Our Intellectual Strength and Weakness / A Short Historical and Critical Review of Literature, Art and Education in Canada

by John George Bourinot

MR. BILLINGS.

[55] Page 33.—He was born on his father's farm, in the township of Gloucester, near Ottawa. A bibliography, evidently prepared by his own hand, is to be found in "Bibliotheca Canadensis," pp. 31–34. His most important memoirs are on the third and fourth Decades and the Palæozoic fossils of the Canadian Geological Survey, in which nearly all the genera and species of the fossils there described were discovered by himself.

ORIGIN OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA.

[56] Page 33.—The first volume of the 'Trans. Roy. Soc. Can.' (1882–83), pp. i-lxxiv., contains an account of the proceedings before and after the foundation of the Society, with the addresses in full of the Marquess of Lorne and of the first President and Vice-President of the body. On the occasion of the Montreal meeting, 1891, a handbook was largely circulated by the Citizens' Committee with the view of giving information of the object and work of the Society. It was written by Mr. John Reade, F.R.S.C., and contains a succinct history of the origin and operations of the body until May, 1891. It contains plans of McGill College grounds and of Montreal in 1759, and sketches of the old Seminary towers, St. Gabriel-street church, St. Ann's, besides some interesting facts relating to Montreal's historic places.

SIR D. WILSON, T. S. HUNT AND MR. CHAUVEAU.

[57] Page 34.—Dr. Kingsford has given a paper, "In Memoriam, on Sir Daniel Wilson" ('Trans. Roy. Soc. Can.,' vol. xi.) in which he briefly reviews the excellent literary work and the wide culture of that eminent man. In volume ix. of the 'Trans.,' Sec. I., pp. 53–58, there is a well-written paper on the late Mr. Chauveau, by his successor, Mr. L. O. David of Montreal. The presidential address of Abbé Laflamme in 1892 (see 'Trans.,' vol. x.) was devoted to a review of the scientific attainments of Dr. T. Sterry Hunt.

CANADIAN SOCIETIES.

[58] Page 34.—At the present time there are over twenty Canadian scientific and literary societies associated with the Royal Society in its work. Mr. John Reade, in the "Montreal Handbook of 1891" (see Note 56), gives the following list of societies established before 1867: Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 1824; Natural History Society of Montreal, 1827—act of incorporation five years later; Institut Canadien, Quebec, 1846; Canadian Institute, Toronto, 1851; Institut Canadien, Ottawa, 1852; Hamilton Association, 1856; Société Historique, Montréal, 1858: Nova Scotia Institute of Natural Science, 1862; Natural History Society, St. John, N.B., 1862; Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, Montreal, 1862; Entomological Society of Ontario, 1863.

THE EARL OF DERBY AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA.

[58a] Page 42.—Four years ago you were good enough, in offering me the position of your honorary president, to ask the sympathy and encouragement which the governor-general, as Her Majesty's representative, might rightly be asked to manifest towards the representatives of science and of the liberal arts. I am afraid that my contributions to literature and science have been few. I do not know they are such as would have merited the notice of the Royal Society, but I can assure you that none of the members of your body take a deeper interest in all that concerns the welfare of your Society than he who is now laying down the office of honorary president. (Cheers.) There were some persons who considered that in a comparatively new country like Canada it was ambitious on her part when the foundations of the Royal Society were laid, but there must be a beginning of all things, and I think I may appeal to the work which has been and is being done by the different branches of the Society as evidence that its establishment was in no sense premature, but that it was fittingly determined that the progress of science and literature should take place coincidently with that of the country. In a new country like this—I think you have touched upon it in your address—there is a great tendency to further one's material wants, to promote trade and commerce, and to put aside, as it were, literature and the sciences; but here the Royal Society has stepped in and done good work by uniting those who were scattered by distance and who find in the meetings of our Society a convenient opportunity of coming together for the exchanging of ideas and renewing of those friendships which, though perhaps only yearly meetings permit, are nevertheless enduring. If we look back we shall best see what good work is being done. If we could imagine the existence of such a society as this in the older countries in olden times, what a mine of wealth of information would have been afforded us! We see that from the very first, whether in literature, which forms so important a part in our Society; whether it be in the constitutional studies, in which our President is such an adept—and I was glad to see his authority has been quoted on the other side of the Atlantic as well as on this—whether it be in the literature of the chivalrous pioneers of France, who first led the way into the unbroken wilderness, or whether it be in the latter days of constitutional progress of this country and its relations both to the old world and the country growing up alongside of us.