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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



and when he has mastered it he probably puts 

 his knowledge to some practical use. The man 

 who has studied the medical sciences becomes a 

 doctor ; the student of chemistry finds employ- 

 ment as a professor or in a factory ; the mathe- 

 matician becomes, perhaps, an engineer. Prob- 

 ably none of these men feel any desire to enter 

 political life or imagine that their previous studies 

 have specially fitted them for such activity. In 

 Russia it is otherwise. Few students confine 

 their attention to their specialty. Many of them 

 dislike the laborious work of getting up details, 

 and with the presumption which is often to be 

 found in conjunction with youth and ignorance, 

 aspire to become social reformers. But what has 

 social reform to do with natural science ? To 

 understand the connection the reader must know 

 that, though very few Russian students have 

 opened the voluminous works of Auguste Comte, 

 nearly all of them are more or less imbued with 

 the principles of positivism. Now, in the "Positive 

 Philosophy " the study of natural science leads to 

 the study of sociology. In the classification of 

 the sciences proposed by Comte, sociology is the 

 main part of the edifice, and to it all the other 

 sciences are subsidiary. Social reorganization is 

 thus the ultimate aim of scientific research, and 

 the positivist can behold with prophetic eye hu- 

 manity organized on strictly scientific 'principles. 

 Cool-headed people who have had a little experi- 

 ence of the world recognize clearly that this ulti- 

 mate goal of human intellectual activity is still 

 afar off— that even in the lower parts of the 

 structure there are still enormous gaps which it 

 will require many years, and probably many 

 generations, to fill up, and that consequently it 

 would be folly to attempt at present to construct 

 the higher parts. But the would-be social re- 

 formers among the Russian students are too 

 young, too inexperienced, too impatient, and too 

 presumptuously self-confident, to perceive this 

 plain and simple truth. As soon as they have 

 acquired a smattering of chemistry, physioloay, 

 and biology, they imagine themselves capable of 

 reorganizing human society, and when they have 

 acquired this conviction they are of course un- 

 fitted for that patient, plodding study of details 

 which is the only foundation of genuine scientific 

 knowledge. 



To remedy these evils the government de- 

 termined to introduce more discipline into the 

 schools, and to supplant, to a certain extent, the 

 study of natural science by the classics — that is 

 to say, Latin and Greek. This measure naturally 

 caused much discontent among the students. 



Young men who considered themselves capable 

 of reorganizing society, and playing a political 

 part, fretted of course under discipline, and re- 

 sented being treated as schoolboys. The Latin 

 grammar seemed to them an ingenious instru- 

 ment adopted by the government for the destroy- 

 ing of intellectual development and the checking 

 of political progress. Ingenious speculations 

 about the possible organization of the working- 

 classes and magnificent views of the future of 

 humanity are so much pleasanter than the ir- 

 regular verbs and rules of syntax. 



But I must refrain from going deeper into 

 this interesting subject. These few threads in 

 the tangled web of Russian social history during 

 the present reign will, I hope, enable the reader 

 in some measure to understand how the soil was 

 prepared for the growth of secret societies, differ- 

 ing widely in character and aim from those which 

 flourished in the time of Alexander I. The con- 

 trast between the two groups is very striking. 

 In the time of Alexander I., the members of the 

 secret societies were all, or nearly all, young men 

 of good family, and very many of them belonged 

 to the jcunesse doree of the period. The societies 

 which have recently appeared are composed of 

 very different elements. They are violently aris- 

 tocratic, and draw their recruits chiefly from the 

 sons of the clergy, the small proprietors, and the 

 minor officials. In strong contrast to the roman- 

 tic, sentimental, idyllic spirit which animated the 

 conspirators of 1825, they declare war against 

 romanticism in all its forms, despise sentimental- 

 ity, and declare themselves the champions of the 

 peasantry. In aims, too, they differ widely from 

 the societies of the old school. What they desire 

 is, to produce not merely a political, but also a 

 fundamental social revolution, which will abolish 

 forever all obsolete institutions, such as private 

 property, marriage, and religion, and forever 

 equalize rich and poor. The overthrow of the 

 government and the annihilation of officials, 

 nobles, and capitalists, form only the introductory 

 part of the programme. But, for the realization 

 of even this introductory part, great efforts are 

 necessary. A court conspiracy, though backed 

 by disaffection in the army, will not suffice. It is 

 necessary that the masses should be raised from 

 their ignorance and apathy, and made to under- 

 stand what a magnificent future they have before 

 them if they would only bestir themselves. To 

 effect this, and at the same time to study the 

 character of these much-talked-of and little-under- 

 stood masses, intelligent Young Russia must enter 

 for a time the ranks of the people (idii v narod). 



