126 ANNUAL MEETINGS 



TORONTO, 1897 



While the feeling against overseas meetings has 

 never been entirely removed (for that could hardly 

 be expected), the success of the Montreal meeting 

 falsified any fears as to their effects on the well-being 

 of the Association, and when an invitation was 

 received for a meeting in Toronto in 1897, no serious 

 obstacles were raised against its acceptance. It 

 followed lines similar to those of the Montreal meet- 

 ing : there were ample opportunities for intercourse 

 between visiting members and Canadian and American 

 men of science, and for scientific excursions. A 

 special train was provided for a transcontinental 

 journey of nine days' duration after the meeting. 

 Kelvin, Evans, Riicker, and many other leading 

 members took part in this excursion. Receptions 

 were arranged at principal points along the line 

 westward to Vancouver, and occasion was afforded 

 to stop at points of scientific and scenic interest. 



Among the scientific results of the meeting, 

 reference is due to the impression made upon 

 visiting members by the agricultural experimental 

 stations established in Canada, and it was 

 recommended that the Council should approach 

 the home Government with a view to their 

 imitation in Britain. While the Council, having 

 regard to the widely divergent conditions of agri- 

 culture at home, did not find it desirable to carry 

 out this proposal, it did urge upon the Board of 

 Agriculture the desirability of co-ordinating existing 

 institutions for agricultural research and strengthen- 

 ing the scientific work of the Board itself, and this 

 recommendation was sympathetically received. A 



