EDITOR'S TABLE. 



271 



lows that all who, the world over, 

 are engaged in scientific work form 

 but one army, one band, and move 

 forward under one banner. This 

 fact has been recognized by the for- 

 mation of many international asso- 

 ciations for the prosecution of difi'er- 

 ent branches of scientific work. The 

 physiologists, the psychologists, the 

 criminologists, and several other 

 sections of the great scientific corps 

 have in this way organized for mu- 

 tual assistance ; and it only remains 

 to form one general international 

 organization which shall in a man- 

 ner preside over all the scattered 

 provinces of science, and by its ex- 

 istence and activity give evidence to 

 the world that science is one and 

 that humanity should be one. We 

 are glad to know that this important 

 object is in a fair way of accomplish- 

 ment. Next year the British and 

 American Associations for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science will meet 

 within about two hundred miles of 

 one another, the one at Toronto and 

 the other at Detroit; and it is ex- 

 pected that not only will the two 

 associations contrive to meet and 

 fraternize, but that steps will be 

 taken toward establishing some bond 

 of union between the two, and so 

 preparing the way for a wider inter- 

 national organization. The scheme, 

 it is further expected, will be fol- 

 lowed up two years later when the 

 British and French Associations will 

 meet within about thirty miles of 

 one another, one at Dover and the 

 other at Boulogne ; and if so a world 

 meeting may possibly be arranged 

 for the year 1900, Let science flour- 

 ish, and let its influence over the 

 nations increase ! It means love of 

 truth; it means reasonableness and 

 equity ; and if these things be in us 

 and abound, there can not be much 

 room for international hatred. 



COMPLETION OF THE SYNTHETIC 

 PHILOSOPHY. 



The publication of the conclud- 

 ing volume of Mr. Herbert Spencer's 

 Synthetic Philosophy is an event of 

 no small moment in the history of 

 modern thought. No other doctrine 

 of this or of any recent century has 

 revealed so much in regard to the 

 way in which organisms and institu- 

 tions have come to be what they are 

 as the evolutionary or synthetic phi- 

 losophy has. Long before its great 

 expounder had completed his pres- 

 entation of it in the four fields of 

 life, thought, society, and conduct, it 

 had turned violent opposition into 

 eager acceptance, and was being ap- 

 plied in countless researches, and was 

 assumed as the only admissible 

 standpoint for interpreting the past 

 and predicting the future. The con- 

 cluding division of his system deals 

 with Industrial Institutions, and has 

 been eagerly awaited with the ex- 

 pectation that it would throw needed 

 light upon the industrial ferment of 

 the times. This expectation it amply 

 fulfills. Mr. Spencer's plan for a se- 

 ries of ten volumes in which the prin- 

 ciples of evolution should be set forth 

 with sufficient illustrative evidence 

 was first issued in 1860. To do this 

 work as he determined that it should 

 be done was an immense undertaking, 

 and he was further hampered at first 

 by insufiicient means, and through- 

 out by seriously impaired health. 

 That he has surmounted every ob- 

 stacle and reached his goal may well 

 inspire wonder, and notable too is 

 the fact that his exposition has been 

 completed substantially as proposed. 

 Notwithstanding the progress of 

 knowledge during the past third of a 

 century, and notwithstanding, more- 

 over, the widening of Mr. Spencer's 

 own horizon, the plan that seemed 

 good to the man of forty has proved 

 acceptable to his riper self at seven- 

 ty-six. Mr. Spencer is to be heartily 



