Flora of St. Helen's Island. 373 



future. I am not one of those who delight in calling 

 attention to past failures, or who rejoice in gloomy fore- 

 bodings as to the future. Nor would I, on the other hand, 

 paint in golden hues what would be more accurately- 

 depicted by neutral tint. Hopefulness is an essential 

 element of success in such a Society as ours, but croaking 

 is not the parent of hopefulness, and exaggeration invariably 

 begets disappointment. 



The Natural History Society of Montreal is now 64 years 

 old, and considering the difficulties with which it has to 

 contend, the mere fact of its continued existence is some- 

 thing to be proud of. Like most organizations of the kind 

 it has had its ups and downs ; but on the whole its course 

 has been one of progress. Beginning in 1827 with 26 mem- 

 bers it now numbers, apart from corresponding members, 

 222. Then its property was entirely prospective, while to- 

 day it is entirely free from debt, owns a building which 

 originally cost nearly $11,000 apart from the land, and is 

 now worth a much larger sum. It has brought together 

 large and valuable collections representing different depart- 

 ments of natural history, ethnology and archaeology, and a 

 library containing over 3,000 volumes, many of them of 

 very great value to the scientific man. I refer more 

 particularly to the bound series of scientific journals and the 

 transactions of many learned societies. 



But while our Society was founded in 1827, its true life 

 dates from 1857, when it adopted the " Canadian Naturalist 

 and Geologist " as its organ of publication. It will be 

 remembered that this journal was begun in 1856 by the late 

 Mr. Elkanah Billings, at that time a barrister at Ottawa. 

 The first volume was published by him, but on being called 

 to Montreal to occupy the important position of Palaeonto- 

 logist to the Geological Survey, the continuance of the 

 " Naturalist " was assumed by our Society. In 1884, owing 

 to circumstances which it is unnecessary to detail here, the 

 title of the journal was changed to that of the "Canadian 

 Record of Science," under which name it has been most 

 ably edited by Prof. Penhallow. Altogether we have pub- 



