36 BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



The numerous outcrops of coal which he found, led Dr. Ges- 

 ner to infer the presence of valuable beds of this mineral within 

 the Carboniferous area ; but the examinations made since in all 

 parts of this tract by the Dominion Geological Survey, and 

 through private enterprise, have not resulted in the discovery of 

 any seams of considerable thickness.. Although Dr. Gesner made 

 a rapid traverse across the Carboniferous rocks in Gloucester 

 county, he claims that he did not survey this county, except in 

 the vicinity of Bathurst ; and the large wilderness district at 

 the junction of 8unbury, Northumberland and Kent counties 

 was not visited by him. The coloring which he placed on this 

 area expressed his opinion of its probal)le age, and later explor- 

 ations have confirmed his surmise that the area was occupied by 

 coal-measures. 



That Di'. Gesner attached great importance to the minerals 

 of the coal measures as a source of wealth to the Province of New 

 Brunswick is clear from many statements in his reports. Of the 

 whole of these reports at least one-sixth is devoted to the Coal 

 Measures. Not only did he believe in the existence of valuable 

 beds of coal in the areas where the coal measures were visible, 

 but his error in regaled to the Red Sandstone of King's County 

 also led him to infer the existence of valuable coal seams where 

 we now know none such can exist. 



Netv Red Sandstone. 



In Dr. Gesner's time the earlier results in the study t)f 

 aeology in England had not been checked or corrected by com- 

 parisons with a wider field. The lithological aspect of the rocks, 

 as the Chalk, the New Red Sandstone, the Oolite, were largely 

 depended upon for determining the age of strata. In England 

 the New Red Sandstone was a saliferous formation, and for this 

 reason the saliferous sandstones which Dr. Gesner found in 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were by him referred to the 

 New Red Sandstone or Trias ; and being such, of later age than 

 the coal measures. 



One belt of these sandstones, however, he referred to their 

 proper position under the name of " Old Red Sandstone," and a 



