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A ^orld-Wide Celebration of Professor Haeckels Eightieth Birthday
The Distinguished Scientist Proposes a Fund for the Spread
of Monist Teachings as the Most Acceptable *
Memorial of His Great Life Work.
E RNST HAECKEL, who Is generally con
sidered the greatest living biologist,
will celebrate his eightieth blrthd y on
February 16 next.
He Is the oldest scientist of such eminence,
and is looked upon as the dean of science of
the whole world. His count s friends and
admirers are, therefore, preparing to celebrate
his birthday In a very substantial way.
Certainly It Is a remarkable fact that any
man should be actl-ely engaged In teaching
and research work and hold his own at tne
head of a great science at the age of eighty.
Professor Haeckel's body Is as vigorous as
his mind. Whenever any opponent criticizes
his statements or theories he is ready to con
duct a lively argument with him.
Hearing that his friends In Germany were
preparing to honor his birthday on a large
scale, Protessor i.aeckel has Issued an appeal
asking them not to make any kind of gifts to
him, but to contribute whatever they think of
giving to the found tlon o an International
Monlsts’ Union.
Monism is, broadly speaking, the philoso
phic view of life which holds that there Is but
one form of reality, whether It be material or
spiritual. Many philosophers, Including Spi
noza and Hegel, have been Monlsts, but
Haeckel has deduced many new arguments
for the theory from his studies of nature.
Monism, as taught by Haeckel, would estab
lish a practical philosophy of life, a complete
ysten or morality, based on natural law. He
believes that it would do much to clear away
the barbarisms, cruelties and Injur'iop of our
social life, which arise from old superstitions
and irrational beliefs.
Here is Professor Haeckel's letter In which
he urges his friends and admirers In America
and all over the world, to contribute to the
International Monlsts' Union:
'.o my Friends, Pupils and Disciples:
"I have from several sides been Informed that
a number of my friends, pupils and disciples
Intend to celebrate my eightieth birthday on
the 16th of February, 1914, by presenting mo
gifts about the form and nature of which dlf-*
ferent proposals have been made. Having re
peatedly been honored on former occasions by
such gifts, I beg you to abstain this time from
all personal donations, and to convey the
amount destined for this purpose, to a* fund
which I should be glad to put to the disposal
of the German Monlsts’ Union. The wonderful
development which this modem union of cul
ture has attained since Its foundation seven
years ago, the high Importance which it has
acquired for the promotion of a free and
rational conception of life, as well as for its
practical application to a conduct of life of*
superior morals render Its tinanclal support
most desirable. The intended new T-lrust-
Haeckel-Fund for Monism’ will Incessantly fur
ther this work of culture of free thought on
tne positive basis of natural science, and fur
nish the necessary means to carry on practi
cally Its numerous Important tasks. I extend
my heartiest thanks In anticipation to all my
friends and comrades, who, by participation,
will support the work of my look life.
"From the first International Monlsts' Con
gress, which took place In September, 1911, In
Hamburg, and was such a splendid success,
partly because foreign countries so generously
took part in It, It became our principal aim to
extend the German Monlsts' Union, and to
make it an Interntalonal Union. This Inter
national Monlsts’ Union, representing an im
mense promotion of culture by uniting the
free-thinkers of all countries, will bo the better
able to prove its importance practically if my
friends abroad will contribute liberally.
"Jena, October 12, 1913.
“ERtfST HAECKEL.”
We beg to send payments to Deutsche Bank,
Hamburg, for the "Ernst Haeckel-Schatz fur
Monismus," or to the Post-cheque Konto, No.
7497, Hamburg. s
Receipts for payments will appear in "Mon-
istisches Jahrhundert,’’ or sent by mall. If
desired.
Oil commercial correspond nee should be ad
dressed to the "Ernst-Haeckel-Schatx fur Mon
ismus," 1 Klein ontenay, Hamburg 36.
Professor Haeckel was born at Potsdam
on February 16, 1834. In 1861 he became a
privatdozent (tutor) at the small but distin
guished university of Jena, and In 1866 he was
appointed professor of zoology there, a chair
established for him. He has held this posi
tion for forty-three years in spite of tempt
ing ofTers to accept professorships at the
largest universities of Germany.
In pursuit of his work he has gathered nat
ural specimens all over the world.
He was Just beginning his scientific career
when Darwin published his “Origin of the
Species" (1869). Haeckel immedately became
the apostle of Darwinism In Germany. He was
the first German biqlogist to give, a whole
hearted adherence to the doctrine of evolution,
and to treat It as the cardinal conception of
modern biology. He brought the majority of
German scientists quickly to accept the
doctrine.
While leading Englishmen with superficial
reasoning were indignantly protesting that
they were not related to monkeys, the German
scientists were developing the doctrine and
gathering new facts in support of it.
Haeckel has published a series of monu
mental works. When he was only thirty-two
he published his “General Morphology," and
two years later he rewrote the substance of
It in his "History of Creation," which is re
markably readable considering the character
of the subject matter. In this he explains his
fundamental law, that Hie individual organism
in its development is to a great extent an
epitome of the form modifications undergone
by the successive ancestors of the species
In the course of their historic evolution.
Thus, man before birth, passes through vari
ous forms, from one resembling a worm to a
final one in which he is like a monkey with a
short tail.
lie was the first scientist to draw up a com
plete genealogical tree of man, asserting that
there were no missing links in his descent
from the lowest forms of animal life. He
traced man’s descent from a single-celled mass
of Jelly, still existing, called a #moneron,” up
Professor Haeckel, the Most Noted Living Biologist,
Now in His Eightieth Year. From a Sketch
Made This Summer.
to the pithecanthropus erectus, found in Java,
which he held to be an intermediate form be
tween man and the anthropoid apes.
Not content with the stride of the doctrine
of evohujon in its zoological aspects, Haeckel
has applied it to some of the oldest problems
of philosophy* and religion. A summary of his
views on these points was given in one of his
rpost famous books. “Die Weltratsel," which
h'e published in 1899, and which appeared in
The Professor with the Skeleton
of a Gorilla, Whose Relationship
to Man He Has Traced More
Clearly Than Any Other Evolu
tionist.
English In 1901, as “The^Riddle of the Uni
verse.”
In this book he explained his monistic views
to promote which is the highest aim of his
old age. He asserts the essential unity of
organic and inorganic nature In other words,
a man and a stone are of the same nature, and
the activity that distinguishes the man is a
chemical process.
One of the most Interesting features of f-e
book to scientists Is his "Carbon Theo. y,” no.
cording to which the chemlco-physlcal proper
ties of carbon in its complex albuminoid com
pounds are the sole and the mechanical cause
of tne speciflo phen lena of movement which
distinguish organic from lnorganio substances,
and the first development of living protoplasm
as seen in the “monera” arises from such ni
trogenous carbon compounds by a process of
spontaneous generation.
Man and every other form of life are carbon
compounds in a state of chemical activity.
This theory was attacked by several scientists
on the ground that it assumed much that had
not been proved. Nevertheless, as presented
by Haeckel, it was a very interesting theory
of the origin of man and life.
Our mental and spiritual life he regards as
- "">nch of physiology. The operations of the
mind are a group of life phenomena which de
pend solely on physiological actions and mate
rial changes taking place in the protoplasm of
the body. A thought is a series of chemical
reactions occurring chiefly in the nerves and
brain tissue.
Our scientific instruments are at present
inadequate to enable us to see the operations
of the mind, but within a reasonable time they
will reach that development. Haeckel has
been able to observe the changes that occur
in the nerves of some of the lower animals. A
similar change in man is part of the action
we call thought, and before long we shall see
those changes in man.
Every living cell has psychic properties. And
th’ psychic life of multicellular organisms like
man is the sum-total of the psychic functions
of the cells of which they are composed. Just
as the highest animals have been evolved from
t..c simplest forms of life, so the highest 'acui
ties of the human mind have been evolved
from the soul of the lower animals and origin
ally form the- cell-sail of the single-celled
microscopic creatures.
Haeckel has published forty-two works with
1,300 pages, besides almost innumerable arti
cles and pamphlets. One of his most interest
ing controversial works was called “Free
Science and Free Teaching,” in which he re
plied to his old teacher, Professor Virchcx,
who objected to the teaching of evolution ia
schools because it was an unproved hypo
thesis.
The proposal to celebrate Haeckel’s birthday
on a great scale may not pass without opposi
tion, as his studies have led him to deny the
immortality of the soul, the freedom of the
will and the existence of a personal God.
Professor Gordon Points Out the Importance of Further
Research in the Hidden Factors of Climates ahd
Places Which Restore Health.
By Dr.WILLIAM GORDON,
Of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
M ODERN authorities lmve commonly
dealt with climate simply in terms of
average local weather. But In Its
medical aspects, at all events, climatology cov
ers more than can be so expressed. When we
talk of a climate being good or bad In a medical
sense, it is not only weather which we have In
mind.
Doubtless something may be said for the view
that the effects of climate are ultimately results
of meteorological conditions, at least where the
Inhabitants do not go barefoot on the soil, ami If
we exclude hydrology But many of these mete
orological conditions cannot at present be deter
mined; of the existence of some of them we are
probably unaware; so that we are obliged for
practical purposes, to Include In our definition,
as In our investigations, topographical factors
whose meteorological consequences still remain
to be unravelled. In making this compromise
It Is curious to observe that we are but follow
lng the lead of the “Father of Medicine,” who
summed up his subjects as “airs, waters, and
places.”
I would therefore define “climate” and “HI
tautology” in their medical nsixvts thus: “The
climate of a place. In a medical sense Is the
sum of tile Influences upon human health and
sickness of it- go# raphlcHl, and especially if
it meteorological conditions;” and “Medical
Climatology is I lie science of climates medically
considered and of their variations In space and
time.” So defined, it Is clear that climatology
constitutes a great part of the environment of
medicine, and that to neglect It Is to Ignore
much of the natural history of disease.
At the outset one must distinguish the factors
which enter Into climatology, so far as they
have hitherto revealed themselves. Sixteen
may perhaps bo enumerated, half of them
m< teorological, half topographical. These are
set forth iu this way:
Climatological Factora.
Meteorological. Topographical.
Temperature. Latitude.
Wind. Geographies^ pox I-
tlve exercise is commonly taken, and the skin
acts less, the kidneys more.
Atmospheric humidity claims special atten
tion from Its Important relations to tempera
ture. The humidity reduces the tropical heat,
hut Increases its oppressiveness, and people iu
hot damp climates become lethargic and re
laxed. The effects of cold are also, greatly
modified by humidity; whereas In dry cold the
Rainfall.
Sunlight.
Electricity.
Atmospheric pressure
tion — by which is
meant relation to
land and sea, lakes,
mountains, etc.
Atmospheric humidity. Altitude.
Atmospheric purity. Soil.
Vegetation.
Water supply.
Wind shelter and ex
posure.
Aspect. •
Rut for satisfactory knowledge of their act! oi
we require not only to be acquainted with their
relations to human disease, but also to know
their influence on human beings In health, as
well as on the parasites which produce human
disease, and ou such mill-human hosts as har
bor them.
Considering first their influences upon healthy
human beings, the 'st powerful of VI clima
tic factors seems to be temperature. Ranke has
Haile the pregnant observation that there
_eems to be an optimum temperature for iv.inun
beings, which, he says, necessitates the least
amount of metabolism lompatlble with healthy,
active life He lias placed this optimum be
tween 59 degress and 68 degrees F„ wlthla. In
fact, about the limits of temperature which ex
perleuce i as shown us to be best for a pneu
monia pailent. In hot climates, where least
metabolism is required, less food Is consumed
and there is a disinclination to exertion. The
abdominal organs are hyperemic. the skin arts
more and the kidneys less than in temperate
regions, and danger attends conditlous which
Involve considerable beat production, such as
fevers, physical exertion, and excess tu eating.
In cold climates, on the other hand, more food
ts requisite to obtain a bealtliy activity, but ac-
» r
Vet Other Ailments Are Found to Derive
Do \ ield to the Warm Air and Tropical Sun
removal of heat from the body is determined
by tin* bodily needs; In damp cold there Is a
leakage of warmth which is difficult to wholly
prevent. Clothes do not exactly control It, and
wind, if It exists, considerably increas#u it; Hu
midity also acts Importantly in lessening tile
Intensity of light.
Atmospheric pressure htfc received a great
deal of attention, chiefly because so many of
those who have Interested themselves in the ef
fects of altitude have assumed that its Influence
ts chiefly due to this factor. If. however, we set
No Benefit in Alpine Sanitariums, but
of Old .gypt.
aside special effects, such as mountain sickness
(the outcome of a diminished intake of oxygen)
and an enlargement of the thorax of a compen
satory sort, the most interesting indisputable
result of diminished atmospheric pressure
seems to be compensatory increase of the color
ing matter of both plants and animals in
plants of the chlorophyll, in animals of the
haemoglobin and red corpuscles.
Winds have received strangely little attention.
In damp cold the leakage of heat from the body
becomes much greater In wind. Theu certain
winds are remarkably enervating, like the
Fohn. East wind in Europe is detrimental to
many persons, although we have no satisfactory
knowledge of why this is so. East winds in
these countries seem to have less ozone in them
than southwesters, but what effect this differ
ence produces we do not know
Light increases color and well-being, yet its
precise actiou on human beings has received, I
think, very little attention Of electricity in
its natural conditions we know practically noth
ing as a climatic factor. Yet recent experi
ments, in which it has been artificially used to
simulate plant and animal growth, suggest
tnut electrical conditions may have powerful
effects iu climate. Of the influences on healthy
men of rainfall, soil, vegetation, wind shelter,
and wind exposure, we know practically nothing.
Thus, so far as what may be called “puvsio-
logical climatology” is concerned, we know
enough to indicate the importance of knowing
more; yet we are still only on the threshold of
the subject
We have learned for certain that the effect of
climate on some of the parasites of man and ou
their non-human hosts is profound. The study
of tropical diseases has made this plain. Cer
tain disorders are confined to certain zones of
temperature. Thus, wliatcvcr may be found to
be in the organism of yellow fever, we know
that it does not flourish in temperate climates.
The mosquito that carries it and the mosquito
host of malaria become rare also at certain alti
tudes where the heat is less.
Other disease are modified. Thus, phthisis In
the tropics, whilst usually uncommon outside
the towns, runs a more rapid course than in
cooler latitudes. The gravity of type Is prob
ably due in part to the temperature, the rarity
is perhaps a consequence of the Intensity of
light. We know there are optimum temnera-
tures for organisms, as Ranke says there are
for man. Light, again, has a profund destruc
tive influence upon mlcro-og'gnnisms, especially
direct sunlight. Apparently it is the blue, vio
let and ultra-volet rays to which it owes this
most important power. The comparative rarity
of phthisis iu the tropics just referred to, and
in some high altitudes as well, mav owe not a
little to the disinfectant power of light.
Rain is popularly supposed to wash the at
mosphere, and, whilst it is raining, it doubtless
does so. But it is sometimes forgotten that
heavy rain after drought causes unusually ac
tive development of organisms in the soil, and
that these, when the air dries again, enter it as
dust. Long-lasting drought decreases the num
ber and the vitality of organisms in the soil.
Of the action of wind, air pressure, natural elec
tricity, and soil on pathogenic microbes we are,
I believe, without information Here, again,
we have much to learn and comparatively little
has as yet been established.
Dealing next with the influence of the factors
of climate on human disease, we enter on a
field where remarkable progress has been made.
Medical geography has become an imposing
branch of knowledge. A great empiris acquaint
ance with the effect of places on disease is
steadily growing up. Of this I "need say no
more. Similarly, medical history is becoming
constantly more considerable and concise. But
when we come to the theoretical side of medi
cal climatology we find ourselves considerably
worse off. It is not too much to say that the
most striking characteristic of our knowledge
iu this department is its uncertainty.
The frequency and severity of pneumonia at
high altitudes have been as much insisted on
as the rarity of phthisis. It seems, in fact, to
be well established that in many mountainous
regions pneumonia becomes commoner and more
deadly as altitude increases. Whether this de
pends on Increased exposure to certain winds is
a question.awaiting investigation. Some very
small figures, which I am .going to submit to
you, suggest that this maj* be the case. The
idea that exposure to cold dry winds is an im
portant cause of the disease is not new, and in
teresting Instances of coincident prevalence of
such winds and pneumonia have been given.
Bronchitis is often considered to be affected
tty the same influences as pneumonia. But this
I w
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M
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hesi
lerton 1
r:
Kin
ks A]
bou
t“Sex” N
ove!
is
By Gilbert K. Chesterton,
Tne Brilliant English Satirist.
twt HAT 1 detest iu "sex" novels is the
\X/ unconscious but unfathomabl A modern
' " contempt for women. These modern
romances always represent the woman not
only as a slave, but as a sleepy slave; a som
nambulist; she seems’to get into every situa
tion by accident, and everybody else is to bUme.
She loses her love in a trance; she marries
some manifest blackguard in a trance; she
elopes (generally with some equally manifest
blackguard) also in a trance. She is never
anything but a victim of circumstances. Hard
ly any of the women 1 have known, old or
young, have been of this sort Most aif them
have had much more self-control aVd self-
respect than 1 have. If anv one of them bad
married the sort of man whom the modern
heroine so blindly marries 1 should have been
just as astonished as if one of them had
jumped off Brooklyn Bridge or shaved all her
hair off. I do not know what the writers of
some of these novels are talking about. What
extraordinary female acquaintances they must
have!
But though the modern sex novel reeks with
a scorn for womanhood, there are very gen
uine reasons why it should not be repressed,
and particularly in this way. First, 1 think
most men and women (with any instinct of
the way our world is going! very seriously
suspect and dislike the idea of unofficial pen
alties inflicted by private firms. 1 think there
are already laws against employes being fined;
but they are fined all the same, it is n^a a
question of the degree of punishment: it is a
question of whether anything except lawful
government has a right to impose any degree
of punishment.
Seriously, it would be far better that the
King and Parliament, who are supposed to
stand for us all, should have the right to
scourge women at the cart-tail than that a
single shopkeeper should be allowed to tap a
single shopgirl on the shoulder with a yard
measure. It Is not a matter of how much he
does, but of how little he has any right to do.
In the same way it does not matter whether
the restriction placed upon such novels is a
slight or a serious restriction.
,The point is that it it is a restriction, if
anybody says it is a restriction, it should not
be imposed by a wealthy tradesman who hap
pens to sell or to lend books. It ought to be
imposed by some representatives of respect
able public opinion. It is the very fact that
these great librarians’ decisions carry a cu
rious sort of half-official weight that makes it
necessary for people of public spirit to resist
them everywhere. Delendum est imperium in
iinperio. The King. I thfnk, still makes a pub
lic deciaratioi against vice and immorality:
at any rate, he did as late as Macaulay’s time.
I seriously tell the capitalists (and 1 think a
mass of the English people would say the
name) that we could take it from a King much
more easily than from a bookseller.
Another consideratiqn present In the mind
of most people who care for letters is that
the kind of people who own or manage big
libraries are rather the wrong kind of people
to censor them. They are the kind of people
who are neither learned nor unlearned.
As fer the problem of the young person
etc., which is always turning up here, it Is but
one of the thousand aspects of the truth which
is the inner collapse of our civilization. Men
whose whole society was built upon the family
are trying to live without the family; rnd the
effect is as incalculable as if men were to say
they were sea-beasts and never walked on the
earth. The morals of young people were
looked after bv their fathers and mothers, not
by sensitive and aged booksellers. If a book
is really unfit for a child, the parent will be
wise to save the child not only from the book,
but from al! this silly chatter about the book]
or against the book. And because people now
adays will not have a decent minimum of dis
cipline in the nursery, they are actually ex
tending (or transferring) the discipline of the
nursery to the library and the college.
apparently is not altogether correct. The dis
tribution of bronchitis, in the United States in
1880, was by no means the same as that of
pneumonia; also Sturges stated that at
Gibraltar different winds appeared responsible
for two diseases—the east, which is damp,
6eemed to promote the occurrence of bronchitis;
the west, which there is dry, the occurrence
of pneumonia. It would appear that whereas
dry cold tends to cause pneumonia, damp cold
rather tends to cause bronchitis. On the other
hand, a warm moist atmosphere has undoubted
therapeutic value in the drier varieties of bron
chitis.
Heart disease has a climatology well worth
looking into. Haviland held that it was mo :
prevalent in places not well flushed by wind
But very little has been done on the subject
Only a few years ago authoritative statement
were made in reference to a district well know
to me which were in direct reverse of the fa l
For asthma we have a good deal of empiric
knowledge, the chief fact being Its capricio is
ness. Gout and rheumatism, dyspepsia,
anaemia, neurasthenia, neuralgia, and con
valescence from acute diseases have, apart
from balneology, each a certain useful clima
tology of its own, but discordant statements aro
made in respect of them.
The importance of considerations such as the
foregoing may be made still more obvious by
also regarding them from the points of view of
diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, and treatment.
j .uie seems no doubt that a very marked
difference exists, in expectation of life gener
ally, between the great towns and tije country
districts. If so. surely this must affect the
prognosis of almost all cronic diseases, and as
most of our efforts at prognosis, inadequate as
thpv sometimes have been, emanate from our
crowded centres, there surely is need for exten
sive inquiry into the prognosis of these com
plaints in our rural areas, where I am sure the
outlook is different.
Moreover, if density of population has this
effect, is it not possible that by comparing rural
populations with each other we may come to
discover climatic factors also which tend to
modify longevity? This seems to me an in
vestigation which promises to repay the trouble
It would entail.
If it be true that a certain disease is specially
rare in a certain place, and if good reason can
be shown that this rarity Is not merely fortuit
ous, may we not hold that a patient prone to
that disease will, by residing in that place, have
a specially good hope of avoiding the disease?
Such ?, consideration applies to tuberculosis,
and one eliiei reason why I have devoted so
much time in endeavoring to establish the value
of shelter from rain-bearing wind in lessening
the frequency of pulmonary tuberculoss is be
cause I see, in places so sheltered, the most
suitable place of residence for those in whom
tubercle has become quiescent, or for those who
belong to families whose proclivity to tubercu
losis is pronounced. I feel sure that there are
districts in England which cases of phthisis
would be wise to avoid and where sanatoria
ought not to be erected.
Similarly, 1 think that there are districts
where old people with strong concerous famii?
history should not settle, and districts where
those who have had repeated attacks of pneu-
monia run some risk in residing. One cannot be
dogmatic yet on these two latter points, but
would it not be well if one could?
In short, taking into account all the foregoing
there can be no doubt of the immense import
ance of medical climatology, however wp regard
it, whether from the standpoint of diasm">e ; .
prognosis, prevention, or treatment. We already
possess valuable information in all it? various
branches; if I have barely mentioned medical
geography and history, it Is because in those
the importance of our possessions is unques
tionable. As I have said, it is when we come t"
the theory of the subject, the scaffolding on
which we depend so much for the further ad
vancement of our building of knowledge, that
we find our footing so seriously insecure.
It is beginning to be suggested that clim”
tology should be specially taught, that there
should be special chairs of climatology In our
medical schools. *
1
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