(1) Ernst Haeckel: Der Mann und sein Werk (2) Haeckel: His Life and Work (3) Last Words on Evolution: a Popular Retrospéct and Summary

Abstract

(1) MANY who know Prof. Haeckel only as the author of zoological memoirs, evolutionist essays, and monistic propaganda, will be glad of the opportunity which this brightly written booklet affords of becoming more closely acquainted with the man himself and with the story of his life. We read with interest of the eager boy-naturalist wandering on the Siebengebirge, of the apprenticeship under Johannes Müller, of the year of medical practice (if a man can practise on three patients!), of the eventful year in Italy during which Haeckel nearly became a landscape painter, of the growing fascination which the plankton exerted, satisfying, at once his artistic and scientific interests, of the influence that the “Origin of Species” had on him, and of his early settlement in Jena—that “feste Burg freien Denkens”—which nothing could ever induce him to leave. At the Stettin Versammlung in 1863 Haeckel entered the lists as a champion of the evolutionist “Weltanschauung,” contending almost single-handed against contempt and prejudice. His cause, which eventually prevailed, as the truth must, had to be fought for, and those who are offended by the impetuous expressions of Haeckel's “Stürmernatur” are profitably reminded by this little book of the courage and indefatigability of perhaps the most virile protagonist of a thesis which has been one of the greatest contributions made by science to human progress. The author has told the story of Haeckel's life and work with vividness and enthusiasm. He concludes his effective sketch by indicating, somewhat too tersely and vaguely, how it has been possible for him to use the truth that is in Haeckel in developing a monistic philosophy more satisfying to the human spirit.

(1) Ernst Haeckel: Der Mann und sein Werk.

By Carl W. Neumann. Pp. 80. (Berlin: Gose and Tetzlaff, n.d.) Price 1.50 marks.

(2) Haeckel: His Life and Work.

By Wilheln Bölsche, with introduction and supplementary chapter by the translator, Joseph McCabe. Pp. 336; illustrated. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906.] Price 15s. net.

(3) Last Words on Evolution: a Popular Retrospéct and Summary.

By Ernst Haeckel. Translated from the second edition by Joseph McCabe. Pp. 127; with portrait and three plates. (London: A. Owen and Co., 1906.) Price 6s.