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478 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
logical criticism, remains the cornerstone of any possible inter- pretation of social life. We must not let ourselves be ham- pered by Durkheim's simplisme ; social fact is too intricate a web to be so easily unraveled. Let us never forget the law of scientific logic stated repeatedly above, " a compound is only explained by the character of its elements and by the law of their interaction." There we have the touchstone that enables us to determine the chimerical or the scientific character of contemporary contributions to the interpretation of the social enigma.
GUSTAVO TOSTI.
NEW YORK, December, 1897.
