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  THE 
  ZOOLOGIST 
  

  

  No. 
  751.— 
  January, 
  1904. 
  

  

  THE 
  PLACE 
  OF 
  HEKBERT 
  SPENCER 
  IN 
  BIOLOGY. 
  

   By 
  D. 
  Sharp, 
  M.A., 
  M.B., 
  F.R.S., 
  &c. 
  

  

  The 
  ' 
  System 
  of 
  Philosophy,' 
  of 
  which 
  Herbert 
  Spencer 
  was 
  

   the 
  author, 
  deals 
  with 
  Ethics, 
  Psychology, 
  and 
  human 
  Soci- 
  

   ology, 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  with 
  Biology. 
  The 
  pages 
  of 
  ' 
  The 
  Zoologist 
  ' 
  

   are 
  not 
  the 
  place 
  in 
  which 
  to 
  appraise 
  the 
  merits 
  of 
  his 
  'System' 
  

   as 
  applied 
  to 
  the 
  more 
  transcendental 
  divisions 
  of 
  Philosophy. 
  

   We 
  shall 
  here 
  only 
  deal 
  with 
  his 
  claims 
  as 
  a 
  Biologist 
  ; 
  and 
  we 
  

   shall 
  show 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  this 
  science 
  he 
  will 
  occupy 
  a 
  

   place 
  between 
  Lamarck 
  and 
  Charles 
  Darwin— 
  the 
  men 
  who, 
  

   nobly 
  aided 
  by 
  Wallace 
  and 
  Huxley, 
  made 
  it 
  possible 
  for 
  their 
  

   intelligent 
  fellows 
  to 
  entertain 
  a 
  sure 
  conviction 
  that 
  Biology 
  is 
  

   truly 
  a 
  Science, 
  and 
  that 
  all 
  its 
  branches 
  are 
  legitimate 
  subjects 
  

   of 
  inquiry, 
  just 
  as 
  are 
  the 
  sciences 
  of 
  Astronomy 
  and 
  Chemistry. 
  

   Previous 
  to 
  the 
  exertions 
  of 
  the 
  men 
  we 
  have 
  named 
  this 
  was 
  not 
  

   admitted 
  by 
  the 
  human 
  Society. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  now 
  nearly 
  one 
  hundred 
  years* 
  since 
  Lamarck 
  published 
  

   his 
  ' 
  Philosophie 
  Zoologique,' 
  in 
  which 
  the 
  idea 
  of 
  the 
  per- 
  

   manence 
  of 
  specific 
  distinctions 
  was 
  impugned, 
  and 
  an 
  attempt 
  

   was 
  made 
  to 
  give 
  philosophical 
  reasons 
  in 
  justification 
  of 
  the 
  

   opposed 
  view 
  of 
  transformism. 
  

  

  Lamarck's 
  effort 
  was 
  opposed 
  by 
  the 
  great 
  influence 
  of 
  Cuvier, 
  

   and 
  for 
  half 
  a 
  century 
  "permanence" 
  was 
  apparently 
  nearly 
  

  

  * 
  Paris, 
  a.d. 
  1809. 
  

   Zool. 
  4th 
  ser. 
  vol. 
  VIII., 
  January, 
  1904. 
  b 
  

  

  