Ixxxii REPORT — -1897, 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 



Beport of the Council for the Year 1896-97, presented to the General 

 Committee at Toronto on Wednesday, August 18, 1897. 



The Meeting at Montreal in 1884 was the first occasion on which tlie 

 Association held a Meeting beyond the limits of the United Kingdom. 

 Some of the Members then considered that it was a hazardous experiment ; 

 but the decided success of that Meeting fully justified the innovation, 

 and when an invitation was received for holding another Meeting in the 

 Dominion of Canada, in the University City of Toronto, the General 

 Committee accepted it with unanimity. 



The Executive Committee at Toronto have succeeded in making very 

 complete preparations for the reception, not only of British Members of our 

 Association, but of several Continental and numerous American Men of 

 Science who propose to take part in our proceedings. The Council desire 

 to record their grateful sense of the e0"orts made by Professor Macallum and 

 his colleagues to render this Meeting a success, and of the liberality with 

 which those efibrts have been supported by the Dominion Government, 

 the Government of the Province of Ontario, and the City of Toronto. 

 The Council also desire cordially to thank the Associated Cable Companies 

 for granting, under certain restrictions, free ocean telegraphy during the 

 Meeting to Members coming from the United Kingdom. The Council 

 have likewise to offer their thanks to the several Railroad and Steamship 

 Companies which have afforded special facilities to Members. 



The Council have nominated Sir Donald Smith, High Commissioner for 

 the Dominion of Canada, the Hon. Arthur Sturgis Hardy, Premier of the 

 ProAdnce of Ontario, and the Mayor of Toronto to be Vice-Presidents of 

 the Association. 



The Council heard with great regret that Mr. Alan Macdougall, who 

 was appointed one of the Local Secretaries for the Toronto Meeting, had 

 died after a long illness. Mr. Macdougall took an active part in the pro- 

 ceedings which gave rise to the invitation to Toronto, presented to the 

 Association in the year 1894, at the meeting at Oxford. 



The Council have been informed by Mr. Vernon Harcourt that he 

 does not intend to offer himself for re-election as General Secretary after 

 the Toronto Meeting. Mr. Vernon Harcourt has held the office of General 

 Secretary for fourteen years, and the Council desire to record their sense 

 of the invaluable services which he has constantly rendered to the 

 Association during this period. The Council recommend that Professor 

 Roberts- Austen, C.B., F.R.S., be appointed General Secretary in succession 

 to Mr. Harcourt. 



Professor Schafer having informed the Council that it would be incon 



