648 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. {Viorel 
formed. It is a matter of profound satisfaction to find our society, after 
fifty swiftly-passing years, so prosperous; to see rallying round it so 
many distinguished men, and to be privileged to bear witness to its 
development and progress in the presence of the representative of our 
Most Gracious Sovereign the Queen. 
It is fitting that the society should celebrate the beginning of a new 
half century of useful work. It is proper that its members should take 
a retrospective glance at the past, in order the better to pursue their 
useful and elevated aims. To-night we may be said to be taking stock. 
We are reckoning up the net result of the work in which the busy mem- 
bers of the Institute have been engaged for fifty years. To use another 
business expression, we are examining the balance sheet, and in connec- 
tion with this very proper duty I might be tempted to take a general 
survey of the whole field of work accomplished. You would not, I fear, 
greatly thank me if I yielded to the temptation, as it would involve a 
résumé of much which has been achieved in Canadian letters and science. 
Neither shall I at any length presume upon your kind indulgence by 
entering upon various new matters which suggest themselves to my 
mind as befitting the consideration of the Institute. There are several 
important subjects which I would wish specially to dwell upon, but I 
shall best fulfil my duty, on an occasion like the present, by limiting 
myself to a few brief words on two subjects which seem to me to be of 
general interest. I select these two on the ground that, in the wide 
diversity of intellectual activity in this age, there is a well-known dispo- 
sition to give a foremost place to matters directly relating to everyday 
life. 
This society has, from the first, kept in view the establishment of a 
public museum. Many valuable and interesting specimens have every 
year been added to the collection which had long since been commenced. 
New gifts will continne to be added from time to time, so that in the 
event of provision being made for the proper care of all, the collection 
may grow and develop into a national museum worthy of the name. 
It is not alone in the domain of letters and science that the Institute 
may benefit the public. Some may be of the opinion that Art is beyond 
the sphere of this society. I venture to differ from that view. Science 
and Art are frequently, indeed, they are commonly, associated, and it 
seems to me quite within the functions of the Canadian Institute to 
promote any subject which tends to uplift the mind and advance the 
common happiness. 
