Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/42

 28 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

given us perhaps the most suggestive classification which has yet been worked out. The institution of family property as a factor in progress is discussed in a way which deserves attention everywhere today. Family property is " eternal " and " sacred " only in so far as it is necessary for the preservation of the high- est types of family life. In the combination of family wealth and capital he sees the source of many of the most vexing political and social problems of the day. By associating the family with certain institutions, professions, and vocations, he opens the reader's eyes to many things which are only too fre- quently overlooked. Why is it that so many Europeans adhere to the monarchy ? It is not because the average European reveres a monarch, or because the question of the form of government is all-important for we know that the mere ques- tion of the form of government has for some time been pushed into the background by social problems but because the citizen of England or of the countries of Germany sees in the monarchi- cal family that element of continuity, stability, order, and authority which represents the best traditions and heritages of the civilization of his people. This, in substance, is Schaeffle's answer to the question of loyalty to monarchs and monarchical institutions ; and this function is unquestionably one of the most valuable and noble which the institution of the family can perform.

Although not directly connected with what has preceded, Schaeffle's discussion of Gesittung should be mentioned. Gesit- tung includes Kultur and Civilisation, the former dealing with con- tent and the latter with method. The contents of Kultur as well as the factors of Civilisation are carefully and elaborately enumerated and classified by Schaeffle. This part of Schaeffle's treatise stands in striking contrast to many of the chapters in Lilienfeld's, which are oftentimes crude, loose, and dilettante.

It is almost needless to add that the writer aimed only to describe a few cross-sections from the four synthesists within the limits of a magazine article ; and that by doing so he might, perhaps, perform a small service for those students who find value in new arrangements of old material.

B. H. MEYER.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.