Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/47

Rh dealing with mathematics, none with physics, none with chemistry!

I pass on now to point out that six months after, in the second essay I named, there is recognized the fact that for this universal transformation of things there is a cause taking precedence of the multiplication of effects, namely, the instability of the homogeneous (i. e., the relatively homogeneous, for absolute homogeneity does not exist)—a law which holds alike of a nebulous mass, an ovum, a primitive tribe, etc. And then in the same essay the law of integration (previously recognized in 1855 in the "Principles of Psychology," Part III, chapter xiv), is set forth as holding of organisms and societies—a law later recognized as holding of all evolving aggregates, and eventually recognized as the primary trait of all evolution. Are these conceptions to be found in the Positive Philosophy?

Shortly after, further developments of these views took place, which are referred to in my letter to Mr. Mill already quoted. Then came recognition of the truth that in aggregates of all orders one of the traits of evolution is increase of definiteness; universally the tendency is for the differentiated parts, at first vaguely marked out, to become sharply marked out. Later still was recognized the fact that these various changes are accompanied everywhere by a process of segregation; and then, finally, in answer to the question, What is the outcome of all these changes? there was reached the answer—They inevitably continue till an equilibrium of forces is reached; every aggregate, inorganic or organic, goes on changing until the forces acting upon it are balanced by the forces it opposes to them; hence the general law of equilibration. Are these Comtean conceptions?

When in 1860-62 "First Principles" was written, these several inductive and deductive generalizations were incorporated in a coherent theory; and in the chapter dealing with each, there was followed this same order in the groups of illustrations which I have shown naturally arises. Beyond this, however, there was an endeavor to go behind these proximate causes of the universal transformation, and find the ultimate cause. This was alleged to be the persistence of force (an expression I continue to use as comprehending both the conservation of energy and the constancy of those forces by which passive matter becomes known to us). Has Comte enunciated these ideas, or any allied to them?

Lastly, I have to point out that only in the reorganized second edition of "First Principles," published five years later, when, along with other developments, there was recognized that transformation of motion which everywhere accompanies the transformation of matter, did the general conception reach its complete form. There was a gradual growth, as Mr. Mill says; and it had continued from 1850 to 1867. Not only has Comte's influence no place whatever in this process, but the ultimate product of it has no alliance whatever with