II ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Hay, A. B. Macallum, A. H. MacKay, G. F. Matthew, T. Wesley Mills, 
D. P. Penhallow, H. 8. Poole, R. Ramsay Wright. 
Letters regretting their inability to attend were read from His 
Grace Archbishop Bégin, L. Fréchette, Abbé Gosselin, Mgr. Laflamme, 
Sir James LeMoine, His Grace Archbishop O’Brien. 
Four new Fellows, Prof. Macallum, Rev. George Bryce, R. F. 
Stupart and Prof. A. Wallace Walker were duly introduced and took 
their seats. 
The Acting Secretary then read the following 
REPORT OF COUNCIL. 
The Council of the Royal Society of Canada have the honour to 
present their twentieth report as follows: — 
1. THE WORK OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 
So far the results that have been reached amid all the disadvan- 
tages that necessarily stand in the way of intellectual progress of any 
high order in a relatively new country are of a character which should 
give the Society much confidence in the future. On the whole these 
results may fairly challenge comparison with the work of similar insti- 
tutions in other and older countries. For some years the contributions 
to the French and English literary sections have taken a far wider 
range ‘than at any previous time since its organization. The catho- 
licity of the Society, in a secular sense, can be judged from the 
presence of men differing widely in politics, creed, and opinion, but 
meeting here on a common platform of intellectual advancement, and 
in this way doing not a little to remove those asperities and prejudices 
which do so much to keep men apart in the world. 
The Society rests on a broad basis of thought and discussion, and 
recognizes no sectional, political or sectarian distinctions in the 
selection of its members, or in the pages of its “ Transactions,” 
carefully avoiding all those purely controversial or party questions 
which are antagonistic to the success of a literary and scientific asso- 
ciation. It claims at the same time for its members the freest and 
fullest discussion within the limits of its legitimate work. It is not 
selfish or narrow in its aim or object, and the literary or scientific 
student who has anything valuable to offer will always find free access 
to its pages. If we consult the programme of the present meeting, 
it will be seen that a fair proportion of the papers are offered by 
learned divines, public functionaries, and scholars who are not mem- 
bers of the organization, but come forward voluntarily to give us the 
