198 The Ottawa Naturalist. 



closer and more systematic study of the many forms of life with which this earth teems, 

 and of the earth which gives them a habitation. The chief function of the Club is to 

 assist in this study all deserving help, by lectures, by our publication, by field 

 excursions and by such evenings as the present, when the wondeis of the earth and 

 sky and sea are revealed under the searching power of the microscope. 



It would seem to me that a society fulfilling such an object, performing such a 

 function and I trust I am sincere in saying that the club is striving to do both is 

 doing a great and a good work. And perhaps more especially in these latter times 

 is this a noble work, for it appears to me that now-a-days the majority of people 

 divide their time between the getting of money or position and the following of the 

 lighter recreations. While undoubtedly both of these should find a place in the 

 programme of one's life, it is certainly a grave mistake to allow the serious matters 

 of life and what I may term its evanescent pleasures to control all our energies, to 

 absorb all our time and talent. I would make a strong plea for the study of the Natural 

 Sciences Zoology, Botany and Geology not trom a utilitarian standpoint, though 

 on that score it could be ur<jed with a good deal of enphasis but for the reason that 

 it is a study of great educational value, improving and developing as no other branch of 

 learning can, the faculties of observation and deduction faculties that expand the mind 

 improve the memory, sharpen the critical power and stimulate good judgment. It is a 

 study that not onlystores our mind with useful and interesting data of great service in this 

 eminently practical age, but one also that opens new avenues of real and lasting 

 enjoyment : vivifying the imagination ami awakening our admiration in the revelation 

 of the wonderful but often hidden phases of life that everywhere abound. These 

 avenues are closed as with a five-barred gate against the money getter and 

 that chip of humanity that floats, tossed here and there on the sea of frivolity. Further, 

 I believe that the study of the life habits and life mechanism, and function of plants and 

 animals has a distinct ethical value; but of this, I must not allow myself to speak on this 

 occasion. May I sum up my arguments by saying that the study of the Natural Sciences 

 is worthy of a place side by side with the Classics and with English, as an educator not 

 only of practical value but also as one leading to the best and truest culture. 



Our club had a small beginning some sixteen years ago, but its growth has been 

 steady, its progress and development very satisfactory. Instituted by a few earnest 

 enthusiastic gentlemen determined to study Natural History and to help one another 

 in their work, it has now grown to a Society of no mean standing. It can point to 

 an honourable and valuable record in its journal of the progress that has been made by 

 her member; in the study of the flora and the fauna and the geology of this district. 

 We have a membership roll of between 200 and 300 and an annual and entirely 

 free course of lectures on Natural History subjects ; we have during the summer months 

 field excursions in the environs of Ottawa which are opportunities for practical 

 work when the assistance of our leaders is always available for the determination 

 of the specimens collected. 



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