[ells] CANADIAN GEOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE S 



ardson, which date back as far as the year 1820. In these no attempt 

 is made at a geological nomenclature, other than the use of the term 

 Primitive, which was employed to denote the old series of crystalline 

 rocks ; while, of the other formations, the names were generally derived 

 from the nature of the rock itself, which was described simply as a slate, 

 trap, shale, etc. But little detailed work was done in these northern and 

 western areas for many subsequent years ; since the district lay too far re- 

 moved from the usual beaten track of exploration, and there appeared 

 to be but slight inducement on the part of those engaged in scientific in- 

 vestigation, in view of the interesting problems nearer home, to incur 

 the unnecessary expense and hardship involved in the effort to penetrate 

 what was, for many years, regarded as a vast frozen wilderness. The 

 history of geological investigation in this field and the results, reduced 

 to a scientific basis, have been concisely summed up by Dr. Gr. M. Dawson 

 in the volume of the Geological Survey publications for 1886, under the 

 title of ''' Xotes to accompany a Geological Map of the Northern Portion 

 of the Dominion of Canada, East of the Pocky Mountains." 



In the broad sense Canadian geological investigation, during the 

 last half century, may be divided into two principal spheres of action, 

 viz., that which pertains to the rocks of the great Archaean complex, 

 with its vast series of overlying Palaeozoic sediments, reaching upward 

 in the geological scale to the Triassic formations, the area of which may 

 be roughly said to include that portion of Canada, east of the Eed River 

 of Manitoba, which marks, practically, the eastern limit of the great 

 prairie country; and secondly, that which relates to the structure of the 

 great plains, the Eocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast district, to- 

 gether with the vast area of the northern and Arctic basin. Geological 

 investigations were, however, in progress in the eastern or Atlantic area 

 long prior to the commencement of the detailed study of the rocks of 

 the western district, and the eastern area has, for many years, been the 

 great battle ground for geological controversy, on which some of the 

 most intricate questions of structure have been encountered and, in many 

 cases, satisfactorily settled. In this paper, however, it is proposed to 

 restrict the discussion of the nomenclature of the subject to the first 

 mentioned or eastern area alone. 



Among those who early began the study of the rock formations in 

 this portion of the Dominion, the names of Bigsby and Gesner stand out 

 prominently as pioneers in this line of investigation. Of these the 

 former commenced his labours on the formations about Lake Huron as 

 early as 1819, and those were carried on, in this district, for several years. 

 Later, his attention was directed to the study of the formations along 

 the lower St. Lawrence River, more especially in the vicinity of the city 

 of Quebec. 



