Paul Lacombe (1834 1919) had a varied career as a historian, senior official and general inspector of libraries and archives. He was one of the most brilliant minds of his day: in 1859 he graduated as first in his class from the elite Ecole Nationale des Chartes, and he was made Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1887. In 1894, Lacombe published this groundbreaking work, which put him at the heart of the debate about l'histoire science history served by scientific inquiry at a time of intense controversy among historians and sociologists. Lacombe insisted on the need for the historian to...