316 HAECKEL 



Nature. This greatest of all books has taught 

 me to know the true God, the God of Spinoza and 

 Goethe. Then as physician I saw human life in 

 all its heights and depths, and in my many travels 

 through half the globe I learned the inexhaustible 

 splendour of the earth. And I have honestly tried 

 with all my modest powers, to reproduce with pen 

 and pencil a part of what I saw, and reveal it to 

 my fellows. I have had to fight many a hard fight, 

 and in my hatred of lies and hypocrisy and 

 decaying traditions I have at times struck a sharp 

 note. But I trust, dear Youth, that thou wilt not 

 judge all that harshly in so old and storm-tried, 

 a warrior, and that thou wilt go on to stand with 

 me, shoulder to shoulder, fighting for the spiritual 

 progress of humanity, fighting in the cause of the 

 great trinity of the true, the good, and the 

 beautiful." 



The work he had composed in four months at 

 Kapallo, The Wonders of Life, was issued on his 

 return. It has not had the stormy success of its 

 predecessor. The fact is instructive. This work 

 contains a fuller proof of the chief scientific 

 positions of the Riddle. It is, therefore, more 

 technical and more difficult to read. Amongst 

 other matters, it contains a fine summary of 

 those speculations on the mathematical forms of 

 organisms and the idea of individuality of which 

 Professor Bolsche has written so appreciatively. 

 It must be recognised that Haeckel has fulfilled a 

 duty in thus providing the general reader with 

 a fuller biological proof of his theses. If that 



