7 88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



history of France, he was more and more confirmed in this opinion. 

 After the fall of Napoleon III, he pointed significantly to the fact 

 that during less than one hundred years France had had ten different 

 forms of government each one set up and overthrown with blood- 

 shed. Horrified by the carnage of the July Revolution of 1830, Le 

 Play vowed to devote himself to the restoration of " social stability 

 and peace " ; and turned a large share of his splendid and effective 

 energy to the study of social problems. A new method was devel- 

 oped, a new school was founded, his followers are still vigorously 

 prosecuting the work along lines which he marked out, and the pub- 

 lications of their societies already number some fifty volumes. 



As a mineralogist, Le Play's work w T as to analyze minerals ; as a 

 student of social science, he observed men, and strove to analyze at 

 their very source the influences that shape society. In this work he 

 strove, with all sincerity, to be unbiased by preconceived ideas, and 

 he prepared for and began it merely by practicing what he calls " the 

 art of traveling." In order to complete his studies in the School of 

 Mines, it was necessary for him to make personal observations of some 

 extensive mining district, and, having obtained the means of prolong- 

 ing his journey beyond the time actually required for mineralogy, he 

 set out, in company with his friend Jean Renaud, for the Harz Mount- 

 ains and the plains of Saxony. For six months, in 1829, they in- 

 dulged in an energetic note-taking tramp. But in addition to miner 

 alogy they studied what has been termed "the natural history of 

 German life." Their route was through districts which are part of 

 the territory that Riehl afterward tramped over, and, like the author 

 of " Land und Leute," Le Play recognized the fact that he was study- 

 ing "history incarnate." The two friends were calculated to be prof- 

 itable companions, each for the other, because they disagreed almost 

 perfectly as to the interpretation that should be put upon the facts 

 observed. Le Play says that they both became convinced that " the 

 social question " was more complicated than they had at first sup- 

 posed. But he adds : " I was confirmed in my thought that the solu- 

 tion was to be found in a great measure in the customs of the past. 

 My friend, on the contrary, maintained his belief in the doctrine of 

 ' continual progress,' and, in general, in the importance w^hich in this 

 matter, as in all others, he attached to the spirit of change." Thus 

 w r e see that Le Play had hardly succeeded in divesting himself of pre- 

 conceived ideas as completely as he seems to have thought. Though 

 beginning with certain prejudices, and though he collected, before he 

 had pursued his studies far, a most formidable array of theories, yet 

 the paramount need of observation was always his fundamental idea. 

 The methods employed by Le Play and his companion of studying the 

 different facts in which they were interested varied according to cir- 

 cumstances. At times they established stations for study (les stations 

 d"* etude) near the mines, or factories, or families of laborers, or social 



