EDITOR'S TABLE. 



241 



years for its completion. His first vol- 

 ume was preliminary, and contained an 

 exposition of his method, under the title 

 of " First Principles." Then followed 

 two volumes of the "Principles of 

 Biology," which was succeeded by two 

 volumes of the " Principles of Psychol- 

 ogy." This work is just finished, and 

 takes him half through his undertaking. 

 He has now before him the subject of 

 Sociology, which he proposes to treat 

 in three volumes of the " Principles of 

 Sociology," to be commenced this win- 

 ter. His Philosophical Series will be 

 completed by two additional volumes 

 of the "Principles of Morality," as de- 

 duced from the whole system of facts 

 and principles established in the pre- 

 ceding works. 



At this stage of his enterprise, Mr. 

 Spencer encounters certain difficulties 

 which have to be met by what we may 

 call side-undertakings works which 

 have an important bearing upon the 

 subject of Sociology, but are not prop- 

 erly parts of his philosophical system. 

 The articles that are appearing in The 

 Popular Science Monthly, and which, 

 when completed, will form a volume of 

 the International Scientific Series, are 

 designed to explain the nature, scope, 

 and claims of Social Science. Such are 

 the general doubt and misapprehension 

 regarding this subject, that Mr. Spen- 

 cer was induced to pause for a little at 

 this stage of his labors, and present 

 some considerations of the method and 

 subject-matter of Sociology which are 

 greatly needed by the public, and 

 which do not properly fall within the 

 course of his regular exposition. It is 

 important to make this explanation, as 

 the papers we have published have 

 been supposed, by some, to be a part 

 of his long-expected " Principles of So- 

 ciology." 



Another of the difficulties of his un- 

 dertaking was foreseen by Mr. Spencer 

 several years ago, and has led to a 

 separate work, which, though indis- 

 pensable to the main plan, is neverthe- 

 vol. 11. 16 



less of independent value, and of great 

 public importance. As the scientific 

 character of his philosophy is funda- 

 mentally inductive, the first work in 

 each department is the collection of 

 data on which inductions are to rest. 

 The data of Biology are accessible in 

 treatises on Natural History, where they 

 can be obtained in a digested and au- 

 thentic form, while any defects may be 

 supplied by special investigations. The 

 data of Psychology are also available in 

 scientific works upon that subject, and 

 the conditions for extending and veri- 

 fying them can be commanded any- 

 where. But, as respects its data, Soci- 

 ology is very different from these sci- 

 ences. Dealing with the phenomena 

 manifested by diverse races and com- 

 munities of men ; dealing with the de- 

 velopment of society, which is a prob- 

 lem of history ; dealing with those 

 facts of the social state which illus- 

 trate its natural laws ; and dealing, 

 moreover, by a scientific method, with 

 a great subject which has hitherto 

 been regarded as not amenable to that 

 method, the difficulty of gathering the 

 indispensable and pertinent facts for 

 such an inquiry was formidable. His- 

 tory has occupied itself with quite 

 other things than the record of such 

 facts. Travellers fill their pages with 

 chaffy gossip and egotistical narrative,, 

 and give but little attention to the 

 social facts which it is most desirable- 

 to know. Their observations are care- 

 less, and their statements loose and 

 often untrustworthy. Nobody has 

 taken pains to collect and sift from 

 the vast mass of historical rubbish and 

 the bulky litter of travellers the few 

 and scattered statements which throw- 

 light upon the laws of social life. Be- 

 fore there can be a science of Sociology 

 presenting the generalizations of sociaL 

 phenomena, there must first be an ac- 

 cumulation and a classification of its- 

 data. "What these are it is important 

 to understand, and, in a remarkable 

 passage of a review article published 



