INTRODUCTION 



It is therefore obvious indeed that no one 

 would turn to these pages of Fiske's book for 

 adequate information concerning the doctrine 

 of organic evolution as now known and esti- 

 mated ; yet as an historical document in the 

 evolutionary controversy these chapters retain 

 a distinct importance, and they doubtless had 

 much to do with the education of public opin- 

 ion in this country. 



The relation of these same chapters to the 

 exposition of the Synthetic Philosophy of Spen- 

 cer is, meanwhile, extremely free. The gen- 

 eral argument against the hypothesis of Spe- 

 cial Creation in Fiske's chapter ix. is based 

 upon one that Spencer had early elaborated in 

 his essay of 1852 on " The Development Hy- 

 pothesis," — an article which, as Spencer says, 

 " struck the keynote of all that was to follow." ^ 

 This earliest statement of Spencer's position is 

 further elaborated in chapter ii. of Part III. 

 of the first volume of Spencer's " Principles 

 of Biology," and to this chapter of Spencer's, 

 Fiske's statement in a measure corresponds. 

 The whole of Spencer's Part III. of the Bio- 

 logy is devoted to his own statement of the evi- 

 dence for the theory of organic evolution, and 

 to his account of the factors of this process. 

 Spencer's chapter xii. of this Part, on " Indi- 



^ See Spencer's Essays, Library Edition, vol. i. p. I. 

 Ixiii 



