eeds of mankind, and the means of satisfying them with the
least possible waste of human energy_". Its true name should be,
_Physiology of Society_. It constitutes a parallel science to the
physiology of plants and animals, which is the study of the needs of
plants and animals, and of the most advantageous ways of satisfying
them. In the series of sociological sciences, the economy of human
societies takes the place, occupied in the series of biological sciences
by the physiology of organic bodies.

We say, here are human beings, united in a society. All of them feel the
need of living in healthy houses. The savage's hut no longer satisfies
them; they require a more or less comfortable solid shelter. The
question is, then: whether, taking the present capacity of men for
production, every man can have a house of his own? and what is hindering
him from having it?

And as soon as we ask _this_ question, we see that every family in
Europe could perfectly well have a comfortable house, such as are built
in England, in Belgium, or in Pullman City, or else an equivalent set of
rooms. A certain number of days' work would suffice to build a pretty
little airy house, well fitted up and lighted by electricity.

But nine-tenths of Europeans have never possessed a healthy house,
because at all times common people have had to work day after day to
satisfy the needs of their rulers, and have never had the necessary
leisure or money to build, or to have built, the home of their dreams.
And they can have no houses, and will inhabit hovels as long as present
conditions remain unchanged.

It is thus seen that our method is quite contrary to that of the
economists, who immortalize the so-called _laws_ of production, and,
reckoning up the number of houses built every year, demonstrate by
statistics, that as the number of the new-built houses _is_ too small to
meet all demands, nine-tenths of Europeans _must_ live in hovels.

Let us pass on to food. After having enumerated the benefits accruing
from the division of labour, economists tell us the division of labour
requires that some men should work at agriculture and others at
manufacture. Farmers producing so much, factories so much, exchange
being carried on in such a way, they analyze the sale, the profit, the
net gain or the surplus value, the wages, the taxes, banking, and so on.

But after having followed them so far, we are none the wiser, and if we
ask them: "How is it that mil