THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT MONTREAL. 299 



trip was delightful. We were first entertained by the citizens, and then driven 

 out to Spencer Wood, where the lieutenant governor gave us a magnificent recep- 

 tion. In the evening Lord Lansdowne gave us the crowning reception, in the 

 citadel on the heights overlooking the city. The English and Canadian scientists 

 do not seem to have heard of prohibition. My cab party of English professors 

 took so much wine that they became quite mellow. On our return down the 

 heights the road was very steep and slippery from a recent rain, and we were 

 obliged to get out and walk. It is amusing to see an English professor with a 

 full line of titles trying to navigate down a steep road in a dark night, when his 

 head is all in a whirl. There is a chance for prohibition work even in the English 

 universities. 



" My berth was also occupied by an Oxford professor. He came in after 

 midnight in bad humor. First, some one had taken his umbrella, and then at 

 Lord Lansdowne's party he had lost his Mcintosh. It was amusing to hear 

 him give the Canadians and Americans a blessing. He said there were a few 

 'clever' Americans, but it was a 'beastly' country. There was more real com- 

 fort in London than in all the world besides. One of the distinguished English 

 scientists said their ship, in coming over, struck a whale and cut him clear in 

 two! A lady at the table said that was a fish story. 



"On Sunday our party was on the river, and we extemporized a devotional 

 meeting on the steamer. About a hundred gathered around the piano, where we 

 sang all the hymns we could remember. Several clergymen were present and 

 addressed the meeting. The English sing some sweet hymns not common to 

 this country. The company represented every phase of belief, but there was a 

 religious fervor truly refreshing. As the old songs welled up and floated across 

 the water reminding many of distant homes and loved ones, I could see the 

 tears starting from many eyes. There is something in any common manhood 

 that overshadows creeds and sects. Religion, pure, undefiled, touches the uni- 

 versal heart, and men from all lands melt together and find that they are com- 

 mon brothers. 



" On the steamer I met a Japanese professor from Tokio University. He 

 was sent by the Japanese Government, and graduated at Cambridge, England. 

 He is a follower of Confucius, but said he loved the New Testament in English 

 very much, but the Testament had been translated into such wretched Japanese 

 that he could not understand it. It would be well for the foreign board to look 

 after their Japanese translations. He has charge of the mathematics in the Tokio 

 University, which the government supports at an expense of nearly $400,000 a 

 year. 



" The Association will adjourn next Wednesday, and there are many excur- 

 sions made to places of interest in Canada and the United States. Several hun- 

 dred of the members will take a free excursion to the Rocky Mountains. 



" Some of the speakers in their addresses, referred to their seasickness in 

 the ocean voyage. The mayor of Quebec said probably science would soon 

 overcome this difficulty. Sir William Thomson said probably some way would 



