THE EVOLUTION OF MIND 



called into being and indelibly minted by the 

 hand of the Creator. We may perhaps think that 

 this was only natural, since the theory of special 

 creation was generally accepted. Yet it remains 

 almost incredible that it should never have oc 

 curred to any thinker that it might be worth 

 while to compare one mind with another. Even 

 if we appreciate the influence of the belief that no 

 animal possessed what could be regarded as a 

 mind; even if we try to appreciate the point of 

 view of the philosophers who regarded savages as 

 degenerate beings, and the savage mind as mere 

 ly a disfigured specimen of the human mind as it 

 was originally created, it remains inexplicable that 

 practically no one before Herbert Spencer should 

 have thought it worth his while to study the mind 

 of the child. But the fact is recorded inexplica 

 ble or not that the sole object of study of every 

 psychological treatise with one insignificant ex 

 ception until the year 1855 was the adult Cau 

 casian mind, as illustrated in its own students. 

 The first man to conceive or, at any rate, to leave 

 any record of the conception that mind has a 

 history was Herbert Spencer. It is, therefore, not 

 surprising that the circumstances in which his 

 pioneer treatise was produced are themselves 

 unique. We must remember that Spencer was 

 without a university education, and never under 

 went any formal teaching in metaphysics or psy 

 chology. The scientific interests of his father lay 

 mostly in physics, and his own chosen profession 



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