J. H. Lefroy on the Indian Population of British America. 189 
the platinnm wire, became covered with a growth of tabular 
crystals. Some of them attained a length of from one to two 
millimeters in the course of three weeks. The sides of the glass 
were also covered with brilliant crystals, but only above the zone 
first occupied by the solution of sulphate. A considerable portion 
of the chlorid remained undissolved even after several weeks time 
had elapsed. It would undoubtedly be practicable to obtain 
crystals of any desirable size by this process. 
The form of the crystals was that of an elongated table ter- 
minated by faces of the primary octahedron. ‘The angle OP : P 
was 115° 32/, agreeing with that of the natural mineral. 
Before the blowpipe, the crystals decrepitated strongly and 
gave with soda the reaction of sulphuric acid, and a globule of 
ead. No further examination was made of them 
Arr. XXL—On the Probable number of the Native Indian 
Population of British America ;* by Capt. J. H. Lerroy, R. A. 
Tuere are probably few persons who, in the course of their 
reading in history, have not dwelt with peculiar interest upon the 
glimpses we catch through the mists of the past, of whole races 
of men that have vanished from the face of the earth, leaving no 
heirs or representatives to inherit the richer blessings of our age: 
of nations whose part in the great drama of human life we can 
never ascertain, whose sages are forgotten, whose warriors lie 
with “the mighty that were before Agamemnon” in the obscu- 
tity of oblivion. ‘Then we may remember “how small a part of 
time we share” whose interests are so momentous for eternity ; 
and may recognize, in the force of our sympathy, in the eager- 
hess with which we interrogate the monuments that have de- 
. scended to us; in the curiosity which all their reserve cannot 
baffle; a testimony to the truth of the declaration of the sacred 
historian, that the Creator “hath made of one blood all the na- 
tions upon earth ;” as well as the tie of relationship which unites 
all the descendants of our common parents, whatever their place 
in the stream, or their fortunes on the stage of life. 
Naturalists have been able to number some half-dozen birds or 
animals that have become totally extinct within the period of au- 
thentic history. We have lately seen what general rejoicing the 
discovery of a living specimen of one previously ranked in that 
number (the Apteryr) has created among them. The skull, the 
foot, and a few rude pictures of the Dodo, have furnished ample 
material for a quarto volume. How many might be written on 
* From the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute. 
