New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-04-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
eERBERT sPENCER'S SYSTEM OF PHIL0S-
OPHY.

STr,ss or DISCUSSIONS BY HKRBEKT srEscEk- i|m0'
pp 40 ID. Appleton Go. -,
The American public has become acquainted WIN
ebe name of Herbert Spencer chiefly through ms
little book upon " Education" The attention VI
many thoughtful people was arrested D! inc views
contained in that volume and strong deSIo has
hep awakened to see more Of the author writings
g. o-5er 90 meet this desire, the publishers nave
lot issued the volume before US, aud are preparing
=. d,,,o, il with Others. Those who have read the
- m " Education" viii remember the analytic
,-,.5o,,,, or the authors mind,-his clear percep-
49,. ,,d admirable exposition Of first principles
hi. wide grasp Of facts,-hs lucid and vigorous
,,,lo and the constant and controlling bearing OF
a.. disc.siop upon practical results These traits
b,,oci,riqe all Mr. SpcncerS writings, and mark
IN 81, eminent degree, the present volume.
,r,o illustrations Of Universal Progress con-
..,.of series Of essays upon large variety oil
topics. each having an intrinsic ana lnoepenu'
emf interest, but all 20 connected IL pan rs 10
apfod and illustrate a comprehensive phlloSopm-
al system. The general principles OF Ne" phhos-
.nhv OF nature ana humanity have been long
m,tured in Mr. SpcDcers mind, and have been
moro ~ less directly involved in all that he has
sritteu. In the present work these principles are
clearly f3rcshadowcd, although the author has now
sntercd upon their full and systematic publication
In another form. AT future time VT shall notice
the claims Of this ney philosophy, but can here
only briefly glance at such Of It's leading principles
a. are nrcessary to a clear understanding OF the
volume now issued.
Mr spencer holds that tho most comprehensive
end prolific conception 10 which the human mlhu
has vel reached is that of Progress or Evolution ana
he gives general calculation OF the principle III ihe
opening essay, entitled Progress: It's Law and
Cause" He here appears not only as an expos'or
OF previously established principles. but as the ms
coverer Of their universal application. The pro-
eouude, fact Of vegetable and animal life, II j. well
known. is expressed 10y the term growth or
Development" Growth is q career OF progress
from the germ TO the matured organism. The law
of this change that il is from the homogeneous TO
10 the INSTRUMENTATION the Structure!eSs germ
10 the highly complex adut,-haS been discovered
within generation. But the fact Of growth or
progress is BY no means limited TO the plant and
suimal it is carried out upon far more extended
scale II Is seen in mind as wei as in body; IN the
heavens As well as on the Garth; IN the arts ana
sciences; in institutions, phases OF government ana
Ia civilization itself Mr.. Spencer is entitled 10 the
credit of having first established the universally OF
the principle by which 81 these changes are con-
trolied He has discovered that the Law OF evoln-
ton excmplGed in the case Of animals and plants
is the Law of all evolution. In the opening Of his
article on Progress: its Law and Cause he says;
We propose in the first place to show that this
law of organic progress is the law Of all progress
Whether il be in the deyelopeHrent OF the earth,
In the development of Life upon lis surface IN the
deyeopcment of Society, Of Government, OF
Manufactures, Of Commerce, Of Language,
Literature, Science. Art, this same eyolu-
ton Of the simple into the complex
through successive dfercntiations, holds through
out. From the earliest traceable cOsnieal changes
DOWN to he latest results Of civilization, we shall
sud thai the transformation of,the homogeneous
into the heterogeneous, is that in which progress
essentially consists He then goes on 10 show the
application Of this comprehensive law in the eYolu-
tor of the solar SYSTEM in the geological progress
Of the earth the development Of life upon the globe
the physical advance Of man, Of social progress, or
she evolution Of civil and religious institutions, OF
Industry, literature, painting sculpture, arcmtee-
ture. music, and poetry. Having shown that all
these are carried forward in their career OF unfold
ting by the operation of O single law, Mr.. Spencer
proceeds in the latter portion of the essay 70 in
vuire into the cause of this universal tendency OF
,bappe from the homogeneous TO the heterogene-
5us or the explanation Of the principle Of Progress.
MS he finds TO be in the fact that "Every active
force produces more than one chsnge-every cause
o-oduces more than one effect. For example, If
pne body is struck by another, the mechanical act
does not produce single effect but several effects.
g. changes position; sound is produced, that is,
vibrations in the body and in the air; currents in
the air are also formed; the particles Of the two
bodies at the point Of collision are dissrranged
heat is produced electrical disturbance and perhaps
tparks and chemical combination. Here ere half a
dozen results from single cguse." And thus 1t is
with sll changes whatever. No case can be named
In which az active force does not evolve forces of
several kinds, and each Of these, other groups Of
forces. Universally the effect 10 more complex
than the cause. This multiplication OF
results which Is displayed in every event
Of to-day, has been going on from the
beginning and is true Of the grandest phenomena
the universe as Of the most Insignificant From
the law that every active force produces more thar
sne change, 1t lie an inevitable corollsy thai
through all time there has been an eVer-growinf
complication Of things. Starting with the ultimate
fsct that every cause produces more than one ef
feet. we may readily see that throughout creation
there must have gone on and mustttin go on, al
sverincreasing transformation Of the homOgeneOui
into the heterogeneous" Mr.. Spencer then re
views the cases Of progress before noticed, snc
l..