MONISM A ND EVOLU TION. 231 



sciences, its origin is to be traced to certain hypoth- 

 eses connected with some of the manifold modern 

 theories of Evolution. 



The universally-acknowledged protagonist of con- 

 temporary Monism is Ernst Haeckel, professor of 

 biology in the University of Jena. He is often 

 called " the German Darwin," and is regarded, with 

 Darwin and Wallace, as one of the founders of the 

 theory of organic Evolution. From the first appear- 

 ance of Darwin's " Origin of Species," he has been 

 a strong and persistent advocate of the development 

 theory, and did more than anyone else to popularize 

 it in Germany and throughout the continent of 

 Europe. He has, however, gone much further than 

 the English naturalist, in his inductions from the 

 premises supplied by the originator of the theory of 

 natural selection. He draws conclusions from Dar- 

 winism at which many of its advocates stand aghast, 

 and which, if carried out in practice, would not only 

 subvert, religion and morality, but would sap the 

 very foundations of civilized society. Anti-monists, 

 of course, contend that Haeckel's conclusions are 

 not valid, and that there is nothing either in Dar- 

 winism, or Evolution, when properly understood, 

 which warrants the dread inductions which have 

 been drawn from them by the Jena naturalist. 



To understand the nature of Haeckel's doctrines, 

 and to appreciate the secret of his influence, we 

 must consider him in a three-fold capacity as a 

 scientist, as a philosopher, and as the hierophant 

 of a new form of religion, " the religion of the 

 future." 



