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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to old ideas if they are true, but only 

 that it becomes sometimes necessary in 

 science to discriminate between past 

 and present conditions, although the 

 past be quite modern. We did not, of 

 course, consider the book old in the 

 sense of the Assyrian inscriptions, but 

 rather in the sense of a last year's al- 

 manac, which, although recent, still 

 fails to indicate the present status of 

 astronomical movements. 



"We said in our notice that the au- 

 thor " seemed to have but an obscure 

 conception of social science," the im- 

 plication of course being that his book 

 is behind the age. He replies that 

 " social science is a very large science," 

 and may present different aspects to its 

 different cultivators. But surely this 

 need not imply obscurity in the con- 

 ception of the science itself. Astron- 

 omy, geology, and biology, are very 

 large sciences, and, no doubt, present 

 different aspects to investigators in the 

 same field, but this by no means neces- 

 sitates vagueness or obscurity in the 

 ideas of the aim, subject-matter, or 

 methods, of either. There is common 

 and well-determined work to be done 

 in each, regardless of its extent. 



But we 'were not left to inference 

 in imputing to the author obscure con- 

 ceptions upon the subject, for, accord- 

 ing to him, no others are at present 

 possible. In the first chapter of his 

 book he says that " this important sci- 

 ence has not yet attained to just, clear, 

 and definite ideas as to its true and 

 proper ends, and consequently it has 

 not yet learned how even to begin its 

 inquiries properly, how to direct its 

 efforts, or systematize its observations. 

 For this is precisely the present condi- 

 tion of social science." The obvious 

 conclusion from this is, that as yet 

 there is no such science. Its " status " 

 is therefore in substance nothing, and 

 in place nowhere, while the attempt to 

 state it must needs be superfluous and 

 impossible. This is a view that might 

 have been held any time these thou- 



sands of years, and we think may be 

 properly characterized as " old." 



Mr. Hamilton labors to show that 

 he was right in holding Herbert Spen- 

 cer responsible for his " Social Statics," 

 and denies that the modifications of 

 opinion, which the author of that work 

 declares he has undergone since its pub- 

 lication twenty-five years ago, are to be 

 regarded as "important." Well, that 

 depends upon the estimate' he puts upon 

 accuracy of representation. Mr. Ham- 

 ilton's view of what is "important" 

 in such cases will certainly not pass 

 muster among scientific men, who are 

 generally and properly emphatic in the 

 assertion of their rights in this partic- 

 ular. They insist upon being judged 

 only by the latest expression of their 

 views, and chemists, physicists, and 

 physiologists alike refuse to be bound 

 by the old editions of their works. Mr. 

 Spencer's modifications of opinion were 

 held so important by himself that he 

 strenuously resisted the republication 

 of the book in this country when out 

 of print in England ; and, when over- 

 ruled in this, he interposed a preface, 

 warning his readers that it was no 

 longer a truthful expression of his 

 views. While not absolutely repudiat- 

 ing it, and while still adhering to its 

 general conceptions, he yet declares 

 that the theory which it enunciates has 

 been so variously modified and further 

 developed that he does not abide by its 

 detailed applications. Several positions 

 in the work are explicitly disavowed, 

 and it is obvious that his changes of 

 view affect its whole complexion. Mr. 

 Hamilton attacked his chapter on " The 

 Evanescence of Evil " with results sat- 

 isfactory to himself; yet he could hard- 

 ly fail to see that the argument of that 

 chapter is merged in the great prin- 

 ciple of Evolution, which has received 

 its almost entire scientific development 

 since the date of " Social Statics," while 

 Mr. Spencer has been a leading student 

 of that subject, and made it the foun- 

 dation of his philosophy. 



