iv MODERN EVOLUTION 169 



profession until he was twenty-five. . During this 

 period he wrote various papers for the Civil Engineers' 

 and A rchitects* Journal, and, what is of importance 

 to note, a series of letters to the Nonconformist 

 in 1842 on 'The Proper Sphere of Government' 

 (republished as a pamphlet in 1843), in which 'the 

 only point of community with the general doctrine 

 of Evolution is a belief in the modifiability of human 

 nature through adaptation to conditions, and a con- 

 sequent belief in human progression.' After giving 

 up engineering, Mr. Spencer joined the staff of the 

 Economist, and while thus employed, published, in 

 1850, his first important book, Social Statics, or the 

 Conditions essential to Human Happiness specified, and 

 the first of them developed. In a footnote to the later 

 editions of this work Mr. Spencer points out a brace 

 of paragraphs in the chapter on ' General Considera- 

 tions ' in which ' may be seen the first step toward 

 the general doctrine of Evolution.' After referring 

 to the analogy between the subdivision of labour, 

 which goes on in human society as it advances ; and 

 the gradual diminution in the number of like parts 

 and the multiplication of unlike parts which are 

 observable in the higher animals ; Mr. Spencer says : 

 1 Now, just the same coalescence of like parts and 

 separation of unlike ones just the same increasing 

 subdivision of function takes place in the develop- 

 ment of society. The earliest social organisms consist 

 almost wholly of repetitions of one element. Every 

 man is a warrior, hunter, fisherman, builder, agri- 

 culturist, toolmaker. Each portion of the community 

 performs the same duties with every other portion ; 

 much as each slice of the polyp's body is alike 



