336 SCIENCE IN Rupert's land. 



and Carho of different authors), forming the sub-family Sulinae, may 

 occupy the third position ; Plotince, characterized by the long flexible 

 neck, which has obtained for the birds the name of "snake birds," 

 take the fourth place ; and the anomalous Pelicans themselves, Pele- 

 canidae, seem fitly to fill the fifth. 



What has thus been brought forward in respect to one order and 

 one family is an example of what I conceive to be the proper treat- 

 ment of every division of the animal kingdom, and I cannot but feel 

 that it presents to our notice at the same time the affinities and analo- 

 gies of natural objects with a clearness and effect of which we find 

 the want in the methods more commonly employed. It is, of course, 

 only from a number of instances appearing to yield truly natural re- 

 sults, and all plainly displaying the corresponding analogies, that any 

 general conclusion can be drawn in favour of the system, and my con- 

 fidence in it arises from my belief that I can produce such instances, 

 and from the uniformity with which I have found the general idea in 

 my mind assist me in the solution of diflficult questions, and in im- 

 proving the arrangement of tribes which seemed to me to have been 

 left by others in the most unsatisfactory condition. 



SCIENCE IN RUPERT'S LAND. 



COMMUNICATED BY DANIEL WILSON, LL.D. 



The present year has witnessed, in the founding of the Institute 

 of Rupert's Land, a remarkably interesting illustration of the changes 

 which are slowly but surely revolutionising this vast continent ; and 

 giving evidence of an intellectual dawn which heralds the period 

 when states and empires of the great northwest are to claim their 

 place in the world's commonwealth of nations. The meeting for the 

 formation of the Institute was held on the 12th of February, in the 

 Court-room of Upper Fort Gany, where the Lord Bishop of Rupert's 

 Land, as president of the Institute, delivered the opening address. 

 After alluding to the Universities and other seats of learning in 

 England, and to the influence they had exercised in fostering science, 



