io COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART i 



of insanity, the lectures attracted great attention. 

 Between 1830 and 1842 they were published in six 

 volumes under the title of System of Positive Philosophy. 

 While working for fame or usefulness by developing his 

 system, Comte worked for bread and butter by the 

 exercise of his mathematical talent, mainly in the service 

 of that Polytechnic School from which he had been 

 expelled in his student days. His eminence as a heresi- 

 arch cost him his connection with the school ; and 

 thereafter he lived by his earnings as a private tutor, or 

 by the gifts of his devoted disciples. In 1845 he became 

 acquainted with his Egeria, a lady named Clothilde de 

 Vaux, with whom he fell passionately in love, and to 

 whom he looked back with passionate regret till his 

 death in 1857, the lady having lived only one year after 

 making acquaintance with Comte. There was no stain 

 on their friendship, though it was the occasion of a good 

 deal of folly upon Comte's part. In his later years, 

 1851-54, Comte published the second part or second form 

 of his system, the Positive Polity. 



We do not attempt to mention other works, but it is 

 necessary to say something about the Philosophy and 

 the Polity. The earlier treatise, the Philosophy, was 

 an encyclopedia of scientific knowledge, as it then 

 existed, crowned with the first rough sketch of the 

 science of sociology. It was condensed in an English 

 translation by Harriet Martineau, a translation which 

 was afterwards retranslated into French, as being an 

 improvement upon Comte's own statement. This may 

 be called our English tit - for - tat in exchange for 

 Dumont's relation to Bentham. The book was recently 

 republished in English, when an able reviewer * protested 

 against the absurdity of offering the reading public the 



1 In the Manchester Guardian, 



