LXfl EOTAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



The Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, when that association 

 met in Montreal ten years ago, was so much impressed with the urgency of investigations of this 

 kind that it not onl3- appointed a committee to deal with the subject, but has since given each year 

 a substantial grant from its own funds in aid of this work. The Canadian Government for several 

 years supplemented this grant, and eight reports filled with valuable observations on the Westci'n 

 tribes have so far, as a result of this action, been published in the annual re])0rts of the association. 

 It has been decided, however, that the functions of the committee, with the grant accorded by the 

 association, shall cease this year, so that if further progress is to be made, the matter must now be 

 taken up by the Canadian Government. It is earnestly to be desired that the government may at 

 least contemplate the attachment either to the Indian Department or to some other dejiartment of 

 a properly qualified ethnologist, by whom these investigations may be continued. 



The Royal Society of Canada has fortunately been able to afford the means of publication for some 

 valuable ethnological and philological material, to which it maj' be observed several missionaries have 

 contributed lai-gely. The government has also on several occasions by means of small special grants, 

 aided in the production of dictionaries of the Indian languages. But this is not enough ; the investi- 

 gation of the native races themselves should be sj'stematically prosecuted till all that can bo gathered 

 in relation to them shall have been ascertained. Specimens, too, illustrating the arts, the manufac- 

 tures and the anthropology of the native races should be collected and carefully preserved. Upon 

 the Pacific Coast, where the aboriginal arts are most remarkably developed, many collectors have 

 already descended, bearing away to Germany and to other foreign countries much that should have 

 the greatest interest to Canada. To fully appreciate the importance of this task it is necessary to 

 endeavour to realize in what way the next generation may regard any omission on our part in 

 fulfilling this duty. 



Canada is perhaps too young to afford public support to purely abstract I'esearches in such 

 subjects as chemistiy, physics or biology, however valuable their possible results may be to the 

 general knowledge of the world. Neither can we expect at present to organize and send abroad 

 scientific missions of exploitation or expeditions to enrich our museums with the records of ancient 

 civilizations drawn from the mounds of Syria or the sepulchres of Egypt. For such enterprises, if 

 they are to be undertaken, we must trust entirely to the munificence of private individuals ; but for 

 all that tield of scientific investigation which relates to our own vast territory, I feel strongly that we 

 should accept the responsibility, and in expressing this feeling trust that I have the sympathy not 

 only of the members of this Society, but also of the general public. 



On the conclusion of the address a vote of thanks was given to the learned president on the 

 motion of the Governor-General. 

 The meeting then adjourned. 



SESSION III. {May 23rd.) 



The Society, in accordance with order, met in the Assembly Hall of the Normal School at 10 a.m., 

 and the President called the meeting to order. 



The consideration of the report of the Council was further dcferi-ed until a later meeting on 

 Friday. 



General Business. 



The following resolutions were adopted : — 



(1.) Resolved, That Eule 6 be suspended, and that His Honour John C. Schultz, M.D., Lieutenant- 

 Governor of Manitoba, who was unanimously elected a Fellow of the Society by Section II., be 

 declaied a Fellow of the Royal Society. (On motion of Dr. Stewart, seconded by Dr. Bourinot.) 



