136 



thus testifying to the accuracy with which these obsei'vations were car- 

 i"ied on. 



The Geological Survey can now be said to have been fairly launched, 

 though under circumstances not the most satisfactory. Uncertainty as 

 to the continuation of the grant caused Sir William much uneasiness, 

 and there was considerable opposition in certain quarters on the ground 

 that the Survey's work was devoid of practical utility. A liberal 

 policy, however, pi-evailed, and the sum of £2,000 was voted in the 

 session of 1845-6, thus assuring the carrying on of the work for another 

 season at least. Just at this time, however. Sir William received a 

 very handsome offer from the Directors of the East India Company, 

 in which they tendered him the control of the survey of the Indian 

 coal fields ; but although the direct remuneration promised was treble 

 that he expected to receive as head of the Survey in Canada, so great 

 was the interest he had already acquired in Canadian geology that he 

 decided to continue in his then position even in the face of such adverse 

 circumstances. At his own expense he^had meanwhile hired a house 

 in Montreal which served as museum, office and laboratory, and pro- 

 vided himself with a supply of apparatus and chemicals as well as en- 

 gaged the assistance of a chemist, the result of all which was that at 

 the end of the second year the Survey was in his debt to the amount of 

 about £800. By the act of the Legislature in the ensuing session the 

 sum of £2,000 was granted for a period of at least five years. The bill 

 upon which this grant was made was designed by Sir William himself, and 

 was to the effect that a certain number of competent persons should be 

 appointed, " whose duty it shall be, under the direction of the 

 Governor in Council, to make an accurate and complete geological sur- 

 vey of the Province, and to furnish a full and scientific description of 

 the rocks, soils and minerals, which shall be accompanied with proper 

 maps, diagrams and drawings, together with a collection of specimens to 

 illustrate the same ; which maps, etc., shall be deposited in some suitable 

 place which the Governor in Council shall appoint, and shall serve as a 

 Provincial collection ; and that duplicates of the same, after they have 

 served the purposes of the survey shall be deposited in such literary 

 and educational institutions of the eastern and western divisions of the 

 province as by the same authority shall be deemed most advantageous." 



