PROCEEDINGS FOR 1899 LXXIX 



v.— From The Canadian Institute, through Sir S. Fleming, F.R.S.C. 



The council of the Canadian Institute have the honour to lay 

 before the members the fiftieth annual report. 



During the year three life, four ordinary and four associate mem- 

 bers, eleven in all, were elected. The unusual number of new members 

 and associates added just before the visit of the British Association, 

 twenty-nine in all, may account for the small number during the past 

 year but in any event the record is not satisfactory, especially in view of 

 the growing interest on the part of the public in the work of the institute. 

 Doubtless the liberal policy of inviting the public to our meetings with- 

 out regard to membership while' it increases the usefulness of the 

 institute, may to some extent affect our income unfavourably. As the 

 institute will, during the ensuing session, celebrate the fiftieth anni- 

 versary of its existence, your council recommend that a special effort 

 be made to inteTest by life and ordinary membership, many of our citi- 

 zens who, while they doubtless realize the good work of the institute, 

 are not directly engaged in scientific study. 



As the list of members contained the names of many who were in 

 arrears for fees, the council determined to deal with the subject and as 

 a consequence forty-five names have been removed from the list and the 

 membership is now, from the financial point of view, in a healthy con- 

 dition. The additions during the past five years have been ninety, 

 while the number removed from the list by resignation, death and 

 arrears during the same period is seventy-four. The comparison is, 

 however, unfair, because among the seventy-four were many names 

 more than five years in arrears. 



The number of ordinary meetings held was twenty-one, at which 

 twenty-nine papers were read. These may be classified as follows : 

 Geology 4, Mineralogy 3, Forestry 1, Astronomy 2, Biology 4, Archaeo- 

 logy 3, Ethnology '2, Philology 1, History 3, Architecture 1. Miscel- 

 laneous 6. 



The biological section held eleven meetings at which ten papers 

 were read. The attendance at the regular meetings shows a slight 

 increase over the previous year. 



The publications of the institute during the past session have 

 been as follow : Part 2 of volume 5 of the Transactions and Parts 

 4, 5 and 6 of volume 1, and Part 1 of volume 2 of the Proceedings. 

 The editing committee have held several meetings in connection with 

 the forthcoming Memorial Volume referred to in the forty-ninth 

 annual report which will be issued before the close of the present 



