44 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii. 



purposes, was built by him, two years ago, and rented to the 

 Government for about half the amount which he could have 

 obtained from other tenants. To Logan also, McGill University 

 owes much; for, in 1864, lie founded and endowed the "Logan 

 Gold Medal " for an lienor course in geology and natural science, 

 and, in 1871, gave $19,000, which, together with $1,000 given 

 by his brother, the late Mr. Hart Logan, forms the endowment 

 of the a Logan Chair of Geology." 



Since resigning his position as Director of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, he has carried on explorations at his own expense, and at 

 the time of his death arrangements had been nearly completed 

 for putting down a bore-hole in the Eastern Townships, at a cost 

 of $8,000 ; as he thought that this would enable him to prove 

 the truth of his views with regard to the age of the metamorphic 

 rocks there. 



Every one knows how nobly he acted when asked by the East 

 India Company, in 1S45, to make an examination oi their terri- 

 tory for coal. The inducements were strong, and no one could 

 have blamed him for giving up his Canadian appointment under 

 the circumstances. But listen to what he says about it : -"The 

 field of research was new, and India a country attracting much 

 more European attention than this. I ft It perfectly certain the 

 investigation would lead to a very extended reputation. The 

 salary offered me was more than double what I have here , an 

 efficient staff was to be provided, with all kinds of those aids 

 which an Indian Government could so readily afford. But, 

 influenced by a rooted attachment to this country, and feeling 

 that perhaps some favor have bten extended to me, because I 

 am a Canadian, 1 did not accept the offer." * 



Sir William was the first to give us any definite information 

 about those wondrous old Laurentian rocks which form the 

 backbone of our continent. He shewed us that they w r ere older 

 than the Huronian, and that they consisted of a great series of 

 metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, which are divisible into two 

 unconformable groups, with a combined thickness of not le:-s 

 than 30,000 feet. The great btds of limestone which he found 

 in the lower series, the plumbago, the iron ores, the metallic sul- 

 phurets, all seemed to point to the existence oi life in the Lau- 

 rentian days ; but the discovery of Eozvon Canadense made 



♦Report of the Select Committee on the Geological Survey, p. 22. 



