THE RADIOLARIA 89 



the least idea of them. But we determined to 

 make the journey there, and sketched it out in 

 detail, to be undertaken as soon as we left Italy. 

 He contracted a perfect fever for travelling. We 

 were four weeks in Pagano's excellent inn at Capri 

 with a few artists, and he completely lost himself 

 with delight. He became intimate with the 

 young artists ; being hitherto surrounded by men 

 of scientific interests, he had avoided them. The 

 intermediary between Haeckel and them was 

 myself. I liked no one better than genial artists. 

 Now Haeckel was seized with a passion for painting 

 landscapes day after day. He was especially 

 interested in the most fantastically shaped rocks. 

 On the other hand, he neglected his marine 

 animals, and did not return to them entirely 

 until he got to Messina, where he devoted him- 

 self to the radiolaria, which were destined to play 

 so important a part in his work. Darwin, who was 

 soon to dominate his whole thought, had little 

 significance for him at that time, as the struggle 

 for life had not yet been discovered. We rarely 

 spoke of it, but talked constantly of Johannes 

 Miiller. He was Haeckel's ideal, as long as I 

 kept in touch with him. He also spoke often and 

 generously of his university friends, Dr. W. D. 

 Focke, who was his special botanical comrade, Dr. 

 Dreyer and Dr. Strube, who were his chief friends 

 at the university at Wiirtzburg. The ordinary 

 life and pleasures of the student, and their heavy 

 beer-drinking, were a torture to him ; he avoided 

 them as much as possible. Very often I could 



