PROCEEDINGS FOR 1883. LI. 
In the sections dealing with literature, it is proposed to establish a reading committee, whose 
duty it shall be to report on the publications of the year; that our thanks may be given to the authors 
who advance the cause of literature among us. To assist in that most necessary enterprise, the forma- 
tion of a National Museum, circulars have been addressed by the Society to men likely to have oppor- 
tunities for the collection of objects of interest, and the Hudson’s Bay Company’s officers have been 
foremost in promoting our wishes, The Government is now prepared to house all objects sent to the 
Secretary of the Royal Society at Ottawa, and contributions for collections of archives, of antiquities 
and of zoology, and of all things of interest are requested. I rejoice, gentlemen, that I have been 
able to be with you now that a year has elapsed since our inauguration, as this period allows us in 
some measure to judge of our future prospects. These are most encouraging, and the only possible 
difficulty that I can see ahead of you is this: that men may be apt to take exception to your mem- 
bership because it is not geographically representative. I would earnestly counsel you to hold to 
your course in this matter. A scientific and literary society must remain one representing individual 
eminence, and that individual eminence must be recognized if, as it may happen accidentally, per- 
sonal distinction in authorship may at any particular moment be the happy possession of only one 
part of the country. A complete work and one recognized for its merit should remain the essential 
qualification for election to the literary sections, and the same test should be applied, as far as pos- 
sible, to the scientific branches. If men be elected simply because they came from such and such a 
college, or if they be elected simply because they came from the east, from the west, from the north 
or from the south, you will get a heterogeneous body together, quite unworthy to be compared with 
the foreign societies on whose intellectual level Canada, as represented by her scientific men and 
authors, must in the future endeavor to stand, 
One word more as to the kindly recognition already given to you. 
In America, in France and in Britain the birth of the new institution has been hailed with joy, 
and our distinguished president is at this moment also a nominated delegate of Britain. An illness 
we deplore has alone prevented the presence of an illustrious member of the Academy of France, 
and the French Government, with an enlightened generosity which does it honour, had expressed its 
wish to defray the expenses of the most welcome of ambassadors, We have the satisfaction of cor- 
dially greeting an eminent representative of the United States, and we express the desire which is 
shared by all in this hall, that our meeting may never want the presence of delegates of the great 
people who are dear as they are near to us. 
It is, gentlemen, greatly owing to your organization that the British Association for the Advan- 
cement of Science will next year meet at Montreal, following in this a precedent happily established 
by the visit last year of the American Association. These meetings at Montreal are not without 
their significance. They show that it is not only among statesmen and politicians abroad that Canada 
is valued and respected, but that throughout all classes, and wherever intellect, culture and scientific 
attainment are revered, her position is acknowledged, and her aspiration to take her place among the 
nations is seen and welcomed, 
I am sure that your British brethren have chosen wisely in selecting Montreal, for I know the 
hearty greeting which awaits them from its hospitable citizens, The facilities placed at the disposal 
of our British guests will enable them to visit a large portion of our immense territory, where in 
every part new and interesting matters will arrest their attention, and give delight to men who, in 
many cases, have but lately realized our resources. Their words, biased by no interests other than 
the desire for knowledge, and founded on personal observation, will find no contradiction when they 
assert, that in the lifetime of babes now born, the vast fertile regions of Canada will be the home of a 
people more numerous than that which at the present time inhabits the United Kingdom. 
I must not now further occupy your time, but would once more ask you to accept my heartfelt 
thanks for the determination shown by all to make the Royal Society a worthy embodiment of the 
literary activity and scientific labour of our widely scattered countrymen throughout this great land, 
