Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/376

 in 1884 is in the National Portrait Gallery. A bronze bust by E. Onslow Ford was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1897. Mrs. Meinertzhagen owns a portrait painted by Miss Alice Grant in the last year of Spencer's life, mainly from photographs taken in 1898. A cartoon portrait by ’C. G.' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1879.

In appearance Spencer betokened nothing of his years of invalidism. He was 5 ft. 10 in. in height, of almost ruddy complexion, but thin and spare. His face with unwrinkled forehead showed no effects of his long life of thought, and his walk and general bearing were vigorous. Naturally of a robust constitution, he never lost a tooth, and his eyes were so strong throughout life that he never had to wear spectacles for reading. The damage to his nervous system was displayed by his irritability in later life, his morbid fear of misrepresentation, and various eccentricities which gave rise to many false and exaggerated stories. Among the peculiarities which nervous invalidism wrought in him was the use of ear-stoppers, with which he closed his ears when an exciting conversation to which he was listening threatened him with a sleepless night. The extreme originality of mind and contempt of authority, the habit of driving principles to their minutest applications, naturally gave rise to eccentricities, but these toned down in later life.

Although predominantly intellectual, he showed an emotional side, especially in his strong affection for his father. Throughout the greater part of his life he was obsessed by the execution of the 'Synthetic Philosophy,' which absorbed the main intellectual and emotional powers of his mind. One of his least pleasant traits was the tendency to assert his own priority in scientific and philosophic ideas. The claim was never made unjustly, but the animosity with which he defended it showed, as in the case of Newton, that the mere advancement of knowledge was not his sole end. He persistently declined all honours, academic or otherwise. The list of those offered is detailed in Duncan's ’Life' (App. D), but it would undoubtedly have been much longer had not his rule of refusing them become generally known.

Spencer's place in the history of thought must be ranked high. His influence in the latter half of the nineteenth century was immense : indeed it has so woven itself into our modern methods of thinking that its driving and revolutionary energy is nearly spent, and there is little likelihood of its being hereafter renewed. It was the best synthesis of the knowledge of his times ; and by that very fact was from the beginning destined to be replaced and to lose much of its utility when new branches of knowledge were opened up. The central doctrines of the philosophy were, in its social side, individualism and opposition to war ; on its scientific side, evolution and the explanation of phenomena from the materialistic standpoint. It has been said that the advancement of knowledge depends mainly on interrogating nature in the right way. Spencer may be said to have nearly always asked nature the right questions ; but not infrequently his answers to the questions were wrong. He concentrated the attention of mankind on the problems of fundamental importance. The main deficiency of his reasoning was a too free use of the deductive method, more especially in his biological and sociological writings, where this method is always attended by grave dangers. Huxley correctly singled out Spencer's weakness when he laughingly said that Spencer's definition of a tragedy was the spectacle of a deduction killed by a fact.

Spencer's fame extended far throughout the world. In France, Russia, and other European nations he was widely studied. In America his books had a very large circulation, and his fame was certainly not less than in England. During the awakening of Japan, he was one of the authors most studied by the young Japanese ; and probably his opinion was held in higher esteem than that of any other foreign writer whatever. His works were also held in high esteem by the Indian nationalists ; and, shortly after his death, one of them, Mr. Shyamaji Krishna varma, founded a 'Herbert Spencer Lectureship' at Oxford University, by which a sum of not less than 20l. a year was to be paid to the annually appointed lecturer.

The following is a summary of his philosophical works : —

'First Principles' is divided into two parts, of which the first, or metaphysical part, is an attempt at a reconciliation between science and religion by postulating a belief in the 'Unknowable,' as the cause and origin of all phenomenal existence. The doctrine has found scarcely more favour on the side of science than it has on the side of religion, and may be regarded as the least important part of the philosophy. Part ii. sets forth the fundamental principles of the 'Synthetic Philosophy,' as Spencer has named his system. Defining the business of philosophy as the formulation