326 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



interesting, the buildings where the sessions were held, McGill College, most 

 spacious and suitable, and finally, Principal Dawson himself, the President of the 

 Association, is one of the most distinguished savans of the age. 



The formal opening of the session took place at William Molson Hall of 

 McGill University, on Wednesday, August 26th. 



The commodious hall was crowded to overflowing with the members and 

 their friends, among whom were a large number of ladies. Shortly after ten 

 o'clock the officers of the Association entered the hall amidst the applause of the 

 audience, and took their seats upon the platform. Prof. George J. Brush, of 

 New Haven, Conn., the retiring President of the Association, took the Chair, 

 and among those on the platform were : — Dr. J. W. Dawson, the incoming 

 President; Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Chairman of the Local Committee; Mayor 

 Beaudry, Bishop Bond, Peter Redpath, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, London, Eng.; 

 Dr. Kowaleskwy, Moscow ; Prof. Szabo, Hungary ; Hon. Justice Charles Dewey 

 Day, Chancellor of the University; Rev. Canon Henderson, Rev. Principal 

 MacVicar, Sandford Fleming, Rev. Dr. Haughton, Dublin; Mr. Ormsby, Dr. 

 John Rae, Dr. W. H. Kingston, Dr. Thorburn, Rev. Canon Baldwin and many 

 others. 



Prof. Brush called the meeting to order, and introduced the honored Presi- 

 dent, Dr. Dawson. 



Principal J. W. Dawson, F. R. S., F. G. S., C. M. G,, then took the Chair 

 amid applause, and spoke as follows : 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the Association : 



I need hardly say how highly I esteem the honor you have done me in my 

 election as your President for the present meeting. The unanimous election of 

 a body like this to such an office is, in my judgment, the greatest distinction to 

 which any scientific man on this continent can aspire, and I value it accordingly. 



I have no doubt, however, that in the present case, the choice was in some 

 degree determined by the wish to do honor to Canada, and to give to this ijieet- 

 jng a character as thoroughly international as possible. 



But this view of the reasons for the election by no means detracts from its 

 value. On the contrary, it places the presidency of this Association on a broad- 

 er basis than that of any other office extending over all this wide continent, and 

 thus including all that belongs to the powers that reign both at Washington and 

 Ottawa. Science from her serene height thus overlooks all national boundaries 

 and comprehends this whole world in her scope of vision. 



It becomes your office, therefore, for the time being, to merge the character 

 of citizens of the United States or Canada in that of cosmopolitan men of science. 

 This is what I propose to attempt in endeavoring to perform the duties to which 

 you have called me ; and you will, therefore, kindly regard me as not a Canadian, 

 nor an American, in the narrower sense of that term, but as the President of a 

 society which, in meeting here, assumes a continental and international char- 

 acter. 



