488 



NATURE 



[August 21, 1919 



adoption of Fritz Miiller's law of recapitulation 

 — that individual development (ontogeny) tends 

 to be a condensed epitome of racial evolution 

 (phylogeny) ; and although this generalisation 

 requires very careful handling, and has often 

 led to abuse in the writings of undisciplined 

 popularisers, few would go the length of saying 

 that its recognition has not enriched zoology. In 

 his studies of Monera and the like Haeckel did 

 not a little to show the fundamental biological 

 importance of the Protozoa ; his gastriea theory 

 had a considerable and, on the whole, useful influ- 

 ence on embryology, though it has now been 

 superseded ; he was an explorer of the rarely 

 visited field of pro-morphology (the study of 

 shape and symmetry), in which the pioneers of 

 bio-physics are now finding treasure. We might 

 recall many of his suggestions which subsequent 

 research has justified or may still justify : he was 

 very early on the track of phagocytosis; he was 

 sure that crystals have^much to tell the biologist; 

 he felt that heredity and memory were in some 

 way related phenomena, and that the unconscious- 

 psychical was not a contradiction in terms ; he 

 insisted that we have not heard the last of the 

 application of the second law of thermodynamics 

 to organisms ; he. was one of the early voices 

 crying in . the wilderness that biology was an 

 integral part of education. 



Anti-metaphysical by profession, Haeckel never- 

 theless expressed in his theory of cell-souls and 

 the subjective aspect of the movements of matter 

 a poetical hylozoism, akin to that of the early 

 Ionic philosophers. He has been likened in 

 this respect to a re-incarnation of Xenophanes. 

 It was characteristic of his buoyant optimism 

 that he never seems to have suspected how nai've 

 his monistic philosophy was ; but those who 

 deplore the mischievousness for the ignorant of 

 such a book as "The Riddle of the Universe" 

 ought to take their share of the blame for not pro- 

 viding for the people equally readable antidotes or 

 prophylactics. The rancour he displayed in these 

 tragic years towards a country where he had 

 many friends and in which he had been highly 

 •honoured must be viewed in the light of the fact 

 that he was an octogenarian in enfeebled health 

 when the war broke out, yet in his attitude and 

 his utterances we see the continuation of that 

 aggressiveness and bitterness which marked his 

 attacks on conventional Christianity. It is in 

 general terms a difficult riddle v/hich his fellow- 

 countryman Ostwald had the frankness to express 

 in 1914 : " Dieser unversohnliche Gegner alles 

 dogmatischen Christentums erwies sich als der 

 beste und vorgeschrittendenste ' Christ ' den Ich 

 je personlich kennen gelernt hatte." The ex- 

 planation may be in part this, that Haeckel had 

 several moods almost equally dominant. He was 

 scientific, doubtless, and he himself declared that 

 he was all for science, yet he had not that reso- 

 luteness of precision which Huxley referred to 

 when he said that the assertion that outstrips 

 the evidence is not only an error, but also a crime. 

 He had the artistic and romantic temperament, 

 NO. 2599, VOL. 103] 



he was a worshipper of beauty, he was to an 

 extraordinary degree a passionate man of feeling. 

 But he was also a preacher, a reformer, a propa- 

 gandist — hence his surprising sympathy with 

 Luther. He was so convinced in his own mind 

 that he had got hold of the truth, and that those 

 who differed from him were following errors and 

 superstitions, that he was incapable of calmly 

 considering criticism, still less of changing his 

 views. His enthusiasm for science and his 

 passion for Nature showed themselves in another 

 expression in something like fanatic intolerance 

 in his propagandist writings. Yet Haeckel did a 

 day's work and a man's work in a fine, vigorous 

 way, always himself and no other, and if he 

 overdid the hunt for superstitions, who shall say 

 that there was no excuse? ^any people are not 

 so good as their creeds, but everyone who knew 

 Haeckel in his prime will agree that he was 

 much better. Vale. 



NOTES. 



A CONFERENCE of representatives of the Meteoro- 

 logical Services of the British Dominions is to be 

 held in London on September 23-27, when the sub- 

 jects to be considered will include the meteorological 

 arrangements for the exchange of observations by 

 wireless at comparatively long distances; specification 

 of observations for the surface and the upper air with 

 the codes for transmission ; the consideration of 

 instruments and material for the investigation of the 

 upper air; the selection of stations of the 

 "Roseau Mondial" for the purpose of the 

 general climatology of the globe (see " Roseau 

 Mondial," 1911-12-13, iM.O. Publications 207g, 

 209g, and 2i4g); the provision of current meteoro- 

 logical information for the main air routes of 

 the world ; co-operation in the investigation of the 

 meteorological conditions of aerial navigation ; and the 

 trade routes and the meteorological survey of the 

 oceans by observations transmitted by radio-telegraphy 

 from ships. The following official meteorologists of 

 the Dominions beyond the seas are expected to be 

 present: — Capt. A. J. Bamford (Director of the 

 Meteorological Service of Ceylon), the ReV. D. C. 

 Bates (Director of the Meteorological Office of New 

 Zealand), Mr. H. A. Hunt (Director of the Weather 

 Bureau of the Commonwealth of Australia, Mel- 

 bourne), Mr. H. Knox Shaw (Director of the Meteoro- 

 logical Service of the Public Works Ministry, Egypt), 

 Mr. C. Stewart (Chief Meteorologist of the Union of 

 South Africa), Sir Frederick Stupart (Director of the 

 Meteorological Service of Canada), and Dr. G. T. 

 Walker (Director-General of Indian Observatories). 



In connection with the autumn meeting of the Iron 

 and Steel Institute, which is to be held at the Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers, Great George Street, West- 

 minster, on September 18 and 19, there is to be, on 

 the first-named date, a general conference on fuel 

 economy, at which the following communications will 

 be read :— Report on " Fuel Economy in Steel Works," 

 Dr. W. A. Bone, Sir Robert Hadfield, Bart., and 

 A. Hutchinson ; Report on " Fuel Economy in Foundry 

 Practice," H. J. Yates ; and " Fuel Economy in German 

 Iron and Steel Works," Cosmo Johns and L. Ennis. 

 Papers down for reading and discussion on September 

 19 are : — "Synthetic Cast-Iron," C. A. Keller; "The 

 Fluxing Action of Iron Oxides on Acid-Furnace Struc- 

 tures," J. H. Whiteley and A. F. HalHmond ; "The 

 Woody Structure of the Fractures of Transverse Test 



