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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of expressing my sense of the value 

 which attaches to the writings of my 

 friend Mr. Herbert Spencer, and of the 

 high estimation in which I, as a prac- 

 tical man of science, hold his specu- 

 lative labors. 



" Founded as it is upon the accurate 

 observation of facts, science would soon 

 stagnate if the co-ordination of its data 

 did not accompany their accumulation ; 

 and I can conceive nothing that would 

 give a more vigorous impulse to the 

 progress of science than the promul- 

 gation of a modern Novum Organon 

 adapted to the state of knowledge in 

 these days, and showing the unity of 

 method of all science, and the mutual 

 connection and interdependence of all 

 forms of acquisition. 



"I can not testify more strongly to 

 my estimation of Mr. Spencer's abilities 

 than by expressing my belief that, if 

 health and moderate leisure be granted 

 him, he will very satisfactorily perform 

 this necessary piece of work for us. 

 And I base my conviction not so much 

 upon a knowledge of Mr. Spencer's 

 works (though I could amply justify it 

 from them), as upon that intimate ac- 

 quaintance with himself which it has, 

 for some years past, been my privilege 

 to enjoy." 



The eminent and responsible pledges 

 thus tendered twenty-five years ago of 

 Mr. Spencer's preparation to enter upon 

 a great intellectual undertaking for the 

 advancement of human knowledge have 

 now been amply redeemed. Seven vol- 

 umes of the " Synthetic Philosophy " 

 have been given to the public, have 

 been translated into various languages, 

 and are recognized by the best minds 

 as authoritatively representing a new 

 epoch of thought, and as taking rank 

 among the monumental works of the 

 century. Though it may seem useless 

 to quote authorities in confirmation of 

 this statement, yet they have so impor- 

 tant a bearing upon our present pur- 

 pose that we must be excused for cit- 

 ing a few expressions testifying to the 



position of the man as shown by the 

 character of his accomplished work. 



Dr. Masson, of the Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity, spoke several years ago, in one 

 of his books, of Spencer as the rising 

 power in British philosophy ; and G. 

 H. Lewes, in his " History of Philoso- 

 phy," declared " that no thinker of finer 

 caliber had appeared in England." Pro- 

 fessor Jevons, in his " Principles of 

 Science," ranks the works of Spencer 

 as in their influence among the most 

 important that have appeared since the 

 "Principia" of Newton. Dr. J. D. 

 Morell, author of the " History of Phi- 

 losophy," testified to Spencer's "extra- 

 ordinary power of analysis and gener- 

 alization," and Dr. Fairbairn recently 

 declared that to conceive such a system 

 as Spencer's "is in itself an education 

 to an age." Professor Huxley remarked 

 before the Royal Institution that " the 

 only complete and systematic statement 

 of the doctrine (evolution) with which 

 I am acquainted, is that contained in 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer's ' System of Phi- 

 losophy.' " Mr. J. S. Mill has referred 

 to his " encyclopedic knowledge " ; Mr. 

 Darwin spoke of him as " our great 

 philosopher " ; H. "W. Beecher as " king 

 of the thinkers of this age " ; President 

 McCosh recognized his " giant mind," 

 and President Barnard speaks of him as 

 " not only the profoundest thinker of 

 our time, but the most capacious and 

 the most powerful intellect of all time." 



These emphatic declarations regard- 

 ing Spencer's genius and position as 

 evinced by the greatness of his work 

 must be construed as applying to what 

 he had really achieved in 1858-'59. It 

 is not that his works stand to-day con- 

 fessed in their supereminence, but that 

 he was before all other men in arriving 

 at the views they contain. Evolution 

 has now become a commonplace of 

 thought ; it was the guiding principle 

 of Herbert Spencer's intellectual labor 

 thirty years ago. While yet the doctrine 

 was scouted as a chimera by one half the 

 world, and execrated as an abomination 



