Goethe's Scientific Works

Abstract

A SPECIAL issue of the Berlin journal, Forschungen und Fortschritte, dated March 1932, includes thirty-nine pages devoted to a series of articles by more than thirty authorities dealing chiefly with Goethe's influence as a man of science. The subjects covered include mathematics, the theory of colours and optics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, botany, zoology, and anatomy, together with an appreciation of the Goethe Museum at Frankfurt. In the restricted space at the disposal of each author, it has only been possible to deal very briefly with what are often abstruse and involved matters of history, but, nevertheless, these articles should prove a very useful guide to those who propose to take up the study of Goethe's scientific works. The modern critic of Goethe's central idea of the unity of plan has little to add to Schiller's acute observation of 1794, quoted by Prof. O. Abel—“Das ist keine Erfahrung, das ist eine Idee”, and Goethe's response—“Das kann mir sehr lieb sein, dass ich Ideen habe, ohne es zu wissen, und sie sogar mit eigenen Augen sehe”, is an admirable epitome of his own attitude towards the central idea.