140 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



systematic whole, can yet be said to exist. Much 

 has indeed been done to prepare the way for suclt 

 a science. Some subordinate discoveries of ines 

 timable value have been made, and it has been 

 conclusively shown that social phenomena are 

 proper objects of scientific treatment. Among 

 the pioneers of this new science, M. Comte will 

 always hold an honourable place. His treatment 

 of history is eminently original and suggestive ; 

 and his views, even when not wholly true, are 

 rarely without a large amount of truth. His cath 

 olic spirit, and his hearty admiration for whatever 

 is great and good in the past, are moral qualities 

 beyond all praise. 



It is impossible, in our limited space, to do 

 more than allude to the subjects which are so 

 admirably elucidated and commented on in Mr. 

 Mill s volume. To M. Comte s later speculations 

 we do not wish to refer, further than to express 

 our opinion that they are a tissue of the wildest 

 and most extravagant vagaries ever conceived out 

 side of Bedlam ; or, remembering all that the 

 world owes M. Comte, we might less harshly and 

 not less truly call them the most mournful exhi 

 bition furnished by the annals of philosophy of a 

 great mind utterly shattered and ruined. It is a 

 spectacle to which we cannot refuse our pitying 



