62 
THE SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY. 
Mar., 1891. 
Spencer is continually insisting—especially in connection 
with the study cf Sociology—that this is a world of relations. 
We are continually reminded of the truth of Aristotle’s 
«/ 
famous dictum that “ a hand amputated is not even a hand.” 
In proceeding to the study of Sociology by inductive and 
deductive process of reasoning and proof, we must isolate no 
set of phenomena, we must neglect no fragment of knowledge. 
No single fact, no single truth, stands alone, and no fact 
and no truth is unimportant or insignificant. 
“ There is no great and no small 
To the soul that maketli all: 
And where it cometh, all things are. 
And it cometh everywhere.” 
“The progress of the intellect,” says Emerson in his essay 
on History, “ is to the clearer vision of causes which neglects 
surface differences ; to the poet, to the philosopher, to the 
saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, 
all days holy, all men divine. For the eye is fastened on the 
life, and slights the circumstance. Every chemical substance, 
every plant, every animal in its growth, teaches the unity of 
cause, the vanity of appearance.” 
In biologic study “ genius detects through the embryo 
the constant individual; through countless individuals the 
fixed species ; through many species the genus; through all 
genera the steadfast type ; through all the kingdoms of 
organic life the eternal unity.” And so with the great study 
of Sociology, of which all other knowledge, and all other 
sciences, are but parts. Beyond all visible phenomena is the 
Unknown First Cause, and in seeking to understand these we 
are examining what Goethe well called “ the woven garment 
of God.” 
“ The revelation of God,” said a great modern thinker, 
“ is the continuous thought of man : ” accepting that dictum, 
we pass to “higher reverence unmixed with fear.” With 
balanced enthusiasm and sympathetic interest we study the 
present in the light of the past; and the past with that care¬ 
fully constructive imagination which alone enables us to see 
it as it was. 
“ The noblest study of mankind ”—we may adapt the 
hackneyed quotation to our own purpose—is humanity, and 
to this all other study is rightly subservient. If the sub¬ 
ject is so vast, and the need for patient thought and endeavour 
so great that our finite minds falter for a moment at contem¬ 
plating the work we have undertaken, we may console our¬ 
selves by remembering that the materials for sociologic study 
are always with us. Men help as much as, or even more than, 
books ; and the most trivial action of our daily life is of 
historic interest as the result of long development. 
