The Evolution Hypothesis. 



amination of the system elaborated by Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer, Choosing the ablest expositor of the hypo- 

 thesis, and testing it as shaped by him, the critic 

 escapes the necessity of settling amid minor varieties 

 of opinion the exact statement of the point in debate. 

 We may be confident that we shall find all that 

 is essential to evolutionism,* carefully reasoned out 

 in Mr. Spencer's works. The theory, as he states it, 

 may be discussed with the assurance that we are not 

 beating the air. If the doctrine fail in the hands of 

 the master, it will not triumph in the hands of his 

 disciples. 



Mr. Spencer's System of Philosophy is a life-work, 

 remarkable as well for the high order of intellectual 

 power displayed in it, as for the vast and varied stores 

 of exact knowledge by which it is enriched. The whole 

 is worked out with rare analytical and constructive 

 skill. The apt instances and illustrations, gathered 

 from the entire range of physical science, give apparent 

 breadth and solidity, and are introduced with such nice 

 adjustment, that want of coherence is not readily de- 

 tected. I propose to test at vital points the soundness 

 of the structure. To follow Mr. Spencer step by step, 

 through volumes that contain the results of the scien- 

 tific and literary labours of a busy life, would be im- 

 possible, and, if possible, for my purpose needless. It 

 is enough to examine the essential and distinctive 



* I use the term Evolutionism to express the Evolution Hypo- 

 thesis as a theory co-extensive with the knowable. 



