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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



these works, which passed through 

 many editions, he accepted the old tra- 

 ditional view of the origin of life. But, 

 as his studies enlarged, that view broke 

 down so completely that he has for- 

 mally abandoned it. In the tenth edition 

 of his " Principles of Geology," pub- 

 lished in 1867, and in the eleventh 

 edition of the same work now just 

 issued, he has adopted the theory of 

 evolution in its application to the phe- 

 nomena of terrestrial life. The presi- 

 dents of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, Grove, 

 Hooker, Huxley, and (Jarpenter, in 

 their inaugural addresses, and Prof. 

 Gray in his late address as president 

 of the American Scientific Associa- 

 tion, have proclaimed their adherence 

 to the doctrine of evolution. Prof. 

 Cope, one of the most able and ac- 

 complished of American zoologists, 

 affirms that the truth of the develop- 

 ment hypothesis is held "to be infi- 

 nitely probable by a majority of the 

 exponents of the natural sciences, and 

 is held as absolutely demonstrated by 

 another portion." It has been widely 

 accepted by the younger naturalists of 

 this country, more generally by those 

 of England, and still more extensively 

 by those of Germany, as a guiding prin- 

 ciple in the work of investigation. An 

 intelligent German naturalist said to 

 Prof. Giekie, of the Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity : "You are still discussing in 

 England whether or not the theory of 

 Darwin can be true. We have got a 

 long way beyond that here. His the- 

 ory is now our common starting- 

 point." 



Facts like these will have weight 

 with thoughtful persons, but the editor 

 of Scribbler's sees through the illusion. 

 All these masters of science and work- 

 ing-students of Nature have been lured 

 from the path of true induction by the 

 ignis fatuus of a high-flown a priori 

 speculation. 



We have shown the separate estab- 

 lishment of a principle of evolution 



by independent workers in different 

 branches of science. On the broad 

 basis of the facts and inductions that 

 have been reached by three centuries 

 of investigation in the several domains 

 of natural phenomena, rests the hypo- 

 thesis of universal evolution. The co- 

 ordination of these diverse and alien 

 orders of facts, and the synthesis of in- 

 ductions, by which the grand generali- 

 zation was arrived at, we owe to the 

 genius of Herbert Spencer. With a 

 knowledge of modern science that John 

 Stuart Mill has pronounced " encyclo- 

 pedic," with a grasp of method and a 

 capacity of organization which, on the 

 authority of the Saturday Review, has 

 not been equalled in England since 

 Newton, and with the power of a 

 "giant mind," as Dr. McCosh declares, 

 to wield and shape his extensive scien- 

 tific materials, Mr. Spencer has worked 

 out the principle of universal evolution 

 by the rigid logic of inductive science. 

 In each division of his exposition the 

 first step has been to marshal the facts ; 

 to sift and methodize the data. The 

 next step has been to generalize the 

 facts, or to establish the inductions 

 warranted by the data. Finally he 

 verifies these inductions by showing 

 that they follow from previously estab- 

 lished principles, and harmonize with 

 them. The conditions by which all 

 science has been created are thus 

 strictly complied with. The concep- 

 tion of all nature, as in a slow process 

 of movement to a higher state of an 

 ever-advancing and ever-perfecting 

 order of a universe in evolution, is no 

 fantastic speculation brought down to 

 us by tradition from the dreaming 

 childhood of the race, but it is a defi- 

 nite verifiable principle educed from a 

 more comprehensive range of facts than 

 any other generalization ever attempted 

 the outgrowth of the ripest knowl- 

 edge, and which is coercing the assent 

 of the most disciplined intellects of the 

 world. The principle in question is no 

 barren formula to be classed with the 



