PROCEEDINGS OE THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
185 
provided free of charge to all members who chose to apply 
for them, and about 200 availed themselves of this privi¬ 
lege; while others, like my own party, were satisfied with 
much shorter journeys. We visited among other places 
Toronto, Ottowa, and Quebec. At Quebec we joined a 
party of 200 British Association members who were con¬ 
veyed by special steamer 180 miles down the beautiful St 
Lawrence River. We were received on arrival by the 
Mayor and Corporation of Quebec ; were conducted by 
them to all points of interest in and around that quaint 
and beautiful city, and afterwards entertained at a splen¬ 
did banquet in the St Louis Hotel, where suitable speeches 
were made and hearty votes of thanks proposed to our 
hospitable entertainers. Later in the day the Lieutenant- 
Governor of the Province of Quebec held a reception at 
his beautiful residence, Spence’s Wood, on the River St 
Lawrence, two miles from Quebec; and in the evening the 
Governor-General and Lady Lansdowne gave a splendid 
f3te at the Citadel in honour of the British Association. It 
was intended to conclude this entertainment by a display 
of fireworks from the esplanade of the Citadel overlooking 
the St Lawrence River, but instead thereof Nature supplied 
her own fireworks in shape of a terrific thunderstorm with 
lightning of a brilliance and rain of a denseness which we 
seldom see in our country. It was a grand sight, and I 
need scarcely say that the ordinary rockets and other 
pyrotechnics prepared for our delectation were utterly ex¬ 
tinguished. This visit to Quebec came as a pleasant rest 
in the middle of the Montreal meetings, and we returned 
refreshed and strengthened for further work in the Sec¬ 
tions. 
We were much pleased also with our visits to the 
beautifully-situated cities of Ottowa and Toronto. We 
found at both of these places, as well as at Quebec, large 
and well-organised schools and colleges. The Canadians 
seem fully alive to the importance of educating their rising 
generation, and spare neither expense nor trouble to have 
this attended to in the very best manner. The whole 
educational system of the country is under the superin¬ 
tendence and control of a Minister of Education, who 
seems to have ample work on his hands, as in every village 
an efficient school is to be found. 
It was a happy thought of some members of the British 
Association to commemorate their visit to Canada by 
founding a gold medal for the Faculty of Applied Science 
in the Macgill University. About £500 was subscribed 
for this object. 
Of the results of the Montreal meeting it is impossible to 
speak particularly as yet. The general impression is that 
a greater interest in scientific inquiry will be aroused among 
all classes, and the visit must also prove very useful by the 
attention of so many intelligent scientific men being directed 
to the vast extent and resources of the Dominion of Canada 
—a country as large as Europe, and with room for any num¬ 
ber of active and enterprising people, who will there find 
ample reward for their labour if they are willing to work. 
There are times of difficulty and dulness of trade there as 
here, but they are generally of short duration, and will 
probably become less frequent as sounder views of political 
economy become prevalent among the Canadian people 
and their rulers. 
The concluding meeting of the Association was as inter¬ 
esting as any that preceded it,and on that occasion many of 
our most distinguished savans received the diploma of LL.D. 
from the Senatus of Macgill University. A special train 
was organized for the following day to convey members of 
the British Association who wished to attend the meetings 
of the ‘‘ American Society for the Advancement of Science” 
at Philadelphia, a distance of 400 miles. About 250 mem¬ 
bers availed themselves of this arrangement, and reached 
Philadelphia rather tired and worn out by their long 
journey. 
Of our reception and meetings at Philadelphia I leave 
others to speak. 
REPORT OF THE DELEGATES (MR RUFOS D. PULLAR, F.C.S., 
AND MR ROBERT PULLAR, F.R.S.E.,) TO THE MEETING 
OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE¬ 
MENT OF SCIENCE, AT PHILADELPHIA. 
REPORTED BY MR RUFUS D. PULLAR. 
It was my good fortune this autumn to be able to 
attend not only the meetings of the British Associa¬ 
tion for the Advancement of Science held at Montreal, 
of which you have just had some account given you, 
but also those of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. This “Convention of Scien¬ 
tists,” as our cousins across the Atlantic term it, was held 
this year at Philadelphia. The city has many institutions 
of general and scientific interest, and as most of them 
opened their doors to the scientists, I shall endeavour to 
introduce you to them as well as words and time will permit. 
I should do the Philadelphians wrong were I not at the 
outset to express my sense of their kindness and hospi¬ 
tality to strangers. They receive visitors from the “ old 
country ” most cordially at all times, and spare no trouble 
to give them pleasure or information, but I am sure it is 
the unanimeus opinion of members of the British Associa¬ 
tion that this year they have excelled themselves. The 
British Association invited members of the American 
