lUSTORICAI. MKTIIOD. 579 



ory of Society consiil(MVtl in a stato of jin>t!;rossivo movcinnit ; whilp 

 Social Statics is the tlu-ory ef the niHtfnsus ahi-aily spokni of as rxibl- 

 ing ainoiisT tlie ililVereiit parts of the social oi-jxaiiism ; in other wordrt, 

 the tlieory of the mutual actions ami reactions of conteniporuiicous so- 

 cial phenomena; " makinjT provisionally, as far as ]»ossil»lo, ahstrac- 

 tion, for scientific purpose.**, of the fundamental movennMit which is at 

 all times (riadually modifyinc; the whole of tln-m. 



•' In this lirst }>()int of view," <-ontiiiues M. ('omte,* *' tho previsions 

 of sociology will enahle us to infer on^^ from another (subject to ulte- 

 rior verification by direct observation) tht> various charactrristic marks 

 of each distinct mode of social existence; in a manner ess«'ntially anal- 

 ogous to what is now habitually practised in the anatomy of the physi- 

 cal body. This preliminary aspect, therefore, of political science, of 

 necessity supp.oses thai (contrary to theexistini^ habits of philosoph»'r») 

 each of the numerous elements ot'tlie social state, ce:usim( to be looked 

 at independently and absolutely, shall be always and exclusivi-ly ci»n- 

 sidered relatively to all the other elements, with the whole of which it 

 is united by mutual interdependence. It would bo superllnous to 

 insist here upon the great and constant utility of this branch of socio- 

 logical speculation ; it is, in the first place, the indispensable* biiais of 

 the theory of social progress, every rational conception of whit:h pru- 

 supposes the continued preservation of the correspon<ling social or- 

 ganism. It may, moreover, bo employed, immediately ami of itself, 

 to supply the })lace, provisionally at least, of direct ob.servaiion, which 

 in many cases is not always practicable for some of the elements of 

 society, the real condition (»f which may however be sufiiciently judged 

 of by means of the relations which connect them with others previously 

 known. The history of the sciences may give us some notion of tho 

 habitual importance of this auxiliary resource, by reminding us, fi>r 

 example, how the vulgar errors of mere eru<lition concerning the pro- 

 tended acquirements of the ancient Egyptians in the higher astntnomy, 

 were irrev-ocably dissipated (even before sentence ha<l be«'n passed 

 upon th(!m by a sounder erudition) from the single consideration of tho 

 inevitable coimexion between the geiu-ral state <if astronomy and that 

 of ab.stract geometry, then evidently in its infancy. It would be ea.sy 

 to cite a multitude of analogous cases, tho character of which could 

 admit of no dispute. In order to avoid exaggeration, however, it 

 should be remarked, that these necessary relations among the different 

 aspects of society camiot, from tlu-ir very nature, be- so siinph- and 

 precise that the results observed c(»uld oidy have arisen from somo 

 one mode of mutual coordination. Such a notion, already too narrow 

 in the science of life, woidd be comjiletely at variance with the still 

 moro comph'X nature of sociological spi;culations. Hut tho «!xact 

 estimation of these limits of variation, bi.lh in the healthy an<i in the 

 morbid state, constitut(!S, at least as much as in the anatomy ol tho 

 natural b(jdy, an indispensable complement to evj-ry theory of Socio- 

 logical Statics; without which the indirect exploration above spoken 

 of would often lead into error. 



" This is not the place for raethcxlically dem<m8trating tho existence 

 of a nece-ssaiy relation between all thci i)ossiblo aspticU of tho same 

 social organism ; a point on which, mc»reover, in principle at least, 



• C(mr$ dc Phitotophtt Puntivt, iv., Vlty-O. 



