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WEDNESDAY, 9th MARCH, 1870,

AND COMMEMORATIVE OP THE VISIT OP

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ARTHUR,

TO THE INSTITUTION, ON THAT OCCASION.

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CIENCE.

AN ADDRESS

THE REV. A. DE SOLA, LL.D . ,

AT THE CONVERSAZIONE HELD IN THE HALL OP THE

NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL,

WEDNESDAY, 9™ MARCH, 1870,

AND COMMEMORATIVE OF THE VISIT OF

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HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ARTHUR,

TO THE INSTITUTION, ON THAT OCCASION.

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PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET.

1870.

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THE

STUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE.

May it please Your Royal Highness; Ladies and Gentlemen :

The Annual Conversazione of the Natural History Society — always a
gala season for its members — becomes especially so this evening, when
we are privileged to welcome to it, the honored son of our highly revered
and dearly beloved Queen, on whom may God bestow many years of
happiness and blessing. On so memorable an occasion in the history of
this Society, there devolves on me a duty that could have been more
worthily and ably discharged by another — the pleasant duty of extend¬
ing to you, Ladies and Gentlemen, a very cordial welcome, on behalf of
the Society, to the entertainment we are enabled to offer you. I beg to
assure you that we experience a very high degree of gratification in
believing that your presence on this and other occasions is intended to
evince your sympathies with the objects of our Society. May we be
permitted to hope that these sympathies will lead you to become, instead
of mere annual visitors, permanent, earnest co-laborers with ms. I at
least propose, in a few remarks on some of the intellectual and utilitarian
aspects of the study that engages us here, to show you that we have some
warrant for the invitation we give you to labor with us in its great and
glorious cause.

In its most extended sense, natural science means an investigation into
the laws governing, and the elements composing, the whole of God’s
material works — 'the heavens above, and the earth beneath. The
boundlessness of such a field of inquiry I could not, on this occasion,
more forcibly, and I trust more appropriately, impress upon you, than by
quoting to you the words of that excellent and lamented Prince, whose
like, in respect to his extensive attainments in literature and science,
and his judicious and successful efforts to promote them, Britain has
never yet seen ; who, in his life, afforded us a noble illustration of all
that dignifies humanity, and in his death, left us a precious example how
the time and talents God bestows on us may be most beneficially employed
for the best interests of mankind. JNeed I say I refer to Albert the Good.
These are his words, addressed to the “ British Association,” at Aberdeen,
in 1859

il But in gaining new centres of light from which to direct our researches
and new and powerful means of adding to its ever increasing treasures,

4

science approaches no nearer to the limits of its range, although travel¬
ing further and further from its original point of departure. For God’s
world is infinite 5 and the boundlessness of the universe whose confines
appear ever to retreat before our finite minds, strikes us no less with
awe when, prying into the starry crowd of Heaven, we find new worlds
revealed to us by every increase in the power of the telescope, than when
the microscope discloses to us in a drop of waiter or an atom of dust new
worlds of life and animation, or the remains of such as have passed
away.”

A ociety such as ours has to regard natural science in its more limited
sense. It is only from a few salient points that we can hope to penetrate
a field which is not more distinguished by its boundlessness, than by its
variety. But in its immense variety, we discover, the more we advance in
the study, a prevailing uniformity that speaks of plan and system. And
as the astronomer has shown that the slight deviations and perturbations
of the spheres in their course are, equally with the regularity of their
movements, the result of fixed laws, so the scientific naturalist holds it as
one of his highest duties to discover and exhibit the principle governing
not merely the uniformity of structure and habits of living nature, but
also those deviations from it that at first sight seem so unaccountable
and perplexing. If this be so, then all persons of all degrees, stations
and occupations should aid, in some way or the other, a Natural History
Society. For the scientific naturalist wants facts and the result of obser¬
vations ; and he frequently wants those facts which may appear trivial
and unimportant, but which he is able by his powers of generalization to
show, when connected with other facts already obtained, possess a very
great value in correcting what is vague, contradictory or erroneous in his
former deductions. And the contributor of these facts need not be a
scientific one. Everyone with ordinary powers of observation may
make important additions to the store of scientific knowledge. Some of
the most valuable contributions to natural history have been made by
unscientific travellers, who simply but faithfully described what they
saw and collected. But we need not go to foreign countries to pursue
our investigations. There is quite room enough for them in this Canada
of ours. For, not to speak of the specially interesting field we have for
geological and mineralogical research, there is ample scope for observa¬
tion and inquiry into the structure and vital actions of even our lowest
plants and animals, not by any means thoroughly investigated 5 and it may
be safely promised the diligent collectors among our insects and marine
tribes, that their labors will not always remain unrewarded by the
discovery of some species hitherto unknown, and thus valuable contri¬
butions made to an important department of natural history — the geo¬
graphical distribution of animals.

The duty of acquiring and imparting knowledge from observation
though a very evident one, inasmuch as it advantages society as well as
the individual, is yet one very generally neglected. We have heard of

5

the pedagogue in a small village who having joined a crowd anxiously
engaged in watching an eclipse of the sun, and who, having been asked in
deference to his superior learning what was the cause of this extraordinary
appearance, replied, “ It is only a phenomenon.” The truth seems too
evident to repeat that if, when we behold anything extraordinary in
nature, we check our instinctive curiosity by saying to ourselves, “It is
only a phenomenon,” we shall not be one step nearer any rational
knowledge of the appearance than if we had never observed it. “How
many singular phenomena,” exclaims the zealous naturalist, in accents
of bitter regret, — “ how many rare and precious fossils have been lost to
the world seen by blind eyes. How many gas lamps might have trembled
at sounds, before a Lecomte observed under what conditions the ball¬
room lights responded to the tones of a violoncello.”

But the study of .Natural History is not merely valuable as a means of
cultivating the powers of observation, but of educating all the faculties of
the mind. Advancing as it does from the study of the simple to the
analysis of the complex, it must necessarily bring into play all those mental
powers that men are called upon to exercise in all the engagements of
life. “The process by which truth is attained,” says Mill, “reasoning and
observation, have been carried to their greatest known perfection in the
physical sciences.” Natural History being concerned rather with the
knowledge of things than of words, can lay claim to an exactness which
is not the least of its merits. Another of its advantages is that it
supplies us with the great ideas of natural law and harmonious adjustment.
Finally, it bestows on us a general quickness of perception ; for the habits
of observation it necessitates, give to the intellect a superior aptitude for
understanding and enjoying the thing observed.

Were this the occasion to dwell on the utilitarian aspects of the study,
we might refer to the countless blessings it has bestowed on man in the
shape of all those things essential to his wants and comforts ; we might
point to an improved Agriculture and Horticulture 5 to the protection of
crops from the devastations of insects ; to the multiplication of the ores,
the coal, the useful and precious stones and metals. We might point to
the wondrous triumphs of science applied to the arts ; the labor-saving
processes which enable all to possess so cheaply the comforts and
elegancies of life, formerly attainable only by the very few. Especially
might we point to these in the mother country ; but they are not entirely
absent in this Dominion, even with a sparse population of comparatively
scant leisure and opportunities. For where erst stood the primeval forest
in which roamed only savage man and wild beast, now rise large cities,
important centres cf commerce, pleasant villages and smiling hamlets.
Where formerly prevailed unbroken stillness and solitude now is heard
the busy hum of industry, the cheerful sound of civilized man’s labor in
his work shops and in his factories, with his labor-saving implements
and machines and engines and the countless devices for multiplying
force and velocity, all originating in science and directed by science, the

6

friend of art and guide of industry. Where the Indian canoe slowly bore
its untutored occupant in his short journeys on the bosom of our noble
streams, now rides the majestic steamboat carrying its hundreds of pas¬
sengers, hundreds of miles even through a night’s sleep, on their errands
of business, pleasure and duty. Where on the banks of these streams
could only be seen a few rude wigwams approached by the narrow bridle
path or painful trail, now stand thousands of commodious houses and
palatial mansions, every where connected with broad and easy roads or
finished railways, along which rushes the mighty locomotive, so fearful
in its energy and power, with its freight of human beings and all that
ministers to their wants in distant settlements : speeding on its way
through tunneled hill and mountain ; over the marvellous tubular and
suspension bridges that hang over gorges of dizzy depths ; following the
telegraph wire along wThich the lightning eonveys with its proper rapidity
man’s messages, washes and behests ; over the canals that science has
substituted for rivers not navigable ; along rich cornfields and beautiful
gardens, replete with lovely flowers and luscious fruits, and perfumed
exotics, all multiplied and improved by scientific culture. Such are some
of the results which science, applied to the arts, has obtained for us in
Canada; and there is not one of her sons or daughters who may not yet
aid in further developing these blessed results.

But it is no mere material, grovelling, earthly science, that we laud
and advocate in this institution — but a science whose eye alternates
between earth and heaven — below, seeking the advancement and good of
humanity ; above, finding communion with the Great Creator and
Architect of all ; acquiring the fuller knowledge of wisdom and design
and adaptation and harmony everywhere displayed,

(‘T j see in part

That all, as in some piece of art,

Is toil, co-operant to an end,”

and that end, the elevation and felicity of man. Yes, the benevolence,
the wisdom, and the omnipotence of Him who formed all and maintains
all, are made more and more manifest to us as we advance, step after
step, in the study of natural science. We hear the voice of God on the
mighty waters, when He thundereth, and when He fiasheth the flames of
fire that shiver the mighty cedars. We raise our eyes and we see His
infinite and unapproachable wisdom displayed in the delicate adjustments
and felicitous arrangements of the varied forces that astronomy reveals.
We see it in the mechanical and physical properties of the atmosphere ;
in the effects of light and heat in developing and fostering all the varied
beautiful, animal and vegetable life; in the production of cooling winds
and fructifying showers. We read this testimony in the towering rocks
and giant trees, as in the grains of sand and petals of the flower ; in the
nerves and veins and arteries which permeate this wondrous frame of
ours, as in the vessels that convey the sap from the root to the leaf in the

7

vegetable world; in short, in all the countless adaptations and modifica¬
tions every where visible, every where needed . And when we pass from
the known to the unknown, from the revealed to the unrevealed, from
the study of the stupendous and inimitable organisms, it is given us to
understand, to the contemplation of the mysterious powers and qualities
and forces in Nature which seem almost for ever destined to baffle man’s
puny efforts to resolve them, we cannot fail to carry away a sentiment of
the most profound humility, a deep-seated conviction of the utter
weakness and insignificance of our powers. Yes, from the study of
nature, from this house in which it is specially cultivated, we should, and
we must, carry into the active occupations of our lives, in our daily
intercourse with our fellow beings, an earnest desire to imitate, as far as
we may, the attributes of the Creator as revealed to us by nature, to
elect the most comprehensive of these attributes, benevolence, as the
main-spring of all our thoughts and actions, so that we may look upon all
men, no matter what their origin, colour or creed, as equally the
objects of the one Creator’s care, and the one Creator’s love, and so that
we may learn to practise that toleration for each other’s most cherished
opinions, political or religious, that shall for ever banish from amongst
us the bitter wrangling of dogmatism and the rancour of sectarian strife ;
which shall secure among us the rule of that harmony every where pre¬
valent in nature, and every where taught by her, — the harmony that shall
prove

u The chain of love
Combining all below and all above.”

/

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
University of Toronto

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https://archive.org/details/studyofnaturalscOOsola

9

From the u Montreal Daily News ” of Thursday , March 10, 1870.

CONVERSAZIONE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.

The eighth annual Conversazione of this Society took place in their
rooms last night, and was attended by a large and brilliant assembly
composed of the elite of the city. The Lecture Room, Library and
Hall were most tastefully decorated, for which Mr. McCord deserves
great credit. There was a good display of philosophical instruments and
apparatus in the Lecture Room, while the Library, which was thrown open
and connected with the Lecture Room, was brilliant with lamps, and
glittering with a large number of microscopes of the newest and most
improved descriptions. The inspection of microscopical objects was
highly interesting, and was superintended by the members of the Micros¬
copic Club.

At about a quarter past, eight His Royal Highness entered the Lecture
Hall preceded by the Chairman, Rev. Dr. De Sola, and immediately
followed by Principal Dawson, Lieutenant Picard, Drs. Smallwood, Hunt,
and Edwards, and Messrs. Ferrier, Leeming, Billings, Barnston, and
Whiteaves, the band of the Rifle Brigade playing the National Anthem.
On ascending the dais, the following address was presented to the Prince
by Dr. De Sola, on behalf of the Society :

To His Boy al Highness Prince Arthur Patrick William Albert , Knight of the
Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle , Knight of the Most
Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, Ac., Ac.:

May it please your Royal Highness, — We, the officers and members of
the Natural History Society of Montreal, beg leave to approach your
Royal Highness with our most respectful salutations, and to tender
you a very cordial welcome on this occasion, when we are honoured with
your presence amongst us.

We beg to assure your Royal Highness of the reverence and regard in
which we hold the exalted virtues and beneficient rule of Her Most
Gracious Majesty the Queen.

Our Society has existed as a corporate body for thirty-eight years,
during which time it has ever had for its chief object, the advancement
of the study of Natural History in this city and throughout Canada. It
has erected this building, in which we have collected and arranged a
Museum, which is attaining a magnitude that will bear favorable
comparison with ordinary public Museums in England, and is especially
valuable for its exhibition of local specimens. It has also erected the
nucleus of a useful library of reference on scientific subjects. It has
sought to promote original investigation and to foster a taste for the

10

study of nature, by its lectures, its papers statedly read, and by its organ,
u The Canadian Naturalist,” which spreads the best attainable information
on the natural productions of Canada, not merely among students in the
Dominion, but throughout the scientific world where it is favorably
known.

We believe that the aims and labours of such an Association as ours
will enlist the fullest approval of your Royal Highness, as they did that
of your honored and lamented father, whose name is revered wherever
science is cultivated as one of its most earnest friends and efficient
promoters.

(Signed,) A. DE SOLA, LL.D.

J. F. WHITEAVES, F.G.S.

REPLY.

o the Officers and Members of the Natural History Society of Montreal ,
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : —

It is to me a source of great satisfaction to receive this address of
welcome at the hands of a Corporation so learned and distinguished,
many of whose members have battled bravely in the cause of science.

Their achievements in the fields of geology and organic chemistry are
well known not only to Canadians but to the scientific world at large;
and their meritorious literary contributions in other branches of science
afford clear indications of the ability of various members.

The establishment of this excellent museum, so full of objects of deep
interest, reflects great credit upon this Society.

Most praiseworthy are the efforts of the members to popularize the
natural sciences, and most sincerely do I offer to them my congratulations
on the success that has attended their undertaking.

[Signed,] ARTHUR.

On conclusion of the Prince's reply, Dr. De Sola addressed the audience
in words of welcome and on the inducements to the study of Natural
Science. His remarks were warmly applauded. After a piece performed
by the Band, Principal Dawson followed in an interesting speech upon
science and scientific institutions generally, but for want of space we are
unable to give it at length. For the same reason we are obliged to omit
a synopsis of Dr. J. Baker Edward’s lecture on applied science.

Immediately after the lecture, the Prince, accompanied by I r. De Sola
and Mr. J. F. Whiteaves, proceeded to inspect the collection of objects,
and appeared especially interested with the cases of birds and cabinets
of insects.

His Royal Highness left at a late hour, and expressed himself highly
gratified with the proceedings, and surprised at the extent and value of
the collection.

The Band of the Rifle Brigade performed various selections during the
evening.

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