290 Edward Liviiigston Youmans. 



being Prof. Charmac, of the University of Leipsic. Ger- 

 many is more ripe for the movement than even England ; 

 its best men can be procured. It was Huxley's name 

 which carried the thing there. Spencer will in time reap 

 his greatest conquest in Germany. The whole nation is 

 pervaded with religious skepticism, and they are without 

 any philosophic guidance. Spencer's subject on the list 

 interested them more than any other, and with the publica- 

 tion of his little book, which I bullied him to write,* there 

 will be a prompt demand for the Philosophy. When I 

 wrote this to Spencer the old fellow waked up, went down 

 to King after some circulars, and entered at once upon the 

 w^ork of finding a writer. . . . 



I told Spencer what you wrote me about Fiske and sent 

 him Fiske's circular. It did the business at once. He 

 immediately ordered extra title-pages posted into all his 

 volumes — Synthetic Philosophy — and blew himself up for 

 being such a fool as to listen to the Leweses and others 

 when he proposed it at first. f He cuffs Huxley hand- 



* " This work has been ^yritten at the instigation of my American 

 friend, Prof. Youmans." — Spencer, Shidy of Sociology, Preface. 



\ For some time it had been felt desirable to have a distinctive name 

 for Mr. Spencer's system of philosophy. Among many reasons for this 

 there was the fact that there was a vague notion afloat that any system of 

 philosophy built up from scientific data by scientific methods must be 

 some form of " positive philosophy " ; and inasmuch as Comte had appro- 

 priated that title and made it notorious, there was a fine opportunity for 

 bemuddling things. Writers for the press insisted upon calling Spencer, 

 Huxley, and scientific philosophers generally, " positivists." Considering 

 that Spencer has always repudiated each and every distinctive doctrine 

 held by positivists, this was very absurd and very annoying. There were 

 further reasons why a name for Spencer's philosophy was deemed desir- 

 able. Accordingly, in 1867 Mr. Spencer decided to adopt the name Syn- 

 thetic Philosophy, and put it upon the title-pages of his volumes, but after 

 discussing the matter with some of his friends he concluded not to do so. 

 See above, pp. 234, 236, 251, 252, 255. 



In the course of my lectures at Harvard University, in the spring of 



