4 A GREAT CONFESSION CHAP. 



years ago contributed to the Nineteenth 

 Century Review two papers upon " The 

 Factors in Organic Evolution." The 

 plural title is significant. The sur- 

 vival of the fittest is a cause which 

 after all does not stand alone. It is 

 not so complete as it has been assumed 

 to be. There are in organic evolution 

 more elements than one. There is con- 

 cerned in it not one cause but a plurality 

 of causes. A "factor" is specially a 

 doer. It is that which works and does. 

 It is a word appropriated to the con- 

 ception of an immediate, an efficient 

 cause. And of these causes there are 

 more than one. Neither natural selection 

 nor survival of the fittest is of itself a 

 sufficient explanation. They must be 

 supplemented. There are other factors 

 which must be admitted and confessed. 



This is the first and most notable 

 feature of Mr. Spencer's articles. But 



