848 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



level of a society immersed in mate- 

 rial interests and given over to the pur- 

 suit of wealth, is no doubt true, but 

 it is a state of things to be deplored 

 and to be withstood, rather than to be 

 complacently accepted aud applauded. 

 Let men pursue science from whatever 

 motive they will all valid results are 

 valuable we only object to this for- 

 mal surrender of the highest ground 

 at a time and in circumstances which 

 require that it should be steadfastly 

 maintained. It is neither possible nor 

 desirable to disconnect science from its 

 useful applications, but as Goethe says, 

 "the useful may be left to take care of 

 itself"; there is no danger of its being 

 neglected. Our objection is to this 

 inaugurating something like a national 

 policy of science, animated by the mer- 

 cenary spirit which it has been the glory 

 of science to have always resisted as 

 the proper or highest motive of its cul- 

 tivation. 



HINDRANCES TO THE SCIENCE OF 

 POLITICS. 



We briefly notice, in its appropriate 

 place, a new book having the title of 

 the "Science of Politics," and we re- 

 print a portion of its important pre- 

 liminary chapter, designed to point out 

 the nature and limits of this alleged 

 science. The author shows the valid 

 grounds upon which it rests, and the 

 certainty of its future development ; 

 but he at the same time indicates very 

 clearly the formidable difficulties which 

 hinder, and will long continue to hin- 

 der, the recognition of politics as a 

 regular branch of scientific inquiry. 



And among these obstacles attention 

 is called to one which seems singularly 

 enough to be itself a product of politi- 

 cal progress : it is that a conception of 

 a scientific politics may be expected to 

 meet with most resistance under gov- 

 ernments theoretically most liberal and 

 advanced. "We should certainly antici- 

 pate that where there is the greatest in- 

 telligence, and the form of government 



is most popular, there would be the 

 greatest tendency to the study of politi- 

 cal institutions from a scientific point of 

 view ; and accordingly we might expect 

 that the subject would be congenial to 

 American students of political affairs. 

 And yet it is probable that nowhere else 

 will there be found so wide-spread and 

 pronounced a skepticism in regard to 

 it as in this country. If we could take 

 the sense of the American Congress 

 upon this point, who can doubt that 

 its members would decide with the 

 greatest unanimity that there is, and 

 can be, no such science as that of which 

 our author undertakes to lay down the 

 elements? Nor can we for a moment 

 expect that the law-makers in all our 

 State Legislatures would disagree with 

 such a congressional decision. So much, 

 at any rate, may be assumed, that, 

 whether or not there be such a thing as 

 a possible or actual science of this kind, 

 American politicians generally are pro- 

 foundly ignorant of it, and will, more- 

 over, have little interest to inquire 

 seriously into its claims. Nor can we 

 escape the conclusion that, of all classes 

 of the community, none are so little 

 concerned about politics, as a problem 

 of principles, as the class of men who 

 make politics a profession. This is a 

 curious state of things in a country 

 where we hear on every hand that 

 intelligence is the first condition of 

 the perpetuity of popular government. 

 While intelligence is held to be so fun- 

 damental a necessity in this republic 

 that the state actually assumes the duty 

 and the responsibility of molding the 

 minds and characters of its citizens into 

 conformity with our political require- 

 ments, yet the idea that there is any 

 science or fixed order of relations, or 

 inevitable working of cause and effect, 

 in the political sphere, will be generally 

 scouted as chimerical. 



What is the explanation of this anom- 

 alous state of things? The answer is, 

 that the most popular forms of govern- 

 ment engender the worst forms of poli- 



