724 EEPOET~1891. 



make the fullest use we can of the methods and conceptions of physical science for 

 investigating certain aspects of human affairs. Jn the new periodicals, there is an 

 excellent corrective against either evil, since the Oxford ' Review ' is largely 

 written by Cambridge men, and the ' Journal,' which exemplifies the Cambridge 

 spirit, is edited by an Oxford Professor. 



It might almost seem that with all this new activity there is not so much 

 occasion as there used to be for these annual reunions in Section F. But indeed 

 it is not so. There is much needful work, which will hardly be done at all unless 

 it is done here. There are certainly two ways in which this Section offers great 

 opportunities for promoting economic science, and opportunities which are not 

 available elsewhere in England. Some points may be rendered clearer by debate, 

 and this Section affords an open field for such discussions. It is frequently useful 

 to throw out some hypothesis as a tentative explanation of some group of facts ; 

 and the conversations which take place here may help to confirm or to correct a 

 suggestion thus hazarded. A similar result might be obtained by rejoinders in 

 the magazines, but there is, at least, a saving of time when opponents can meet 

 face to lace and thresh out their differences by means of talk. 



It may easily occur, too, that interesting problems are raised and stated rather 

 than solved by the papers read before this Section ; and the power we have of 

 selecting special committees, to work throughout tlie year at some particular point 

 in order to report to this Section at a subsequent meeting, is an instrument for 

 advancing knowledge which we cannot but value highly. 



These advantages might, I conceive, be found in connection with any of the 

 sciences which are represented in the diffierent sections of this Association. But 

 there are reasons in the very nature of our science which render it specially 

 advantageous for economists to take part in such a gathering as this. Our science, 

 as treated by Mill, and I name him because, whatever our differences may be, I 

 feel sure we should all regard ourselves as his disciples, rests on certain assump- 

 tions, and takes for granted results which it does not profess to have investigated 

 independently. Many of its premises are derived from some branch of physical 

 science. As Mill has taught us, Political Economy assumes the facts of the 

 physical world.^ But that is a large order; and the economist may often be 

 doubtful what he is at liberty to assume as a physical fact. A meeting of the 

 British Association, where many specialists are brought together, may surely be 

 turned to good account in connection with this difficulty. In previous years we 

 have learnt from one of the Sections what we may assuiine about the future pro- 

 duction of gold ; while we have heard from another what we may take for 

 granted about the physical possibilities of procuring additional subsistence. We 

 hope to learn from other specialists this year on the one hand about the prospects- 

 of our coal supply and on the other in regard to the physical effects of prolonged 

 hours of work. It is no small advantage to have the annual opportunity of 

 finding more definitely what physical facts we may assume as the bases for 

 economic argument. 



Once more — and here we come to the feature which distinguishes our science 

 from the work of so many of the other Sections — Political Economy, as Mill has 

 taught us, also assumes the facts of human nature ; but human nature and human 

 institutions vary from age to age, and among different races and in different regions. 

 It has sometimes been a complaint against economic science that it assumes a 

 certain type of human being as though it were universal, and that it also takes for 

 granted the excellent but insular institutions under which we live ; on this point I 

 shall have more to say presently. But holding, as I do, that some such assumption 

 may often be a convenient instrument for scientific investigation, I would yet urge 

 that there can be few better correctives to possible exaggeration and one-sidedness 

 (from the undue extension of our hypotheses) than that of meeting men who are 

 liabituated to different temperaments and different institutions from our own, e.g. 

 to the habits and institutions of our fellow-subjects in India. This Association has 

 proved to be a convenient centre, which attracts economists from other lands. It 

 is with genuine pleasure that I welcome, in your name, the visitors from other 



' J. S. Mill, Principks of Political Economy, p. 13. 



