286 



ELEMENTARY GEOLOGY. 



[1855. 



the country. " Notliing is plaiuer to me, from my owa expe- 

 rience," says the Rev. Andrew Bell of L'Orignal, " than the 

 fact that there is a gradual breaking down of the prejudices 

 which have been entertained in regard to Geology ; and amongst 

 the whole circle of my friends and acquaintances throughout 

 the Province, I have marked a growing desire for information 

 in regard to it."* It frequently happens that accidental cir- 

 cumstances favour in a remarkable manner the prosecution of 

 of this branch of Natural Science, and the excellent vein of 

 knowledge which Mr. Logan says seems to run up the Ottawa, 

 may have its origin in those rich and varied fossiliferous and 

 metamorphic rocks which compose for long distances the oppo- 

 site banks of that majestic river. 



The members of the ' Silurian Society" hold their meetings 

 in the City of Ottawa, almost on the shores of a Lower Silurian 

 Sea ; in which the remains of animal and vegetable life are 

 found to lie in inexhaustible abundance and in an exquisite 

 state of preservation. The name of the Society is significant, 

 and when correctly interpreted neither assuming nor pedantic. 

 Out of twelve groups of rock recognized by Geologists, the 

 Silurian group is the oldest but one. It underlies the City of 

 Ottawa, and there exhibits itself in grand precipices and cliffs 

 on the romantic banks of the river. No other fossiliferous 

 rooks bat those which belong to the Lower Silurian group, 

 with the exception of the Post-Tertiary have been found near 

 the city, or indeed we believe, between the Ottawa and the St. 

 Lawrence. The object of the Silurian Society then, if we are 

 not misled by its name, is to encourage the study of the Silu- 

 rian rocks upon which the City of Ottawa is founded ; of which 

 its houses, churches, bridges and magnificent locks are built, 

 its public edifices constructed, and its streets paved. In some 

 parts of the huge piles of rock which rise layer upon layer to 

 the height of nearly 200 feet, it is scarcely possible to detach 

 a slab from its bed without revealing the beautiful and delicate 

 forms of Crinoids, Cystydeans, Trilobites, Graptolites and 

 Corals. Many of the fragile Stone-lilies preserve their original 

 form and position with such minuteness, and occur in such 

 countless numbers, as to convey the idea that one is wandering 

 over the bottom of a secluded and tranquil bay in a remote 

 corner of a Silurian Sea, where, undisturbed by winds or waves, 

 the livingtenants of the deep suddenly died and turned to stone. 



That the ' Silurian Society' may grow in strength and wisdom, 

 is a wish to which all may cordially respond, as well as to the 

 conviction, that with disinterested zeal and diligence it will 

 become the inspiring centre of useful geological investigation 

 in that rich and almost unexplored region which occupies the 

 banks of the Ottawa. 



Second, perhaps, in the power of awakening a taste for the 

 pursuit of Natural Science, stand those illustrious individuals 

 who, in addition to profound acquirements, are fortunate enough 

 to possess social and moral excellencies which win the sympa- 

 thies and affections of their disciples. To what department of 

 Natural Science can we turn and not find the name of the late 

 Professor Edward Forbes associated with its improvement and 

 progress. " Never perhaps," says Sir Charles Lyell in the 

 prefiice to the fifth edition of his Elementary Geology, just 

 published, " has it been the lot of any Englishman who had 

 not attained to political or literary eminence, more especially 

 one who had not reached his fortieth year, to engage the sym- 

 patliies of so wide a circle of admirers, and to be so generally 



* See the Evidence of Mr. Bell before the Select Committee on the 

 Geological Survey of Canada. 



mourned. The untimely death of such a teacher was justly 

 felt to be a national loss ; for there was a deep conviction in 

 the minds of all who knew him, that genius of so high order, 

 combined with vast acquirements, true independence of cha- 

 racter, and so many social and moral excellencies, would have 

 inspired a large portion of the rising generation with kindred 

 enthusiasm for branches of knowledge hitherto neglected in 

 the education of British youth." 



Not less influential, though in a narrower sphere than the 

 distinguished professional teacher, with the civilized world as 

 his auditors or readers, stands the enthusiastic amateur student 

 of nature, who pursues with retired and unassuming zeal the 

 investigations which belong to his favourite science. Every 

 country in one form or another has its own Hugh Miller. The 

 force of genius joined with true excellence of character occa- 

 sionally succeed in elevating everywhere some one to an 

 exalted position in the social scale. " Mr. Telford, like Mr. 

 Miller, followed the profession of a stone-mason before his 

 industry and self-tuition qualified him for the higher functions 

 of an architect and civil engineer; and Mr. Watt and Mr. 

 Rennie rose to wealth and fame without the aid of a university 

 education. But distinguished as these individuals were, none 

 of them possessed those qualities of mind which Mr. Miller has 

 exhibited in his writings ; and, with the exception of Burns, 

 the uneducated genius which has done honour to Scotland 

 during the last century has never displayed that mental refine- 

 ment, and classical taste, and intellectual energy, which mark 

 all the writings of Hugh Miller."* 



We do not require to search long or wide for a Canadian 

 Hugh Miller ; one not known to the public by his writings or 

 published discoveries, but rather by a most honourable mention 

 in the report of the Director of the Canadian Geological Sur- 

 vey; by a unique collection of pateontological monuments of 

 Silurian age ; by unsurpassed mineralogical proofs of the 

 hidden wealth of the Ottawa valley; by a patient and laborious 

 study of Canadian rocks when a Geological Survey of the 

 country was hardly thought of, and by the fact that many of 

 these investigations were carried on, and fossil and mineral 

 treasures discovered and hoarded up, during years of wild and 

 romantic life in the uninhabited parts of Canada and the 

 trackless regions of the Hudson's Bay Company's Territory; 

 trusting to his rod and his gun for the support of life, and, 

 like Hugh Miller, exchanging all day-dreams and amusements 

 for the kind of life in which men " toil every day that they 

 may be enabled to eat, and eat every day that they may be 

 enabled to toil." With the early progress and development of 

 the Geology of Canada, the name of Andrew Dickson will 

 always be honorably associated. 



At the present time public attention abroad is especially 

 directed to this country through the remarkable display at the 

 Paris Exhibition of our mineral wealth. The future of Ca- 

 nada is likely to be influenced in a great degree by the en- 

 couragement which is given to mining industry, and the care 

 and economy with which all such enterprise is conducted. Per- 

 haps there is no science which can engage the attention of the 

 youth of Canada, with such excellent prospects of utilitarian 

 advantage, as that of Geology. " It is a philosophy which 

 never rests — its law is progress : a point which yesterday was 

 invisible, is its goal to-day, and will be its starting post to- 

 morrow." These considerations induce us to recommend to 



* See a sketch of the Life and 'Writings of Hugh Miller, by Sir 

 David BreiTster, in " The Footprints of the Creator." 



