XX THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



and ecology of vegetation, and of the zoological species collected. 

 The floras and faunas existing were conditioned by the geological 

 and meteorological environment which together largely determined 

 the possibilities of the economic development of the country. 



Pure science became thus the grounds of his recommendations 

 to those ready to open up the country for settlement. But the settler 

 with his small capital had to be aided by the railroad builder in order 

 to get into these vast but remote regions where human industry 

 could not only exist but expand. Thus we find our explorer continu- 

 ally transcending his scientific lists of species of plants and animals 

 by publishing descriptions of the new regions fitted for the occupation 

 of man. 



Of these publications the more important may be his report on 

 the country between Port Arthur and the Pacific in 1877, the Peace 

 River district, and his book, "Manitoba and the Great North-West," 

 687 pages, published about 1882. In 1906 a committee of the House 

 of Commons called him before them for examination with special 

 reference to the agricultural possibilities of the North-West. They 

 presented him (January 23rd, 1906) with an engrossed vote of thanks 

 which contains the paragraph: "Optimistic as his reports and prophe- 

 cies were they have all proved true. To these are to be added Pro- 

 fessor Macoun's explorations in the Canadian Yukon territory in 

 1903, which revealed for the first time that that far northern division 

 of Canada also possesses agricultural resources of no mean order." 



In 1879 Albert College had to give up its exploring professor 

 altogether, but kept him on the roll as Professor Emeritus. In 1881 

 he was appointed Botanist to the Dominion, and next year removed 

 his home to Ottawa, where it remained for the next thirty years, 

 although his summers were for thirty years spent in the field until 

 1903. 



In 1882 I first met him in Pictou, when he was accompanied by 

 his young son, James M., then about nineteen, whom his father 

 proudly referred to as a genius in detecting any new form. It was 

 with his aid he built up at Ottawa subsequently the greater part of 

 the national herbarium of over 100,000 Canadian plants now in the 

 Victoria Museum. He also became, with his sons later, a stimulating 

 member of the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club, which in turn com- 

 municated some of its impetus to the scientific centres of the other 

 Provinces. 



In 1883 he commenced publishing his Catalogue of Canadian 

 Plants, which appeared every year or two in parts as follows: Poly- 

 petalae, 1883; Gamopetalae, 1884; Apetalae, 1886; Endogens, 1888; 



