154 



ADDKESS OF THE PRESIDENT OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[1855. 



rally be to fix upon a plan of such a building, or portion of a 

 building, as will answer reasonably well for present purposes, 

 and to ascertain what sum would be sufficient to complete it. 

 We should then soon be able to satisfy ourselves whether the 

 cost could or could not be met by such efibrts as are within our 

 power. I have no apprehension that it could not be ; on the 

 contrary, I am persuaded it would be found by no means im- 

 possible to proceed with reasonable despatch, and without in- 

 terruption to the completion of a suitable building. 



And there can be no question, as I think we must all feel, 

 that we are bound so to act as to show that we are not indiffer- 

 ent to the interest which has been so kindly manifested by the 

 Legislature in favour of this Association. The encouragement 

 which has been given to us does indeed impose upon us a cor- 

 responding responsibility, and makes it a duty to show that we 

 are not unworthy recipients of the public bounty. 



In connection with this consideration of duty, it is not out 

 of place to allude to a proposition which has been made by a very 

 zealous friend of science, and urged, indeed, upon the Institute 

 with a laudable earnestness and perseverance. I refer to a sug- 

 gestion of Major Lachlan, one of the members of the Institute, 

 who resides in Montreal, that we should endeavour to makejjro- 

 vision for taking and recording, at different points in Upper 

 Canada, a series of simultaneous meteorological observations, 

 such as might materially assist, if conducted with care and 

 perseverance, in elucidating the laws and explaining some of 

 the phenomena of nature. Indeed, Major Lachlan, in a clear 

 and well-considered paper, which was read before the Institute, 

 pressed more than one object of this description upon its atten- 

 tion ; and I shall best state his suggestions by using his own 

 words : 



He proposed, in the first place, that there should be in some 

 manner established, through the intei-vention of the Society, a 

 well-organized chain of daily simultaneous meteorological ob- 

 servations at a number of well-selected stations throughout 

 Canada, with Toronto for its centre, to be connected with a 

 similar arrangement which he ventured to hope might be set 

 afoot in each of the Lower Provinces, and so conducted as to 

 be readily connected with the extended system of meteorolo- 

 gical registers already in operation in the United States, under 

 the fostering auspices of the Government, and the various phi- 

 losophical Associations of that country. He recommended, 

 also, in the second place, the establishment of a simultaneous 

 record of the rise and fall of the great Canadian Lakes, through- 

 out their whole extent. 



No one, I think, can rationally question the value of these 

 suggestions- It is obvious that if this Association could be 

 made the means of accomplishing such objects upon a system 

 well considered and steadily carried out, they would be render- 

 ing a service to the cause of science which could not fail to be 

 highly appreciated, and they would be placing themselves in a 

 most favourable light, not merely with our own Government 

 and people, but with all friends of science on this continent 

 and elsewhere. 



It may be objected that it is too early to engage in an attempt 

 of this magnitude, for that our resources are inadequate to the 

 undertaking. I confess my inability to dispose satisfactorily of 

 this difficulty, because I have not a sufficient knowledge of 

 what ought to be the details of an extensive system of this 

 kind, to be able to count the cost. But it is clear that to 

 count the cost, with the assistance of those who are able to 

 estimate the difficulty, must be the first step; and I would 

 with much diffidence suggest that it seems a reasonable mode 



of dealing with such a question, that we should first consider 

 what would be the probable expense attending the proposed 

 system of simultaneous obseiTations (can'ied on in the first 

 place throughout Upper Canada,) upon a scale as extensive as 

 would be desirable, both in regard to the number of stations, 

 and the variety and minuteness of the obsei-vations to be 

 recorded. ' Then having arrived at a safe opinion upon that 

 point, the next step would be to determine how that expense, 

 which no doubt would be large, could be brought within the 

 compass of our means, by a reduction in the number of stations, 

 or by limiting the range of observations to be conducted at 

 each point. 



One considerable charge, no doult, would be for the instm- 

 ments that would be required, because, to be of any value for 

 such a purpose, they should be of the best constraction ; but I 

 do not imagine that a serious difficulty would be found in 

 meeting that charge. 



The expense of arranging the observations when collected 

 and returned, and of classifying and comparing them, and 

 printing the results, would no doubt be rather formidable, but 

 I take the greatest difficulty to be, the finding or providing a 

 person capable of conducting such observations at each station 

 which it might be desirable to establish, and more especially 

 at some of those points remote from towns and settlements, 

 where the obseiTations that might be taken would possess a 

 particular value, but where we could scarcely expect to find 

 gentlemen residing who could be relied upon for conducting 

 accurately observations which require some degree of leisure, 

 minute and patient attention, and competent intelligence, 

 and skill to use the instruments entrusted to them. 



Any difficulty of this kind, however, applies rather to the 

 number and position of the points of observation to be main- 

 tained, than to the practicability of establishing some system 

 of the kind on a scale, which though confined as to extent, 

 might still be eminently useful to the cause of Science, and 

 supply valuable materials for confirming or disproving theories 

 which in themselves are of great interest, and can only be 

 established or refuted by such means. I take the liberty of 

 suggesting that if something satisfactory in this way can be 

 effected by any exertion at all within our means, and with such 

 public aid as we might hope to procure, it would be unwise to 

 incur unnecessary delay. It is only from a series of observa- 

 tions of each particular kind, conducted through a succession 

 of years, that results can be obtained on which reliance can be 

 placed. "We should be impatient, therefore, to begin what can 

 only produce fraits so gradually, and there is a particular rea- 

 son against delay which appears to me to have much force in it. 



Among the speculations which interest men of science, we 

 find it frequently discussed, what effect has been produced 

 upon climate by the progress of cultivation in countries which 

 originally were covered thickly with timber. Now we have 

 at this moment large tracts in this Province, particularly in 

 the north-western part of Upper Canada, in which the change 

 from wilderness to cultivated fields is going on most rapidly — 

 some in which it is but just commencing, and others in which 

 it is not yet actually begun. In all portions of this immense 

 tract, the process of clearing the land of its timber is certain to 

 go on with speed; for the advantages of Upper Canada as regards 

 climate, fertility of soU, means of transportation, and proximity 

 to markets are now at length known and understood, and popu- 

 lation is pouring into the new townships with surprising rapid- 

 ity. It is to be considered too, that our system of assessment 

 laws ensures reports being annually made of the number of 



