SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 705 



generation. In fact, with Prof. Giddings, as with Spencer, sociology is the 

 study of society as it is and as it has been ; also, perhaps, so far as a knowl- 

 edge of its laws render prediction possible, as it is likely to be in the future ; 

 but not at all a study of what it ought to be, much less an attempt to lay 

 down rules for its improvement. 



Although Prof. Giddings has followed Spencer very closely in his gen- 

 eral ideas of sociology, still he thinks he has discovered one very funda- 

 mental principle that is entirely new, and upon which he attempts to build 

 the entire science. This principle he calls the " consciousness of kind " — 

 i. e., the fact that men recognize their like, and that this natural affinity 

 makes it possible for them to crystallize into social groups. Of course, he 

 finds the principle running down through the entire animal series, and he 

 commits the fallacy of regarding this as the highest proof of its sociological 

 importance. In fact, he has seized upon a well-known and important bio- 

 logical principle, and, as may be done with so many others, he has success- 

 fully applied it in various departments of social life. It has doubtless 

 helped him in dealing with the difficult question of the origin of human 

 association, to which he has given special attention. 



The work is divided into four books, the first of which deals with the 

 theory, the second with the structure, the third with the evolution, and the 

 fourth with the causes of society. Space will only permit a brief reference 

 to Book III, on the Historical Evolution of Society, which is not only the 

 most important department of the work, but is the most ably treated. The 

 general subdivision was briefly outlined in an earlier paper on the Theory 

 of Sociology. It is into zoogenic, anthropogenic, ethnogenic, and demo- 

 genic association, to each of which a chapter is devoted. The treatment of 

 zoogenic association is too brief, but if properly expanded it would form an 

 important introduction. To the two chapters on anthropogenic and ethno- 

 genic association too great praise can not be bestowed. Although some- 

 what trite subjects after all that has been written by Tylor, Spencer, 

 Morgan, McLennan, and the rest, Prof. Giddings has succeeded in so or- 

 ganizing, methodizing, and condensing this immense mass of data as to 

 render it not merely interesting and instructive, but even fascinating, and 

 to enable the reader to acquire in small compass practically all of impor- 

 tance that is contained in so many large volumes. 



The chapter on Demogenic Association, which in a work on sociology 

 should have been the ipiece de resistance, is less ably written and should 

 have been expanded and improved. But the reader will see for himself 

 what its defects are, and will be able to a great extent to supply them. 

 This department of the work, however, taken as a whole, possesses excep- 

 tional merit. 



It will be charitable to the author to refrain from discussing Book 

 IV, on Social Process, Law, and Cause. Much of it is an attempt to 

 apply Spencer's First Principles to social phenomena, in which the author 

 is generally unsuccessful. There ai^e, however, some very good sug- 

 gestions under the head of Social Choices, which we can commend to 

 the reader. 



Mr. Schoenhofs latest contribution to the Questions of the Day Series 

 deals with the economic subject that is uppermost in this country at pres- 

 ent—namely, how far prices can be raised by an abundance of cheap cur- 



TOL. XLIX. — 55 



