574 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 38. 



an indomitable will, the keenest power of ob- 

 servation, as well as the coolest judgment in 

 drawing conclusions, rare tact in managing his 

 fellow-men, a readj- sense of humor, combined 

 with those subtler qualities of heart which 

 malie a man beloved wherever lie may be. The 

 author has rendered his worlv doublj- attractive 

 bj' making it sort of an unintentional auto- 

 biograph3^ 



Sir William Edmond Logan was born in 

 Montreal, April 20, 1798, and remained at 

 home until he was sent to the Edinburgh high 

 school, in 1814. He studied at the high school 

 and university' of this place until 1817, when 

 he entered upon a mercantile life in Loudon, 

 which he continued during the following four- 

 teen j-ears. In 1831 he was placed in charge 

 of a copper company', near Swansea, in Wales, 

 where he exhibited for the first time his geo- 

 logical proclivities. This companj- mined its 

 own coal, and it was through this fact that he 

 was led to his first reallj- scientific investiga- 

 tions. He prepared a map of the South Wales 

 coal-district with a degree of accuracy which 

 had hardlj- before been equalled by anj* geo- 

 logical workers. This map attracted much 

 attention from De la Beche, and other of Eng- 

 land's most prominent geologists, and secured 

 him influential friends who ever remained true 

 to him. 



In 1840 Logan returned to his native land, 

 and spent over a j'ear in studj'ing the coal 

 formation in New Brunswick and Pennsj'l- 

 vania. The results of his investigations relat- 

 ing to the origin of coal in situ were published 

 soon after he returned to England. The sub- 

 ject of a government geological survey had 

 been for some time under discussion in Can- 

 ada, when, in 1841, £1,500 was appropriated 

 for this purpose ; and in the following year 

 Logan received, upon the recommendation of 

 his friends De la Beche, Murchison, Buckland, 

 and Sedgwick, the appointment of director. 

 During the seasons of 1843-44 he devoted his 

 attention to studying the peninsula of Gaspd, 

 wliere coal had been reported, and, in an in- 

 credibl3' short time, unravelled the geological 

 complexities of a vast wilderness. The coal 

 was not found, but its absence from the 

 Silurian and Devonian rocks which compose 

 that region was placed beyond a doubt. 



But notwithstanding the energj' with which 

 Logan *s work was carried on, and the success 

 which attended it, his efforts to awaken in his 

 countr3-men an interest in geological pursuits 

 were for a long time not appreciated. Years 

 of doubt and anxiety followed the opening of 

 the survey ; and it was only through the indom- 



itable will and consummate tact of its director 

 that the opposition of a short-sigiited govern- 

 ment was finall}- overcome, and its permanent 

 existence assured. 



Although nothing was more foreign to Sir 

 WiUiam's character than a taste for display, 

 or a desire for fame, he fullj- appreciated the 

 advantages to the surve\- aud to Canada wiiich 

 must arise from having the results of his work 

 widel}' known. Thus it was that he willingly 

 undertook the charge of the Canadian exhibit 

 at three world's fairs, — Loudon in 1851 and 

 1862, and Paris in 1855, — and was more than 

 repaid for his untiring exertions by the success 

 which attended them. He saw, largely through 

 his own efforts, an active interest in his uative 

 land awakened in Europe, the knowledge of 

 her resources extended, and her industries and 

 wealth therebj- increased ; while these practical 

 results of his own work secured to him tiie en- 

 couragement of his countrymen, and honors 

 poured fast upon him from all quarters. His 

 appropriations were increased year by j"car ; 

 the best specialists were associated with him 

 in difierent departments, such names as Hunt, 

 Murray, and Billings, adding no little lustre 

 to the survey's name ; the field of work was 

 extended over all of Canada that was accessi- 

 ble ; and ample opportunity was given for the 

 publication of scientific results. 



Into the details of Sir William's special 

 work we have here no time to enter : suflice 

 it to sa3", that the sphere of his labors was very 

 A-aried, as the list of his memoirs appended 

 to the present work will show, his discoveries- 

 numerous and important, and all that he ac- 

 complished most thoroughlv and accurately 

 done. But the survey was always his especial 

 care ; and he may well have considered his life's 

 work performed, when, at his resignation from 

 the directorship iu 1869, he could leave it 

 upon a permanent footing, provided with every 

 facility for future activity and usefulness. To 

 the close of his life, his interest in its work 

 never abated ; and his last thoughts were de- 

 voted to completing some of his investigations 

 begun as its directoi'. 



In August, 1874, Sir William once more went 

 to England, and died the following June, at his 

 sister's house in Wales. As a geologist, he 

 will always be honored in the scientific world ; 

 while, as a man and as a friend, he will long be 

 remembered by those who were never able to 

 appreciate his work. 



A very valuable paper on the history of the 

 rocks of the Quebec group, bj' Principal Daw- 

 son of McGill college, forms a most welcome 

 addition to this, of itself, so interesting book. 



