b2 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is obvious. That in the one case, as in the other, continued growth 

 implies unbuilding and rebuilding of. structure, which therefore be- 

 comes in so far an impediment, seems also obvious. Whether it is 

 true in the one case, as in the other, that completion of structure in- 

 volves arrest of growth, and fixes the society to the type it has then 

 reached, is a question to be considered. "Without saying any thing 

 more by way of answer, it is, I think, manifest enough that this is one 

 belonging to an order of questions entirely overlooked by those who 

 contemplate societies from the ordinary historical point of view ; and 

 one pertaining to that Social Science which they say does not exist. 



Are there any who utter the cui bono criticism ? Probably not a 

 few. I think I hear from some, whose mental attitude is familiar to 

 me, the doubt whether it is worth while to ask what happens among 

 savage tribes ; in what way chiefs and medicine-men arise ; hoAV the 

 industrial functions become separated from the political ; what are the 

 original relations of the regulative classes to one another ; how far the 

 social structure is determined by the emotional natures of individ- 

 uals, how far by their ideas, how far by their environment. Busied as 

 men of this stamp are with what they call " practical legislation " (by 

 which they seemingly mean legislation that recognizes proximate 

 causes and effects, while ignoring remote ones), they doubt whether 

 conclusions, of the kind Social Science proposes to draw, are good for 

 much when drawn. 



Something may, however, be said in defence of this study which 

 they thus estimate. Of course, it is not to be put on the same level 

 with those historical studies so deeply interesting to them. The su- 

 preme value of knowledge respecting the genealogies of kings, and the 

 fates of dynasties, and the quarrels of courts, is beyond question. 

 Whether or not the plot for the murder of Amy Robsart was con- 

 trived by Leicester himself, with Queen Elizabeth as an accomplice ; 

 and whether or not the account of the Gowrie Conspiracy, as given by 

 King James, was true ; are obviously doubts to be decided before there 

 can be formed any rational conclusions respecting the development of 

 our political institutions. That Friedrich I. of Prussia quarrelled with 

 his step-mother, suspected her of trying to poison him, fled to his aunt, 

 and when he succeeded to the electorate intrigued and bribed to obtain 

 his kingship ; that, half an hour after his death, his son Friedrich Wil- 

 helm gave his courtiers notice to quit, commenced forthwith to econo- 

 mize his revenues, made it his great object to recruit and drill his army, 

 and presently began to hate and bully his son these, and facts like 

 these about all royal families in all ages, are facts without which the 

 progress of civilization would be incomprehensible. Nor can one dis- 

 pense with full knowledge of events like those of Napoleon's wars 

 his Italian conquests and exactions, and perfidious treatment of Venice ; 

 his expedition to Egypt, successes and massacres there, failure at Acre, 



