326 Canadian Record of Science. 



Hunt, F.E.S., and Charles Carpmael, Esq., third section, 

 and Dr. A. B. C. Selwyn, F.E.S , and Dr. George Lawson, 

 Ph.D., fourth section ; J. G. Bourinot, Esq., F.S.S., Honor- 

 ary Secretary. All these members of Council were present 

 except Dr. Groldwin Smith, then absent in England. 



At the general business meeting, held in the railway 

 committee room, Parliament Building, Ottawa, on the 

 morning of the 25th of May, the Honorary Secretary read 

 the Council report, the recommendations of which were 

 afterwards embodied in the charter and constitution of the 

 Society. The formal public inauguration of the Society 

 took place in the Senate Chamber, at 4 o'clock in the after- 

 noon. Members of the Society having been presented to 

 the noble Founder, His Excellency set forth the aims of the 

 Society, and expressed the hope that its formation would 

 promote the intellectual development of the Dominion in 

 the higher ranges of thought, letters and research. "Im- 

 perfections," said his Lordship, " there must necessarily be 

 at first in its constitution — omissions in its membership and 

 organization there may be. Such faults may be hereafter 

 avoided. Oar countrymen will recognize that in a body of 

 gentlemen drawn from all our provinces and conspicuous 

 for their ability there will be a centre around which to 

 rally. They will see that the welfare and strength of 

 growth of this association shall be impeded by no small 

 jealousies, no carping spirit of detraction, but shall be nou. 

 rished by a noble motive common to the citizens of the 

 republic of letters and to the students of the free world of 

 nature, namely, the desire to prove that, their land is not 

 insensible to the glory which springs from numbering 

 among its sons those whose success will become the heritage 

 of mankind. 



The President, in his address, mentioned some of the 

 reasons which, in his opinion, justified the institution of 

 such a body in Canada. If the idea had been broached in 

 the past, it had been abandoned owing to obvious difficul- 



