Report of the Select Committee on the geological survey.

most all cases, been obliged to conduct a topographical survey, as well as an ex- amination of the strata ; a fact which should not be lost sight of, as having mate- rially retarded the progress of the survey, but which at the same time has been of great use to the Province, in giving certain information as to rarely visited locali- ties, and even in correcting erroneous surveys in settled parts of the country, as is acknowledged by Mr. Russell of the Crown Lands Department in his evidence, A 775 IV REPORT ON THE Quo-.65.] who bears testimony to the great accuracy of some of Mr. Logan's surveys.During these investigations many new fossils and mineral forms have been discovered, and new facts of great interest to Geologists have been brought to light; amongst the latter may be mentioned the crustacean tracks discovered by Mr. Logan in the Potsdam Sandstone ; the chemical composition of certain fossil and recent shells, which had hitherto been thought exclusively to distinguish ihe skeletons of vertebrate animals ; the parallelism of the disturbing forces through- out the Silurian, Devonian, and carboniferous eras ; and more particularly, the re- searches on the metamorphism of rocks, which seem to establish with certainty, that not only the crystalline formations of the great Apalachian Chain, but also the still older rocks which separate the St. Lawrence from the Arctic Ocean, are merely stratified sedimentary deposits in an altered condition.Of more immediate practical interest is the knowledge gained of the mi- neral wealth of our country.Besidesbuilding materials of all kinds, and limestone, the discovery of which in some parts is of as much practical value as that of gold itself, there is the copper of Lakes Huron and Superior, ihe slates, mar- bles, serpentines, soapstones, and iron and copper ores of the mineral region south of the St. Lawrence, and the magnetic iron ores of the Laurentine formation, of greater extent and value than exist probably in the rest of the known world.Upon the whole, with the single exception of coal, the Canadas, on the testimony Ques.37.] of Professor Hall, have been shewn to stand higher in respect of their mineral products than any of the surrounding states.All these and numerous other economic materials, a list of which is given in the report of 1849, 1850, and the description of the London Exhibition of 1851, if not actually first discovered by the survey, have been made generally known, the formations which vield them pointed out, and in many instances the localities, where they can be profit- ably worked, indicated.Whilst the survey was in progress, a very large collection of specimens has has been brought together, with the intention of illustrating, not only the science of Canadian Geology, but its practical application in the supply of useful materi- als, the whole of which are now deposited at the house of the survey at Mon- treal.Such is the present result of the Canadian Geological Survey, and although much remains to be done, considering the vast extent of country under examina- tion, the difficulties presenled by the uninhabited state of much of it, the total ab- sence of reliable topographical maps, and the short period of each year which our climate renders available for the field work, your Committee think they may pronounce with confidence, that in no part of the world has there been a more valuable contribution to geological science for such a small outlay, (hardly more than 20,000 in all.)In confirmation of this opinion your Committee would refer to the letter of Professor Agassiz, and the evidence of Professor Hall, [Ques. 5. and to the opinions of scientific men quoted by Mr. Logan, and Mr. [Ques.101.Ques.3.] Hunt.They beg also to add two other quotations, as shewing the esti- mation in which our survey is held by men of science in England and France." In Canada especially, there has been proceeding for some years one of the most extensive and important Geological Surveys now going on in ihe world.The en- thusiasm and disinterestedness of a thoroughly qualified and judicious observer, Mr. Logan, whose name will ever stand high in the roll of votaries of his favorite science, have conferred upon this great

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.