Although travel in these wild regions is very rough, still the people dwelling on the outskirts of the main chain are kind, polite, and hospitable to a degree. Many of their customs and superstitions are very curious. They hold a strong belief in the power of foxes, badgers, wasps, &c., to 'possess' human beings, of which the writer has had odd personal experiences.

In times of drought strange ceremonies, sometimes accompanied by sacrifices, are performed on some of the mountain tops with the object of obtaining rain. Ontake, an extinct volcano to the south of the range, 10,000 feet high, is, next to Fujisan, the loftiest sacred mountain in Japan. Pilgrims visit it every summer to practise a sort of hypnotic trance called kami-oroshi, or bringing down the gods. Through the intervention of a skilled medium' communication is said to be held with the spirits of departed heroes, &c. Oracular replies are given to questions dealing with the prospects of future health, business, weather, &c. It is a fast dying-out survival of a curious Far Eastern presentment of the Delphic Oracle.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17.

The following Report and Papers were read :—

1. Report on Explorations in South Arabia. See Reports, p. 491.

2. Formosa. By JOHN DODD.

This paper gives an account of observations and explorations in the island of Formosa made by the author during his residence there from 1864 to 1890. After referring to the work of British naval officers, consular officers, commissioners of Chinese customs, and others, and giving a general geographical description of the island and its commerce, the paper goes on to discuss the probable origin of the aboriginal tribes occupying the highest mountain districts. The mode of life of the savage inhabitants is described their dress, weapons, methods of hunting, marriage customs, &c.—and special reference is made to the practice of head-hunting, whether indulged in from motives of revenge or as a pastime merely. The paper next deals with the Pepawhano, or descendants of the savages of the plains, their spoliation by Chinese immigrants, and the work of the Dutch missionaries amongst them. In the concluding section the author refers to the colonisation of parts of Formosa by immigrants from Fokien, and to the Hakka invasion of the hill districts. Some account is given of the opening up of foreign trade, especially in camphor, coal, and tea, and an estimate is formed of the commercial resources of Formosa and of the prospects of their development.

3. Russian Possessions in Central Asia. By Dr. A. MARKOFF.

A comprehensive survey of Russia's Central Asian possessions is a task of great difficulty for anyone who is not a Russian, on account of the Russian language. An attempt is here made to give reliable data for a geographical description of this part of the world, where the three largest empires meet.

The Russian possessions are: (1) The Transcaspian district, parcelled up into the provinces of Manghishlak, Krasnovodsk, Askhabad, Tejen, Merv; (2) Turkestan with Samarkand, Syr Darya, and Fergana; (3) the Khanat of Khiva; and (4) Bokhara.

The author described the different districts and their boundaries; the population, Russian, Persian, Tartar, Armenian, and others; industries, such as fishing, agriculture, gardening, the cultivation of silk, cotton, and grapes; stock-breeding, mining, and commerce.

The soil and climatic conditions of Turkestan were described. Turkestan is gradually losing its vegetation and drying up. Great changes in Russian commerce

have taken place under the Minister of Finance, de Witte. Railways being acquired by the State, all freights and traffic rates generally reduced. Means of communication are increased and improved. Prospects for English trade in Central Asia and Russia were discussed. English-made goods enjoy a reputation in Russia of being superior to those of French and German manufacturers. English commerce has not hitherto had a fair share of the plums in Russia's commercial pie. No reason to be seen why English houses should not share in the markets where French and German commerce finds such ready outlets.

4. The Towns of Northern Mongolia. By Dr. A. MARKOFF. Mongolia, and especially its inner life, have hitherto not been properly studied. Travellers mostly confine themselves to noting only that which strikes the eye.

I. Urga and its monasteries, divided into three parts, are described; (1) the monastery, (2) Gandan (temples and residence of Buddhist students), aud (3) Maimachen (merchants town). Bogdo Ula, the 'holy mountain,' stands to the south of Urga. The author described the Mongol veneration for the 'holy mountain'; no capital punishment is allowed to take place within sight of it; it is the reputed birthplace of Chinghiz Khan, to whom yearly sacrifice is made at the foot of the mountain. The author mentioned the piety of the Mongols and their belief that gifts to monasteries secure reward in after life. Richness of monasteries is a consequence of this belief. Description of temples: (1) The Duchin golobyin Sume; its gold cupola hung with innumerable silver bells, which are always ringing. It is inaccessible to non-Buddhists. (2) The Barun örgö (chapel of Abalai Khan), less a temple than a museum, with its ancient relics, including an old throne with figures thereon representing former Mongol heroes. (3) The Maidari temple, largest of all, which, besides its great idol, contains idols of 10,000 Buddhas made in 1799. Description of Urga market-place and its trade; the insanitary condition of the streets, the insupportable dust in summer, the ineffectual canal system for watering the streets; the Chinese quarters, their houses, occupations, and the immorality of the inhabitants.

II. Ulejasutai, second largest town in North Mongolia and seat of GovernmentGeneral. Soldiers main population; tradesmen all Chinese. Labourer's hire 77. per annum, including food but not clothing. Very picturesque neighbourhood.

III. Kobdo. Description of prison; cruel treatment of prisoners; minor offenders allowed to walk into town occasionally, when they have a board affixed to them to show they are prisoners. Town remarkable for cleanliness. Trade is in the hands of Chinese.

5. Notes on the Topography of Caria. By W. R. PATON and J. L. MYRES.

A series of short journeys in the neighbourhood of Mylasa, Keramos and Halikarnassos result in a number of corrections of the physical features: especially a considerable extension N. W. of the basin of the Kartal déré, which issues at Keramos; it has a common watershed with the China Chai, which joins the Mæander near Aidin.

The geology of the district determines its physical feature; the limestone plateau is drained partly by swallow-holes from enclosed basins, partly by deep ravines; beneath the limestone crystalline rocks are upheaved in two parallel N.W.-S.E. anticlinals, one forming the range of Latmos, the other extending from the root of the peninsula of Knidos, through that of Myndos, and as far as Patmos. About Myndos and in Kos was a volcanic area, active both before and after the deposition of tho cretaceous limestones.

Remains of ancient Carian and Lelegian civilisation have been examined, and the following ancient sites have been identified and verified :-Pedasa, one at Karajahissar, one near Bitès (Ghiuk Chalar); Kindya at Utch-bounar; Telmessos, two towns and the oracular temple on the Kara Dagh; Karyanda at Ghiöl; Termile at Tremil; Pelea at Borghaz; Taramptos at Taranda.

SECTION F.-ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS.

PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION-L. L. PRICE, M.A., F.S.S.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12.

The President delivered the following Address :

:

AT the Oxford meeting of the British Association a report was presented on the 'Methods of Economic Training in this and other Countries,'' the general conclusion of which pointed to a deficiency in this country in the organisation of instruction and the recognition given by the examinations of the Universities, of the public service, and the legal profession. In the spring of the present year Mr. Goschen, presiding at a dinner of the Economic Association, commented on the inopportune contempt of the practical man for economic reasoning at a time when many of the questions engaging public attention were economic in character. The phenomena thus noted may be connected, and a disregard of economic reasoning explained by a lack of systematic economic instruction. At any rate, the members of this Section will scarcely feel more certain of the fact that the questions of the day are largely economic in character than of the illumination obtained by an acquaintance with Economic Science and Statistics. They may not succeed in winning the attention of the practical man, but they are not unlikely to find solace in the flattering conviction that the loss is on his side, and not on their own. The proceedings of the Section in this and in previous years will prove beyond dispute that, whether or not the practical man troubles himself to ascertain or to follow the opinion of the professors, the professors are not seldom busy in the consideration of the practical questions of the day.

I make this assertion with the more boldness because it requires no extraordinary keenness of vision to detect signs in the practical man of a disposition hardly consistent with the scorn he is prone to bestow. I believe that, in spite of what we may regard as his worse impulses, he manifests a growing inclination to seek counsel and even imperatively to demand guidance on social and political problems from economic professors. I do not know how otherwise to explain the fact that a well-known firm of London publishers has issued, and, I imagine, found it profitable to issue, a series of books on social subjects which now numbers upwards of eighty volumes. Many of these books may not be scientific in character, but so large an issue, taken in conjunction with other significant circumstances, such as the recent revival of a desire for economic lectures on the part of the clients of University Extension, does afford some presumption in favour of a fresh growth of popular interest. Indeed, I have heard more than one practical man complain, not that it was unreasonable to look for guidance in economic matters from economic experts, but that, with every disposition to hear the advice of professors, it was impossible to obtain it. This complaint may or may not be founded on reality; but the professors may be pardoned

1See Report of the British Association for 1894.

2 See Economic Journal for June 1895, vol. v. No. 18, p. 301.

if they regard it as a sign of a more wholesome condition of mind. The complaint may be due to the fact that the guidance sought is not such as the professors can offer, and that the advice, which they are able and ready to give, is considered inadequate or superfluous.

I am going to address myself to the audacious task of endeavouring to indicate by actual example the guidance which the economic professor may furnish to the practical man on the questions of the day; and I have prefaced my attempt with these observations to show that I am aware of the hazard and difficulty attendant. Were I to seek for an appropriate metaphor to describe my venture, I might find it by saying that I was about to disturb a hornets' nest; and, if I am fortunate enough to escape with the scornful neglect of the practical man, I am afraid that the professor may be less compassionate, and that his sting may prove as venomous. I may, perhaps, plead in excuse that it is at once the traditional privilege and the inherited duty of occupants of presidential chairs to devote their observations especially to that part of their science with which they have been most closely connected. I have certainly endeavoured on the one hand to bestow a considerable portion of my time on the scientific study of economics as expounded in systematic treatises, and, on the other, my occupation as College Treasurer has forced me into intimate contact with the hard facts of at least one department of practical life. I would not for one moment claim that this dual experience gives me any title to speak with authority on the relations of economic science to practical affairs; but it has determined the grooves in which my thoughts have mainly run, and, so far as I may presume to a special acquaintance with any department of economic speculation, it is with that which concerns the bearing of theory on practice. Without unbecoming arrogance, I may, perhaps, think that I possess in not very disproportionate measure the failings of the practical man and the academic professor; and in this capacity I undertake the task before me.

He

Before considering some particular questions of the day we may determine the general character of the guidance offered by economics in matters of practice. I believe that in this connection economists must disclaim a pretension to strict neutrality. Much, no doubt, may be urged in support of the claim, and considerable advantages might follow from its successful establishment. The cool examination of heated questions in the dry light of science might seem the appropriate occupation of the academic professor. From the serene heights of tranquil speculation he might complacently look down on the heat and turmoil of affairs, and, standing apart from the conflict himself, refuse to assist any combatant. But the strict maintenance of this attitude is a 'counsel of perfection' and a practical impossibility. The student must be more or less than human who, dealing with a department of knowledge so intimately related to the welfare of humanity, can avoid, as the result of his scientific inquiry, forming a favourable view of one course of conduct and an adverse opinion of another, and endeavouring to promote the former, and to hinder the latter, both by advice and by act. cannot be content to observe the connection of cause and effect without trying to set in motion the cause or to restrain its action. He cannot acquiesce in the speculative solution of a problem without being impelled to embody his theory in practice. He cannot contemplate the misery due to bad economic arrangements without seeking to devise and apply a remedy; and, viewing the matter historically, the practical object of benefiting their fellow-creatures has been at least as powerful a motive with great economic thinkers as the speculative aim of enlarging the boundaries of knowledge. They have been reproached for hardness of heart and dulness of imagination, and the popular account is prone to regard them as dry and unfeeling; but the description is a travesty of the facts, and their errors have probably been due as often to excess as to lack of enthusiasm. The recurring contrast of wealth and poverty, of careless ease and careworn want, of lavish indulgence and narrow penury, has awakened as responsive a chord in their hearts as in that of the most ardent and generous socialist; and it is impossible to run over the conspicuous names on the roll of economic worthies without being impressed by the warmth of their zeal for social reform, and the intensity and persistence of their anxiety to remove or mitigate human suffering. The 'economic

man' of popular description, whether or not he occupy a place in economic theory, is no portrait of the economist of actual historical fact. The name of 'dismal science, so often misapplied, was suggested not so much by the suppression of human interest as by the apparent destruction of cherished hopes. The science was dismal,' not, as popular usage interprets the phrase, because it was dry and uninteresting, but because it seemed to counsel despair; and even then the title partook of caricature.

Nor do I think that in this connection an attitude of strict neutrality is desirable, if it be possible. The besetting sin of the academic temper is indecision, and few errors are more mischievous in practical affairs. An obstinate regard for neutrality may easily beget indecision, and from that moment the economist becomes ineffectual for practice. I must confess to the belief that the practical man has a right to demand an opinion on economic points from the academic professor, and that the professor has a claim to take part in the guidance of economic affairs which is derived from his scientific study. He is an expert, and it is no less his duty than his privilege to discharge an expert's functions. He cannot, as it seems to me, properly evade the one or abnegate the other. He may be careful in forming his judgment. He may conscientiously endeavour to assign its due weight to every circumstance. He may remember and insist that in many practical problems other aspects besides the economic must be considered. But the economic is often of great, and sometimes of paramount, importance; and on this he cannot disown the responsibility of making up his mind without, as it seems to me, forfeiting his own self-respect and his usefulness to others. From that moment his neutrality vanishes. He may, and probably will, incur an opprobrium which he might have avoided by a refusal to adopt a decisive opinion. He may sacrifice a quiet and ease which he might have retained. But, whether our aim be the correct conduct of affairs or the due recognition of economic science, I cannot doubt that he has chosen the better part. To insist on a strict neutrality for economists in matters of practice seems to me idle and misleading. It is idle, because the economist is human, and economics is concerned with some of the most important interests of human welfare. It is misleading, because it is the duty of the economic expert to offer guidance on economic points, and there are at all times few practical questions which do not present an economic side. Certainly at the present juncture, when the pressing problems of the hour are in many cases distinctly and admittedly economic in character, to attempt a divorce between theory and practice is especially inopportune. It is an impossible endeavour to saw a man into separate quantities; and I would claim for the appropriate description of every great economist the epitaph on the tomb of the German socialist, Ferdinand Lassalle, thinker and fighter. We need not abandon the thought, but it should stimulate, and not paralyse, the action; for the one is not fully complete until it is realised in the other. Economics is indeed a science, and on that ground claims a recognised place in the programme of this Association; but it is essentially, as I think, an applied, and not a pure, science, and the economist has only fulfilled part of his mission when he has solved a speculative problem. I am aware that this contention may not be admitted by many academic professors and practical men, but I believe that it is in accord with historical tradition, and admits of logical justification.

Yet, if an attitude of strict neutrality be impossible and ineffective, the opposite extreme of dogmatic assertion is as undesirable as it is dangerous. The older economists have been often charged with an error of this nature; and it cannot be denied that the accusation rests on a basis of truth, though it has sometimes been couched in exaggerated form. Certainly the modern economist is inclined to state his opinion with less assurance; and for that very reason he has lost some of his influence on practical affairs. For the practical man has a sneaking affection, and even respect, for dogmatic assertion. At any rate, he desires a plain, direct, and concise answer to his questions, and it is not easy to distinguish between an avoidance of dogmatism and an appearance of indecision. Nor can it be denied that, as a discipline of the mind, a study of the more abstract reasonings of some of the older writers, which generally presented the semblance, and sometimes offered the