eee ”. 
culture, confirmed this unfavourable expectation. 
. 
By 
Pe 
Oct. 30, 1873] 
logy, but a collection of classified materials for the use 
of students and investigators. The origin of this impor- 
_ tant work is explained in the following extract from the 
preface to Part I., which has now appeared. 
“Tn preparation for the Principles af Sociology, re- 
quiring as bases of induction large accumulations of 
data, fitly arranged for comparison, I, some five years 
ago, commenced by proxy the collection and organisa- 
tion of facts presented by societies of different types, past 
and present: being fortunate enough to secure the 
services of gentlemen competent to carry on the process 
in the way I wished. Though this classified compilation 
_ of materials was entered upon solely to facilitate my own 
work ; yet, after having brought the mode of classifica- 
tion to a satisfactory form, and after having had some of 
the tables filled up, I decided to have the undertaking 
executed witha view to publication: the facts collected 
and arranged for easy reference and convenient study of 
their relations, being so presented, apart from hypotheses, 
as to aid all students of Social Science in testing such 
conclusions as they have drawn, and in drawing others.” 
An objection to this scheme, which struck most who 
noticed its announcement, was that materials thus 
_ atranged would form a patch-work of dead scraps, rather 
than an organic whole. The specimen which was first 
circulated, relating to one of the barbaric grades of 
Now, 
however, thata section of the actual work has been pub- 
lished, it is evident that the scheme can be made to 
Carry an interest of its own, and even to serve an educa- 
tional purpose. This first section is a methodical summary 
_ of the development of England, intellectual and moral, 
_ from the beginning of its history in Czesar’s time, to about 
A.D. 1850. At the first glance, it suggests a question 
which may disconcert not a few of the lecturers and 
tutors engaged in training students in history at our 
Universities. This question is, whether the ethnological 
record of national life ought any longer to be treated as 
subordinate to the political record of the succession of 
rulers and the struggles for supremacy of ruling families, 
or whether the condition of society at its successive 
periods is for the future to be considered as the main 
subject, only marked out chronologically by reigns, 
battles, and treaties. This question has, it is true, been 
already raised, It is, in fact, the issue between historical 
chronicle and the philosophy of history as rival subjects 
of study. But Mr, Spencer’s work brings it more clearly 
and practically into view than any previous one, as will 
be seen from the following outline of his scheme. It con- 
sists of two parts. 
The first part is aseries of tables, arranged in thirty to 
thirty-five columns, each with a heading of some depart- 
ment of social life or history, which again are combined 
into groups. Thus the group of columns relating to the 
structure of society takes in political, ecclesiastical, and 
ceremonial departments, under which again we find 
separately given the laws of marriage and inheritance, the 
regulation of tribes and castes, the military and ecclesias- 
tical organisation, and the ceremonies and customs of 
daily life. Next,the group of columns devoted to the 
functions of society, regulative and operative, contains 
particulars of the morals, religion, and knowledge of each 
age, the state o language, and the details of industry, 
= 
NATURE 
545 
commerce, habitations, food, clothing, and artistic pro- 
ducts. Three special columns at the beginning, middle, 
and end of this long colonnade, contain the skeleton of 
ordinary history: namely, the principal dates, names of 
rulers, and political events. Thus, by glancing across 
any one of the huge double pages, we see the whole 
condition of England at any selected period. Thus, in 
the century after the Norman Conquest, the influence of 
the invaders is observed in the growth of architecture, paint- 
ing, music, poetry, the introduction of new food and more 
luxurious living, the importation of canonical law and of 
mathematics from the East, and so on through all the 
manifold elements which made up the life of noble and 
villain in our land. If the page be turned to the 16th cen- 
tury, the picture of English life is not less distinct. The 
scholastic philosophy is dying out, men’s minds are newly 
set to work by the classical revival, by voyages into new 
regions, the growth of mercantile adventure and political 
speculation ; chivalry ceases, archery declines; judicial 
torture is introduced, the “ Italian” crime of poisoning 
becomes frequent ; the ancient belief in witchcraft and 
pervading demons holds its ground, as do the miracle- 
plays and local festivals; but a highway act is passed, 
new roads are being made, the new houses have chimneys, 
their furniture and fare become more luxurious; the 
power of the old feudal families is destroyed, the Star- 
Chamber is new-modelled ; church-fasts are still observed 
under pain of imprisonment, and high offices of state are 
still in the hands of churchmen, but among the signs of 
momentous change come the dissolution" of monasteries, 
and the distinct appearance of a sect of Protestants. Thus 
the tabulated record goes on till it ends near the present 
day, among such items as Trades’-Unions, Divorce 
Courts, the Manchester School, County Courts, Free 
Thought, Railways, Rifled Cannon, Prae-Raphaelitism, 
Chartism, Papal Aggression, and the crowding events of 
modern manufacture and science. 
It is by following the several columns’ downwards, that 
the principle of Evolution, the real key to Mr. Spencer’s 
scheme, is brought out into the broadest light. It seems 
most strange, however, that he should not have placed in 
its proper niche the evidence of pre-historic archeology. 
Mr. Spencer can hardly doubt that the stone implements 
found in England prove the existence of one, or probably 
two, stone-age populations before the Kelts, who, under 
the name of Ancient Britons, begin his series. If he ac- 
knowledges this, why should a first link so important in 
his chain of evolution have been dropped? Otherwise 
the chain is carefully stretched out so as to display it 
from end to end, In many matters simple and direct 
progressis the rule, From the Ancient Briton’s bow with 
its bronze-tipped arrows, to the cross-bow, the matchlock- 
gun, and thence through successive stages to the rifled 
breech-loader ; from the rude arithmetic before the intro- 
duction of the “ Arabic” numerals, through the long series 
of importations and discoveries which led to the infini- 
tesimal calculus in its highest modern development ; from 
the early English astronomy, where there was still a 
solid firmament studded with stars, and revolving on the 
poles about the central earth, to the period when the per- 
, turbations of planets are calculated on the theory of gravi- 
tation, and the constitution of the fixed stars examined 
by the spectroscope—these are among the multitude 
