THE president's ADDRESS. 99 



Miller, by one of our number. "We cannot look back on the last 

 year, and call up before us the events most interesting to those en- 

 gaged in the cultivation of scientific pursuits, without pausing for a 

 moment over this sad reminiscence, and taking comfort in the re- 

 flection—which was suggested on the occasion to which I have re- 

 ferred, — that in the profoundest depths of geologic research, the 

 laborious exertions which overwrought the brain, never made Miller 

 a less devout believer in religious truth. He seems to have proved' 

 in his own life-history, vrhat Bacon has so well expressed, — " It is 

 " true that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism ; but 

 " depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion : for 

 " while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it 

 " may sometimes rest in them and go no further ; but when it 

 " beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together, it 

 " must needs fly to Providence and Deity." 



Turning once more to domestic matters, I shall beg permission to 

 occupy your attention Avith a few observations touching the Mao-- 

 netic and Meteorological Observatory in this city ; which I am the 

 more induced to do from a doubt whether the intrinsic value of the 

 establishment, and its effects in making Toronto known throughout 

 the civilised world as the seat of this Observatory, are sufficiently 

 valued and appreciated among us. 



Established at the instance of the Eoyal Society by the Imperial 

 Government, this Observatory formed one of a chain of stations which 

 were, almost simultaneously, called into existence, either by national 

 support or private liberality, over the whole face of the globe, and 

 were designed, in connection with exploring expeditions, both by sea 

 and land, to furnish the data by which it was hoped the secrets of that 

 mysterious agency, the earth's magnetic force, might be laid bare. 

 Its existence was prolonged much beyond the period which had orig- 

 inally been proposed, and which was found quite insufficient for the 

 accomplishment of the work, — the liberality of the Imperial Grovern- 

 ment being successf idly appealed to by the same learned body to whose 

 exertions its institution was due, — and when ultimately the period 

 arrived when its abandonment was no longer to be deferred, the offer 

 was made to transfer it to the Province with its complete equipment, 

 free (with slight exceptions) of cost, and subject only to the condition 

 of its permanent maintenance. It is a just ground for congratulation 

 that this generous offer was accepted, and that the Province has 

 responded to the call of Science, not only by providing an ample 

 endowment for the Observatory, but by replacing the temporary 



