10 



Provincial surveys working out the topography in a far 

 more minute manner and on a greatly larger scale tlian at 

 present. We should never again send out a topographic 

 party, a boundary party, or a land surveyor laying out a base 

 line, without being accompanied by trained geologists and 

 naturalists. The history of our oa\ti jSTorthem Ontario is an 

 example of what we have failed to accomplish in this respect. 

 We should not only publish annually such broad truths of 

 geology and natural history as are gathered during these 

 rapid topographic surveys, but we should be engaged in our 

 provincial survej'-s on reports dealing with the features of 

 each county separately, and in our Dominion Suiwey in work- 

 ing out special problems of geologic or other scientific inter- 

 est. For instance, in the United States there are many com- 

 plete monographs dealing "with the iron ores of different lo- 

 calities, or the coal, or natural gas, or the forestry conditions, 

 or other problems of great commercial importance. Have 

 we no curiosity about our own great areas of iron ore, our 

 leally wonderful coal fields, and our other minerals ? Should 

 we not appreciate intelligent monographs on the treatment of 

 refractory ores, on modern mining machinery, on brick-mak- 

 ing, salt wells, gas wells, and the many other things so intel- 

 ligently presented to the people by the state in more favored 

 countries ? Of course we should. Let our government but 

 try. 



"And as to pubhc museums. The Dominion Govern- 

 ment at Ottawa and each province, at its city of chief import- 

 ance, should have a museum belonging to and supported by 

 the people. These museums should contain exhibits of the 

 metallic and non-metalhc minerals of the country, both those 

 of economic and of merely scientific value, the forest trees, 

 with the bark preserved, in, say, six feet sections, cut also and 

 partly polished, and each specimen accompanied by a small 

 map showing its habitat ; the fresh water and sea fishes, 

 mounted after the modern methods; the fur-bearing animals, 

 the game birds, and the birds of our forests, fields and sea- 

 coast, many of them mounted so as to tell a child their habits 

 at a glance ; the reptiles, crustaceans, insects, plants, indeed, 

 as complete a record of the fauna and flora of the country as 

 possible ; the rocks of stratigi'aphic importance, and all the 

 varieties of fossils which can be gathered in this country ; the 



