Pb Ae Ex. 
The committee on publication named in June last by the Council of the Royan 
SOCIETY OF CANADA have, in the present volume, brought together, in addition to the 
PROCEEDINGS of the Society for its first two sessions—under the title of TRANSACTIONS—a 
collection of papers and abstracts of papers read or presented to the several sections of 
the Society at these meetings. The selection of the papers to be thus published was 
made by committees named for that purpose by the several sections, although, as will 
be seen by comparing the recommendations of these sectional committees given in the 
Proceedings with the Table of Contents of this volume, some of the papers thus recom- 
mended do not appear, haying been, for various reasons, withheld by their authors. 
With regard to several of these papers here published it should be said that they were 
printed while their authors were absent in remote parts of the country, in consequence of 
which some typographical errors have escaped correction in the text, and are noted in 
a list of Errata. 
The difficulties attendant on the printing and the illustrating for the first time of a 
work of this kind and magnitude are many 

a consideration that may help to excuse some 
defects in the execution of the task, for which the committee claim the indulgence of the 
reader, trusting that the volumes which, it is hoped, will succeed this, may be freer from 
minor errors. 
The committee deem it proper to call attention to the fact that the type, the paper, 
and illustrations of this volume, have all been made in the country. 
Montreal, December, 1883. 
