LITERARY NOTICES. 



273 



to the rescue, eloquence flowed as freely 

 as the wine, divinity refused to be out- 

 done by medicine in praise of the guest, 

 the press claimed him as a typical jour- 

 nalist always ready for sagacious com- 

 ment upon memorable events, and lit- 

 erature and science pressed their rival 

 claims for the inscription of the name 

 of Holmes upon their banners. The doc- 

 tor took it all with the most gracious 

 good-nature, knowing as well as any- 

 body that there was a great deal more 

 truth than flattery in the cordial utter- 

 ances of which he was the target, and 

 he gave the supremest proof of imper- 

 turbable good-humor by submitting to 

 the insatiate exactions of a crowd of au- 

 tograph-hunters who cornered him for 

 their diabolical purposes after twelve 

 o'clock. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Dynamic Sociology, or Applied Social Sci- 

 ence, AS BASED UPON STATICAL SOCIOLO- 

 GY AND THE LESS COMPLEX SCIENCES. By 



Lester F. Ward, A. M. In two vol- 

 umes. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 726 and 698. Price, $5. 



In the rush of publications from a teem- 

 ing press there now and then comes a work 

 of such grave and exceptional import as to 

 demand a special and careful consideration, 

 and among these are to be included the 

 two comprehensive volumes now before us. 

 Under the technical and somewhat unat- 

 tractive title of " Dynamical Sociology," Mr. 

 Ward has made an original and able con- 

 tribution to the large and very important 

 subject of social science. Although he is, 

 of course, indebted to many sources for his 

 materials, yet the handling of the topics is 

 his own. His work is not a compilation or 

 resume of previous promulgations, but an 

 elaboration of his own independent views ; 

 and he has constructed a system which, 

 from its breadth, its scientific basis, and its 

 elaborate method lays claim to the character 

 of a philosophy. 



It must be confessed that the presump- 

 tions in these times are strongly against 

 the novel and ambitious reconstructions of 

 thought, which so frequently challenge pub- 

 vol. xxiii. 18 



lie attention, and, if the author were asked 

 in this case for his credentials, he would 

 probably say that they must be found in 

 the book. Yet Mr. Ward is well known by 

 his scientific, economical, and social contri- 

 butions to the magazines, as well as by 

 other publications of recognized merit, and 

 if he has not before issued any consider- 

 able book, it is probably because he has 

 been absorbed for the last ten years in the 

 preparation of the extensive treatise now 

 published. 



Mr. Ward's title, as we have intimat- 

 ed, is unfortunate. Sociology is a forbid- 

 ding word snarled at by petty purists as 

 illegitimate and not yet settled and de- 

 fined in familiar speech ; while the kind of 

 sociology designated as " dynamical " only 

 deepens the obscurity, and makes it neces- 

 sary, at the outset of any intelligible no- 

 tice of the work, to explain what is meant 

 to be indicated by these terms. This will, 

 moreover, furnish the key to the method of 

 the book. 



The author assumes sociology to be a 

 science already so well established as to 

 take proper rank in the famdy of sciences. 

 It deals with the laws of social phenomena, 

 as botany deals with the vegetable kingdom, 

 and zoology with the animal world. But 

 science is of two kinds, pure and applied, 

 the former consisting of an exposition of 

 facts and principles, and the latter of their 

 practical applications for purposes of utility. 

 Pure sociology, therefore, confines itself to 

 the classification of the facts and the elucida- 

 tion of the principles of social phenomena. 

 It deals with society by the natural history 

 method, describing, analyzing, comparing, 

 and generalizing the comprehensive data of 

 the subject. Its aim is simply the estab- 

 lishment of a body of truth, without the 

 formal consideration of its uses. This is 

 sociology as generally and properly under- 

 stood. 



But Mr. Ward thinks that, when the 

 practical applications of this science are 

 to be considered, new terms are needed to 

 mark an important distinction, and so he 

 uses the word statical to characterize its com- 

 mon scientific form. But this established 

 sociology, or "Statical Sociology," which 

 consists of the classified facts and general- 

 ized principles of the science, he holds to 



