155 
ORDINARY MEETING, May 10, 1880. 
H. C adman Jones, Esq., M.A., in the Chair. 
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed, and the 
presentation of the following works for the library were announced : — 
“ Proceedings of the Royal Society.” From the same. 
A Pamphlet. By Dr. J. M. Winn. Ditto. 
The following paper was then read by the Author : — 
EVOLUTION AND MORAL SCIENCE , BEING OB- 
SERVATIONS ON MR. HERBERT SPENCER’S 
DATA OF ETHICS. By the Rev. Henry Wace, M.A., 
Chaplain of Lincoln’s Inn, Professor of Ecclesiastical 
History in King’s College, London. 
1. 1\/TANY persons will have welcomed with great interest 
IxJL Mr. Herbert Spencer’s recent work on The Data of 
Ethics. He is the recognised exponent of a principle which has 
of late been asserting a claim to be paramount in all domains 
of human thought and life. He has projected a comprehensive 
system of philosophy embracing the whole sphere of existence — 
inanimate, animate and human — founded upon the hypothesis 
of Evolution. It was affirmed the other day by Professor 
Huxley that this hypothesis must now be regarded as con- 
clusively established, and though this opinion is certainly not 
universal among men of science, there is no doubt that Evolu- 
tion is the favourite scientific creed of the day. If Mr. Darwin 
is its chief author, Mr. Spencer may be said to be its 
chief prophet. He has proclaimed it as the main key to the 
philosophical and social problems by which mankind have 
been perplexed, and he does not stop short of putting it for- 
ward as the substitute for the religious creed by which our 
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