SOCIOLOGY AND HERO-WORSHIP 



and thus alters the whole character of his en- 

 vironment, very much as the introduction of 

 a new species may alter the characters and re- 

 lations of the fauna and flora throughout a 

 whole neighbourhood. Dr. James concludes, 

 then, that " the mutations of societies from gen- 

 eration to generation are in the main due directly 

 or indirectly to the acts or the example of indi- 

 viduals whose genius was so adapted to the re- 

 ceptivities of the moment, or whose accidental 

 position of authority was so critical, that they 

 became ferments, initiators of movement, setters 

 of precedent or fashion, centres of corruption, 

 or destroyers of other persons, whose gifts, had 

 they had free play, would have led society in 

 another direction." 



I am careful to emphasize these conclusions 

 of Dr. James, because, as far as they go, they are 

 my own, and, I believe, are in general the views 

 of that" Spencerian or evolutionist school " to- 

 ward which Dr. James seems to cherish such an 

 intense antipathy. Perhaps I may not be quite 

 clear as to what the Spencerian " school " may 

 be. One characteristic of thinkers of such cali- 

 bre as Mr. Spencer is that they do not so much 

 found schools as bring about a shifting of the 

 intellectual standpoint and an enlarging of the 

 intellectual horizon for the whole contemporary 

 world. The ideas of which Mr. Spencer is the 

 greatest living exponent are to-day running like 



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