ah Ph tie Wye, anhe » ." 4 Y w * 7 . eee eta tal a pee ROSEN rs ttt Ms hse Sy eee ENS ee SUNN? Me Seine aS ANS SAA hata ESN OAT Te ol AED : mate het AONINIS ats Roeraro ios Nae tae ke we ASN sare t 4% Te om OD a akon any Otte he tb IE, DIM 4 ee bees Fae, irks eer ota tlt ot er 3 Dt iy RAH Orn At ee ith Bey sae on Re ee. vere, rere Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Toronto http:/www.archive.org/details/canadianfieldnatO5otta 1891 ye Or. V. 1892 LO ! 7 THE OTEAWA NATURALIST BEING VOL. VII. oF THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB. (Organized March, 1879. Incorporated March,- 1884. J OTTAWA: J: 2. TAYLOR, Book AND Jop PRINTER, 48 AND 50 QUEEN STREET, Pa | 1891, 7 ee ( _a * » UF = ae | at ay Cee Soman ; i Vee ae ty (35 i ~# a « % ee. : . a i cpHT _. He ie WA A AV ‘ any 1) SEV IOY orn ENOITIAGUAT + ; P | > b | CISis ud. ‘SLIAAUTA Aa, ni Caen a ; at \W Aigvodorinel } rh) Ss s a. wand as ' > yate Bon TA si ee ae af rol a ny aaa id er Patron: HIS. EXCELLENCY THE LORD STANLEY OF PRESTON, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA. President: Dr. R. W. ELLs. Vice-Presidents : ist, T. J. MacLAuUGHLIN, | 2ND, H. M. Ami. Secretary: W. H. Harrincton, P. O. Department. Treasurer: A. G. Kincston, Dept. Public Works. Librarian; W. A. D. Lexs, P. O. Box 4071. Conineilee - oe E. Botton, Miss G. HarMEr, Miss M. A. MILLs, * \JamMes FLETCHER, WILLIAM Scort, R. B. WHYTE. Standing Committees of Council : Publishing—JAMES FLEYCHER, Hditor; W. H. Harrincton, A. G. Kincston, W. A. D. LEEs, Asststant Editors. Excursions—Y. J. MacLaucuuin, H. M. Ami, Miss G. HarMe™r, Miss M, A. Mitts, R. B. WHyTE. Sotrées—A. G. Kincston, Miss E. BoLron, JAMES FLETCHER, WILLIAM Scott. Headers : Geology and Mineralogy—H. M. Ami,W. F. FERRIER, C.W. WILLIMOTT. Botany—JAMEs FLETCHER, Wo. Scott, R. H. CowLey. Conchology—F¥. R. LATCHFORD. Entomology—T. J. MacLauGHLin, W. H. HARRINGTON, J. FLETCHER Ornithology—A. G. Kincston, W. A. D. LEEs, PRor. J. Macoun. Zoology—-\. BALLANTYNE, H. B. SMALL, W. P. LETT. The Librarian will furnish the Publications of the Club at the following rates :— Transactions, — Part 1, Not soid singly. | “ 9, 26 cts. ; to members, 15 cts.| $1.00 for Vol. I. ie fF 15 - To members, 70 cts. ‘ “ 4, 25 “e I “ee 15 ce ce (a9 20 “ a 2 4 see A rane $1.00 for Vol. II. ee a i o ea. | ‘To members, 50 cts. 715 30 20 The Ottawa Naturalist, $1.00 per annum. Monthly parts, 10 cents ; to members, 5 cents. Quarterly parts, 25 cents each ; to members, 15 cents. Extras — Bituincs, W. R. Paleontology. An elementary lecture. Pp. aly 5c: Exits, R. W. Asbestus ; its history, mode of occurrence and uses. pp. 24, 10C. LIST OF MEMBERS. Alexander, Mrs. J. Borden, F. W., M.D., M.P., (Can- Alexander, Miss Isabel. ning, N.S.) Allan, W. A. Boulton, Arthur. Ami, H.M., 4.4., F.G.S., F.G.S.A. Boville, T. C., B.A. Anderson, Liewt.-Col. W. P., C.L. Bowen, Miss Alice. (Quebec.) MNCL. Bowerman, J. T. Anderson, Mrs. W. P. Bristow, A. A. Angus, Miss I.. Bristow, Mrs. A. A. Archibald, Miss E. Broadbent, Ralph L. Armstrong, John R. Brodie, R. J., #. App. Se., (Smith’s Bailey, Prof. L. W., U.4., Ph. D., Falls, Ont). F.RS.C., (Fredericton, N.B). — Brodie, W., Z.D.S. (Toronto.) Baldwin, Miss E. G. Brough, James S. Baldwin, Miss H. A. Brown, R. D. Balland, Rev. J. B., O.M.I., D.D. Brown, Mrs. BR. D. Ballantyne, J. Brumell, H. Pareth. Ballantyne, Norman F. Burgess, T. J. W., 1.D., F.R.S.C. Ballantyne, Miss I. M. (Montreal. ) Baptie, Geo., J/.A., .i/.D. Burland, J.H., 2. App.Se. £.C.S., Barlow, A. E., MW. 4. Butterworth, Miss Maria E. Barlow, Scott. Campbell, A.M., (Perth, Ont.) Barnston, Duncan ( , Ceylon) Campbell, Miss C. Bate, C. Perey. Campbell, R. H. Bate, H. Gerald. Carstairs, J., B.A. (Lroquois, Ont.) Bate, H. N. Casey, M. W. Beddoe, Chas. H. Chamberlin, Mrs. B. Bell, E. B. Chant, C. A., B.A. Bell, Robert, B App.Se.M.D.,LL.D., Christie, A. J., QC. F_ES.C., £.G.S.A. Chubbock, C. E. D. Bennetts, F. K. Cochrane. A. 8., C.E. Bethune, Rev. U. J. S., M.A.,D.C.L. Code, R. G. (Port Hope, Ont). Cornu, Felix, ”.D. (Montreal.) Billings, B. B Coste, E., MH. (Buffalo, N.Y.) Billings, W. R. Cousens, W. C., J.D. Blanchet, C. A. Cowley, R. H., B.A. Blanchet, W. H. Craig, Prof. J. A. (Madison, Wis.) Boardman, Wm. F. Craig, John. Bolton, /tev. C. E. (Paris, Ont.) Craig, Wm. (Russell, Ont.) Bolton, Miss Eliza. Crawford, Mrs. Mary. Creighton, J. G. A., b.A., B.C.L. Darcy, Miss 'T. Dawson, G.M., LL.D., D.Sc., Assoc. R.S.M., F.G.S., PBSC. Deeks, W. E., 5.A., (Montreal). Deeprose, Mev. C. 8. Devlin, R. J. Dimeock, W. D., 4.4. (Truro, N.S ) Dixon, F. A. Dowling, D. B., B. App. Se. Elkins, A. W., C.#.,?.L.8., (Sher- brooke, Que). Biieiue W., OL.).)) F.GSLA. Evans, Jno. D., C.£. (Copper Ont.) Ewart, D. Faribault, E. R., C.£. Ferrier, W. F., 5. App. Sc. Fisher, S. A., B.4., J.P. (Knowl- ton, Que.) Fleming, Sandford, C.1/.G., U.#., Weel. FBS. C: Fletcher, Hugh, &.A. Fletcher, Miss C. F. 8. Fletcher, James, 7.L.S., FRSC. Fletcher, Mrs. J. Fortescue, L. Fortescue, Mrs. L. 5 Harrington, Mvs. W. H. Harrison, Edward. Hay, George. Hay, W. H. Hayter, F., B.A. Henderson, Thomas. Herridge, Rev. W. T., B.A., B.D. filborn, W. W. (Leamington, Ont.) Hodgins, John. Hope, Jas. Ingall, E. D. Assoc. t.S.M., ME. Interior, Department of. Jarvis, 8. uff, Jenkins 8. J., B.A. Johnson, E. V., C.E. Johnston, Ro!.t. A. A. Jones, C. J. Kearns, J. C. Keefer, Thos. C., C.E. Keeley, D. H. Kingston, A. G. Laflamme, Revd. J. A. K., D.D., F.RS.C., (Quebec). Lambart, Hon. O. H. Lambe, L. M., F.G.S.A. Lampey, Wm. G., 7.2. Lampman, A., B.A. Latchford, F. R., B.A. Forward, Arthur J. (Iroqueis, Ont.) Law, John. Fuller, Thos., 2.C.A. Gemmell, R. E. Gemmill, J. A. Gilmour, T. Giroux, N.J., C.H., F.G.S.A. Glashan, J. C. Gobeil, A. Gordon, F. A. Grant, Sir J. A., K.C.M.G. M.D., Lawson, A. C., Ph D., F.G.S.A. ( Berkeley, Cai.) Lawson, Prof. G., LL.D., Ph. D FRCL, FRSC. (Halifax.) Lee, Miss Katharine. Lehmann, A., B.S.A. Lees, W. A. D. Lees, Miss V. Lees, Miss Jessie. F.R.C.S., Edin., F.R.S.C., F.G.S.LeSueur, W. D., B.a. Grist, Henry. Grist, Miss Mary L. Hardie, John. Hardie, Miss Jessie. Harmer, Miss G. (Hintonburgh, Ont.) Harmon, Miss A. Maria. Harrington, W. H. LeSueur, Mrs. W. D. Lett,. W. P. Lindsay, A. Living, Miss A. Marion. Loux, Wm. W.2. Lovick, Miss G. Lowe, John. MacCabe, J. A., LL.D. MacCraken, John I. Mac)ougall, P. A., 4.0. MacFarlane, T., .#., F.R.S.C. M: 1cLaughlin, Tag McC onnell, RG. BAS, FG. 8A; McGill, A., B.Sc. McElhinney, Mae McEvoy, Jas., 2. App. Se. McInnes, Wenn BoA GES.A McLaughlin, 8. McLean, J. D. McMinn, W. J. R., B.A. MeNab, Chas. McNaughton, H. F. Macoun, Prof. John, J/..1., FLBS.C. Macoun, J. M. Matheson, D. Matheson, W. M. Mearns, Cupt. K. A. (Fort Snelling, Minn.) Meneilly, W. J. Mills, Miss Margaret A. Moore, H. B. Nelson, F., B.A. Nicholls, Wiiliam Nicholls, Rupert W. O’Brien, S. E. Oxley, J. M., B. Panet, Maurice. Paquet, F. X. Parliament, Library of. Parris, Miss Oriana. Perley, Major Henry F., C £. Peters, H. J. (Regina, N.W.T.) Phillips, J. A. Plunkett, J. M. Ashore RUS 6 Ross, W. A., J.0.C. Rothwell, Miss Lin +. Ryckman, Rev. E. B., D.D. Saint-Cyr, D. N., (Quebec). Saucier, F. X. R. Saunders, Fredk. Saunders, Prof. W., F.LS.,F.RS.C., [Pe GL. Saunders, W. E., (London, Ont). Scott, Colin A., B.A. Scott, D. C. Scott, Fred. Scott, W. Scott, W.., B.A. Scott, W. L., B.A. Selwyn, A. R.C., C.4.G., LL.D. FRS., PRS G5 BG eG A Senate, The Senecal, C. O., C.#. Shenick, Miss re B.Sc. Shutt, F. Ty; Ay Pes Simpson, Willibert Small, H. B. Small, H. Beaumont, J/. ). Smith, D. E. (Churchville, Smith, Miss Eloise. Smith, Miss Ethel M. Smith, W. H., C.#. Smithson, Miss B. H. Sowter, T. W. E. Steacy, Miss Isabel. Steckel, R., C.£.- Stewart) Tol Summerby, Wu. J., M. A. (Russell, Ont.) Surtees, Robert, C.Z. Sutherland, Miss C. F. 8. 5, RS. Ont.) Poirier, Hon. P. S. (Shediac, N.B.) Sutherland, J. C., (Richmond, Que). Pratt, H. ©. E: Sweetland, John, J/.D. Reed, E. Baynes (Esquimalt, B.C.) Symes, Miss KE. Ripley, C. J. Symes, P.B., A.K.C. Robert, J. A., B.App. Sc., (Mon- Tanner, R. sp treal). Robertson, N. Robins, R Ne Hondend: Rev. Ross, Niles G. , (SherLiooke, Que). Ss. ie A. Taylor, ev. G. W. (Victoria, B,C.) Thayne, E. Stewart. Thompson, T. W. Thorburn, Jobn, .W.d., LL.D. Topley, W. J. i Topley, Mrs. W. J. White, W. R. (Pembroke, Ont.) Treadwell, C. W., B.A., B.C.L. Whiteaves, J. F. #.G.S., F.R.S.C. Tyrrell, J.B., B.A., F.G.S., F.G.S8.A. Whyte, Miss Isabella. Varley, W. B., (Toronto.) Whyte, J. G. Verner, J. W. D. Whyte, Miss Ethel. Waghorne, /tev. A. C., (Harbour Whyte, Miss Marion. Grace, Nfid). Whyte, R. B. Wait, F. G., B.A., Whyte, Mrs. R. B. Warwick, F. W., B. Sc. (Bucking- Willimott, Chas. W. ham, Que.) Willing, T. N., (Calgary, N.W.T). Watters, Mrs. A. Wills, J. Lainson, M.£., F.G.S. Watters, Henry. Wilson, C. W., .D. (Bucking- Watts, J. W. H., B.C.A. ham, Que.) Weldon, Prof. R.C., /.P.,(Halifax) Wood, Josiah, WM. P., (Sackville, Weston, T. C. N.B). Wheeler, A. O., D.7.S. (New West- Wright, W. R. minster, B.C.) Young, Rev. C. J., M.A. (Lans- White, Geo. R. downe, Ont. White, Liewt.-Col. Wm. CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. Epwarps, Henry, 185 East 116th Street, New York, U.S. Hi, Apert J., V.A., C.L., New Westminster, B.C. Merria~, Dr. C. Hart, Department ot Agriculture, Washington, U-S. Ormerop, Miss E. A., 7.2. Vet. Soc., Torrington House, Holywell Hill, St. Albans, England. PRovVANCHER, ABBE, Cap Rouge, Que. Smiru, Pror. Joun B., Rutger’s College, New Brunswick, N.J. 8 TREASURER’S REPORT—1891. GENTLEMEN, —I have much pleasure in reporting that the finances of the Club are in a very satisfactory condition. A far larger amount has been collected during the past year for subscriptions than has ever before been the case. An amount of $25.00 not yet paid out, has been put aside by the Council to finish the publication of the Alora Ottawa- ensts. 1 beg again to draw the attention of the members to the names of the firms which assist the Club by advertising in the Orrawa NATUR- ALIST. It is not too much to say that these firms are equal to, or the best, in their several lines, and I trus] that the members will endeavour to show them that it is a paying investment to assist the Club. In con- clusion I would draw attention to the fact that nearly $6.00 has been unnecessarily expended in postage by the Treasurer in writing for sub- scriptions. The fees are payable in advance on the third Tuesday in March. If this were attended to by all the members, not only would it save much trouble and expense; but they would get much better valve for their money. During the past year owing to the fact that sub- scriptions were paid in more promptly, no less than 38 pages were added to the Orrawa Naturatist. Had everyone paid up this number might have been doubled and the /Vora Ottawaensts would have been finished. As it is impossible for me, owing to my official duties, to again accept the post of Treasurer I lay this matter before the meet- ing and beg that you will assist my successor to this extent. ‘TREASURER’S BALANCE a E Grae Ot. RECEIPTS. EXPENDITURE, 1890. 1891. March 18; Balances... bee -pedee $ 30 §52|| March 17, Ottawa Naturalist, 1891. Vol. iv.. $254 49 March 17, Subscriptions Postage... Il 26 1890-91.. $212 00 ——— $265 75 Arrears.... 48 00 Extras. Flora ——-- 260 00 Ottawaensis 26 00 Advertisements...... 37 00 » Authors’ 16 12 Authors’ extras...... 975 ——— 42 12 Transaction sold..... 18 39 General printing. . 2.95 Excursion receipts... 159 55 General postage. . 8 77 Stationery......... ee Gratuities: s--4- sn 6 oO Library— Shelves.... 6 00 Binding.... 10 00 16 oO Excursion expenses. 157 39 Balance... soete see ny, 12 $515 21 $515 21 JAMES FLETCHER, Ottawa, March 17, 1891. Treasurer. DRINKING WATER. WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE OTTAWA CITY SUPPLY. A Lecture by A. McGill, B.A., B.Sc., Assistant Analyst to the Inland Revenue Department. A very little thought given to the subject will convince us of the hopelessness of seeking for absolutely pure water as a natural product. The great solvent power of water, together with the universal presence of substances, gaseous liquid or solid, which it can take into solution, are conditions which amply suffice to explain the contamination of all natural sources of supply. The whole of the fresh water on the face of the earth has fallen as rain on field, forest, city, street, swamp, or other more or less similar gathering-ground, except such insignificant fraction as falls directly into river or lake. ‘he soluble impurities present in such gathering grounds are conveyed to the storage centres in river, lake or well, and it is fortunate for us that nature has provided, in the course of natural filtration to which such supplies are necessarily sub- jected, a means of reducing ina great degree the pollution due to organic matter, as will be hereafter explained more fully. The mineral content remains to give so-called “hardness,” or other specific character to the supply of each locality. Even before the rain has reached the surface of the earth, however, it is far from pure, since there are always present in the atmosphere particles of organic and inorganic dust, ill- smelling and often poisonous gases, the products of decay, microscopic germs, and other impurities which are washed out of the air by the rain, and make it,—especially the first portion of each shower,—decidedly polluted and unfit, without filtration, to be used as a food supply. The conditions which influence the solubility of solids in water are essen- tially three, namely, the specific nature of the substance, the tempera- ture of the water, and the presence of other bodies in solution. Even among quite soluble substances very marked and interesting specific differences may be observed. In the six flasks before you I have sus- pended, in muslin bags, equal quantities (1 ounce) of six different salts, themselves having importart relations in the subsequent treatment of this subject, all of them decidedly soluble, and powdered to an approxi- 10 mately equal degree of fineness. I will now add to each flask one pint of pure water at the ordinary temperature and set them aside for about half an hour. ‘The salts I have selected are 1st, Nitrate of Am- monia, a proximate form taken by much of the decaying animal matter on the egarth’s surface. This salt will be found to dissolve with extreme readiness, znd, Common Salt, or Chloride of Sodium, which exists in vast stratified deposits on every continent and is brought to the surface by natural agencies, such as mineral springs, or artificially by pumped wells (as in the St. Clair Flats, at Goderich, Seatorth, etc.), or by mining as at Cracow and elsewhere. ‘This salt forms the most universal condi- ment and anti-putrescent agent in the preservation of human food, and as a consequence is present in all sewage, forming a most important clue to the identification of sewage and the tracing of its course where it _ enters rivers or lakes. Although quite soluble, this salt dissolves only to about one-sixth the amount of the last named. 3rd. Epsom Salts, or Sulphate of Magnesia, and 4th. Glauber’s Salt, or Sulphate of Soda, two substances which are very extensively found in mineral waters, and, in ,fact, give their cathartic properties to most medicinal springs and wells. Epsom Salts dissolves to about the same extent as common salt, while Glauber’s Salt has only half this degree of solubility. 5th. Washing Soda, or Carbonate of Soda, and 6th. Bi-carbonate of soda, or Baking Soda, which occur—especially the latter—in many effervescing mineral waters, as in the Vichy and Apollinaris waters, although they are of very much greater importance as manufactured salts. Washing Soda is practically of equal solubility with Glauber’s Salt, while bi-car- bonate of soda is much less soluble. ‘The solubility of these six salts is seen to be inversely in the order in which I have named them. As illustrations of naturally occurring salts which are difficult of solution, and yet dissolve to an appreciable extent in natural waters, I can select no better examples than gypsum and chalk, the sulphate and carbonate of lime. Five hundred parts of water are required to dissolve one part of gypsum at the ordinary temperature, so that if a gallon of water fully saturated with gypsum were evaporated to dryness the residual gypsum would weigh only 140 grains, or less than one- third of an ounce. Yet this salt occurring in natural hard waters in very much less amount than is needed to saturate them, is a most 11 troublesome and harmful impurity when steam boilers are supplied with it. Chalk is as nearly insoluble in pure water as most substances with which we are acquainted, one million parts of water dissolving only eighteen parts of chalk. That is, were a gallon of water fully saturated with chalk to be evaporated to dryness the residue would weigh only about 114 grains. We shall see, however, that under con- ditions quite commonly found in nature the solubility of chalk may be increased to 880 parts per million, 2. e., a residue of 62 grains would be obtained from a gallon of water saturated under these circumstances. The condition referred to is the presence of free carbonic acid in the water. Before illustrating this, let me indicate the laws which govern the solution of gases in water. ‘These are, briefly, (1st), the specific nature of the gas; (2nd), the temperature ; (3rd), the pressure. The two gases, of which our atmosphere is essentially composed, are soluble in water only to a very slight extent. At the ordinary temperature and pressure of the air 100 gallons of water dissolve about 3 gallons of oxygen, and nitrogen is only about half as soluble as oxygen. A fourth law of gaseous solubility applies when a mixture of gases is exposed to a solvent, as in the case of air and water. Each gas is dissolved just in such proportion as it would be were the other gas not present (the pressure, of course, being correspondingly reduced). A consequence of this is that while oxygen and nitrogen are present in air in the ratio of 1 to 4 they are dlssolved in water in the ratio of 1 to 2. ‘Thus the atmospheric gases present in water form a mixture very much richer in oxygen than is the air, and the important consequences that follow from this are not far to seek. It is from this dissolved oxygen that fish and all water-breathers obtain the supply to arterialize their blood, and, what bears more directly upon our subject to-night, it is by means of this dissolved oxygen that the various processes by which the harmful and even poisonous organic impurities of natural water are changed to innocent substances, are carried on. So emphatically is the presence of oxygen in solution an essential condition of purity in a surface water, that many chemists always estimate the dissolved oxygen in water analysis. In illustration of this point I may quote the following figures from a report upon the river Seine, above, at, and below Paris :— 12 Corbeil (20 miles above Paris)........ Dissolved Oxygen = 9.32 CC per litre. Epinay (below all the sewers)......... $f St SS ORS < Pont de Poissy (49 miles below Paris). . << “ =46.12 4° ‘6 Pont de Meulau (58 miles below Paris). Ee se Sy Ady oe ss Mantes (68 miles below [aris)........ : f = Ko a i Vernon (94 miles below Paris)........ cs > =H io top va These numbers are very easy to explain when we consider that the decaying organic matter brought into the river by the sewage of Paris consumes the dissolved oxygen, and is by this consumption of oxygen, converted into other and comparatively harmless compounds, so that, at a point go miles below the city and 70 miles below the sewer mouths, the river regains its normal condition as far as this factor is concerned. Carbon di-oxide, or carbonic acid gas is much more soluble than oxygen. Roughly we may say that water dissolves its own volume of this gas. The only other gas which [ shall mention is ammonia, and the extreme solubility of this gas in water is well illustrated in the ex- periment before you, in which the first portions of water entering the large flask filled with ammonia gas dissolve the whole of the gas there- by creating a vacuum into which a fountain plays—the red liquid (a slightly acid solution of litmus in water) being constantly changed into blue in the fountain jet, and thus bearing witness to the alkaline char- acter of the ammonia. The solubility of gases in water becomes less as the temperature rises. It is for this reason that water that has been boiled and allowed to cool makes so flat and insipid a beverage. The atmospheric gases, and particularly carbonic acid gas, have been expelled at the boiling temperature, and the water requires artificial aération before it can become again a sparkling and palatable drink. Under increased pres- sure a very much larger amount of gas can be held in solution. Effer- vescing drinks like soda-water, ale and champagne are kept in strong bottles with corks wired down. When the bottle is opened, and ordi- nary atmospheric pressure applied to the surface of the liquid, the excess of gas which could only be kept in solution by abnormal pressure escapes, and gives the sparkling effervescence characteristic of these beverages. Unlike gases, a rise in temperature is usually attended with a 13 marked increase in solubility in the case of solid bodies. The follow- ing diagram (see Roscoe and Schorlemmer’s Treatise on Chemistry, vol. ii., p. 45) will serve to illustrate graphically this point. You will observe that while the rate of increase in solubility for increased tem- perature varies with the specific nature of the salt, it is pretty generally true that the solubility increases as the temperature rises. In the case of sulphate of soda we have a peculiarity in that the maximum of solu- bility is found at about go° Fah. In common salt we find another interesting peculiarity in that for temperatures between the freezing point and boiling point of water the solubility is practically constant at about four pounds of salt per gallon of water. In the case of sulphate of lime we find the very slight solubility of this salt in cold water is even lowered as the temperature reaches the boiling point, although the decrease in solubility is too small to be well marked. However, did this diagram indicate temperatures as high as those found in steam boilers, where water boils under artificial pressure, we should find that at 270° Fah., a temperature which corresponds to the boiling point of water under a pressure of two and a half atmospheres, or about 40 pounds per square inch—a very ordinary boiler pressure—the solubility of gypsum is reduced to one-twentieth part of its solubility at 212° Fah.: and as a consequence of this nineteen-twentieths of the sulphate of lime in solu- tion in a feed-water is deposited as a coherent and very hard crust on the inner surface of the boiler. The remaining condition which affects the solubility of solids in water is the presence of other substances in solution. There is pro- bably no exception to the statement that the solubility of a solid is influenced more or less by the presence of other dissolved bodies. All the phenomena of precipitation depend upon this principle. I shall have occasion to illustrate this in the course of the evening, but I may now ask you to observe how promptly chlorides are thrown out of solution by salts of silver, saits of iron by ammonia or other alkali, lead salts by carbonates or sulphates, all of which reactions are of great value to water consumers, whether the water be used for household or manu- facturing purposes. I can only make detailed reference to two cases of great importance in this connection. ‘The first is the solubility of lead in water, and is of great importance from the extensive use of lead 14 pipes for conveying water in dwellings. The conditions under which lead is dissolved by water are very complicated, and by no means perfectly understood, but the following broad generalizations are justi- fied by facts. Where water contains nitrates in any considerable amount, and in general where water is essentially soft in character— such as rain-water—the danger of lead being dissolved from the p'pe is very great, and poisoning has frequentiy occurred from this source, as little as one-tenth of a grain per gallon being a poisonous quantity when the water is continually used, since lead is a cumulative poison. Water containing less than one-fourth of this amount has been known to cause serious and dangerous illness. In presence of carbonates, sulphates or phosphates, a thin coating of the carbonate, sulphate or phosphate of lead is formed on, and adheres to, the inner surface of the pipe. Since these salts are practically insoluble they protect the lead pipe from contact with the water and render its use quite safe. Fortu- nately most natural waters contain a sufficient amount of dissolved car- bonic acid or carbonates to prevent danger from the use of lead pipes in their conveyance. It is, however, advisable always to allow water to run freely for a short time where it has been stored in lead service pipes over night, or for any considerable time, especially at a tempera ture such as is usual in dwellings. The second illustration of increased solubility due to the presence of a substance in solution is the case of chalk in water containing free carbonic acid. The large glass vessel before you contains water par- tially saturated with slaked lime. On passing carbonic acid gas from the generator into this water the first effect is the conversion of some of this lime into carbonate of lime or chalk ; and the great insolubility of this compound causes its separation with formation of a dense white precipitate which gradually settles down to the bottom of the vessel if allowed to stand at rest. On continuing, now, to pass the carbonic acid gas, after all the lime has been converted into carbonate, we observe this curious effect. The liquid gradually loses its turbidity, and in a few minutes is as clear and transparent as at the first. The excess of carbonic acid gas has caused the precipitated chalk to pass into solution. We have now what is known as ard water, and its effect with soap will be apparent from the following 15 experiment. In the first of these two cylinders I put a pint of ordinary soft water; in the second cylinder I put the same qnantity of the hard water which we have now prepared. To each cylinder I now add the same volume of a solution of soap and shake vigorously half a minute. A bulky and persistent lather, nearly filling the cylinder, is formed by the soft water, while the hard water shews merely a thin pellicle of scum, the product of the destruction of the soap added. You will observe that it is necessary to add nine or ten times as much soap to the hard water in order to get a lather comparable with that obtained iu the first cylinder. It is evident that hard water causes a waste of soap, and the amount of waste is strictly proportional to the amount of lime in the water, since a perfectly definite decomposition takes place between the soap and the lime salt present. Were the lime present as sulphate the destruction of soap would still occur, with this difference, that in that case no simple and inexpensive mode of softening the water could be applied, and the water would be what is usually called permanently hard. ‘The only practicable remedy in such a case is the use of washing soda, for although such remedies as soluble barium salts are very effective in throwing the sulphates out of solution, yet the poisonous character of barium salts, to say nothing of their cost. makes them unavailable in ordinary circumstances. In the case of water which possesses only temporary hardness, 7.¢., hardness due to car- bonate of lime, not only may we use washing soda to cure the evil, but two other processes deserve mention. By boiling the water we drive out of solution the carbonic acid gas, in virtue of which the carbonate of lime is held in solution. On now allowing it to settle, the almost insoluble chaik is deposited, and the soft water may be drawn off. The second and very ingenious plan of softening such water is due to the late Prof. Clarke of Aberdeen, and is usually known as Clarke’s pro- cess. It consists in adding slaked lime to the water in proper amount to form chalk with the free carbonic acid, which is therefore withdrawn from solution and precipitated along with the now insoluble lime salt originally present in the water Many large towns and cities in Eng- land and elsewhere now soften their whole supply in this way. The water of the Ottawa River is remarkably soft since the gathering ground is essentially free from limestone rocks. ‘lhe Upper Ottawa region is 16 characterized by its granites and allied siliceous rocks, with a soil which has resulted from their weathering and destruction by glacial and other agencies. ‘The peaty character of large areas of this gathering ground is evidenced in the brownish colour of the water of the river ; a colour which is due not to the presence of dissolved salts, but to the products of decay of vegetable matter. The results of many analyses of the Ottawa River shew it to contain less than ove part of solid matter for ten thousand parts of water, or less than seven grains per gallon in solu- tion. At certain periods of the year it, however, contains solid matter suspended in the water, causing a turbidity which you must often have remarked. This is particularly characteristic of the river in spring, when the swelling of the smaller streams which feed it and the fine particles of clay and sand washed down from fields and roads, suffi- ciently account for its muddy appearance, while its current is rapid enough to prevent the settling of this mud to the bottom. In respect to suspended solid matter, however, the Ottawa River compares very favourably with many others—I might say with any other river of its size. The sources of the Ottawa are situated for the most part in a rocky region where there is comparatively little soil to be washed into its waters by spring freshets. It is quite otherwise with such rivers as the Red River at Winnipeg, which gets its name from the highly coloured ferruginous clay, which it carries in suspension ; or with the Missouri and Mississippi, whose waters, joining at St. Louis, sometimes contain the enormous amount of 1,225 grains of solid matter (or nearly three ounces) per gallon. Yet it is from this water that St. Louis takes its supply ; and it will not surprise you to learn that four settling basins of large size have to be provided, so that while one is being drawn from another is being filled, and the other two are settling for use in their turn. Either by subsidence, as at St. Louis, or by simply cor- structed filter beds, such suspended matter may be got rid of. Of the principles involved in the construction of filter beds, I shall speak later. ; From what has been said it will appear that absolutely pure water is not to be sought for in nature. In order to prepare it we must resort to the process of distillation ; and one method of carrying out this process is illustrated by the apparatus before you. ‘The water 17 which is boiling in the flask upon the left contains sand and clay in suspension, sulphate and carbonate of lime in solution, as well as salts of ammonia and common salt. We shall look in vain in this distillate (the condensed steam) for any traces of these, and although we may find traces of carbonic acid and ammonia, since these readily volatile substances may come over with the first portions of the water vapour, yet if we reject the first portion of distilled water, we shall find the retnainder to be absolutely pure, since the salts mentioned above are not converted into vapour at the temperature at which water boils, and they ther2fore remain behind in the flask. Even the ammonia might have been prevented from coming over had we taken proper precau- tions in treating the water before applying heat. It will, however, be evident that distillation is too expensive a method to be practically available on the large scale for water purification ; and it is only in such cases as On shipboard that water for drinking purposes is obtained in this way. A process quite analogous to this is, nevertheless, carried on by natural agencies on the large scale. The formation of clouds, and the precipitation of their watery burden, as rain, snow, etc., is but a vast distilling of the surface waters of the earth; and were it not for the impurities washed out of the air by it, rain water would be quite as pure as the distilled water flowing from this condenser. Indeed, were proper pains taken to reject from cisterns the first portions of each shower, as containing the bulk of the impurities of the air, and the dust and dirt from the roofs on which it falls, rain water might be collected and stored so as to form a perfectly wholesome and even palatable drinking water, since it is well aérated, and the insipidity due to absence of dissolved solids is less and less noticed as people become habituated to its use. I have figured in this diagram two original devices, by means of either of which a definite portion of each rain-fall may be automatically prevented from entering the cistern, and only the later portions of the shower allowed to flow into it; and I think that every cistern should be provided with a contrivance fitted to effect this separation of the earlier from the later portion of each rain-fall. For purposes of brevity I shall omit any mention of sea water, or lake water; and devote the remainder of the evening to some remarks upon river and well waters; and in order to make it possible to define 18 the character of a sample from the results of its analysis, 1 propose to indicate here the essential features of the operations collectively known as Vater Analysis.— Naturally the first tests made are those which require only the direct use of the senses: taste, smell and sight. 1. Zaste.—It is only in rare instances that this character is suf- ficiently definite to be of any value. When the taste of a sample is so markedly unusual as to attract attention, as, for instance, to its saltiness or its sulphur flavour, or its sharpness or pungency, as is the case of come mineral springs, it may be safely asserted that such a water, how- ever useful medicinally, is unsuited to ordinary household purposes. >. Smell.—It is rare that a natural water exhibits any smell at the ordinary temperature. Certain spring waters contain sulphurous gases in solution and these have a more or less nauseating smell, at times intense enough to remind one of rotten eggs. Many samples, however, which are quite odourless when cold, become distinctively bad smelling when heated. A pint or so of the water may be placed in a glass stoppered bottle and the whole heated to about 100° F., when, if the stopper be withdrawn and the bottle immediately applied to the nose, peaty waters will often betray themselves by a characteristic smell, and water from surface wells to which sewage has access will frequently be found to have quite a stinking odour. 3. Colour.—It is pertectly wonderful how many different tints of colour are exhibited by natural water from different sources; indeed it would scarcely be overstating the case to say that no two water samples have the same tint. True it may not always be possible, even with the refinements of science, to distinguish with absolute exactitude the nice differences that occur, yet, when we employ a colour comparer of the model exhibited, and look through a column of water 24 inches deep, it becomes possible to distinguish very slight differences indeed. The first of these tubes contains distilled water, and seems quite colourless ; the second contains ordinary Ottawa river water and looks quite brown by comparison. In the third tube I have a sample of Ottawa water which has been treated with 10 grains of common alum to the gallon, and you will note that although not as colourless as distilled water, it 19 has been very greatly improved in this respect. The brownish tint of the Ottawa river water, in common with many other Canadian rivers, as the Richelieu, the Yamaska, etc., is due chiefly to dissolved vegetable matter of peaty origin. Alumina has the property of precipitating such colouring matter, hence the improvement on adding alum. In reference to this feature, namely, colour in water, I may say that while it is desirable on zsthetic grounds that a drinking water should be as colourless as possible, we know of no positive reason for condemning a highly coloured water as unwholesome. I shall show later that the pre- sence of much organic matter, even though only of vegetable origin, and innocent enough in its character, is cause for anxiety and possible dan- ger, and of course so far as colour helps us to ascertain the presence of such matter it becomes a valuable factor in the analysis ; still we must remember that it is only as potentially, not as actually dangerous, that we object to the use of peaty waters, and we cannot therefore condemn them on the ground of high colour alone. The observation and record- ing of colour in water is of greatest consequence when the same water snpply is studied from day to day. Then indeed, a change in tint cor- responds always to a change in character ; and the cause of this change must be looked for, if necessary, by a complete analysis of the water. For purposes of registering the observed depth of colour nothing better is known to me than the scale devised by Lovibond, in which a set of glass slips of fixed and comparable colour values is employed. I am able to shew you the standard glasses, but a full illustration of the mode of using them would require more time than we have to spare. The depth of colour is expressed in terms of this scale in Bulletins 15 and 18 of the Inland Revenue Department. 4. Turbidity and Clearness are due to matter in suspension or its absence, and vary according to conditions which have already been explained, 5. Oxygen in Solution becomes a valuable factor in the analysis of the water of the same stream at different points of its course, as I have already illustrated in the case of the Seine at and below Paris. The estimation is, however, of no value when a single sample is concerneds since the amount which may be present in a perfectly pure water varies 20 with so many conditions. Water from deep artesian wells is sometimes nearly free from dissolved oxygen, and is yet of the purest possible description. 6. The Dissolved Solids are estimated by evaporating a known volume of the water to dryness in a platinum dish and weighing the residue. The drying of the residue is effected at 100° C. (==-onzeurr.), a temperature high enough to drive off all except chemically combined water. This residue is then ignited in the dish, and the resulting ash is weighed ; the loss of weight is usually stated in a separate column in reporting the analysis, although a much less value is attached to this number than was the case some years ago. ‘The loss was then supposed | to be essentially due to organic matter which had been burnt away, and was hence thought to be a measure of the impurity of the water analyzed. Now, we know that far more importance must be attached to the kind of organic matter present than to the total amount of it, and since the loss on ignition gives no information on this point its indications are of correspondingly small moment. Besides this, the loss is partly due to escape of carbonic acid gas irom carbonates, and to loss of water which has been combined in such a way that it was not driven off by heating to 100° ©. I may here mention that it is possible to burn away the organic matter from the residue in such a way as to collect the products of combustion, and from them to calculate the amounts of carbon and nitrogen which the residue contained. Since nitrogen is, as a rule, present to a larger amount in organic matter having an ‘animal origin than in that having a vegetable origin, it is possible from the relative amounts of nitrogen and carbon to get an idea of the proportion of animal impurities existing in the sample analyzed. ‘his process is a very tedious and troublesome one, and requires the utmost care in its execution that results of any value may be obtained. It was employed by Dr. Frankland in the analysis of the waters of Great Britain (1868— 1876), and he concludes that surface water or river water containing 2 parts of organic carbon, or 0.3 parts of organic nitrogen per million, should be rejected where possible. I have not employed the process in the analyses of Canadian river and well waters which I have made within 21 recent years, nor am I aware that it is in use by any Canadian analyst at present. Prof. Marsan, in December, 1888, found 9 parts organic carbon and 0.47 parts nitrogen per million in the Ottawa city supply, and did not consider these numbers to condemn the water for domestic use. The ignited residue contains the inorganic salts, sand, etc., which were present in the water. Unless these are in excessive amount their discrimination is not necessary, since in ordinary water samples they consist of lime, magnesium, or soda salts, quite harmless in character, unless, as I have already explained, the water is wanted for boiler supply. Many analyses of the Ottawa river water shew the ignited residue to vary from 20 to about 80 parts per million, according to the season of the year, and the part of the river from which the sample is collected. Other rivers show a much higher inorganic content, as, for instance, the Grand River, at Brantford (Noy., 1889), 348 parts per million, and the Assiniboine, near Winnipeg (May, 1888), which gave 1088 parts per million. In this residue, however, we always look for phosphoric acid, since phosphates are highly characteristic of sewage, and their presence in the minutest traces is a very suspicious indication. 7. Mitrogen existing as ammonia in water is present in consequence of the fact that whenever organic matter containing nitrogen undergoes decay a considerable proportion of this nitrogen takes the form of am- monia, and the exceeding solubility of this gas in water causes it to be at once dissolved. You are, many of you at least, acquainted with the fact that the atmosphere of a stable, unless kept very thoroughly cleaned, has a decided smell of spirits ot hartshorn. This odour is due to the decomposing nitrogenous matters present, and the formation of ammo- nia as one of the products of decay. ‘The universal occurrence of organic decay makes. it practically impossible that a natural water should be absolutely free from ammonia. When, as in some tables of analysis, you find nitrogen as ammonia stated to be absent, you must understand this to mean that the amount present is too small to make its quanti- tative estimation possible. Yet it is wonderful with what certainty we can measure minute traces of ammonia. When you find tables in which the nitrogen existing as ammonia is stated to three places of decimals, 99) ac the results being given in parts per million, this means that we aim at estimating one part of nitrogen in one billion parts of water, or less than one-ten-thousandth of a grain per gallon. In order to give you some ‘dea of how this is done I place in one of these tubes a column of 24 inches of water quite free from ammonia, and in another I place an equal quantity of water to which I have added ammonia in the propor- tion of one part nitrogen to one million parts of water. The two sam- ples as reflected to you from the mirrors are of course quite indistin- guishable from each other. To each I now add a small quantity of a prepared test liquid called Nessler’s solution, and you will observe in the course of a minute or two that while the contents of the first tube are unchanged in colour, a faint brownish yellow colour gradually developes itself in the second tube. Of course it is possible in the laboratory to apply this test in such a way as to obtain still greater sensitiveness, but the illustration will serve to give you confidence in numerical statements of the results of analysis even when fractional parts of a million are expressed. 8. While the simpler organic bodies containing nitrogen yield this nitrogen as ammonia during decomposition, many of the more complex substances which enter into the composition of animal structure, such as albumen, fibrin, etc., form other proximate products of decay, these possessing the common property of being converted into ammonia when boiled with a strongly alkaline solution of permanganate of potash. The ammonia obtained by treating a sample in this way, after the ammonia already present in it has been taken off, is called “ Albuminoid” am monia, as suggested by Wanklyn, the author of the process, and is pro- perly considered as a most important factor in the analysis. Indeed, if it were ever allowable to adjudge a sample of water for drinking pur- poses upon the indications of a single factor in the analysis I would select this estimation as the critical one. The author of the process, who in conjunction with other analysts, worked upon a very large number of samples of all degrees of badness, concludes from his experi- ence that “o.ro per million begins to be a very suspicious sign, and 0.15 per million ought to condemn a water absolutely.” This standard would go hard with Ottawa river water, which in 1888 gave from 0.12 to 0.27 in different samples ; in March and April of last year gave 0.15 23 and 0.16 ; and in August last gave 0.125 albuminoid nitrogen per mil- lion. We must not forget that these are English standards and on that account are questionably applicable to American rivers, which flow for very great distances over forest and marshy regions where contamination by sewage—in the ordinary acceptance of this term—cannot occur, We must, I think, concur in the wisdom of Prof. Mallet’s decision that “local standards of purity should be adopted, based on sufficiently thorough examination of the water-supply in its usual condition. Unfortunately no systematic and continuous examination of our city supply has yet been undertaken, and it is impossible for me to state, except in a very imperfect way, what the normal composition of the Ottawa water is. It must, of course, be expected to vary for different months ; but we should have a series of analyses made at weekly inter- vals for a number of years; and from the averages so obtained it would be a simple matter to determine the mean character of the water for any period. When we consider that water is a universal food substance that it enters into the preparation of every article of food ; that from the nature of its production and storage, it is peculiarly liable to contamina- tion in various ways, and that the most fatal diseases have been fully proven to have become epidemic, through its agency, we shall, I think, agree that a constant and careful examination of the supply of a city like ours is but a reasonable and necessary precaution. g. When organic matter containing nitrogen has been exposed for a sufficiently long time to the ameliorating influences that are always at work in nature, the nitrogen takes the form of nitric acid, and when this is once formed and enters into combination with bases as nitrates, the condition of the nitrogen is fairly stable, and the nitrates so formed may exist as such for an indefinite length of time. Complex organic substances like albumen are thus changed into simple inorganic sub- stances, perfectly harmless, and only interesting to the analyst as serving to measure the previous sewage contamination of the supply. For where much sewage has found entrance to a well-water, for example, although little or none may be now pzesent as sewage, the tell-tale nitrates serve to prove past contamination. I need scarcely say that such wells as those quoted below are undoubtedly infected by sewage :— 24 NITROGEN PER MILLION PARTS, AS Albuminoid | Nitrates and Ammonia, Free, &c. Ammonia. Nitrites. Inland Revenue Department, bulletin 5, | SOCIO NOs TOMAAt ese tals sae 0.033 0.305 | 11.967 Inland Revenue Department, bulletin 5,) Peevey Ls ONG WASP on Sort see oets obs 0.090 0.165 15.909 Inland Kevenue Department, bulletin 13,| PaAveios NON O Otc ett). aie 0.000 0.148 27.357 Inland Revenue. Department, bulletin 13, PAGE TRS INO AR oa a.xtniny obs: ye trace. Oo 050 39.000 In order to guard against miscomprehension I must mention here that nitrates although fairly stable compounds, are not absolutely such ; but may, under certain conditions, be again resolved into ammonia or nitrogen. to. I have already referred to the universal employment of com- mon salt as a condiment and preservative ; a fact which accounts for its presence in sewage, and makes a search for it in water analysis a very important step in the examination. The readiness with which minute traces of kitchen salt can be recognized will be evident to you from this experiment. When nitrate of silver solution is added to this solu- tion of chromate of potash, a few drops of this weak solution ts sufficient to produce a decidedly reddish tint, due to the bright red chromate of silver formed in the re-action, the particles being suspended through the water in the tube. I will now repeat the experiment, taking the precaution to add a very small amount of common salt to the chromate solution, before adding the silver, drop by drop, fora very long time without producing any red colour in the liquid ; in fact, no chromate of silver will be permanently formed until enough silver has been added to decompose the common salt present. On this principle is based a method by which we can detect less than 1 part of salt in 1 million parts of water. Wherever sewage is present chlorides will be found. In the four wells whose nitrates indicated past sewage contamination, the chlorine in chlorides was found to be 148, 134, 65 and 143 parts per million respectively. A large number of good wells whose analyses 25 are to be found in the bulletins of the Inland Revenue Department will be seen to contain chlorine in varying amounts from 1 to ro, or more parts per million. We must not, however, forget that in many parts of Canada salt is found in the soil, and in various deep-seated springs, and it is therefore absolutely essential that the location and surroundings of the well should be known to the analyst before he pro- nounces an opinion on the results of chlorine estimation. Many wells in Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba contain from 200 to 300 parts of chlorine per million, and are yet free from sewage pollution. 11. The only other feature in water analysis to which I need refer is the estimation of dissolved organic matter essentially non-nitrogenous in character, in other words, of vegetable origin. Such organic matter is with difficulty destroyed by oxidation and requires the employment of the most powerful oxidizing agencies we know to effect its decomposi- tion. For the purpose we always use permanganic acid, a sample of which I show you in solution. Observe its beautiful deep purple colour and see how the addition of a very small quantity of water, impure from decomposing organic matter in solution, serves at once, or at least in a very short interval of time to cause the purple to become less and less intense, and shortly to disappear altogether, Now, by using a solution containing a known amount of permanganic acid, and adding it in excess toa measured quantity of the water to be examined, we can easily, at the end of, say four hours, estimate the excess of permanganic acid by chemical means, which need not be here explained, and thus obtain by difference the quantity used up in oxidizing the organic matter present in the sample of water. Since pemanganic acid gives up a definite amount of its oxygen to this purpose, it is convenient to state the results of the examination as so many parts by weight of oxygen to the million parts by volume of water. The observation is usually made for two periods, viz., intervals of 15 minutes and 4 hours; the more easily oxidized organic matter being attacked in the shorter interval, and this part always includes any animal or more objectionable matter present. The following uumbers quoted from Bull. v of the Inland Revenue Department will serve to give an idea of the indications afforded by this test :— OXYGEN CONSUMED PER 1,000,000 PARTS WATER. 15 Minutes. 4 Hours. Bake Ontadonats Hamiltonian ete ca « «iors. cceioee ee 0.120 0.440 River St. Lawrence, at Brockville....:.....:5....... 0.276 0.612 River Richelieu;jat St. John’s; Ques). 4243.0 4 secs Jc 0.740 {.668 Bay off @uinte, atBellevilles (0!) ie, Pt, HS ee 1.420 3.040 River St. Maurice, at Three Rivers, Que. .......... 2.612 4.456 Ottawa River, Bebruanys TSoo ocean eee cider ocie oe 2.808 5-760 Moncton Supply, New Brunswick .................. 5-436 10.444 The place occupied by Ottawa river water in this list is certainly one of dad eminence. As this water has been examined at irregular intervals since 1888, I may add the following results :-— Oftawaiversy Apr) SOO egy. acters oesb goss Es 3.060 4.886 + Fifi}. Aligust,| \ISQO UM yaa ecpshiseiA Nes. Leer 3-747 6.387 It will be seen from these numbers that while the amount of oxidizable organic matter in the river varies from month to month as might be expected, and according to a law which we have not the necessary data to to discover, the amount is at all times very large, and it behoves us to examine the conditions under which a_ water containing so large a quantity of dissolved organic matter is safe as an article of food. ‘That the organic matter is not fer se of an injurious nature is sufficiently evident from the fact that we and our fathers do use it and have used it with impunity. Let me ask your attention for a few moments to another matter. There is a large class of diseases generally spoken of as zymotic which have this property in common. Whenever a single case of such a disease occurs in a locality we may be pretty sure that immediately in its vicinity, and gradually further and further from that point as a centre, we shall find the disease spreading until it 27 becomes an epidemic. That is to say, such is the normal tendency of this class of diseases, and I may instance cholera, typhoid fever, diph- theria, influenza and la grippe as examples. ‘There can be little doubt that the plagues and pestilences, such as the Black Death which visited England in the 14th century after having spread all over Europe and caused the death of twenty five millions of people, were other instances of zymotic diseases ; and the fact that such plagues and pestilences are of so much less frequent occurrence now-a-days, and so much less malig_ nant when they occur in the more civilized parts of the world than else- where, gives us the first important ciue to their comprehension, and we may hope to their extermination. For it has been and is just in pro- portion to the cleanly habits of a people that these diseases lose their fatal character. This suggests a close connection between filth and dis- ease, and the more carefully that we look into the matter, following this clue, the more fully are we convinced that such is the case ; that clean- liness of person and surroundings ts the first law of health. Still, this does not fully explain the phenomenon of zymotic disease, since the advent of a specific case of disease is necessary that the evil effects of uncleanly habits may be fully emphasized. This would seem to imply the existence of a specific disease virus or poison for each of these epi- demics, the spread of which poison was favoured by the prevalence of uncleanly habits. Reasoning on this line led Pasteur, Koch, Cohn and others to the discovery of what will hereafter be regarded as the most important generalization of medical science in our century, namely, that which points to the existence of a special microbe, bacillus or living germ for each of the so-called zymotic diseases. The next step was to attempt the isolation of this germ, and with certain diseases this has been done. In the case of Anthrax, Koch has cultivated the bacillus and studied it throughout its complete development. ‘The chart before you will serve to give an idea of the appearance of this cnemy of man- kind, as magnified about 15,000 times linear. In the next diagram I shew you both zz stfu, and isolated the dact//us tuberculosis from photo- graphs by Koch. It is the study of this bacillus which has made Koch’s name so widely known within the last year; but my purpose in empha- sizing the matter is to draw your attention to the explanation which this theory of zymotic diseases offers of their sudden spread. The specific 28 bacilli are found in the waste matter from the bodies of patients, and may, and must, if the greatest care be not taken to make the thing im- possible, find their way into the atmosphere, and into open water courses, into wells by surface or sewer drainage if such drainage finds access to them. And while the taking of these disease germs into the lungs in respiration is unquestionably the most effective way of spread- ing the disease yet experience has proved beyond a doubt that taking them into the system in our drinking water or our food is only second in danger. I might quote many historical instances in proot of this if time permitted, You will find such in the Sixth Report of the Royal Commissioners (1868) on preventing the pollution of rivers. The im- portance of immediate attention to the destruction of the dejecta of patients suffering from any of these zymotic diseases will be evident; but how are we to protect ourselves when by chance such infection pollutes our streams and wells? There is but one safe rule, and it is this: — Use no water for domestic purposes which at any time contains sewage ; because although normal sewage may not contain actually poisonous substances, and may, when sufficiently diluted, be drunk with impunity, as proved by Dr. Emmerlich and others ; yet we can never know when diseased sewage containing morbific germs may enter such a water course, and the only safe way is to have nothing to do with it. As I have said this is really the only safe rule, but what shall we do when we cannot help ourselves. ‘To take our own case; there is apparently no other source from which we can obtain a supply than the Ottawa river, and this receives the sewage of places like Aylmer, Quyon and others ; together with the drainage of fertilized fields all along its course, and the fertilisers used are, as we know, not unlikely to contain disease germs. Fortunately nature furnishes, in dissolved oxygen and through other conditions, the means of self purification for such contaminated waters. Only give time enough and the most dangerous sewage con- tamination will be converted into harmless matter by natural agencies. Still, it 1s reasonable to suppose that water containing much organic matter in solution is more likely to furnish a suitable and congenial nidus, or nourishing ground for bacteria than water that is more nearly free from organic matter. This is the disadvantage at which we are placed ; and I have no hesitation in saying that not only on esthetic, but 29 also on hygienic grounds some method should be provided for pre- cipitating, or otherwise separating from our river water the large amount of organic matter it contains before supplying it to the citizens for household use. Returning now to the consideration of well water, it will appear that the chief differences in character to be expected between deep well waters on the one hand, and shallow well, or surface waters on the other hand are such as may result from the influence of filtration through deep layers of soil. The most effective way of presenting these differences will be by asking your attention to the following table in which a few shallow wells, and a few deep wells are contrasted as regards the results of their chemical analysis :— : , Ox : Total Solids. Nitrogen. ygen Con : = ¢ sumed. 43/8 —- ee n Vos Ss : = ol aan 2 Ee) 2) 8 z al = 2 s os 2 fal 5 s6|bo| 2 | 2 | Alb. | Free] 5 [2a] © = a O! &p ~ GS rs) Ss wn ley yx 4 Zz O oe _ = | Shallow Wells .| 1] 128) 84] 44] 0.066; 0.016] 0.133} 3.0}none] 0.168]o.440 2| 424! 312] 112] 0.016, 0.090] 0.109 66.0) 4 O.194\0.232 1 | | | 31 148] 99] 49] 0.250] 0.020; 0 450; 9.6! tr. | 1.830)3.645 14 424| 320| 104] 0.181] 0.946] 1.154] 4.0) none| 2.412|5.042 x Deep Wells.... §|1312]1136] 176] 0.080] 0.140} 0.260)330.0} ‘* | 0.076|0.244 6 552] 404| 148] 0.060] 0.090] 0.010] 10.0] ‘* | 0.160|1.600 7 993| 692! 301} 0.640} 0.200)37.0CO 108 .o|P&2v¥ 3-390|8.670 traces 0.218/11.190| 5.910)260.o}traces| 0.552/1.55 aaa 640] 472 No. 1—A well in the suburbs of Hamilton, Ont. No. 2—A well at Ashburnham, Ont. No. 3—A well in a bog at Joe’s Point, St. Andrews, N.B. No. 4—A well at Brandon, N.W.T. No. 5—A public well in Winnipeg, Man. No. 6—An artesian well at Goderich, Ont. No. 7—A well at Three Rivers, Que. No, 8—A well in a large tenement house, Sherbrooke, Que, 30 Numbers 1 and 2 in the aboye:table give a very fair idea when contrasted with numbers*§ and'6) of the differences which exist between shallow and deep wells. The solids in'the latter aré Mnuch higher, and although chlorides aré present-even’ in large amount, they need not indicate sewage contamination, since their presence may be due to chlorides in the soil or in rock strata through which the water has passed. Albuminoid nitrogen should be low in these deep waters; that it happens to be still lower in amount in the shallow wells quoted indicates their freedom’ from sewage. Number 3 shews sewage contamination not only in its albuminoid nitrogen but in its traces of phosphates, and this is corroborated by its chlorine, for while 66 parts chlorine does not indicate anything wrong in No. 2, one-seventh part as much chlorine is a bad indication in No. 3, since its sewage origin is borne out by other features of the analysis. ‘The free ammonia in No. 4 serves to indicate sewage, and the nitrates here shew past sewage contamination. Num- bers 7 and 8, although deep wells, shew in many items of the analysis that sewage has found entrance to them, and they cannot be safe or desirable sources of domestic supply. I had intended interpreting for you the results of analysis ot Ottawa river water for some years past, so far as I have been able to collect statistics ; but this would require at least another half hour, and it is now past ten o’clock. I must therefore defer this portion of the subject until some future opportunity. There remains also the important question of how, by artificial means, the quality of a natural water sup- ply may be improved. This is in itself a subject large enough to occupy a whole evening in its treatment, and must therefore be left to be dealt with in the future. 31 _ THE BIRDS OF OTTAWA. The appended list of birds found in the neighbourhood of Ottawa has been compiled by the leaders of the Ornithological Branch of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, from the records of the Club, and embodies the work of the Branch from its establishment in the begin- ning of the year 1881 to the end of the year 1890. A list was published in 1882 (Transactions O. F. N. C., Vol. L., No. 3, p. 29), enumerating one hundred and sixty-nine species. Of these the following were afterwards struck off the list, having been inserted by mistake:—12, Harporhyncus cinereus ; 329, Glaucidium passerinum, var. Californicum ; 398, Fgialitis Wilsontus ; 609, Podtceps cristatus. The following substitutions were also made :—33, Parus Hudsonicus for 34, P. rufescens ; 125, Vireo gtlvus for 132, V. pusillus ; 467, Rallus Virginianus for 470, Porzana Jamaicensis ; 556, Larus Philadelphia for 555, L. Franklinit. Of those remaining, or since added to the list, it is now thought advisable to drop the following, either because of mistakes in identification, or because sufficient evid- ence cannot now be adduced to support the records :—Cofurniculus passerinus, TRANSACTIONS O. F. N. C., Vol. I., No. 3, p. 30; Ibid., No. 4, p. 85; Steganopus Wilsonit, Ibid., No. 3, p. 32; Larus atricilla, \bid., p. 44 ; Cistothorus stellarts, Ibid., Vol. I1., p. 141. See also Otrawa Natura.ist, Vol. IV., pp. 93, 162. Auteo Swainsont, OrrawA Natura ist, Vol. IL., p. 49; Acanthis linaria rostrata, Ibid., p. 150; Geothlypis agilis, Ibid. p. 150; Turdus alicie, Ibid., p. 150. With these changes, the additions made to the old list since its publica- tion bring the number recorded to two hundred and twenty-four. This number includes two species now recorded for the first time by the Club, vis.: No. 11, Urinator lumme, and No. 301, Lagopus lagopus, besides those mentioned in the Report for the year 1890, which has not yet been published. The district covered by this list is embraced within a circle of thirty miles radius, with the City of Ottawa as its centre. It includes, roughly speaking, the Counties of Carleton and Russell, in Ontario, and the Southern portion of the County of Ottawa, in Quebec, and lies between 45° and 46° N. lat. The Northern portion of this district is covered by what may be termed the first range of the Laurentian Hills, 32 one of which, known as King’s Mountain, has an elevation of 1,125 feet above sea level, and rises about goo feet above the large alluvial plain lying between it and the Ottawa River. These hills are covered with a great variety of deciduous and evergreen trees, and among them are numerous mountain lakes, varying in size from mere ponds to lakes of five miles and upwards in length. Flowing from the North through this range of hills, the rapid river Gatineau empties, opposite the city, into the Ottawa, which flows from the West across the centre of the district, widening above the City, with a Southward sweep into a broad and beautiful sheet of water known as Lake Des Chenes, and again narrow- ing at the City where, falling over a limestone ridge, it forms the well- known Chaudiere Falls. Below these its course is straighter and nar- rower, and about twenty miles down it receives from the North the waters of another rapid stream, the Du Lievre. South of the Ottawa is a somewhat undulating tract of country, drained principally by the Rideau, which joins the Ottawa at the City. It is rather a sluggish stream in its upper reaches, through being dammed back at various points for cana] purposes, and thus affords several excellent resorts for marsh birds. Much good farming land, with occasional hardwood ridges, is to be found in this part of the district, as well as swamps overgrown with tamarac, cedar, and other cone-bearing trees. The largest of these swamps is a peat-bog in Gloucester Township, known as the Mer Bleue, which covers several thousand acres of land, carpeted to a great depth with s#agnum moss, and produces immense quantities of berries of many kinds, notably cranberries and blueberries. Thus it will be seen that the district in its various parts offers attractive breed- ing and feeding grounds for many diverse forms of bird life, and as there are parts of it as yet little explored by the ornithologist, it may still be lcoked to to yield new records, as well as much valuable information, of the breeding and other habits of many species of which too little is now known. It is too much to expect that the list has escaped the errors to which a compilation of the kind is so liable, but the compilers trust that when it shall have passed through the purifying fires of criticism, to which it is hoped it will be subjected, it will form a useful basis for future work and study, at least for our local workers. 33 LIST OF BIRDS OF THE OTTAWA DISTRICT. The following abbreviations are used :—“S.,” summer resident or visitant; “ W.,” winter resident or visitant; “R.,” resident; ‘“ M.,” migrant ; ‘°B.,” known to breed; ‘“‘a.,” abundant; “c.,” common ; “‘m.c.,” moderately common ; ‘“r.,” rare. The numbers prefixed and the nomenclature are those of the A. O. U. Check-list. ORDER, PYGOPODES—DIVING BIRDS. PopiIcIPID&—GREBES. 1. dichmophorus occidentalis, Western Grebe. Casual. A pair were shot at the mouth of the North Nation river previous to 1881. The skins spoiled before they could be attended to. (G.R. White. ) 2. Colymbus holbellit, Holbeell’s Grebe. M.r. A young male was shot by Mr. W. F. Whitcher in October, 1881, out of a flock of eight, in Campbell’s Bay, about 28 miles down the Ottawa. It was also reported in 1885 and 1889. Colymbus auritus, Horned Grebe. S. m.c. B. 6. Podilymbus podiceps, Pied-billed Grebe. 5S. c. B. SS URINATORIDA'—LOONS. 7. Urinator imber, Loon. 5S. c. B. II. i lumme, Red-throated Loon. M.r. A young female was shot on the Ottawa r2th November, 1885, by Mr. T. R. Coursolles and presented to the Museum of the Geological and Natural History Survey. Atcip&—Auvks, Murres, Purrins, Etc. 13. Fratercula arctica, Puffin. Casual. A young bird of this species was shot on the Ottawa towards the end of October, 1881. It was probably blown inland by a severe storm which took place some days before. ORDER, LONGIPENNES—LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS. LARIDEZ—GULLS AND TERNS. 47. Larus marinus, Great Black-backed Gull. Casual. One was seen May 2nd, 1885, near Kettle Island on the Ottawa, in com- 34 pany with ten or twelve American Herring Gulls. (G. R. White.) sta. Larus argentatus smithsonianus, American Herring Gull. _ S. m.c. B. Most common in spring and fall. Found breeding in the lakes north of Ottawa. 60. Larus philadelphia, Bonaparte’s Gull. S.m.c. May be found to breed, as it has been seen as late as June 9th (1885.) 70. Sterna hirundo, Common Tern. Casual. A male shot near St. Louis dam, on the Rideau Canal, June 29th, 1885, and another on the Ottawa, August 27th, 1887. | 77. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis, Black Tern. Casual. Six, including both males and females, were shot 28th May, 1888, on the Ottawa, by Mr. E White. ORDER, STEGANOPODES—TOTIPALMATE BIRDS. PHALACROCORACID#—CORMORANTS. 120. Phalacrocorax adilophus, Double-crested Cormorant. Casual. A young bird of this species was shot about rst October, 1890, at Shirley’s Bay, near Britannia, on the Ottawa, by Mr. C. G. Rogers. ORDER, ANSERES—LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS. ANATIDA—DuckKs, GEESE AND SWANS. 129. Merganser americanus, American Merganser. M. c. = serrator, Red-breasted Merganser. M. r. 131. Lophodytes cucullatus, Hooded Merganser. S. a. B. 132. Anas boschas, Mallard. M. r. 133. ‘“ obscura, Black Duck. S.c. B. 130. Note.—Two ducks, a male and femaie, apparently hybrids between the two last named species, were shot by Mr. G. R. White on the Ottawa in 1882. 135. Anas strepera, Gadwall. Casual. A female was shot on the Ottawa, from a small flock, October 29th, 1885, by Mr. W. F. Whitcher. 137. Anas americana, Baldpate. M. r. 139: ‘* carolinensis, Green-winged Teal, M. m.c. 140. 142. 143. 144. 146. 147. - 148. 149. 150. I5I- 153. 154. 160. 163. 165. 166. 167. 35 Anas discors, Blue-winged Teal. M.m.c. A few may breed. Spatula clypeata. Shoveller. Casual. A few were shot on the Rideau in the Fall of 1882; two were seen on the Ottawa in October, 1883, (both females), and two were shot by Mr. W. P. Lett in 1886, one at Richmond and the other at Brigham’s Creek. Dafila acuta, Pintail. M.r. Aix sponsa, Wood Duck. S.c. B. Aythya americana, Redhead. M. a. vallisnerta, Canvas-back. M. r. marila nearctica, American Scaup Duck. M. m.c. “< affinis, Lesser Scaup Duck. M. c. “ collaris, Ring-necked Duck. M.c. Glaucionetta clangula americana, American Golden-eye. W. r. Common in migration. Charitonetta albeola, Buffle-head. M.c. Clangula hyemalis, Old Squaw. M.c. A pair in full breeding plumage were obtained by Mr. E. White in the Spring of 1887 from a person who had just shot them on the Rideau. Somaterta dressert, American Eider. Casual. A young male in the plumage of the female was shot by Mr. G. R. White on the Ottawa, below the City, 9th November, 1889. A male in mature plumage, said to have been shot on the Gatineau, was seen on the By Ward market about the same time. Oidemia americana, American Scoter. M. c. ‘ deglandi, White-winged Scoter. M. c. “< perspicillata, Surf Scoter. M. r. Erismatura rubida. Ruddy Duck. M. m.c. This species ap- peared in large numbers in the fall of 1882, arriving early and staying late. 169a. Chen hyperborea nivalis, Greater Snow Goose. M. r. On November 1st, 1284, Mr. S. Herring, the Taxidermist of the Geological and Natural History Survey, “put up” a bird of this species from a stubble field on the Ontario side of the Ottawa, and, although he did not secure it, is quite positive as to its identity. The late Dr. Van Cortlandt shot one just above the 36 Chaudiere Falls about 1867, the head and wings of which were in the possession of the Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society until destroyed by moths. 169.1. Chen caerulescens, Blue Goose. Casual. Two geese and a gander of this species were shot 11th October, 1886, within a few miles of the City. (G. R. White.) The bills and feet were black instead of being lake-red as in Dr. Coues’s description, but the birds corresponded with it in every other particular. 172. Branta canadensis, Canada Goose. M. c. 173. Branta bernicla, Brant. Casual. One was shot by Mr. P. Thompson on a sand-bar some thirty miles down the Ottawa in the fall of 1887, and identified by comparison with Audubon’s colored plate of the species. ORDER, HERODIONES—HERONS, STORKS, IBISES, Xc. ARDEID£—HERONS, BITTERNS, XC. 190. Botaurus lentiginosus, American Bittern. S. c. B. QI. tf extlis, Least Bittern. S, r. B. 194. Ardea herodias, Great Blue Heron. S.c. B. For accounts of visits to the heronry of this species, near Thurso, see ‘TRANSAC- TIONS O. F. N. C., Vol. I., No. 4, p. 81, and Vol. II., p. 141. 202. Wycticorax nycticorax nevius, Black-crowned Night Heron. §, m.c. B. Young of this species have been taken here in July. (G. R. White.) ORDER, PALUDICOLAA—CRANES, RAILS, &c. RALLID&-—RaILSs. 212. Rallus virginianus, Virginia Rail. S. m.c. B. 214. Porzana carolina, Sora. S.c. B. One found dead in Mr. R. B. Whyte’s garden in the City, 13th July, 1889, apparently having flown against some object in the night. 219. Gallinula galeata, Florida Gallinule. S.c. B. A nest of this species, with seven eggs parily incubated, was taken near Kars, on the Rideau, oth July, 1890, by Messrs. W. E. and F. A. Saunders. 221. Fulica americana, American Coot. S.c. B. 37 ORDER, LIMICOLA:—SHORE BIRDS. PHALAROPODIDA:— PHALAROPES. 222. Crymophilus fulicarius, Red Phalarope. Casual. One shot 21st October, 1886, at Cummings’s Island, in the Rideau, by Mr. E. White, and another, a young one, on the Ottawa, 1st September, 1888, by Mr. G. R. White. 223. Phalaropus lobatus, Northern Phalarope. Casual. One was obtained by Mr. A. G. Kingston, on roth September, 1890, which had just been shot near Burritt’s Rapids on the Rideau. SCOLOPACIDE—SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, &C. 228. Philohela minor, American Woodcock. S. m.c. B. 230, Gallinago delicata, Wilson’s Snive. S. m.c. B. 231. Macrorhamphus griseus, Dowitcher. Casual. se See .I0 From the small proportion of arsenic the nickel must, in part at least, be present in a state of sulphuret, a fact which is, indeed, made evident by the spontaneous oxidation of the ore. The nickel from this 53 source contained about three parts in a thousand of cobalt. In con- clusion, he remarks that in the same bands of rocks we may detect the presence of nickel and cobalt, a prophecy which has since been amply verified. A mass of copper pyrites from the same mine weighing 9% lbs. was also assayed, which yielded 11.6 per cent. of metallic copper, Acting on these and other favourable reports, the company began to sink shafts to test the extent and the quality of the ore, and one of these shafts at least attained a depth of 10 or 15 fathoms. Work was carried on energetically for some years, but the enterprise was finally abandoned, as the quantity of ore did not seem sufficient to justify further expenditure. In his report for 1856, Mr. Alex. Murray (see Report Geological Survey of Canada, 1853-55, p. 180,) mentious the occurrence of a “ dingy green magnetic trap” associated with red syenite in the north- west corner of the Township of Waters on Salter’s meridian line. Specimens of this trap were given to Dr. Hunt for analysis, and the result of his investigation showed that it contained magnetic iron ore and magnetic iron pyrites, generally distributed through the rock, the former in very small grains ; titaniferous iron was found associated with the magnetic ore and a small quantity of nickel and copper. The variation of the magnetic needle near this mass was from ten to fifteen degrees west of the true meridian. It can thus be seen that even at this early period of its history the officers of the Geological Survey were aware of the existence of nickel in this region, and had pointed out the probability that workable deposits would be found. Years passed by and the inaccessible nature of the country deterred prospectors from making very detailed exploration or examination, so that it was not till 1883, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was in course of construction, that the first discoveries of any consequence were made, since which time the whole belt of the Huronian district has been overrun with eager prospectors and miners. A not infrequent accident in newly settled districts led to the first important discovery. Judge McNaugh- ton, stipendiary magistrate at Sudbury, had been lost in the woods to the west of that village, and diligent search was at once instituted for him, A party consisting of Dr. Howey and two others found the judge 54 seated on the small eminence which then marked the site of what is now known as the “ Murray Mine.” Early in 1884 the Canadian Pacific Railway made a cutting for their main line through this small hill about 3% miles northwest of Sudbury, and on July r2th of the same year Dr. Selwyn made a careful examination of the location and pronounced the lode to be one of the most promising he had yet seen in Canada. Other discoveries soon followed, and the McConnell, Lady Macdonald, Stobie, Blezard, Copper Cliff and Evans Mines were all located. At first the wildest notions were entertained as to the extent of these de- posits, and the most exaggerated reports circulated as to their value. It was €ven confidently asserted that these were immensely important discoveries, and would revolutionize the whole copper trade and render other mines then in operation quite unremunerative. Rounded hills of gossan, indicating the presence of the more solid and unaltered ore beneath, occur at intervals for miles in a southwesterly direction, con- forming rudely to the strike of the rocks in the vicinity. This circum- stance is all that seems to have justified the early discoverers in describ- ing the deposits as veritable mountains of solid ore, many miles in extent and hundreds of feet thick. Closer investigation revealed the fact that these surface gossans everywhere indicate the presence of the — ore beneath, and that the ore itself occurs in lenticular masses, entirely separated from one another, whose longer axes correspond with the strike of the enclosing rock. This gossan has resulted, as is usual, from the formation of peroxide and hydrated peroxide of iron, due to the decomposition of the pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite which gives a prevail- ing red or reddish brown colour to the upper portion of the deposit. This covering of iron oxide is sometimes as much as six feet in depth, although usually it is only two or three feet, gradually merging itself into the unaltered ore beneath. During the last few years prospectors have not been idle, and at the present time about twenty very promising deposits of these ores have been “located” and “taken up.” The McAllister Mine, now called the Lady Macdonald Mine, was the first property on which any work was done in the summer of 1885, although F later in the fall the Evans Mine was opened up and some preliminary tests made. On January 6th, 1886, the Canadian Copper Compary was formed with a subscribed and paid up capital of $2,000,000, which 55 was afterward increased to $2,500,000, to operate the Copper Cliff, Stobie and Evans Mines. On May ist, 1886, work was started in earnest at the Copper Cliff mine, and later on in the same year both the Stobie and Evans mines were opened up, and with the exception of a few months last summer, when, on account of some difference with the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Stobie was shut down, these three mines have been in active opera- tion ever since. The chief business of the Canadian Copper Company is done at Copper Cliff, for here they have prepared a well equipped roast yard, two smelting furnaces, laboratory and offices, and other things requisite for carrying on this mining on an extensive scale. The Stobie and Evans mines are provided with excellent rock houses, but all their ore is brought by branch railways to Copper Cliff to be roasted and smelted. In 1889 the Dominion Mineral Company was formed tg operate the Blezard mine, and later on they purchased the Worthington mine from the original owners. During the past summer this company have had their smelter in operation, and both their mines are being energetically developed. During the summer of 1889 the Murray mine was prospected under bond by Messrs. Henry H. Vivian & Co., Swansea, England, and ia October of the same year they purchased it. About the end of last September, everything being ready, the smelter “was blown in” and set to work on some ore which had been previously roasted. All three companies are now prosecuting the work vigorously, and the output of these mines has already reached very large propor- tions. The whole district has been prospected, and I think that a very conservative estimate would now place the number of promising deposits at twenty. The Huronian system in which these ore deposits occur may be regarded as the oldest series of sedimentary strata of which we have at present any certain knowledge. Amongst the more important of these rocks may be mentioned quartzites, greywackés, conglomerates, slates, evenly laminated gneisses, felsites, hydromica, chloritic, epidotic, horn- blendic and micaceous schists and narrow bands of cherty limestone. Most of these clastic rocks have been derived from the waste of older felspathic material, and hitherto it has been most generally supposed and stated that the Laurentian gneiss was the source from which the 56 sediments had been derived. The Huronian conglomerates, however, hold no pebbles that are undeniably referable to the Laurentian, and the origin of the syenitic, quartzose and jaspery pebbles is still a matter of doubt. The microscope can throw no certain light on the original character of some of these rocks, for very often metamorphism and recrystallization has gone on to such an extent that the former structure has been either partially or completely obliterated. A close study of these uncertain rocks in the field, aided by the use of the microscope in the laboratory will eventually enable us to assign them their proper place. We have thus numerous sedimentary rocks showing the various stages of this metamorphism, from the typical sandstone or greywacké, composed of well rounded grains of quartz and felspar, to the compact felsite, which contains no trace of its original clastic structure. Associ- ated with these sedimentary strata are certain undoubted eruptive and irruptive rocks, among which may be mentioned many varieties of diabase. diorite and gabbro. Besides these igneous rocks, there are some granites and gneisses concerning whose origin many are in doubt. After a close and careful study of these rocks, which have usually been classified as Laurentian, and their relations with the true Huronian stratified deposits, I have been fully convinced of their irruptive nature. These granites and gneisses probably represent the original crust of the earth which has undergone refusion, and was in a molten or plastic con- dition at a period subsequent to the hardening of the Huronian sedi- ments. The earth gradually cooling from a state of original incan- descence, had reached that stage in the process when it admitted of being surrounded by an ocean nearly, if not quite, universal. ‘Then began that tearing down and building up which has since gone on in forming the sediments which subsequently hardened into rocks. The first formed crust was necessarily thin and weak, and it is therefore not surprising that there were frequent irruptions, accompanied by the fusion of the lower portion at least of the first formed deposits. It is unnecessary here to go into all the facts of the case, as my views have already been stated at some length in a paper read before this club on February 27th of last year. Suffice it to say that the fuller examinations of last summer have served to further strengthen these views. Both clastic and irruptive rocks have been subjected to in- 57 tense pressure, as evidenced by the extensive cataclastic structure which has been developed in both series of rocks. Frequently the rocks show a pyroclastic origin, and volcanic tuffs and breccias are very commonly met with. The relations of the diabase or basic irruptive rocks with the surrounding sedimentary strata was closely examined in a large number of instances, and revealed the fact that the diabase is apparently of later age, as it breaks through and alters the bedded Huronian. ‘The occurrence of these masses of diabase with a sur- rounding breccia or agglomerate in many cases would seem to point to the fact that they are the bases of Huronian volcanoes, which continued in action after the latest sediments had been deposited. Some of these diabasic masses send out dykes which ramify through and alter the sur- rounding strata, these dykes frequently containing fragments of highlY metamorphosed Huronian quartzite. These irruptive masses are usually lenticular, although occasionally rudely circular or oval in out- line, and their longer axes correspond in general with the strike of the enclosing rock. ‘They vary in breadth from a few chains to half a mile, or even more, and frequently extend for miles in length. ‘The origin ot the nickel and copper is closely connected with this diabase or gabbro, and the formation of the fissures containing these ores was no doubt due to the disruptive forces of the intrusion, and the contraction caused by the subsequent cooling of the igneous rock matter. These fissures were necessarily most frequently formed along the line of contact with the cooler sedimentary strata although in certain cases they were formed in the midst of the igneous mass itself. In nearly every case, therefore, the deposits of nickel and copper occur close to the contact of the diabase with the stratified rocks, although in a few cases they are found in the diabase near its junction with granite or micropegmatite. An- other proof of the common genesis of these ores and the enclosing diabase is that the diabase itself commonly contains these sulphides disseminated through its mass, these impregnations occasionally form- ing such considerable and rich deposits as to be workable. All geologists who have examined these deposits agree that they are not true fissure veins, and although at times a certain sloping sur- face is obtained which seems to have a uniform inclination, yet it seems certain that there are no regular walls in the miner’s sense of the 58 term, and at both sides of the deposits the enclosing rock is impreg- nated more or less with the pyritous matter. Though mining is thus rendered somewhat difficult and uncertain on account of the absence of the walls and irregularity in the distribution of the ore, so that there is no means of knowing in what direction to drive the levels, this un- certainty is more than compensated by the extent and massiveness of the deposit when found. The ore bodies like the masses of diabase with which they are so intimately associated are lens or pod-shaped and “ pinch out” in both directions. This structure is also characteristic of their downward extension, and the deposits have been very truly likened to a string of sausages, so that when one lenticular body of ore gives out another commences close at hand, which in its turn gives place to another, and though at the Copper Cliff they are down about 600 feet on a slope of 45°, the quantity and quality of the ore shows no diminu- tion. I have occasionally found true veins of quartz holding this pyrr- hotite, but such evidences of secondary action are extremely rare and proves nothing in regard to the origin of the more massive deposits. The ores and the associated diabase were therefore in all probability simultaneously introduced in a molten condition, the particles of pyrit- ous matter aggregating themselves together in obedience to the law of mutual attraction. The ore bodies were, therefore, not contemporane- ous with the stratified Huronian, although there is nothing to prove that they do not belong to the close of the Huronian period. Mr. Fer- rier of the Geological Survey has noticed the occurrence of this nickeliferous pyrrhotite in a specimen of chloritic schist and gneissic granite, which had been taken to show the contact between the two rocks. ‘The pyrrhotite is disseminated through both rocks, and its oc- currence here in the Township of Dill at the junction of what has been called Laurentian would seem to be another proof of the irruptive origin of this gneiss. The ore itself is a mixture of pyrrhotite, a monosulphide of iron (Fe; S,) and chalcopyrite, a sulphide of copper and iron (Cu Fe S,). The two minerals are not so intimately commingled as to form a perfect homogeneous mass, but one may be described as occurring in pockets, spots, bunches or threads in the other. The chalcopyrite is not so closely intermixed with the pyrrhotite, but isolates itself rather in spots — —— 59 and patches enclosed by massive pyrrhotite, so that it is not hard to separate considerable masses of chalcopyrite that will assay over 30 per cent. of copper, or pyrrhotite that will only show traces of that metal. In practice, however, careful examination and trial have proved that the two minerals are too intimately associated to make sorting by hand at all practicable, and the pyrrhotite is very often so feebly magnetic as to preclude the possibility of separation by magnetism. Although the chalcopyrite seldom occurs free from the pyrrhotite, large and massive deposits of the latter occur comparatively free from copper. In this connection Dr. Peters mentions a slope which, having furnished about 2,000 tons of pyrrhotite, gave place, just before the end boundaries were reached, to a deposit which afforded nearly 20 tons of almost pure chalcopyrite. In some instances these ore bodies show a brecciated character, large angular or partially rounded boulders or “horses” of almost barren rock being mingled with the ore, which seem to evidence the disruptive force of the intrusive mass, while in others, as at the Worthington mine, the diabase in which the ore occurs has developed a concretionary structure while cooling, and large irregularly rounded concre- tions, which, on weathering, peel off in concentric layers, are cemented together, so to speak, by a very pure chalcopyrite and highly nickelifer- ous pyrrhotite. The concretions themselves usually contain more or less pyritous matter disseminated through them, but are usually cast aside as too barren for the roast heap. ‘The pyrrhotite varies in colour from steel-grey to bronze yellow, and the chalcopyrite is the usual brass or deep yellow colour. Both tarnish readily, and very beautiful iridescent specimens can be easily obtained from the ore heap or scattered around the works. These sulphides, therefore, may be said to occur in three distinct ways— 1st. As contact deposits of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite situated between the clastic rocks, such as felsites, quartzites, etc., and irruptive diabase or gabbro, or between these latter and granite or micropegma- tite. Good examples of the former are furnished by the Evans, Stobie and Copper Cliff, while the Murray mine may be cited as illustrating the latter. 2nd. As impregnations of these minerals through the diabase or gabbro, which are sometimes so rich and considerable as to form 60 workable deposits. These sulphides are in no case present as dis- seminations through the clastic rocks very distant from the diabase or gabbro, which seems clear evidence that they have been brought up by the latter. 3rd. As segregated veins which may have been filled subsequently to the irruption which brought up the more massive deposits. These veins are not very common, although certain portions of the more massive deposits may have been dissolved out and re-deposited along certain faults and fissures. The composition of the ore varies according to the preponderance of either the pyrrhotite or chalcopyrite in the specimen examined. The pyrrhotite may be said roughly to be composed of 407% sulphur and 60% iron, with a varying proportion of the iron replaced by nickel, while the chalcopyrite contains 35% sulphur, 35% copper and 30% iron. The mines of the Canadian Copper Co’y, as the name of the company indicates, were first opened for their copper contents, and it was not until considerable work had been done that nickel was dis- covered to be present in the ore. A large shipment of ore had been made to New York, and a chemist there who was making a volumetric determination of the copper contents by the Potassium Cyanide process, was struck by the great variation in his results, which led him to make a more minute examination of the ore, when he found that nickel was pre- sent. The ore has now become of more value on account of its nickel than its copper contents, and Dr. Peters himself greatly doubted if the mines would pay to work for copper alone, The percentage of nickel and copper varies greatly, as might be expected, but assays of nine samples from the different mines of the Canadian Copper Co’y, made in Novem- ber 1888, will show the usual percentage of these metals. These assays were made by Mr. Francis L. Sperry, and show a range in the percentage of nickel from 1.127% to 4.217, with an average of 2.38°/,, while the copper varied from 4.03°/, to 9.98°/., with an average of 6.44°/,.. A minute proportion of cobalt also occurs in the pyrrhotite, usually about =i;th as much as the nickel present. Mr. G. C. Hoffman assayed four samples from this district which I collected last summer, and these showed the nickel contents to vary from 1.957% to 3.10%, with an average of 2.25%. Three of these samples contained traces of cobalt, 61 which are included in the above percentage of nickel. The nickel is usually spoken of as replacing an equal quantity of iron in the pyrrhotite» but the discovery of undoubted crystals of muillerite or sulphide of nickel 150 feet below the surface at Copper Cliff Mine, as well as the more recent recognition of polydymite, a ferriferous sulphide of nickel, at the Vermilion Mine, in the Township of Denison, seems to justify the assumption that in the more highly nickeliferous deposits of the region at least, the nickel is also present as a sulphide, disseminated through the ore mass like the iron and copper. This view is also borne out by Dr. Hunt’s analysis of the ore of the old Wallace mine which seems precisely analogous to some of the richer deposits nearer the Canadian Pacific Railway. Traces of gold and silver, as also platinum are also usually found in these ores, and in this connection it was thought advisable to call your attention to the - detection of what Messrs. Clarke & Catlett call a ‘‘ platiniferous nickel ore from Canada.” They say (see article xxxix, page 372, American Journal of Science, 1889.) During the autumn of 1888 we received, through two different channels, samples of nickel ores taken from the mines of the Canadian Copper Company at Sudbury, Ont. From one source we obtained two masses of sulphides to be examined for nickel and copper, from the other came similar sulphides together with a series of soil and gravel-like material (gossan), 7 samples in all. In the latter case an examination for platinum was requested, and in 5 of the samples above mentioned it was found the gravel yielded 74.85 ozs. of metals of the platinum group to the ton of 2,000 lbs. The sulphide ores submitted to us from Sudbury were all of a similar char- acter. They consisted of mixed masses in which a grey readily tarn- ishing substance was predominant with some chalcupyrite, possibly some pyrite and a very little quartz. Two samples were examined in mass: one gave 31.41 { nickel with a little copper, and the other gave 35.39 % nickel and 5.2 % copper. The nickel mineral itself proved to be a sulphide of nickel and iron, and as ores of that composition are not common, it was thought advisable to examine the substance further. It is steel-grey, massive and exceedingly alterable in the air with a Sp. Gr. of 4.5. An analysis of carefully selected material gave :— Mikel ast sa) onal eee see eee det 41.96 Troms}. 224.) JUGS RSTT le eae 15-57 SiliGawt-2 a9 tA Be Sid ee RP 1.02 Gopper 2.0 sia IPSs Aly BBS 62 Sulphuns§ 6404 44. 43 bes te we SR A 40,80 These figures give approximately the formula Ni; FeS,;. Neither cobalt nor arsenic could be detected. If we deduct silica together with the copper reckoned as admixed chalcopyrite and re-calculate the remainder of the analysis to 100°/, we get the following figures :— Nickel sizsze) kere. paket shems Jed ieee 43.18 Tron). syste «eben eee) oe 15-47 Sulphur «:}.i2avet wilseaisenie Seon 41.35 In short the mineral has the composition of Ni, S; with about y th of the nickel replaced by iron, which seems to agree with Laspeyres polydymite of which it is doubtless a ferriferous variety. Probably in most cases the niccoliferous constituent of pyrrhotite is millerite, but other sulphides like polydymite may occur too. The polydymite which was selected for the above analysis came from the mass in which the average of 35.39 4 nickel and 5.20 % copper had previously been found. The mass weighed several kilograms and was remarkably free from quartz. The same mass, with two smaller pieces resembling it, were also examined for platinum. ‘The results were as follows, “A” repre- senting the large mass in which the polydymite was determined :— A....2.55 oz. platinum per ton, or .0087 °/, | 2 ae 1. Mor? 3 “eve OOGG As (ee ba EZ i T tresses ee ame Probably the platinum exists in the ore as sperrylite, although this point was not proved. The amount of platinum in the mass most thoroughly examined would require to form sperrylite only about .007 °/, of arsenic, which is too small a quantity for detection by ordin- ary analysis. ‘That platinum should exist in appreciable quantities in an ore of such a character is something quite extraordinary, but whether it could be profitably extracted is an open question, Sperry- 63 lite was first found at the Vermilion mine in the gossan or loose material, and was named after Mr. Francis L. Sperry of the C. C. C. by Messrs. Horace L. Wells and S. L. Penfield, of the Sheffield Scientific School, who examined and described this new species. It is isometric ; simple cubes are common, octahedrons are exceptional, while the majority of the crystals are combinations of the cube and octahe- dron. H.—Between six and seven, as it scratches felspar but not quartz. The crystals have no distinct cleavage, but are very brittle and break with an irregular, probably conchoidal fracture. The chemical composition, according to the mean of two analyses was as follows :— a. Lee Rese? LL, SPS NOR 40.98 Pumnianyy. 7: SEED SO .50 Pee es SOT EY OST 52.57 Piadiane: SO CaeUrod de. sue STR) ig 72 awaits. 7F.IS DIGI Aor S Te, Pa, trace. Cassiterite or oxide of tin.................. 4.62 The composition is therefore represented by the formula Pt. As,., a small portion of the platinum being replaced respectively by rhodium and antimony. The cclor of the mineral was nearly tin white or about the same as metallic platinum. The fine powder is black. Nearly all the grains showed extremely brilliant crystal faces, though most of the crystals were fragmentary in size they were usually 7,—=%,th of an inch in diameter. Sp. Gr. 10.602. ROASTING. The metallurgical treatment of this ore commences at the roast yard whither it is conveyed, and, being piled in convenient heaps on previously laid cordwood, is exposed at high temperatures without fusion, or, at most, incipient fusion, to the action of a current of air. The objects of this roasting are, 1st, an oxidation of the iron, and, incidentally, of the sulphur, as complete as is possible without involving an undue loss of copper in the slags of the following smelting, and 2nd, the expulsion of arsenic if there is any present. If the oxidation be very imperfect the resulting matte will contain so much iron that its bringing forward will be unduly costly, while, if the oxidation be too thorough, an undue loss of metal will occur on smelting the roasted ore, 64 At Copper Cliff the Canadian Copper Company have spared neither trouble nor expense in the construction and equipment of their roast yard. The natural rough and uneven surface has been cleared and levelled, and the whole given a gentle slope, which, with carefully made drains, serve to remove at once any rain or surface water. These precautions have to be taken to prevent loss of copper as soluble sulphate of copper, which is liable to be washed out by the rain. At the Murray mine a large shed has been erected to roast ore during the winter months, with openings in the roof to allow of the escape of sulphurous fumes, but during last summer they had no regular roast yard, and the few heaps burnt could only be placed where the surface of the ground would permit. This was also the case at the Blezard and Worthington mines, and the mechanical loss alone from this carelessness must have been of considerable moment. The shaft of the Copper Cliff mine, on an incline of 45°, has reached already a depth of nearly 600 feet. It is provided with a double skip road, the skips dumping automatically at the mouth of the breaker in the top of the rock house. Here the ore is sledged to a proper size for the 15 x9 in. Blake crusher set to about 134 inches, which has a capacity of nearly 20 tons an hour. It is then passed through a revolving screen where it is sized into three classes for the succeeding operation of roasting. The coarse size passes a 4-inch ring, the medium or ragging, a 134-inch ring, while the fines pass through one 3 of an inch in diameter. Each of these sizes falls into a separate bin under which a car runs. Thus the ore is loaded automatically into cars holding 114 tons, whence it is transported to the upper story of the ore shed. There it falls into a series of bins from which it is loaded by means of inclined steel shutes into the cars and taken up a rather steep grade to a high trestle which extends the whole length of the roast yard. The only wood that can be obtained is dead pine, a good deal of the surrounding district having been burnt over about 20 years ago. This can be procured very cheaply, and although it does not roast the ores as thoroughly as hard wood, it makes very fair and economical fuel, and serves on account of its short fierce heat to ignite the pile, and this once started continues burning on account of its sulphur contents. These piles are built as follows :—The place selected an 65 is first covered with about six inches of fine ore distributed as evenly as possible over the clay soil. Sticks of cordwood of nearly uniform size should be placed side by side across both sides and ends of the rect- angular area. The whole interior of this can be filled in with old stumps roots, ties or cordwood, but in sucha way as to form a level and solid bed for the ore to rest on. Overall this is placed small wood and chips to fill up all interstices, care being taken to provide small canals filled with kindlings at intervals of 8 or 1o feet leading from the outer air to the chimneys along the centre of the heap. These chimneys which assist in rapidly and certainly kindling the whole heap are usually built of four sticks or old boards, so fixed together as to leave an opening and communicating below with the diaught passages. Five or six of these chimneys suffice for each pile, and they should project 2 feet above the upper surface of the heap, so that no pieces of ore could fall into the flue opening. ‘The coarsest class of ore is first thrown on, then the ragging or medium, on top of which is scattered a layer of rotten wood or chips, and lastly the whole heap is covered over with fines till it reaches a height of about 6 feet, The whole structure should then form a shapely rectangular pile with sharp corners and as steeply slop- ing sides as the ore will naturally lie on without rolling (about 45°). Only a portion of the fine ore is put on at first, the rest being shovelled on after the fire is fairly started. The best way to light the pile is to place a quantity of ignited cotton waste saturated with coal oil down each of the chimneys. About 12 hours after firing the whole heap should be pouring forth dense yellow fumes of sulphurous acid. Great attention is at first paid to the pile to prevent undue local heating which frequently causes partial fusion of the ore, and this can at once be prevented by covering the place with more fines. This heap should then burn from 50 to 70 days when the outer covering of raw or partially roasted ore is removed, and the remainder of the heap conveyed a few yards in wheelbarrows to a sunken railroad which runs alongside of the roast-yard. When filled, the cars are pushed up another steep grade along a track running over the bins back of the smelter. The slop- ing sides and corners of a pile are frequently covered with almost raw ore, this evil being often remedied by placing ignited sticks of cordwood around the whole structure, or by building a new pile in 66 the passageway between two others which have been almost burnt out, the latter plan adding very materially to the capacity of the roast yard. After this operation the ore is invariably so thoroughly roasted that it is necessary to add from ro to 257 of raw fine ore during the smelting to prevent the matte from being too rich. Each pile usually contains about 600 tons of ore, and requires 30 cords of wood to roast it. The roast yard at Copper Cliff is nearly half a mile long by too feet wide, while each pile occupies a space of 40 x 80 feet, room being left to get round them, and for drains. The present capacity is about 60,000 tons, which, with a little extra work, could be increased to 90,000 tons. Working full power each roast bed can be used four times a year, counting the time in making, roasting and clearing the beds. The yearly capacity would therefore be 240,000 tons, and by increasing the space, 360,000 tons. The unroasted ore contains from 35 to 40% sulphur, and assays of a large number of samples of the roast heaps have varied from 2% to 8% of sulphur. One analysis taken at random which may be taken as a fair sample of all the rest, gave 5.407 copper, 2.437 nickel, 7.92% sulphur and 257% iron, lime, magnesia, etc., and the residue chiefly hornblende. Up to October ist, 1890, 56,534 tons had been taken to the roast yard. SMELTING OF THE ORE. There are two smelting furnaces at Copper Cliff, and the building which contains these is 65 feet long by 40 feet wide. Thirty-five feet of this length is on a level with the ground, while the rest of the floor is 81% feet higher, and it is on this upper flat that the ore and fuel bins are situated. The daily capacity of each of these furnaces is 125 tons, although one of the furnaces has reduced 187 tons of ore in one day, - and the furnace manager says that 135 tons could be reduced without much forcing. The furnace itself is a steel plate water jacket of the Herreshof patent, made in Sherbrooke, P.Q., by the Jenckes Manu- facturing Co’y. It is nearly oval in form, the Jonger diameter at the tuyéres being 6 ft. 6 in., while the shorter one is 3 ft. 3 in. There are 11 2% in. tuyeres through which the blast enters from a Baker’s rotary lower under a pressure of about 9g oz. per square inch. It is g feet high from these tuyéres to the charging door, and is an unbroken water jacket from the cast iron bottom up. It is made of rolled steel with Rte ew 7” 67 ily a 2 inch water space, and not a single brick of any description. he well is a circular, cast iron water jacketed vessel, mounted on four rong wheels for convenience of moving it when repairs are necessary, id so made that the hole in one side connects with the outlet hole of the mace, which is also thoroughly protected by water and it is through this at the matte and slag flow out of the furnace as rapidly as form- |. They thus escape the influence of the blast, and prevent what ivian calls “the sole objection to blast furnaces” the so-called sows ” or “salamanders” as great masses of metallic iron which choke ) the furnace and tie up large quantities of copper and other metals. 1e charging door is situated on the upper floor, as also the bins for ast ore and coke. The coke used is from Connellsville, Pa., and is ought by way of the Great Lakes and the Sault Branch of the C.P.R. ne charge for the furnace consists of 1,800 or 2,000 lbs. of ore and ke mixed, one ton of coke usually sufficing for eight tons of ore. The ass as it melts gathers at the bottom of the furnace, and flows through e outlet into the well or reservoir, where the heavier and metallic tions sink to the bottom while the lighter slag remains on the sur- ce, running in a continuous stream over the jacketed spout into pots 1 wheels, which are removed when filled, an empty one always being ady to take the vacant place. The matte is drawn off at intervals of ; or 20 minutes through a separated bronze water-cooled tap-hole sting, near the bottom of the well, and which is filled as usual with a iy plug that can readily be removed with a few blows from a steel . The smelting of the ores is greatly facilitated by the basic char- ter of the accompanying gangue rock, for instead of quartz and acid icates there is chiefly hornblende and very fusible felspars. This rcumstance, as well as a judicious mixture of the different qualities of e obviates the necessity of any flux, which is a very fortunate circum- ance, as limestone is somewhat distant and suitable iron ore difficult procure. ‘The slag buggies or pots are made as strongly and lightly possible, are case-hardened and shaped like inverted hollow cones, id before each tap are thickly washed with clay water to prevent the atte from welding to the iron mould. This matte is sampled and eighed and allowed to cool before being dumped from the pots and e slag also is sampled and assayed once every 24 hours, so that an 68 accurate record can be kept of the composition of both. An average of two analyses of this matte in February and March, 1889, will prob- ably give us the usual composition: Copper, 26.91 ; nickel, 14.14 ; iron, 31.335 ; sulphur, 26.95 ; cobalt, .935. Mr. F. L. Sperry says that platinum exists in quite appreciable quantities, so that the matte con- tains some ounces per ton of that rare metal, while gold and silver occur in strong traces. The first blast furnace was started on the 24th December, 1888, and with slight interruptions has been running ever since. The second furnace was built in the summer of 1889, and was started on the 4th of September of the same year. On October Ist, 1890, there was about 6,500 tons of matte, and the ore on the roast beds would produce about 6,000 tons more, containing 922 and 852 tons of nickel respectively, or a total of 1,774 tons of metallic nickel, and 3,362% tons of metallic copper. ‘Lhe average daily output of matte for the month of September, 1890, was 25 tons, but the full capacity of both furnaces would be about 60 tons of matte. If the former average was kept up, the yearly production of matte would reach 9,125 tons, but if the furnaces were run at their full capacity they would average nearly 834 tons of nickel a day, or nearly 3,066 tons of metallic nickel and 5,913 tons of copper a year. At present the matte is piled in heaps outside of the smelters, and, when wanted to be shipped, is broken up in pieces and placed in old oil barrels, the chinks between the larger pieces being filled with smaller fragments, so that the whole is packed tolerably firm and close It is then sent to the various refiners in Europe or the United States according to their respective bids. So far no refining works have been built at Sudbury, but the vast quantity of material to treat, the tedious and costly process for the further refining of the ore, consisting as it does of alternate roastings and smeltings, in addition to the great expense incurred at present in shipping the matte to such long distances, seem great incentives to the early erection of refining works, so that the ore could be fully treated on the spot. The proposition to build nickel steel works was lately submitted to the Government by the Canadian Copper Company, and it is to be hoped that some satisfactory arrangement will be arrived at to give a further impetus to our present mining activity in this region. 69 Nickel is a comparatively new metal for it was not recognized as an element till 1751, when Cronstedt, the Swedish mineralogist, in examining the ores of certain veins in the German Copper mines made the discovery of the two new metals, nickel and cobalt, which names he retained as they were in use amongst the miners. Nickel in its pure state is silver white in colour, hard, tough, fusible with difficulty, and is susceptible to magnetism, although not to the same extent as iron. Its use in the industrial arts has rapidly increased since it has been produced in a pure state, as it formerly existed only as an impure alloy. and so could rot be so suitable for the pnrposes for which it is now used. ‘The demand has only grown at a moderate rate as compared with the growth and demand for other useful metals, and a decrease in price from $2.60 per pound in 1876 to the present price, which varies from 50 to 60 cents per pound, seems to have had no very important influence in increasing that demand. The supply of late years has been more than sufficient for the demand and new deposits have always been found in advance of any necessity for their product. ‘The first chief demand for this metal was for making nickel or german silver as a substitute for the more precious metal in making spoons and forks and other ware in general for which silver had been previously used’ and its whiteness and the facility with which it received and held the silver, after the process of what is known as electro-plating was intro- duced cause it to be still more widely used. It is also made use of to plate iron, zinc, &c., and also in alloy with copper for the manufacture of small coins, which are used so extensively in the United States, Ger- many, Belgium, and other countries. The proposition to use rolled nickel plate as an advance over ordinary tin plate, is one which is re- ceiving attention at present. It has also been recommended for making nickel crucibles to replace those of silver used in chemical manipulations as they would cost less and have the great advantage of melting at a higher temperature. Nickel plated kitchen utensils are coming into general use as in Germany, and as it is well known that acids have a mcre or less solvent action on nickel, an investigation was undertaken which showed that 7% grains of nickel could be taken into the stomach and repeated for a long time without any noticeably bad effects. There is thus no ground 70 for uneasiness in the use of such utensils, especially if the same precautions are used as in the case of copper vessels, namely, thoroughly cleaning them and avoiding the storing of food in them. The proposi. tion to use nickel in alloy with steel to increase the strength and quality of the latter, will, if carried out, increase the consumption very mate- rially, and all have been eager to know the result of the recent experi- ments undertaken at the instigation of the United States Government. A French invention has effected the means of regulating the composi- tion of such an alloy, and subsequent experiments in Glasgow revealed the fact that this alloy could be made in any good open hearth furnace working at a fairly high temperature as well as in the crucible. In obtaining a correct idea of the value or usefulness of alloys of nickel with iron or steel it should be borne in mind that the composition is complicated by manganese, carbon, silicon, sulphur and phosphorus, whose influence must be carefully watched, requiring a long series of experiments, A comparison of steel alloyed with 4.7 7% nickel raised the elastic limit from 16 up to 28 tons, and the breaking strain from 30 up to 40 tons, without impairing the elongation or contraction of area to any notice- able extent. A further gradual increase of hardness was noticed until 20 % is reached, when a change takes place, and successive additions of nickel tend to make the steel softer and more ductile. The alloys polish well, and the colour of the steel is lightened as the proportion of nickel increases. ‘They do not corrode as readily as other steel. The 1 % nickel steel welds fairly well, but this property lessens with each addition of nickel. It can, therefore, be seen that considerable advantage may be expected from these alloys, especially where the percentage of nickel is less than five. The consumption of nickel and nickel alloy in the United States has increased from 294,000 pounds in 1880 to 421,000 pounds in 1888 while the total consumption of the world was estimated not to exceed 700 or 800 tons of the pure metal. The chief supply at present comes from New Caledonia, a penal colony of France (long. 165° E., S. lat, 22°). M. du Peloux states that the cost of production at this place could be so reduced that the company could sell at from 37 to 46 cents per pound, and yet have a good profit. Dr. Peters in his evidence before the Ontario Mining Commission states that the Canadian Copper Com- 71 pany could sell it from 25 to 30 cents per pound with a handsome profit. A commission appointed by the United States Government to examine the probable quantity of nickel in the Sudbury district has given a very glowing report to their government. It is highly probable, however, as can be seen from the above figures that our mines could supply the whole demand, even if the other sources of supply did not produce anything. It has been decided by the United States Govern- ment to make use of nickel steel armour plates, and already the con- tract has been awarded so that there is every prospect of a brilliant future for this mining industry around Sudbury. In view of our im- mense deposits it will be necessary to increase its consumption in every possible direction. BOOK NOTICE. CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN PL ants. Part V. Acrogens. By John Macoun, M.A., F.L.S., F.R.S.C. 1890. The fifth part of Prof. Macoun’s great work appeared last autumn and would have been noticed sooner but for promises made previously with regard to other matter printed in THE Naturatist. As already stated, we consider Prof. Macoun’s catalogue the most important work which has appeared on Canadian botany. Nor is this appreciation of our Canadian Linnzeus confined to ourselves. J. E. Bagnall, writing in the Midland Naturalist, published at Birmingham, England, says in the February number: “This concludes Vol. II of this valuable work, the first 45 pages being devoted to an enumeration of the ferns and fern allies, with a full account of their geographical distribution through the Dominion of Canada; and as in the preceding portions of this work, the treatment throughout is excellent, and characteristic of the scientific acumen and indefatigable zeal of the author. The remain 72 ing portion of Part V is devoted to additions and corrections to Part I-IV, which occupy 103 pages, and record 155 species added to the flora of Canada since the publication of Part IV, raising the total num- ber of flowering plants, ferns and fern allies found in Canada to 3,209 species ; of these, 2,340 are Exogens, 771 2re Endogens, and 98 are Acrogens.” In the serial literature of this continent, the following taken from the March number of the “Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club” may be taken as a sample of many similar articles which have appeared :— ““We congratulate Prof. Macoun on the very successful progress of his work. He is contributing more at the present time to our knowledge of North American botany than anyone else, and through his en- deavours the distribution of Canadian plants is becoming thoroughly worked out.” 73 THE BEHRING SEA SEAL COMMISSION. Every member of the OtrawaA FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLusB must feel proud that one of our most highly esteemed members, Dr. G. M. Dawson, First Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, should have been chosen as one of the two British Commissioners en- trusted with the investigation of the habits of the Fur Seal in the Behring Sea. The United States Commissioner is our corresponding member, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of Washington, who won such golden opinions from all who had the good fortune to meet him in Ottawa a few years ago when he attended our spring outing to Kingsmere, on the occasion of the excursion given by the Club to the Fellows of the Royal Society of Cauada. There are no two men in America better fitted to carry out this important investigation, and the association of their names with that of Sir George Baden-Powell, the English Commissioner, ensures that the work will be done in a thorough and scientific manner. Dr. Dawson is the eldest son of Sir William Dawson, Principal of McGill University. He was born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, August 1st, 1849. Although a comparatively young man, his career has been a brilliant and useful one. Educated at McGill University, Montreal, and the Royal School of Mines, London, England, to the associateship of which he was admitted in 1872, and where he held the Duke of Cornwall’s Scholarship, given by the Prince of Wales, and took the Edward Forbes Medal in Paleontology and the Murchison Medal in Geology. He was appointed Geologist and Naturalist to Her Majesty’s Boundary Commission in 1873, and investigated the country along the boundary of Canada and the United States, from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. In £875 he issued his report under the title of “The Geology and Re- sources of the 49th Parallel,” and in the same year received an appoint- ment upon the Geological Survey of Canada, since which time he has done much valuable work in exploring the unknown regions of Brltish Columbia and the North-West Territories. In 1877 he commanded the Yukon river expedition to Alaska, making a boat voyage of 1300 miles, with one portage of 50 miles, from the basin of the I.iard to the Yukon. Dr. Dawson has travelled extensively and studied in Europe. He is a member of many scientific bodies, and was one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. He isa Doctor of Science, and is also an LL.D. both of Queen’s University, Kingston, and McGill Univer 74 sity. In recognition of his services to the science of Geology, he was this year awarded the Bigsby Medal by the Geological Society of Eng- land, and on June 4th was elected a Fellow of the Xoyal Society of England, the highest honour which can be conferred on a scientific man. As a writer, Dr. Dawson is clear, terse and simple, and the chief char- acteristics of his work are accuracy and thoroughness. EXTINCT CANADIAN VERTEBRATES FROM THE MIOCENE ROCKS OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA. The following is an abstract of a most interesting address delivered by Mr. H. M. Ami, First Assistant Palceontologist of the Geological Survey Department, upon one of the afternoon excursions, to the Museum last winter. There were about 80 members and friends in attendance. Amongst the more recent and interesting additions to the collec- tions in the National Museum on Sussex Street, Ottawa, Canada, are the mammalian and fish remains from the Tertiary rocks of the Cana- dian North-West. These collections, which were made by Messrs. R. G. McConnell and T. C. Weston especially, have been recently studied by Prof. E. D. Cope, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and the result of his observations will soon be made known in a memoir now in print, published by the Geological Survey Department. The specimens in question are now on exhibition in the upright cases of the Museum, and from the labels attached the following interesting forms are noticed of special interest. ExtTincr RHINOCEROS. Menodus angustigenis—This is the name which Prof. Cope has given to the largest species of hoofed animal analogous to the rhino- ceros that has ever yet been discovered, and which, in early Tertiary times, was roaming about in the extinct forests of the now treeless ’. i —- © 79 prairie regions of Canada. ‘The best portion of the skull of one indi- vidual may be séen about three feet long and eighteen inches acros, with the frontal bones and snout preserved; also the two horn-cores and portions of the upper jaw with several huge molars zz situ. The lower jaw of the same individual was also found with the teeth beauti- fully preserved. Some of these teeth are nearly four inches across and three inches in thickness, being nearly four inches in length, with lengthened roots and sharply cut crowns. The humerus, femur, tibia and many horn-cores, bones of the pelvic arch, and of various other portions of the skeleton were also found, making in all a beautiful display of fossil bones belonging to as huge and ferocious a beast as any of those which to-day are found in the jungles of an African or Indian forest. Besides this form of AZenodus, Prof. Cope has recognized a number more to which he has given separate specific designations, so that we find that there existed in Canada not cnly this huge and ferocious individual, but other allied creatures. These included Wenodus syceras Cope; 4. Proutit, Cope; M. Americanus, Cope, and MM. Selwynt, Cope. They all belong to Miocene Tertiary strata, occuring in the vicinity of Swift Current, N.W.T. These belong to the family of the Titanotheridz and forma group of animals analogous to the modern rhinoceros. ExTiIncr Boar. Elotherium Mortoni, Leidy. Amongst the specimens on exhibition and collected by Mr. Weston, may be seen an almost perfect lower left ramus of this extinct mammal, allied to the modern wild boar and domestic pig, all of which belong tu the family of the Chzeropotamide. This creature was of huge dimensions, the specimen in question being nearly ro inches in length, and the teeth are beautifully preserved in a spotted grey and yellowish coloured lime-rock. This is the first time that this form has been found so far north on the American Continent. Extinct DEER. LEPTOMERYX MAMMIFER, Cope. This new species, and a member of the family of the Zragu/ide, appears to be one of the ancestors of the deer tribe, b2ing both a ruminant and ungulate mammal, a very well preserved portion of the lower jaw, with several teeth zx szfu has per- mitted Prof. Cope to establish its relations and affinities, and it forms 76° a valuable addition to the fauna of those times which preceded the advent of the great ice age, when all these types disappeared and made room for the mastodon, the mammoth and other creatures, including the megalonyx and its allies. OTHER EXTINCT FORMS. Besides the above, may be seen a large wcisor belonging to a large carnivore allied to the modern dog or wolf, the tooth of an oreodont, an extinct hare: Paleolagus turgidus, Cope, belonging to the family of the Lep»ride, also a species of Trionyx, which Prof. Cope has called 7’. Jewcopotamicus from the fact that similar forms occur also in the so-called White River series or formation in the Territories of the United States to the south. But besides the above, we find also extinct forms allied to the squirrels : Hypertragulus rever- sus, Cope, and also a large number of bones of siluroid fishes belong- ing to the genera Amiurus, Rhineastes, etc. Amongst these we find Amiurus McConnelli, A. cancellatus, all described by Cope ; also Amia macrospondyla, and Amia Selwyniana, and Rhineastes rheas, Cope. Then come the remains of a species of Stylemis, an extinct turtle belonging to the family of the Testudinata, one of the Chelonians. Last BUT NOT LEAST come the representatives of the two genera Chalicotheriwm and Hemipsalodon, ‘The latter form, described under the name of H. grandis, Cope, affords another example of an extinct type of hyzena much larger than any of the modern living forms. It belongs to the family of the Hycenodontide and forms part of a sub-order of that family with very large representatives. The genus Chalicotherium, one of the family of Chalicotheridze, has certain affinities to the rhinoceros, which in size and proportions it greatly resembled. Thus it will be seen that from the Miocene Tertiary strata of the Swiit Current River not far from the line of the Canadian Pacific Rail way, as well as from the treeless prairie region, there was once a large fauna, the remains of which are entombed in these beds, and some of which now adorn the cases of the National Museum of the Capital. a ~ “I REPORT OF THE ORNITHOLOGIVCAI, BRANCH FOR THE YEAR 1890. Lo the Council of the Ottawa Field-Naturalisis’ Club: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,—The leaders of the above named branch have the honour to report that during the year 1890 five observ- ers reported their observations in this district, covering one hundred and fifty species and sub species, seven of which are new to our list. One of these observers, we are glad to say, was a lady member, Miss Gertrude Harmer, who, though beginning when the summer was half over, and with scarcely any previous knowledge of the birds, made a list of sixty-five species. It is also gratifying to note that four of the seven new records were made by a new hand, and one of our youngest work- ing members, Mr. F. A. Saunders. With some assistance from his brother, Mr. W. E. Saunders of London, Ont., he made a list during the year of 122 species, whilst the two leaders who worked in the dis- trict made but 107 and 108 respectively. These figures are given to show the members of the Club what may be done during spare hours by a novice in the first year’s work, and it is hoped they may encourage others to follow the example set by the members above referred to. The additions to the list are as follows, the numbers prefixed being those of the A. O. U. Check-list :— 120. Phalacrocorax dilophus, Double-crested Cormorant. A young one was shot about Oct. 1st at Shirley’s Bay, near Britannia, by Mr. C. G. Rogers and sent to W. J. Henry, taxidermist, to be mounted. 223. Phalaropus lobatus, Northern Phalarope. One obtained by Mr. A. G. Kingston, Sept. roth, near Burritt’s Rapids on the Rideau. 354a. Falco rusticolus gyrfalco, Gyrfalcon. One shot by Mr. E. White, Dec. 23rd, at the foot of Lt.-Col. White’s garden on the bank of the Rideau in the city. 366. Asto wilsonianus, American Long-eared Owl. One shot by Mr. F. A. Saunders in a piece of woods north of the Experimental Farm, July 7th. 474. Otocoris alpestris, Horned Lark. This species was found by Mr. F. A. Saunders to be quite abundant on the Experimental Farm 78 from April 19th to May 25th, and again from Sept. 26th to Oct. 28th and easily distinguishable from its variety frafzcola, which arrives here about the end of February, remains to breed, and leaves about the beginning of November. ‘Though both were nominally recorded tefore this is virtually a new record, as they were never satisfactorily distin- guished till 1890. 536. Calcarius lappontcus. Lapland Longspur. Mr. F. A. Saun- ders also found this species abundant at the farm in company with the last species and with Snowflakes (Plecirophenax nivalts) till May 25th, an unusually late date for winter birds in this latitude. The Longspurs were again seen in the fall from Oct. 3rd to Nov. 18. Till 1890 we were without a record of this species. 672. Dendroica palmarum. Palm Warbler. This species was found by Messrs. W. E. and F. A. Saunders on 3rd July, breeding and rather common in the Mer Blue. Both adults and young were secured and carefully identified by Ridgway’s Manual as true Ja/marum and not var. hypfochrysea which occurs sparingly here as a migrant. The former were again seen in the same locality by Messrs. Kingston and Lees, Aug. gth. Besides the above, the following more or less rare birds were observed, the common names and A. O. U. numbers alone being given: 231. Dowitcher, May 22nd, E. White. 234. ‘Knot (full breeding plumage), June 4th, E. White. 239. Fectoral Sandpiper, Oct. 2nd, Miss G. Harmer. 272. American Golden Plover, Oct. 18th, F. A. Saunders. 337. Red-tailed Hawk, April 18th, G. R. White. 356. Duck Hawk, July 11th, F. A. Saunders. 357. Pigeon Hawk, Dec. 19th, W. A. D. Lees. 387. Yellow-billed Cuckoo, June 27th, G. R. White. A pair nested in Lt.-Col. White’s garden and raised young. The male and young escaped. The female was shot. 401. American Three-toed Woodpecker, Sept. 28th and 29th, Oct. 12th and 13th, F. A. Saunders. 405. Pleated Woodpecker, Oct. 13, A. G. Kingston. 466a. Traill’s Flycatcher. This species seems to have become quite common here in the last two years. es Py OS ¢ Sy ees 79 521. American Crossbill, On July 3rd Mr. W. A. D. Lees saw a small flock of these birds, apparently young of the year, with bills not quite fully developed. They seemed to be picking up something from the sand of a newly made road in Ottawa East. 528. Redpoll, May 22nd, F. A. Saunders. A late date for the species. 533. Line Siskin, May 16th, F. A. Saunders. Also late. 563. Field Sparrow, May 6th, W. A. D. Lees. 622a. White-rumped Shrike. On July 22nd Capt. Veith handed Mr. Kingston a shrike which seemed to him about midway between this variety and the true /udovicianus. 628. Yellow-throated Vireo, May toth, A. G. Kingston. 672a. -Yellow Palm Warbler. May toth, A. G. Kingston. 758. Oltve-backed Thrush. Oct. 11th, A. G. Kingston. The following warblers have been rather unexpectedly found here during the breeding season, viz. :—657 Magnolia; 662 Blackurnian ; 685 Wilson's. A nest of the //ortda Gallinule (219) were taken by Messrs. W. E. and F. A. Saunders near Kars on the Rideau, July 9th, containing seven eggs, partly incubated. The same gentlemen also discovered on July 7th, that gem of all ornithological prizes a nest of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. It was in process of building and they had the rare privilege of watching the bird working at it for about an hour. On the 12th the completed nest with two fresh eggs was taken. As there is some doubt among tbe leaders as to the comparative abundance in this district of the Wood Thrush and the Hermit Thrush, the members of the branch will confer a favor on the leaders by making a careful investigation of this question during the coming year, taking especial care in the identification of each species. The leaders are glad to be able to announce that they have in preparation for the pages of THE OrrawA NATURALIST, and almost completed a list of all the birds recorded for this district up to the end of 1890.* In view of this fact it has been thought better not to publish the usual list of dates of arrival and departure. This list has, * This was published in the June number. 80 however, been compiled and may be consulted by members interested. All of which is respectfully submitted. WM. A. D. LEES, A. G. KINGSTON, JOHN MACOUN, Ottawa, 27th January, 1891. Leaders. THE BIRDS OF OTTAWA. Readers will please make the foilowing corrections in the list of birds published in the Naruratist, Vol. v, No. 2: p.42. No. 474, after “1890” read “by Mr. F. A. Saunders”: No, 48, after ‘‘americanus” read ‘American Crow.” p. 43, No. 536, after “November. 18th” read “(F. A Saundets)”: p. 46, No. 685, strike out the word “breeding”. REPORT OF THE BOTANICAL BRANCH, 1890. To the Council of the Ottawa Fietd-Naturalistt Club. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, —The leaders beg to report that active work in this branch has been maintained in a satisfactory manner throughout the season. Fresh plants have been added to the Flora Ottawaensis, and good work has been done by new botanists in confirming past records and discovering new localities. Many of these have already been recorded in the flora now being pub- lished as a supplement to the Orrawa NaturRa.List. This work which has been of considerable assistance to beginners, will, we trust, be finished early next year. Efforts have been put forth by the leaders at the General and Sub-excursions to make their branch popu- lar and useful to all who attend those meetings. The addresses have been attentively listened to, and the interest shown has been very en- couraging. One of the series of Sub-Excursions to the Geological Survey Museum, which have been such an instructive feature of the Club’s work during this winter, was ably conducted by Prof. Macoun. The leaders — 81 take the liberty of specially drawing the attention of the members of the Club to the exceptional advantages we derive from having the Geologi- cal Survey Department located at Ottawa. This, however, we feel it our duty to mention, would be only of comparative value were it not for the great courtesies which are at all times extended to our members by the Director and officers of the survey. As leaders of the Botanical Branch, we have particular pleasure in testifying to the cordial and ready assistance always given by Prof. Macoun and his assistant, Mr. James M. Macoun. During the past season the leaders, assisted by Prof. Macoun, have been devoting some time to the study of mosses. Prof. Macoun has during the winter worked out the collections of Sphagnum and has furnished us with the list which is appended to this report. Prof. Macoun’s Catalogue of Canadian Plants has been com- pleted during the year and will be of inestimable value to our Botanists. Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Scott have made a special study of the willows found in this locality with good results, which will be given in the Flora Ottawaensis. The leaders beg to call the attention of members to the newly formed Canadian Botanists’ Correspondence Association, which has been formed by Mr. J. A. Morton, of Wingham, Ont., Mr. J. Dearness, of London, Ont., and some other botanists. The object of this association is to help botanists by giving them facilities for exchanging herbarium specimens and becoming acquainted with other botanists in different parts of the country. We anticipate that much good will result from this organization and recommend it to the notice of our botanical members. The following plants of interest, but not new to the list, may be referred to here: A fine fruiting specimen of the curious introduced crucifer /Ves/ia paniculata, which has flowers resembling Erysimum chetran thoides, a sparse stellate pubescence and small roundish seed-pods, was found in an oat field near the Hog’s Back. Nuphar Advena + Kalmiana. Fine flowering specimens of this magnificent hybrid were found in Brigham’s Creek in August. Bellis perennis. The English Daisy has been several times _observed for one or two years after lawns have been sown with English seed, but like Plantago lanceolata, seldom lives many years. 82 Chenopodium Botrys. An interesting sub-excursion was held by the branch, and the members visited an excavation on Sandy Hill at the invitation of Lt.-Col. White, to examine the flora which had ap- peared subsequent to the carting away of the surface sand. An interest- ing feature was that, several plants not observed as growing in the imme- diate locality before, now appeared, and the above named attractive goose-foot was the most conspicuous amongst these. Cornus sericea was found at Billings’ Bridge. Cornus paniculata. Several nice bushes were observed on the light-house Island above Aylmtr. Aspidium Goldianum. A new locality for this grand fern was dis- covered near Kingsmere in the Chelsea Mountains. Asplenitum angustifolium. A pleasing and somewhat novel record has to be made with regard to this beautiful fern. Some 15 years ago a few plants were discovered near Hemlock Lake. When this same locality was visited last autumn the delicate and pale green fronds-could be seen in large clumps extending over nearly an acre. Amongst the new records two of the Orchids are worthy of special mention Habenaria virescens was found in abundance at Thurso by Mr. Scott, Spiranthes Romanzofiana a beautiful and highly-scented Ladies Tresses was found by Mr. Scott at Templeton, and on Kettle Island soon afterwards by Mr. Robert B. Whyte. JAMES FLETCHER, R. B. WHYTE, Ww. SCOTT, Leaders. FLORA OTTAWAENSIS. The following is a list of the additions to the local list discovered since the last report which have not already been recorded :— Brassica campestris var. vletfera, Elgin Street, Sept. 1, W. Scott. Fragaria Virginiana, Duch, v. Illinoensis, Gray, Rockcliffe, May 12> J. M. Macoun. Dianthus Armeria, \.. Hartwell’s Locks, July 10, J. Fletcher. d Amarantus blitoides, Wat., Hartwell’s Locks, Sept. 3. W. Scott. § . . Centaurea nigra, L., Thurso, Aug. 7, W. Scott. 83 Helianthus decapetalus, L., Casselman, Aug. 16, W. Scott. Monotropa hypopitys, L., (ripe fruit), Kirk’s Ferry, Sept. 6, T. J. McLaughlin. Scrophularia nodosa L., v. Marilandica, Gray, Casselman, June 21, W. Scott. Physostegia Virginiana, Benth, Billings Bridge, Sept. 20, W. Scott. Lobelia Kalmii, L., Skead’s Mills, Aug., R. B. Whyte. Spiranthes Romanzoffiana, Cham., ‘l'empleton, July 23, W. Scott. Habenaria virescens, Spreng., Thurso, Aug. 7, W. Scott. Allium Canadense, Kalm., Billings Bridge, July, J. Fletcher. Streptopus amplexifolius, D.C., Kingsmere, May 24, J. Fletcher. Elatine Americana, Arn., Brigham’s Creek, Sept., J. Fletcher. Eatonia Pennsylvanica, Gray, Stewarton, Hull, July, J. Fletcher. List of the species of the Genus Sphagnum found at Ottawa. 1. Sphagnum Girgenshontt Russ. McKay’s wood. Var. hygrophyllum Warnst. Beechwood. . §. fuscum, (Schpr.) von Klinggraeff. Var. fuscescens. Warnst. Abundant in Mer Bleue. Var. pallescens, Warnst. Abundant in Mer Bleue. N 3. S. Zenellum, (Schpr.) von Klinggraeff. Var. rubellum Wils. Very fine and abundant in Mer Bleue. 4. S. acutifolum, (Ehrh in part.) Russ. and Warnst. Very common in peat bogs Mer. Bleue, etc. Var. versicolor, Warnst. Common in Mer Bleue. Var. pallescens, Warnst. Mer Bleue. 5. 8. recurvum, (Beauy.) Russ. and Warnst. Var, puldchrum, Lindb. In woods by the Mer Bleue. Var. mucronatum, Russ. Wet woods near Beechwood. Var. amblyphyllum, Russ. Abundant in pools in the Mer Bleue. 84 Var. parvifolium, (Sendt.) Warnst. In woods along the Mer Bleue. 6. S. sguarrosum, Pers. Var. speciosum, Warnst. Woods near McKay’s Lake. Var. semisguarrosum, Russ. In woods along the Mer Bleue 7. S. Wulfianum Girg. Var. macroclanm, Warnst. Woods near Beech- wood. Var. viride, Warnst. Race Course, Oct. 11th. 8. S. cymbifolium, Ehrh. Var. deve, Warnst. Abundant in Mer Bleue, also at the Race Course. EXCURSION No. 1. “When is the first excursion to be?” is the question asked, by many anxious enquirers, every spring as soon as the leaves begin to unfold and the genial smile of nature once more greets the eager naturalist who ~ has been impatiently waiting for snow and winier to pass away, that he might lay aside his books and dried specimens and go to the woods to worship his goddess and learn more of her creatures, and thus find the only true rest from the cares and worries of the every day world. The first excursion is always one of the best attended of the whole year, and that held this spring, at the end of May, was no exception to the general rule. King’s Mountain, in the Chelsea Mountains, has now become recognized as ‘the best place ” for the first outing. Tne weather, early in the morning of the day chosen, looked rather doubtful, and this had the effect of keeping some who would have at- tended from doing so. However, more than 100 ladies and gentlemen turned up and left the rendezvous at 9.15 in six large vans. The day was decidedly hot, but the cool breeze which all day blew from the mountains, rendered the trip to the woods most agreeable. Kingsmere was reached by noon, and after lunch the president, Dr. R. W. Ells, — 85 announced the programme and gave the names of the leaders who were present. Nearly the whole party ascended the mountain, under the leadership of Mr. R. b. Whyte, who in his usual genial way answered the questions of all enquirers. The steep slopes and glades resounded with merry laughter as the eager excursionists spread out over the mountain side and vied with each other in trying to find something new. When the party re-rssembled before leaving, the usual addresses were given. Mr. William Scott, the botanical leader, was first called upon by the president. He spoke of many plants in an easy and instructive manner and imbued his hearers with some of his own enthusiasm as he drew attention to the various points of interest in the various flowers exhibited. The delicate mauve bells of Clematis verticillaris were admired by all, as well as many other floral treasures. Mr. A G. Kingston told of the habits of the birds seen, and described their notes. The attractive manner in which he treated his subject held the attention of all present. Mr. Fletcher spoke of the insects collected, and also on some fungous diseases and edible fungi. ‘The edible Morell( M/orchella esculenta) was shown, as well as a somewhat similar fungus of the genus Helvella. Mr. H. P. Brumell gave a simple and most interesting account of some of the more important minerals in the Laurentian formation at the con- clusion of which he was loudly applauded. Before leaving, Dr. Ells congratulated the members on the success of the meeting, which every one present felt was largely due to the excellent management of the excursion committee, and also to the kindness and attention of the President and Mrs. Ells, who were untiring in their efforts to make every one present enjoy the day thoroughly. EXCURSION No. 2z. The seccnd general excursion of the Club was held on Saturday, the 27th June, when Montebello was visited. Notwithstanding the somewhat unfavorable weather for a river trip—the morning being very cool with a high wind—about sixty of the members and their friends availed themselves of the opportunity of again visiting the village so 86 famous in civil, military, and natural history. Among those who have not been seen at previous excursions of the club were noticed Dr. Wilson and his three sisters from Cumberland, and the Rev. J. F. and Mrs. Gorman, of Ottawa. Montebello is about 45 miles from Ottawa, on the left bank of the Ottawa River, and was during the rebellion of 1837-8 the scene of con- siderable military action. Here stand the old homestead and grounds of the Hon. Mr. Papineau, whose father figures so prominently in Cana- dian history on account of the part he took in that struggle. The house stands in a park which, to all appearance, is a primitive forest beautifully laid out in drives, foot-paths and flower beds. In this park are several other buildings, including a chapel, a museum and a lodge, each in a separate stone building kept scrupulously clean and in good order by a staff of workmen continuously employed. As the morning wore away, the day became warm and the trip enjoyable, and after a run of four hours on the ‘‘ Empress” the excursionists were landed safely at the wharf Ample justice having been done to the contents of the baskets, the party proceeded to the grounds mentioned, where the Hon. Mr. Papineau was waiting to receive and welcome them, and in his usual courteous manner threw open the museum and explained the arrangement of the armory and the various implements of war, as well as the meaning and uses of the numerous curiosities there to be seen. The whole place presents a sight of antiquity, and to those familiar with the early history of the country calls up reminiscences of the gravest nature. After viewing the many objects of interest in the museum and park, the botanical section, under the leadership of Mr. R. B. Whyte, went to the woods and mountains to the north of the village, where many rarities of the vegetable world were collected and brought back to the landing barely in time to catch the boat on her re- turn trip from Grenville at 3 p.m. When Mr. Whyt2 had finished arranging his plants, Mr. T. J. MacLaughlin, First Vice-President of the club, addressed the members and passengers, and after explaining to the latter that it was customary for the leaders to give addresses on the collections and observations made by them during the day, and that the Captain had given them permission to do so on the boat, he called on Mr. Whyte to speak on botany. Mr. Whyte, in his usual forcible —— 87 and earnest manner, enumerated the various plants, which were of un- usual interest, and gave interesting accounts of their habits, medicinal qualities and other uses known to science, answered questions and gave much valuable information to eager and numerous inquiries among the passengers. Mr. MacLaughlin again addressed those present, and after expressing his regret at the absence of so many of the leaders, spoke at length on the advantages of a knowledge of natural history and of the good work the club was doing for science in cultivating a taste for the subject, and emphasized the affirmation that although the club was not aided by Government, nor Ly any other source outside of its individual membership fees, it was doing as much for the cause of science, if not more, than any other institution of the kind in North America. The party returned to the city at 7.30, well satisfied that they had spent a pleasant and profitable day. HG HENRY EDWARDS. It is with deep regret that we have to announce the death of our highly esteemed corresponding member, Henry Edwards, who died of dropsy in New York, oth June last. By his death, one of the most devoted lovers of science and art has passed away. As an Entomolo- gist, Mr. Edwards had few equals, and he possessed one of the largest private collections of insects in the world. His courtesy in naming specimens, and his generosity in helping others were well known by all his correspondents. His death will be deplored by many grateful and loving friends. Mr. Edwards was an Englishman, and was born at Ross in Here- fordshire, August 27th, 1830. When quite young he showed much talent as an actor, and frequently took part in amateur theatricals. In 1853 he sailed for Australia and took to the stage as a profession. From Australia he went to South America and lived for some time in Peru and Panama. In 1867 he reached San Francisco, where he stayed ten years, during which time he took an active interest in th 88 California Academy of Sciences, and made many friends. In 1877 he moved to the east where he made his first appearance in Boston. In 1879 he went to New York and was for many years manager of Wallack’s Theatre. In 1889 he left New York for his old home in Australia, but returned again in 1890. As an Entomologist, Mr. Edwards had a world-wide reputation, and was recognized as one of the highest authorities in North America. Through his own generosity, we have in our club library most of his valuable papers. Amongst these his “ Descriptions of Pacific Coast Lepidoptera,” and “ Bibliographical Catalogue of the Described Trans- formations of North American Lepidoptera,” are very valuable to the working Entomologist. His death will deprive many of an able and kind helper, as well as of a friend, who even through his correspondence had endeared himself to those who never had the pleasure of meeting him. A. Ax A. 5. Beginning August 12th next, a series of meetings extending over two weeks is to be held at Washington, D.C. These meetings will be of the utmost interest. On August 12th the first meeting will be held of the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. August 17th the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science begins its sessions, and also on the same day the meeting of the Association of Economic Entomologist, of which Mr. Fletcher of this club is the President for the year. These meetings will take two days, and on the 1yth the American Association for the Advancement of Science begins its week of meetings and entertainments. Washington is undoubtedly now the scientific ceatre of the North American continent, and great preparations have been made to ensure the success of these meetings. Everyone who could possibly attend them should make a special effort to do so. 89 THE OTTAWA COLONY OF CHIMNEY SWIFTS (CHETURA PELAGICA). By A. G. KINGSTON. (Read 29th January, r89r.) Among the many different physical powers exhibited by animal life in its endless variety of forms there is none which has so much im- pressed the mind of man in every age as that one so widely character- istic of the feathered class, the gift of flight. In the systems of the ornithologists a bird may take higher or lower rank according to the development or simplicity of its internal structure ; but in the eyes of mankind at large, let but the power of rapid and untiring flight be shown in a high state of perfection, and just in that measure will its possessor approach the ideal bird. Throughout the whole class there are few, if any, families which in this respect can rival the Swifts. The Albatross and the Frigate Bird can indeed sweep over immense stretches of ocean in an hour’s time, but, after all, the sea and the earth enter largely into the life of these birds. Their food is sought amid the waves, their nests are placed among the rocks along shore; but the home of the Swift is in the upper air where he delights to spend every moment of the long summer days. By him every function of life, except sleep and the incubation of the egg, is performed upon the wing ; and every organ of the body, as we shall see, is specialized to fit it for this purpose, almost to the disregard of all others. In most parts of Eastern Canada and the United States the Chim- ney Swift is one of our most common city birds, often an uninvited guest within our houses and spending the short summer nights within a few feet of our beds. Here in Ottawa every stroller upon Parliament Hill during the pleas ant evenings in spring, and again in the later summer months, is amused by the merry twittering and rhythmic whirling motion of that countless cloud of little birds circling round one of the towers of the Government Buildings. And in the height of summer no better example can be found of the power and grace of motion than to see one of these same swifts, after soaring for some time high in the air, descend and, hurrying along just over the roofs of the houses, wheel once or twice about the chimney where his nest is hung, and suddenly arresting his 90 onward motion, with wings raised high above the back like a shuttlecock, drop down into the darkness. This habit of theirs of nesting in chim™ neys, it may as well be admitted, seems at first to detract much from their claim to an etherial nature as dwellers in the air, but it should be borne in mind that the swift never makes his habitation amongst soot and smoke, for he is always careful to choose a chimney that is not in present use. Moreover, in the days when the human lord of this con- tinent was living in a wigwam filled with soot and smoke, the home of the switt was the shaft of a tall and hollow tree. The Cypselide or Swifts are a family of swallow-like birds of medium size and generally of dull plumage. In the classification of the older ornithologists, on account of many superficial points of resemblance’ they were closely associated with the true swallows; and as popular language even in the present day applies the name ‘‘swallow” indis- criminately to all those birds of graceful flight which live on insects caught upon the wing, it may be well to consider for a moment the reasons that have led to the modern classification ; for now while the swallows are closely linked with the finches, tanagers and other singing birds of the Passerine order, so unlike them externally, the swifts on the other hand are placed in a distinct order and as intimately coupled with a family of entirely different appearance, the humming birds. For a vindication of what seems at first an unnatural classification it would be hard to find anything more satisfactory or conclusive than the words of Prof. Garrod as quoted in Cassell’s Natural History. At the same time they will give us a glimpse of the internal structure of the swifts which may serve to explain some of their curious habits. i give them in abridged and somewhat modified form : ‘Most of us know that unlike the hair upon a quadruped the feathers of a bird are not distributed evenly over the body, but grow in linear clusters, called tracts, with narrow naked spaces between. A similarity of the arrangement of these feather tracts in different species has been found to be closely associated with that general simi- larity of the important organs of the body which leads to the grouping of species together under one order, while the different orders frequently show different patterns in this respect. Now the arrangement of the feather tracts on the swift is found to be almost identical with that of 91 he hummingbird, while the swallow shows an entirely different pattern, closely resembling that of the finches. ‘ Again, the breast-bone, or sternum, is a bone of great importance in all flying birds, as it gives origin to the powerful muscles which move the wings. Here, too, the swift and the hummingbird show a similar model, the swallow and the finch another. ‘The swallow is not asinging bird, yet upon dissection, the syrnix, or origin of voice, at the lower end of the windpipe, is found in one of its most highly developed forms, as in the true songsters. Ages ot dis- use do not seem in this instance to have caused a degeneration of the organ. Upon the swift and the hummingbird, on the other hand, no reproach can be cast for neglect of musical talent. In them the syrinx is of an entirely different and much simpler form. ‘The foot of a swallow is, though comparatively smal! and feeble, that of a true percher. It is covered with scufe/la, or scales, and has the power of moving the hind toe independently of the other toes ; this is indispensible for the grasping of a perch. The swift’s foot, unlike that of all other birds, is covered with smooth skin. The hind toe is lacking in the power of independent motion, and in some of the genera is turned forward alongside the others, instead of having an opposing action like a thumb. Accordingly the posture of a swift when at rest is either clinging to a vertical surface or squatting flat upon a level one; whereas, a swallow may often be seen perching on a twig or wire. ‘Lastly the swifts and hummingbirds have ten primary feathers in the wing and ten in the tail, while the swallow and the singing perchers have only nine in the wing but twelve in the tail.’ ; For these reasons, then, among others, the swifts have been removed from their old proximity to the swallows, and grouped with the hum- mingbirds and the goatsuckers, or nighthawks, under an order called the Macrochires, or long-handed-ones, in allusion to the great length, comparatively, of the outer joint of the wing, corresponding to the hand in man. The Cypselide are world-wide in their distribution, species of one or more of their six genera being found in every continent and in Aus- tralia, all remarkable for their wonderful power of flight and for their 92 excellence as architects. Their styles of nest-building are very various indesign, but there is one characteristic running through all which dis- tinguishes their nests from those of all others birds. Owing to the ex- treme weakness of the feet and to the great length of the wings these birds are excessively awkward in any situation but their native element, the upper air. They cannot build of grass, feathers or hair mixed with mud as so many other birds do. To collect the materials would be diffi- cult to weave them together impossible. Neither can they nest upon the ground—a common alternative, especially with non-perching birds. get him on a solid, level surface and the swift is almost helpless. He flounders awkwardly about until he can launch himself over the edge of a rock or bank, and spread those long wings again on the free air. But if nature has condemned this race to make bricks without straw, she has herself shown them how to provide a substitute, and that from a most unique source. The whole family are gifted with an unusual development of the salivary glands which in nesting time secrete within the mouth a thick viscous fluid. Of this material, wholly or in part, the nests of all the various species of swift are composed. On ex posure to the air it soon dries into a glue-like substance, hard, light and elastic. So tenacious is it that in removing the nest of our own North Aierican species from a chimney the very brick itself will often come away in scales before the nest will break. Thus equipped these children of the air are almost independent of the earth, and can fix their homes and rear their young in the most inaccessible places, far from the dangers of this lower world. In Ceylon and the islands of the Indian Archipelago several species of the genus Collocatia fasten their little saucer-shaped egg-baskets against high over-hanging cliffs, or on the walls of caverns running in from the sea. These furnish the famous Salangane, or edible birds- nests, so dear to the heart of the Chinese epicure. The best samples, that is, the first of the season, are composed wholly of the salivary gum, and are so difficult to obtain that they are frequently sold in the Celestial Empire as high as three guineas ($15) a pound. In general shape they resemble the nest of our own chimney swift, but are of a translucent white colour, and appear as if woven of threads of isinglass. —<— 93 In the West Indies the long flower-spathes of the cocoanut palm often hang on the trees in a withered state for many months; and _ up inside of these the Palm Swift finds a safe and convenient place to affix its nest, composed of feathers glued together with the same salivary gum. This plan of fastening the nest to the inside of a hollow tube or shaft seems to be a favourite one with several of the American species. Not only is the idea shown in the choice of the chimney swift, but there are two species which actually construct the protecting tube for themselves. | Paniptila Sancti Hyeronime inhabiting Guatemal2, attaches to the underside of an over-hanging rock a tube some feet in length, composed of the seed-down of plants caught flying in the air and glued together with saliva. Entrance to this is from below and the eggs are laid on a kind of shelf near the top, Very similar is the nest of a Brazilian species, Chaetura poliura, only in this case the tube is suspended from the branch of a tree and is covered with bright coloured feathers. There is no shelf within to receive the eggs, and it is believed that these are cemented against the side of the tube and brooded on by the bird while in an upright position. Having thus referred to the characteristics of the family in general, and to some of its more interesting members in other lands, we will perhaps be better prepared to consider the peculiarities of our own bird, the American chimney swift (Chetwra pelagica). This bird is about 5 inches in length and 12 to 13 in extent of wings. The general colour 1s a dull dark gray, considerably lighter on the throat and breast and having a faint gloss of metallic green on the back. On taking either of the specimens on the table in the hand one is at once struck with the singular appearance of the tail, each of the ten quills ending ina strong sharp spine formed by the shaft being produced abcut a quarter of an inch beyond the vane. Such a form of tail is almost valueless as a steering apparatus during flight, but serves admirably the purpose for which it is used—that of a prop to support the weight of the body while at rest ; for the only position of rest ever assumed by this bird is a vertical one, as it clings to the inside of a chimney or hollow tree braced up by this strong spiked tail. A woodpecker at work on the outside of the tree would assume much the same position, but in his case the spineous nature of the tail is less marked, while the 94 foot is suitable for climbing, that of the swift being weaker and fitted mostly for clinging. The next striking feature is the great length of the wings, the dis- tance from tip to tip when fully extended being more than 24 times the extreme length of the body. The ratio of these two measurements in most land birds is about as 1% to 1. Inthe swallows it only reaches 2 to 1; and the proportion shown in the chimney swift is only exceeded, if at all, by one or two of the hawks and some of the long-winged sea- birds, as the frigatebird and the wandering albatross. Referring to the latter it is worthy of notice that in these seabirds the great stretch of wing is due to the lengthening of the inner joint or hwmerus, the other bones being comparatively short, while in the wing of the swift and all birds of the same order the proportion of the bones is exactly reversed. The radius and metacarpals, or forearm and hand, make up almost the whole of the wing, the inner joint being so short that the carpalangle is almost covered by the feathers of the shoulder. And there is a corresponding difference in the style of flight. The sea- bird propels itself by long measured sweeps, or soars for whole minutes without a movement, whereas the wing of the swift is constantly a- quiver as he darts and dives hither and thither after the insects that make up his food. Much as the swallows resemble the swifts in colour, size and habit, it is not difficult to distinguish between them when on the wing. The motions of all the swallows are more measured and graceful, being guided by the long rudder-like tail, while the swift might be compared to a short boat without a rudder but having very long oars, not quite suited for following a perfectly straight track, but making splendid time and brilliant steering on a very tortuous course. The small flattened and curved bill looks at first sight ill-suited for its duty of capturing insects in rapid motion, but it will be noticed that the mouth is cleft far beyond the base of the bill, reaching to a point just below the eye, and when wide open the gape is really very great. There is an eyebrow or shade over the eye to protect it from the glare of the sun. A similar feature is seen in some eagles, which have a prominent bony shelf above the eye. That of the chimney swift, however, is formed entirely of feathers. These birds are late comers with us, most of the swallows generally ——_ ev ae 95 appearing some time before them, but they atone for tardiness by remark- able regularity. The records of a number of years show that they may be looked for in Ottawa almost with certainty on one of the first six days of May ; and when they come they come altogether. To-day, perhaps: not a swift is to be seen, or at most but a couple of pioneers; to-morrow the whole colony is with us. They take up their abode at first in what may be called the swifts’ immigrant shed. I call it by that name because none of the birds have any intention of making it a home in which to bring up a family. This temporary shelter is a ventilating tower at the northeast corner of the Western Departmental Building. Here on any fine evening in May they may be seen in countless numbers, sporting and chas- ing each other high in air, at first extending their gambols over the who ec of Parliament Hill, waiting for the stragglers to come home, per haps from an afternoon’s trip to the St. Lawrence, or far back over the Laurentian Mountains, for distance is nothing to them. As the even- ing advances, however, the whole flock commences to take up a circling motion round the favourite tower, though still high above it. Gradually the circle becomes narrower and a few birds will now and then dash down at the windows of the tower as if about to enter; but these are only ‘false offers,” for the birds sheer off and rejoin the twittering stream above, which is all the while drawing lower down and closer together, until now the sun has fallen behind Chelsea Mountain, and just as the twilight comes on, the stream narrows to a living whirlpool whose vortex is the tower window. Then with the roar of many wings beating together they pour into the opening. ‘There are four such windows within a few feet of one another, but the swifts use only one, the eastern; and as it is too narrow for the multitude of birds pres- sing in, many flutter against the stone work and eddying off at the sides heighten the resemblance of the whole to a whirlpool. These fall into the main current again when its force slackens, and soon the last swift has entered for the night. The great Audubon and several other ornithologists describe the chimney swifts as prolonging these gambols after sundown far into the dusk, and Nuttall even calls them nocturnal birds; but with us they always retire with, or soon after, the setting sun, and when the last straggler has disappeared there is still light enough to read a book without 96 much difficulty in the open air. The observations of most of these naturalists were made in the Central and Southern States, where even in summer the nights are of considerable length. In our northern lati- tude, on the other hand, the short duration of the hours of darkness at this season compels the birds to seek more promptly the rest so much needed after the incessant activities of the long bright day. At this hour the inside of the ventilating shaft is too dark to permit one to see anything of its occupants, but on the zoth of May last I was fortunate enough to find them almost all at home in the daytime. The weather was cold with a light rain, and, as the swifts are very suscept ible to a fall in the temperature, only a few score ventured out to circle round the building or take a short turn over the city. Entering one of the ducts through a trapdoor in the attic, a journey of a few feet on the hands and knees was well repaid by the view within the shaft. The tower is an octagonal one, built of stone lined with bricks, the space within being about 8 feet across. Up through the centre passes an iron smoke-pipe from the furnaces in the basement. This is about 3 feet in diameter, so that the intervening space leaves ample room fora view of the wall lighted by the little windows at the top where the swifts find entrance. All round the inside the birds were clinging against the wall, shoulder to shoulder, covering every availabie inch from a short distance below the windows down to about to feet above my head, a :space of probably 18 feet in height. Many were continually fluttering in and out, knocking each other off and beating about in the dim light with endless flapping and twittering. The wall surface covered would be about 470 square feet. Audubon in making a rough computa- tion of the number of a flock roosting within a hollow tree which he visited near Louisville, Ky., allows 32 birds as the number resting on each square foot of surface. At this rate the census of the Ottawa colony would reach 15,040. I believe, however, that this is consider- ably over the mark. On several evenings I took the time occupied by the flock in entering the tower, which proved to be about 16 minutes. If there were as many as 15,000, it would require something over 15 birds to pass in during each second, The opening isa small one, about 1 foot by 3, and it seems hardly possibly that they can crowd in at sucha rate, though they certainly go faster than one can count. Probably 9,000 97 or 10,000 would not be far from the true number of the flock. There is at the bottom of the shaft a mass of droppings and feathers, evidently the accumulation of several years, but no sign of a nest anywhere. This place is not made use of by them for that purpose. Inspection of the tower during daylight on a number of other occasions when the weather was fine showed not a single swift within. It is well known that they never rest in the open air, and as there appears to be no other roost in this neighbourhood the conclusion is almost unavoidable that these tiny creatures spend the whole 16 or 17 hours of the summer day upon the wing. What restless energy in those little pinions! And what a vast quantity of insect food, in the aggre- gate, must be consumed in order to sustain such untiring muscles ! In the year 1869 the late Lt.-Col. Wiley read a paper on “Swallows’ before the Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society, in which he gave an interesting account of this same colony. Their favourite rendezvcus was then a tower in the Eastern Block, from which they were afterwards excluded by placing a wire netting over the openings. Itis to be hoped that they may long remain undisturbed in their present quarters. The good work done by such a flock in clearing the atmosphere of insects must be almost incalculable. And for this we are now more than ever dependent upon the swifts, since almost all the swallows and other insect-eating birds have been driven from their city homes by the Euro- pean sparrows. There are several other similar towers about the Government Buildings, but none of these are ever occupied by the swifts, so inten- sely gregarious are they in disposition. When nesting time comes, however, the case is exactly reversed. The birds are scattered over the city and probably far into the country, and seldom, I believe, is there more than one pair found nesting in any one chimney. Amongst all the feathered tribes, at the nesting season, the males are endowed with some distinguishing mark of beauty or some acces- sory power of display which serves to point out to the other sex the most vigorous and desirable among many suitors. The brilliant colours, the wonderful growths of ornamental plumes, the sweet songs or extra- ordinary calls of many birds in spring time are all to be accounted for upon this principle. In other species the same end is served by curious 98 feats executed, generally on the wing, but sometimes on land or water. The drumming of the partridge is a familiar instance of this kind of performance ; and though very different in style, the courtship of the chimney swift may be classed under the same head. At all other seasons they hunt singly or in pairs, twittering frequently ; but during the latter half of May they are almost always to be seen in groups of three. The twittering becomes almost a continuous trill, and the lines of flight more graceful. Neglecting those zigzag darts after insects which mark their course at other times, and keeping for a long time the same relative positions, the little trio sail low down over the houses and tree-tops in long sweeping curves as if conscious of being on exhibition. By the first week in June these preliminaries are over. The unfortunate rejected has given up the suit and has retired to spend the summer in celibacy, with others equally unlucky, at the tower; and the mated ones at once set about the selection of a suitable chimney, free from fire and smoke, and tolerably clean from soot for the firm attachment of the nest. The few necessary building materials are supplied by any tall tree having dead twigs at the top. The birds while on the wing seize the twigs, and by a sudden twist break off short pieces and carry them away to the site already chosen. These are glued to the side of the flue and to each other with the mucilage secreted in the mouth of the bird as already mentioned, and are formed into a light and strong saucer-shaped nest. No down or other soft material is placed within, but the eggs are laid upon the bare framework of the nest. On the 3rd July, 1890, I was fortunate enough to discover the nest of a pair of these birds in one of the chimneys of my house. By removing the stopper of a stove-pipe hole and placing two small mirrors in suitable positions in the flue I was able to see a good deal of the household management of my little guests. The nest was about three and a half feet above the pipe hole and eight feet from the top of the chimney ; and was when unoccupied nearly hidden from sight by a slight ‘‘jog” inthe chimney. Although during several weeks before that the birds had been heard in the flue and careful watch had been kept, the operation of building had not been seen; and indeed the exact location of the nest was only made known by the long wings of the bird projecting from it after egg-laying or, perhaps, incubation had begun. 99 Whether both birds or only the female took part in the nest-build- ing is uncertain, but it appears to have occupied more than a fortnight. During the nine or ten days of incubation the mate did not appear to roost in the chimney and seems to have been rather remiss in his attentions. Indeed, I did not see tne two birds together in the chim- ney during all this time. After the young were hatched, however, which took place on the 13th July, the male became less neglectful of his family duties, taking a fair share of the task of feeding the young, and always spending the night within the flue, not far from the nest. These observations are in accord with the fact that the birds resorting to the tower of the West Block, though somewhat reduced during the latter part of June and the first half of July, still formed a large flock, perhaps half of the original number ; while after the time of hatching out they rapidly dwindled,—no doubt, by the calling away of the males to assist in the care of the young. On the evening of the 2nd of August not more than forty or fifty were seen to enter the tower. For the first week the young were kept constantly covered by cone or other of the old birds, who relieved each other at intervals of half an hour or an hour. Contrary to the descriptions given in most of the _books treating of the swift, these birds seemed to be but poor ciimbers. They would flutter down from the entrance with wings half open above the back and alight at some little distance from the nest, generally below it. Then after a moment’s rest, they weuld scramble up to the nest, half climbing, half flying, being never seen to ascend the wall without the assistance of the fluttering wings. There was something about their manner of feeding the young which struck me asremarkable. When one of the parent birds returned from hunting and tuok its place on the nest, as I have just described, it would not proceed to feed the nestlings until after an interval of several minutes. Then without uncovering the nest it would put its head down and make a sort of contortion of the whole body, and at the same time the young would be heard to peep. This action would sug- gest that the food, instead of being carried in the bill, as is done by other birds when feeding their young, is disgorged from the crop after the manner of the vultures and some seabirds. And may it not be possible that the mucilaginous secretion, so useful to these birds in 100 nest-building, plays just as important a part in the nourishment of the young? What yields such delicious soup for a Chinese mandarin ought surely to make good pap for a young swiftlet. Something analo- gous to this is well known to take place in the pigeon family where the nestlings are fed with a material disgorged from the crop of the parent and consisting largely of a milky and nutricious fluid secreted by the walls of the crop. In such works as treat of the swifts the subject of nourishment of the young 1s touched but lightly, if at all, though some writers express a suspicion—it is never stated positively—that they are in the habit at this season of hawking during the night for insects to supply the often recurring demands of the nestlings. It is true that the roaring of wings in the chimney and the voices of both old and young birds are to be heard several times every night; but I believe this may be accounted for by the movements of the parent birds in exchanging places as they take turns in the care of the young. The mate generally roosts at some little distance from the nest, and, as remarked before, they always move either by actuai flight or by a half-flying, half-climbing movement which is sufficient to occasion all the noise that is heard. Moreover, though bats and night-hawks are visible enough any summer night, I do not know any record of a chimney swift having been seen in pursuit of prey, even by the brightest moonlight, after nine o’clock ; and so far as my observations extend they seem to show greatest activity and highest flight during the sunniest hours of the day. The presence of the shade over the eye, too, seems to mark this bird as a lover of sunshine rather than of dusk. The regular complement of eggs is from 4 to 6, but only three were hatched out in this case. The young grew rapidly, however, and soon filled the nest to overflowing. By the of 4th August the stiff tail feathers were plainly visible, and as the young seemed to be crowding each other over the edge, I took a stick and dislodged the nest, catching it and its contents on a cloth fastened across the flue for that purpose. The little birds were not at all injured and started at once to climb up the side again, using claws, wings and tail with much vigor. One taken out and.kept in the room a few minutes proved to be about half fledged and was in colour and mark- —— 101 ings exactly a miniature of the old birds. On the floor it struggled about heiplessly, but when put near the window curtain it would climb quite rapidly with outspread and fluttering wings. The parent birds on returning and finding the nest fallen and the family scattered did not make as much commotion as most other birds would do under like circumstances. Such accidents are said to be a matter of common occurrence with them, especially in rainy weather when the water trick- ling down softens the gum which holds the nest to the wall. I replaced the third nestling in the chimney, and after he had crept up a little dis- tance, one of the old ones came down and, putting its head under the angle of the outstretched wing of the little one, helped it up to the ledge above, on which the nest had formerly stood, and where all three seemed now much more comfortable than when crowded together in the nest. I had hoped that after the fall of the nest the young would remain below where, having a better view of them, I should be able to see the process of feeding more plainly. On the contrary, I saw but little of them from this out, as they were continually moving from place to place and only one mirror could be brought to bear on them. They soon grew so large as to be almost undistinguishable from the parents, though they did not yet attempt flight in the outer air On the 14th and 15th of August, however, I noticed them mounting on the wing toward the top of the flue and then settling down again. Per- haps this is their usual manner of learning to fly. Unable as they are to rise from a flat surface, a first lesson in the open air, which would probably result in a fall to the ground, might prove disastrous, or even fatal, to them. About this time the numbers resorting to the tower were rapidly increasing again, showing that the nesting season was almost over. On the 19th of August I was called away from town, and on my return at the end of the month my little visitors had disappeared. Even at the rendezvous of the tower only a few remained, and these soon followed the main army to its winter quarters. Where do they go when they leave us? A poet tells us that when these northern shores become bleak and stormy : 102 ‘‘Far over purple seas, They wait in sunny ease The balmy southern breeze To waft them to their northern homes once more.” Ornithologists, however, though able to point out with a fair de- gree of certainty the winter resort of each of the American swallows, as well as of most of the other birds on the Check-list, have nothing to tell us of the wherabouts of the chimney swift at this season. He has never been reported from Central or South America, and from the beginning of November, when he is last observed at the southernmost stations of the United States until his reappearance there about the middle of March, his written history is a blank. To account for this mysterious disappearance the old theory of hibernation has been parti- ally revived by some ornithologists. In the days when the swallows were supposed to spend half the year buried in the mud at the bottoms of lakes and ponds, the chimney swifts were assigned winter quarters somewhat more congenial in the hollow tree from which they used to he seen issuing in such vast flocks on the sunny mornings in spring. Alexander Wilson writing in 1810-13 found it necessary vigorously to combat these ideas. But our know ledge has made but little progress in this direction in the meantime, and Dr. Coues in his ‘ Birds of the Colorado Valley,” discusses the question of possible hibernation seriously and at some length. The trouble is that nearly all the evidence on either side is negative ; and to this shadowy array of facts we in Ottawa can add our little quota—that the swifts cestainly do not spend the winter in the tower which is their favourite home in spring and autumn. ‘This has been proved by in- spection for two successive winters. Before saying farewell to this little bird let us again place him for a moment side by side with his rival and imitator, the swallow. Even in the points of superficial resemblance, which at the beginning of this paper we took such care to overlock, there is, I believe a lesson for the student of natural history; for they show how creatures of very different origin and structure may take on a great degree of external similarity through living upon similar food and under similar outward conditions. The swifts are probably the older family in their present form, and as we 103 have seen, have become almost perfectly adapted to the life which they have chosen. But apparently they had not taken up the whole ground, for in the course of time there appears another family radically different in structure and belonging to a much higher order, the Passeres. It covets the food of the swifts, which can be taken only in one way—on the wing, as those birds take it; so it adopts their manner of life, and in time, without losing its passerine characteristics, the swallow becomes superficially so like the swift that to the casual observer they are both as one. Not only does the resemblance of these families cover the gen- eral colour of the plumage, the shape and proportion of the wings and consequent style of flight, the form of head and wide-gaping mouth, adapted for scooping in the fluttering prey, but even the voices of the two, in spite of the great difference in the structure of the syrinx, are really so much alike as to be easily confounded. A still more interesting point of similarity is seen in the way both the swift and the swallow have changed their manner of nesting to suit the change caused by the advent of civilized man. As long as this continent was under the domain of the red man the chimney swift, as has been shown, found a place both for roosting and nesting in a hollow tree, closed at the bottom and with a narrow opening at the top. The barn and cliff swallows fastened their castles of mud and straw against a lofty rock, while the purple martin and the white-belly nested in crevices of the rock or in deserted woodpecker-holes in the trees. The white man came upon the scene, and long before his progress had cleared away, even, any large fraction of the forest, the swift had found out the sup erior advantages of protection and stability afforded by an empty chimney ; for even Wilson at the beginning of the century knew the bird only as the chimney swift and spoke of the hollow-tree habit as a thing then long passed away. The barn swallow and the martin were almost as prompt in seeking the shelter offered by the outbuildings of the farmer ; and now the cliff swallow, the white-belly and the rough” wing, though a little behind, are fast following the example. The bank swallow alone still clings to the home of his fathers, a burrow in the side of a bank of sand or gravel. The tunnelling out of such a nesting place must often involve heavy labour. Perhaps those little feet of his, feeble as they look, have retained something of the strength of his pas- 104 serine ancestors, and, if so, he is in this respect less swift-like than his brethren who have, with the swifts, adopted the ways of civilization. Other examples could be cited of this principle by which a super- ficial likeness is produced in really different birds by similar environ- ment, as for instance the resemblance of the shrike or butcher-bird to the hawks; but, perhaps, in the whole class there is no case where the real difference and the apparent similarity are at once so great as in this of the swift and the swallow. EXCURSION No. 3 (1891). The completion of the first section of the Gatineau Valley Rail- way, running into the heart of the Laurentian Mountains, will afford easy access to a district which has always possessed great attractions for the collector and observer in almost every branch of natural history. The excursions of the Field-Naturalists’ Club to King’s Mountain have usually been amongs} the most satisfactory outings of each season both from a scientific and financial point of view; but attempts to penetrate en masse further into the hills have generally proved unsuccessful owing to the wearisome length of the drive. The Excursion Committee expect shortly to complete arrangements with the Railway Company for an excursion of the Club to the village of La Peche, or Wakefield, which is pleasantly situated in a widening of the valley, at a point where a smaller stream, the Riviere de la Peche, empties into the Gatineau, about twenty-one miles from Ottawa. Several members of the Club can vouch for the beauty of the scenery upon the route, running, as it does, in and out of the hills along the river bank. To be transported to the midst of the Laurentians in an hour’s time will be a novel experience for Ottawa excursionists, and it is hoped that a large number of members and their friends will attend. The event will probably take place within the first fifteen days of September. Due notice will be given by circular. 105 MONDAY AFTERNOON POPULAR LECTURES—BOTANY. THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF BOTANIC GARDENS. By James Fletcher. ead January 26th, 1891. One of the influences which has affected materially the progress of the science of Botany, has been the instution in various parts of the world of Botanic Gardens. The importance of public Botanic Gardens has for centuries been recognized by the governments of civilized states. In an article on this subject in the Encyclopzedia Britannica, we find as follows: ‘‘The foundation of Botanic Gardens during the XVI and XVII centuries did much in the way of advancing Botany. They were at first appropriated chiefly to the cultivation of medicinal plants. This was especially the case at universities, where medical schools existed. The first Botanic Garden was established at Padua in 1545. The Jardin des Plantes at Paris, was established in 1626. The Botanic Garden at Oxford was founded in 1632. The garden at Edinburgh was founded by Sir Andrew Balfour and Sir Robert Sibbald in £670, and, under the name of the Physic Garden, was placed under the superintendence of James Sutherland, afterwards professor of Botany in the university. The park and garden at Kew date from about 1730. The garden of the Royal Dublin Society at Glasnevin, was opened about 1796. Gesner states that at the end of the r8th century, there were 1600 Botanic Gardens in Europe.” (Ency. Brit. IV, 80.) “The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew originated in the exotic garden, formed by Lord Capel and greatly extended by the Princess Dowager, widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and by George IIL., aided by the skill.of the Aitons, and of Sir Joseph Banks. In 1840 the gardens were adopted as a national establishment, and transferred to the department of woods and forests. The gardens proper, which originally contained only about 11 acres, have been increased to 75 acres and the pleasure grounds and arboretum adjoining extend to 270 acres.” (Ency. Brit. XIV. p. 55.) It may be well now to consider what a Botanic Garden is. In a report of a committee appointed by the British Parliament, in 1838, to enquire into the management, etc. of the Royal Gardens at Kew 106 previous to their being taken over by the Government as the National Public Botanic Gardens, we find that Dr. Lindley, who signed the report, defines a Botanic Garden as “A Garden of Science and Instruction,” which means, I take it, a garden where science, that is knowledge, concerning plants may be accumulated and there applied for educational purposes. In order that these objects may be attained in the most satisfactory manner, there are certain features of the work which must always be borne in mind. The means of gathering together the material to be grown in the garden, by purchase, by exchange, by communication with correspondents at other gardens or who live in different parts of the world, although of great importance in the management of a botanical garden, do not come within the scope of my subject to-day. One of the chief sources of supply however is, of course, by exchange with other Botanical Gardens, of which there are many, both public and private, in all parts of the world where education and culture are cherished. In the first instance Botanic Gardens were merely collections of plants which were deemed useful for their medicinal qualities, later general utility, beauty, variety, or even curiosity were considered, and it is only comparatively lately that the most important development of all, the educational value of these institutions, has been recognized. One thing which should be conspicuously apparent on entering a Botanic Garden is systematic arrangement, not necessarily any particular arrangement, but an ar- rangement by which something is illustrated. A feature of the utmost importance also, is that every plant should be labelled plainly, both with its scientific and vernacular names. In addition to this any further information should be given which can be put on the label without confusion, such as its native country and date of introduction, for foreign plants, and more definite localities in the case of indigenous species. When a plant is the source of some useful product, and this is not shown by the name, it should be indicated on the label. In short the label should give as much information to a visitor as is possible without loss of clearness. In a scientific garden record books, giving full particulars, must of course, be kept, as to the source, age and condition of every individual plant grown. This is of great value and may be the means of saving much loss by preventing the 107 introduction of trees or other plants into districts unsuitable for their proper development. Many plants are peculiarly affected by climate, the fact that such will grow even luxuriantly in a certain locality makes it by no means sure that they will produce in paying quantities any useful products derived from them in their natural habitat. Most plants show impatience of being grown in unsuitable soil or climate by their behaviour as to flowering or fruiting. Many of our wild plants when grown in England, flower very seldom or not ac all, as the Virginian Creeper and Wax Works Vine (Celastrus scandens). The charming British Columbian shrub MWuttallia cerasiformis although it flowers frequently and profusely in England, will not produce the exquisitely beautiful waxy berries, with their shades of pure white, yellow, pink and black, all growing on the same bnsh and at the same time, which make it such an attractive object in the Vancouver Island hedgerows and woods. Similarly the produc- tion by plants of alkaloids, aromatic oils, and other products | which may be utilized in the various arts and sciences, is much affected by change of climate. But, on the other hand, many most useful _members of the vegetable kingdom can, and have been introduced from one part of the world to others where they were not found natur- ally. Tea from China, and coffee from Arabia, the banana from Africa, the peach from Persia, and many other luscious fruits ; our own indian corn, the sugar cane and numerous grasses are now grown over far wider areas on the globe’s surface, than were originally adorned with them by nature. Forest trees and trees and shrubs for hedges and ornament, are frequently being imported from one country in‘o another or from other parts of the same country. But all plants, even from the same locality, do not thrive similarly when placed under the changed conditions of soil and climate consequent upon their introduc- tion into another country or locality. In this way thousands of plants have been destroyed and much capital squandered, which might have been obviated had there been a botanic garden, where caretul experi- ment could have been made beforehand with all the part’culars record- ed for reference when required. Certain trees will thrive well in some localities for a few years and then suddenly their development wil cease—instances of this are found in the attempted cultivation of certain 108 kinds of apple and pear trees in some parts of Canada, where they seldom attain to any great age or size. The black walnut again is a tree which has disappointed some of its admirers. Fora few years after germination, being a vigorous grower, the rapid production of wood gave so much promise that experimenters were induced to devote considerable areas to its cultivation, only to find after to or 15 years that the trees rapidly decreased in vigour and retrograded. This may be due to their having penetrated through the upper layer of suitable soil and reached a colder or less congenial stratum ; but, I do not wish to discuss that point now ; the unnecessary outlay would not have been made, had it been possible to examine trees of a known age, grown under similar circumstances in a botanic garden. Again ou the other hand, a botanic garden would be the means of introducing and distri- buting through the country new and valuable plants, with the great advantage that those who acquired them would know beforehand whether they were likely to succeed. Botanic Gardens to be of the greatest educational utility should be, of course, thrown open to the public as much as possible, and for that reason should be laid out in an ornamental manner, so that not only botanists, gardeners and specialists may be satisfied when they visit them to study and examine new or rare plants, but, also that they may form attractive places of recreation for the large and important class of mechanics and other labouring classes and their families, consisting in this country of people possessed of considerable education, and, who, when once attracted to one of these gardens, could not but find in it an efficient instrument for refining the taste, increasing their knowledge and augmenting in a very high degree the amount of rational and elevating pleasure available to them. A fertile source of interest in Botanic Gardens is the cultivation and exhibition of the various plants from which foods and other economic products are derived. Interest in these will soon extend to other plants, In the same line of thought is the fostering of a love for flowers in children, and I believe that every child should be taught to wish for a garden of its own. I know of nothing at all which will give such con- tinued and wholesome pleasure to a child as a small plot of garden of which it considers it has the sole proprietorship. If any one wishes to see true pleasure, let them take a seedsman’s catalogue, about the 109 month of May and give it, together with a small amount of money to spend on seeds, to a child who has had a garden of its own and learnt to love flowers. Do not give any helpin the choosing unless especi- ally asked to do so, and limit the choice to about three or four packets: For a child to get the most pleasure out of a garden it should not have too much assistance, either in plants or work. The soil should be well dug up to begin with, all else should be done by the juvenile proprietor, and for the garden to be of the most use, it should not be made too easy to get plants, so that each one may be cherished and new ones grown from seeds or cuttings. I know from my own experience when a child, what a source of delight my garden was. On coming home from board- ing-school to spend the holidays, the first thing to be looked at was my garden. ‘The associations with flowers are all good and enlightening, and a love for them should be most carefully engendered and cherished in those unhappy children where it does not exist naturally. Such how- ever, are exceedingly rare. The greatest encouragement to a child who has a garden of its own, is for the elders to take an interest in it, never decline to go and look at it whenever asked to do so, and abeve all things do not interfere in the arrangement and management except to prevent disastrous mistakes ; small mistakes will do good, by teaching their own lessons. Now, what these gardens are to children, public gardens are to the masses, furnishing them with, at the same time, innocent and beneficial and also engrossing and satisfying occupation. All public gardens should be scientific to the extent of having everything properly named and plainly labelled. The first demand when anything creates interest is to know its name, and it is a great dis appointment when this cannot be obtained. As a matter ot history it is interesting to learn that the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, now the most extensive scientific garden in the world, was far from being scien- tific at the time it was taken over, and the committee appointed to investigate the matter, when referring to the fact that few plants were properly labelled, expressed the following opinion of a garden in that state: “It is not easy to discover what advantage except that of a pleasant walk has been derived, by the public, from the privilege of visiting the garden.” The value of plants as food and medicine is a legitimate field of 110 enquiry for the botanist and the one by means of which he comes most frequently in contact with the unscientific public. Now, there is no place where such investigations can be carried on so conveniently as at a properly equipped Botanic Garden, where plants can be grown under observation and examined, at all stages of development, by in- vestigators specially trained to understand and make the most of what they see, and also fully equipped with the necessary apparatus and literature. Such knowledge as we have, as to the value for food oi most of the more important products of the vegetable kingdom, has been derived from the aboriginal inhabitants of the countries where the plants producing them occur in a state of nature ; but the scientific botanist has added very much indeed to this list of useful plants from his knowledge of other species in the same or closely allied families. On the other hand in medical botany the useful knowledge derived from aboriginal sources is comparatively small, by far the larger proportion of the valuable vegetable remedies having been discovered by the scientific chemist as a result of direct chemical analysis of plants, aided by experiment or actual knowledge of the effects produced upon the human frame by the various products obtained. A subject of great interest to everybody and one which is — frequently made an excuse by ill-informed people for not studying wild plants, is the fear of being poisoned. Strangely enough this fear never troubles them with regard to cultivated and greenhouse plants where a much larger proportion of poisonous species is to be found than is the case in the woods around us. As a matter of fact poisonous plants in Canada are exceedingly rare. The Poison Ivy (Rhus Toxicodendron) is the only plant in this part of Canada, which is poisonous to the iouch, and even with regard to this, although it is so virulent in the southern states it is, as you all know, an extremely rare thing to find anyone affected by it here. There are, also, far fewer plants than most people think which are actually poisonous, even when taken internally - and anyone with a very small amount of knowledge and common sense is warned against these by their acrid taste or nauseous odour. This, I have no doubt, is the reason why cattle and wild animals which feed on vegetation are so seldom poisoned. The poisonous plants are dis- tasteful to them and are not eaten in any quantity when their dangerous ; 7 : F ; | se 111 nature has been detected by the keen senses of taste or smell.. For this reason I can make no excuse for people, who are old enough to think, who allow themselves to be poisoned, and I do not believe any sensible person ever will. I quite agree with my friend Professor Macoun who a few years ago, in speaking of the vast supplies of good wholesome food going to waste all round us every year in the shape of various fungi, touched on this subject and speaking of the small number of poisonous plants in any locality said: “I have no patience with the stupid people who allow themselves to starve to death in a country clothed with grass, plants, and trees, nearly all of which are capable of sustaining life.” With regard to such plants as contain noxious principles there are a few general rules, which may be borne in mind by those who travel in the wilds and are liable to require such knowledge, and to which, without going into undue detail, it may not be amiss to refer here. Plants belonging to the same natural order, as a rule, contain similar constitu- ents. There are large orders of plants every member of which makes wholesome food, notwithstanding the occasional presence of acrid principles ; such we find in the cress family which may always be recognized by their cruciform flowers, made up of four separate petals The same may be said of ail the rose family which have the stamens standing on the calyx as we find in the rose and apple. All grasses as wheat and corn, and all plants bearing papilionaceous flowers as the bean, the pea, and clover, produce wholesome food for man and _ beast. Mrs. Lincoln in her ‘“‘ Familiar Lectures cn Botany” says “Such plants as have five stamens and ove fzstz/, with a corolla of a dull livid colour, and a disagreeable smell, are usually poisonous ; the thorn apple ( Stramonium) and tobacco are examples. The mbelliferous plants, which grow in we¢ places, have usually a nauseous smell: such plants are potsonous, as the water hemlock. Umbelliferous plants which grow in dry places, usually have an aromatic smell and are not poisonous, as caraway and fennel. Plants with labiate corollas, and containing their seeds in capsules, are often poisonous, as the foxglove (Digéfa/is) ; also such as contain a mi/ky juice, unless they are compound flowers. Such plants as have horned or hooded nectaries, as the columbine and monk’s hood are mostly poisonous. Amongst plants which are seldom 112 poisonous are the compound flowers as the Dandelion and Boneset ( Eupatorium ); such as have labiate corollas, with seeds lying naked in the calyx, are seldom or never poisonous, the mint and thyme are examples of such plants.” . Plants containing mucilaginous matter are, as a rule wholesome; and in British Columbia the Indians eat almost any bulbous root, makin§& regular annual trips to districts where certain liliaceous plants abound Amongst those roots which they collect in this way are the camass ( Camassia esculenta) Lilium Columbianum, Fritillaria, the small bulbs of Calypso bcrealis and, as Professor Macoun tells me, the bulbs of nearly all bulbous-rooted plants, which they designate by the genera name of muck-a-muck. Another article of food to which they are very partial is the inner bark of young trees of Pinus Murrayana. With regard to the poisonous properties of the parsley family referred to above, Dr. Trimen says, ‘The properties of the Umbellifere are of three principle and remarkably different kinds. In one section a watery and acrid matter is present; in a second a milky gum-resinous secretion ; and in a third, an aromatic and oily one. When the first of these pre- dominates, they are poisonous ; the second in excess converts them in- to stimulants ; and the third renders them carminative and serviceable as pleasant condiments. If both the acrid and gum-resinous secretions be absent they are often useful articles of food, as happens with the sweet roots of the carrot and the parsnip, and the foliage of the sam- phire, fennel, chervil, parsley and celery.” Before closing I should like to say a few words concerning the Botanic Garden and Arboretum at the Central Experimental Farm. I have there in my charge a tract of 65 acres of rolling land admirably suited to the purposes of a Botanic Garden. ‘The higher portion is virtually a plateau with a wide bottom running round three sides of it and with banks sloplng down tothe bottom land. This variety of aspect is very convenient for the purposes to which it has been assigned. The soil is not particularly good but will improve with treatment. The differ- ent natural orders and families of plants will be represented by groups» many of which have been already located. There are at the present time about 4oo species of trees and shrubs planted out, and of most of these there are two specimens—all are labelled and a record has been 113 taken of their time of planting. Special efforts will be made to have the collection illustrating the Canadian flora as complete as possible, and I now appeal to the members of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club to help me in securing roots of as many as possible of our native plants for cultiva- tion. Every working botanist knows the difficulty of deciding specific limits from dried herbarium specimens. I shall, therefore, make a speci- alty cf trying to clear up some of the botanical problems, which now bother botanists, by growing several specimens from seed, where possible from various localities. I have already several species under cultiva- tion, the seeds of which were collected by Prcfessor Macoun, myself or some of my correspondents, and I shall be glad to experiment with any seeds sent to me for that purpose. I would particularly request now the seeds of Asters and Solid igoes, as 1am convinced there is yet much to be done, in working up the Canadian’ representatives of these two genera, which can only be satisfactorily accomplished by growing them from the seed. Besides the solution of such scientific problems as the above, economic plants from other parts of the world will be tested as to their suitability for profitable cultivation in Canada. Forestry now becoming so important in Canada, will also receive attention. Already enormous numbers of young trees have been grown from the seed and distributed to settlers on the treeless .praries of Manitoba and the Norti-West Territories. Before long it will become necessary in Canada to grow trees for timber, in the same way as is now systematicaliy done in Ger- many. This however will not be done for many years to come and by that time, I hope, valuable data will be available from the growth of the specimens on the Experimental Farm to show what kinds of trees can be profitably grown. Many other benefits, I trust, will come from this Botanic Garden now begun, by which general botanic?] knowledge, economic and scien- tific, will be advanced, and I look forward to the time when the Botanic Garden of Ottawa, shall be one of the chief attractious of this part of the Dominion. 114 LIBRARIAN’S REPORT, 1890-91. To the Council of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club. Ladies and Gentlemen,—I have the honour to report that since our last annual meeting the library of the Club has been removed from its old quarters in the Literary and Scientific Society’s rooms to a room kindly provided for that purpose in the Normal School building by Principal MacCabe, Partly owing to lack of time on my part and partly to the delay of a carpenter intrusted with the making of a set of shelves, the books have not yet been placed in order, for which an apology is due and is hereby tendered to Principal MacCabe as well as to the Council of the Club. I am assured, however, that the shelves are now being made and will shortly be completed. Their cost 1s not to exceed $6.00. An appropriation of $10.00 has been made for bind- ing periodicals received in exchange for the Orrawa NaTurRatist, and arrangements will be made for the binding of fourteen volumes, which will probably contain upwards of twenty volumes of periodicals, as some of them are small enough to be bound two or more together. Eight names have been added to our exchange list during the year, as follows :— Botanische Gessellschaft, Munich, Bavaria. Iowa Academy of Sciences, Des Moines, Ia. Jardin Botanique, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Natural History Society of British Columbia, Victoria, B.C. Natural History Society of P. E. I., Charlottetown, P. E. I. Rochester Academy of Sciences, Rochester, N.Y. Scudder S. H., Cambridge, Mass. Victoria University, Cobourg, Ont. The total number of exchanges now on our list is 71. A list of publications received as donations and exchanges during the year is appended to this report. Respectfully submitted. WM. A. D. LEES; Librarian, OtTTawa, 17th March, 18or. ———— 115 PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED 1890-81. Auk, The (organ of the American Ornithologists’ Union). American Museum of Natural History—Annual Reports and Bulletins, American Association for the Advancement of Science-—Proceedings. American Geologist. Botanical Gazette. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. Boston Society of Natural History—Proceedings Canadian Entomologist. Canadian Record of Science. Cincinnati Society of Natural History—Journal. Central Park Menagerie—Report. California Academy of Sciences—Proceedings and Occasional Papers. Department of Agriculture, Canada— Reports of Experimental Farms. Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society—Journal. Entomological Society of Ontario—Annual Report. Entomologica Americana. _ Essex Naturalist. Geological Survey of Canada—Reports and Maps. Hummingbird, The. Iowa Academy of Sciences— Proceedings. Illinois State Laboratory—Bulletin. Johns Hopkins University— Circulars. Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Archives. Kansas Academy of Sciences—Transactions. Kansas Naturalist. Manitoba Historical and Scientific Society—Transactions. Massachusetts Historical Society—Transactions and Prize Lists. Meteorological Service of Canada—Weather Review. Nautilus, The (Conchological). Natural History Society of New Brunswick—Bulletin. Natural Science Association of Staten Island—Proceedings. Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science—Proceedings. New York Microscopical Society-—Journal. New York State Entomologist—Sixth Report. 116 North Staffordshire Field Club—Annual Report. New York Academy of Sciences—Transactions. Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station—Bulletin. Ornithologist and Oo'ogist. Ormerod, Miss Eleanor A.—Reports on Injurious Insects, 1889, 1890. Physik-Oekonomischen Gessellschaft (Konigsberg, Prussia)—Schriften. Psyche (Entomological). Queen’s College—Calendar. Royal Society of Canada—Proceedings and Transactions. Rochester Academy of Sciences—Transactions. Smithsonian Institution—Reports and Price List of Publications. U. S. Department of Agriculture—Insect Life—Journal of Mycology— Bulletins and Circulars. U. S. Geological Survey—Monographs I, XV, XVI—Minere2] Re- sources of the U. S. 1889—Bulletins 54 to 66. Université Laval— Annuaire. West American Scientist- Wisconsin Naturalist. Non-periodical publications have also been received from the following :— American Ornithologists’ Union. Ormerod, Miss E. A. Chamberlain, Montague. Piers, Harry. Edwards, Henry. Scudder, S. H. Ells, Dr. R. W- Smith, John B. Forster, Dr. E. J. U. S. Department of Agriculture. Farlow, Prof. W. G. White, Lt.-Col. William. Geological Survey of Canada. WINTER SOIREES. The Soiree Committee requests such members of the Club as are willing to read papers during the coming winter to send in the titles to _ the Secretary as soon as possible, and at the same time to indica approximately the date when they prefer to present them. 117 CANADIAN GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES. By C. W. Witirmorr. (Read January 29th, 1891.) The subject of this paper is Canadian Gems and Precious Stones ; and although I shall touch briefly on such materials, available for the purposes of the Lapidary, as have come under my observation during the past nineteen years, I cannot hope to accomplish anything more than a general outline of their distribution, together with some of their most important characters. Before I begin the enumeration of the various minerals, I had better first of all define what a gem really is. For the sake of convenience I shall divide the various minerals into two classes—tst, Gem material ; 2nd, Semi-Gem material. Now it sometimes happens that the conventional value put upon a gem of the second class, through richness of colour, transparency, etc., is much higher than belongs to a gem of the first class ; hence to draw a line between these two classes may often be attended by some difficulty. The real gems are represented by the Diamond, Sapphire varieties, Chrysoberyl, Spinel, Beryl, Topaz, Zircon, Garnet, Tourmaline, Iolite Quartz and Chrysolite. All others are considered as semi-precious stones. The origin of the taste for gems is lost in the most remote ages ; it is very evident that the gems mentioned in the scriptures, and other early accounts, do not correspond with ours of to-day. Pliny describes a Sapphire as a stone spotted with gold; this is thought by some authors to be the mineral we call Lapis-Lazuli. The ancients must have included a number of minerals under the same name. Carbuncle, for instance, included all gems of a red colour, such as the Hyacinth, Ruby, Garnet, etc. Much superstition has existed in all 2ges regarding the various gems. ‘The following extracts from Emanuel’s ‘‘ Book of Gems” may be interesting :— ‘“‘ Serapius,” he says, ‘ascribes to the Diamond the power of making men courageous ; also, if this gem is placed in contact with a loadstone, it nullifies its power. According to Boetius the Ruby is a sovereign remedy against the plague and poison ; it also drives away evil spirits and bad dreams. ‘The Jacinth procures sleep and brings riches, honour and wisdom. ‘The Amethyst dispels drunkenness and sharpens 118 the wit. The Balais Ruby is a protector against lightning. The Chrysolite was said to cool boiling water and assuage the thirst, and if placed in contact with poison it lost its brilliancy until removed.” It was not until chemistry began to be fairly understood that the system of classifying all stones of one colour under the same name was abandoned, and although science has made rapid strides and much light has been thrown on this subject, yet the investigators of the near future may look upon our labours and theories with the same doubtful appreciation as we now entertain of those of our forefathers. I have been diverted somewhat from my original intention, in pointing out the superstitions of the ancients regarding certain gems, but in so doing we are enabled to see the existing link still unbroken, with the superstition of the present day. Concerning the Opal you will find that not two ladies out of six will wear this stone, because they say it is unlucky. The present time may be considered an age of artificial gems, owing, no doubt, to their insignificant value and bright colours, which frequently almost equal those of real gems, and thanks also to the skill of the artificer, whose designs have been immortalized by the apprecia- tion they have received. I know of no more unpleasant business than to be called upon to give an opinion of an old family heirloom, perhaps a ring or a brooch, from the age or make-up of which one could infer without much doubt that the setting once contained a costly gem; years of wear had, however, weakened the delicate claws, and it was then handed to a workman for repair, so as to avoid its loss ; but alas, too often some unscrupulous person had abstracted the jewel and replaced it with one of glass. ‘he imposition may remain unnoticed for a great many years, and at last, when the fact is known, it is then too late to recover the gem. The workman that was guilty of such fraud had either left for other parts of the world or was dead—(personal experience). Another way in which the unsuspecting public can be defrauded 1s known to the trade as ‘‘Growing a Diamond.” ‘This consists of abstracting a l:amond from a piece of jewellery that has been left for repair and replacing it with a smaller stone. Another fraud which is very prevalent, 1s the substitution of a “doublet ” for a real gem. In 119 this instance the top of the stone is genuine and the under part glass, joined together neatly by transparent cement, or in other cases the top may be Sapphire and the bottom a less expensive gem, such as the Garnet. In these cases, when set, they are difficult to detect, and often deceive the most experienced. Doublets are sold by the Cingalese to Europeans, and even plain blue glass is cut into facets, and sent there from Birmingham and Paris, and palmed off for the real stones. In throwing out these hints I am convinced that to no jeweller in this city can these prove prejudicial, but on the contrary, as the public are enabled to test for themselves the truth of statements made to them, so also are they able to appreciate the genuine gems. We must not forget to mention the coloured glass, or “pastes” as they are usually termed, which are made to do duty for all the different gems, and which vary in brilliancy according to their mode of production. Some are merely moulded and their angles sharpened on the wheel of the Lapidary; others are cut direct from blocks of crystal glass, which are sometimes very brilliant, termed ‘‘ Rhine Stones,” etc. You will, perhaps, say, how are we to know a real gem from the artificial, we cannot submit it to the chemist, who must break it up before he can pronounce on its nature; it is true he can take its specific gravity, but in this he may fail to identify the mincral after all. Dr. Feutchwanger says he took the specific gravity of an artificial Topaz and found it fully corresponded with the Brazilian Topaz. He, however, found that by employing the simple breath test he was enabled to pronounce on its true character. If an artificial and a real gem be breathed upon at the same time, it will be found that the genuine will become clear much sooner than the false. Having drawn your attention to the dangers of a gem I will now pass on to Nature’s store-house where the original or crude minerals lie hidden, ready to be fashioned into the coveted jewel. We shall first of all consider such minerals as constitute, when cut, gems (proper). Sapphire.—In the Geology cf Canada is mentioned the occurrence of light rose-red Ruby and blue Sapphire in grains, on lot two of the ninth range of Burgess. I should imagine, however, that the quantity is not very considerable, as I examined the rocxs myself on two different occasions without finding a trace. 120 Beryl.—This mineral has been noticed at a few places in Canada, more particularly in the County of Berthier, where crystals several inches in length occur in a granite vein, and although these are often of a good colour (various shades of green), they are nct transparent enough for cutting, except, perhaps, in small portions of a crystal which will sometimes cut into small gems. The pale bluish-green transparent varieties of this mineral are called Aqua-Marine; the emerald-green, Emerald. Sometimes the name Aqua-Marine Chrysolite is applied to the yellowish-green varieties. The Emerald and the Aquamarine are sometimes introduced as oriental, which, of course, enhances their value considerably, and, if genuine, are really the green and the light bluish-green Sapphire. Tourmaline is another gem of some importance, and although its name is seldom heard from the jewellers, it is nevertheless often sold under various names. The yellow transparent variety is often sold in Ceylon for the Topaz. The blue variety is sometimes sold for the Brazilian Sapphire, the green variety as the Brazilian Emerald, and the greenish-yellow as the Ceylon Chrysolite. The carmine or hyacinth- red variety (Rubellite), which is, perhaps, the most valuable, retains the name of Tourmaline. This mineral is widely distributea in the Laurentian rocks either in crystals or crystalline masses ; its predominating colour is black, although such colours as hair-brown, various shades of green, light rose--ed and yellow also occur. The black crystals from the Township of Bathurst will cut into fine mourning gems. Small stones of one to two carats, of transparent green of various shades, sometimes a right emerald, also a yellow and a yellowish-green variety, have been cut from the Tourmaline of Wakefield. ‘The crystals at this locality are seldom more than a quarter of an inch across, but often many inches in length, aggregating together in large masses. I have seen bunches of these slender crystals that would measure eighteen inches in length, exhibit- ing such colours as black, red, green, yellow and colourless in the same crystal, and graduating from opaque to transparent. Light yellowish- green crystals of Tourmaline are met with in the Township of Chatham in a vein of quartz, but these are opaque and too small for “ : cutting. | | 121 Some of the brown varieties found at Lachute, Calumet Island, and other places, might contribute small gems. Zircon is of frequent occurrence in Ontario and Quebec, and constitutes such gems as the Hyacinth, Jacinth, and the Jargoon. The latter variety has not been met with in Canada. It comes principally from Ceylon, it is perfectly transparent and almost colourless, and on account of its peculiar smoky hue is sometimes passed off for a Diamond. At the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London specti- mens were shewn under the name of Ceylon or Matara Diamonds. In the Counties of Renfrew, in Ontario, and Ottawa, in Quebec, magnificent crystals of the brownish-red variety have been found from time to time, but with the exception of a ‘ew very small hyacinth coloured crystals from Sebastopol, not fit for cutting. Independent of the cutting qualities of this mineral, and partly on account of its crystalographic forms, single and twinned, it has been greatly sought after by mineralogists. Forty dollars has been paid for a single crystal from the Township of Brudenell. Small crystals of an inch and under have no value, but large and well-defined crystals _command a good price. Spinel is thought to have been included under Carbuncle by the ancients, and even to-day it is often sold in Ceylon for the Ruby. This mineral is known to jewellers and others under various names, such as Spinel Ruby, when of shades of red; Balais Ruby, when pale red or ‘rose-pink ; Almandine Ruby, when red bordering on shades of blue ; Sapphirine, when blue, and Pleonast, when black. In the Township of Wakefield large cubical crystals of a dark green and purplish colour occur in a vein cf Calcite, and at times afford small dark green and blue transparent gems. In the same neighbourhood octahedral and cubical crystals of pink Spinel (Balais Ruby) occur sparingly, sometimes three-quarters of an inch across, and although marred with numerous cleavages, afford small pieces from which fair transparent gems may be cut. The blue variety is said to occur in limestone in the Seigniory of Daillebout. Black octahedral crystals, often grouped together, are mentioned in the Geology of €anada as occurring in Burgess in flesh-red limestone. Garnet, which is introduced to us under various names by jewellers 122 and others, is of frequent occurrence in Canada, distributed through the Laurentian rocks in crystals and lamellar pieces, as well as con- stituting veins and bedded masses of some magnitude. Garnet, how- ever, as a mineral, is one thing, and Garnet, as a gem, is another. Many persons are, perhaps, not aware that this mineral, owing to its various colours, is often made to represent such minerals as the Ruby, Topaz, Chrysolite, Amethyst, or, in fact, any gem that its shade of colour happens to imitate. This imposition is generally confined to closed settings. Independent of the several gems it may be said to represent, it is itself known under various names in the trade according to its colour. The brownish-red variety known as Almandine is found at several places in Canada, and will at times afford gems. On the river Rouge this mineral occurs in a highly feldspathic rock, in light pinkish-red cleavable masses or imperfect crystals. At Bay St. Paul it occurs of a good colour in mica schist, and in the neighbourhood of Ottawa the red Garnet that is frequently met with in the gneissic rocks probably belongs to this variety. This is the Syrian, also the Oriental or Precious Garnet of the jewellers. The blood-red Pyrope, Bohemian or Ceylonese Garnet, has not yet been, to my knowledge, found in Canada. The variety Essonite, or Cinnamon Stone, and at one time called Hyacinth, occurs in the Township of Wakefield of a yellowish and brownish-red colour, from which small gems might be cut. ‘This mineral is mentioned in the Geology of Canada as occurring in the Township of Orford, but is not of gem quality. Another lime Garnet, in well-defined crystals, occurs in limestone in the Township of Wake- field, the crystals of which are sometimes two to three inches across, and vary in colour from colourless through various shades of yellow and green, pieces of which, perfectly free from cleavage joints, will often cut into two carat stones, which are exceedingly brilliant, and might often be mistaken for the Topaz or Chrysolite. The variety known as Spessartite, a manganesian Garnet, occurs in Muscovite, in flattened brownish-red transparent crystals, in the Township of Villeneuve, and may yet possibly contribute a handsome gem. 133 Chrome Garnet, which occurs in large aggregated masses of minute emerald-green ciystals in the Township of Orford, has not yet presented specimens large enough for cutting. In the Township of Wakefield, however, this mineral presents more promising prospects from a gem point of view. During the past summer preliminary preparations were made with a view of developing a property in this township for gem material. If crystals of a large size were found, I think it doubtful if they would be cut, as the demand for fine mineralogical specimens of this mineral is very great, and they would realize a greater price than the cut stones, although, if this mineral is perfectly transparent, it would surpass the Emerald in value. The largest crystal obtained last summer would be about a quarter of an inch, but translucent, yet some of the smalier ones were perfectly transparent. Chrysolite.—This mineral is mentioned in the Geology of Canada as occurring in well-defined yellowish-green crystals in Basalt, in Rougemont. This is the Peridote of jewellers and lapidaries. The yellowish grains mentioned in the same work as occurring in the Dolorites of Montarville and Montreal are the Chrysolite proper, although jewellers will persist in confining that name to Chrysoberyl. No gems have thus far been cut from either of these varieties. Mr. A. F. Low mentions the occurrence of a yellowish-grey opaque variety in rock masses in the Shickshock Mountains, but this is of no value as an ornamental stone. Quartz.—Several varieties of this mineral suitable for cutting are found in different parts of Canada, foremost of which is the Quartz Asteria, iound in the neighbourhood of the Gatineau. It occurs as a constituent of a granitic vein, in pieces the size of a pea to that of a pigeon’s egg, together with other translucent quartz. The quantity of the gem material to the quartzose mass would not be more than one per cent., and even with the available material much of it is marred by inclusions of web-like markings, which often escape observation until after the stone is cut. This stone is perfectly transparent, and by transmitted or reflected light exhibits a star of six rays. This may also be seen in a first-class stone in ordinary light. 124 The name Asteria applied by me to a certain variety of Quartz, will require some explanation, as individual opinions are somewhat diversified on this point. I will endeavour to give my reasons for adhering to this name. I have been informed by one scientist that I could call these gems Asteriated Quartz, but not Quartz Asteria, which certainly seems to me a distinction without a difference. Pliny described the Star Sapphire under the name “ Asteria.” This latter name is still retained to designate varieties of Asteriated Corun- dum, such asthe Sapphire Asteria, Ruby Asteria, Topaz Asteria, etc. I think we may safely infer that the word Asteria was used to particu- larize a variety depending on physical properties, which were then known to occur only in the corundum mineral, and as Cats-eyes are described under Quartz by many authors, when the real stone is Chyrs- oberyl, Asteria applied to Quartz would be no more misleading. Em- manuel says the Quartz Cats-eyes are frequently confounded by jewel- lers with the true or Chrysoberyl Cats-eye, which they persist in calling the Chrysolite Cats-eye. The Corundum Asterias or star stones are peculiar to Ceylon. By skilful cutting the natives produce a star of six rays, which by sunlight or artifical light is vividly shown. A top light is best to judge them by, Fine stones command a high price. Dr. Feuchtwanger says that certain translucent varieties of Sap- phire, when cut convex, and when the principal axis of the crystal stands perpendicular to the base of the convex cut stone a white light running in six rays, resembling three white planes or stripes crossing one another at one point is seen. We feel assured as the properties of the Canadian Asteria become better known to jewellers and others, and the prejudice against its being Canadian is overlooked we shall have more admirers of this handsome gem. It compares in some way with the Ceylonese Moonstone, but is much harder and will retain its polish much longer, and on the other hand the Moonstone does not come within the category of true gems. Probably if these stones had been introduced by some organized ring as new Ceylonese gems and high prices asked for them, they would have been held in higher estimation by some persons. ‘Take for in- stance the Moonstone, above referred to, which material is far more plentiful, and more easily cut and polished and cheap enough in its =r" 125 own country, and yet for a two-carat stone and not perfect at that, I was asked the moderate sum of $7 by a prominent jeweller in Montreal: This stone would be worth in Ceylon about twenty five cents. You will perhaps rely more on the weight of my statement if I read you an abstract from the Hand-book of Exhibits of Ceylon at the Colonial Exhibition: ‘ Moonstones were credited to other countries in past ages, besides Ceylon, and were known to the ancients, who as- sociated the moonlike lustre with the phases of the moon. These stones are found in large numbers in severai places and are not of any considerable value; indeed the large quantities found prevent their commanding <« high price.” I do not mention this to throw any more reflection on the Moonstone, but merely as a comparison between the intrinsic value of it and the Quartz Asteria. The taste for the one has been acquired ; for the other it has yet to be acquired. You will say, if the stone with its attractive qualities is what you claim for it, why is it not more in demand? To which I would reply, that vendors of precious stones are not generally min- eralogists, they therefore decline handling gems that are not known in the market until the demand on the part of the public forces them to do ~so; and again, the introduction of a new stone may perhaps seriously retard the sale of a large stock of gems on hand, not to mention the many vexatious questions that might be put by customers concerning its durability, etc. Besides the above variety, the colourless transparent crystals of Quartz found in many parts of Canada will afford at times clear gems. The brilliant crystals found in the neigbourhood of Quebec and known as Quebec Diamonds lock well when mounted in their natural state, and when cut as brilliants are exceedingly bright. The rose and smoky varieties of Quartz are occasionally met with, and according to Prof. Howe, some years ago, large crystals of the latter kind could be found in the stone heaps of the fields in the neighbourhood of Paradise Village, N.S. I have also seen some fine crystals of this variety from British Columbia, fit for cutting. Rose Quartz although occurring at a number of places in Canada, has not yet to my knowledge been mei with as a gem macerial. The perfectly transparent variety, Rock crystal, referred to above 126 as occurring at several places in Canada, has not, however, been found sufficiently large, I think, for the needs of the optician, who designates this mineral pebble, and who prefers it to glass on account of its superior hardness and coolness to the touch. I shall here call your attention to some erroneous ideas concerning different coloured Quartz. The Cairngorm (named from the Cairngorm Mountain in Scot- land) isa smoky variety of Quartz——although this name is often applied to the same mineral of other tints. Such namesas the Brazilian Topaz Mexican Topaz, Spanish Topaz, False Topaz, Citrine, Smoke Stone Cairngorm, etc., are all applied in turn to coloured Quartz by jewellers and others, who appear to have a name always ready, according to the shade of gem indemand. If this loose nomenclature were confined to varieties of Quartz it would not be of so much consequence, but re- gardless of their composition, they call all stones of a pale green colour Aquamarine, and all pale yellow ones Topaz. Amethyst is another variety of Quartz, found principally at Lake Superior and Nova Scotia, although at the former locality it is much more abundant and is found lining cavities in groups of large crystals that are often coated with Jasper, Pyrite, Fluorite, etc. Itscolouris of various shades of purple in blotched markings, which prevents their use to any extent as gems, owing to the difficulty of getting an evenly coloured stone. On the Bay cf Fundy a more uniformly coloured stone is met with, although comparatively rare, which will at times cut into a costly jewel. Amethyst is valued according to the depth, richness and uniformity of colour, and its transparency. ‘This stone like most gems appears less brilliant at night, but when surrounded with pearls it appears at all times to its best advantage.” In 1652 Emmanuel says that an Amethyst was worth as much as a Diamond of equal weight. Cats-Eye Quarts is reported to have been found on the Bay of Fundy. Sometime ago I was shown a rolled specimen from Partridge Island, N.S., which the owner prized very much, but which I was con- vinced was nothing but a pebble of Heulandite. However, notwith- standing this single mistake, we are informed on good authority that the 127 real mineral does exist on Partridge Island. But no specimen of it, as yet, has come before our notice. Opal has been found by Dr. G. M. Dawson in British Columbia in small faintly iridescent pieces in Trachyte. They, however, were too small for cutting. But possibly if this locality were examined more closely for gem material the result might prove more favourable. ‘The same gentleman found the variety Hyalite in small globular aggrega- tions also in British Columbia. Kyanite.—TVhis mineral has been noticed at two or three places in Canada. In the Sudbury district it occurs in light sky blue crystals in a triclinic felspar, and would cut into handsome gems if found trans- parent. Topaz.— According to the late Prof. Howe, of Nova Scotia speci- mens of this stone were exhibited in London in 1862, both rough and, cut, by Mr. McDonald—the locality given was. Cape Breton, and the cutting is said to have been done in Pictou. The cut stone was rather more than half an inch in length, its colour yellow. Having come to the end of the gems proper, we will now refer to those minerals which constitute Semi-precious stones, and which form a much larger proportion of our gem material than the former. We will first notice the siliceous varieties. Quartz.—This mineral has been referred to as a real gem ; we shall now consider it in connection with other minerals, such as— Gold Quartz.—When native gold is dispersed through a white translucent quartz it makes a very pretty gem. Thousands of dollars worth of this material have been cut up in the United States during the last few years. We have not as yet been fortunate enough to see much of our Canadian gold quartz fit for the purpose, although, no doubt, suitable specimens are often consigned to the crushers. It is not the scarcity of gold in our Canadian specimens that makes this material hard to obtain ; they are too rich if anything, but it is due to the rusty coloured nature of the quartz. A few stones have been cut, with small nuggets attached, from the Nova Scotia quartz. Stlver Quarts will often afford good material for cutting when th? base is evenly coloured. 128 Thetis Hatr Stone.—I noticed this mineral some years ago filling a vein in the ‘Township of Hull. In the rough state it is not a very preposse-sing mineral, but when cut tolerably thin it displays its peculiar hair-like markings, floating in a greasy transparent quartz These inclusions are filaments of Actinolite, and when sparingly distributed and less defined they would assist in producing Catseye (Quartz. Chalcedony.—Under this heading we must include a number of minerals that differ only in their translucency and colour, such as Agates, Onyx, Sardonyx, Hornstone, Chrysoprase, Plasma, Prase, Jasper, Bloodstone and Cachelony, which will be described separately. Chalcedony includes those clear, translucent varieties of bright red, yellow and white, often called Carnelian ; when of brownish red it is called Sard. These varieties may frequently be found in rolled pebbles on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, Baie des Chaleurs and Lake Superior, also at a few places in British Columbia. ffornstone is improperly applied to a cellular cherty mineral from Grenville, of no value for cutting; but in the neighbourhood of Two Islands, Nova Scotia, a beautiful white translucent variety occurs, which, owing to its extreme toughness and its susceptibility to a high polish, is well suited tor Signet rings, etc. Agate.—A description of this mineral alone would fill a good- sized volume were we to make any attempt to elaborate on its varieties and occurrence. The three principal localities where it is obtained are Nova Scotia, Lake Superior region in Ontario, and British Columbia. From Two Islands, in Minas Bay, to Cape Chignecto, in the Bay of Fundy, and trom Digby Gut to Blomidon, on the south side of the Bay, may be called the home of the Agates, occurring at intervals in veins and pebbles, the latter being generally the finest. The varieties mostly met with on the Bay are the variegated and brecciated Agates, although the Fortification and Moss Agates are frequently found, the latter both yellow and green. In the neighbourhood of Lake Superior the Fortification Agates predominate, although pretty Moss Agates are often found. In British Columbia the Agates are also of the Fortification type, but generally = CO . 129 light coloured or white; not unfrequently stalactitic markings may be seen in a transparent base. It is a pity that our Agates, which have been so lavishly distributed over the Dominion, beautiful in their natural colours, should be ignored for the more spurious and gaudy articles imported, and paimed off on tourists and others at the Lake Superior and Niagara resorts as Canadian. ‘These Agates come principally from Brazil and India, and, according to some authors, may be recognized from the German by being water worn, whereas the German are generally coated externally with delissite. They are, however, all cut in Germany, and after being polished are steeped in oil, and finally boiled in sulphuric acid, by which process they are often converted from the pure white Fortifica- tion Agate to the black Onyx with its white concentric rings. This is caused by the oil entering the more porous portions of the stone and then being carbonized by the sulphuric acid. Onyx.—This variety is found occasionally at the Agate localities before mentioned, and differs only from that mineral by its colours being arranged in parallel layers, which are either black, brown, red, yellow, etc., striped so as to exhibit alternate colours, arranged like a sandwich, itis then termed Sardonyx. However, rarely more than two colours are seen in the imported stones It is on this particular mineral that some of the finest masterpieces of art are still preserved in some of the European museums. A marvellously fine antique Sard- oynx Cameo of five strata, representing the bust of Faustina, was said to have been sold at the sale of the effects of the Marquis of Dree for 7,000 francs. We often hear from jewellers and others of the “ Oriental Onyx.’ This name enhances its value considerably, and yet these are identical with the German stones, and as there is every reasun to suppose that the same process coloured the stones from India as those from Germany, their quality and translucency is identical, and more particu- larly as no lapidary or jeweller can tell one from the other, why should there be any difference ? Some fine Onyx pebbles were brought from Queen Charlotte Island, B.C., by the Marquis of Lorne. They were of a pale yellowish colour striped with white. But perhaps the finest specimens of this 130 variety have lately been found by Dr. G. M. Dawson in British Columbia. These are made up of several strata, and as these layers are exceedingly thin, of different colours, conspicuous among which is a bright green, they would cut into handsome Sardonyx gems. Chrysoprase occurs of various shades of green, and is translucent. Its colour is due to the presence of a little nickel. This stone was formerly greatly esteemed in Europe, but now is almost valueless. This may be owing to the fact that its colour gradually fades in the course of time. ‘The mineral was found by Dr. Bell, of the Geological Survey, in the Hudson Bay Territory. Prase hes been noticed by Dr. Dawson, in British Columbia, of a dark green colour. It would contribute a curious gem, but although it takes a good polish, it is said to become spotted by long exposure to the air. Jasper.—Another mineral of the many varieties of Quartz, may be said to be quite common in Canada, and indeed only a few miles from our doors, a band of variegated Jasper occurs, from bright red to various shades of brown and yellow, with often the three colours intermingled. Ribbon Jasper is of frequent occurrence in the Bay of Fundy, often of a brownish base with yellow bands. At Two Islands, Minas Basin, in Nova Scotia, a peculiar white porcelainous looking Jasper, interspersed with rose coloured markings, occurs in veins of Basalt. It takes a high polish and some specimens resemble hand-painted Porcelain. Jasper of various colours may be found almost anywhere on the Bay of Fundy, either in loose pebbles among the debris of the shore or in veins inter- secting the Basalt. The occurrence of this mineral at Sherbrooke and Riviere Ouelle in the Eastern Townships in beds and veins is mentioned in the Geol- ogy of Canada. This is, however, very uncertain in its polish at the former locality, where this mineral is of various shades of red. Specular Iron ore, together with numerous small holes, render it entirely useless as an ornamental stone. The Riviere Ouelle specimens, which are often beautifully variegated, will occasionally take a good polish. The so-called “‘ Gaspe Pebbles ” are generally Jasper. In the Lake Superior district, in Ontario, Jasper of different colours is found, both in veins and pebbles, the latter enclosed in a translucent quartzite, forms large 131 beds, and were it not for its vessicular nature would make a handsome ornamental stone. However, small pieces, sufficiently compact, may be obtained which work up into a curious and pretty gem. In British Columbia, Jasper is often found of a green colour, constituting Heliotrope ; also at the Lake Superior district and Two Islands in Nova Scotia a similar mineral occurs, sometimes interspersed with thin seams and dots of red Jasper, called Bloodstone. Silicified Wood is merely wood that has been saturated with Silica, either in the form of Quartz or Opal, and some varieties of which are very handsome. it is frequently found in the Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks of the North-West and British Columbia in large pieces. Cachelony is a hydrous variety of Quartz or Opal occurring at several places on the Bay of Fundy, associated with Agate. This stone would cut into small gems cf a white translucent colour. Chiastolite—This mineral is worthy of a place among the gem materials ; if its sombre colour does not introduce it as a general favourite, its quaint dark coloured cross, which is revealed when the crystals are cut at right angles to the longer axis, would obtain for it some admirers as a curious gem. ‘This mineral, according ‘o the Geology of Canada, is found on Lake St. Francis, and boulders of a schistose rock of some hundreds of pounds in weight, thickly studded with these crystals, were observed by Dr. Ells in the Eastern Town- ships. Staurolite, isanother mineral that may be mentioned in this connec- tion as it is sufficiently hard and takes a good polish, and when of a reddish-brown colour and translucent, will make rather a pretty gem- Crystals of this mineral occur at Moore’s Mills in New Brunswick, and it has also been observed in Nova Scotia and the Eastern Townships, but judging from specimens I have seen, none of gem quality. Feldspar, is made to include a number of minerals such as Orthoclase, including Adularia, (Moonstone) and Porphyry ; Microcline, including Amazon Stone and Perthite ; Albite, including Moonstone and Peristerite; Oligoclase, including Sunstone and Moonstone; Labradorite and Obsidian, You will therefore see that the Moonstone may consist of three different feldspars. The transparent variety from Ceylon is Oligoclase. The milky variety from St. Gothard is Ortho- clase, and the similar Canadian variety is Albite, although some of our Orthoclase is quite luminous when cut. Orthoclase occurs in Canada of different colours the more conspi- cuous of which are pinkish, white and brown, the latter variety often beautifully crystallized in the Townships of Sebastopol and Ross, and sometimes the crystals when cut parallel with certain planes are quite luminous. ‘They at the same time, reveal minute spangles of a glistening yellow colour, thus combining the properties ot the Moon- stone and Aventurine. This constitutes a neat and pretty gem, and it is a pity that prejudice should prevent these stones from taking the place of the gaudy imitation trash that is at present glutting our market. It is stated in the Geology of Canada that a reddish-brown: Ortho- clase with cleavages of half an inch across, which exhibits golden-bronze reflections of great beauty, was brought from the coast of Labrador. Another Aventurine variety was noticed by Dr. Bigsby on the north east shore of Lake Huron, twenty miles east of the French River. Porphyry, more properly is a rock mass, composed of two or more minerals. This material of various colored bases, interspersed with white, rose red, and greenish spots is found at many places in Canada. A rock of this description covers a number of acres in Grenville and Chatham, and could be utilized for ornamental purposes, and also, as a gem stone, portions of it being as pretty as a Bloodstone. Felsite. JY should here mention another rock that occurs at Cham- cook, N.B., under the name of Felsite. It is thoroughly homogenous and takes a high polish. Its colour is of various shades of brown, some- times veined with lighter or darker shades, giving to the mass the aspect of rosewood. Microcline or “Amazon Stone,” is found in the Townships of Hull, Wakefield, Sebastopol and in the neighbourhood of Paul’s Island, Labrador, of various shades of green, often verging on blue. This stone from the neighbourhood of Wakefield when cut convexly often reveals a bright, silvery lustre and in artificial light has a pretty effect. Ferthite, is the name given by Dr. Thompson to a variety of Feld- spar from the Township of Burgess, and according to Bauerman, is made up of different laminz of Albite, Orthoclase and Microcline, the latter being rendered iridescent by inclusions of Specular Iron. This 133 compound mineral together with Quartz forms a granite vein, which covers a large area, although the proportion of the Perthite to the rock mass would not be very great. Its colour varies from a light flesh- red toa dark brown and it will at times cut into very handsome gem stones, the surfaces of which are brilliant with golden reflections. Mr. George F. Kunz the author of ‘‘ Precious Stones in America,” says: “‘ Perthite forms a very curious and rich coloured gem, with its bright Aventurine reflections.” This mineral has not been observed at any other Iccality than that given above. Albite has been found at several places in Canada, but there is reason to suppose it has a much wider distribution than we are aware of at present. In thetownships of Wakefield, Hull and Villeneuve, in Quebec, and Drummond and Bathurst in Ontario, this mineral oc- curs with broad and striated cleavages, the surfaces of which are beau- tifully chatoyant with such colours as blue, green and yellow and will rarely cut into fine Moonstones with pearly and bluish reflections, and first-class stones will compare with those from St. Gothard. Peristertte isa name given to the opalescent Albite at Bathurst, where it occurs associated with Quartz. ‘The mineral from this locality although pretty with its bluish reflections is nevertheless marred by being generally stained by the oxidation of the Pyrites that is associated with it. O.goclase—This mineral constitutes the Ceylon Moonstone, and although a vein of this material occurs in the Township of Hull it has not proved to be of gem quality. Sunstone, possibly Oligoclase associated with Titaniferous Iron Ore, was biought in by a farmer from the Gatineau region. Labradorite—Although abundant throughout Northeastern Canada, as a constituent of the Anorthosite rocks, and at times affording large cleavages, is neverthele-s devoid of those bright coloured reflections which so characterize those specimens biought from Paul’s Island, Labrador. Scme specimens from the reighbourhood of Perth, gave fiery red reflections, but not so vividly as those from Labrador, which at times are entirely blue, at others green, sometimes the two colours are interblended with the addition of purple and bronze, but the rarest 134 colour is the coppery or fiery red, and in cut sto.es, with convex sur- faces, this mineral will vie with the Fire Opal. Obsidian is a volcanic glass, often beautifully mottled with various colours. The Canadian varieties, however, are usually dark. It is found in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, at the latter place in small rounded pebbles, coated with a blue mineral embedded in Amygdaloid. ‘These when cut take a brilliant lustre and are jet black, someiimes bordering on blue. Chrome Pyroxere, which is found associated with the Chrome Garnet in the Township of Orford, is occasionally of an emerald green tint and semi-transparent and might afford small gems. In the Town- ship of Wakefield, at the other Chrome Garnet locality, a massive sea- green variety interspersed with emerald green dots occurs. It takes a high polish and could Le utilized for ornamental purposes. Scapolite. This mineral is found widely distributed in the Lauren- tian, of various colours, such as pink, lilac, bluish, yellow and white, and when sufficiently clear from cleavages, cracks and foreign mincrals, takes a good polish, making rather a neat and pretty gem stone. Wilsonite, which is mentioned as a material suitable for gems, is occasionally found of a pink colour, associated with Scapolite and from which, according to some authors, it has resulted. The cifficulty with th s mineral, is to get it sufficiently free from foreign inclusions, which are generally of a harder nature, and consequently after being polished, stand out in relief. I have also noticed that its colour after exposure to the air for some time becomes much paler. This mineral is of fre- quent occurence in the Apatite deposits of Ottawa County, the best specimens however, come from the Township of Bathurst. Hy persthene as a gem material was introduced some time ago by the French jewellers. It is said to take a high polish, with an ridescence of copper, ‘red, bright brown, gold yellow, and greenish shades. Dr. Feuchtwanger says he saw a stone of this nature, twelve lines long and six broad, sold in Paris for 120 francs. This mineral is of trequent occurrence in the Anorthosite rocks of Canada. Idocrase or Vesuvianite is cut occasionally at Naples, and there sold under the name of Italian Chrysolite, where it occurs in trans- parent green and brown crystals. The Canadian Idocrase, observed in 135 the Townships of Grenville, Wakefield, Templeton and the Calumet Islands, is usually in hair-brown crystals, except in the first named Township the colour is a yellow, all of which are translucent only on their edges, except in the case of some very small crystals from Wakefield, which were semi-transparent. No gem material of this mineral has yet been met with in Canada. Lazulite.—This mineral was found by Dr. R. Bell on the Churchill River ot a cobalt-blue colour. This material is sometimes employed as a substitute for Lapis-lazuli, which it resembles somewhat in colour. Sodalite is another blue mineral, which occurs associated with granite on the Recky Mountains in British Columbia. It varies in colcurs from light to dark blue, from translucent to opaque. From a large number of specimens examined 1 should think that fair-sized blocks of the Granite, interspersed with veins and patches of Sodalite, could be obtained which would make a very handsome ornamental stone. As a gem material it compares with the Lapis-lazuli, is the same hardness, and takes a higher polish. ‘The largest stone of this material, free from any adhering rock, that has been cut in Canada, would be about one and half inches by three-quarters, and three-quarters of an inch thick. Chlorastrolite was thought, until recently, to be confined to Isle Royal, but has lately been found ina place I believe on the Canadian side. In the neighbourhood of Lake Superior they are often called Turtle Agates, owing to the markings of the stone, resembling the grotesque designs often seen on some species of turtles. They occur in rounded pebbles of various sizes, of dark green colours mottled and veined with white ; they are perfectly opaque, and a stone of a good colour and marking makes a very pretty gem. Prehnite, of which the former Chlorastrolite is supposed to be a variety, occurs at several places in the Lake Superior district, also at the Baie des Chaleurs in New Brunswick, and at the Bay of Fundy ir Nova Scotia. In the first named area, independent of the important veins of this mineral which sometimes form the gangue of rich native Copper deposits, pebbles of various colours, sometimes radiating, are found among the debris of the shore, generally enclosing scales of the ame mineral. The pale greenish variety of the Baie des Chaleurs, and 136 the somewhat darker shade from Nova Scotia, also afford material for cutting. This stone, when translucent and prettily mottled, will cut into curious and pretty gems. Jade or Nephrite is a tough compact translucent eed graduat- ing from a greyish white to dark shades of green. It takes a high polish, having a somewhat greasy lustre. This is not much known in this country, but is very popular in Asia. It is found in Corisca, China, Egypt and New Zealand, in the latter country it is called Greenstone, In British Columbia numerous implements and tools, fashioned by the Indians out of a beautiful translucent variety of this mineral equal to that from New Zealand, are often found, but no occurance of this mineral in situ has yet been observed. Epidote, when in translucent crystals and of a good colour will sometimes cut ito a very curious gem. Our Canadian mineral is gen- erally of a hue of greenish or yellowish colour; some small crystals, however, from Wakefield are translucent, but not of gem quality. The massive variety although widely distributed in the Pre-Cambrian rocks is rarely met with in large pieces, but as an accessory to the Gneissic rocks it sometimes lends a pleasing tint when these are polished. Fine slabs of a reddish colour, veined or clouded with light green Epidote, might be cut from the Gneiss of Ramsay. Epidosite from the Shick- Shock Mountains will also cut into fair stones of a pale yellowish green colour somewhat resembling Chrysoprase. According to the Geology of Canada this mineral is also of frequent occurence in the Silurian rocks. Rutile is mentioned as a gem material, sometimes cutting into Ruby red stones, and others of a black colour, more closely resembling the Black Diamond then any other known gem. Some of the lighter coloured ones cut into gems closely resembling the common Garnet. This mineral occurs in Canada in Ruby red grains distributed through the Ilmenite at Bay St. Paul, but I have not heard of any pieces being found large enough for cuiting. It also occurs in geni- culated crystals of a reddish colour in a mixed bed of Barite and Cal- cite at Templeton, but not of gem quality. Chondrodite occurs of various shades of yellow to hyacinth red, also green and brown in massive varieties. In Canada the only occur- € eke 137 rence of this mineral I am aware of is in the Township of South Crosby where it is found as yellowish grains dispersed through a crys- talline limestone, but not large enough for cutting. Pyrite, which is occasionally cut abroad, and was formerly much used in jewellery, is of very common occurrence in Canada. But material suitable for cutting is much more limited although sufficient quantity is available to supply the demand for some time to come. The Townships of Wakefield and Elizabethown probably afford the best material for this. Hematite and certain. varieties of Limonite will at times cut into curious and pretty gems. At the Iron mining districts of Michigan large quantities of these stones are sold to tourists and others as souvenirs of the locality, but it is said that they are cut abroad from foreign material. Some of the Limonite from Londonderry, N-S., will cut into curious stones of brown colour with concentric markings of yellow and a metallic lustre. They also take a high polish. Titanite, which is found in Tyrol and the United States, in trans- parent yellowish and greenish crystals, will at times cut into fine gems, and although Canada has probably afforded the finest twin and single crystals of this mineral found in any part ot the world, the sales of which in the United States have netted the various dealers thousands of dollars, even to-day good crystals of this mineral command a high price but small and inferior crystals are of little value. Their colour is usually hair brewn to black, and from translucent to opaque, with, occasionally, aventurine reflections on their planes. The Townships of Sebastc pol, Grattan and Ross, have probably afforded the best specimens, although it is also quite common in many of the Apatiie deposits, in single crystals. No material fit for the Lapidary’s use has yet been observed from any of the above localities. Natrolite cccurs in the Amygdaloids of Nova Scotia and may be met with, in some form or other, almost anywhere on the Bay of Fundy, where this rock 1s found. At cne remarkable locality on Stronach Mountain, near Margaretville, large masses of this mineral in radiating acicular crystals, may often be found piled up with the stones of the field. The largest individual crystal that I have seen is about one- fourth of an inch across, and translucent, but not fit for cutting, A 139 often banded or zoned with lighter or darker tints. This mineral, like the Agate, seems to offer facilities for the introduction of the skill of the artificer, as the manufactured articles often seen are not of natural hue, but are brought to that state of perfection by subjecting them to a certain degree of heat before polishing. Crystals of this mineral are often found of large size and richly coloured, and have been employed in making rings, stones, etc., known in the trade as False Amethyst, False Emerald, False Ruby, False Topaz, etc., according to the colour. This mineral is much too scft for any purposes of jewellery. At Lake Superior large cubical crystals of a dingy green colour are often found associated with Amethyst. Emerald green and purpl cleavable varieties are often met with in the Lrecciated veins that are now being worked for Silver in the Port Arthur district In the Township of Ross, in Ontario, a beautiful purplish-red granular variety occurs, with a more compact semi-transparent whitish fluor. In the Township of Hull a single crystal of semi-transparent green colour, and which must have been four cubic inches, was found by a farmer in developing an Apatite deposit, who, being of a liberal disposition, broke up the crystal to give pieces of it to his friends, thereby robbing the scientific world of one of the finest crystals ever found in Canada. A portion of this crystal is in the Geological Museum. Several other localities in this and the neighbouring Townships afford this mineral. Aragontte, Satin Spar and Alabaster, are minerals used to a large extent abroad for making fancy ornaments, and as the two latter are often represented by various minerals, it may be as well to point out their difference. . Satin Spar, or fibrous limestone, is found largely in the coal formations of Cumberland and Derbyshire; it is also found in Hungary, United States and Canada. I have seen several specimens from the Lake Superior district that would cut into beads and other ornaments. Beads of this mineral were, some years ago, in great favour in England, but owing to the introduction of an imitation, made from hollow glass globes, filled with fish scales, which very nearly resembled the originals, they have of late years gone out of fashion. 138 more compact fibrous variety, often zoned with pink, found at Cape Split and elsewhere on the Bay, will sometimes cut into neat and pretty gems. Thomsonite 1s reported to have been found on the Bay of Fundy, in N.S., but these specimens are considered by some authors to be a variety of Mesotype. The pretty little pebbles of Thomsonite that are brought from Lake Superior, are really from the State of Minnesota, at a place called Grand Marais. ‘They occur as pebbles in the Amygda- loid, and are often beautifully variegated with such colours as flesh red, zoned and motiled with green, red, brown and white, and when per‘ect- ly free from holes, make very handsome gems. Apatite, which is destined to become the backbone of the Ottawa Valley, cannot be left altogether out of this category. If we have not yet found any material from which gems or ornaments may be cut ; and though we have seen during the past few years so many different varie- ties developed, we may still look forward to better results in the future, and possibly some of them may yet yield a more compact variety suit able for this purpose. I have seen both yellow and blue transparent crystals, but too small fur cutting, from the Township of Wakefield. Since writing the above, some fine olive green transparent gems have been cut from this m'neral trom Portland. Apophylite, sometimes called Fish-eye Stone, (this name is also applied occasionally to Adularia,) is met with at several places on the Bay of Fundy, the more noticeable of which, for gem purposes, is on the Blomidon shore, where it occurs in greenish-white, semi-transparent to translucent crystals often an inch across. On the other side of the Bay, at Cape D'Or, large modified white crystals, two inches in diameter are found. ‘These are however, perfectly opaque and unfit for cutting. This mineral also occurs at Lake Superior, of a reddish colour, but of no value as a gem. Fluor.— Derbyshire Spar, or Blue John, as it is sometimes called, has been employed extensively in England for the last century, and even to-day there are more manufactories of this material in Derby than anywhere e'se, engaged in making such ornaments as vases, cups, plates, candlesticks, etc. ‘The variety from which the above articles are made occurs in compact and granular masses of some shades of blue, 140 Satin Gypsum, sometimes called Satin Spar, which bears a strong resemblance to the former, is much softer, and consequently not so often used. Fine specimens of this material are found at various places on Minas Basin, more particularly at Cape Blomidon, Cape Sharp and Swan Creck. Alabaster is represented by Limestone (carbonate of lime), and Gypsum (sulphate of lime). The purest material used in Italy, and from which source many of the ornaments of this mineral come, is derived from a bed 2co feet deep at Castelino, in Tuscany, One of the principal mauufactories of Alabaster ornaments is at Valterra, thirty miles from Leghorn, where about 5,000 persons are dependent upon this industry. This variety of Limestone has not yet been observed in Canada. Gypsum Alabaster is found at Hillsborough, N.B., and is suscepti- ble of a good polish. Large blocks, hundreds of pounds in weight, are often taken out, consisting of translucent white anhydrite, which are generally veined with Gypsum ; the latter mineral, being softer, wears away faster in the polishing, leaving a somewhat uneven surface. This, however, should not be sufficient to detract from its value as an ornamental stone, as the effect produced by the sunken veins is often very grotesque. Mala. hite—This beautiful carbonate of copper which comes to us from Australia, Hungary, Tyrol and Siberia is also met with sparingly in Canada associated with other ores of copper. In the County of Hastings nodules of this mineral as large as a cricket ball are said to be found occasionally in the loose soil. From some of the copper mines of tne Eastern Townships and New Brunswick, handsome small spectimens are sometimes met with and would contribute small gems. Serpentine.—This mineral with its rich colour has always been an attractive ornamental stone. In Saxony several hundred people are employed making boxes, trinkets and other ornaments out of this material. Our Canadian Serpentines, more particularly those occurring in the Laurentian, are often of rich yellowish and greenish colours and might be utilized for all purposes of interior decoration. Some years ago an enteiprising machinist established himself in the vicinity of the 141 Grenville Serpentines, where he turned by a fcot-lathe a number of very pretty crraments such as vases, doork-nobs, etc., but owing to his method of cutting up the stone with a hand-saw we need hardly men- tion that this enterprise was not attended with much success. Calumet Island, Wakefield, Templeton, Bowman and Grenville probably afford the best translucent variety, although it is largely distri- buted cver other parts of Canada, especially the Eastern Townships. Amber is occasionally found in rounded pieces in the lignites of the cretaceous and may possibly afford material suitable for beads, ete: The North-West Territory and British Columbia have both contributed small specimens. Jet is a variety of cannel coal, not yet observed at any Canadian locality, and judging from the many so-called imported Jet ornaments that I have seen lately, if the Whitby mineral is much used, black enamel and glass constitute the Jet of the present time. I have now called your attention to the various minerals available for gems and semi-gems scattered over the Dominion and given the localities of the more important material, and at the same time have drawn comparisons with those of other countries. Some per- sons have an idea that our crude material has no value before cutting and that it might be sold by the ton or hundredweight instead of by the carat, as most European or Oriential gems are. Now this vague idea might lead some persons to infer that our gems in Canada are compara- tively worthless, owing to the great abundance of cutting material, and only after being polished are they of any value. Certainly several of our semi-gems, such as Agate, Jasper, Amazon Stone, &c., might be obtained by the ton, and consequently are of little value, and even after being cut are quite inexpensive. But betore we begin to guage our material for gem cuiting, we must provide ourselves with certain facts, respecting its uniformity of colour and transparency, and its freedom from flaws and cavities ; then when blocks of six inch cube of such material can be obtained, we may talk or selling it by the ton. It is true of certain minerals, that large masses often occur, and perhaps one per cent. of this might be utilized, but then this large per centage only applies to a very few of our semi-gem minerals. And, on the other hand, the uncertainty of some minerals makes it almos. 142 impossible to tell what sort of gems they will produce, and consequent- ly only about twenty-five per cent of the cut stones may be considered fair samples. This therefore raises the price of manufacture one hun- dred per cent. Neither does it follow, that the few selected stones are equal in value, as one, through richness of colour, transparency, &c., may realize more than ten of the others. This system of valuation will serve to illustrate the low prices of certain gems in the market; and those who are in the habit of buying these grades of stones, and at the same time are unaware that the low prices, are caused by the sale of a few called No. 1 at fancy prices, should understand that the price of pro- duction of each stone is often greatly in excess of the prices paid by them for this class of gems. In mentioning the word Oriental, many persons, I presume, would infer that it signifies gems from the east. Many authors, however, apply this appelation to the Corundum species, such as Blue Sapphire, (Oriental Sapphire,) Green Sapphire, (Oriental Emerald,) Yellow Sap- phire, (Oriental Topaz,) Red Sapphire, (Oriental Ruby.) &c., and others apply the word Oriental to the Emeralds from Peru, which are neither Corundum species, nor yet from the east, and as the word Oriental as applied to certain gems, is somewhat ambiguous, it should not be con- sidered in purchasing a gem, except from very reliable dealers. As to our crude material being of no value, this must depend entirely on the collector, who should be the best judge of the requisite material available. Now, as some of our local stones are sold by the carat on account of their scarcity, you will understand why the erroneous idea, that they may be obtained by the ton, should be pointed out. I can assure you we have not yet arrived at that stage when we can build our houses of Tourmaline, Moonstone or Quartz Asteria. 143 MONDAY AFTERNOON LECTURES. Nos. 7 & 8. THE CHEMISTRY OF Foon. By Frank T. Suurr, M.A., F:C.S., F.C. (Two Lectures delivered Feb. 23rd, and March 2nd, 1891.) He, indeed, would be an unreflecting and unthanktul individual who would not be willing to admit that the higher civilization of later times has given us great and innumerable blessings. We might, per- chance, find such an one among those who have grown up amid the comforts and luxuries of wealthy modern life, an unconscious re- cipient of good things and ignorant of the life of our forefathers ; or among those who, from long-continued poverty or degradation, can hardly he said to enjoy those blessings. ‘To recount the triumphs of science and enterprise—not to speak of other and not less important factors of our civilization—during the last fifty years would be a more than Herculean task. Triumphs of the Natural and Applied Sciences—great triumphs in the art of healing and no less great in electricity, and mechanics, and agriculture, and a host of sister sciences —triumphs that have added to our comforts and have alleviated our sufferings, attend and surround us on every side. But yet, while confessing all-this with ready lips, a moment’s serious reflection tells us that there is scarcely a blessing without its concomi- tant evil—an evil too often the result of the abuse of the blessing. Evils whose origins may easily be traced to the wrong or excessive use of things in themselves good and wholesome, pervade all ranks of society. It is only when we view exclusively this side of the picture— as too many of us occasionally. do—that we are apt to conclude thay our boasting of the achievements of the nineteenth century and the so-called betterment of the race, is worse than vain. But what has all this to do with the subject under discussion—the chemistry of food? A little careful thought may show us the applica- bility of these remarks as an introduction to a lecture on such an im ortant matter as food; for although my title might be considered, strictly speaking, to confine me to the composition of foods, I propose to incorporate with the chemistry somewhat of the physiology of food. 144 In this way I hope to make these lectures not only more interesting but more instructive than they otheswise might be to a general audience. By learning the functions of the constituents of foods in the system we may —as we shall see more clearly later on—be the better able to prac- tise economy and preserve health. To many of us civilized life has brought with it the accumulation of wealth, and wealth grants us comparative leisure and the means of obtaining not only necessities but luxuries in abundance. It gives us plenty of good, nutritious’and palatable food, but it also gives us the opportunity of indulging in those luxuries of the table, the excessive use of which is so disastrous to our health. eisure takes from us the necessity of that wholesome amount of exercise, which promotes a nor- mal and healthful condition of the system. On the other hand the conditions of society make us ambitious and encourage us to strain every muscle and nerve towards the attainment of more money and power, and thus it is that often we overwork our- selves, body and mind—become physical wrecks, not from the want of an ample supply of food, but because from the mode of our living we have not allowed it to nourish us properly. I, therefore, wish to emphasize the great and, I may say, vital importance that a knowledge of the requirements of the human body and of the composition and character.of our daily foods is to everyone nowadays. In the first place we are confronted with the statement on good authority that more suffer from over eating than from over-drinking, though the number of victims of the latter vice, we must all admit, is not small. Over-eating is a term used not only to designate the more than sufficient use of simple, wholesome food but also to include the taking in excessive quantities of rich and concentrated foods, most of which may be called luxuries, and lastly, one-sided diets adopted either from necessity or from mere fancy. Such diets are sooner or later inevitably followed by disease or a disordered system. That dyspepsia and allied ailments, especially on this side of the Atlantic, are very prevalent, and that the same are due to an abnormal or excessive diet, is well known, but that probably over fifty per cent. of the common dis- orders now afflicting mankind are from the same causes, and which are preventable by a proper care of the body and a judicious diet, is cer- 145 tainly not widely recognized by the la‘ty, though the medical profession have repeatedly attested the truthfulness of the statement. From a hygienic standpoint, therefore, we must admit the useful- ness of that knowledge which tells of the true nuritive value of the different foods and the amounts of them required to sustain health and vigour—a knowledge that will enable us to use with discretion those foods best suited to our wants and as a result experience mens sana in corpore sano. But the importance of the subject may be urged from another aspect—the economic one. “Half the struggle of life is a struggle for food,” says Edward Atkinson, and though this may appear an extreme statement, reflection assures us of its truth. Evidence in its support is supplied in abundance by our large cities where competition is rife and the inhabitants are massed together. When the scourge of famine overtakes a country, the misery and horrors which attend such a catastrophe emphatically attest its accuracy. Surely, then, food-econ- omy is a subject well worthy of study, for from it governments and individuals may learn how to obtain the most nutritious food for the least outlay, and thus in’ times of distress be enabled to alleviate much suffering. But nearer home there seems to be ample room tor improving our Own condition in this matter of food-economy. I do not here refer to that wilful waste of food in’our homes, which I must designate a sin against mankind, nor to that excessive use of food that engenders disease. I wish, rather, to direct your attention to the study of con- trasting the money value of foods with their nutritive value. For by such we shall be enabled to make choice of the most nutritious and palatable viands at the least cost. Then, perhaps, while spending a little less on our stomachs, we should have somewhat more to expend on other and no less noble objects in life—the improvement of our faculties and mental enjoyments—to say nothing of the noblest of all, the benefitting of our fellow man in one or other of the many ways now open to us. And there is yet a third side to the question—that of pleasure, This is, undoubtedly, a legitimate one for our consideration. The pleasure of eating and drinking oi the good things provided for us is assuredly a right one, and one that has been so recognized from all 146 times. But my subject is rather with foods themselves, and I must hasten on, having briefly outlined the reason why I deem a knowledge of what we eat so important, so necessary as to warrant my impressing upon you so urgently the value of its study. It is the food we eat that forms the tissues and developes the heat and energy of our bodies. The body creates nothing, neither matter or force. The physical life is dependent directly upon the digested food, water, and the oxygen we breathe. The changes the food undergoes in the life functions are simply and truly transforma- tions. We shall therefore do well at the outset to consider briefly those elements and compounds that compose the body structure. THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF THE HUMAN Bopy. Chemical analysis has proven that only fifteen, or at most seventeen, of the elements enter into the composition of the tissues of the body. In the following table, from Brubaker’s Physiology, they are enumerated together with the relative quantities in which they exist and the tissues in which they are found. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE HUMAN Bopy. Oxygen, 72.00 O. H.C. are found in all the tissues and Hydrogen, 9.10 fluids of the body, without exception. Nitrogen, 2.50 O. H. C.and N found in most of the fluids Carbon, 13 ae and all the tissues, except fat. Sulphur, .147. In fibrin, casein, albumen, gelatine of the tissues, in sweat and urine. Phosphorus, 1.15 In brain, saliva, blood and bones. Calcium, 1.30 In bones and teeth, in blood, saliva and chyle. Sodium, pce) In all the fluids of the body. Potassium, .026 In muscles. Magnesium, .oor __In bones, associated with calcium. Chlorine, .085 In the fluids and solid tissues. Fluorine, .080 With calcium in bones and teeth. Iron, OL In blood corpuscles and in muscles. Silicon traces, In blood, bones and hair. Manganese traces, Probably in hair, bones and nails. 147 These elements do not exist in the body in the free state, if we except traces of uncombined Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen, but in various combinations with one another forming exceedingly complex compounds. These, for the sake of convenience, fail into two great classes :—OrGANIc and INorGANIC, though the distinction is no longer a strictly accurate one. The organic compounds may be considered under the divisions, (2) NIrROGENOoUS, (4) NoN-NrTROGENOUS, accord- ing as to whether Nitrogen enters into their composition or not. Many of the elements above cited are common to both the Organic and Inorganic compounds. The NITROGENOUS COMPOUNDS are the most numerous as to their number as well as most complex as to their quantitative composition, though ‘they are made up of but four elements, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Carbon, with occasionally small amounts of Phosphorus and Sulphur. We can here only mention certain large groups ot these compounds. Albuminoids or Proteids, a generic term including a number of substances having the same percentage composition but different physical properties. Sub-divisions comprise, (1) ative Albumens, of which the white of egg is an example; (2) G/odudims, chief among which is Myosin, the organic basis of muscle; (3) Derived Albumens, the casein or curd of milk and certain substances formed in the stomach during digestion; and (4) Peptones or Soluble Albuminoids, formed by the action of the digestive fluids on food, and which pass into the blood to nourish the body. Besides these there are the Gelatins found in bones, etc., and certain other waste products formed by the life functions of the various organs of the body. The NON-NITROGENOUS ORGANIC COMPOUNDS are made up entirely of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. ‘They consist of (2) Carbo-hydrates, in which the Oxygen and Hydrogen are in proportion to form water ; (4) Fats, richer in Carbon and Hydrogen than the Carbo-hydrates, (¢) Fatty acids and (d) Alcohols. Carbo-hydrates, Sugar, Starch, are represented in comparatively small quantities in the body, though found in many of the fluids and - 148 tissues. The forms of sugar are G ycogen of the liver, Lactose or sugar of milk, Glucose (grape sugar) and Inosite or sugar of muscle. Fats and Oils—Palmitin, Olein and Stearin. These are really salts of the alcohol Glycerins with the fatty acids Palmitic, Oleic and Stearic. The fat of the body is made up chiefly of Palmitin and Stearin (solids) with small quantities of Olein (liquid). The fatty acids require no special discussion here. Mention of the three principal ones has already been made. These with Butyric acid in milk and Propionic acid in sweat, exist in combination with certain bases, e.g., Potassium, Calcium and Sodium in various parts of the body. | Alcohols :—Glycerine, a true alcohol has already been spoken of under “ fats;” it is also produced during digestion; Cholesterine, a crystallized uncombined alcohol, is present chiefly in bile. Ordinary alcohol has been detected in the body—probably the result of a fermentation in the digestive tr2ct. Under normal conditions, however, it is doubtful if it is produced. INORGANIC OR MINERAL Compounns.—-The chief of these is WaTER (Oxygen and Hydrogen), present to a very large extent in every fluid and tissue. Its great importance and function will be spoken of jater on. Calcium phosphate (phosphate of lime), another essential cempound, is the. basis of bones and teeth, but also found in other parts. Chloride of Sodium (common salt) is to be met with in all tissues and fluids. Iron in minute quantities enters into the cum- position of hemoglobin, the colouring maiter of the blood. It is also to be detected in many of the body tissues. The foregoing outline may serve as an enumeration of the more important body substances. Their origin and physiological function will be discussed when speaking of the nutritive ingredients of foods and the processes of digestion and assimilation. A knowledge of the relative amounts of the chemical elements and of the compounds already alluged to, as they exist in the body, will be found to be of interest and value. I, therefore, subjoin the following admirable tables compiled for the United States National Museum, Washington, by Messrs. Welch and Pomeroy. 149 WEIGHTS OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS IN THE BODY OF A MAN WEIGHING 148 LBS. PEL oP ali cet. ea 92.4 pounds emer ess US es RE SS S153 - RMMARONSCD 1536505 f00 sac, bere bob ose 14,6 be SS BEAM = 83 0 coe eye eam ioe 4.6 e 2 LDPE eee aoe 2.8 - RMON ers Sis Sad Fn eo oi gd a I.4 2 2 UBS bs eee ae ae mc Ya Rs 00 SSC Ss rr ee 2 FR ovine od amas ce S a ee L712 ee ne ek Lo SS og.“ UD LS ee re 02 Ren ere ss oa! so) 0. ore. «vids as pm Ef EEE) See ey Si 14G:00; “= COMPOUNDS IN THE BODY OF A MAN WEIGHING 148 POUNDS. Jp! Sa Th Lagan Pe ke 90.0 pounds Eratem, (Albuminoids)............ 26.1 < D0 2s Sees rare BOL Carbo-hydrates (starch, sugar).... .. ers Mineral matters (inorganic)........ ee ae are es koe os te eee ELGG, woe THe NUTRIENTS OF FOop. Having learnt somewhat of the compounds of the body and that the latter is built up by the functions of the organs of the body from the digested food, we may go on to consider the composition of foods, vegetable and animal. In view of what has already been said we shall not be surprised to hear that the edible and nutritive portions consist, in varying proportions, of those ingredients or compounds already consi- dered, viz: Albuminoids, Carbo-hydrates, Fats and Mineral matters 150 (including water). These are termed Nutrients, and the composition of the three classes of organic compounds is roughly as follows : Albuminoids. Fats. Carbo-hydrates. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. SEaROGIRN so Ses eee een 5a 76.5 44.0 PIyeROpeM ol. oie Seas one Oe 7-0 12.0 6.0 veehe go ns, Same ok ee 24.0 11.5 500 NILTOP ENE sce ana) oh oe = es 16.0 None None TO00.0 100.0 100.0 These Nutrients are by no means equally distributed throughout the food materials. The animal foods—meats and fish—-while very rich in albumino:ds and fats, possess but traces of the carbo-hydrates. They rnay be considered, therefore, essentially nitrogenous. Vegetable foods as a rule contain a large percentage of Carbo-hydrates, starch and sugar, and small quantities of albuminoids and fats, and conse- quently may be considered as essentially ncen-nitrogenous. An exception to the latter is to be found in peas and beans, which contain a notable amount of albuminoids. Very fat meats on the other hand, by reason of the large amount of fat they possess, cannot be considered as highly nitrogenous. This great distinction between these classes of foods is one worth remembering as helping us to arrive at their trué nutritive value. To enable us to do this the better, however, we may now proceed to state the physiological functions of these nutrients, whether they be derived from animal or vegetable foods. For this purpose I shall take the liberty of placing before you another chart from the National Museum. ; UsEs OF FooD IN THE Bopy. Food supplics the wants of the body in several ways. Food fur- nishes : 1. The materials of which the body is made. 2. The materials to repair the wastes of the body and to protect’ its tissues from being unduly consumed. Food is consumed in the body as fuel to 3. Provide heat to keep it warm ; 4. Produce muscular and intellectual energy for the work it has to do a 151 The body is built up and its wastes repaired by the nutrients. The nutrients also serve as fuel to warm the body and supply it with strength. Ways in which the nutrients are used in the body : Form the nitrogenous basis of blood, muscle, sinew, Thealbuminoid-_ bone, skin, &c. ot food Are chinged into fats and carbo-hydrates. Are consumed for fuel. The fats of { Arestored in the body as fats. food _ __ | Are-consumed for fuel. The carbo- / Are changed into fats. hydrates of food\ Are consumed for fuel. Are transformed into the mineral matters of bone and other tissues. Are used in various other ways. The mineral matters of food | This is a very instructive table, and it will be well before passing on to consider in more detail what it’means. It emphatically tells us in the first place that we cannot exist for any length of time on any one class of nutrients—a fact amply proved by actual experiment. No one nutrient is a complete diet. A diet consisting entirely of albumi- noids, or of carbo-hydrates, or of fats, is an impossible one, though a glance at the table shows that the albuminoids are more universal in their functions that the other two nutrients. We shall learn later on some- what of the proper ratio in which they should be used in order to preserve health. The tissues of the body are continually undergoing disintegration, heat is being dissipated and muscular and intellectual energy constantly expended. Let us examine fora moment the different classes of food as to their power to supply these wants. We have already said that animal foods— meats of all kinds and fish—are principally nitrogenous. The albuminoids they contain are often called flesh formers, because such go to form in the body the muscle and the blood. They also possess more or less fat, which may be laid up or converted into adipose tissue or used up in the production of heat. The vegetable foods consist largely of the carbo-hydrates, and 152 cannot be said to assist in the formation of new tissue—muscle, blood, &c., but are of service as fuel in developing the necéssary heat and energy. Of course, the fats they contain may be so used, or deposited as such in the adipose tissues. Water and mineral matters are common to both classes of foods. While both are absolutely necessary, they can scarcely be called nutrients. Water is the universal solvent. Dependent upon its presence are the processes of digestion and assimilation. The blood and lymph are largely water, and by them the nutri ive matter is conveyed to every part of the body. It also takes part in the elimination of waste products. Mineral matters, especially common salt and phosphate of lime are required tor tissues and bones. ‘The salt in the blood holds the albuminoids in solution, and by regulating the amount of water in the blood corpuscles and the cellular elements of the tissues, preserves their form and consistence.” Phosphate of lime gives solidity to the bones and teeth, and is also present in muscle, milk, &c. COMPOSITION AND DIGESTIBILITY OF THE MORE Common Foops. We may now consider the composition and digestibility of some of the more common foods. In the subjoined table, obtained from the same source as the preceding, the percentage indigestible, as well as the total amount of each nutrient is given. It is a very instructive chart and one that well deserves a careful study. It shows most clearly the large amount of albuminoids, entirely digestible, in the animal foods (meats and fish), and that in such, increased fat generally means decreased water. This is exemplified in the case of fat pork. The carbo- hydrates (starch and sugar) are practically absent in these foods. Eggs we see to be a highly concentrated food, being rich in albuminoids and fat, but containing no starch or sugar. Fish, generally speaking, is a very nutritious food, being easy of digestion. Its value as a brain food will be spoken of later on. Cod may be considered albuminoids and water. Milk is shown to bea well balanced food—z.e. it contains all the materials in good proportions and approaches most nearly the com- position of a ‘ perfect food.’ Its almost total digestibility makes it a most important factor in the diet of the young and aged. It has been found that boiling milk somewhat impairs its digestibility. Butter may TABLE showing composition and proportion of indigestible materials of the more ordinary foods. Beef, rather lean.... Albuminoids. || Fats. Perather fats). 2... WMttrOM tatoo. 55. 5. Pork, very fat....... Cheese, whole milk . Wheat. flours... .: yh Reads..: .°..- Ww o) ° Indi gestible. 0.0 | Carbo- hydrates. ee || Total. ee ~ Bo | ™ bo | i 0.9 1 0.0 | 0.0 1.9 ! 0.0} .6.0.)H | o.o | o.9 6:0 ©O-.G-) 10.0 0.0 | 0.0 O26, | 0.6 0.8 0.0 | 0.0 2.4 | O:7| “O20 O.1 4.8 0.0 say 0.5 0.9 2AFe\ (LO Ono ele 55-5 | 0.6 69.0 57cm py 22k WECOS) 223 0.0 || 96.7 | 0.0 Zee 1.6 GA0n)te3 Mineral Matters oO WwW & \o o soa) . on Water. “I 60. oo Pal BS iS) ° 4 On ° ° (o} (oy) nN ° 154+ be considered pure fat, which is easy of digestion and assimilation if the condition of the stomach be normal and too much be not taken. Cheese is a highly nitrogenous and exceedingly valuable food. It not only is easily digested but also assists in the digestion of other foods. Its price, when we consider these important desiderata, recommends it for more extensive use than it at present enjoys. The vegetable foods are characterized by low albuminoids and high carbo-hydrates. The amount of fat in most of them is small, and need hardly be taken into account as a nutrient. Peas and beans (fruit of the Leguminosz) stand out as exceptions in containing large percentages of albuminoids. Oatmeal also more closely approximates animal foods than any of the other cereals. The starch and sugar of vegetable foods is as a rule very digestible. The vegetables proper consist largely of starch, or allied substances, and water. Potatoes, cabbage and many other vegetables are also valuable for the mineral salts they contain. Asparagus, lettuce, celery and some others contain but little nutritive matter, but play a very importan: hygienic role, aiding the digestion of other viands, diluting the more concentrated foods, and thus render- ing them more easily assimilable ; the salts and active principles many of them contain have a beneficial and medicinal effect on the sys- tem. Vegetables must form a large part of every wholesome diet. Fruits are largely water, and are divided into (a2) Sweet, in which sugar predominates when ripe; (4) Acid, containing tartaric and citric acid, generally refreshing and giving a healthy tone to the organs; (¢) Starchy; and (d) Oily, the essential oils in which give the peculiar flavour Fruits, though having a low nutritive value, are, when ripe, easy of digestion. The pectose of green fruit is indigestible. This as the fruit ripens turns to pectin, akin to sugar, which, as before stated, is easily digested. The odour and flavour of fruits, due as before mentioned to oils and volatile ethers, chiefly abundant in the pericarp, seem to enhance their palatability. Here a word may be said of a large class of substances which act rather as stimulants than nutrients. Tea, coffee, spices and alcohol come under this category. They act as appetisers, and in moderation as useful and proper excitants of the digestive organs, especially in cases of enfeebled digestion. 155 AMOUNTS OF THE NUTRIENTS REQUIRED. The quantity and kind of food eaten must depend largely on the age, the weight, and the kind and amount of work of the in- dividual, taking into consideration the climate and the peculiar char- acteristics of the person’s digestion—a most important factor. The amount of food required per diem by the body is measured by the amount of carbon and nitrogen eliminated daily from the system. These represent the final and waste products of the food compounds. The weight of carbon excreted by a healthy person in one form or another doing a fair amount of work is about fifteen times heavier than that of the nitrogen. The carbon daily eliminated is about 4,600 grains, the nitrogen about 300 grains. These numbers are the results of many experiments, but for many reasons are only approximate. In order to retain health it is necessary to preserve as closely as possible this ratio in our diet, for not only do we wish to avoid an excess or lack of food, but also the excess or lack of any one ingredient. If we supply the nitrogen (Albuminoids) altogether from vegetable foods: 2a a large quantity has to be consumed that there would be a large excess of carbon—a state of affairs seriously affecting the health. On the other hand, if the tequiréd amount of carbon is to be obtained from an exclusive meat diet, about four times as much nitrogen as needed would be furnished. ‘This would seriously impair the digestion and’ be apt to induce disease. ; As I have before emphasized, no one class of nutrients is in ftecte a complete food, and it is only when they are in proper proportions that a healthy and vigorous system can be maintained. Though there is strong tendency in the system to eliminate any excess of food, yet, 2s I have pointed out before, too much food acts deleteriously. The habitual use of large quantities of meat and albuminous foods induces a diseased condition of the liver, gout, &c., while excessive amounts of the fats, starch and sugar cause obesity and dyspepsia. Professor Ranke found that when doing no muscular work, his weight was maintained with the following per day. Albuminoids, 3.5 ozs. ; Fats, 3.5 ozs. : Carbo-hydrates, 8.5 ozs. Professor Voit, an eminent German scientist, gives the following 156 amour is per day for an adult doing an ordinary day’s (muscular) work, supposing neither to gain nor loose weight. Albuminoids, 4.2 ozs.; Fats, 2 ozs.; Carbo-hydrates, 17.6 ozs. Professor W. O. Atwater, of Washington, U.S.A., who has written a splendid series of articles in the “ Century” for 1887, on the subject of foods, to which I am largely indebted for material in these lectures, estimates that an average man doing muscular work requires— For moderate work, Albuminoids, 4.4 ozs.; Fats, 4.4 ozs.; Carbo- hydrates, 14.4 OZs. For hard work, Albuminoids, 5.2 ozs.; Fats, 4.4 ozs.; Carbo- hydrates, 14.4 02s. Professor Parkes says that the food required for a healthy adult is : For laborious occupation, Albuminoids, 6 to 7 0z; Fats, 3.5 to 4.5 oz; Carbo-hydrates, 16 to 18 0z; Salts, 1.2 to 1.5 oz. At rest, Albuminoids, 2.50z; Fat, 1 oz; Carbo-hydrates, 12 0z; Salts, .5 02. ‘The harder the work the more nitrogenous (albuminoids) should the diet be. The heat of the body in order to be maintained necessitates the com- bustion of a large proportion of the food, probably about {25 of it. This heat, together with the work expended internally in the functions of the heart, respiration, &c., and the external muscular action in locomotion and other voluntary work, represent an amount of energy calculated at about 3,400 foot-tons, z.¢., the force required to raise 3,400 tons 1 foot high. The heat of the body represents in amount that required to raise 48.4 lbs. from the freezing to the boiling point, or in mechanical power would be sufficient to raise 150 lbs. through a vertical height of 8} miles. All this must be provided for by food and oxygen before making any demands on the system for muscular or brain labour. FIsH AS A BRAIN Foon. I may here allude very briefly to the common, but erroneous, opinion that brain work requires or is benefitted by a liberal fish diet. This has arisen from statements made to the effect that thought and brain work in general used up a large quantity of phosphorus, and secondly, that fish supplied in abundance this element. Neither of these assertions appears on investigation to be true. The brain tissue consumed by 157 mental activity contains no more phosphorus than that of other parts of the body—not so much as the bones and teeth. Fish does not furnish this element more abundantly than other animal foods. Good head work like good hand work requires a good digestion, and as fish is easily assimilated it may, for this very reason, be found of great value to brain workers, especially if such do not take sufficient muscular exercise to induce a vigorous digestion. Before bringing these lectures to a close I wish to give you an outline of the process of digestion, the changes that take place in cooking food, and a few practical remarks drawn from a consideration of the whole subject. DIGESTION. Mastication or trituration of the food in the mouth serves by a thorough division of the material to present a greater surface to the solvent action of the digestive fluids. An increased digestion is the result. Saliva, secreted by certain glands of the mouth, softens and moistens the food and converts the insoluble starch into soluble sugar. In this reaction the active principle is Ptyaline. The gastric juice, the secretion of the true peptic glands of the stomach, has a physical and chemical action. It dissolves and disin- tegrates the food, reducing it to a liquid condition, and converts the a'buminoids into peptones, which are assimilated by the blood. Its composition is :— Tee Be a age ot 97-5 RM Ieee ed nile o eau e, 5 neta i a Ee 1.5 MRTRAPETLIGSENC ACIEN 03h 8o 8 5 25 wanin, egy ese oe a |S 8 ee sapere 5 100.0 It has an acid reaction. The intestinal digestion is promoted by the pancreatic juice, which has an alkaline reaction. It has a fourfold function :— (1) Converting starch into sugar. (2) Converting albuminoids into peptones. (3) The emulsification of fats. (4) Conversion of cane sugar into grape sugar. 158 Bile, formed in the hepatic cells, assists in the emulsification of fats and promotes their absorption and stimulates the secretions ef the intestinal glands. It also serves to prevent putrefactive changes in the food. The digested food or chyme is absorbed by the blood as the food passes through the intestines, the undigested portion entering the large intestines. THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKING. The changes induced by cooking are manifold, some increasing, others decreasing the digestibility of the food, while others only serve to render the same more tasteful by the production of certain substan- ces which pleasantly excite the palate. Meats are more readily digested when ‘“underdone” than well cooked, though undoubtedly very tough meat by its disintegration is rendered more tender and easy of mastication by the process. Certain empyreumatic substances are developed by roasting and boiling meats which give agreeable taste and savoury odours. These act rather as stimulants than nutrients, and render the food more palatable than in the uncooked condition. Roast beef, beef tea and soups ow2 their piquancy to these compounds. Eggs and milk are rendered less digestible by cooking, for the reason that coagulated albumen is not readily acted upon by the digestive fluids. On the other hand, most vegetable foods require cooking to in- crease their digestibility, The cells containing the starch in the raw material have walls of cellulose, difficult of digestion. By cooking, this cellulose is softened and the starch grains are burst. The contents then are more completely exposed to the digestive fluids. In summing up I would offer the following remarks and deductions: Their importance, I think, merits your consideration. 1. That in the choice ot viands care should be taken that the diet consists of both vegetable and animal foods. The proportion of nutrients may roughly be stated at three times the weight of carbo- hydrates to equal weights of fats and albuminoids. Excess of any one nutrient is likely to be injurious to health. It would seem that nature teaches what science confirms—a proper combination of materials. The Irishman with his potatoes (carbo-hydrates) and buttermilk {albuminoids), the Englishman with 159 his bread and cheese (carbo-hydrates, fat and albuminoids), and many others, exemplify this inference. 2. Starch, sugar and fats are essentially heat and energy producers. As heat producers fats are about 214 times more valuable than carbo- hydrates. In cold climates we find the inhabitants existing largely on fatty foods. Esquimaux and lumbermen are notable examples. The albuminoids are the most costly of all the nutrients. While performing to some extent the functions just mentioned, they have for their chief office that of building up the tissues of the body and repairing the waste continually going on. The albuminoids cannot be replaced in the diet by any other material. 3. Fruits and many vegetables while not rich in nutritive material should form a large part of the diet, as they assist in digestion and, acting medicinally, give a healthy tone to the system. Salads of lettuce, celery and beets, if not too rich, have a cooling and refreshing effect. 4- Condiments and stimulants are often desirable as appetisers and in moderate amounts excite the flow of the digestive fluids, and thus aid digestion. Excess of alcohol, tea and certain other articles of this class is well known to have injurious physiological action. 5. Cooking, while, as a rule, rendering the animal foods rather less digestible, makes vegetable foods more fit for consumption. 6. Mastication should be thorough in order that the food may be well mixed with saliva, and for this purpose slow eating is to-be recommended. 7. The process of digestion is a continuous one. Active work retards somewhat the digestion of a heavy meal, and such should, therefore, be taken rather after the work of the day than during it. The times of meals must largely be regulated by the amount and kind of work. It is better to eat a little and often than to overload the digestive apparatus at any one meal. Though the digestive process is not so vigorous during sleep as in the day time, light refreshment is to be recommended before retiring—the stomach thereby is kept from being totally void of food in the morning. To those who are not robust eaters this advice is more particularly given. 8. The blood which conveys the digested food to every part of the body is largely water. On this account and because all the tissues contain 160 a large amount of this compound, and the waste of the body is partially eliminated in a fluid form, it is necessary that as such, or under the guise of some drink, a considerable quantity of water be daily taken. Very cold water lowers the temperature of the stomach, retarding diges- tion. In excess, water dilutes detrimentally the gastric juice. The aged, therefore, and those whose digestion is not vigorous should avoid too much water, especially of a low temperature. For such, a light wine or other stimulant in moderation is undoubtedly beneficial. In drinking as in eating the appetite is a safeguide. As arule itis wise not to satiate . the appetite for solids or fluids. ‘The old adage ‘ Rise with an appetite | and you will always sit down with one,” is a wise one. g. Pastry and sweetmeats. Hot rich pastry and cake are exces- sively indigestible, and in no sense can be considered as complete foods. They should be sparingly eaten, if at all. Excess of sugar, as in sweetmeats, deranges digestion. 10. Many ‘“‘made dishes” are very rich and concentrated, and can scarcely be considered as having a place in a wholesome diet. ‘0: PROGRAMME. 1891. teen Dec. 17—President’s Inaugural Address, (The work of the Geological Survey) : 5 : : : . : : : Dr. Ells 1892. Jiun’y 14—Notes ofa trip in Japan, : : : . : Mr. Harrington Report of Ornithological Branch. Jan’y 28—The Educational value of Natural Science, . : : Mr. Cowley Feb’y 11—Microscopical Soiree. (Normal School Students particularly invited). Four short papers of not more than ten minutes each, by Messrs. Ferrier, Harrington, Shutt and Fletcher, to be illustrated by microscopes. Feb’y 25—--On some New Chazy Fossils, : : : Mr. J. W. E. Sowter The Spring Flowers of Ottawa and Vicinity, . Mr. James Macoun Report of the Entomological Branch. March 10—-Water : its properties and functions, : : : Mr. Lehmann Report of Zoological Branch. Report of the Geological Branch. i ; ie ’ a P Des. Ce aemerr W.% = Ae mt 7 ass F is . i 161 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. THE WoRK OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. (R2 Ws, Eves, LL.D.) (Delivered December 17th, 1891.) Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,—In attempting to prepare the opening lecture of the course for the present season, I have been considerably exercised as to what subject would be of most interest to the membzrs of the Club. It has, however, been suggested to me that to those of us who live in this city, where the Geological Survey has its location, as well as to many of our members abroad, sore facts relative to the work of such a department, as annually carried out, might be of interest. Very often it has been asked: What is the work of the Geological Survey? What does its staff find to do year after year, and what great purpose does it serve in the country’s progress and welfare ? To discuss this subject fully would require a very long chapter, but I hope to be able to lay before you a few ideas regarding the general character of this work that may to some extent at least be an answer to the ques- _ tions propounded. In the open ng paper which I had the honour of giving before this Club two ye.irs ago, I reviewed very briefly the subject of geological progress in Canada tor the fifty years subsequent to the first recognized work done in this country in connection with that branch of science. In this, the work was divided into three periods, viz: 1st, that prior to the esta! lishment of the Geological Survey; 2nd, that under the direction of the late Sir Wilham Logan, and 3rd, that subsequent to his retirement ; the latter of which could not, owing to lack of time, be then consiaered. The confederation of the Lower Provinces with Ontario and Que- bec in 1867 very greatly extended the field of the Survey’s labours, and changed, very materially, the then existing arrangements of the staff and methods of operation. It brought into the work of the Depart- ment the study of the geology of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ; and this) was sjeedily followed by the extension of this work into British Columbia and the great Northwest ; thus furnishing a field for geologi- cal exploration of the most magnificent dimensions, comprising an area 162 second to thit of no other colony or nation in the civilized world. This enormous and sudden increase in the work thrown upon the Survey necessitated an almost complete change not only in methods but a very considerable change in the personnel of the staff itself; an amount of work, in fact, which can scarcely be estimated by anyone without careful study and comparison with similar work done in this branch of science by other countries. For while the importance of a systematic geologi- cal survey has for many years been recognized by all nations and regarded as a very considerable factor in connection with the national progress and development, the areas embraced in the several countries in which such surveys have been carried on are, for the most part, of very limited extent as compared with the great stretch of country called Canada, and the entering upon the geological study of half a continent by so comparatively young a nation may well be regarded as one of the greatest and most important events in the history of the science. Probably one of the most elaborately conducted surveys in recent times is that of the British Islands, in which we have an area embraced in the three divisions of England, Ireland and Scotland, scarcely two- thirds the extent of the Province of Quebec alone; densely populated and so arranged that the work of the geologist was facilitated to the utmost degree by the open charac:er of the whole country and by the presence of the most carefully constructed large scale maps possible to be obtained; yet for more than half a century the combined skill of the geologists of England, Scotland and Ireland, aided by the most recent improvements in instruments and in appliances for conducting all necessary examinations, and by a financial backing sufficient to meet every requirement, has been devoted to the determination of their geological structure and mineral resources. Even the great Geological Survey of India, which, with the exception of the United States and Canada, is probably on the most extensive scale of any in the world, embraces in the whole [ndian Empire an area of only one and a half million square miles, while the gigantic colony of Australia, even were the confederation there complete, would still in the whole island fail to approach the area embraced in the Survey’s operations in Canada by half a million of square miles. In point of fact we here in Canada 163 have so acqu'red the habit of looking upon such immense areas as of every day occurrence, that an initial journey of three or four thousand miles to begin operations is regarded with no zreater feeling of excite- ment or uneasiness than one ofa tenth that distance in a much smaller country. In Australia, however, the work of the geological surveys has been comparatively local, and has never been applied to the enormous areas with which we are familiar in this country. The only survey, then which in point of extent can at all compare with that of Canada is that of our gigantic neighbour to the south, where the area of surface to be covered by its operations is not very different from our own, but where certain conditions exist which render a comparison of the work of the two surveys interesting from several standpo’nts. Thus, in the United States, owing to their more southerly position, field parties are enabled to spend a very much longer period in exploration than in Canada; in fact there is no reason why their field work cannot, in many portions, be carried on throughout the entire year. In Canada, on the other hand, owing to an early and often excessive snowfall, aad to the extreme cold ot winter, the period in which field operations can be carried on with profit in some years scarcely exceeds a third of the whole time, Then again, in many of the American states local or state geological surveys are, or have been, carried on, by which the structure and min- eral resources of each have-been investigated by the state authorities and at the state’s expense, and thus the work of the general survey has been greatly facilitated. It is true, in the earlier days, before the con- federation of cur own provinces, local surveys were carried on, to a limited ex ent only, in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, but the amount of time and money expended in these was com- paratively insignificant, although the work done by the local geologists was of very considerable value ; while in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, which have enjoyed legislative union for half a century, the work was done by the Geoiogical Survey of Canada with a very limited staff indeed, for years scarcely exceeding in number more than half a dozen persons in all. Contrasting also the facilities for work of the British surveyors, and to a certain extent of the Americans as well, with the difficulties which the members of the Sanadian staff have to encounter, the unfavourable position of the latter becomes most striking 164 Thus, instead of a thickly settled country, opened up in all directions, and easy of access by railways or by ordinary roads, millions of square mi'es of our Dominion are at the present tim2 inice:ssible, except by means of canoes or bouts and by the help of the hardy voyageur or hunter ; and not only mast the means of transport be provided for, but the means of obtaining subsistence, either from the woods or waters, by hunting and fishing, must also be taken into the account; and, in point of fact, with the exception of the more thickly settled portions of the older provinces, this mode of exploration must of necessity be con- stantly employed. To most people unacquainted with our country, and to many even in our midst, it will perhaps be news that even here in the Ottawa district, in the exploration of the area to the north of the rivers Ottawa and St. Lawrence, beyond a distance of twenty to twenty-five miles, where occasional settlhement roads penetrate, the only means of carry- ing on the work to day is by the aid of the canoe and the Indian guide, by traversing the several rivers and the many lakes which le so thickly scattered over the surface of the mountainous Laurentian country, com- munication between which is made by numerous and often exceedingly difficult portages, over which canoes and supplies must be carried upon men’s backs wherever the route of the survey may lead; and all this in the very heart of the oldest province of our I)ominion. If now we compare the personnel and the financial outlay of the world’s two greatest surveys in point of extent of area to be surveyed, we can see more clearly under what additional disadvantages the Cana- dian brethren of the hammer labour. Thus the expenditure for the year 1887-88 of the American Geological Survey, exclusive of publication, was about half a million dollars; that of the Canadian Survey for the same year about one-fifth of that amount, including publication and all expenses of management. A portion of this sum, amounting to about $20,000 only, was divided among sixteen parties, whose operations ex- tended from eastern Nova Scotia to Alaska, and included surveys in all the provinces, with special examination of the country east of Alaska and the Mackenzie River Basin, Hudson and James Bays and Lake Winnipeg and vicinity. In numbers the staff of exploration comprised in all, including assistants, thirty-five persons. In addition, work was carried on in the branches of Paleontology, Botany, Chemistry and 165 Natural History, the results of that year being comprised in twelve scientific reports, besides that of the Director, which were published in two volumes of 1364 pages, in addition to the bulletins on Paleontol- ogy and Botany. ‘he American Survey during the same year employed in the Geographical branch alone eighty-five assistants, in addition to the chiets of the several divisions, of whom there were fifteen in con- nection with the outside or geological work proper, and twelve for the associated branches, among whom are many of-the leading professors in the different universities, men most distinguished in their special lines of work. With such a command of men and money magnificent results may be confidently looked for, yet in the published volume for the year mentioned there are only four scientific reports, besides that of the Director. with twenty-four administrative reports, corresponding with the summary reports of the Canadian Survey, and describing only the season’s operations as carried on by the different parties, but not giving the scientific results, the whole being comprised in a magnifi- cently printed and illustrated volume of 710 pages. In addition to this, as in the Canadian Survey, bulletins containing special reports on - the work o the various associated subjects were also published. Com- paring results, then, in so far as these can be ascertained, it is evident that the Canadian Survey has continued to maintair the high standard of work which it has ever enjoyed from its commencement and is giving at least full value for the amount of money expended thereon. But many persons have asked the question: Of what does the work of the G-ological Survey consist ? and what is the object of send- ing out these parties of exploration all over the Dominion? what prac- tical benefit does the country receive from such explorations? Some even appear to consider the fitting out of the field parties each spring as something preparatory, on the part of the staff, to going on some grand pic-nic, in which all that the persuns engaged have to do is to enjoy themselves in the most perfectly epicurean manner. Now, while to the scientific explorer who enters upon the work in hand with the proper amount or interest there must ever be a certain amount of en- joyment, and that often of a very high order, in the unravelling of the complicated problems which are presented in the study of the wrinkled face of old mother earth, there is very little of the pic-nic character ob- 166 servable, taxing that word in its ordiniry acce ‘tation. Th2 work of the Geological Survey is of various kinds. In its inception it was held to include more particularly the study of the rock crust of the earth, and the determination of its mineral resources, since the relations between these two subjects are exceedingly close. Gradually attention was directed to the study of plants and insects, collections of these being occasionally made by some assistant attached to one of the regular exploring parties. Chemistry, which embraced not only the analysis or the assay of important ores, but of rocks as well, tozether with the analysis of mineral waters, and other kindred suojects also received a large amount of attention. But the rapid development and extension of the country and its various, interests have in time necessit- ated a corresponding change in the operations of the Survey, so that it has gradually come to embrace not only Geology, Paleontology, Chem- istry and Topography, but the Natural History of the country as well, including the subjects of Botany, Ornithology, Entomology, Zoology, Ethnology, Mining Statistics, and other kindred subjects—the proper carrying out of which is, however, at the present time very seriously interfered with, not only by great lack of space for disp'aying collec- tions when made, but by a lack also of workers in the several fields. In the American Survey the different lines of work are carried on in much the same way as the Canadian department, though on a much more elaborate scale. Thus the work of the interior department is ar- ranged under certain divisions, of which the principal are those of Topography or Geography, Geology, Paleontology, Mining Statistics and Technology, Chemistry and Physics, Illustrations, Library and Documents, &c. Of these the topographical division has charge of the surveys proper, and the preparation of the maps connected therewith, with the care of the instruments, &c., and for the year 1887-88 their field parties were distributed over twenty states, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The geological work is also arranged in divisions, of which there are thirteen, iamed principally on grounds of location, as the Atlantic Cuast division, the Mountain division, &c., but also in some cases from the character of the work, such as the division o. Ar hean geolosy. In paleontology also the work is specialized, and instead of pla- 167 cing upon the shoulders of one man the work of half a dozen, the Ameri- can Survey has this subject so arranged that to one person is entrusted the division of the vertebrates as distinct from the invertebrates, the latter also being divided into the Paleozoic or.ancient and Cenozoic or recent divisions, while in the case of fossil plants, fishes and insects, these are for the most part assigned to specialists in each of these branches, and in this way the very highest results are attained in each subject. The division of geography or topographic work is one of the most important of the whole. Finding, as in Canada, the exceeding diffi- culty of doing accurate geological work without a good ground plan or map cn which the observations made can be systematically recorded this division has been organized to meet the required want. This work employs nearly one hundred persoas alone in the scientific work rela- ting to the making and arrangement of the surveys, including ten draughtsmen, but the very great utility derived from having good and reliable maps of the country ready to hand for the work of the geologi- cal staff proper is such that whatever extra expense is incurred in their construction is amply repaid Of course, in the comparison of countries like the United States and Canada, the conditions of which are alike principally as regards area, while the one has already an enormous development of wealth and population and the other an immense terri- tory and a scattered population, such comparison appears to place Canada in a very unfavourable aspect unless the diverse conditions are thoroughly comprehended. Although the work of the Geological Survey of Canada has been going steadily torward for almost half a century, it is surprising how few persons rally understand what is the legitimate scope of the labours undertaken by its staff or in what direction the field work should actually extend. Thus many persons apparently have the impression that one part at least of its duties should be the examination of every locality where minerals may be fancied to exist by any person who may irduie the often foolish notion that there should be unlimited wealth in the rocks which may constitute a large part of his real estate. Such persons entertain the idea that not only should surtace indications be carefully explored for their own particular benefit, but that even excavations, shafts or bore holes should be put down, and in fact that 168 the Survey should completely develop their part*cular min‘n¢ areas ond open up their properties at the government expense... The absurdity of this method or the fallacy of their logic never appears to be con- sidered by these individuals, since two very important obstacles would be presented at the very outset, the first of which would probably be the protest made by every mining engineer against the encroachment on the part of the government, through its staff, upon the rights of the private individual and the consequent interference with his pro- fession ; and secondly, the tact that very few treasuries could be found which would stand the enormous drain put upon their resources if the government should attempt the development of every mining location, real or fancied, and at the instance of every proprietor or company, while the staff necessary to undertake so extensive a system of work would speedily assume such enormous dimensions as to be beyond control. There are, however, certain cases where the advice of the government geological expert may be sought, and that with propriety, although it frequently happens that when such advice has been asked and obtained, the person giving it receives very little credit for ability either as a mining expert or geologist. Very often this by no means flattering result arises from the fact that some mining quack has already visited the spot, and in the hope or expectation of finding a job, more or less permanent, in the development of the property, has, by means of a judicious employment of certain technical terms, concerning the meaning of which he is very often ignorant, done his best to persuade the owner that great stores of mineral wealth lie just beneath the sur- face, waiting only for the application of the skill which he may possess for their successful extraction. How often this story has been told concerning certain areas, when upon a careful examination not the slightest indication of mineral wealth has been revealed, but such is the credulity and the peculiar bias of the human mind that the opinion most in accord with its own desires, is accepted, no matter how great its improbability. It would appear desirable, also, that government advice should be given when requested in cases where large interests are involved, which are of more than a merely private importance ; as, for instance, where the mineral resources of an entire district are in question, as in the case 169 ‘of the great deposits of nickel at Sudbury, of asbestos in Quebec, of coal in Nova Scotia, or the North-West, or the mode of occurrence and geol gical horizon of apatite or any other mineral of great economic value, in which the welfare of large portions of the country is involved ; or on the other hand the conducting of certain lines of assays where the fullest and mcst reliable tests should be made for the common good, such as the assays of gold bearing rocks or of silver bearing veins from certain areas not yet entirely passed out of the public domain. To those of you who have examined the great collections in the Geological Museum the wonderful variety of our mineral resources from every province of the Dominion must have been matter for astonishment, yet in very many cases these great stores of mineral wealth are even yet lying idle and undeveloped, owing to lack of capital or enterprise on the part of our investors. Were the immense territorial extent of Canada which has been traversed in the collecting of these representatives of our economic mineral resources, often at large expense and with much labour, as easily accessible as the countries of Great Britain, France or Germany, the work of the geologist, botanist and naturalist would be a compara- tively easy matter. I say comparatively easy, for while the intricate problems of structure would yet remain to be solved by the geologist, the facilities presented for their solution would be so great that much of the hardship and uncertainty which now prevail in the examination of a new and unsettled country would be done away with. In the absence of such aids, however, to geological exploration, and in fact very often without any aids at all in the shape of maps, even over many portions of the older provinces, much of the time of the geologist in charge must now be devoted to deciphering his path through the tangled wilderness, and in getting together sufficient materials as regards topography as will enable him to place on paper and to render intelligible the scientific observations, geological or otherwise, which it is his peculiar province to obtain; for it can be readily understood by anyone, even but slightly conversant with the subject, that to attempt to delineate the geology or structure of any country on a projection, without the topographical features of river, lake or mountain, is almost a hopeless task. Thus it comes about that, 170 owing to the necessity of obtaining topogranvhical data, which has been laid upon the staff of the Geological Survey, over very large portions of Canada, the ground work for many of our best mans his been derived from their Jabours, and great areas in all the provinces from the Atlantic to the Pucific have been mapped in detail, first of all by the officers of that staff, as can be seen in the large published maps of eastern Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick, in each of which/many thousands of miles of roads, streams and coast lines were carefully measured and platted before the map necessary for the depicting of the geology of these countries could be laid down with any attempt at ac- curacy. In the newer and western sections, the well executed map of the Sudbury district, the Lake of the Woods, large portions of the Northwest plains, and great areas in the Rocky Mountains and British Columbia, testify to the labours of the Geological survey in this capacity. In the province of Quebec even, the celebrated map of the Eastern Townships, which includes also a large portion of the province west of the St. Lawrence as well, has formed the foundation of all subsequent maps of that province since it was first caretully compiled in the Geological Survey office from materials drawn from Crown Land plans, supplemented and bound together with infinite pains and labour, by surveys made by the different officers of that department, a work the difficulty of which can only be properly understvod by those who have attempted similar compilations. Probably in no country under the sun do more complicated geo- logical problems exist than in Canada, nor are such problems anywhere on a grander scale. A territory embracing three and a half millions of square miles, or very nearly the extent of the whole of Europe, and extending from the 49th parallel of latitude to far within the arctic circle, and embracing the extremes of heat and cold, in the northern part especially, where the fierce heat of the short summer is sufficient to ripen wheat almost to the 60th degree of latitude. Mere we have the oldest known rocks of the globe, the solid backbone of the western hemisphere, extending from Labrador, in a great V shaped area, to near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and including in its survey large portions of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and with great over- lying aveas of all the systzms and formations of rock strata down to ee 171 the Cretaceous, with the finest oportunities for the study of the more recent geological phenomena, such as pertain to the glacial and ost glacial times. Here we have the broad areas of the Silurian lying against the buttresses of the old Laurentian hills in as horizontal a posit'on as when first deposited, and there we have the same series of rocks, folded and twisted, overturned and faulted, and metamorphosed to such an extent that all traces of their early and original character have apparently departec. Wonderful displays of the enormous foldings to wh: ‘') the earth’s crust has been subjected are visible in the Rocky Mountain uplift on the west, and in the fractured and crumpled char- acter of the rocks in the sections east of the St. Lawrence with their tangled complex of strata of widely separated horizons. To attempt to give even an outline of the work of the Survey during the past twenty years would require a far longer time than we have at our disposal this evening, and we can but point out some of the most prominent points in the policy of exploration which have been pursued. Prior to the admission of the North-West Territory into the Dominion we were practically destitute of any knowledge of that great - country. What information we possessed was derived from the travels and explorations, principally, of the Palliser-Hector expzdition of thirty- five years ago, from the Hind Saskatchewan expedition of the same date, as well as from the journals of Hudson Bay Factors and the story of search parties in the quest after Franklin. At best it was sufficiently meagre. Its great wealth of soil and minerals was almost entirely unknown, and the general concensis of opinion appeared to be that the greater part of the immense plain country, bounded by a sea of mountains on the west, and with its great inland seas and streams, navigable for many hundreds of miles, as fitted only for the support of the Indian, the buffalo and the fur bearing animals, and likely to be of but little prospective importance to the white settler Directly following its incorporation int» tie Dominion, exploratory parties were fitted out by the Geological Survey which traversed the great plains, the passes of the Rockies, the country of the Peace River, and the Saskatchewan. Year after year has this policy been carried on till now these scientific explorations, geological and botanical. have explored a very large area indeed, reaching northward nearly to the mouth of the 172 Mackenzie River and traversing the hitherto unknown area between that river and the Pacific Ocean. As the result we know very accurately the botany, the natural history and to a large extent the general distribution of the several geological formations which there occur. We now have ascertained the welcome fact that in acquiring the North-West Territories we have become possessors of millions of acres of the choicest soil, adapted to the raising of the finest cereals, while its mineral wealih is widely distributed and practically inexhaustible, as we can witness in the great coal seams of the eastern Rocky Mountain slopes in which larger and even more important seams have recently been discovered, which will furnish a supply of the most excellent fuel, sufficient for the wants of the country for thousands of years. Consider also thewonderful extent of the great petroleum basin of the Athabasca River district where, for many miles the sands and gravel are cemented by thickened oil, and present a succession of black cliffs along the course of that stream, with indications which point to this area as probably, in the near future, likely to become one of the greatest oil producing districts in the world. Consider also the rich silver mines in the western section of the Rocky Mountain chain, along the Illicillawa2t, and more recently the great developments of the Kootenay district and vicinity which bid fair to rival the great Comstock deposits south of the boundary, with the great deposits of salt, the rich areas of placer gold, and the great masses of iron ore, concerning the existence and importance of all which but little was known prior to the labours of the Geological Survey fifteen years ago, and in some cases even at a much later date. You will remember two years ago, in a lecture before this club by Dr. G. M. Dawson on ‘‘the unexplored areas of Canada,” the fact was pointed out that there yet existed in our Dominion, at least one million of square miles of which it may be said we know practically nothing. While this is true, it may also be said of many other hun- dreds of thousands of square miles, that our information has been obtained only by traverses along river courses or lakes, and that the great resources of these portions must as yet of necessity be practically unknown. But such a lack of information about so much of our Do.uinion in spite of the fact that the labours of the Geological Survey |S) staff and of various explorersfrom the other departments have been carried on for nearly fifty years, as well as of hundreds of pr.vate parties, will cease to be matter for astonishment when we consider the enormous extent of our territory and the limited force available to carry on such work. Even in thé older provinces of Quebec and Ontario, where these operations have been carried on most continuously. the great succession of mountain country to the north of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, constituting the height of land between these rivers and those of Hudson and James Bays, is to a large extent comparatively unknown. ‘True, sections have been made across this country here and there along the various water courses but these only afford us a know- ledge of our mineral wealth over limited areas. Exploration under such conditions is necessarily slow and great areas must remain practi- cally unknown until greater facilities of transport are presented, an instance of which is presented in the discovery of the mining district of Sudbury, within a short distance of Ottawa, a discovery due to the opening up of the country by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and in Quebec also in the discovery otf the asbestos mines of the eastern town- ships, in a section opened up by the passage of the Quebec Central Railway, the localities in both cases being practically inaccessible prior to the building of these roads. It is not yet twenty years since the importance of the phosphate mines of the Buckingham district was ascertained. When such wonderful stores of mineral wealth at our very doors have so recently been brought to light, who can say what further enormous developments may be looked for in the extension of those mineral bearing rocks which have so enormous a development in our country, and which owing very often to present difficulty of access are entirely unknown. Thus if we contemplate the situation ever so briefly we find before us a problem pertaining to the development of our country and its mineral wealth which requires clear heads for its inception and brave hearts and strong hands for its successful accom- plishment. In the elucidation of this problem it is needless to say the staff of the Geological Su:vey, in making known to the world at large the mineral and agricultural resources of our land, has performed and must continue to perform no unimportant part. With the utmost cheerfulness, in the simple discharge of their duty, the members of that 174 staf hove never hesitated to penetrate into the most forbidding areas, fertile in resources to find or invent means by which unexpected difficulties may be overcome. In canoe, in cart, by boat, or on the trail they have gone forward year after year, “by dint of thought and hammering” they have collected great stores of information and have by their collections and researches made easily accessible to any who may choose to examine, the geology, the mineral resources, and the natural history of the northern half of this continent from ocean to ocean, and have displayed all this information in the most attractive and instructive form in the rooms of the Museum in this city. But the geological aspect of the work of the Survey department, is at the present day only one of many. Here, stowed away in cases and high presses can be found one of the largest and finest collections of plants, illustrative of the botany of all parts of our Dominion possible to be obtained. Much of the work of this branch of the department is invisible to the ordinary visitor to the Museum, since, unlike rock specimens or masses of ore, dried plants are perishable things and cannot endure exposure to the light and open air. They must be carefully laid away and precautions taken to guard against the ravages of insects and other enemies of the botanist’s handiwork. Yet here in the cases of the Museum are stored more than 100,000 specimens illustrating the distribution of our flora fron the foggy shores of Anticosti to the green valleys of the Island of Vancouver. ‘The flora of the Peace River district, of the great plains, and of the Rocky Mountain steeps on the west, of the shores and islands of the Atlantic on the east, as well as of the country about the great inland likes and of distant I.abrador, are here rendered availab!e for study to any one interested in the botany of our country, and who may wish, for purposes of comparison or for any other cause, to examine the plant yrowth of any district whatever. The enormous value of such a collection can scarcely be overestimated, and its practical utility in determining the fitness of certain areas for the growth of wheat or other cereals, as determined by the flora of the district is an admitted fact, not now called in question by anyone at all familiar with this branch of science. To the botanists of the Survey, then, great credit and praise are due for the magnificent coliections made and tor the careful way in which this ie) branch of the Survey work has been executed, and the publications on this subject are regarded as of the greatest value by the learned societies, both of urope and America. Equally inconspicuous with the botanical collection in the rooms of the Museum building are the magnificent collections, illustrative of the insect life of our country ; and probably most of those who wander through the corridors of that building are unaware that such beautiful specimens are there stored. These have been brought together in various ways, since the resources of the Survey have not yet permitted the employment of a regular entomologist. The great importance of this branch of science is, how- ever, acknowledged by the Government, and at the Central Experi- mental Farm the study of the insect life, of certain areas at least, is ~ carried out and their benefit or iniury to plant life carefully ascertained ; but while these studies are of the greatest practical importance to the agriculturist they cannot, of course, fill the place which the science of entomology requires in a purely scientific department. In the division of ethnology also much work has been done. Extensive collections, illustrative of the manners, customs and institu- _ tions of the various Indian tribes which now inhabit our country, have been made, as well as large quantities of remains and relics of former races. The ornithology and to a certain extent the zoology also of the Dominion are well illustrated by means of a good collection of the principal birds and mammals, the further expansion of which is sadly hindered by a lack of space for their display. The varisus species of land and marine shells are exhibited and though in but few of these are the collections by any means exhaustive, and though the Museum space at the disposal of such branches of the department’s work is of necessity utterly inadequate, sufficient has been done to show that the . Meeting at Washington........... 2... 4.4... 6 EL BST T SENS © Sie AS aa en RRM ic 5 Sola Barbula snbcunetfolia, Kindb. vn. See. Pe eae cee a kee ae Mf Barlow, Alfred E., on the Sudbury Nickel and Copper Deposits. . Behring Sea Seal Commission . STAM opis 43, 273 RR ek cape S55 Book Notices. Macoun’s Catalogue. Part V................ Botanical Branch. Report for PSO)" s.. Be ahs sea Pe ed Botanical Branch. Report for TOD py) 26). 3 ea sce ee eee Botanical Excursion to the Chats... . Bryum brachyneuron, Kindb. y. Ds Stes mee ei ES i as eens 2eomerr, (endo. N. sp, et 0) SAMS ope Be Canadian I.and and Fresh-water Mollusca. .... Ceratodon heterophyllus, Kindb. n. SG: pee eet Peemisieyeat. Pood: 2) Wau. iow. vars, TaN Chimney Swifts. The Ottawa Colony, of. -.... Council, Annual Report... .. ere: a) Se@buieits, *)% » 5a a Pies tee See Didymodon Bawten-Powelli, Kindb. n. SW etyadts .2e Drinking Water of Ottawa............... Edwards, Henry. Obituary Notice... “RK Ells, R. W. President’s Inaugural Address........ Entomological Branch. Report for WOOO + 3.> Teese aa Excursion No. 1. To King’s Mountain.......... at Excursion No. 2. To Montebello .. Flora Ottawaensis...... .. eee yar eee.) Soe Fletcher. J. Educational value of Botanical Gardens..... Seen gmerreosurcers Report. ...............-..0.... Geological Survey of Canada, Work of .................... Harrington, W. Hague. Notes of ‘l'ravel in WAP Six ene cs 208 — Japanese Glass-rope Sponge....... Taaugutaladdress 6.25-+~2 Fiver ee ge ae Japan, Notes of Travel’ iv Aaa ake Se -- 2 a apanese Glass-rope Sponge-----+---+-- yey Kindberg, Nils C. Descriptions of New Mosses..-=- - «++ ==s0 Kingston, A. G. On the Chimney Swift... ...-------+++-+*: Lees, W. A. D. Librarian’s Report....-------+---+-°° a PAbpari’s “Report, Mogae. = 2 =.= ee a te Menibers, List Of 2: . 2: +++ <> ee ei Oe Microscopical Soiree...------ Wilkes (Mews 5 iat Pear pe eeena) (i | J Mosses (New) from the Pribylov Islands ....------- +2707 Mei: A. Om Onuking Water--> en" res MacLaughlin, T. J. Annual Report of Council...-------++-> Macoun, Jas. M. Some New Mosses from the Pribylov Islands. Macoun, John. Catalogue of Canadian Plants.....-------: Monday Popular Lectures. Potaltys..).--- > -- > oe Chemistry:-23° “5 See Officers, LaBe Of 2: Das. +++ ge ape rE Oe Ornithological Rranch. Report of, 18908..¢ <> .4+2-(07 7 Polytrichum alpinum, Reehl var. microdontium, Kindb. N. var.. - Programme. =. > c)8e --=+- «ee ee Publications recelwedce. <---> ==/+ "meee ee “rear OS Soliget. ck: eae ee a eee > ce Some New Musses from the Pribylov Islands. .<.--. 2.6 02S Sphagnum, List of Ottawa Species... ..--*- Subscriptions....-.- ‘Taylor, Rev. G. W. On Canadian Land and Fresh-water Mol- fscachs CCR etee ae ees eee Pyeasurer’s Report. 1898 4+ -- chines yh” ee Webera canaliculata, C. M. and Kindb. var. macrocarpa, Kandb.. we wales ON PS oe Whyte, R. B. Botanical Excursion to the Chats:!.).2..:sceene Willimott, C. W. Canadian Gems and Precious Stones...---- be a tae. ee cm = ' . : fe ‘ ; il Leg a ed ul ‘ - 4 rc BINDING SEGI.s4= °- ooo QH The Canadian field-naturalist PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY STORAGE Aan nay Soke fie ya 49 Mita st ae ee StF tT 3 OE Fao CALAN 2 1 tstees Aer wet er ee a= ap tie ae weet ae ele as rk is Ok ee VE Gate ato yeh bse abt) Sites te ran 4.4% 9 8 qe bore! “4p Se U ~ Sas