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Herbert spencer 137 



ambiguities and more or less seeming contradictions if the 

 method of his Psychology had been less faulty. That work 

 consists of two volumes, divided into eight parts (five of the 

 eight being contained in the first volume), the distribution of 

 which is such that the reader is led to and from objectivity 

 to subjectivity in a way which it is perplexing to follow. 

 After an opening, treating of the anatomy and physiology of 

 the nervous system, we are taken in the second part to pure 

 subjective psychology. The third part reverts to anatomy 

 and physiology, and the various adjustments found, in 

 different groups of animals, between their nervous structure 

 and the conditions of their life ; while in the fourth part 

 these adjustments are brought into relation with pure or sub- 

 jective psychology. In the fifth part he connects his psycho- 

 logical facts and doctrines with the general law of the evolu- 

 tion of the whole universe as conceived by Mr. Spencer. In 

 the sixth part we are once more in subjectivity, logical rela- 

 tions, the fundamental and ultimate relations of states of 

 consciousness. The seventh part is frankly metaphysical, 

 and we have already referred to its outcome — Mr. Spencer's 

 ' transfigured realism ' ; while the eighth and last part deals 

 with the emotions, and considers psychology in such a 

 manner as to serve as an introduction to his work on Soci- 

 ology, which is soon to foUow. 



In this arrangement, Mr. Spencer has departed from 

 the order he adopted in the first edition of his Psychology, 

 wherein he treated of the subjective phenomena of mind 

 before proceeding to the consideration of physiology. Under 

 the existing conditions of philosophical controversy, we cannot 

 but think the change unfortunate. As long as the objective 

 validity of subjective conceptions is in dispute, objective 

 truths should not first appear in the field. In a controversy 

 wherein ' states of consciousness ' are the ultimate criteria, it 

 must be a mistake to begin with considering the structure 



