SOCIOLOGY. 15 



Whatever may come of the establishment of this Section, I think 

 you will all agree with me that it is a subject of great gratification to 

 those moinbor.i who constitute its nucleus that they have been 

 honoured by the approval of Mr. Herbert Spencer in the course that 

 they liave taken. It is uo small matter that in the midst of most 

 important and absorbing work he should have recognised and 

 encouraged us so warmly and kindly. His letter is in truth an 

 important and original essay. It is very interesting also to state that 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer in a subsequent letter requested to be furnished 

 with a few copies of our formation Circular, which was addressed to 

 the members of the Society. He says, " Some of my American 

 friends have taken like steps over there ; and it would be encouraging 

 to them to tind this manifestation of sympathy in their aims here 

 also." 



Need I say anything of the master himself to those who are his 

 admiring students'? Need I say anything of the eminent Englishman 

 living among us at this time, modestly, unselfishly, antl devotedly 

 labouring, without State aid or grants from learned Societies, at the 

 gigantic task he has set himself, of working out and co-ordinating a 

 system of philosophy which " he alone of British thinkers has ever 

 attempted " — he who has been recognised by Darwin as " our gi'eat 

 philosopher" — by Professor Tyndall as "the apostle of the under- 

 standing " — by Professor Huxley as " one of the profoundest of living 

 English philosophers " — and of whom George Henry Lewes " con- 

 sidered it questionable whether any thinker of finer calibre had 

 appeared in our country." Nor are opinions less warm abroad. 

 Professor John Fi'ske, of Harvard University, the talented author of 

 " Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, based on the Doctrine of Evolution," 

 states in that work " that in power of psychological analysis Herbert 

 Spencer has been surpassed by no thinker that ever lived, and has 

 been rivalled only by Aristotle, Berkeley, and Kant." Surely these 

 encomiums are sufficient to entitle the author of the Synthetic 

 Philosophy to the profound admiration and respect of all Naturalists 

 who acknowledge the doctrine of evolution, and follow at a distance 

 in the steps of his friend and co-worker, the illustrious Darwin. 



But a higher practical tribute to the genius of Mr. Herbert Spencer 

 was paid by the French nation, when not long since the Minister of 

 Instruction had his fanaous " Essay on Education " — on which alone 

 his claim to fame might fairly rest — translated into French for 

 gratuitous public distribution. Nor must the great American people 

 be forgotten, for they have, I believe, expressed in a more substantial 

 manner their recognition of the value of his writings. The enthusi- 

 astic and hearty reception recently accorded to Mr. Herbert Spencer 

 in New York is evidence of the high opinion which the Americans 

 entertain of his worth. 



Why do I refer to these matters ? Matters which are perfectly 

 well known to, and rejoiced in, by all Spencerians. Simply because I 

 fancy that many who from want of opportunity or inclination or 



