Herbert Spencer and the Doctrine of Evohitio7i. 541 



class, we are prepared to rate them at what they are 

 worth. 



From what has been stated, I think it will be sufficiently 

 evident that Mr. Spencer is no follower of Comte, Dar- 

 win, or any other man, and that he has pursued his own 

 independent course in his own way. As to M. Taine's state- 

 ment that " Mr. Spencer has the merit of extending to the 

 phenomena of Nature and of mind " Mr. Darwin's principle 

 of Natural Selection, the facts given show how mistaken 

 was his view of the case. Strange to say, M. Taine, who 

 claims to be a psychologist, puts forth this idea in a review 

 of Mr. Spencer's Principles of Psychology, a work which 

 treated the subject of mind throughout, and for the first 

 time from the point of vievv^ of Evolution, and this years 

 before Mr. Darwin had published a word upon the subject. 



As this error of M. Taine is frequently repeated,* and 

 indicates a total misapprehension of the facts, it is de- 

 sirable to add a word or two regarding Mr. Darwin's re- 

 lation to the question. While this illustrious naturalist 

 has contributed immensely toward the extension and es- 

 tablishment of a theory of organic development, he has 

 made no attempt to elucidate the general law of Evolu- 

 tion. His works do not treat of this broad problem ; and 

 nothing has tended more to the popular confusion of the 

 subject than the notion that " Darwinism " and Evolution 

 are the same thing. Mr. Darwin's fame rests chiefly upon 

 the skill and perseverance with which he has w^orked out a 

 single principle in its bearing upon the progressive diver- 

 sity of organic life. The competitions of Nature leading to 

 a struggle for existence, and that consequent winnowing 



* The Saturday Review, for example, in commenting upon Prof. Tyn- 

 dall's late address, remarks : " What Darwin has done for physiology, 

 Spencer would do for psychology by applying to the nervous system par- 

 ticularly the principles which his teacher (I) has already enunciated for 

 the physical system generally." 



