578 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



(b). The Erroneous Attitude of the Prevailing Method 

 Toward Records as Such. 



This question will be examined under the following heads: — 

 i. What is the purpose of a record as such ? 

 ii. What are the conditions governing the creation of a trust- 

 worthy record ? 

 iii. What is the attitude of the prevailing method toward records 



as such ? 

 iv. What is the ground of that attitude ? 



i. What is the purpose of a record as such? It is a fundamental 

 and pervading principle of all records as such, including the organized 

 and literary narratives, the creation of which is the ultimate object 

 of historical science, that they are designed primarily, chiefly, and 

 essentially, not for those who have, but for those who have not, access 

 to the recorder's or narrator's sources and opportunities of informa- 

 tion. The record or narrative in fact is intended to be a substitute 

 for these sources and opportunities, and to serve the purpose of such 

 persons expressly because they have not this access, and are not in 

 fact, or are not expected to be, in a position to judge of the points or 

 events in question otherwise than by the record or narrative itself. 

 This essential principle can be seen in so simple a case as an entry in 

 a diary: the diarist records the item because he expects that the time 

 will come when his present information on the point will have vanished 

 from his mind and memory, and then, these sources of the information 

 being no longer available, the record is to serve him in their stead. 

 In all historical records and narratives as such, the same essential 

 principle holds. They are intended specifically for users who cannot, 

 or will not, go to the recorder's or narrator's sources of information, 

 either because these sources may presently have ceased altogether to 

 exist, or, if they still exist, the user has not the necessary time, or 

 ability, or desire, or reasonably convenient access; for if he had the 

 same sources and access, and the same time, the same ability, and the 

 same desire, he would not need the other's narrative : he would be his 

 own historian. 



ii. What are the conditions governing the creation of a trustworthy 

 record? These conditions are two: — 



1. The exact sources or grounds of any statement by the recorder 

 or narrator, unless he reveals them himself, cannot be scientifically 



(exactly) known. If, e.g., I state in an obituary of A K , 



written in the year 1912, that in 1834, he sailed as a child with 

 his parents from the port of Hull in England to Quebec in Canada, 



