Herbert Spencer and the Doctrine of Evolution. 525 



on securely and without hindrance the pursuits of life ; and 

 that it is the worst possible for other purposes. And in 

 continuation of this argument it was here contended that 

 further extension of popular power should be accompanied 

 by a further restriction of state duty — a further specializa- 

 tion of state function. In the essay on Prison Ethics, con- 

 tributed to the British Quarterly Review in July, i860, a 

 special question is very ably dealt with in the light of those 

 biological, psychological, and sociological principles which 

 belong to the Evolution philosophy. The principle of 

 moral Evolution is asserted, and the concomitant unfolding 

 of higher and better modes of dealing with criminals. 



a 



We have now passed in rapid review the intellectual 

 work of Mr. Spencer for nearly twenty years, and have 

 shown that, though apparently miscellaneous, it was, in 

 reality, of a highly methodical character. Though treating 

 of many subjects, he was steadily engaged with an exten- 

 sive problem which was'resolved, step by step, through the 

 successive discovery of those processes and principles of 

 Nature which constitute the general law of Evolution. 

 Beginning in 1842 with the vague conception of a social 

 progress, he subjected this idea to systematic scientific 

 analysis, gave it gradually a more definite and comprehen- 

 sive form, propounded the prmciples of heredity and adap- 

 tation in their social applications, recognized the working 

 of the principle of selection in the case of human beings, 

 and affiliated the conception of social progress upon the 

 more general principle of Evolution governing all animate 

 Nature. Seizing the idea of increasing heterogeneity in 

 organic growth, he gradually extended it in various direc- 

 tions. When the great conception thus pursued had grown 

 into a clear, coherent, and well-defined doctrine, he took 

 up the subject of psychology, and, combining the principle 

 of differentiation with that of integration, he placed the 



