XXXll PROCEEDINGS. 



our roll of inenibership lias not lengthened to the extent which is desirable. I 

 feel that we ourselves through our lack of enthusiasm are somewhat responsible 

 for the deiiciency of our progress in this respec*^. The Institute is ready to 

 receive as members not only persons who are actively engaged in scientific re- 

 search, but also all persons who are in any way interested in science ; and there 

 must be many such persons in the acquaintance circles of all our members who 

 might be induced to come in and help us if we would only make sufficient effort 

 to inform them of the privileges of membership. 



The main reas(jn of tlie slowness of our growth however, seems to me 

 to be the lamentable smallness of the number of persons in our 

 Province who have even the very little knowledge of science re(iuisite 

 as a basis of interest in its advancement, and to the necessarily greater 

 lack of persons who are able to cany out even the simplest forms of research. 

 That we have less than the usual proportion of such persons among our citizens is 

 shown not only by the difficulty which we experience in securing active and even 

 inactive members, but also by our almost total lack of circle-squarers, discoverers of 

 the perpetual motion and scientific hobby-riders generally. That it is so very rare 

 an occurrence for any of our citizens to claim to possess ability to create eners;y 

 or to overturn the Xewtonian philosophy, may possibly be due to the universal 

 diffuaion of sound education, but it is more probably due to the general prevalence 

 of scientific ignorance which compels the erratic souls among us to turn their 

 energies in other directions. 



For the fact, or what seems to me to be the fact, that our general scientific 

 intelligence is at so low an ebb, we who are engaged in education must, I think, 

 be held to be largely responsible. I have referred in addressing you on a former 

 occasion, to the difficulties which our higher educational system, or want of sys- 

 tem, throws in the way of the performance of original work by members of the 

 stafifs of our colleges. The present arrangeuients of our school system similarly 

 make it difficult for our intermediate teachers to acquire scientific knowledge, and 

 still more to acquire scientific power, and in consequence make it next to impos- 

 sible for them lo ti'ansmit such knowledge or insight to their pupils. And this 

 arises from two eauses. First, we do not provide them with anything like ade- 

 quate means for the study of science. They are consequently led to qualify 

 themselves on scientific subjects, for the most part by the mere reading of books, 

 gaining therefore only a dead knowledge of facts and laws, and rarely acquiring a 

 conception of science as an ever growing body of knowledge, whose growth may 

 be promoted by the humblest of its votaries if only he learn to use his eyes and 

 ears and hands and brain. 



Secondly, we attach far too great relative importance to literary and linguistic 

 acquirements on the part of our teachers and far too little to the attainment of 

 scientific proficiency. The more ambitious of our teachers naturally aim at win- 

 ning the highest grade of teachers' license ; and the course of study by which this 

 is secured is very largely linguistic and literary and only to a very small extent 

 scientific, while the examinations by which it is tested are far more searchiug in 

 the subject of languages, history, etc., than in the department of science. It fol- 

 lows that it pays a teacher to put his strength into Latin and History and Gram- 

 mar, and to neglect scientific subjects ; and the ambitious man usually does so. 



