dangerous thing," other than Dr. Arnold's maxim, "Where it is our duty
to act it is also our duty to learn"?

(v) We have not been careful to avoid asking for details of which we are
well aware that the statistics do not now exist. We have thought it our
duty rather to point out the information necessary for arriving at right
conclusions than to mislead our readers by pretending that it is
possible to form judgments and act properly without taking the trouble
to collect information which is really necessary. This is no
contradiction of the argument which we set forth that partial
information is better than none, but it does warn the surveyor that
blanks in the forms leave him not fully equipped, and that steps ought
to be taken to secure information without which his conclusions are
uncertain.

CHAPTER III.

STATION DISTRICT SURVEY.

THE WORK TO BE DONE, AND THE FORCE TO DO IT.

Missionary work is presented to us here at home mainly at two points;
the one, work at a mission station, the other, the condition and needs
of a country or of a continent. In the one case we hear a great deal
about the missionary's life and work; in the other we hear about great
problems, religious, moral, social, and very little about the facts of
the work.

We propose to begin with the mission station and to set down the
information which we need, in order that we may take an intelligent
interest in the work at the station, viewed by itself, as progress is
made towards the immediate object of its existence; and then we propose
to look at it in relation to other stations in the province or country,
both comparatively to see how they differ, and as parts of a whole, to
see what is the position of the Church in the province or country, and
what place each station occupies in the work done in the larger whole.

When we look at the mission station viewed by itself, the first question
which we ask is: Has the station any defined area, district, or parish,
connected with it in which it is the business of the missionaries to
preach the Gospel and establish the Church? If the answer to that
question is, "Yes, it has," and that answer would very commonly be
given, then at once we get our feet on firm ground. We can start our
survey on a territorial basis; and with a common territorial basis we
can immediately compare the work of one station with that done at
another station. We have further a _terminus ad quem_, and in our survey
we