132 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to which persons are often subject through 

 defective action of the senses or false inter- 

 pretations of their impressions. The facts 

 are well interpreted and the accompanying 

 comments judicious. He closes with a ref- 

 erence to spiritualism, and insists upon the 

 need that it should be investigated by ex- 

 perts in matters of evidence. 



Haeckel's Genesis of Man ; or, History 

 OF THE Development of the Human 

 Race. Being a Review of his Anthro- 

 pogeny ; and embracing a Summary Ex- 

 position of his Views, and of those of 

 the Advanced German School of Science. 

 By Lester F. Ward, A. M. Philadel- 

 phia : Ed. Stern & Co. Pp. 64. 



We have read this able and admirable 

 pamphlet with much pleasure. As a review 

 of the principal works and a condensed ex- 

 position of the thought of the great German 

 biologist, it is executed with judgment, and 

 as an introduction to the study of evolution 

 from a point of view with which the public 

 is not generally familiar, it will prove use- 

 ful and be welcomed by many readers. And 

 to these merits of the brochure it must be 

 added that it is clearly, effectively, and at 

 times eloquently written. To any beginner 

 who proposes to enter upon Haeckel's 

 works, we should say, read this first ; and 

 that he will not be misled is sufficiently 

 sure from the fact that Haeckel himself tes- 

 tifies to the substantial correctness with 

 which this essay represents his position. 



In stating this position, and in estimat- 

 ing Haeckel's claims, the writer inevitably 

 opens the question of the claims of other 

 men, and has to dwell on points of rivalry, 

 priority, and originality. To whom belongs 

 mainly the credit of working out the theory 

 of dissent, or of establishing the doctrine 

 of development ? Thus far Mr. Darwin has 

 had a virtual monopoly of the honor ; but, 

 while nobody will grudge him a liberal share 

 of it, it begins to be seen that justice has 

 something to do with it, and that there has 

 been a great deal of loose exaggeration of 

 Mr. Darwin's share in the work. Mr. Ward 

 says that " Professor Haeckel is no mere 

 disciple of Darwin," but has independently 

 cultivated a gre::t biological province, which 

 bears directly upon development, but which 

 Darwin hardly touched, viz., the province 

 of embryology, which has for its object the 

 study of transformations. This department 



Haeckel has made his own, and, as Mr. Ward 

 shows, it furnishes the most impressive and 

 overwhelming proofs of the truth of evolu- 

 tion that are to be gathered from any spe- 

 cial source. This subject Mr. Darwin bare- 

 ly touched in his first book. 



Mr. Ward recognizes that Darwin was 

 " diaplomatic," and there can be no doubt, 

 both that this is true and that it had much 

 to do with the success of the " Origin of Spe- 

 cies." In that work be invoked supernatu- 

 ral intervention where his scientific explana- 

 tions were faulty ; and he abstained from ap- 

 plying his theory to man. Haeckel had no- 

 thing of this quality ; he was simply logical, 

 and applied the law of descent to the human 

 race at the outset. The consequence was, 

 that he was bitterly attacked, not only by 

 anti-Darwinians but also by Darwinians, 

 who charged that " he was more Darwin- 

 istic than Darwin himself" Darwin after- 

 ward published " The Descent of Man," but 

 Haeckel had to take the first brunt of the 

 opposition in Germany. 



In reviewing the history of the subject, 

 Mr. Ward, following Haeckel, credits Eras- 

 mus Darwin, Goethe, and Lamarck with the 

 honor of founding the doctrine of evolution. 

 Lamarck's " Philosophic Zoologique " was 

 published just fifty years before the " Ori- 

 gin of Species," yet Mr. Ward goes so far as 

 to say that every important principle em- 

 braced in the latter work is also contained 

 in the former — except the principle of 

 " natural selection." That principle, more- 

 over, had been long recognized, and the 

 doctrine of the fixity of species was under- 

 mined. Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace inde- 

 pendently showed how " natural selection " 

 may give rise to new species. 



It would have afforded a still further il- 

 lustration of the ripeness of thought upon 

 this subject, and increased the equity of 

 Mr. Ward's distribution of honors, if he 

 had stated that, before Mr. Darwin had pub- 

 lished at all on the subject, Spencer had 

 drawn up in full detail his prospectus of the 

 evolution philosophy, covering the whole 

 ground, in ten volumes, and that the subse- 

 quent contribution of Mr. Darwin did not 

 make it necessary to disturb the order of 

 his work by so much as the introduction of 

 an additional chapter. The new contribu- 

 tion fell into its proper place in an already 

 organized body of thought. 



