TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



OTTIWA LITERARY m mmWK SOCIETY. 



INTRODUOTION 



In his Introduction to tlie last number of tliese Trans- 

 actions, iny learned predecessor in the presidential chair, 

 Professor Edward E. Prince, was so unmindful of any 

 possible bent for loquacity on the part of his successors in 

 office as to declare, without any reservation whatsoever, 

 "that tlie days of lengthy introductions, of formal preludes 

 and prologues, are over." It, theretore, behooves me to say 

 that under the sua.sion of this opinion I shall do my utmost 

 to emulate Polonius, and regard " the soul"' and not "the 

 limbs and outward flourishes" of wit. 



It will be noticed that the bulk of the present issue of 

 I'ransactions is consid'erablyless than that of the preceding 

 volume. This shrinkage arises not from any appreciable 

 falling-: ff in the number of our public lectures during the 

 past two seasons as compared with previous years, but 

 from the fact that, some of them being delivered extem- 

 poraneously, the lecturers were not able to furnish man- 

 uscripts in time for the present publication. This is a 



