396 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



doctrine so certain that we could pledge our oath to it, 

 so sure that we could say, " Thus it is " from that mo- 

 ment we could not dare to feel any scruple about intro- 

 ducing it into our actual life, so as not only to communi- 

 cate it to every educated man, but to impart it to every 

 child, to make it the foundation of our whole ideas of 

 the world, of society, and the State, and to base upon it 

 our whole system of education. This I hold to be a 

 necessity/ 



It would be interesting to know the persons desig- 

 nated by the pronoun ' we ' in the first sentence of the 

 foregoing quotation. No doubt Professor Haeckel 

 would accept this canon in all its fulness, and found 

 on it his justification. He would say without hesita- 

 tion: ' I am convinced that the theory of evolution is a 

 perfectly established doctrine, and hence on your own 

 showing I am justified in urging its introduction into 

 our schools.' It is plain, however, that Professor Vir- 

 chow would not accept this retort as valid. His ' we ' 

 must cover something more than Professor Haeckel. 

 It would probably cover more even than the audience 

 he addressed; for he would hardly affirm, even if every 

 one of his hearers accepted the theory of evolution, that 

 that would be a sufficient warrant for forcing it upon 

 the public at large. His ' we,' I submit, needs defini- 

 tion. If he means that the theory of evolution ought 

 to be introduced into our schools, not when experts are 

 agreed as to its truth, but when the community is pre- 

 pared for its introduction, then, I think, he is right, 

 and that, as a matter of social policy, Dr. Haeckel would 

 be wrong in seeking to antedate the period of its intro- 

 duction. In dealing with the community great changes 

 must have timeliness as well as truth upon their side. 

 But if the mouths of thinkers be stopped, the necessary 

 social preparation will be impossible; an unwhole- 



