PREFACE 



illustrative of Mr. Spencer's philosophy/ But 

 the work has grown on my hands, and in its 

 present shape is something more than it was 

 originally intended to be. For while it does not, 

 as a whole, lay any claim to the character of an 

 original work, it has^ nevertheless come to con- 

 tain so much new matter, both critical and con- 

 structive, that it can no longer be regarded as a 

 mere reproduction of Mr. Spencer's thoughts. 

 The new constructive matter begins with the 

 eighteenth chapter of Part II., which (together 

 with its predecessor) was written in 1866, and 

 which leads to conclusions concerning the rela- 

 tions of a social community to its environment, 

 such as will doubtless be much more thoroughly 

 and satisfactorily presented by Mr. Spencer in 

 his forthcoming work on Sociology. The fol- 

 lowing chapters on the Genesis of Man, along 

 with considerable expository and critical mat- 

 ter, contain a theory as to the part taken by the 

 prolongation of human infancy in originating 

 social evolution, which is entirely new in all its 

 features. With the exception of numerous minor 

 suggestions scattered here and there throughout 

 the work, these are the only parts of the con- 



^ [There is in existence a letter to Mr. Spencer in which 

 Fiske states this plan of a volume of essays on the philosophy 

 of the former.] 



viii 



