378 



LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[1855. 



science and the arts throughout this province. Originally 

 instituted by a small body of gentlemen united for the purpose 

 of promoting one special branch of practical science, it has 

 since extended its aim so as to embrace the widest range of 

 a scientific and literary society, and now numbers upwards of 

 four hundred members, resident in all parts of the Province. 

 The steps adopted for carrying out these comprehensive objects 

 have been : — 



Firstly. ' Che formation of a Library of Scientific Reference, 

 available to the public at large, and which, now that an 

 amalgamation has been effected with the Toronto Athenseum, 

 and the books of both institutions have been united, already 

 constitutes the nucleus of a Library from which valuable results 

 may be anticipated. 



Secondly. The establishment of a Museum, with a special 

 view to the illustration of the Natural History and Mineral 

 Products, and the Economic and Industrial Resources of the 

 Province, as well as the Ethnological and Archaaological contri- 

 butions to history which specially pertain to this important 

 section of the new world. 



Thirdly. The reading of original, scientific and literary 

 communications, and discussion of the subjects thus introduced 

 at weekly meetings held in Toronto during the winter session. 

 And, 



Fourthly. I^he publication of a Monthly Journal, which has 

 now been in successful operation for more than three years, 

 and forms not only a report of the proceedings of the Institute 

 and of other scientific bodies in the province, but is designed 

 to embody a record of the intellectual and economic progress of 

 Canada, as well as to furnish an abstract of scientific proceed- 

 ings throughout the world. 



In accomplishing these objects the Institute has greatly to 

 acknowledge the liberal encouragement of the Government by 

 means both of an annual grant of money and by free accommo- 

 dation furnished for a time in the Government House. The 

 withdrawal of the latter, consequent on the transference of the 

 Seat of Government to Toronto, added to the requisite increase 

 of space rendered indispensable for completing the scheme of 

 establishing a Provincial Scientific Library and Museum, have 

 mainly contributed to force upon us the necessity of providing 

 adequate and becoming accommodation in a building of our 

 own. In furtherance of this we have to acknowledge the 

 gratifying recognition of the public benefits already resulting from 

 this Institute, in the important aid extended to us by the 

 Provincial Government for this special object, in addition to 

 the liberality of many of our own members, and especially the 

 valuable gift of this site, presented to the Institute by George 

 W. Allan, Esq., and now to be dedicated with your Excel- 

 lency's gracious aid to the cause of Canadian science and 

 scholarship. 



Animated by the assurance of your Excellency's cordial 

 sympathy in such a cause, we hail your presence among us this 



day as an evidence of your approbation of the objects aimed at 

 in our union as members of the Institute, and of j'our appi'ecia- 

 tion of the value of such institutions for promoting the diffusion 

 of knowledge and the advancement of science and sound learn- 

 ing, on which the tnie glory of this great Empire is founded, 

 and by which the future greatness of this Province must be 

 advanced. 



Permit us, then, to crave of your Excellency on this auspi- 

 cious occasion, when we are assembled to found a building to 

 be devoted exclusively to the peaceful objects of intellectual 

 emulation, that you will be graciously pleased to commence the 

 work for us by laying the first stone. 



His Excellency read the following reply : — 

 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Canadian Institute,- — ■ 



If my presence here this day can benefit the Institution to 

 which you belong, I feel that you have a double claim upon me. 



Indirectly I ^have been the means of turning you out of 

 house and home : the least I can do is to help in inaugurating 

 your new dwelling. But the intrinsic usefulness of a society 

 such as yours, is the strongest reason why I would do my best 

 to promote its interests. 



The means which you have adopted for diffusing a taste for 

 Science and Literature, seem well calculated for attaining 

 heir end. 



Your Museum, your Lectures, and your Journal, all tend to 

 produce those feelings which are essential to progress in know- 

 ledge of all kinds. They encourage the conviction that every 

 fragment of information, and every scrap of knowledge is 

 valuable, without reference to its immediate practical utility. 

 A fact established is so much gained towards the sum total of 

 human knowledge, and no man can say in what train of 

 reasoning that fact may hereafter prove a stepping stone. 



The stores of your library will serve to supply the refinement 

 of taste, and the cultivation of the intellect, which enables one 

 man to impart knowledge to another in its most attractive form, 

 which make the act itself of learning, a relaxation and a 

 pleasure. 



I receive with the utmost satisfaction the assurance of your 

 loyalty to our gracious Queen. 



As regards myself personally, your Address is far too flatter- 

 ing in everyway; but I thank you for your welcome to Toronto, 

 and I trust that my readiness to lay the first stone of this 

 building will be taken as a mark of my desire to promote on 

 all occasions the interests of the Canadian Institute. 



G. W. Allan, Esq., then advanced and said : — 



Mr. President, and gentlemen of the Canadian Institute, — I 

 have much pleasure in presenting you with a deed of the site, on 

 which your building is to be erected. In doing so permit me 

 to express my gratification to have it in my power to promote 

 in any way the objects of an Institution in whose welfare I feel 

 so deep an interest. Having been connected with it from its 



