The Royal Society of Canada. 9 



the courteous replies given by societies abroad, and the presence of 

 delegates from some of them, and the probable influence of the 

 contemplated visit of the British Association on Canadian science. 

 He also referred to the care which would be taken with regard to 

 expenditures on publications. He next noticed the removal by 

 death of one of the members of the Society, Mr. George Barnston, 

 and paid a tribute of respect to his personal worth and valuable 

 services to Canadian science. 



The remainder of the address was occupied with remarks on 

 the progress of Canadian science, considered as embracing the 

 two great branches of experimental and observative investigation. 

 In chemistry and meteorology Canada had made greater progress, 

 and was better provided with means of research than in physics and 

 astronomy ; but appliances were increasing, and the educational 

 activity in these branches gave the prosp ct of greater progress in 

 the future. In geological and biological science the most important 

 public provision was that furnished by the Geological Survey, 

 which had the great advantage of being general rather than pro- 

 vincial, but was not as yet adequately provided for, either in 

 buildings or means, and should have a greater amount of inde- 

 pendence. Private research in geology and natural history had 

 naturally made more progress than in most other departments, but 

 there was a boundless field for exploration and study which had 

 as yet been merely touched, and as there were educational 

 facilities in abundance it was hoped that the number of scientific 

 collectors and investigators would increase. In all these depart- 

 ments it was the function of the Society to aid, stimulate and 

 encourage, and to afford scope for discussion and for publication. 



In conclusion, he referred to the connection of science with 

 literature. The two departmants were in this Society intimately 

 associated, the literary sections being in some sense scientific as 

 well. Science has a literature of its own, great and increasing, 

 and which competes with history and fiction tor the popular eye 

 and ear. Nature, rather than art. is the foundati"n of the best 

 literature. It is on this, rather than in the graces of composition > 

 or the tricks of style, or the flowers of imagination, that enduring 

 literary fame must be built. This is especially the case in this 

 country where history ha« been and will be marked out by its 

 physical features and resources, and where our real poetry is that 

 of our great rivers and vast lakes, our boundless pla ns, our 



