108 Herbert Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy. 



as a double process a movement toward unity as well as 

 diversity. 



The following is from an article which appeared in The 

 Index (Boston), in 1880, in which I reviewed at consider- 

 able length Prof. Van Buren Denslow's essay on Herbert 

 Spencer, contained in his work entitled Modern Thinkers : 



Prof. Denslow says : " Given space, matter, force, motion, and time 

 as the factors, would all progress be found to consist in evolution of 

 forms, organisms, motions, and activities from the homogeneous or 

 simple into the heterogeneous f It must be conceded that the array of 

 instances in which this is true dazzles and almost bewilders the im- 

 agination by its variety and beauty. . . . But if it shall appear that 

 each instance he (Spencer) adduces as an illustration of differentiation 

 of the simple into the complex also illustrates a unification of previ- 

 ously differentiated and diverse elements into one simple and homo- 

 geneous entity or substance, is it quite clear that we have made any 

 advance in our knowledge of the principles of universal science f ?> 

 (pp. 218, 222). 



To strengthen his objection, the author selects one of Spencer's own 

 illustrations, furnished by the differentiation of the bean seed " into 

 vine, leaf, blossom, and ultimately the new fruit," and calls attention 

 to what he declares is a fact that this process equally illustrates the 

 unification of diverse elements into one homogeneous substance. 



That in the growth of the bean plant diverse elements are united in 

 one structure is very evident ; but the correctness of characterizing as 

 a " homogeneous entity " a complex production, in which several ele- 

 ments united in different proportions have produced all the variety 

 afforded by the root, vine, leal, blossom, and fruit of a bean plant, is 

 by no means apparent. On the contrary, a bean plant is, in substance, 

 as well as in form and activity, a very heterogeneous structure. The 

 chemical differentiations produced in plants generally by rearrange- 

 ments of the chemical elements and by modification of tissues and 

 organs are well described by Spencer. 



"In plants," he observes, "the albuminous and amylaceous matters 

 which form the substance of the embryo give origin here to a pre- 

 ponderance of chlorophyll and there to a preponderance of cellulose. 

 Over the parts that are becoming leaf-surfaces, certain of the materials 

 are metamorphosed into wax. In this place, starch passes into one of 

 its isomeric equivalents, sugar, and in that place into another of its 

 isomeric equivalents, gum. By secondary changes, some of the cellu- 

 lose is modified into wood, while some of it is modified into the allied 

 substance, which in large masses we distinguish as cork. And the 

 more numerous compounds thus gradually arising initiate further un- 

 likenesses by mingling in unlike ratios." "(First Principles.) 



In the inorganic world there are compound substances, like water, 

 produced by the union of different elements, which to all appearances 

 are homogeneous as to substance ; but we must not expect to find such 

 homogeneity in highly evolved organisms like the bean plant. And 

 how the integration of a number of diverse elements into one structure 

 diminishes the weight of Spencer's claims it is not easy to see. 

 Spencer's primary law of evolution is not, as Prof. Denslow seems to 



