EVOLUTION: DARWINIAN AND 

 SPENCERIAN 



' For certain it is that God worketh nothing in Nature but by second 

 causes ; and if they would have it otherwise believed, it is mere im- 

 posture, as it were in favour towards God ; and nothing else but to 

 offer to the Author of Truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie.' 



Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Book I. 



Among the great generalizations of the mid- Victorian 

 era — that period which has witnessed such enormous 

 advances in every department of natural science — ^the 

 doctrine of Evolution stands out pre-eminently. With 

 the foundation of that doctrine the names of our two 

 great countrymen, Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer, 

 are indissolubly associated. The acceptance by this 

 ancient University of a lectureship bearing the name 

 of one of the founders of the modern doctrine is a sign 

 of the times of the deepest significance in the intellectual 

 development of this country. The century of Darwin's 

 birth and the fiftieth year of the publication of the Origin 

 of Species were celebrated here and at Cambridge last 

 year ; the tributes paid to his memory on those occasions 

 are still fresh in our minds. Throughout the international 

 chorus of admiration for the work of our great naturalist 

 there rings out one clear note proclaiming that the method 

 of viewing the process of organic development made 

 known by Darwin and Wallace marked the beginning 

 of a new epoch in human thought. 



The history of evolutionary ideas in general, and of 

 the special form of organic evolution associated with the 

 names of Darwin and Wallace, has been fully dealt with 

 by many able writers. It may be difficult to place the 

 subject in any new light ; nevertheless, on the present 



