file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #ecfci-;h4htm or #ecfci-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/cache_/epu b_/#ecfci_/pg#ecfci-;images4html7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/files_/#ec fci_/ecfci-;h4zip7 ,images of the original pages are available through ,internet ,archive4 ,see https3_/_/archive4org_/details_/lastword sonevolu#jj;haeciala ,transcriber's note3 ,text enclosed by underscores is in italics 7italics74 ,more details of transcription can be found at the end of the book4 ,,last ,,words ,,on ,,evolution ,illustration3 ,brunlich ,tesch 7,emil ,tesch71 ,hofphot4 ,jena4 ,published by ,a4 ,owen ,co41 ,london4 ,ernst ,haeckel4 ,,last ,,words ,,on ,,evolution ,a ,popular ,retrospect and ,summary by ,,ernst ,,haeckel ,professor at ,jena ,university ,translated from the ,second ,edition by ,joseph ,mc,cabe ,with ,portrait and ,three ,plates ,london ,a4 ,owen ,co4 #bh ,regent ,street1 ,s4,w4 #aijf ,,contents ,,page ,,introduction #g ,,preface #aa ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,controversy ,,about ,,creation ,evolution and ,dogma #ae ,,plate ,i4--,genealogical ,tree of the ,vertebrates #ag ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,struggle ,,over ,,our ,,genealogical ,,tree ,our ,ape-,relatives and the ,vertebrate-,stem #di ,,plate ,,ii4--,skeletons of ,five ,anthropoid ,apes #ea ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,controversy ,,over ,,the ,,soul ,the ,ideas of ,immortality and ,god #hc ,,plate ,,iii4--,embryos of ,three ,mammals #he ,,appendix ,,evolutionary ,,tables ,geological ,ages and ,periods #aae ,man's ,genealogical ,tree--,first ,half #aaf ,man's ,genealogical ,tree--,second ,half #aag ,classification of the ,primates #aah ,genealogical ,tree of the ,primates #aai ,explanation of ,genealogical ,table #a4 #abj ,,postscript ,evolution and ,jesuitism #aba ,,introduction ,a few months ago the sensational announcement was made that ,professor ,haeckel had abandoned ,darwinism and given public support to the teaching of a ,jesuit writer4 ,there was something piquant in the suggestion that the ,darwin of ,germany had recanted the conclusions of fifty years of laborious study4 ,nor could people forget that only two years before ,haeckel had written with some feeling about the partial recantation of some of his colleagues4 ,many of our journals boldly declined to insert the romantic news1 which came through one of the chief international press agencies4 ,others drew the attention of their readers1 in jubilant editorial notes1 to the lively prospect it opened out4 ,to the many inquiries addressed to me as the apostle of ,professor ,haeckel1 as ,sir ,oliver ,lodge dubs me in a genial letter1 ,i timidly represented that even a ,german reporter sometimes drank4 ,but the correction quickly came that the telegram had exactly reversed the position taken up by the great biologist4 ,it is only just to the honourable calling of the reporter to add that1 according to the theory current in ,germany1 the message was tampered with by subtle and ubiquitous ,jesuistry4 ,did they not penetrate even into the culinary service at ,hatfield8 ,i have pleasure in now introducing the three famous lectures delivered by ,professor ,haeckel at ,berlin1 and the reader will see the grotesqueness of the original announcement4 ,they are the last public deliverance that the aged professor will ever make4 ,his enfeebled health forbids us to hope that his decision may yet be undone4 ,he is now condemned1 he tells me1 to remain a passive spectator of the tense drama in which he has played so prominent a part for half a century4 ,for him the red rays fall level on the scene and the people about him4 ,it may be that they light up too luridly1 too falsely1 the situation in ,germany2 but the reader will understand how a ,liberal of ,haeckel's temper must feel his country to be between ,scylla and ,charybdis--between an increasingly clear alternative of ,catholicism or ,socialism--with a helmsman at the wheel whose vagaries inspire no confidence4 ,the ,english reader will care to be instructed on the antithesis of ,virchow and ,haeckel which gives point to these lectures1 and which is often misrepresented in this country4 ,virchow1 the greatest pathologist and one of the leading anthropologists of ,germany1 had much to do with the inspiring of ,haeckel's ,monistic views in the fifties4 ,like several other prominent ,german thinkers1 ,virchow subsequently abandoned the positive ,monistic position for one of agnosticism and scepticism1 and a long and bitter conflict ensued4 ,it is hardly too much to say that ,virchow's ultra-timid reserve in regard to the evolution of man and other questions has died with him4 ,apart from one or two less prominent anthropologists1 and the curious distinction drawn by ,dr4 ,a4 ,r4 ,wallace1 science has accepted the fact of evolution1 and has1 indeed1 accepted the main lines of ,haeckel's ancestral tree of the human race4 ,in any case1 ,haeckel had the splendid revenge of surviving his old teacher and almost lifelong opponent4 ,berlin had for years been dominated by the sceptical temper of ,virchow and ,du ,bois-,reymond4 ,the ardent evolutionist and opponent of ,catholicism was impatient of a reserve that he felt to be an anachronism in science and an effective support of reactionary ideas4 ,it was1 therefore1 with a peculiar satisfaction that he received the invitation1 after ,virchow's death1 to address the ,berlin public4 ,among the many and distinguished honours that have been heaped upon him in the last ten years this was felt by him to hold a high place4 ,he could at last submit freely1 in the capital of his country1 the massive foundations and the imposing structure of a doctrine which he holds to be no less established in science than valuable in the general cause of progress4 ,the lectures are reproduced here not solely because of the interest aroused in them by the ,jesuit telegram4 ,they contain a very valuable summary of his conclusions1 and include the latest scientific confirmation4 ,rarely has the great biologist written in such clear and untechnical phrases1 so that the general reader will easily learn the outlines of his much-discussed ,monism4 ,to closer students1 who are at times impatient of the ,lamarckian phraseology of ,haeckel--to all1 in fact1 who would like to see how the same evolutionary truths are expressed without reliance on the inheritance of acquired characters--,i may take the opportunity to say that ,i have translated1 for the same publishers1 ,professor ,guenther's ,darwinism and the ,problems of ,life1 which will shortly be in their hands4 ,,joseph ,,mccabe4 ,november1 #aije4 ,,preface ,in the beginning of ,april1 #aije1 ,i received from ,berlin a very unexpected invitation to deliver a popular scientific lecture at the ,academy of ,music in that city4 ,i at first declined this flattering invitation1 with thanks1 sending them a copy of a printed declaration1 dated #agth ,july1 #aija1 which ,i had made frequent use of1 to the effect that ,i could not deliver any more public lectures1 on account of the state of my health1 my advanced age1 and the many labours that were still incumbent on me4 ,i was persuaded to make one departure from this fixed resolution1 firstly1 by the pressing entreaties of many intimate friends at ,berlin4 ,they represented to me how important it was to give an account myself to the educated ,berlin public of the chief evolutionary conclusions ,i had advocated for forty years4 ,they pointed out emphatically that the increasing reaction in higher circles1 the growing audacity of intolerant orthodoxy1 the preponderance of ,ultramontanism1 and the dangers that this involved for freedom of thought in ,germany1 for the university and the school1 made it imperative to take vigorous action4 ,it happened that ,i had just been following the interesting efforts that the ,church has lately made to enter into a peaceful compromise with its deadly enemy1 ,monistic science4 ,it has decided to accept to a certain extent1 and to accommodate to its creed 7in a distorted and mutilated form7 the doctrine of evolution1 which it has vehemently opposed for thirty years4 ,this remarkable change of front on the part of the ,church militant seemed to me so interesting and important1 and at the same time so misleading and mischievous1 that ,i chose it as the subject of a popular lecture1 and accepted the invitation to ,berlin4 ,after a few days1 when ,i had written my discourse1 ,i was advised from ,berlin that the applications for admission were so numerous that the lecture must either be repeated or divided into two4 ,i chose the latter course1 as the material was very abundant4 ,in compliance with an urgent request1 ,i repeated the two lectures 7#agth and #ahth ,april72 and as demands for fresh lectures continued to reach me1 ,i was persuaded to add a farewell lecture 7on #aith ,april71 in which ,i dealt with a number of important questions that had not been adequately treated4 ,the noble gift of effective oratory has been denied me by ,nature4 ,though ,i have taught for eighty-eight terms at the little ,university of ,jena1 ,i have never been able to overcome a certain nervousness about appearing in public1 and have never acquired the art of expressing my thoughts in burning language and with appropriate gesture4 ,for these and other reasons1 ,i have rarely consented to take part in scientific and other congresses2 the few speeches that ,i have delivered on such occasions1 and are issued in collected form1 were drawn from me by my deep interest in the great struggle for the triumph of truth4 ,however1 in the three ,berlin lectures--my last public addresses--,i had no design of winning my hearers to my opinions by means of oratory4 ,it was rather my intention to put before them1 in connected form1 the great groups of biological facts1 by which they could1 on impartial consideration1 convince themselves of the truth and importance of the theory of evolution4 ,readers who are interested in the evolution-controversy1 as ,i here describe it1 will find in my earlier works 7,the ,history of ,creation1 ,the ,evolution of ,man1 ,the ,riddle of the ,universe1 and ,the ,wonders of ,life7 a thorough treatment of the views ,i have summarily presented4 ,i do not belong to the amiable group of men of compromise1 but am in the habit of giving candid and straightforward expression to the convictions which a half-century of serious and laborious study has led me to form4 ,if ,i seem to be a tactless and inconsiderate fighter1 ,i pray you to remember that conflict is the father of all things1 and that the victory of pure reason over current superstition will not be achieved without a tremendous struggle4 ,but ,i regard ideas only in my struggles3 to the persons of my opponents ,i am indifferent1 bitterly as they have attacked and slandered my own person4 ,although ,i have lived in ,berlin for many years as student and teacher1 and have always been in communication with scientific circles there1 ,i have only once before delivered a public lecture in that city4 ,that was on ,the ,division of ,labour in ,nature and ,human ,life 7#agth ,december1 #ahfh74 ,i was1 therefore1 somewhat gratified to be able to speak there again 7and for the last time71 after thirty-six years1 especially as it was in the very spot1 the hall of the ,academy of ,music1 in which ,i had heard the leaders of the ,berlin ,university speak fifty years ago4 ,it is with great pleasure that ,i express my cordial thanks to those who invited me to deliver these lectures1 and who did so much to make my stay in the capital pleasant2 and also to my many hearers for their amiable and sympathetic attention4 ,,ernst ,,haeckel4 ,,jena1 #ith ,may1 #aije4 ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,controversy ,,about ,,creation ,,evolution ,,and ,,dogma ,,explanation ,,of ,,plate ,i ,,genealogical ,,tree ,,of ,,the ,,vertebrates ,the genetic relationship of all vertebrates1 from the earliest acrania and fishes up to the apes and man1 is proved in its main lines by the concordant testimony of paleontology1 comparative anatomy1 and embryology4 ,all competent and impartial zoologists now agree that the vertebrates are all descended from a single stem1 and that the root of this is to be sought in extinct pre-,silurian ,acrania 7#a71 somewhat similar to the living lancelet4 ,the ,cyclostoma 7#b7 represent the transition from the latter to the ,fishes 7#c72 and the ,dipneusts 7#d7 the transition from these to the ,amphibia 7#e74 ,from the latter have been developed the ,reptiles 7#f7 on the one hand1 and the ,mammals 7#g7 on the other4 ,the most important branch of this most advanced class is the ,primates 7#h72 from the half-apes1 or lemurs1 a direct line leads1 through the baboons1 to the anthropoid apes1 and through these on to man4 7,cf4 the tables on pp4 #aae-abj74 ,further information will be found in chapters xxiv4-xxvii4 of the ,history of ,creation1 and chapters xxi4-xxiii4 of the ,evolution of ,man4 ,,plate ,i4 ,illustration3 ,,genealogical ,,tree ,,of ,,the ,,vertebrates ,,last ,,words ,,on ,,evolution ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,controversy ,,about ,,creation ,,evolution ,,and ,,dogma ,the controversy over the idea of evolution is a prominent feature in the mental life of the nineteenth century4 ,it is true that a few great thinkers had spoken of a natural evolution of all things several thousand years ago4 ,they had1 indeed1 partly investigated the laws that control the birth and death of the world1 and the rise of the earth and its inhabitants2 even the creation-stories and the myths of the older religions betray a partial influence of these evolutionary ideas4 ,but it was not until the nineteenth century that the idea of evolution took definite shape and was scientifically grounded on various classes of evidence2 and it was not until the last third of the century that it won general recognition4 ,the intimate connection that was proved to exist between all branches of knowledge1 once the continuity of historical development was realised1 and the union of them all through the ,monistic philosophy1 are achievements of the last few decades4 ,the great majority of the older ideas that thoughtful men had formed on the origin and nature of the world and their own frame were far removed from the notion of self-development4 ,they culminated in more or less obscure creation-myths1 which generally put in the foreground the idea of a personal ,creator4 ,just as man has used intelligence and design in the making of his weapons and tools1 his houses and his boats1 so it was thought that the ,creator had fashioned the world with art and intelligence1 according to a definite plan4 ,among the many legends of this kind the ancient ,semitic story of creation1 familiar to us as the ,mosaic narrative1 but drawn for the most part from ,babylonian sources1 has obtained a very great influence on ,european culture owing to the general acceptance of the ,bible4 ,the belief in miracles1 that is involved in these religious legends1 was bound to come in conflict1 at an early date1 with the evolutionary ideas of independent philosophical research4 ,on the one hand1 in the prevalent religious teaching1 we had the supernatural world1 the miraculous1 teleology3 on the other hand1 in the nascent science of evolution1 only natural law1 pure reason1 mechanical causality4 ,every step that was made by this science brought into greater relief its inconsistency with the predominant religion4#a ,if we glance for a moment at the various fields in which the idea of evolution is scientifically applied we find that1 firstly1 the whole universe is conceived as a unity2 secondly1 our earth2 thirdly1 organic life on the earth2 fourthly1 man1 as its highest product2 and fifthly1 the soul1 as a special immaterial entity4 ,thus we have1 in historical succession1 the evolutionary research of cosmology1 geology1 biology1 anthropology1 and psychology4 ,the first comprehensive idea of cosmological evolution was put forth by the famous critical philosopher ,immanuel ,kant1 in #agee1 in the great work of his earlier years1 ,general ,natural ,history of the ,heavens1 or an ,attempt to ,conceive and to ,explain the ,origin of the ,universe mechanically1 according to the ,newtonian ,laws4 ,this remarkable work appeared anonymously1 and was dedicated to ,frederick the ,great1 who1 however1 never saw it4 ,it was little noticed1 and was soon entirely forgotten1 until it was exhumed ninety years afterwards by ,alexander von ,humboldt4 ,note particularly that on the title-page stress is laid on the mechanical origin of the world and its explanation on ,newtonian principles2 in this way the strictly ,monistic character of the whole cosmogony and the absolutely universal rule of natural law are clearly expressed4 ,it is true that ,kant speaks much in it of ,god and his wisdom and omnipotence2 but this is limited to the affirmation that ,god created once for all the unchangeable laws of nature1 and was henceforward bound by them and only able to work through them4 ,the ,dualism which became so pronounced subsequently in the philosopher of ,koenigsberg counts for very little here4 ,the idea of a natural development of the world occurs in a clearer and more consistent form1 and is provided with a firm mathematical basis1 forty years afterwards1 in the remarkable ,mcanique ,cleste of ,pierre ,laplace4 ,his popular ,exposition du ,systme du ,monde 7#agif7 destroyed at its roots the legend of creation that had hitherto prevailed1 or the ,mosaic narrative in the ,bible4 ,laplace1 who had become ,minister of the ,interior1 ,count1 and ,chancellor of the ,senate1 under ,napoleon1 was merely honourable and consistent when he replied to the emperor's question1 ,what room there was for ,god in his system83 ,sire1 ,i had no need for that unfounded hypothesis4 ,what strange ministers there are sometimes6#b ,the shrewdness of the ,church soon recognised that the personal ,creator was dethroned1 and the creation-myth destroyed1 by this ,monistic and now generally received theory of cosmic development4 ,nevertheless it maintained towards it the attitude which it had taken up #bej years earlier in regard to the closely related and irrefutable system of ,copernicus4 ,it endeavoured to conceal the truth as long as possible1 or to oppose it with ,jesuitical methods1 and finally it yielded4 ,if the ,churches now silently admit the ,copernican system and the cosmogony of ,laplace and have ceased to oppose them1 we must attribute the fact1 partly to a feeling of their spiritual impotence1 partly to an astute calculation that the ignorant masses do not reflect on these great problems4 ,in order to obtain a clear idea and a firm conviction of this cosmic evolution by natural law1 the eternal birth and death of millions of suns and stars1 one needs some mathematical training and a lively imagination1 as well as a certain competence in astronomy and physics4 ,the evolutionary process is much simpler1 and more readily grasped in geology4 ,every shower of rain or wave of the sea1 every volcanic eruption and every pebble1 gives us a direct proof of the changes that are constantly taking place on the surface of our planet4 ,however1 the historical significance of these changes was not properly appreciated until #ahbb1 by ,karl von ,hoff of ,gotha1 and modern geology was only founded in #ahcj by ,charles ,lyell1 who explained the whole origin and composition of the solid crust of the earth1 the formation of the mountains1 and the periods of the earth's development1 in a connected system by natural laws4 ,from the immense thickness of the stratified rocks1 which contain the fossilised remains of extinct organisms1 we discovered the enormous length--running into millions of years--of the periods during which these sedimentary rocks were deposited in water4 ,even the duration of the organic history of the earth--that is to say1 the period during which the plant and animal population of our planet was developing--must itself be put at more than a hundred million years4 ,these results of geology and paleontology destroyed the current legend of the six days' work of a personal ,creator4 ,many attempts were made1 it is true1 and are still being made1 to reconcile the ,mosaic supernatural story of creation with modern geology4#c ,all these efforts of believers are in vain4 ,we may say1 in fact1 that it is precisely the study of geology1 the reflection it entails on the enormous periods of evolution1 and the habit of seeking the simple mechanical causes of their constant changes1 that contribute very considerably to the advance of enlightenment4 ,yet in spite of this 7or1 possibly1 because of this71 geological instruction is either greatly neglected or entirely suppressed in most schools4 ,it is certainly eminently calculated 7in connection with geography7 to enlarge the mind1 and acquaint the child with the idea of evolution4 ,an educated person who knows the elements of geology will never experience ennui4 ,he will find everywhere in surrounding nature1 in the rocks and in the water1 in the desert and on the mountains1 the most instructive stimuli to reflection4 ,the evolutionary process in organic nature is much more difficult to grasp4 ,here we must distinguish two different series of biological development1 which have only been brought into proper causal connection by means of our biogenetic law 7#ahff72 one series is found in embryology 7or ontogeny71 the other in phylogeny 7or race-development74 ,in ,germany evolution always meant embryology1 or a part of the whole1 until forty years ago4 ,it stood for a microscopic examination of the wonderful processes by means of which the elaborate structure of the plant or animal body is formed from the simple seed of the plant or the egg of the bird4 ,until the beginning of the nineteenth century the erroneous view was generally received that this marvellously complicated structure existed1 completely formed1 in the simple ovum1 and that the various organs had merely to grow and to shape themselves independently by a process of evolution 7or unfolding71 before they entered into activity4 ,an able ,german scientist1 ,caspar ,friedrich ,wolff 7son of a ,berlin tailor71 had already shown the error of this pre-formation theory in #agei4 ,he had proved1 in his dissertation for the doctorate1 that no trace of the later body1 of its bones1 muscles1 nerves1 and feathers1 can be found in the hen's egg 7the commonest and most convenient object for study71 but merely a small round disk1 consisting of two thin superimposed layers4 ,he had further showed that the various organs are only built up gradually out of these simple elements1 and that we can trace1 step by step1 a series of real new growths4 ,however1 these momentous discoveries1 and the sound theory of epigenesis that he based on them1 were wholly ignored for fifty years1 and even rejected by the leading authorities4 ,it was not until ,oken had re-discovered these important facts at ,jena 7#ahjf71 ,pander had more carefully distinguished the germinal layers 7#ahag71 and finally ,carl ,ernst von ,baer had happily combined observation and reflection in his classical ,animal ,embryology 7#ahbh71 that embryology attained the rank of an independent science with a sound empirical base4 ,a little later it secured a well-merited recognition in botany also1 especially owing to the efforts of ,matthias ,schleiden of ,jena1 the distinguished student who provided biology with a new foundation in the cell theory 7#ahch74 ,but it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that people generally recognised that the ovum of the plant or animal is itself only a simple cell1 and that the later tissues and organs gradually develop from this elementary organism by a repeated cleavage of1 and division of labour in1 the cells4 ,the most important step was then made of recognising that our human organism also develops from an ovum 7first discovered by ,baer in #ahbg71 in virtue of the same laws1 and that its embryonic development resembles that of the other mammals1 especially that of the ape4 ,each of us was1 at the beginning of his existence1 a simple globule of protoplasm1 surrounded by a membrane1 about #a_/abj of an inch in diameter1 with a firmer nucleus inside it4 ,these important embryological discoveries confirmed the rational conception of the human organism that had been attained much earlier by comparative anatomy3 the conviction that the human frame is built in the same way1 and develops similarly from a simple ovum1 as the body of all other mammals4 ,even ,linn had already 7#agce7 given man a place in the mammal class in his famous ,system of ,nature4 ,differently from these embryological facts1 which can be directly observed1 the phenomena of phylogeny 7the development of species71 which are needed to set the former in their true light1 are usually outside the range of immediate observation4 ,what was the origin of the countless species of animals and plants8 ,how can we explain the remarkable relationships which unite similar species into genera and these into classes8 ,linn answers the question very simply with the belief in creation1 relying on the generally accepted ,mosaic narrative3 ,there are as many different species of animals and plants as there were different forms created by ,god in the beginning4 ,the first scientific answer was given in #ahji by the great ,french scientist1 ,lamarck4 ,he taught1 in his suggestive ,philosophie ,zoologique1 that the resemblances in form and structure of groups of species are due to real affinity1 and that all organisms descend from a few very simple primitive forms 7or1 possibly1 from a single one74 ,these primitive forms were developed out of lifeless matter by spontaneous generation4 ,the resemblances of related groups of species are explained by inheritance from common stem-forms2 their dissimilarities are due to adaptation to different environments1 and to variety in the action of the modifiable organs4 ,the human race has arisen in the same way1 by transformation of a series of mammal ancestors1 the nearest of which are ape-like primates4 ,these great ideas of ,lamarck1 which threw light on the whole field of organic life1 and were closely approached by ,goethe in his own speculations1 gave rise to the theory that we now know as transformism1 or the theory of evolution or descent4 ,but the far-seeing ,lamarck was--as ,caspar ,friedrich ,wolff had been fifty years before--half a century before his time4 ,his theory obtained no recognition1 and was soon wholly forgotten4 ,it was brought into the light once more in #ahei by the genius of ,charles ,darwin1 who had been born in the very year that the ,philosophie ,zoologique was published4 ,the substance and the success of his system1 which has gone by the name of ,darwinism 7in the wider sense7 for forty-six years1 are so generally known that ,i need not dwell on them4 ,i will only point out that the great success of ,darwin's epoch-making works is due to two causes3 firstly1 to the fact that the ,english scientist most ingeniously worked up the empirical material that had accumulated during fifty years into a systematic proof of the theory of descent2 and secondly1 to the fact that he gave it the support of a second theory of his own1 the theory of natural selection4 ,this theory1 which gives a causal explanation of the transformation of species1 is what we ought to call ,darwinism in the strict sense4 ,we cannot go here into the question how far this theory is justified1 or how far it is corrected by more recent theories1 such as ,weismann's theory of germ-plasm 7#ahdd71 or ,de ,vries's theory of mutations 7#aijj74 ,our concern is rather with the unparalleled influence that ,darwinism1 and its application to man1 have had during the last forty years on the whole province of science2 and at the same time1 with its irreconcilable opposition to the dogmas of the ,churches4 ,the extension of the theory of evolution to man was1 naturally1 one of the most interesting and momentous applications of it4 ,if all other organisms arose1 not by a miraculous creation1 but by a natural modification of earlier forms of life1 the presumption is that the human race also was developed by the transformation of the most man-like mammals1 the primates of ,linn--the apes and lemurs4 ,this natural inference1 which ,lamarck had drawn in his simple way1 but ,darwin had at first explicitly avoided1 was first thoroughly established by the gifted zoologist1 ,thomas ,huxley1 in his three lectures on ,man's ,place in ,nature 7#ahfc74 ,he showed that this question of questions is unequivocally answered by three chief witnesses--the natural history of the anthropoid apes1 the anatomic and embryological relations of man to the animals immediately below him1 and the recently discovered fossil human remains4 ,darwin entirely accepted these conclusions of his friend eight years afterwards1 and1 in his two-volume work1 ,the ,descent of ,man and ,sexual ,selection 7#ahga71 furnished a number of new proofs in support of the dreaded descent of man from the ape4 ,i myself then 7#ahgd7 completed the task ,i had begun in #ahff1 of determining approximately the whole series of the extinct animal ancestors of the human race1 on the ground of comparative anatomy1 embryology1 and paleontology4 ,this attempt was improved1 as our knowledge advanced1 in the five editions of my ,evolution of ,man4 ,in the last twenty years a vast literature on the subject has accumulated4 ,i must assume that you are acquainted with the contents of one or other of these works1 and will turn to the question1 that especially engages our attention at present1 how the inevitable struggle between these momentous achievements of modern science and the dogmas of the ,churches has run in recent years4 ,it was obvious that both the general theory of evolution and its extension to man in particular must meet from the first with the most determined resistance on the part of the ,churches4 ,both were in flagrant contradiction to the ,mosaic story of creation1 and other ,biblical dogmas that were involved in it1 and are still taught in our elementary schools4 ,it is creditable to the shrewdness of the theologians and their associates1 the metaphysicians1 that they at once rejected ,darwinism1 and made a particularly energetic resistance in their writings to its chief consequence1 the descent of man from the ape4 ,this resistance seemed the more justified and hopeful as1 for seven or eight years after ,darwin's appearance1 few biologists accepted his theory1 and the general attitude amongst them was one of cold scepticism4 ,i can well testify to this from my own experience4 ,when ,i first openly advocated ,darwin's theory at a scientific congress at ,stettin in #ahfc1 ,i was almost alone1 and was blamed by the great majority for taking up seriously so fantastic a theory1 the dream of an after-dinner nap1 as the ,gttinger zoologist1 ,keferstein1 called it4 ,the general attitude towards ,nature fifty years ago was so different from that we find everywhere to-day1 that it is difficult to convey a clear idea of it to a young scientist or philosopher4 ,the great question of creation1 the problem how the various species of plants and animals came into the world1 and how man came into being1 did not exist yet in exact science4 ,there was1 in fact1 no question of it4 ,seventy-seven years ago ,alexander von ,humboldt delivered1 in this very spot1 the lectures which afterwards made up his famous work1 ,cosmos1 the ,elements of a ,physical ,description of the ,world4 ,as he touched1 in passing1 the obscure problem of the origin of the organic population of our planet1 he could only say resignedly3 ,the mysterious and unsolved problem of how things came to be does not belong to the empirical province of objective research1 the description of what is4 ,it is instructive to find ,johannes ,mller1 the greatest of ,german biologists in the nineteenth century1 speaking thus in #aheb1 in his famous essay1 ,on the ,generation of ,snails in ,holothurians3 ,the entrance of various species of animals into creation is certain--it is a fact of paleontology2 but it is supernatural as long as this entrance cannot be perceived in the act and become an element of observation4 ,i myself had a number of remarkable conversations with ,mller1 whom ,i put at the head of all my distinguished teachers1 in the summer of #ahed4 ,his lectures on comparative anatomy and physiology--the most illuminating and stimulating ,i ever heard--had captivated me to such an extent that ,i asked and obtained his permission to make a closer study of the skeletons and other preparations in his splendid museum of comparative anatomy 7then in the right wing of the buildings of the ,berlin ,university71 and to draw them4 ,mller 7then in his fifty-fourth year7 used to spend the ,sunday afternoon alone in the museum4 ,he would walk to and fro for hours in the spacious rooms1 his hands behind his back1 buried in thought about the mysterious affinities of the vertebrates1 the holy enigma of which was so forcibly impressed by the row of skeletons4 ,now and again my great master would turn to a small table at the side1 at which ,i 7a student of twenty years7 was sitting in the angle of a window1 making conscientious drawings of the skulls of mammals1 reptiles1 amphibians1 and fishes4 ,i would then beg him to explain particularly difficult points in anatomy1 and once ,i ventured to put the question3 ,must not all these vertebrates1 with their identity in internal skeleton1 in spite of all their external differences1 have come originally from a common form8 ,the great master nodded his head thoughtfully1 and said3 ,ah1 if we only knew that6 ,if ever you solve that riddle1 you will have accomplished a supreme work4 ,two months afterwards1 in ,september1 #ahed1 ,i had to accompany ,mller to ,heligoland1 and learned under his direction the beautiful and wonderful inhabitants of the sea4 ,as we fished together in the sea1 and caught the lovely medus1 ,i asked him how it was possible to explain their remarkable alternation of generations2 if the medus1 from the ova of which polyps develop to-day1 must not have come originally from the more simply organised polyps8 ,to this precocious question1 ,i received the same resigned answer3 ,ah1 that is a very obscure problem6 ,we know nothing whatever about the origin of species4 ,johannes ,mller was certainly one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century4 ,he takes rank with ,cuvier1 ,baer1 ,lamarck1 and ,darwin4 ,his insight was profound and penetrating1 his philosophic judgment comprehensive1 and his mastery of the vast province of biology was enormous4 ,emil du ,bois-,reymond happily compared him1 in his fine commemorative address1 to ,alexander the ,great1 whose kingdom was divided into several independent realms at his death4 ,in his lectures and works ,mller treated no less than four different subjects1 for which four separate chairs were founded after his death in #aheh--;human anatomy1 physiology1 pathological anatomy1 and comparative anatomy4 ,in fact1 we ought really to add two more subjects--zoology and embryology4 ,of these1 also1 we learned more from ,mller's classic lectures than from the official lectures of the professors of those subjects4 ,the great master died in #aheh1 a few months before ,charles ,darwin and ,alfred ,r4 ,wallace made their first communications on their new theory of selection in the ,journal of the ,linnan ,society4 ,i do not doubt in the least that this surprising answer of the riddle of creation would have profoundly moved ,mller1 and have been fully admitted by him on mature reflection4 ,to these leading masters in biology1 and to all other anatomists1 physiologists1 zoologists1 and botanists up to #aheh1 the question of organic creation was an unsolved problem2 the great majority regarded it as insoluble4 ,the theologians and their allies1 the metaphysicians1 built triumphantly on this fact4 ,it afforded a clear proof of the limitations of reason and science4 ,a miracle only could account for the origin of these ingenious and carefully designed organisms2 nothing less than the ,divine wisdom and omnipotence could have brought man into being4 ,but this general resignation of reason1 and the dominance of supernatural ideas which it encouraged1 were somewhat paradoxical in the thirty years between ,lyell and ,darwin1 between #ahcj and #ahei1 since the natural evolution of the earth1 as conceived by the great geologist1 had come to be universally recognised4 ,since the earlier of these dates the iron necessity of natural law had ruled in inorganic nature1 in the formation of the mountains and the movement of the heavenly bodies4 ,in organic nature1 on the contrary1 in the creation and the life of animals and plants1 people saw only the wisdom and power of an intelligent ,creator and ,controller2 in other words1 everything was ruled by mechanical causality in the inorganic world1 but by teleological finality in the realm of biology4 ,philosophy1 strictly so called1 paid little or no attention to this dilemma4 ,absorbed almost exclusively in metaphysical and dialectical speculations1 it looked with supreme contempt or indifference on the enormous progress that the empirical sciences were making4 ,it affected1 in its character of purely mental science1 to build up the world out of its own head1 and to have no need of the splendid material that was being laboriously gathered by observation and experiment4 ,this is especially true of ,germany1 where ,hegel's system of absolute idealism had secured the highest regard1 particularly since it had been made obligatory as the royal ,state-philosophy of ,prussia--mainly because1 according to ,hegel1 in the ,state the ,divine will itself and the monarchical constitution alone represent the development of reason2 all other forms of constitution are lower stages of the development of reason4 ,hegel's abstruse metaphysics has also been greatly appreciated because it has made so thorough and consistent a use of the idea of evolution4 ,but this pretended evolution of reason floated far above real nature in the pure ether of the absolute spirit1 and was devoid of all the material ballast that the empirical science of the evolution of the world1 the earth1 and its living population1 had meantime accumulated4 ,moreover1 it is well known how ,hegel himself declared1 with humorous resignation1 that only one of his many pupils had understood him1 and this one had misunderstood him4 ,from the higher standpoint of general culture the difficult question forces itself on us3 ,what is the real value of the idea of evolution in the whole realm of science8 ,we are bound to answer that it varies considerably4 ,the facts of the evolution of the individual1 or of ontogeny1 were easy to observe and grasp3 the evolution of the crust of the earth and of the mountains in geology seemed to have an equally sound empirical foundation2 the physical evolution of the universe seemed to be established by mathematical speculation4 ,there was no longer any serious question of creation1 in the literal sense1 of the deliberate action of a personal ,creator1 in these great provinces4 ,but this made people cling to the idea more than ever in regard to the origin of the countless species of animals and plants1 and especially the creation of man4 ,this transcendental problem seemed to be entirely beyond the range of natural development2 and the same was thought of the question of the nature and origin of the soul1 the mystic entity that was appropriated by metaphysical speculation as its subject4 ,charles ,darwin suddenly brought a clear light into this dark chaos of contradictory notions in #ahei4 ,his epoch-making work1 ,the ,origin of ,species1 proved convincingly that this historical process is not a supernatural mystery1 but a physiological phenomenon2 and that the preservation of improved races in the struggle for life had produced1 by a natural evolution1 the whole wondrous world of organic life4 ,to-day1 when evolution is almost universally recognised in biology1 when thousands of anatomic and physiological works are based on it every year1 the new generation can hardly form an idea of the violent resistance that was offered to ,darwin's theory and the impassioned struggles it provoked4 ,in the first place1 the ,churches at once raised a vigorous protest2 they rightly regarded their new antagonist as the deadly enemy of the legend of creation1 and saw the very foundations of their creed threatened4 ,the ,churches found a powerful ally in the dualistic metaphysics that still claims to represent the real idealist philosophy at most universities4 ,but most dangerous of all to the young theory was the violent resistance it met almost everywhere in its own province of empirical science4 ,the prevailing belief in the fixity and the independent creation of the various species was much more seriously menaced by ,darwin's theory than it had been by ,lamarck's transformism4 ,lamarck had said substantially the same thing fifty years before1 but had failed to convince through the lack of effective evidence4 ,many scientists1 some of great distinction1 opposed ,darwin because either they had not an adequate acquaintance with the whole field of biology1 or it seemed to them that his bold speculation advanced too far from the secure base of experience4 ,when ,darwin's work appeared in #ahei1 and fell like a flash of lightning on the dark world of official biology1 ,i was engaged in a scientific expedition to ,sicily and taken up with a thorough study of the graceful radiolarians1 those wonderful microscopic marine animals that surpass all other organisms in the beauty and variety of their forms4 ,the special study of this remarkable class of animals1 of which ,i afterwards described more than #d1jjj species1 after more than ten years of research1 provided me with one of the solid foundation-stones of my ,darwinian ideas4 ,but when ,i returned from ,messina to ,berlin in the spring of #ahfj1 ,i knew nothing as yet of ,darwin's achievement4 ,i merely heard from my friends at ,berlin that a remarkable work by a crazy ,englishman had attracted great attention1 and that it turned upside down all previous ideas as to the origin of species4 ,i soon perceived that almost all the experts at ,berlin--chief amongst them were the famous microscopist1 ,ehrenberg2 the anatomist1 ,reichert2 the zoologist1 ,peters2 and the geologist1 ,beyrich--were unanimous in their condemnation of ,darwin4 ,the brilliant orator of the ,berlin ,academy1 ,emil du ,bois-,reymond1 hesitated4 ,he recognised that the theory of evolution was the only natural solution of the problem of creation2 but he laughed at the application of it as a poor romance1 and declared that the phylogenetic inquiries into the relationship of the various species had about as much value as the research of philologists into the genealogical tree of the ,homeric heroes4 ,the distinguished botanist1 ,alexander ,braun1 stood quite alone in his full and warm assent to the theory of evolution4 ,i found comfort and encouragement with this dear and respected teacher1 when ,i was deeply moved by the first reading of ,darwin's book1 and soon completely converted to his views4 ,in ,darwin's great and harmonious conception of ,nature1 and his convincing establishment of evolution1 ,i had an answer to all the doubts that had beset me since the beginning of my biological studies4 ,my famous teacher1 ,rudolf ,virchow1 whom ,i had met at ,wrtzburg in #aheb1 and was soon associated with in the most friendly relations as special pupil and admiring assistant1 played a very curious part in this great controversy4 ,i am1 ,i think1 one of those elderly men who have followed ,virchow's development1 as man and thinker1 with the greatest interest during the last fifty years4 ,i distinguish three periods in his psychological metamorphoses4 ,in the first decade of his academic life1 from #ahdg to #aheh1 mainly at ,wrtzburg1 he effected the great reform of medicine that culminated brilliantly in his cellular pathology4 ,in the following twenty years 7#aheh-ahgg7 he was chiefly occupied with politics and anthropology4 ,he was at first favourable to ,darwinism1 then sceptical1 and finally rejected it4 ,his powerful and determined opposition to it dates from #ahgg1 when1 in is famous speech on ,the ,freedom of ,science in the ,modern ,state1 he struck a heavy blow at that freedom1 denounced the theory of evolution as dangerous to the ,state1 and demanded its exclusion from the schools4 ,this remarkable metamorphosis is so important1 and has had so much influence1 yet has been so erroneously described1 that ,i will deal with it somewhat fully in the next chapter1 especially as ,i have then to treat one chief problem1 the descent of man from the ape4 ,for the moment1 ,i will merely recall the fact that in ,berlin1 the metropolis of intelligence1 as it has been called1 the theory of evolution1 now generally accepted1 met with a more stubborn resistance than in most of our other leading educational centres1 and that this opposition was due above all to the powerful authority of ,virchow4 ,we can only glance briefly here at the victorious struggle that the idea of evolution has conducted in the last three decades of the nineteenth century4 ,the violent resistance that ,darwinism encountered nearly everywhere in its early years was paralysed towards the end of the first decade4 ,in the years #ahff-ahgd many works were published in which not only were the foundations of the theory scientifically strengthened1 but its general recognition was secured by popular treatment of the subject4 ,i made the first attempt in #ahff1 in my ,general ,morphology1 to present connectedly the whole subject of evolution and make it the foundation of a consistent ,monistic philosophy2 and ,i then gave a popular summary of my chief conclusions in the ten editions of my ,history of ,creation4 ,in my ,evolution of ,man ,i made the first attempt to apply the principles of evolution thoroughly and consistently to man1 and to draw up a hypothetical list of his animal ancestors4 ,the three volumes of my ,systematic ,phylogeny 7#ahid-ahif7 contain a fuller outline of a natural classification of organisms on the basis of their stem-history4 ,there have been important contributions to the science of evolution in all its branches in the ,darwinian periodical1 ,cosmos1 since #ahgg2 and a number of admirable popular works helped to spread the system4 ,however1 the most important and most welcome advance was made by science when1 in the last thirty years1 the idea of evolution penetrated into every branch of biology1 and was recognised as fundamental and indispensable4 ,thousands of new discoveries and observations in all sections of botany1 zoology1 protistology1 and anthropology1 were brought forward as empirical evidence of evolution4 ,this is especially true of the remarkable progress of paleontology1 comparative anatomy1 and embryology1 but it applies also to physiology1 chorology 7the science of the distribution of living things71 and cology 7the description of the habits of animals74 ,how much our horizon was extended by these1 and how much the unity of our ,monistic system gained1 can be seen in any modern manual of biology4 ,if we compare them with those that gave us extracts of natural history forty or fifty years ago1 we see at once what an enormous advance has taken place4 ,even the more remote branches of anthropological science1 ethnography1 sociology1 ethics1 and jurisprudence1 are entering into closer relations with the theory of evolution1 and can no longer escape its influence4 ,in view of all this1 it is ridiculous for theological and metaphysical journals to talk1 as they do1 of the failure of evolution and the death-bed of ,darwinism4 ,our science of evolution won its greatest triumph when1 at the beginning of the twentieth century1 its most powerful opponents1 the ,churches1 became reconciled to it1 and endeavoured to bring their dogmas into line with it4 ,a number of timid attempts to do so had been made in the preceding ten years by different free-thinking theologians and philosophers1 but without much success4 ,the distinction of accomplishing this in a comprehensive and well-informed manner was reserved for a ,jesuit1 ,father ,erich ,wasmann of ,luxemburg4 ,this able and learned entomologist had already earned some recognition in zoology by a series of admirable observations on the life of ants1 and the captives that they always keep in their homes1 certain very small insects which have themselves been curiously modified by adaptation to their peculiar environment4 ,he showed that these striking modifications can only be rationally explained by descent from other free-living species of insects4 ,the various papers in which ,wasmann gave a thoroughly ,darwinian explanation of the biological phenomena first appeared 7#aija-aijc7 in the ,catholic periodical1 ,stimmen aus ,maria-,laach1 and are now collected in a special work entitled1 ,modern ,biology and the ,theory of ,evolution4 ,this remarkable book of ,wasmann's is a masterpiece of ,jesuitical sophistry4 ,it really consists of three entirely different sections4 ,the first third gives1 in the introduction1 what is1 for ,catholics1 a clear and instructive account of modern biology1 especially the cell-theory1 and the theory of evolution 7chapters i4-viii474 ,the second third1 the ninth chapter1 is the most valuable part of the work4 ,it has the title3 ,the ,theory of ,fixity or the theory of ,evolution8 ,here the learned entomologist gives an interesting account of the results of his prolonged studies of the morphology and the cology of the ants and their captives1 the myrmecophil4 ,he shows impartially and convincingly that these complicated and remarkable phenomena can only be explained by evolution1 and that the older doctrine of the fixity and independent creation of the various species is quite untenable4 ,with a few changes this ninth chapter could figure as a useful part of a work by ,darwin or ,weismann or some other evolutionist4 ,the succeeding chapter 7the last third7 is flagrantly inconsistent with the ninth4 ,it deals most absurdly with the application of the theory of evolution to man4 ,the reader has to ask himself whether ,wasmann really believes these confused and ridiculous notions1 or whether he merely aims at befogging his readers1 and so preparing the way for the acceptance of the conventional creed4 ,wasmann's book has been well criticised by a number of competent students1 especially by ,escherich and ,franc4 ,while fully recognising his great services1 they insist very strongly on the great mischief wrought by this smuggling of the ,jesuitical spirit into biology4 ,escherich points out at length the glaring inconsistencies and the obvious untruths of this ecclesiastical evolution4 ,he summarises his criticism in the words3 ,if the theory of evolution can really be reconciled with the dogmas of the ,church only in the way we find here1 ,wasmann has clearly proved that any such reconciliation is impossible4 ,because what ,wasmann gives here as the theory of evolution is a thing mutilated beyond recognition and incapable of any vitality4 ,he tries1 like a good ,jesuit1 to prove that it does not tend to undermine1 but to give a firm foundation to1 the story of supernatural creation1 and that it was really not ,lamarck and ,darwin1 but ,st4 ,augustin and ,st4 ,thomas of ,aquin1 who founded the science of evolution4 ,god does not interfere directly in the order of ,nature when he can act by means of natural causes4 ,man alone constitutes a remarkable exception2 because the human soul1 being a spiritual entity1 cannot be derived from matter even by the ,divine omnipotence1 like the vital forms of the plants and animals 7p4 #bii74 ,in an instructive article on ,jesuitical ,science 7in the ,frankfort ,freie ,wort1 ,no4 #bb1 #aijd71 ,r4 ,h4 ,franc gives an interesting list of the prominent ,jesuits who are now at work in the various branches of science4 ,as he rightly says1 the danger consists in a systematic introduction of the ,jesuitical spirit into science1 a persistent perversion of all its problems and solutions1 and an astute undermining of its foundations2 to speak more precisely1 the danger is that people are not sufficiently conscious of it1 and that they1 and even science itself1 fall into the cleverly prepared pit of believing that there is such a thing as ,jesuitical science1 the results of which may be taken seriously4#d ,while fully recognising these dangers1 ,i nevertheless feel that the ,jesuit ,father ,wasmann1 and his colleagues1 have--unwittingly--done a very great service to the progress of pure science4 ,the ,catholic ,church1 the most powerful and widespread of the ,christian sects1 sees itself compelled to capitulate to the idea of evolution4 ,it embraces the most important application of the idea1 ,lamarck and ,darwin's theory of descent1 which it had vigorously combated until twenty years ago4 ,it does1 indeed1 mutilate the great tree1 cutting off its roots and its highest branch2 it rejects spontaneous generation or archigony at the bottom1 and the descent of man from animal ancestors above4 ,but these exceptions will not last4 ,impartial biology will take no notice of them1 and the religious creed will at length determine that the more complex species have been evolved from a series of simpler forms according to ,darwinian principles4 ,the belief in a supernatural creation is restricted to the production of the earliest and simplest stem-forms1 from which the natural species have taken their origin2 ,wasmann gives that name to all species that are demonstrably descended from a common stem-form2 in other words1 to what other classifiers call stems or phyla4 ,the #d1jjj species of ants in his system1 which he believes to be genetically related1 are comprised by him in one natural species4 ,on the other hand1 man forms one isolated natural species for himself1 without any connection with the other mammals4 ,the ,jesuitical sophistry that ,wasmann betrays in this ingenious distinction between systematic and natural species is also found in his philosophic ,thoughts on ,evolution 7chap4 viii471 his distinction between philosophic and scientific evolution1 or between evolution in one stem and in several stems4 ,his remarks 7in chap4 vii47 on the cell and spontaneous generation are similarly marred by sophistry4 ,the question of spontaneous generation or archigony--that is to say1 of the first appearance of organic life on the earth1 is one of the most difficult problems in biology1 one of those in which the most distinguished students betray a striking weakness of judgment4 ,dr4 ,heinrich ,schmidt1 of ,jena1 has lately written an able and popular little work on that subject4 ,in his ,spontaneous ,generation and ,professor ,reinke 7#aijc71 he has shown to what absurd consequences the ecclesiastical ideas lead on this very question4 ,the botanist ,reinke1 of ,kiel1 is now regarded amongst religious people as the chief opponent of ,darwinism2 for many conservatives this is because he is a member of the ,prussian ,herrenhaus 7a very intelligent body1 of course674 ,although he is a strong evangelical1 many of his mystic deductions agree surprisingly with the ,catholic speculations of ,father ,wasmann4 ,this is especially the case with regard to spontaneous generation4 ,they both declare that the first appearance of life must be traced to a miracle1 to the work of a personal deity1 whom ,reinke calls the cosmic intelligence4 ,i have shown the unscientific character of these notions in my last two works1 ,the ,riddle of the ,universe1 and ,the ,wonders of ,life4 ,i have drawn attention especially to the widely distributed monera of the chromacea class--organisms of the simplest type conceivable1 whose whole body is merely an unnucleated1 green1 structureless globule of plasm 7,chroococcus72 their whole vital activity consists of growth 7by forming plasm7 and multiplication 7by dividing into two74 ,there is little theoretical difficulty in conceiving the origin of these new simple monera from inorganic compounds of albumen1 or their later transformation into the simplest nucleated cells4 ,all this1 and a good deal more that will not fit in his ,jesuitical frame1 is shrewdly ignored by ,wasmann4 ,in view of the great influence that ,catholicism still has on public life in ,germany1 through the ,centre party1 this change of front should be a great gain to education4 ,virchow demanded as late as #ahgg that the dangerous doctrine of evolution should be excluded from the schools4 ,the ,ministers of ,instruction of the two chief ,german ,states gratefully adopted this warning from the leader of the progressive party1 forbade the teaching of ,darwinian ideas1 and made every effort to check the spread of biological knowledge4 ,now1 twenty-five years afterwards1 the ,jesuits come forward1 and demand the opposite4 ,they recognise openly that the hated theory of evolution is established1 and try to reconcile it with the creed6 ,what an irony of history6 ,and we find much the same story when we read the struggles for freedom of thought and for the recognition of evolution in the other educated countries of ,europe4 ,in ,italy1 its cradle and home1 educated people generally look upon the papacy with the most profound disdain4 ,i have spent many years in ,italy1 and have never met an educated ,italian of such bigoted and narrow views as we usually find amongst educated ,german ,catholics--represented with success in the ,reichstag by the ,centre party4 ,it is proof enough of the reactionary character of ,german ,catholics that the ,pope himself describes them as his most vigorous soldiers1 and points them out as models to the faithful of other nations4 ,as the whole history of the ,roman ,church shows1 the charlatan of the ,vatican is the deadly enemy of free science and free teaching4 ,the present ,german ,emperor ought to regard it as his most sacred duty to maintain the tradition of the ,reformation1 and to promote the formation of the ,german people in the sense of ,frederick the ,great4 ,instead of this we have to look on with heavy hearts while the ,emperor1 badly advised and misled by those in influence about him1 suffers himself to be caught closer and closer in the net of the ,catholic clergy1 and sacrifices to it the intelligence of the rising generation4 ,in ,september1 #aijd1 the ,catholic journals announced triumphantly that the adoption of ,catholicism by the ,emperor and his ,chancellor was close at hand4#e ,the firmness of the belief in conventional dogmas1 which hampers the progress of rational enlightenment in orthodox ,protestant circles as well as ,catholic1 is often admired as an expression of the deep emotion of the ,german people4 ,but its real source is their confusion of thought and their credulity1 the power of conservative tradition1 and the reactionary state of political education4 ,while our schools are bent under the yoke of the creeds1 those of our neighbours are free4 ,france1 the pious daughter of the ,church1 gives anxious moments to her ambitious mother4 ,she is breaking the chains of the ,concordat1 and taking up the work of the ,reformation4 ,in ,germany1 the birthplace of the ,reformation1 the ,reichstag and the ,government vie with each other in smoothing the paths for the ,jesuits1 and fostering1 instead of suppressing1 the intolerant spirit of the sectarian school4 ,let us hope that the latest episode in the history of evolution1 its recognition by ,jesuitical science1 will bring about the reverse of what they intend--the substitution of rational science for blind faith4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,struggle ,,over ,,our ,,genealogical ,,tree ,,our ,,ape-,,relatives ,,and ,,the ,,vertebrate-,,stem ,,explanation ,,of ,,plate ,,ii ,,skeletons ,,of ,,five ,,anthropoid ,,apes ,these skeletons of the five living genera of anthropomorpha are reduced to a common size1 in order to show better the relative proportions of the various parts4 ,the human skeleton is #a_/bjth natural size1 the gorilla #a_/ahth1 the chimpanzee #a_/gth1 the orang #a_/gth1 the gibbon #a_/ith4 ,young specimens of the chimpanzee and orang have been selected1 because they approach nearer to man than the adult4 ,no one of the living anthropoid apes is nearest to man in all respects2 this cannot be said of either of the ,african 7gorilla and chimpanzee7 or the ,asiatic 7orang and gibbon74 ,this anatomic fact is explained phylogenetically on the ground that none of them are direct ancestors of man2 they represent divergent branches of the stem1 of which man is the crown4 ,however1 the small gibbon is nearest related to the hypothetical common ancestor of all the anthropomorpha to which we give the name of ,prothylobates4 ,further information will be found in my ,last ,link and ,evolution of ,man 7chap4 xxiii474 ,,plate ,,ii4 ,,skeletons ,,of ,,five ,,anthropoid ,,apes4 ,illustration3 #a_/bj ,,man 7,homo7 #a_/ah ,,gorilla #a_/g ,young ,,chimpanzee 7,anthropithecus7 #a_/g ,young ,,orang 7,satyrus7 #a_/i ,,gibbon 7,hylobates7 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,struggle ,,over ,,our ,,genealogical ,,tree ,,our ,,ape-,,relatives ,,and ,,the ,,vertebrate-,,stem ,in the previous chapter ,i tried to give you a general idea of the present state of the controversy in regard to evolution4 ,comparing the various branches of thought we found that the older mythological ideas of the creation of the world were driven long ago out of the province of inorganic science1 but that they did not yield to the rational conception of natural development until a much later date in the field of organic nature4 ,here the idea of evolution did not prove completely victorious until the beginning of the twentieth century1 when its most zealous and dangerous opponent1 the ,church1 was forced to admit it4 ,hence the open acknowledgment of the ,jesuit1 ,father ,wasmann1 deserves careful attention1 and we may look forward to a further development4 ,if his force of conviction and his moral courage are strong enough1 he will go on to draw the normal conclusions from his high scientific attainments and leave the ,catholic ,church1 as the prominent ,jesuits1 ,count ,hoensbroech and the able geologist1 ,professor ,renard of ,ghent1 one of the workers on the deep-sea deposits in the ,challenger expedition1 have lately done4 ,but even if this does not happen1 his recognition of ,darwinism1 in the name of ,christian belief1 will remain a landmark in the history of evolution4 ,his ingenious and very ,jesuitical attempt to bring together the opposite poles will have no very mischievous effect2 it will rather tend to hasten the victory of the scientific conception of evolution over the mystic beliefs of the ,churches4 ,you will see this more clearly if we go on to consider the important special problem of the descent of man from the ape1 and its irreconcilability with the conventional belief that ,god made man according to ,his own image4 ,that this ape or pithecoid theory is an irresistible deduction from the general principle of evolution was clearly recognised forty-five years ago1 when ,darwin's work appeared1 by the shrewd and vigilant theologians2 it was precisely in this fact that they found their strongest motive for vigorous resistance4 ,it is quite clear4 ,either man was brought into existence1 like the other animals1 by a special creative act1 as ,moses and ,linn taught 7an embodied idea of the ,creator1 as the famous ,agassiz put it so late as #aheh72 or he has been developed naturally from a series of mammal ancestors1 as is claimed by the systems of ,lamarck and ,darwin4 ,in view of the very great importance of this pithecoid theory1 we will first cast a brief glance at its founders and then summarise the proofs in support of it4 ,the famous ,french biologist1 ,jean ,lamarck1 was the first scientist definitely to affirm the descent of man from the ape and seek to give scientific proof of it4 ,in his splendid work1 fifty years in advance of his time1 the ,philosophie ,zoologique 7#ahji71 he clearly traced the modifications and advances that must have taken place in the transformation of the man-like apes 7the primate forms similar to the orang and the chimpanzee72 the adaptation to walking upright1 the consequent modification of the hands and feet1 and later1 the formation of speech and the attainment of a higher degree of intelligence4 ,lamarck's remarkable theory1 and this important consequence of it1 soon fell into oblivion4 ,when ,darwin brought evolution to the front again fifty years afterwards1 he paid no attention to the special conclusion4 ,he was content to make the following brief prophetic observation in his work3 ,light will be thrown on the origin and the history of man4 ,even this innocent remark seemed so momentous to the first ,german translator of the work1 ,bronn1 that he suppressed it4 ,when ,darwin was asked by ,wallace whether he would not go more fully into it1 he replied3 ,i think of avoiding the whole subject1 as it is so much involved in prejudice2 though ,i quite admit that it is the highest and most interesting problem for the thinker4 ,the first thorough works of importance on the subject appeared in #ahfc4 ,thomas ,huxley in ,england1 and ,carl ,vogt in ,germany1 endeavoured to show that the descent of man from the ape was a necessary consequence of ,darwinism1 and to provide an empirical base for the theory by every available argument4 ,huxley's work on ,man's ,place in ,nature was particularly valuable4 ,he first gave convincingly1 in three lectures1 the empirical evidence on the subject--the natural history of the anthropoid apes1 the anatomical and embryological relations of man to the next lowest animals1 and the recently discovered fossil human remains4 ,i then 7#ahff7 made the first attempt to establish the theory of evolution comprehensively by research in anatomy and embryology1 and to determine the chief stages in the natural classification of the vertebrates that must have been passed through by our earlier vertebrate ancestors4 ,anthropology thus becomes a part of zoology4 ,in my ,history of ,creation ,i further developed these early evolutionary sketches1 and improvements were made in the successive editions4 ,in the meantime1 the great master1 ,darwin1 had decided to deal with this chief evolutionary problem in a special work4 ,the two volumes of his ,descent of ,man appeared in #ahga4 ,they contained an able discussion of sexual selection1 or the selective influence of sexual love and high psychic activities connected therewith1 and their significance in regard to the origin of man4 ,as this part of ,darwin's work was afterwards attacked with particular virulence1 ,i will say that1 in my opinion1 it is of the greatest importance1 not only for the general theory of evolution1 but also for psychology1 anthropology1 and sthetics4 ,my own feeble early efforts 7#ahff71 not only to establish the descent of man from the nearest related apes1 but also to determine more precisely the long series of our earlier and lower vertebrate ancestors1 had not at all satisfied me4 ,in particular1 ,i had had to leave unanswered in my ,general ,morphology the very interesting question3 from which invertebrate animals the vertebrate stem originally came4 ,a clear and unexpected light was thrown on it some time afterwards by the astounding discoveries of ,kowalevsky1 which revealed an essential agreement in embryonic development between the lowest vertebrate 7,amphioxus7 and a lowly tunicate 7,ascidia74 ,in the succeeding years1 the numerous discoveries in connection with the formation of the germinal layers in different animals so much enlarged our embryological outlook that ,i was able to prove the complete homology of the two-layered gastrula 7a cup-shaped embryonic form7 in all the tissue-forming animals 7metazoa7 in my ,monograph on the ,sponges4 ,from this ,i inferred1 in virtue of the biogenetic law1 the common descent of all the metazoa from one and the same gastrula-shaped stem-form1 the gastra4 ,this hypothetical stem-form1 to which man's earliest multicellular ancestors also belong1 was afterwards proved by ,monticelli's observations to be still in existence4 ,the evolution of these very simple tissue-forming animals from still simpler unicellular forms 7protozoa7 is shown by the corresponding processes that we witness in what is called the segmentation of the ovum or gastrulation1 in the development of the two-layered germ from the single cell of the ovum4 ,encouraged by these great advances of modern phylogeny1 and with the support of many new discoveries in comparative anatomy and embryology1 in which a number of distinguished observers were at work1 ,i was able in #ahgd to venture on the first attempt to trace continuously the whole story of man's evolution4 ,in doing so1 ,i took my stand on the firm ground of the biogenetic law1 seeking to give a phylogenetic cause for each fact of embryology4 ,my ,evolution of ,man1 which made the first attempt to accomplish this difficult task1 was materially improved and enlarged as new and important discoveries were made4 ,the latest edition 7#aijc #aijd in ,english7 contains thirty chapters distributed in two volumes1 the first of which deals with embryology 7or ontogeny71 and the second with the development of species 7or phylogeny74 ,though ,i was quite conscious that there were bound to be gaps and weak points in these first attempts to frame a natural anthropogeny1 ,i had hoped they would have some influence on modern anthropology1 and especially that the first sketches of a genealogical tree of the animal world would prove a stimulus to fresh research and improvement4 ,in this ,i was much mistaken4 ,the dominant school of anthropology1 especially in ,germany1 declined to suffer the introduction of the theory of evolution1 declaring it to be an unfounded hypothesis1 and described our carefully prepared ancestral trees as mere figments4 ,this was due1 in the first place1 to the great authority of the founder and president 7for many years7 of the ,german ,anthropological ,society1 ,rudolf ,virchow1 as ,i briefly pointed out in the previous chapter4 ,in view of the great regard that is felt for this distinguished scientist1 and the extent to which his powerful opposition prevented the spread of the theory1 it is necessary to deal more fully with his position on the subject4 ,i am still further constrained to do this because of the erroneous views of it that are circulating1 and my own fifty years' acquaintance with my eminent teacher enables me to put them right4 ,not one of ,virchow's numerous pupils and friends can appreciate more than ,i do his real services to medical science4 ,his ,cellular ,pathology 7#aheh71 his thorough application of the cell-theory to the science of disease1 is1 in my opinion1 one of the greatest advances made by modern medicine4 ,i had the good fortune to begin my medical studies at ,wrzburg in #aheb1 and to spend six valuable terms under the personal guidance of four biologists of the first rank--,albert ,klliker1 ,rudolf ,virchow1 ,franz ,leydig and ,carl ,gegenbaur4 ,the great stimulus that ,i received from these distinguished masters in every branch of comparative and microscopic biology was the starting-point of my whole training in that science1 and enabled me subsequently to follow with ease the higher intellectual flight of ,johannes ,mller4 ,from ,virchow especially ,i learned1 not only the analytic art of careful observation and judicious appreciation of the detailed facts of anatomy1 but also the synthetic conception of the whole human frame1 the profound conviction of the unity of our nature1 the inseparable connection of body and mind1 to which ,virchow gave a fine expression in his classic essay on ,the ,efforts to bring about ,unity in ,scientific ,medicine 7#ahdi74 ,the leading articles which he wrote at that time for the ,journal of ,pathological ,anatomy and ,physiology1 which he had founded1 contain much new insight into the wonders of life1 and a number of excellent general reflections on their significance--pregnant ideas that we can make direct use of for ,monistic purposes4 ,in the controversy that broke out between empirical rationalism and materialism and the older vitalism and mysticism1 he took the side of the former1 and fought together with ,jacob ,moleschott1 ,carl ,vogt1 and ,ludwig ,bchner4 ,i owe the firm conviction of the unity of organic and inorganic nature1 of the mechanical character of all vital and psychic activity1 which ,i have always held to be the foundation of my ,monistic system1 in a great measure to ,virchow's teaching and the exhaustive conversations ,i had with him when ,i was his assistant4 ,the profound views of the nature of the cell and the independent individuality of these elementary organisms1 which he advanced in his great work ,cellular ,pathology1 remained guiding principles for me in the prolonged studies that ,i made thirty years afterwards of the organisation of the radiolaria and other unicellular protists2 and also in regard to the theory of the cell-soul1 which followed naturally from the psychological study of it4 ,his life at ,wrtzburg was the most brilliant period of ,virchow's indefatigable scientific labours4 ,a change took place when he removed to ,berlin in #ahef4 ,he then occupied himself chiefly with political and social and civic interests4 ,in the last respect he has done so much for ,berlin and the welfare of the ,german people that ,i need not enlarge on it4 ,nor will ,i go into his self-sacrificing and often thankless political work as leader of the progressive party2 there are differences of opinion as to its value4 ,but we must carefully examine his peculiar attitude towards evolution1 and especially its chief application1 the ape-theory4 ,he was at first favourable to it1 then sceptical1 and finally decidedly hostile4 ,when the ,lamarckian theory was brought to light again by ,darwin in #ahei1 many thought that it was ,virchow's vocation to take the lead in defending it4 ,he had made a thorough study of the problem of heredity2 he had realised the power of adaptation through his study of pathological changes2 and he had been directed to the great question of the origin of man by his anthropological studies4 ,he was at that time regarded as a determined opponent of all dogmas2 he combated transcendentalism either in the form of ecclesiastical creeds or anthropomorphism4 ,after #ahfb he declared that the possibility of a transition from species to species was a necessity of science4 ,when ,i opened the first public discussion of ,darwinism at the ,stettin scientific congress in #ahfc1 ,virchow and ,alexander ,braun were among the few scientists who would admit the subject to be important and deserving of the most careful study4 ,when ,i sent to him in #ahfe two lectures that ,i had delivered at ,jena on the origin and genealogical tree of the human race1 he willingly received them amongst his ,collection of ,popular ,scientific ,lectures4 ,in the course of many long conversations ,i had with him on the matter1 he agreed with me in the main1 though with the prudent reserve and cool scepticism that characterised him4 ,he adopts the same moderate attitude in the lecture that he delivered to the ,artisans' ,union at ,berlin in #ahfi on ,human and ,ape ,skulls4 ,his position definitely changed in regard to ,darwinism from #ahgg onward4 ,at the ,scientific ,congress that was then held at ,munich ,i had1 at the pressing request of my ,munich friends1 undertaken the first address 7on #ahth ,september7 on ,modern ,evolution in ,relation to the whole of ,science4 ,in this address ,i had substantially advanced the same general views that ,i afterwards enlarged in my ,monism1 ,riddle of the ,universe1 and ,wonders of ,life4 ,in the ultramontane capital of ,bavaria1 in sight of a great university which emphatically describes itself as ,catholic1 it was somewhat bold to make such a confession of faith4 ,the deep impression that it had made was indicated by the lively manifestations of assent on the one hand1 and displeasure on the other1 that were at once made in the ,congress itself and in the ,press4 ,on the following day ,i departed for ,italy 7according to an arrangement made long before74 ,virchow did not come to ,munich until two days afterwards1 when he delivered 7on #bbnd ,september1 in response to entreaties from people of position and influence7 his famous antagonistic speech on ,the ,freedom of ,science in the ,modern ,state4 ,the gist of the speech was that this freedom ought to be restricted2 that evolution is an unproved hypothesis1 and ought not to be taught in the school because it is dangerous to the ,state3 ,we must not teach1 he said1 that man descends from the ape or any other animal4 ,in #ahdi1 the young ,monist1 ,virchow1 had emphatically declared this conviction1 that he would never be induced to deny the thesis of the unity of human nature and its consequences2 now1 twenty-eight years afterwards1 the prudent ,dualistic politician entirely denied it4 ,he had formerly taught that all the bodily and mental processes in the human organism depend on the mechanism of the cell-life2 now he declared the soul to be a special immaterial entity4 ,but the crowning feature of this reactionary speech was his compromise with the ,church1 which he had fought so vigorously twenty years before4 ,the character of ,virchow's speech at ,munich is best seen in the delight with which it was at once received by the reactionary and clerical papers1 and the profound concern of all ,liberal journals1 either in the political or the religious sense4 ,when ,darwin read the ,english translation of the speech he--generally so gentle in his judgments--wrote3 ,virchow's conduct is shameful1 and ,i hope he will some day feel the shame4 ,in #ahgh1 ,i made a full reply to it in my ,free ,science and ,free ,teaching1 in which ,i collected the most important press opinions on the matter4#f ,from this very decided turn at ,munich until his death1 twenty-five years afterwards1 ,virchow was an indefatigable and very influential opponent of evolution4 ,in his annual appearances at congresses he has always contested it1 and has obstinately clung to his statement that it is quite certain that man does not descend from the ape or any other animal4 ,to the question3 ,whence does he come1 then8 he had no answer1 and retired to the resigned position of the ,agnostic1 which was common before ,darwin's time3 ,we do not know how life arose1 and how the various species came into the world4 ,his son-in-law1 ,professor ,rabl1 has tried to draw attention once more to his earlier conception1 and has declared that even in later years ,virchow often recognised the truth of evolution in private conversation4 ,this only makes it the more regrettable that he always said the contrary in public4 ,the fact remains that ever since the opponents of evolution1 especially the reactionaries and clericals1 have appealed to the authority of ,virchow4 ,the wholly reactionary system that this led to has been well described by ,robert ,drill 7#aijb7 in his ,virchow as a ,reactionary4 ,how little qualified the great pathologist was to appreciate the scientific bases of the pithecoid theory is clear from the absurd statement he made1 in the opening speech of the ,vienna ,congress of ,anthropologists1 in #ahid1 that man might just as well be claimed to descend from a sheep or an elephant as from an ape4 ,any competent zoologist can see from this the little knowledge ,virchow had of systematic zoology and comparative anatomy4 ,however1 he retained his authority as president of the ,german ,anthropological ,society1 which remained impervious to ,darwinian ideas4 ,even such vigorous controversialists as ,carl ,vogt1 and such scientific partisans of the ape-man of ,neanderthal as ,schaafhausen1 could make no impression4 ,virchow's authority was equally great for twenty years in the ,berlin ,press1 both ,liberal and ,conservative4 ,the ,kreutzzeitung and the ,evangelische ,kirchenzeitung were delighted that the learned progressist was conservative in the best sense of the word as regards evolution4 ,the ultramontane ,germania rejoiced that the powerful representative of pure science had1 with a few strokes of his cudgel1 reduced to impotence the absurd ape-theory and its chief protagonist1 ,ernst ,haeckel4 ,the ,national-,zeitung could not sufficiently thank the free-thinking1 popular leader for having lifted from us for ever the oppressive mountain of the theory of simian descent4 ,the editor of the ,volks-,zeitung1 ,bernstein1 who has done so much for the spread of knowledge in his excellent popular manuals of science1 obstinately refused to admit articles that ventured to support the erroneous ape-theory refuted by ,virchow4 ,it would take up too much space to attempt to give even a general survey of the remarkable and enormous literature of the subject that has accumulated in the last three decades in the shape of thousands of learned treatises and popular articles4 ,the greater part of these works have been written under the influence of conventional religious prejudice1 and without the necessary acquaintance with the subject1 that can only be obtained by a thorough training in biology4 ,the most curious feature of them is that most of the authors restrict their genealogical interests to the most manlike apes1 and do not deal with their origin1 or with the deeper roots of our common ancestral tree4 ,they do not see the wood for the trees4 ,yet it is far easier and safer to penetrate the great mysteries of our animal origin1 if we look at the subject from the higher standpoint of vertebrate phylogeny and go deeper into the earlier records of the evolutionary history of the vertebrates4 ,since the great ,lamarck established the idea of the vertebrate at the beginning of the nineteenth century 7#ahja71 and his ,parisian colleague1 ,cuvier1 shortly afterwards recognised the vertebrates as one of his four chief animal groups1 the natural unity of this advanced section of the animal world has not been contested4 ,in all the vertebrates1 from the lowest fishes and amphibians up to the apes and man1 we have the same type of structure1 the same characteristic disposition and relations of the chief organs2 and they differ materially from the corresponding features in all other animals4 ,the mysterious affinities of the vertebrates induced ,goethe1 #adj years ago1 long before ,cuvier1 to make prolonged and laborious studies in their comparative anatomy at ,jena and ,weimar4 ,just as he had1 in his ,metamorphosis of ,plants1 established the unity of organisation by means of the leaf as the common primitive organ1 he1 in the metamorphosis of the vertebrates1 found this common element in the vertebral theory of the skull4 ,and when ,cuvier established comparative anatomy as an independent science1 this branch of biology was developed to such an extent by the classic research of ,johannes ,mller1 ,carl ,gegenbaur1 ,richard ,owen1 ,thomas ,huxley1 and many other morphologists1 that ,darwinism found its most powerful weapons in this arsenal4 ,the striking differences of external form and internal structure that we find in the fishes1 amphibians1 reptiles1 birds1 and mammals1 are due to adaptation to the various uses of their organs and their environments4 ,on the other hand1 the astonishing agreement in their typical character1 that persists in spite of their differences1 is due to inheritance from common ancestors4 ,the evidence thus afforded by comparative anatomy is so cogent that anyone who goes impartially and attentively through a collection of skeletons can convince himself at once of the morphological unity of the vertebrate stem4 ,the evolutionary evidence of comparative ontogeny1 or embryology1 is less easy to grasp and less accessible1 but not less important4 ,it came to light at a much later date1 and its extreme value was only made clear1 by means of the biogenetic law1 some forty years ago4 ,it shows that every vertebrate1 like every other animal1 develops from a single cell1 but that the course of its embryonic development is peculiar1 and characterised by embryonic forms that are not found in the invertebrates4 ,we find in them especially the chordula1 or chorda-larva1 a very simple worm-shaped embryonic form1 without limbs1 head1 or higher sense-organs2 the body consists merely of six very simple primitive organs4 ,from these are developed steadily the hundreds of different bones1 muscles1 and other organs that we afterwards distinguish in the mature vertebrate4 ,the remarkable and very complex course of this embryonic development is essentially the same in man and the ape1 and in the amphibians and fishes4 ,we see in it1 in accordance with the biogenetic law1 a new and important witness to the common descent of all vertebrates from a single primitive form1 the chorda4 ,but1 important as these arguments of comparative embryology are1 one needs many years' study in the unfamiliar and difficult province of embryology before one can realise their evolutionary force4 ,there are1 in fact1 not a few embryologists 7especially of the modern school of experimental embryology7 who do not succeed in doing so4 ,it is otherwise with the palpable proofs that we take from a remote science1 paleontology4 ,the remarkable fossil remains and impressions of extinct animals and plants give us directly the historical evidence we need to understand the successive appearance and disappearance of the various species and groups4 ,geology has firmly established the chronological order of the sedimentary rocks1 which have been successively formed of mud at the floor of the ocean1 and has deduced their age from the thickness of the strata1 and determined the relative date of their formation4 ,the vast period during which organic life has been developing on the earth runs to many million years4 ,the number is variously estimated at less than a hundred or at several hundred million years4#g ,if we take the smaller number of #bjj million years1 we find them distributed amongst the five chief periods of the earth's organic development in such a way that the earlier or archeozoic period absorbs nearly one half4 ,as the sedimentary rocks of this period1 chiefly gneisses and crystalline schists1 are in a metamorphosed condition1 the fossil remains in them are unrecognisable4 ,in the next succeeding strata of the paleozoic period we find the earliest remains of fossilised vertebrates1 ,silurian primitive fishes 7selachii7 and ganoids4 ,these are followed1 in the ,devonian system1 by the first dipneust fishes 7a transitional form from the fishes to the amphibia74 ,in the next1 the ,carboniferous system1 we find the first terrestrial or four-footed vertebrates--amphibians of the order of the stegocephala4 ,a little later1 in the ,permian rocks1 the earliest amniotes1 lowly1 lizard-like reptiles 7tocosauria71 make their appearance2 the warm-blooded birds and mammals are still wanting4 ,we have the first traces of the mammals in the ,triassic1 the earliest sedimentary rocks of the mesozoic age2 these are of the monotreme sub-class 7pantotheria and allotheria74 ,they are succeeded by the first marsupials 7prodidelphia7 in the ,jurassic1 the ancestral forms of the placentals 7mallotheria71 in the ,cretaceous4 ,see p4 #aae4 ,but the richest development of the mammal class takes place in the next or ,tertiary age4 ,in the course of its four periods--the eocene1 oligocene1 miocene1 and pliocene--the mammal species increase steadily in number1 variety1 and complexity1 down to the present time4 ,from the lowest common ancestral group of the placentals proceed four divergent branches1 the legions of the carnassia1 rodents1 ungulates1 and primates4 ,the primate legion surpasses all the rest4 ,in this ,linn long ago included the lemurs1 apes1 and man4 ,the historical order in which the various stages of vertebrate development make their successive appearance corresponds entirely to the morphological order of their advance in organisation1 as we have learned it from the study of comparative anatomy and embryology4 ,these paleontological facts are among the most important proofs of the descent of man from a long series of higher and lower vertebrates4 ,there is no other explanation possible except evolution for the chronological succession of these classes1 which is in perfect harmony with the morphological and systematic distribution4 ,the anti-evolutionists have not even attempted to give any other explanation4 ,the fishes1 dipneusts1 amphibians1 reptiles1 monotremes1 marsupials1 placentals1 lemurs1 apes1 anthropoid apes1 and ape-men 7pithecanthropi71 are inseparable links of a long ancestral chain1 of which the last and most perfect link is man4 7,cf4 the tables pp4 #aaf-aah47 ,one of the paleontological facts ,i have quoted1 namely1 the late appearance of the mammal class in geology--is particularly important4 ,this most advanced group of the vertebrates comes on the stage in the ,triassic period1 in the second and shorter half of the organic history of the earth4 ,it is represented only by low and small forms in the whole of the mesozoic age1 during the domination of the reptiles4 ,throughout this long period1 which is estimated by some geologists at #h-aa1 by others at #bj or more1 million years1 the dominant reptile class developed its many remarkable and curious forms2 there were swimming marine reptiles 7halisauria71 flying reptiles 7pterosauria71 and colossal land reptiles 7dinosauria74 ,it was much later1 in the ,tertiary period1 that the mammal class attained the wealth of large and advanced placental forms that secured its predominance over this more recent period4 ,the many and thorough investigations made during the last few decades into the ancestral history of the mammals have convinced all zoologists who were engaged in them that they may be traced to a common root4 ,all the mammals1 from the lowest monotremes and marsupials to the ape and man1 have a large number of striking characteristics in common1 and these distinguish them from all other vertebrates3 the hair and glands of the skin1 the feeding of the young with the mother's milk1 the peculiar formation of the lower jaw and the ear-bones connected therewith1 and other features in the structure of the skull2 also1 the possession of a knee-cap 7patella71 and the loss of the nucleus in the red blood-cells4 ,further1 the complete diaphragm1 which entirely separates the pectoral cavity from the abdominal1 is only found in the mammals2 in all the other vertebrates there is still an open communication between the two cavities4 ,the monophyletic 7or single7 origin of the whole mammalian class is therefore now regarded by all competent experts as an established fact4 ,in the face of this important fact1 what is called the ape-question loses a good deal of the importance that was formerly ascribed to it4 ,all the momentous consequences that follow from it in regard to our human nature1 our past and future1 and our bodily and psychic life1 remain undisturbed whether we derive man directly from one of the primates1 an ape or lemur1 or from some other branch1 some unknown lower form1 of the mammalian stem4 ,it is important to point this out1 because certain dangerous attempts have been made lately by ,jesuitical zoologists and zoological ,jesuits to cause fresh confusion on the matter4 ,in a richly illustrated and widely read work that ,hans ,kraemer published a few years ago1 under the title1 ,the ,universe and ,man1 an able and learned anthropologist1 ,professor ,klaatsch of ,heidelberg1 deals with the origin and development of the human race1 and admirably describes the primitive history of man and his civilisation4 ,however1 he denounces the idea of man's descent from the ape as irrational1 narrow-minded1 and false2 he grounds this severe censure on the fact that none of the living apes can be the ancestor of humanity4 ,but no competent scientist had ever said anything so foolish4 ,if we look closer into this fight with windmills1 we find that ,klaatsch holds substantially the same view of the pithecoid theory as ,i have done since #ahff4 ,he says expressly3 ,the three anthropoid apes1 the gorilla1 chimpanzee1 and orang1 seem to diverge from a common root1 which was near to that of the gibbon and man4 ,i had long ago given the name of archiprimas to this single hypothetical root-form of the primates1 which he calls the primatoid4 ,it lived in the earliest part of the ,tertiary period1 and had probably been developed in the ,cretaceous from older mammals4 ,the very forced and unnatural hypothesis by means of which ,klaatsch goes on to make the primates depart very widely from the other mammals1 seems to me to be quite untenable1 like the similar hypothesis that ,alsberg1 ,wilser1 and other anthropologists who deny our pithecoid descent1 have lately advanced4 ,all these attempts have a common object--to save man's privileged position in ,nature1 to widen as much as possible the gulf between him and the rest of the mammals1 and to conceal his real origin4 ,it is the familiar tendency of the parvenu1 which we so often notice in the aristocratic sons of energetic men who have won a high position by their own exertions4 ,this sort of vanity is acceptable enough to the ruling powers and the ,churches1 because it tends to support their own fossilised pretensions to a ,divine image in man and a special ,divine grace in princes4 ,the zoologist or anthropologist who studies our genealogy in a strictly scientific spirit takes no more notice of these tendencies than of the ,almanach de ,gotha4 ,he seeks to discover the naked truth1 as it is yielded by the great results of modern science1 in which there is no longer any doubt that man is really a descendant of the ape--that is to say1 of a long extinct anthropoid ape4 ,as has been pointed out over and over again by distinguished supporters of this opinion1 the proofs of it are exceptionally clear and simple--much clearer and simpler than they are in regard to many other mammals4 ,thus1 for instance1 the origin of the elephants1 the armadilloes1 the sirena1 or the whales1 is a much more difficult problem than the origin of man4 ,when ,huxley published his powerful essay on ,man's ,place in ,nature in #ahfc1 he gave it a frontispiece showing the skeletons of man and the four living anthropoid apes1 the ,asiatic orang and gibbon1 and the ,african chimpanzee and gorilla4 ,plate ,,ii4 in the present work differs from this in giving two young specimens of the orang and the chimpanzee1 and raising their size to correspond with the other three skeletons4 ,candid comparison of these five skeletons shows that they are not only very like each other generally1 but are identical in the structure1 arrangement1 and connection of all the parts4 ,the same #bjj bones compose the skeleton in man and in the four tailless anthropoid apes1 our nearest relatives4 ,the same #cjj muscles serve to move the various parts of the skeleton4 ,the same hair covers the skin2 the same mammary glands provide food for the young4 ,the same four-chambered heart acts as central pump of the circulation2 the same #cb teeth are found in our jaws2 the same reproductive organs maintain the species2 the same groups of neurona or ganglionic cells compose the wondrous structure of the brain1 and accomplish that highest function of the plasm which we call the soul1 and many still believe to be an immortal entity4 ,huxley has thoroughly established this profound truth1 and by further comparison with the lower apes and lemurs he came to formulate his important pithecometra principle3 ,whatever organ we take1 the differences between man and the anthropoid apes are slighter than the corresponding differences between the latter and the lower apes4 ,if we make a superficial comparison of our skeletons of the anthropomorpha1 we certainly notice a few salient differences in the size of the various parts2 but these are purely quantitative1 and are due to differences in growth1 which in turn are caused by adaptation to different environments4 ,there are1 as is well known1 similar differences between human beings2 their arms are sometimes long1 sometimes short2 the forehead may be high or low1 the hair thick or thin1 and so on4 ,these anatomic proofs of the pithecoid theory are most happily supplemented and confirmed by certain recent brilliant discoveries in physiology4 ,chief amongst these are the famous experiments of ,dr4 ,hans ,friedenthal at ,berlin4 ,he showed that the human blood acts poisonously on and decomposes the blood of the lower apes and other mammals1 but has not that effect on the blood of the anthropoid apes4#h ,from previous transfusion experiments it had been learned that the affinity of mammals is connected to a certain extent with their chemical blood-relationship4 ,if the living blood of two nearly related animals of the same family1 such as the dog and the fox1 or the rabbit and the hare1 is mixed together1 the living blood-cells of each species remain uninfluenced4 ,but if we mix the blood of the dog and the rabbit1 or the fox and the hare1 a struggle for life immediately takes place between the two kinds of blood-cells4 ,the watery fluid or serum destroys the blood-cells of the rodent1 and vice vers4 ,it is the same with specimens of the blood of the various primates4 ,the blood of the lower apes and lemurs1 which are close to the common root of the primate stem1 has a destructive effect on the blood of the anthropoid apes and man1 and vice vers4 ,on the other hand1 the human blood has no injurious effect when it is mixed with that of the anthropoid apes4 ,in recent years these interesting experiments have been continued by other physiologists and physicians1 such as ,professor ,uhlenhuth at ,greifswald and ,nuttall at ,london1 and they have proved directly the blood-relationship of various mammals4 ,nuttall studied them carefully in #ijj different kinds of blood1 which he tested by #af1jjj reactions4 ,he traced the gradation of affinity to the lowest apes of the ,new ,world2 and ,uhlenhuth continued as far as the lemurs4 ,by these results the affinity of man and the anthropoid apes1 long established by anatomy1 has now been proved physiologically to be in real blood-relationship4#i ,not less important are the embryological discoveries of the deceased zoologist1 ,emil ,selenka4 ,he made two long journeys to the ,east ,indies1 in order to study on the spot the embryology of the ,asiatic anthropoid apes1 the orang and gibbon4 ,by means of a number of embryos that he collected he showed that certain remarkable peculiarities in the formation of the placenta1 that had up to that time been considered as exclusively human1 and regarded as a special distinction of our species1 were found in just the same way in the closely related anthropoid apes1 though not in the rest of the apes4 ,on the ground of these and other facts1 ,i maintain that the descent of man from extinct ,tertiary anthropoid apes is proved just as plainly as the descent of birds from reptiles1 or the descent of reptiles from amphibians1 which no zoologist hesitates to admit to-day4 ,the relationship is as close as was claimed by my former fellow-student1 the ,berlin anatomist1 ,robert ,hartmann 7with whom ,i sat at the feet of ,johannes ,mller fifty years ago71 in his admirable work on the anthropoid apes 7#ahhc74 ,he proposed to divide the order of primates into two families1 the primarii 7man and the anthropoid apes71 and simian 7the real apes1 the catarrhine or eastern1 and the platyrrhine or western apes74 ,since the ,dutch physician1 ,eugen ,dubois1 discovered the famous remains of the fossil ape-man 7pithecanthropus erectus7 eleven years ago in ,java1 and thus brought to light the missing link1 a large number of works have been published on this very interesting group of the primates4 ,in this connection we may particularly note the demonstration by the ,strassburg anatomist1 ,gustav ,schwalbe1 that the previously discovered ,neanderthal skull belongs to an extinct species of man1 which was midway between the pithecanthropus and the true human being--the homo primigenus4 ,after a very careful examination1 ,schwalbe at the same time refuted all the biassed objections that ,virchow had made to these and other fossil discoveries1 trying to represent them as pathological abnormalities4 ,in all the important relics of fossil men that prove our descent from anthropoid apes ,virchow saw pathological modifications1 due to unsound habits1 gout1 rickets1 or other diseases of the dwellers in the diluvial caves4 ,he tried in every way to impair the force of the arguments for our primate affinity4 ,so in the controversy over the pithecanthropus he raised the most improbable conjectures1 merely for the purpose of destroying its significance as a real link between the anthropoid apes and man4 ,even now1 in the controversy over this important ape-question1 amateurs and biassed anthropologists often repeat the false statement that the gap between man and the anthropoid ape is not yet filled up and the missing link not yet discovered4 ,this is a most perverse statement1 and can only arise either from ignorance of the anatomical1 embryological1 and paleontological facts1 or incompetence to interpret them aright4 ,as a fact1 the morphological chain that stretches from the lemurs to the earlier western apes1 from these to the eastern tailed apes1 and to the tailless anthropoid apes1 and from these direct to man1 is now uninterrupted and clear4 ,it would be more plausible to speak of missing links between the earliest lemurs and their marsupial ancestors1 or between the latter and their monotreme ancestors4 ,but even these gaps are unimportant1 because comparative anatomy and embryology1 with the support of paleontology1 have dissipated all doubt as to the unity of the mammalian stem4 ,it is ridiculous to expect paleontology to furnish an unbroken series of positive data1 when we remember how scanty and imperfect its material is4 ,i cannot go further here into the interesting recent research in regard to special aspects of our simian descent2 nor would it greatly advance our object1 because all the general conclusions as to man's primate descent remain intact1 whichever way we construct hypothetically the special lines of simian evolution4 ,on the other hand1 it is interesting for us to see how the most recent form of ,darwinism1 so happily described by ,escherich as ecclesiastical evolution1 stands in regard to these great questions4 ,what does its astutest representative1 ,father ,erich ,wasmann1 say about them8 ,the tenth chapter of his work1 in which he deals at length with the application of the theory of evolution to man1 is a masterpiece of ,jesuitical science1 calculated to throw the clearest truths into such confusion and so to misrepresent all discoveries as to prevent any reader from forming a clear idea of them4 ,when we compare this tenth chapter with the ninth1 in which ,wasmann represents the theory of evolution as an irresistible truth on the strength of his own able studies1 we can hardly believe that they both came from the same pen--or1 rather1 we can only understand when we recollect the rule of the ,jesuit ,congregation3 ,the end justifies the means4 ,untruth is permitted and meritorious in the service of ,god and his ,church4 ,the ,jesuitical sophistry that ,wasmann employs in order to save man's unique position in ,nature1 and to prove that he was immediately created by ,god1 culminates in the antithesis of his two natures4 ,the purely zoological conception of man1 which has been established beyond question by the anatomical and embryological comparison with the ape1 is said to fail because it does not take into account the chief feature1 his mental life4 ,it is psychology that is best fitted to deal with the nature and origin of man4 ,all the facts of anatomy and embryology that ,i have gathered together in my ,evolution of ,man in proof of the series of his ancestors are either ignored or misconstrued and made ridiculous by ,wasmann4 ,the same is done with the instructive facts of anthropology1 especially the rudimentary organs1 which ,robert ,wiedersheim has quoted in his ,man's ,structure as a ,witness to his ,past4 ,it is clear that the ,jesuit writer lacks competence in this department2 that he has only a superficial and inadequate acquaintance with comparative anatomy and embryology4 ,if ,wasmann had studied the morphology and physiology of the mammals as thoroughly as those of the ants1 he would have concluded1 if he were impartial1 that it is just as necessary to admit a monophyletic 7or single7 origin for the former as for the latter4 ,if1 in ,wasmann's opinion1 the #d1jjj species of ants form a single natural system--that is to say1 descend from one original species--it is just as necessary to admit the same hypothesis for the #f1jjj 7#b1djj living and #c1fjj fossil7 species of mammals1 including the human species4 ,the severe strictures that ,i have passed on the sophisms and trickery of this ecclesiastical evolution are not directed against the person and the character of ,father ,wasmann1 but the ,jesuitical system which he represents4 ,i do not doubt that this able naturalist 7who is personally unknown to me7 has written his book in good faith1 and has an honourable ambition to reconcile the irreconcilable contradictions between natural evolution and the story of supernatural creation4 ,but this reconciliation of reason and superstition is only possible at the price of a sacrifice of the reason itself4 ,we find this in the case of all the other ,jesuits--,fathers ,cathrein1 ,braun1 ,besmer1 ,cornet1 ,linsmeier1 and ,muckermann--whose ambiguous ,jesuitical science is aptly dealt with in the article of ,r4 ,h4 ,franc that ,i mentioned before 7,no4 #bb of the ,freie ,wort1 #afth ,february1 #aijd1 ,frankfort74 ,this interesting attempt of ,father ,wasmann's does not stand alone4 ,signs are multiplying that the ,church militant is about to enter on a systematic campaign4 ,i heard from ,vienna on the #agth of ,february1 that on the previous day 7which happened to be my birthday71 a ,jesuit1 ,father ,giese1 had1 in a well-received address1 admitted not only evolution in general1 but even its application to man1 and declared it to be reconcilable with ,catholic dogmas--and this at a crowded meeting of catechists6 ,it is important to note that in a new ,catholic cyclopdia1 ,benziger's ,library of ,science1 the first three volumes 7issued at ,einsiedeln and ,cologne1 #aijd7 deal very fully and ably with the chief problems of evolution3 the first with the formation of the earth1 the second with spontaneous generation1 the third with the theory of descent4 ,the author of them1 ,father ,m4 ,gander1 makes most remarkable concessions to our theory1 and endeavours to show that they are not inconsistent with the ,bible or the dogmatic treatises of the chief fathers and schoolmen4 ,but1 though there is a profuse expenditure of sophistical logic in these ,jesuitical efforts1 ,gander will hardly succeed in misleading thoughtful people4 ,one of his characteristic positions is that spontaneous generation 7as the development of organised living things by purely material processes7 is inconceivable1 but that it might be made possible by a special ,divine arrangement4 ,in regard to the descent of man from other animals 7which he grants71 he makes the reserve that the soul must in any case have been produced by a special creative act4 ,it would be useless to go through the innumerable fallacies and untruths of these modern ,jesuits in detail1 and point out the rational and scientific reply4 ,the vast power of this most dangerous religious congregation consists precisely in its device of accepting one part of science in order to destroy the other part more effectively with it4 ,their masterly act of sophistry1 their equivocal probabilism1 their mendacious reservatio mentalis1 the principle that the higher aim sanctifies the worst means1 the pernicious casuistry of ,liguori and ,gury1 the cynicism with which they turn the holiest principles to the gratification of their ambition1 have impressed on the ,jesuits that black character that ,carl ,hoensbroech has so well exposed recently4 ,the great dangers that menace real science1 owing to this smuggling into it of the ,jesuitical spirit1 must not be undervalued4 ,they have been well pointed out by ,franc1 ,escherich1 and others4 ,they are all the greater in ,germany at the present time1 as the ,government and the ,reichstag are working together to prepare the way for the ,jesuits1 and to yield a most pernicious influence on the school to these deadly enemies of the free spirit of the country4 ,however1 we will hope that this clerical reaction represents only a passing episode in modern history4 ,we trust that one permanent result of it will be the recognition1 in principle1 even by the ,jesuits1 of the great idea of evolution4 ,we may then rest assured that its most important consequence1 the descent of man from other primate forms1 will press on victoriously1 and soon be recognised as a beneficent and helpful truth4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,controversy ,,over ,,the ,,soul ,,the ,,ideas ,,of ,,immortality ,,and ,,god ,,explanation ,,of ,,plate ,,iii ,,embryos ,,of ,,three ,,mammals ,,at ,,three ,,corresponding ,,stages ,,of ,,development ,the embryos of man 7,m71 the anthropoid ape 7gibbon1 ,g71 and the bat 7rhinolophus1 ,b7 can hardly be distinguished in the earlier stage 7the upper row71 although the five cerebral vesicles1 the gill-clefts1 and the three higher sense-organs are already visible4 ,on the curved dorsal surface we see the sections of the primitive vertebr4 ,even later1 when the two pairs of limbs have appeared in the form of roundish fins 7the middle row71 the differences are not great4 ,it is not until a further development of the limbs and head has taken place 7lowest row7 that the characteristic forms are clearly seen4 ,it is particularly notable that the primitive brain1 the organ of the mind1 with its five cerebral vesicles1 is the same in all4 ,,plate ,,iii4 ,illustration3 ,,embryos ,,of ,,three ,,mammals 7,at three corresponding stages of development74 ,b ,,bat 7,rhinolophus7 ,g ,,gibbon 7,hylobates7 ,m ,,man 7,homo7 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,controversy ,,over ,,the ,,soul ,,the ,,ideas ,,of ,,immortality ,,and ,,god ,though it was my original intention to deliver only two lectures1 ,i have been moved by several reasons to add a supplementary one4 ,in the first place1 ,i notice with regret that ,i have been compelled by pressure of time to leave untouched in my earlier lectures1 or to treat very inadequately1 several important points in my theme2 there is1 in particular1 the very important question of the nature of the soul4 ,in the second place1 ,i have been convinced by the many contradictory press-notices during the last few days that many of my incomplete observations have been misunderstood or misinterpreted4 ,and1 thirdly1 it seemed advisable to give a brief and clear summary of the whole subject in this farewell lecture1 to take a short survey of the past1 present1 and future of the theory of evolution1 and especially its relation to the three great questions of personal immortality1 the freedom of the will1 and the personality of ,god4 ,i must claim the reader's patience and indulgence even to a greater extent than in the previous chapters1 as the subject is one of the most difficult and obscure that the human mind approaches4 ,i have dealt at length in my recent works1 ,the ,riddle of the ,universe and ,the ,wonders of ,life1 with the controversial questions of biology that ,i treat cursorily here4 ,but ,i would like to put before you now1 in a general survey1 the powerful arguments that modern science employs against the prevailing superstition in regard to evolution1 and to show that the ,monistic system throws a clear light on the great questions of ,god and the world1 the soul and life4 ,in the previous chapters ,i have tried to give a general idea of the present state of the theory of evolution and its victorious struggle with the older legend of creation4 ,we have seen that even the most advanced organism1 man1 was not brought into being by a creative act1 but gradually developed from a long series of mammal ancestors4 ,we also saw that the most man-like mammals1 the anthropoid apes1 have substantially the same structure as man1 and that the evolution of the latter from the former can now be regarded as a fully established hypothesis1 or1 rather1 an historical fact4 ,but in this study we had in view mainly the structure of the body and its various organs4 ,we touched very briefly on the evolution of the human mind1 or the immaterial soul that dwells in the body for a time1 according to a venerable tradition4 ,to-day we turn chiefly to the development of the soul1 and consider whether man's mental development is controlled by the same natural laws as that of his body1 and whether it also is inseparably bound up with that of the rest of the mammals4 ,at the very threshold of this difficult province we encounter the curious fact that there are two radically distinct tendencies in psychology at our universities to-day4 ,on one side we have the metaphysical and professional psychologists4 ,they still cling to the older view that man's soul is a special entity1 a unique independent individuality1 which dwells for a time only in the mortal frame1 leaving it and living on as an immortal spirit after death4 ,this dualistic theory is connected with the doctrine of most religions1 and owes its high authority to the fact that it is associated with the most important ethical1 social1 and practical interests4 ,plato gave prominence to the idea of the immortality of the soul in philosophy long ago4 ,descartes at a later date gave emphasis to it by ascribing a true soul to man alone and refusing it to the animals4 ,this metaphysical psychology1 which ruled alone for a considerable period1 began to be opposed in the eighteenth1 and still more in the nineteenth1 century by comparative psychology4 ,an impartial comparison of the psychic processes in the higher and lower animals proved that there were numerous transitions and gradations4 ,a long series of intermediate stages connects the psychic life of the higher animals with that of man on the one side1 and that of the lower animals on the other4 ,there was no such thing as a sharp dividing line1 as ,descartes supposed4 ,but the greatest blow was dealt at the predominant metaphysical conception of the life of the soul thirty years ago by the new methods of psychophysics4 ,by means of a series of able experiments the physiologists1 ,theodor ,fechner and ,ernst ,heinrich ,weber of ,leipsic1 showed that an important part of the mental activity can be measured and expressed in mathematical formul just as well as other physiological processes1 such as muscular contractions4 ,thus the laws of physics control a part of the life of the soul just as absolutely as they do the phenomena of inorganic nature4 ,it is true that psychophysics has only partially realised the very high expectations that were entertained in regard to its ,monistic significance2 but the fact remains that a part of the mental life is just as unconditionally ruled by physical laws as any other natural phenomena4 ,thus physiological psychology was raised by psychophysics to the rank of a physical and1 in principle1 exact science4 ,but it had already obtained solid foundations in other provinces of biology4 ,comparative psychology had traced connectedly the long gradation from man to the higher animals1 from these to the lower1 and so on down to the very lowest4 ,at the lowest stage it found those remarkable beings1 invisible with the naked eye1 that were discovered in stagnant water everywhere after the invention of the microscope 7in the second half of the seventeenth century7 and called infusoria4 ,they were first accurately described and classified by ,gottfried ,ehrenberg1 the famous ,berlin microscopist4 ,in #ahch he published a large and beautiful work1 illustrating on #fd folio pages the whole realm of microscopic life2 and this is still the base of all studies of the protists4 ,ehrenberg was a very ardent and imaginative observer1 and succeeded in communicating his zeal for the study of microscopic organisms to his pupils4 ,i still recall with pleasure the stimulating excursions that ,i made fifty years ago 7in the summer of #ahed7 with my teacher1 ,ehrenberg1 and a few other pupils--including my student-friend1 ,ferdinand von ,richthofen1 the famous geographer--to the ,zoological ,gardens at ,berlin4 ,equipped with fine nets and small glasses1 we fished in the ponds of the ,zoological ,gardens and in the ,spree1 and caught thousands of invisible micro-organisms1 which then richly rewarded our curiosity by the beautiful forms and mysterious movements they disclosed under the microscope4 ,the way in which ,ehrenberg explained to us the structure and the vital movements of his infusoria was very curious4 ,misled by the comparison of the real infusoria with the microscopic but highly organised rotifers1 he had formed the idea that all animals are alike advanced in organisation1 and had indicated this erroneous theory in the very title of his work3 ,the ,infusoria as ,perfect ,organisms3 a ,glance at the ,deeper ,life of ,organic ,nature4 ,he thought he could detect in the simplest infusoria the same distinct organs as in the higher animals--stomach1 heart1 ovaries1 kidneys1 muscles1 and nerves--and he interpreted their psychic life on the same peculiar principle of equally advanced organisation4 ,ehrenberg's theory of life was entirely wrong1 and was radically destroyed in the hour of its birth 7#ahch7 by the cell-theory which was then formulated1 and to which he never became reconciled4 ,once ,matthias ,schleiden had shown the composition of all the plants1 tissues1 and organs from microscopic cells1 the last structural elements of the living organism1 and ,theodor ,schwann had done the same for the animal body1 the theory attained such an importance that ,klliker and ,leydig based on it the modern science of tissues1 or histology1 and ,virchow constructed his cellular pathology by applying it to diseased human beings4 ,these are the most important advances of theoretical medicine4 ,but it was still a long time before the difficult question of the relation of these microscopic beings to the cell was answered4 ,carl ,theodor von ,siebold had already maintained 7in #ahde7 that the real infusoria and the closely related rhizopods were unicellular organisms1 and had distinguished these protozoa from the rest of the animals4 ,at the same time1 ,carl ,naegeli had described the lowest alg as unicellular plants4 ,but this important conception was not generally admitted until some time afterwards1 especially after ,i brought all the unicellular organisms under the head of protists 7#ahgb71 and defined their psychic functions as the cell-soul4 ,i was led to make a very close study of these unicellular protists and their primitive cell-soul through my research on the radiolaria1 a very remarkable class of microscopic organisms that float in the sea4 ,i was engaged most of my time for more than thirty of the best years of my life 7#ahef-hg7 in studying them in every aspect1 and if ,i came eventually to adopt a strictly ,monistic attitude on all the great questions of biology1 ,i owe it for the most part to my innumerable observations and uninterrupted reflections on the wonderful vital movements that are disclosed by these smallest and frailest1 and at the same time most beautiful and varied1 of living things4 ,i had undertaken the study of the radiolaria as a kind of souvenir of my great master1 ,johannes ,mller4 ,he had loved to study these animals 7of which only a few species were discovered for the first time in the year of my birth1 #ahcd7 in the last years of his life1 and had in #ahee set up the special group of the rhizopods 7protozoa74 ,his last work1 which appeared shortly after his death 7#aheh71 and contained a description of #ej species of radiolaria1 went with me to the ,mediterranean when ,i made my first long voyage in the summer of #ahei4 ,i was so fortunate as to discover about #aej new species of radiolaria at ,messina1 and based on these my first monograph of this very instructive class of protists 7#ahfb74 ,i had no suspicion at that time that fifteen years afterwards the deep-sea finds of the famous ,challenger expedition would bring to light an incalculable wealth of these remarkable animals4 ,in my second monograph on them 7#ahhg71 ,i was able to describe more than #d1jjj different species of radiolaria1 and illustrate most of them on #adj plates4 ,i have given a selection of the prettiest forms on ten plates of my ,art-forms in ,nature4 ,i have not space here to go into the forms and vital movements of the radiolaria1 of the general import of which my friend1 ,wilhelm ,blsche1 has given a very attractive account in his various popular works4 ,i must restrict myself to pointing out the general phenomena that bear upon our particular subject1 the question of the mind4 ,the pretty flinty skeletons of the radiolaria1 which enclose and protect the soft unicellular body1 are remarkable1 not only for their extraordinary gracefulness and beauty1 but also for the geometrical regularity and relative constancy of their forms4 ,the #d1jjj species of radiolaria are just as constant as the #d1jjj known species of ants2 and1 as the ,darwinian ,jesuit1 ,father ,wasmann1 has convinced himself that the latter have all descended by transformation from a common stem-form1 ,i have concluded on the same principles that the #d1jjj species of radiolaria have developed from a primitive form in virtue of adaptation and heredity4 ,this primitive form1 the stem-radiolarian 7,actissa7 is a simple round cell1 the soft living protoplasmic body of which is divided into two different parts1 an inner central capsule 7in the middle of which is the solid round nucleus7 and an outer gelatinous envelope 7calymma74 ,from the outer surface of the latter1 hundreds and thousands of fine plasmic threads radiate2 these are mobile and sensitive processes of the living internal substance1 the plasm 7or protoplasm74 ,these delicate microscopic threads1 or pseudopodia1 are the curious organs that effect the sensations 7of touch71 the locomotion 7by pushing71 and the orderly construction of the flinty house2 at the same time1 they maintain the nourishment of the unicellular body1 by seizing infusoria1 diatoms1 and other protists1 and drawing them within the plasmic body1 where they are digested and assimilated4 ,the radiolaria generally reproduce by the formation of spores4 ,the nucleus within the protoplasmic globule divides into two small nuclei1 each of which surrounds itself with a quantity of plasm1 and forms a new cell4 ,what is this plasm8 ,what is this mysterious living substance that we find everywhere as the material foundation of the wonders of life8 ,plasm1 or protoplasm1 is1 as ,huxley rightly said thirty years ago1 the physical basis of organic life2 to speak more precisely1 it is a chemical compound of carbon that alone accomplishes the various processes of life4 ,in its simplest form the living cell is merely a soft globule of plasm1 containing a firmer nucleus4 ,the inner nuclear matter 7called caryoplasm7 differs somewhat in chemical composition from the outer cellular matter 7or cytoplasm72 but both substances are composed of carbon1 oxygen1 hydrogen1 nitrogen1 and sulphur2 both belong to the remarkable group of the albuminates1 the nitrogenous carbonates that are distinguished for the extraordinary size of their molecules and the unstable arrangement of the numerous atoms 7more than a thousand7 that compose them4 ,there are1 however1 still simpler organisms in which the nucleus and the body of the cell have not yet been differentiated4 ,these are the monera1 the whole living body of which is merely a homogeneous particle of plasm 7the chromacea and bacteria74 ,the well-known bacteria which now play so important a part as the causes of most dangerous infectious diseases1 and the agents of putrefaction1 fermentation1 etc41 show very clearly that organic life is only a chemical and physical process1 and not the outcome of a mysterious vital force4 ,we see this still more clearly in our radiolaria1 and at the same time they show us unmistakably that even the psychic activity is such a physico-chemical process4 ,all the different functions of their cell-soul1 the sense-perception of stimuli1 the movement of their plasm1 their nutrition1 growth1 and reproduction1 are determined by the particular chemical composition of each of the #d1jjj species2 and they have all descended1 in virtue of adaptation and heredity1 from the common stem-form of the naked1 round parent-radiolarian 7,actissa74 ,we may instance1 as a peculiarly interesting fact in the psychic life of the unicellular radiolaria1 the extraordinary power of memory in them4 ,the relative constancy with which the #d1jjj species transmit the orderly and often very complex form of their protective flinty structure from generation to generation can only be explained by admitting in the builders1 the invisible plasma-molecules of the pseudopodia1 a fine plastic sense of distance1 and a tenacious recollection of the architectural power of their fathers4 ,the fine1 formless plasma-threads are always building afresh the same delicate flinty shells with an artistic trellis-work1 and with protective radiating needles and supports always at the same points of their surface4 ,the physiologist1 ,ewald ,hering 7of ,leipsic71 had spoken in #ahgj of memory as a general function of organised matter4 ,i myself had tried to explain the molecular features of heredity by the memory of the plasma-molecules1 in my essay on ,the ,perigenesis of the ,plastidules 7#ahge74 ,recently one of the ablest of my pupils1 ,professor ,richard ,semon 7of ,munich1 #aijd71 made a profound study of ,mneme as the principle of constancy in the changes of organic phenomena1 and reduced the mechanical process of reproduction to a purely physiological base4 ,from the cell-soul and its memory in the radiolaria and other unicellular protists1 we pass directly to the similar phenomenon in the ovum1 the unicellular starting-point of the individual life1 from which the complex multicellular frame of all the histona1 or tissue-forming animals and plants1 is developed4 ,even the human organism is at first a simple nucleated globule of plasm1 about #a_/abe inch in diameter1 barely visible to the naked eye as a tiny point4 ,this stem-cell 7cytula7 is formed at the moment when the ovum is fertilised1 or mingled with the small male spermatozoon4 ,the ovum transmits to the child by heredity the personal traits of the mother1 the sperm-cell those of the father2 and this hereditary transmission extends to the finest characteristics of the soul as well as of the body4 ,the modern research as to heredity1 which occupies so much space now in biological literature1 but was only started by ,darwin in #ahei1 is directed immediately to the visible material processes of impregnation4 ,the very interesting and important phenomena of impregnation have only been known to us in detail for thirty years4 ,it has been shown conclusively1 after a number of delicate investigations1 that the individual development of the embryo from the stem-cell or fertilised ovum is controlled by the same laws in all cases4 ,the stem-cell divides and subdivides rapidly into a number of simple cells4 ,from these a few simple organs1 the germinal layers1 are formed at first2 later on the various organs1 of which there is no trace in the early embryo1 are built up out of these4 ,the biogenetic law teaches us how1 in this development1 the original features of the ancestral history are reproduced or recapitulated in the embryonic processes2 and these facts in turn can only be explained by the unconscious memory of the plasm1 the mneme of the living substance in the germ-cells1 and especially in their nuclei4 ,one important result of these modern discoveries was the prominence given to the fact that the personal soul has a beginning of existence1 and that we can determine the precise moment in which this takes place2 it is when the parent cells1 the ovum and spermatozoon1 coalesce4 ,hence what we call the soul of man or the animal has not pre-existed1 but begins its career at the moment of impregnation2 it is bound up with the chemical constitution of the plasm1 which is the material vehicle of heredity in the nucleus of the maternal ovum and the paternal spermatozoon4 ,one cannot see how a being that thus has a beginning of existence can afterwards prove to be immortal4 ,further1 a candid examination of the simple cell-soul in the unicellular infusoria1 and of the dawn of the individual soul in the unicellular germ of man and the higher animals1 proves at once that psychic action does not necessarily postulate a fully formed nervous system1 as was previously believed4 ,there is no such system in many of the lower animals1 or any of the plants1 yet we find psychic activities1 especially sensation1 irritability1 and reflex action everywhere4 ,all living plasm has a psychic life1 and in this sense the psyche is a partial function of organic life generally4 ,but the higher psychic functions1 particularly the phenomena of consciousness1 only appear gradually in the higher animals1 in which 7in consequence of a division of labour among the organs7 the nervous system has assumed these functions4 ,it is particularly interesting to glance at the central nervous system of the vertebrates1 the great stem of which we regard ourselves as the crowning point4 ,here again the anatomical and embryological facts speak a clear and unambiguous language4 ,in all vertebrates1 from the lowest fishes up to man1 the psychic organ makes its appearance in the embryo in the same form--a simple cylindrical tube on the dorsal side of the embryonic body1 in the middle line4 ,the anterior section of this medullary tube expands into a club-shaped vesicle1 which is the beginning of the brain2 the posterior and thinner section becomes the spinal cord4 ,the cerebral vesicle divides1 by transverse constrictions1 into three1 then four1 and eventually five vesicles4 ,the most important of these is the first1 the cerebrum1 the organ of the highest psychic functions4 ,the more the intelligence develops in the higher vertebrates1 the larger1 more voluminous1 and more specialised does the cerebrum become4 ,in particular1 the grey mantle or cortex of the cerebrum1 its most important part1 only attains in the higher mammals the degree of quantitative and qualitative development that qualifies it to be the organ of mind in the narrower sense4 ,through the famous discoveries of ,paul ,flechsig eleven years ago we were enabled to distinguish eight fields in the cortex1 four of which serve as the internal centres of sense-perception1 and the four that lie between these are the thought-centres 7or association-centres7 of the higher psychic faculties--the association of impressions1 the formation of ideas and concepts1 induction and deduction4 ,this real organ of mind1 the phronema1 is not yet developed in the lower mammals4 ,it is only gradually built up in the more advanced1 exactly in proportion as their intelligence increases4 ,it is only in the most intelligent forms of the placentals1 the higher ungulates 7horse1 elephant71 the carnivores 7fox1 dog71 and especially the primates1 that the phronema attains the high grade of development that leads us from the anthropoid apes direct to the savage1 and from him to civilised man4 ,we have learned a good deal about the special significance of the various parts of the brain1 as organs of specific functions1 by the progress of the modern science of experimental physiology4 ,careful experiments by ,goltz1 ,munk1 ,bernard1 and many other physiologists1 have shown that the normal consciousness1 speech1 and the internal sense-perceptions1 are connected with definite areas of the cortex1 and that these various parts of the soul are destroyed when the organic areas connected with them are injured4 ,but in this respect ,nature has unconsciously given us the most instructive experiments4 ,diseases in these various areas show how their functions are partially or totally extinguished when the cerebral cells that compose them 7the neurona or ganglionic cells7 are partially or entirely destroyed4 ,here again ,virchow1 who was the first to make a careful microscopic study of the finest changes in the diseased cells1 and so explain the nature of the disease1 did pioneer work4 ,i still remember very well a spectacle of this kind 7in the summer of #ahee1 at ,wrzburg71 which made a deep impression on me4 ,virchow's sharp eye had detected a small suspicious spot in the cerebrum of a lunatic1 though there seemed to be nothing remarkable about it on superficial examination4 ,he handed it to me for microscopic examination1 and ,i found that a large number of the ganglionic cells were affected1 partly by fatty degeneration and partly by calcification4 ,the luminous remarks that my great teacher made on these and similar finds in other cases of mental disorder1 confirmed my conviction of the unity of the human organism and the inseparable connection of mind and body1 which he himself at that time expressly shared4 ,when he abandoned this ,monistic conception of the psychic life for ,dualism and ,mysticism twenty years afterwards 7especially after his ,munich speech in #ahgg71 we must attribute this partly to his psychological metamorphosis1 and partly to the political motives of which ,i spoke in the last chapter4 ,we find another series of strong arguments in favour of our ,monistic psychology in the individual development of the soul in the child and the young animal4 ,we know that the new-born child has as yet no consciousness1 no intelligence1 no independent judgment and thought4 ,we follow the gradual development of these higher faculties step by step in the first years of life1 in strict proportion to the anatomical development of the cortex with which they are bound up4 ,the inquiries into the child-soul which ,wilhelm ,preyer began in ,jena twenty-five years ago1 his careful observations of the mental development of man in his early years1 and the supplementary research of several more recent physiologists1 have shown1 from the ontogenetic side1 that the soul is not a special immaterial entity1 but the sum-total of a number of connected functions of the brain4 ,when the brain dies1 the soul comes to an end4 ,we have further proof in the stem-history of the soul1 which we gather from the comparative psychology of the lower and higher mammals1 and of savage and civilised races4 ,modern ethnography shows us in actual existence the various stages through which the mind rose to its present height4 ,the most primitive races1 such as the ,veddahs of ,ceylon1 or the ,australian natives1 are very little above the mental life of the anthropoid apes4 ,from the higher savages we pass by a complete gradation of stages to the most civilised races4 ,but what a gulf there is1 even here1 between the genius of a ,goethe1 a ,darwin1 or a ,lamarck1 and an ordinary philisthine or third-rate official4 ,all these facts point to one conclusion3 the human soul has only reached its present height by a long period of gradual evolution2 it differs in degree1 not in kind1 from the soul of the higher mammals2 and thus it cannot in any case be immortal4 ,that a large number of educated people still cling to the dogma of personal immortality in spite of these luminous proofs1 is owing to the great power of conservative tradition and the evil methods of instruction that stamp these untenable dogmas deep on the growing mind in early years4 ,it is for that very reason that the ,churches strive to keep the schools under their power at any cost2 they can control and exploit the adults at will1 if independent thought and judgment have been stifled in the earlier years4 ,this brings us to the interesting question3 ,what is the position of the ecclesiastical evolution of the ,jesuits 7the latest course of ,darwinism71 as regards this great question of the soul8 ,man is1 according to ,wasmann1 the image of ,god and a unique1 immaterial being1 differing from all other animals in the possession of an immortal soul1 and therefore having a totally different origin from them4 ,man's immortal soul is1 according to this ,jesuit sophistry1 spiritual and sensitive1 while the animal soul is sensitive only4 ,god has implanted his own spirit in man1 and associated it with an animal soul for the period of life4 ,it is true that ,wasmann believes even man's body to have been created directly by ,god2 but1 in view of the overwhelming proofs of our animal descent1 he leaves open the possibility of a development from a series of other animals1 in which case the ,divine spirit would be breathed into him in the end4 ,the ,christian ,fathers1 who were much occupied with the introduction of the soul into the human embryo1 tell us that the immortal soul enters the soulless embryo on the fortieth day after conception in the case of the boy1 and on the eightieth day in the case of the girl4 ,if ,wasmann supposes that there was a similar introduction of the soul in the development of the race1 he must postulate a moment in the history of the anthropoid apes when ,god sent his spirit into the hitherto unspiritual soul of the ape4 ,when we look at the matter impartially in the light of pure reason1 the belief in immortality is wholly inconsistent with the facts of evolution and of physiology4 ,the ontogenetic dogma of the older ,church1 that the soul is introduced into the soulless body at a particular moment of its embryonic development1 is just as absurd as the phylogenetic dogma of the most modern ,jesuits1 that the ,divine spirit was breathed into the frame of an anthropoid ape at a certain period 7in the ,tertiary period71 and so converted it into an immortal soul4 ,we may examine and test this belief as we will1 we can find in it nothing but a piece of mystic superstition4 ,it is maintained solely by the great power of tradition and the support of ,conservative governments1 the leaders of which have no personal belief in these revelations1 but cling to the practical conviction that throne and altar must support each other4 ,they unfortunately overlook the circumstance that the throne is apt to become merely the footstool to the altar1 and that the ,church exploits the ,state for its own1 not the ,state's1 good4 ,we learn further1 from the history of this dogma1 that the belief in immortality did not find its way into science until a comparatively late date4 ,it is not found in the great ,monistic natural philosophers who1 six centuries before the time of ,christ1 evinced a profound insight into the real nature of the world4 ,it is not found in ,democritus and ,empedocles1 in ,seneca and ,lucretius ,carus4 ,it is not found in the older ,oriental religions1 ,buddhism1 the ancient religion of the ,chinese1 or ,confucianism2 in fact1 there is no question of individual persistence after death in the ,pentateuch or the earlier books of the ,old ,testament 7which were written before the ,babylonian ,exile74 ,it was ,plato and his pupil1 ,aristotle1 that found a place for it in their dualistic metaphysics2 and its agreement with the ,christian and ,mohammedan teaching secured for it a very widespread acceptance4 ,another psychological dogma1 the belief in man's free-will1 is equally inconsistent with the truth of evolution4 ,modern physiology shows clearly that the will is never really free in man or in the animal1 but determined by the organisation of the brain2 this in turn is determined in its individual character by the laws of heredity and the influence of the environment4 ,it is only because the apparent freedom of the will has such a great practical significance in the province of religion1 morality1 sociology1 and law1 that it still forms the subject of the most contradictory claims4 ,theoretically1 determinism1 or the doctrine of the necessary character of our volitions1 was established long ago4 ,with the belief in the absolute freedom of the will and the personal immortality of the soul is associated1 in the minds of many highly educated people1 a third article of faith1 the belief in a personal ,god4 ,it is well known that this belief1 often wrongly represented as an indispensable foundation of religion1 assumes the most widely varied shapes4 ,as a rule1 however1 it is an open or covert anthropomorphism4 ,god is conceived as the ,supreme ,being1 but turns out1 on closer examination1 to be an idealised man4 ,according to the ,mosaic narrative1 ,god made man to his own image and likeness1 but it is usually the reverse2 ,man made ,god according to his own image and likeness4 ,this idealised man becomes creator and architect and produces the world1 forming the various species of plants and animals like a modeller1 governing the world like a wise and all-powerful monarch1 and1 at the ,last ,judgment1 rewarding the good and punishing the wicked like a rigorous judge4 ,the childish conceptions of this extramundane ,god1 who is set over against the world as an independent being1 the personal creator1 maintainer1 and ruler of all things1 are quite incompatible with the advanced science of the nineteenth century1 especially with its two greatest triumphs1 the law of substance and the law of ,monistic evolution4 ,critical philosophy1 moreover1 long ago pronounced its doom4 ,in the first place1 the most famous critical thinker1 ,immanuel ,kant1 proved in his ,critique of ,pure ,reason that absolute science affords no support to the three central dogmas of metaphysics1 the personal ,god1 the immortality of the soul1 and the freedom of the will4 ,it is true that he afterwards 7in the course of his dualistic and dogmatic metamorphosis7 taught that we must believe these three great mystic forces1 and that they are indispensable postulates of practical reason2 and that the latter must take precedence over pure reason4 ,modern ,german philosophy1 which clamours for a return to ,kant1 sees his chief distinction in this impossible reconciliation of polar contradictions4 ,the ,churches1 and the ruling powers in alliance with them1 accord a welcome to this diametrical contradiction1 recognised by all candid readers of the ,knigsberg philosopher1 between the two reasons4 ,they use the confusion that results for the purpose of putting the light of the creeds in the darkness of doubting reason1 and imagine that they save religion in this way4 ,whilst we are engaged with the important subject of religion1 we must refute the charge1 often made1 and renewed of recent years1 that our ,monistic philosophy and the theory of evolution that forms its chief foundation destroy religion4 ,it is only opposed to those lower forms of religion that are based on superstition and ignorance1 and would hold man's reason in bondage by empty formalism and belief in the miraculous1 in order to control it for political purposes4 ,this is chiefly the case with ,romanism or ,ultramontanism1 that pitiful caricature of pure ,christianity that still plays so important a part in the world4 ,luther would turn in his grave if he could see the predominance of the ,roman ,centre party in the ,german ,empire to-day4 ,we find the papacy1 the deadly enemy of ,protestant ,germany1 controlling its destiny1 and the ,reichstag submitting willingly to be led by the ,jesuits4 ,not a voice do we hear raised in it against the three most dangerous and mischievous institutions of ,romanism--the obligatory celibacy of the clergy1 the confessional1 and indulgences4 ,though these later institutions of the ,roman ,church have nothing to do with the original teaching of the ,church and pure ,christianity2 though their immoral consequences1 so prejudicial to the life of the family and the ,state1 are known to all1 they exist just as they did before the ,reformation4 ,unfortunately1 many ,german princes foster the ambition of the ,roman clergy1 making their ,canossa-journey to ,rome1 and bending the knee to the great charlatan at the ,vatican4 ,it is also very regrettable that the increasing tendency to external show and festive parade at what is called the new court does grave injury to real and inner religion4 ,we have a striking instance of this external religion in the new cathedral at ,berlin1 which many would have us regard as ,catholic1 not ,protestant and ,evangelical4 ,i often met in ,india priests and pilgrims who believed they were pleasing their ,god by turning prayer-wheels1 or setting up prayer-mills that were set in motion by the wind4 ,one might utilise the modern invention of automatic machines for the same purposes1 and set up praying automata in the new cathedral1 or indulgence-machines that would give relief from lighter sins for one mark shilling1 and from graver sins for twenty marks4 ,it would prove a great source of revenue to the ,church1 especially if similar machines were set up in the other churches that have lately been erected in ,berlin at a cost of millions of marks4 ,it would have been better to have spent the money on schools4 ,these observations on the more repellent characters of modern orthodoxy and piety may be taken as some reply to the sharp attacks to which ,i have been exposed for forty years1 and which have lately been renewed with great violence4 ,the spokesmen of ,catholic and ,evangelical beliefs1 especially the ,romanist ,germania and the ,lutheran ,reichsbote1 have vied with each other in deploring my lectures as a desecration of this venerable hall1 and in damning my theory of evolution--without1 of course1 making any attempt to repute its scientific truth4 ,they have1 in their ,christian charity1 thought fit to put sandwich-men at the doors of this room1 to distribute scurrilous attacks on my person and my teaching to those who enter4 ,they have made a generous use of the fanatical calumnies that the court chaplain1 ,stcker1 the theologian1 ,loofs1 the philologist1 ,dennert1 and other opponents of my ,riddle of the ,universe1 have disseminated1 and to which ,i make a brief reply at the end of that work4 ,i pass by the many untruths of these zealous protagonists of theology4 ,we men of science have a different conception of truth from that which prevails in ecclesiastical circles4#aj ,as regards the relation of science to ,christianity1 ,i will only point out that it is quite irreconcilable with the mystic and supernatural ,christian beliefs1 but that it fully recognises the high ethical value of ,christian morality4 ,it is true that the highest commands of the ,christian religion1 especially those of sympathy and brotherly love1 are not discoveries of its own2 the golden rule was taught and practised centuries before the time of ,christ4 ,however1 ,christianity has the distinction of preaching and developing it with a fresh force4 ,in its time it has had a beneficial influence on the development of civilisation1 though in the ,middle ,ages the ,roman ,church became1 with its ,inquisition1 its witch-drowning1 its burning of heretics1 and its religious wars1 the bloodiest caricature of the gentle religion of love4 ,orthodox historical ,christianity is not directly destroyed by modern science1 but by its own learned and zealous theologians4 ,the enlightened ,protestantism that was so effectively advocated by ,schleiermacher in ,berlin eighty years ago1 the later works of ,feuerbach1 the inquiries into the life of ,jesus of ,david ,strauss and ,ernest ,renan1 the lectures recently delivered here by ,delitzsch and ,harnack1 have left very little of what strict orthodoxy regards as the indispensable foundations of historical ,christianity4 ,kalthoff1 of ,bremen1 goes so far as to declare that all ,christian traditions are myths1 and that the development of ,christianity is a necessary outcome of the civilisation of the time4 ,in view of this broadening tendency in theology and philosophy at the beginning of the twentieth century1 it is an unfortunate anachronism that the ,ministers of ,public ,instruction of ,prussia and ,bavaria sail in the wake of the ,catholic ,church1 and seek to instil the spirit of the ,jesuits in both lower and higher education4 ,it is only a few weeks since the ,prussian ,minister of ,worship made a dangerous attempt to suppress academic freedom1 the palladium of mental life in ,germany4 ,this increasing reaction recalls the sad days of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries1 when thousands of the finest citizens of ,germany migrated to ,north ,america1 in order to develop their mental powers in a free atmosphere4 ,this selective process formed a blessing to the ,united ,states1 but it was certainly very injurious to ,germany4 ,large numbers of weak and servile characters and sycophants were thus favoured4 ,the fossilised ideas of many of our leading jurists seem to take us back sometimes to the ,cretaceous and ,jurassic periods1 while the palozoic rhetoric of our theologians and synods even goes back to the ,permian and ,carboniferous epochs4 ,however1 we must not take too seriously the anxiety that this increasing political and clerical reaction causes us4 ,we must remember the vast resources of civilisation that are seen to-day in our enormous international intercourse1 and must have confidence in the helpful exchange of ideas between east and west that is being effected daily by our means of transit4 ,even in ,germany the darkness that now prevails will at length give place to the dazzling light of the sun4 ,nothing1 in my opinion1 will contribute more to that end than the unconditional victory of the idea of evolution4 ,beside the law of evolution1 and closely connected with it1 we have that great triumph of modern science1 the law of substance--the law of the conservation of matter 7,lavoisier1 #aghi71 and of the conservation of energy 7,robert ,mayer1 #ahdb74 ,these two laws are irreconcilable with the three central dogmas of metaphysics1 which so many educated people still regard as the most precious treasures of their spiritual life--the belief in a personal ,god1 the personal immortality of the soul1 and the liberty of the human will4 ,but these great objects of belief1 so intimately bound up with numbers of our treasured achievements and institutions1 are not on that account driven out of the world4 ,they merely cease to pose as truths in the realm of pure science4 ,as imaginative creations1 they retain a certain value in the world of poetry4 ,here they will not only1 as they have done hitherto1 furnish thousands of the finest and most lofty motives for every branch of art--sculpture1 painting1 or music--but they will still have a high ethical and social value in the education of the young and in the organisation of society4 ,just as we derive artistic and ethical inspiration from the legends of classical antiquity 7such as the ,hercules myth1 the ,odyssey and the ,iliad7 and the story of ,william ,tell1 so we will continue to do in regard to the stories of the ,christian mythology4 ,but we must do the same with the poetical conceptions of other religions1 which have given the most varied forms to the transcendental ideas of ,god1 freedom1 and immortality4 ,thus the noble warmth of art will remain1 together with--not in opposition to1 but in harmony with--the splendid light of science1 one of the most precious possessions of the human mind4 ,as ,goethe said3 ,he who has science and art has religion2 he who has not these two had better have religion4 ,our ,monistic system1 the connecting link between religion and science1 brings ,god and the world into unity in the sense that ,goethe willed1 the sense that ,spinoza clearly expressed long ago and ,giordano ,bruno had sealed with his martyrdom4 ,it has been said repeatedly of late that ,goethe was an orthodox ,christian4 ,a few years ago a young orator quoted him in support of the wonderful dogmas of the ,christian religion4 ,we may point out that ,goethe himself expressly said he was a decided non-,christian4 ,the great heathen of ,weimar has given the clearest expression to his ,pantheistic views in his noblest poems1 ,faust1 ,prometheus1 and ,god and the ,world4 ,how could so vigorous a thinker1 in whose mind the evolution of organic life ran through millions of years1 have shared the narrow belief of a ,jewish prophet and enthusiast who sought to give up his life for humanity #a1ijj years ago8 ,our ,monistic god1 the all-embracing essence of the world1 the ,nature-god of ,spinoza and ,goethe1 is identical with the eternal1 all-inspiring energy1 and is one1 in eternal and infinite substance1 with space-filling matter4 ,it lives and moves in all things1 as the ,gospel says4 ,and as we see that the law of substance is universal1 that the conservation of matter and of energy is inseparably connected1 and that the ceaseless development of this substance follows the same eternal iron laws1 we find ,god in natural law itself4 ,the will of ,god is at work in every falling drop of rain and every growing crystal1 in the scent of the rose and the spirit of man4 ,,appendix ,,evolutionary ,,tables #a4--;,,geological ,,ages ,,and ,,periods ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------- ,ages in the ,approximate length ,organic ,history ,periods of ,vertebrate of ,paleontological of the ,earth4 ,geology ,fossils4 ,periods4 ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------- #a4 ,laurentian ,i4 ,archeozoic age #eb million years 7primordial7 ,no fossil ,sedimentary strata #b4 ,huronian remains of #fc1jjj ft4 thick vertebrates ,age of #c4 ,cambrian invertebrates ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------- #d4 ,silurian ,fishes ,,ii4 ,paleozoic age #e4 ,devonian ,dipneusts #cd million years 7primary7 ,sedimentary strata ,age of fishes #f4 ,carboniferous ,amphibia #da1bjj ft4 thick #g4 ,permian ,reptiles ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------- #h4 ,triassic ,monotremes ,,iii4 ,mesozoic age #aa million years 7secondary7 #i4 ,jurassic ,marsupials ,sedimentary strata ,age of reptiles #ab1bjj ft4 thick #aj4 ,cretaceous ,mallotheria ,pro-placentals ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------- #aa4 ,eocene ,prosimi ,lemurs #ab4 ,oligocene ,cynopitheca ,,iv4 ,cenozoic age ,baboons 7tertiary7 #c million years ,age of mammals #ac4 ,miocene ,anthropoides #c1fjj ft4 thick ,man-like apes #ad4 ,pliocene ,pithecanthropi ,ape-men ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------- ,v4 ,anthropozoic #ae4 ,glacial ,pre-historic man age 7quaternary7 #cjj1jjj years ,age of man #af4 ,post-glacial ,savage and ,sedimentary strata civilised man little thickness ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------- #b;,a4--,,man',s ,,genealogical ,,tree--,first ,half ,,earlier ,,ancestral ,,series1 ,,without ,,fossil ,,remains1 ,,before ,,the ,,silurian ,,period ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,chief ,stages4 ,ancestral ,living ,relatives ,pale-,onto-,mor- ,stem-,groups4 of our ,ancestors4 onto-geny4phol- logy4 ogy4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,stages #a-e3 #a4 ,,monera #a4 ,,chromacea ,o ,i8 ,i ,,protist- 7,plasmodoma7 7,chroococcus7 ,,ancestors without nuclei ,phycochromacea ,unicellular #b4 ,,algaria #b4 ,,paulotomea ,o ,i8 ,i organisms ,unicellular alg ,palmellacea with nuclei ,eremosphaera #c4 ,,lobosa #c4 ,,am,,bina ,o ,,ii ,,ii ,unicellular ,amba 7,amboid7 ,lecocyta #a-b3 ,rhizopods ,plasmodomous #d4 ,,infusoria #d4 ,,flagellata ,o 8 ,,ii ,protophyta 7,unicellular7 ,euflagellata #c-e3 ,zoomonades ,plasmophagous #e4 ,,blast,,ades #e4 ,,catallacta ,o ,,iii ,,iii ,protozoa ,multicellular ,magosphaera cell-colonies ,volvocina ,blastula8 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- #f4 ,,gastr,,ades #f4 ,,gastrula ,o ,,iii ,,iii ,stages #f-aa3 with two ,hydra1 ,olynthus1 ,,invertebrate germinal layers ,orthonectida ,,metazoa- #g4 ,,platodes ,i4 #g4 ,,cryptoc,,la ,o 8 ,i ,,ancestors ,platodaria 7,convoluta7 #f-h3 7without nephridia7 7,proporus7 ,clenteria1 #h4 ,,platodes ,,ii4 #h4 ,,rhabdoc,,la ,o 8 ,i without anus ,platodinia 7,vortex7 anus or 7with nephridia7 7,monotus7 body-cavity #i4 ,,provermalia #i4 ,,gastrotricha ,o 8 ,i ,rotatoria ,trochozoa ,primitive worms ,trochophora #i-aa3 #aj4 ,,frontonia #aj4 ,,enteropneusta ,o 8 ,i ,vermalia1 7,rhynchelminthes7 ,balanoglossus with anus and ,snouted worms ,cephalodiscus body-cavity #aa4 ,,prochordonia #aa4 ,,copelata ,o ,,ii ,,ii ,worms with chorda ,appendicaria ---------------------------------------- --------------------------- #ab4 ,,acrania ,i4 #ab4 ,,larv ,,of ,o ,,iii ,,ii 7,prospondylia7 ,,amphioxus ,stages #ab-ae3 #ac4 ,,acrania ,,ii4 #ac4 ,,leptocardia ,o ,i ,,iii ,,monorrhina- ,later skull-less ,amphioxus ,,ancestors animals 7,lancelet7 ,earliest #ad4 ,,cyclostoma ,i4 #ad4 ,,larv ,,of ,o ,,iii ,,ii vertebrates1 7,archicrania7 ,,petromyzon without jaws #ae4 ,,cyclostoma ,,ii4 #ae4 ,,marsipobran- ,o ,i ,,iii or pairs of ,later round- ,,chia limbs1 with mouthed animals ,myxinoides single ,petromyzontes nostril ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- #b;,b4--,,man',s ,,genealogical ,,tree--,second ,half ,,later ,,ancestral ,,series1 ,,with ,,fossil ,,remains1 ,,beginning ,,in ,,the ,,silurian ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,geological ,stem-,groups of ,living ,relatives ,pale-,onto-,mor- ,periods4 ,ancestors4 of our ,ancestors4 onto-geny4phol- logy4 logy4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- #af4 ,,selachii #af4 ,,notidanides ,i ,,ii ,,iii ,silurian ,primitive fishes ,chlamydoselachus ,proselachii ,heptanchus #ag4 ,,ganoides #ag4 ,,accipenserides ,,ii ,i ,,ii ,silurian ,plated fishes ,sturgeon1 ,proganoides ,polypterus #ah4 ,,dipneusta #ah4 ,,neodipneusta ,i ,,ii ,,ii ,devonian ,paladipneusta ,ceratodus1 ,protopterus #ai4 ,,amphibia #ai4 ,,phanerobranchia ,,iii ,,iii ,,iii ,carboniferous ,stegocephala and ,salamandrina 7,proteus1 ,triton7 #bj4 ,,reptilia #bj4 ,,rhyncocephalia ,,iii ,,ii ,,ii ,permian ,proreptilia ,primitive lizards ,hatteria ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- #ba4 ,,monotrema #ba4 ,,ornithodelphia ,i ,,iii ,,iii ,triassic ,promammalia ,echnida ,ornithorhyncus #bb4 ,,marsupialia #bb4 ,,didelphia ,i ,,ii ,,ii ,jurassic ,prodidelphia ,didelphys1 ,perameles #bc4 ,,mallotheria #bc4 ,,insectivora ,,iii ,i ,i ,cretaceous ,prochoriata ,erinaceida 7,ictopsida7 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- #bd4 ,,lemuravida #bd4 ,,pachylemures ,,iii ,i8 ,,ii ,older ,eocene ,earlier lemurs 7,hypopsodus7 ,dent4 #c1 #a1 #d1 #c 7,adapis7 #be4 ,,lemurogona #be4 ,,autolemures ,,ii ,i8 ,,ii ,later ,eocene ,later lemurs 7,eulemur7 ,dent4 #b1 #a1 #d1 #c 7,stenops7 #bf4 ,,dysmopitheca #bf4 ,,platyrrhin ,i ,i ,,ii ,oligocene ,western apes 7,anthropops7 ,dent4 #b1 #a1 #c1 #c 7,homunculus7 #bg4 ,,cynopitheca #bg4 ,,papiomorpha ,i ,i ,,iii ,older ,miocene ,baboons 7tailed7 7,cynocephalus7 #bh4 ,,anthropoides #bh4 ,,hylobatida ,i ,,ii ,,iii ,later ,miocene ,anthropoid apes ,hylobates 7tailless7 ,satyrus #bi4 ,,pithecanthropi #bi4 ,,anthropitheca ,,ii ,,iii ,,iii ,pliocene ,ape-like men ,chimpanzee 7alalispeechless7 ,gorilla #cj4 ,,homines #cj4 ,,weddahs ,i ,,iii ,,iii ,pleistocene 7loquaceswith ,australian speech7 natives ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- #c4--;,,classification ,,of ,,the ,,primates ,,transcriber ,,note3 ,this #d-;column ,table has been split into two parts4 ,the first part has columns #a1 #b and #c4 ,the second part has columns #b1 #c and #d 7#b and #c are repeated from the first part74 ,n4,b4-- 99 indicates extinct forms1 living groups1 the hypothetical stem-form4 ,cf4 ,history of ,creation1 chap4 xxvii42 ,evolution of ,man1 chap4 xxiii4 ,first ,part ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,orders4 ,sub-,orders4 ,families4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,i ,,prosimiae #a4 ,,lemuravida #a4 ,,pachylemures99 ,lemurs 7,palalemures7 7,hypopsodina7 7,hemipitheci7 ,early lemurs ,the orbits imper- 7generalists7 ,dent4 #ddc4a4d4c_/c4a4d4c fectly separated ,originally with ,primitive dentition from the temporal claws on all or depression by a most fingers3 later #b4 ,,necrolemures bony arch4 ,womb transition to nails4 7,anaptomorpha7 double or two-horned4 ,tarsus primitive4 ,placenta diffuse1 in- ,dent4 #djb4a4d4c_/b4a4d4c deciduate 7as a rule74 ,reduced dentition ,cerebrum relatively small1 smooth1 or #c4 ,,autolemures little furrowed4 7,lemurida7 #b4 ,,lemurogona 7,neolemures7 ,dent4 #cfb4a4c4c_/b4a4c4c ,modern lemures ,specialised dentition 7specialists7 ,all fingers usually #d4 ,,chirolemures have nails 7except 7,chiromyida7 the second toe74 ,tarsus modified4 ,dent4 #aha4j4a4c_/a4j4j4c ,rodent dentition ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,ii #e4 ,,arctopitheca ,,simiae #c4 ,,platyrrhinae ,apes ,flat-nosed apes ,dent4 #cbb4a4c4b_/b4a4c4b 7,pitheci or ,hesperopitheca ,nail on hallux only simiales7 ,western apes ,orbits completely 7,american7 #f4 ,,dysmopitheca separated from the ,nostrils lateral1 temporal depression with wide partition ,dent4 #cfb4a4c4c_/b4a4c4c by a bony septum4 #c premolars ,nails on all fingers ,womb simple1 pear- shaped4 ,placenta #g4 ,,cynopitheca discoid1 deciduate4 ,cerebrum relatively ,dent #cbb4a4b4c_/b4a4b4c large and much ,generally with tail furrowed4 #d4 ,,catarrhinae and cheek-pouches ,narrow-nosed ,sacrum with #c or apes #d vertebr ,eopitheca ,eastern apes #h4 ,,anthropomorpha 7,arctogoea7 ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,dent4 #cbb4a4b4c_/b4a4b4c ,africa4 ,no tail or cheek-pouches ,nostrils forward1 ,sacrum with #e with narrow septum vertebr #b premolars ,nails on all fingers ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,second ,part ---------------------------------------- --------------------------- ,sub-,orders4 ,families4 ,genera4 ---------------------------------------- --------------------------- ,archiprimas #a4 ,,lemuravida #a4 ,,pachylemures99 ,lemuravus99 7,palalemures7 7,hypopsodina7 ,early ,eocene ,early lemurs ,pelycodus99 7generalists7 ,dent4 #ddc4a4d4c_/c4a4d4c ,early ,eocene ,originally with ,primitive dentition ,hypopsodus99 claws on all or ,late ,eocene most fingers3 later #b4 ,,necrolemures transition to nails4 7,anaptomorpha7 ,adapis99 ,tarsus primitive4 ,plesiadapis99 ,dent4 #djb4a4d4c_/b4a4d4c ,necrolemur99 ,reduced dentition ,eulemur #c4 ,,autolemures ,hapalemur 7,lemurida7 ,lepilemur #b4 ,,lemurogona ,nycticebus 7,neolemures7 ,dent4 #cfb4a4c4c_/b4a4c4c ,stenops ,modern lemures ,specialised dentition ,galago 7specialists7 ,all fingers usually #d4 ,,chirolemures ,chiromys have nails 7except 7,chiromyida7 7,claws on all the second toe74 fingers except ,tarsus modified4 ,dent4 #aha4j4a4c_/a4j4j4c first7 ,rodent dentition ---------------------------------------- --------------------------- #e4 ,,arctopitheca ,hapale #c4 ,,platyrrhinae ,midas ,flat-nosed apes ,dent4 #cbb4a4c4b_/b4a4c4b ,hesperopitheca ,nail on hallux only ,western apes ,callithrix 7,american7 #f4 ,,dysmopitheca ,nyctipithecus ,nostrils lateral1 ,cebus with wide partition ,dent4 #cfb4a4c4c_/b4a4c4c ,mycetes #c premolars ,nails on all fingers ,ateles #g4 ,,cynopitheca ,cynocephalus ,cercopithecus ,dent #cbb4a4b4c_/b4a4b4c ,inuus ,generally with tail ,semnopithecus #d4 ,,catarrhinae and cheek-pouches ,colobus ,narrow-nosed ,sacrum with #c or #d ,nasalis apes vertebr ,eopitheca ,hylobates ,eastern apes #h4 ,,anthropomorpha ,satyrus 7,arctogoea7 ,pliopithecus99 ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,dent4 #cbb4a4b4c_/b4a4b4c ,gorilla ,africa4 ,no tail or cheek-pouches ,anthropithecus ,nostrils forward1 ,sacrum with #e ,dryopithecus99 with narrow septum vertebr ,pithe- #b premolars canthropus99 ,nails on all ,homo fingers ---------------------------------------- --------------------------- #d4--;,,genealogical ,,tree ,,of ,,the ,,primates ,illustration3 ,anthropomorpha ,,explanation ,,of ,,genealogical ,,table #a ,,chronometric ,,reduction ,,of ,,biogenetic ,,periods ,the enormous length of the biogenetic periods 7i4e41 the periods during which organic life has been evolving on our planet7 is still very differently estimated by geologists and paleontologists1 astronomers and physicists1 because the empirical data of the calculation are very incomplete and admit great differences of estimate4 ,however1 most modern experts aver that their length runs to #ajj and #bjj million years 7some say double this1 and even more74 ,if we take the lesser figure of #ajj millions1 we find this distributed over the five chief periods of organic geology very much as is shown on ,table #a4 ,in order to get a clearer idea of the vast duration of these evolutionary periods1 and to appreciate the relative shortness of the historical period1 ,dr4 ,h4 ,schmidt 7,jena7 has reduced the #ajj1jjj1jjj years to a day4 ,in this scheme the twenty-four hours of creation-day are distributed as follows over the five evolutionary periods3 ,i4 ,archeozoic period 7#eb million years7 #ab;h4 #cjm4 ,,ii4 ,paleozoic period 7#cd million years7 #h;h4 #gm4 ,,iii4 ,mesozoic period 7#aa million years7 #b;h4 #chm4 ,,iv4 ,cenozoic period 7#c million years7 #dcm4 ,v4 ,anthropozoic period 7#ja-jb million years7 #bm4 ,if we put the length of the historic period at #f1jjj years1 it only makes five seconds of creation-day2 the ,christian era would amount to two seconds4 ,,postscript ,,evolution ,,and ,,jesuitism ,the relation of the theory of evolution to the teaching of the ,jesuits is in many respects so important and so liable to misunderstanding that ,i have felt it very desirable to make it clear in the present work4 ,i have1 ,i think1 clearly showed that the two doctrines are diametrically and irreconcilably opposed1 and that the attempt of the modern ,jesuits to reconcile the two antagonists is mere sophistry4 ,i wrote with special reference to the works of the learned ,jesuit1 ,father ,erich ,wasmann1 not only because that writer deals with the subject more ably and comprehensively than most of his colleagues1 but because he is more competent to make a scientific defence of his views on account of his long studies of the ants and his general knowledge of biology4 ,he has made a vigorous reply to my strictures in an open letter to me1 which appeared on #bnd ,may1 #aije1 in the ,berlin 7or ,roman7 ,germania1 and in the ,klnische ,volkszeitung4 ,the sophistical objections that ,wasmann raises to my lectures1 and his misleading statement of the most important problems1 oblige me to make a brief reply in this ,postscript4 ,it will be impossible1 of course1 to meet all his points here1 and convince him of their futility4 ,not even the clearest and most rigorous logic makes a man a match for a ,jesuit2 he adroitly employs the facts themselves for the purpose of concealing the truth by his perverse misstatements4 ,it is vain to hope to convince my opponent by rational argument1 when he believes that religious faith is higher than all reason4 ,a good idea can be formed of his position from the conclusion of the eleventh chapter of his work1 ,modern ,biology and the ,theory of ,evolution 7p4 #cjg74 ,there can never be a real contradiction between natural knowledge and supernatural revelation1 because both have their origin in the same ,divine spirit4 ,this is a fine comment on the incessant struggle that natural science is compelled to maintain against supernatural revelation1 and that fills the whole philosophical and theological literature of the last half century4 ,wasmann's orthodox position is shown most clearly by the following statement3 ,the theory of evolution1 to which ,i subscribe as a scientist and a philosopher1 rests on the foundations of the ,christian doctrine which ,i hold to be the only true one3 ',in the beginning ,god created the heavens and the earth4' ,unfortunately1 he does not tell us how he conceives this creation out of nothing1 and what he means by ,god and heavens4 ,i would recommend him to consult ,troelslund's excellent work1 ,the ,idea of ,heaven and of the ,world4 ,almost at the same time that ,i was delivering my lectures at ,berlin1 ,wasmann was giving a series of thoroughly ,jesuitical lectures on the subject at ,lucerne4 ,the ,catholic ,lucerne journal1 ,vaterland1 describes these lectures as a work of emancipation and a critical moment in the intellectual struggle4 ,it quotes the following sentence3 ,at the highest stage of the theistic philosophy of evolution is ,god1 the omnipotent creator of heaven and earth2 next to him1 created by him1 is the immortal soul of man4 ,we reach this conclusion1 not only by faith1 but by inductive and strictly scientific methods4 ,the system that is reared on the theistic doctrine of evolution is the sole rational and truly scientific system2 the atheistic position is irrational and unscientific4 ,in order to see the untruth of this and the succeeding statements of the modern ,jesuits1 we have to remember that the ,churches--both ,protestant and ,catholic--have vigorously combated the theory of evolution with all their power for thirty years1 ever since the first appearance of ,darwinism4 ,the shrewd clergy saw more clearly than many of our nave philosophers that ,darwin's theory of descent is the inevitable key-stone of the whole theory of evolution1 and that the descent of man from other mammals is a rigorous deduction from it4 ,as ,karl ,escherich well says3 ,hitherto we read in the faces of our clerical opponents only hatred1 bitterness1 contempt1 mockery1 or pity in regard to the new invader of their dogmatic structure1 the idea of evolution4 ,now 7since ,wasmann's apostasy7 the assurances of the ,catholic journals1 that the ,church has admitted the theory of evolution for decades1 make us smile4 ,evolution has now pressed on to its final victory1 and these people would have us believe that they were never unfriendly to it1 never shrieked and stormed against it4 ,how1 they say1 could anyone have been so foolish1 when the theory of evolution puts the wisdom and power of the creator in a nobler light than ever4 ,we find a similar diplomatic retreat in the popular work of the ,jesuit1 ,father ,martin ,gander1 ,the ,theory of ,descent 7#aijd73 ,thus the modern forms of matter were not immediately created by ,god2 they are effects of the formative forces1 which were put by the creator in the primitive matter1 and gradually came into view in the course of the earth's history1 when the external conditions were given in the proper combination4 ,that is a remarkable change of front on the part of the clergy4 ,we see the astonishing system of the ,jesuits1 and of the papacy of which they are the bodyguard1 not only in this impossible jumble of evolution and theology1 but also in other passages of ,wasmann1 ,gander1 ,gutberlet1 and their colleagues4 ,the serious dangers that threaten our schools1 and the whole of our higher culture1 from this ,jesuitical sham-science1 have been well pointed out lately by ,count von ,hoensbroech in the preface to his famous work1 ,the ,papacy in its ,social and ,intellectual ,activity 7#aija74 ,the papacy1 he says1 in its claim to a ,divine authority1 transmitted to it by ,christ1 endowed with infallibility in all questions of faith and morals1 is the greatest1 the most fatal1 the most successful error in the whole of history4 ,this great error is girt about by the thousands of lies of its supporters2 this error and these lies work for a system of power and domination1 for ultramontanism4 ,the truth can but struggle against it4444 ,nowhere do we find so much and such systematic lying as in ,catholic science1 and in the history of the ,church and the papacy2 nowhere are the lies and misrepresentations more pernicious than here2 they have become part and parcel of the ,catholic religion4 ,the facts of history tell plainly enough that the papacy is anything but a ,divine institution2 that it has brought more curses and ruin1 more bloody turmoil and profanation1 into humanity's holiest of holies1 religion1 than any other power in the world4 ,this severe judgment on the papacy and ,jesuitism is the more valuable as ,count von ,hoensbroech was himself in the service of the ,jesuit ,congregation for forty years1 and learned thoroughly all its tricks and intrigues4 ,in making them public1 and basing his charges on numerous official documents1 he has done great service to the cause of truth and civilisation4 ,i was merely repeating his well-founded verdict when1 at the close of my first lecture1 ,i described the papacy as the greatest swindle the world has ever submitted to4 ,a curious irony of ,fate gave me an opportunity1 the same evening1 to experience in my own person the correctness of this verdict4 ,a ,berlin reporter telegraphed to ,london that ,i had fully accepted the new theory of ,father ,wasmann1 and recognised the error of ,darwinism2 that the theory of evolution is not applicable to man on account of his mental superiority4 ,this welcome intelligence passed from ,london to ,america and many other countries4 ,the result was a flood of letters from zealous adherents of the theory of evolution1 interrogating me as to my unintelligible change of front4 ,i thought at first that the telegram was due to the misunderstanding or the error of a reporter1 but ,i was afterwards informed from ,berlin that the false message was probably due to a deliberate corruption by some religious person who thought to render a service to his faith by this untruth4 ,he had substituted supported for refuted1 and error for truth4 ,the struggle for the triumph of truth1 in which ,i have had the most curious experiences during the last forty years1 has brought me a number of new impressions through my ,berlin lectures4 ,the flood of calumnies of all kinds that the religious press 7especially the ,lutheran ,reichsbote and the ,catholic ,germania7 poured over me exceeded any that had gone before4 ,dr4 ,schmidt gave a selection from them in the ,freie ,wort 7,no4 #d1 p4 #add74 ,i have already pointed out1 in the ,appendix to the popular edition of the ,riddle of the ,universe ,german edition1 what unworthy means are employed by my clerical and metaphysical opponents for the purpose of bringing my popular scientific works into disrepute4 ,i can only repeat here that the calumniation of my person does not move me1 and does not injure the cause of truth which ,i serve4 ,it is just this unusually loud alarm of my clerical enemies that tells me my sacrifices have not been in vain1 and that ,i have put the modest key-stone to the work of my life--,the advancement of knowledge by the spread of the idea of evolution4 ,,the ,,end ,printed by ,cowan ,co41 ,limited1 ,perth4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,the word evolution is still used in so many different ways in various sciences that it is important to fix it in the general significance which we here give it4 ,by evolution1 in the widest sense1 ,i understand the unceasing mutations of substance1 adopting ,spinoza's fundamental conception of substance2 it unites inseparably in itself matter and force 7or energy71 or nature and mind 7 the world and ,god74 ,hence the science of evolution in its broader range is the history of substance1 which postulates the general validity of the law of substance4 ,in the latter are combined the law of the constancy of matter 7,lavoisier1 #aghi7 and the law of the conservation of energy 7,robert ,mayer1 #ahdb71 however varied may be the changes of form of these elements in the world-process4 ,cf4 ,chapter ,,xii4 of ,the ,riddle4 #b ,certain orthodox periodicals have lately endeavoured to deny this famous atheistical confession of the great ,laplace1 which was merely a candid deduction of his splendid cosmic system4 ,they say that this ,monistic natural philosopher acknowledged the ,catholic faith on his death-bed2 and in proof of this they offer us the later testimony of an ,ultramontane priest4 ,we need not point out how uncertain is the love of truth of these heated partisans4 ,when testimony of this kind tends to the good of religion 7i4e41 their own good71 it is held to be a pious work 7pia fraus74 ,on the other hand1 it is interesting to recall the reply of a ,prussian ,minister of ,religion1 ,von ,zedlitz1 #abj years ago1 to the ,breslau ,consistory1 when it urged that those who believe most are the best subjects4 ,he wrote in reply3 ,his majesty ,frederick the ,great is not disposed to rest the security of his ,state on the stupidity of his subjects4 #c ,see1 for instance1 ,moses and ,geology1 or ,harmony of the ,bible with ,science1 by ,samuel ,kinns 7#ahhb74 ,in this work the pious ,biblical astronomer executes the most incredible and ,jesuitical manuvres in order to bring about an impossible reconciliation between science and the ,biblical narrative4 #d ,the eel-like sophistry of the ,jesuits1 which has been brought to such a wonderful pitch in their political system1 cannot1 as a rule1 be met by argument4 ,an interesting illustration of this was given by ,father ,wasmann himself in his controversy with the physician1 ,dr4 ,julian ,marcuse4 ,the scientific ,wasmann had gone so far in his zeal for religion as to support a downright swindle of a miraculous cure in honour of the ,mother of ,god of ,oostacker 7the ,belgian ,lourdes74 ,dr4 ,marcuse succeeded in exposing the whole astounding story of this pious fraud 7,deutsche ,stimmen1 ,berlin1 #aijc1 iv4 ,jahrg41 ,no4 #bj74 ,instead of giving a scientific refutation1 the ,jesuit replied with sophistic perversion and personal invective 7,scientific 8 ,supplement to ,germania1 ,berlin1 #aijb1 ,no4 #dc1 and #aijc1 ,no4 #ac74 ,in his final reply1 ,dr4 ,marcuse said3 ,i have accomplished my object--to let thoughtful people see once more the kind of ideas that are found in the world of dead and literal faith1 which tries to put the crudest superstition and reverence for the myth of miraculous cures in the place of science1 truth and knowledge 7,deutsche ,stimmen1 #aijc1 v4 ,jahrgang1 ,no4 #c74 #e ,while these pages are in the press the journals announce a fresh humiliation of the ,german empire that will cause great grief4 ,on the #ith of ,may the nation celebrated the centenary of the death of ,friedrich ,schiller4 ,with rare unanimity all the political parties of ,germany1 and all the ,german associations abroad1 came together to do honour to the great poet of ,german idealism4 ,professor ,theobald ,ziegler delivered a very fine address at ,strassburg ,university4 ,the ,emperor1 who happened to be in the town1 was invited1 but did not attend2 instead of doing so1 he held a military parade in the vicinity4 ,a few days afterwards he sat at table with the ,german ,catholic cardinals and bishops1 amongst them being the fanatical ,bishop ,benzler1 who declared that a ,christian cemetery was desecrated by the interment of a ,protestant4 ,at these festive dinners ,german ,catholics always give the first toast to the ,pope1 the second to the ,emperor2 they rejoice at present that the ,emperor and ,pope are allies4 ,but the whole history of the papacy 7a pitiful caricature of the ancient ,catholic faith7 shows clearly that they are natural and irreconcilable enemies4 ,either emperor must rule or pope4 #f ,the manuscript letter in which the gentle ,darwin expresses so severe a judgment on ,virchow is printed in my ,cambridge lecture1 ,the ,last ,link4 ,my answer to ,virchow's speech is contained in the second volume of my ,popular ,lectures1 and has lately appeared in the ,freie ,wort 7,april1 #aije74 #g ,in his presidential speech at the last meeting of the ,british ,association1 ,professor ,darwin said3 ,it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that #ejj to #a1jjj million years may have elapsed since the birth of the moon4 ,trans4 #h ,see account of similar experiments in the ,lancet1 #ahth ,january1 #aijb4 ,trans4 #i ,wasmann meets these convincing experiments with mere ,jesuitical sophistry4 ,of the same character is his attack on my ,evolution of ,man1 and on the instructive work of ,robert ,wiedersheim1 ,man's ,structure as a ,witness to his ,past4 #aj ,i may remind those who think that the hall of the ,musical ,academy is desecrated by my lectures1 that it was in the very same place that ,alexander von ,humboldt delivered1 seventy-seven years ago 7#ahbh71 the remarkable lectures that afterwards made up his ,cosmos4 ,the great traveller1 whose clear mind had recognised the unity of ,nature1 and had1 with ,goethe1 discovered therein the real knowledge of ,god1 endeavoured to convey his thoughts in popular form to the educated ,berlin public1 and to establish the universality of natural law4 ,it was my aim to establish1 as regards the organic world1 precisely what ,humboldt had proved to exist in inorganic nature4 ,i wanted to show how the great advance of modern biology 7since ,darwin's time7 enables us to solve the most difficult of all problems1 the historical development of plants and animals in humanity4 ,humboldt in his day earned the most lively approval and gratitude of all free-thinking and truth-seeking men1 and the displeasure and suspicion of the orthodox and conservative courtiers at ,berlin4 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's note3 ,in ,tables #b;,a and #b;,b1 ',ontogeny' column1 the character 6 was used in the original text4 ,this was probably a printer's error1 and has been replaced with ,i4 ,so 6 66 and 666 are displayed as ,i ,,ii and ,,iii4 ,notation for dentition in ,table #b;,b 7p4 #aag71 where lower dentition is assumed the same as upper1 is unchanged2 for example #c1 #a1 #d1 #c4 ,in ,table #c 7p4#aah7 it is given as a fraction1 and represented in the etext as upper_/lower2 for example #dd #c4a4d4c_/c4a4d4c4 ,table #c has been split into two parts in the etext4 ,obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources4 ,except for those changes noted below1 all misspellings in the text1 and inconsistent or archaic usage1 have been retained4 ,for example1 manlike1 man-like2 paleozoic1 palozoic2 to-day2 unspiritual2 instil4 ,pg #dd1 ',christain sects' replaced by ',christian sects'4 ,pg #ec1 ',philosophie ,zoologique 7#ahii7' replaced by ',philosophie ,zoologique 7#ahji7'4 ,pg #ec1 'and the champanzee7' replaced by 'and the chimpanzee7'4 ,pg #gb1 'familar tendency' replaced by 'familiar tendency'4 ,pg #hh1 'acurately described' replaced by 'accurately described'4 ,pg #aae1 '#e4 ,jurassic' replaced by '#i4 ,jurassic'4 ,pg #abc1 'irrational and inscientific' replaced by 'irrational and unscientific'4