stic
style, which he should indeed have avoided. There are, nevertheless,
cases in which one must employ trenchant phraseology, and Haeckel
himself has given an occasion for it; a dignified style is simply out
of the question in his case. Haeckel extricated himself with even
greater ease, by declaring that he had "neither time nor inclination"
for reply, and that a mutual understanding with Loofs was impossible
because their scientific views were entirely different. Could anything
be more suggestive of the words of Mephistopheles:

"But in each word must be a thought--
There is,--or we may so assume,--
Not always found, nor always sought.
While words--mere words supply its room.
Words answer well, when men enlist 'em,
In building up a favorite system."

There are two other points in Schmidt's book that are of interest to
us. The first of these is the manner in which the author treats the
Romanes incident. Romanes ranks, as is well known, among the first of
Haeckel's authorities. Hence it is a very painful fact that, but a
short time before the publication of the first edition of the
"Weltraetsel," my translation into German of Romanes' "Thoughts on
Religion" should have appeared. From this book it was evident that
Haeckel and his associates could no longer count this man among their
number since he--a life-long seeker after truth--had abandoned atheism
for theism, and died a believing Christian. Troeltsch and the
"Reichsbote" asked whether Haeckel had purposely concealed this fact,
and Schmidt now explains that Haeckel first became acquainted with the
"Thoughts on Religion" through him towards the end of January, 1900.
Unfortunately he does not add that since then a number of new editions
of the "Weltraetsel" have appeared, in which Haeckel could have
explained himself in an honorable manner. Schmidt has therefore not
been successful in his attempt to clear up this matter.

But how does he settle with Romanes? He says: "_We are assured_
that the thoughts were written down by the English naturalist George
John Romanes"; and again: "The thoughts are published by a Canon of
Westminster, Charles Gore, to whom _they are said_ to have been
handed over after the death of Romanes in the year 1894." Then he has
the audacity to place Romanes in quotation marks. And finally he
asserts that they would abide by Romanes' former works as their
authority, the more so, because these were not, like the "Thoug