The inadequate basis on which the traditional sci-
ence rests is, in part, responsible for the growth of
the German Historical School, in which the laws of
wealth are sought by a study of recorded facts, rather
than by deduction from assumed premises. Yet he
must be ill informed who anticipates that, in the work
of this popular and growing school, deductive reason-
ing itself will fall into disuse. No one, perhaps, uses
such reasoning more acutely than Professor Karl Knies,
of Heidelberg, who deserves, as much as any one, the
credit of having given to the historical method a sci-
entific standing. Logic must do its wor]£,__but_its je-
sul ts m ust be verified. What is here claimed is that
its premises need first to be verified. The assumptions
of political economy need to be subjected to a com-



86 THE BASIS OF ECONOMIC LAW.
parisoii with facts. It is on its anthropological side
that the traditional science is most defective, and it is
by adequate studies in this direction that results may-
be attained which history will confirm. A broad field
is thus opened for occupation. The first steps may be
slow; it is easier to view a promised land from a moun-
tain top than to capture it from tlie Canaanites. It
is easy to take in at a glance the vast results that
will follow from reconciling theory and practice in this
department; but to trace the elusive laws of human
nature, and to search through the maze of social facts
without losing the grasp upon principles, will afford
work enough for one generation.
