NA TURE 



585 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1883 



WILLIAM E. LOG AX 

 Life of Sir William E. Logan, LL.D., F.R.S., First 

 Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, By B. J. 

 Harrington. B.A., Ph.D. (London : Sampson Low 

 and Co., 1883.) 



CANADA claims the honour of being Logan's birth- 

 place. During his lifetime she fully appreciated 

 how much he had done for her, how unweariedly and 

 generously he worked for her material interests, and that 

 the renown he achieved cast a reflected glory upon herself. 

 After his death it was but fitting that the story of his life 

 should be written in Canada, where his best years were 

 spent and where his main work was accomplished. And 

 yet he was personally so familiar on this side of the 

 Atlantic, so universally known and loved, so linked with 

 early geological associations and with the fathers of 

 geology in this country, that there may be readers of the 

 volume before us who will be surprised to learn that he 

 cannot strictly be claimed as one of the illustrious phalanx 

 of geologists born within these islands. They may con- 

 sole themselves, if they choose, with the reflection that, 

 though not actually ushered into life here, he came over 

 in boyhood, received the closing part of his education at 

 Edinburgh, began his geological career in Wales, and 

 had already attained eminence as an original observer 

 there before he was called upon to undertake the Geo- 

 logical Survey of his native province. 



Logan was one of the most lovable of men. Simple 

 and unsuspicious as a child, he was always at the service 

 of any friend who needed his help, and too often also of 

 strangers who preyed on his time and good nature. And 

 yet with this gentle side of his character, there were com- 

 bined a sturdy independence, an indomitable perseverance, 

 an inexhaustible enthusiasm, which carried him up to 

 and even beyond the limits of his physical strength. 

 What infinite humour twinkled in those grey eyes, as he 

 quietly told his reminiscences of camp-life, or of more 

 civilised travel, or his experiences of politics and poli- 

 ticians with whom he had to fight for the existence of his 

 Canadian Survey ! How delicately and good-humouredly 

 his satire played round these Philistines, who cost him 

 withal many an anxious hour by day and many a sleepless 

 hour by night ! There was a calm self-possession in him, 

 a consciousness of strength that could be put forth if 

 needed though usually kept out of sight in the back- 

 ground, a determination to do his own duty and to see 

 that others in the same matters did theirs. 



Those who knew him and who recall these distinctive 

 characteristics of him will be glad to have Dr. Harring- 

 ton's memoir. The picture it gives of Logan's boyish 

 years, told mainly in his own letters, is delightful. His 

 overmastering affection for his family, his interest in 

 everything at home, his eagerness to hear of and from 

 each beloved one, his lengthy descriptions of all he 

 thought likely to interest the home circle, are graphically 

 told. It is not difficult to see how such a boy should 

 have developed into such a man. 



Born at Montreal in the year 1798 of Scottish parentage, 

 Logan was sent at the age of sixteen to continue his edu- 

 Vol. xxvili. — No. 729 



cation at the High School of Edinburgh, where he so 

 greatly distinguished himself that a brilliant career at the 

 University was open to him. But he determined to 

 enter upon commercial pursuits at once, and accordingly 

 in the year 1 Si 7 took a place in the counting-house of his 

 uncle, Mr. Hart Logan, in London. There he remained 

 for fourteen years, during which there seems to have been 

 nothing in his pursuits to develop the strong scientific 

 bent that so completely dominated his later life, though 

 we find that in his leisure he read books of science, espe- 

 cially in mathematics and chemistry, and asked to be 

 supplied with some good work on mineralogy and geology. 

 Tt seems almost by accident that he became a man of 

 science. In the year 1831 he left London to take up his 

 residence in Swansea, in charge of the books of a mining 

 company in which his uncle was interested. But besides 

 the books, he soon was called on to attend to the working 

 of the mines and the smelting of the copper. Here at 

 last he found an outlet for his love of nature and desire 

 for scientific inquiry. He could not be content with the 

 mere routine of his duties. Providing himself with the 

 necessary surveying instruments, he began a geological 

 survey of the Glamorganshire coal-field. He traced out 

 the outcrops of the seams and positions of the faults with 

 such minute care, that when some years afterwards De 

 la Beche extended the Geological Survey to that region 

 he found Logan's map so good that he gladly adopted it 

 when it was generously handed over to him by its author. 

 Logan's name accordingly appears on the published 

 sheets of the Geological Survey of Wales, together with 

 those of the members of the staff by whom the rest of the 

 ground was examined. It was while looking after his 

 uncle's coal-mines in this region that he was led to make 

 his well-known observations on the rootlet-beds below 

 coal-seams and to settle thereby the vexed question of the 

 origin of coal. 



There had been various efforts to establish a Geological 

 Survey in Canada, but these had successively failed until 

 1 84 1, when a sum of 1500/. was placed on the Parlia- 

 mentary estimates. Next year the arrangements were 

 completed, and the task of organising and conducting the 

 Survey was intrusted to Logan. From 1842 till he re- 

 signed in 1869 he continued to be the life and soul of the 

 Canadian Survey. The task he undertook was truly a 

 colossal one. Almost nothing was known of the geology 

 of the country. There were no maps on which geological 

 lines could be traced. Thousands of square miles were 

 unexplored trackless forest. Logan had not merely to 

 find out the geological structure, he had to construct the 

 very topographical maps on which it was to be delineated. 

 He had to work with his own hands and train his assistants 

 to work with him. He had to live among the wilds for 

 months at a time, traversing hundreds of miles in canoes 

 and on foot, with Indian guides and helpers. When 

 winter made the further prosecution of field-work impos- 

 sible, there were all the results of the summer to tabulate 

 and to keep him fully occupied till it was time to start 

 again. But his time was not always uninterruptedly- 

 given to these congenial labours. Though the Survey 

 started under favourable auspices and with the support 01 

 the Government of the day, there were not wanting 

 economists in and out of the Legislature who failed to see 

 the usefulness of the enterprise and who objected to the 



c c 



