60 KEPOETS ON THE STATK OF SClENCJi:. 



and survey is of valuo alike lo the generation hy wliich it is executed 

 and to all succeeding generations. 



The 23hysical features of the land slowly alter, even if left solely to 

 the unaided action of the foi'ces of Nature. There are points on our 

 eastern coast where the sea has advanced a mile or more during the last 

 century. But when we include the agency of man we find yet more rapid 

 alterations. Every year the amount of waste land is diminished — the bogs 

 are drained, the pastures creep up the hill-slopes, forests vanish here, while 

 new plantations spr-ing up there. The opening-up of mines and quarries, 

 the cutting of nev/ canals and railways, the rapid expansion of our towns 

 and cities — in all these, and in many other ways, the natural scenery of 

 these islands is continually being changed. Then there are the nobie 

 buildings and monuments which we have inherited fi-om our forefathers, 

 and in which history is written in stone. Architecture is indeed one of 

 the strongholds of photography. 



It is also important that we should record the life of the nation — 

 the trades, the dress, the occupations of the people, their habits and 

 their amusements. We live in an era of unusually rapid change. 

 Tlie improved means of communication, the discoveries of modern science, 

 and the spread of education all combine to abolish the di (Terences of lan- 

 guage, of dress, aiid of manners. 



The British Association has rightly joined in hastening on the work 

 of an Ethnographical Survey of the United Kingdom ; for if such a 

 survey is not done quickly, the amalgamation of the people of the different 

 counties will have gone so far as to render the task useless, if not 

 impossible. 



IV. — 'District' Surveys and 'Subject' Surveys. 



The work of a photo-survey may proceed along two distinct lines, 

 although these may of course be pursued simultaneously :— 



{a) A Diatrici Siirveij, where, say, the one-inch map or the six-inch 

 map is taken as the unit, and all items of interest within that area are 

 photographed. This is the method so far pursued l)y those who have 

 approached the task from the photographic side. 



(b) A Subject Snrvey, in which some definite line of research is followed. 

 It is in this direction that the efforts of most of our men of science who 

 are not connected directly with photography and photographic Societies 

 have tended. No prai.se can be too high for the work of the Geological 

 Photographs Committee of the British Association. The Committees on 

 Anthropological Photographs and on Botanical Photographs are working 

 upon similar ' subject ' lines, while many of the other Committees largely 

 use photography. Indeed the British Association seems to be specially 

 well fitted to carry on the work of subject surveys. 



V. — Base of the British Photo-Survey. 



Unquestionably the great unit for district surveys should be the 

 county. For the small working unit, nothing can be better than the maps 

 of the Ordnance Survey. The one-inch map is good ; but the six-inch 

 gives such detail that by its aid we can determine the orientation of 

 buildings, »kc., so as to be able to select beforehand the precise hour of 

 the dav when the light will be best suited for work. 



