books to study till he had clearly imparted to him the principles of the subject he was about to take up. Every care was taken to teach him accurately, so that no labor should be lost in unlearning

errors.

Having received his early education mainly from his father, Mr. Spencer passed several years with his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Spencer, a cultivated scholar and a clergyman of the Established Church, who was noted for his very liberal opinions and his philanthropic activity, and who will be remembered by some as having, about eighteen years ago, made a tour through this country delivering occasional lectures.

Mr. Spencer early showed a marked aptitude for mechanics and mathematics; and his father, feeling that a literary career was out of the question, turned his studies mainly in the direction of civil engineering, by which he proposed to secure for him a life of out-door activity and useful employment without imperilling his health. This was quite in consonance with his inclinations; and having finished his education with his uncle, Mr. Spencer, then seventeen years of age, commenced life as a civil engineer. He engaged first under Mr. Charles Fox, a gentleman who had been a pupil of his father's, and who some years since became widelv known as the builder of the Great Exhibition Building of 1850.

After some eight years spent in the profession Mr. Spencer abandoned it, chiefly in consequence of the excessive competition caused by the large numbers who flocked into it. During this period, however, he published various papers in the Civil Engineers' and Architects' Journal. His first productions in general literature were in the shape of a series of letters on the Proper Sphere of Government, published in the Non-Conformist newspa per in 1842. These were some time afterwards reprinted as a pamphlet. The attention which they drew was a chief cause of the subsequent adoption of literature as an occupation; a step which was taken after the reaction from the railway mania of 1845 had led to an extreme depression in the engineering world.

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.

From 1848 to 1852 Mr. Spencer held an engagement on the onomist newspaper, then under the editorship of the proprietor, Mr. James Wilson, M. P. It was during this period of connection with the Economist that "Social Statics 99 was written and published. It was favorably received, and shortly after led to an invitation to contribute to the Westminster Review. This connection became established; and other such opportunities offering, Mr. Spencer was led to relinquish his connection with the Economist and devote himself to the writing of articles for the Quarterly Reviews.

"Social Statics," of which the present volume is a reprint, was published in 1850. In 1855 appeared Mr. Spencer's profound and original book entitled the "Principles of Psychology." In 1857 he collected and published several of his contributions to the English periodicals, under the title of "Essays; Scientific, Political and Speculative," and in 1863 he issued a second series with the same title. Four more essays were also published in a volume entitled "Education; Intellectual, Moral and Physical."

In 1860 Mr. Spencer began the issue, by subscription, of a system of philosophy of a very comprehensive character, and designed to occupy several years in its accomplishment. The aim of this work is to bring the vast resources of modern science to bear upon the construction of a complete philosophical scheme that shall embrace the great departments of Life, of Mind, and of Society. The plan involves five divisions. It begins with an inquiry into First Principles, or the establishment of those universal laws which control all phenomena, and therefore underlie all branches of investigation. This part develops the author's method, and lays down the principles to be employed as guides and tests in the succeeding works. Next comes the "Principles of Biology." or an exposition of the general laws and scheme of life; to be followed by the "Principles of Psychology," or the science of mind in its broadest aspects. These works in logical order prepare for the consideration of the "Principles of Sociology," or

the natural laws of society; and lastly, the truths furnished by the comprehensive study of man in his bodily, mental, and social relations, will be used to throw light upon the final inquiry into the "Principles of Morality," or the true laws of the regulation of human conduct.

To the obvious criticism that the scheme he has thus undertaken is too extensive for any one man to carry out, Mr. Spencer replies, that an exhaustive treatment of each topic is not intended, but simply the establishment of principles, with such illustrations as are needed to make their bearings fully understood. And further, that impossible though it may prove to execute the whole, yet nothing can be said against an attempt to set forth the First Principles, and to carry their application as far as circumstances permit. And it may be added, that the very considerable portion of the work already done not only gives confident assurance of its successful accomplishment, but demonstrates moreover that the work has been undertaken by the right man.

It may be stated that Mr. Spencer's health is precarious, and has been at times so disturbed as somewhat to interrupt the progress of his work, and occasion serious solicitude on the part of his friends; but he is latterly reported in quite as good health as he usually enjoys, notwithstanding the severe labor of the last three or four years upon his System of Philosophy. Residing in London, with its vast facilities for the pursuit of science, intimate with the representative-men in various departments of investigation of whose criticisms and suggestions he constantly avails himself, and inflexibly refusing to be drawn into other things, Mr. Spencer concentrates his entire power upon the execution of his great plan, and we cannot but hope with a reasonable prospect of

success.

The present volume, the first and most popularly written of all his works, has an interest not only for the intrinsic value and importance of its discussions, but as foreshadowing the philosophi cal scheme which it has become the business of his life to unfold

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.

ni

With various things, perhaps, that he cannot accept, the reader vill find the great subjects of society, the laws of social growth and improvement, the rights, claims, and duties of various classes of the community, and the philosophy of education, government, and human progress considered as problems of science, and with the author's usual affluence of illustration and remarkable powers of reasoning. But he will further find that the work involves a fundamental organizing thought; that of Evolution, which has become the central and governing idea of all his philosophical labors. The principle is here regarded in its immediate and practical bearings upon social phenomena, and affords an admirable introduction to the more extended, definite, and systematic elucidation of it upon which he is now engaged. In the preface to the present edition Mr. Spencer has referred to the subsequent development of his views, and called attention to some modifications in the details of their application. These, however, are minor points which do not affect the scope and force of the general argument, or disturb the security of his main conclusions. They are interesting as showing the growth of his method in the author's mind, and happily he has made record of the influences which chiefly contributed to it. In a recent pamphlet * Mr. Spencer remarks:

And now let me point out that which really has exercised a profound influence over my course of thought. The truth which Harvey's embryological inquiries first dimly indicated, which was more clearly perceived by Wolff and Goethe, and which was put into a definite shape by Von Baer-the truth that all organic development is a change from a state of homogeneity to a state of heterogeneity-this it is from which very many of the conclusions which I now hold, have indirectly resulted. In "Social Statics," there is everywhere manifested a dominant belief in the evolution of man and of society. There is also manifested the belief that this evolution is in both cases determined by the incidence of The Classification of the Sciences: with Reasons for Dissenting from the Philos ophy of M. Comte

books to study till he had clearly imparted to him the principles of the subject he was about to take up. Every care was taken to teach him accurately, so that no labor should be lost in unlearning

errors.

Having received his early education mainly from his father, Mr. Spencer passed several years with his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Spencer, a cultivated scholar and a clergyman of the Established Church, who was noted for his very liberal opinions and his philanthropic activity, and who will be remembered by some as having, about eighteen years ago, made a tour through this country delivering occasional lectures.

Mr. Spencer early showed a marked aptitude for mechanics and mathematics; and his father, feeling that a literary career was out of the question, turned his studies mainly in the direction of civil engineering, by which he proposed to secure for him a life of out-door activity and useful employment without imperilling his health. This was quite in consonance with his inclinations; and having finished his education with his uncle, Mr. Spencer, then seventeen years of age, commenced life as a civil engineer. He engaged first under Mr. Charles Fox, a gentleman who had been a pupil of his father's, and who some years since became widely known as the builder of the Great Exhibition Building of 1850.

After some eight years spent in the profession Mr. Spencer abandoned it, chiefly in consequence of the excessive competition caused by the large numbers who flocked into it. During this period, however, he published various papers in the Civil Engineers' and Architects' Journal. His first productions in general literature were in the shape of a series of letters on the Proper Sphere of Government, published in the Non-Conformist newspa per in 1842. These were some time afterwards reprinted as a pamphlet. The attention which they drew was a chief cause of the subsequent adoption of literature as an occupation; a step which was taken after the reaction from the railway mania of 1845 had led to an extreme depression in the engineering world.