THE NEW DOMESDAY 247 



recent Palaeontology, and we have to follow his career from his 

 advent in our region, through the realms of Archaeology and 

 History, to that of Modern Sociology. 



" Primitive Man is worthy of a place to himself, and from the 

 dawn of history the human survey is better divided into two 

 parallel branches. The one which I have provisionally called 

 ' Historical Development ' will take each of the many sub- 

 divisions of Social Study, e.g. Population, Language, Land 

 Tenure, Housing, Family Life, Local Administration, and so 

 forth, and describe its development from the earliest times to 

 the present with an unlimited degree of detail, while the other, 

 which I have called ' Social Evolution,' will aim at reconstructing 

 as a whole, and estimating the significance of, each successive 

 phase of human history. Such a study is at once the most 

 important, and the most difficult, part of a regional survey, but, 

 based as it will be upon an appreciation of all the underlying 

 factors, it cannot fail to throw much light upon current social 

 phenomena, and enable us to appreciate, if not to direct, the 

 incipient tendencies of social evolution in our region." 



The interest created among the members of the Letchworth 

 and District Naturalists' Society, since the idea of this new local 

 Domesday was first mooted, has been most marked, and several 

 field excursions are now devoted to this important work. As an 

 instance of what a great deal of useful information can be collected 

 during one Saturday afternoon excursion, I may cite a visit paid 

 during this Summer to the neighbouring village of Pirton. 



Pirton may be of no interest to the general reader, but it will 

 serve to show what information may be acquired concerning our 

 local villages under the scheme in view. The party was in charge 

 of an amateur regional surveyor (Sir Ronald Ross says in 

 " Science Progress " (April 1917), that he is beginning to think 

 that almost all big scientific work is done by amateurs, or, at 

 least, by men who were amateurs when they did the work ; and 

 that professional scientists write the text-books and obtain the 

 credit !), who deputed the various members to undertake certain 

 sectional work. 



Our local outline plan of a regional survey is as follows : . 



SUGGESTED OUTLINE SCHEME OF REGIONAL SURVEY 

 I. GEOLOGY AND METEOROLOGY. 



Soil and subsoil. Water supply. Rainfall. 



Nearest heights. Nature and analysis of water. Prevailing winds. 



Ponds and streams. Fossils. Drainage. 



