Herbert Spencer and tJie Doctrine of Evolution. 537 



ical System it is needful to remember that it differs in vari- 

 ous fundamental respects from any that has before been 

 offered to the world. It is more logically complete than 

 any other system, because its truths are first derived from 

 facts and phenomena by the method of induction, and then 

 systematically verified by deduction from princijiles already 

 established. It is more practical than any other, because 

 it bears immediately upon common experience, takes hold 

 of the living questions of the time, throws light upon the 

 course of human affairs, and gives knowledge that may 

 serve both for public and individual guidance. Viewed as 

 an intellectual achievement, his undertaking is neither to 

 be measured by the time consumed in its execution nor by 

 the amount of labour involved, but by the nature and quality 

 of the work itself. It was original throughout, was based 

 upon the most comprehensive results of modern science, 

 and was elaborated under the inexorable conditions of 

 logical method. The development of a system of philoso- 

 phy now is a very different thing from what it was in the 

 earlier times. Plato spun a system of thought before specu- 

 lation was yet curbed by the knowledge of Nature ; Spen- 

 cer has constructed a philosophy out of the inflexible mate- 

 rials furnished in all the fields of modern investigation. His 

 system is not a digest, but an organon ; not merely an 

 analytic dissection, but a grand synthetic construction ; 

 not a science, but a co-ordination of the sciences; not a 

 metaphysical elaboration, but a positive body of doctrine 

 conforming to verifiable facts, and based upon the most 

 comprehensive principle of Nature yet arrived at by the 

 human mind. 



But no recognition of the greatness of Mr. Spencer's in- 

 tellectual work will do him justice. There is a moral sub- 

 limity in his self-sacrificing career which is not to be neg- 

 lected in making up the estimate of his character. As 

 remarked by M. Laugel : " If Mr. Spencer, with his talents, 



