ABSTRACT
In the seventeenth century, evolution began to be used in English to refer to an orderly sequence of events, particularly one in which the outcome was somehow contained within it from the start. In the years immediately following 1852, Herbert Spencer continued to concern himself with changes in natural phenomena. The contrast between Spencerian evolutionism and Tylorian historicism appears most strikingly in a little-known article by Edward B. Tylor entitled "The Study of Customs". "Evolution" was, however, used freely by Auguste Comte in his Cours de Philosophie Positive and again in his Systeme de Poli-tique Positive. Increase in complexity, generally thought of as the hallmark of the Spencerian concept of evolution, was suggested to Spencer by reading Karl E. von Baer's observation that embryological development proceeded from homogeneity to heterogeneity. H. Morgan was less tied to the details of history than Tylor.
