Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/226

 Many scholars were or still are working in the same field: some of them, particularly about 1861, were strongly impressed by the idea of nationality or even of the different nationalities constituting the Russian Empire; it had an influence on Sabyelin, Kostomarov, and Antonovitch; others studied the history of local government, very much improved by the "great reforms," for instance, Andreievsky, Gradovsky, Lochoitsky; many took a strong interest in the emancipation of the rural classes and entered into investigations on their past, among others, Byelyaev and Sokolovsky; the history of their gradual enslavement, begun by Klyuchevsky, was continued by Dyakonov and others; and those who were devoted to the people's cause and followed socialistic theories have contributed to the elucidation of these problems, particularly Semevsky in his well-known works on slavery in modern times and the social movements which determined its abolition.

Meanwhile the scientific principles and methods implied in these investigations were applied to Oriental studies: though much less differentiated, they facilitated the understanding of the complex civilizations of the eastern world. These inquiries were affected in Russia, at least in great part, by its intermediate