ABSTRACT
Still I had some points of contact with Herbert Spencer. I had early been impressed by his essay on “the Philosophy of Style” (in Essays, vol. 2). In this he says that the best style is that which pays most regard to the economy of the recipient’s attention. “Other things equal, the force of all verbal forms and arrangements is great, in proportion as the time and mental effort they demand from the recipient is small.” Again, “there is an expenditure of mental energy in the mere act of listening to verbal articulations, or in that silent repetition of those which goes on in reading-the perceptive faculties must be in active exercise to identify every syllable”, etc.
