p.   •">).     Social  statistics  now   alone  remain:    how  are   they    to  be
classified  in  accordance  with  our  canons  ?

§  10.  Let  us  first  inquire  what  is  the  fundamental  scientific  id
a  society.  Some  statists  and  economists  answer  exchange,  others  divi-
sion of  labour,  others  find  it  in  history,  others  in  the  rights  of  man
or  the  like.  This  diversity  of  ..pinion  makes  it  unnecessary  to  criti-
cise each  in  detail,  and  we  are  thrown  back  upon  our  own  resources —
our  knowledge  of  the  preliminary  sciences.  Just  as  the  biologist  is
accustomed  to  classify  man  along  with  inferior  organisms,  and  to
trace  the  fundamental  resemblances  in  structure  and  function  which
i  presents  to  theirs,  so  he  may  reasonably  impure
rft:  Cauthier-Villars.
12

wherein  human  society  resembles  the  societies  formed  by  the  lower
animals,  the  more  so  as  no  one  disputes  that  these  fall  strictly
within  his  province.*  As  the  term  society  indeed  assumes,  some
general  truths  must  be  common  to  societies  of  tbrmiea,  Apt*,
r,  and  Homo  alike — to  ant-hill,  bee-hive,  beaver-dam,  and  city,
and  this  must  therefore  underlie  our  classification  of  social  facts.
§11.  First,  then,  a  society  obviously  exists  within  certain  limits
of  time  and  space.  Secondly,  it  consists  of  a  number  of  living
organisms.  Thirdly,  these  modify  surrounding  nature,  primarily  by
seizing  part  of  its  matter  and  energy.  Fourthly,  they  apply  this
matter  and  energy  to  the  maintenance  of  their  life,  i.e.,  the  support
of  their  physiological  functions.
