The immediate success of this Address caused me to lay it aside for
some months, to see if the favour with which it was received would
remain. I am satisfied to find that the good fortune which originally
attended the effort holds on, and that in publishing it now in a
separate form I am acting in obedience to a generally expressed
desire.
Since the delivery of the Address before the Health Department of the
Social Science Congress, over which I had the honour to preside, at
Brighton, in October last, every day has brought some new suggestion
bearing on the subjects discussed, and the temptation has been great
to add new matter, or even to recast the essay and bring it out as a
more compendious work. On reflection I prefer to let it take its
place in literature, in the first instance, in its original and simple
dress.
12 HINDE STREET, W.:
_August_ 18, 1876.