i 7 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tion of any native animal or plant is one which may indeed be small, 

 but may easily be irreparable. The last survivor of those flocks of 

 wild pigeon which once darkened the sun seems to have winged his 

 solitary way to that bourne whence no traveler returns, which the 

 fowler's eye may vainly strain to discern. The same thing is almost 

 true of the wood-ducks. Logging operations have absolutely cleared 

 many a stream of trout, and it might easily be that grayling, white- 

 fish and sturgeon would become as unknown as the wolverine in the 

 wolverine state. 



I presume that in some exterminations like those of the rattlesnake 

 and the wolf there is a distinct gain. But it is not well that we should 

 let these exterminations of our animal neighbors go on in sheer heedless- 

 ness, but take some pains to preserve and propagate those most valuable. 

 A great body of laws on game preservation and fish culture show that 

 we realize something of this. Yet I venture to say that we still know 

 far less than we might of what animals should be preserved and espe- 

 cially how best to do it, or which of our animal friends are being ex- 

 terminated and how best to stop it. Many a well-meaning action fails 

 in its object because based on imperfect knowledge. The laws for the 

 preservation of lobsters are aiding their extermination. 



First then as regards these exhaustible resources one should know 

 what is happening. Again, the consumption should be as little waste- 

 ful as possible, getting the full benefit of all that is used. 



Thirdly, the product should be so used that we may have something 

 to show for the exhausted resources and, in particular, so far as possible, 

 substitutes should be devised and developed. 



Now as to the kind of knowledge we ought to have. Marl or 

 boglime beds which have been used as the base for cement factories 

 have been produced in the past few thousand years, but the lake algae 

 and shells are still busy abstracting lime from the hard water. One 

 thing which it would be interesting to know is how fast our marl beds 

 are growing and how many acres of pond and bog and cubic yards of 

 boglime a company would need to have so that when they got around 

 they could begin over again. The state might well encourage such an 

 investigation and also see how fast it could be accumulated by the fittest 

 plants. In the same way with peat bogs. If peat comes to be a 

 popular fuel, it will at first be mainly on accumulated peat that we 

 shall draw; but it will also be worth while to know how fast a bog 

 can be made to grow and whether its growth can be stimulated by 

 changes in water level or by encouraging appropriate plants. It is a 

 good reason that scientific research be endowed on just this ground, 

 that when the present coal mines are exhausted one may know where 

 most readily to find new, and when these in turn are but hollow voids 

 some inventor shall have found a storage battery that will turn Ariel 

 from a tricksy sprite to a mighty genius of work and make the wind- 



