MEMOIR OF T. C. WESTON 



33 



The first duties Mr. Weston had to perform on entering the Geological 

 Survey consisted in testing (by cutting and polishing) the characters 

 and adaptability of ornamental and semi-precious stones, of which Canada 

 has a great variety, and it was important to ascertain their uses and 

 values. The non-metallic economic rocks and minerals which he thus 

 brought into notice have added much to our knowledge of the latent 

 wealth of Canada. Another branch of his duties at this period consisted 

 in "developing" fossils, or preparing them for more ready description 

 and illustration. This he did by skillfully filling up breaks, repairing 

 accidents, and by removing rocky matter which covered or obscured them. 

 His delicacy of manipulation allowed him to do this work accurately and 

 artistically. 



Mr. Weston's training in England was under his father, and while, it 

 gave him a good insight into the art of the jeweler and lapidary, it did 

 not include much of a scientific character. His opportunities on the 

 Geological Survey, however, enabled him to acquire a considerable knowl- 

 edge of geology, lithology, and microscopy, and he soon showed that he 

 was just the man required to fill the place which he occupied until his 

 retirement, 35 years later. 



By going on trips to the field with the more experienced members of 

 the staff, he learned by degrees to do good original work in several 

 branches of geology. The first of these excursions was made with Mr. 

 James Eichardson and myself, in 1863, to the Saint Francis Eiver. This 

 was the precursor of many independent journeys occupying from a few 

 weeks to whole seasons, and extending from the coast of Labrador to the 

 Rocky Mountains. In these days the more distant parts of the country 

 were inaccessible except by one's own primitive outfit, until the white 

 man gradually spread into large sections of the regions which were un- 

 inhabited when Mr. Weston first set out. 



He was particularly expert in collecting fossils, and did much good 

 work in this line in various formations and in widely separated parts of 

 the Dominion. He had a kind of intuitive knowledge as to what beds 

 or what particular spots were likely to yield organic remains, and his 

 quick eye immediately detected anything like a fossil. He thus discov- 

 ered them in numbers of cases where the rocks had been given up as 

 hopeless from the paleontologists' point of view. He directed his atten- 

 tion to finding new forms or those parts which might be lacking in order 

 to complete a specimen for specific description or illustration. Thus his 

 collections were made judiciously, and they were not burdened with great 

 numbers of duplicates, especially where transportation was expensive or 

 difficult. 



Ill — Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 22, 1910 



