694 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



regard to the site for his Victoria Bridge. His visits to the coal-fields 

 were eminently satisfactory, for he found in every case the under-clay 

 showing plenty of remains of Stigmaria. While on this trip he met 

 Lyell, and had the pleasure of learning that that distinguished geol- 

 ogist Avas acquainted with his work, and deemed his results im- 

 portant. 



The first Parliament of the united provinces of Canada in 1841 

 voted 1,500 for a geological survey. Logan was then in England, 

 but his friends in Montreal, who had heard him express a desire to do 

 this work, proposed his name to the Governor for director of the 

 survey, and in the next year he was tendei*ed the appointment. Then 

 followed twenty-seven years of devoted labor in the almost untrodden 

 field of Canadian geology. After two seasons' work Logan submitted 

 a report of progress, the first of a series of sixteen government reports. 

 The money for the survey was voted in small annual grants, and for 

 short terms, and more than once was Logan obliged to talk and write 

 almost constantly, for several months, to members of the Govern- 

 ment, explaining and demonstrating to them the importance of carry- 

 ing on the work. The first of these critical periods occurred in the 

 winter of 1844-45, when the first grant of 1,500 had been expended, 

 together with over 800 of Logan's money. Finally, 2,000 a year 

 for five years was granted, and, at the end of the time, the grant was 

 renewed for five years more. An act in 1855 appropriated twice 

 as much for the next five years, but this was afterward somewhat 

 reduced. It required a large measure of courage and devotion to 

 plunge into this work so earnestly as Logan did. " Of the topography 

 of the Gaspe district," the first region examined, " little was known in 

 1843 beyond the coast-line ; of the geology, practically nothing. Set- 

 tlements were few, confined almost exclusively to the coast, and made 

 up chiefly of fishermen. There were no roads through the interior, 

 most of which was (and, indeed, still is) a wilderness, inhabited by 

 bears and other wild beasts, or at best only penetrated, in certain 

 seasons of the year, by a few Indians or lumbermen. The courses of 

 most of the streams were unknown, and the precipitous mountain- 

 passes untraversed. Such was the country whose geology Logan was 

 now to investigate." Other inconveniences were coarse food and 

 hard beds, camping in wigwams that kept out only part of the rains, 

 frequent bruises from working among rocks, bites of insects, and the 

 vulgar inquisitiveness of persons who could only conceive him to be a 

 searcher for the precious metals or a lunatic. The following words of 

 Mr. Murray, his geological assistant in Canada, descriptive of Logan's 

 habit while in Wales, apply also to his longer labors in Canada : 

 " Even at that early period, when every comfort of life was easily 

 accessible, I observed his utter indifference to self-indulgence of any 

 kind, or even such ordinary comforts as most people would be inclined 

 to call indispensable necessities. After an early and very simple 



