CHAPTER I 



A GREAT CONFESSION 



AMONG the many distinguished men who 

 have contributed to the world's plebiscite 

 in favour of the Darwinian hypothesis 

 on the origin of species, there is no 

 one so distinguished as Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer. He alone has dealt with 

 it systematically. He has pursued the 

 idea of development with wonderful 

 ingenuity through not a few of its 

 thousand ramifications. He has carried 

 it into philosophy and metaphysics. He 

 has clothed it in numerous and subtle 

 forms of speech, appealing to various 

 faculties, and offering to each its appro- 



