In the summer of 1825, M. Grea, a gentleman of large property, in vited Fourier to his country residence at the chateau of Retailer, near Lons-le-Saulnicr, where he was anxious that Fourier should remain and writo a more elementary work for general readers. Fourier corn plied with the request, and commenced his compendium, but did not then complete it. He returned to Lyon for a short time, and in January 1826 to Paris, where he remained nearly two years. In July 1828 he went again to Besancon to print the compendium to his theory! which was published early in 1829, under the title of ' The New Indus trial World;' a large octavo volume of 600 pages, and the most methodical and elementary of all his works. In this volume he has devoted a long and elaborate chapter to the 'Confirmation of Asso ciative Principles from the Gospel." From 1822 ho appears to have studied the Sacred Scriptures with devout attention, and to have altered his mind with regard to the influence of their authority in corroboration of his science.
During the time of his last visit to Besancon, his native city, to superintend the printing of his Now Industrial World,' he resided in the house of • lady, Madame Clarissa Vioureux, who had recently become a convert to his views, and who subsequently devoted her whole fortune, as well as her talents, to the propagation of his theory : her ' Paroles de Providence' was one of the most popular works published in elucidation of Fonrier's theories.
In March 1829 Fourier returned to Paris, where be continued to reside permanently. His compendium was treated by the press with the same indifference and silence as the larger work of 1322, and his name remained unknown to the public until the year of the Revolu tion, 1830, when the St. Simonians in Paris began to attract general attention by their eloquence and eccentricity. As this new sect pro fessed to take an interest in social industry and combinative unity, Fonder sent a copy of hie works to each of their leaders, offering to assist them in organising practical associations, if they were willing to avail themselves of his theory. lie had made the stale offer to the English Socialists some years before, but his offer of assistance was treated with polite indifference by both the English and the French sects of social innovators. This treatment soured Fourier's mind against both parties, and he resolved to publish a critical refutation of their respective systems. In 1831 ho publisheil,a pamphlet entitled The Fallacy and Charlatanry of the St. Simonians and the Owenites.'
This pamphlet contains a very severe criticism of the two systems, and was probably a powerful agent in neutralising the influence of the St. Simonians in France. Most of Fonrier'e writings display an irrit able temper, but this pamphlet is lamentably deficient in equanimity, however just the arguments may be. It produced however a great sensation amongst the St. Sirnonians, and several of their leaders openly embraced Fourier's views.
This was the beginning of Fourier's notoriety and influence in Paris. Men of talent and of property began to group themselves around him in numbers, and in 1832 they were able to afford him the means of publishing a weekly journal, the first number of which appeared on the 1st of June 1832, under the name of 'The Phalanstery,' a journal of industrial reform. Fourier edited this journal with the aid of several of his new adepts, who had left the St. Simonians. Many of his articles are interesting, ioasmuch as they are leas abstruse and scientific than hie books. The journal was continued for two years, and laid the foundation of that 'Phalansterian Propaganda' which afterwards became widely spread over all parts of tho globe.
The gentlemen who enabled Fourier to commence this journal, enabled him also to form a joint-stock society for the practical experi ment of his theory. Shares were taken to the amount of 20,0001., and an estate of 1200 or 1300 acres of waste land was purchased at Coud6 enr-Vegreur, near It imbouillot. Buildings were commenced and other operations, almost immediately, against Fourier's will, before a suf ficient number of shares had been sold to warrant such precipitancy : it failed, as all such experiments have hitherto failed. In the first Instance it was stopped short for want of sufficient capital ; then passing into other bands it soon lost its distinctive character, and eventually was wholly abandoned as an associative scheme.
In 1835 Fourier published another octavo volume, entitled ' False Industry ;' but it was chiefly filled with criticisms of the present state of things. and contained nothing new in regard to his theory. In 1830 a monthly journal was commenced by his friends, under the name of ' La Phalange,' which had a larger and more vigorous existence than its predecessor. As the ' Dritnocratle Pacifique,' it eventually appeared as • daily paper, but the revolution put an cod to its existence, and sent its editors into exile.