8 4 4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



lines, and one of the most skillful advo- 

 cates, whether of a good or of a mistaken 

 cause, that I have ever met. Herbert Spencer 

 I esteem, I may almost say reverence, as the 

 teacher of the soundest system of philosophy 

 the world has yet, in my judgment, known. 

 That a man whose researches reach so widely 

 should at times fall into error in matters of 

 detail may be readily admitted. Only a few 

 weeks ago I pointed out in the pages of my 

 weekly journal, "Knowledge," what I hold 

 to be an entirely erroneous view of Herbert 

 Spencer's respecting the probable origin of 

 the system of asteroids. Yet even in matters 

 of detail belonging to the work of specialists 

 he has been singularly clear-sighted. He first 

 pointed out the fallacies underlying the long- 

 accepted teaching respecting the stellar sys- 

 tem, star-clusters, nebulas, etc., which men 

 like Arago and Humboldt had dealt with 

 without detecting error. In every depart- 

 ment of science, in fact, though a specialist 

 in none, Herbert Spencer has left his mark. 



The attack in the "Edinburgh Keview" 

 leaves Spencer's fame untouched. It is evi- 

 dent in every line of this sour production that 

 the enmity which Sir Edmund Beckett has 

 always felt and expressed toward the teach- 

 ings of the school of which Spencer has been 

 the Bacon, the Darwin, and the Newton, has 

 made it impossible for him to read with even 

 average attention the work which he pretends 

 to criticise. He has not caught the veriest 

 glimmer of a notion of Mr. Spencer's real 

 meaning. From the only passage which he 

 claims to quote entire he has allowed several 

 important words to drop by accident doubt- 

 less, but yet not by mere accident in tran- 

 scribing what he had already carefully read 

 and understood ; for the reasoning which fol- 

 lows falls to the ground so soon as the omit- 

 ted words are restored. 



Let one example suffice to show how ut- 

 terly Sir Edmund Beckett either has missed 

 or misrepresents the meaning of the famous 

 contemporary whom he assaults. Herbert 

 Spencer, speaking of the Great First Cause, 

 transcending all laws, Absolute, Uncondi- 

 tional, says that we only perceive It, can only 

 recognize It, by the persistence of force which, 

 as it were, symbolizes It. Sir Edmund re- 

 gards this as equivalent to saying that the 

 Great First Cause is nothing else but persist- 

 ent Force. Beckett rebukes Spencer for speak- 

 ing of the " laws of motion " as the results of 

 experience, saying that Newton regarded them 

 as self-evident. He must have forgotten New- 

 ton's " Principia," where these laws are pre- 

 sented by Newton as now spoken by Spen- 

 cer. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Hand-Book of Sanitary Information for 

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There are now but few persons who 

 have the hardihood to say that hygienic 

 knowledge, or information concerning the 

 preservation of health, is without value. 

 But if it have any value whatever for its 

 purpose, then is it of very great importance, 

 for the maintenance of health and life is 

 the supremest earthly interest. It may of 

 course be said that our fathers got along: 

 very well without all this bother about ven- 

 tilation, drainage, and other hygienic mat- 

 ters, but this is only an apology for igno- 

 rance, or a plea for indolence. Through the 

 whole history of the world, and everywhere, 

 long life and vigorous health have been de- 

 pendent upon the necessary conditions, and, 

 where these have been wanting, feebleness, 

 invalidism, severe sickness, premature death, 

 and the destruction of countless thousands 

 by pestilence, have been the results. In the 

 ignorant ages the theological ages, when 

 the phenomena of sickness and death were 

 accounted for by the providence of God, 

 against which it was in vain to strive little 

 was known of the real causes of disease, 

 and it was therefore a subject that attracted 

 but slight attention either privately or pub- 

 licly. But in this more scientific age, de- 

 voted so assiduously to the extension and 

 diffusion of knowledge, men are beginning 

 to feel the importance of a better under- 

 standing of those physical conditions and 

 physiological laws upon which health is de- 

 pendent, and there is, of course, a good deal 

 said about their urgency, and the need of 

 reducing them to practical application. Ig- 

 norant and stupid people, and often excel- 

 lent and pious people, are no doubt much 

 bored by all this modern hygienic agitation, 

 but in the happy order of the world this class 

 of persons are certain to be gradually got 

 out of the way, and they are to be replaced 

 by others who will regard these subjects as 

 not only of the first importance, but full of 



