4 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. II. 



referred to as crippling every effort to progress, and it was suggested 

 that the annual fees be raised from $4 to $10, or even more. It was held 

 that "after an existence of forty years the Institute should occupy a very 

 much higher and more honourable position in Ontario and Canada than 

 it does. Its dicta on scientific and historical matters should be respected^ 

 its library of works upon such subjects ought to be the best in the 

 Dominion, its opinions should be quoted, and its wishes consulted. Its 

 publications should be sent among the people by thousands, and not by 

 a few paltry hundreds, and to be one of its members ought to be regarded 

 as highly meritorious." A supposititious account of the Institute twenty 

 years hence brought out by comparison many existing defects. The 

 following were offered as suggestions for the future : — Summer and winter 

 meetings elsewhere than in Toronto ; special meetings' in the rooms dur- 

 ino" the regular session, with invitations to the public ; increased activity 

 on the part of individual members ; increased annual payments and an 

 entrance fee; removal to larger and more conveniently situated premises,, 

 and a change in the night of meeting ; failing increase of revenue and 

 ability to secure better accommodation, to hand the library and museum 

 over to the City Public Library, or the books alone to it, and the museum 

 to the University. Reference was made to the attempts of some to 

 secure Upper Canada College, and a suggestion to organize the Institute 

 on a basis analogous to that of the Washington Smithsonian was dis- 

 cussed The paper closed with a suggestion that a committee be ap- 

 pointed to take the whole of this subject into consideration and " prepare 

 a report whereby it may be deemed possible to place the Canadian 

 Institute on such a footing financially, and influentially, as may tend to 

 its becoming all it ought to be, and all its best friends fervently desire it 

 should be, namely, the largest, most useful, and best accredited scientific 

 association in Canada, and not inferior to the best in any other countr}'. 



Mr. O. A. Rowland suggested the propriety of making a valid claim 

 to the Upper Canada College grounds. He thought that a united effort 

 should be made by the Institute and other societies for that purpose. 

 The Institute would start with a certain amount of capital, and would be 

 entitled to take the lead. The Upper Canada College grounds would be 

 the very best site for the purpose. It would be the most suitable for the 

 musical societies, for the Art Association, and for museum purposes, and 

 would be one of the most prominent objects presented to the visitors of 

 Toronto. He suggested that the members who had formerly been 

 appointed on the committee to act with other bodies should be re- 

 appointed. 



Mr. William Houston was in favour of changing the night of meeting 

 from Saturday to some other night of the week. It would be an advan- 



