[ells] CANADIAN GEOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE 11 



While the work of Looan as Director of the Geological Survey of 

 Canada, extended from 1842 to 1869, or for more than a quarter of a 

 century, but little time was devoted by himself or by his associates on 

 the staff to the unravelling of the complicated structure presented in 

 the rock formations of the Maritime provinces; since, prior to Con- 

 federation in 1867, these portions of the Dominion did not come under 

 the operations or the direct work of that Department. Almost the 

 first work however, done by Logan, on his assuming office in his new 

 sphere of labour, was the measurement of the important section of Car- 

 boniferous strata, represented by the cliffs of the Joggins shore, in 

 western Nova Scotia, near the head of the Bay of Fundy ; where the 

 swift rushing tides of many centuries have exposed a series of clearly 

 cut strata, many miles in extent, and have furnished probably the best 

 opportunity anywhere existing for the study of the relations and 

 characters of this important division of our rock system. The 

 aggregate thickness of strata heie measured by Logan in lS-43, 

 amounted to 14,570 feet, the rocks forming a continuous ascending 

 sequence from the lower Carboniferous at the base to the upper Car- 

 boniferous at the top. This celebrated section has ever since remained, 

 under the name of the " Joggins Section," as a basis of classification 

 for the rocks of this great system in the eastern provinces, where they 

 have a wide developtneni over thousands of square miles. 



From the time of Gesner in 1849, for nearly or quite a quarter of a 

 century, the unravelling of the geological structure, both in Xew 

 Bnmswick and jSTova Scotia, was carried on by local geologists. Sub- 

 sequent to the work of Gesner in the former province a large amount 

 of valuable work was done in this field by Sir William Dawson, which 

 has been summed up in his celebrated volume " Acadian Geology " and 

 in the several supplements thereto. This book has for many years 

 been a standard classic for this field of scientific research. Another 

 name, that of Dr. Honeyman, will also l)e largely associated in the 

 attempt to ascertain the true relations of the rock formations in the 

 Atlantic area. 



Prior to Confederation the work of the Geological Survey did not 

 extend east of Quebec. Shortly after the admission of the eastern 

 provinces however, or about 1868, work was undertaken in the Nova 

 Scotia coal fields by Logan and Hartley, and has been carried on con- 

 tinuously by the officers of the department to the present time. In 

 connection with this more recent work there has been introduced a 

 number of names, most of which relate chiefly to certain peculiarities 

 of local development; and the relations of the several groups to which 

 these have been applied have been productive of much controversy. Of 



