<!doctype html public «-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en»> http-equiv=content-type> Do literary texts provide distinctive access to the history of science? Is the study of literature based on scientific procedures? Is there a connection between scientific processes and literary forms? The essays in this collection show how literary and scientific texts from the late 18th to the late 19th centuries revolve around these questions. What emerges is a picture of the mutual dependence and the incalculable difference between literature and science in the period of their modern formation.