CRITICISMS CORRECTED. loi 



ject is in life bow it is enjoying itself, what food it is seeking, or 

 from what enemy it is flying. 



And, fortunately for us, there are an order and arrangement in this 

 immense multitude, and in the same way as we can read and under- 

 stand the history of different nations which form the great human 

 family spread over the earth, and enter into their feelings and their 

 struggles, though we can not know all the people themselves ; so, with a 

 little trouble, we may learn to picture to ourselves the general life and 

 habits of the different branches of the still greater familyof life, so 

 as to be ready, by and by, to make personal acquaintance with any 

 particular creature if he comes in our way. 



CEITICISMS COREECTED. 



By HEEBERT SPENCEE. 

 II. T. E. CLIFFE LESLIE. 



AN objection made to the formula of evolution by a sympathetic 

 critic, Mr. T. E. Cliffe Leslie, calls for notice. It is urged in a 

 spirit widely different from that displayed by Mr. Kirkman and his 

 applauder. Professor Tait ; and it has an apparent justification. Indeed, 

 many readers, who before accepted the formula of evolution in full, 

 will, after reading Mr. Cliffe Leslie's comments, agree with him in 

 thinking that it is to be taken with the qualifications he points out. 

 We shall find, however, that a clearer apprehension of the meanings 

 of the words used and a clearer apprehension of the formula in its 

 totality exclude the criticisms Mr. Leslie makes. 



In the first place he dissociates from one another those traits of 

 evolution which I have associated, and which I have alleged to be true 

 only when associated. He quotes me as saying that a change from the 

 homogeneous to the heterogeneous characterizes all evolution ; and he 

 puts this at the outset of his criticism as though I made this change 

 the primary characteristic. But if he will refer to " First Principles," 

 Part II, Chapter XIV (in the second and subsequent editions), he will 

 find it shown that under its primary aspect evolution " is a change from 

 a less coherent form to a more coherent form, consequent on the dissi- 

 pation of motion and integration of matter." The next chapter con- 

 tains proofs that the change from homogeneity to heterogeneity is 

 a secondary change, which, when conditions allow, accompanies the 

 change from the incoherent to the coherent. At the beginning of 

 the chapter after that come the sentences " But now, does this gen- 

 eralization express the whole truth ? Does it include everything essen- 

 tially characterizing evolution and exclude everything else ? . . . A 



