10 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



ance. We may, however, regard the thirty years from 1870 to the 

 end of the century as a convenient period for description. These 

 years mark the terms of office of Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn and Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson as Directors of the Geological Survey of Canada. Within 

 the Survey the period is marked particularly by investigations of 

 two distinct kinds: — reconnaissance work far afield, and the detailed 

 quarter-sheet survey of the eastern part of the country. One is 

 tempted to call the period either the "Reconnaissance" or the "Quar- 

 ter-sheet Epoch" in Canadian geology. Outside the Survey strati- 

 graphic geology is chiefly indebted to the continued labours of Sir 

 Wm. Dawson, Dr. Geo. F. Matthew, Dr. L. W. Bailey, Professor 

 Nicholson, Dr. George Jennings Hinde, and Dr. H. S. Scudder. 



With regard to the work in Eastern Canada it may be said that 

 during this period a re-survey in detail was made from the Pre-Cam- 

 brian boundary in eastern Ontario to the coast. It is quite beyond 

 the scope of this paper to attempt a description of a work of this 

 magnitude. It will suffice to connect with the earlier efforts the 

 names of L. W. Bailey, G. F. Matthew, H. G. Vennor, and C. Robb, 

 and for the latter part of the period to add the names of R. W. Ells, 

 Hugh Fletcher, E. R. Faribault, and Monseigneur Laflamme. The 

 net result of this work was the production of a magnificent series of 

 detailed maps and great additions to our knowledge of the tectonic 

 geology of the region. 



With regard to the major stratigraphie terms we find the word 

 "Cambrian" used by Dr. Selwyn in 1877 and "Ordovician" by Dr. 

 Matthew in 1894. The chief advances in detailed stratigraphy were 

 due to Dr. Matthew's labours on the Cambrian and to a less extent 

 on other Palaeozoic formations. About the year 1900 he advocated 

 a systemic value for the lowest fossiliferous formation, the Etchemin- 

 ian, and a division of the Cambrian into only two subdivisions, an 

 upper and a lower. This view was strongly opposed by Dr. Charles 

 D. Walcott, who favoured the inclusion of the Etcheminian in the 

 Cambrian and a division of the system into three series. The result- 

 ing discussion marked the close of the period we are considering.^ 



During this time the stratigraphy of eastern Ontario was worked 

 out in greater detail but no additions were made to the nomenclature 

 of 1863. It is significant that southwestern Ontario was entirely 

 neglected throughout the whole of this period. 



We must turn now to the great reconnaissance work undertaken 

 by the Survey in the vast regions to the north and west of the old 

 Provinces of Canada — a territory brought into the Dominion by 

 iProc. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. I, 1900, pp. 301-339. 



