ielmann, M.H. John Ruskin.

Waldstein, Charles. Work of John Ruskin.

Ward, May Alden. Prophets of the Nineteenth Century: Carlyle, Ruskin,
and Tolstoi.

Bates, Herbert. Annotated edition, with Introduction, of Ruskin's
"Sesame and Lilies" and "The King of the Golden River."

Ruskin's "Praeterita": An Autobiography.

HERBERT SPENCER.

1820-

THE EVOLUTIONARY PHILOSOPHY.

BY MAYO W. HAZELTINE.

Herbert Spencer occupies a unique place in the history of human thought,
because he has been the first to attempt the construction of a
philosophical system in harmony with the theory of Evolution and with
the results of modern science. To his contemporaries he is known almost
exclusively as the author of the colossal work which he has chosen to
call the "Synthetic Philosophy." Concerning his personality very little
information has been published, and it is doubtful whether he will deem
it worth while to leave behind him the materials for a detailed
biography. About his private life we know even less than we know about
that of Kant. The very few facts obtainable may be summed up in a score
of sentences.

I.

Herbert Spencer was born on April 27, 1820, at Derby, in England, and
was an only surviving child. His father was a schoolmaster in the town
named, and secretary of a philosophical society. From him the son seems
to have imbibed the love of natural science and the faculty of
observation conspicuous in his work. The father was particularly
interested in entomology, and Spencer himself used to collect, describe,
and draw insects when a boy. At the age of thirteen he was sent to study
with an uncle, Rev. Thomas Spencer, a liberal clergyman and a scholar,
with whom he remained three years, carrying on the study of natural
history, which he had begun in childhood. He now devoted himself to
mathematics, evincing a singular capacity for working out original
problems. At this time, too, he became familiar with physical and
chemical investigations, and already exhibited a strong tendency to
experimental inquiry and original research. His aversion to linguistic
studies put a university career out of the question. At the age of
seventeen he entered the office of Sir Charles Fox and began work as a
civil engineer, but about eight years afterward he gave up this
profession, and devoted the whole of his time to scientific experiments
and studies, and to contributions on philosophical questions to various
period