2 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Within the memory of living men, the work of historical research 

 has been immensely facilitated and the scientific spirit in its pursuit 

 singularly stimulated by the introduction of scientific methods in 

 the collection, arrangement, and care of the materials for history, 

 the publication of guides, inventories, and calendars, as well as the 

 textual reproduction of documents themselves by transcripts, photo- 

 graphy, or in print, and by the publication of source-books. 



Facts must necessarily constitute the staple raw material of 

 history. It strives to be a transcript of the life that is now past. 

 It treats of man in his proper sphere of activity-, in his relations with 

 the forces of nature and the efi^orts of other men. It is chiefly con- 

 cerned with the workings of his intellect, his will, and his passions 

 so far as they revealed in objective action. Its main purpose, there- 

 fore, is to promote an accurate knowledge of the activity of man's 

 spiritual nature. 



It should also endeavour to verify and test the truth of its own 

 statements and conclusions. 



History has been flippantly described as "an arid region abound- 

 ing in dates." This saying has been probably inspired by a bitter 

 memory of those useful compilations, known as school histories, 

 which results in a conviction that history must necessarily be tedious 

 and wearisome. The natural reaction from this view is responsible 

 mainly for the production of the sentimental, emotional, unreliable 

 popular history, in which the author attempts, as Gibbon said politely 

 about Voltaire, "to cast a keen and lively glance over the surface of 

 history." 



Facts, by themselves, are, of course, not history. Historical 

 materials or documents, standing alone, are not history. They must 

 be organized, elaborated, and combined. This must be done with 

 the proper spirit and in a judicial manner. A story has been told of a 

 naval officer who beguiled the tedium of a long voyage by working 

 out problems in navigation with the master of a merchant ship. 

 A dispute arose between them on one occasion, and the officer, e.\- 

 hibiting gleefully the results of his calculation, remarked: "Figures 

 won't lie." The other, looking it over critically, discovered an error, 

 and, pointing it out, retorted: "Yes, figures won't lie if you work 

 them right, but you must work them right." The same rule applies 

 exactly to historical materials and facts. They won't lie if you work 

 them right. But this must be done. Otherwise, "a little dispro- 

 portion in the emphasis, a little exaggeration of colour, a little more 

 or a little less limelight on this or that portion of the group, and the 



