The new outlook upon the natural world given by the physical sciences and the change in his torical methods gave rise to a controversy in the last century, in which certain philosophical thinkers of the highest ability undertook to maintain that "human actions are governed by laws as fixed and regular as those which rule in the physical world." Auguste Comte, henry Thomas Buckle, and Herbert Spencer are the distinguished sponsors of this theory. Buckle, in his history of Civilization in England, the first volume of which was published in 1857, elaborated this idea with a profundity of learn ing, but with much inconsistency of reasoning. Such literary historians as Charles Kingsley and James Anthony Fronde entered the discussion on the other side, and John Stuart Mill, in his System, of Logic, made a very sane and able contribution to it. The strongest and most ex treme presentation of the opposite side of the controversy is, perhaps, that made by Fronde in his lecture of 1864 on "The Science of History." He maintained with great eloquence that thd determination of human movements upon any basis of scientific accuracy was impossible. This old controversy is closed now in the light of a better understanding of what the science and scientific method really are, but it is of interest historically as marking one stage in the develop ment of the science of history.
The development of history down to the nine teenth century may be traced through the work of a very few writers and scholars. The first of all historians was the Creek Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C. He was, however, only a narrative writer, recording with great ac curacy those events which came within the scope of his personal knowledge, but mingling with his narratives much which came to him only by hearsay, and to which he applied no critical canons. Thueydides, the next of the great his torians. is justly estimated as one of the greatest historians of all time. He recorded events with remarkable conciseness, and first applied philo sophical reasoning to the historical narrative. Among narrative historians the accomplished Xenophon deserves a place. Polybius, with a wider outlook, followed in the footsteps of Thueyd ides. Of the Romans, Caesar, Livy, and Tacitus show a high development of the historical sense. the two former confining themselves to the nar rative field, and the last claiming a place in the class of historians like Thucydides, who en deavored to find the meaning of history beneath the mere sequence of events. The historians of the later Roman Empire were, for the most part, apologists for, or eulogists of, the emperors who were their masters, and establish no landmark of importance. During the Middle Ages there was no historical writing worthy of the name in Europe. The historical writing of the time is contained in the annals and chronicles preserved in the monasteries. which were very little more than diaries from day to day. kept without any discrimination by men whose outlook upon the world was of the narrowest. Einhard, in the reign of Charlemagne, Otto of Fr•ising, in that of Frederick Barbarossa, and a few others, alone rise a little above the dead level, which offers material for historical research, but no true history. The awakening of a broader and more vigorous scholarship in the period of the Bennis sanee produced a new schm 1 of political and historieal thinkers, who built upon the revived classical models. They are found in Italy. where Machiavelli and I;ilieciardini wrote historical works that are admirable in thought and style. and in France. Spain, and England. where the example of Italy was followed as in other fields of culture. In the cighteento century the Eng lishman Gibbon. who devoted his life to his great work. The I), vline and of the Boman Em pire, left one of the masterpieces of historieal scholarship—a work that stands to-day as the most thorough and seholarly presentation of the history of the later Empire and of the Middle Ages. Voltaire. Hume, Montesquieu, and Robert son are brilliant names in the progress of his torical thought of the same century. It re
mained, however, for the nineteenth century to develop history into a systematic science. With Niebuhr began a rational study of classical his tory, which has been ou by Mommsen and Curtius for Roman and Greek history re spectively. The greatest impulse, however, for the study came from the class-rooms of Leopold von Banke (1795-Ititi6), Ilanke grasped the fundamental idea of historical science with a rugged sincerity, both of theory and practice. and impressed his spirit upon a large body of enthusiastie students in Germany and America. Waitz, Droysen, von Sybel, von liolst. Treitschke, and others have followed with greater Or ability along the path over which he led the way. Tn France within the last half centnry historical work and instruetion have developed with great rapidity. and Monod. limn Martin. Lavisse, llainband, and many others have the French genius for clear and seien title thinking, and for condensed lucidity of state ment. In less degree the other Continental countries have contr;buted to the development of the science. in England, along with such brilliant literary historians as Macaulay, Kings ley, and Fronde, we have a body of eminent scientific scholars, of whom Freeman, Green, Stubbs, Creighton. and Gardiner are (listin gu i shed representatives. In America. whose scholars have drawn largely fnon tin German and French schools. there has also been a notice able development in historieal writing and in critical scholarship. Nuceeeding tine earlier school, which included Baneroft, Prescott, and Motley, there has grown up in the United States a modern school, trained in the best university methods of and enrolling in different kinds of historical work hundreds of vigorous and enthusiastic scholars. Francis Parkman, Justin \Vinson and John Fiske left behind them a body of historical writings of a very high order. llenry Adams. James Schouten Captain Mahan. John Bach McMaster. and .fames Ford Rhodes are contemporary American historians whose studies in the history of their own country are of permanent value, and many more names might be added. From the lecture rooms and semi naries of Europe and America a constant impulso to wise and thorough study and use of historical material goes forth from earnest and able teach ers. Numerous periodicals are devoted to the ad VIIIIICellieut of historieal research. \lost note worthy of these are the II isiorische Z1 i tSChrif t iu ny, the nentr. Ihstorique in France, the English Historical R, rici• in England. and the .1 mcnicon Historical I:cricie in the United States, It is the tendency of the modern school of historical student to rely more upon the thor ough study of true sources of (history, rejecting the myths, traditions, and second-hand amounts. which have so often formed inuell of the material of writers of so-called history. Collections of writ ten sources form a very considerable part of the historical publications of to-day, and commentaries to these collect hors of sources are constantly being issued to enable the student to find his way intelligently through the mass of material which the source collections present. In this direction Germany, under the leadership of Banke, led the way. The massive and con stantly growing collection of sources of ;er man history, known as the "Alonninenta Ger mania. Ilistorica," is in itself a monument of scholarship and research, rind in France. Eng land, and the United States similar collections have been published, and are in process of publi cation from year to year. The well-known Rolls Series in England is nearly as notable an collection as the Gentian tionimonia. Even in historical instruction in the schools, the simpler and more interesting sources have been put in available form for elementary students, and are used with great success to enliven the nistorical narrative, and to give an appreciation of the tau nature of historical research. This tendency to explore the actual evidence eritieally has done much to clear history of the fables, myths, and traditions which made much of it unreliable, and to render it real to the student.