LX ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Once constituted the Society lost no time in getting to work. Its 

 members being scattered over the length and breadth of the Dominion, 

 frequent meetings were impossible, and the Society has, as a rule, con- 

 fteed itself to one meeting a year. Even so the members residing in the 

 remoter parts of the Dominion have found it difficult to attend in con- 

 sequence of the expense entailed. This is the case of course wherever the 

 meetings are held. The Society ordinarily meets at Ottawa, but has on 

 occasions met at Montreal, Quebec, St. John, Halifax and Toronto. 

 A representative number, however, can always be counted on at the meet- 

 ings, and those who cannot personally attend send papers from time to 

 time which are read in the several sections. It need hardly be remarked 

 that the meeting even once a year of from fifty to sixty men, all inter- 

 ested in intellectual pursuits, for the discussion of questions of common 

 interest cannot fail to have a very stimulating and beneficial effect. As 

 a secondary result it makes for the unification of our scattered provinces; 

 and from thatl point of view, as well as from every other, it is a matter 

 of regret that a larger attendance cannot annually be secured. 



If the question be asked what the Society has to show, after twenty- 

 seven years of existence, in the wa}' of accomplished work, we can point 

 to twenty-six substantial volumes of Transactions rnakmg in the aggre- 

 gate over 20,000 pages. The proceedings of the Meeting now about to be 

 held will make a twenty-seventh volume. Mucli of the matter published 

 is of great interest in relation to the histoi'y of Canada. It would not 

 be difficult to mention many extended studies of the first importance. 

 Many scientific memoirs of great value are also contained in these 

 volumes, and many papers tin owing light on tlie resources of the coun- 

 try. All this work it may be observed is done from year to year entirely 

 gratuitously. There can be no doubt, Ihat through the existence of the 

 Society a larger intellectual life has been called into play than would 

 otherwise have been the case. How important this is in an age when 

 inaterial forces and considerations are so strongly, not to say aggressively, 

 asserting themselves, no one can better appreciate than your Lordship. 



I hinted above at a certain lack of popular interest in the proceed- 

 ings of the Society. That is perhaps not Avholly unnatural in a new 

 country grappling with the largest problems of material progress and 

 development; but possibly, had the Society ever been in a position to 

 realize the full programme assigned to it by its Act of Incorporation, it 

 might have occupied a more conspicuous place in the public eye and 

 won a wider appreciation of its labours. Apart from the publication of 

 its own Transactions, its objects are declared to be : " To offer prizes or 

 other inducements for valuable papers on subjects relating to Canada; 

 to aid researches alreadv begun and carried so far as to render their 



