ABSTRACT
The history of Greece between the time of Homer and the time of Pericles, for example, revealed a considerable degree of evolution. As an adjunct to the use or the comparative method in reconstructing cultural evolution, several nineteenth-century anthropologists employed the concept of "survivals," Although most closely associated with the work of Edward B. Tylor, this notion was not original with him. A major reason why historians were disinclined to accept the possibility of a social science was their allegiance to the doctrine of free will. In The Study of Sociology Herbert Spencer also argued for the possibility of a social science, saying that "sociology is proposed as a subject to be studied after scientific methods, with the expectation of reaching results having scientific certainty". Closely akin to the principle of the uniformity of nature was the principle of continuity.
