406 CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Canadian, in whom the inhabitants of the Province had reposed some trust, that 

 the honor which has been conferred upon me by Her Majesty was so easily obtain- 

 ed. That I am proud of the honors whhh have been bestowed upon me by the 

 Emperor of France, in respect to my geological labors, and also by my brother 

 geologists in England, there can be no doubt. But I have striven for these honors 

 because I have considered they would tend to promote the conBdence which the 

 inhabitants of the Province have reposed in me, in my endeavors to develope the 

 truth in regard to the mineral resources of the Province ; and in this work none 

 could have been more interested in my success than the Members of this Institute. 

 We have on the other side of the hall* an evidence of the interest taken by the 

 Institute in the Geological Survey, and you have, in publishing what appears with- 

 in that frame, published the one-half of what is included in the enlarged map which 

 I presented to the exhibition at Paris. You have in it the whole of the Geology 

 of Canada, as far as it is at present understood, and I think it will, perhaps, not 

 be disagreeable to you that I should submit a short account of its leading features." 



Sir William then proceeded to explain the Geological Map, and illustrated, first, 

 the conformity of the physical structure of the country toils geography ; secondly, 

 the difference in conditions between the eastern and western troughs of North 

 America which run through Canada ; and thirdly, a circumstance which is con- 

 sidered a very striking one in regard to the physical structure of Canada ; the want 

 of all the formations which exist between the Laurentian rocks and the Upper Si- 

 lurian, viz., the whole of the Lower Silurian rocks on the north side of the granite 

 ridge. He had learned, while in Europe, that this last circumstance was applica- 

 ble also to Russia. These facts, proving the existence of land round the North 

 Pole, at the time of the deposit of the Lower Silurian, were three great scientific 

 facts which have been brought out by the examination made by himself and his 

 associates in Canada. 



The Wollaston Medal, and the Gold Medal of Honor received by Sir William 

 from the Emperor of France, were then produced for the inspection of the Mem- 

 bers, along with a work containing the sketch of the Geology of Canada, which he 

 had considered it proper to prepare and present to the Jury of the first class, as 

 explanatory of the Geological Map in the Paris Exhibition. 



The following Papers were then lead : 



1. By Paul Kane, Esq.— 



" On the Habits and Customs of the Walla-Wallas, one of the North American 

 Indian Tribes," from the Journal of the Author. 



2. By Professor Chapman : — 



" Brief Notes by Lieutenant Maury, of Washington, on some comparative phe- 

 nomena of the North and South Atlantic Oceans." 



3. By Professor Chapman : — 



Some fossil specimens from the Crimea examined and described. 



* The Geological Map ofUpper Canada, published in the Journal, Old Series, Vol. II, p. 1, 

 to illustrate Sir William Logan's paper, " On the Physical Structure of the Western Dis- 

 trict of Upper Canada," which occupied one side of the Hall, was here referred to. On the 

 other was hung the large Parisian Geological Map of the whole Province, and the neigh- 

 bouring districts, which he employed in illustrating the peculiar physical Structure and 

 geological formations both of Upper and Lower Canada, as established by the labours of 

 the Geological Survey. 



