Obituary — Sir William Edmond Logan. 383 



William Edmond Logan (who was of Scottish parentage) was horn 

 in Montreal in 1798. His education, commenced in Canada, was con- 

 tinued at the High School and in the University of Edinburgh. He 

 soon displayed a love for geological pursuits, and commenced in South 

 "Wales carefully to study the structure of the Coal-field of that region, 

 and to map the outcrop of its numerous Coal-seams, depicting their 

 faults and most minute details on the One-inch Sheet of the Ordnance 

 Survey. This admirable work he generously handed over to Sir Henry 

 de la Beche when he began the Survey of that district, and on the early 

 Sheets of the Government Geological Maps for South Wales the name 

 of W. E. Logan appears with those of De la Beche, Ramsay, Phillips, 

 and Aveline. 



During this time Logan worked on the staff of the Survey as a 

 volunteer, and among other valuable services rendered he introduced 

 the practice of drawing horizontal sections on a true scale of six inches 

 to a mile, which afterwards served as models for the large sections of 

 the Survey. 



At this early part of his career Logan made a most important obser- 

 vation on the origin of coal, then but little understood. He pointed 

 out that each coal-seam rests on an " underclay" or " fireclay," in 

 which rootlets of Stigmaria branch freely in all directions. This 

 association of coal and Stigmaria-claj he found to be so constant that 

 he was led to the conclusion that the clay represented the ancient soil 

 or mud in which the Stigmaria grew, and that the coal was the result 

 of the accumulated growth and decay of the matted vegetation which 

 had once lived upon that soil. Looking back, after a lapse of forty 

 years, we are astonished at the brilliance of Logan's early deduction, 

 which served to throw so clear a light upon the nature and origin of 

 coal, and entitles its author to our highest esteem as a most careful 

 and accurate observer. 



In 1841 Mr. Logan went to America, and examined the coal-fields 

 of Pennsylvania and Nova-Scotia, where he also made some original 

 observations. In the winter of 1841-42 he devoted himself to watching 

 the behaviour of ice as a geological agent on the great Canadian rivers. 

 The result of his studies was communicated by Logan in person to 

 the Geological Society of London in the spring of 1842. 



About this time (1842) there arose in Canada a strong desire to know 

 something more about the mineral resources of the Colony, and the 

 Legislature having voted £1,500 for a Geological Survey, the Canadian 

 Government consulted the Home Office as to a suitable person to under- 

 take the task, mentioning the name of Mr. Logan, and inquiring in 

 what estimation he was held in England by scientific men. Murchison 

 was at that time President of the Geological Society, and, being 

 appealed to, he warmly recommended Logan, as did also his old friend 

 De la Beche. From his appointment in 1843 Logan's whole energies 

 were given to the task assigned to him, and to his devotion and untiring 

 energy must be attributed the fact that he never allowed the difficulties 

 of his task to overpower him, although beset on all sides with obstacles 

 sufficient to have disheartened men of less determination and ability. 

 The country over which his Survey extended was frequently obscured 

 by dense vegetation. There was no Ordnance Map to use. The 



