Natural History Society of Montreal. 149 



this soil, of its underlying rock formations, and of these rocks, in 

 the same proportion do we advance in civilization, which is the 

 great object of our life here, next to that of preparing ourserves 

 for a better. But on this earth we cannot separate ourselves from 

 the domestic animals around us. We have brought with us from 

 across the Atlantic those to which we and our forefathers have 

 been accustomed, and they too must subsist upon the food which 

 is grown upon their native soil. And strange to say we see these 

 imported plants driving out the natural weeds, which leave the 

 soil and give place to the grass and seeds of Europe. The plants 

 of Europe indeed often travel faster than the white man himself, 

 The solitary traveller, making a trail across the great prairies of 

 the West and over the Rocky Mountains, drops on his course the 

 seeds of European plants, which, taking root and springing up. 

 begin to supplant the native weeds, and thus prepare the way for 

 the immigration of the white man. We are carrying on a pro- 

 cess of rooting out which is necessary for our own existence. We 

 are removing from the face of the earth, first the men who pre- 

 ceded us, next the animals, and then the vegetation, and intro- 

 ducing in their stead along with ourselves the domestic animals 

 of Europe, and the vegetation on which they feed, and even a; 

 the same time the numberless insects which accompany that vege- 

 tation. In these circumstances it becomes a population like that 

 of Canada or that of the United States to study more closely than 

 those of Europe, the character of our soil and its products, and it 

 may be necessary occasionally to present this view to shew that the 

 cultivation of natural science is not merely a pleasant and delightful 

 occupation, enlarging our sphere of knowledge, and improving our 

 intellectual faculties, but that it is fitted to improve also our phy- 

 sical condition and to enhance our physical comforts. (Applause.) 

 I am glad to be able to congratulate you on the advances you 

 have made in natural science. It is one of the most pleasant 

 duties of my life anywhere and everywhere in the United States 

 to bear testimony to the advances which have been made in natu- 

 ral science in Canada. If you will allow me to digress for a few 

 moments, I would call your attention to your own geology, to 

 the particular substratum from which you derive your soil. You 

 have wrought out here most admirably, by accumulating ze al, by 

 intelligence, and by persevering labour, a knowledge of a set of 

 strata which to this day are but little known in Europe. Your 

 knowledge of your Laurentian rocks is far in advance of anything 



