COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



ize at any later period of his life. It was in 

 1857, the year of Comte's death, that Mr. Spen- 

 cer, in an essay entitled " Progress : its Law 

 and Cause," first definitely extended the law of 

 organic development to historic phenomena ; 

 although he had ever since 1851 been visibly 

 working toward that result, and had in 1855 

 reached that grand generalization of the devel- 

 opment of both life and intelligence, regarded 

 as processes of adjustment, which underlies the 

 law of social progress here expounded. It was 

 this splendid series of researches, culminating 

 in the announcement of the universal law of 

 evolution, in 1861, which supplied a new basis 

 for all the sciences which treat of genesis, and 

 rendered possible the discovery of the special 

 laws of sociogeny. And finally, in 1861, the 

 further clew to these special laws was given by 

 Sir Henry Maine, whose immortal treatise on 

 ** Ancient Law " threw an entirely new light 

 upon the primitive structure of society, and 

 demonstrated — what before could only have 

 been surmised — that human society, as earli- 

 est organized, consisted of a congeries of tribal 

 communities, by the integration of which have 

 arisen the various orders of states and federa- 

 tions known to history. 



When, therefore, we inquire whether Comte 

 did or did not create a science of sociology, we 

 need not be surprised if it appears that he did 

 342 



