208 REVIEWS — GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



After a preface of considerable length, explanatory of the origin,, 

 organization, and general progress of the Survey, the Report opens 

 with a very elaborate sketch of the physical characteristics of the 

 country, from tlie Gulf of the St. Lawrence and bleak wastes of 

 Labrador, to the plains and forests of the far north-west, beyond the 

 shores of Lake Superior. This interesting and exceedingly instruc- 

 tive sketch, from the pen of the Director of the Survey, is followed by 

 a series of chapters in which the various Azoic and succeeding rocks 

 of the Province are described in great detail. Amongst other new 

 facts, a point of much interest, in connexion with the Laurentian 

 strata, is the announcement of a probable want of conformity between 

 the lower gneissoid beds and the overlying anorthosites, leading to the 

 recognition of a third Azoic subdivision, or one of an intermediate 

 position between the Laurentian and the Huronian series. Much 

 interesting information is also given with regard to the upper copper- 

 hearing series of Lake Superior, and the apparent identity of these 

 rocks with the Potsdam and Quebec groups of the east. The abnor- 

 mal position of the Quebec strata is likewise distinguished and illus- 

 trated very fully ; and the subject is still further elaborated in a subse- 

 quent chapter. The materials for this portion of the Report have 

 been collected chiefly by Sir William Logan, Mr. Murray, and Mr. 

 Billings ; and the fossil illustrations (with the exception of some 

 figures by Dr. Dawson, in illustration of the Devonian plants of Gaspg)^ 

 are by the latter observer. Towards the close of the volume, Mr, 

 Billings has also furnished a complete and most useful list of all the 

 fossils of our Lower Silurian series. Those of our succeeding formations 

 will undoubtedly be given in forthcoming Reports. 



In the seventeenth and three following chapters of the present work, 

 the mineral species of Canada, and the springs and waters of the Pro- 

 vince, together with the chemistry of our Sedimentary, Metamorphic, 

 and Eruptive Rocks, are brought under review. This portion of the 

 Report, due to Professor Sterry Hunt, exhibits much accurate re- 

 search, and contains a large amount of information of an exceedingly 

 interesting character. The numerous analyses given in connexion with 

 these questions, are not the least important part of Professor Hunt's 

 contributions. To the same author, also , belongs the credit of a large 

 portion of the succeeding chapter of this Report, comprising a detailed 

 view of the economic geology of Canada. Readers who seek especially 

 for practical results, will find all they can desire in this chapter. Full 



