6 TRANSACTIONS. 1906-7. 



result than the welding together of the material we already have 

 here into one vital whole by giving it a headquarters and a home — 

 I insist upon a home, for personal contact and intercourse are 

 essential conditions of intellectual life and progress. 



We want something more than an annual course of lectures, 

 however instructive and interesting; we want something more 

 than mere books. We want the smouldering intellectual fires to 

 be fanned into flame. We want the opportunity for enlarged and 

 fruitful activity. Just as the crude gem receives new value by 

 rubbing against matter of its own substance, so the faculties of 

 man are aroused, brought forth and polished by rubbing against 

 those of others. 



The transactions of the Society which were founded some 

 years ago and of which three numbers have been issued, should 

 and must, now that our activities will be devoted more and more 

 to their true purpose, be issued regularly. The value of the trans- 

 actions is two-fold: in the first place, as a medium for putting in a 

 permanent form the work of members who are contributing to the 

 increase of knowledge; and in the second place, as a means of 

 offering a quid pro quo for the similar publications of other societies 

 the world over. The latter means that we are put in direct touch 

 with the whole literary and scientific world, a circumstance of 

 the very highest importance. We have already a fair exchange 

 list, but it can be largely increased. The issuing of transactions 

 will undoubtedly hereafter constitute our main claim upon the 

 annual support and grant from the Ontario Government. 



The capital of every nation is, if not its commercial, its intel- 

 lectual centre, and this Ottawa should be for Canada. It is already 

 the Mecca of many. The development of Canada, of any country, 

 is essentially a matter of brain power. 



We hear much these days of the City Beautiful, and of making 

 Ottawa a city beautiful, a desire, I am sure, in which all our citizens 

 most heartily participate. But this, as commonly understood, 

 has reference exclusively to the material adornment and embellish- 

 ment of the city. A true City Beautiful is one in which material 

 and intellectual improvement go hand in hand. 



The time is eminently ripe for a movement leading to the 

 founding of such an institution as I have indicated. 



I am uttering these words in the hope that they may reach a 

 responsive ear, and also to discharge a duty that I feel I owe to 

 my fellow-citizens to whom the matter is assuredly one of deep 

 and serious interest. 



