Herbert Spencer and the Doctrine of Evolution. 509 



of laws ; and assuming that the existing order, at any 

 time, is to be regarded as growing out of a pre-existing 

 order, Mr. Spencer saw that nothing remained for science 

 but to consider all the contents of Nature from the 

 same point of view. It was, therefore, apparent that life, 

 mind, man, science, art, language, morality, society, gov- 

 ernment, and institutions, are things that have under- 

 gone a gradual and continuous unfolding, and can be ex- 

 plained in no other way than by a theory of growth and 

 derivation. It is not claimed that Mr. Spencer was the 

 first to adopt this mode of inquiry in relation to special 

 subjects, but that he was the first to grasp it as a general 

 method, the first to see that it must give us a new view of 

 human nature, a new science of mind, a new theory of 

 society — all as parts of one coherent body of thought, 

 and that he was the first to work out a comprehensive philo- 

 sophical system from this point of inquiry, or on the basis 

 of the principle of Evolution. In a word, I maintain Spen- 

 cer's position as a thinker to be this : taking a view of Na- 

 ture that was not only generally discredited, but was vir- 

 tually foreclosed to research, he has done more than any 

 other man to make it the starting point of a new era of 

 knowledge. 



For the proof of this I now appeal to his w^orks. Let 

 us trace the rise and development of the conception of 

 Evolution in his own mind, observe how he was led to it 

 and how he pursued it, and see how completely it pervades 

 and unifies his entire intellectual career. Various explana- 

 tory details that follow I have obtained from conversations 

 with Mr. Spencer himself; but the essential facts of the 

 statement are derived from his works, and may be easily 

 verified by any who choose to take the trouble of doing so. 



Mr. Spencer is not a scholar in the current acceptation 

 of the term ; that is, he has not mastered the curriculum of 

 any university. Unbiased by the traditions of culture, his 



