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As evidenced by much of the matter published continuously in this Review, the application of ecological conceptions to the study of dynamic mental phenomena has become an integral part of the mental sciences. The development and presentation of ecological principles have progressed from an individual accomplishment in separate fields to a general conceptual approach admitting of broader correlation respecting essential dynamic transitions (see Jelliffe). The study of interrelations between intrapsychic, biologic, and social events as reflected in mental configurations has basic connections with the work of Allee, Elton and others in the field of animal life and social aggregations—and again in the ecological formulations which, chiefly in the contributions of Park and Burgess, have in late years become a center stream in American sociology.
It is mainly the latter development which is thoroughly reviewed in this very useful critical study. Social ecology is here shown to comprehend established factual studies as well as a body of first premises and established doctrine going back in their roots to initial work in plant and animal ecology. The scope of the work at hand is seen in this expression of its critical aims: “With the ever increasing numbers of ecological researches, there is always danger of losing sight of the wider perspective within which their scientific utility and fruitfulness can be fully recognized. Furthermore, the bearing of the factual studies upon the principles which give the school its name and its claim must serve to indicate the rôle of human ecology in the field of sociology. For in a truly