56 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



natural/' 1 And as for the doctrine that "if any 

 man will take away thy coat let him have thy cloak 

 also/' " what in the light of Darwinism," asks Haeckel 

 in effect, " could be made of such a doctrine in the 

 midst of the conditions of the modern world ? " 



Haeckel's writings gave to the pagan doctrine 

 of force an extraordinary prestige in the minds of 

 the millions who read the popular editions of his 

 works in Germany, in English-speaking lands, and 

 in other countries. But Haeckel's attempt to 

 apply Darwinism to civilization was . from the 

 beginning made in that spirit of compromise which 

 could not long endure. It was made in that spirit 

 which distinguished Herbert Spencer's similai 

 attempt in England, a spirit which has been 

 described as essentially demoralizing in that it 

 attempted "to combine the Christian standard of 

 manners with a materialistic standard of values." 

 In this it was like the later attempt of the German 

 General Staff in the Kriegsbrauch im Landkriege 

 so admirably summarized by Professor Morgan 

 in his translation. It consisted in " laying down 

 unimpeachable rules (representing the ethic of 

 civilization) and then destroying them by excep- 

 tions (representing the ethic of savagery)." 3 It was 



1 The Piddle of the Universe, chap. xix. 



a Ford Madox Hueffer, When Blood is their Argument: an An- 

 alysis of Prussian Culture, Pt. II. chap. n. ii. * Op. cit. p. I . 



