EDITOR'S TABLE. 



021 



But Mr. Hamilton had before him 

 Spencer's direct assertion that the doc- 

 trine underlying that part of the hook 

 (which contained the discussion on 

 "The Evanescence of Evil") as there 

 stated is hut an adumbration of the 

 view which he now holds. Is there no 

 " important " difference between the 

 dim foreshadowing of a principle and 

 its distinct presentation with the limits 

 and qualifications that result from years 

 of research and reflection? Mr. Spen- 

 cer declared, besides, that he could not 

 revise "Social Statics" without great 

 labor; and what does this imply but 

 that the changes of the work would 

 have to be extensive and important? 

 Moreover, he has been long engaged 

 upon the systematic extension of the 

 subject to which his first book was 

 dedicated, and he expresses the hope 

 to set forth in due time " the developed 

 conclusions of which 'Social Statics' 

 must be regarded as a rough sketch." 



A painter would not like to be criti- 

 cally judged by a rough sketch, and 

 would consider it very important that 

 judgment should be suspended until 

 the work was finished why not, then, 

 a literary or a scientific artist ? It was 

 well enough, of course, for Mr. Hamil- 

 ton to attack Spencer's old book, and 

 riddle and ridicule it to his heart's con- 

 tent, if he thought it worth while. But, 

 as his thesis was "the present status" 

 of the great subject to which Spencer 

 is devoting his life, he was bound in all 

 fairness to let his readers know both how 

 Mr. Spencer regarded his early treatise, 

 and the import of his subsequent labors 

 upon the same subject. Thirteen years 

 before Mr. Hamilton's book was pub- 

 lished Mr. Spencer had printed a pro- 

 gramme giving a detailed outline of 

 the course of thought by which alone, 

 in his opinion, Sociology can be logi- 

 cally reached and scientifically unfold- 

 ed. Mr. Spencer's position as a thinker 

 was such as to command the high re- 

 spect of eminent men, who indorsed 

 his undertaking at the outset as one of 



great public importance. But of this 

 Mr. Hamilton gives us no intelligible 

 account, although Spencer's prospectus 

 alone was a sufficient refutation of the 

 statement that clear and definite ideas 

 have not yet been reached regarding 

 the true ends and methods of social sci- 

 ence. The prominence that Mr. Ham- 

 ilton gives in his own book to " Social 

 Statics " a work that Spencer, in elu- 

 cidating the principles of social sci- 

 ence, has left far behind sufficiently 

 shows that his treatment of the science 

 of society is not up to date. 



But, aside from the point of view 

 we took in our very brief notice of Mr. 

 Hamilton's book, we have no hesitation 

 in saying it is a volume of much inter- 

 est. It contains a good deal of valua- 

 ble information and instructive discus- 

 sion, " historical and critical, in rela- 

 tion to the progress of thought in so- 

 cial philosophy." It is only with re- 

 gard to the social science which he pro- 

 fesses to have triangulated, and fixed 

 its latest position, that we think he is 

 somewhat befogged just sufficiently, 

 perhaps, to entitle him to the perpet- 

 ual presidency of the American Social 

 Science Association. 



PROF. HUXLEY. 



Tnis gentleman is evidently very 

 much wanted in the United States. 

 There is great anxiety tosee him and 

 hear him speak. The applications to 

 secure lectures from him are numerous 

 and urgent, the applicants being deter- 

 mined not to take no for an answer. 

 It is a repetition of the experience with 

 Tyndall four years ago, and the fact is 

 significant, as showing that public in- 

 terest in science is not a transient thing. 

 In the case of Prof. Tyndall it was 

 alleged by many that his brilliant ex- 

 periments were the attraction, and that 

 people went to his lectures impelled by 

 the same motive that draws them to a 

 pyrotechnic show. Of course, this was 

 not true, but no such reason can be 



