THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



JANUARY, 1876. 



THE COMPAEATIVE PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN.' 



By HERBERT SPENCER. 



WHHjE discussing with two members of the Anthropological In- 

 stitute the work to be iintlertaken by its psychological section, 

 I made certain suggestions which they requested me to put in writing. 

 When reminded, some months after, of the promise I had made to do 

 this. I failed to recall the particular suggestions referred to ; but, in the 

 endeavor to remember them, I was led to glance over the whole sub- 

 ject of comparative human psychology. Hence resulted the follow- 

 ing paper : 



That making a general survey is useful as a preliminary to delib- 

 erate study, either of a whole or of any part, scarcely needs showing. 

 Vagueness of thought accompanies the wandering about in a region 

 without known bounds or landmarks. Attention devoted to some 

 portion of a subject, in ignorance of its connection with the rest, leads 

 to untrue conceptions. The whole cannot be rightly conceived with- 

 out some knowledge of the parts ; and no part can be rightly con- 

 ceived out of relation to the whole. 



To map out the comparative psychology of man must also conduce 

 to the more methodic carrying on of inquiries. In this, as in other 

 things, division of labor will facilitate progress ; and, that there may 

 be division of labor, tlie work itself must be systematically divided. 



We may conveniently separate the entire subject into three main 

 divisions, arranged in the order of increasing specialty. 



The first division will treat of the degrees of mental evolution of 

 different human types, generally considered : taking account of both 

 the mass of mental manifestation and the complexity of mental mani- 

 festation. This division will include the relations of these characters 

 to physical characters the bodily mass and structure, and the cere 



^ Read before the London Anthropological Institute. 

 TOL. Tin. 17 



