Some years previously I had made the acquaintance of an American whose
sympathies were enlisted on my behalf by perusal of some of my books
or essays--Mr. E. A. Silsbee, of Salem, Mass. While yet the circular
was in its unfinished state, I sent to him a copy, accompanied by the
inquiry whether he thought that subscribers might be obtained in
America. His reply, dated February 14, held out much encouragement;
and a letter of March 6, written after the circular had been sent to
New York, contained a sentence the significance of which was shown by
subsequent events. The sentence runs--"Mr. Youmans, a very popular and
intelligent lecturer on scientific subjects, well known by his works
on chemistry, physiology, etc., entered with great enthusiasm into the
project." Devoting himself with characteristic vigor to the
furtherance of my scheme, this previously unknown friend succeeded in
obtaining more than two hundred subscribers.
[Footnote 51: From Part VII of the "Autobiography." Copyright, 1904,
by D. Appleton & Co.]
The relation thus initiated was extremely fortunate; for Prof. Edward
L. Youmans[52] was of all Americans I have known or heard of, the one
most able and most willing to help me. Alike intellectually and
morally, he had in the highest degrees the traits conducive to success
in diffusing the doctrines he espoused; and from that time to this he
has devoted his time mainly in spreading throughout the United States
the doctrine of evolution. His love of wide generalizations had been
shown years before in lectures on such topics as the correlation of
the physical forces; and from those who heard him I have gathered
that, aided by his unusual powers of exposition, the enthusiasm which
contemplation of the larger truths of science produced in him was in a
remarkable degree communicated to his hearers. Such larger truths, I
have on many occasions observed, are those which he quickly
seizes--ever passing at once through details to lay hold of
essentials; and having laid hold of them, he clearly sets them forth
afresh in his own way with added illustrations. But it is morally even
more than intellectually that he has proved himself a true missionary
of advanced ideas. Extremely energetic--so energetic that no one has
been able to cheek his over-activity--he has expended all his powers
in advancing what he holds to be the truth; and not only his powers
but his means. It has proved impossible to prevent him from injuring
himself in health by his exertions; and it has proved impossible to
make him pay due regard to his personal interests. So that toward the
close of life he finds himself wrecked in body and impoverished in
estate by thirty years of devotion to high ends. Among worshipers of
humanity, who teach that human welfare should be the dominant aim, I
have not heard of one whose sacrifices will bear comparison with those
of my friend.
[Footnote 52: Spencer's debt to Professor Youmans has been well known
in America. He was not only instrumental in securing the publication
of his works here, but even more so in popularizing them through the
_Popular Science Monthly_, of which he was the editorial founder. He
had other distinction as a chemist and published a "Class Book of
Chemistry" in 1852, and an "Atlas of Chemistry," in 1854.]