NOTE AND C0MMF:NT. 
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of you are trained in the paths of natural science, but all of you are energetic, wide 
awake, intelligent men and women — no others could be Mazamas — and in your 
outings you can observe nature and record what you see. 
What naturalists need from little known parts of the land is a simple record of 
observations relating to the plants and animals. For instance, it is easily within the 
power of the Mazamas to tell us what trees grow on Mounts Adams and St. Helens' 
whether or not Goats, Sheep, or Marmots inhabit the summits of these mountains; 
and, if Marmots occur there, whether they are the yellowish brown kind like those 
on Mount Mazama and Mount Hood, or the monstrous hoary-gra}- kind like those on 
Rainier. Simple facts like these are genuine additions to knowledge and well worth 
recording. You have already given us lists of the plants of Hood and Adams, thereby 
making important contributions to botanical literature. Let it be your aim to do 
still more of this good work in future, and to go a step further by adding brief notes 
under the head of each species so we may know the zone it inhabits and the kind of 
place in which it may be found. 
You are doing noble work in promoting the advancement of knowledge and 
encouraging scientific investigation in a land where for years to come commercial 
activity must necessarily dominate the more intellectual pursuits. It speaks well for 
Oregon that so early in her development she can boast an organization so potent for 
good. But you must not rest on your oars. You have a purpose and a task, and 
there is much uphill work before 3-0U. You should not only foster scientific inquiry 
and become the acknowledged center of information respecting the geography and 
natural history of your State ; you should also strive to secure the erection of a state 
Museum, where your ethnological treasures, your geological strata, and your exceed- 
ingly interesting fauna and flora may be represented. 
What is needed is not a heterogeneous assemblage of relics and specimens of 
animals and plants from all parts of the earth, but a representative collection of the 
natural history of the Northwest. Such a museum need not be housed, at first, in a 
costly building, nor need its support be an appreciable tax on the commonwealth. 
If thought advisable a small admission fee might be made to cover the cost of its ad- 
ministration. Oregon needs such a museum to display her natural resources and 
productions; you need such a museum for consultation; your children need such a 
museum as one of the educational advantages to which they are entitled. The 
educational value of properly arranged and labeled collections cannot be overesti- 
mated, and the time is not far distant when well selected types of the various gioups 
of animals, plants, and minerals will be considered necessary adjuncts to our schools. 
Already the advantage of object lessons in natural science is universally recognized, 
and teachers, perhaps more than any other class of persons, must have access to col- 
lections for reference and study. It is not essential to begin on a large scale, for few 
things grow more rapidly than museums, when once the seed is fairly planted. Will 
not you, Mazamas. ' put your shoulder to the wheel ' and establish the nucleus of a 
collection that will some day be the pride of Oregon?'' 
