144 CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



The practical value of such collections depends so largely on facility for refer- 

 ence, that members of the Council have engaged in the preparation of classified 

 catalogU' s of tlie Library and Museum — and such measures have been taken as 

 ■warrant the assurance that these will be completed for use during the present 

 session. 



The Council have further to announce that, in fulfilment of the conditions 

 annexed to the acquisition of the valuable library of the Athenaeum, referred 

 to in last Report, arrangements have been effected under "which the public may 

 visit and consult the Library of the Institute daily between the hours of 

 three and five o'clock; and that an -><>k has been opened wherein Members are 

 invited to enter the title of any \vi . k which they recommend to the Council for 

 purchase. 



By these measures it is hoped that the Library, already of very considerable 

 value, may become of more direct and continuous utility to our members and 

 the public at large, whilst the interest thus excited may direct attention, not 

 only to its possessions, but to its deficiencies, and thus may result in increas- 

 ing and more general efforts in aid of its extension, as well as in the augmenta- 

 tion of the Institute's collections of specimens of Natural History, Minerals, and 

 other objects of scientific interest and value, so as ultimately to render both the 

 Library and Museum creditable to the Institute and beneficial to the Province at 

 large. 



In submitting the list of communications read at the meetings of the Institute 

 during the session, 1855-56, the Council are gratified in being able to note that, 

 whilst the number of papers read last year was largely in excess of that re- 

 ported for the preceding session, ihe proportion emanating from the general body 

 of Members of the. Institute, as distinguished from Members of the Council, has 

 also been considerably augmented : an evidence of growing co-operation which the 

 Council regard as most important and satisfactory ; and giving promise, as they 

 trust, of still- further and more effective manifestation of activity during future 

 Sessions. 



Prof. G> o't. D. C. L. — " Ou the Hydrates of Hydro Sulphuric Acid, 1st Decem- 

 ber, 1855. 



Prof. "Wilson. LL.D.— "Or displacement and extinction among the Primeval 

 Races of Man." ]st December, 1855. 



Prof. Chapman. — " On a nieihod of representing Crystaline Forms." 8th De- 

 cember, 1S55. 



Prof. Bo veil, M. D, — "On some points in the Natural History of the Leech." 

 15th December, 1855. 



J. G-. Hodgius, Esq, — "On a specimen of the Proteus of the Lakes." 15th 

 December, 1855. 



Capt. Noble, R. A., F. R. S. — ■' On the value of the Factor in the Hygrometric 

 Formula." 12th January, 1856. 



Professor Cherrimau, M. A. — " On a method of reducing the general equa- 

 tion of the second degree in Plane Co-ordinate Geometry." 12th January 

 1856. 



Professor Chapman. — "Report of the Committee appointed to examine the 

 specimen of the Proteus exhibited before the Institute." 12th January, 

 1856. 



