1898-99. | MEMOIR. 
tN 
~I 
cable in Canada. When the cable will be laid across the Pacific ocean 
from Vancouver to Australia, of which Sir Sandford Fleming is the 
principal promoter, supported by the Dominion of Canada, the girdle 
round the world, as prophesied by Puck, will be completed, by British 
enterprise, and controlled by British capital. 
“ The next discovery that should be recorded is that of the Bell Tele- 
phone of 1875, and the first line working any distance was one set up in 
that year by Professor Grahame Bell between Paris and Brantford. The 
returns for 1895 gave 44,000 miles of wire and 33,000 instruments. 
“ Electricity was first used as a motive power in Canada in 1883—a 
short piece of track was laid on the grounds of the Toronto Industrial 
Exhibition. In 1885 the track was lengthened, and the overhead trolley 
and wire were used. The first practical street railway was successfully 
demonstrated by the Ottawa Electric Railway Co. in 1892. Anelectric 
banquet was served to 75 guests in the Windsor Hotel, Ottawa, in 1892, 
the entire bill of fare being cooked in an electric oven, the invention of 
Mr. Ahearn. This was the first time an electrically cooked banquet was 
provided. In 1896 there were thirty railways in Canada the motive 
power of which was electricity, with 569 miles of railway. 
“Electric light was first used in Montreal in 1877, by the Harbour 
Commissioners, and in July, 1886, the streets of Montreal were first 
lighted by electricity. In 1888 the first incandescent lights were 
supplied. The first arc lights, used for street lighting in Ottawa, were 
started December, 1883.”* 
The above are a few of the inventions and improvements which have 
taken place during the last fifty years, not the least of which are the 
applications of electricity for the production of heat, light and power, 
and notably for the invention of the telephone, and its adaptation for 
business and domestic purposes. The telephone is universally admitted 
to be a Canadian invention, and Professor Grahame Bell, of Brantford, 
is solely entitled to the honour of being the inventor of what is now 
considered to be an indispensable article in business and_ private 
houses. 
When the Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted to the Cana- 
dian Institute on November 4th, 1851, and accepted by the Society 
of Architects, Engineers, and Surveyors, it was considered by many of 
the original members that the professional character of the Institute was 
absorbed by the more extended views and liberal interpretations as 
* ** Alphabet of first things in Canada.”—/ohnson, 
