Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/471

 PURPOSE OF SOCIOLOGY 457

effete ones, have simultaneously risen far higher than the first. Thus far in human history the series has been upon the whole an ascending one, and man has slowly but rhythmically, and somewhat fitfully advanced. He has done this without the aid of either economics or sociology, in ways which it will be the purpose of the next paper to point out. The question may therefore present itself to some minds : If social evolution goes on without science, what is the need of science except for its own sake ? This question is precisely similar to another that is still sometimes asked. Recognizing the great restorative powers of the human system and the fact that under normal conditions nature tends toward health and not toward disease, what is the use of the healing art, and why not leave all to the vis medicatrix tuiturce? The answer to both questions is generically the same, that so long as the laws of nature, either physiological or social, are not scientifically understood there is no virtue in any form of therapeutics, but so soon as these laws in either department become scientifically known it is possible, and in strict proportion to that knowledge, to " assist nature " in its struggle against all the pow- ers of a hostile environment. The real answer, then, to the ques- tion as to the purpose of sociology is : to accelerate social evolution. In thus stating the purpose of sociology, however, I shall not, I trust, be misunderstood by being supposed to confound the purpose of the science itself with the purpose of the student in studying it. By the purpose of the science is meant the general beneficial effect that it is expected to exert upon society at large. It is difficult to estimate the power of a body of knowledge which has once become the common property of a whole people. It is not expected that any great proportion even of the most enlightened public will have actually been at any time students of sociology at any institution of learning. The more there are of such the better, but scientific truth can happily make its way very far into the lives of all classes although received at first hand into the minds of a very few. The power of established truth is immense. This is chiefly because no one wants to be found ignorant of, or opposed to, that which has