242 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ceived various inquiries as to wliat 

 ground there is for Mr. Conway's state- 

 ment. 



It is true that Mr. Spencer has not 

 been in good health, and has been com- 

 pelled recently to desist from labor, and 

 it is this circumstance that just now 

 operates to give point to Conway's opin- 

 ion; but it is to be remembered that 

 Mr. Spencer's health was not so good 

 when he began his philosophical system 

 in 1860 as it has been since ; while in 

 writing "First Principles" he was often 

 compelled to stop work, and go to the 

 country for rest and reinvigoration. 



As to the evidence of mental failure 

 to be gathered from the work on Soci- 

 ology Just published, we do not observe 

 that anybody else besides Conway has 

 found it. The volume has been widely 

 reviewed by leading English periodicals, 

 and none of them, that we have seen, 

 share the discernment of the corre- 

 spondent of the Cincinnati Commercial. 

 On the contrary, they testify to the sus- 

 tained power and originality of his work, 

 and are more concurrent and emphatic 

 than ever before as to Mr. Spencer's 

 capacity to carry forward the gravest 

 and profoundest intellectual undertak- 

 ing of the age. It is, moreover, the 

 views developed toward the close of the 

 volume that have made the strongest 

 impression upon the minds of the critics. 

 Tliey see, in his treatment of the ques- 

 tions there discussed, especial indica- 

 tions of that wide grasp and subtile 

 analysis which have been so marked a 

 characteristic of his previous philosoph- 

 ical volumes. "We print elsewhere a 

 portion of the notice of " The Principles 

 of Sociology " that appeared in the Lon- 

 don Examiner^ and it will be seen that, 

 in referring to these very views, brought 

 out at the close of the book, the writer 

 remarks, " It strikes us tliat Mr. Spen- 

 cer here exhibits an increased power of 

 seizing the many influences Avhich con- 

 tribute to a complex result." To do 

 this in a vast field of comparatively un- 

 explored phenomena is certainly the 



highest test of intellectual vigor. It is 

 admitted by those who have reviewed 

 the book most thoughtfully, that the 

 ideas reached and developed by Spencer 

 in its concluding portions are certain to 

 exert a powerful influence in modifying 

 the course of current opinion, and that 

 they will give a new direction to con- 

 troversies that will call out the best 

 effort of the leading thinkers of our 

 time. 



Mr. Spencer has continued his ex- 

 position in a chapter to be appended to 

 the volume of Sociology, of which we 

 give in the present number of the 

 Monthly tlie first installment. To those 

 who are solicitous about his breaking 

 down mentally, we commend the pe- 

 rusal of this paper, and the conclusion 

 of it, which will appear next month. 

 Having disposed in the volume of Mr. 

 Max Miiller and his followers, who 

 were overdoing the myth-business, he 

 now takes up the social doctrines of 

 Sir Henry Sumner Maine. This able 

 writer maintains a theory of social de- 

 velopment in which the starting-point 

 is the patriarchal system. Mr. Spencer 

 holds that this view is philosophically 

 defective, as it assumes a certain social 

 condition without accounting for it, by 

 investigating the anterior and still low- 

 er conditions of social relation. Each 

 one will be his own judge, after reading 

 the argument, as to its validity against 

 Sir Henry Maine's view ; we call atten- 

 tion to it here only for the benefit of 

 those who are concerned about the 

 truth of Mr. Conway's statement. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Six Lectures on Light. Delivered in 

 America in 18Y2-'73. By John Tyn- 

 DALL, D. C. L., LL. D., F. R. S. Second 

 edition. New York : D. Applcton & Co. 

 Pp. 264. Price, $1.50. 



Various opinions were passed at the 

 time upon Prof. Tyndall's choice of a sub- 

 ject for his American lectures, and also 

 upon his treatment of it. Some complained 



