Section D.— ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, EDUCA- 

 TION, HISTORY, MENTAL SCIENCE, PHILO- 

 LOGY, POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



President of the Section: — Rev. W. Flint, D.D. 



TUESDAY, NOVEMBER i. 



The President delivered the following address : — 

 This Section covers a somewhat wider range of subjects 

 than is sometimes associated with the name of Science; so 

 wide, indeed, that the inclusion of certain of their number 

 seems to call for special justification. A few of the matters 

 which come within our purview, it must be confessed, do not 

 strictly belong to the realm of pure, or even applied, science, 

 but the fact that they are admitted here may be regarded as 

 evidence that the founders of the Association were of opinion 

 that, varied and practical as the subjects are, they could at 

 least be discussed in a scientific spirit, and that to do so would 

 be in the interests of the community and not foreign to the 

 objects of the Association. That confidence has not been mis- 

 placed, as is shown by the work accomplished in the past. The 

 proportion of those engaged in the pursuit of science for its 

 own sake, without regard to the benefits to be secured by its 

 successful prosecution, is probably growing less. The age is 

 utilitarian, and consequently there is an ever-increasing number 

 of those who observe, co-ordinate, and classify the facts and 

 forces of Nature with the special object of utilizing the results 

 at which they arrive for the benefit of the race. Science is thus 

 becoming more and more practical in its aims. The work of 

 this Section has a strong tendency in the direction of utility 

 and practical life, treating, as it does, not so much with nature 

 as with human nature and the means which tend to its 

 advancement in certain relations. This latter fact makes the 

 application of exact scientific method difficult, for we are in 

 almost constant contact with what is variable, flexible, change- 

 ful, and that not according to well-defined laws, but subject 

 to the uncertainties and vagaries of what is sometimes peril- 

 ously near caprice. But that factor, if the foe of scientific 

 exactness, has the possible advantage of being provocative of 

 discussion and widely-extended interest, which results are not 

 altogetlier to be deplored. However, it is not my purpose 

 either to explain, or defend, the diversity of the subjects in- 

 cluded in the Section over which I have the honour to preside, 

 suggestive as is such a line of thought, but to express the hope 

 that the papers and discussions may form together a not 

 unworthy contribution to this year's meeting of the Associa- 

 tion. 



The time at my disposal I propose to occupy with a particu- 

 lar subject, the importance of which is, I think, in inverse ratio 

 to the amount of public attention which it has received in this 

 country. My paper is entitled : 



ARCHIVES AS A NATIONAL ASSET. 

 If, as has been wisely observed, " the proper study of man- 

 kind is man," it should be borne in mind that man has many 



