32 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



insurance law; the ministers above referred to had been ]\Ir. Harvey's 

 personal friends, and through the influence of Sir Francis Hincks, Mr. 

 Harvey went to Toronto to take charge of the Provincial Insurance 

 Company, but, owing to the disastrous fire at St. John, N.B., in 1877, 

 its affairs were afterwards wound up ; since that period Mr. Harvey did 

 not engage in important public enterprises. 



3Ir. Harvey had also been actively concerned in the work of scien- 

 tific, literary, and other societies. He was secretary of the Horticultural 

 Society at Hamilton, and the originator of the Hamilton (Scientific) 

 Association; he was a hard-working secretary of the St. George's Society 

 at Quebec, and of the Literary and Historical Society there. While 

 in Ottawa he formed, and was Secretary-Treasurer of, the Civil Service 

 Building and Savings Society; at Toronto he prepared and published 

 tables for the variation of mortgages; he subsequently joined the 

 Astronomical Society and was its I'resident in 1S9S-99. His chief 

 study was the investigation of the connection between solar and terres- 

 trial phenomena. In recognition of this work he was elected Honorary 

 President and Director of the Instituto Solar Intemacional, Monte 

 Video, Uruguay; in 1894 he was elected a fellow of the Koyal Society. 

 His most recent contribution to the Canadian Institute, " on the prin- 

 ciples of Life Insurance with special reference to sick benefits," was 

 his last effort. In 1862, while residing at Quebec, he was instrumental 

 in the formation of a " Humane Society for British Xorth America," 

 the first joint secretaries of which were Mr. (now Sir) J. M. LeMoine 

 and Arthur Harvey. The objects of this association were ''' to reward 

 by presentation of medals, etc., for deeds of bravery in saving life, to 

 punish acts of cruelty to animals in putting in force the laws for that 

 purpose." 



The foregoing statements supplemented by reference to his scien- 

 tific and literary wTitings, afford a clear insight into Mr. Harvey's 

 intellectual activities. He was a man of exceptional parts. Possessed 

 of an intimate knowledge of the ancient classics of Greece and Home, 

 he was also a liberal student of French and German literature. He 

 devoted a leisure accorded him by a secured financial position to the 

 investigation of science in many branches; particularly inquiries into 

 modern astronomy. His published essays in this special department 

 exhibit the wide range of his interests. Most painstaking, he took 

 but little for granted, and probed deeply all speculations advanced by 

 authors whether British, Continental or American, before he gave his 

 assent to their proposals. 



Apart from astronomical researches, Mr. Harvey found opportunity 

 for essays on other subjects ; such as " The reason we sleep " for the 



