Sketch of Dr. A. R. C. Sch.'yn.—Ami. 13 
arena, should never be admitted to the domain of science. 
Bearing these principles in mind, and above all that unity is 
strength, I trust that the members of the geological section of 
the Canadian Royal Society will henceforth be brethren of 
the hammer not in name only but in very act and deed ; that 
they will at all times cordially co-operate with and assist each 
other in friendly emulation in the work they have in hand, that 
of elucidating the geological history, physical and biological, 
of this great country in which the harvest, waiting to be 
gathered from the rocks, is so abundant l^ut unfortunately the 
labourers as yet so few." 
First and foremost Selwyn was a stratigrapical geologist 
and an able one. He was a firm believer in the field character 
exhibited by the various series of sedimentary strata in the 
succession of geological formations in the earth's crust and 
also by the volcanic materials. 
He had a special attraction in the regions where the geolog- 
ical structure was complex and more especially was this the 
case as regards the eastern townships of Quebec, for, not only 
during his twenty-five years of office did he take an active part 
in the examination and elucidation of one of the most difficult 
and perplexing problems in geology and in the discussions at- 
tending the same, but even after his retirement he was wont 
to come back to the survey and to the other members of the 
staff would present his views in that bold and vigorous man- 
ner so characteristic of him. The volcanics of the eastern 
townships and their associated formations afforded an ex- 
tensive field for discussion of the highest order. The results 
of his own field-work led him to interpret the geological struc- 
ture of that portion of Canada in a manner hitherto unknown 
on this continent. In the Lake Superior region likewise Dr. 
Selwyn delighted in carrying on geological investigations 
whenever the duties of office would permit him to leave the 
desk for the field. 
His keen interest in the "Quebec Group controversy" in 
which Logan, Billings. Hunt, Emmons, Sir Wm. Dawson, 
Hall, Walcott, Ford, Marcou and many others took a promin- 
ent part, was ever kept active by the fires arising in the dis- 
cussion of the numerous knotty points in connection therew th. 
Selwyn's interpretation of the geological structure of the so- 
