Section III, 1885. [ 1 I Trans. Koy. Soc. Canada. 



I . — PifH il len t ia 1 A ddre>^f< ■ 



Bi/ At,kxa\deb .Tohnson, LL.T). 



(Reiul May 26, 1885.) 



At the ainnial incetiiiii- of a ï^ociety such as this, it is customary to take some notice of 

 any changes that may have occaired in its jienionnel. In this Section we have, liappily. 

 none to record, and I think it matter for thaukftihiess that we meet again with unbroken 

 ranks, with no need for sad ol)ituary notices such as have.faHen to the lot of other 

 Sections. 



Taking up, therefore, the most important facts connected with the progress of 

 Science, it is impossible to overlook an event, which has already been frequently referred 

 to in Canada, — I mean the meeting of the British Association in Montreal last autumn. It 

 is natural for this Society, and more especially for this Section, to refer to this event with 

 something more than a passing notice. For, if that visit is to give the impulse to the 

 progress of Science in Canada, which is one of the objects of the Association, then the 

 scientific sections of this Society, especially, ought to be agents, if possible, to some extent 

 in giving it. 



Our own Section, in two at least of its three departments, has probably received more 

 encouragement than any other from the visit. For, while men of the highest eminence in 

 all the Sections of the Association were among the visitors, it happened that there was 

 such a preponderance in Mathematics and Physics, that an American journal (Science) was 

 inclined to call it a '" Section A meeting." 



The object of the Association in migrating from one place to another is. of course, to 

 give a local stimulus to science. This may be seen stated in the records of its earlier, and 

 probably in those of many later, meetings. But we are not left in any doubt on the 

 matter, or required either to speculate on the subject or to search through historical docu- 

 ments, to show this. In the President's Address it is very plainly stated. Lord Eayleigh 

 says : " In the Old World and in the New, recruits must be enlisted to fill the place of 

 those whose work is done. Happy should I be if, through the visit of the Association, 

 or by any words of mine, a larger measure of the youthful activity of the West could 

 be drawn into this service. The work may be hard, and the discipline severe ; but the 

 interest never fails, and great is the privilege of achievement." 



I suppose no one will doubt that, if it devolves on any Society specially to consider 

 what can be done to attain the object of the Association, it belongs to the Royal Society 

 of Canada acting through the several Sections. It becomes us, therefore, in this Section, 

 to consider how we — not merely individually, but as a body — can aid towards the end 

 proposed. The aspirations expressed by Lord Eayleigh were perhaps not necessary to us as 

 a spur, but they are useful as an encouragement, as evidences of sympathy, and as drawing 



Sec. III., 18S.5. 1. 



