Joseph McCabe an Ernst Haeckel, London, [November 1911]
16, Elm Grove.
Cricklewood.
London N. W.
Dear Professor Haeckel,
Thank you very much for your prompt & most generous response to my appeal. I will take great care of the material you lend me & return it in time. For the books & portraits you send me I am very grateful. If there are further points on which I desire information (such as the Bressa prize) I will send you a few formal questions which you will perhaps get one of your friends to answer for me. I had just returned || from giving lectures in Scotland when your parcel arrived. You will be glad to hear that „godly Scotland” is awakening fast. On Sunday I lectured on the evolution of man (on your lines) at Glasgow to a crowded & enthusiastic audience – from working men & their wives & daughters to university students. I spoke for two hours & am going next Sunday to give them two hours more. Many of them were standing in the broom from 5 o’clock until 9, & hundreds had to be turned away. || Last night I lectured in another Scotch town to a crowded audience. Everywhere there is eagerness to know the truth. You may confidently believe – as all admit – that the translation of your works has had the chief share in lighting up this enthusiasm. Your name is received with acclamation whenever I mention it. Sir Oliver Lodge is the only scientist here who has openly opposed you. He is a good physicist, but quite ignorant of biology. I crushed him in the Hibbert Journal, & now. W. Mallock || gives him a terrible castigation in the Fortnightly Review for November. His attack was so poor that it was not worth sending to you. The latest is that the leader of the Ethical Movement, Dr. Coit – one of your colleagues as Honorary Associate of the R.P.A.! – has been attacking you. He is an ardent metaphysician! I have treated him with silent contempt.
I hope your health will continue to improve & let you enjoy the success of your late works for a long time to come.
Yours very truly
Joseph McCabe
I have sent on the photo to Sir John Murray.