Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/766

750 ism reigns. At length the number of these beings suffers a reduction and ultimately they are limited to one. Monotheism holds sway. Under monotheism the spirit of speculation finds encouragement, and with it the forces of nature and the properties of matter are erected into so many separate and independent existences or entities. Ontology or metaphysics dominates human thought. The faith in such entities is not reverential, and the bolder spirits soon question them and dare to institute investigation. The result is always the same, and the true order of nature is brought to light. How profoundly the whole social structure is influenced by the domination of one after another of these great fundamental classes of ideas can only be understood by a careful study of human history from this point of view. The great number of social correlations that can be found by such an inquiry is especially interesting. The most noted is that of militancy and the régime of status, as Sir Henry Maine calls it, with the earlier theological stages, and of industrialism and the régime of contract, in Spencer's phrase, with the later rational and scientific stages.

But, as I said, this is not the only legitimate and successful way to simplify the study of the real history of society, and the German historical school has already accumulated an immense amount of data, especially with reference to the historic period, and is still at work, almost, as it would seem, without conceiving the idea of making any general application of it to the founding of a science of sociology, but which is certain sooner or later to be thus utilized to the advantage of our science.

I have already referred to statistics as one of the chief sources of sociological data so far as relates to the history that is in process of making in modern states, and it would be a serious fault not to mention the method adopted by Spencer under the name of "descriptive sociology" for the lower races now occupying the outlying portions of the globe. But the data acquired by this method lose much of their value through their extreme unreliableness. The travelers who have supplied the greater part of this material, however well meaning, lack for the