62 HAECKEL 



land, without a single blade, in face of this 

 revelation. It was a Noah's ark in the space of 

 a pinch of snuff. 



One day the young medical student heard, in 

 the middle of his histology and zoology, that 

 Kolliker had come back from Messina. He had 

 been studying lower marine life there. In 1853, 

 two young men were together in the Gutenberg 

 forest near Wiirtzburg. One of them, Karl 

 Gegenbaur, had been abroad with Kolliker. With 

 his impressions still fresh, he tells Haeckel about 

 his zoological adventures in the land of the 

 Cyclops. 



Gegenbaur, eight years older than Haeckel, was 

 by birth and education a typical Wiirtzburger. He, 

 too, had studied medicine, and had practised at the 

 hospital. But he had already advanced beyond 

 that. His stay at Messina had been devoted 

 entirely to zoological purposes. A year later he 

 would be teaching anatomy at Wiirtzburg, and a 

 year later still he would be called to Jena. From 

 that time he began to be known as a master of 

 comparative anatomy — especially after 1859, when 

 his Elements of the science was published, a classic 

 in its way that still exercises some influence. 



There is nothing romantic in his career, nor 

 could we seek any element of the kind in a 

 man of Gegenbaur's character. But his young 

 and undecided companion seemed to catch sight 

 of a new ideal as he spoke. He would complete 

 his medical studies, and then shake himself free 

 of surgery and hospital. He would take his 



