Relying on an edition of Novalis' notebooks which includes much of the author's scientific and philosophical musings, Neubauer's study evaluates Novalis' outline for a creative science and philosophical background of the eighteenth century
He that in physic shall lay down fundamental maxims, and, from thence ... shall reduce 1t into the regular form of science, has indeed done something to enlarge the art of talking and perhaps laid a foundation for endless disputes; but, if he hopes to bring men by such a system to the knowledge of the infirmities [of men's] bodies, the constitution, nature, signs, changes and history