The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-10-14
POPULAR APoLoeETIcs.
Adapted from the German of Rev
Peter Mikes, S. j., by Rev.
James Watcher.
XVI. Haeckel's Solution of the
WorId-RiddIes. (concIuded.)

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The fourth and seventh world-riddle
OF Du BOis-Raynnond Haeckel does not
admit at all. According to him there
is no purpose and plan in nature.
Purpose is nothing but the result Of
the blind struggle for existence as
regulator of development" (chap. 14).
The regulator works according to q
norm and rule, hence according TO a
purpose; and in the same breath
IIaeckel says that this purpose works
blindly, without plan. In logic that
is called a contradictio in adiectis Ca
contradiction in termS), as, paper
sword Of iron, q wooden bench of
stone. Moreover, this purely me-
chanical evolution of old Darwinism
in vogue when Prof. Haeckel was
young, has been given up as entirely
inadequate even by infidel theorists of
descent. Haeckel remains yet as a
dilapidated and weather-worn ruin of
the middle of the last century.
The freedom of the will, the seventh
riddle, Haeckel denies without any
proof Can inveterate habit of his) and
.contradicts thereby the plainest facts
of normal consciousness. eve will
treat this important question more
fully in some future articleS.) -.
But two more riddles remain.
Whence the simple sense-perception,
thinking, languages consciousness?
We find the answers" in the 10th
and 18th chapters of Haeckels
''World-Riddle,' and they are be-
wilderingly simple. There are chemi-
cal affinities, attraction and repulsion
of the elements; an atom of oxogen
combines with two atoms of hydrogen
and forms water. In the same way in
Shakespeare's dramas we find an at
traction between Romeo and Juliet
and in ancient times between Paris
and Helen.
On this we base our conviction that
already the atom has in itself the
simplest form of sensation and will,
or better still: feeling (aesthesis)
and striving (tropesis) -hence a uni
versal ''soul" of the most primitive
From these then arise the simple and
composite chemical combinations,
producing the cerebral cortex (gray
matter of the brain), in which feeling
is produced, and the ganglions, in
which consciousness takes place, but
all in purely mechanical way"
These revolving, imbecile assertions,
developed in a pompous style, are the
only explanation Haeckel gives; he
has no other idea at his command.
One can not but throw up ones hands
in establishment That is the merest
jugglery with words.
According to Haeckel we must con-
clude that the brick in the wall be-
gins to feel and think; hence, no
doubt, an old tin can begins with. its
universal soul of the most primitive
type" to strive for something higher
and to love (perhaps even HaeckeD
of course, only with very weak be.
ginning. There is a chance for some
unknown genius to become famous by
writing an epic on this universal tin
sour!
In the 18th chapter Haeckel cries
pathetically: did not already EN-
pedocIes in the fifth century before
Christ teach the hatred and love OF
the elements?" He must be pretty
hard up for authorities if he has to go
back over two thousand years to
prove his modern theories.
Let us turn from this grim but we'll
deserved ridicuIe to the stern fact
that this is all that Haeckel can pro-
duce as philosophical proofs for the
solution of these riddles" The
scientific material which he produces
is the basis for the solution, but can
not of itself give the solution. 1t has
to be worked over philosophically,
and then the result is that the Chris
titan philosophers, both Catholic and
Protestant, produce from the same
material the most solid proofs for the
existence of God, from which an in
tellectual cripple wants to explain the
world without God.
Against the crushing and annihilat-
ing criticism of Paulsen, Seeberg,
Looks, Dennert, and others, Haeckel
produces in an appendix to the popu-
lar edition of his 'World-Riddle" no
scientific proofs, but only the more
personal abuse of his opponents and
of Ultramontanism (Catholieism)
But it is we'll known that where argu.
ments cease abuse commences.