ADDRESS 
BY 
THE RIGHT HON. SIR LYON PLAYFAIR, 
HG. Bes) Wick ss Haass 
PRESIDENT. 
I. Visit to Canada. 
Our meeting at Montreal was a notable event in the life of the Brit- 
ish Association, and even marked a distinct epoch in the history of 
Civilisation. It was by no mere accident that the constitution of the 
Association enabled it to embrace all parts of the British Empire. Science 
is truly catholic, and is bounded only by the universe. In relation to 
our vast empire, science, as well as literature and art, is the common 
possession of all its varying people. The United Kingdom is limited to 
120,500 square miles, inhabited by 35 millions of people; but the empire 
as a whole has 85 millions of square miles, with a population of 305 millions. 
To federate such vast possessions and so teeming a population into a political 
unit is a work only to be accomplished by the labours and persistent 
efforts of perhaps several generations of statesmen. The federation of its 
science is a subject of less dimensions well within the range of experi- 
ment. No part of the British Empire was more suited than Canada to 
try whether her science could be federated with our science. Canada 
has lately federated distinct provinces, with conflicting interests arising 
from difference of races, nationalities, and religions. Political federation 
Snot new in the history of the world, though it generally arises as a 
‘Consequence of war. It was war that taught the Netherlands to federate 
It was war which united the States in America; federated 
Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, and unified Italy. But Canada 
formed a great national life out of petty provincial existences in a time 
of profound peace. This evolution gave an immense impulse to her 
national resources. The Dominion still requires consolidation in its vast 
extent, and applied science is rapidly effecting it. Canada, with its great 
expanse of territory, nearly as large as the United States, is being knit 
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