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23 VmST MAIN STRUT

WnS7SS,N.Y. 14SM

(716) 172-4303

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SSaSHSaSaSHSZSE irSSESaSHSaSSSIlSHSSHHHHSHSHSHSHS

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ADDRESS

DKMVKUKl) AT TlIK OPKNIXd

(IK Till.

TWFATV SIXTH SESSION

(ll 11 11.

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I Jlova Seotian Institate of Natural Science, a

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PROFKSSOR J. G. MACCJRKCiOIl,

!• U K S I 1) K .N T.

riUNTKi) BY \vii.iJ.\M .\iAr.\AB, ;} I'Ri.Nci: «tui:i;t.

SHHHSaSHSHSHSaSHSHSHS-HFSSHSHSHSSSaSHSHSHSHSaSH'

hMic, Arr.ji2v9S of Nova Scim^

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Norman Md. Swain

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia

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OPENING ADDRESS.

By P;i()FKssou J. G. MACGREGOR, PRESinENT.

Members of the Institut. of Natural Science :

I TAKE this, the earliest opportunity which has presented itself,
of thanking you for the honour you have shown me, in electing
me to the Presidency of the Institute. To be asked to preside
over the work of a number of earnest men, however few, must
always be a source of gratification. The invitation to preside over
your work at the present time is especially so, because of the
critical point which the activity of the Institute seems to have
reached. We have recently had the misfortune to lose some of
our most active members, and so far as we can see there are few
young men who are ready to take their places. For this reason
the Presidency of the Institute at present should involve much
more onerous duties than ever before, and I undertake to dis-
charge them, only because I know that, though there are few
active scientific workers left among us, those few are willing and
ready to exert themselves to the utmost.

I have looked recently somewhat fully into our history, and
find that, since its first meeting in 1863, this Institute has pub-
lished about 304 papers, dealing for the most part with the
Natural History and Geology of the Province of Nova Scotia,
and averaging about 9 pages each. It is interesting to know
how those papers have been distributed in time, and I have
therefore plotted two curves, shewing, one, how the number of
papers, and the other, how the number of pages, in our Trans-

1 IJI »|l|l|IPP||^f||fjill| II III Mil II II

2 Ol'ENINfJ ADDUESS— MACfiltKdOIl.

actions, has varied with the years. Those you see before you •
and they shew that our Institute has had its ups h,nd downs.
Judging by numbers of papers, you see that the time of our
greatest activity was the first few years of our existence, that
since 18G7 we liave kept oscillating about an average of about
11 papers a year, never getting far above tliat number and never
falling far below it, that the year of greatest intellectual dearth
was 1<S75, and that, during the last few years we have been
below the average. If we remember that in the first few 3'eais
we published regularly papers on oar local meteorology, and that
now all such returns are made to the Meteorological Bureau and
published by the Legislature, it would appear that for the last
20 years we have kept at a pretty uniform level, and that at
present we are but little below it. The other curve, the curve
of pages, has an interest of its own. It shews much greater
variations than the curve of papers, the Transactions having
been much bulkier in some years than in others. In 18G6, 1809,
1873, 187G, and 1878, our members scattered the silver of speech
with lavish hand, but since 1878 we seem to have realized tliat
though speech may be silver silence is gold ; and it is a somewhat
remarkable fact that, though since 18G8 the number of papers
has not in any year varied very much from the average, the
average length of papers between 1868 and 1879 was nearly twice
as great as between 1879 and the present time. Of course the
falling off is by no means an indication of lethargy. It is possi-
bly due to a growing power of perceiving rubbish, and a conse-
quent growing determination to eliminate it.

On the whole the record which these curves show is not satis-
factory. The activity of the Society ought to have been gradu-
ally increasing ; instead of that, it has been gradually diminishing,
until now we find ourselves not only making no progress, but
even falling somewhat below the records of former years. And
this just means as I said at the outset, that the older workers in
our Institute are passing away, and that few young men are com-
ing forward to take their places.

If we ask why this is, it must be noted that in the early history
of a country, it is a comparatively easy matter to make additions

OPKN'INO ADDHESS— MA( (JUrXiOR. 3

to tlie knovvle(l<,'e of its local Natural H'stovy ami Geoloj;;y,
tho two (lopartments in which the work of the Institute' for iho
most part lies. Tho knowledf^o of the jreofirraphical distribu-
tion of its plants ami animals, for example, makes at first very
rp.pid strides, but proj^resses more slowly as time goes on. The
discovery of new species becomes more and more lare and tho
recognition of new species as new involves over increasing
research. So, also, the main features of the geological character
of a new country are appannt even to an observer who is pro-
vided with no large stock of ffoolocfical lore, whereas when the
surface prol>lems are solved and more intricate (juestionscome to
be investigated, their solution is found to require thorough know-
ledge and deep research. We cast no slur upon the early work-
ers in the Natural Science of this Province when we say that
much of their work was of a character that required no very
thorough scientific training. Nor do we gloiifv ourselves when
we assert that in these latter days the problems that confront us
are, in general, of a higher and more difficult order than those
which naturally first presented, themselves for solution.

Unfortunately, scientific education in Nova Scotia has not
kept pace with scientific investigation ; and now, when progress
in our local scientific knowledjie demands more thorough training
than in former years, we find ourselves with no body of young
men whom our Schools and Colleges have provided with the
necessary training, and with but few who have had the energy
to train themselves. We lack even the constituency which most
.scientific societies find in the Colleges themselves. If we look
through tlie records of such societies, we find that usually a large
proportion of their memoirs are contiibuted l)y College Profes.sors,
men who are appointed not only to teach but to extend the
bounds of tho departments of science which they profes.s, and
who for that purpose are enabled to devote their whole attention
to comparatively small departments. Our Colleges are so small
and so poorly equipped that in general their Professors require
to teach, and therefore to spend their time in studying, several
subjects instead of one. And it is consequently almost impossible
for them, however able thej'^ may be, to lend a hand in work

^qiiR>i««piff<iiin, iiiuiiaiin III i|.i ifviwnnn^pvpiw^ii^iffppijfiqnip'

OPENING ADDIIKSS— MACOHKCiOn.

such as our Institute was founded to foster. When our Colle<j;es,
either by acquiring large endowments or by combining their small
endowments, become able to allow their scientific Professors to
devote themselves to special departments of Science, we may
expect the golden age of the Institute of Natural Science to begin.
Meantime we must look elsewhere for the most of our recruits.

There is one source from which we may hope that before long
a considerablo number of recruits may be drawn, and that is
from the teachers of the schools and academies of the Province.
From our pomt of view it is most hopeful that the necessity of
introducing Science-teaching into the schools is being more and
niore clearly perceived by our teachers, and that they are making
great efforts to acquire the knowledge that is necessary for its
introduction. The Summer School of Science, which leading
men among them have established, will not only assist them in
preparation for their educational duties, but must in some cases
produce an interest in scientific work which will lead to still
greater results. The many will of course fit themselves merely
to teach, but the few will fit themselves to investigate. And the
public-spirited men who devote their vacations to assisting their
colleagues to prepare for the moie thorough discharge of their
academic duties, may have the satisfaction before long of finding
that some of the seed they have sown is springing up and bear-
ing fruit worthy of being preserved in the Transactions of our
Institute.

There seems, therefore, to be ground for hope that, by the aid
of Tieachers in our Colleges and Schools, and of laymen with
leisure and taste for scientific work, — some of whom have been
our main supporters in the past, — we may be able at present to
maintain, and in future to increase, the activity of our Institute.
Where there is interesting work to be done, we may have con-
fidence that workers will not fail.

And that leads me to attempt to make a synopsis of the work
which the Institute has to do, to ask how far we have been
doing it, and to make some suggestions as to the best mode of
doing those portions of it which seem hitherto to have been left
undone.

OI'KNINO ADDRESS— MACaUEaOR.

Our woik may be said roughly to be three-foltl— -(1) Investi-
gating; (2) Stimulating the love of investigation; and (3) Pro-
viding the means of investigating.

The first and purely scientific part of our work is tiie exten-
sion of our knowledge of Natural Science, ujore particularly of
the Natural Science of our own Province, by original investiga-
tion. To a great extent this must be the outcome of the know-
ledge and tastes and resources of individual members of the
Institute, each member following the bent of his own inclination
and doing the work which falls to his hand, while the Society
aids by providing sympathetic criticism. This is the work which
the Institute has hitherto for the most part done, with what re-
sult our Transactions bear witness. It is not permitted unto us
to glory, but we may nevertheless say that a large amount of
this individual work has been done. And while our publications
contain much that on looking back we would wish had never
seen the light, they contain still more in which the most rigorous
critic can take delight, and feel a justifiable pride.

There are a great many important scientific problems, how-
ever, which cannot be solved by the isolated work of individuals,
but require the concerted action of a great many observers, not
necessarily highly skilled observers, but intelligent men, working
under the guidance of one who is able to direct them as to what
they should obseive, and to record and systematise their observa-
tions. This collective form of work has been attempted only to
a very limited extent by the Institute, owing probably to the
diflSculty of securing the necessary observers. But if this difiScul-
ty could be overcome, — and now that our teachers are obtaining
a knowledge of the elements of science, it would seem to be more
easily overcome than heretofore, — we might very largely increase
the "output" of our Society. I may mention as a subject re-
quiring for its proper elucidation the combined observations of
many observers, the occurrence of luminous meteors. Any per-
son with such knowledge of the constellations o.s may be obtained
from a fairly good star-atlas could describe the apparent path of
a meteor in the heavens, and the comparison of the apparent
paths as seen by different observers would shew what the actual

(»l*i:N'IN(i ADDIIKSS— MA((iltK(if)||.

path liHtl boon. N<)Nv,ha<l wc, scuttiMCil over tlu! I'loviiicc.u luij^e
body of cont'sjxjtxK'iits wlio wouM sciid us ilcscriptions of tlio
np|)earurjL't', positions, diicc'tioMs, Sic, of such meteois as they
iiii;4lit see, wn miyht a(hl <.'iL'atly to our knovvled^^'o of this IntiT-
entin^ suhjuct. Iti thii di-paituHMit of uictt'orolo^'y <,'ood work
nii<:;ht ho done hy concspondents wlio would scnil us extracts
fioin tlie loLj-hooks of ships, dcst-riptive of unusual ineteoroIo;j;i-
cal phenouiona. liiid we funds to supply such correspondents
with siniph) instruiiK^nts we nM<,dit^'et vahiable Jata with re«(ard
to ina^fuetic and titlal phenomena. Hut as the funds are wantinj^
the collective investiLjatioo of phenonieiui recpiiiin^' them is
beyond our poweis.

In the departments (if Natural Science there would seem to he
many subjects in which collective investiifation is both necessary
and possible. I woidd sul,';.;* st merely (jbservations of the times
of the flowering' of plants, tlie nii<,'iation of bii'ds, the movements
of fish, the first appearance of insects, a systematic record of
which would seem to be comparatively easy to obtain and would
certainly throw much li,:;ht both on the life histoiy of tlio plants
and aidmals themsidvfs and on the variation of our climate.

It would seem to be eminently desirable, not only that our
Institute should itself undertake the superintcindence of some
forms of collective work of this kind, but also that it should
induce other Canadian Societies to co-operate with it, and per-
haps prevail upon the lloyal Society of Canada to collect and
systematise the results which the local Societies might be able to
supply year after year.

Besides purely scientific work, a Society such as ours, which
exists in a community as yut but slightly developed in the
direction of scientific education, ought to do sometliing towards
stimulating outsiders to an intcirest in .scientific work ; and not
only ought to do so, in fact mu-^t do so, if it is to have a success-
ful career. The stimulating in the non -scientific a desire to
become scientific can be done only by making some or all of our
meetings moie popu'ar and more attractive than the ordinary
meeting ot a Scientific Society usually is. Outsiders are accus-
tomed to think of us as a lot of old fo.ssils engaged in riding

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o|'I;niN(J ADDIIKSS— MACdRFfJOll. 7

liol)l)y horst's in tlio form of itisfcts and j)lunts, nnd l»inls and
rocks, and l>»in<'in'' occusionallv to li'dit facts of njoii; or less
utility. Ut.'causu of tho utility of our work wo recoivo a little
monetary assistance ; l)iit couutiMiance and oiicourai^emunt and
the opportunity of makin;^ [jiosulytos, sucli as attendance at our
moetin<'s would provide, are l)Ut rarely <j;ivi'ii ns. And that is
as much our misfortune as our fault. Kur the discussion of
a .scientific pa|)L'r in <,'(!neral is comlucted.and must ir. numy cases
be conduc't(!d, in a lan^i;ua;,'e whose technical terms render h
unintelligible to all but the initiated. It would appear there-
fore, that our ordinary lueetin^'s, which must bu devoted to the
hearing and discussing of new and soiuewhat recondite things,
cannot leadily be rendered wholly popular. And accordingly it
has been proposed that we should devote some evenings to popu-
lar lectures or to co'Wersa/.ionos, or that we should organi/o
excursions of a scientilic kind Doubtless, popular lectures and
excursions have their merits and should not be neglected ; but we
would probably get at the few outsiders who have obseivational
tastes more readily, if we could rendiu- the ordinary meeting of
the Institute sufKciently attractive to make them regular atten-
dants. And it is in this direction that the Institute has lately
been moving. It may not be generally known tliat we are
endeavouring now to tnake our ordinary monthly meetings more
popular than they have hitherto been by the introduction of
what may be called popular prefaces to the vaiious scienti-
fic papers that may be read and discussed. We invite the
readers of papers in fact to prepare introductions which will
enable even their non-scientific hearers to i deistand the work
of which the papers are to give an account, and to describe the
contents of the papers in as untechnical language as possible.
Men differ very much of course in their power of complying with
this invitation. But in many cases the result has been quite
successful, and audiences which contained but few persons who
possessed any previous knowledge of the subject under considera-
tion, have appealed to follow and enjoy the whole discussion.
I think that the most of us feel that our etibrts in this direction
have been sufficiently successful to warrant our continuing them,

OPENING ADDRESS — MACGREGOH.

and persons who have scientific inclinations but no extensive
knowledge, ma}^ therefore henceforth attend our meetings with
the assurance that the time devoted to them will not be thrown
away.

The third department of our work consists in providing for
investigators to as great an extent as possible the means of
investigation. And this we are doing with greater or less suc-
cess in a variety of ways.

First, it is above all things necessary that investigators should
know all that has been already discovered in connection with
the Natural Science of the Province ; and this involves the pub-
lication, from time to time, of such papers read before the Insti-
tute, as may be considered to contain new and well established
results. Hence for fc' e last quarter of a century our "Proceedings
and Transactions" have been published year by year. It is often
difficult to determine whether or not the results contained in any
paper are really new and really well established, and doubtless
occasionally papers are published whose contents do not possess
these characteristics. But on the whole our Transactions will
be found to be a record of continuous advances made in the
knowledge of the Natural Science of Nova Scotia ; and it is a
source of legitimate gratification to us to find that scientific men
and scientific societies all over the world welcome our publica-
tions gladly, and are ready to send us in exchange for them,
publications, I will not say of much greater value, but certainly
of much greater magnitude and of much greater cost.

Secondly, it is .necessary that investigators should have access
to collections of specimens of the various species of plantb, ani-
mals, minerals, etc., which have so far been discovered in Nova
Scotia, together with similar specimens found in other countries,
for purposes of comparison. And it is therefore the duty of the
Institute to see that the Province possesses a well filled and well
arranged museum. Fortunately, however, this part of our work
has been to a large extent taken out of our hands by an intelli-
gent Legislature which itself has provided the public with a mu-
seum, and has put an experienced scientific man at its head ; and
our work in this department, therefore, consists in giving him

OPENING ADDRESS — MACGREGOH.

I '

such assistance as we can in adding to his coUecti ns. If the
fact that W9 do make efforts in this direction gives us' the right
to make suji^estions, we might sun^tjest that since the Legislature
has provided the collections and a curator to look after them, it
should complete its work by providing a local habitation in which
they might be advantageously exhibited. The room at present
set apart for this purpose is so small that a study of the speci-
mens which it contains is attended by great difficulty, while the
arrangement of typical collections for the use of students of the
elements of Natural Science is well nigh impossible ; and thus
the very object with which the collections have been made is to
a large extent rendered unattainable by the lack of suitable
accommodation. Apart from this defect, however, it is a matter
of great consequence to our Society that the Legislature has taken
off its hands the work of forming a Museum. For it is, 1 believe,
the experience of local scientific societies in Great Britain, that
the expenses connected with the maintenance of Museums are in
general too heavy for them, and that too often they are crushed
by the weight of the material which they collect.

Thirdly, it is necessary that investigators should have means
of informing themselves of the progress which Natural Science
is making in other countries, and it thus becomes the duty of the
Institute to collect a Library of sciei^tific publications giving
accounts of what is being done in Natural Science all over the
world. Could ;;uch publications be obtained only by purchase,
it would be quite impossible for the Institute with its limited
income to form any adequate collection of the kind referred to.
But fortunately a large portion of them can be obtained at slight
expense so long as we exhibit a reasonable activity ourselves and
continue to publish Transactions of scientific value. For, as
stated above, foreign Societies will in that case be ready and
willing to send us their publications in exchange for ours. The
value of such publications, not only to the scientific investigator
but also 10 the practical man engaged in pursuits whose methods
improve with the increase of our knowledge of Natural Science,
such as mining, agriculture, fishing, manuf ctures, etc., cannot be
over-estimated ; and from this point of view alone it is important

i i

OPENING ADDRESS— MACGREOOR.

that our Transactions should be kept at least up to their present
vol nine ami value.

For many reasons the publications which have accumulated
during the last seventy-five years have neither been .■;o numerous
as they might have been, nor so well preserved as they should
have been ; and, for want of proper cases and rooms, they have
been lying in a state in which it was impossible to use them.
Lately, however, the Institute has been engaged in reducing them
to Older, and has bound up all the volumes which were found to
bt> complete. It is our intention now to get as many as possible
of the incomplete works rendered con»plete, and to add largely to
our list of exchanges; so that if we are able to maintain the
publication of our own Transactions, we shall very soon acquire a
valuable Library of the Transactions of other Societies

There are many works, however, in which records of pro-
gress in Natural Science are contained, which cannot be obtained
in this way, but must be purchased ; and in cases in which such
works are too expensive to be purchased by individual investi-
gators, and are required for purposes of investigation, it would
seem to be the duty of the Listitute to obtain them. Here our
poverty makes judicious selection necessary. But it may be
hoped that as our Library increases and is found to be of prac-
tical utility, funds available for this purpose may be found also.

And lastly, it is desirable, if not necessary, that in many cases
the Institute should provide for investigators instruments which
are too costly to be purchased by individuals themselves. Our
funds have always been too small to enable us to make any
extensive provision of this kind. We have recently, however,
purchased an excellent microscope for the use of our members, —
such an instrument as individual members could not be expected
to purchase for themselves, — and good work has already been
done by means of it. There are many instruments of this kind
that the Institute ought to possess, and that doubtless will be
acquired as time goes on and funds increase.

Such, then, is a rough sk^itch of the work which, as I conceive
it, the Institute has to do ; and it will be seen that while in
some departments we have been active and successful, in others

O P EN I N( J A DDRESS — M ACG UEGO K .

■we have not done so much. Even now, it may not be possible
for us to put much energy into all. But, it is well, nevertheless,
that we should compare what we are doing with what a Society'
such as ours ought to be doing. For such comparison must re-
sult in a desire to do more and better work.

While referring to the many things which we have left undone
in the past, I must urge in our behalf that, few though we have
been, we would have done much more, and few though we still
are, we could look forward with gieater expectations, were it not
for the smallness of our income. But we are hampered on all
sides for want of funds. We ought to have a commodious meet-
ing place with ou. books on the walls and oui- working materials
easy of access. As it is we have no room we can call our own,
but are indebted to one Government official for the use of his
office once a month and to another for allowing us standing
room for our book cases in a corridor. We ought to have a paid
librarian and secretary to take charge of books and instruments
and conduct our correspondence, whereas these onerous duties
are discharged by volunteers. We ought to be able to stock our
Library with books of reference and costly publications of all
kinJs, whereas the purchase of a new book is a gre vt event in
our history. We ought to be able to furnish our membeis with
expensive instruments, whereas, so far, we have been able to
purchase but one. Had we the funds at command there are
many ways, to which I have not even referred, in which they
might be advantageously expended. I may mention the making
of grants to assist in defraying the expenses of experimental in-
vestigations of great public utility, as for example, the introduc-
tion into our Nova Scotian climate of foreign plants useful for
manufacturing purposes, and the offering of prizes for memoirs
of practical value, as for example, on the raw materials for
manufactures which our Province supplies. Such modes of
stimulating research have been tried with much success in other
countries, and could we adopt them, would doubtless be found
equally successful here Perhaps our Institute has been too
backward in the past in making its wants and wishes known.
And it may therefore be well that we should let it be known

■IP

•1

OPENING ADDKESS— MACGREGOR.

thai no mv^n who is looking about him for a public-spirited
mode of investing capital can do better than establish for us a
Library Fund or a Prize Fund.

I fear I have already kept you too long from the main work of
this evening. Let me therefore in conclusion simply express the
hope that the Session which we are now beginning may be one
of great productivity and of unusual progress.

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