MODERN BIOLOGY 511 



from animal geography and paleontology; but striking indeed are the radi- 

 cal conclusions that Haeckel draws in regard to the origin of man; they rep- 

 resent what eventually became one of his chief interests and immediately 

 caused a great sensation. There are two more peculiarities of Haeckelian 

 thought that come out clearly in this lecture: his political radicalism, which 

 induces him to call progress "a natural law which no human power, neither 

 the weapons of tyrants nor the curses of priests, can ever succeed in sup- 

 pressing" — the words were uttered just at the moment when the struggle 

 between Bismarck and his liberal opponents waxed hottest — and his pre- 

 dilection for the romantic natural philosophy, which makes him praise 

 Goethe, GeofTroy Saint-Hilaire, and Oken as "deep-thinking men possess- 

 ing prophetic inspiration," and as supporters of "philosophical theories of 

 evolution" foreshadowing Darwin. These elements — Darwin's theory of 

 evolution, political radicalism, and romantic natural philosophy — really 

 impress the whole of Haeckel's subsequent pronouncements with their char- 

 acter, whether they concern "general morphology," "cosmic riddles," or 

 "artificial forms in nature." The doctrine of natural selection forms the 

 groundwork, which he never takes steps to reconstruct or add to, however 

 great the progress made by research. His political radicalism mostly finds 

 expression in a violent hatred of priests and Christianity, but also, though 

 not so apparent, in opposition to the undue interference of government au- 

 thorities. The influence of romantic natural philosophy comes out most 

 clearly in his utter incapacity to grasp the relativity and limitations of 

 human knowledge, which Herbert Spencer among others so forcefully and 

 repeatedly emphasized; Haeckel's way of constantly trying to solve the 

 "riddles of the universe" is far more reminiscent of Schelling than of the 

 contemporary positivist trend of thought, just as his overbearing self-con- 

 fidence and his abusive polemics are more representative of romanticism than 

 of exact research. Thus through Haeckel's influence romantic natural philos- 

 ophy experienced a revival in the century of exact science. 



His Generelle Morphologic 

 Haeckel struck his great blow for "philosophical scientific research" with 

 his Generelle Morphologie der Organismen, with its subtitle Kritiscbe Grundxiige 

 der mechanischen Wissenschaft von den entivickelten Formen der Organismen, be- 

 griindet durch die Desxendenztheorie , which was published in 1866. The first 

 part of the work was dedicated to Gegenbaur, the friend with whom he 

 had constantly exchanged ideas and who had inspired much of its contents. 

 The latter part of the book is dedicated to Darwin, Goethe, and Lamarck, 

 those "scientific thinkers who founded the theory of descent." As this trio 

 vras afterwards constantly referred to by Haeckel, it may be worth while 

 examining the combination more closely. Lamarck and Darwin may both 

 be regarded as founders of the theory of descent, although the latter, it is 



