EDITOR'S TABLE. 



411 



at any given time its dark corners, 

 there were no corners in it that had to 

 be left dark, the constant effort of the 

 scientific worker, in every portion of 

 the field, being to get light and yet 

 more light. He loved science because 

 in studying it he breathed the air of 

 liberty and became conscious of intel- 

 lectual growth. No sooner had he 

 emerged from the cloud which a pro- 

 longed period of alternately partial and 

 total blindness had cast over his early 

 life, than he betook himself to the lecture 

 platform, and began, as his biographer 

 expresses it, to " interpret science for the 

 people." In this field he accomplished 

 most useful work. Possessing, as he 

 did, a wonderful gift of exposition, and 

 having the kind of mind that naturally 

 seized upon the most instructive and 

 interesting aspects of things, he was 

 able both to charm and to stimulate his 

 audiences in an unusual degree. There 

 was about him, too, a stamp of candor, 

 of liberality, of noble-mindedness that 

 must have exerted a powerful influence 

 for good upon those with whom he 

 came into contact. Science with him 

 was not a trade, it was a vocation ; and, 

 obeying at every moment what seemed 

 the highest call, he was ever ready to 

 listen to a higher. 



The higher call came with his fir>t 

 serious introduction to the works of Her- 

 bert Spencer. Long had he been feel- 

 ing his way toward some more compre- 

 hensive scientific view than any he had 

 yet grasped, seeking, if haply he might 

 find, some common principle of inter- 

 pretation for the infinitely diverse phe- 

 nomena of the universe, when an article 

 in a London periodical directed his at- 

 tention to Spencer's Psychology. The 

 study of this work, which he shortly 

 afterward ordered from England, con- 

 vinced him, as his biographer has ex- 

 pressed it, that " the theory expounded 

 was a long stride in the direction of a 

 general theory of evolution." His inter- 

 est in Spencer was strengthened by a 

 perusal of his Social Statics and of the 



valuable articles he was contributing at 

 the time to the English quarterlies, par- 

 ticularly the Westminster Keview. The 

 biography tells how, when he found that 

 Spencer had issued a programme or syl- 

 labus of his proposed system of philoso- 

 phy, and was soliciting subscriptions 

 thereto, Mr. Youmans wrote to him, ex- 

 pressing indebtedness for the advantage 

 he had derived from the study of what 

 he had already written, and offering any 

 assistance which it might be in his power 

 to render toward the success of the 

 forthcoming volumes. Thus was the 

 foundation laid of one of the most hon- 

 orable, interesting, and fruitful friend- 

 ships of which our times possess any 

 record. On the one side, ardent and 

 enthusiastic devotion to an intellectual 

 leader whose teaching was looked upon 

 as a message of transcendent importance 

 to the present generation ; on the other, 

 a quick and generous appreciation of 

 that devotion and of all the practical 

 service to which it led. Those who have 

 not yet read the biography, and may 

 wish to see in what ample terms Spen- 

 cer acknowledged the disinterested la- 

 bors of Prof. Youmans in his behalf, can 

 not do better than turn to the book and 

 read Spencer's letters. It was certainly 

 the opinion of the great English phi- 

 losopher that Prof. Youmans, by his en- 

 ergy and zeal, his tact and persuasive- 

 ness and business sagacity, almost created 

 a public for him in America; and, by 

 the help and encouragement thus afford- 

 ed, greatly contributed to the success of 

 his works in England. 



Having adopted Spencer as his lead- 

 er, Youmans never faltered in his alle- 

 giance to him. It was a case of loyal 

 following, not of blind partisanship ; if 

 any fuller light had shone into our late 

 friend's mind, he could not have turned 

 away from it ; for that to which he was 

 supremely loyal was the truth. But, in 

 point of fact, he never saw anything 

 else in the guise of philosophy which 

 seemed to him to possess half the merit 

 or value for mankind that he discovered 



