The further the investigations of the German historical school have been carried，in the several lines of inquiry it has opened，the more clearly it has come to light that the one thing needful is not merely a reform of political economy，but its fusion in acomplete science of society.This is the view long since insisted on by Auguste Comte；and its justness is daily becomingmore apparent.The best economists of Germany now tend strongly in this direction.Sch?ffle (18311903)，who was largelyunder the influence of Comte and Herbert Spencer，actually attempted the enterprise of widening economic into socialstudies.In his most important work，which had been prepared by previous publications，Bau und Leben des socialenK?rpers (187578；new ed.，1896)，he proposes to give a comprehensive plan an anatomy，physiology，and psychology of human society.He considers social processes as analogous to those of organicbodies；and，sound and suggestive as the idea of this analogy，already used by Comte，undoubtedly is，he carries it，perhaps，to an undue degree of detail and elaboration.The same conception is adopted，and presented in a very exaggerated form，byP.von Lilienfeld in his Gedanken über die Socialzeissenschaft der Zukunft (187381).A tendency to the fusion of economicscience in Sociology is also found in Adolph Samter's Sozial-lehre (1875)though the economic aspect of society is therespecially studiedand in Schmoller's already mentioned treatise Ueber einige Grundfragen ；and the necessity of such atransformation is energetically asserted by H.von Scheel in the preface to his German version (1879)of an English tract (7)On the present Position and Prospects of Political Economy .
The name "Realistic，"which has sometimes been given to the historical school，especially in its more recent form，appearsto be injudiciously chosen.It is intended to mark the contrast with the"abstract "complexion of the orthodox economics.
But the error of these economics lies，not in the use，but in the abuse of abstraction.All science implies abstraction，seeking，as it does，for unity in variety；the question in every branch is as to the right constitution of tlle abstract theory in relation tothe concrete facts.Nor is the new school quite correctly distinguished as "inductive."Deduction doubtless undulypreponderates in the investigations of the older economists；but it must be remembered that it is a legitimate process，when itsets out，not from a priori assumptions，but from proved generalisations.And the appropriate method of economics，as ofall sociology，is not so much induction as the specialised form of induction known as comparison，especially the comparativestudy of "social series "(to use Mill's phrase)，which is properly designated as the "historical"method.If the denominationshere criticised were allowed to prevail，there would be a danger of the school assuming an unscientific character.It mightoccupy itself too exclusively with statistical inquiry，and forget in the detailed examination of particular provinces ofeconomic life the necessity of large philosophic ideas and of a systematic co-ordination of principles.So long as economicsremain a separate branch of study，and until they are absorbed into Sociology，the thinkers who follow the new direction willdo wisely in retaining their original designation of the historical school.
The members of this and the other German schools have produced many valuable works besides those which there has beenoccasion to mention above.Ample notices of their contributions to the several branches of the science (including itsapplications)will be found dispersed through Wagner and Nasse's Lehrbuch and the comprehensive Handbuch edited bySch?nberg.The following list，which does not pretend to approach to completeness，is given for the purpose of directing thestudent to a certain number of books which ought not to be overlooked in the study of the subjects to which theyrespectively refer：--
