REVIEWS — GEOLOGICAL SURVEIf OF CANADA. 207 



• REVIEWS. 



Geological Survey of Canada. Report of Progress from its Com- 

 mencement to 1863. By Sir W. E. Logan, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S,, 

 Director ; Alexander Murraj^, Esq., Assistant Geologist ; T. Sterry 

 Hunt, M.A., F.R.S., Chemist and Mineralogist : and E. Billings, 

 F.G,S., Palseontologist. Montreal: Dawson Brothers; London, 

 Paris, and New York: Bailliere. 1863. 



This important volume, so eagerly looked for both at home and 

 abroad, amply sustains the expectations created by its announcement* 

 Of a far more complete character than the ordinary Keports of Pro- 

 gress which have preceded it, the present Report exhibits a condensed 

 view of the results of our Geological Survey, from the commencement 

 of this work in 1843, to the close of 1862. The results in question, 

 methodized and systematically arranged, form a complete treatise on 

 the geology and mineral wealth of the Province : only requiring a little 

 preliminary knowledge of geological details — such as may be gained 

 in the lecture-room, or by the study of explanatory works — to be pro- 

 perly understood and appreciated by the general reader. The pre- 

 sence of a large number of woodcuts, chiefly illustrative of organic re- 

 mains, adds much to the value of this Report, and a series of maps 

 will shortly be issued in connection with it. One of these, already 

 completed, is a coloured geological map of Canada ; and another will 

 exhibit the distribution of the surface or Post-Tertiary formations — 

 the clays, sands, calcareous tufas, and other comparatively modern de- 

 posits, which make up the principal portion of our soils, A map of 

 this kind has long been a desideratum. Apart from its utility in 

 engineering, draining, and other similar operations, it will prove most 

 serviceable in an agricultural point of view. In its compilation, the 

 officers of the survey have been materially assisted by Mr. Robert 

 Bell, a young Canadian naturalist, first brought prominently forward 

 by Sir William Logan, and lately elected Professor of Natural Sciences 

 in the University of Queen's College, Kingston. 



As constant refei*ence has been made to this Report, and many of 

 its conclusions noticed, in a series of popular communications on the 

 Geology of Canada, published in recent numbers of our Journal, we 

 purpose, in the present place, to give merely a general analysis of the 

 contents of the volume, and thus to take our part in calling attention 

 to the great claims of the work to public recognition. 



