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Some beginning has been made on a project to form a teaching 

 collection of photographs and lantern slides, with which to illus- 

 trate the geology and geography of our several States. Besides a 

 considerable number of excellent views obtained by gift, the in- 

 come of the Gardner Fund, supplemented by the general laboratory 

 funds, enables us to purchase practically all the good photographic 

 illustrations of geographical and geological features that we can 

 find for sale. Most of the photographs have now been catalogued 

 and classified, in order to show not only what we have, but what 

 we want as well. Correspondence has been opened with a number 

 of photographers in different parts of the country, and with the 

 officers of certain State geological surveys, in order to extend our 

 collection in certain desired directions. It is believed that in a 

 few years we shall be able to select from this large amount of ma- 

 terial a series of graded collections of much educational value, thus 

 extending the usefulness of the University in this direction beyond 

 its immediate classes. 



It is noticeable, however, that in spite of the ease with which 

 good photographs are now taken, it is still difficult to obtain a 

 well selected series of views properly illustrating the characteristic 

 features of any State. The attempt has therefore been made, 

 through an address to the National Geographic Society, to turn 

 the attention of our State surveys to the subject of a geographical 

 examination of their domains. It is indeed a curious fact, that, 

 while the geological accounts of our States have advanced greatly, 

 the descriptions of the more elementary subject of their geography 

 are still scanty. Such as they are, they may generally be found 

 in the State or national geological reports ; but most of them fall 

 far short of what they should be in the light of modern geographi- 

 cal study. Just as the State surveys have specialized their work 

 in the direction of palaeontology and later of petrography, it is 

 hoped that the next few years may see a specialization by the sur- 

 veys in the direction of geography, in the hands of trained experts, 

 as other technical subjects are. There is encouragement to think 

 that some of the surveys will at once proceed to the development 

 of this line of study. If so, a decided improvement in local geo- 

 graphical teaching may be looked for through the reports that 

 shall thus be prepared. At present, school teachers have prac- 

 tically no source of information outside of ordinary text-books 

 to which they may turn for accounts of the physical features of 



