314 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST, [Yol. vi. 



of the dominant party. As a general rule the loading men are 

 right, and yet it will sometimes happen that they are wrong. 

 One of the most remarkable instances on record, is that of the 

 great question in American Geology, relating to the age of the 

 rocks which Dr. Emmons called " The Taconic System." Upon 

 this question nearly all of the leading geologists of North Ame- 

 rica arranged themselves upon one side, and, as it turned out 

 after more than twenty years discussion, on the wrong side. 

 Although they were wrong, yet so overwhelmins; was the weight 

 of their authority, that for nearly a quarter of a century, Dr. 

 Emmons stood almost alone. He had a few followers, but they 

 were not men who had made themselves sufficiently conspicuous 

 and influential to contend successfully against an opinion that 

 was supported by all the great geologists of the continent in one 

 compictbody. In consequence of this powerful opposition, the 

 Taconic theory gradually sank so low in reputation, that it was 

 at length considered to be scarcely worthy of the notice of a 

 scientific man. 



During the last thirteen years, a great revolution of opinion 

 has occurred with regard to the views of Dr. Emmons. Although 

 not entirely adopted, they are now considered to be, in a general 

 way, well founded. The opposite theory, that all of those rocks 

 which he placed in the Taconic System are above the Potsdam 

 sandstone, instead of below it, as he maintained, is completely 

 exploded. It is at this moment dead, more so than was the 

 Taconic theory in 1859, the year in which the subject was re- 

 opened. As I understand it at present, some of the Taconic 

 rocks are certainly more ancient than the Potsdam, others may 

 be of the same age, and perhaps some of them more recent. The 

 details are not yet worked out, and judging from the manner in 

 which the strata are folded, broken up and thrown out of their 

 original position by almost every kind of geological disarrange- 

 ment, I venture to say that no man, at present living, will ever 

 see a perfect map of the Taconic region. 



The theory, that the Taconic rocks belonged to the Hudson 

 River group, was an enormous error, that originated in the 

 Geological Survey of New York, and thence found its way into 

 the Canadian Survey. No doubt the mistake was due, in the 

 first instance, to the extraordinary arrangement of the rocks, the 

 more ancient strata being elevated and often shoved over the 

 more recent. Thus, without the aid of paleontology, it was im- 



