32 A GREAT CONFESSION CHAP. 



the future it was his desire to exclude 

 or silence. This was his aim, but he 

 now sees that he has failed. In spite of 

 him the higher intellectual perceptions 

 have claimed admittance, and have 

 actually entered. He now calls on the 

 humbler faculties to challenge this 

 intrusion, and to assert their exclusive 

 right to occupy the field. The " survival 

 of the fittest" had been constructed to 

 be their fortress. But the very stones of 

 which it is built the very words by 

 which the structure is composed are 

 themselves permeated with the insidious 

 elements which they were intended to 

 resist. The " survival of the fittest " is a 

 mere redoubt open at the back, or a fort 

 which can be entered at all points from 

 an access underground. And so, like a 

 skilful general, Mr. Spencer has ordered 

 a complete evacuation of the works. 

 But in giving up this famous phrase 



