Kraft Und Stoff. Empirisch Naturphilosophische Studien. In Allgemein VerstäNdlicher Darstellung. BÜChner, Ludwig.

First edition of the one of the earliest expositions of scientific materialism. Büchner was "the most uncompromising representative of this school" and argued "that thought is as much an emanation of the brain as bile is an emanation of the liver. The mind and the spirit are products of an animal organism in the same way as motion is a product of a steam-engine" (PMM). Büchner (1824-1899) was a physician by training and at the time of Kraft und Stoff's publication was a lecturer in medicine at the University of Tübingen; however, the book was so controversial that he was forced to resign his lectureship. Büchner's philosophical thought was inextricably intertwined with his physiological training, and, undaunted by controversy, he continued to promote the central tenets of his doctrine: the indestructibility of matter and the conservation of force. Printing and the Mind of Man 338. Octavo (180 x 115 mm). Contemporary green half cloth, spine lettered in gilt, ruled in gilt and blind, marbled sides and edges. Extremities rubbed, corners a little bumped, spine toned, gilt faded, slight loss to marbled paper on front cover, 15 mm closed tear to front free endpaper, contents clean: a very good copy.