382 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 14. 



NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OP THE LOBSTER ; 

 A CORRECTION. 



In an article entitled ' Notes on the Bi- 

 ology of the Lobster' (Science N. S. Vol. 

 I., No. 10, p. 263.) the following sentence 

 occurs : "After hatching a brood in May, 

 the female usually molts and afterwards ex- 

 trudes a new batch of eggs." This should 

 be corrected to read thus : After hatching a 

 brood in May, the female usually molts, but does 

 not extrude a neiv batch of eggs until the foUoiv- 

 ing year. 



These notes were culled from a fuller 

 paper, and this slip in the context crept in 

 unobserved. It is, however, corrected in 

 the latter part of the article. 



Francis H. Herrick. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



THE TYRANNY OF THE MONISTIC CREED, A 



REVIEW. 



Der Monismus als Band svnschen Religion und 

 Wissenschaft. Glaubensbehenntniss eines Na- 

 turforschers. Ernst Haeckel. Bonn, 

 Emil Strauss. 1893 (Vierte Auflage). 

 Monism. The Confession of Faith of a Man of 

 Science. Ernst Haeckel. Translated 

 from the German by J. Gilchrist. Lon- 

 don, Adam and Charles Black. 1894. 

 The influence of a ' creed ' on the pro- 

 gress of science is a proper subject for dis- 

 cussion by men of science, and it is to this, 

 and not to the value of the basis for 

 Haeckel's ' faith,' that we will direct atten- 

 tion. 



As he defines it. Monism " is the convic- 

 tion that there lives one spirit in all 

 things and that the whole cognizable 

 world is constituted, and has been de- 

 veloped, in accordance with one funda- 

 mental law." 



This positive creed is very different from 

 a modest confession of ignorance, which 

 leaves us free to follow wherever future 

 discoveries may lead, for the monistic creed 



is based on the assumption that what we 

 know is a proper measure of what we do 

 not know, as if we could have any measure 

 of the unknown. 



An enthusiastic admirer of Haeckel's sci- 

 entific researches may be pardoned a word 

 of comment on this published statement of 

 his creed. 



He tells us all eminent and unprejudiced 

 men of science who have the courage of 

 their opinions think as he does. No one 

 likes to be called a bigot or a coward, or to 

 be accused of ignorance, but those who do 

 not agree with Haeckel must fortify their 

 souls by the thought that this argument is 

 no new thing in history. 



Science is justified by works and not by 

 faith, and when Haeckel says ' Credo ' and 

 not ' Scio ' we need not discuss the value of 

 his belief, although its influence on the pro- 

 gress of science is a more practical matter. 



The struggle for intellectual freedom is 

 often called a conflict between religion and 

 science, but while the men of science have 

 burst through those Pillars of Hercules 

 which, according to Bacon, are ' fixed by 

 fate,' thej^ have had no msh to demolish 

 these ancient landmarks, but only to force 

 a passage on to the great ocean of natural 

 knowledge. Least of all do they desire to 

 set up new bounds. 



So far a creed involves, or seems to its 

 holders to involve, preconceptions on mat- 

 ters which fall within the province of re- 

 search or discovery, it is an obstacle to the 

 progress of knowledge and a proper subject 

 for scientific examination. 



I shall try to show that the monistic 

 ' confession of faith ' has led to the dis- 

 counting of the possibilities of future dis- 

 covery, and that it has thus obstructed pro- 

 gress. 



One of its results is intolerance of doubt 

 on the problems of life. In this field the 

 monist holds that those who are not with 

 him are against him, and he admits no 



