CHAPTER I 



EAELY YOUTH 



*' T AM wholly a child of the nineteenth cen- 

 A- tury, and with its close I would draw the 

 line under my life's work." Thus does Professor 

 Haeckel speak of himself. There is a note of 

 gentle resignation in the words, but the time is 

 coming when men will give them a different 

 meaning. Whatever greater achievements may 

 be wrought by a future generation in the service 

 of truth and human welfare, their work will be but 

 a continuation of the truth of our time, as long as 

 humanity breathes. On the intrepid, outstanding 

 figures of the nineteenth century will shine a light 

 that is peculiarly theirs, an illumination that men 

 will dwell on for ever — as we look back, in 

 personal life, on the young days of love. It 

 was a strong love that brought our century to 

 birth. 



The soul of humanity has for four centuries 

 been passing through a grim crisis. 



Let us imagine ourselves for a moment before the 

 noble painting by Michael xlngelo in the Sixtine 



15 



