MAN'S NEXT STEPS FORWARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11993, 16 March 1901, Page 8

MAN'S NEXT STEPS FORWARD.

PROFESSOR HAECKEL TALKS ON THE PRESENT VIEWS OF SCIENCE.. Professoj Ernst Haeckel, of the University of Jena, is perhaps the most distinguished living evolutionist. An associate and coworker with Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer, he has lived to see the theory of evolution become a generally-accepted scientific law the world over. He has done in Continental Europe, in building up the great fabric of concrete proof for Darwin's theory, what Huxley, did in England. Ilia published ' works now reach the proportion of a small library, his Natural History of Creation " having been translated into no fewer than 12 languages. In a recent interview with Professor Haeckel, nt his home, in Jena, I questioned him regarding the future development of the human rate, physical and intellectual; j the tendency of the race, whether progrcs- ; sive or retrogressive; the chief influences j working upon modern life, and the probable trend of progress in scientific research. The appended notes of the interview have been ' carefully reviewed and revised by him, and I therefore may stand as an authoritative ex* | pression of his views. First, as to the : next stages in the development of mankind:— "It will be mostly mental, the evolution of a better and finer brain," said Pro- ■ fessor Haeckel. "When mail's brain began j to develop rapidly, there was no further need for great changes in his body.. And yet some physical changes are still going 011. Man will probably lose some of his teeth, there being not the use for them that there was, and there are signs that the little toes will also disappear, leaving a man a four-toed animal. But these changes are of small significance compared with our | mental development." I There are. however, as Professor Haeckel [ points out, tremendous influences at work 'in developing mankind—» vast and fascit Dating field of study.. Mail being a product 1 of natural evolution and development, his j institutions must necessarily be a like pro- ] duet, and the application of the theory to ' political and social economy, statecraft, and education offers the most hopeful fields of j work for future thinkers. | " Life was never more complex than it is to-day," said Professor Haeckel, " and there is 110 prophesying the exact lines of future developnient. Man at present seems to be developing or retrograding in masses—by : nations, and yet under very different influences. Here in Germany the tendency is ! all toward the centralisation of power in ' the Government; the removal of individual ' nsponsibility, and the working togethei; of large masses of men as one man. In : America the tendency has been different; there the individual is developed; he has 'great powers and responsibilities —the .roan is the unit. Who shall say how these great influences will work out?" At another time Professor Haeckel spoke of the beautiful and accurate pictures of animals and plants now obtainable, where 30 years ago there were almost none, as an instance of one of the smaller and yet important influences of modern life. Pictures convey ideas swiftly and accurately, therefore they serve as a new and powerful factor in education, scientific education in particular. A man may become comparatively familiar with the animal forms of the world in a short timo through the perfect now obtainable, whereas a few years ago it would have taken a lifetime. There are other influences to which Professor Haeckel has often called attention. In Europe there is the influence of what ho calls military selection, all the young men being taken nt a certain age, removed from productive labour or study, and put through exactly similar training 'for one or two years. In America there is no such influence. How such training or lack of it will develop tho race is a question to which the future must furnish the solution. Professor Haeckel also speaks of medical selection as one of tho powerful modern influences. Medical science has made great strides in the past few years; it saves many lives that otherwise would' have been lost, and frequently it keeps peop'.e with dangerous disease alive for years. This must not only tend to breed a sickly race, but it necessarily swells the population largely, the crowding bringing' with it new and difficult problems. The earth is now almbst wholly inhabited; • there are no longer any new places for immigration and the development of virgin land. This means the elimination of that potent influence which has had ra great a share in the progress of the world during the last few hundred years. The contest must now change. , Instead of discovering and settling new continents and fighting savages, civilised man must set himfelf to a terrible new struggle for existence between the older nations; for instance, in commerce and trade, tariffs, spheres of influence, and so on; and the strongest, most easily adaptable, most resourceful, most favoured nations will win. Professor Haeckel spoke of the remarkable retrogression of the Latin races during the past few decades as a striking instance of this new struggle—especially the retrogression of onco powerful Spain. He also called attention to the sudden upward progress of Japan. It is, as over, the struggle between the species for existence, and the sharper the, struggle within certain limits the greater the development of tho strong. I asked Professor Haeckel what in his opinion were the next great avenues of development in scientific research. " I believe," he said, " that the nineteenth century has been the golden era of science— that there will never again be so many discoveries of profound importance." Indeed, he is of opinion that there are no more great universal generalisations to be made, like the law of the conservation of energy, tho attraction of gravitation, and the theory of natural evolution. He thinks that the work of future scientists will deal largely with the application of the great principles and generalisation? already well known. By this he does not mean that wonderful new scientific • discoveries will not be made, hut, that they will not have the profound importance of those fundamental laws. " I look for the greatest future devolop: ment in tho science of chemistry," he saia. Ho spoke of tho attempts now being made to show that the 70 or more so-called elementary substances may in reality be only the fonns of a few more elementary substances, mentioning the speculation that,science would one day find that there was really only one substance at the basis of all things—one element of which tho so-called 70 odd elemonts are' merely forms of different composition of atoms. The conversation as to tho outlook in chemistry drifted naturally to that subject which has so often presented itself to the imaginative scientist, that of the ability of men to produce a living substance by artifi-' cial processes; in other words, to make life. Professor Haeckel believes firmly that some day thie will be done; that it is not at all beyond the range of science, strange and im-. probable as it may seem. Wo had been sit- ■ ting at the open window." of Haeckel's study. The professor pointed outside to 'the beautiful green foliage of the garden. ■ ' " It is only what those plants are do in? all the timo," he said, taking eo many parts of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and so on, and combining them into the albuminous substance which we call protoplasm, thfl living substance. Science can combine these elemonts just as Nature does, the proportions being exactly known, but not yet to produce life. Tho albumen molecule is very complicated. Scicnce docs not know just yet how the various atoms of carbon, oxygen, and so on, which compose it, are united, ■ and all, attempts to solve the problem of the albumen molecule, what it really is, and how the oleme'lts are joined with it, have been so far without avail. But I believe firmly that this prrcit nuestion will some day be wived, it it is, then the artificial production of life will he a possibility.Jena Correspondent, Daily News.