52 A Century of Science 



strong. But now, in his fifth thesis, he enters the 

 region of metaphysics, the transcendental region, 

 which science has 110 competent methods of explor 

 ing, and commits himself to a dogmatic assertion : 



5. &quot; The beliefs in an immortal soul and in 

 4 a personal God are therewith&quot; (i. e., with the 

 four preceding statements) &quot; completely unun liable 

 (vollig unvereinbar) .&quot; 



Now, if Professor Plaeckel had contented himself 

 with asserting that these two beliefs are not suscep 

 tible of scientific demonstration ; if he had simply 

 said that they are beliefs concerning which a scien 

 tific man, in his scientific capacity, ought to refrain 

 from making assertions, because Science knows no 

 thing whatever about the subject, he would have 

 occupied an impregnable position. His fifth the 

 sis would have been as indisputable as his first four. 

 But Professor Haeckel does not stop here. He de 

 clares virtually that if an evolutionist is found 

 entertaining the beliefs in a personal God and an im 

 mortal soul, nevertheless these beliefs are not philo 

 sophically reconcilable with his scientific theory of 

 things, but are mere remnants of an old-fashioned 

 superstition from which he has not succeeded in 

 freeing himself. 



Here one must pause to inquire what Professor 

 Haeckel means by &quot; a personal God.&quot; If he refers 



