EDITOR'S TABLE. 



125 



pointed at previous meetings." This is 

 at least partly accounted for by the 

 fact that the British Association makes 

 grants of money to its committees to 

 remunerate for services, no less than 

 $7,500 being thus allowed at the Mont- 

 real meeting, while our own Association 

 makes no such allowances. 



Upon bringiog English and Ameri- 

 can scientific work into the closer com- 

 parison which this new experience al- 

 lows, the superiority, it must he con- 

 fessed, belongs to the older and larger 

 body. A writer in " iScience," after 

 contrasting various features of the two 

 organizations, justly remarks : " On the 

 whole, it will be admitted that the Brit- 

 ish Association does its work upon a 

 higher plane than that occupied by the 

 American. Its sectional work shows 

 more that is really new and of last- 

 ing value, and less that is trifling; 

 although there has been a steady and 

 healthful improvement in the charac- 

 ter of the American Association during 

 several years past. It may be well to 

 remark here that there are at least a 

 few of the ablest and best men in 

 American science who have continued 

 to exhibit no interest in the American 

 Association ; and that, if the Associa- 

 tion is not precisely what they believe 

 it ought to be, the fault lies at their own 

 doors. No others should or could be 

 so influential in shaping its course and 

 molding its character." 



HARRISON; COMTE, AND SPENCER. 



Upward of twenty years ago, when 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer first began to pub- 

 lish the system of thought upon which 

 he has since been occupied, he was 

 charged with being a disciple of Comte, 

 liand indebted to him for his cardinal 

 ideas. The reply made by Mr. Spen- 

 cer at the time was generally held to 

 be so effectual that but little more was 

 heard of the matter. But some of the 

 more ardent followers of Comte re- 

 fused to be convinced, and among them 



is Mr. Frederic Harrison, who has now 

 revived the accusation, and stoutly 

 maintains that, if not directly, then in- 

 directly, Spencer owes his main and 

 most characteristic conceptions to 

 Comte. 



It has been well understood that Mr. 

 Frederic Harrison is the leading Eng- 

 lish representative of the Positive phi- 

 losophy, though, like MiU, he has been 

 credited with a good deal of independ- 

 ence and reservation in the acceptance 

 of the Positivist system. But his ad- 

 dress on September 5th before the mem- 

 bers of the Positivist Society at Newton 

 Hall, in London, where he preaches, 

 shows a servility of discipleship for 

 which we were quite unprepared. The 

 subject of the discourse was "The 

 Memory of Auguste Comte and his True 

 "Work," the occasion being the anniver- 

 sary of the death of that philosopher. 

 It was, of course, to be expected that 

 Mr. Harrison would not let such an op- 

 portunity pass without speaking in high 

 terms of the genius of Comte and the 

 importance of his labors ; but the per- 

 formance is quite startling from its lurid 

 eulogy and the wild extravagance of its 

 claims in regard to Oomte's character 

 and mission. He credits him substan- 

 tially with all the greatest steps of ad- 

 vance in science, philosophy, and re- 

 ligion that have been made in the pres- 

 ent century. Comte's classification of 

 the sciences is pronounced to be final. 

 Though a phrenologist, and openly re- 

 pudiating modern psychology, Mr. Har- 

 rison insists that Comte has made the 

 most important step of the century in 

 psychology. The idea that law rules 

 in the moral and social as well as in 

 the physical sphere belongs to Comte. 

 He instituted the science of sociology, 

 and constituted it in all its material 

 parts. And, among his other accom- 

 plishments, this wonderful Frenchman 

 challenges the admiration and gratitude 

 of the world as the founder of a new 

 religion. 



These undiscriminating and inordi- 



