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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



man, who modestly signed " Outsider," 

 had not been able to find that mathe- 

 matical specialists thought very highly 

 of Mr. Spencer as a mathematician, or 

 that specialists in biology ranked him 

 high as a biologist, or that men eminent 

 for their historical knowledge regarded 

 him as an authority in their special de- 

 partment, and so on and so on. Evi- 

 dently this writer had somewhat sin- 

 gular notions as to what was required 

 to make a philosopher. Not only is it 

 impossible that Mr. Spencer should be 

 a specialist in all the branches of knowl- 

 edge upon which his system has a bear- 

 ing, but it is quite unnecessary that he 

 should be such in even one branch. His 

 specialty consists in his power of co-ordi- 

 nating the general results of different 

 lines of inquiry ; and his claim to rank 

 as a philosopher depends on the success 

 with which he has accomplished this task. 

 All that can properly be demanded of 

 Mr. Spencer, or any philosopher, is that 

 he shall not misunderstand or misstate 

 the results of the special sciences with 

 which he may have to deal. If " Out- 

 sider " had been in a position to declare 

 that mathematicians had examined Mr. 

 Spencer's work, and found it very faulty 

 on the mathematical side ; that biolo- 

 gists, in like manner, had found it weak 

 on the biological side; and that in gen- 

 eral his system was, to a serious extent, 

 based upon erroneous conceptions of 

 special facts and laws, he would have 

 made a very damaging criticism. He 

 did not pretend, however, to be in a 

 position to do anything of the kind; 

 but simply attacked Mr. Spencer for not 

 being, what no one man could possibly 

 be, a specialist in half a dozen sciences 

 at once. 



The principal result of " Outsider's " 

 attack was that a number of persons 

 came forward, many over their own 

 signatures, to vindicate Mr. Spencer; 

 and so effectually was the work done, 

 and such a revelation did the whole 

 controversy afford of the hold Mr. Spen- 

 cer had upon the thinking men of this 



country, that a very suspicious person 

 might have conjectured that " Out- 

 sider's " secret object had been to get 

 as much good said of Spencer as pos- 

 sible, and bring him and his works into 

 greater prominence than ever. The per- 

 sonal interest which we have for years 

 felt in the great English philosopher — 

 an interest which the sketch of the late 

 Prof. Youmans, published a couple of 

 months ago in this magazine, will in 

 some measure explain — led us to at- 

 tempt in the columns of the Times a 

 concise yet comprehensive statement of 

 the testimonies that had been borne to 

 the value of his scientific and philo- 

 sophical work by the very highest au- 

 thorities. "Outsider " had asked what 

 the specialists thought of Mr. Spencer ; 

 we had no difficulty in showing what 

 the men who commanded the widest 

 view of the fields of philosophy and 

 science, and who in that sense were the 

 specialists by whom his work should be 

 tried, thought of him. In philosophy, 

 the names cited were such as Lewes, 

 McCosh, J. S. Mill, Morell, and Ribot ; 

 in biology, such as Mivart, Ray Lankes- 

 ter, Huxley, Darwin ; and in general 

 science and history, Masson, Proctor, 

 Tyndall, Grant Allen, Leslie Stephen, 

 and Tylor. All of these, at one time or 

 another, have in the amplest manner 

 borne testimony to Spencer's philosoph- 

 ic genius, to the acuteness of his thought, 

 the depth of his insight, the fertility of 

 his methods, the sagacity of his judg- 

 ment, the keenness and truth of his sci- 

 entific perceptions— one remarking upon 

 this quality or group of qualities, and 

 another upon that. As further evidence 

 of the impression Mr. Spencer has made 

 upon his age, we gave the leading facts 

 relating to the reproduction of his works 

 in foreign countries and their transla- 

 tion into foreign tongues. In Russia, in 

 Italy, in France, in Germany, Spencer's 

 works may be read in the national 

 tongue, and have powerfully molded 

 philosophical opinion. The facts thus 

 brought forward were not far to seek : 



