rUTI.INKS Ol' SOCIOI.OCY. 63 



considered in tlir plan of the state. While not a part of 

 the jjovernment in an important way tlicy are connected 

 therewith. Tlie rc';i;nhition of conduct involved in the suc- 

 resslul workinjjf of sucli corporations may be immediately 

 dctrrniined by the bodies of men severally involved and 

 expressed in rharters, constitutions, by-laws, and rules of 

 order. Ihit (.\. r all iliosr is the law of the government 

 with which the rules or laws of the .several minor organiza- 

 tions must conform, and for the ultimate entbrcement of 

 which government is to a large extent responsible. Thus 

 we have the major and minor organizations of the state, the 

 major and minor laws of the state, and the government of 

 the state directly enforcing the major laws and indirectly 

 enforcing the minor laws. 



The science called sociology in its three great divisions — 

 the .state, the government, and the law — deals with all orga- 

 nizations of the people for whatsoever purpose they may be 

 formed. 



A part of (he regulation of a .state belongs to the major, 

 another part to the minor organizations of the state, but 

 the functions of the two classes of regulation are not clearly 

 and permanently differentiated. A particular system of 

 regulation may be relegated now to the government, and 

 now to a .society of the minor class, or the .system of regu- 

 lation may be divided between them. For example, the 

 government may entirely control a system of education, or 

 the .system of education may be entirely controlled by minor 

 societies; or, again, a part of the educational system may 

 belong to the government, and a part to minor societies. 

 The boundary lines between major an«l minor regulation 

 are ever shifting. 



A ST.VFE IS .\ PLKXUS OF ORCAM/ATK >NS. 



In the foregoing statement it is .-^een that the grand unit 

 of social organization, the state, is itself composed of many 

 minor organizations forming units in a descending series, 

 so that the state has a compound structure. It also has a 

 complex structure. Before defining this complexity an 

 illustration from biology may be in place. 



