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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



inquiry, widely informed in the subject- 

 matter of investigation, and determined 

 to push it forward in new directions, 

 and arrive at trustworthy and valid re- 

 sults. Social science is to be promoted, 

 if promoted at all, in this manner, and 

 by such men. It implies the systematic 

 treatment of social phenomena, with 

 the view of reaching a definite, cohe- 

 rent, and settled body of social truths, 

 by the collection, analysis, and classifi- 

 cation of the proper data of the sub- 

 ject. If the science is in its infancy, and 

 has as yet been only roughly outlined, 

 the work of its cultivators must needs 

 be elementary, and the proceedings of 

 any body of its true promoters will 

 necessarily be characteristic of the stage 

 or state of the subject. In the growth 

 of all the sciences there has been an in- 

 evitable order of mental procedure, an 

 advance from simplicity to complexity, 

 from the uniform to the multiform, from 

 the lower to the higher; but though 

 this method has been necessarily fol- 

 lowed, mental power has been im- 

 mensely wasted by ambitious essays to 

 resolve the larger and more diflScult as- 

 pects of phenomena first. Yet the sci- 

 ences have been actually and only built 

 up by laying the foundations first and 

 erecting the superstructures afterward. 



But all this is of small account to 

 the members of the " As3t)ciation for the 

 Promotion of Social Science." They 

 do not seem, in fact, to know what the 

 science is that they have assumed the 

 task of promoting. They were in a 

 muddle about it at starting ten years 

 ago, and, if we may judge from the sec- 

 retary's report, they are much in the 

 same condition still. At any rate, they 

 have little notion of plodding among 

 the rudiments of the subject. 



There were able disquisitions at 

 Detroit on Finance, International Law, 

 Life-insurance, Ideal Education, Medical 

 Charities, Immigration, State Churches, 

 Steamship -lines, etc., etc., but they had 

 none of them any more to do with the 

 science of the social relations of man- 



kind than the proceedings of any other 

 convention of thoughtful men called to 

 deliberate upon important public af- 

 fairs. 



We make these remarks in no cap- 

 tious spirit, and we cordially concede 

 the usefulness and importance of much 

 of the work done by this organization: 

 we are only speaking in the interest of 

 that which the Association professes to 

 do, but really does not even recognize ; 

 and what it pledges itself to do or to 

 attempt, by the very title it takes, we 

 hold to be far more important than all 

 it accomplishes. The working out of 

 the principles of social science, of the 

 natural laws of the social state, into a 

 clear, comprehensive, and authoritative 

 form, is a matter of great moment, both 

 because the state of knowledge at the 

 present time makes it more possible and 

 practicable than ever before, and be- 

 cause the results of even its partial ac- 

 complishment will be of immense value 

 in the management of social affairs. 

 And because of its grave importance, 

 we strenuously object to any perversion 

 or misappropriation of the term to ille- 

 gitimate uses. We object to its em- 

 ployment as merely a dignified title for 

 miscellaneous speculations on human af- 

 fairs. Social science is a something yet 

 to be achieved a well-defined branch 

 of inquiry yet to be elaborated by the 

 prolonged efforts of painstaking think- 

 ers; and we protest against its use as 

 a kind of imposing category for the 

 schemes of philanthropists and the pro- 

 jects of reformers. It may seem a mat- 

 ter of small importance what name an 

 association chooses to adopt, but it is 

 not so in the present case. The misuse 

 of terms leads to false views that are 

 liable to produce the most injurious 

 consequences. No one can be better 

 aware of the potent misleading influ- 

 ence of words upon the public mind 

 than the distinguished president of the 

 Detroit meeting, Hon. D. A. Wells. He 

 perfectly understands that only a few 

 people go beyond the word to the qual- 



