42 Recent Literature. [ January, 
that any one is bound to respect, they will not bring it there; as : 
is the case at present. And thirteen men who are interested, 
and who know how to obtain it, will certainly benefit the acad- — 
emy more, than four persons,’ most of whom do not know new 
material when they see it, have no use for it, and do not know 
how to get it. 
Finally, we suggest whether the professorship scheme would — 
not go better if a chair of libel were added to the list. The only 
reason why this chair should not succeed would be, that the most 
eligible candidate could not then be a member of council, who 
would have the power to direct him “where to lecture, when to 
lecture and what to lecture about.” 
“rt 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY oF CANADA? — Owing to the separate — 
paging for the several reports filling this volume, by which the — 
process of printing has been hastened, it has appeared sooner — 
than its predecessors. It is devoted mainly to interesting obser- — 
vations on the stratigraphy of the Quebec group, by Mr. Selwyn, © 
who seems to discard the names Norian, Montalban, Taconian 
and Keeweenian, proposed by Dr. Sterry Hunt, and now in quite 
general use by New England geologists. Mr. G. M. Dawson — 
reports at length on the geology of British Columbia, Mr. S. H. 
Scudder describing the fossil insects. The reconnaisance by Mr. — 
Robert Bell of the west coast of Hudson’s bay, gives us the first — 
definite knowledge, so far as we are aware, of that interesting {i 
region. He claims that there is abundant evidence of the eleva- 
tion of the land (or to use his own words, “ that the sea-level is 
falling ”) at a comparatively rapid rate in Hudson’s bay. “ Since,” 
he writes, “the Hudson’s Bay Company’s ports have been estab 
lished at the mouths of the various rivers, there has been an, 
increasing difficulty in approaching them with large craft. On 
