THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST. 
Vol. XXXI. JANUARY, 1903. No. i. 
SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE LATE 
DR. A. F?. C. SELWYN, C. M. G., LL. D., F. R. S., 
F. G. S., ETC., DIRECTOR OF THE GEO- 
LOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA 
FROM 1869 TO 1894. 
By H. M. Ami of the Geological Survey of Canada. 
WITH PORTRAIT, PLATE I. 
Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., for 
twent)-five years the eminent Director of the Geological Sur- 
vey of Canada, (1869-1894) and one of the original Fellows 
of the Royal Society of Canada, died in Vancouver, British 
Columbia, on Sunday, the 19th day of October, 1902, the re- 
sult of a stroke of paralysis. 
His death was not altogether unexpected, but it removes 
from our midst one of the most energetic and active personal- 
ities in the field of geological work and science in North Amer- 
ica, Selwyn did much to advance the practical or economic side 
as well as the highest and fundamental principles on which ge- 
ology is based. His coming to America marks an era in the prog- 
ress of geological thought and investigation inasmuch as he 
brought with him the practical experience of nearly thirty 
years of work on the geological surveys of Great Britain and 
Australia, more especially in the early Palaeozoics and the ig- 
neous masses around which so many minerals of economic 
value occur, the nature of which he emphasized strongly, and 
to which he was one of the first to draw special attention 
and to interpret in their right light. During all the years that 
he spent m Canada he was diligent in mapping or having 
mapped the volcanic rocks of the various regions examined. 
