2 The American Geologist. January, 1903 
It is interesting to note that Prin. Dresser's* paper giving 
the result of liis stucUes on the petrography of the Eastern 
Townships of the province of Quebec, issued just at the 
time of Dr. Selwyn's death, confirms in a marked degree the 
anticHne theory of the structure of the Sutton mountain and 
other volcanic belts of that part of Canada. 
He was the son of the late reverend Townsend Selwyn, 
canon of Gloucester cathedral, by his wife, Charlotte Sophia, 
daughter of Lord George Murray, bishop of St. David's, and 
grand-daughter of John the fourth duke of Athol. 
He was born at Kilmington, Somersetshire, England, on 
the 28th day of July 1828. 
His studies were carried on, first at home under private 
tutors, and later he completed his education in Switzerland. 
At the early age of twenty-one (1845) ^^^ was appointed 
to a position on the Geological Survey of Great Britain under 
Sir Henry de la Beche. His earliest work on the British sur- 
vey was under the immediate supervision of no less distin- 
guished a geologist than A. C. Ramsay. He was one of that 
contingent of stratigraphical geologists under Ramsay who 
did SO' much to lay down the fmidamental and carefully traced 
lines separating the various geological formations in that won- 
derful compendium of geology that England has proved to be, 
all in a nutshell. The others on the staff with Selwyn were, 
W. T. Aveline, Trevor E. James, D. H. WilHams, H. W. Bris- 
tow, and W. H. Baily. Edward Forbes was the palaeontolo- 
gist, W. \V. Smythe, the mining geologist, Sir Joseph 
Hooker w^as the botanist. Dr. Lyon (later Sir Lyon) Playfi^ir, 
the chemist : while Richard Phillips was in charge of the 
laboratory and museum : with Robert Hunt as keeper of the 
mining records. Mr. C. R. Bone was employed as artist and 
C. P. Gibbs as collector of fossils. 
Under chiefs like Sir Henry de la Beche and A. C. Ram- 
say, Selwyn made rapid strides in the science of geology for 
which he had acquired a taste during his stay in Switzerland. 
He remained attached tO' the Geological Survey of Great 
Britain until 1852 and devoted his energies to elucidating and 
mapping the difficult and intricate structure of the Palaeozoics 
of North Wales and adjacent portions of western England. 
• A petrographical contribution to the Geology of the eastern townships 
of the Province of Quebec." Amer.Joitr. Sci., 4.th series, vol. xiii, No. 70, pp. 
43-48.. Tulv, 1902. New Haven. 
