*72 Canadian Record of Science. 



portrait executed by Mr. Harris may, as yon anticipate, do 

 its part in affording stimulus and encouragement to future 

 votaries of science who may pursue their studies under the 

 auspices of this society. In entering, thirty- four years ago, 

 on the educational work in this city, which has been the main 

 business of my life, I reckoned on this society and on the 

 Geological survey, then under my friend Sir William Logan, 

 as guarantees for the elevation of the study of natural 

 science in this country and in connection with our univer- 

 sity. In this I have not been disappointed ; and if, as you 

 kindly say, I have been ready to further the aims of the 

 society, I have only done what gratitude prompted, as wel* 

 as the feeling that the popularization of science and the 

 promotion of original work for which this society is consti- 

 tuted, must furnish the most potent aids to scientific educa- 

 tion, as well as the best encouragement to those younger 

 workers in natural science whose interests have always been 

 near my heart. For myself, I have felt that the place given 

 to me has been that of an humble student in the school of 

 nature, and an expositor to others of what I have been able 

 to learn respecting the works of the All-Wise, of whose 

 mighty power only a faint whisper can be heard by us in 

 this lower sphere. This society, the earliest established in 

 Canada for the study of natural science, can take credit to 

 itself for the first suggestion of our now great geological 

 survey; for the first invitation to meet on Canadian soil, ex- 

 tended to the great scientific associations of America and of 

 Great Britain ; for a long and invaluable series of scientific 

 memoirs published in its proceedings, which now constitute 

 the most complete repertory of the progress of natural 

 science in Canada, and for the aid and encouragement which 

 it has afforded to many of our ablest workers in scientific 

 education and original research. During the time in which 

 I have had the privilege of being a member of this society, 

 it has passed through some perilous crises, but its course has 

 on the whole been onward ; and as some of its old and tried 

 friends have passed away, others have arisen in their room. 

 It is now in a better and more secure position than ever be- 



