Competition in exploration often develops an atmosphere of suspicion and furtiveness which is highly unfavorable to cooperative efforts. Individuals and companies may handicap themselves greatly by a desire to play a lone hand, and by failure to take advantage of an exchange of information. This action may be based, particularly on the part of strong mining companies, on the assumption that they know all that is necessary about the problem, and that an outsider has nothing to contribute. Financial and other conditions may require this attitude; but in large part it is a result of temperament, as clearly indicated by the difference in methods followed by different groups and in different mining districts. From the scientific point of view this attitude can hardly be justified, in view of the extremely narrow limits of human knowledge as compared with the scientific field to be explored. The sum total of knowledge from all sources is only a small fraction of that necessary for the most effective results. The mutual exchange of information and discussion is usually justified on the basis of self-interest alone, to say nothing of the larger interest to the mineral district, to the country, or to science. National and state survey organizations exercise considerable effort to secure records of drilling. In some cases they have the legal power to command this information, particularly in relation to appraisals for taxation and "blue sky" laws. In a larger number of cases drill records are secured through voluntary cooperation with explorers. A considerable number of records are nevertheless not filed with public agencies and some of these are permanently lost. Even where the records are turned in to a public organization, they are in most cases not directly available to explorers. Public registration of all drilling records is a highly desirable procedure in the interests of the development of the mineral industry as a whole. A vast amount of unnecessary duplication can thus be avoided. The record of a drill hole, even though barren, may be of vast significance in the interpretation of future developments and should be recorded as carefully as an abstract of land title. The property right of the explorer in such information can be and usually is protected by withholding the record from public inspection until sufficient time has elapsed to give him full opportunity to use the information to his own best advantage.