August 21, 19 19] 



NATURE 



487 



duction of such drugs as salvarsan, aspirin, and 

 salicylic acid, and in these cases the Commission 

 assisted by securing- the release of controlled raw 

 materials. 



The report alludes to the help rendered by the 

 Royal Society, under whose auspices the manu- 

 facture of a number of drugs was undertaken in 

 about forty university and other laboratories. It 

 is satisfactory to learn that the. knowledge so 

 acquired of the best methods of manufacture has 

 not been wasted, but has been placed at the dis- 

 posal of manufacturers. As a result the Com- 

 missioners are able to report that some sixteen 

 medicinal chemicals, in which Germany had a 

 virtual monopoly before the war, are now being 

 made in this country, in some cases on a scale 

 Jarge enough to provide a margin for export. 



On the whole, though difficulties arose from 

 time to time, the needs of the Army and the 

 nation appear to have been met adequately so far 

 as all essential drugs are concerned. 



In view of this it seems clear that of the hun- 

 dreds of synthetic drugs which used to be im- 

 ported from Germany before the war many were 

 unnecessary additions to our therapeutical re- 

 sources. It is, in fact, an interesting exercise 

 to look through such a publication as Arend's 

 " Arznei-Mittel, " or one of the "Guides" and 

 "Mentors " to therapeutics, which used to be dis- 

 tributed by the German drug manufacturers, and 

 see how many of the products, each with its care- 

 fully plausible name duly registered, have passed 

 out of use and almost out of memorv. 



The Commissioners point out that the manu- 

 facture of fine chemicals developed in this 

 country during the war will need to be watched 

 carefully, suitable encouragement being given, 

 where necessary, and means provided for keeping 

 manufacturers in touch with scientific workers. 

 These functions they consider might well form part 

 of the duties of the Ministry of Health. 



While it is important that the manufacture of 

 synthetic drugs should be assisted in every pos- 

 sible way, it is no less important that the old- 

 established British fine chemical industry in the 

 manufacture of alkaloids should not be neglected. 

 In this connection it should not be forgotten that 

 the supply of some of the raw materials, such as 

 cinchona bark and opium, required by this branch 

 of the industry is now in urgent need of atten- 

 tion from an Imperial point of view. 



ERNST HA ECKEL. 

 A FTER a prolonged illness Prof. Haeckel died 

 -^^ at his house in Jena on August 8 at the 

 age of eighty-five. His signature of the infamous 

 manifesto issued by ninety-three German pro- 

 fessors in 1914, his recent bitterness towards 

 Britain, and his acquiescence in Germany's crimes 

 need not blind us to what is lasting in the work 

 he did, to features of greatness in his character, 

 and to the irresistible charm of his personality. 

 He was a champion of evolutionism from the 

 publication of the "Origin of Species " onwards, 

 NO. 2599, VOL. 103] 



in days when the doctrine was unpopular and 

 upholding it meant ,obloquy ; he broke new zoo- 

 logical ground in many directions, and he was 

 the teacher of many illustrious naturalists. 



Ernst Heinrich Haeckel was born at Potsdam on 

 February 16, J834, and went to school at Merse- 

 burg; he studied medicine at Wiirzburg, Berlin, 

 and Vienna ; he was much influenced by the writ- 

 ings of Schleiden, one of the founders of the cell 

 theory ; by Johannes Miiller and Virchow among 

 his teachers ; and by his friend and fellow-worker, 

 Gegenbaur. After a short period of medical 

 practice he became lecturer in the University of 

 Jena and full .professor of zoology in 1865. In 

 spite of repeated and tempting offers, he remained 

 in this position until his retirement from active 

 duties a few years ago. He found opportunity, 

 however, for many journeys, from an early pil- 

 grimage to Down in 1866 to later explorations 

 in Ceylon and ^further east. He wrote three 

 interesting volumes of travel, and indulged his 

 love of sketching in a large series of landscapes. 

 In his early youth ,he had dreams of becoming a 

 painter, and his artistic skill is familiar to those 

 who know his monographs on Radiolarians, 

 Sponges, Siphonophora, and Jellyfishes. Indeed, 

 his facility became almost a snare, for he was 

 sometimes guilty, they say, of improving upon 

 Nature and allowing ,art to mingle with his 

 science. The symmetry which is exhibited in his 

 well-known genealogical trees, which are often 

 referred to contemptuously, as if it .was not a 

 legitimate zoological ambition to discover and 

 describe relationships, was an expression of the 

 same artistic sense, which the rugged facts of 

 Nature do not often gratify. 



Haeckel was a popular teacher, and students 

 from many parts came to listen to his lectures 

 and to work in his laboratory. He lectured 

 rapidly and . pictui'esquely, with infectious 

 enthusiasm, and the beautiful diagrams and 

 blackboard drawings added to the vividness of the 

 impression. While he was always .very busy with 

 work of his own, especially perhaps during the 

 Challenger period, he took a keen interest in those 

 students .who showed anything of his own temper, 

 helping those who helped themselves. At his best 

 he was a very handsome man, with overflowing 

 kindliness, with no end of energy, ,with a passion- 

 ate love of the beautiful whether in the micro- 

 scopic Protists or in mountain scenery. His bible 

 was Goethe. 



In addition to his technical systematic work 

 and his championing ,of Darwinism and freedom 

 of thought and speech, what services did Haeckel 

 render? By his vivid style he made biology 

 popular and diffused concepts .of development and 

 evolution throughout the world, for the sale of 

 books like "The Natural History of Creation" 

 was colossal. His " Generelle ' Morphologic " 

 (1866), as a generalising survey, occupies a place 

 beside Spencer's "Principles of Biology," and, 

 like it, is held in considerable esteem by the fe\v 

 who have read it. He led the way in applying 

 evolution ideas to zoology in general, as in his 



