2 
ANNALS OF THE 
dustry ought to be guided. Mucli good botanical work is now being done in Aus- 
tralia, in various parts of India, in Ceylon, in the West Indies, at the Cape of Good 
Hope, and many other less important stations. It has been proposed that Canadian 
botanists should follow the examples set before them, and unite together to deve- 
lope a knowledge of the Forest Plora, which is, in every sense, the richest blessing 
to man with which nature has gifted this great land. In accordance with the above 
proposal, a meeting is to be held in Queen's College, Kingston, on Friday Evening, 
the 7th December, at eight o'clock, to consider the propriety of originating a Bo- 
tanical Society. The special objects of the new body, the mode in which it is pro- 
posed that these should be carried out, and various other matters of detail, will be 
brought forward for consideration and discussion in an address to be delivered by 
Professor Lawson. "We cordially commend the project to the attention of our read- 
ers. It has been well considered, and, if carried out with energy, will be product- 
ive of benefit to the country, both in contributing to raise the fallen standard of 
botanical science among us, and as a means of directing public attention to neglect- 
ed sources of industrial wealth. Professional and amateur botanists m Canada — few 
and far between — will hail, in the Botanical Society, a means of communication and 
interchange of information, and also a means of exchanging specimens and seeds, 
which will not only facilitate their labors in their respective localities, and give a 
new relish to the study, but will so enable them to work together, under a common 
plan, as to give a value to their researches that no desultory observations, however 
interesting and important in themselves, can ever attain. This is the manner in 
which investigations have been carried out most successfully in regard to the distri- 
bution of the Floras of other countries, and the only means by which certain results 
can be obtained where there are numerous observers. Some of the leading Bo- 
tanists, both of this continent and of Europe, have already signified their approval 
of the scheme in their readiness to co-operate. May it meet with its due measure 
of success ! 
First Meeting. 
FRIDAY EVENING, 7th DECEMBER, 18G0. 
A meeting, called by public advertisement in the Newspapers, was held in the 
Chemistry Class Room of Queen's College, Kingston, on Friday evening, 7th De- 
cember, to consider the propriety of organizing a Botanical Society. There was a 
large attendance of gentlemen, including the Very Rev. Principal Leitch, D, D., 
Queen's College, Mr. Drummond, Manager of the Montreal Bank, Professors William- 
son, Weir, Mowat, Stewart, Yates, and Lawson, Mr. May, B. A., Queen's College 
School, Dr. Octavius Yates, Dr. Dupuis, Odessa, C. W., Mr. Thibodo, Mr. Skinner, 
Member Pharm. Society, Mr. Ferguson, Bellevue Terrace, Mr. Danson, F. C. S., 
