2 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in Literature," it offers the only scientific exposition of the problem 

 of style that we have. The general theory set forth is, that effective- 

 ness of style depends on a choice of words and forms of sentence offer- 

 ing the least resistance to thought in the mind of the reader or hearer 

 a foreshadowing of the general law of the " line of least resistance " 

 as applied to the interpretation of psychological phenomena, as well 

 as phenomena in general. Moreover, at the close of the essay, there 

 is a reference to the law of Evolution in its application to speech 

 there is a recognition of the fact that " increasing heterogeneity " has 

 been the characteristic of advance in this as in other things, and that 

 a highly-evolved style will " answer to the description of all highly- 

 organized products, both of man and of Nature 1 ; it will be, not a series 

 of like parts simply placed in juxtaposition, but one whole made up 

 of unlike parts that are mutually dependent." Here, as early as 1852, 

 there are recognized in one of the highest spheres both the process of 

 differentiation and the process of integration the two radical concep- 

 tions of Evolution. 



In July of the next year (1853), Mr. Spencer's continued interest 

 in the question of the functions of the state led him to write the essay 

 on " Over-Legislation " in the Westminster Review ; and here, as in 

 " Social Statics," the conception of society as a growth, under the 

 operation of natural laws, is predominant. 



The critical perusal of Mr. Spencer's works shows that this was a 

 very important period in the development of his views. The reading 

 of Mr. Mill's " Logic," along with some other philosophical works, had 

 led him to the elaboration of certain opinions at variance with those 

 of Mr. Mill on the question of our ultimate beliefs, and those he pub- 

 lished in the Westminster Revieic, under the title of " The Universal 

 Postulate" (1853). The inquiries thus commenced, together with 

 those respecting the nature of the moral feelings, and those concerning 

 life and development, bodily and mental, into which he had been led, 

 both by " Social Statics " and the " Theory of Population," prepared 

 the way for the " Principles of Psychology." Some of the funda- 

 mental conceptions contained in this remarkable work now began to 

 take shape in his mind. Other ideas connected with the subject began 

 also to form in his mind, an example of which is furnished by the 

 essay on " Manners and Fashion," published in the Westminster He- 

 view (April, 1854). Various traits of the general doctrine of Evolu- 

 tion are here clearly marked out in their relations to social progress. 

 It is showm that the various forms of restraint exercised over men in 

 society political, ecclesiastical, and ceremonial are all divergent 

 unfoldings of one original form, and that the development of social 

 structure, in these as in other directions, takes place by gradual and 

 continuous differentiations, " in conformity with the laws of Evolution 

 of all organized bodies." 



Mr. Spencer was at the same time engaged in working out his 



