1898-99. | THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 9 
Attorney-General of the province. Many prominent gentlemen were 
present as guests, thirty-five of whom before they left the room, followed 
Mr. Baldwin’s example and expressed their desire to become members. 
The admirable address of Capt. Lefroy was read from a paper in 
his handwriting which has been found among the archives of the 
Institute ; as it has never been published with the Transactions, it may 
appropriately appear in this sketch along with other addresses on that 
occasion, after an interval of more than forty-seven years. 
Proceedings at the Conversaztone of the Canadian Institute held in 
Toronto on Saturday, April 3rd, 1852, on the occasion of the 
acceptance of office of the first officers and council elected under the 
Royal Charter. 
In the absence of the President, Captain Lefroy. occupied oe Chair. 
The Secretary read the following report : 
Gentlemen,—‘ Your Committee have much pleasure in reporting the 
continued successful progress of your Institution. A Royal charter has 
been obtained, by means of which, the objects and interests of the 
Society have been extended, and its powers established and increased. 
Many new members have been admitted during the past session, and 
your committee are convinced that a more extensive publication 
of the Transactions of the Society alone is wanted to insure for 
it that substantial support which is necessary for its success, and they 
are strengthened in this belief by the expressions of favour and interest 
which have been accorded to it generally by men of education and 
scientific pursuits in the Province. 
A focus around which the many individual efforts of practical science 
may be drawn is much needed in a country where communication and 
co-operation have not as yet been easy of attainment. 
Your Committee are of opinion that the time has now come when 
every effort should be made to embrace as broad a field of practical 
science, in the future operations of the Society, as possible. They trust 
that the Canadian Institute may be made in practice, as well as in prin- 
ciple, to comprehend the various objects, which, in older and more 
populous communities, are commonly appropriated by distinct associa- 
tions, under the title of Societies of Art, Academies of Science, and 
Literary or Historical Societies, in order that by facilitating an exchange 
of knowledge, and inducing a community of purpose and feeling between 
Scientific, Literary, and Practical men, and by uniting their efforts in 
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