SKETCH OF PROFESSOR C. F. HARTT. 231 



SKETCH OF PEOFESSOR C. F. HARTT. 



By KICHARD EATHBUN. 



CHARLES FREDERIC HARTT, whose death by yellow fever oc- 

 curred at Rio de Janeiro on the 18th of last March, was born at 

 Fredericton, New Brunswick, August 23, 1840. For three years and a 

 half before his decease, he had successfully withstood the fatigues of 

 exploration and the labors of organizing and carrying on the geological 

 commission of Brazil, an undertaking beset with many trying difficul- 

 ties, only to succumb at last, the victim of an epidemic which caused 

 him but two days of suffering. 



Prof. Hartt's father was the late Jarvis William Hartt, for a long 

 time closely connected with the educational interests of New Brunswick 

 and Nova Scotia. The subject of our sketch received his early educa- 

 tion mainly in Nova Scotia, under the direct supervision of his father. 

 Later he entered Horton Academy, Wolfville, and afterward completed 

 the academical course at Acadia College, where he graduated with 

 honor in 1860. His connection with natural history dates from boy- 

 hood, and at the age of ten years he had already made a good begin- 

 ning. Encouraged by Prof. Cheesman, he made rapid progress in his 

 favorite studies, without, however, neglecting the other branches of 

 learning. But his particular bent always lay toward natural history, 

 language, music, and art. The former subject became his principal 

 occupation, but the latter three, in which he made many original obser- 

 vations of great value, ever aided him much, especially in his studies 

 in ethnology. 



While a student at Acadia College, he undertook, under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. Dawson, extensive researches into the geology of Nova 

 Scotia, which province he explored on foot from one end to the other. 

 In 1860 he accompanied his father to St. John, there to establish a 

 college high-school. This change of location brought him into another 

 field for exploration, that of the geology of New Brunswick, and he 

 commenced his new labors at once. The Devonian shales at the locality 

 called Fern Ledges, in the vicinity of St. John, were the principal ob- 

 jects of his research. These shales occur on the shore of the bay of 

 Fundy, and are situated mostly between high and low water marks, 

 being thus very difficult of access. After a long siege of hard work, 

 however, he was amply repaid by discovering an abundance of land 

 plants and insects, of which the latter still remain the oldest known to 

 science. Prof. Agassiz was attracted by this last discovery of the young 

 Canadian naturalist, and invited him to enter his museum at Cambridge 

 as a student. This he did in 1861, but in so doing his connection with 

 provincial geolog}' was not severed, for each vacation he returned, 



