of suctional influence4 ,consequently ,dark and ,light here come to oppose one another1 and the former1 on its way out of the light-area1 gains in relative strength4 ,on this side our visual ray meets conditions resembling those which occur when we look across the darkening atmosphere into the sun4 ,accordingly our optical experience tells us of the presence of the yellow-red colour-pole4 ,from our description of the two kinds of dynamic co-ordination of positive and negative density at the two ends of the spectrum it follows that the spatial conditions prevailing at one end must be quite different from those at the other4 ,to see this by way of actual perception is indeed not difficult4 ,in fact1 if we believe that we see both ends of the spectrum lying1 as it were1 flatly on the surface of the observation screen1 this is merely an illusion due to our superficial way of using our eyes4 ,if we gaze with our visual ray 7activated in the manner previously described7 into the two sides of the spectrum1 while turning our eyes alternately in one or other direction1 we soon notice that the colours of the yellow-red rise towards the eye so as to give the impression of protruding almost corporeally from the surface of the screen4 ,we feel3 ,density obtains here in a state of fiery radiation4 ,when turning to the other side we feel our visual ray1 instead of being as before caught up in the colours1 passing freely across the colours as if carried by them into the infinite4 ,on the blue-violet side1 space itself seems to fluoresce mysteriously#e4 ,following ,goethe's conception of the physical-moral effect of colours1 we may describe the experience received thus from the two poles of the spectrum by saying that an 'other-worldly' character belongs to the colours of the blue-violet pole2 an 'earthly' character to those of the yellow-red2 while that of green1 which appears when both sides are made to overlap1 witnesses to its mediating nature between the two4 99 ,in our endeavour to view the fundamental experiment of ,newtonian optics with the eyes of ,goethe we have been led from the wide expanse of the earth's sunlit periphery into the confines of the darkened experimental chamber4 ,with the aid of the results gained from studying the artificially produced spectrum phenomenon1 we shall now return to our original field of observation in order to study the same phenomenon in nature4 ,there it meets us in the form of the rainbow1 which we shall now be able to read as a chapter in the great book of nature4 ,from what we have learnt already we can say at once that the rainbow must represent some sort of border-phenomenon1 thus pointing to the existence of a boundary between two space-regions of differing illumination4 ,our question therefore must be3 what is the light-image whose boundary comes to coloured manifestation in the phenomenon of the rainbow8 ,there can be no doubt that the image is that of the sun-disk1 shining in the sky4 ,when we see a rainbow1 what we are really looking at is the edge of an image of the sun-disk1 caught and reflected1 owing to favourable conditions1 in the atmosphere4 7,observe in this respect that the whole area inside the rainbow is always considerably brighter than the space outside47 ,once we realize this to be the true nature of the rainbow1 the peculiar order of its colours begins to speak a significant language4 ,the essential point to observe is that the blue-violet part of the spectrum lies on the inner side of the rainbow-arch - the side immediately adjoining the outer rim of the sun-image - while the yellow-red part lies on the outer side of the arch - the side turned away from the sun-image4 ,what can we learn from this about the distribution of positive and negative density inside and outside the realm occupied by the sun-disk itself in the cosmos8 ,we remember that along the gradient from blue to violet1 negative density 7,light7 increases and positive density 7,dark7 decreases1 while from yellow to red it is just the reverse-positive density increases and negative density decreases4 ,the rainbow therefore indicates a steady increase of ,dark towards the outer rim1 and of ,light towards the inner4 ,evidently1 what the optical image of the sun in the atmosphere thus reveals concerning the gradation of the ratio between ,light and ,dark in the radial direction1 is an attribute of the entire light-realm which stretches from the sun to that image4 ,and again1 the attribute of this realm is but an effect of the dynamic relation between the sun itself and the surrounding cosmic space4 ,the rainbow thus becomes a script to us in which we read the remarkable fact that the region occupied by the sun in the cosmos is a region of negative density1 in relation to which the region surrounding the sun is one of positive density4 ,far from being an accumulation of ponderable matter in a state of extremely high temperature1 as science supposes1 the sun represents the very opposite of ponderability4 7,it would be beyond the scope of this book to show how in the light of this fact one learns to re-read the various solar phenomena known to science47 ,once we realize this1 our judgment of all that our terrestrially devised optical instruments1 such as the telescope and spectroscope1 tell us about the nature of the sun and its surroundings1 will change accordingly4 ,for it becomes clear that for the interpretation of solar phenomena shown by these instruments we cannot properly use concepts derived from observations within the earth's realm of positive density4 ,to compare adequately solar and terrestrial phenomena1 we must keep in mind that they are in every respect polar opposites4 ,for instance1 the fact that the spectroscope reveals phenomena in the sun's light which are strikingly similar to others occurring when earthly matter is first caused to emit light - that is1 brought near the upper border of its ponderable existence - and then studied spectroscopically1 should not impose on us the illusion that the sun consists of matter in this same condition4 ,on the contrary1 the similarity should tell us that imponderable substance1 while on its way between sun and earth to ponderable existence1 assumes1 at the point of transition1 aspects exactly like those revealed by ponderable substance at the corresponding point in its upward transformation4 ,what we observe1 when we study the sun through a spectroscope1 is not the sun itself1 but the conditions obtaining in this border-region1 where imponderable substance enters the earth-realm4 ,the rainbow1 directly we learn to see it as the border-phenomenon that it is1 tells us something of itself which revives in modern form a conception held generally in former ages1 when it was seen as a mediator between the cosmic-divine and the earthly-human worlds4 ,thus the ,bible speaks of it as a symbol of ,god's reconciliation with the human race after the great ,flood4 ,thus the ,greeks beheld it when they saw it as the bridge of ,iris1 messenger of the ,gods2 and similarly the ,germanic mythology speaks of it as the pathway along which the souls of the fallen warriors draw near to ,valhalla4 ,by recovering this old conception in a new and scientifically grounded form we are enabled also to rectify the misunderstanding from which the ancient bridge-conception of the rainbow has suffered in later days1 when tradition had begun to replace direct insight into the truth4 ,when with the rise of man's onlooker-relation to the world of the senses1 the rainbow could appear to him only as a form flattened against the sky1 people began to think that the ancient picture of it as a bridge had been derived from its likeness to the latter's arched form4 ,representations of the rainbow from these times indeed show supersensible beings1 such as the souls of the dead1 moving upwards and downwards along the two halves of the arch4 ,it is not in this abstract way that ancient man formed his cosmic imagery4 ,what was seen going on between the upper and nether worlds when a rainbow appeared in the heights of the atmosphere was no traffic over the arch1 but an interplay across the rainbow between the realm of levity1 glimmering down in the rainbow's violet border1 and the realm of gravity glowing up from the red4 ,and this is how we have now learnt to see it again4 99 ,at one point in our optical studies 7page #bei7 we referred to some words of ,ruskin in which he deplored the influence exerted on the soul-life of modern man by the world-conception of science4 ,he illustrated this by showing how much less inspiration a man trained in the science of optics receives from the sight of a rainbow than does a 'simple peasant'4 ,one lesson of our studies is that training in optics1 if it proceeds on ,goethean lines1 has no such detrimental effect4 ,there is1 however1 a further problem1 outside ,ruskin's scope1 which we are now able to approach in the same healthy way4 ,ruskin distinguishes between three possible stages in man's relation to the world of the senses4 ,the first stage he calls that of 'inactive reverie'2 the second - in a certain respect more advanced - that of 'useful thought'1 the stage of scientifically awakened man to whom all things disintegrate into countable and nothing but countable parts4 ,beyond this1 ,ruskin conceives of a third1 still higher stage1 in which man becomes capable of raising himself through 'higher contemplation' into an artistic-ethical relation to the content of the sense-world4 ,now1 in the way ,ruskin represents the second and third stages they seem to be exclusive of one another4 ,that was as far as he could go1 in his own day4 ,natural observation along ,goethean lines leads to a form of higher contemplation which unites the second and third stages by nourishing man's ethical being and at the same time furnishing him with useful knowledge-knowledge1 that is1 which enables him to improve the conditions of the human race on the earth4 ,the following is an example of the practical possibilities that open up in the field we are discussing if we apply the knowledge gained through our new approach to the forces working in nature4 ,we shall speak here of a task of experimental research which was mentioned by ,rudolf ,steiner in connexion with the renewal of natural science4 ,rudolf ,steiner felt the need for pioneers who1 by advancing along the paths opened up by ,goethe1 would press forward into the realm of undiscovered phenomena on the upper border of nature1 and this prompted him to give to those who were ready to listen various pointers towards new ways of experimental research4 ,in so far as practical results have already been reached along these lines1 they lie in the fields of biology and physiology 7and of chemistry1 in a certain respect7 rather than in that of physics4 ,now1 among the indications given in this latter field1 and not yet worked out1 there is one which deals with a way1 unknown to-day1 of influencing the spectrum by the magnet4 ,the possibility of a magnetic influence on the spectrum is1 in itself1 not unknown to modern physics4 ,it was the ,dutchman1 ,zeeman1 who first observed a change in the appearance of certain spectral lines as a result of light passing through a magnetic field4 ,this discovery1 however1 is in two respects typical of modern science4 ,the ,zeeman effect consists in the splitting up of certain spectral lines into other lines - hence1 of a breaking up of a whole into parts4 ,and by seemingly providing a decisive confirmation of contemporary views concerning the electromagnetic nature of light1 ,zeeman's discovery has formed one of the milestones in the progress of modern physical thought - with the usual result that an enlargement of man's knowledge of the behaviour of natural forces has served to entangle his conception of nature still more deeply in illusion4 ,apart from the fact that our own way of combining observation and thought guards us against drawing theoretical conclusions from ,zeeman's discovery1 ,rudolf ,steiner's indication opens up the prospect of achieving quite practical results1 opposite in character to those of the ,zeeman effect4 ,for in contradistinction to the use of a magnetic field for splitting the spectrum1 ,rudolf ,steiner has made us aware of the possibility of uniting into a higher synthesis parts of the spectrum which normally appear in separated form4 ,his indication points to nothing less than a leading over of the optically produced spectrum from its usual linear form1 with two boundaries on either side1 into a closed circular form1 and of doing this by an adequate application - as yet undiscovered - of magnetic force4 ,further1 according to his statement1 the point where the two ends of the spectrum meet will prove to be a fountain-head of certain higher natural forces which otherwise are not directly accessible4 ,in order to understand how this is possible1 we must remember that in two respects the spectrum is not a complete phenomenon4 ,there is1 to begin with1 the fact that the colour-band visible on the observation screen is only apparently confined to the surface of the screen4 ,for1 as we have seen1 because of the differing co-ordination of levity and gravity at the two ends of the spectrum1 the conditions of space prevailing at each are polarically opposite4 ,negative space opens up spherically behind the blue-violet colours on one side1 while positive space1 filled by the radially shining yellow-red colours1 arises on the other4 ,so we see that what we found earlier for the two poles of magnetism and electricity holds good also for the spectrum4 ,that is1 the two processes bringing about the relevant phenomena are not confined to the part of space which these phenomena seem to occupy2 for the whole positive and negative realms of the universe share in them4 ,hence the spectrum1 though apparently bounded at its two ends1 proves by its very nature to be part of a greater whole4 ,once before we were led to recognize - though from a different aspect - that the spectrum is a phenomenon which1 when rightly viewed1 calls for a certain completion4 ,in following ,goethe's initial observations we realized that the known spectrum1 extending from red via green to violet1 has a counterpart extending from violet via peach-blossom to red4 ,the reader may have wondered why we never returned to this other spectrum1 in spite of the role it played in making ,goethe aware of ,newton's error4 ,the reason was that in order to gain the understanding we needed of the spectrum1 we had to observe the two border-phenomena independently - that is1 without regard to their relative positions4 ,moreover1 with ordinary optical means it is possible to produce only one type of spectrum at a time1 so that each is left in need of being complemented by the other4 ,in order to have both together in finite space1 as part of one and the same phenomenon1 space itself must be dynamically transformed in such a way that the continuation of the finite spectral band running through infinity enters into the finite as well4 ,our understanding of magnetism as a specific representation of the polarity of the second order enables us to comprehend1 at least in principle1 how magnetism might influence - not light itself1 as present-day physics erroneously believes - but the secondary polarity of the spectral colours formed out of the primary polarity ,light and ,dark4 ,to see this in all necessary detail is a task of the future1 beyond the scope of this book4 ,we have here to continue our account of ,rudolf ,steiner's statement by communicating what he indicated concerning the particular nature of the new source of force which would appear in the normally infinite part of the spectrum1 if this were brought into the region of the finite4 ,in order to understand the significance of this indication we must turn our attention to parts of the ordinary spectrum1 well known in themselves1 which we have purposely left out of our study so far4 ,these are the regions of the ultra-violet and the infra-red1 invisible in themselves1 but forming part of the spectrum as a whole4 ,the ultraviolet manifests through chemical effects1 the infra-red through thermal effects4 ,we have left them out of our considerations because these regions of the spectrum differ from the visible part not only quantitatively1 as present-day science believes1 but qualitatively also1 and in a fundamental way4 ,we must regard them as dynamic realms of particularly extreme spherical and radial activities4 ,as such they represent metamorphoses1 in the ,goethean sense1 of the levity-gravity interaction represented by the optically visible part of the spectrum4 ,in this way the spectrum discloses a threefold differentiation of that region of force1 which up to now we have called simply levity1 into activities producing chemical1 optical and thermal effects4 ,so far physical investigation is able to lead us1 but no further4 ,if1 however1 we let nature herself speak to us1 while holding this differentiated concept of levity in mind1 she tells us that beyond the three metamorphoses envisaged so far1 there must be a fourth4 ,let us remember that it was certain phenomena of life which first made us aware of the existence of a realm of forces with the attributes of anti-gravity1 and that these forces revealed themselves first as creators of form4 ,now it is obvious that warmth1 light and chemical energy1 though they all play an essential part in living organisms1 could never by themselves bring about that 'catching from chaos1 carbon1 water1 lime and what not and fastening them into a given form' which ,ruskin describes as the activity of the spirit in the plant4 ,in order to be in this sense an instrument of the spirit active in nature1 levity must be capable of yet another metamorphosis into an activity which controls the other three1 so that through their action1 definitely shaped organic structures may come into being4 ,the reason why this fourth and highest metamorphosis of ,light does not appear in the ordinary spectrum is because it is of too spiritual a quality to be caught by the optical apparatus4 ,in nature herself a creative life-process requires always the presence of a germ already imbued with life4 ,and so1 in order to call this fourth metamorphosis of ,light into the spectrum1 stronger means are needed than the mere optical transformation of light-filled spaces4 ,this stronger agent1 according to ,rudolf ,steiner1 is magnetism4 ,with the aid of this it will be possible to organize together round a common spatial centre that part of the activity of levity which escapes the optical instrument and thus remains cosmic1 and that part which appears by itself in terrestrial space4 ,once this is practically carried out1 we may expect a complete colour-circle to appear as already divined by ,goethe4 ,the full circle consists of twelve discernible colours1 with the ,goethean peach-blossom diametrically opposite the green4 ,it is in this region of the peach-blossom that - again according to ,rudolf ,steiner - we shall find a source of actively working life-forces1 springing from the fourth metamorphosis of levity4 ,such is the prospect for research work guided on the new lines4 ,,postscript ,the fact of our having disclosed here one of ,rudolf ,steiner's indications concerning as yet undetected possibilities of scientific research1 makes it necessary to deal with an objection which may be raised1 particularly by some readers who already know this indication through their own relation to ,rudolf ,steiner's work4 ,they may object to a discussion of the subject in a publication such as this1 feeling it dangerous to hand over to the world information which in the economic battles of to-day might be used in a sense contrary to the social-moral aims to which the work of ,rudolf ,steiner was dedicated4 ,in reply it may be said that all we have gone through in this book has shown that concrete knowledge of the world cannot be gained without a certain ethical effort by the seeker4 ,therefore1 anyone who receives such knowledge with a passive attitude of soul will find it meaningless1 and will be quite unable to turn it to practical account4 ,we may therefore rest assured that the solution of the problem related here1 as of any other experimental task set by ,rudolf ,steiner1 will contain in itself a guarantee that no use will be made of it detrimental to the true progress of mankind4 ,on the other hand1 the present world-situation1 which to so high a degree is determined by the vast liberation of the sub-physical forces of the earth1 makes one feel it is essential not to close the considerations of the fields of knowledge dealt with in these chapters1 without a hint at the practical possibilities which arise from a continuation of ,goethe's strivings in this field4 #a ,see1 in ,rudolf ,steiner's edition of ,goethe's scientific writings1 his footnote to ,goethe's criticism of ,nuguet's theory of the spectrum in the historical part of the ,farbenlehre 7,vol4 ,,iv1 p4 #bdh1 in ,krschner's edition74 #b ,it is obvious that the reader who wishes to appreciate fully the significance of the observations described in the following paragraphs1 must1 as in previous cases1 carry out these observations himself4 #c ,in this and the two following diagrams the light-realm has been represented as being less wide than the space obtained by the prism4 ,to avoid unnecessary complexity the colours which1 in such a case1 actually appear at the border of the light-realm where it emerges from the prism are not shown in any of the diagrams4 #d ,this direction can be established with sufficient exactitude by holding a very thin object right in front of the prism and marking with a stretched thread the direction which leads from the object to its shadow on the screen4 ,the colour-producing edge must then be introduced from either side so that it just touches the thread4 #e ,the difference in character of the various parts of the spectrum1 as described above1 comes out particularly impressively if for capturing the colour-phenomenon one uses instead of a flat white surface1 a clear crystal of not too small size1 or else a cluster of crystals - moving it slowly along the coloured band from one end to the other4 7,i am indebted to ,fr4 ,julius1 teacher of ,natural ,science at the ,free ,school in ,the ,hague1 for this suggestion47 ,,part ,,iii ,towards a ,new ,cosmosophy ,,chapter ,,xix ,the ,country in which ,man is not a ,stranger ,i question not my ,corporeal or ,vegetative ,eye any more than ,i question a window concerning sight4 ,i look through it and not with it4 ,,william ,,blake4 7a7 ,,introductory ,,note ,a fundamental achievement along our path of study was the recognition that a force of levity exists1 polar to that of gravity1 and that these two together represent a primary polarity in nature which in turn is the source of nature's manifold secondary polarities4 ,in the last part of these studies a vista opened up of an inner differentiation of levity itself into warmth1 light1 chemical action and the formative activity of life4 ,our next task will be to develop a clearer conception of these four modes of action of levity4 ,in undertaking this task1 however1 we shall have to extend our observations of nature beyond the frontier that can be reached by using only what we can learn from ,goethe4 ,it is here that ,rudolf ,steiner comes to our aid by what he was able to impart through his researches in the realm of the supersensible itself4 ,this turning to information given by another mind1 whose sources of knowledge are beyond our own immediate reach1 seems at first sight to be incompatible with the principles guiding all our studies hitherto2 for in gaining insight into the ,how and ,whence of a phenomenon of the sense-world we have up to now admitted only what is yielded by an observation of the phenomenon per se 7though with the aid of the 'eye of the spirit'7 and of other phenomena related to it4 ,this is what we have called 'reading in the book of nature'1 and we have found it to be the method on which a science aspiring to overcome the onlooker-picture of the universe must be based4 ,so we must first make sure that the step we now propose to take does not violate this principle4 99 ,the assurance we want will be found in two characteristics of the communications made by ,rudolf ,steiner from his researches4 ,the content of these communications was acquired by way of a 'reading' which is nothing but a higher metamorphosis of the reading first employed by ,goethe2 and the acceptance of this content by another mind is itself nothing but another act of reading1 save that the direction of the reading gaze differs from the usual one4 ,in order to understand this we must go back to what we learnt in the course of our optical studies as to the two forms of vision arising from the activity of the eye's inner light - the dream-vision and the seeing of after-images4 ,of these two1 seeing in dream is in a certain sense the purer form of inner seeing in that it arises without any outer stimulus exercised upon the physical organ of sight4 ,on the other hand1 it lacks that objective conformity to law characteristic of the after-images which mirror the order of the external world4 ,there is an arbitrary1 enigmatic element in dream-pictures1 and their logic often seems to run counter to that of waking consciousness4 ,a further characteristic of dream-perception is that we are tied to the level of consciousness prevailing in the dream4 ,while we are dreaming we cannot awaken to the extent of being able to make the pictures the object of conscious observation4 ,with the after-images it is different4 ,although to begin with they are present in our consciousness with a clarity no greater than that of the dream-pictures1 nevertheless we are able so to enhance our consciousness of them as to bring them under observation like any external phenomenon4 ,as previously shown1 it is possible1 even while the eye is riveted on an impression from outside1 to develop such awareness in the activity of the inner light called forth by this impression1 that together with the results of the deeds and sufferings of the light we can perceive something of these deeds and sufferings themselves4 ,perception of the after-images thus turns into what we may call perception of simultaneous images4 7,this activity of the eye corresponds with what ,goethe1 in a different connexion1 called an 'alliance of the eyes of spirit with the eyes of the body'47 ,these two forms of visual perception - which we may briefly call3 7#a7 perception of post-images1 and 7#b7 perception of co-images - represent successive rungs on a 'spiritual ladder' pointing beyond themselves to a further rung4 ,by the logic of succession this may be expected to consist in some sort of seeing of pre-images1 with the characteristic of being a still less physical mode of seeing than the two others4 ,this seeing must be based on an activity of the inner light which will be similar to that in dream by its arising without any stimulus from external light-impressions1 yet at the same time there must be no arbitrariness in the contents of this perception4 ,further1 our consciousness in this perceptive activity must be such as to allow us to be in full control of it1 as we are of ordinary day-waking seeing4 ,this kind of pure sense-free perception does indeed exist1 and it can be aroused by means of a well-ordered training from the dormant state in which it is present in every human being4 ,anyone who learns to see in this way gains perception of the activity of cosmic light1 contacting it directly with his own inner light - that is to say1 without mediation of his corporeal eye which is subject to gravity4 ,so this eye-of-the-spirit becomes capable of perceiving the levity-woven archetypes 7ur-images71 which underlie all that the physical eye discerns in the world of ordinary space4 ,in respect of the intrinsic character of the world-content thus perceived1 ,rudolf ,steiner called this mode of perception1 ,imaginative perception1 or1 simply1 ,imagination4 ,by so doing he invested this word with its due and rightful meaning4 ,from what we found in our optical studies concerning the nature of after-images 7,chapter ,,xv71 it is clear that the acquisition of ,imaginative perception rests on a re-awakening in the eye 7and thus in the total organism behind the eye7 of certain 'infant' forces which have grown dormant in the course of the growing up of the human being4 ,it thus represents a fulfilment of ,thomas ,reid's philosophic demand4 ,consequently we find among the descriptions which ,traherne gives of the mode of perception peculiar to man when the inner light1 brought into this world at birth1 is not yet absorbed by the physical eye1 many helpful characterizations of the nature of ,imaginative perception1 some of which may be quoted here4 ,consider1 in this respect1 the following passage from ,traherne's poem ,the ,praeparative1 quoted earlier4 ,in describing the state of soul at a time when the physical senses are not yet in operation1 ,traherne says3 ',then was my ,soul my only ,all to me1 ,a living1 endless ,ey1 ,whose ,power1 and ,act1 and ,essence was to see3 ,i was an inward ,sphere of ,light ,or an interminable ,orb of ,sight1 ,exceeding that which makes the ,days1 ,a vital sun that shed abroad its ,rays3 ,all ,life1 all ,sense1 ,a naked1 simple1 pure ,intelligence4'' ,this is the condition of soul of which ,traherne says in the same poem that through it a man is still a recipient of the 'true ,ideas of all things'4 ,in this condition the object of sight is not the corporeal world which reflects the light1 but light itself1 engaged in the weaving of the archetypal images4 ,in a later passage of the same poem ,traherne expresses this by saying3 ',tis not the ,object1 but the ,light ,that maketh ,hev'n4 444' ,and more clearly still in the following part of his poem ,an ,infant ,eye3 ',a simple ,light from all ,contagion free1 ,a ,beam that's purely ,spiritual1 an ,ey ,that's altogether ,virgin1 ,things doth see ,ev'n like unto the ,deity2 ,that is1 it shineth in an hevenly ,sense1 ,and round about 7,unmov'd7 its ,light dispense4 ',the visiv ,rays are ,beams of ,light indeed1 ,refined1 subtil1 piercing1 quick and pure2 ,and as they do the sprightly winds exceed1 ,are worthy longer to endure2 ,they far out-shoot the ,reach of ,grosser ,air1 ,with which such ,excellence may not compare4 ,but being once debas'd1 they soon becom ,less activ than they were before4' ,how at this stage the soul experiences the act of perception in itself is shown in the following passage from the poem ,wonder3 ',a ,nativ ,health and ,innocence ,within my ,bones did grow ,and while my ,god did all his ,glories show ,i felt a vigour in my ,sense ,that was all ,,spirit3 ,i within did flow ,with seas of ,life like ,wine4' ,utterances of this kind illustrate the fact that perception of the ur-images of the world consists in a reading with the eye-of-the-spirit1 which has been rendered so strong that for its action no support from the physical eye is any longer required4 ,this faculty of spiritual ,imagination 7which ,rudolf ,steiner was able to exercise in advance of other human beings7 is acquired on a path of training which is the direct continuation of the ,goethean path4#a ,it remains to show that acceptance of information obtained through spiritual ,imagination1 without ourselves being as yet in actual command of it1 is not in contradiction with the principles of 'reading'4 ,let us1 to this end1 think of reading in the ordinary sense of this word1 calling to mind that for the acquisition of this faculty we depend on someone who can teach it because he already has it4 ,exactly the same holds good for the reading with which we are here concerned4 ,here1 too1 a teacher already possessing this faculty is required4 ,thus ,goethe became for us a teacher of reading1 and it would be a mistake to imagine that he1 for his part1 needed no teacher4 ,in his case this function was fulfilled partly by what he learned through his studies of the earlier fruits of man's spiritual activity1 that is1 from an epoch when vestiges at least of the original1 instinctive faculty of spiritual ,imagination were still extant4 ,a similar function on our own path of study was performed by our occupation with the old doctrine of the four elements and the basic concepts of alchemy4 ,indispensable as is such a training in reading by turning to past conceptions of man1 it does not suffice to meet the present-day demands of a scientific understanding of the universe4 ,for this1 we need a 'technique' of reading that cannot be attained along these lines alone4 ,awareness of this fact led ,rudolf ,steiner to pursue his spiritual-scientific investigations and to communicate the results in such a way that they can be a 'school of reading' for those who study them4#b ,in point of fact we have already made use in this sense of one of the results of ,rudolf ,steiner's researches1 for at the very beginning of this book his picture of the threefold psycho-physical organism of man was taken as the basis of our own investigations4 ,the reason why the present remarks were not then included is that the relevant results of higher research were in that case of such a nature that1 once known1 they could be confirmed by the simplest kind of self-observation4 ,the fact1 however1 remains that from the very beginning we have called upon one fully trained in reading1 to help in deciphering certain facts of nature - in this case of human nature4 ,a similar need1 though now in an amplified form1 arises at the present stage of our studies4 ,and here1 out of the wealth of knowledge conveyed by ,rudolf ,steiner from the realm of supersensible ,imagination1 it is his characterization of the four modifications of levity which will now give the guidance necessary for our own observation4 ,adopting the terminology chosen by him for the description of this sphere1 we shall in future speak of it as of the ',ether' pervading the universe 7thus using this word also in its true and original meaning74 ,accordingly1 we shall refer to its fourfold differentiation as to the four kinds of ether3 ,warmth-,ether1 ,light-,ether1 ,chemical ,ether and ,life-,ether4 99 99 99 7b7 ,,warmth ,we begin with the warmth-ether as the only modification of ether which combines certain etheric with certain physical properties4 ,constituting as it does a border-condition between the two worlds1 the warmth-ether has1 on the one hand1 the function of receiving the picture-weaving transmitted to it by the higher ethers1 and1 on the other1 of bringing physical matter into the state where it becomes receptive to the working of the etheric forces4 ,the warmth-ether achieves this by freeing matter from being controlled one-sidedly by the centre-bound forces of the earth4 ,it thus calls forth1 when acting physically1 the processes of melting of solids and of evaporation of liquids3 phenomena which yielded the initial observations for our introduction of the concept of levity4 ,in processes of this kind we now recognize the physical manifestation of a universal function of the warmth-ether1 namely1 to divest matter of all form and to lead it over from the realm dominated by gravity into that of levity4 ,provided we attach the right meaning to the word1 we may say that the function of the warmth-ether is to bring about chaos at the upper border of physical nature4 ,it is thus that we have already found it working in the plant1 when through the union of the pollen with the seed a state of chaos is produced within the seed1 which enables the type to impress anew its form-principle into it4 ,another instance of the warmth-ether's anti-gravitational effect1 also discussed earlier1 is the earth's seismic activity4 ,true1 it appears at first sight as if little were gained by speaking of warmth-ether1 instead1 as we did previously1 of levity in general4 ,but it must not be forgotten that in the ether-realm as a whole1 warmth - that is1 the overcoming of earthly gravity - is only one of the four modes of etheric action1 albeit the one which enables the other three to work into the physical world4 ,we shall see1 later on1 that only by taking into account the action of the higher modifications of the ether is it possible to gain insight into the true causes of the apparently so arbitrary occurrences of volcanic and kindred phenomena4 ,here1 too1 it is the function of the warmth-ether to produce in the physical sphere the chaos which is necessary to make the physical sphere receptive to the activities going on in higher spheres4 ,in view of this universal function of the warmth-ether1 which distinguishes it from the other modifications of ether1 we may give it as a second name that of 'chaoticizing ether'4 99 99 99 7c7 ,,light ,the function of the light-ether1 the second of the four modes of ether1 can best be envisaged by thinking of the difference between a plant growing in darkness 7perhaps a potato sprouting in a cellar7 and another of the same species exposed to the influence of the light4 ,on ,plates ,,vii and ,,viii two kinds of unicellular organisms are shown1 of one which - the green algae - is accustomed to live in light1 the other - the bacilli - in darkness4 ,these things are1 of course1 well-known facts4 ,our purpose here1 however1 is not merely to record them as 'fact'1 but1 by re-creating them within ourselves1 to use them to gain an experience of the function of the light-ether4 ,the following passages from ,goethe's ,metamorphosis of ,plants are a classical example of observation of the activity of the light-ether in the plant4 ,they are taken from the second part of the essay1 where ,goethe is describing leaf-development3 ',while the leaves owe their first nourishment principally to the more or less modified watery parts1 which they draw from the stem1 they are indebted for their increased perfection and refinement to the light and air4 ,the cotyledons which are formed beneath the closed seed-sheath are charged1 so to speak1 with only a crude sap2 they are scarcely and but rudely organized and quite undeveloped4 ,in the same way the leaves are more rudely organized in plants which grow under water than in others which are exposed to the open air4 ,indeed1 even the same species of plant develops smoother and less intricately formed leaves when growing in low damp places1 whereas1 if transplanted to a higher region1 it will produce leaves which are rough1 hairy and more delicately finished4' ',so it is also with the anastomosis of the vessels which spring forth from the larger veins1 seeking each other with their ends and coalescing1 and thus providing the necessary basis for the leaf-skin or cuticle4 ,all this1 if not entirely caused by subtle forms of air1 is at least very much furthered by them4 ,if the leaves of many water-plants are thread-like or assume the form of antlers1 we are inclined to attribute it to lack of complete anastomosis4 ,the growth of the water buttercup1 ,ranunculus aquatilis1 shows this quite obviously1 with its aquatic leaves consisting of mere thread-like veins1 while in the leaves developed above water the anastomosis is complete and a connected plane is formed4 ,occasionally1 indeed1 in this plant1 the transition may be still more definitely observed1 in leaves which are half anastomosed and half thread-like4' ,the second of these paragraphs describes the phenomenon of vascular anastomosis which1 having already been more than once an object of our study1 here reveals a new meaning4 ,if1 following ,goethe's method1 we re-create in our mind the repeated separations and reunions of the sap-vessels1 while keeping in view the fact that the leaf's outer form is the result of a purposive1 many times repeated anastomosis1 then the picture of the activity of weaving arises before our mind's eye4 7,hence the word 'tissue' for the flesh of a living being47 ,in truth all nature's forms are woven of light1 including the crystals4#c ,how clear a picture ,goethe had of the conformity of man's act of thinking with nature's way of producing her forms - both being an act of supersensible weaving - is shown by the following two verses4 ,that on the left is a passage from ,faust1 from the scene in which ,mephisto 7disguised as ,faust7 instructs the young ,scholar4 ,the other is an altered version of it1 written by ,goethe at a later time to conclude an essay 7,bedenken und ,ergebung7 in which he deals with the problem of the relation between ,experience and ,idea3 ,truly1 when men their thoughts conceive ',tis as if some masterpiece they weave4 ,one thread1 and a thousand strands take flight1 ,swift to and fro the shuttles going1 ,all unseen the threads a-flowing1 ,one stroke1 and a thousand close unite4#a ,so with a modest eye perceive ,her masterpiece ,dame ,nature weave4 ,one thread1 and a thousand strands take flight1 ,swift to and fro the shuttles going1 ,each to the other the threads a-flowing1 ,one stroke1 and a thousand close unite4#d - ,what ,goethe wants to show here by applying to the activity of nature the same image which he used originally to depict the act of thinking1 we can express to-day by saying that it is the identity of the activity of the light-ether in human thinking and in external nature which is responsible for the fact that the objective ideas operating in nature can become the content of man's consciousness in the form of thoughts4#e ,following our previous procedure when we gave the warmth-ether a second name by calling it chaoticizing ether1 we can denote the light-ether also as 'weaving ether'4 99 ,if at this point in our discussion we revert once more to the realm of physical manifestations of light1 dealt with in the preceding chapters1 we do so because by studying them in the present context we shall gain further insight into the fact that one plane of nature provides illustrations of processes which on another plane remain more or less veiled4 ,at the same time this will help us to learn more about the properties of levity-space4 ,the optical phenomenon which we shall discuss in this sense is that of the so-called pin-hole camera4 7,the pin-hole camera effect is easily produced by a keyhole in a closed door which on one side faces a window and on the other leads to a comparatively dark room47 ,the usual explanation of the appearance of the optical image on the back inside wall of such a camera is that light-rays1 emanating from every point outside1 cross each other in the aperture of the camera and so - again point by point - create the inverted image4 ,no such explanation1 clearly1 is open to us4 ,for the world of external objects is a whole1 and so is its image appearing in the camera4 ,equally1 the light entering the camera is not a sum of single rays4 ,pure observation leads to the following description of the optical process4 ,by surveying the path which the light takes from the illuminated surface of the outer objects via the pin-hole to the optical image inside the camera1 we realize that the light-realm engaged in this process has the shape of a double cone1 with its apex in the opening of the camera4 ,within this cone the light carries the image across the space stretching in front of the light-reflecting objects up to the point where the image becomes visible by being caught on the back wall of the camera4 ,thus in every section of the cone the image is present in its totality - even in the very apex of the cone4 ,there1 too1 the image in all its details is present as a whole1 though without 7ideally7 any spatial extension4 ,seen thus1 on this level of its action the light-ether reveals as one of its characteristics the faculty of making present in a spaceless point an image originally expanded in space1 and of letting it emerge from this point in spatial expansion4 ,further1 there is the fact that1 wherever we set up a pin-hole camera1 the aperture in its front will cause the formation of an optical image inside it4 ,this shows that each point in space filled with light is the bearer of an optical image1 contracted to a point1 of the entire world of light-reflecting objects surrounding it4 ,all we do with such a camera is to select a particular image and bring it to separate visibility4 ,through these observations we grow aware of light's faculty of communicating simultaneously to space as a whole1 and to each point in it1 a potential image of the light-reflecting object4 ,what we observe here in the sphere of physical light-activity is exactly what the light-ether performs on a higher level of nature when with its help the spiritual archetype of a plant takes on spatial appearance4 ,for to this end the archetype1 itself without spatial limitations1 imprints its image into the tiny seed1 whence the growing plant organism carries it again into space4 ,and there is in principle no limitation to the number of such seeds1 each of which will bear the complete image of the archetype4 99 99 99 7d7 ,,sound ,the characteristics of the third modification of ether are such that they prompted ,rudolf ,steiner to give it as a second name1 besides chemical ether1 that of sound-ether4 ,in view of the fact1 stressed at the beginning of this chapter1 that perception of the ether is achieved by a heightening of the power of the spirit-eye1 it must cause surprise to learn that a certain mode of activity of the ether has a quality which makes appeal to aural experiences4 ,the full answer to this riddle must await the discussion that follows this chapter4 ,two points1 however1 may be brought forward at once4 ,firstly1 where gravity1 with its tendency to individualize1 is absent1 no such sharp distinctions exist between one form of perception and another as are found in the sphere of the physical senses4#f ,secondly1 even in ordinary sense-perception a certain overlapping of visual and aural experiences is known to us4 ,we need only think how common it is to give musical attributes1 such as 'consonant' and 'dissonant' to colours1 and to describe tones as 'light' and 'dark'4 ,the reason is that subconsciously we accompany visual experiences with tone-sensations1 and vice versa4 ,cases are even known of human beings in whom the secondary sensation occurs with such intensity as to equal the primary one4 ,such people say that they 'see' sounds and 'hear' colours4 99 ,everything that is true of the supersensible sphere we may expect to come to expression in some form in the world of sense-perception4 ,the sphere of the ether is the sphere of the creative archetypes of the world1 and when we learn that to one part of this world the character of sound is attributed1 we must search for a phenomenon1 perceptible to our senses1 which reveals to us the secret of the sound's form-creating power4 ,this we have in the so-called sound-figures1 discovered by the ,german physicist ,chladni 7#agef-ahbg7 and called after him ',chladni's sound-figures'4 ,a short description of how they are produced will not be out of place4 ,a round or square plate of glass or brass1 fixed at its centre so that it can vibrate freely at its edges1 is required4 ,it is evenly and not too thickly covered with fine sand or lycopodium powder and then caused to vibrate acoustically by the repeated drawing of a violin-bow with some pressure across the edge of the plate until a steady note becomes audible4 ,through the vibrations thus caused within the plate1 the particles of sand or powder are set in movement and caused to collect in certain stationary parts of the plate1 thereby creating figures of very regular and often surprising form4 ,by stroking the plate at different points on the edge1 and at the same time damping the vibrations by touching the edge at other points with the finger1 notes of different pitch can be produced1 and for each of these notes a characteristic figure will appear 7,fig4 #ad74g ,the significance for us of ,chladni's experiment will emerge still more clearly if we modify it in the following way4 ,instead of directly setting the plate with the powder into vibration by stroking it with the bow1 we produce a corresponding movement on a second plate and let it be transmitted to the other by resonance4 ,for this purpose the two plates must be acoustically tuned to each other and placed not too far apart4 ,let us imagine1 further1 that the whole experiment was arranged - as it well might be - in such a way that the second plate was hidden from a spectator1 who also lacked the faculty of hearing4 ,this gives us a picture of the situation in which we find ourselves whenever the higher kinds of ether by way of a tone-activity inaudible to our physical ear1 cause shapeless matter to assume regularly ordered form4 99 ,this comparison of the activity of the sound-ether1 as the form-creating element in nature1 with ,chladni's phenomenon is drawn correctly only if we recognize that the conception of form1 as an expression of that which is called forth through the etheric forces in nature1 comprises more than the external spatially bounded shape of an organic or inorganic entity4 ,apart from the fact already indicated1 that for the formation of such entities the co-operation also of life-ether is necessary1 we can judge the activity of sound-ether correctly only if we conceive it as a much more inward activity1 compared with the formation in external space of ,chladni's figures4 ,in the latter case1 the reason why the influence of sound causes nothing beyond the ordering of form in outer space is because on this plane of nature the only changes that can occur are changes in the positions of separate physical bodies4 ,where the forces of sound in ether-form are able to take hold of matter from within1 they can produce changes of form of a quite different kind4 ,this effect of the activity of sound-ether has given it its other name3 chemical ether4 ,we have mentioned once before that our conception of 'form' in organically active nature must not be limited merely to that of a body's spatial outline4 ,this was in connexion with ,ruskin's definition of the spiritual principle active in plant-formation as 'the power that catches out of chaos charcoal1 water1 lime and what not1 and fastens them down into a given form'4 ,besides the external order of matter revealed in space-form1 there exists also an inner qualitative order expressed in a body's chemical composition4 ,upon this inner chemical order is based all that we encounter as colour1 smell1 taste1 etc41 of a substance1 as well as its nourishing1 healing or harmful properties4 ,accordingly1 all these parts of an organism1 both in the plant-kingdom and within the higher organisms1 have a certain inner material order1 apart from their characteristic space-structure4 ,the one is never present without the other1 and in some way they are causally connected4 ,in this inner order of substance we must see in the very first place the work of the sound or chemical ether4 ,and we should be aware that by the word 'chemistry' in this connexion we mean something much more far-reaching than those chemical reactions which we can bring about by the reciprocal affinity of physical substances1 however complicated these reactions may be4 ,a few examples will illustrate the difference between chemical processes caused by direct influence of the chemical ether1 and others in which only the physical consequences of the ether are effective4 ,in his book1 ,man the ,unknown1 ,professor ,carrel shows very impressively1 by an example from the human organism1 the difference of quantitative ratio in externally similar processes1 one of which occurs within the domain of life1 the other1 outside it4 ,he compares the quantity of liquid necessary to keep artificially alive a piece of living tissue which has been reduced to pulp1 with the quantity of blood doing the same within the living organism4 ,if all the tissues of a human body were treated in this way1 it would take #de1jjj gallons of circulating fluid to keep them from being poisoned in a few days by their own waste products4 ,within the living organism the blood achieves the same task with #a;,j gallons4 ,very many chemical changes within living organisms are effected by the two polar processes of oxidation and reduction4 ,we have discussed them repeatedly as hieroglyphs of much that occurs in nature by way of polarity4 ,in accordance with the principle ruling the physical plane of nature1 that differences of level tend to disappear1 oxidation can occur by itself1 whereas reduction requires the expenditure of energy4 ,let us from this point of view compare the transformation of oxidized into reduced iron1 as it takes place inside and outside the realm of life4 ,an example of this process in its purely physical form is the reduction of iron-ore to metallic iron in blast-furnaces1 where1 with the help of high temperature and high pressure1 carbon is made to combine with the oxygen ingredient of the ore and to impart to it its own imponderable energy4 ,precisely the same process is going on continuously and unobtrusively within the human body under normal bodily conditions of temperature and pressure1 when the oxy-haemoglobin of the arterial blood changes over into the haemoglobin of the venous blood4 ,a macrotelluric counterpart of this is the transformation of the red river-mud into the blue-black continental mud at the bottom of the sea1 around the continental shores4 ,here1 again1 reduction takes place without those preliminaries that are necessary for carrying through the process by technical means4 ,through examples of this kind we gain insight into the nature of the chemical ether as a 'magic' force 7in the sense in which we have introduced this term at the beginning of the book74 ,what the chemical ether is capable of effecting in a gentle manner1 so to speak1 in cooperation with the inertness-overcoming power of the warmth-ether1 can be imitated physically only by an extraordinary concentration of external energy and the use of masses of material substance4 ,at the same time the imitation is never complete4 ,for to all that happens through the action of the chemical ether there belongs the quality of cosmic youth1 while everything brought about in a purely physical manner is of necessity cosmically old4#h ,of all the provinces of nature towards which man's exploring eye has turned since the dawn of the onlooker-consciousness1 none has furthered his purely quantitative thinking more than chemistry1 ever since the discovery that the chemical reactions of the various substances are conditioned by a quite definite and constant numerical relationship4 ,it was these relationships which impelled the rise of the atomic conception of matter and all its consequences4 ,for since the onlooker-consciousness is quite unable to conceive the existence of numerical relationships in the physical world except as sums of computable units in space1 it was natural for this type of consciousness to reduce all empirically established numerical relationships to correspending relationships among quantities of the smallest possible material or matter-like units4 ,scientific thinking1 if guided by knowledge of the existence of etheric forces and their action1 has no need of such an interpretation of the numerical relationships revealed in the physical world2 for it knows them to be nothing but the last expression of the action of the chemical ether 7hence occasionally also called 'number-ether' by ,rudolf ,steiner74 ,to do justice to the appearance of measurable numerical relationships in nature1 in whatever sphere1 it is necessary to free ourselves from the abstract conception of number which governs modern scientific thought and to replace it by a more concrete one4 ,we shall rind that for the existence of a certain number there may be two quite different reasons1 although the method of establishing the number itself is the same in each case4 ,a simple example will illustrate this4 ,let us look at a number of similar objects1 say a group of five apples4 ,we observe that the relation of the number five to the group of objects in front of us is purely external and accidental4 ,in applying to it the conception 'five' we combine the single objects into a group and give it a name1 or numerical label1 which has nothing to do with the nature of the items making up the group4 ,this way of thinking1 we may observe1 is of exactly the kind which the nominalists of the ,middle ,ages attributed to every conception formed by the human mind4 ,in fact1 the process of counting is a process of pure abstraction4 ,the more differentiated are the things which we want to combine into a group through the process of counting1 the further this abstraction has to go4 ,we can count apples and pears together under the collective conception of 'fruit'2 if turnips are added1 we must help ourselves out with the conception 'vegetable products'2 until finally we deal only with 'things'1 without considering any qualitative differentiation4 ,thus the conception of number is created solely within the human mind1 which applies it to things from outside4 ,from the moment when human consciousness was unable to attribute to itself any other than a purely nominalistic mode of comprehension it was inevitable that all explanations of natural phenomena would have two results3 7#a7 the exclusion from observation of everything that could not be conceived in terms of numbers1 and 7#b7 an endeavour to find for every numerical relationship capable of empirical proof an explanation which could be interpreted as the result of taking qualitatively identical units and counting them4 ,for this method of forming conceptions is the only one which nominalism can accept with a good conscience4 ,the fact that in so doing it is led ad absurdum has only quite lately occurred to it4 ,for if by the logical following of this path - as in modern theoretical physics - the whole universe is dissolved into units which can no longer be distinguished from each other1 then it will become impossible to count these parts1 for it cannot be established whether any given one of these hypothetical elemental particles has been counted or not4 ,none the less1 ,eddington claimed to have found the exact number of particles composing the universe - a number with #hj figures - by using a special calculus1 but this number is valid only on the supposition that the particles cannot be counted because they are indistinguishable6#i ,however correct the nominalistic conception of number may be in such a case as that of numbering the five apples1 it is wholly incorrect to restrict the concept of number itself to one valid for this kind of occurrence4 ,we shall see this immediately if we take one of the apples and cut it across4 ,there we find the number five confronting us in the well-known star-like figure1 represented by the fivefold pericarp in the centre of the apple4 ,what man1 restricted as he was to the mode of understanding1 has completely overlooked is this3 although the act of counting1 by which we establish the number five1 is the same in both cases1 the quality of the number five is totally different4 ,for in the case of the five pericarps this number is a quality immanent in the apple1 which it shares with the whole species of ,rosaceae4 ,the apple itself is just as much 'five' as it is 'round'1 'sweet'1 etc4 ,in the supersensible type which creates in the plant its own organ of manifestation1 the creation of a number - in the apple the number five - is part of the form-creating activities characteristic of the type4 ,the numerical relationships which appear between natural phenomena depend upon the way in which the chemical ether participates4 ,this is true equally of those discovered by chemistry in the sphere of inorganic matter and used to-day with such great success4 ,let us be quite clear that the relationship of unity to plurality in the case of the five apples is totally different from what it is in the fivefold pericarp4 ,in the first case unity is the smallest quantity represented by each of the five apples4 ,there1 the step from one to two is made by joining together two units from outside4 ,the path from one to many is by way of continuous addition4 ,in the second case the unity is represented by the pericarp - i4e4 by the one comprising the many1 the latter appearing as parts of the whole4 ,in such a case two is part of one and so are three1 four1 five1 etc4 ,plurality arises from a continuous process of division of unity4 ,the ancient world knew the idea of number only in the last-mentioned form4 ,there unity appeared as an all-embracing magnitude1 revealed through the ,universe4 ,the world's manifoldness was felt to be not a juxtaposition of single things1 externally connected1 but the content of this unity1 and therefore derived from it4 ,this was expressed by the pre-,socratic ,greek philosophers in the formula 7the ,one and the ,all74 ,with the appearance of the ,arabs on the scene of history1 human thought turned to the additive concept of number1 and the original distributive concept receded gradually into oblivion4 ,the acceptance of the new concept made it possible for the first time to conceive the zero4 ,it is clear that by a continuous division of unity one is carried to a constantly growing number of constantly diminishing parts1 but without ever reaching the nothing represented by the number zero4 ,to-day we should say that in this way we can reach zero only by an infinite series of steps4 ,yet the idea of the infinite did not exist in this form for ancient man4 ,on the other hand1 in the arabic conception of number the steps necessary to reach zero are finite4 ,for just as by the external addition of unities we can step forward from one number to the next1 so we can also step back on the same path by repeated subtractions of unities4 ,having thus reached ,one1 nothing can stop us from going beyond it by one more such step4 ,the arabic numeral system1 therefore1 is the only one to possess its own symbol for zero4 ,it has been correctly noted that the penetration into ,european thought of this additive concept of number was responsible for developing the idea of the machine2 for it accustomed human beings to think calmly of zero as a quantity existing side by side with the others4 ,in ancient man the idea of nothingness1 the absolute void1 created fear2 he judged nature's relation to the void accordingly1 as the phrase 'natura abhorret vacuum' indicates4 ,his capacity to think fearlessly of this vacuum and to handle it thus had to be developed in order to bring about the ,machine ,age1 and particularly the development of efficient steam engines4 ,consider also the decisive part played by the vacuum in ,crookes's researches1 through which the path to the sub-physical realm of nature was laid open4 ,yet nature makes use of number as a regulating factor in quite a different way from its appearance in the purely electrical and gravitational connexions of inorganic matter1 namely where sound-ether from the upper boundary of nature so regulates nature's dynamic that the manifold sense-qualities appear in their time-and-space order4 ,when we interpret the arrangement of numbers found there on a nominalistic basis1 as is done when the axis- and angle-relationships of crystals are reduced to a mere propinquity of the atoms distributed like a grid in space1 or when the difference in angle of the position of the various colours in the spectrum is reduced to mere differences in frequency of the electromagnetic oscillations in a hypothetical ether - then we bar the way to the comprehension not only of number itself1 as a quality among qualities1 but also of all other qualities in nature4 99 7e7 ,,life ,as already mentioned1 the three kinds of ether1 warmth1 light and sound1 are not sufficient in themselves to bring into existence what in its proper sense we call 'life' in nature1 i4e4 the formation of single living organisms4 ,this requires the action of a fourth kind of ether1 the life-ether1 ranged above the other three4 ,we can best comprehend the life-ether's contribution to the total activity of the ether in nature by considering the interaction of the four kinds of ether with the four physical elements4 ,we have seen that the warmth-ether has the double function of being at once the lowest ether and the highest physical element1 thus acting as a sphere of reflexion for the other kinds of ether and the elements respectively4 ,each stage in the etheric has its reflexion in the physical1 as the above table shows4 ,thus to the physical air the etheric light is related4 7,the affinity of light and air is best seen in the plant and its leaf-formation47 ,to bring about real changes in the material composition of the physical world requires the stronger powers of the chemical ether4 ,therefore it is also the first ether of which we had to speak as 'magical' ether4 ,its effects reach into the watery element which is already bound up with gravity1 but by its own strength it cannot penetrate beyond that4 ,the causation of material changes in the liquid sphere would in fact be all that these three kinds of ether could achieve together4 ,only when the power of the life-ether is added to the three others can etheric action reach as far as the sphere of solid matter4 ,thus the life-ether is responsible for all solid formation in nature1 both in her organic and inorganic fields 7the latter-crystal-formation-being the effect of external ether-action74#aj ,it is to the action of the life-ether that nature owes the existence in her different realms of multitudes of separate solid forms4 ,to mention an instance from our previous studies3 in the same way as volcanic phenomena manifest the warmth-ether's gravity-overcoming power on a macrotelluric scale1 so snow-formation illustrates the life-ether's matter-shaping might4 ,through its power to bind flowing action into solid form1 the life-ether is related to the sound-ether in the same way as the articulated word formed by human speaking is related to the mere musical tone4 ,the latter by itself is as it were fluid4 ,in human speech this fluidity is represented by the vowels4 ,with a language consisting only of vowels man would be able to express feelings1 but not thoughts4 ,to let the word as carrier of thought arise out of sound1 human speech possesses the consonants1 which represent the solid element in it4 ,the emergence of the sense-bearing word from the merely ringing sound is an exact counterpart to what takes place in nature when the play of organic liquids1 regulated by the chemical ether1 is caused by the life-ether to solidify into outwardly perceptible form4 ,by reading in this way the special function of the life-ether among the other three1 we are led to the term ' ,word-ether' as an appropriate second name for it1 corresponding to the term sound-ether for the chemical ether4 99 ,thus ,levity presents itself to us as being engaged in the fourfold activity of ,chaoticizing1 ,weaving1 ,sounding and1 lastly1 ,speaking the form-creative ,cosmic ,word into the realm of ,gravity4 #a ,to avoid misunderstandings1 it should be emphasized that spiritual ,imagination is not attained by any exercise involving directly the sense of sight and its organ1 the eye1 but by purely mental exercises designed to increase the 'seeing' faculty of the mind4 #b ,indeed1 it is a misunderstanding of the whole meaning of ,anthroposophy when its contents are quoted - as they sometimes are even by adherents - in such a way as to suggest that by their help a better 'explanation' may be gained of matters for which there is otherwise no1 or at least no satisfactory1 explanation4 ,the question3 ',how does ,anthroposophy explain this or that8' is quite wrongly put4 ,we ought rather to ask3 ',how does ,anthroposophy help us to read more clearly this or that otherwise enigmatical chapter of the script of existence8' #c ,see ,space and the ,light of ,creation1 by ,g4 ,adams1 where this 'weaving' is shown with the help of projective geometry4 #d ,translation by ,j4 ,darrell4 #e ,we may recall here also the passage from ,ruskin's ,the ,queen of the ,air1 quoted earlier1 p4 #aah74 #f ,that the ether1 apart from being supersensibly seen1 is also heard1 was empirically known to ,goethe4 ,see the opening words of the ',prologue in ,heaven 7,faust1 ,i7 and the call of the ,spirit of the ,elements in the first scene of the ,second ,part of the drama1 which follow upon the stage direction3 ',the sun announces his approach with overwhelming noise4' #g ,by attending ,chladni's lectures on his discovery in ,paris the ,french physicist ,savart became acquainted with this phenomenon and devoted himself to its study4 ,chladni and ,savart together published a great number of these figures4 #h ,understanding the attributes of the chemical ether enables us to see in their right perspective ,rudolf ,steiner's suggestions to farmers for the preparation of the soil and for keeping healthy the crops growing on it4 ,attempts have been made to dismiss these suggestions by calling them 'mysticism' and 'mediaeval magic'4 ,both terms are titles of honour if we understand by the one the form of insight into the supersensible realm of nature acquired by the higher mode of reading1 and by the other a faculty of nature herself1 whose magic wand is the chemical or sound-ether4 #i ,see ,eddington's humorous and at the same time serious treatment of this problem in his ,philosophy of ,physical ,science4 #aj ,of the difference between external and internal ether-action more will be said in the concluding chapter4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,pro ,anima ,thy functions are ethereal1 ,as if within thee dwelt a glancing mind1 ,organ of vision6 ,and a ,spirit areal ,informs the cell of ,hearing1 dark and blind4 ,w4 ,,wordsworth 7a7 ,,the ,,well-,,springs ,,of ,,nature',s ,,deeds ,,and ,,sufferings ,as our observations have shown1 gravity and levity not only exist side by side as a primary polarity2 the manifold interaction of their fields gives rise to all sorts of secondary polarities4 ,obviously1 this interaction must be brought about by a further kind of force to which gravity and levity are subordinate4 ,in what follows we shall try1 so far as is possible within the scope of this book1 to throw light on the nature of this force4 ,since the direct experience of the dynamic realm constituted by it is based on faculties of the mind other than those needed for the ,imaginative perception of the etheric realm1 we shall have to examine also the nature and origin of these faculties4 ,this will lead us again to the study of one of man's higher senses1 this time his sense of hearing1 with the aim of finding the spiritual function that is hidden in it4 ,but our order of procedure will have to differ from the one followed in the last chapter1 because it will be necessary first to make ourselves acquainted with the nature of the new force and then to turn to an examination of the sense-activity concerned4 99 ,let our first object of observation be man himself in so far as he illustrates a polarity of the second order4 ,when studying man's nature with the idea of understanding the genesis of his onlooker-consciousness1 it will be remembered1 we had to examine the ordering of his consciousness into waking1 dreaming and sleeping in the different members of his organism4 ,we recognized three different organic systems1 the sensory-nerve system1 the rhythmic system and the metabolic-limb system1 as the bodily foundation of three different soul activities4 ,these are the thought-forming activity which belongs to waking consciousness2 the feeling activity which belongs to dream consciousness2 and the willing activity which belongs to sleep consciousness4 ,we then saw in these three systems representatives of the three alchemical functions - 'sulphurous' in the metabolic1 'saline' in the nervous1 'mercurial' in the mediating rhythmic system4 ,regarded thus1 man's nature reveals itself as being endowed with a physical organization1 and an etheric organization1 which are brought into different relationships by being acted upon by a third organization consisting of forces of the kind here to be studied4 ,at his lower pole these forces co-ordinate the ether and physical organizations in a manner corresponding to the function of the 'sulphur'-pole of the alchemical triad4 ,here1 therefore1 the warmth-ether takes the lead and acts in such a way that the higher kinds of ether are able to come to expression in material processes of the body4 ,at the upper pole corresponding forces co-ordinate the physical and ether organizations in a way characteristic of the 'salt'-pole4 ,this gives the lead to the life-ether1 so that the physical organism provides the foundation for the activity of the ether-forces without1 however1 being actually penetrated by them 7at least after completion of the embryonic and first post-embryonic development74 ,as a result1 consciousness lights up in this part of the body4 ,the rhythmic sphere1 being the 'mercurial' middle1 is distinguished by an alternation of the two conditions described4 ,with each diastole it becomes more akin to the pole below1 and with each systole more akin to the pole above4 ,here1 therefore1 the lighting up of consciousness is only partial4 ,by means of these observations we realize that the third type of force1 in so far as it is active in man1 has the capacity1 by co-ordinating the physical and etheric parts of the organism in one way or another1 to promote happenings either of a more corporeal or a more psychical nature - namely1 motion at one pole1 sensation at the other1 and feeling in the middle between them4#a ,remembering ,goethe's formula1 'colours are deeds and sufferings of light'1 we realize how deeply true the concepts were to which he was led by his way of developing observation and thought4 ,what we have now brought to our awareness by studying man1 holds good in some sense also for the animal4 ,the animal1 too1 is polarized into motion and sensation4 7,what makes the animal differ from man need not concern us here1 for it belongs to a dynamic realm other than the one we are now studying4 ,this other realm will come under consideration in the next chapter47 ,quite a different picture arises when we turn to the plant4 ,the plant1 too1 is characterized by a threefold structure1 root1 stem with leaves1 and florescence1 which in their way represent the three alchemical functions4 ,consequently1 there is also motion in the plant1 although this is confined to internal movements leading to growth and formation4 ,and at the opposite pole there is sensation1 though again very different from the sensation experienced by higher living beings4 ,what we mean here by 'sensation' can be best expressed by quoting the following passage from ,ruskin's ,the ,queen of the ,air1 in which the dual activity of the dynamic which we seek to understand is brought out particularly clearly4 ,in describing the forming of blossom in the plant as the climax of the 'spirit' active in it1 ,ruskin says3 ',its 7the plant's7 form becomes invested with aspects that are chiefly delightful to our own human passions2 namely1 first1 with the loveliest outlines of shape and1 secondly1 with the most brilliant phases of the primary colours1 blue1 yellow1 red or white1 the unison of all2 and to make it more strange1 this time of peculiar and perfect glory is associated with relations of the plants or blossoms to each other1 correspondent to the joy of love in human creatures and having the same object in the continuance of the race4'#b ,if we wish to understand why the same dynamic action working on the physical and etheric organisms of the plant1 on the one hand1 and of man and the animal1 on the other1 brings about effects so different1 we must turn to the realm whence this action originates in both cases4 ,for the animal and for man this realm is situated within their organisms because in addition to their individual physical and etheric organizations they are endowed also with an individual organization of the higher kind4 ,not so with the plant4 ,for the rhythms of its growth1 the successive formation of its various organs1 the production of its colours1 etc41 the plant depends on outer conditions4 ,what strikes us first in this respect is the plant's dependence on the succession of the seasons4 ,these in turn are an outcome of the changing mutual positions of earth and sun4 ,that which forms part of the individual organism in higher living beings is located in the cosmic surroundings of the plant4 ,in fact1 it is our planetary system which provides the forces that stir the etheric and physical forces of the earth to their various interactions1 thus bringing about all the manifold secondary polarities4 99 ,before we embark on a description of further phenomena which testify to the cosmic nature of the forces with which we are here concerned1 it will be well 7following a principle applied before7 to establish the historical antecedents of the conception of the universe we are about to develop4 ,we realize that the type of force with which we are here seeking to become familiar is the one responsible for the existence of what we commonly call 'soul'4 ,the creation of a body-bound soul1 however1 is only one particular form of the activity of these forces4 ,another is the one which we have just seen manifest in the plant4 ,in yet another way the same forces function as movers and stirrers of the macro-telluric processes of the earth1 and beyond this of the happenings in the body of our planetary system1 including the movements of the various planets4 ,this is an aspect which was by no means unfamiliar to ancient man4 ,it was naturally lost when the onlooker-consciousness awoke4 ,in this respect it is of historical significance that the same man1 ,g4 ,a4 ,borelli 7#afjh-gi71 a member of the ,florentine ,academy1 who was the first to inquire into the movements of the animal and human body from a purely mechanical point of view1 made the first attempt to deduce the planetary movements from a purely physical cause4#c ,through this fact an impulse comes to expression which we may term ,contra ,animam1 and against which we have to put our ,pro ,anima1 in much the same way that we put our ,pro ,levitate against the ,contra ,levitatem call of the ,florentine ,academicians4 99 ,it will help our further descriptions if we introduce at this point the name which ,rudolf ,steiner adopted for the type of forces we are concerned with here4 ,in view of the fact that their origin lies in the extra-terrestrial realm of the universe1 he called them 'astral' forces1 thereby giving back to this term1 also1 its true and original meaning4 ,it is under this name that we shall speak of them henceforth4 ,to make ourselves more familiar with the character of the astral forces1 it will be well to observe them first of all in their macrotelluric form of activity4 ,there is1 as already mentioned1 the rhythmic occurrence of the seasons in connexion with the varying relative positions of earth and sun4 ,alongside this we may put the rhythm of the tides1 coincident with the phases of the moon4 ,just as the solar rhythm manifests in an alternating rise and fall of the saps in the plants1 so also does the lunar rhythm4#d 7,note how this fact actually vitiates the usual explanation that the tidal rhythm of the sea is caused by a gravitational pull exerted by the moon's body on the oceanic water47 ,in neither instance is the change of position of the relevant cosmic body - in our examples that of the sun or moon in relation to the earth - the 'cause' of the corresponding rhythmic events on the earth4 ,together with all other rhythmic events of equal periodicity1 it is itself the effect of the activity of a force-sphere constituting the cosmic realm to which the relevant planetary body belongs4 ,from this statement three major questions arise1 which need to be answered before we can carry on our description of the astral forces themselves3 ,firstly1 by the way we have spoken of the varying relations of the sun and moon to the earth1 seeing in them the effects of certain astral activities1 we have treated them as if they were of like nature1 namely1 resulting from a movement of the relevant heavenly body round the earth4 ,according to the ,copernican conception1 however1 only the moon rotates round the earth1 whereas the apparent yearly progression of the sun is actually caused by the earth's motion round the sun4 ,this raises the question of how far the ,copernican1 heliocentric aspect is valid in a science which strives to embrace the astral realm of the universe in its inquiries4 ,secondly1 what roles do the other members of our planetary system play as compared with those of the sun and the moon8 ,thirdly1 if it is true that the essential solar and lunar effects - and presumably the effects of the other planets - on the earth do not spring from physical influence exerted by the visible bodies of the planets concerned1 but from certain astral force-fields of which these bodies themselves form part1 what is the significance of such a body within the planet's dynamic whole8 ,starting with the answer to the first question1 we shall quote the following passage from a lecture on theoretical physics given by ,professor ,planck in #aiji at the ,columbia ,university1 ,new ,york3 ',only the hypothesis of the general value of the principle of ,relativity in mechanics could admit the ,copernican system into physics1 since this principle guarantees the independence of all processes on the earth from the progressive motion of the earth4 ,for1 if we had to make allowance for this motion1 then ,i should1 for instance1 have to reckon with the fact that the piece of chalk in my hand possesses the enormous kinetic energy corresponding to a velocity of about #cj km_/sec4' ,the implications for us of these remarks by an eminent physicist can be expressed as follows3 ,in a science which knows how to deal with movement as an event of absolute dynamic reality1 the ,copernican aspect loses its significance as the only valid aspect of our cosmic system4 ,for its application as a means of describing the dynamic happenings within this system presupposes the acceptance of ,einstein's relativistic conception of motion4 ,indeed1 for the building up of a picture of the dynamic structure of our system1 the ,copernican view-point is inadequate4 ,this statement must not be taken to deny all justification to the heliocentric view-point4 ,there is1 after all1 the fact that the orbits which the heavenly bodies appear to follow when viewed in this way1 assume a particular geometrical character which cannot be accidental4 ,and more than that1 when the heliocentric aspect is seen in its true setting1 it forms 7as will be shown later7 an extremely revealing part of the script which tells us of the nature of the astral forces4 ,all that is required is that the heliocentric picture be taken for what it is1 namely1 a purely kinematic aspect of the true dynamic ordering of our cosmic system1 which in itself calls for quite other means of conceptual representation4 ,from the point of view of the astral order of the universe1 the earth appears in the centre of a number of force-fields which penetrate each other and in their peripheral region extend beyond one another in accordance with the respective orbits of the various planetary bodies4 ,how many force-fields there are1 and what is the respective character of each1 will become clear from the following consideration1 which will also provide the answer to the second of our three questions4 ,as the originator of the secondary polarities in earthly nature the astral realm must undoubtedly itself be structured polarically1 one part of it forming the cause of all the happenings by which levity is brought into interaction with gravity1 the other of all the happenings by which gravity is brought into interaction with levity4 ,there must be a further part which is responsible for the establishment of the 'mercurial' mean between the two poles of the secondary polarity4 ,this leads us to a threefold aspect of the astral realm4 ,closer inspection reveals a repetition of this threefold order within each of the two polar regions4 ,in ,chapter ,,xii we learnt to distinguish the material happenings at the two poles of the secondary polarity by observing their appearance in the plant as 'sublimation'1 on the one hand1 and 'assimilation' on the other4 ,of the former process1 by which matter is carried from its gravity-bound to its gravity-free condition1 we know that it takes place in three stages1 of which the first implies the lifting of matter from the solid to the liquid condition1 the second from the liquid to the aeriform condition1 and the third to the condition of pure heat4 ,there are three corresponding stages by which ether becomes susceptible to gravity4 ,it is in their nature that they are not in the same degree manifest as are their polar opposites4 ,still1 properly guided observation is able to detect them and enables us to describe them as follows4 ,at the first stage1 ether1 which in itself has a purely peripheral orientation1 becomes linked to some all-relating point2 at the second stage1 the various ether-activities1 already point-related1 are brought into some characteristic interrelationship so as to become the cause of a particular formative action in the material realm2 at the third stage1 the etheric aggregate thus organized receives the impulse to link itself with some particular portion of ponderable matter4 ,in these six forms of astral activity1 observation1 if guided by modern spiritual science1 recognizes the characteristics of the six planetary spheres1 known as ',moon'1 ',mercury'1 ',venus'1 on the one hand1 ',saturn'1 ',jupiter'1 ',mars'1 on the other4 ,in the same way the dynamic sphere of the ',sun' is found to provide the astral activity which mediates between the two groups of planetary spheres4#e ,the following observations may help us to become familiar with the different modes of activity of the force-spheres4 ,let us start with the astral forces corresponding to the three cosmic bodies nearest to the earth - ,moon1 ,mercury1 ,venus4 ,their activity can be discerned1 for example1 by watching the successive stages of plant development - the formation of the sap-bearing parts2 the flower-substance already partly transformed into aeriform condition2 finally the propagating processes which belong essentially to the sphere of activity of the warmth-ether4#f ,in the human organism we find the same sequence in the step-by-step transformation of nutriment right up to the moment when earthly form passes into chaos1 as we learnt previously4 ,the so-called enzyme action1 ascribed by physiology to the various digestive juices1 is in reality the product of an activity of the lower part of man's astral organization1 for which the relevant juices exercise the function of physical 'carriers'4 ,in the field of macrotelluric phenomena1 the metamorphosis of the atmospheric moisture extending beyond the different cloud-stages up to the stage of pure warmth is an example of the activity of the same forces4 ,within all three-stage transitions of this kind1 the astral forces connected with the ,moon preponderate during the first stage1 those connected with ,mercury during the second1 those connected with ,venus during the third4 ,we have already come across some examples of the outstanding share taken by the ,moon in the events of the earth's watery sphere4 ,to these phenomena1 which show by their rhythm their connexion with the ,moon1 we may add the fertility rhythm in the female human organism which coincides1 not in phase but in duration1 with the rhythm set by the ,moon's course in the heavens4 ,if we consider that the formation of a new human body in the womb needs the play of formative forces from out of the whole world environment1 and that for this purpose matter must be brought into a receptive condition for these forces1 then we can better understand the preparatory part played by the ,moon-forces4 ,in order1 however1 that the substance of the female germ should reach that condition of chaos suitable for embryonic development1 there is still necessary the influence of the supra-lunar astral forces4 ,entry for these is provided by the union of the germ-cell with the male sperm-cell4#g ,as the three sub-solar planetary spheres are responsible for events of a 'sulphurous' 7radial7 character1 so are the three supra-solar spheres responsible for those of a 'saline' 7spherical7 character4 ,for example1 we meet with ,saturn-activity in everything which radiates from the human head and brings about the hardening both of the head itself and of the entire skeleton4 ,observation has shown that1 even if the human being1 as usually happens1 stops growing in the early twenties1 so that the skeleton undergoes no further lengthening1 it nevertheless reaches its final shape and its final hardening only between the twenty-eighth and thirtieth years4 ,this is the time in man's life when ,saturn returns for the first time to the position in which it stood relatively to the earth at his birth1 or1 more correctly1 at his conception4 ,if the activity of the ,saturn-force is most clearly manifest in the formation of the hard skull1 that of ,jupiter1 the planet of ',wisdom'1 is shown in the formation of the complicated structure of the brain1 which enables it to co-ordinate the bodily and psychic functions of the entire man4 ,in the realm of physical nature1 man's brain is indeed the most perfect example of cosmic ,intelligence at work in a manner resembling that activity of human intelligence which one usually understands by 'organizing'4 ,in order that ,form should come about1 the forces of ,saturn are required2 for the formative process to take place in ,wisdom-filled order1 ,jupiter's forces are necessary4 ,if form and order are to become manifest in the realm of earthly substance1 both require the assistance of ,mars4 ,we can best form an idea of the part which ,mars contributes to the coming into being of the world of ,form in nature if we observe what takes place when we make use of speech as a medium for expressing our thoughts4 ,in order to be able to shape a thought we have to participate in the formative force of ,saturn4 ,we depend upon ,jupiter to bring about logical connexion between the single thoughts4 ,to announce them to the world1 we need the motive force of ,mars1 which enables us so to set external matter in motion that it becomes a carrier and relayer of our thoughts4 7,we here touch upon the field of the acoustic movements of the air which will occupy us more closely later on47 ,many examples of the activity of the force-spheres represented by the three exterior planets are to be found also in nature external to man4 ,from the realm of plant life we may take the woody and bark-like formation of the trees as representing the operation of ,saturn-forces4 ,similarly1 all that goes on in the organizing of the single leaf1 and particularly in the organization of the countless separate leaves which make up the foliage of a tree into a unified whole1 the characteristic crown of a tree1 is an example of the work of ,jupiter4 ,both activities are assisted by the force of ,mars1 which directs them from the cosmic periphery toward the single physical object4 ,between the two groups of astral force operating in this manner1 the ,sun acts as a mediating element through its double function of supporting the activity of the three lower planets by means of its heat and of conveying to the earth1 through its light1 the forces of the three higher planets4 ,in the human microcosm the ,sun-forces accomplish a corresponding task by means of the influences which radiate from the heart through the body along the paths taken by the blood4 99 ,in what follows we shall point to a group of phenomena which show the astral interconnexion between earth and universe2 we owe our knowledge of them to ,rudolf ,steiner4 ,it is due to him1 also1 that experimental research into the relevant facts became possible4 ,they concern the reflexion of the various planetary movements1 observable in the sky1 in the behaviour of certain mineral substances of the earth4 ,in connexion with our discussion of electricity 7,chapter ,,xiii7 we spoke of the special function of the metals as bearers of the 'mercurial' quality 7in the alchemical sense of the term74 ,as one of the characteristics which reveal this function we mentioned the peculiar capacity of metals to behave as 'solid fluids'4 ,this exceptional place among the mineral substances of the earth1 the metals owe to their close association with the extra-terrestrial astral forces of the world4 ,in this field1 too1 modern spiritual investigation has recovered something which was known to people of old - that among the metals there are seven which have a distinctive character1 for each stands in a special relation to one of the seven planets 7that is1 the planetary force-spheres7 of our cosmic system4 ,this is shown in the following table3 ,saturn ,lead ,jupiter ,tin ,mars ,iron ,sun ,gold ,venus ,copper ,mercury ,quicksilver ,moon ,silver ,as compared with these seven1 the other metals are products of combinations of various planetary forces4 ,a comparison of the role of ,saturn as the outermost planet of our cosmic system with the role played by its metal1 lead1 as a final product of radioactive disintegration1 leads one to conceive of the radioactive sphere of the earth as being related especially to the planets outside the orbit of ,saturn1 namely1 ,uranus1 ,neptune1 ,pluto4 ,thanks to the work of ,l4 ,kolisko who1 in following ,rudolf ,steiner's indications1 observed for many years the behaviour of the seven metals singly and in combination by submitting their salts to certain capillary effects1 we know to-day that the earth bears in her womb substances whose dynamic condition follows exactly the events in the planetary realm of the universe4#h 99 ,the picture of the universe which has thus arisen before our mind's eye is a startling one only so long as we keep comparing it with its heliocentric predecessor4 ,how wrong it would be to regard it as something inconceivable for the modern mind1 is shown by the fact that the modern physiologist has already been driven to form quite a similar picture of the human organism1 as far as it concerns glandular action in this organism4 ,his observations have taught him to distinguish between the gland as a spatially limited physical organ and the gland as a functional sphere1 and to conceive of the latter as the essential gland4 ,seen thus1 'the spatial and temporal dimensions of each gland are equal to those of the entire organism' 7,a4 ,carrel74 ,in this way we come to see the human organism as a realm of interpenetrating spheres of distinctive physiological activities4 ,each of these activities is anchored somewhere in the physical body by the anatomically discernible gland-body1 and the latter's relationship to the functional sphere is such that a gland's 'physiological individuality is far more comprehensive than its anatomical individuality'4 ,we need only translate this statement into its macrocosmic counterpart to obtain another statement which expresses fittingly the relationship of the visible body of a planet to the functional 7astral7 sphere indicated by its orbit4 ,then we shall say that 'a planet's astral individuality is far more comprehensive than its astronomical individuality'4 ,it should be observed that the step we have here taken1 by using a conception obtained through microcosmic observation to help us to find the answer to a question put to us by the macrocosm1 complies with one of the fundamentals of our method of research1 namely1 to allow 'the heavens to explain the earth1 and the earth the heavens' 7,r4 ,st474 99 99 99 7b7 ,,hearing ,,as ,,deed ,in the introductory part of the last chapter we said that we have the right to employ results of investigation carried out by higher faculties of spiritual perception without contradicting our principle of seeking to understand the phenomenal world by reading it1 provided our doing so helps to enhance our own reading activity1 and provided it can be shown that the acquisition of the higher faculties of perception is a direct continuation of the training we have to apply to our mind and senses to make them capable of such reading4 ,as regards the forces of astral character1 the first of these two conditions has been fulfilled by the observations we have already worked through in this chapter4 ,we have still to show that the second condition is equally fulfilled4 ,the faculty of the mind which permits direct investigation of the astral realm was called 7spiritual7 ,inspiration by ,rudolf ,steiner1 who thereby restored to this term1 also1 its proper meaning4 ,we have already indicated that this faculty resides in the sense of hearing in the same way that the faculty of ,imagination - as we have found - resides in the sense of seeing4 ,in order to understand why it is this particular sense which comes into consideration here1 we have to consider that the phenomena through which the astral world manifests most directly are all of a rhythmic nature4 ,now1 the sense through which our soul penetrates with direct experience into some outer rhythmic activity is the sense of hearing1 our aural perceptions being conveyed by certain rhythmic movements of the air4 ,in what follows we shall see how the study of both the outer acoustic phenomena and our own psycho-physical make-up in the region of the acoustic sense1 leads to an understanding of the nature of ,inspiration and of how it can be trained4 99 ,among all our sense-perceptions1 sound is unique in making itself perceptible in two quite different ways - via the ear as a direct sense experience and via the eye 7potentially also via the senses of touch and movement7 in the form of certain mechanical movements1 such as those of a string or a tuning fork4 ,hence the world-spectator1 as soon as he began to investigate acoustic phenomena scientifically1 found himself in a unique position4 ,in all other fields of perception1 with the exception of the purely mechanical processes1 the transition to non-stereoscopic colourless observation had the effect that the world-content of the naive consciousness simply ceased to exist1 leaving the ensuing hiatus to be filled in by a pattern of imagined kinematic happenings - for example1 colour by 'ether'-vibrations1 heat by molecular movements4 ,not so in the sphere of acoustics4 ,for here a part of the entire event1 on account of its genuine kinetic character1 remains a content of actual observation4 ,in consequence1 the science of acoustics became for the scientific mind of man a model of the required division between the 'subjective' 7that is1 for scientific considerations non-existent7 and the 'objective' 7that is1 the purely kinematic7 part of observation4 ,the field of aural perception seemed to justify the procedure of collecting a mass of phenomena1 stripped of all that is experienced by man's soul in meeting them1 and of assembling them under a purely abstract concept1 'sound'4 ,professor ,heisenberg1 in his lecture 7quoted at the beginning of ,chapter ,,ii7 on the way in which the scientific interrogation of nature has deliberately limited itself1 draws attention to the fact that a full knowledge of the science of optics in its present form might be acquired merely through theoretical study by one born blind1 yet without his ever getting to know what light is4 ,heisenberg could1 of course1 have said the same of the science of acoustics in regard to one born deaf4 ,but we can go a step further by asking how far a deaf and a blind person could get towards establishing the respective science4 ,the answer must be that1 whereas the person lacking sight would not of himself be in a position to establish a science of optics1 it would be well within the scope of the deaf man to establish a science of acoustics4 ,for all the processes essential to a physical acoustics are accessible to the eye and other senses4 ,in order to make our experience of hearing a finger-post pointing the way to an understanding of the faculty of ,inspiration innate in man1 we must first of all seek to transform acoustics from a 'deaf into a 'hearing' science1 just as ,goethe turned the theory of colour from a colour-blind into a colour-seeing science4 99 ,following our procedure in the case of optics1 we select from the total field of acoustic phenomena a defined realm specially suited to our purpose4 ,as it was then the spectrum1 so it will be now the so-called quality of sound1 or tone-colour4 ,by this term in acoustics is understood a property possessed by sound apart from pitch and volume1 and dependent on the nature of the source from which a tone is derived4 ,it is the tone-colour by which the tone of a violin1 for instance1 is distinguished from a tone of equal intensity and pitch produced by a flute4 ,similarly1 two musical instruments of the same kind are distinguished from each other by tone-colour4 ,tone-colour plays a specially significant part in human and animal voices4 ,not only has each individual voice its unique colour1 but the colour varies in one and the same person or animal1 according to the prevailing mood4 ,moreover1 by uttering the various vowels of his language1 man is able to impart varying colour to the sounds of his speech4 ,for the difference we experience when a tone is sung on the vowel 'a' or the vowel 'e'1 etc41 derives from the particular colour given by the vowel to that tone4 ,among the discoveries of the last century in the realm of acoustics1 there is one which especially helped to establish a purely kinematic conception of sound4 ,helmholtz showed that tones which to our ears seem to have a clear and definite pitch may be split up by a series of resonators into a number of different tones1 each of them sounding at a different pitch4 ,the lowest of these has the pitch which our ears attach to the entire tone4 ,thus in any ordinary tone there may be distinguished a 'fundamental' tone and a series of 'overtones'4 ,helmholtz further showed that the particular series of overtones into which a tone can be resolved is responsible for the colour of that tone as a whole4 ,naturally1 this meant for the prevailing mode of thinking that the experience of the colour of a tone had to be interpreted as the effect of a kind of acoustical adding together of a number of single tone perceptions 7very much as ,newton had interpreted 'white' light as the outcome of an optical adding together of a certain number of single colour perceptions74 ,the picture becomes different if we apply to the aural experience ,goethe's theorem that1 in so far as we are deluded1 it is not by our senses but by our own reasoning4 ,for we then realize that sounds never occur of themselves without some tone-colour1 whilst physically 'pure' tones - those that represent simple harmonic motions - exist only as an artificial laboratory product4 ,the colour of a tone1 therefore1 is an integral part of it1 and must not be conceived of as an additional attribute resulting from a summing up of a number of colourless tone experiences4 ,further1 if we compare our experiences of the two kinds of tone1 they tell us that through the quality or colour of the natural tone something of a soul-nature1 pleasant or unpleasant1 speaks to us1 whereas 'pure' tones have a soulless character4 ,resolving normal tones by ,helmholtz's method 7useful as it is for certain purposes7 amounts to something like dissecting a living1 ensouled organism into its members2 only the parts of the corpse remain in our hands4 99 ,having thus established that the psychic content of aural experience forms an integral part of the tone-phenomenon as such1 we must seek to understand how the kinetic process which is indispensable for its appearance comes to be the vehicle for the manifestation of 'soul' in the manner described4 ,to this end we must first of all heed the fact that the movement which mediates aural sensation is one of alternating expansion and contraction4 ,expressed in the language of the four ,elements1 this means that the air thus set in vibration approaches alternately the condition of the watery element beneath it and of the element of fire 7heat7 above it4 ,thus1 in a regular rhythm1 the air comes near the border of its ponderable existence4 ,purely physical considerations make us realize that this entails another rhythmic occurrence in the realm of heat4 ,for with each expansion of the air heat is absorbed by it and thereby rendered space-bound1 while with every contraction of the air heat is set free and returns to its indigenous condition - that is1 it becomes free from spatial limitations4 ,this picture of the complete happenings during an acoustic event enables us to understand how such a process can be the vehicle for conveying certain astral impulses in such a way that1 when met by them1 we grow aware of them in the form of a direct sensation4 ,taking as a model the expression 'transparent' for the perviousness of a substance to light1 we may say that the air1 when in a state of acoustic vibration1 becomes 'trans-audient' for astral impulses1 and that the nature of these vibrations determines which particular impulses are let through4 ,what we have here found to be the true role of the kinetic part of the acoustic process applies equally to sounds which are emitted by living beings1 and to those that arise when lifeless material is set mechanically in motion1 as in the case of ordinary noises or the musical production of tone4 ,there is only this difference3 in the first instance the vibrations of the sound-producing organs have their origin in the activity of the astral part of the living being1 and it is this activity which comes to the recipient's direct experience in the form of aural impressions2 in the second instance the air1 by being brought externally into a state of vibration1 exerts a kind of suction on the astral realm which pervades the air1 with the result that parts of this realm become physically audible4 ,for we are constantly surrounded by supersensible sounds1 and the state of motion of the air determines which of them become perceptible to us in our present state of consciousness4 ,at this point our mind turns to a happening in the macrotelluric sphere of the earth1 already considered in another connexion1 which now assumes the significance of an ur-phenomenon revealing the astral generation of sound4 ,this is the thunder-storm1 constituted for our external perception by the two events3 lightning and thunder4 ,remembering what we have found earlier 7,chapter ,x7 to be the nature of lightning1 we are now in a position to say3 a supraterrestrial astral impulse obtains control of the earth's etheric and physical spheres of force in such a way that etheric substance is thrown into the condition of space-bound physical matter4 ,this substance is converted by stages from the state of light and heat via that of air into the liquid and1 in certain cases1 into the solid state 7hail74 ,to this we now add that1 while in lightning the first effect of the etheric-physical interference of the astral impulse appears before our eyes1 our ears give us direct awareness of this impulse in the form of thunder4 ,it is this fact which accounts for the awe-inspiring character of thunderstorms4 99 ,the picture we have thus received of the outer part of the acoustic process has a counterpart in the processes inside the organ of hearing4 ,hearing1 like seeing1 depends upon the co-operation of both poles of the human organism-nerve and blood4 ,in the case of hearing1 however1 they play a reversed role4 ,in the eye1 the primary effect of light-impressions is on the nervous part2 a secondary response to them comes from the blood organization4 ,in the ear1 the receptive organ for the astral impulses pressing in upon it is a part which belongs to the body's limb system1 while it is the nervous organization which functions as the organ of response4 ,for in the ear the sound-waves are first of all taken over by the so-called ossicles1 three small bones in the middle ear which1 when examined with the ,goethean eye1 appear to be a complete metamorphosis of ah arm or a leg4 ,they are instrumental in transferring the outer acoustic movements to the fluid contained in the inner ear1 whence these are communicated to the entire fluid system of the body and lastly to the muscular system4#i ,we shall speak of this in detail later on4 ,let it be stated here that the peculiar role played by the larynx in hearing1 already referred to by us in ,chapter ,,xvi1 is one of the symptoms which tells of the participation of the muscular system in the internal acoustic process4 ,psychologically1 the difference between ear and eye is that aural perceptions work much more directly on the human will - that is1 on the part of our astral organization connected with the limb system4 ,whereas eye-impressions stimulate us in the first place to think1 ear-impressions stimulate us to 444 dance4 ,the whole art of dancing1 from its original sacred character up to its degenerate modern forms1 is based upon the limb system being the recipient of acoustic impressions4 ,in order to understand how the muscles respond to the outer astral impulses which reach us through our ear1 we must first understand what happens in the muscles when our will makes use of them for bodily motion4 ,in this case1 too1 the muscular system is the organ through which certain astral impulses1 this time arising out of the body's own astral member1 come to expression4 ,moreover1 the movement of the muscles1 though not outwardly perceptible1 is quite similar to acoustic movements outside the body4 ,for whenever a muscle is caused to alter its length1 it will perform some kind of vibration - a vibration characterized even by a definite pitch1 which differs in different people4 ,since throughout life our body is never entirely without movement1 we are thus in a constant state of inward sounding4 ,the muscular system is capable of this vibration because during the body's initial period of growth the bones increase in length to a much greater extent than do the sinews and muscles4 ,hence the latter arrive at a condition of elastic tension not unlike that of the strings of a musical instrument4#aj ,in the case of bodily movement1 therefore1 the muscles are tone-producers1 whereas in acoustic perceptions they are tone-receivers4 ,what1 then1 is it that prevents an acoustic perception from actually setting the limbs in motion1 and1 instead1 enables our sentient being to take hold of the astral impulse invading our muscles8 ,this impediment comes from the contribution made by the nervous system to the auditory process4 ,in order to understand the nature of this contribution we must remember the role played by the blood in seeing4 ,it was found by us to consist in the bringing about of that state of equilibrium without which we should experience light merely as a pain-producing agent4 ,similarly1 the perception of sound requires the presence of a certain state of equilibrium between the nerve-system and the limb-system4 ,in this case1 however1 a lack of equilibrium would result not in pain1 but in ecstasy4 ,for if acoustic impressions played directly into our limb-system1 with nothing to hold them in check1 every tone we encounter would compel us to an outward manifestation of astral activity4 ,we should become part of the tone-process itself1 forced to transform it by the volitional part of our astral organization into spatial movement4 ,that this does not happen is because the participation of the nervous system serves to damp down the potential ecstasy4 ,hence it is more or less left to the sentient part of the astral organization - that is1 the part free from the physical body - to partake in the astral processes underlying the tone occurrences4 99 ,our discussion has reached a point where we are able to answer a question which first arose in the course of our study of the four ethers1 and which arises here anew4 ,in studying the chemical or sound ether we were faced with the fact that part of the etheric realm1 although in itself accessible to the spiritual part of the sense of sight1 offers supersensible experience comparable to the perception of sound4 ,conversely1 we are now met by the fact that it is spiritual hearing which gives access to the immediate perception of a realm of forces which is not only the source of acoustic phenomena1 but the origin of all that manifests in nature in the form of sulphurous1 saline and mercurial events1 such as the world of colours1 electricity1 magnetism1 the manifold rhythmic occurrences on the earth 7both taken as a whole 4and in single organisms71 etc4 - all of which are taken hold of by quite other senses than that of hearing4 ,at our first encounter with this problem we remarked that in the supersensible no such sharp distinctions exist between different sense-spheres as are found in body-bound sense-perception4 ,at the same time we remembered that even in physical perception we are inclined to attach acoustic attributes to colours and optical attributes to tones4 ,in fact1 it was precisely an instance of this kind of experience1 namely1 our conception of tone-colour1 which gave us our lead in discussing the acoustic sphere in general4 ,our picture of the particular interaction of the two polar bodily systems in the acts of seeing and hearing now enables us to understand more clearly how these two spheres of perception overlap in man4 ,for we have seen how the system which in seeing is the receiving organ1 works in hearing as the responding one1 and vice versa4 ,as a result1 optical impressions are accompanied by dim sensations of sound1 and aural impressions by dim sensations of colour4 ,what we are thus dimly aware of in physical sense activity1 becomes definite experience when the supersensible part of the senses concerned can work unfettered by the bodily organ4 ,clear testimony of this is again given to us by ,traherne in a poem entitled ,dumnesse4 ,this poem contains an account of ,traherne's recollection of the significant fact that the transition from the cosmic to the earthly condition of his consciousness was caused by his learning to speak4 ,the following is a passage from the description of the impressions which were his before his soul was overcome by this change3 ',then did ,i dwell within a ,world of ,light ,distinct and ,seperat from all ,mens ,sight1 ,where ,i did feel strange ,thoughts1 and such ,things see ,that were1 or seemd1 only reveald to ,me 444 '444 ,a ,pulpit in my ,mind ,a ,temple1 and a ,teacher ,i did find1 ,with a large ,text to comment on4 ,no ,ear1 ,but ,eys them selvs were all the ,hearers there4 ,and evry ,stone1 and ,evry ,star a ,tongue1 ,and evry ,gale of ,wind a ,curious ,song4'#aa 99 ,we have obtained a sufficiently clear picture of the organization of our sense of hearing to see where the way lies that leads from hearing with the ears of the body to hearing with the ears of the spirit1 that is1 to the inspirative perception of the astral world4 ,in the psycho-physical condition which is characteristic of our present day-consciousness1 the participation of our astral organization in any happenings of the outer astral world depends on our corporeal motor system being stimulated by the acoustic motions of the air1 or of some other suitable medium contacting our body4 ,for it is only in this way that our astral organization is brought into the sympathetic vibrations necessary for perceiving outer astral happenings4 ,in order that astral events other than those manifesting acoustically may become accessible to our consciousness1 our own astral being must become capable of vibrating in tune with them1 just as if we were hearing them - that is1 we must be able to rouse our astral forces to an activity similar to that of hearing1 yet without any physical stimulus4 ,the way to this consists in training ourselves to experience the deeds and sufferings of nature as if they were the deeds and sufferings of a beloved friend4 ,it is thus that we shall learn to hear the soul of the universe directly speaking to us1 as ,lorenzo divined it1 when his love for ,jessica made him feel in love with all the world1 and he exclaimed3 ',there's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st ,but in his motion like an angel sings1 ,still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim1 - ,such harmony is in immortal souls4 ,but whilst this muddy vesture of decay ,doth grossly close it in1 we cannot hear it4' 99 99 99 7c7 ,,kepler ,,and ,,the ',,music ,,of ,,the ,,spheres' ',one must choose one's saints 44 4 and so ,i have chosen mine1 and before all others1 ,kepler4 ,in my ante-room he has ever a niche of his own1 with his bust in it4' ,this opinion of ,goethe's must surprise us in view of the fact that ,kepler was the discoverer of the three laws called after him1 one of which is supposed to have laid the foundation for ,newton's mechanical conception of the universe4 ,in what follows it will be shown how wrong it is to see in ,kepler a forerunner of the mechanistic conception of the world2 how near1 in reality1 his world-picture is to the one to which we are led by working along ,goetheanistic lines2 and how right therefore ,goethe was in his judgment on ,kepler4 ,goethe possessed a sensitive organ for the historical appropriateness of human ideas4 ,as an illustration of this it may be mentioned how he reacted when someone suggested to him that ,joachim ,jungius - an outstanding ,german thinker1 contemporary of ,bacon1 ,van ,helmont1 etc4 - had anticipated his idea of the metamorphosis of the plant4 ,this remark worried ,goethe1 not because he could not endure the thought of being anticipated 7see his treatment of ,k4 ,f4 ,wolff71 but because this would have run counter to the meaning of man's historical development as he saw it4 ',why do ,i regard as essential the question whether ,jungius conceived the idea of metamorphosis as we know it8 ,my answer is1 that it is most significant in the history of the sciences1 when a penetrating and vitalizing maxim comes to be uttered4 ,therefore it is not only of importance that ,jungius has not expressed this maxim2 but it is of highest significance that he was positively unable to express it - as we boldly assert4'#ab ,for the same reason ,goethe knew it would be historically unjustified to expect that ,kepler could have conceived an aspect of the universe implicit in his own conception of nature4 ,hence it did not disturb him in his admiration for ,kepler1 that through him the ,copernican aspect of the universe had become finally established in the modern mind - that is1 an aspect which1 as we have seen1 is invalid as a means of forming a truly dynamic conception of the world4 ,in forming his picture of the universe1 it is true1 ,copernicus was concerned with nothing but the spatial movements of the luminous entities discernible in the sky1 without any regard to their actual nature and dynamic interrelationships4 ,hence his world-picture - as befits the spectator-form of human consciousness which was coming to birth in his own time - is a purely kinematic one4 ,as such it has validity for a certain sphere of human observation4 ,when ,kepler1 against the hopes of his forerunner and friend1 ,tycho ,brahe1 accepted the heliocentric standpoint and made it the basis of his observations1 he did so out of his understanding of what was the truth for his own time4 ,kepler's ideal was to seek after knowledge through pure observation4 ,in this respect ,goethe took him as his model4 ,kepler's discoveries were a proof that man's searching mind is given insight into great truths at any stage of its development1 provided it keeps to the virtue of practising pure observation4 ,it has been the error of ,newton and his successors up to our own day1 to try to conceive the world dynamically within the limits of their spectator-consciousness and thus to form a dynamic interpretation of the universe based on its heliocentric aspect4 ,this was just as repellent to ,goethe as ,kepler's attitude was attractive4 ,but by so sharply distinguishing between ,newton and ,kepler1 do we not do injustice to the fact that1 as the world believes1 ,kepler's third law is the parent of ,newton's law of gravitation8 ,the following will show that this belief is founded on an illusory conception of the kind we met before4 ,as we shall see1 ,kepler's discovery1 when treated in a ,keplerian way1 instead of leading to ,newton1 is found to be in full agreement with the very world-picture to which our own observations have led us4 99 ,it is an established conviction of the mathematical scientist that1 once an observed regularity in nature has been expressed as a mathematical equation1 this equation may be transformed in any mathematically valid way1 and the resulting formula will still apply to some existing fact in the world4 ,on innumerable occasions this principle has been used in the expectation of providing further insight into the secrets of nature4 ,we came across a typical instance of this in discussing the basic theorem of kinematics and dynamics 7,chapter ,,viii74 ,another example is ,newton's treatment of ,kepler's third law1 or - more precisely - the way in which ,newton's law of gravitation has been held to confirm ,kepler's observations1 and vice versa1 ,it will be our task to analyse the ,kepler-,newton case on the very lines of our treatment of the two parallelogram theorems4 ,this analysis will give us insight into a truth which we have to regard as one of the basic maxims of the new science4 ,it says that whether a given formula1 derived mathematically from one that was first read from nature1 still expresses some fact of nature1 cannot be decided by pure mathematical logic1 but only by testing it against truly observable phenomena4 ,through ,kepler's third law a certain relation is expressed between the spatial dimensions of the different planetary spheres and the time needed by the relevant planet to circle once round the circumference of its own sphere4 ,it says3 ',the squares of the periodic times of the planets are always in the same proportion as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun4' ,in mathematical symbols this reads3 t#ab _/ t#bb r#ac _/ r#bc ,we shall see later how ,kepler arrived at this law4 ,the point is that there is nothing in it which is not accessible to pure observation4 ,spatial distances and lengths of time are measured and the results compared4 ,nothing1 for instance1 is said about the dynamic cause of the movements4 ,the assertion is restricted - and this is true also of the first and second law - to a purely kinematic content1 and so precisely to what the earthly onlooker can apprehend4 ,now it is said that ,kepler's third law is a necessary consequence of ,newton's law of gravitation1 and that - since it is based on pure observation - it therefore establishes the truth of ,newton's conception4 ,in this assertion we encounter a misconception exactly like the one in the statement that the theorem of the parallelogram of forces follows by logical necessity from the theorem of the parallelogram of velocities4 ,for3 7a7 ,the law of gravitation itself derives from ,newton's formula for the centripetal force acting at a point which moves along a circle1 this formula being itself the result of an amplification of the formula for centripetal acceleration by the factor 'mass' 7as if the latter were a pure number73 ,centripetal acceleration3 a #d7b7r _/ t#b ,centripetal force3 ,p am #d7b7mr _/ t#b 7b7 ,the formula for centripetal acceleration - and the concept of such acceleration itself - is the result of splitting circular movement into two rectilinear movements1 one in the direction of the tangent1 the other in the direction of the radius1 and of regarding it - by a mode of reasoning typical of spectator-thinking - as composed of the two4 ,this procedure1 however1 useful as it may be for the purpose of calculation1 is contrary to observation4 ,for1 as we have pointed out earlier1 observation tells us that all original movement - and what can be more original than the movements of the planetary bodies - is curvilinear4 ,no insight into the dynamic reality of cosmic movement1 therefore1 can ever be gained by handling it mathematically in this way4 7c7 ,the transformation of ,kepler's formula which is necessary in order to give it a form representing the nucleus of ,newton's formula1 is one which1 though mathematically justified1 deprives ,kepler's formula of any significance as expression of an observed fact4 ,the following analysis will show this4 ,kepler's formula- r#ac _/ r#bc t#ab _/ t#bb may be written also r#ac _/ t#ab r#bc _/ t#bb and this again in the generalized form3 r#c _/ t#b c4 ,obviously1 by each of these steps we diminish the reality-value of the formula4 ,in its original form1 we find spatial extension compared with spatial extension1 and temporal extension with temporal extension4 ,each of the two comparisons is a fully concrete one1 because we compare entities of like nature1 and only then test the ratios of the two - that is1 two pure numbers against each other - to find that they are identical4 ,to compare a spatial and a temporal magnitude1 as is done by the formula in its second form1 requires already a certain degree of abstraction4 ,still1 it is all spectator's work1 and for the spectator time is conceivable and measurable only as a rate of spatial displacement4 ,hence the constant number c1 by representing the ratio between the spatial extension of the realm inside a planet's orbit and the time needed by it to perform one round on this orbit - a ratio which is the same for all planets - represents a definite structural element of our cosmic system4 ,by this last operation our equation has now achieved a form which requires only one more transformation to bring it into line with ,newton's formula4 ,instead of writing3 r#c _/ t#b c we write3 r _/ t#b c 7#a _/ r#b7 ,all that now remains to be done amounts to an amplification of this equation by the factor #d7b7m1 and a gathering of the constant product #d7b7;c under a new symbol1 for which we choose the letter f4 ,in this way we arrive at3 #d7b7mr _/ t#b #d7b7;cm _/ r#b and finally3 ,p 444 fm _/ r#b which is the expression of the gravitational pull believed to be exerted by the sun on the various planetary bodies4 ,nothing can be said against this procedure from the point of view of mathematical logic4 ,for the latter the equation r _/ t#b c 7#a _/ r#b7 is still an expression of ,kepler's observation4 ,not so for a logic which tries to keep in touch with concrete reality4 ,for what meaning1 relevant to the phenomenal universe as it manifests in space and time to physical perception1 is there in stating - as the equation in this form does - that3 the ratio between a planet's distance from the sun and the square of its period is always proportional to the reciprocal value of the area lying inside its orbit8 99 ,once we have rid ourselves of the false conception that ,kepler's law implies ,newton's interpretation of the physical universe as a dynamic entity ruled by gravity1 and gravity alone1 we are free to ask what this law can tell us about the nature of the universe if in examining it we try to remain true to ,kepler's own approach4 ,to behave in a ,keplerian 7and thus in a ,goethean7 fashion regarding a mathematical formula which expresses an observed fact of nature1 does not mean that to submit such a formula to algebraic transformation is altogether impermissible4 ,all we have to make sure of is that the transformation is required by the observed facts themselves3 for instance1 by the need for an even clearer manifestation of their ideal content4 ,such is indeed the case with the equation which embodies ,kepler's third law4 ,we said that in its original form this equation contains a concrete statement because it expresses comparisons between spatial extensions1 on the one hand1 and between temporal extensions1 on the other4 ,now1 in the form in which the spatial magnitudes occur1 they express something which is directly conceivable4 ,the third power of a spatial distance 7r#c7 represents the measure of a volume in three-dimensional space4 ,the same cannot be said of the temporal magnitudes on the other side of the equation 7t#b74 ,for our conception of time forbids us to connect any concrete idea with 'squared time'4 ,we are therefore called upon to find out what form we can give this side of the equation so as to express the time-factor in a manner which is in accord with our conception of time1 that is1 in linear form4#ac ,this form readily suggests itself if we consider that we have here to do with a ratio of squares4 ,for such a ratio may be resolved into a ratio of two simple ratios4 ,in this way the equation - r#ac _/ r#bc t#ab _/ t#bb assumes the form- r#ac _/ r#bc 7t#a _/ t#b7 _/ 7t#b _/ t#a7 ,the right-hand side of the equation is now constituted by the double ratio of the linear values of the periods of two planets1 and this is something with which we can connect a quite concrete idea4 ,to see this1 let us choose the periods of two definite planets - say1 ,earth and ,jupiter4 ,for these the equation assumes the following form 7',j' and ',e' indicating ',jupiter' and ',earth' respectively73 r,j#c _/ r,e#c 7t,j _/ t,e7 _/ 7t,e _/ t,j7 ,let us now see what meaning we can attach to the two expressions t,j _/ t,e and t,e _/ t,j4 ,during one rotation of ,jupiter round the sun the earth circles #ab times round it4 ,this we are wont to express by saying that ,jupiter needs #ab earth-years for one rotation2 in symbols3 t,j _/ t,e #ab _/ #a ,to find the analogous expression for the reciprocal ratio3 t,e _/ t,j #a _/ #ab we must obviously form the concept ',jupiter-year'1 which covers one rotation of ,jupiter1 just as the concept 'earth-year' covers one rotation of the earth 7always round the sun74 ,measured in this time-scale1 the earth needs for one of her rotations #a _/ #ab of a ,jupiter-year4 ,with the help of these concepts we are now able to express the double ratio of the planetary periods in the following simplified way4 ,if we suppose the measuring of the two planetary periods to be carried out not by the same time-scale1 but each by the time-scale of the other1 the formula becomes3 r,j#c _/ r,e#c 7t,j _/ t,e7 _/ 7t,e _/ t,j7 period of ,jupiter measured in ,earth-years _/ period of ,earth measured in ,jupiter-years4 ,interpreted in this manner1 ,kepler's third law discloses an intimate interrelatedness of each planet to all the others as co-members of the same cosmic whole4 ,for the equation now tells us that the solar times of the various planets are regulated in such a way that for any two of them the ratio of these times1 measured in their mutual time-units1 is the same as the ratio of the spaces swept out by their 7solar7 orbits4 ,further1 by having the various times of its members thus tuned to one another1 our cosmic system shows itself to be ordered on a principle which is essentially musical4 ,to see this1 we need only recall that the musical value of a given tone is determined by its relation to other tones1 whether they sound together in a chord1 or in succession as melody4 ,a ',c' alone is musically undefined4 ,it receives its character from its interval-relation to some other tone1 say1 ',g'1 together with which it forms a ,fifth4 ,as the lower tone of this interval1 ',c' bears a definite character2 and so does ',g' as the upper tone4 ,now we know that each interval represents a definite ratio between the periodicities of its two tones4 ,in the case of the ,fifth the ratio is #b3c 7in the natural scale74 ,this means that the lower tone receives its character from being related to the upper tone by the ratio #b3c4 ,similarly1 the upper tone receives its character from the ratio #c3b4 ,the specific character of an interval arising out of the merging of its two tones1 therefore1 is determined by the ratio of their ratios4 ,in the case of the ,fifth this is #d3i4 ,it is this ratio1 therefore1 which underlies our experience of a ,fifth4 ,the cosmic factor corresponding to the periodicity of the single tone in music is the orbital period of the single planet4 ,to the musical interval formed by two tones corresponds the double ratio of the periods of any two planets4 ,regarded thus1 ,kepler's law can be expressed as follows3 ,the spatial ordering of our planetary system is determined by the interval-relation in which the different planets stand to each other4 ,by thus unlocking the ideal content hidden in ,kepler's third law1 we are at the same time enabled to do justice to the way in which he himself announced his discovery4 ,in textbooks and encyclopaedias it is usually said that the discovery of the third law was the surprising result of ,kepler's fantastic attempt to prove by external observation what was once taught in the school of ,pythagoras1 namely1 that 7in ,wordsworth's language73 ',by one pervading spirit ,of tones and numbers all things are controlled4' ,actually1 ,kepler's great work1 ,harmonices ,mundi1 in the last part of which he announces his third law1 is entirely devoted to proving the truth of the ,pythagorean doctrine that the universe is ordered according to the laws of music4 ,this doctrine sprang from the gift of spiritual hearing still possessed by ,pythagoras1 by which he could perceive the harmonies of the spheres4 ,it was the aim of his school to keep this faculty alive as long as possible1 and with its aid to establish a communicable world-conception4 ,the ,pythagorean teaching became the foundation of all later cosmological thinking1 right up to the age which was destined to bring to birth the spectator-relationship of man's consciousness with the world4 ,thus it was left to ,copernicus to give mankind the first truly non-,pythagorean picture of the universe4 ,when ,kepler declared himself in favour of the heliocentric aspect1 as indicated by ,copernicus1 he acknowledged that the universe had grown dumb for man's inner ear4 ,yet1 besides his strong impulse to meet the true needs of his time1 there were inner voices telling him of secrets that were hidden behind the veil woven by man's physical perceptions4 ,one of these secrets was the musical order of the world4 ,such knowledge1 however1 could not induce him to turn to older world-conceptions in his search for truth4 ,he had no need of them1 because there was yet another voice in him which told him that the spiritual order of the world must somehow manifest itself in the body of the world as it lay open to physical perception4 ,just as a musical instrument1 if it is to be a perfect means of bringing forth music1 must bear in its build the very laws of music1 so must the body of the universe1 as the instrument on which the harmonies of the spheres play their spiritual music1 bear in its proportions a reflexion of these harmonies4 ,kepler was sure that investigation of the world's body1 provided it was carried out by means of pure observation1 must needs lead to a re-establishment of the ancient truth in a form appropriate to the modern mind4 ,thus ,kepler1 guided by an ancient spiritual conception of the world1 could devote himself to confirming its truth by the most up-to-date methods of research4 ,that his search was not in vain1 our examination of the third law has shown4 ,one thing1 however1 remains surprising - that ,kepler announced his discovery in the form in which it has henceforth engraved itself in the modern mind1 while refraining from that analysis of it which we have applied to it here4 ,yet1 in this respect also ,kepler proves to have remained true to himself4 ,there is1 on the one hand1 the form in which ,kepler pronounced his discovery2 there is1 on the other1 the context in which he made this pronouncement4 ,we have already pointed out that the third law forms part of ,kepler's comprehensive work1 ,harmonices ,mundi4 ,to the modern critic's understanding it appears there like an erratic block4 ,for ,kepler this was different4 ,while publishing his discovery in precisely the form in which it is conceived by a mind bent on pure observation1 he gave it a setting by which he left no doubt as to his own conception of its ideal content4 ,and as a warning to the future reader not to overlook the message conveyed by this arrangement1 he introduced the section of his book which contains the announcement of the law1 with the mysterious words about himself3 ',i have stolen the golden vessels of the ,egyptians from which to furnish for my ,god a holy shrine far from ,egypt's confines4' #a ,we must here distinguish sensation from feeling proper1 in which sensation and motion merge in mercurial balance4 #b ,note how for ,ruskin the gulf which for the onlooker-consciousness lies between subject and object is bridged here - as it was for ,goethe in his representation of the physico-moral effect of colour4 #c ,de motu animalium and ,theoria mediceorum planetarum ex causis physicis deducta4 #d ,knowledge of this biological rhythm is still preserved among native peoples to-day and leads them to take account of the phases of the moon in their treatment of plants4 ,a cosmic nature-wisdom of this kind has been reopened for us in modern form by ,rudolf ,steiner1 and has since found widespread practical application in agriculture4 ,see ,l4 ,kolisko1 ,the ,moon and ,plant ,growth4 #e ,in the order of names given above we follow the ancient usage for the two planets nearest to the sun1 not the reversed order in which they are used to-day4 ,this is necessary in a cosmology which aspires at a qualitative understanding of the universe1 in view of the qualities represented by these names4 ,note also the absence of the three most distant planets1 ,uranus1 ,neptune and ,pluto4 ,they are not to be considered as parts of the indigenous astral structure of our cosmic system - any more than radioactivity is an original feature of the earth4 #f ,note the ',venus' character of ,ruskin's description of the plant's state of florescence quoted above 7p4 #ccf74 #g ,as to the time-scale of the processes brought about by ,mercury and ,venus respectively1 experience shows that they reveal the cosmic rhythms less clearly than those for which the ,moon-activity is responsible4 ,the same is found at the opposite pole4 ,there it is the ,saturn - generated processes which show the cosmic rhythm more conspicuously than those engendered by ,jupiter and ,mars4 ,to learn to recognize rhythmic events in nature and man as reflexions of corresponding planetary rhythms is one of the tasks which future scientific research has to tackle4 ,a practical example of this kind will appear in the further course of this chapter4 #h ,see ,l4 ,kolisko3 ,working of the ,stars in ,earthly ,substances1 and other publications by the same author4 #i ,the close connexion between the ear and the motor system of the body is shown in another way by the fact that part of the ear serves as an organ for the sense of balance4 #aj ,the muscle-tone can be made audible by the following means4 ,in a room guarded against noise1 press the thumbs lightly upon the ears and tense the muscles of the hands and arms - say by pressure of the fingers against the palms or by contracting the muscle of the upper arms4 ,if this is done repeatedly1 the muscle-tone will be heard after some practice with increasing distinctness4 ,it is easily distinguished from the sound of the circulating blood as it is much higher4 7,as an example3 the author's muscular pitch1 not a particularly high one1 has a frequency of approx4 #fcj per sec41 which puts it between ,treble ,d sharp and ,e47 #aa ,compare also the beginning of ,traherne's poem ,wonder1 quoted in ,chapter ,,vi 7p4 #aaj71 where he says that everything he saw 'did with me talk'4 #ab ,for the particular reasons by which ,goethe justifies his assertion1 see his essay ,leben und ,verdienste des ,doktor ,joachim ,jungius4 #ac ,the natural question why ,kepler himself did not take this step1 will be answered later on4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,know ,thyself ,our inquiries have led us to a picture of man as a sensible-supersensible organism composed of three dynamic aggregates - physical1 etheric1 astral4 ,as three rungs of a spiritual ladder they point to a fourth1 which represents that particular power in man by which he distinguishes himself from all other beings in nature4 ,for what makes man differ from all these is that he is not only fitted1 as they are1 with a once-for-all given mode of spiritual-physical existence peculiar to himself1 but that he is endowed with the possibility of transforming his existence by dint of his free will - that indeed his manhood is based on this capacity for self-willed ,becoming4 ,to this fourth principle in man we can give no better name than that which every human being can apply to himself alone and to no other1 and which no other can apply to him4 ,this is the name1 ,i4 ,in truth1 we describe man in his entirety only if we ascribe to him1 in addition to a physical1 etheric and astral body1 the possession of an ,i 7,ego74 ,naturally1 our previous studies have afforded many opportunities for observing the nature and mode of activity of the ,i4 ,still1 at the conclusion of these studies it is not redundant to form a concise picture of this part of man's being1 with particular regard to how it works within the three other principles as its sheaths4 ,for in modern psychology1 not excluding the branch of it where efforts are made to penetrate into deeper regions of man's being1 nothing is less well understood than the true nature of man's egoity4 99 ,in order to recognize the peculiar function of the ,i in man1 we must first be clear as to how he differs from the other kingdoms of nature1 and how they differ from one another with respect to the mode of action of the physical1 etheric and astral forces4 ,the beings of all the kingdoms of nature are endowed with an aggregate of physical forces in the form of a material body subject to gravity4 ,the same cannot be said of the etheric forces4 ,only where life is present as an inherent principle - that is1 in plant1 animal and man - is ether at work in the form of an individual etheric organization1 while the mineral is formed by the universal ether from outside4 ,where life prevails1 we are met by the phenomena of birth and death4 ,when a living organism comes to birth1 an individual ether-body is formed out of the general etheric substance of the universe4#a ,the death of such an organism consists in the separation of the etheric from the physical body and the dissolution of both in their respective mother-realms4 ,so long as an organism is alive1 its form is maintained by the ether-body present in it4 ,our studies have shown that the plant is not devoid of the operation of astral forces4 ,in the plant's life-cycle this comes to clearest expression in its florescence4 ,but it is a working of the astral forces from outside1 very much as the ether works on the mineral4 ,as a symptom of this fact we may recall the dependence of the plant on the various outer astronomical rhythms4 ,it is only in animal and man that we find the astral forces working in the form of separate astral bodies4 ,this accounts for their capacity for sensation and volition4 ,besides the alternation of birth and death1 they experience the rhythm of sleeping and waking4 ,sleep occurs when the astral body leaves the physical and etheric bodies in order to expand into its planetary mother-sphere1 whence it gathers new energy4 ,during this time its action on the physical-etheric aggregate remaining upon earth is similar to that of the astral cosmos upon the plant4 ,again1 in the animal kingdom the ego-principle works as an external force in the form of various group-soul activities which control and regulate the life of the different animal species4 ,it is in the group-ego of the species that we have to look for the source of the wisdom-filled instincts which we meet in the single animals4 ,only in man does the ego-principle enter as an individual entity into the single physico-etheric-astral organism4 ,here1 however1 the succession of stages we have outlined comes to a conclusion4 ,for with the appearance of the ,i as an individual principle1 the preceding evolutionary process - or1 more correctly1 the involutionary process - begins to be reversed4 ,in moving up from one kingdom to the next1 we find always one more dynamic principle appearing in a state of separation from its mother-sphere2 this continues to the point where the ,i1 through uniting itself with a thus emancipated physico-etheric-astral organism1 arrives at the stage of self-consciousness4 ,once this stage has been reached1 however1 it falls to the ,i to reverse the process of isolation1 temporarily sanctioned by the cosmos for the sake of man4 ,that it is not in the nature of the ,i to leave its sheaths in the condition in which it finds them when entering them at the beginning of life1 can be seen from the activities it performs in them during the first period after birth4 ,indeed1 in man's early childhood we meet a number of events in which we can perceive something like ur-deeds of the ,i4 ,they are the acquisition of the faculties of walking1 speaking and thinking4 ,what we shall here say about them has1 in essentials1 already been touched upon in earlier pages4 ,here1 however1 we are putting it forward in a new light4 ,once again we find our attention directed to the threefold structure of man's physical organism4 ,for the faculty of upright walking is a result of the ,i's activity in the limb-system of the body2 the acquisition of speech takes place in the rhythmic system2 and thinking is a faculty based on the nerve-system4 ,consequently1 each of the three achievements comes to pass at a different level of consciousness-sleeping1 dreaming1 waking4 ,all through the struggle of erecting the body against the pull of gravity1 the child is entirely unaware of the activities of his own ,i4 ,in the course of acquiring speech he gains a dim awareness1 as though in dream1 of his efforts4 ,some capacity of thinking has to unfold before the first glimmer of true self-consciousness is kindled4 7,note that the word ',i' is the only one that is not added to the child's vocabulary by way of imitation4 ,otherwise he would1 as some mentally inhibited children do1 call all other people ',i' and himself 'you'47 ,this picture of the three ur-deeds of the ,i can now be amplified in the following way4 ,we know that the region of the bodily limbs is that in which physical1 etheric and astral forces interpenetrate most deeply4 ,consequently1 the ,i can here press forward most powerfully into the physical body and on into the dynamic sphere to which the body is subject4 ,here the ,i is active in a way that is 'magic' in the highest degree4 ,moreover1 there is no other action for which the ,i receives so little stimulus from outside4 ,for1 in comparison1 the activity that leads to the acquisition of speech is much more of the nature of a reaction to stimuli coming from outside - the sounds reaching the child from his environment4 ,and it is also with the first words of the language that the first thoughts enter the child's mind4 ,nothing of the kind happens at the first stage4 ,on the contrary3 everything that confronts the ,i here is of the nature of an obstacle that is to be overcome4 ,there is no learning to speak without the hearing of uttered sounds4 ,as these sounds approach the human being they set the astral body in movement1 as we have seen4 ,the movements of the astral body flow towards the larynx1 where they are seized by the ,i2 through their help the ,i imbues the larynx with the faculty of producing these sounds itself4 ,here1 therefore1 the ,i is active essentially within the astral body which has received its stimulus from outside4 ,in order to understand what impels the ,i to such action1 we must remember the role played by speech in human life3 without speech there would be no community among human individuals on earth4 ,an illustration of what the ,i accomplishes as it enters upon the third stage is provided by the following episode1 actually observed4 ,whilst all the members of a family were sitting at table taking their soup1 the youngest member suddenly cried out3 ',daddy spoon 444 mummy spoon4 444 ' 7everyone in turn spoon7 ' 444 all spoon6' ,at this moment1 from merely designating single objects by names learnt through imitation1 the child's consciousness had awakened to connective thinking4 ,that this achievement was a cause of inner satisfaction could be heard in the joyful crescendo with which these ejaculations were made4 ,we know that the presence of waking consciousness within the nerves-and-senses organism rests upon the fact that the connexion between physical body and etheric body is there the most external of all4 ,but precisely because this is so1 the etheric body is dominated very strongly by the forces to which the physical head owes its formation4 ,this1 too1 is not fundamentally new to us4 ,what can now be added is that1 in consequence1 the physical brain and the part of the etheric body belonging to it - the etheric brain - assume a function comparable with that of a mirror1 the physical organ representing the reflecting mass and the etheric organ its metallic gloss4 ,when1 within the head1 the etheric body reflects back the impressions received from the astral body1 the ,i becomes aware of them in the form of mental images 7the 'ideas' of the onlooker-philosopher74 ,it is also by way of such reflexion that the ,i first grows aware of itself - but as nothing more than an image among images4 ,here1 therefore1 it is itself least active4 ,if1 once again1 we compare the three happenings of learning to walk1 to speak and to think1 we find ourselves faced with the remarkable fact that the progressive lighting up of consciousness from one stage to the next1 goes hand in hand with a retrogression in the activity of the ,i itself4 ,at the first stage1 where the ,i knows least of itself1 it is alive in the most direct sense out of its own being2 at the second stage1 where it is in the dreaming state1 it receives the impetus of action through the astral body2 at the third stage1 where the ,i wakens to clear self-consciousness1 it assumes merely the role of onlooker at the pictures moving within the etheric body4 ,compare with this the paths to higher faculties of knowledge1 ,imagination and ,inspiration1 as we learnt to know them in our previous studies4 ,the comparison shows that exactly the same forces come into play at the beginning of life1 when the ,i endeavours to descend from its pre-earthly1 cosmic environment to its earthly existence1 as have to be made use of for the ascending of the ,i from earthly to cosmic consciousness4 ,only1 as is natural1 the sequence of steps is reversed4 ,for on the upward way the first deed of the ,i is that which leads to a wakening in the etheric world3 it is a learning to set in motion the etheric forces in the region of the head in such a way that the usual isolation of this part of the etheric body is overcome4 ,regarded thus1 the activity of the ,i at this stage reveals a striking similarity to the activity applied in the earliest period of childhood at the opposite pole of the organism4 ,to be capable of imaginative sight actually means to be able to move about in etheric space by means of the etheric limbs of the eyes just as one moves about in physical space by means of the physical limbs4 ,similarly1 the acquisition of ,inspiration is a resuming on a higher level of the activity exercised by the ,i with the help of the astral body when learning to speak4 ,and here1 too1 the functions are reversed4 ,for while the child is stimulated by the spoken sounds he hears to bring his own organ of speech into corresponding movements1 and so gradually learns to produce speech1 the acquisition of ,inspiration1 as we have seen1 depends on learning to bring the supersensible forces of the speech-organ into movement in such a way that these forces become the organ for hearing the supersensible language of the universe4 ,our knowledge of the threefold structure of man's organism leads us to seek1 besides the stages of ,imagination and ,inspiration1 a third stage which is as much germinally present in the body's region of movement1 as the two others are in the regions of thought and speech4 ,after what we have learnt in regard to these three1 we may assume that the path leading to this third stage consists in producing a condition of wide-awake1 tranquil contemplation in the very region where the ,i is wont to unfold its highest degree of initiative on the lowest level of consciousness4 ,in an elementary manner this attitude of soul was practised by us when1 in our earlier studies1 we endeavoured to become inner observers of the activity of our own limbs1 with the aim of discovering the origin of our concept of mass4 ,it was in this way that a line of observation opened up to us which led to the recognition of the physical substances of the earth as congealed spiritual functions or1 we may say1 congealed utterances of cosmic will4 ,cosmic ,will1 however1 does not work into our existence only in such a way that1 in the form of old and therefore rigid ,will1 it puts up resistance against the young will-power of the ,i1 so that in overcoming this resistance the ,i may waken to self-activity4 ,cosmic ,will is also present in us in an active form4 ,we point here to the penetration by the higher powers of the universe into the forming of the destiny of humanity and of individual man4 ,and here ,rudolf ,steiner has shown that to a man who succeeds in becoming a completely objective observer of his own existence while actively functioning within it 7as in an elementary way we endeavoured to become observers of our limb actions while engaged in performing them7 the world begins to reveal itself as an arena of the activities of divine-spiritual ,beings1 whose reality and acts he is now able to apprehend through inner awareness4 ,herewith a third stage of man's faculty of cognition is added to the stages of ,imagination and ,inspiration4 ,when ,rudolf ,steiner chose for it the word ,intuition he applied this word1 also1 in its truest meaning4 99 ,while through ,imagination man comes to know of his ether-body as part of his make-up1 and correspondingly through ,inspiration of his astral body1 and thereby recognizes himself as participant in the supersensible forces of the universe1 it is through ,intuition that he grows into full awareness of his ,i as a spirit-being among spirit-beings - ,god-begotten1 ,god-companioned1 for ever ,god-ward striving4 #a ,the word 'body' is here used in a sense no different from our earlier use of it1 when in connexion with our study of combustion 7,chapter ,,xi7 we referred to the 'warmth-body' as a characteristic of the higher animals and man4 ,such a warmth-body is nothing else but the warmth-ether part of an ether-body4 ,to use the word body for aggregations of etheric or astral forces is legitimate if one considers the fact that the physical body also is really a purely dynamic entity1 that is1 a certain aggregate of forces more or less self-contained4