IN NOVA SCOTIA ELLS. 437 



This volume of Gesner's was accompanied by a small map of 

 the province on which the limits of the several divisions were 

 outlined as then understood. 



Of Dr. Gesner, it may be truly said that he was a remarkable 

 man for his times. The collection and preparation of the great 

 mass of facts contained in his first book must have involved a 

 large amount of hardship in the field and in his study, and in 

 the preface he states that " amidst the arduous duties of a 

 laborious profession, and under the annoyance of perpetual 

 interruption, most of the following pages have been written ; or 

 during the silent hours of midnight, when the labours but not the 

 fatigues of the day had departed." 



Gesner's subsequent publications relative to the subject of 

 Nova Scotia geology may be briefly mentioned. In 1843 an 

 important paper was read before the Geological Society of 

 London, Eng., which was accompanied by a geological map of a 

 large portion of the province, and this shews a marked advance 

 -as compared with those which had previously appeared ; and a 

 similar paper was published in the London Mining Journal in 

 1845. 



A second volume styled " The Industrial Resources of Nova 

 Scotia " appeared in 1849. This contained two chapters devoted 

 to the geology and mineral resources of the province. In this 

 volume it will be readily noticed that a great advance has been 

 made in geological science since the date of the first book in 1836. 

 The several formations have been fairly well arranged in accord- 

 ance with modern ideas of nomenclature, though the work was 

 necessarily done on the broad scale. The rocks were arranged 

 tinder seven heads, as follows : 



1st. The granites or hypogene rocks of the south coast, 

 including the syenites and traps. 2nd. The stratified non- 

 fossiliferous rocks of the interior, now known as the gold- 

 bearing and other associated slates, which he called ^Cambrian, 

 in which classification they still remain. 3rd. The fos- 

 siliferous clay slates, with greywackes, which he styled 



