THE

CANADIAN NATURALIST

AND

Quarterly Journal of Science.

ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL, PRINCIPAL DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S.

Delivered May 19th, 1871.

The first duty which devolves upon me in this address is a mournful one-that of referring to the departure from among us of two of our youngest and yet most useful and promising mem bers, Mr. Alexander S. Ritchie, and Mr. Edward Hartley.

Mr. Ritchie died in December last, at the age of 34. He had been connected with the Society for six years, and had contribu ted to our proceedings seven original papers on Entomology and Microscopy. His papers were characterized by minute and painstaking research, and the facts which he studied were presented in a distinct and lucid manner and often very effectively. He was for some time a member of the Council and of the Editing Committee, and at the time of his death occupied the honourable and useful position of Chairman of the Council. In Mr. Ritchie we have lost a man always ready for any useful work, and while active and enthusiastic, most gentle and unobtrusive in his manner, and thoroughly to be relied on for the performance of all that he undertook to do.

Mr. Edward Hartley was a still younger man, and for a shor ter time a member of this Society. He was born in Montreal, but received his scientific education at the Sheffield School of Yale College, and was for some time engaged in mineral surveys in the VOL. VI.

No. 1.

United States. He subsequently became attached to the Geological Survey of Canada, and was employed more especially in the coal-fields of Nova Scotia, on which he prepared two elaborate and most valuable reports: one on the structure of a part of the Pictou coal-field, the other on the quality of the coals of Pictou. While in the midst of these useful labors he was suddenly struck down by disease, at the early age of 23. Mr. Hartley was a Fellow of the Geological Societies of London and of France, a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers of Scotland, and of the Institute of Mining Engineers of the North of England, and of various local societies. His attainments in Mineralogy, in Geology and in Mining Engineering were extraordinary for his years and gave promise of a brilliant career. Science in Montreal can little afford to lose two such men.

THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS PRESENTED

to the Society in the past year have been numerous and valuable and most of them have been printed in full in our journal, the Canadian Naturalist. The following may be especially mentioned: "Aquaria Studies," Part 2d, by Mr. A. S. Ritchie; "On a specimen of Beluga recently discovered at Cornwall, Ontario," by E. Billings, Esq., F. G. S. "On the Earthquake of October 20th, 1870, " by Principal Dawson, F. R. S.; On Canadian Phosphates, in their application to Agriculture," by Gordon Broome, F.G.S.; "On the Origin of Granite," by G. A. Kinahan, Esq., of Dublin; "Notes on Vegetable Productions,; by Major G. E. Bulger; "On the species of Deer inhabiting Canada," by Prof. R. Bell, F. G. S.; "On the Sanitary Condition of Montreal," by Dr. P. P. Carpenter; "On the Foraminifera of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence," by G. M. Dawson; "On Canadian Foraminifera," by J. F. Whiteaves, F. G. S.; "On some New Facts in Fossil Botany," by Principal Dawson, F. R. S. ; "On the occurrence of Diamonds in New South Wales, " by Mr. Norman Taylor, and Prof. A. Thompson; communicated by A. R. C. Selwyn Esq., F. G. S.; "On the Structure and affinities of the Brachiopoda," by Prof. Morse; "On a Mineral Silicate injecting Palæozoic Crinoids," by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, F. R. S. "On the Origin and Classification of Crystalline Rocks, " by Mr. Thomas Macfarlane; "On the Plants of the West Coast of Newfoundland," by John Bell, M. A., M. D.; "On Canadian Diato macea," by Mr. W. Osler; "On the Botany of the Counties of Hastings and Addington," by B. J. Harrington, B. A.

Beside these, we have reprinted in the Naturalist several important papers by Dr. Hunt, Mr. Billings, and others, with the view of making them more fully known to students of nature in Canada.

ERRONEOUS PUBLIC OPINIONS.

Of the scientific value of these papers, and of the amount of original work which they evince, it is unnecessary that I should speak; but it is sometimes alleged that societies of this kind are of no practical utility; that their labours are merely the industrious idleness of unpractical dreamers and enthusiasts. Nothing could be more unjust than such an assertion. Science, cultivated for its own sake, and without any reference to practical applica tions, is a noble and elevating pursuit, full of beneficial influence on mental culture, and by the training which it affords, fitting men for the practical business of life better than most other studies. Further, it is by this disinterested pursuit of science, for its own sake, that many of the most practically useful arts and improvements of arts have had their birth. Besides this, most of the investigations of the naturalist have a direct bearing on utilitarian pursuits. In illustration of this statement I need go no further than our own last volume. An eminent example is afforded by the paper of Mr. Gordon Broome on Canadian phosphates. Here we have set before us three pregnant classes of facts: First -Phosphates are essential ingredients of all our cultivated plants, and especially of those which are most valuable as food. In order that they may grow, these plants must obtain phosphates from the soil, and if the quantity be deficient so will the crop. Of the ashes of wheat, 50 per cent consist of phosphoric acid, and without this the wheat cannot be produced; nor if produced would it be so valuable as food. Second-The culture of cereals is constantly abstracting this valuable substance from our soils. The analyses of Dr. Hunt have shown long ago that the principal cause of the exhaustion of the worn-out wheat lands of Canada is the withdrawal of the phosphates, and that fertility cannot be restored without replacing these. In 292,533 tons of wheat and wheaten. flour exported from Montreal in 1869, there were, according to Mr. Broome, 2,340 tons of phosphoric acid, and this was equal to the total impoverishment of more than 70,000 acres of fertile land. To replace it would require, according to Mr. Broome, 5,850 tons of the richest natural phosphate of lime or 13,728 tons of super-phosphates as ordinarily sold, at a cost of more than

$480,000. These facts become startling and alarming when we consider that very little phosphoric acid in any form is being applied to replace this enormous waste. Yet so great is now the demand for these manures that super-phosphates to the value of $8,750,000 are annually manufactured in England from mineral phosphate of lime, beside the extensive importations of bones and guano. Third-Canada is especially rich in natural mineral phosphates, as yet little utilized, and might supply her own wants, and those of half the world beside, if industry and skill were directed to this object.

Putting these three classes of facts together, as they are presented by Mr. Broome, we have before us, on the one hand, an immense abyss of waste, poverty and depopulation yawning before our agricultural interests; and on the other, inexhaustible sources of wealth and prosperity lying within reach of scientific skill, and the conditions necessary to utilize which were well pointed out in the paper referred to. It is true that these facts and conclusions have been previously stated and enforced, but they remain as an illustration of scientific truths of important practical value still very little acted on.

Naturalists are sometimes accused of being so foolish as to chase butterflies, and the culture of cabbages is not usually regarded as a very scientific operation; yet any one who reads a paper on the Cabbage butterfly read at one of our meetings by the late Mr. Ritche, may easily discover that there may be practical utility in studying butterflies, and that science may be applied to the culture of the most commonplace of vegetables. A valuable crop, worth many thousands of dollars, is hopelessly destroyed by enemies not previously known, and appearing as if by magic. Entomology informs us that the destroyer is a well known European insect. It tells how it reached this country and that it might have been exterminated by a child in an a hour on its first appearance. But allow it to multiply unchecked, it soon fills all our gardens and fields with its devastating multitudes, and the cultivators of cabbages and cauliflowers are in despair. But Entomology proceeds to show that the case is not yet hopeless, and that means may still be found to arrest its ravages.

Unfortunately, we have as yet no public official bureau of Entomology, and therefore we must be indebted for such information to men who, like our late associate Ritchie, snatch from arduous business pursuits the hours that enable them thus to benefit their

country. Ontario is in advance of us in this, and has in the present year produced an important contribution to practical science in the report of the Fruit Grower's Association, which includes, among other matters, three papers on applied Entomology; that on Insects affecting the Apple, by Rev. C. T. S. Bethune; that on Insects affecting the Grape, by Mr. N. Saunders; and that on Insects affecting the Plum, by Mr. E. B. Reed. These are most creditable productions and of much practical value.

I would mention here that though we have among us several diligent and successful students of insects, yet we have no one at present who has taken up the mantle of Mr. Ritchie as a describer of their habits. I trust that some of our younger members will at once enter on this promising and useful field.

WORK DONE.

Looking at the amount of work done by our Society in the course of the year, I think it will bear comparison with that of similar societies elsewhere. We have not before us so large an amount of matter as that accumulated by the great central societies of the Mother Country and the United States; but we exceed in this respect most of the local societies of Great Britain, outside of London, and most of those in America with the exception of a few of the more important. With regard to the quality of scientific matter, we can boast many papers of which any society might gladly take the credit, while all of the papers which we publish are at least of local value and importance. This Society is, on this account, now recognized as the chief exponent of Canadian Natural History, and its journal is sought by all interested in the aspects of nature in this part of America. The responsibility which devolves upon us in this aspect of our work, is, I think, worthy of our consideration, with reference to our future operations, and to this subject I would desire to devote the remainder of this address.

One of our functions as a local society I think we have well and efficiently performed. It is that of accumulating and arranging for study the natural productions of this country. Our collections of mammals, birds, insects and mollusks of Canada are now nearly complete up to the present state of knowledge, and we have also valuable collections in other departments of Zoology. Our curator, Mr. Whiteaves, has done very much to give to these collections a scientific value by careful and accurate arrangement.