TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASSOCIATION, 1879.

During the Saratoga meeting of 1879, several matters of business were transacted by the Association and its Departments. On September 10, upon motion of President BARNARD, of Columbia College, a committee of five was appointed (after the submission of a paper by ROBERT NOXON TOPPAN, of New York, on The International Unit of Money), to consider and report on the subjects of weights, measures and coinage.

The Chair appointed as such committee, President F. A. P. Barnard, of Columbia College; Robert Noxon Toppan, of New York; Prof. William Watson, of Boston; Francis A. Walker, of New Haven, and Prof. Julius E. Hilgard, of Washington. On the same day this committee, through Messrs. BARNARD, WALKER and WATSON, reported the following resolutions, which were adopted:

I. INTERNATIONAL COINAGE.

Whereas, All the efforts which have been hitherto made by diplomatic correspondence or by international conferences, to effect the unification of the monetary systems of the world, have signally failed; and whereas, such failure has been evidently owing to the fact that the world is not yet prepared and cannot be induced to adopt any single monetary system, no matter how manifest its merits, to the entire exclusion of all those which use has made familiar; and whereas, the creation of a system of coinage for international purposes does not appear to involve the necessity of displacing or interfering with national systems already existing, while, if established on a judiciously chosen unit, such international system may blend with and form a part of all local systems; and whereas, the gram weight of gold, nine-tenths fine, affords a value in sufficiently convenient relations with the gold coins of the principal commercial nations, to serve as such international unit; therefore,

Resolved, That the creation, by convention between the leading powers of the civilized world, of an international coinage, founded on the gram weight of gold, nine-tenths fine - the coins of such systems to bear no denominational stamp but that of their metric weight would, in view of this Association, contribute materially to facilitate the business of international exchanges, and would constitute an important step toward the possible unification of all the monetary systems of the world.

II. THE METRIC SYSTEM.

Resolved, That this Association regards with satisfaction the growing disposition of the people of the United States to discard their present system of weights and measures and to substitute for it the simple system founded on the meter, now so widely prevalent among civilized nations.

Resolved, That the legislative acts of the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, favoring the metric system and requiring that instruction in the principles of the system be given in the primary schools, and especially the liberal provision made by the two States last named for supplying the schools with apparatus for illustrating the operation of the system in practice, are, in the view of this Association, highly to be commended and worthy to be imitated by the legislatures of the remaining States and territories.

Resolved, That the bill reported by the Committee of Weights, Measures and Coinage of the House of Representatives of the United States at the recent session of the 46th Congress, providing that hereafter the unit of weight in the postal service of the United States shall be fifteen grams instead of one-half ounce avoirdupois, as at present; and also, the bill providing that hereafter the metric denominations of weights and measures shall be introduced into and made obligatory in the service of the custom houses, for invoices expressed metrically, appear to this Association to embody wise and judicious measures of preparation for the future introduction of the system into general use in the business of the country, and that as such they ought speedily to become law.

Resolved, That copies of the foregoing resolutions, duly attested, be communicated to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Committee of Finance of the Senate, the Chairman of the Committee of Weights, Measures and Coinage of the House, and the Governors of the several States and Territories.

On the same day, the Association elected as Honorary Members, HENRY W. ACLAND, M. D. F. R. S., of Oxford, England; Mrs. ELIZABETH THOMPSON, of New York; Miss ELIZABETH P. PEABODY, of Concord, Mass.

On September 10, in the Department of Education, it was voted to appoint a committee to report upon the Kindergarten Schools of the United States. On the 12th, in the Department of Social Economy, on motion of Mr. J. D. WEEKS, of Pittsburg, it was voted to appoint a committee of three or more, to investigate the history and present condition of American trades-unions, and other matters connected with the relations of labor and capital.

At business meetings held on the 9th and 10th of September, the following Report, made by Professor WAYLAND, as Chairman of a Special Committee, was debated, accepted and adopted:

"The Committee to which was entrusted the duty of reporting some plan for increasing the efficiency and reducing the expenses of this Association, beg leave to recommend:

1. That for the present, at least, we cease to maintain an office, and that the Executive Committee shall meet only when, in the opinion of the President or Secretary, such meeting shall be necessary.

2. That the regular Annual Meeting shall be held, as hitherto, in Boston, in January, 1880, at which time the members of the Association will be asked to decide whether we shall not be limited in our meetings to the General Session in September.

3. That a General Secretary be appointed to hold office for three years, with a salary of $750."

At a meeting of the Executive Committee, held in Boston, October 10, 1879, it was voted to submit to the Annual Meeting of the Association, in Boston, January 14, 1879, the following proposed amendments to the Constitution, in order to carry out the vote passed at Saratoga :

1. That the Annual Meeting, now held on the second Wednesday of January, be held at the same time with the General Meeting for Papers and Debates.

2. That the Executive Committee be reduced in number to twenty-three, namely: a President, ten Directors, five Chairmen of Departments, a General Secretary, a Treasurer, and the Secretaries of the five Departments; that these shall be called the Council of the Association; and that, instead of ten, there be not exceeding twenty honorary Vice-Presidents.

3. That the Chairman and Secretary of each Department, with the consent of the President of the Association, may appoint such special Department Committees as they may think best, and that the present Department Committees be discontinued.

4. That the General Secretary be elected for three years, unless he resigns or is removed by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting in the Council, and that out of his compensation b2 may pay the salary of an Assistant Secretary, who may also be Secretary of one Department.

The Constitution as it stands, is as follows:

I. This Society shall be called the AMERICAN SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION.

II. Its objects shall be classified in five Departments: the first,