INTRODUCTION. xv 



of social equilibrium, though it allows of laws of change 

 or growth ; and therefore the application of the term 

 " science " to the ascertained order, such as it is, of social 

 phenomena, is a matter of doubtful propriety. In this 

 region of interesting speculation, scientific methods are 

 unquestionably applicable ; methods which have borne 

 fruit in the explanation both of the facts of existing and 

 of past societies ; but whether the utmost possible sys- 

 tematization of which the infinite body of facts of a 

 complex modern society admits, is to be called by the 

 name of science or by some more fitting term, is still a 

 disputed question. 



I must add, too, that it is to a considerable extent a 

 verbal one, since the applicability of scientific methods is 

 universally admitted ; while, further, that there is some 

 order amongst social phenomena which lasts for a con- 

 siderable time, is also allowed by all, and an accurate 

 statement of this, together with the prediction of the 

 next term in social progress, might fairly be regarded as 

 scientific. But whether a science of society in a stricter 

 sense be or be not possible, what is certain is that as yet 

 the science has not been fully developed in any sense. 

 The entire scope and boundary of the science are, in 

 fact, not conceived alike by the only two thinkers who 

 have laid claims to the creation of it Cornte and Her- 

 bert Spencer. And it still remains to be seen how far 

 the latter eminent thinker, when he^ has finished his 

 task, will have succeeded in at last creating the grand 

 Science of Society, embracing, amongst other things, the 

 subjects already more or less systematized, of political 

 economy, politics, and jurisprudence. 



In what precedes, I have given a general indication 

 of what is to follow ; of the chief questions that will be 



