44 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In the first place, Mr. Spencer's work has been done under circum- 

 stances peculiarly unfavorable to the recognition of his rights as an 

 original and independent thinker. Of the twenty-five articles pre- 

 pared in the most active period of his life, and published between 1852 

 and 1860, which, as I have shown, are important contributions toward 

 the development of the doctrine of Evolution in its various phases, 

 most, if not all, appeared anonymously. They were printed in the dif- 

 ferent leading reviews, and many of them attracted marked attention 

 at the time ; but their author was unknown, and, of course, lost the 

 advantage of having his ideas accredited to him. Up to the time 

 when he had matured his system of thought, and was ready to enter 

 upon its formal publication, he had been giving it out in fragments, 

 as its several aspects had taken shape in his own mind. His articles, 

 many of which were republished in this country, thus went far toward 

 familiarizing the public mind with the general conception of Evolu- 

 tion, so that he was actually preparing his readers to discredit his 

 subsequent claims to his own views, which, being reproduced and 

 further diffused by others, were regarded as belonging to the common 

 stock of current ideas. So far did this go, that he was ultimately 

 exposed to the imputation of plagiarism for the restatement of opin- 

 ions that he had first put forth, but which other men had appropriated 

 and sent out as their own. Nor was the case -much helped when he 

 began to publish his System of Philosophy to subscribers, for so 

 limited was its distribution that it might almost have been said that 

 it was " printed for private circulation." Moreover, being the owner 

 of his own works, the interests of publishers were not enlisted in their 

 diffusion ; while the assaults of the press were so malignant, and their 

 representations so false, that for years he was constrained to withhold 

 his series from the periodicals. All this was favorable to misconcep- 

 tion, and left Mr. Spencer much at the mercy of dishonest authorship 

 and unscrupulous criticism. 



Again, it must be recognized that there were difficulties in appre- 

 ciating his work which arose from its nature and extent. While a 

 scientific discovery, or a single definite doctrine, is readily apprehend- 

 ed because the impression it makes is narrow and sharp, an extensive 

 system of principles, which it requires power to grasp and time to 

 master, can only be imperfectly received by the general mind. The 

 very greatness of Mr. Spencer's work was thus an impediment to its 

 recognition ; and this, too, it must be acknowledged, on the part even 

 of men of science. In the scientific world, the accumulation of facts 

 has outstripped the work of valid generalization. For, while men of 

 moderate ability can observe, experiment, and multiply details in 

 special departments, it requires men of breadth to arrange them into 

 groups, to educe principles and arrive at comprehensive laws. The 

 great mass of scientific specialists, confined to their departments, and 

 little trained to the work of generalization, are apt to regard lightly 



