24 Prof. Ernst Haeckel 



a quarter of a century ago. But I was twenty-five years 

 older ! Would the concrete wonders of tropical nature pos- 

 sess the same fascination for me, now that I had penetrated 

 the abstract domains of natural philosophy ? 



"These and kindred thoughts, together with the most 

 doleful impressions of my last farewells to home and friends, 

 passed through my brain as the train bore me through the 

 cold gray autumnal mist which enshrouded my beloved Saale 

 Valley. 



" Only the tallest peaks of our magnificent MmohelkcdTc 

 mountains rose above the misty sea ; on the right, Haus- 

 berg, with his ' rosy, radiant summit,' the proud pyramid of 

 the Jenzig, and the romantic ruins of Kunitzberg. On the 

 left stretched the wooded heights of Rauthal ; and, further 

 on, Goethe's favorite retreat, charming Dornberg. I waved 

 an adieu to these dear old mountain friends, and promised 

 to return to them in good health and richly laden with In- 

 dian treasures. 



" As if to ratify the promise, they gave me their friendli- 

 est morning greeting ; the dense mist suddenly fell from 

 their shoulders, and the triumphant sun rose into a perfect- 

 ly cloudless sky. Thousands of dew-drops blazed like jewels 

 in the azure cups of the lovely gentians decorating the grassy 

 slopes on either side of the iron road." 



In these words we have recalled the exquisite landscape, 

 with the mists and inspirations, of Goethe's Novelle, The 

 Tale (Mdhrchen), and his final, noble, wisest Letter from 

 Dornberg Castle, in those " saddest days " of 1828. Before 

 this scene, and as its product largely, we see our heart-and- 

 headful professor and his lovely family so clearly, lovingly 

 depicted that ordinary details must not dim the picture. 



At this university, Goethe's university, his scientific ca- 

 reer began. Here his early enthusiasm was sheltered when, 

 in 1861, he came from Italy with his love of nature kindled 

 to a flame by his personal explorations, and not less, per- 

 haps, by that wonderful epoch-making book, Darwin's Ori- 

 gin of Species, which had appeared during his absence in 

 1859. He saw at once that the simple but far-reaching dis- 

 covery of the law of " natural selection " (implying " sexual 

 selection" and so much more afterwards given to the world) 

 contained in this work was the corner-stone upon which 

 materials collected by others, and recently by himself, couM 

 finally be raised into a complete and noble science of biolo- 

 gy ; a solution of the problems of the whole organic world. 



