The Formula of Evohtiion. 1 3 7 



that could hardly be surpassed in vagueness. It 

 would serve as a more or less apt description of the 

 universe at any stage of its progress, from the imper- 

 ceptible to the imperceptible again. Such a concept 

 was surely never before laid at the foundation of any 

 system of philosophy. 



The unscientific indefiniteness of these descriptive 

 phrases will appear still more evident, when we keep 

 in view Mr. Spencer's hypothesis as to the constitu- 

 tion of that something, as it rises into the view of 

 science, emerging into the perceptible. In the imper- 

 ceptible state it was not an "indefinite, incoherent 

 homogeneity." It was an aggregate of systems incon- 

 ceivable in complexity and intricateness ; moving not 

 in a chaotic, confused, and irregular manner, but with 

 the orderly, harmonious, and measured movement of 

 system and law. Mr Spencer supposes the combina- 

 tion of atoms into aggregates, with inter-equilibrated 

 motions and standing related to other aggregates, in 

 systems of ever-increasing intricateness, the whole 

 forming a system as extensive and as complex as the 

 visible cosmos at any stage. Surely such a condition 

 of the universe is badly represented in the phrase, 

 " indefinite, incoherent homogeneity." The "inde- 

 finite" has, on Mr. Spencer's own theory, defined 

 relation of its parts and aggregates, the " incoherent " 

 is united in an ascending series of systems, and the 

 '' homogeneity" is a whole of inconceivable complexity, 

 having within it the sum of the activities to be after- 



