ABRAHAM GESNER REVIEW OF HIS SCIENTIFIC WORK. 47 



Gesner thought he found Tertiary deposits in certain pUices 

 along the coast, hut as these contain marine shells, all of living 

 species, it is evident they are of later date than he supposed, and 

 should be referred to the Quarternary age. 



Though Gesner outlined correctly in a general way the 

 geology of the Maritime Provinces, his work cannot be accepted 

 in all its details, as his methods were not suthciently exact for 

 modern requirements, and notably, in the department of Palieon- 

 tology. We should, however, in estimating its value, l)ear in 

 mind the ditKculties he had to encounter, and the short time 

 at his disposal for the exploration of a province mostly covered 

 with forest, with few exposures, except on rapid streams, and 

 along the coast, and with means of transportation imperfect and 

 tediously slow. We should rather wonder that under these cir- 

 cumstances he was able to accomplish so much, and to inspire an 

 enthusiasm for geology which has borne fruit until the present day. 



Supplementary. 



The Gesner Museum. A Corresponding Member of the Natural 

 History Society, Henry F. Perley, C. E., writes to me to say that 

 he remembers well the formation of the Gesner Museum, and 

 how it expanded until it out-grew the house,* and quarters had to 

 be taken for it in the upper story of a building on Prince William 

 Street, near where McMillan's bookstore now is. Mr. Pel-ley 

 remembers, as a very little boy, attending a course of lectures 

 given by Dr. Gesner in 1841, in a building just south of the 

 corner of Germain and King Street ('' Foster's Corner "). 



Dr. Gesner involved himself in considerable expense in col- 

 lecting and arranging his museum, and it was sold to a company 

 of gentlemen in St. John, who deposited it in the Mechanics' 

 Institute (then a new building) on certain conditions and with 

 reservation of rights to have it open to the public. Many of the 

 owners gave in their shares to the Institute, and this institution 

 came in time to be considered the owners. When this body was 

 dissolved, the Gesner Museum with the collections which the 

 Institute had added to it, was purchased by the Natural History 

 •Society of New Brunswick, and added to their museum. 



* Where Dr. Gresner lived, near the corner of Coburg and Hazen Street. 



