Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/196

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HAECKEL


HALEVY


became the German apostle of evolution. His development of the theory was, how ever, far more than a repetition of Darwin. His Gcnerelle Morphologic der Organismen (2 vols., 1866), Natiirliche Sclwpfungsges- chichte (1868), Anthropogenic (1874), and Systematische Phylogenie (3 vols., 1894-96) are masterpieces of evolutionary philo sophy ; and his skill in illustrating his own works added considerably to his educational value. The charge, which a popular Christian Evidence lecturer, Dr. Brass, brought against him in 1908, of " falsifying " some of his illustrations, recoiled heavily on the lecturer s own head. Forty-six of the most eminent zoologists and embryologists of Germany and Austria spontaneously issued a letter in which they " most stringently condemn " the charge. The most that they would admit was that Haeckel, for clearer education, sometimes made his illustrations more diagrammatic than they liked. Professor Hertwig and Professor Rabl went further, and convicted Brass himself of falsifying illustrations. The Kepler Bund the Christian Evidence body to which Brass belonged issued a counter-manifesto, but, although they expressly accused their own champion of " bad taste " in his charges, no distinguished biologist in Germany would sign their letter. The facts and documents are all given in Professor H. Schmidt s Haeckel s Embryonenbilder (1909), and the reiteration of the charge in the religious Press since 1909 is gravely dishonest. Haeckel was one of the first biologists of his day. He wrote forty scientific volumes, and he had four gold medals and seventy diplomas of member ship of learned societies. For fifty years he was an outspoken Rationalist, or Monist, and his Riddle of the Universe (1899) was translated into over twenty languages, more than two million copies being sold. Few scientific men ever received greater honours during life, and none approached Haeckel in the work of popular enlighten ment. He was a man of simple life and most winning character, an idealist of the 319


most refined type, an accomplished artist, and a man of science with an exceptionally wide range of study. D. Aug. 8, 1919.

HALEYY, Jacques Francois Fromen- tel Elie, composer. B. May 27, 1799. Ed. Paris Conservatoire and Rome (Prix de Rome). In 1826 he was appointed professor at the Conservatoire, and in the following year his first opera was staged. His La Juive (1835), a classic of modern French music, put him in the front rank of French composers. He was also an elegant writer, a Commander of the Legion of Honour, and a member of the Academy. A warm friend of Renan, he seems to have exchanged the Jewish creed for a liberal Theism. D. Mar. 17, 1862.

HALEYY, Joseph, French orientalist. B. Dec. 15, 1827. After teaching for some years at Adrianople, where he was born, and Bucharest, he \vas naturalized in France, and discharged various missions in Armenia and Arabia for the French Government and the Jewish Alliance. He was then appointed teacher of Ethiopia at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, and he was joint-editor, with Darmesteter, of the liberal Revue des Etudes Juives from 1880 on ward. His works on Assyrian and Ethiopic remains are weighty ; his advanced views are seen in his Becherches bibliques (1895).

HALEYY, Leon (brother of Jacques), French writer. B. Jan. 14, 1802. Ed. Lyc6e Charlemagne. Renouncing the Jewish faith early in his literary career, he joined the Saint-Simonians and col laborated on their Producteur. Halevy was a man of great erudition and admir able art. He translated Homer, JEschylus, Herodian, and Shakespeare, and wrote a number of dramas and volumes of verse, history, and travel. Several of his works were crowned by the Academy. He was professor of literature at the Polytechnic 1831-34, and was in the Ministry of Public Instruction 1837-53. D. Sep. 2, 1883. 320