SECTION IV., 1900 [125 ] Trans. R. S. C. 
VI.—On the Geology of the Principal Cities in Eastern Canada. 
By Henry M. Amt, MA. D.Sc., F.G.S. 
(Communicated to the Society through Dr. R. W. Ells, and read May 25th, 1899.) 
The larger cities of our Dominion, as well as those of other 
countries, are the centres of work and reasearch in the pathways of 
science and economics. Whether as regards the question of boring for 
petroleum, gas, salt, fresh or mineral waters, numerous problems are 
involved, in which the underlying geological formations play an impor- 
tant part. What the drill has to penetrate in any one of our larger 
centres of activity in Canada, before reaching the old Archean or orig- 
inal crust of the earth in this portion of the North American continent 
covered by the areas under discussion, is a question not only of interest 
but also of economic value. 
For some years past, a considerable amount of material has been ac- 
cumulating on my hands, both of specimens and notes, bearing upon the 
geology of Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston, Hamilton, 
London, and other centres of population in the Dominion where ques- 
tions of geologic as well as of economic interest are constantly arising. 
The various systems and formations which characterize the geology of 
these different cities, along with the character of the strata which are 
found in the numerous outcrops of some of them, or which are pene- 
trated by the drill in the case of others, as well as the characteristic 
fossil organic remains which are entombed in these strata, together with 
their thickness and the principal localities where the leading geological 
formations occur in or about these various centres, are questions which 
will be dealt with in as condensed a form as possible in this paper. 
With such questions before our minds the practical utility of pre- 
paring synoptical tables of the succession of the geological formations 
occurring in these cities must be admitted, and it has been deemed 
advisable both for the sake of brevity and expedience, to present our 
knowledge of the geological structure of these different cities and their 
vicinity in the graphic form of tables rather than in lengthy descrip- 
tions. The more we look into or examine the characters and constit- 
uents of the various geological formations occurring in our country, the 
better we become acquainted with their chemical composition and gain 
exact knowledge of their uses, and the more rapidly will our natural re- 
sources be developed. The exact composition of the various limestone 
bands which are met with in and about many of our cities, the sand- 
