212 THE ASSOCIATION 



In 1837 the Association identified itself with other 

 bodies in moving for an extension of the Ordnance 

 Survey to Scotland. The Council had ' the satisfac- 

 tion of reporting that this very important national 

 subject, to which public attention was first called 

 by a general vote of the British Association passed 

 at Edinburgh in 1834, has at length been most 

 favourably entertained by the Government, and 

 that measures have been taken for the immediate 

 commencement of the execution of a map of Scotland/ 

 Again, the Association found it necessary, later on, 

 to attempt to keep the Survey authorities up to the 

 mark. 



In 1837 the Council is found entering into corre- 

 spondence directly with the French Government 

 on the subject of international copyright. The 

 inspiration came from the side of the Association : 

 the French authorities were previously exploring, 

 through a Commission, merely the question of copy- 

 right at home. The Council also communicated 

 with Mr. Sargeant Talfourd, who had brought forward 

 a bill in the House of Commons for the better securing 

 of copyright to authors. In the following year (1838) 

 the Council was able to report that the matter had 

 been taken up by the British Government, and that 

 a bill had passed both Houses of Parliament defining 

 measures to be adopted in conjunction with foreign 

 Powers to establish a system of international copy- 

 right. 



In 1838, also, the Association presented a 

 memorial to the Government on the collection and 

 preservation of documents relating to mining opera- 

 tions, pointing out that where such records were not 

 accessible, not only waste and destruction of property 



