XXIV EDITOIi S rilEFACE. 



wliile each of these essays has its intrinsic and inde 

 pendent claims upon the reader s attention, they are all 

 at the same time but parts of a connected and compre 

 hensive argument. Is early all of Mr. Spencer s essays 

 have relations more or lees direct to the general doc 

 trine of Evolution a doctrine which he has probably 

 done more to unfold and illustrate than any other 

 thinker. The papers comprised in the present volume 

 are those which deal with the subject in its most ob 

 vious and prominent aspects. 



Although the argument contained in the first essay 

 on &quot; Progress ; its Law and Cause,&quot; has been published 

 in an amplified form in the author s &quot; First Principles,&quot; 

 it has been thought best to prefix it to the present col 

 lection as a key to the full interpretation of the other 

 essays. 



To those who read this volume its commendation 

 will be superfluous ; we will only say that those who 

 become interested in his course of thought will find it 

 completely elaborated in his new System of Philos 

 ophy, now in course of publication. 



The remaining articles of Mr. Spencer s first and 

 second series will be shortly published, in a volume en 

 titled &quot; Essays ; Moral, Political, and ./Esthetic.&quot; 



YORK, March, 1864. 



