THE OTTAWA NATURALIST " 



VOL. XXIX. _ JANUARY, 1916. No. 10 



FOSSIL COLLECTING.* 



By E. M. Kindle. 



Introduction. 



Away back in the mists of antiquity, so long ago that no 

 record of him stirvives, "some pastoral savage, more reflective 

 and less practical than his brethren," made the first collection 

 of fossils and placed them in front of his tepee. From the time 

 of this first unrecorded collector to the present, most thoughtful 

 and reflective men have some time or other felt the spell of the 

 past which the discovery of the fossil remains of extinct ani- 

 mals casts over the mind, and have become temporarily at 

 least collectors of fossils. Even statesmen burdened with the 

 affairs of nations have found time to collect fossils. It is re- 

 lated of Thomas Jefferson that when he journeyed on horse- 

 back from his Virginia home to Philadelphia to be inaugurated 

 President of the United States, he carried with him in his saddle 

 bags some fossils which he wished to submit to the Philadelphia 

 savants. 



From the rude mound of fossils so often met with in the 

 farm-house front yard, or the mantlepiece collection in the 

 mountain cabin, to the great collections of our large geological 

 museums, is a long step, but the former may be regarded as 

 the prototypes of the latter. The mantlepiece and front yard 

 collections usually have slight value because no record of the 

 exact locality of the several specimens has been preserved. 

 The museum collection should show not only the geographical 

 source of the fossils but their geological horizon as well. In 

 other words the fossil exhibits of a properly arranged museum 

 show the specimens in both their space and time relations. 

 The fossil exhibits of large museums like the British Museum 

 show the ancient life of the world in epitome. The educa- 

 tional value of the great museums of geology depends largely 

 upon the extent to which the visitor has prepared himself to 

 understand their message. There is no preparation for receiv- 

 ing the knowledge which museums and books on geology have 



*Published with the permission of the Director of the Geological Survey of Canada. 



