TO THE READER. 



" So numerous a body as the Canadian Institute now is, ought to 

 include a much greater number of working members ; and the Coun- 

 cil are led to believe that their apparent supineness arises, in part at 

 least, from the mistaken idea that comnmnications can only be made 

 in the form of elaborate essays. They would strongly urge the 

 encouragement of brief communications, in greater number, as at 

 once more calculated to give general interest to the ordinary meet- 

 ings, and to elicit such results of personal knowledge and observation 

 as are best calculated to add to the true value of the published 

 proceedings. 



"Short notices of natural phenomena, features of local geology, 



objects of natural history, and the like subjects, derived from personal 



observation, must be readily producible by many members who have 



hitherto borne no active part in the Society's proceedings, but whose 



contributions would most effectually promote the objects which it is 



designed to accomplish." 



Extract from the Annual Report of 1855. 



