10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



portion to its appai-ont extent than was the case in former years. 

 The balance sheet has at the first glance a pleasant look, since income 

 ^nd expenditure are duly equalized, and our assets are greatly in 

 excess of our liabilities. But let us enquire more closely into the 

 last item. Has our expenditure been what it ought to have been, so 

 as to promote to the limit of our obligations the interests of pure 

 and applied science ? It is true that our financial condition is better 

 than it was five or six years ago ; but is it as good as it can and 

 ought to be made 1 In order to answer this question, let us recur 

 again to the means by which a scientific institution ought to ])romote 

 the cause of science, and inquire whether in any department we 

 have been cramped so as to impair our efficiency. These means of 

 aiding science may be arranged under four heads, viz. : — 1. The Pub- 

 lished " Proceedings ;" 2. The Library ; 3. The Museum ; 4. Public 

 Lectures. Let us consider each of these items by itself : 



I.— THE PROCEEDINGS. 



The expenditure on this item forms a very large proportion of our 

 total outlay, but it will have to be much lai'ger in the future, if our 

 deliberations are to be of any value, either to the world at large or 

 to the investigators who contribute papers. I have dwelt above on 

 a case in which priority of investigation on the part of one of our 

 members has been ignored through failure of publication in the Joui-- 

 nal, and it will be plain to everyone that no observer will care to 

 contribute to a society which allows a year or more to elapse before 

 the results of his investigations ai-e sent forth to the world. Publi- 

 cation, however, is a costly thing, especially prompt publication ; the 

 cost will increase with the number and importance of our communi- 

 cations, and the Government grant to the institution for this purpose 

 is even now no longer equal to what ought to be our expenditure. 



II.— THE LIBRARY. 



The Council has long since wisely abandoned the attempt to create 

 a scientific library by the purchase of works as they are issued from 

 the press, and our present efibrts are confined to the incorporation in 

 the library of the transactions of scientific societies which we receive 

 in exchange for our " Proceedings." These, regularly bound, form 

 A consulting library in every branch of science of inestimable value 

 to the student ; but the large increase in the number of our exchanges, 



