PROCEEDINGS FOR 1891. XXXI 



members were to be persons who had published original works or memoirs of merit, or had rendered 

 eminent service to literature or science. The society was to consist of two departments, each sub- 

 divided into two sections, and the number of members in each section was limited to twenty. Ottawa 

 was made the headquarters of the society, and at least one general meeting was to be held annually, 

 " at such times and places as by by-law or otherwise might be determined." The original eighty 

 members wore nominated lij^ His Excellency. In the following May the members met and formally 

 inaugurated the society. Her Majesty gave it her gracious permission to assume the title of " The 

 Eoyal Society of (Canada." The Government and Parliament of the Dominion recognized it by 

 bestowing an act of incorporation and by a gift of $5,000, which has been annually renewed, and 

 which has enabled it to publish the transactions of the year in handsome volumes, with ade(]uate 

 illustrations. 



Nine annual meetings in all have been held in Ottawa, and in now holding the tenth in Montreal, 

 the place of the society's birtb, it seems to me not unfitting that we should, in commercial phrase, 

 "take stock;" and this, not for the purpose of praising ourselves for what has been done, but for 

 enquiring how far the constitution of the society has proved well adapted to secure the objects ori- 

 ginally contemplated, and how we can serve the State better in the future. Anyone who looks into 

 the volumes of 'Proceedings and Transactions ' already issued will see that there is no cause for dis- 

 couragement. The i-esults of the work of the society are there manifest. Had it not existed, many 

 of the papers that are most interesting to Canada would not have been wi'itten. Others would have 

 been scattered through the transactions and journals of two continents, labelled, of course, as British 

 French or American. Our bulky annual volume is now sent regulai'ly to all the great public libraries 

 of the world, and literaiy and scientific men learn that Canada is not wholly a barbarous country, but 

 that it is giving some little contribution to learning. Far-seeing, practical men in other countries 

 who desire reliable information respecting the geology, minerals, products, antiquities, history and 

 institutions of Canada, now know where to find it. Everyone, I think, will agree with Prof. Lawson, 

 in his address as vice-president of the society in 1887, that " thus far substantial and permanent sei'vice 

 is rendered." 



The society has been useful in another way. Far from superseding local or provincial societies, 

 organized in whole or in part on the same lines, it has been to some extent a bond of union and a 

 stimulus to them. Delegates from twenty or thirty of these societies report their proceedings to the 

 annual meetings, coming to Ottawa to do so from as great distances as Halifax to the east and Winni- 

 peg to the west. We have not interfered with their work, as was at one time feared, nor withdrawn 

 any funds previously allocated to them. The Eoyal Society aimed at being essentially a Dominion 

 institution. The only public body to which it looked for aid in prosecuting its work was the Domin- 

 ion Parliament, and that bodytas fultilled the expectation that was entertained regarding its probable 

 attitude. Comparing the means at its disposal with those which Congress or the Imperial Parliament 

 controls, it has generously sustained us. The State, therefore, has a right to ask whether the society 

 is doing all that it can to serve the public, or whether any modifications in its constitution or practice 

 would enable it to do its work better. 



From the sketch that has been given of its history, it will be t^een that the Eoyal Society is not 

 as it has sometimes been styled, a self-constituted body. We have been called into existence by the 

 head of the State, and have been, substantially as well as formallj-, recognized by Parliament. At the 

 same time we are fiee to make such changes as may be shown to be in any way more conducive to 

 the good of the country. Lord Lansdowne's words to us express the conviction of every member : 

 "The less you have to do with official interference, however well intentioned, in your affairs, the bet- 

 ter for you. The form of government in the world of letters is republican, and that literarj' com- 

 munity will prosper mo.st which depends least on external guidance and official recognition." With- 

 out the least desire to erect a close literarj- and scientific corporation, we think that we may serve as 

 a bond of union between men of thought and letters in Canada, and even between widely scpai-ated 



