tween the work and its Preface, there is room for an hon- 

 est striving after truth. Personally I do not wish to deny 

 Haeckel all honesty of purpose, for it is my endeavor to 

 understand the whole man. The one prominent feature of 

 the "Weltraetsel" is the fact that, owing to a very marked 

 deficiency in philosophical training, Haeckel has become 

 so completely absorbed in his system that he has lost all 

 interest in everything else and takes cognizance only of 

 what suits his purpose. What he lacks above all, is the 

 ability to appreciate even the "honest" opinion of others;, 

 hence, from the very outset he brings into the discussion, 

 that bitterness of which he complains in others (in the 

 Weltraetsel he once makes this accusation against me). 

 •Notwithstanding all this, honest conviction may be pres- 

 ent, but if so, it is joined with total bHndness. But what 

 is to be thought of his search after truth since he com- 

 pletely ignores his adversaries? For instance, in spite of 

 Loofs' attacks, he continues tO' have his book reprinted 

 without alteration, without submitting it to revision. The 

 "Reichsbote" is perfectly in the right when it says: 

 Haeckel, in fact, takes account only of what suits his pur- 

 pose. 



As regards the contents of the "Weltraetsel." it is not 

 my intention to enter here upon a criticism of it but merely 

 to discuss it as illustrating the general status of the theory 

 of Descent. It is to be noted, in the first place, that it is 

 really not a scientific book at all; for of its 472 pages, the 

 first or "Anthropological Part," with which alone we are 



105 



