PROCEEDINGS FOR 1902 III 
benefit of their mature thought and study. On this basis the Society 
has already been able to enlist the cordial and active co-operation of 
a number of able scholars and thinkers, whilst at the same time 
adhering to that rule of limited membership which it has always 
deemed best calculated to sustain the high standard which is necessary 
for the development of literary and scientific culture. It is satisfac- 
tory to know that the labours of the Society ‘have so far obtained 
an amount of recognition among scientific and literary bodies of other 
countries that fully comes up to the hopes of its most sanguine pro- 
moters and friends. The “Transactions” reach every scientific, 
historical and literary society, as well as library of note throughout 
the world, and it is now beyond our means to meet the demands that 
are made upon us to supply the early volumes of the series. The 
Society has circulated its “ Transactions ” with great liberality, under 
the conviction that it can in this way best discharge the responsibility 
that parliament has placed upon it in placing at its disposal a generous 
grant for the publication of its proceedings. 
In its typographical appearance, and wealth of illustrations and 
maps, the “ Transactions ” are only equalled by some half dozen 
societies of a cognate character in Europe and America. The Council 
are convinced that the wide distribution of the volumes has been a 
positive advantage to Canada, since they have reached a large body 
of learned men and earnest students in many countries who otherwise 
would know very little of many phases of the scientific, material, 
political and intellectual progress of Canada. 
The contents of the “ Transactions ” are now so varied in their 
character, that the foreign reader can gather a vast amount of 
information in the eighteen quarto and octavo published volumes 
respecting the Dominion, that no other series of volumes, printed in 
this or any other country, can pretend to offer. Papers on the 
geology and mineralogy of the Dominion supplement the labours of 
the able geological staff of Canada, and are printed simultaneously 
with disquisitions on the development of government, and the nature 
of our political institutions. 
The canal system of Canada is brought to our notice, as well as 
the progress of literature and science in French and English Canada. 
The language and traditions of the aborigines are treated with as 
much fulness as are the history and story of the ancient rocks. Under 
the circumstances the Royal Society claims from the Canadian people 
the same encouragement and attention that it is receiving from those 
countries where its “ Transactions ” are now studied, and at the same 
time appeals to its own members to keep ever steadily in view the high 
duty and responsibility resting upon every one of them. To quote 
