642 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



comes specialized, are far more accessible than the data for most other 

 sociological inferences, it "will he seen how greatly the advance of 

 Sociology is hindered by the nature of its subject-matter. 



The characters of men as observers, add to this first difficulty a 

 second that is perhaps equally great. Necessarily men carry with 

 them into sociological inquiries, the modes of observation and reason- 

 ing which they have been accustomed to in other inquiries those of 

 them, at least, who make any inquiries worthy to be so called. Pass- 

 ing over the great majority of the educated, and limiting ourselves to 

 the very few who consciously collect data, compare them, and deliber- 

 ately draw conclusions ; we may see that even these have to struggle 

 with the difficulty that the habits of thought generated by converse 

 with relatively simple phenomena, partially unfit them for converse 

 with these highly-complex phenomena. Faculty of eveiy kind tends 

 always to adjust itself to its work; special adjustment to one kind of 

 work involves more or less non-adjustment to other kinds ; and hence, 

 intellects disciplined in dealing with less-involved classes of facts, can- 

 not successfully deal with this most-involved class of facts without par- 

 tially unlearning the methods they have learned. 



From the emotional nature, too, there arise great obstacles. 

 Scarcely any one can contemplate social arrangements and actions with 

 the unconcern felt when contemplating arrangements and actions of 

 other kinds. For correct observation and correct drawing of infer- 

 ences, there needs the calmness that is ready to recognize or to infer 

 one truth as readily as another. But it is next to impossible thus to 

 deal with the truths of Sociology. In the search for them, each carries 

 with him feelings, more or less strong, which make him eager to find 

 this evidence, oblivious of that which is at variance with it, reluctant 

 to draw any conclusion but that already drawn. And though perhaps 

 one in ten among those who think, is conscious that his judgment is 

 being warped by prejudice, yet even in him the warp is not adequate- 

 ly allowed for. It is true that in nearly every field of inquiry emotion 

 is a perturbing intruder: mostly there is some preconception, and 

 some amour propre that resists disproof of it. But the peculiarity of 

 Sociology is, that the emotions with which its facts and conclusions 

 are regarded, have unusual strength. The personal interests are 

 directly affected, or there is gratification or offence to sentiments that 

 have grown out of them ; or else other sentiments which have relation 

 to the existing form of society, are excited, agreeably or disagreeably. 



And here we are introduced to the third kind of difficulty that 

 caused by the position occupied in respect to the phenomena to be 

 generalized. In no other case has the inquirer to investigate the 

 properties of an aggregate in which he is himself included. His rela- 

 tion toward the facts he here studies, we may figure to ourselves by 

 comparing it to the relation between a single cell forming part of 

 a living body, and the facts which that living body presents as a 



