24 HAECKEL 



the animal and plant worlds is a matter of tem- 

 perament as much as of judgment. It is very 

 possible that we have here an hereditary trait, 

 an innate aversion for disorder and confusion — for 

 a thoughtless rushing ahead without clear ideas 

 and plan. The trait was the more important and 

 helpful as a man of Haeckel's type was sure to 

 be one of the most active revolutionaries in his 

 science, even apart from Darwinian ideas. It 

 would be difficult to find another reformer in any 

 great province of thought who, immediately after 

 effecting a complete overthrow of the older ideas, 

 has hastened so quickly to build up the new, to 

 devise a nomenclature and a classification down to 

 the smallest details, and hand on at once to his 

 successors a splendid order once more. Zoology, 

 which seemed to crumble into chaos after Darwin's 

 victory and the collapse of the old framework, 

 came out of Haeckel's hands, after barely two 

 years' work, in the shape of a new and graceful 

 Darwinistic structure — not, indeed, perfect and 

 finally completed, but entirely habitable for the 

 young generation. They could add new stones 

 as they thought fit, or pierce new windows, and 

 so on ; but at all events the chaos was terminated 

 at a critical moment by this iron man of order. 

 I will only add, to complete the picture, that one 

 of the three doctorates that Haeckel holds to-day 

 is that of law (an honorary degree), in addition 

 to his qualifications in philosophy and medicine. 

 He now only lacks the theological degree, but I 

 fear that he will neither take the trouble to secure 



