which the Positive habit is attained, those aubjeeta an naturally the first to assume a scientific form wfaidi are characterized by the greatest simplicity in thea- selves, and are, according to the Baocmian expressioc, least immersed in matter.*' Hence the relariotts of number and space are the earliest to exhibit an orderiy coherence ; and mathematics is not merely the diMi- plinary introduction to the sciences, but the eMest by birth. Increasing complexity and special^ chaiae- terize the sciences as they succesaiTely detach them- selves from the general mass of unsystematized knowl- edge. The principle on which the classification of the sciences proceeds is thus from greater to leas aimpfie- ity, from the more general to the more special, from the more abstMct to the more concrete. By the apfdi- cation of this rule M. Ck>mte organizes the whole hie- rarchy of the sciences. Six cmly are recognised m the PoUtigue Positive : L Mathematics ; II. Astrow- my ; III. Natural Philosophy, or Physics ; IV. CImid- istry ; Y. Biology ; YI. Sociology ; to which was after- wards added, YII. Morals. Having thus arranged the several sciences, M. Comte proceeds to the exhibttna of their functions, their constitution, their co&qnesti, and their condition. He thus f^imishes an abstract of all scientific knowledge. This immense elabora- tion culminates in his creation of the new sdence of sociology. That science is roughly sketched rather than definitely constituted in the PhUosopkie FodUm. It is divided into two parts. Statics and Dynamio. Social Statics treats of tl^ formal conditions of the ex- istence of societies ; social Dynamics of society in its vital state of incessant transformation. Having ss- certained all that had been accomplished, and all tfait legitimately sought accomplishment, Comte considcnd that a solid foundation had been laid for a scientific theory of political action adequate to the regencntwa of society.
(2.) Positwe Politics,— It has been shown how M. Comte was reduced to the necessity of discovering or imagining a God, and o^econstructing a theology, a ceremonial, and a religious organization. The new di- vinity— le Nouveau E^ Supr^e — is humanity. Ihe units of the living race are separately united by death to this great spirit, and become atomic ccmstituents of the immortal essence. It is a complete «^^^fi^Tatiflii of man, a complete resolution of divinity into humani^. It is a strange counterpart to Pantheism which is pro- duced in this scheme of thorough-going PanhnmaB- ism. The new divinity was to be adored, to be ap- proached with prayer, to be honored with an appropri- ate ceremonial, worshipped with due rites, and serred by a numerous army of priests. Of this priesthood M. Comte was to be the living head. Science and re^ ligion were at length reconciled by their union and identification ; the priest was the scientific instructor; the priesthood consisted of the consecrated devotees of science ; the high-priest was the supreme director of the intellectual, moral, industrial, and social develop- ment of society. In the midst of these wild imagma- tions, it is startiing to find a sedate and sober estima- tion of the whole order of society and of each of its separate parts. The sanctity of the famfly, the eon- secration of marriage and its indissolubili^, the do- mestic culture of infiBmcy, the relation and subordi- nation of the sexes, the general inviolability of prop- erty, the duties of capital and industry, the disbibe- tion and retribution of service— are all maintained in a manner utterly antagonistic to the current dodrino of communism and agrarianism. The most origmal and instructive part of this treatise is to be found ia the consideration of the reciprocal influences of extefw nal nature upon man, and of man upon external natnre. By this inquiry, brief as it is, the first permanent foaa- dation is laid for a scientific exposition of the trans- formation of societies.
From the rapidity with which Comte*s works wet composed, from the absence of all revision, from gea-
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era! inattention to the arts of composition and disposi- tion, his treatises are swelled and deformed by contin- nal repetitions and by want of perspicnoos arrange- men W They are vast and rambling essa^rs rather than systraatic expositions of philosophic doctrine. The blemishes which he was careless of avoiding have now ceased to he important. The impulse communi- cated by Ck>mte remains, but few will ever again dream of reading the ten thick volumes in which his whole vast project was originally set forth. The di- rect effect of his career has been very slight, its mdi- rect effdct very great. He has linked his name with no enlargement of science or philosophy except in sociology — with no practical reform in society. His principles have found of late numerous followers in England, and a small number of them adopt '*the re- ligion of humanity" as well as the Po4|f^ philoso- phy. One of the chief of theee is Mr. Thomas Con- greve, who has taken steps (1867) to fbund a church, with a building and regular services. Mr. Congreve has announced that a church will shortiy be built, and regular services instituted, fbr promoting the new creed which is to regenerate humanity.
LUercUtare.'T'A]! Comte's important works have been enumerated in this notice. For his l^ogn^hy refer- ence may be made to the autobiographical statements scattered through his prefiu^ circulars, etc. ; to Ro- binet, ?^oti<» tw rCEucre etmrlaVie d'Aufftute ComU (Paris, 1860), and to Littr6, Avgngte ComU et la Phi- ktojMe PotiHffe (Paris, 1868). For a fhller account of his phnosophy than has been given here, recourse may be had to the last-named work ; to Littr6, Commtmi- tion, Revolution, el Pontkn$me C^^aris, 1852); Lewes, Comle't PhiUmpky oftht Sciences (Lond. 1858) ; Har- riet Martineau, The PotUive Philoeophy of Augtute ConUe (Lond. 1858, 2 vols. 8vo); Lewes, Hiatory of PkUosophy (3d ed. 1867, Lond. 2 vols. 8vo); C61estfai de Blignitees, ExpoeUUm AbrigSe de la Philoeophie et de la lU&gwn PotUwee (Paris, 1857) ; Herbert Spencer, The Ckusifieation of ike Sciences, etc. (New York, 1864); J. S. Mm, ComU's PkUosopkg (Lond. 1866) ; also to Sir David Brewster's notice of the first two Volumes of the Positive Philosophy in the Edmburffk Review, July, 1838, and to the Essays on Comte and his Philosophy in the Methodist Quarterly Revieto, New York, January, 1852; April, 1852; July, 1853; October, 1858; and July, 1854 ; and in the North British Review, May, 1854. See also PoBinyisic.