iv MODERN E VOL UTION 1 7 3 



conscious something which perceives it whoever 

 clearly recognises this truth, will see that the course 

 proposed does not imply a degradation of the so- 

 called higher, but an elevation of the so-called lower. 

 Perceiving, as he will, that the Materialist and 

 Spiritualist controversy is a mere war of words, in 

 which the disputants are equally absurd, each 

 thinking that he understands that which it is im- 

 possible for any man to understand, he will perceive 

 how utterly groundless is the fear referred to. Being 

 fully convinced that no matter what nomenclature is 

 used, the ultimate mystery must remain the same, 

 he will be as ready to formulate all phenomena in 

 terms of Matter, Motion, and Force, as in any other 

 terms ; and will rather indeed anticipate, that only 

 in a doctrine which recognises the Unknown Cause 

 as co-extensive with all orders of phenomena, can 

 there be a consistent Religion, or a consistent 

 Philosophy.' 



This is clear enough ; yet such is the crass 

 density of some objectors that eighteen years after 

 the above was written, Mr. Spencer, in answering criti- 

 cisms on First Principles, had to rebut the charge 

 that he believed matter to consist of space-occupy- 

 ing units, having shape and measurement.' 



The Principles of Psychology was both preceded 

 and followed by a series of essays in which the 

 process of change from the ' homogeneous to the 

 heterogeneous,' i.e. from the seeming like to the 

 actual unlike, was expounded. Mr. Spencer tells 

 us that in 1852 he first became acquainted with 

 von Baer's Law of Development, or the changes 

 undergone in each living thing, from the general to 



