New-York tribune., 1867-10-12
THE SOCIAL SCIENCE association.

The American Social Science Association has
Just held its third annual meeting in Boston.
In spite of the great importance OF the subjects
discussed, and Notwithstanding the ability with
which they have been treated hy the speakers,
many of them men of the first standing in
the community, the yearly meetings have thus
far been attended by very few people, and
have attracted but little attention outside from
that portion of the public which might be sup
posed particularly interested in the subjects
with which the Association is concerned. Yet
il is not easy to say what gathering of men
during the last year has been occupied with
more important questions, or has shown a
broader or more humane spirit, than this hand
full of men and women, whose proceedings we
report to-day.
Dr. Samuel Eliot of Boston, in his introduc-
tory cxtemp0rc address struck the keynote of
the discussion 10y his admirable remarks on the
subject of the education of women. Since MIR.
FrO,hipghanI's course Of lectures in New-l ork
last Winter, nothing has been said on this i'm
poriant subject so nearly touching the root OF
the matter and covering the whole ground.
Every effort should be made to better the
condition of woman in our society. She should
"be given every opportunity to improve herself
"She should be admitted TO all the fields of
Labor and rcnown. If she wishes TO educate
"herself she should be given the means. She
"should be admitted TO schools and colleges
"on the same footing with the other scX.n
This is. in truth, the whole matter in a nut
shell. No one knows what woman is capable
of doing. We have no hight to conclude her
weakness or her strength. What we are bound
in reason To do is to give her rs fair chance
as we give to men, and let her show for her
self what she can do. We are glad to read
that Mr. Elot's remarks hit the sense OF the
meeting, and that they are to be printed.
They will form a valuable contribution of the
fast accumulating literature OF the woman
question.
Mr. +. b. Sanbom, to whom more perhaps
than TO any other man is due the existence of
the Society and whatever prosperity 1t enjoys,
followed Mr.. Eliot with his report, as Secretary,
of the progress that has been made III social
science during the past year. He spoke OF the
work of Gen. Howard in the Freedmen's Bu-
reau; the organization of the Peabody South
em Education Fund by Messrs. Winthrop and
Sears; Mr.. Mitchel's report upon the institu-
tions for the deaf and dumb and the insane in
Canada, and the report on prisons OF Messrs.
Wines and Dwght-this last perhaps the most
learned, the most thorough, and the most intel
lgent work on the subject of prison reform
and prison discipline that has thus far been
written, and which. it seems to us, should have
been treated by the Association with especial
honor and not merely mentioned in yearly
report.
Perhaps the most important paper read at
this meeting was that by Dr. Nathan Allen OF
Lowell, which bore the somewhat misleading
title, "The Population of Massachusetts," DR..
Allen announced that his subject covered these
three points: I. What has been the increase OF
population for a series of years in Massachu-
sets 7 2. What changes have taken place III
the physical organization of females affect
ing the laws of human ncreaseP 3. What
has been the nature, and what are the prob
able results, of these changesf Under the
first of these heads DR.. Allen proceeded
to show that the American-born por-
ton of the population of Massachusetts Is
steadily decreasing, and that this decrease Is
owing to the greatly increased number OF
deaths among American born children, and
the greatly diminished number of births, which
results DR.. Allen traces to the ill-health OF
American women and the dreadful practice of
procuring abortions, which he declares to be
on the increase in all classes of society, rich as
well as poor. Nowhere, and at no time in the
history of the world, says this gentleman
was the practice so common rs 1t Is IN
this country to-day While the Amer-
can-bon portion of the population is
rapidly decreasing the foreign born Is rs rap