II liOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The Honorary Secretary thai read the following 

 EEPOET OF COUNCIL, 1905. 



The Council of the Eoyal Society of Canada have the honour to 

 present their twenty-third annual report, as follows: — 



• I. — Feinting of Transactions. 



The "Proceedings and Transactions" for this year consist of a 

 total of 1,053 pages, and contain 107 maps, plates and other illustra- 

 tions. A very important paper was contributed by Dr. Dionne, the 

 first attempt to compile a complete catalogue of books, magazines and 

 newspapers published in the province of Quebec in the French lan- 

 guage from 1764 to 1904. The arrangement is chronological, and the 

 work, therefore, is additionally valuable, inasmuch as in it may be 

 traced with certainty the dawn and development of French-Canadian 

 literature. The Transactions already made a large volume, and this 

 catalogue would have swelled it to an inconvenient size, and would also 

 have delayed its issue. The catalogue, moreover, is a work not to be 

 read but to be constantly referred to. It seemed, therefore, advisable 

 to publish it as a separate volume. In that form librarians and col- 

 lectors will find it more useful and convenient. 



The number^of separate copies of their own articles given to authors, 

 in all four sections, was 4,350, and, although efforts were made to get 

 all the scientific papers printed first, the results are not altogether 

 satisfactory. In printing the annual volume one paper will run on 

 over two or more sheets, and the delay in correcting proofs of one paper 

 may thus interfere with the completion of the preceding and succeed- 

 ing articles. The progress of a volume of this kind, weaving together 

 the work of many contributors, is apt to be rogjilated by the pace of the 

 slowest in the series, and unforeseen difficulties of illness or absence 

 sometimes arise. In the first and second sections, and in most cases 

 in the third and fourth sections, no inconvenience is felt; but delay in 

 the announcement of a scientific discovery may be very serious to 

 original investigators, and, therefore, papers embodying important 

 original results will not be sent to our volume of Transactions for pub- 

 lication. 



The Council submit the question to the careful consideration of 

 the fellows. The Society, to increase its usefulness, must adapt itself to 

 the changing order. The revolution in scientific thought now in pro- 

 gress is fundamental, and some of our members are in the van of the 

 movement. Conceptions of the constitution of matter which have been 

 held for ages are now yielding to theories radically different, and laws 

 established, even in recent times, are being profoundly affected. Under 



