PROCEEDINGS FOR 1894. XIX 



XXII. The Work of the Royal Societt. 



The Council, in concluding tliis report, must once more press on the members of the Society the 

 obligation that rests upon them as upon every similar organization to show their sympathetic intei'est 

 in the work of the Society, not only by a regular attendance but by their contributions to the dif- 

 ferent departments of literary and scientific labour that the ' Transactions ' open to them. So far the 

 results that have been reached amid all the disadvantages that necessarily stand in the way of intel- 

 lectual progress of any high order in a relatively new country are of a character which should give 

 the Society much confidence for the future. On the whole these results may fairl}- challenge compar- 

 ison with the work of similar institutions in other and older countries. During the present session 

 the contributions to the English literary section take a far wider range than at any previous time since 

 its organization. The catholicity of the Society, in a secular sense, can be judged fiom 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 mem- 

 bers, 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 association, 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 nariow in its aim or object, and the literary or scientific student who has anything 

 valuable to ofler will always find free access to its pages. If wo consult the programme of the present 

 meeting, it will be seen that a fair proportion of the papers are offered bj' learned divines, public 

 functionaries, and scholars who are not members of the organization, but come forward voluntarily to 

 give us the 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 calcu- 

 lated to sustain the high standard which is necessary for the development of literary and scientific 

 culture. It is satisfactory 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 promoters and friends. The 'Transactions ' reach ever^- 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 e.arlj' 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 jjroceedings. In its typographical appcai'ance, and wealth of illustra- 

 tions and maps, the ' Transactions ' are only equalled by some half dozen societies of a cognate char- 

 acter 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 eleven published volumes of over six thousand laige quarto pages 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 minei'alogy of the Dominion supplement the labours of the able geological staff of Can- 

 ada, and are printed simultaneously with disquisitions on the development of government, and the 

 nature of our political institutions. The canal system of Canada ia 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 claim from the Canadian people the same encouragement 

 and attention that it is receiving from those countries where its 'Transactions' are now studied, and at 



