i867.] PROFESSOR HAECKEL. 2 $I 



" Whatever hesitation may, not unfrequently, be felt by less 

 daring minds, in following Haeckel in many of his specula- 

 tions, his attempt to systematise the doctrine of Evolution, 

 and to exhibit its influence as the central thought of modern 

 biology, cannot fail to have a far-reaching influence on the 

 progress of science." 



In the following letter my father alludes to the somewhat 

 fierce manner in which Professor Haeckel fought the battle of 

 i Darwinismus,' and on this subject Dr. Krause has some good 

 remarks (p. 162). He asks whether much that happened in 

 the heat of the conflict might not well have been otherwise, 

 and adds that Haeckel himself is the last man to deny this. 

 Nevertheless he thinks that even these things may have worked 

 well for the cause of Evolution, inasmuch as Haeckel " con- 

 centrated on himself by his ' Ursprung des Menschen- 

 Geschlechts,' his ' Generelle Morphologie,' and ' Schopfungs- 

 Geschichte,' all the hatred and bitterness which Evolution 

 excited in certain quarters," so that, " in a surprisingly short 

 time it became the fashion in Germany that Haeckel alone 

 should be abused, while Darwin was held up as the ideal of 

 forethought and moderation."] 



C. Darwin to E. Haeckel. 



Down, May 21, 1867. 

 Dear Haeckel. — Your letter of the 18th has given me 

 great pleasure, for you have received what I said in the most 

 kind and cordial manner. You have in part taken what I 

 said much stronger than I had intended. It never occurred 

 to me for a moment to doubt that your work, with the whole 

 subject so admirably and clearly arranged, as well as fortified 

 by so many new facts and arguments, would not advance our 

 common object in the highest degree. All that I think is 

 that you will excite anger, and that anger so completely 

 blinds every one, that your arguments would have no chance 

 of influencing those who are already opposed to our views. 

 Moreover, I do not at all like that you, towards whom I feel 



