Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/96

 THE SOCIAL FORCES. CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. VII.

THE second, or Greek, component of the word sociology is the one that is usually employed in the names of sciences. While etymologically it only signifies a treatise on some subject, it has come to signify a treatise of a systematic kind on a subject that can be reduced to law. The proper designation of a true science should have the termination "nomy" or "onomy," from the Greek VO/AOS, a law. Especially should this be the case for the abstract sciences, or those dealing primarily with laws instead of concrete objects, such as are all five of the sciences of the Comtean "hierarchy." As a matter of fact, the name of only one of these sciences, astronomy, has the proper termination. Bionomy has already been used, 1 and psychonomy and socionomy are naturally formed, but physics and chemistry do not readily admit of a similar modification. The former might logically be divided into baronomy and etheronomy, the first embracing the gravitant forces, and the second magnetism, electricity, and all the radiant forces. Chemistry, perhaps derived from Greek xqpcia, or from XVM, a measure, or even from x 1 ?/"' ! the Greek form of Khmi, a name for Egypt, has come to us through the Arabs in the form alchemy, which was variously spelled in early English literature, one of the variants being alconomy, said to have been employed from its analogy to astronomy. There would be no impropriety in restoring this variant and thus completing the series : Astron- omy, baronomy, etheronomy, alconomy, bionomy, psychonomy, socionomy.

The scientific idea embodied in the word law is uniformity of movement. But moving bodies, such as atoms, collide and transfer their motions to others. Upon this is founded the

'Comte, Phil. Pos., Ill, 331.

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