ji PROCEEDINGS. 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS : (1) Progress of the Institute; (2) Some 

 Achievements of Chemical Synthesis. By PROFESSOR E. 

 MACKAY, PH. D., Dalhousie University, Halifax. 



PROGRESS OF THE INSTITUTE. 



We enter this evening upon the forty-ninth session of the work 

 of the Institute of Science. Owing to the postponement of the 

 annual meeting, in order to meet in joint session with the Engineer- 

 ing Society, our formal opening is exceptionally late, and the 

 session in consequence will be comparatively short. Let me express 

 the hope that it will nevertheless prove to be the most prosperous 

 and productive in the history of the Society. 



The year closed has been happily free from any losses to our 

 membership through death. Another gratifying feature has been an 

 increase in the average attendance at the monthly meetings. 

 Eleven papers were presented, including two in the department 

 of Biology, three in Geology and Mineralogy, two in Physics and 

 three in Chemistry. The attention of the Society was thus about 

 equally divided between the natural and physical sciences. The 

 Treasurer's report, which will be submitted to you, will show that 

 the financial condition of the Society is more favourable than for 

 either of the two preceding years. A special effort was made 

 during the year to collect membership fees, with the gratifying 

 result that the revenue from this source has been seventy-five per 

 cent greater than that for last year and a hundred per cent greater 

 than that received two years ago. 



The outstanding feature of the year has been the installation 

 of the Institute and its property in its present convenient and 

 commodious quarters. In the Autumn, through the courtesy of 

 the Nova Scotia Technical College, we found a permanent place 

 of meeting in the College building: and in May and June the 

 Provincial Science Library, of which the library of the Institute 

 forms nearly eighty per cent, was removed to the : .ew library room 

 in the west wing of the College building, where, at the present rate 

 of growth, the librarian estimates there will be accommodation, for 

 seventeen or eighteen years to come. The increased space has made 

 the complete classification and arrangement of the library possible 

 and owing to the untiring efforts of the librarian, Mr. H. Piers, 



