The History of Creation Volume I Part 1

The History of Creation.

Vol. I.

by Ernst Haeckel.

PREFACE.

I am desirous of prefacing the English edition of the "History of Creation" with a few remarks which may serve to explain the origin and object of this book. In the year 1866 I published, under the t.i.tle "Generelle Morphologie," a somewhat comprehensive work, which const.i.tuted the first attempt to apply the general doctrine of development to the whole range of organic morphology (Anatomy and Biogenesis), and thus to make use of the vast march onwards which the genius of Charles Darwin has effected in all biological science by his reform of the Descent Theory and its establishment through the doctrine of selection. At the same time, in the "Generelle Morphologie," the first attempt was made to introduce the Descent Theory into the systematic cla.s.sification of animals and plants, and to found a "natural system" on the basis of genealogy; that is, to construct hypothetical pedigrees for the various species of organisms.

The "Generelle Morphologie" found but few readers, for which the voluminous and unpopular style of treatment, and its too extensive Greek terminology, may be chiefly to blame. But a proportionately large measure of approval has met the "Naturliche Schopfungsgeschichte" in Germany. This book took its origin in the shorthand notes of a course of lectures which treated, before a mixed audience and in a popular form, the most important topics discussed in the "Generelle Morphologie." The notes were subsequently revised, and received considerable additions.

The book appeared first in 1868, its fourth edition in 1873, and has been translated into several languages. I hope that it may also find sympathy in the fatherland of Darwin, the more so since it contains special morphological evidence in favour of many of the important doctrines with which this greatest naturalist of our century has enriched science. Proud as England may be to be called the fatherland of Newton, who, with his law of gravitation, brought inorganic nature under the dominion of natural laws of cause and effect, yet may she with even greater pride reckon Charles Darwin among her sons-he who solved the yet harder problem of bringing the complicated phenomena of organic nature under the sway of the same natural laws.

The reproach which is now oftenest made against the Descent Theory is that it is not securely founded, not sufficiently proven. Not only its distinct opponents maintain that there is a want of satisfactory proofs, but even faint-hearted and wavering adherents declare that Darwin's hypothesis is still wanting fundamental proof. Neither the former nor the latter estimate rightly the immeasurable weight which the great series of phenomena of comparative anatomy and ontogeny, palaeontology and taxonomy, chorology and cology, cast into the scale in favour of the doctrine of filiation. Darwin's Theory of Selection, which completely explains the origin of species through the combined action of Inheritance and Adaptation in the struggle for existence, also appears to these persons not sufficient. They demand, over and above, that the descent of species from common ancestral forms shall be proved in a particular case; that, in contradistinction to the _synthetic_ proofs adduced for the Descent Theory, the _a.n.a.lytic_ proof of the genealogical continuity of the several species shall be brought forward.

This "a.n.a.lytical solution of the problem of the origin of species" I have myself endeavoured to afford in my recently published "Monograph of the Calcareous Sponges." For five consecutive years I have investigated this small but highly instructive group of animals in all its forms in the most careful manner, and I venture to maintain that the monograph, which is the result of those studies, is the most complete and accurate morphological a.n.a.lysis of an entire organic group which has up to this time been made. Provided with the whole of the material for study as yet brought together, and a.s.sisted by numerous contributions from all parts of the world, I was able to work over the whole group of organic forms known as the Calcareous Sponges in that greatest possible degree of fulness which appeared indispensable for the proof of the common origin of its species. This particular animal group is especially fitted for the a.n.a.lytical solution of the species problem, because it presents exceedingly simple conditions of organisation, because in it the morphological conditions possess a greatly superior, and the physiological conditions an inferior, import, and because all species of Calcispongiae are remarkable for the fluidity and plasticity of their form. With a view to these facts, I made two journeys to the sea-coast (1869 to Norway, 1871 to Dalmatia), in order to study as large a number of individuals as possible in their natural circ.u.mstances, and to collect specimens for comparison. Of many species, I compared several hundred individuals in the most careful way. I examined with the microscope and measured in the most accurate manner the details of form of all the species. As the final result of these exhaustive and almost endless examinations and measurements it appeared that "good species,"

in the ordinary dogmatic sense of the systematists, have no existence at all among the Calcareous Sponges; that the most different forms are connected one with another by numberless gradational transition forms; and that all the different species of Calcareous Sponges are derived from a single exceedingly simple ancestral form, the Olynthus. A drawing of the Olynthus and its earliest stages of development (observe especially the highly important Gastrula) is given in the frontispiece of the present edition. Ill.u.s.trations of the various structural details which establish the derivation of all Calcareous Sponges from the Olynthus, are given in the atlas of sixty plates which accompanies my monograph of the group. In the gastrula, moreover, is now also found the common ancestral form from which all the tribes of animals (the lowest group, that of the protozoa, alone being excepted) can without difficulty be derived. It is one of the most ancient and important ancestors of the human race!

If we take for the limitation of genus and species an average standard, derived from the actual practice of systematists, and apply this to the whole of the Calcareous Sponges at present known, we can distinguish about twenty-one genera, with one hundred and eleven species (as I have done in the second volume of the Monograph). I have, however, shown that we may draw up, in addition to this, another systematic arrangement (more nearly agreeing with the arrangement of the Calcispongiae hitherto in vogue) which gives thirty-nine genera and two hundred and eighty-nine species. A systematist who gives a more limited extension to the "ideal species" might arrange the same series of forms in forty-three genera and three hundred and eighty-one species, or even in one hundred and thirteen genera and five hundred and ninety species; another systematist on the other hand, who takes a wider limit for the "abstract species,"

would use in arranging the same series of forms only three genera, with twenty-one species, or might even satisfy himself with one genus and seven species. The delimitation of species and genera appears to be so arbitrary a matter, on account of endless varieties and transitional forms in this group, that their number is entirely left to the subjective taste of the individual systematist. In truth, from the point of view of the theory of descent, it appears altogether an unimportant question as to whether we give a wider or a narrower signification to allied groups of forms-whether we choose, that is to say, to call them genera or species, varieties or sub-species. The main fact remains undeniable, viz., the common origin of all the species from one ancestral form. The many-shaped Calcareous Sponges furnish, in the very remarkable conditions of their varieties of aggregation (metrocormy), a body of evidence in favour of this view which could hardly be more convincing. Not unfrequently the case occurs of several different forms growing out from a single "stock" or "cormus"-forms which until now have been regarded by systematists, not only as belonging to different species, but even to different genera. Fig. 10 in the frontispiece represents such a composite stock. This solid and tangible piece of evidence in favour of the common descent of different species ought, one would think, to satisfy the most determined sceptic!

In point of fact, I have a right to expect of my opponents that they shall carefully consider the "exact empirical proof" here brought forward for them, as they have so eagerly demanded. The opponents of the doctrine of filiation, who have too little power of weighing evidence, or possess too little knowledge to appreciate the overpowering weight of proof afforded by the synthetical argument (comparative anatomy, ontogeny, taxonomy, etc.), may yet be able to follow me along the path of a.n.a.lytical proof, and attempt to upset the conclusion as to the common origin of all species of all Calcareous Sponges which I have given in my Monograph. I must, however, repeat that this conclusion is based on the most minute investigation of an extraordinarily rich ma.s.s of material,-that it is securely established by thousands of the most careful microscopical observations, measurements, and comparisons of every single part, and that thousands of collected microscopic preparations render, at any moment, the most searching criticism of my results confirmatory of their correctness. One may hope, then, that opponents will endeavour to confront me on the ground of this "exact empiricism," instead of trying to d.a.m.n my "nature-philosophical speculations." One may hope that they will endeavour to bring forward some evidence to show that the latter do not follow as the legitimate consequences of the former. May they, however, spare me the empty-though by even respectable naturalists oft-repeated-phrase, that the monistic nature-philosophy, as expounded in the "General Morphology," and in the "History of Creation," is wanting in actual proofs. The proofs are there. Of course those who turn their eyes away from them will not see them. Precisely that "exact" form of a.n.a.lytical proof which the opponents of the descent theory demand is to be found, by anybody who wishes to find it, in the "Monograph of the Calcareous Sponges."

ERNST HEINRICH HAECKEL.

_Jena, June 24th, 1873._

NOTE.

Feeling sure that such a book as Professor Haeckel's "Schopfungsgeschichte" would do a great deal of good, if placed in the hands of the English reading public, and of commencing students of Natural History, I gladly undertook to revise for the publishers the present translation, which was made by a young lady. I have not attempted to escape a difficulty by ignoring the German names made use of by Professor Haeckel for cla.s.ses, orders, and genera, but have adopted English equivalents. I do not submit these names as a maturely considered English nomenclature, they appear here simply as necessary parts of a close rendering of the German work. I do, however, hold that some such series of English terms is both possible and useful, and do not doubt-in spite of the pretended hostility of the genius of our language, and the curious sentimental objection that English names are _unscientific_-that we shall before long make use of plain English in speaking of the various groups of plants and animals-much to the gain of the larger public, and without detriment to the latinized nomenclature established for the purposes of the professional student.

E. R. L.

_Oxford, October, 1874._

THE HISTORY OF CREATION.

CHAPTER I.

NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE OF FILIATION, OR DESCENT-THEORY.

General Importance and Essential Nature of the Theory of Descent as reformed by Darwin.-Its Special Importance to Biology (Zoology and Botany).-Its Special Importance to the History of the Natural Development of the Human Race.-The Theory of Descent as the Non-Miraculous History of Creation.-Idea of Creation.-Knowledge and Belief.-History of Creation and History of Development.-The Connection between the History of Individual and Palaeontological Development.-The Theory of Purposelessness, or the Science of Rudimentary Organs.-Useless and Superfluous Arrangements in Organisms.-Contrast between the two entirely opposed Views of Nature: the Monistic (mechanical, causal) and the Dualistic (teleological, vital).-Proof of the former by the Theory of Descent.-Unity of Organic and Inorganic Nature, and the Ident.i.ty of the Active Causes in both.-The Importance of the Theory of Descent to the Monistic Conception of all Nature.

The intellectual movement to which the impulse was given, thirteen years ago, by the English naturalist, Charles Darwin, in his celebrated work, "On the Origin of Species,"(1) has, within this short period, a.s.sumed dimensions which cannot but excite the most universal interest. It is true the scientific theory set forth in that work, which is commonly called briefly Darwinism, is only a small fragment of a far more comprehensive doctrine-a part of the universal Theory of Development, which embraces in its vast range the whole domain of human knowledge.

But the manner in which Darwin has firmly established the latter by the former is so convincing, and the direction which has been given by the unavoidable conclusions of that theory to all our views of the universe, must appear to every thinking man of such deep significance, that its general importance cannot be over estimated. There is no doubt that this immense extension of our intellectual horizon must be looked upon as by far the most important, and rich in results, among all the numerous and grand advances which natural science has made in our day.

When our century, with justice, is called the age of natural science, when we look with pride upon the immensely important progress made in all its branches, we are generally in the habit of thinking more of immediate practical results, and less of the extension of our general knowledge of nature. We call to mind the complete reform, so infinitely rich in consequences to human intercourse, which has been effected by the development of machinery, by railways, steamships, telegraphs, and other inventions of physics. Or we think of the enormous influence which chemistry has brought to bear upon medicine, agriculture, and upon all arts and trades.

But much as we may value this influence of modern science upon practical life, still it must, estimated from a higher and more general point of view, stand most a.s.suredly below the enormous influence which the theoretical progress of modern science will have on the entire range of human knowledge, on our conception of the universe, and on the perfecting of man's culture.

Think of the immense revolutions in all our theoretical views which we owe to the general application of the microscope. Think of the cell theory, which explains the apparent unity of the human organism as the combined result of the union of a ma.s.s of elementary vital units. Or consider the immense extension of our theoretical horizon which we owe to spectral a.n.a.lysis and to the mechanical theory of heat. But among all these wonderful theoretical advances, the theory wrought out by Darwin occupies by far the highest rank.

Every one of my readers has heard of the name of Darwin. But most persons have probably only an imperfect idea of the real value of his theory. If a reader estimates as of equal value all that has been written upon Darwin's memorable work since its appearance, the value of the theory will appear very doubtful to him, supposing that he has not been engaged in the organic natural sciences, and has not penetrated into the inner secrets of zoology and botany. The criticisms of it are so full of contradictions, and for the most part so defective, that we ought not to be at all astonished that even now, after the lapse of thirteen years since the appearance of Darwin's work, it has not gained half that importance which is justly due to it, and which sooner or later it certainly will attain.

Most of the innumerable writings which have been published during these years, both for and against Darwinism, are the productions of persons who are entirely wanting in the necessary amount of biological, and especially of zoological, knowledge. Although almost all of the more celebrated naturalists of the present day are adherents of the theory, yet only a few of them have endeavoured to procure its acceptance and recognition in larger circles. Hence the odd contradictions and the strange opinions which may still be heard everywhere about Darwinism.

This is the reason which induces me to make Darwin's theory, and those further doctrines which are connected with it, the subject of these pages, which, I hope, will be generally intelligible. I hold it to be the duty of naturalists, not merely to meditate upon improvements and discoveries in the narrow circle to which their speciality confines them, not merely to pore over their one study with love and care, but also to seek to make the important general results of it fruitful to the ma.s.s, and to a.s.sist in spreading the knowledge of physical science among the people. The highest triumph of the human mind, the true knowledge of the most general laws of nature, ought not to remain the private possession of a privileged cla.s.s of savans, but ought to become the common property of all mankind.

The theory which, through Darwin, has been placed at the head of all our knowledge of nature, is usually called the Doctrine of Filiation, or the Theory of Descent. Others term it the Trans.m.u.tation Theory. Both designations are correct. For this doctrine affirms, that _all organisms_ (viz., all species of animals, all species of plants, which have ever existed or still exist on the earth) _are derived from one single, or from a few simple original forms, and that they have developed themselves from these in the natural course of a gradual change_. Although this theory of development had already been brought forward and defended by several great naturalists, and especially by Lamarck and Goethe, in the beginning of our century, still it was through Darwin, thirteen years ago, that it received its complete demonstration and causal foundation; and this is the reason why now it is commonly and exclusively (though not quite correctly) designated as _Darwin's Theory_.

The great and really inestimable value of the Theory of Descent appears in a different light, accordingly as we merely consider its more immediate connection with organic natural science, or its larger influence upon the whole range of man's knowledge of the universe.

Organic natural science, or Biology, which as Zoology treats of animals, as Botany of plants, is completely reformed and founded anew by the Theory of Descent. For by this theory we are made acquainted with the active causes of organic forms, while up to the present time Zoology and Botany have simply been occupied with the facts of these forms. We may therefore also term the theory of descent a _mechanical explanation of organic forms_, or the science of the true causes of Organic Nature.

As I cannot take for granted that my readers are all familiar with the terms "organic and inorganic nature," and as the contrast of both these natural bodies will, in future, occupy much of our attention, I must say a few words in explanation of them. We designate as _Organisms_, or _Organic bodies_, all _living creatures_ or _animated bodies_; therefore all plants and animals, man included; for in them we can almost always prove a combination of various parts (instruments or organs) which work together for the purpose of producing the phenomena of life. Such a combination we do not find in _Anorgana_, or inorganic natural bodies-the so-called dead or _inanimate bodies_, such as minerals or stones, water, the atmospheric air, etc. Organisms always contain alb.u.minous combinations of carbon in a semi-fluid condition of aggregation, which are always wanting in the Anorgana. Upon this important distinction rests the division of all natural history into two great and princ.i.p.al parts-_Biology_, or the science of Organisms (Zoology and Botany), and _Anorganology_, or the science of Anorgana (Mineralogy, Geology, Meteorology, etc.).

The great value of the Theory of Descent in regard to Biology consists, as I have already remarked, in its explaining to us the origin of organic forms in a mechanical way, and pointing out their active causes.

But however highly and justly this service of the Theory of Descent may be valued, yet it is almost eclipsed by the immense importance which a single necessary inference from it claims for itself alone. This necessary and unavoidable inference is the theory of the _animal descent of the human race_.

The determination of the position of man in nature, and of his relations to the totality of things-this question of all questions for mankind, as Huxley justly calls it-is finally solved by the knowledge that man is descended from animals. In consequence of Darwin's reformed Theory of Descent, we are now in a position to establish scientifically the groundwork of a _non-miraculous history of the development of the human race_. All those who have defended Darwin's theory, as well as all its thoughtful opponents, have acknowledged that, as a matter of necessity, it follows from his theory that the human race, in the first place, must be traced to ape-like mammals, and further back to the lower vertebrate animals.

It is true Darwin himself did not express at first this most important of all the inferences from his theory. In his work, "On the Origin of Species," not a word is found about the animal descent of man. The courageous but cautious naturalist was at that time purposely silent on the subject, for he antic.i.p.ated that this most important of all the conclusions of the Theory of Descent was at the same time the greatest obstacle to its being generally accepted and acknowledged. Certain it is that Darwin's book would have created, from the beginning, even much more opposition and offence, if this most important inference had at once been clearly expressed. It was not till twelve years later, in his work on "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to s.e.x," that Darwin openly acknowledged that far-reaching conclusion, and expressly declared his entire agreement with those naturalists who had, in the meantime, themselves formed that conclusion. Manifestly the effect of this conclusion is immense, and _no_ science will be able to escape from the consequences. Anthropology, or the science of man, and consequently all philosophy, are thereby thoroughly reformed in all their various branches.

It will be a later task in these pages to discuss this special point. I shall not treat of the theory of the animal descent of man till I have spoken of Darwin's theory, and its general foundation and importance. To express it in one word, that most important, but (to most men) at first repulsive, conclusion is nothing more than a special deduction, which we must draw from the general inductive law of the descent theory (now firmly established), according to the stern commands of inexorable logic.

Perhaps nothing will make the full meaning of the theory of descent clearer than calling it the "_non-miraculous history of creation_." I have therefore chosen that name for this work. It is, however, correct only in a certain sense, and it must be borne in mind that, strictly speaking, the expression "non-miraculous history of creation" contains a "_contradictio in adjecto_."

In order to understand this, let us for a moment examine somewhat more closely what we understand by _creation_. If we understand the creation to mean the _coming into existence of a body_ by a creative power or force, we may then either think of the _coming into existence of its substance_ (corporeal matter), or of the _coming into existence of its form_ (the corporeal form).

Creation in the former sense, as the _coming into existence of matter_, does not concern us here at all. This process, if indeed it ever took place, is completely beyond human comprehension, and can therefore never become a subject of scientific inquiry. Natural science teaches that matter is eternal and imperishable, for experience has never shown us that even the smallest particle of matter has come into existence or pa.s.sed away. Where a natural body seems to disappear, as for example by burning, decaying, evaporation, etc., it merely changes its form, its physical composition or chemical combination. In like manner the coming into existence of a natural body, for example, of a crystal, a fungus, an infusorium, depends merely upon the different particles, which had before existed in a certain form or combination, a.s.suming a new form or combination in consequence of changed conditions of existence. But never yet has an instance been observed of even the smallest particle of matter having vanished, or even of an atom being added to the already existing ma.s.s. Hence a naturalist can no more imagine the coming into existence of matter, than he can imagine its disappearance, and he therefore looks upon the existing quant.i.ty of matter in the universe as a given fact. If any person feels the necessity of conceiving the coming into existence of this matter as the work of a supernatural creative power, of the creative force of something outside of matter, we have nothing to say against it. But we must remark, that thereby not even the smallest advantage is gained for a scientific knowledge of nature. Such a conception of an immaterial force, which at the first creates matter, is an article of faith which has nothing whatever to do with human science. _Where faith commences, science ends._ Both these arts of the human mind must be strictly kept apart from each other. Faith has its origin in the poetic imagination; knowledge, on the other hand, originates in the reasoning intelligence of man. Science has to pluck the blessed fruits from the tree of knowledge, unconcerned whether these conquests trench upon the poetical imaginings of faith or not.

If, therefore, science makes the "history of creation" its highest, most difficult, and most comprehensive problem, it must accept as its idea of creation the second explanation of the word, viz., _the coming into being of the form_ of natural bodies. In this way geology, which tries to investigate the origin of the inorganic surface of the earth as it now appears, and the manifold historical changes in the form of the solid crust of the earth, may be called the history of the creation of the earth. In like manner, the history of the development of animals and plants, which investigates the origin of living forms, and the manifold historical changes in animal and vegetable forms, may be termed the history of the creation of organisms. As, however, in the idea of creation, although used in this sense, the unscientific idea of a creator existing outside of matter, and changing it, may easily creep in, it will perhaps be better in future to subst.i.tute for it the more accurate term, _development_.

The great value which the _History of Development_ possesses for the scientific understanding of animal and vegetable forms, has now been generally acknowledged for many years, and without it it would be impossible to make any sure progress in organic morphology, or the theory of forms. But by the history of development, only one part of this science has generally been understood, namely, that of organic individuals, usually called Embryology, but more correctly and comprehensively, _Ontogeny_. But, besides this, there is another history of development of organic species, genera, and tribes (phyla), which has the most important relations to the former.

The subject of this is furnished to us by the science of petrifactions, or palaeontology, which shows us that each tribe of animals and plants, during different periods of the earth's history, has been represented by a series of entirely different genera and species. Thus, for example, the tribe of vertebrated animals was represented by cla.s.ses of fish, amphibious animals, reptiles, birds, and mammals, and each of these groups, at different periods, by quite different kinds. This palaeontological history of the development of organisms, which we may term _Phylogeny_, stands in the most important and remarkable relation to the other branch of organic history of development, I mean that of individuals, or Ontogeny. On the whole, the one runs parallel to the other. In fact, the history of individual development, or Ontogeny, is a short and quick recapitulation of palaeontological development, or Phylogeny, dependent on the laws of Inheritance and Adaptation.