XXIV EOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



the speculations of the j^hilosopher, the reasoning of the scientist, and the minute and patient obser- 

 vation of facts that are within the reach of all. In oui- wide stretch of country, from the Atlantic 

 shores to the Pacific, and fcom the great lakes to the frozen soas, with its geological phenomena on 

 so grand a scale, its phj'sical featui'es so varied, its floras aud faunas of sea and land, lake, prairie 

 and mountain, so pregnant with questions of origin, variation, and migration, that arc exercising the 

 minds of the best naturalists of our time, need it bo said that there is abundant, yea, overwhelming 

 material, inviting ail whoso avocations bring them into contact with natui-e, or whose tastes so incline 

 their leisure hours, to make needed contributions to science, whether in mere field observation, 

 the digesting of facts and logical interpretation of jjhenomena, or the less ambitious, although often 

 not less useful, work of collecting specimens ? 



Considerations such as these explain to us the cause of the ajDparent hypertrophy of the two 

 Sections to which reference has been made. They will also tend to reconcile us to a state of things 

 that is the obvious natural outcome of the growth of knowledge. Nor is it to be regretted that the 

 indications of luxuriant growth ai'e in the direction of practical utility. Science is best pursued for 

 its own s.ake ; but eveiy enquiry, however purely scientific it may be, and especially every advance 

 in knowledge of oui- country or its products, may be expected to be followed sooner or later by some 

 new appliance for the supply of human wants. 



Although the work of our present year's meeting is only in progress, yet the printed programme 

 and papers submitted to the Council indicate sufficiently well the progress that is being made. The 

 papers read to-day give earnest of the value of others that have still to come before us. There are 

 ten in the Section of French Litei-ature, several of them relating to important points in our history. 

 Nearly as many are put down for the Engli.sh Literature Section ; some relate to earl}- Canadian 

 history and aboriginal peoples, others are of a literary character. The third Section, of Mathematics, 

 Physics and Chemistry, while it is not without its profound papers in pure science, has also others 

 on subjects having intimate relations to sanitation and agriculture; these will meet with immediate 

 apjireciation beyond the range of mere scientific study. The full significance of a comparison of the 

 programmes of the several Sections ap])ear8 when we are confronted with the Section of Geological 

 and Biological Sciences, in which there are no fewer than thirty-seven papers, with three or four more, 

 subsequently received, raising the total number to upwards of forty. Nearly half of these papers 

 ai'e from gentlemen who are not Fellows of the Societ}', which, taken in conjunction with the other 

 fact that similar contributions from non-members (including one of the largest papers i-elaling to 

 early history in the English Liteiature Section) are found in the other Sections, attbrds gi-atifying 

 evidence of the fulfilment of one object of the Society already referred to, viz., to form a centre or 

 nucleus of research around which active workers thi-oughout the several provinces of the Dominion 

 may be attracted. 



The lai-ge number of 2)apers otï'oi'ed in Section IV, will impose more arduous and responsible 

 duties than heretofore ujion the officers of that Section and the printing committee, in making a 

 selection for publication. But we must also look to the activity of the literary Sections to prevent 

 the Society from becoming lop-sided. With an exuberance of p.ipers on subjects having varied 

 relations to the daily life and work of our people, and the development of the country's natural 

 resources, we need also the refinements of literature, accurate records of history, and the philosophical 

 studies that pertain to mental and moral culture. 



When we look upon the four portly volumes of Proceedings and Transactions alrea<ly issued, and 

 reflect upon the amount of information, I'csearch and thought which they contain on multifiirious 

 subjects of human interest, but all relating moie or less directly to the history, literature, products, 

 and the intellectual and material development of this country, there is no cause for discouragement 

 as to the lesults of our work so far as it has gone. It may bo safely affirmed that in the absence of 

 such means of publication, manj^ of the papers that these volumes contain would not have been 

 produced, whilst others if, written, would have been scattei'ed through the Transactions and Journals 



