SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, 



Friday, August 31, 1906. 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: — 

 Economics as a Science: Peofessob Irving 

 FlSHEK 257 



Section D — Mechanical Science and Engi- 

 neering : Peofessob Wm. T. Mageudeb .... 261 



Section G — Botany: Db. D. T. MacDougal 268 



Scientific Books: — 



Kobold on Der Bau des Fixsternsystems : 



G. C. C 270 



Scientific Journals and Articles 271 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



The Smithsonian Iiistitution and the Mur 

 seum Idea: De. Gustavus D. Hinrichs. 

 Is not the Smithsonian an Institute of Re- 

 search? : Db. Albert M. Reese 273 



Special Articles: — 



Yelloiu Mice and Gametic Purity: Peo- 

 fessob W. E. Castle. Preliminary 

 Description of Tivo New Species of the 

 Genu^ Diceratherium Marsh, from the 

 Agate Spring Fossil Quarry: O. A. Peter- 

 son 276 



Botanical Notes: — 



Some Recent Botanical Boohs; A Study 

 of the Coconut Tree: Peofessob Charles 

 E. Bessey 283 



Disputed Vesuvian Eruptions: Dr. C. E. 

 Eastman 284 



Scientific Notes and News 286 



University and Educational News 288 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to the Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 

 ECONOMICS AS A SCIENCE.^ 



That economic and social studies should 

 be carried on with the scientific method 

 and spirit is not likely to be denied by any 

 one here present. And yet there are per- 

 sons who would have us believe that these 

 important fields of investigation are by 

 nature incapable of such a treatment. 

 Even among economic students we find 

 many writers of the type of Cliffe Leslie, 

 who definitely disclaim that economics is a 

 science, and class it rather as a branch of 

 history. There has always been more or 

 less hesitation as to the place economic 

 studies should occupy as between the his- 

 torical and scientific poles. The tendency 

 to lean toward the historical side is indi- 

 cated by the fact that the American Eco- 

 nomic Association has regularly met in 

 conjunction with the American Historical 

 Association, while the tendency toward the 

 scientific side is indicated by the fact that 

 this section exists as a branch of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. 



Those who maintain that economics is 

 not and never can be a true science base 

 their contention on the fact that social 

 phenomena are not constant, 'like,' they 

 say, 'the phenomena of astronomy or phys- 

 ics,' but differ widely at different times 

 and under different circumstances. They 

 point out that the determination of prices 



^Address of the chairman of Section I of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, at the Ithaca meeting, July, 1906. 



