SPENCER AND EVOLUTION. 33 



In October of the same year, the essay on "Representative Gov- 

 ernment what is it good for?" appeared in the Westminster Review. 

 The law of progress is here applied to the interpretation of state func- 

 tions, and it is stated that the specialization of offices, " as exhibited 

 in the Evolution of living creatures, and as exhibited in the Evo- 

 lution of societies," holds throughout ; that " the governmental part 

 of the body politic exemplifies this truth equally with its other parts." 

 In January, 1858, the essay on " State Tamperings with Money and 

 Banks " appeared in the same periodical. The general doctrine of the 

 limitations of state functions is there reaffirmed, with further illustra- 

 tion of the mischiefs that arise from traversing the normal laws of 

 life ; and it is contended that " the ultimate result of shielding men 

 from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools " an indirect 

 way of asserting the beneficial effects of the survival of the fittest. 



In April, 1858, Mr. Spencer published an essay on "Moral Educa- 

 tion," in the British Quarterly Review, and throughout the argument 

 every thing is again regarded from the Evolution point of view. The 

 general truth insisted upon is, that the natural rewards and restraints 

 of conduct are those which are most appropriate and effectual in modi- 

 fying character. The principle contended for is, that the moral edu- 

 cation of every child should be regarded as an adaptation of its na- 

 ture to the circumstances of life ; and that to become adapted to 

 these circumstances it must be allowed to come in contact with them ; 

 must be allowed to suffer the pains and obtain the pleasures which do 

 in the order of Nature follow certain kinds of action. There is here, 

 in fact, applied to actual life, the general conception of the nature of 

 life, previously inculcated in the "Principles of Psychology" a cor- 

 respondence between the inner and the outer actions that becomes 

 great in proportion as the converse with outer actions through expe- 

 rience becomes extended. 



The essay on the "Nebular Hypothesis" was published in the 

 Westminster Review for July, 1858. The opinion was then almost 

 universally held that the nebular hypothesis had been exploded, and 

 the obvious bearing of the question upon the theory of Evolution in- 

 duced Mr. Spencer to take it up. The conclusions that had been 

 drawn from observations with Lord Rosse's telescope, that the nebular 

 hypothesis had been invalidated, were shown to be erroneous ; and the 

 position taken, that the nebula? could not be (as they were then sup- 

 posed to be) remote sidereal systems, has been since verified. Spec- 

 trum analysis has, in fact, proved what Mr. Spencer then maintained, 

 that there are many nebulae composed of gaseous matter. To the 

 various indications of the nebular origin of our own solar system 

 commonly given, others were added which had not been previously 

 recognized, while the view that Mr. Spencer took of the constitution 

 of the solar atmosphere has since been also verified by spectrum 

 analysis. 



VOL. VI. 3 



