208 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



THE RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



MOST educated people have been for many 

 years conversant with the philosophical and 

 scientific works written by the master -hand of 

 Professor Ernst Haeckel. To such persons the issue 

 of an English translation of " Die Welt-rathsel " ! 

 cannot fail to be a source of great satisfaction. 

 Before discussing the work itself, we would con- 

 gratulate Mr. Joseph McCabe on his clever and 

 effective , rendering into English of this important 

 book. Although much of its contents are neces- 

 sarily of an abstruse character, Mr. McCabe's well- 

 chosen language places Dr. Haeckel's meaning and 

 intention so clearly and pleasantly before the 

 reader as to fix attention from first to last. 



Those of our readers who know the author's 

 previous writings can easily anticipate the character 

 of the pages before us, which are founded upon 

 the reaction of thought, brought about in conse- 

 quence of scientific research and its results during 

 the closing century. To quote the translator, Dr. 

 Haeckel herein summarises the evidence for the 

 evolution of the mind in a masterly and profoundly 

 interesting fashion. The author himself considers 

 this work, " The Eiddle of the Universe," collates 

 and marks the close of his studies on the monistic 

 conception of the universe( 2 ). He says that the 

 earlier plan, projected by him many years ago, of 

 constructing a complete system of monistic philo- 

 sophy on the basis of evolution cannot now be 

 carried into effect, owing to his failing strength. 

 He adds that being " wholly a child of the nine- 

 teenth century, with its close I draw the line under 

 my life's work." There is a touch of sadness in 

 these words, which we trust is only caused by tem- 

 porary indisposition at the time of writing. 



The scheme of the book before us is a brilliant 

 review of the labours and discoveries of most of the 

 important investigators in the field of scientific 

 research. These are collated and applied by the 

 author to the construction of a philosophy of which 

 he is the apostle. The subjects touched upon by 

 him are briefly : the nature of the problem of the 

 universe, including the condition of civilisation and 

 thought at the close of the nineteenth century ; 



(1) " The Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth 

 Century." By Ernst Haeckel, Ph.D., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D., and 

 Professor at the University of Jena. Translated by Joseph 

 McCabe. XVI+398 pp., 8 in. x5Jin. (London : Watts & Co., 

 1900.) 6s. net. 



(2) The philosophy of Monism may be said to be a doctrine 

 which considers mind and matter neither as separated nor as 

 derived from each, other, but as standing in an essential and 

 inseparable connection. In other words, it is a philosophy which 

 can as little believe in force without matter as in matter with- 

 out force. It embraces the pure, unequivocal Monism of 

 Spinoza : matter, or infinitely extended substance, and spirit (or 

 energy), or sensitive and thinking substance, are the two funda- 

 mental attributes, or principal properties, of the all-embracing, 

 divine essence of the world. — Ed. S.-G. 



the fundamental importance of anatomy, both 

 human and comparative ; the cellular theory with 

 regard to man's place in Nature ; the development 

 of the study of physiology from the Middle Ages ; 

 embryonic development and the theories of pre- 

 formation and scatulation ; the history of our 

 species, with an account of the fossil Pithecan- 

 thropus of Dubois ; the nature of the soul ; psychic 

 gradations ; the embryology of the soul ; the 

 phylogeny of the soul ; consciousness, giving the 

 various theories of Descartes, Darwin, Schopen- 

 hauer, Fechner, and Schultze ; the immortality of 

 the soul ; the law of substance, including the 

 chemical law of the constancy of matter and the 

 physical law of the conservation of energy ; the 

 evolution of the world ; the unity of Nature ; God 

 and the world ; knowledge and belief ; science and 

 Christianity ; monistic religion and ethics ; the 

 solution of the world problems ; and a brief con- 

 clusion, in which he points out that the number of 

 world-riddles has been continually diminishing in 

 the course of the nineteenth century, through the 

 progress of a truer knowledge of Nature. 



Yet, as says the author, one comprehensive riddle 

 of the universe still remains — the problem of sub- 

 stance, otherwise the Cosmos. The author goes on 

 to say we do not know " the thing in itself " that 

 lies behind the knowable phenomena of matter and 

 energy by which the universe is continued. 



Dr. Haeckel urges in a very forcible manner the 

 advisability of a more practical application of 

 scientific knowledge to the daily life of humanity. 

 For instance, with regard to the administration of 

 justice, he points out that though judges and 

 counsel are popularly supposed to be men of highest 

 education, and this is doubtless correct with regard 

 to " legal education," which is of most part formal 

 and technical in character, these gentlemen have 

 only a superficial acquaintance with that chief and 

 peculiar object of their activity, the human organ- 

 ism, and its most important function, the mind. 

 That is evident from the curious views as to the 

 liberty of the will, responsibility, &c, which we 

 encounter in their decisions. Most of the students 

 of jurisprudence have little knowledge of anthro- 

 pology, psychology, and the doctrine of evolution ; 

 important requisitesfor a judicial estimate of human 

 nature. 



In comparing the two great founders of trans- 

 formism, Dr. Haeckel says, •" We find in Lamarck 

 a preponderant inclination to deduction and to 

 forming a complete monistic scheme of Nature ; in 

 Darwin we have a predominant application of 

 induction, and a prudent concern tp establish the 

 different parts of the theory of selection as firmly 

 as possible on a basis of observation and experi- 

 ment." The latter appears to be the course followed 



