414 Proceedings. 



German, owing to the general want of interest felt by the Germans in their 

 studies, and so thej^ adopted Latin as the medium of communication with 

 those who could understand and appi-eciate them. Tlius Gei'many was tlie 

 last of the nations of Europe to foster native learning and talent. We all 

 know how the Germans have since sjirung forward to the front ranks in all 

 kinds of mental culture ; but for a long time tliey were retarded in their 

 onward course by the indifference and want of sympathy among the people. 

 Traces of the old leaven and of the idea thus engendered — that all refinement 

 ■was only to be sought for in foreign countries — may still be perceived even in . 

 the latter part of this last century. Familiar instances will occur to every 

 one ; French teachers were retained in noble families for the instruction of 

 their children ; Frederick the Great wrote French with greater ease than 

 German ; all his works, I believe, and they are tolei'ably voluminous, were 

 "wi'itten in French. He surrounded himself with men of learning, not fi-om 

 Germany, but from France — Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, Maupertius, and 

 others. It was the fashion of the time — a fashion which had ai-isen, T believe, 

 from a habit of disregarding the more humble efforts to contribute to the 

 cause — that of relying on foreign aid, rather than of fostering and encouraging 

 native talent and forming a native school of learning. What was the result ? 

 The barrier which was raised between the learned and the unlearned, instead 

 of causing literature and science and art to flourish, caused them to decay and 

 languish. I do not think that we have to fear any danger of this kind. We 

 exclude none from our body who are anxious to join in promoting the cause 

 in which we are engaged. But if we are free from the charge of exclusiveness 

 in this particular, I am not sure, if I may be permitted to say so, that we are 

 altogether secure from exclusiveness of another kind. 



We have four classes of objects which we wish to cultivate : science, 

 literature, art, and the development of the industrial resources of the Province. 

 Now, it appeai-s to me that of these four we have hitherto paid attention to 

 only one, viz., science, by which is to be understood jjhysical science — that is to 

 say, as I understand it, the observation of natural objects. In a new countiy, 

 no doubt, this is a study which ought to engage a very large portion of our 

 attention, but, if we devote our efforts exclusively to this branch of learning, 

 we shall be neglecting those studies which are of no mean value in developing 

 the faculties, in disciplining the mind, in training the intellect, and refining the 

 taste, and so aiding the prosecution of studies connected with the cause of 

 science itself. We have, as yet, done nothing for the advancement of literature, 

 nothing for the advancement of art, although we have within our reach, as a 

 stimulus to its cultivation, that magnificent donation to the Museum by 

 Mr. Gould ; nor, lastly, have we as yet applied ourselves to the development 

 of the industrial resources of the Province, notwithstanding the liberal 



