CANADA'S INTELLECTUAL STATUS AND INTELLECTUAL 
NEEDS 
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, Ladies and Gentlemen, 
I recall vividly my trepidation on the occasion of my first speech 
before an undergraduate debating society, and I have not forgotten 
with what hesitancy I commenced my first lecture as a lecturer in 
my University. To-night I take refuge in the paradoxical thought 
that one of the first qualifications in any attempt to discuss a subject 
is the sincere and unaffected conviction of inability to do it justice. 
An old friend of mine, a politician of some experience, was on a plat- 
form at a ward meeting with a young fellow who had for the first 
time to address such a public on the tariff question. The young man 
said to him, “I’m so nervous about my speech; I really do not seem 
properly to know my subject.” His senior answered, ‘‘Recollect, 
my friend, how much less these people know than you do, and you'll 
soon get confidence.” But no such assurance can come to one who 
finds himself addressing a Royal Society. If, however, life is greyed 
by a sense of one’s unworthiness on exigent occasions, it is brightened 
by the thought of the charity of one’s confréres; and the generosity 
which honoured me with the distinguished office of President of the 
Royal Society will condone the shortcomings of my Presidential 
address. 
Professor Frank D. Adams in his admirable Presidential address 
in Montreal in 1914 discussed Canada’s physical resources and their 
proper conservation. I have selected as my subject Canada’s intel- 
lectual status and Canada’s intellectual needs. The subject is a 
broad one and in some respects intricate or vague; some phases 
of it without doubt will escape me, and some I shall deliberately 
avoid. I make no pretense to an exhaustive discussion. To anyone 
attempting an analysis two divisions will present themselves: first, 
the general intellectual condition of our people, as indicated by various 
existing institutions, and the influences affecting this condition 
and these institutions; and secondly, the way in which and the extent 
to which Canada has contributed or could and should contribute to 
the scientific, literary and artistic assets of mankind. Under this latter 
heading fall scientific research, important literary work, etc. 
