344 Canadian Record of Science. 



Editor Canadian Eecord of Science : 



Dear Sir, — I am quite aware that you disclaim 

 responsibility for the utterances of authors who write for 

 the Record, and this seems only reasonable, but as the 

 antidote should go with the bane, I would ask you to 

 publish the following remarks relative to the statement of 

 Mr. David White, at page 227 of Vol. VIII. of the 

 Record. 



As to the " erroneous " reference of the flora of the 

 fern ledges near St. John to the Devonian by Sir William 

 Dawson, that is a matter of opinion, but to say that this 

 was forced upon Sir William by the findings of the strati- 

 graphers is distinctly wrong. The young geologist, who 

 showed these rocks and their contents to Sir William, 

 would not have presumed to express an opinion at that 

 day contrary to the one which he held. 



But Sir William's opinion was not based on the work of 

 youthful " stratigraphers," for he traversed the sections 

 around St. John carefully himself, about the time that 

 these plants were discovered. Hence, the opinion Sir 

 William held was " forced " upon him not only by the 

 composition of the flora, but by the stratigraphy itself. 



I mentioned this matter to Mr. White in a letter which I 

 wrote to him some time ago, but he seems to have over- 

 looked my statement, since he makes no reference to it in 

 his paper in the Record. 



Geology is not made up of Palaiobotany alone, or the 

 Laramie beds would still remain Tertiary ; and if we can 

 have modern genera of plants coming down to us from the 

 Cretaceous, the lately elaborated Pottsville flora may 

 have an earlier root than Mr. Wiiite suspects. 



However, I have no intention to go into the discussion 

 of these points further at present, but simply to assert 

 what Mr. White seems not to have known, that- Sir 

 William Dawson went over the sections at St. John 



