146 Natural History Society of Montreal. 



of the crown, have no relish for intellectual pursuits. The world 

 gives them credit for courage and fortitude — and those qualities 

 were well exemplified on the bleak and dreary plateau before 

 Sebastopol, where the soldiers, though suffering every sort of 

 miseiy, half clothed, half fed, over-worked, and almost ema- 

 ciated, yet never flinched from their duty, but were always ready 

 to meet the enemy. (Cheers.) All this the world gave them 

 credit for, but it is not so generally known that many of them have 

 minds cultivated to a degree far beyond what you would expect 

 in their position. They have as keen a feeling and relish for 

 what is great and noble as have any of our prosperous civilians. 

 (Applause.) Returning then to the point from which I set out 

 let me say that I think such institutions as this, which has for its 

 object the searching out of truth and the diffusion of knowledge, 

 are of real benefit to mankind, and that those who take a pro- 

 minent lead in them deserve to stand high in the estimation of 

 their fellow-men. It is a pleasing thing to those who take an 

 interest in Canada to find that the people of Montreal, its princi- 

 pal city, give so warm a support to institutions of this kind. 

 Montreal is already a great and flourishing city, and is every day 

 growing in commercial importance. Its citizens are rapidly 

 becoming wealthy and taking their place among the merchant- 

 princes of the world. Its buildings are rising in all directions 

 and casting their shadows over this splendid stream, which not 

 only connects Canadians with the ends of the earth, but unites 

 them among themselves, more effectually than any political union 

 could do, and it can boast of that stupendous bridge, which, as 

 an unrivalled work of art, is attracting the attention of the world. 

 AH this is subject of proud congratulation to the citizens o 

 Montreal, but it is also right and fitting that they should shew to 

 the world that, while not neglectful of material interests, they 

 have minds which can appreciate subjects of a higher order, and 

 that, while they know how to acquire wealth, they know also how 

 worthily to spend it. (Loud cheers.) 



Principal Dawson then introduced Professor Hall of Albany, 

 whose reputation as a naturalist, he said, was not merely Ameri- 

 can, but world-wide. (Cheers.) 



Professor Hall said : — I have been somewhat reluctant to 

 accept the invitation to address this assembly, feeling quite unfit 

 to do so, as I have been indisposed for several days, and I am 

 afraid I am quite unprepared to say anything likely to interest 



