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From Ernst Haeckel1   9 February 1881

Jena

9 Febr 81

Hochverehrter theurer Freund!

Ihr kommender Geburtstag giebt mir willkommene Gelegenheit, Ihnen nach längerer Pause wieder einen freundlichen Gruss zu senden, und zugleich meine besten Wünsche zum Beginn des neuen Lebensjahres.2 Möge dasselbe Ihnen die volle Frische und Geisteskraft, sowie erfreuliche Gesundheit erhalten, damit Sie die Wissenschaft, der Sie ein neues Fundament gegeben haben, noch lange fördern.

Ihr letztes Werk “über die Bewegungen der Pflanzen, für dessen gütige Zusendung ich herzlich danke, giebt mir einen neuen erfreulichen Beweis, dass Ihre seltene Arbeits-Kraft und Ihr Genius, der seine eigenen Wege geht, auch im höchsten Alter ungeschwächt fortwirkt.3 Viele Sätze dieses interessanten Werkes sind, wie ich glaube, directe Bestätigungen für meine Theorie von der Zellseele (in den Popul. wissensch. Vorträgen).4

Mein “System der Medusen” (II. Part., Acraspeden) ist in den letzten Wochen des vorigen Jahres fertig geworden und ich hoffe, Sie werden es inzwischen erhalten haben.5 Es war eine sehr mühselige und schwierige Arbeit, besonders wegen der sehr umfangreichen und schlechten Litteratur. Ich werde kein zweites Werk von diesem Umfang unternehmen. Indessen hoffe ich doch damit ein Fundament für die schwierige Systematik und Morphologie der Medusen gelegt zu haben. Gegenwärtig beschreibe ich die “Deep-Sea-Medusen of the Challenger” (nicht viele, aber merkwürdig)6

—Ihre allgemeinen Theorien sind jetzt in Deutschland so allgemein angenommen, dass darüber nicht mehr in wissensch. Zeitschriften gestritten wird. Der Darwinismus hat gesiegt. Der beste Beweis ist, dass alle Zoologen und Botaniker in Ihren Wegen wandeln und phylogenetisch denken! Das wird Ihre beste Belohnung für Ihre grosse Arbeit sein!

Mit freundlichsten Grüssen und besten Wünschen stets | Ihr treuer | Ernst Haeckel

Footnotes

1
For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
2
CD’s birthday was on 12 February.
3
Haeckel’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Movement in plants (see Correspondence vol. 28, Appendix IV).
4
Haeckel’s essay on the ‘soul cell’ (Haeckel 1878a) was included in his collection of popular science lectures (Haeckel 1878c). Haeckel had spoken on this subject when making a lecture tour in 1878 popularising evolution (Krauße 1987, p. 133). His soul cell theory proposed that even the simplest single cell or origin of life possessed a version of the soul, which consisted of a sum of sensations, perceptions, and volitions, and differed from the human soul only in degree; he based his views on experimental observation, and drew on studies that tried to locate the mechanisms of sensation and will within the protoplasm (Proctor 2006, pp. 417–18).
5
Haeckel refers to the second part of the first volume of his monograph on medusae (Monographie der Medusen; Haeckel 1879–81); this part, the System der Acraspeden, does not have a publication date on the title page. Acraspeda is a former class of jellyfish, roughly synonymous with the class Scyphozoa (true jellyfish). CD had also been sent the first part of volume 1 of Haeckel’s work (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter to Ernst Haeckel, 21 January 1880). All four volumes of this work are in the Darwin Library–Down.
6
The second volume of Haeckel’s monograph (Haeckel 1879–81) was Die Tiefsee-Medusen der Challenger-Reise und der Organismus der Medusen (The deep-sea medusae of the Challenger-voyage and the organism of the medusa). It was translated into English and appeared as the second part of volume 4 of Zoology in Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76 (Haeckel 1882).

Bibliography

Haeckel, Ernst. 1878a. Zellseelen und Seelenzellen. Deutsche Rundschau 16: 40–59.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1878c. Gesammelte populäre Vorträge aus dem Gebiete der Entwickelungslehre. Issue 1. Bonn: Emil Strauss.

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. 1882. Report on the deep-sea medusæ dredged by H.M.S. Challenger, during the years 1873–1876. Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Zoology. Vol. 4, part 2. London: HMSO.

Krauße, Erika. 1987. Ernst Haeckel. 2d edition. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.

Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.

Proctor, Robert. 2006. Architecture from the cell-soul: René Binet and Ernst Haeckel. Journal of Architecture 11: 407–24.

Translation

From Ernst Haeckel1   9 February 1881

Jena

9 Febr 81

Highly esteemed, dear friend!

Your approaching birthday gives me a welcome opportunity to send you kind regards again after a rather long interval, and at the same time my best wishes at the beginning of this new year of your life.2 May it preserve full vigour and mental power for you, as well as joyful good health, so that you may advance still further the science to which you have given a new foundation.

Your latest work on the movement of plants, for the kind sending of which I thank you cordially, gives me a welcome new proof that your rare capacity for work and your genius, which goes its own ways, continues unimpaired even with advanced age.3 Many statements in this interesting work are a direct confirmation, I believe, of my theory of the soul cell (in the lectures on popular science).4

My “System der Medusen” (II. part, Acraspeden) was completed in the last weeks of the previous year and I hope you have received it in the meantime.5 It was a very arduous and difficult labour, especially because the literature was so very extensive and bad. I shall not undertake a second work of this scale. Nevertheless, I still hope I have provided a basis for the difficult systematics and morphology of the Medusae. I am currently describing the “Deep Sea-medusae of the Challenger” (not many, but remarkable)—6

Your general theories have now become so universally accepted in Germany that they are no longer debated in the scientific journals. Darwinism has won. The best proof for this is that all zoologists and botanists are following in your footsteps and thinking phylogenetically! This must be the finest reward for your great work! With friendliest greetings and best wishes ever | Yours truly | Ernst Haeckel

Footnotes

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original German, see Transcript.
2
CD’s birthday was on 12 February.
3
Haeckel’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Movement in plants (see Correspondence vol. 28, Appendix IV).
4
Haeckel’s essay on the ‘soul cell’ (Haeckel 1878a) was included in his collection of popular science lectures (Haeckel 1878c). Haeckel had spoken on this subject when making a lecture tour in 1878 popularising evolution (Krauße 1987, p. 133). His soul cell theory proposed that even the simplest single cell or origin of life possessed a version of the soul, which consisted of a sum of sensations, perceptions, and volitions, and differed from the human soul only in degree; he based his views on experimental observation, and drew on studies that tried to locate the mechanisms of sensation and will within the protoplasm (Proctor 2006, pp. 417–18).
5
Haeckel refers to the second part of the first volume of his monograph on medusae (Monographie der Medusen; Haeckel 1879–81); this part, the System der Acraspeden, does not have a publication date on the title page. Acraspeda is a former class of jellyfish, roughly synonymous with the class Scyphozoa (true jellyfish). CD had also been sent the first part of volume 1 of Haeckel’s work (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter to Ernst Haeckel, 21 January 1880). All four volumes of this work are in the Darwin Library–Down.
6
The second volume of Haeckel’s monograph (Haeckel 1879–81) was Die Tiefsee-Medusen der Challenger-Reise und der Organismus der Medusen (The deep-sea medusae of the Challenger-voyage and the organism of the medusa). It was translated into English and appeared as the second part of volume 4 of Zoology in Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76 (Haeckel 1882).

Bibliography

Haeckel, Ernst. 1878a. Zellseelen und Seelenzellen. Deutsche Rundschau 16: 40–59.

Haeckel, Ernst. 1878c. Gesammelte populäre Vorträge aus dem Gebiete der Entwickelungslehre. Issue 1. Bonn: Emil Strauss.

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. 1882. Report on the deep-sea medusæ dredged by H.M.S. Challenger, during the years 1873–1876. Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76. Zoology. Vol. 4, part 2. London: HMSO.

Krauße, Erika. 1987. Ernst Haeckel. 2d edition. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.

Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.

Proctor, Robert. 2006. Architecture from the cell-soul: René Binet and Ernst Haeckel. Journal of Architecture 11: 407–24.

Summary

Sends birthday wishes.

Comments on Movement in plants.

Sends System der Ascrapeden [1880].

Describes work on Challenger Medusae.

Comments on success of CD’s theory.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13043
From
Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Jena
Source of text
DAR 166: 77
Physical description
ALS 4pp (German)

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13043,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13043.xml

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