XXVI ROYAL SOCIETY OP CANADA. 



biographical study of Dr. Michel Sarraziii, a contiiliulidii towards Iho histoiy of .sciciico in 

 Canada ill the early part of the eighteenth century. To many the name of Sarraziu has hitherto 

 been known only as having furnished the generic term Sarracenia to the curious and well known 

 pitcher plant of our swamps. The renowned French botanist Tournefort, who did so much, in his 

 " Institutiones Eei Herbaria}," to establish plant genera, before the time of Linna3U8, dedicated this 

 genus to his friend. Dr. Sarrazin, of (Jucbec, and the present paper, prepared with such evident care, 

 and from the only existing authentic I'ccords, will be appreciated by men of science in general, 

 as well as by the medical profession in Canada, of which Dr. Sarrazin was not only a very early but 

 also a verj' eminent member. 



The geological ])apors bear testimony as usual, by their number and importance, to the abundance 

 of work that is being done in this department of research. \Ve have, indeed, in the able and ever 

 active staff of the Geological Survey of Canada, under direction of Dr. Selwyn, assurance of a pereninal 

 growth of geological knowledge, ajiart from the valuable contributions that are annually made by 

 those of our members who are not connected with the Survey. Mr. Gilpin, Government Inspector of 

 Mines of Nova Scotia, gives an account of the Faults and Foldings of one of our Nova Scotian Coal 

 Fields, that of Pictou, which, though comparatively limited in extent, being now but a fragment eight 

 miles long and three wide, yet exhibits, on an unusual scale, three of the great features of geology : 

 a development of large seams of coal, a system of immense faults, an equal measure of denudation. 



Sir William Dawson, whose prolonged and eminently successful researches in regard to our fossil 

 floras have made the subject peculiarly his own, gives notes on Fossil Woods and other plant 

 remains from the Ci'etaceous and Laramie formations of the western tei-iitories of Canada. The paper 

 is the result of examinations of slices of about sixty distinct trees, most of them in situ, ft-om the 

 horizons of the Belly Eiver, Fort Pierre and Lsramie grouj)s, and forms another valuable contribution 

 to our knowledge of fossil plants. 



Prof. Bailey gives his notes on the Physiography and Geology of Aroostook County, Maine, 

 in connection with regions of New Brunswick and Quebec with which he had previously compared it. 

 He records a number of valuable observations that will be appreciated by geologists, and, in addition 

 to the positive results obtained, shows what is, in a scientific point of view, second in importance only 

 to actual discovery, viz., what work there is still room for in Northern Maine. 



Mr. Peter McKellar's pa])er on the Correlation of the Animikie and Huronian rocks of Lake 

 Superior, communicated by Dr. Bell, deals with a subject that has received the attention of geologists 

 at different times, and was referi'ed to in the address of the President in opening the proceedings of 

 the Section for the present session. 



Dr. Franz Boas, whose account of the mythology and traditions of the Central Eskimo has been 

 aire, djr referred to, in connection with the woi'k of the second Section, describes, from ins explora- 

 tions made in 1883 and 1884, the Geography and Geology of Baffin Land, the large island forming 

 the west shore of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, sejiarated from the American continent by the narrow 

 Fury and Hecla Strait and by Hudson Strait, and forming the north-eastern boundary of the Hudson 

 Bay basin. Its area cannot be less than 215,000 square miles. Its plains are occupied by two large 

 lakes, the surplus water of which, received during the warm season, is sufficient to feed theii- outlet 

 throughout the winter. Several interesting phenomena (peculiar to northern shores) are illustrated : 

 the action of breakers in changing the outlines of the coast is prevented in ice-bound seas ; land-ice 

 attached to the coast does not form where strong currents exist; in arctic regions, where the 

 surface is covered with ice, erosion is very limited, while the rocks are rapidly disintegrated by the 

 process of freezing. 



Mr. Lucien M. Turner, in like mannoi-, describes the physical and geological character of another 

 tract, the TJngava District, Labrador, which is contained by the waters of Hudson Hay on the west, 

 of Hudson Strait on the north, by the western slope of the Labrador coast range on the east, and by 

 the height of land, about 54° N. lat. on the south. Mr. Turner's description does not show it to be a 



