New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-09-05

without disturbance the intellectual action. Earnestly
almost sadly Agsssz turned. and said to the gentlemen
standing round II confess that was not prepared TO
SEQ this theory received has been by the best intel
lects OF time Its success Is greater than oouio
have thought possible" In our day great gen.
civilizations have been reached. The theory OF
the origin OF species is but one OF thom'
Another. OF still wider grasp and moro rsdioal
Significance, is the doctrine OF the Conservation OF
Energy the ultimate philosophical issues Of which are
as vet but dimly seen-that doctrine which binds
fast in fate" to extent not hitherto recog
nized exactng from every anteoedent its equivalent
from every consequent its equivalent ante
cedent aud bringing vital as well as physical phenom
under the dominion Of that law OF casual connection
| which, as far as the human understanding mas YET
pierced asserts itself everywhere in nature Long In
advance Of all definite experiment upon the subject the
constancy and indesructibility of matter had been
affirmed, and all subsequent experience justified the
affirmation Later researches extended the attribute OF
indestructiDty This idea. applied in the first
instance inorganic. rapidly embraced organic nature
The vegetable world, though drawing almost all its
nutrlment from invisible sources, was proved IN
competent to generate anew either matter or force.
Its matter is for the part transmitted air. Its force
transformed solar force The animal world was proved
10 be equally uncreative. all its motive energies being
referred TO the combustion OF Its food The activity OF
each animal whole was proved to be the transferred
activities Of its molecules. The muscles were shown TO
be stores OF mechanical force, potential until unlocked
by the nerves. and then resulting In muscular conrac-
tons The speed at which fly to and fro along
the determined aud found to be- not as had
been previously supposed equal to that OF light or cleo
tricty but less than the speed OF flying eagle. Ths
the work Of the physicists then came the conquess
of the comparative anatomis and psychologist, reveal
ing the structure OF every animal and the function OF
every organ the whole biological SERIES from the low
est zo0phye up to The nervous system had been
ia tha NJ continued
wonderful and bottom entirely mysterious, coDtroll
ing power which it exercises the whole organism
physical and mental, being recognized more and more
Thought could not be kept back from subject pro-
foundry suggestive.
PsYCHICAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT SPENCER
Besides the. physical life dealt with by Mr. Darwin
there psychical life presenting similar gradatons
asking equally for solution How are the different
grades and orders of Mind to be accounted fort What
1, the principle Of growth OF that mysterious power
which on our planet eliminates in ReasoDi These are
questions which, though not thrusting themselves SO
forcbly upon the attention OF the general public. had
only occupied many rejecting minds, but had been
formally preached by Of them before the Origin OF
Species appeared With the of materials furnished
by the ply biologist In his hands, Mr. Her
bert Spencer years sought graft upon this basis
system OF psychology and two years a second and
greatly ampfed edition Of his work appeared Those
who occupied themselves with the beautiful
experiments of Plateau will remember that
when two soherules Of olive oil suspended In
a mixture of alcohol and water of the same density
as the oil brought together, they do not immedi-
atey unite. Something like pellicle appears to be
formed around drops the rupture Of which s mme-
daey followed by the coalescence OF the globules into
one. There organisms whose vital actions are
almost purely ply as that OF these drops OF OIL
They into contact and fuse themselves thus to-
geher From such organisms to others shade higher,
ohada bi1bpr sfi nd on
through an ever ascending series Mr. Spencer con-
ducts his argument. There two obvious factors
to be here taken into accountable creature and the
medium IN which 1t lives or, as 1t Is often expressed
the organism and its environment. Mr.. spencers
cardinal principle is that between these two factors
there is incessan neracton. The organism is played
upon by the environment. and is modified to meet
the requirements OF the environ nent. Life he de-
fines to be continuous adjustment Of internal rela
tions to external relations" In the lowest organisms
we kind of tactua sense difused over the entire
body; then, through impressions from without and
their spending adjustments special portions or the
surface become responsive to stimuli than others
The senses are nascent basis Of all Of them being
that simple tactua sense which the sage Democritus
recognized 1880 years as their common progent0r
The action OF light in the first instance, appears to be
disturbance OF the chymical processes In the ami
NAL organism similar to that which occurs in the leaves
Of plants BY degrees the action becomes localized In
few pigmentces more sen stive light than the
rounding TISSUE The eye Ia here ncpient At first 1t Is
merely capable of revealing differences of light
and shade produced by bodies close at hand.
Followed as the inercepdon OF the light is In
almost all cases by the contact OF the closely
adjacent Opaque body. sight in this condition becomes
kind OF "antcpatory touch" The adjustment continues
a slight bulging OF the epidermis over the pigment
granules supervenes lens is incpient and through
the operation of infinite adjustments. ct length
reaches the perfection that it displays in the hawk and
eagle so OF the other senses they are special differ
entiations of tissue which originally vaguely
sensitive all over With the development OF the senses
the adjustments between the organism and its environ
ment gradually extend in space, multiplication OF
experiences ard corresponding modification OF con-
duct being the RESULT The adjustments also extend in
time covering continually greater intervals. Along
with this extension in space and time the adjustments
also increase IN speciality and compl exity, passing
through the various grades of brute life and proongng
themselves into the domain OF reason.
SYNOPSIS OF sPENCER's THEORY.
Very striking Mr. Speneers remarks regarding the
influence of the touch upon the development of
intelligence. That is so to say, the mothertongue OF
all the senses which they must be translated to be
of service TO the organism Hence its importance. The
parrot is the most intelligent OF all BIRDS and s tactual
power is also greatest From this sense it gets knowl.
edge unatanable by birds which cannot employ their
feet as hands The elephant is the most sagacous Of
ouadrupeds-its tactua range aud skill, and the
consequent multiplication of experiences, which it owes
TO It's wonderfully adaptable trunk, being the basis OF
its sagacity. Feline animals, for similar cause,
are more sagacious than hoofed animals-atone.
ment being to some extent made, in the case
of the horse, by the possession Of sensitive pre-
hensile lips. In the Primates the evolution of
intellect and the evolution Of tactual appendages 90
hand In hand In the most intelligent anthropod apes
we find the tactual range and delcacy greatly aug
mented, new of knowledge being thus opened
TO the animal Man the edce here, not only in
virtue Of his own manipuatory power but through the
enormous extension OF his range Of experience, by the
invention of instruments Of precision, which serve as
supplemental senses and supplemental limbs. The
is