Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/667

 AN AUSTRIAN APPRECIATION OF LESTER F. WARD 65 1

growing agglomerations perfectly corresponds with reality. That is the social process of our present geologic period. Stick to it ! This description is entirely correct for our geologic time; only do not draw any conclusions, from the character of the social process of our geologic period, with reference to the character of the process in earlier ages especially in the direction of polygenesis. Leave that entirely out of the reckoning. However the beginnings, and the whole procedure of the development of present humanity, suggest such presumption of polygenetic origin, it is an unwarranted infer- ence. The human race of our present geologic period sprang from the human race of earlier periods which evolved in a contrasted direction. That is, emerging from an aboriginal abode, it spread over the whole earth and divided into many races."

I drew a long sigh of relief. I had been tried and saved. I had the feeling of a drowning man to whom a life-line had been thrown. After all, for " our geologic period " my presentation of the process of social development was correct, only I must not give myself any liberty to draw conclusions about previous geologic periods! With the greatest alacrity I gave this promise to my relentless judge and amiable deliverer. I assured him that I made no claim to be a soci- ologist for many geological periods ; my scientific ambition did not extend so far ; I was completely satisfied with being a sociologist for " our geologic period ; " to knowledge of previous eras I made no sort of claim ; I even confess that I have very little interest and intelli- gence with reference to them. I will gladly believe everything told me about the social process of past geological periods by my learned American friend, who is so much my superior in all fields of knowl- edge. At the same time, I became much more respectful toward American sociology and its unquestionably most important repre- sentative, who among us in Europe is comparatively little known. Professor Earth devoted a short section to him, to be sure, in his Philosophic der Geschichte als Sociologie (1897), yet he knew him only from his Dynamic Sociology, and could not therefore pass an adequate judgment, since Ward did not publish his most important works until later. They are: The Psychic Factors of Civilisation (1897), Outlines of Sociology (1898), and his chief work, Pure Sociology (1903). Up to the present time only a single brief mono- graph of Ward has been translated into German, namely Contempo- rary Sociology (Sociologie von Heute), Innsbruck, 1904. In this monograph the author presents a survey of the present condition of