PEOCEEDINGS FOR 189G LXXXIX 



jfome other explanation of their origin and associations is required besides 

 that of their being ordinary sedimentary deposits in a metamorphie con- 

 dition. Indeed, your own and Mr. Hawe's careful and admirable investi- 

 gations of the chloritic formations in the Newhaven region seems to me 

 to demonstrate the entire probability — to say the least — of the igneous 

 and volcanic origin of the rocks you describe. It is, I believe, generally 

 admitted that rocks having the mineral and physical peculiarities charac- 

 teristic of many volcanic products would be more easily affected by meta- 

 niorphic agencies than those which are of ordinary and unmixed sedi- 

 mentary origin, and that these old volcanic rocks should have assumed 

 these metamorphic characters is what might be expected, and their having 

 done so certainly does not negative the supposition of their volcanic origin. 



"It seems to me that the a prioti i)robabiiity of the existence of vol- 

 canoes in Eozoic and Pahcozoic epochs is very strong, and that those who 

 oppose any such idea should be prepared, like those who hold the opposite 

 opinion, to state some good reason for their views, and also the particu- 

 lar geological epoch when, in their opinion, volcanic outbursts first com- 

 menced. If, on the other hand, the existence of volcanoes in these early 

 geological epochs is admitted, then we may very naturally expect to find 

 their products associated with the ordinary sedimentary rocks of the 

 period, in the same manner as we do those of the volcanoes of recent and 

 Tertiary times. This is Avhat British geologists claim to have done. 



•• I have no wish to dogmatise on this question, and only desire the 

 truth, whatever that may be. But at present I cannot help feeling that 

 if I am in error, t am so in very excellent company, and that the views of 

 such eminent geologists as I have named, based as I know them to have 

 been from intimate personal acquaintance both with the men and with 

 the country to which they were applied, on precisely similar evidence as 

 is to be found in Canada, are at least entitled to be regarded as something 

 more than 'fancy sketches.' 



" I am, my dear Professor Dana, 



" Ver}^ truly yours, 



"Alfred E, C. Seiavyn." 



Twelve years later I wrote to the late Professor Ci. H. AVilliams as 

 follows : 



"Ottawa, I'.tth February, 1S91. 



" My Dear Sir, — I have read with much interest your excellent 

 description of the Sudbury rocks. You will perhaps excuse me if I make 

 one criticism on the last paragraph where you observe ; ' The rarity of 

 such rocks,' etc. If, by this j'ou mean the rarity of what I should call 

 ancient volcanic or eruptive ejectamenta, then I think you should rather 

 say : The vovy recent recognition of such rocks by United States geolo- 

 gists. It is now more than half a century since they were recognized in 

 these ancient formations by British geologists. 



