A Dynamic Theory. 75, 



Mr. Spencer does not shrink from this test. He not 

 only asserts in general terms the universal applica- 

 bility of his principle, but applies it in detail, with 

 what success we shall subsequently inquire, to the 

 phenomena of mind, and morals, and society. What 

 we have here to keep steadily in view is the fact that 

 Mr. Spencer's philosophy is a system dynamic through- 

 out. It is thorough-going. He never falters in ad- 

 hesion to his fundamental principle. 



He takes exception to the term "mechanical" as 

 applied to his hypothesis, though he himself charac- 

 terises his biological doctrine as "the mechanical 

 hypothesis " and speaks of proceeding " on mechanical 

 principles." * "The common uses of the words 

 ' mechanical ' and ' mechanist ' are," he says, " such as 

 inevitably call up in all minds the notion of visible 

 masses of matter acting on one another by measur- 

 able forces, and producing sensible motions. In the 

 absence of explanations or illustrations serving to- 

 enlarge the conception thus suggested, so as to bring 

 within it the oscillations of the molecules of matter 

 and the undulations of the molecules of ether per- 

 vading all space, even the cultivated reader must 

 carry with him an extremely crude and narrow idea 

 of the ' mechanist theory,' and cannot fail to be struck 

 with the seeming absurdity of interpreting vital 

 phenomena in mechanical terms." -\ 



* Biology, vol. I. , 5. 



t Biology, vol. I. Appendix p. 490. 



