THE 



CANADIAN 



NATURALIST AND GEOLOGIST. 



Vol. VIII. APRIL, 1863. No. 2. 



Art. VI. — The Air- Breathers of the Goal Period in Nova Scotia; 

 by J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. 



( Continued from page 12.) 



IV. — Dendrerpeton Acadianum. 



Plate III. 



The geology of Nova Scotia is largely indebted to Sir Charles 

 Lyell. Though much had previously been done by others, 

 his personal explorations in 1842, and his paper on the gypsife- 

 rous formation, published in the following year, first gave 

 form and shape to some of the more difficult features of the geo- 

 logy of the country, and brought it into relation with that of other 

 parts of the world. In geological investigation, as in many other 

 things, patient plodding may accumulate large stores of fact, but 

 the magic wand of genius is required to bring out the true value 

 and significance of these stores of knowledge. It is scarcely too 

 much to say that the explorations of a few weeks, and subsequent 

 study of the subject by Sir Charles, with the impulse and guidance 

 given to the labors of others, did as much for Nova Scotia, as 

 might have been effected by years of laborious work under 

 less competent heads. 



Sir Charles naturally continued to take an interest in the geolo- 

 gy of Nova Scotia, and to entertain a desire to explore more fully 

 some of those magnificent coast sections which he had but hastily 

 examined; and when, in 1851, he had occasion to revisit the United 

 States, he made an appointment with the writer of these pages to 

 Can. Nat. 6 Vol. VIII. 



