38 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL II. 



value. The procuring by the Canadian Institute of a full collection of 

 specimens of foreign and native species was urged in the interest of the 

 science in Ontario. The decrease in the desire for " stuffed birds " as 

 household ornaments and trimming for ladies' hats was commented on 

 favorably. The careful and just manner in which our bird laws were 

 administered by the Department of Agriculture in the public interest 

 was also spoken of A plan w^as submitted for the consideration of the 

 Institute for the promotion and popularizing of the study of scientific orni- 

 thology in Ontario by securing the co-operation of many corresponding 

 observers throughout the province, and thus compiling accurate and full 

 statistics of migration, food, nesting habits, relations to agriculture, and 

 all other particulars relating to birds. It was also held that an intimate 

 acquaintance with the life history of birds, as well as other animals, 

 cauld be recommended on moral grounds as inducing habits of mercy 

 and truth. 



TWENTY-SECOND MEETING. 



Twenty-second Meeting, nth April, 1891, Mr. Harvey in the Chair. 



Donations and Exchadges 102, including 28 publications of the Geolo- 

 gical and Natural History Society of Canada, by Mr. Thomas Shortiss. 



Mr. Tozo Ohno read a paper on "Japanese Literature." After a short 

 sketch of the early intercourse between Japan and Europe, and of the 

 second opening of the ports by Perry in 1853, Mr. Ohno stated that since 

 the opening of the C. P. R. and of communication between Canada and 

 Japan the latter had become of all Asiatic countries the nearest to the 

 Western w^orld, and in particular a close neighbor to Canada. In 1890 

 the Japanese established a representative Government, being the first 

 Eastern country to do so, and to-day Japan is the one Asiatic country 

 where the people enjoy the civilization of the nineteenth centuiy. The 

 Japanese language had been said by Max MuUer to be " the strangest in 

 the world." An account of the Japanese syllabic alphabet followed, the 

 reader illustrating the various scripts on the blackboard, and giving 

 specimens of the many foreign words that Japanese like English have 

 borrowed from other civilized and uncivilized languages. Like the Eng- 

 lish language in America, too, Japanese has no dialects. The distinction 

 between the different scripts was briefly stated thus : — The katakana or 

 male character is practical, the hirakana or female is poetical, and the 

 kangi is rhetorical ; that is, the male character is used in speaking of 



