41 
In his report for 1876-77, Selwyn also remarks that 
“In view of the probable establishment in the Dominion, at some future time, of a 
general National Museum , it has been deemed advisable to utilize the resources of the 
Survey as much as possible in obtaining specimens from other countries in exchange.” 
How the Museum collections increased through the industry of 
Selwyn and his associates was revealed in 1880, when it was decided to 
move the Geological Survey from Montreal to Ottawa, the new seat of 
government. Selwyn reports in the Report of Progress for 1880-81-82 
that there were shipped 1,729 boxes, 101 barrels, and 162 miscellaneous 
packages weighing 282,585 pounds. 
Before its removal to Ottawa the Survey had given some attention 
to botany. Logan’s notebook contains interesting botanical notes and 
excellent sketches of plants. About 1857 there was on the staff a Mr. 
D'Urban, who held the position of naturalist and botanist. The Report 
of Progress for 1866-69 contains a long appendix on the flora of Manitoulin 
island, written by Dr. John Bell, M.D., who had been a volunteer member 
of a geological expedition under his brother, Robert Bell. Plants and 
botanical information had also been collected by Richardson and others. 
But in 1882 there was added to the staff a specialist in botany, John Macoun, 
who established the present division of biology and who ranks with Logan, 
Selwyn, Hunt, Billings, and Dawson as originators of the existing National 
Museum. 
Macoun was an Irishman, born April 17, 1831, in county Down, 
who emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1850 and settled near Belle- 
ville, Ontario. He became a school teacher in Albert College, Belleville. 
By reading, assiduous self-training, and through acquaintance made 
with the great specialists of his time in United States and in the Old Country 
he became also an acknowledged authority on Canadian botany, which 
science seems to have attracted him powerfully from boyhood. No 
wonder, then, that he was chosen to accompany the expedition of 1871 
under Sandford Fleming, which was sent to explore and investigate the 
possibilities of the country across which a railway was to be built to reach 
British Columbia. His report, published in 1874, was influential in 
deciding upon the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway, inasmuch 
as it and later reports refuted an idea, then prevalent, that western Canada 
was too cold and too arid for farming. At that time Dr. Selwyn was also 
preparing for an expedition to British Columbia. Though mainly for 
the purpose of studying the geology, geography, and mineral possibilities, 
survey expeditions of this period concerned themselves with all matters 
pertaining to natural history and natural resources. Selwyn was so 
impressed by Macoun’s report that he determined to have Macoun accom- 
pany him. This Macoun did, in 1875. He made other expeditions to 
western Canada between then and 1880 and after the fourth he was given 
a permanent appointment from January 1, 1882, as botanist to the Geolo- 
gical Survey, then just moved to Ottawa from Montreal. 
Macoun was a botanist, but like Logan and so many other of his 
contemporaries, he interested himself in other branches of natural science, 
with considerable success. His “Catalogue of Canadian Birds” is an 
authoritative work and the first systematic contribution to the subject. 
He remained with the Survey until his death, in 1920, and during this 
period the Museum was enriched with well-balanced collections of mam- 
mals, birds, insects, and aquatic animals, as well as plants. 
