Report of the Select Committee on the geological survey.

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.-31.Dufrenoy membre de Pinstitut, in the Jury Reports of the London exhibition.It is mortifying to your Committee to have to report, that results of so much value are almost inaccessible to the public, and that a great proportion of the in- habitants of Canada, if not ignorant of the existence of the survey, are at least unacquainted with what it has achieved.The annual reports are presented to Parliament, and buried in the Journals of the House, except a few hundred co- pies, which are distributed by Members amongst their friends, so that the reports of two consecutive years rarely fall into the same hands.Professor Chapman, Ques.49.] complains of the difficulty of procuring them, Mr. Lovell [Qucs.133.speaks of the frequent applications to him for complete sets, both at home and Qu.<.109.] from abroad, and Mr. Bell, ^ays that, so much is this want felt, that it has been proposed to reprint them in New York.Were it not for additional copies, which Mr. Logan orders at his own expense and kindly distributes, it is doubtful whether (apart from the Journals) there would be a hundred complete sets in the Province.Mr. Logan also, speaks of the demand [Ques.85, 86, 81. for the reports, the imperfect knowledge in the country of what they contain, and the consequent verbal and written applications, which are made to him for information.As a further proof of the ignorance which prevails as to what has already been done, your Committee may mention, that the existence of a combus- tible material, closely resembling coal, in the rock at Quebec, which has lately occupied so much attention, is fully described, and the reasons why there is small probability of its being profitably worked given at large in the report of 1844, pp.19 and 20.These facts speak for themselves as to the necessity of republishing the reports in some shape.Another serious deficiency is the want of a map.Not only are the annual topographical measurements of the survey unknown, till the publisher of some new map obtains copies of them, but it is extremely difficult to follow a geological description without a map, and a student must colour one for himself from the reports, before he can get a clear knowledge of the geological features of the country.Again there are many things which even the reports do not contain, were they accessible, viz : plates and descriptions of new and characteristic fossils, sections and illustrations of the disturbances of the strata, &c, without which a complete understanding of the subject cannot be obtained.We may mention also generalizations, and theoretical conclusions, deduced, not from the report of one season's work, but from a comparison of the whole, such as the investigations upon the metamorphic rocks already mentioned, which must be sought for in a perfect form in the papers communicated by Messrs. Logan and Hunt to the scientific bodies of Europe and the United States.Lastly, the vast collection of minerals accumulated at Montreal, from insuf- ficiency of funds to provide for their proper arrangement, lie in a great measure buried in packing cases in the vaults and sheds of the Survey Office.With a view to remedying these defiencies, your Committee would recom- mend the immediate republication of the substance of all the former reports.The original documents will always be valuable in their present shape, and will be accessible for reference in the journals of the House ; this does not, however, appear to your Committee to be the most convenient shape, in which the facts they record should be distributed, as a whole, to the country.From the partial nature of each season's examination, there is necessarily much repetition in the reports of succeeding years, when they record the progress over similarThe whole nevertheless, respectfully submitted.

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