376 Canadian Record of Science. 



Manchester Museum, and have, we are told, been fairly- 

 attended. A course of evening demonstrations by the 

 keeper in the museum there has also been attempted, but 

 has been given up as it did not meet with satisfactory 

 encouragement. 



We are sometimes told that our Society does little for the 

 public ; but such a statement can only arise from ignorance. 

 Much more I admit might be done, but if we measure what 

 has been accomplished by the support which we have 

 received from the apathetic public of this city, then I say 

 there is little ground fur complaint on the part of the public. 

 Let any fair-minded person study our Eecords with care, 

 and I believe he will admit that they contain a history of 

 self-sacrificing endeavour to benefit the community and 

 advance the cause of science. If we have failed to accom- 

 plish very grand results, it must be borne in mind that all 

 along we have had to struggle for bare existence, that our 

 work has, for the most part, been done by men harassed 

 with the cares of business life or worried with the ever 

 increasing duties of modern educational or professional 

 work. 



I have referred to the value of our journal, to the import- 

 ance of our lectures and museum as means of public educa- 

 tion, but let me remind you that the inception of the 

 Geological Survey of Canada was largely due to the energetic 

 action of this Society in 1841 ; that the city owes the visits 

 of the American Association for the advancement of science 

 in 1857 and 1882, and of the British Association in 1884 to 

 this Society. The Eoyal Society of Canada, too, holds its 

 meeting here next week owing to an invitation from our 

 body, and there is every reason to believe that good results 

 will flow from this gathering. Speaking as one of the 

 Fellows, I may say that, while I believe that Ottawa 

 should he the permanent headquarters of the Eoyal Society 

 and the place where most of its meetings should be held, 

 an occasional gathering elsewhere will be beneficial both 

 to entertained and entertainer. It was never, however, 

 intended that the Eoyal Society should be peripatetic like 



