72 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



change of thought by oral communication, and the opportunity 

 of frankly stating difficulties and of asking questions, are most 

 valuable to men of science, especially when they are congregated 

 from various parts of the -world. Friendships, too, are cemented, 

 and asperities are softened by coming into contact with fellow- 

 laborers in the same great -field. No doubt there have been 

 occasioned unpleasant altercations at our meetings ; but even 

 these have been ultimately turned to good account. Explana- 

 tions are made, opinions are canvassed, and truth is finally 

 elicited. For, as iron sharpeneth iron, so the countenance of 

 a man his friend. But iron does not sharpen iron unless it is 

 brouo-ht into contact with its fellow, and one be made to act 

 sharply and keenly on the other. In former days keen disputes 

 took place among geologists in reference to the formation of 

 rocks. The igneous view, propounded by my distinguished 

 relative. Dr. James Hutton, was supported warmly by some, 

 while the aqueous view was espoused by others. At length, truth 

 was elicited, and the minds of geologists now, to a certain extent, 

 correspond. The relations and positions of rocks, the continuity 

 of formations, Cambrian and Silurian rocks, coal and shales, gla- 

 cial motions, the oefinition of species, their permanence or versal- 

 tility, and their origin, embryogenesis in plants and animals, flint 

 hatchets, the age of man, and many other points, structural and 

 physiological, have been, and now are, still discussed with great 

 keenness and even with accuracy. But, out of all this, as in 

 former cases, truth will at length come forth. The storms which 

 now and then agitate the natural-history atmosphere will purify it. 

 Like the mists on the mountain, which bring out in bold relief the 

 noble rocks and ravines of the craggy summit, so these disputes, 

 even while they are carried on, bring out some phenomena of 

 interest which had been previously invisible. The lightning's 

 flash in the dark cloud may discern to us some prominent object 

 which had been invisible in the calm sunshine. But ere long the 

 storm will cease, the mists will be dissipated, and then the uncloud- 

 ed summit will appear in all its majestic clearness. So when the 

 obscurity cast around science by the disputes of combatants shall 

 have passed away, the truth will shine forth to the calm eye of 

 the philosophic observer in all its beauty. In such polemics we 

 are not to fight merely for victory, or for the advancement of our 

 own fame, but for the great cause of truth, which alone will 



