POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



(Hall 4, September 20, 11.15 a. m.) 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY IN THE NINETEENTH 



CENTURY 



BY WILLIAM MILLIGAN SLOANE 



[William Milligan Sloane, Seth Low Professor of History, Columbia University, 

 since 1896. b. November 12, 1850, Richmond, Ohio. A.B. Columbia, 1868; 

 Ph.D. Leipsic, 1876; L.H.D. Columbia, 1885; LL.D. Rutgers, 1900; Princeton, 

 1903. Post-graduate, University of Berlin, 1872-75; University of Leipsic, 

 1875-76. Classical Master Newell Institute, 1868-72. Professor of Latin, 

 Princeton, 1877-82; History, 1882-96. Member Academy of Political Science, 

 American Historical Association, National Institute of Arts and Letters. 

 Author of The French War and the Revolution; Napoleon Bonaparte; The 

 French Revolution and Religious Reform ; and editor of The American Histor- 

 ical Review.] 



THE scientific study of history seeks to find in the past the means 

 of determining both the evolution occurring under our eyes and the 

 probabilities of the future. No preconception may distort the facts; 

 but, the facts once determined, they may not be considered except 

 in the light of reason. This by the rhetorical figure of " anticipation J> 

 we call, the Science of History. There is no claim that as yet this is 

 other than an empirical science : we hope that one day it may become 

 fairly complete; exact, within certain limits. Freeman, Morley, 

 Acton; Comte, Renan, Taine; Waitz, Ranke, Mommsen, these are 

 some of the men who during the century just past have labored to 

 make history scientific. One and all they ridiculed the wild exaggera- 

 tion of mere reason as the final arbiter, apart from the affections, 

 the imagination, and the moral sense; one and all they distrusted 

 the " vague and sterile philanthropy, " which is so often a plague to 

 normal social conditions. Freethinkers as were most of them, yet, 

 liberal and orthodox alike, they believed in the merits and benefac- 

 tions of the Christian Church as a vital factor in their science. In their 

 catholic spirit they were truly scientific. 



It is assumed that the scientific study of history has entirely dis- 

 placed history as literature; or literary history, as many style it. 

 There have, indeed, been many men of light and learning, whose style 

 and trained imagination have transmuted history into literature: 

 there have been others who sought, even in the study of texts and in 

 the interpretations of philology, to secure the material of novels, tales, 

 or poetry, to find examples for the inspiration and consolation of 



