434 THE PROGRESS OF GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION 



formations in the maritime provinces have thus occasionally 

 presented features difficult to reconcile with those which are 

 found in supposed similar formations elsewhere, when the attempt 

 at interpretation has been made purely from the standpoint of 

 the contained fossils by those who were not familiar with the 

 local conditions of structure or the nature of the rock formations 

 which are there presented. 



In the present paper no attempt will be made to discuss the 

 different views which have been put forth from time to time 

 regarding the horizons of the several rock groups in Nova Scotia. 

 To do justice to this aspect of the subject would extend the 

 limits of the paper to great length. It is proposed, therefore, to 

 give merely a brief statement of some of the work which has 

 been done in this field, with a short notice of the men who have 

 been largely instrumental in elucidating the principal points of 

 structure throughout the province. 



Much of this early work in the field was carried out by two 

 Nova Scotians, viz., Dr. Abraham Gesner, a name well-known in 

 the central portion of the province, and by Sir William Dawson, 

 a native of Pictou. Both of these men, under many difficulties, 

 partly inseparable from that early date, devoted much of the 

 time taken from their otherwise arduous duties to the study of 

 the somewhat complicated geological problems there presented. 



The task which these two distinguished men, who may well 

 be styled the pioneers in geological science in the eastern prov- 

 inces, thus voluntarily assumed in the first half of the last 

 century was no easy one. Even in England, the actual work of 

 a geological survey had scarcely been commenced. The nomen- 

 clature of the science was in its infancy, and the many helps 

 towards deciphering the writings in the great book of the rock 

 formations, which are now available to the students of geological 

 structure, were altogether, or almost entirely, lacking. 



When these men began their work the country was com- 

 paratively but little opened up for settlement. Roads were few 

 and far between when once the main lines of communication 



