THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGIST lOl 



always upon the verge of la3'ing his hand upon some mighty 

 correlation which always escapes him, like the grapes of 

 Tantalus. And yet a review of American scholarship would 

 be incomplete without mention of Ross. 



Of the 3^ounger men perhaps Professor EUwood of the 

 University of Missouri is the most forw^ard. Ellwood has 

 studied sociology to some purpose. He is, it may be, the only 

 one in America who seems perfectly convinced that human 

 society must be regarded as being constructed essentially 

 on the plan upon which the individual man is constructed. 

 He seems to be convinced that when we have found out the 

 why and the how of human society we will have found out that 

 society is a great individual in itself — an indivisible organic 

 being with parts so closely related that certain of them can- 

 not be removed without causing the death of the whole body. 

 Ellwood is an earnest, careful worker, intently busy with 

 vast conceptions which are slowly taking form and outline 

 in his fruitful mind and which he will probably publish some 

 day in a form which will mark a new epoch in social science. 



Critical sociology in America has its two apostles. With 

 one of these we have met in the personality of Lester F. Ward. 

 The other is Albion W. Small, of the University of Chicago. 

 Dr. Small has not, like Ward, contributed in a concrete 

 way to the sum of sociological investigation, but his influence 

 as a maker of sociologists has been incalculable. He is a 

 sharp, unbending critic, perfectly careless whom he hits, per- 

 fectly content with his own views of the work of others. 

 His one great critical work is that in which lie outlines the 

 method of sociology after the manner which Bacon uses 

 in Novum Organum. I doubt whether Small had the 

 slightest notion of Bacon in his mind when he wrote his 

 methodology. It is probable that Small's work was as spon- 

 taneous and original a conception as was Novum Organum 

 itself. How indeed can we doubt it when we consider the 

 fact that sociology at present is very much in the same forma- 

 tive, growing condition as was that of science at large in the 

 time of Bacon. For a score of years Dr. Small has stood at 

 the gateway of sociology in America and challenged every- 

 body who would enter the academy. A vigorous bold man, 



