7 



us in the preface to his recent book that Pro 

 fessor Haeckel had "in fact stated that the ap 

 pearance of this work had led him to deliver his 

 lectures." Father Wasmann then proceeds to 

 tell us how "it seemed therefore expedient, in 

 view of the many misunderstandings to which 

 Haeckel's references had given rise, to publish 

 a definite statement of my own opinion. " This 

 he accordingly did in an "Open Letter to Pro 

 fessor Haeckel"; but as this method of meeting 

 the issue raised by Professor Haeckel seemed 

 inadequate to the purpose, Father Wasmann 

 says he "deemed it very important to give a 

 course of lectures in Berlin itself on the same 

 subject" the theory of evolution. 



It would appear that in Germany an appeal 

 to a Berlin audience is the proper procedure. 

 An audience of Berlin scientists seems to be 

 regarded as a jury sufficiently competent to 

 properly adjudicate the claims of contestants of 

 every kind. The Saxon Wittenagemote in the 

 days of the English Heptarchy does not seem 

 to have been regarded as a tribunal of more 

 surpassing wisdom; and, like the Athenian 

 Areopagus, it is to it every man with a worthy 



