EARLY YOUTH 49 



distinct branch of general thought ; otherwise it is 

 worthless, and its herbarium may rot unnoticed in 

 the corner and its discoveries be the outcome of 

 blind hazard. Schleiden himself had no perception 

 of the great idea that Darwin was to bring into his 

 province afterwards — the idea of the variability of 

 species and of evolution, which brought to a criti- 

 cal stage the question whether the botanist was to 

 be merely a subordinate museum-secretary or a 

 creative thinker, a prophet of nature to whom 

 plants would be part of a general philosophy, a 

 part of God in the ideal sense of evolution. Yet 

 Schleiden's simple warning cry made a deep im- 

 pression on many of the young men especially. 

 There was a note of aspiration in it, an assurance 

 that they were waiting for a sun that must rise 

 somewhere. He was a master of language. There 

 was the stufi of the poet in him. His works strayed 

 out far beyond the range of his own province. 

 Haeckel himself did the same work in later years. 

 It is no wonder that Schleiden had a magical 

 influence over him. In this case, indeed, it seemed 

 as if the attraction was to determine his own 

 career. 



Schleiden taught botany at Jena University. 

 Haeckel was still in the higher forms of his school 

 at Merseburg, and remained there when his father 

 resigned his position in the State service, and 

 eventually removed to Berlin. At this time the 

 ardent botanist decided to adopt the science of 

 plants as his life-study when his final examination 

 was over. Schleiden would teach him how to 



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