THIRD ORDINARY MEETING. 25 



crowned their endeavours. An experiment so successful will bear 

 repetition ; and in all probability some of us here to-night will have 

 the pleasure of welcoming on some future occasion the members of 

 the British Association to our own City of Toronto. 



The British Association is now a little more than half a century 

 old, having been established in 1831. The idea seems to have ori- 

 ginated with Sir David Brewster, and to have been suggested to him 

 by a German Science Congress, instituted eight years previously. 

 The first meeting of the British Association was held at York, and 

 the objects stated were : — 



1. To give a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to 

 scientific enquiry. 



2. To promote the intercourse of those who cultivate science in 

 difierent parts of the British Empire with one another and with for- 

 eign philosophers. 



3. To obtain a more general attention to the objects of science and 

 Si removal of any disadvantages of a public kind which impede its 

 progress. 



It is the latter object which is, perhaps, the peculiar distinction of 

 the British Association. While other learned societies are either 

 select philosophical clubs or associations of those interested in some 

 special branch of science, the British Association is catholic in con- 

 stitution and appeals directly to the public. It demands in its 

 members no literary acquirements, no special scientific attainments, 

 no other qualifications, in fact, than such a degree of interest in 

 science as is shewn by the payment of its fees and the attendance on 

 its meetings. It is not like the Royal Society, for example, a body 

 of men eminent in their respective pursuits, into which entrance is 

 strictly guarded, and whose membership is looked upon as a coveted 

 honour comparable with that conferred by an order of knighthood. 

 It is rather an Association of all those interested in the progress of 

 science willing to aid in its advancement or anxious to learn its con- 

 dition. 



But, though it thus addresses itself to the people and welcomes 

 all who care to come to its meetings, it has always numbered among 

 its members the very brightest names on the roll of British Science, 

 and to this fact it owes alike its dignity and its usefulness. In this 

 i-espect, as in others, the late meeting has been well up to the mark. 



