dental. Does this exclude the possibility of the scientific study of phenomena? Not at all. Chance is a relative matter. It appears only at the crossing of necessary processes. The appearance of the Europeans in America was a matter of accident for the inhabitants of Mexico and Peru, in the sense that it was not the result of the social development of those countries. But the passion for sea-voyages which took hold on the Europeans towards the end of the Middle Ages was not a mere accident; nor was it a mere accident that the Europeans easily overpowered the aborigines. Nor, again, were the results of the conquest of Mexico and Peru by the Europeans a mere matter of accident. These results were in the last analysis caused by the resultant of two forces: the economic conditions of the conquering nations on the one hand, and of the conquered nations on the other. And these forces as well as their resultant, can be fully investigated according to the laws of scientific research."
Plechanoff then proceeds to show that aside from the fact that the influence of the individual is limited by the inner structure of the social organization and its relations to other societies, in the sense that the role assigned to individuals, and the kind of individuals it is assigned to, depend on the character of the social organization, there is another limitation imposed upon the influence of the individual by the social organization, which means, in the last analysis, by the economic relations of society. And that is, that the direction of social development, the broad outlines of the evolution of social institutions, cannot be affected by the activity of any individual, or any set of individuals. Speaking of the possibility of certain accidents of the French Revolution not having occurred or others occurring, and the way such changes would have affected that great historical event, he says:—
"All such changes in the current events might have influenced to a certain extent the future political, and by means thereof the economic, life of Europe. But the ultimate outcome of the revolutionary movement would still not under any circumstances have been the reverse of what it actually was. Influential individuals, owing to peculiarities of mind and character, may change the individual appearance of events and some of their minor results, but they cannot change the general trend of events, which is outlined by other forces."
Having thus circumscribed the sphere of the individual's influence, having shown its limitations, Plechanoff then proceeds to show the possibilities of the activity of the individ-
