THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



AND 



Cfuarterly ^aurnal af Science. 



THE RELATIONS OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES. 



By T. Sterry Hunt, LL.D., (Cantab.) F.R.S. 



(The President's address before the Mathematical. Physical and^ Chemical 

 Section of ihe Royal feociety of Canada, at the first meeting of the Society, 



Ottawa, JVIay 27, 1882) 



The occasion which brings us together is one which should 

 mark a new departure in the intellectual history of Canada,. 

 Science and letters find but few votaries in a country like this^ 

 where the best energies of its thinkers are necessarily directed 

 to devising the best means of subduing the wilderness, opening the 

 ways of communication, improving agriculture, building up indus- 

 tries, and establishing upon a proper basis schools in which the 

 youth of the country may be instructed in those arts and pro- 

 fessions which are among the first needs of civilized society. The 

 teachers under such conditions can do little more than interpret 

 to their pupils so much of the wisdom of the past, and of con- 

 temporary science, as may suffice for the immediate wants of the 

 country, and will have but scanty leisure for original investigation 

 in the field of knowledge. There are however never wanting 

 earnest and curious minds who feel an almost irresistible impulse 

 to labor in this field, to enlarge the bounds of thought, and to 

 grapple with the great problems of man and nature. To foster 

 this spirit, to encourage its beginnings, and to extend the influ- 

 ence of its example, should be the aim of wise statemen and 

 legislators who seek to elevate their kind and ennoble their nation : 

 knowing that the brightest glories and the most enduring honors 

 of a country are those which come from its thinkers and its 

 scholars. 

 Vol, X. R No. 5. 



