8 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON SOME POINIS, ETC. 
for the corrections introduced by him, and even the collections and stratigraphical observa- 
tions on which his results were based, are disparaged. 
The quiet way in which the American paleontologist speaks of the collections made 
by Richardson and Dr. Dawson as “some fossils,’ “reported to come from certain beds,” 
when these extensive collections are known to be accompanied with the most careful 
stratigraphical work, would be amusing if it were not provoking. It is only to be paral- 
leled by the similar simplicity of some European paleontologists. One of these, in discus- 
sing the nature of Hozoon laments that no accurate geological work has been done on the 
Canadian Laurentian. Another, when affirming the Cretaceous plants of Vancouver 
Island to be Miocene, speaks of the geology of this island as quite unknown, and a third 
coolly assumes the Devonian beds of New Brunswick to be Carboniferous, because he 
supposes that no one has explored the stratigraphy of these unknown regions! 
In the disputed questions of Pleistocene geology it would be premature to make any 
boast. I may say, however, that the Canadian school of geologists has distinguished itself 
by moderate views as to the Glacial period. The fact that we can study on our own coasts 
many of its operations still in progress has contributed to this. We have also the advan- 
tage in the St. Lawrence valley and the western plains of a vast horizontal distribution of 
Pleistocene beds, and of very rich fossiliferous deposits. Certain it is that we have taken 
the lead in working out the fauna and flora of the so-called “ Glacial Period,” and have so 
far avoided those more extreme notions of continental glaciation which have gained cur- 
rency in the United States. I feel convinced that ultimately our caution in this will be 
vindicated, and that we shall find that the sober afterthought of geologists will refer the 
glaciation of rocks and the transport of boulders quite as much to the action of marine 
currents and floating ice as to land glaciers. A powerful reaction is taking place in this 
direction in Europe, and though the influence of certain great names still upholds in 
the United States very extreme views as to the Glacial Age, they must soon be toned 
down within the limits demanded by our knowledge of physical facts and possibilities. 
I have been able to refer only very generally to a few of the leading departments of 
geological discovery in which this country has taken the lead or has successfully followed. 
Enough has been said to show that though Canadian science labours under many disad- 
vantages, its votaries have not thereby been deterred from working, and that their labour 
has not only been crowned with a fair measure of success, but that they have in many 
cases been able to act as teachers to those who might be supposed to have advanced far 
beyond them. It remains to our younger men to uphold and extend our good reputation 
in these respects, and I trust that as many of them have been favoured with educational 
advantages beyond those of their predecessors, they may also be supplied with greater 
facilities for exploration and publication, and that our public men will beware of falling 
into the popular mistake of limiting our scientific expenditure by a narrow and slavish 
utilitarianism which defeats its own ends. 
