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AVOWAL OF EVOLUTIONISM 31
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of Evolutionism. — In 1852 Spencer definitely
began his work as a pioneer of Evolution Doctrine by publishing the famous Leader article on " The Develop- ment Hypothesis,"in which he avowed his belief that the Whole world of life is the result of an age-long process of natural transmutation. In the same year he wrote for The Westminster Review another important essay, f< A Theory of Population deduced from the General Law of Animal Fertility," in which he sought to show that the degree of fertility is inversely proportionate to the grade ,of development, or conversely that the attainment of higher degrees of evolution must be accompanied by lower rates of multiplication. To- wards the close of the article he came within an ace of recognising that the struggle for existence was a factor in organic evolution. It is profoundly instruc- tive to find that at a time when pressure of population was practically interesting men's minds, not Spencer only, but Darwin and Wallace, were being independ- ently led from this social problem to a biological theory of organic evolution. There could be no better illustration, as Prof. Geddes has pointed out, of the Comtian thesis that science is a " social phenomenon."
Friendships. — About this time a strong friendship
arose between Spencer and Miss Evans (George Eliot). To him she was " the most admirable woman, mentally," he ever met, and he speaks en- thusiastically of her large intelligence working easily, her remarkable philosophical powers, her habitual calm, her deep and broad sympathies. It is interest- Ing to learn that he strongly advised her to write novels, and that she tried in vain to induce him to |
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