230 Annual Report of the 



modious building than that which the Society now occupies have 

 been frustrated. In the report of last year it was announced that 

 a site had been obtained, on very liberal terms, from the Governors 

 of McGill College, that plans had been prepared for the building, 

 that contributions to a considerable amount had been subscribed, 

 and that we only waited a favorable offer for the purchase of the 

 present building to commence operations. This last and indis- 

 pensible step to further progress has, contrary to their expecta- 

 tions, not yet been carried into effect. In these circumstances the 

 Society must wait a more favorable season for the prosecution 

 of this good project. Your Council are equally of opinion with 

 their predecessors, that the premises now occupied are most un- 

 suitable in many important particulars, either for a museum, 

 library, or lecture room, and that no great improvement can be 

 expected in any of these departments until a building erected for 

 their special use has been obtained. The Council would earnestly 

 commend this matter to the immediate consideration of their 

 successors. 



Your Council have also to report that petitions have again this 

 year been presented to His Excellency the Governor General, and 

 to both Houses of the Legislature, urging them, from public and 

 national considerations, to grant a more liberal sum of money to 

 the Society for scientific purposes, than we have hitherto received. 

 It may be confidently said that there is no scientific institution in 

 the country so comprehensive in its aims as ours is, possessing a 

 larger collection of scientific objects than our museum contains, or 

 publishing transactions on natural history of greater scientific 

 value than are to be found in our Journal — these facts, we there- 

 fore think, entitle us to some more marked consideration at the 

 hands of the Legislature than we have yet obtained. We deem 

 it at least but justice that this, the oldest and not the least konor- 

 ble of the incorporated institutions of the country, should be placed 

 upon an equal footing as regards public support with the Canadian 

 Institute of Toronto. Hitherto we have been left mainly to our 

 own efforts and resources in arranging and furnishing our museum 

 and library ; and the building we now occupy, together with our 

 valuable collections in zoology, geology, and ethnology, testify- 

 to the liberality of our members and friends. But it is now felt 

 that if the Society is to take that place which the rapid progress 

 of modern science demands, large additions must be made to its 

 museum and library, and some method adopted to keep alive a 



