The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-26


W.
All his life long Herbert Spencer was a
I valetu6!nnHan, and the fact would excite
establishments. In view Of the vast work
that he accomplished, II the same thing
1 we're not known 10 have been true Of Car
/ lyle, Comte and Darwin. de was the only
surviving child Of his parents, and he was
long 90 delicate that they had little hope
Of rearing him. Constitutional feebleness
may have predi'posed him 70 break down, :
- no alWays phrased &C. In his thirty-sixth
year The collapse may have been owing
TO variety Of causes, but Spencer himself
always asserted that II was not due %
overwork. What happened was this: Some
obscure portion Of the brain-probably the
higher centres concerned In ratiooination
and rehection-had been overstrained and
had given way with q resulting incurable
lesion IL Il certain that. after his FIRST
breakdown, Spencer was disabled for q whole
year and a half. and thereafter the liza
blity 10 collapse was likely 10 recuT on
the least overexertlon. Whenever he felt
premonitory symptoms he would throw
up all his engagements refrain from even
looking alta book or reading q letter. and
hurry away 10 his native Derby, to Brighton
or T1nbridge Wells. At no time did be re-
ceive much sympathy. for he looked weil.'
was physically vigorous. and bore no vis-
ible traces Of the inward lesion. His ac-
quaintances spoke Of his disablement with
smile. but he never complained, and
patiently awaited the periodical recovery
Of his strength. His secretary testifes
that when he did resume work there was
no delay and no hitch. Without visible
EFFORT, but rather with the eageTness Of a
courser that had been refined In, be took
up the thread Of his thought where he had
dropped II, and the l1eenest eye would not
have disCerned any breach Of continuity.
Il was like the weaving Of a web Of which
the warp was his own mental tissue, while
the weft was the conscious reflection that
tossed the shuttle from side to side
When did Spencer evolve the thoughts
that, in his periods OF work. he set forth
ON paper in an orderly and perfected form9
SIR Collier thinks that it might. perhaps,
have been said Of him a. Sir Walter Scott
said Of himself, that in one SENSE, he was
never occupied with the subject in hand,
except when he was actually engaged In
il, and, in another. that ii was never out
Of his mind To thu cognGts question,
Whence did Spencer derive the materials
for the colossal structure which he reared.
his secretary admits himself unable 10
return a satisfactory answer. The asser-
ton ls ounfdently made that he at no time
received systematic instruction In any
branch Of science. A doubt h expressed
whether he ever attended q course Of soien
tihc lectures. At one time. indeed, be en-
gagged 30 ardently In the study Of micro
scopy that be impaired his eyesight; but
he must have pursued this study under his
own direction. Surprising "a it may seen,
Mr.. Collier questions whether Spencer
ever read q book on science from end to
end. We are assured that be composed
his Social States which Is a book on
ethics as we'll as on politics. after having
read no other ethical treatise but an old
and n ~ forgotten work by one Jonathan
Dymond, which he was never tired Of citing
not quoting for even this book he OBJ
ably had not read through Mr.. Collier
goes on to say that, before Spencer pro-
duced his original treatise on Psychology,
he had glanced indee /, at Reid and Hume,
but had prepared himself almost exclusive
ly by reading what he called that subtle
DpoAf hA@AA1A ETOiGkOu9nh lOklCa- /
Moreover Excepting Carpenters 'Prin-
oiples Of Comparative Physiology he had
possibly not perlIsed carefully . single
book on biology when he wrote bis Princi-
piles Of Biology Perhaps II win b. con-
sidered an error and a misfortune that be
hardly read even the Origin Of Species.
He composed, continues Mr.. Collier "his
Principles Of Sociology, without reading
Comte or Tylor. and no one was more as
tonished than he when Tylor elaine pri-
oHty in originating the ghost theory on
which the Spencerian science Of religion
is founded; Primitive Culture had stood
on his shelves for years, but had stood
unopened. He wrote his final treatises on
ethics without reading Mill, Kant. Whew II,
OF any Of the recognized authorities on NOR
ais, excepting portion Of sidgviclC'