EDITOR'S TABLE. 



557 



ganization of knowledge, must be the 

 next great step in the progress of mod- 

 ern ideas. The import of the new view 

 could hardly be exaggerated. Hitherto 

 the unity of nature had been a specu- 

 lative conception favored by the tend- 

 encies of science, but not resulting in 

 any valid unification of knowledge. An 

 epoch was now reached by the recogni- 

 tion of a demonstrable, all-unifying, 

 objective law, capable of bringing the 

 great divisions of science into closer 

 co-ordination, and a more intimate mu- 

 tual dependence. This made possible a 

 philosophy of nature based upon the 

 sciences, and to the working out of 

 such a scheme of thought Mr. Spencer 

 devoted all the powers of his mind. 

 His qualifications for the task were em- 

 inent. His encyclopedic acquisitions, 

 his remarkable power of analysis, his 

 capacity of organization and generali- 

 zation, declared by the " Saturday Ke- 

 view " to have been unequaled in Eng- 

 land since Newton, prepared him to 

 engage upon a great intellectual under- 

 taking which lie was himself the first 

 to conceive and to project, and he re- 

 solved to work out a philosophical sys- 

 tem of thought constructive and syn- 

 thetic in its predominant character, and 

 embodying the principle of evolution 

 as its central and controlling concep- 

 tion. 



Mr. Spencer entered upon this ex- 

 tensive project in 1858 by drawing up 

 a scheme designed to occupy seven vol- 

 umes and to contain a fundamental ex- 

 position of the proofs and principles of 

 the theory of evolution, a broad appli- 

 cation of it to the laws of life, of mind, 

 and of human society, and finally to 

 ethical science by showing the bearing 

 of evolutionary doctrine upon the regu- 

 lation of human conduct the whole to 

 constitute a systematic philosophy of 

 evolution. His method was then ma- 

 ture, but upon further consideration the 

 scheme was amplified in 1859 to ten 

 volumes, and embodied in a prospectus 

 for publication, which presented the 



course of the elucidation in detailed or- 

 der of logical dependence under thirty- 

 three consecutive divisions, and which 

 referred to various extended tracts of 

 the general investigation already writ- 

 ten and published. This prospectus was 

 printed in March, 1860, and has been 

 adhered to, with no essential deviation, 

 in the subsequent carrying out of the 

 undertaking. 



Now, in any critical estimate of Mr. 

 Spencer's original contributions to the 

 progress of knowledge, it is of the first 

 importance to bear distinctly in mind 

 the time at which they were matured. 

 For this purpose we are closely con- 

 cerned with his status as a thinker in 

 1858, as recognized by men of the high- 

 est ability while yet the general pub- 

 lic knew nothing of him. There is 

 evidence upon this point that must not 

 be overlooked. When Mr. Spencer had 

 elaborated the first programme, and re- 

 solved to execute it, he had at once 

 to meet the primary difficulties of self- 

 support and of publication. Thinking 

 there might be some Government place 

 of light duty and small emolument 

 which he could consistently fill, and 

 still have leisure for his labors, a few 

 friends were consulted, and they gave 

 him letters designed to be published 

 and to favor his application. But Mr. 

 Spencer gave up the plan and never 

 printed them, and the use now made 

 of them is by no consent of his. These 

 letters were from John Tyndall, J. S. 

 Mill, George Grote, T. H. Huxley, R. G. 

 Latham, J. D. Hooker, and A. 0. Fra- 

 ser. Their joint import was that Mr. 

 Spencer was a man of remarkable en- 

 dowments, eminently qualified to do a 

 great intellectual work, which would 

 be an honor to the nation and a last- 

 ing service to mankind a work like 

 that of Bacon, although more arduous 

 and difficult, owing to the vast accumu- 

 lation of knowledge in modern times. 

 One of the most distinguished of the 

 writers said : 



"I am glad to have an opportunity 



