1908-9.] On THE ORIGIN OF THE CANADIAN APATITES. 495 
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE CANADIAN APATITES. 
By WILLIAM Harvey McNarrn, M.A. 
(Read 24th April, 1909.) 
I. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
1. For more than a quarter of a century the problem of the origin 
of apatite has occupied a prominent position among current geological 
discussions. Some of the most interesting questions in the domains of 
biology, of economic geology, of mineralogy and of geology depend for 
their solution upon the answer to this important problem. In con- 
sequence there have been propounded various theories of extraordinary 
divergence and irreconcilable dissimilarity. Three of these are alike 
so plausible and so important that any discussion on this subject is neces- 
sarily prefaced by a careful examination and comparison of them and 
the premises from which they have been deduced. 
2. Thirty-five years ago the Norwegian geologists, Broégger and 
Reusch, were engaged in an exhaustive examination of the deposits of 
apatite in their country, and in 1872 published their well-known paper.! 
In this they show that all the available facts tend to suggest an eruptive 
origin. The interest aroused by this work led Harrington to make a 
careful comparison of the facts as there recorded with those observable 
in the Canadian deposits. In his paper in the Geological Survey Report 
of 1877,” he points out that while the Norwegian apatites in their 
mode of occurrence and in their associated rocks have much to remind 
one of the Canadian deposits, there are many points of dissimilarity 
which would lead us to believe that however the Norwegian deposits 
have been formed, the Canadian are certainly not eruptive. However 
the eruptive theory has not been without its Canadian supporters. For 
instance, in a foot note in Ells’ report * Selwyn remarks: ‘‘My own 
examination of the Canadian apatite deposits has led me to a conclusion 
respecting their origin corresponding with that of the Norwegian geo- 
1 Brégger—Reusch—Zeits. der deu. Ges. 3:646. 
2 Harrington—Minerals of Apatite Veins, Geol. Soc. Can 1877-78 Q. 
3 Ells. Geol Soc. Can. N.S 4:93. 
