of Büchner's Force and Matter (1855), which in large measure, but
with much greater mastery of scientific detail, does for the plain
man of his century what d'Holbach in his chief work sought to do
for his day. Constantly vilified, even in the name of philosophy,
in the exact tone and spirit of animal irritation which marks the
religious vituperation of all forms of rationalism in previous ages;
and constantly misrepresented as professing to explain an infinite
universe when it does but show the hollowness of all supernaturalist
explanations, [1962] the book steadily holds its ground as a manual of
anti-mysticism. [1963] Between them, Feuerbach and Büchner may be said
to have framed for their age an atheistic "System of Nature," concrete
and abstract, without falling into the old error of substituting one
apriorism for another. Whosoever endorses Baur's protest against the
"one-sidedness" of Feuerbach, who treats of religion on its chosen
ground of self-consciousness, has but to turn to Büchner's study of
the objective world and see whether his cause fares any better.