PROCEEDINGS FOR 1903 XXI 



innumerable ages have been flowing to waste, were the theme of 

 the Presidential address of 1899, and every year they become more 

 available by transformation into electrical energy and transmis- 

 sion to indefinite distances for manufacturing purposes. Through 

 the kindness of the citizens of Toronto the Eoyal Society had at 

 Niagara Falls a grand object lesson. But all along the northern line 

 of the basin of the great river of Canada are hundreds of small Nia- 

 garas, sources of wealth which we have hitherto known only as weari- 

 some portages — and the distance of these breaks in navigation is 

 never farther than, even now, is within the limits of easy transmission 

 of power. Such considerations as these, while encouraging and 

 strengthening faith in our country, should warn us to guard jealously 

 against any wasteful deforestation which may tend to impair the even 

 flow of our northern waters. If Providence has held back from central 

 Canada the gift of coal, with which the provinces of the extreme east 

 and west are so richly endowed, there is an incalculable and perennial 

 source of energy at our doors which every advance of science brings 

 closer to us. 



19. Teiangulation along the 98th Meridian. 



This work has been for several years the subject of much interest 

 to the Society, and a committee was appointed to urge upon the Gov- 

 ernment the importance of continuing the line northward through 

 Canadian territory. A letter from Professor McLeod, at page xiv. 

 of vol. 8 of the Proceedings, explains the matter fully. The subject 

 was taken up again at the Toronto meeting and, at the instance of 

 Section 3, a committee was appointed to press the importance of the 

 matter upon the Government anew. The report of that committee 

 is as follows: 



To the Council of the Royal Society of Canada, 

 Memorandum : 



The Committee appointed at the last meeting of the Royal Society for 

 the purpose of ascertaining what action, if any, the Government of Canada 

 is willing to take in the direction of extending the triangulation system of 

 the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey into this country, as urged 

 by the Royal Society in a memorial presented to the Governor-General-in- 

 Council in the year 1898, and to again urge the importance of the work, have 

 the honour to submit the following report: 



In December, 1898, the Royal Society brought to the attention of His 

 Excellency the Governor-General-in-Council a proposal by Dr. Pritchett, at 

 the time Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 

 to measure an arc along the 98th meridian from Acapulco, Mexico, to the 

 shore of the Arctic sea in Canada. The measurement of the meridian had 

 been in progress for some time as part of the general survey of the United 

 States ; the object of Dr. Pritchett in urging its extension through Canada 



