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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



livious of everything relating to the his- 

 tory of the growth of scientific ideas, 

 their slow and gradual evolution by 

 the labors of many devoted students, 

 the successive introduction of new con- 

 ceptions, and the increasing complexity 

 of scientific problems, as the human 

 and social sphere of phenomena is ap- 

 proached. And yet, with an effrontery 

 unparalleled even in this brassy age, 

 Mr. Mallock announces that he has dis- 

 covered not merely a new fact or a 

 new principle, which would alone be 

 sufficient to satisfy the aspiration of 

 many a life-long devotee of research, 

 but that he has discovered, and offers to 

 the intellectual world, a whole new sci- 

 ence, and that the most exalted of all, 

 the " Science of Human Character." 



In entering the field of social study 

 Mr. Mallock finds, indeed, that others 

 have been there before him, although 

 he alleges that they have all missed the 

 great science which it has been his good 

 fortune to discover. Mr. Herbert Spen- 

 cer is the most prominent thinker of 

 our time on questions of sociology, or 

 the scientific exposition of man's social 

 relations, and to him, therefore, our 

 author gives his chief critical attention. 

 He declares that Mr. Spencer has missed, 

 or does not recognize, or does not know 

 that science of human character which 

 is at the basis of the science of social 

 relations. He says (page 92) : 



Surely, one might think nothing could he 

 more clear than this. The science described 

 thus must not only, like Buckle's, point to a 

 science of character, but it can be nothing 

 more or less than the science of character it- 

 self. Such would be naturally our conclusion 

 from the extracts above quoted ; but, if we 

 follow Mr. Spencer further, we shall see that 

 it would be a wholly wrong one. The science 

 of character he does indeed touch upon ; but 

 he does this as though he hardly knew what 

 he was doing. Though he touches it, he does 

 not grasp it ; though he sees it, he does not 

 recognize it. Never wholly out of contact 

 with it, he is yet always sliding off it, as 

 though it were an inclined surface. Not once 

 does he fasten on it, as the real center of the 

 question. 



These declarations are nothing less 

 than amazing. They evince the com- 

 pletest ignorance of the true character 

 of all Mr. Spencer's work. That which 

 distinguishes it and marks him off from 

 every other thinker in the field is the 

 comprehensive thoroughness of his 

 preparation for working out the prin- 

 ciples of social science. He published 

 a very original treatise upon the sub- 

 ject in 1850, which was far in advance 

 of the time, but he quickly found that 

 it was inadequate, and would require a 

 far broader preparation than hitherto 

 attempted to place it upon a secure and 

 sufficient foundation. The task pro- 

 posed was the establishment of general 

 principles of sociology, or the laws of 

 the origin, organization, and constitu- 

 tion of human societies. The whole field 

 was surveyed, the work laid out, and 

 its execution entered upon. A cyclo- 

 paedia of social facts was projected, de- 

 scriptive of the phenomena of all orders 

 of human societies, stationary and pro- 

 gressive, from the lowest to the highest 

 grades. This is simply a vast contribu- 

 tion to the science of human nature, 

 by displaying, on the largest scale, the 

 varied phenomena of social activity, 

 or how different kinds of men have be- 

 haved in their social relations. 



Character is the sum of the qualities 

 which distinguish one thing from an- 

 other ; human character is the assem- 

 blage of traits that distinguish man as 

 man from other living creatures, and 

 the different kinds of men from each 

 other. These qualities that constitute 

 human nature consist of two groups, 

 bodily and mental; and the study of 

 human character involves the analysis 

 of man's corporeal and psychical nat- 

 ure so as to arrive at the general truths 

 in each department. The science of 

 human nature is, therefore, nothing less 

 or more than the working out of the 

 laws of man's physical and mental con- 

 stitution. 



The units of human society are hu- 

 man beings, and the character of the 



