INTRODUCTION 



that we must look elsewhere for the definition 

 of the process by which the transition here in 

 question was effected. The ingenious suggestion 

 that hereupon occurred to Fiske is so character- 

 istic of his personality, and has been so freely 

 discussed in his later writings, mentioned by his 

 critics, and commented upon by popular writ- 

 ers, that no extended account of it is here ne- 

 cessary. Fiske is so much his own best exposi- 

 tor, that with regard to this, his most notable 

 contribution to evolutionary theory, the reader 

 may well be left, for the most part, to consult 

 the author.^ 



^ The theory here in question is restated in Excursions of 

 an Evolutionist y chapter xii., under the title "The Meaning 

 of Infancy.** The genesis and the relationships of the theory, 

 in Fiske's own mind, form the topic of his address on ** The 

 Part Played by Infancy in the Evolution of Man" (in A 

 Century of Science y chap. iv. ). See, also, **The Cosmic 

 Roots of Love and Sacrifice" (in Through Nature to God'), 

 chaps, vi. vii. and viii. ; The Destiny of Man, chaps, vi. and 

 ix. ; The Idea of God, chap. xiv. The theory is briefly 

 mentioned, also, in a passage of Life Everlasting, Fiske's 

 posthumously published Ingersoll Lecture. The theory of 

 Fiske is spoken of by Giddings as having been *' generally 

 accepted," and seems to have been cordially greeted from 

 the outset by students of evolution generally ; cf. what 

 !fiske himself says in the "Dedicatory Epistie " to A 

 Century of Science. See also, for example, the review of the 

 Cosmic Philosophy in the Popular Science Monthly for January, 

 1875. Spencer views Fiske's theory as having probably de- 

 Ixxxi 



