sIs and might for a while dampen the enthu siasm of our source-hunters.
4.
A brief survey of the sub jects and principles of a comparative study of literature will be quite sufficient to demonstrate the difficulty, if not impossibility, of giving a brief satisfactory definition. There will always be wide differences of opinion among scholars with regard to the real nature, province and purpose of Comparative Literature, while in the popular mind the term will probably continue to call up a more or less vague conception of a philosophical, speculative or at any rate broader treatment of literary problems. Strictly speak ing, the comparative method is not at all on a level with other methods, but has to be regarded as one of the fundamental principles or instincts of scientific investigation in all forms and fields. It has as its natural opposite the isolat ing method. Specialization, concentration and isolation would he found on one side, generali zation, expansiOn and correlation on the other. Any subject in any field of research may be treated either by isolating the problem or b introducing analogies and collateral material. It is self-evident, however, that, in the first place, scholars will differ widely in the choice of their methods and that, secondly, different subjects require different treatment in order to yield the best possible results. Biographies like Brandes"Shakespeare,' Woerner's
5. Comparative Literature as Related to Universal and World Literature.—These three terms are often used interchangeably whereas they represent three different aspects of literary study. Universal or general literature refers to
the sum total of all literatures and, as a literary study, expresses rather a broad, catholic attitude of the reader or scholar toward his subject than any particular purpose or method of research. Among the publications in this field may be mentioned Loliee's
The most indispensable book is the bibliography by Betz, P., (La Litter ature comparee (2d ed. by Baldensperger, F., Strassburg 19(Y•). Many valuable references and critical remarks are found in Gayley Scott's