412 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
intrinsic weight of the papers and discussions justifies this estimate. It is quite credible, however, that the discussions were " more animated" than at the previous sessions. The chief interest centered about "the organic theory of societies." Our French friends — including all the gentlemen who took part in the debate — are passing through a stage of thinking on this subject which Americans interested in the matter emerged from two or three years ago. It would hardly be possible to arouse American sociologists to very lively controversy over what remains in dispute. The men among us who make most use of the organic con- cept are satisfied that their opponents disagree with them only verbally, so far as the essential idea is concerned. Beyond that there remain merely differences of judgment about details in employing the concept. Since these differences relate to details and not to essentials, even the most zealous friends of the organic concept are satisfied that it can now take care of itself. They are content to assume that it is taken for granted, and their interest is transferred to other fields. They will hardly care to join the members of the "Institute" in threshing the old straw. The remarks upon the principal papers are epitomized in the report. The leading contents are as follows :
" La definition de la sociologie," L. Stein.
"Le cerveau individuel et le cerveau social," R. Garofalo.
"L'dconomie de la douleur et lYconomie du plaisir," Lester F. Ward.
"L'importance sociologique des etudes dconomiques sur les colonies," Achille Loria.
" La th^orie organique des soci^t^s," J. Novicow, P. de Lilienfeld, G. Tarde, C. de Kranz, L. Stein, Rend Worms, S. R. Steinmetz, C. N. Starcke, R. Garofalo, Ch. Limousin, N. Kardiev, A. Espinas.
" Les lois de Involution politique," C. N. Starcke.
"Les selections corollaires," S. R. Steinmetz.
" L'^volution de I'ldde de monarchie," Raoul de la Grasserie.
"La mission de la justice criminelle dans I'avenir," Pedro Dorado.
"L'obligation sociale de I'assistance," Alfred Lambert.
"L'experimentation en sociologie," Rend Worms.
"La science comme fonction de la society," Fr. Giner de los Rios.
A. W. S.
CongressioTinl Committees. By Lauros G. McConachie, Ph.D. (Library of Economics and Politics.) New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1898. Pp. xiv+441, i2mo.
This is a painstaking and exhaustive treatise introductory to the general thesis. Dr. McConachie has traced the evolution of the com-
