xxviii PROCEEDINGS. 



The total number of his communications to scientific societies, each 

 of which represents some addition to knowledge, is as follows : In 

 Botany, 93 ; in Zoology, 4 ; in Chemistry, 5 ; and in subjects difficult 

 to classify, 5. These, in themselves, form a far larger body of work 

 than it is the privilege of most scientific men to have been able to exe- 

 cute ; and when one thinks in addition of the work involved in the 

 long series of reports, treatises, etc., of a practical kind which his pen 

 produced, and of the articles in reviews and other periodicals and in 

 cyclopedias, of which no mention has been made above, one begins to 

 form some estimate of the enormous industry, patience, perseverance, 

 and minute attention to detail, of which our late professor was capable. 



A complete list of his published papers, as well as of his books, 

 reports, etc., up to the end of 1894, will be found in the " Bibliography 

 of the members of the Royal Society of Canada," compiled by Dr. J. G. 

 Bourinot, and issued as part of Vol. XII of the Transactions of that 

 Society. A list of the papers communicated to the. Institute during the 

 last four years, including six which do not appear in the Royal Society's 

 list, will be found in the Index to Vol. VIII of our Transactions. 



As to the value of his scientific work, it would be presumptuous in 

 me to offer an opinion. He, doubtless, reached no wide generalizations. 

 It is given to few men to do so. But he added greatly to our knowledge 

 of plant life, and made especially large contributions to our knowledge 

 of the geographical distribution of plants. Whether or not he pos- 

 sessed the ability to do what is called, in German phrase, epoch-making 

 work, it is impossible to say ; for his lot was cast in circumstances in 

 which such work was practically impossible. But, although he was 

 unable to pursue his investigations with the appliances and by the 

 methods which he would have selected, had the colleges with which he 

 was connected possessed adequate equipment, he nevertheless resolutely 

 did what he could ; and he has, consequently, left behind him a mass of 

 useful work accomplished, which forms a monumentum cere perennius. 



Of the value of his work as Secretary of Agriculture, it is difficult 

 to form any estimate. It consisted not so much in the excellence of the 

 Reports which it was his duty to issue from time to time, though they 

 were models of conscientious skill, or in the judiciousness of his official 

 communications with the Agricultural Societies of the Province, though 

 there is no doubt as to the ability with which these communications 

 were conducted, as in the quiet influence which- he exerted over the 



