33 
There is a prevalent but erroneous idea, even among many who are 
personally acquainted with the National Museum, that it is a young insti- 
tution, This notion is probably consequent to the transfer of the Museum 
in 1910 to the imposing new building at the foot of Metcalfe street, which 
was built especially for it, and which it still occupies. The notion is apt 
to be strengthened by the recent conference upon the Museum of a new 
name. As a matter of fact, however, the institution recently named the 
National Museum of Canada is nearly a century old and its history and 
growth are intimately enough connected with the history and growth of 
the country to render its new name appropriate. It seems desirable in 
this volume, which is intended to be the first of a series of separate annual 
reports upon the work of the National Museum, to review briefly its origin 
and development up to the present. 
The National Museum originated in the Geological Survey of Canada, 
with which it is still closely connected, and its early history is inseparable 
from that of the Survey. As long ago as January, 1832, one Doctor Rae 
petitioned Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, for 
pecuniary assistance to make a geological survey of the province, but 
although recommended by the Lieutenant-Governor the request was 
denied by the Committee of Supply in the House of Assembly. In Decem- 
ber of the same year the York Literary and Philosophical Society asked 
with no better success for a grant of money for the purpose of investigating 
the geology, mineralogy, and natural history of Upper Canada. No 
further action seems to have been taken until 1836, when, on motion of 
Mr. W. L. Mackenzie, grandfather of the Present Prime Minister of 
Canada, a committee composed of Messrs. Dunlop, Gibson, and Dun- 
cornbe was selected to consider and report on a plan for a geological survey 
of the province. The report was made, but not considered by parliament, 
so in November Mr. Dunlop gave notice of a motion to bring in a bill to 
institute a geological survey. The bill was not proceeded with, but on 
motion of Mr. Dunlop later in the month the House of Assembly went into 
Committee of the Whole to consider the expediency of a geological survey. 
“Again, in December, 1836, Mr. Dunlop, with characteristic pertinacity, gave notice 
of an address to the King for a grant of wild land to defray the expense of a geological 
survey; but again the address failed to be presented. Here the matter dropped, not to be 
revived until after the union of the Provinces, during the administration of Lord Sydenham, 
a man who fully appreciated the importance of ascertaining the nature and extent of the 
mineral resources of Canada. 
The first united Parliament met in 1841, and in the month of July the Natural History 
Society of Montreal, through Mr. Benjamin Holmes, and the Literary and Historical 
Society of Quebec, through Mr. Henry Black, petitioned for aid to carry out a geological 
survey. The result was that the matter was taken up by the Government, and on the 
motion of the Hon. G. B. Harrison, the sum of £1,500 sterling, for the purposes of a survey, 
was included in the estimates.” 1 
During this same period a young man in England endowed with the 
passion for science, the singleness of purpose, and the sound body requisite 
to make full use of the opportunity so slowly but pertinaciously achieved, 
was training himself as if destined for it by the sure hand of Providence. 
This man, William Edmund Logan, was to exercise such a profound and 
lasting influence upon scientific development in Canada, that an outline 
of his life is essential for a proper understanding of the history of the two 
institutions with which this article is concerned. He was born in Montreal 
1 Harrington’s "Life of Sir William Logan", pp. 125-126. 
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