458 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 122. 



contributions to the progress of American 

 geology. Indeed, his description of the new 

 red sandstone flora of North Carolina is so 

 valuable, that the U. S. geological survey has 

 recently reproduced the descriptions and all 

 the plates given by Emmons in the sixth part 

 of his 4 American geology.' 



Although educated in accordance with the 

 Puritan discipline of the old New-England 

 pattern, Professor Emmons was of a cheerful 

 and most amiable disposition, and was re- 

 spected and beloved by all who came in con- 

 tact with him. I cannot better finish this too 

 short notice of one of the greatest pioneers of 

 American geology, than by quoting the opinion 

 of one who was acquainted with him during 

 his whole life, the respected and beloved Rev. 

 Mark Hopkins, long president of Williams 

 college, who says, "Emmons was a man of 

 remarkable powers and great accuracy of ob- 

 servation. He seemed to have an intuitive 

 perception of the differences in natural ob- 

 jects. He possessed an intense enthusiasm 

 in his work, but in his manner was remarka- 

 bly quiet. I have never seen the two things 

 combined to the same extent. His persever- 

 ance knew no limit. It ought to be added, 

 that, in connection with his science, he was 

 deeply religious. Williams college is greatly 

 indebted to him for its collections in natural 

 history." Jules Marcou. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



The fourth annual meeting of the Royal 

 society of Canada took place last week in 

 Ottawa. The proceedings extended over four 

 days, beginning on Tuesday the 26th ; and the 

 attendance of members and delegates was, on 

 the whole, very satisfactory, though not quite 

 equal in number to that at the last meeting. 

 Of fellows, about forty were registered, while 

 thirteen affiliated societies were represented by 

 delegates. 



Tuesday was entirely devoted to the gen- 

 eral meeting of the society, the morning being 

 occupied by formal business and the reception 

 of reports from delegates and committees ; the 

 afternoon, by the addresses of the president, 

 Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Vice-Presidents Dr. D. 



Wilson and Hon. P. J. Chauveau, and his ex- 

 cellency the marquis of Lansdowne as honor- 

 ary president. Dr. Hunt, in the course of his 

 address, took occasion to urge strongly the 

 utility of the establishment of accurate tidal 

 observations on the coasts of the Dominion, 

 while the vice-president, in reviewing the work 

 of the society, pointed out the special necessity 

 of immediate effort in connection with ethnolo- 

 gical research. . 



The society is divided into four sections, — 

 two dealing with French and English litera- 

 ture, history, and allied subjects, respectively ; 

 one with mathematical, physical, and chemical 

 sciences ; and one with geological and biologi- 

 cal subjects. Over thirty papers, in all, were 

 presented ; the meetings of sections going on 

 simultaneously, and occup3 T ing the greater 

 part of the time on Wednesday and Thursday. 

 The papers of a purely literary or historical 

 character scarcely fall within the province 

 of this journal. The following notes em- 

 brace merely the salient points of some of the 

 more important or novel scientific communi- 

 cations : — 



In a paper on the mesozoic floras of a 

 portion of the Rocky Mountain region north 

 of the 49th parallel, Sir William Dawson re- 

 ferred specially to a remarkable Jurasso-creta- 

 ceous flora recently discovered, which occupies 

 a stage much lower than the Dakota beds, 

 and gives evidence of a great basin of lower 

 cretaceous rocks in that part of the north-west. 

 The paper was illustrated by a suite of speci- 

 mens. A second paper by the same author 

 related to certain new points in the geology of 

 Prince Edward Island, and the correlation of 

 the rocks of the island with the Permo-carbo- 

 niferous, Permian, and triassic, as proposed by 

 Mr. Bain. Mr. Gr. F. Matthew contributed a 

 third part of his investigation of the Cambrian 

 fauna of the vicinity of St. John, N.B., indi- 

 cating the division of the Cambrian into several 

 subordinate series, the relations of which, with 

 their European and other equivalents, were dis- 

 cussed. In the Rev. Dr. Honeyman's essay 

 on the geology of M'Nab's Island, Halifax, a 

 point which gave rise to some discussion in the 

 section was the described occurrence of glaci- 

 ally transported fragments of trap rocks like 

 those of the Bay of Fundy. These must have 

 been carried across the entire width of the 

 peninsula of Nova Scotia. Prof. E. J. Chap- 

 man gave the results of a close examination 

 of the Wallbridge hematite deposit in Ontario, 

 which he considered as typical of a large class 

 of ore-deposits in that region, and proved to 

 be an irregular mass or l stock- work ' penetrat- 



