PEOCEBDINGS FOR 1894. LVII 



minerals and rocks of the country continue, the work of some such department as the (ieological 

 Survey will never be quite completed. "We may, it is true, look forward to a time when all accessible 

 parts of the country will be geologically examined and mapped, when the expenditure on this work 

 may l>e relatively diminished ; but in a rci^ion so vast as the Dominion of Canada, this time lies in 

 the distant future. I have already spoken of " Hnishod maps," but in di)ing so I employ a relative 

 tjrm. The maps so described vary much in their amount of detail and accuracy, not only as between 

 themselves but also in dilleront pai-ts of a single sheet. As seitlcniont progresses and as new sources 

 of mineral wealth are discovered, it will become possible and necessary to add largely to the detail 

 and accuracy of many of these maps. But apart from this primary condition it will always be 

 requisite to place on record and keep up to date, for public use and ]-eferenco, the developments made 

 in the raining and utilization of mineral products and to point out in the case of new discoveries, in 

 the light of our knowledge of the geological structure of the country, where and in what manner 

 further developments of the same kind maj- reasonablj' be anticipated. 



Meteorological .Service and Magnetic (observatory. 



Although I have stated that the Geological Survey was the lirst scientilic branch of the Govern- 

 ment service established by Canada, it must be noted that several years previous to its inception the 

 Magnetic Observatory had been founded at Toronto. This, however, was not at that time under the 

 control of the Canadian Government, but had been originated and was supported for many years by 

 the Imperial Government. It was established as the result of representations made bj^ the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, at its meeting in Newcastle in 1838, acting in conjunction 

 with the Eoyal Society of England, and as a part of a system of magnetic research on sea and in the 

 colonial possessions of Gi'cat Britain. 



The observations were actually begun, under Lieutenant C. J. B. lîiddell of the Eoyal Artillery, 

 with three noncommissioned officers of the same force, in 1839. Toronto had been selected as the best 

 place for the observatory, and for a time the observations were conducted in a barrack situated in 

 what then represented the city of Toronto; but in the next year, a log building was erected as an 

 observatory on the site still occupied, a grant of two acres and a half of land having been accorded for 

 the purpose by the University of King's College, now the University of Toronto, The first director 

 was succeeded by Lieut. Lefroy, E. A., afterwards so well known as General Sir J. H. Lefroy, for his 

 various scientific researches. From its foundation, up to 1853, the expense of maintenance of this 

 observatory was defrayed by the Imperial Government, after which it was supported by the United 

 Provinces of Canada, till at the time of confederation it passed under the charge of the Dominion 

 Government. 



Meteorological observations had been made concurrently with those relating to magnetism, from 

 the time of the establishment of the observatory ; but it was not until 1871 that the Canadian < iovern- 

 ment first made a giant of $5,000 for a meteorological service. Prof G. T. Kingston, who had been 

 appointed director of the Magnetic Observatory in 1855, was an enthusiast in meteorology, and in 

 1869 he had succeeded in establishing a voluntary meteorological association among a number of 

 amateur observers in Canada. In 18Y1, in conjunction with Dr. Smallwood, who had long maintained 

 weather observations in the vicinity of Montreal, he represented the importance of the work to the 

 Dominion Government with such force, that the initial grant above referred to was made in favour 

 of the work. Communication was then had with the United States Signal Service, which had been 

 established a few years previously, and a sj-stem of exchange of telegraphic weather reports was 

 arranged for. 



Professor Kingston's first report ou the work, published in 1872,— a model of concise statements, 

 — shows how clearly he had, even at that time, the proper constitution and future lines of develop- 

 ment of the meteorological service mapijed out before him. He then had one hundred and twenty- 

 three stations in Canada and two in Newfoundland in communication with him. 



Proc. 1894. H. 



