The History of Creation, Vol. 2 (of 2) Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes

"The History of Creation, Vol. 2 (of 2)" by Ernst Haeckel is a scientific publication written in the late 19th century. This volume serves as a popular exposition of evolutionary theory, particularly focusing on the principles of descent as articulated by Darwin, Goethe, and Lamarck. It delves into the history of life on earth, examining the development of organisms through various geological epochs and the evidence provided by paleontology, embryology, and comparative anatomy. At the start of the book, Haeckel sets the stage for discussing the intricate relationships between organisms and the theory of descent. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the natural system of classification not just as a catalog of species, but as a genealogical connection that reveals the history of life. Haeckel outlines the main geological periods in the history of creation, explaining how different strata of rock correspond to distinct eras of biological development, from the primordial era to the current period of human civilization. He boldly addresses the challenges of reconstructing this history due to gaps in fossil records and the complexity of organism development, highlighting the interplay of natural forces in shaping life on Earth. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms and coined many terms in biology, including ecology, phylum, phylogeny, and Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularised Charles Darwin's work in Germany and developed the influential but no longer widely held recapitulation theory claiming that an individual organism's biological development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarises its species' evolutionary development, or phylogeny.