102 Canadian Record of Science. 



By a study of ourselves and those animals that live under 

 conditions most akin to our own we are, in my opinion, best 

 prepared for a really profitable study of wild forms. To go 

 no further than the mere external forms of things is not to 

 really understand nature. It was said of old, and is re- 

 peated to-day, that the proper study of mankind is man. 

 The naturalist may grant this because it is only through 

 our own experiences that we can understand other creatures. 

 Man can understand animals because he is himself an animal 

 — and but for a similarity of nature this would be impos- 

 sible. I have often thought of late that our domestic 

 animals receive far too little attention at the hands of 

 naturalists — amateur and professional. 



There seems to have been but one opinion in regard to 

 the Somerville course of this year — that it was an unquali- 

 fied success. The lantern and other illustrations were of 

 great service, yet never abused ; the serious aims of science 

 were never subordinated to mere amusement. 



We must remember, too, that the better living creatures 

 are understood, the happier the lot of our domestic animals, 

 if not all animals, will become. Knowledge in this case is 

 sure to beget kindliness- -true sympathy, and I know of 

 no other way by which it is possible. I therefore think the 

 moral effect of the course of last winter will be especially 

 good. 



We have to congratulate ourselves on the widening of 

 our sphere of study to include physical science; and those 

 who heard Professsor Nicolson's lecture on " The Me- 

 chanics of Haulage," as applicable to the drawing of loads 

 by horses — coming as it did just after the close of the 

 Somerville course, will agree that the change has been a 

 wise one. The Society had already tried the happy experi- 

 ment of a course of popular lectures a year ago on physical 

 science kindly given by the professors of the Faculty of 

 Applied Science in McGill University, and constituting the 

 Somerville course of last year. 



Noticing the extent to which our museum is used on the 

 evenings of the Somerville lectures one cannot but feel that 



