Reviews—Life of Sir W. E. Logan. 475 
public mind as to the supposed existence of coal and other mineral 
wealth in localities where they could not possibly occur. Here are 
two or three instances given by his Biographer. 
_ “Some of the inhabitants of the vicinity of Baie St. Paul, below 
Quebec, announced the discovery of what they stated to be indica- 
tions of the existence of coal in that region, and had even induced 
the member for Saguenay County to apply to the Legislature for 
means to carry on boring operations in search of the supposed coal 
seams. But the Government naturally objected to granting the 
money unless it could be shown that there was some ground for 
expecting useful results, and Logan was instructed to visit and 
examine the locality. The newest rocks in the region belong to the 
Trenton formation, and in neither these, nor those beneath them, 
was there the slightest probability of the existence of coal. But 
the professed discoverers of the substance had somehow got it into 
their heads that the presence of coal-seams in any region was usually 
indicated by fragments being carried to the surface by springs of 
water, and having carefully packed numbers of springs with pieces 
of imported coal, they easily convinced the more credulous inhabi- 
tants that untold wealth lay beneath them. 
The fraud and absurdity of the whole thing must have been 
evident to Logan from the first, and he might have dismissed the 
matter as a farce. But to those ignorant of the principles of geology 
this would have seemed arbitrary dealing, and besides, he had been 
instructed by Government to report upon the locality. He accord- 
ingly reported, giving all the scientific reasons against the occurrence 
of coal, and finally stating plainly his belief that the fragments had 
been placed in the springs for a purpose.” 
This is not the only instance in which Logan had to expose these 
would-be discoverers of coal. In the very first year of the Survey 
an Act was passed establishing the Gaspé Coal and Fishing Company, 
based on the supposed existence of coal in Gaspé; but owing to the 
adverse opinions of Logan, the shareholders refused to pay up the 
coveted capital until coal was actually found. 
Again it was announced that a real practical miner had discovered 
coal near Bowmanville in Upper Canada. Boring operations were 
undertaken to test the ground, and sections representing alternations 
of sandstone, shale and coal-seams were published in many of the 
newspapers. Great excitement was caused by the wonderful dis- 
covery and intense indignation expressed against the geologists, 
whose fine theories had all been upset “by a practical working 
man.” Logan declared from the first there was no coal there, and 
refused even to visit the place. A great friend of Logan’s, Sheriff 
W. B. J , being on his way to Montreal, stopped at Bowmanville 
to see for himself how matters stood; he saw the bore-rod lowered 
and fragments of coal extracted from the hole. Reaching Montreal, 
he hastened to the Survey Museum, and placing the black fragment 
in Logan’s hand, asked, “What do you call that?” “A good bit of 
Neweastle coal,” was the reply; “I saw it taken out of the bore- 
hole at Bowmanville with my own eyes.” ‘ Ah,” said Logan, “‘ you 
