ANXITEESAET ADDRESS OP THE PEESIDEjS^T. 55 



It is my intention to-day to trespass on your patience by making 

 some remarks on the group of rocks usually designated "meta- 

 morphic." 



Eor more than a quarter of a century I have spent some weeks, 

 almost in every year, in districts where crystalline rocks predomi- 

 nate. At first my attention was chiefly directed to physical ques- 

 tions, then to the petrology of igneous rocks, nevertheless I did not 

 wholly neglect those commonly called metamorphic. These, by 

 degrees, attracted more and more notice, especially in the year 1875, 

 when I examined parts of the Pennine Alps, in the districts 

 around the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. Even then my researches 

 were lithological rather than ])etrological ; but soon afterwards wider 

 questions began to force themselves more and more upon my mind, 

 and my examination gradually became more systematic. 



The first work undertaken in the hope of throwing any light on 

 the questions to which this address will be devoted, was in the 

 summer of 1878, when, on my return from Italy, I examined the 

 rocks of the St. Gothard Pass from Airolo to Goschenen. During 

 the next two years I was able to pay brief visits to parts of the 

 Eastern Alps, the Odenwald, E-oss-shire, and Anglesey, and since 

 then I have examined, as you know, other districts in Great Britain. 

 In 1881, I did some work on both sides of the upper part of the 

 Ehone Valley and on the southern slopes of the Simplon Pass. In 

 1883 I revisited the St. Gothard and studied the interesting sec- 

 tions of the Yal Piora, besides crossing (in unpropitious weather) 

 the Oberland Chain on its western side, near where the schists and 

 gneisses begin to be concealed beneath masses of Secondary rocks ; 

 after which I passed along a portion of the crystalline series, in a 

 similar situation between Im Hof, in the Haslithal, and Wasen, 

 on the St. Gothard road. In 1884 I examined the metamorphic 

 rocks of Canada about Cote St. Pierre, Templeton, and St. Jerome, 

 and traversed a long section of Laurentian and Huronian rocks *, 

 exposed in the new cuttings of the Canadian Pacific railway, north- 

 east of Lake Huron. Last year I determined to attempt to piece to- 

 gether aU the odds and ends which I had gathered in the course of 

 either study or personal work in the Alps, by running two long 

 sections transversely across the chain, so directed as to link together 

 some of my former work and to give me the opportunity of regard- 

 ing certain questions in the light of the most recent information 

 and hj-potheses. On this occasion I had the good fortune to be 

 accompanied by my friend the Eev. E. Hill, to whom I am indebted 

 for much kind aid. AYe commenced by examining the crystalline 

 rocks of the valley of the Eeuss, below "Wasen (which previously I 

 had only seen very imperfectly), so as to extend northward the St. 

 Gothard section. Then, passing up the Maderanerthal, we examined 



'^ I gladh' take this opportunity of returning my hearty thanks to Sir W. 

 Dawson, Dr. Selwyn, Dr. Harrington, and other Canadian friends who accom 

 panied me and aided me with their knowledge ou these journeys, and to the 

 Directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway for their great liberality and the 

 exceptional facilities which thev afforded me. 



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