SOCIETY OF AMERICAN AUTHORS. 305 SOCIOLOGY. according to the arrangemeuts existing in Eng- land and otiier countries. It publislies a bulle- tin, The American Author. SOCIN, so'tsin, Albeet (1S44-99). A German Orientalist, born at Basel, and educated there and at Geneva, GiJttingen, Leipzig, and Berlin. He traveled in the Orient in 1868-70, and in Syria in 1873. In 187G he was appointed pro- fessor of Semitic languages and literature at Tubingen, and in 1890 was called in a similar capacity to Leipzig. Among his numennis works may be named: Die Gcdichte des 'Alkuiiia alfuhl' (1807; with translation); Arubische Sitrich- icorter und Redensarten (1878); Die Iii- schrift des Konigs Mesa von iloab (with R. Sinend, 1886) ; Zum arahischen Dialekt von Marokko (1893); Der arahische Dialekt dcr Houuara (with Stumme, 1894) ; and Arabische Granimatik (3d ed. 1894; trans, into Eng.). Socin collaborated also in Kautzsch's translation of the Old Testament (1890), and in Gesenius's nnndiriirterbuch iiber das alte Testament (Buhl-s l-2th ed. of 1895). SOCI'NUS. The Latinized form of the name of two Italian Protestants of the sixteenth cen- tury, celebrated as the founders of the liberal sect called Socinians, and precursors of the mod- ern Unitarians. Both men were born in the Tuscan town of Siena, the elder, Lelio Sozzini (La>lius Socinus), in 1.52.5. the younger. F.usTO (Faustus). nephew of the preceding, in 1539. Lelio was destined for the profession of the law, but his tastes led him to thcolog;^' instead. He applied himself to the study of (lireek, Hebrew, and Arabic, that he might better understand the Scriptures. At the age of twenty-one he is reported to have joined a society at Vicenza, whose aim was free discussion of religious sub- jects, but which, after its heretical tendency liad been discovered, was compelled to disband. Socinus ilcd from Vicenza. visited France, Eng- land, and Holland in his travels, and came into friendly contact with many Protestant leaders, including Calvin. He finally settled in Zurich, where he died at the early age of thirty-seven (15G2). His views on Christian theology, for the most part unpublished, were eagerly read in manuscript by his nephew, who became their champion. — F.^usTi'S Socixus had received a rather unsystematic education, but a developing interest in religious matters, due largely to his uncle's influence, led him in manhood to Basel for further study, thence to Transylvania, where anti-trinitarians were already numerous, espe- cially among the nobility, and finally (1579) to Poland, which was to be the chief centre of his influence. As a theological dispiitant, writer, and preacher. Faustus exhibited both zeal and aliility, luit he encountered vigorous opposition from Roman Catholics and Protestants alike, on account of his attacks upon fundamental Chris- tian doctrines. His position was that, although the Bible was authoritative and the Gospel his- tory miraculous, no doctrine contrary to reason should be retained. This led him to modify greatly the current teaching respecting the na- ture of man. sin, and the deity of Christ. But he <lid not deny that, although other parts of Chris- tian faith were above reason, they were neverthe- less to be accepted, or that Christ possessed a superhuman nature and character. After a theo- logical disputation with several Protestant lead- ers, in which his peculiar tenets were brought forward, Socinus was charged with sedition and foiced for a time to withdraw from Cracow, taking refuge at the country estate of a friendly Polish noble, whose daughter he married. His views finally aroused such intense antagonism that popular outbreaks- occurred, in which So- cinus was shamefully handled. His last days were spent in retirement in the village of I^uela- wiee, Avliere he died in l(i04. Among the most important writings of Faus- tus Socinus aie his De Jesu (Jhristo Herrutore and De Statu Priini Bominis ante Lajisinn. in the former he discusses the person and work of Christ; in the latter, the doctrines of sin and grace. Both works were controversial in their origin. The Ilacorian Catechism (1005), a formal and elaboi'ate st.atement of Soeinian the- ology-, was based largely upon outlines which he had made. The IToWos of Socinus are printed in the Bibliotheca Fratrum I'ohmoriini, vols. i. and ii. (Amsterdam, 1656). Consult further: Rees, The Racovian Catechism. (London. 1818); Bonet-JIaury, Des origines du christianisme unilaire (Paris, 1882); Fock, Der Socinianis- mus (Kiel, 1847) ; Allen, History of the Uni- tarians (New York, 1894) ; Beard, The Reforma- Hon of the Sixteenth Century in Its Relation to Modern Thought (London, 1883) ; Harnack, His- tory of Dogma, vol. vii. (Eng. trans., London, 1899) ; Ritschl, Justification and Reconciliation (Eng. trans., Edinburgh, 1902). See Uni- T.iRI.XISjr. SOCIOLOGY (from Lat. socius, companion, associate -(- Gk. -oyla, -logia, account, from dyciv. legein, to say). The science of society, comprehending the analysis and classification of social facts, the .scientific description and his- tory of society, and the explanation of society in terms of simpler phenomena. Sociology is conveniently divided into general and special sociologv-. General sociology- is the study of the universal and fundamental phenomena of society. It investigates the facts and correlations found in all societies, the types of society, and the stages of social development. It seeks to dis- cover the general laws and the causes of social evolution. Special sociology consists of the en- tire group of social sciences, including culture, history, economics, jurisprudence, and polities, each of which deals minutely with some one phase of social organization, social activity, or social development. Sociology' includes soci.al statistics, and so much of history as may truth- fully be said to repeat itself, that is to say, those constant facts of coiiperation, institutional life, and social welfare which recur in all communi- ties and in all ages. The methods of sociology are inductive. Its chief dependence is upon comparative historical studies and upon statis- tics. It draws largely upon psychology also for data and for principles of explanation. HISTORY. The philosophy of social relations is one of the most ancient parts of human wisdom. The sacred books and the laws of Egv'pt and of Baby- lonia, of Palestine, and of Greece abound in em- pirical maxims of domestic and public economy, social justice, and statecraft. In the Republic and the Lares of Plato, and especially in the Politics of Aristotle, we have the beginnings of a scientific classification of social facts, and a
