American AssociaUon. 357 



home to establish himself in honest independence ; and we delight 

 to welcome him as a visitor to our corner of the old homestead of 

 John Bull. We of British America desire to think of the British 

 people as one in all parts of the world ; and not as one only in 

 those Anglo-Saxon and Celtic elements which form its nucleus- 

 but along with all the other peoples and races thai have been 

 united with it. Taking this large view of British national exist- 

 ence on both sides of the Atlantic, we cannot be accused of pre- 

 sumption in believing that this great aggregate of nations, spread- 

 ing itself over the world, and standing with one foot on the land 

 and the other on the sea, points more than any other people to 

 the highest destinies of the human race, and to the final union of 

 all nations, peoples and tongues in the brotherhood of mutual 

 benefits. We love, too, to regard British America as an impor- 

 tant connecting link between Britons of the old' and the new 

 world. Our country is rapidly rising to a position which may 

 enable it to vie with the United States themselves; and retaining 

 our connection with the niaternal state, while we are united by 

 the closest ties with our brethren of the South, we desire to culti- 

 vate that mutual good will which is so important to the welfare 

 of the woild. In what way can we better do this than through 

 the amenities of science, and by inviting to mingle Avith us those 

 minds that, more than any other, are building up the fabric of 

 American greatness. Nor is our ambition in this direction limited 

 by this meeting, great and successful though it may be. We 

 hope that there may yet be held in this, the chief city of British 

 America, another meeting of the American Association ; and not 

 of it alone, but of the British Association also, that we may thus 

 unite these two great bodies, and gather around them delegates 

 from every other Scientific Society." 



The preparations made by the city of Montreal, in a pecuniary 

 point of view, appear, from all that we can learn, to Lave been 

 quite adequate to the occasion. The accommodation aftorded to 

 the sections was ample ; and the amount of private hospitahty, 

 and the number and character of the pubhc entertainments, were 

 not inferior to those of previous meetings of the Association. 

 The magnificent collection of the Geological Survey was an object 

 of deserved admiration. The collection of the Natural History 

 Society, arranged for the occasion, presented a most creditable 

 ;appearance, and afi"orded a very good representation of several 

 departments of the Zoology of Canada. The Botany ot the envi- 



