134 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



taken up, and the outlines of the processes 

 are given in each case. In the second 

 chapter some thirty formulcB for dyeing 

 cotton are given, and twenty for dyeing 

 wool and silk. Several modes of calico- 

 printing are sketched, and the formulffi for 

 a large number of styles are given. There 

 is a fourth chapter in which a short account 

 is given of each of the important dye-stuffs. 

 The aim of the editor has been to compile 

 " a ready and serviceable manual for prac- 

 tical workers," which may be referred to 

 with the expenditure of less time and trou- 

 ble than is necessary with such larger and 

 more elaborate works as Crookes's " Prac- 

 tical Hand-Book of Dyeing and Calico- 

 Printing," Ure's " Dictionary," Wagner's 

 " Chemical Technology," and others, which 

 have been consulted in the preparation of 

 the volume. 



Proceedings and Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of Canada, 1882 and 

 1883. Montreal : Dawson Brothers. 



The Dominion to the north of us is con- 

 stantly evidencing more and more of na- 

 tional life. Since 1867, when the British 

 provinces became a confederation, Canada 

 has shown an energy and enterprise which 

 would have been impossible to a series of 

 separate colonies having no bond of polit- 

 ical unity. Within the last few years, the 

 development of railways and manufactures 

 in Canada has quite paralleled that of the 

 United States, and, in the higher matters 

 of public and university education, the Do- 

 minion exhibits an advance which is full of 

 promise for her future. Among the proofs 

 that our northern neighbors are progress- 

 ing in matters of broad, national culture, 

 none can be more satisfactory than the es- 

 tablishment, by the Marquis of Lome, of 

 the Eoyal Society of Canada two years ago. 

 The society, founded on the lines of its 

 great English prototype, is intended to pro- 

 mote literature and science ; and, in bring- 

 ing together the most eminent scholars and 

 scientists of the country, will undoubtedly 

 attain the good results of mutual help, criti- 

 cism, and emulation which attend such as- 

 semblages the world over. The society con- 

 sists of four sections : French literature, 

 history, and allied subjects ; English litera- 

 ture, history, and allied subjects ; mathe- 

 matical, physical, and chemical sciences; 



geological and biological sciences. The 

 presidents of these sections, who were ap- 

 pointed by the Marquis of Lome for the 

 purpose of organizing the society, were 

 Messrs. J. M. Lemoinc, Daniel Wilson, T. 

 Sterry Hunt, and A. R. C. Selwyn. The 

 first president of the society was Principal 

 Dawson, of McGill University, who was suc- 

 ceeded last year by Dr. P. J. 0. Chauveau, 

 of Montreal, and in 1884 that city will again 

 give the society its president in the person 

 of Dr. T. Sterry Hunt. 



The Proceedings and Transactions before 

 us are not only valuable in themselves, but 

 they give us incidentally some interesting 

 insight into the peculiarities of Canadian na- 

 tional life. That the papers by the French- 

 Canadian members should be published in 

 their language is enough to show that the 

 element they represent in the population 

 is very far from genuine assimilation with 

 their compatriots of British descent. In- 

 deed, competent observers of the situation 

 declare that the adhesion of the French 

 Canadians to their language, religion, laws, 

 and institutions was never firmer than now. 

 Is America to behold the development of a 

 race French in speech, customs, and senti- 

 ment? Is the province of old Quebec to 

 be thus reconquered by France after all ? 

 Surely no better topic than this curious 

 phase of Canadian sociology could be treat- 

 ed in the next volume of Transactions which 

 the Royal Society of Canada will publish to 

 the world. Perhaps the causes lie in the 

 wonderful fecundity of the race, the con- 

 tentment with narrow fortunes which keeps 

 so many of them at home, and the indul- 

 gent policy toward them by Great Britain 

 — that empire which, having lost its best 

 group of colonies by harsh treatment, seems 

 determined in Canada to retain the allegi- 

 ance of a conquered race by a noble mag- 

 nanimity. 



The volume before us manifests the in- 

 fluence which the classical and literary edu- 

 cation of French Canadians has had on . 

 their scientific culture. Although number- 

 ing one fourth of the nation, their repre- 

 sentatives in the Royal Society are but one 

 eighth the membership of the two scientific 

 sections ; and, while the scientific contribu- 

 tions of the French-speaking members are 

 scarcely up to the standard of those from 

 their British confreres, in the literary de- 



