ABSTRACT
Pierre Guillaume Frederic Le Play had a special genius for collecting able collaborators. His own personality together with his ability to bring together technical and social issues attracted people to him, and many of those who aligned themselves with his views had European reputations. The phrase 'Le Play School' was first used in the early 1850s. This has been called 'the first sociological school of thought in history', and 'the first to formulate correlations between places and the different characteristics of social life'. In April 1882 the society held a major conference on social and industrial questions. This was the meeting which was to have been Le Play's comeback, and for which he carefully planned the programme. In the last years of Le Play's life two significant figures joined his 'School'. One was Edmond Demolins, who was secretary of the society and a rising young academic. The other was the Abbe Henri de Tourville.
