We
thus arrive at the conviction of the last importance, that all natural
bodies with which we are acquainted are equally endowed with life
(gleichmaessig belebt sind); that the distinction between living and dead
matter does not exist. When a stone is thrown into the air and falls by
certain laws to the ground, or when a solution of salt forms a crystal,
the result is neither more nor less a mechanical manifestation of life,
than the flowering of a plant, the generation or sensibility of animals,
or the feelings or the mental activity of man. In thus establishing the
monistic theory of nature lies the highest and most comprehensive merit
of the doctrine of descent, as reformed by Darwin." (p. 21) "As to the
much vaunted design in nature, it is a reality only for those whose
views of animal and vegetable life are to the last degree superficial.
Any one who has gone deeper into the organization and vital activity of
animals and plants, who has made himself familiar with the action and
reaction of vital phenomena, and the so-called economy of nature, comes
of necessity to the conclusion, that design does not exist, any more
than the vaunted goodness of the Creator" (die vielgeruehmte Allguete des
Schoepfers). (p. 17)
Professor Huxley, in his review of this work of Haeckel, already quoted,
says: "I do not like to conclude without reminding the reader of my
entire concurrence with the general tenor and spirit of the work, and of
my high estimate of its value.
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