EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



rates a Freeman in 1880 from a Macaulay in 

 1850 is as great as the interval which separated 

 Dalton and Davy from the believers in phlogis- 

 ton. Yet in the principal works by which this 

 immense change has been brought about such 

 as the works of Maine and Stubbs, Coulanges 

 and Maurer biography plays either an utterly 

 subordinate part or no part at all. 



Now the passage on the great-man theory, 

 which Dr. James quotes from Mr. Spencer, is 

 a protest against the alleged adequacy of the 

 method of Carlyle. Important as the "great 

 man " may be, it is not his individual thoughts 

 and actions which primarily concern the sociolo- 

 gist. The truths with which sociology primarily 

 concerns itself are general truths relating to the 

 structure of society and the functions of its vari- 

 ous parts ; and they are obtained from a com- 

 parative and analytical survey of the actions 

 of great masses of men, considered on a scale 

 where all matters of individual idiosyncrasy are 

 averaged, and for the purposes of the inquiry 

 eliminated. Such questions as relate to the 

 structure of the family in different stages of 

 civilization, to the relations of the various classes 

 of society to the governing body, to the circum- 

 stances which hinder or favour the aggregation 

 of tribes into nations, it is such problems as 

 these that mainly concern the student of socio- 

 logy ; and into such problems biographical con- 



