96 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. 



ness of this view, still I feel bound to advocate it, because of 

 my experience among similar rocks in Scandinavia and Ger- 

 many, and stratigraphical and lithological comparisons which 

 I have made between these and Canadian rocks. Indeed in 

 the first paper which I had the honour of presenting to the 

 Natural History Society of Montreal, dated 8th April, 1862, in 

 speaking of the so-called metamorphic rocks of the Eastern Town- 

 ships, I maintained that '• so soon as the true limits and eflfects 

 " of metamorphism are recognized, it will probably be acknow- 

 *' ledged that, whatever view may be entertained as to their 

 " origin, the schistose rocks above referred to underlie the Silu- 

 *' rian and all unaltered or metamorphosed strata," Further, 

 in a pamphlet published by me in 1871, entitled " Observations 

 on Canadian Geology," I made the following remarks : " Indeed 

 " in the attempts which have been made at determining the age 

 " of the Eastern Townships rocks it has always been the rule to 

 *' begin with the Potsdam sandstone as the oldest rock, and to 

 ** assume that those to the eastward (regardless of their litholo- 

 " gical characters) follow each other in ascending order. Any 

 ^' one who has studied the structure of similar regions in Europe, 

 " such as those above mentioned, can scarcely fail to come to the 

 "conclusion that the opposite of this assumption is the truth; 

 " that the oldest rocks are those of New England, and that as wc 

 " come north-westward, we pass over more and more recent 

 '*' strata." (p. 13.) In mentioning the Silurian rocks in the 

 same pamphlet, I made a still more distinct statement of my 

 view of the matter, which I give here in full. ''We have seen 

 '' that in comparing the great mass of the New England and 

 " Eastern Townships rocks with strata of similar lithological 

 " characters in Europe, such as those of Saxony above alluded 

 *' to, there is no difficulty in recognising them as Azoic and pre- 

 *' Silurian. This applies to the gneiss, mica schist, chlorite 

 " schist, and to much of the clay slate of the region referred to. 

 " As in Saxony, there exists a passage (perhaps only apparent) 

 *' from these crystalline and semi-crystalline rocks into others of 

 *' a distinctly detrital and fossiliferous character, so in the Eastern 

 " Townships we have a similar passage from roofing slate into 

 *' softer grey slates, grauwacke (Sillery sandstone), graptolitic 

 " shales and fossiliferous limestones. This peculiar structure 

 " was indeed the reason why these oldest fossiliferous strata were 

 "formerly called the Transition (^Uehergangs) formation. The 



