Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/808

788 history of France, he was more and more confirmed in this opinion. After the fall of Napoleon III, he pointed significantly to the fact that during less than one hundred years France had had ten different forms of government—each one set up and overthrown with bloodshed. Horrified by the carnage of the July Revolution of 1830, Le Play vowed to devote himself to the restoration of "social stability and peace"; and turned a large share of his splendid and effective energy to the study of social problems. A new method was developed, a new school was founded, his followers are still vigorously prosecuting the work along lines which he marked out, and the publications of their societies already number some fifty volumes.

As a mineralogist, Le Play's work was to analyze minerals; as a student of social science, he observed men, and strove to analyze at their very source the influences that shape society. In this work he strove, with all sincerity, to be unbiased by preconceived ideas, and he prepared for and began it merely by practicing what he calls "the art of traveling." In order to complete his studies in the School of Mines, it was necessary for him to make personal observations of some extensive mining district, and, having obtained the means of prolonging his journey beyond the time actually required for mineralogy, he set out, in company with his friend Jean Renaud, for the Harz Mountains and the plains of Saxony. For six months, in 1829, they indulged in an energetic note-taking tramp. But in addition to mineralogy they studied what has been termed "the natural history of German life." Their route was through districts which are part of the territory that Riehl afterward tramped over, and, like the author of "Land und Leute," Le Play recognized the fact that he was studying "history incarnate." The two friends were calculated to be profitable companions, each for the other, because they disagreed almost perfectly as to the interpretation that should be put upon the facts observed. Le Play says that they both became convinced that "the social question" was more complicated than they had at first supposed. But he adds: "I was confirmed in my thought that the solution was to be found in a great measure in the customs of the past. My friend, on the contrary, maintained his belief in the doctrine of 'continual progress,' and, in general, in the importance which in this matter, as in all others, he attached to the spirit of change." Thus we see that Le Play had hardly succeeded in divesting himself of preconceived ideas as completely as he seems to have thought. Though beginning with certain prejudices, and though he collected, before he had pursued his studies far, a most formidable array of theories, yet the paramount need of observation was always his fundamental idea. The methods employed by Le Play and his companion of studying the different facts in which they were interested varied according to circumstances. At times they established stations for study (les stations d'étude) near the mines, or factories, or families of laborers, or social