Herbert Spencer and the Doetrine of Evoliitio7i, 543 



of Philosophy;" of this doctrine, I have given the proof 

 that Mr. Spencer is the chief originator, as well as the 

 only expositor. The same ethical canons of research, I 

 therefore maintain, which gave to Copernicus the glory of 

 the heliocentric astronomy ; to Newton that of the law of 

 gravitation ; to Harvey that of the circulation of the 

 blood ; to Priestley that of the discovery of oxygen ; to 

 Dr. Young that of the undulatory theory of light ; and to 

 Darwin that of natural selection — will also give to Herbert 

 Spencer the honour of having first elucidated and estab- 

 lished the law of Universal Evolution. 



Colonel Higginson imputes to Mr. Spencer, as a weak- 

 ness, the propensity to write on a great number of sub- 

 jects ; I have shown, on the contrary, that he has been 

 compelled to write upon many subjects from logical neces- 

 sity, and has done so in unswerving devotion to the de- 

 velopment of one class of ideas. It will be seen that he is 

 now upon the same identical track of thought which he 

 opened in his youth, to which he has consecrated his life, 

 and which he has made his own. Thirty-two years ago 

 he began to study the social condition and relations of 

 men from the scientific point of view, and to treat of hu- 

 man society as a sphere of natural law. After eight years 

 he published a treatise upon the question, which, although 

 in advance of the times, only served to convince its author 

 that the investigation was barely begun, and that, before 

 any adequate social science was possible, the whole subject 

 required to be more deeply grounded in the knowledge of 

 Nature. Upon that deeper study of Nature he then en- 

 tered, and, after twenty-four years of steady and system- 

 atic preparation, the problems of Social Statics are re- 

 sumed in the Principles of Sociology. If so prolonged 

 and inflexible a course of original inquiry, yielding results 

 which are felt in the highest spheres of thought, are sug- 

 gestive of ''a weakness," we should be glad to be furnished 



