nt/ w^ »*'• 



,(L ^2> 



1853.] 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



121. 



iiitt Sniirmi 



TORONTO, JANUARY, 1853. 



full likt ||^' 



INCOaPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER. 



The Annual Address of the President of the Canadian Insti- 

 tute was dehvered on Saturday, January 8th, at the Rooms of 

 the Institute, in the old Goveinment House. The numher of 

 members present exceeded forty. The presence of the Hon. The 

 Chief Justice Robinson and many other distinguished and earnest 

 well-wishei-s of literary and scientific progress in the Canadas, 

 afforded a very gratifying indication of co-operation and interest 

 in the proceedings of the Institute. 



The preliminary business of the evening consisted of the 

 revision and amendment of the Regulations and By-laws of the 

 Institute, the election of members, &c. 



The following gentlemen were elected members of the Institute : 

 The Reverend V/. A. Adamson, D. D., Librarian 



Legislative Council Quebec. 



Charles Rahn Toronto. 



W. J. Fitzgerald Toronto. 



Samuel Spreul Toronto. 



The members proposed were, — 



Major Laehlan Montreal. 



Dr. Connor Toi'onto. 



William Hawkins Toronto. 



Thomas Henning Toronto. 



The President announced the establishment of Two Prize 

 Medals by the Council for the best Essays on the following 

 subjects : — ■ 



1. — A Medal, value £10, for the best comprehensive essay on 

 the Public Works of Canada, their commercial value, their rela- 

 tions to a general system of American Public Works, their 

 engineering peculiarities," cost and other statistics, to be accom- 

 panied by illustrations. 



2. — A Medal, value £10, for the best essay on the physical 

 formation, climate, soil and natural productions of Canada. 



Notice was given by the President that a paper on " The 

 Vol. I, No. 6, .T.s,Nr.4RY, 1853. 



Mineral Springs of Canada" would be read before the Institute 

 by Professor Croft, at their next meeting, on Saturday, January 

 15th. 



The Preshient's Aiinaal Address. 



The termination of the official year, gentlemen, or the 

 commencement of a new session, is the time when it seems 

 fitting for the President of our Society to exercise the privilege 

 of addressing to it that commentary on its affairs, — and its 

 actual position, — or it may be that counsel and suggestion, — 

 which cannot be well incorporated in a Report. I think there 

 can be no difference of opinion as to the advantage of this 

 course, where there is any real activity in the body to respond to 

 it, or the essential part which an annual Address may peiform 

 in sustaining the action of the Society, coming from an officer 

 whose voice will, in general, have a weight precisely proportioned 

 to that earnestness, activity, and ability, of which the Society ia 

 itself the exponent. On this account I have not shrunk fi'om the 

 responsibility of establishing the proper precedent, b}' venturing 

 to address you now, notwithstanding the circumstance that less 

 than twelve months ago you were pleased to accept nie as the 

 President's representative upon a similar occasion. Nor will I 

 pay the Society the questionable compliment of too strongly 

 expressing — what it would, however, be impossible for me not 

 to feel — a sense of unfitness for the office to which you have been 

 pleased to call me; and which, if it implied anything more than 

 an acknowledgement — very gratifying to myself — of previous 

 services, and of, perhaps, some advantages, from accidental 

 circumstances, for aiding the endeavours of the Societj^, I should 

 have been most reluctant to assume. I will merely beg, 

 therefore, that you will on this occasion divest my views or 

 advice from any other claim lo authority than they may possibly 

 derive from the manner in which they commend themselves 

 to your own judgment. 



It is not organization, gentlemen, which makes the difference 

 between things animate and inanimate, but Life. " Stone wallf, 

 do not a prison make ;" nor do apartments and paraphei'ualia 

 make the learned society, — but Learning. It is not enough for 

 us to have combined oureelves to effect certain useful objects, if 

 having done so, we individually leave those objects to take care of 

 themselves. I venture to pi'ess this very obvious truth ; because 

 upon the spirit of our first complete session may probably depend 

 much of the support which we may fairly claim fiora the 

 community, and the interest which enlightened and liberal men 

 may take in our proceedings. In our actual circumstances, we 

 caunot altogether trust, as larger and longer established societies 

 may do, to spontaneous efforts, but must strive to give 

 reality to what in their cases besomes but nominal, — a claim 

 of the society upon the active exertion of each individual 

 member. There is an MS. preserved in the British Museum 

 which gives a list of the members of the Royal Society at 

 a very early date ; and a sort of memorandum against the name 

 of each, as to what might be expected of him. There are some, 

 — and I am sorry to say Newton is one of them, — with the 

 words " no pay " against their names. Sometimes, however, with 



