LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



adds Heeckel, and dismissing the subject, branches off 

 into an earnest talk on radiolaria. 



i/ECKEL was educated for a physician & 

 began his career by practicing medicine. 

 But his heart was really not in the work; 

 he very soon came to the conclusion that 

 the constant dwelling on the pathological 

 was not worth while Jt> " Hereafter I '11 

 devote my time to the normal, not the abnormal and 

 distempered. The sick should learn to keep well," he 

 wrote a friend. And again, " If an individual is so lack- 

 ing in will that he cannot provide for himself, then his 

 dissolution is no calamity to either himself, the state 

 or the race." 



This was written in his twenties, and seems to sound 

 rather sophomorish, but the idea of the boy is still with 

 the old man, for in "The Riddle of the Universe" he 

 says, "The final effect upon the race by the pres- 

 ervation of the unfit, through increased skill in surgery 

 and medicine, is not yet known." In another place he 

 throws in a side remark, thus, "Our almshouses, 

 homes for imbeciles, and asylums where the hope- 

 lessly insane often outlive their keepers maybe a mis- 

 take, save as these things minister to the spirit of al- 

 truism which prompts their support. Let a wiser gen- 

 eration answer ! ' 



Doubtless Hseckel could make a good argument in 7 

 favor of the doctors if he wished, but probably if asked 

 14 



