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From Ernst Haeckel1   9 February 1879

Jena

9 Februar 1879.

Hochverehrter theurer Freund!

Zur glücklichen Vollendung Ihres 70sten Lebensjahres werden Sie am 12. Februar mit so zahlreichen Glückwünschen aus allen Theilen der Welt überschüttet werden, dass Sie gewiss auch mir, als einem Ihrer eifrigsten aufrichtigsten und frühesten Verehrer gern einen herzlichen Gratulations-Brief gestatten. Eine andere Form der Huldigung erscheint in Gestalt eines Aufsatzes über “einstämmigen und vielstämmigen Ursprung” im Februar-Heft unseres “Kosmos”.2

Mit gerechtem Stolze und mit höchster Genugthuung können Sie an diesem feierlichen Jubeltage auf Ihr ruhmgekröntes Lebenswerk zurückblicken.

Sie haben der menschlichen Wissenschaft für alle Zeiten eine neue Bahn angewiesen und die Biologie zum Range einer mechanischen Naturwissenschaft erhoben. Dieser Verdienst allein schon, die Entdeckung des Ursprungs der Arten durch natürliche Züchtung, würde Sie für immer unsterblich machen, wenn nicht schon Ihre sonstigen grossen Verdienste um die Wissenschaft dazu ausreichten. Sie haben dem Menschen seinen wahren Platz in der Natur angewiesen und damit die anthropocentrische Fabel gestürzt!

Möge es Ihnen noch lange Jahre vergönnt sein, sich dieses Triumphes zu erfreuen und die Wirkung Ihrer bahnbrechenden Reform zu beobachten.

Bei uns in Deutschland ist in den letzten Jahren Ihre Theorie zu allgemeiner und vollständiger Anerkennung gelangt. Der letzte bemerkenswerthe Versuch, Sie zu bekämpfen, war die Rede von Virchow im München, im Sept. 77. Sie hat bloss ihm selbst geschadet! Meine Entgegung, über “Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre” hat mir sehr viel Beifall eingetragen; sie wird jetzt in das Engl. und Franz. übersetzt.3

—Im letzten Herbst war ich mehrere Wochen an der Küste der Bretagne und Normandie (St. Nazaire, St. Malo, Granville) und auf der Insel Jersey; woselbst ich viele interessante neue Formen von Radiolarien und Medusen beobachtete.4

Meine Monographie der Medusen ist jetzt bald vollendet, ein starker 4o Band mit 40 Tafeln.5

—Meine ganze Aufmerksamkeit und Zeit ist jetzt durch die Radiolarie der Challenger” absorbirt, von denen ich bereits 1,100 neue Arten gezeichnet und beschrieben habe. Sie sind durch ihre Variabilitaet und Verwandtschaft höchst interessant für die Descendenz-Theorie. 30 Tafeln sind bereits auf Stein, 20 gedruckt.6

—Mir und meiner Familie geht es sonst ganz gut. Hoffentlich befindet sich auch Ihre liebe Familie im besten Wohlsein.

Nochmals die herzlichsten Grüsse und Glückwünsche, hochverehrter Freund, von Ihrem treu ergebenen | Ernst Haeckel

Footnotes

1
For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
2
Haeckel’s essay ‘Einstämmiger und vielstämmiger Ursprung’ (Monophyletic and polyphyletic origin; Haeckel 1879a) was part of a special issue of Kosmos to commemorate CD’s 70th birthday on 12 February 1879. An incomplete offprint is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL; CD’s copy of the complete issue is in his collection of unbound journals in the Darwin Archive–CUL.
3
Rudolf Carl Virchow had given the address ‘The liberty of science in the modern state’ (Virchow 1877) to the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians in Munich in September 1877; an English version of the text was published in Nature, 22 November 1877, pp. 72–4; 29 November 1877, pp. 92–4; 6 December 1877, pp. 111–13. In response to Haeckel’s address at the same meeting (‘The present position of the evolution theory’; published in English in Nature, 4 October 1877, pp. 492–6), Virchow used CD’s theory of descent as an example of a speculative scientific theory that should not be taught in German schools. He thought such theories constituted a threat to social order and might harm freedom of research:

All attempts to transform our problems into doctrines, to introduce our theories as the basis of plan of education, particularly the attempt to depose the church, and to replace its dogma by a religion of descent ... must fail, and their failure would at the same time bring the greatest dangers upon the position of science generally.

(Nature, 6 December 1877, p. 112.) Haeckel’s response to Virchow’s address was Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre (Free science and free teaching; Haeckel 1878b); it was translated into English, with a preface by Thomas Henry Huxley, as Freedom in science and teaching (Haeckel 1879e). The French translation was entitled Les preuves du transformisme (Evidence of transformism; Haeckel 1879b). For more on Virchow and Haeckel’s debate as part of Kulturkampf (culture struggle), the power struggles over the role of the Catholic Church in the emerging secular nation state, see Benton 2002, pp. 56–60.
4
Haeckel also visited Le Croisie in Brittany, France, in autumn 1878; see Haeckel 1879–81, 1 (part 1): xvi.
5
The first part of the first volume of Haeckel’s Monographie der Medusen (Haeckel 1879–81), and an atlas containing 40 plates, were published in 1879; the first volume of the monograph first appeared as vol. 1 (2 parts plus an atlas) of Denkschriften der medicinisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Jena. A further volume of text, describing the HMS Challenger medusa specimens, and an atlas with 32 plates, followed in 1881. Medusa is the free-swimming form (e.g. jellyfish) of members of the invertebrate subphylum Medusozoa.
6
Haeckel’s report on the Radiolaria collected by HMS Challenger was published in 1887; it described 4318 species (3508 of which were new) and contained 140 plates of about 1600 new species (Haeckel 1887, 1: ii and iv). The Radiolaria, a diverse group of unicellular protozoans with siliceous skeletons, belong to the class Rhizopoda.

Bibliography

Benton, Ted. 2002. Social Darwinism and socialist Darwinism in Germany: 1860 to 1900. In Historical materialism and social evolution, edited by Paul Blackledge and Graeme Kirkpatrick. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1878b. Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre: eine Entgegnung auf Rudolf Virchow’s Münchner Rede über ‘Die Freiheit der Wissenschaft im modernen Staat’. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879–81. Monographie der Medusen. Vol. 1: Das System der Medusen, part 1 System der Craspedoten, part 2 System der Acraspeden, Atlas; vol. 2: Die Tiefsee-Medusen der Challenger-Reise und der Organismus der Medusen, Atlas. Jena: Gustav Fischer.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879c. Einstämmiger und vielstämmiger Ursprung. Kosmos 4: 360–76.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879d. Les preuves du transformisme: réponse a Virchow. Translated from the German with a prefatory note by Jules Soury. Paris: G. Baillière.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879e. Freedom in science and teaching; from the German of Ernst Haeckel with a prefatory note by T. H. Huxley F.R.S. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1887. Report on the Radiolaria collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Zoology. Vol. 18, pt 40, numbers 1, 2, and plates. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Virchow, Rudolf. 1877. Die Freiheit der Wissenschaft im modernen Staat: Rede gehalten in der dritten allgemeinen Sitzung der fünfzigsten Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte zu München am 22. September 1877. 2d edition. Berlin: Wiegandt, Hempel & Parey.

Translation

From Ernst Haeckel1   9 February 1879

Jena

9 February 1879.

Most esteemed, dear friend!

On the happy completion of your 70th year on 12 February you will be innundated with so many congratulations from all parts of the globe, that you surely must let me, as one of your most enthusiastic, most sincere and earliest admirers, also write a cordial letter of congratulations. Another gesture of homage will appear in the form of an essay on “monophyletic and polyphyletic origin” in the February issue of “Kosmos”.2

On this festive day, you can look back, with justified pride and with the greatest satisfaction, on your life’s work, which is crowned with glory.

You have directed human science towards a new course for all times, and you have elevated biology to the rank of a mechanical natural science. This service alone, the discovery of the origin of species through natural selection, would make you immortal forever, if your other great services to science were not enough already. You have assigned man his proper place in nature and with this you have overthrown the anthropocentric myth!

May you be able to enjoy this triumph and to witness the impact of your pathbreaking reform for many years to come.

Here in Germany your theory has become generally and completely acknowledged in recent years. The last noteworthy attempt to attack you was Virchow’s speech at Munich in Sept. ’77. The only harm it did was to himself! My reply, on “Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre” has won me much applause; it is now being translated into Engl. and French.3

—Last autumn I spent several weeks on the coast of Britanny and Normandy (St. Nazaire, St. Malo, Granville) and on the island of Jersey, where I observed many interesting new forms of Radiolaria and Medusae.4

My monograph of the Medusae will soon be finished, a fat quarto volume with 40 plates.5

—All my attention and time are now absorbed by the Radiolaria of the Challenger”; I have already made drawings of and described 1,100 new species. They are most interesting for the theory of descent, owing to their variability, owing to their variability and interrelationship. 30 plates are already lithographed, and 20 printed.6

—Otherwise my family and I are well enough. I hope your dear family is in the best of health.

Again, my most cordial greetings and congratulations, most esteemed friend, from your faithful | Ernst Haeckel

Footnotes

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original German, see Transcript.
2
Haeckel’s essay ‘Einstämmiger und vielstämmiger Ursprung’ (Monophyletic and polyphyletic origin; Haeckel 1879a) was part of a special issue of Kosmos to commemorate CD’s 70th birthday on 12 February 1879. An incomplete offprint is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL; CD’s copy of the complete issue is in his collection of unbound journals in the Darwin Archive–CUL.
3
Rudolf Carl Virchow had given the address ‘The liberty of science in the modern state’ (Virchow 1877) to the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians in Munich in September 1877; an English version of the text was published in Nature, 22 November 1877, pp. 72–4; 29 November 1877, pp. 92–4; 6 December 1877, pp. 111–13. In response to Haeckel’s address at the same meeting (‘The present position of the evolution theory’; published in English in Nature, 4 October 1877, pp. 492–6), Virchow used CD’s theory of descent as an example of a speculative scientific theory that should not be taught in German schools. He thought such theories constituted a threat to social order and might harm freedom of research:

All attempts to transform our problems into doctrines, to introduce our theories as the basis of plan of education, particularly the attempt to depose the church, and to replace its dogma by a religion of descent ... must fail, and their failure would at the same time bring the greatest dangers upon the position of science generally.

(Nature, 6 December 1877, p. 112.) Haeckel’s response to Virchow’s address was Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre (Free science and free teaching; Haeckel 1878b); it was translated into English, with a preface by Thomas Henry Huxley, as Freedom in science and teaching (Haeckel 1879e). The French translation was entitled Les preuves du transformisme (Evidence of transformism; Haeckel 1879b). For more on Virchow and Haeckel’s debate as part of Kulturkampf (culture struggle), the power struggles over the role of the Catholic Church in the emerging secular nation state, see Benton 2002, pp. 56–60.
4
Haeckel also visited Le Croisie in Brittany, France, in autumn 1878; see Haeckel 1879–81, 1 (part 1): xvi.
5
The first part of the first volume of Haeckel’s Monographie der Medusen (Haeckel 1879–81), and an atlas containing 40 plates, were published in 1879; the first volume of the monograph first appeared as vol. 1 (2 parts plus an atlas) of Denkschriften der medicinisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Jena. A further volume of text, describing the HMS Challenger medusa specimens, and an atlas with 32 plates, followed in 1881. Medusa is the free-swimming form (e.g. jellyfish) of members of the invertebrate subphylum Medusozoa.
6
Haeckel’s report on the Radiolaria collected by HMS Challenger was published in 1887; it described 4318 species (3508 of which were new) and contained 140 plates of about 1600 new species (Haeckel 1887, 1: ii and iv). The Radiolaria, a diverse group of unicellular protozoans with siliceous skeletons, belong to the class Rhizopoda.

Bibliography

Benton, Ted. 2002. Social Darwinism and socialist Darwinism in Germany: 1860 to 1900. In Historical materialism and social evolution, edited by Paul Blackledge and Graeme Kirkpatrick. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1878b. Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre: eine Entgegnung auf Rudolf Virchow’s Münchner Rede über ‘Die Freiheit der Wissenschaft im modernen Staat’. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879–81. Monographie der Medusen. Vol. 1: Das System der Medusen, part 1 System der Craspedoten, part 2 System der Acraspeden, Atlas; vol. 2: Die Tiefsee-Medusen der Challenger-Reise und der Organismus der Medusen, Atlas. Jena: Gustav Fischer.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879c. Einstämmiger und vielstämmiger Ursprung. Kosmos 4: 360–76.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879d. Les preuves du transformisme: réponse a Virchow. Translated from the German with a prefatory note by Jules Soury. Paris: G. Baillière.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1879e. Freedom in science and teaching; from the German of Ernst Haeckel with a prefatory note by T. H. Huxley F.R.S. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1887. Report on the Radiolaria collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Zoology. Vol. 18, pt 40, numbers 1, 2, and plates. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Virchow, Rudolf. 1877. Die Freiheit der Wissenschaft im modernen Staat: Rede gehalten in der dritten allgemeinen Sitzung der fünfzigsten Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte zu München am 22. September 1877. 2d edition. Berlin: Wiegandt, Hempel & Parey.

Summary

Sends birthday wishes.

Comments on progress of CD’s theory in Germany. Mentions opposition of Rudolf Virchow and his reply Freie Wissenschaft und freie Lehre [1878].

Describes research trip to Brittany and Normandy.

Research on Challenger Radiolaria.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11865
From
Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Jena
Source of text
DAR 166: 72
Physical description
ALS 4pp (German)

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11865,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11865.xml

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