Note 41 — Chapter III · THE ITALIAN SCHOOL.1

In his “Conclusione”41 Professor Ferri compares society to a sick person at whose bedside there meet three friends of his, who all wish him well. The first declares confidently that the soul dominates the body and that consequently material remedies are of no avail. The second says, on the contrary, that it is only a total change of the environment in which he is living that can cure the invalid. The third also believes that modifications are necessary, but he contents himself with partial improvements, though the second friend calls them only palliatives. The first is the spiritualist,42 the second the socialist, and the third the sociologist.