Section IV., 1903 [ 13S ] Traxs. R. S. C. 



VI. — Francis Bain, Geologist. 

 By Lawrence W. Watson, M.A. 



(Communicated by R. W. Ells, LL.D., and read May 19, 1903.) 



It were an injustice to merit and to science were the memory of 

 Francis Bain allowed to remain only with those who shared his affec- 

 tion, with the larger company of those who enjoyed the charm of his 

 companionship, or even with the many who are proud to claim fellow- 

 citizenship with him in his native province of Prince Edward Island. 



Although he was possessed of rare natural talent and richly 

 endowed with intellectual gifts, it is his development of this inheritance 

 under many adverse circumstances which constitutes a strong claim upon 

 public recognition. Hampered by the exacting demands of a farmer's 

 life, companionless in his pursuits from rural isolation, with little more 

 than an elementary education, lacking the stimulus which learned socie- 

 ties so generally afford, and without the aid of literature which his com- 

 paratively limited means debarred him from acquiring, he was up and 

 doing before the little world around him was aware of his worth. 



His geological attainments are all the more admirable because of 

 the limited extent of territory which could come under his observation, 

 and the unvarying character of the few constituent formations, for the 

 most part singularly, but characteristically, barren of aids to geological 

 study. To this narrow scope for observation and the absence of local 

 scientific institutions which could take cognizance of his investigations 

 and give them publicity, must be attributed in large part the compara- 

 tive obscurity of the name of Francis Bain in the annals of Canadian 

 geology. Unquestionably, had he lived upon the mainland, with its 

 wider field of work and its auxiliaries to scientific study, there would 

 have been little need to thus introduce him to the scientific world. 

 While Mr. Bain may appear, in comparison with other geologists, to 

 have accomplished but little, the circumstances which limited possibili- 

 ties in his case, must be borne in mind. It must rather be conceded that 

 he accomplished almost everything possible for him in the field of local 

 geology and much in other departments of natural science. 



Daniel Bain, architect, and grandfather of Francis, was born in 

 Thurso, Caithness county, Scotland, in 1763. At the age of thirty-five 

 he married Janet, daughter of Francis Watters of the same place. To 

 these were born seven children, of whom, William, the third son, was 

 educated in the schools of the capital city, finally attending the School 

 of Arts, where he distinguished himself in mathematics. Having 

 learned the trade of a stonemason, he undertook the contract for the 



