﻿Address. 401 



such a, purpose must have been foreseen by the native 

 Indian tribes when they gave to a small aggregation 

 of huts upon this spot the name of Toronto — " the place of 

 meetings." 



Our gathering this year presents a feature of entire 

 novelty and extreme interest, inasmuch as the sister 

 Association of the United States of America, — still 

 mourning the loss of her illustrious President, Professor 

 Cope, — and some other learned societies, have made 

 special arrangements to allow of their members coming 

 here to join us. I need hardly say how w^elcome their 

 presence is, nor how gladly we look forward to their 

 taking part in our discussions, and aiding us by inter- 

 change of thought. To such a meeting the term 

 international seems almost misapplied. It may rather 

 be described as a family gathering, in which our relatives 

 more or less distant in blood, but still intimately 

 connected with us by language, literature, and habits 

 of thought, have spontaneously arranged to take part. 



The domain of science is no doubt one in which the 

 various nations of the civilized world meet upon equal 

 terms, and for which no other passport is required than 

 some evidence of having striven towards the advancement 

 of natural knowledge. Here, on the frontier between 

 the two great English-speaking nations of the world, who 

 is there that does not inwardly feel that anything which 

 conduces to an intimacy between the representatives 

 of two countries, both of them actively engaged in the 

 pursuit of science, may also, through such an intimacy, 

 react on the affairs of daily life, and aid in preserving 

 those cordial relations that have now for so many years 

 existed between the great American Republic and the 

 British Islands, with which her early foundations are 

 indissolubly connected ? The present year has witnessed 

 an interchange of courtesies which has excited the warmest 

 feelings of approbation on both sides of the Atlantic. I 



