There are two reasons in particular why this frag ment of communistic history should be written. In the first place it is a story which, except in the most meagre and inaccurate way, has never before been told, and therefore it furnishes students of social science with a new bit of illustrative material moreover, when compared with the annals of other communistic enterprises, the Icarian story is a pecul iarly romantic and interesting one, and my oppor tunities for collecting the necessary materials have been exceptionally favorable.