people, even in a primitive condition, to such an extent as to 
afford a practical guidanco in life, while ideas of happiness are so 
vague that they must “ be entirely set aside/’ it seems evident 
that we have here an independent test of the goodness and 
badness of actions; and that the real Data of Ethic* are to 
be found in those old principles of “ doing unto others as you 
would be done by,” and of “ loving your neighbour as your- 
self,” which are not sufficiently scientific for Mr. Spencer, 
and which are a part of that “ supernatural code of Ethics ” 
supposed by him tc be disappearing. 
18. After this practical collapse of the argument, it would 
snem scarcely necessary to curry the analysis of Mr. Spencer’s 
work further. He proceeds to a prolonged discussion of tho rela- 
tive claims of the principles of egoism and altruism, of which it 
need only be remarked that tho conclusion arrived at rests on 
tho strange supposition that, as life becomes more perfect, 
the opportunities of rendering aid to others will become fewer. 
Tho key to the whole question lies in a consideration of a 
precisely opposite character. The characteristic point ir. 
human conduct, considered from without, is, that whereas 
other animals live independent lives, except during the transi- 
tory periods of rearing offspring, every man is an intimate 
relation of one kind or another with his fellows ; and tho 
higher tho life, the more numerous and tho more varied tho 
relations. As society develops, the duties of men towards each 
other become at once more numerous and more complex, and 
consequently the opportunities for having regard to others 
must increase. It was the special gift of the Roman to ap- 
prehend the conditions of social life ; and the title of Cicero’s 
work, Do Officii 8, points to the heart of tho subject. ♦ Hut it 
is beyond the scope of this paper to state what are the true 
Data of Ethics , and its necessary limits would exclude tho 
attempt. The object in view has been to examine the claim 
of Mr. Herbert Spencer to have found “ for the principles of 
right and wrong in conduct at large a scientific basis;” and 
thus to have superseded, not merely tf a code of supernatural 
ethics,” but all previous systems of morality. Respect to the 
reputation of the author required that such claims should be 
strictly investigated ; and the result seems unmistakable. An 
ethical system professing to be founded upon the evolution hypo- 
thesis commences with assuming the“antithesis”of that theory 
* See some valuable remarks on this point in the second of the Rev. 
J. Gregory Smith’s Hampton Lectures ; 2nd edition, 1876. 
