926 report — 1884. 



in this portion of Her Majesty's Empire may be as happy and as fruitful to the 

 Association as it is grateful, for so many reasons, to the people of Montreal and of 

 the Dominion. 



FROM THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



[Presented August 27.] 



To the President and Council of the British Association for the Advancement 



of Science. 



My Lords and Gentlemen, — The Royal Society of Canada greets with cordial 

 welcome the members of your Association on the occasion of its first visit to the 

 American Continent, and rejoices to find among those who have accepted the invi- 

 tation of the citizens of Montreal, so many names renowned as leaders in scientific 

 research. 



The Royal Society of Canada, which is a body recently organised, and in the 

 third year of its existence, includes not only students of natural history and natural 

 philosophy, who make up together one-half of its eighty members, but others 

 devoted to the history and the literature of the two great European races, who are 

 to-day engaged in the task of building up in North America a new nation under 

 the shelter of the British Flag. 



Recognising the fact that material progress can only be made in conjunction 

 with advancement in literature and in science, we hail your visit as an event destined 

 to give a new impulse to the labours of our own students, believing at the same 

 time that the great problems of material nature, not less than the social and political 

 aspects of this vast realm, will afford you subject for profitable study, and trusting 

 that when your short visit is over, you will return to your native land with kindly 

 memories of Canada, and a confidence that its growth in all that makes a people 

 good and great is secured. * 



FROM THE MAYOR, CORPORATION, AND CITIZENS OF QUEBEC. 



[Presented August 30.] 



To the President and Members of the British Association for the. Advancement 



of Science. 



My Lord and Gentlemen, — It is with the greatest pleasure that I welcome 

 you in the name of the Corporation and Citizens of Quebec to the Capital of our 

 Province. Your Association demands universal respect and esteem, since its 

 object is the promotion of science, which has ever done so much for humanity. 



For a lengthened period labour, which is the law of our nature, was chiefly a 

 physical activity, an exertion of the body more than of the mind. 



Science has wrought a radical change in this respect. By subjecting the hidden 

 powers of nature to the will of man, it has enabled him to substitute their energies 

 for his own physical strength. The very wheat which enters into the composition 

 of man's daily bread, was for thousands of years crushed with his own hand, and 

 the same primitive process yet prevails in lands where practical science is unknown ; 

 for to its teachings and results are we indebted for those gigantic mills, in which 

 a few enlightened minds, having the forces of water and steam under their intelli- 

 gent command, do better and quicker work than millions of arms in bygone ages. 



Thanks to the results of science, the humblest individual of modern times may 

 possess comforts which a few centuries ago were denied to princes. We are in- 

 debted to it for those wonderful developments in the arts and manufactures which 



