ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



fessions law, journalism, and public adminis- 

 tration should have economics as part of their 

 training for their exercise. To accomplish this 

 object, its combination with jurisprudence, po- 

 litical and administrative science in a common 

 group seems by far the best way. The case be- 

 comes stronger when we come to consider fun- 

 damental and far-reaching problems. The so- 

 cialistic movement that is passing over Western 

 civilization is a struggle between two distinct 

 types of social organization, one resting on the 

 exaltation of the relatively modern institution 

 of the state, the other deriving its principal 

 force from the oldest and most enduring element 

 of human society the family. This aspect of 

 the conflict will more and more come into promi- 

 nence as the conflict proceeds. 



The following list includes the more impor- 

 tant papers presented at the meetings of this sec- 

 tion: 



* The Mathematical Theory of Foreign Trade," by 

 Prof. Edgeworth ; ".Mechanics of Bimetallism," !>y 

 Irving Fisher; "Factors of Production," by It. 

 lliirirs; "The Church Army and the Unemployed," 



K"W. II. Hunt; -'Oil the Report of the Mansion- 

 >uso Committee on the Unemployed," by Bolton 

 Stuart; "The Evil Effect of raising Prices by De- 

 preciating the Standard of Value," by Edward At- 

 kinson, of Boston, Mass.; " Woman's* Work in Bir- 

 mingham," by Miss Kenward ; '-Stock Exchange 

 Taxation," by J. Mandello ; " Statistics of General 

 and Old-age Pauperism in England and Wales," by 

 C. S. Loch ; " The Identification of Kent and Inter- 

 est," by C. S. Devas; " The Economic Results of the 

 Black Death in Italy," by Max Kovalensky ; " In- 

 equality of Local Rates : Its Extent, Causes, and Con- 

 sequences," by Edwin Carman; "Fifty Years' Ac- 

 counts of the Bank of England," by A. W. Flux ; 

 "The Alleged Economic Heresies of the London 

 County Council," by Sidney Webb; ' The Relation 

 between Wages and the Numbers employed in 

 the Coal-mining Industry" by R. II. Hooker; "The 

 Popular Attitude toward Economics," by L. R. 

 Phillips; and " The Relation between Wages, Hours, 

 and Production of Labor," by J. A. Jlobson. The 

 following reports from committees on "Methods of 

 Economic Training in this and other Countries" and 

 on " The Teaching of Science in Elementary Schools " 

 were also presented. 



G. Mechanical Science. This section was pre- 

 sided over by Prof. A. B. W. Kennedy, who is 

 Mmcritus Professor of Engineering in the Uni- 

 versity College, London. His address was on 

 " The Critical Side of Mechanical Training." An 

 engineer is a man who is continually being called 

 upon to make up bis mind. It may be only as 

 to the si/i' of ;i bolt ; it may be as to the type of 

 a Forth bridge ; it may be" as to the method of 

 lighting a city; or only as to the details of a 

 fire grate. But whatever it is, once it is settled 

 it is decided irrevocably it is translated into 

 steel and iron and copper, and can not be re- 

 voked by an act passed in another session. The 

 time given him in which to decide may be a day, 

 or a month, or a year, but in any and every case 

 it is about one-tenth purt of the' time which he 

 would like to have. The solution of such prob- 

 lems is seldom unique. From this point of view, 

 the whole use of college training, of workshop 

 practice, of practical experience, is to provide the 

 engineer with the means of critically examining 

 each question as it comes up, of reviewing the 

 methods of dealing with it. of coming finally to 

 some defensible decision which may tlien be car- 



ried out. In the case of a problem in pure 

 mathematics or physics, where only one right 

 solution can exist, that solution is arrived at by a 

 thorough knowledge of the science in question ; 

 there is little room for the critical faculty the 

 result is either right or wrong. In engineering, 

 decisions can only be arrived at by a process of 

 criticism applied to the problems, to their state- 

 ment, to their condition, to all their many possi- 

 ble solutions: hence the development of the 

 necessary critical faculty should be one of the 

 chief aims of every teacher. A scientific train- 

 ing can not make a man an engineer, but such a 

 training may make him a critic. Probably the 

 best special education in proportion which a 

 man can have is a course of quantitative experi- 

 mental work. This kind of work in an engineer- 

 ing laboratory can educate the critical sense of 

 proportion very admirably in a number of ways. 

 But the work of an engineering laboratory is in 

 essence different from that of a physical labora- 

 tory. In the former the conditions form part of 

 the experiment. The engineer frequently finds, 

 when the whole matter seems to be completely 

 mastered from one point of view, that it is only to 

 find that from another point of view everything 

 looks different, and the whole critique has to be 

 started afresh. In closing, he referred to the 

 relation between mathematics and engineering. 

 Mathematics is simply a tool, a means to an end, 

 not an end in itself ; hence mathematicians should 

 exercise more consideration to students of engi- 

 neering, and not look upon them as persons to 

 whom it is a privilege sufficient that he should 

 be allowed to pick up such crumbs as he can di- 

 gest from a table prepared for his betters. 



The more important papers read before this 

 section were: 



" Some Reminiscences of Steam Locomotion on 

 Common Roads," by Sir Frederick J. Bramwell; 

 " Bore-hole Wells for Town Water Supply," by Henry 

 Davey. Subsequent to the joint meeting with Section 

 A, already noted, the following papers were read : 

 ' ; The Strength and Plastic Extensibility of Iron and 

 Steel," by T. Claxton Fidler; "Tunnel Construction 

 by Means of Shield and Compressed Air, with Special 

 References to the Tunnel under the Thames at Black- 

 wall," by M. Fitzmaurice ; " On Methods that have 

 been adopted for measuring Pressure in the Bores of 

 (inns," by Sir Andrew Noble; "The most Econom- 

 ical Temperature for Steam-engine Cylinders," by B. 

 Donkin ; " Signaling through Space," by W. H. 

 I 'recce; "Some Advantages of Alternate Currents," 

 by Silvanus P. Thompson ; " Continuous Current 

 Distribution of Electricity at High Voltage, being a 

 Description of the Lighting of the City of Oxford," 

 by Thomas Parker; "A Special Chronograph," by 

 II. Lea; " A Direct-reading Platinum Pyrometer," by 

 G. M. Clark; "The Temperature Entropy Diagram," 

 by II. F. Burstall ; "The Kineting of Governed En- 

 gines," by J. Swinburne; "Engineering Laboratory 

 Instruments and their Calibration," by D. S. Capper; 

 " Lighthouse Apparatus and Lighthouse Administra- 

 tion in 1894," by J. Kenward ; and " On Spring Spokes 

 for Bicycles," by J. D. Everett. Also a "Report of 

 Committee on Dryness of Steam" was presented by 

 W. C. U n will. 



H. Anthropology. The presiding officer of 

 this section was Sir William H. Flower, who de- 

 voted his address to giving some account of the 

 history and present position of the study of an- 

 thropology in Great Britain, and especially to 

 indicate what the association had done in the 

 past and is still doing to promote it. He said : 



