All this is mere justice to Goethe; but, as it is the unpleasant duty of
the historian to do justice upon, as well as to, great men, it behoves
me to add that the germs of the worst faults of later ioeculative
morphologists are no less visible in his writings than their great
merits. In the artist-philosopher there was, at best, a good deal more
artist than philosopher; and when Goethe ventured into the regions which
belong to pure science, this excess of a virtue had all the consequences
of a vice. "Trennen und zahlen lag nicht in meiner Natur," says he; but
the mental operations of which "analysis and numeration" are partial
expressions are indispensable for every step of progress beyond happy
glimpses, even in morphology; while, in physiology and in physics,
failure in the most exact performance of these operations involves
sheer disaster, as indeed Goethe was afforded abundant opportunity of
learning. Yet he never understood the sharp lessons he received, and
put down to malice, or prejudice, the ill-reception of his unfortunate
attempts to deal with purely physical problems.