2 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vor Vir 
appellation of Canada is associated with half a continent extending from 
the eastern to the western oceans. 
The founders of this Institute designed that it should have a wide 
sphere of usefulness. They were not satisfied that it should be a local 
Society merely, with its membership confined to the citizens of Toronto. 
The name chosen, the first presidents elected, and the first list of members 
published, furnish evidence of a higher ambition. As the years have 
passed the significance of the name originally given to the Institution 
has kept pace with the expansion of Canada. At first it was provincial, 
it has since then assumed a national character. 
Among the many vicissitudes which time has wrought since the 
Society received its name, there is almost a complete change in the 
population. In the course of events the old inhabitants have for the 
most part passed away, and other people appear on the scene, only a 
small percentage of whom were born into the world fifty years ago. Of 
the men who took an active part in establishing the Canadian Institute, 
three only survive, and as one of the three, the writer has been called 
upon to give a brief outline of the origin of the Societyand his recollec- 
tions respecting it. In consequence of this invitation he has the great 
satisfaction and high privilege of submitting the following paragraphs. 
The character of the Canadian Institute has not always been what it 
is to-day. In its first inception the design was to organize a Society of 
Surveyors, Engineers and Architects. The special objects ofits formation 
are set forth in the first constitution, and prominence is likewise given to 
them in the Royal Charter. The Institute has, however, long abandoned 
the exclusively professional character of its origin and adopted general 
scientific aims. This change has been effected without any up-rooting 
or revolutionary process. No ground gained by the founders and friends 
has ever been lost ; the wise policy has been adopted of always going 
forward and never backward. The reformation of the Society was 
effected simply by opening its doors to the world and ceasing to be pro- 
fessional and exclusive. To this policy may be attributed the measure 
of success which has attended the operations of the Canadian Institute 
for half a century. 
The first germ of the Institute may be traced to a gathering of a few 
gentlemen in a room near the corner of King and Yonge streets, on June 
20th, 1849. The room was used as the office of one of the surviving 
founders, Mr. Kivas Tully. The gentlemen present on that occasion 
were architects, land surveyors and civil engineers, practising in and 
around Toronto, who considered it desirable to establish an association in 
a a 
