sociology. 
123 
Whatever may come of the establishment of this Section, I think 
you will all agree with me that it is a subject of great gratification to 
those members who constitute its nucleus that they have been 
honoured by the approval of Mr. Herbert Spencer in the course that 
they have taken. It is no small matter that in the midst of most 
important and absorbing work he should have recognised and 
encouraged us so warmly and kindly. His letter is in truth an 
important and original essay. It is very interesting also to state that 
Mr. Herbert Spencer in a subsequent letter requested to be furnished 
with a few copies of our formation Circular, which was addressed to 
the members of the Society. He says, “ Some of my American 
friends have taken like steps over there ; and it would be encouraging 
to them to find this manifestation of sympathy in their aims here 
also.” 
Need I say anything of the master himself to those who are his 
admiring students? Need I say anything of the eminent Englishman 
living among us at this time, modestly, unselfishly, and devotedly 
labouring, without State aid or grants from learned Societies, at the 
gigantic task he has set himself, of working out and co-ordinating a 
system of philosophy which “ he alone of British thinkers has ever 
attempted ”—he who has been recognised by Darwin as “ our great 
philosopher”—by Professor Tyndall as “the apostle of the under¬ 
standing ”—by Professor Huxley as “ one of the profoundest of living 
English philosophers ”—and' of whom George Henry Lewes “ con¬ 
sidered it questionable whether any thinker of finer calibre had 
appeared in our country.” Nor are opinions less warm abroad. 
Professor John Fiske, of Harvard University, the talented author of 
“ Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, based on the Doctrine of Evolution,” 
states in that work “ that in power of psychological analysis Herbert 
Spencer has been surpassed by no thinker that ever lived, and has 
been rivalled only by Aristotle, Berkeley, and Kant.” Surely these 
encomiums are sufficient to entitle the author of the Synthetic 
Philosophy to the profound admiration and respect of all Naturalists 
who acknowledge the doctrine of evolution, and follow at a distance 
in the steps of his friend and co-worker, the illustrious Darwin. 
But a higher practical tribute to the genius of Mr. Herbert Spencer 
was paid by the French nation, when not long since the Minister of 
Instruction had his famous “ Essay on Education ”—on which alone 
his claim to fame might fairly rest—translated into French for 
gratuitous public distribution. Nor must the great American people 
be forgotten, for they have, I believe, expressed in a more substantial 
manner their recognition of the value of his writings. The enthusi¬ 
astic and hearty reception recently accorded to Mr. Herbert Spencer 
in New York is evidence of the high opinion which the Americans 
entertain of his worth. 
Why do I refer to these matters ? Matters which are perfectly 
well known to, and rejoiced in, by all Spencerians. Simply because I 
fancy that many who from want of opportunity or inclination or 
