ABSTRACT
In his Geschichte der biologischen Theorien Rádl declares that Darwinism was born in England, but found a home in Germany. The statement is certainly justified in so far as, during the decades immediately succeeding the first appearance of the descent theory, Germany came to take a leading position in the sphere of biological research; here England and America rapidly came under German influence, as also did Italy, while France, which kept itself isolated, nevertheless could not entirely avoid being influenced. There were undoubtedly many reasons for this: on the one hand, the great economic and technical development that resulted from the founding of the German Empire, which in many ways proved beneficial to research, and, on the other hand, the splendid manner in which the work at the German universities was organised, which became a pattern for other countries, especially as a result of the careful and methodical guidance given by the teachers to their pupils' theoretical studies, practical work, and scientific production. And especially as far as biology in Germany is concerned, this organization had reached a very high standard — chiefly in the sphere of comparative anatomy — even before the appearance of Darwin. Originally, of course, comparative anatomy had been based on idealistic morphology, on the assumption that ideas formed the existing basis for the various forms of life, but we have already seen how this form of romantic natural philosophy was gradually supplanted by a more realistic manner of viewing life. What Darwinism gave to this realistic morphology was, as we know, a hitherto lacking connexion in existence; common descent took the place of the common ideal types. The fact that it was the representatives of comparative morphology in Germany who hailed the new doctrine with such deep enthusiasm is explained by the insistent demand that they had of old felt for a uniform conception of nature, a heritage from the, at one time all-prevailing, romantic philosophy. But it is just this never entirely eradicated romantic element that gives to German Darwinism, with its application of the descent theory to comparative anatomy, a character of its own. Again the general cultural situation in Germany at the time of the launching of the new doctrine must of course have had a considerable influence on the form Rudolph Albert von Kölliker https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203704929/d410b27e-9bec-4300-a13c-e317203e46bd/content/fig3_13b_26.jpg"/> Carl Gegenbaur https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203704929/d410b27e-9bec-4300-a13c-e317203e46bd/content/fig3_13b_27.jpg"/> 499it was to take. This is essentially bound up in the two names Gegenbaur and Haeckel, each of whom in his own way represents a different side of the influence of Darwinism upon contemporary culture.
