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Pe 1 07 :
JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
amilton piseceiarion
FOR SESSION OF 1894-95.
BNO TS eee) eon,
conta wts.
‘AUTHORS OF PAPERS ARE ALONE RESPONSIBLE FOR STATEMENTS
Officers for 1894-5... .. ec abaeeere 3 | Notes on Geological Matters. ....
Office-bearers from 1857......... 4 | Notes on the Glacial Man contro-
Members of Council from 1857... 6 | VEISY Sie freee apa e neem ae
Abstract of Minutes, 1894-5 ....: 7 | Short Notes on Recent Discoveries
Report of the Council. .......... 15 | Hamilton Sponges,..... 6.0.5...
- Early Indian History ......... 17 | Report of the Photographic Section
Europe during the last thirty years 24 | Report of the Biological Section. .
The Battle of Stony Creek-...... 36 | Report of the Curator......
:An Idyl ofa Rambler... ...-: 45.| Financial Statement... .2 2. 0.2...
‘Report of the Geological Section. 58 | List of Exchanges..............
Opening Address (Geological Sec- [BTU a owe aaeN cone te ban stare genes
PROT 2 ie Fe sa, ee ees weet ars Go +7 Last of Members+ 57 oer ie:
Brief Notes onthe Devonian Rocks,
Ontarians e one ssi ener) es 65
MADE AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED THEREIN.
PRINTED FOR THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION BY THE
TIMES PRINTING COMPANY,
1895,
ant anemone ©
90
ber a
Naat
JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS
amilton peevelation
FOR SESSION OF 1894-95.
INP AFA AES 2S 53) SS SIe,
AUTHOR OF PAPERS ARE ALONE RESPONSIBLE FOR STATEMENTS
MADE AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED THEREIN
ae
VRINTED FOR THE HAMILYON ASSOCIATION BY THE
TIMES PRINTING COMVANY.
g
fis
4
SrRICERS FOR 1394-95.
President:
S. BRIGGS Esa.
WPire-Mresidents :
Ae TO NEILL. We We ViNOUDS.] Merk):
Srerretavies :
W. McG. LOGAN, B. A. S. A. MORGAN, B. A.
Creagsuver : Cuvatorv aud Zibravian:
THOS. MORRIS, Jr. ALEX. GAVILLER.
Aset. Serretary and Curator:
WALTER CHAPMAN.
Council:
JAMES FERRES. A. E. WALKER. Peers SC RINGING
REEVE erie LONG. «Miwa. UE: 3.
WG Jel WALI deine Io
Aluseuni ;
PUBELC LIBRARY BULEDENG,
MaIn STREET WEST.
(ORM PC k-
PRESIDENT.
First VICE-PRES.
SECOND VICE-PREs.
Rev. W. Ormiston, D. D.
John Rae, M. D., F. R.
G. S.
Rey. W. Ormiston, D. D.
Rey. W. Inglis, D.D...
Rev. W. Ormiston, D. D.
\Weleroudtootiae:ss-eiiae
IJputclers ILOEIS oa blsoo5 50
ESB Watton, Wire.
H. B. Witton, M. P...
Ie Bee Watlomecne seer
T. Mcllwraith.........
No 1D Mocdonalal M. D.
J. D. Macdonald, M. D.
J. D. Macdonald, M. D.
J. D. Macdonald, M. D.
Rev C. H. Mockridge,
IMG os IDS. 1D)
Mockridge,
IMIG 5 IDS 1D
RG Se Ijylle; Wh Des 6 -
Revijo. leyle; 3B Dire:
5 8s) Chaevalions’s os56b¢
+H aCharltonaaermene
. Alexander, F. S. Sc.
B
B
A
A. Alexander, F. S. Sc.
A. Alexander, F. S. Se.
S
John Rae, M. D., F. R.
Go Se
Rev. W. Ormiston, D.D
J. B. Hurlburt, M. A.,
ILL ID)
T. Mellwraith........
J. B. Hurlburt, M. A.,
Iie; 1D),
[fwelas Io. secs s ons
H. B. Witton, M. P..
J. M. Buchan, M. A..
J. M. Buchan, M. A..
J. M. Buchan, M. A..
Rev. W. P. Wright,
M. A.
RBS ares Phen:
Beek. Charlton eae se.
Be Charlton eseaee
Ee wBs WVattonees sane.
INGE Sb IIs 5s aS ose 58
IRC So IOWNE s 260 5 46 6'a'
Bape: s 1 Chantoneesecer
T. J. W. Burgess, M. B.,
Tg RS Sy (Ce
T. J. W. Burgess, M. B.,
lagaRs Ss Ce
J. Alston Moffat......
VAC ooTes iN eT iment spacey
A.
5
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A ale
J. B. Hurlburt, M., A.
ILI, ID),
J. B. Hurlburt, M. A.,
ILI, 1D)
Chasslobbeeee ee reree
Rev. W. Ormiston, D.D.
Rev. W. Inglis, D. D..
Rachancay sal eee
Bin Eee @lranltomlene rene
Ps NG oobi, WIG ID 5 6 «
ee Ba Watton sera eeer
Rev. C. H. Mockridge,
IMI, oy IDE 1D)
We enmnechyea sere erie
Matthew Leggat. ......
We A (Childs) aMien eaten
Wr. AS (Childs, Mic yarn
J. Alston’ Moftat 22.77
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S. (Briggs oie eng
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T. W. Reynolds, M. D.
T. W. Reynolds, M. D.
BEARERS.
Cor. SEC.
REC. SEC.
—=.:
TREAS.
LIBR. AND CUR.
e
i, Cs IN@Stee, (Co 18,
Tt. €. Keefer, C. E:
RAG. Keefer, C. HE:
Wm. Craigie, M. D.
Wm. Craigie, M. D.
J. M. Buchan, M. A.
J. M. Buchan, JME WAN
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Rea Beare; ehe iD:
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
H. B. Witton, B. A.
H. B. Witton, B. A.
H. B. Witton, B. A.
H. B. Witton, B. A.
Thos. Morris, Jr...
Thos. Morris, Jr....
W. McG. Logan, B.A
W. McG. Logan, B. A
Wm. Craigie, M.
Wm. Craigie,
Wm. Craigie, }
D.
1D);
5 DY
Wm. Craigie, D.
D.
Wm. Craigie,
I. B. McQuesten,
M. A.
McQuesten,
M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Be
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.
A. Robinson, M. D.
Wm. Kennedy
Wm. Kennedy
. Alexander
. Alexander......
. Alexander
18S Sse;
. Alexander
Ie Seay
. Alexander
ins Se Se
. Alexander
15 Sei Ses
. Alexander
1S Ss Ses
.|A. W. Stratton, B. A.
. R. McCullough. .
Nn
. A. Morgan, B. A.
DP
. Morgan, B. A.
W. H. Park.
W. Hi. Park
Wi. Es Pals
W. H. Park
Wis dels deendene oe ge,
W. G. Crawford....
W. G. Crawford. ...
Richard Bully 222.
Richard ‘Bullet. o...
A. Macallum, M. A.
Richard Bull. ... a
RichardpBullis ee
Richard Bull.......
Richard Bull ese
Richard Bull.......
Richard Bull.......
Richard Bull.......
Richard Bulle =...
Richard -Bullye2....2
Richard Bull.......
Richard Bull.......
Richard: Bull ta2.-
Richard Bulle 223 2.3
Thos. Morris, Jr...
Thos. Morris, Jr....
A. Harvey.
A. Harvey.
A. Harvey.
Chas. Robb.
T. MclIlwraith.
T. MclIlwraith.
T. MclIlwraith.
T. MclIlwraith.
T. MclIlwraith.
T. McIlwraith.
A. T. Freed.
W. H. Ballard,
M. A.
W. H.. Ballard,
M. A.
W. H. Ballard,
M. A.
Wm. Turnbull.
. Gaviller.
_ Gaviller.
. Gaviller.
. Gaviller.
. Gaviller.
. Gaviller.
Gaviller and
. M. Leslie.
. Gaviller and
. M. Leslie.
Gaviller and
. Chapman.
Gaviller and
. Chapman.
MEMBEKS OF COchcll
1857—Judge Logie ; Geo. L. Reid, C. E.; A. Baird ; C. Freeland
1858— Judge Logie ; C. Freeland; Rev. W. Inglis, D. D.; Adam
Browm; C. Robb.
1859—Rev. D. Inglis, D. D.; Adam Brown; Judge Logie; C.
Freeland ; Richard Bull.
186o—J. B. Hurlburt, M. A., LL. D.; C. Freeland ; Judge Logie ;
Richard Bull; Wm. Boultbee ; Dr. Laing.
1871—Geo. Lowe Reid, ©. Hi; Rey. W. Po Wright, M: A. ; Ay
Macallum, M. A.; A. Strange, M. D.; Rev. A. B. Simpson.
1872—Judge Proudfoot; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.; John Seath,
IME ALE.) Cameron. Aa reed:
1873—Judge Logie; T. Mcllwraith; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.;
A. Alexander ; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1874—Judge Logie ; T. McIlwraith; Rev. W. P. Wright, M.°A. ;
A. Alexander ; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1875—Judge Logie ; T. McIlwraith; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.;
A. Alexander ; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1880—M. Leggat; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.; A. Alexander ;
ING alg Bona IME as Jide IDES ID) aD),
TaD Mellwraith : EBs Watton? Ac sh shreed Neves seals
Wright, M. A.; A. F. Forbes.
1882—T. Mcllwraith; H. B. Witton; A. IT: Freed; A. F. Forbes;
Rev. C. H. Mockridge, M. Xs, ID)s) 1B),
1883-—A. Alexander: AN, Gaviller ; JNG Jes Forbes ; T. Mcllwraith ;
R. Hinchcliffe.
1884—A. Gaviller; A. F. Forbes; T. MclIlwraith; R. Huinch-
cliffe ; W. A. Robinson.
1885—W. A. Robinson; S. Briggs; G. M. Barton; J. Alston
Moffat ; A. F. Forbes.
1886—J. Alston Moffat; Samuel Slater; Wm. Milne; James
Leslie, M. D. ; C. S. Chittenden.
71987]. Alston Moffat; James Jeshie, M.D. ; Py, Scuvyeni;
Wm. Milne; C. S. Chittenden.
1888—J. Alston Moffat ; B. E. Charlton ; T. W. Reynolds, M. D. ;
S. J. Ireland; Wm. Kennedy.
1889—T. W. Reynolds, M. D.;S. J. Ireland; William Turnbull ;
A. W. Hanham ; Lieut.-Col. Grant.
t890—Col. Grant; A. W. Hanham; W. A. Robinson; A. E.
Walker ; Thomas Morris, Jr.
Col. Grant; W. A. Robinson; J. F. McLaughlin, B. A. ;
TW; Rey nolds, M. D.; Wm. Turnbull.
1892.—T. W. Reynolds, M. D. ; W. A. Robinson ; P. L. Scriven ;
Wm. Turnbull ; Wm. White.
1893.—James Ferres; A. E. Walker; P. L. Scriven; William
White ; W. H. Elhott, Ph. B.
1894.—James Ferres; A. E. Walker; P. L. Scriven; J. H. Long,
Wile NGS IER ey SOW arte boyen 18), Tela, 16h,
ABSTRACT OF MINUTES
OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE
Hamilton Association
DURING THE
¢
SESSION OF 1594-95,
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8th, 1894.
OPENING MEETING.
The meeting was called to order by the late President, Mr.
Alexander, who at once introduced to the members the newly elected
President, Mr. Briggs.
The President in his inaugural address presented the aims and
advantages of the Association, closing with an earnest request for the
active co-operation of the members in the work of the coming session.
Applications for membership were received from Mrs. Thomas
Beasley and Mrs. Carey.
The medals won in the photographic contest were then presen-
ted by Mr. D. B. Charlton and the President, as follows: The
Charlton Gold Medal, A. H. Baker; Silver Medal, the gift of the
Photographic Section, J. R. Moodie.
In accordance with the custom of previous years, the meeting
was then given over to a display of the work of the various sections.
This included exhibits in Botany, Microscopy, Geology, Chemistry,
Electricity, and Pneumatics.
During the evening a short programme of music was rendered
through the kindness of Prof. Aldous.
It was estimated that over five hundred members of the Associa-
tion and others availed themselves of the opportunity of viewing the
work of the various sections.
8 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13th, 18094.
The President, 5. Briggs, in the chair.
The minutes of the last regular meeting were read and confirmed.
An application for membership was received from Mr. J. M-
Dickson, chemist.
Mrs. Carey and Mrs. Thomas Beasley were elected ordinary
members of the Association.
The President ‘then introduced Dr. P. E. ‘Jones, Indian Agent,
to read a paper on the ‘“‘ Early History of the Indians north of the
St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes.”
The doctor began his paper. with a short description of the
condition of the Indian inhabitants previous to the coming of the
French settlers. Passing to the location of the various tribes at this
early date, the speaker stated that two great nations of Indians
originally occupied Canada, the Algonquins and the Hurons. The
Algonquins occupied the land north of the St. Lawrence River and
Lake Ontario. Before the French came they had been the most
powerful of all the tribes, and were considered the masters of this
part of Canada. They were described as having the mildest aspect
and the most polished manners of all the Indian tribes. The remains
of this once powerful nation are now the Ojibways, the Ottawas, the
Western Algonquins and the Menomonies. ‘The Hurons occupied
a tract of land about 25 miles wide, along Lake Huron, and were
remarkable for their industry. The Neuter nation, occupying the
banks of the Niagara and the peninsula between Lake Erie and
Ontario, were a small tribe. Very little is known of them, and they
have long been extinct. Taking up the subsequent history of these
once powerful nations, the speaker went on to show how, after the
coming of the white settler, a deadly warfare had broken out between
them and the more powerful Iroquois at the south of the St. Lawrence
and Lake Ontario.
At the conclusion of the paper a vote of thanks was tendered
to its author, and by a unanimous vote of the members the
doctor was enrolled as a corresponding member of the Association.
Chief Cheechalk, of the Ojibways, was also present, and gave a
short address and a song in his native tongue. A large number
THE ‘iAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 9
of the members embraced the present opportunity by asking
the doctor anumber of questions relative to Indian history, which
were satisfactorily explained. At the close of the meeting the doctor
placed on exhibition a number of very rare Indian relics, concerning
the use of which there is still much doubt among antiquarians.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24th, 1895.
" SPECIAL MEETING.
President S. Briggs in the chair.
Minutes of former meeting were read and confirmed.
Mr. J. M. Dickson was elected an ordinary member of the
Association.
Rev. J. H. Long, M. A., LL. B., was then introduced to read a
paper entitled “ Europe during the Past Thirty Years.” The lectur-
er treated his subject under the three following heads: The Origin
of the German Empire; The Rise of the Kingdom of Italy ; The
Decay of the Turkish Power. In connection with this section, the
lecturer predicted that the day was not far distant when the sick
man of Turkey would disappear from the map of Europe, and when
Constantinople would become the possession of the White Czar.
An interesting discussion followed, in which a large number took
part, and complimented the lecturer on the learned research dis-
played in his paper.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15th, 1895.
President Briggs in the chair.
The President announced that on account of the nature of the
evening’s programme the regular order of business would be dis-
pensed with.
Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, C. E., was then introduced to read a paper
entitled ‘““A Two Thousand Mile Tour to the Land of Perpetual Ice
and Snow.” The lecture was illustrated throughout with oxy-calcium
views, under the direction of J. R. Moodie, which added greatly to
an appreciation of the many difficulties encountered by the young
explorers on their hazardous journey. In describing the companions
of his trip the lecturer said: “Our party comprised the following :
J. B. Tyrrell, geologist ; myself, topographer and Eskimo interpreter ;
1K) JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
three Iroquois from Caughnawaga, Quebec, and one half-breed from
Prince Albert. Several days were spent at Edmonton, where we
found our supplies awaiting us, and by the morning of May 27th our
outfit was loaded upon waggons and sent off upon the northern trail
leading to Athabasca Landing. On the first day the weather was -
showery and the trail in many places very soft, but later in the day
the weather cleared and permitted us to enjoy the lovely country
through which we were passing. The soil was chiefly a rich black
loam, well covered, even at this early season, by the rich prairie
grass. Farther on the country became more hilly, the soil more
sandy and covered by the most beautiful park-like forests of jack pine.”
The party reached Athabasca Landing on the evening of the
3oth of May. The town was described as consisting of six log
buildings, situated in the deep valley of one of the greatest rivers in
America, an important station of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and
the point from which all supplies for the many northern posts are
shipped. ‘The lecturer stated that for about one hundred miles up
stream and fifteen hundred miles to the Arctic ocean, this great
northern waterway, excepting at two rapids, is regularly navigated by
large river steamers. ‘The lecturer then continued a description of
the trip down the Athabasca river and easterly through Lake Atha-
basca into Black Lake, from which point the journey extended north
and east until Hudson Bay was reached. In connection with this
part of the lecture many photographs were shown on the canvas,
illustrating the wild and picturesque nature of the scenes passed on
the way.
The lecturer closed his paper with a graphic account of
the hardships encountered in the last few hundred miles of the jour-
ney, when overtaken by the early returning winter in this northern
land. ‘On Oct. 14th,” he said, “as we advanced, the ice became
so heavy and extended so far out to sea, that in order to clear it we
could not see land. ‘Towards evening we began to look about for .
some opportunity of going ashore, but nothing could be seen but
the sea and a field of ice, with occasional boulders protruding. We
pushed on, hoping to find some bluff, point or channel of water by
which we might be able to reach the shore, but the appearance of
things did not change. We stood up, vainly hoping to get at least
a glimpse of land. Soon the shades of night began to fall about us ;
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. al
we tried,our utmost to reach the shore, but failing, resolved to await
the time of high tide, which was to p. m. Ten o’clock came, how-
ever, and we were still in the same condition, and so could do
nothing but remain where we were. The hours of that night were
the longest that I ever experienced. My brother was nearly frozen,
having been obliged to sit or le in icy water all night. One of our
men had both his feet frozen, and several others were badly used up.
At last, however, the day returned, but still we were in the same
position. We could not hold out much longer ; we must either gain
the shore or perish. At the time of high tide, the ice being some-
what loosened, our canoes were thrust into the pack, and by great
exertion we succeeded about one o’clock in reaching solid ice,
and, for the last time, hauled out our noble little crafts. We had been
in them just 30 hours, battling with the ice, exposed to a chilling
winter blast, our clothing frozen, and our bodies faint and numb
with starvation and cold.” The lecturer then briefly outlined the
subsequent journey of the two guides to Fort Churchill on foot
through ice and snow, and the rescue of the party by a number of
dog trains sent out from that point. A brief discussion followed the
reading of the paper.
Mr. Garner, the celebrated investigator of language in the
lower animals, who was present during the early part of the meeting,
also gave an interesting account of his recent investigations in Africa
into the nature of the language of the various monkey tribes.
THURSDAY, MARCH 7th, 1895.
SPECIAL MEETING.
The Association met in the rooms of the Hamilton Art School,
President Briggs in the chair.
This being a special meeting the usual order of business was
dispensed with.
The President introduced Prof. R. L. Garner in his lecture
entitled “ An Investigation of the Speech of the Lower Animals.”
Mr. Garner began with an account of the circumstances leading
him to undertake an investigation of the conditions of speech in the
lower animals. He next ‘outlined the results of his experiments
among the animals confined in the zoological gardens of America.
it JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
These investigations were carried on, for the most part, by means of
the phonograph, which was made use of to record the sounds of cer-
tain animals and then give them forth to others of the same species,
whereupon the actions and sounds given in reply were noted in like
manner.
The lecturer next gave the main circumstances connected with
his African journey, which was undertaken that he might be able to
pursue his investigations under more favorable conditions. This
portion of the lecture not only set forth many facts relating to the
habits and speech of the lower forms of animal life, but also threw
much light on the character and customs of the inhabitants.
A spirited discussion followed.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2oth, 1895.
President Briggs in the chair.
The Curator announced the donation by Mr. A. E. Walker of
a valuable collection of fossils, representing the work of thirty years
in that direction. The thanks of the Association were tendered Mr.
Walker for his valuable donation.
Applications for membership were received from Messrs. Alex.
McLagan, John Knox and H. P. Coburn.
Inspector J. H. Smith was then introduced and read a paper
entitled ‘The Early History of Wentworth County.”
Beginning with a short account of the early history of Upper
Canada, the paper traced in a clear and instructive manner the main
events relating to the early settlement and development of this part
of the province by the sturdy and patriotic United Empire Loyalists.
The paper was replete throughout with interesting incidents relative
to the religious, intellectual and social habits of the early settlers.
A lengthy discussion followed the reading of the paper.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL ioth, 1895.
President Briggs in the chair.
The Corresponding Secretary announced the receipt of a num-
ber of exchanges.
Messrs. John Knox, Alex. McLagan and H. P. Coburn were
elected ordinary members of the Association.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 13
The Corresponding Secretary was then called on to read the
papers of the evening ; the first of which, entitled “The Idyl of a
Rambler,” was from the pen of Mr. H. B. Small, of Ottawa.
Mr. Small, in his paper, set forth the many aspects of joy and
beauty in which nature is wont to display herself even to the casual
student of her varied phases.
The second paper, which gave an accurate account of the events
prior to and connected with the Battle of Stoney Creek, was written
by Mr. Douglas Brymner, Dominion Archivist at Ottawa. The facts
narrated were for the most part based on original documents con-
tained in the Dominion Archives, copies of which were attached to
the paper.
At the conclusion of the reading of the papers Mr. Small was
elected to represent the Association at the annual meeting of The
Royal Society of Canada.
TUESDAY, APRIL 30th, 1895.
SPECIAL MEETING.
President Briggs in the chair.
The programme for the evening consisted of an exhibit of lime-
light views by the members of the Photographic Section.
The views, which were all relative to Canadian scenery, were
much enjoyed by the large number of members and visitors present.
THURSDAY, MAY oth, 1895.
President Briggs in the chair.
The Curator announced the donation by Dr. Gaviller of an
Indian arrow from Arizona.
The annual meeting was then held, and the following reports
read and adopted.
Report of the Council, by the Secretary.
5 co ce
Curator, by Alex. Gaviller.
. “ * Geological Section, by A. T. Neill
“ « ¢ Biological Section, by H. S. Moore.
<6 Photographic Section, by Wm. White.
14 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year :
President, - - - -) ©. Briggs:
First Vice-President, : A. T. Neill.
Second Vice-President, 2 AGB. Walker:
Corresponding Secretary, Rev. JH. Bong, MA Eas
Recording Secretary, - S. A. Morgan, B. A.
Treasurer, - - - - J. M. Burns.
Curator, - - = Alex. Gaviller.
Asst. Secretary and Curator, | Walter Chapman.
Auditors, = - - Geo. Black and F. Hansel.
Council: Bes Seniven, J: HE. 2. Aldous, B.A. W. ie Elon
B. A., Ph. B., Thos. Morris, Jr., Major McLaren.
As the report of the Treasurer had not been audited, it was
resolved to adjourn the Annual Meeting, subject to the call of the
Secretary.
: FRIDAY, JULY, sth, 1895.
Adjourned Annual Meeting.
President S. Briggs in the chair.
The report of Treasurer and Auditors, showing a balance of
$206.10, was read and adopted.
President Briggs announced that through personal considerations
it would be impossible for him properly to perform the duties of
President for the coming session, and asked that a successor be
appointed. In accepting the resignation, the meeting expressed
regret that Mr. Brigg’s private duties did not permit him to retain
the office he had so ably filled for the past session.
The election of a new President resulted in the promotion of
Mr. A. T. Neill, rst Vice-President, to the office of President, TI. W-
Reynolds, M. D., being elected to the office of 1st Vice-President
rendered vacant by the promotion of Mr. Neill.
The newly elected President announced that a section for the
study of Microscopy would be organized at the opening of the session
of 1895-96.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 15
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.
Your Council have pleasure in submitting their report for the
session of 1894-5.
Since the last annual meeting the Council has held five meet-
ings, the proceedings of which are duly recorded in the minute book
of the Council.
The general meetings of the present session—eight in number
—have been marked by the increased interest of the members and
public generally, as evinced by the large numbers in attendance and
the hearty discussions which have followed the reading of all the papers.
Following is a list of the titles and authors of the papers read :
1894.
Noy. 8th.—‘‘ The Purpose of the Association,” President S. Briggs.
Dec. 13th.— Early History of the Indians North of the Great
Wakes Dire h. Jones:
1895.
Jan. 24th.—‘“Europe during the Past Thirty Years,” Rev. J. H.
Kong Mess Ici 1B:
Feb. 15th.—‘ A Two Thousand Mile Tour to the Land of Perpetual
licekand: Snows); Bs lyrrell, @5
March 7th.—‘“ Speech in Lower Animals,” Prof. R. L. Garner.
March 20th.—“ Early History of Wentworth County,” Inspector J.
H. Smith.
April roth.—“ Idyl of a Rambler,” H. B. Small.
April roth.—“ Battle of Stoney Creek,” Douglas Brymner.
April 30th.—Lantern Slides, Photographic Section. e
The membership has been increased by the addition of ‘six
ordinary members and one corresponding member, while none have
withdrawn.
Through the kindness of the members and other friends of the
Association a number of valuable donations to the Museum have
been made during the present year, and the Council would take this
opportunity of publicly tendering their thanks for the same.
At the annual meeting of the Royal Society of Canada, held at
16 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Ottawa in May of last year, your Society was ably represented by H
B. Small, Esq., and the same gentleman has been appointed as our
representative at the approaching meeting of the Society.
In conclusion, we would urge upon the members the necessity
of each applying himself, as far as possible, during the coming recess,
to the work of his particular department, so that all may return with
some new facts as material for the work of the coming session.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
S. BRIGGS, SAL MORGAN, Bute
President. Secretary.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 17
EARLY INDIAN HISTORY.
Read before the Hamilton Association December r3th, 1864.
BY DR. P. E. JONES.
When, in 1524, just 370 years ago, the first settlers from France
laid the foundations of civilization in what is now this fair Dominion
of Canada, they expected to find the aboriginal inhabitants a mere
race of savages, meagre and starving wretches, whose constant exer-
tions were only employed in attempting to escape the famine with
which they, they supposed, were perpetually threatened. The dis-
coverers were therefore surprised to find a proud race of dignified
men, terrible in war and mild in peace, led by able warriors, states-
‘men and orators, capable of maintaining order without the restraints
of law, and uniting by the closest ties the members of the same band.
They found a wild but noble race, 7” peace, wandering over these
beautiful hills and dales, securing easily a subsistence from the
abundant game, or in their swift canoes gliding over these magnifi-
cent lakes and rivers, often meeting together as they now occasion-
ally do in Grand Council, when the assembled people would some-
times enliven the proceedings by dancing or athletic sports, giving
rise not seldom to merry peals of laughter. ‘hey were numerous,
powerful, wise and happy, and nothing but the weight of many years
bore them down to the grave. ‘The Indian mother could then rear
a large family of healthy and happy children; the Indian corn grew
tall and rank round their villages ; the old men made their feasts and
smoked their pipes ; the young men and women danced ; the medi-
cine men applied from nature’s store such simple remedies as then
sufficed to drive away the grim monster Death. These were happy
days of sunshine and calm to the red sons of the forest.
But 7 war these Frenchmen found them different. Instead of
the merry laugh the hills rang again with the fierce war-whoop, and
the merry dance was changed to the savage war-dance. ‘The pipe of
18 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
peace was buried, and every brave, with tomahawk and scalping
knife in hand, was ready to sell his life for his liberty.
There were two great nations of Indians originally occupying
Canada, the Algonquins and the Hurons. The Algonquins occupied
all the land north of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario.
Shortly before the French came they had been the most powerful of
all the tribes and were considered the masters of this part of America.
They are described as having the mildest aspect and the most polished
manners of all the Indian tribes. The remains of this once powerful
nation are now the Ojibways, the Ottawas, the Western Algonquins
or Lenape, and the Menomonies. The Hurons occupied a tract of
land about 25 miles wide along ake Huron and were remarkable
for their industry. There was also a small tribe called the Neuter
Nation, occupying the banks of the Niagara, and the peninsula between
Lakes Erie and Ontario, who were called by the Hurons Attiwon-
dawonks. Very little is known of them and they have long been
extinct.
The Iroquois or Five Nations, who occupied the country south
of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, have always been, more or less,
connected with the history of this country. Their confederacy was
composed of the following nations: The Mohawks, Oneidas, Onon-
dagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. ‘They were never found waging war
against each other, and usually combined when attacked.
In 1608 the French sent an exploring party up the St. Lawrence,
under Samuel Champlain, and passing up the river he fixed upon a
high hill, richly clothed with vines and walnut trees, as the place to
winter. This hill was called by the Indians, Quebeio or Quebec,
and the city since built upon it has retained the name. Here he
formed a settlement and built store houses, and next spring he pushed
further up the river. When about 25 leagues above Quebec he met
the chiefs of the Algonquins, and with them made his first treaty with
Canadian Indians, which bound him and them to make war together
upon the Five Nations south of the river. Going south with the
Algonquins, he twice met the Iroquois in battle on the borders of a
large lake, which he named after himself Lake Champlain. The
Five Nations were soon put to flight with some loss by the use of
fire-arms, something they had never before heard of or seen. :
After this Champlain returned to France, but in 1615 again
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 19
came to Canada with a new company, among whom were four Roman
Catholic priests, the first missionaries to the Indians of Canada. ~The
following year Champlain, accompanied by Algonquins to the number
of 2,500, made another formidable raid upon the Five Nations, but this
time they had to return after accomplishing very little. About 1620
a treaty of peace was entered into between the Iroquois and Hurons,
in which Champlain and a Huron Chief narned Wolf-stag took an
active part. This treaty, however, was of short duration, for three
years only passed when the Five Nations were again at deadly warfare
with the French and Hurons. But just about this time, war having
- broken out between France and England, Sir David Kirk sailed with
a fleet to the St. Lawrence and forced Champlain with his colony to
surrender. Kirk sent his French prisoners to England, but by the
treaty of peace in 1632 they were sent back and the Colony became
again the property of France, which in the following year sent out
enough new colonists to make the total white population about 6,000.
Champlain died in about 1636, and in the meantime the Iroquois
had been fighting fiercely with the Hurons and Algonquins, the latter
“of whom they completely subdued.
Montmoryency, who followed Champlain as governor, succeeded
in making peace between the hostile tribes. The Roman Catholic
missionaries at the same time were actively at work, and no less than
3,000 of the Hurons are said to have been baptized at one time.
But in 1648 the Five Nations again arose in war and attacked the
. French settlements with desperate fury, killing alike priests, women
and children. They attacked the Hurons, who had of late been
peaceful and flourishing, and filled the land with horror and blood.
-'The Hurons fled to supposed places of safety, but their enemy pur-
sued and killed them till at last they had reduced that once powerful
nation to a little tribe of about 300 souls. This small remnant
of the nation, with downcast heads and heavy hearts, wandered
through the thickest forests to evade their savage enemies until at last
they were able to throw themselves upon the charity of the French at
Quebec. A little station called Sillery was there provided for them,
which in a few years’ time saw the last of the Hurons.
The Iroquois now lorded it over Canada, and they were con-
tinually attacking the French settlements, until in 1653 they, of their
own accord, made overtures of peace. But while one part of them
20 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
would make péace another would carry on hostilities, till in 1663 war
raged with greater fury than ever. The Five Nations during all this
time continually extended their territories, and having seen the power-
ful effects of fire-arms they procured them from the Dutch and English.
They now attacked the Ottawas, who, as I have before mentioned,
were a part of the Algonquins. They inhabited the northern part of
Canada, and did not make even an attempt at resistance, but sought
refuge among the marshes or on the islands of Lake Huron. They
completely subdued the great Cat nation, and it is reckoned that the
Five Nations held undisputed sway over a country 500 miles
in extent. The very sight of one of them struck terror into the
neighbouring tribes, and on the side of New England the ery of
‘A Mohawk! A Mohawk!” echoed from hill to hill, and all who
heard it were filled with fear. To add fresh consternation to the
people, Canada was at this time visited by a succession of earth-
quakes, which lasted for half a year, recurring two or three times a
day.
In 1665 France sent out detachments of soldiers to protect her
colony and subdue the Five Nations. Courcelles, who was governor
at this time, built a number of forts and three of the Five Nations
sued for peace. The fierce Mohawks and Oneidas, however, stood
back and still kept up the conflict, although the French troops and
forts kept them at a distance from the settlements. In 1667 Courcelles
pushed the power of France farther westward, and commenced the
building of a fort near Kingston, but he was recalled to France and
succeeded by Frontenac, who finished building the fort and called
it Fort Frontenac. The Roman Catholic clergy at this time succeeded
in preventing the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians, though
they were opposed by Frontenac, who thought that fire-water was
useful to him in his military and commercial dealings with the Indians.
Frontenac was recalled to France in 1682, and M. de la Barre was
sent out as the new Viceroy.
Canada was now ina critical state. The fine Hudson Bay
Territory, which had been heretofore in possession of the Dutch, now
fell into the hands of the English, and they laid claim to all the
country occupied by the Iroquois. The Hudson Bay Company had
pushed their agencies south as far as Lake Superior and were making
friendly dealings with the Iroquois, and trying to stir them up against
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 21
the French. As the English gave the highest price for furs, the
Five Nations began to deal with them, and even bought up those
that were intended for the French market. Barre met the chiefs of
the Five Nations upon the north shore of Lake Ontario and endeav-
oured to frighten them into having nothing to do with the English
of Hudson’s Bay, but the Iroquois insisted on doing as they pleased
in the matter. The English reproached the Five Nations for not
having gone to war with the French, but they replied in the same
noble and determined manner. ‘‘ Barre,” they said, “is our father,”
“ Corlaer, ” as they called the governor of New York, ‘‘is our brother,
“but neither of them is our master. He who created the world gave
‘““us the land we occupy ; we are free. We respect both, but neither
“has the right to command us, and no person ought to take offence
“that we prevent the earth from being troubled.”
Barre, on account of his unsuccessful negotiations with the
Indians, was recalled to France and succeeded by Denonville, a brave
and active officer, who immediately took steps to extirpate the Indians
if he could not reduce them to subjection. He opened his campaign
with a measure most iniquitous and unjustifiable that could well be
conceived. Having invited a number of Chiefs to meet him on the
banks of Lake Ontario, he treacherously put them in irons and sent
them to France. ‘There could now be nothing but war to the utmost
extremity. He marched against the Iroquois with 800 French
regulars, and 1,300 Algonquins, but the expedition accomplished
nothing worthy of note, except the building of Fort Niagara. On
the return of the French they found Lake Ontario and the Upper
St. Lawrence alive with the canoes of the Iroquois, who blockaded
forts Niagara and Cataraqui and razed the former to the ground.
They afterwards made a sudden descent upon the Island of Montreal, .
which they laid waste with fire and sword, and carried off two
hundred prisoners without any resistance. They also blew up the
fort at Cataraqui. In 1689 Count Frontenac was again sent out
from France, for the purpose of putting a stop to the war, or if that
could not be done to carry it on with more vigor.
After finding that it was useless to try to win the Iroquois from
the English, he sent out several expeditions against the English
settlements of what is now New York State, killing a number of the
defenceless inhabitants and making the Iroquois still more bitter
22 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
against the French. ‘The English of New York and Boston retal-
iated by sending out two expeditions against Canada, but both
returned without accomplishing anything. ‘The Iroquois continued
to harass the colony until 1694, when they made overtures of peace,
which had the effect of suspending hostilities for two years. In 1696
Frontenac prepared the largest expedition against the Five Nations
that had yet been attempted, but it turned out to be an act of heroic
folly, accomplishing nothing but the destruction of some wooden
cabins and some grain. The Indians did not show themselves till
the expedition was retreating, when they followed and harassed the
rear. The war continued till Frontenac died in 1698, but two years
after peace was made with the Iroquois by his successor De Calleries.
After three years of peace, the English, who were now at war
with France,. determined to take possession of the whole of the
northern part of America. ‘To do this they called upon the Five
Nations to assist them, but the Indians were very reluctant to take
up arms. De Vaudreuil, who had meanwhile succeeded De Calleries,
was able by good management to keep the British forces back, and
they soon abandoned the attack, the Iroquois having done nothing
to help them. During the interval of repose that ensued, both
English and French were preparing for another great struggle, each
endeavoring to gain the assistance of the Five Nations. The French
succeeded in getting the assistance of the Senecas and Onondagas,
but in the west the French had to meet a new enemy, the Foxes,
whom they nearly exterminated.
In 1710 the English again sent out an expedition against Canada,
partly by land and partly by water. That part going by water was
wrecked at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and the rest hearing of
. the disaster retired to New York. In 1713 occurred a change in the
English ministry, followed by the famous Treaty of Utrecht, which .
closed the war in Canada. France gave up Acadia and Newfound-
land, and surrendered all her claims to the sovereignty of the Five
Nations, an empty concession by which she gave up that which she
never possessed, and England acquired a nominal right which she
could not enforce.
Now followed a period of 42 years of profound peace for Canada,
during which several French governors ruled with more or less wisdom,
and French settlements sprang up by the St. Lawrence with great
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 23
rapidity. More attention was paid to agriculture, and the fur trade
was carried on extensively, while Quebec reached a population of
8,000 souls. Charlevoix, a French traveller and writer, made a trip
in a birch bark canoe, from Quebec up the St. Lawrence, along the
south side of Lake Ontario and the Niagara river, along the north
shore of Erie and up the St. Clair and Detroit rivers into Lake Huron
and got as far as Mackinaw. In his splendid account of the trip he
describes the country about Sarnia and the Detroit River as the
most beautiful and lovely part of Canada. During all this time the
Indians of Canada remained at peace, little change taking place in
their affairs.
24 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
BUROPRE DURING THE WAST THIRTY YEARS:
Read before the Hamilton Assoctation, Jan. 24th, 1895.
BY REV. J. H. LONG, M. A., LL. B.
The world of to-day is very different from that of thirty years
ago. The changes have been so gradual that they have, in
many cases, escaped notice. But, could we suddenly be set down
in the world as it was thirty or thirty-five years ago, we should scarce-
ly be able to recognize our own identity. The great civil war on
this continent was then at its height: the issue still lay in the future.
Iron-clads, breech-loading rifles, and Maxim guns, were but in
embryo ; dynamite was virtually unknown; the Atlantic cable was
an- experiment ; the telephone, the electric light, the electric railway,
the bicycle, had never been thought of for practical purposes ; while
baccill1 and microbes were in indisputed possession of the physiological
field. ‘The Dark Continent was, then, not a name, but a reality ;
the Suez Canal was unbuilt ; no Transcontinental Railway joined the
Atlantic to the Pacific; slavery existed in civilized lands ; Central
Asia was unexplored ; the Pope sat upon his temporal throne; there
was no German empire, and France was ruled by Napoleon the
Third. ‘Truly, we should not recognize our surroundings could the
hand be put back on the dial-plate of Time!
But it is not of all these things—it is not of scientific progress
that I wish to speak: it is of the political changes that these years
have brought about in Europe—changes fraught with the most mo-
mentous consequences to Europe and the whole world. In
considering this matter it will be sufficient to confine our thoughts
to three movements : the rise of the German Empire, the unification
of Italy, and the decadence of the Turkish Power. There have been,
it is true, other political movements: Spain has had her civil wars,
England and Holland have had their colonial wars. But the recon-
struction of the map of Europe has depended upon the three changes
just mentioned. Let us take them in order.
First—the creation of the German Empire. In the northern
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 25
part of Central Europe there 1s a little land that is now known chiefly
for the excellence of its dairy produce, but which, from old Viking
days, has played no unimportant part in history. I need scarcely
say that I refer to Denmark. In the year 1863 the King of Den-
mark ruled not only over what is now Denmark, but also over the
two provinces Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg. ‘These lay to the
south of the Province of Jutland, thus adjoining German territory ;
they were, moreover, the most valuable part of Denmark. The peo-
ple of these provinces were very largely German in language and
sentiment. ‘They had, in fact, a double allegiance, being connected
politically with both Germany and Denmark. This produced such
friction between the Danish Government and the pro-German party
in the Provinces—a friction increased by various other matters, e. ¢.,
the question of the language to be used in the schools—that war
broke out in 1864 between Denmark and the Germanic Confedera-
tion. “The Germanic Confederation,” for; at this time, Germany
was a loose league, at the head of which were the two rivals,
Prussia and Austria. Following these at a respectful distance
were certain kingdoms. (Hanover, Saxony, Wurtemburg, Bavaria)
and about forty principalities and duchies. The capital was
Frankfort-on-the-Main. This war could have but one termina-
tion: two millions could not stand, against seventy millions.
After a heroic struggle Denmark succumbed: the territory in
dispute was wrested from her rule. The question now arose: What
shall be done with it?. Upon this question Prussia and Austria
could not agree. This disagreement and various old differences
resulted in the war of 1866. ‘This is sometimes known as “the
seven weeks’ war,” and it ended by the Treaty of Prague. By
the terms of that treaty Austria—the lineal successor of the Holy
Roman Empire, and, still farther back, of the Empire of the Czesars
was removed from her post as leader in the Germanic Confedera-
tion, and Prussia was installed in her stead. The rise of the
Kingdom of Prussia from the little duchy of Brandenburg is one of
the most important events in history, and shows how a determined
and united people, under able rulers, can overcome apparently
unsurmountable obstacles. For Prussia 4ad had able rulers—the
Hohenzollerns ; and, as the founder of her greatness, that Frederick
who, in the preceding century, had given her a military system such
26 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
that she defied a Continent in arms. At the time of which I am
now speaking (1866) Prussia was ruled by a worthy scion of this
house—the late Emperor William, whose son, the late Emperor
Frederick (called affectionately by his people ‘ Unser Fritz”) greatly
distinguished himself in this, as in the later Franco-Prussian war.
In addition to these men, Prussia had three who were veritable towers
of strength: in statecraft, Bismarck ; in strategy, Von Moltke; in
finance, Von Roon. More than this: her army was furnished with
the breech-loading rifle (‘the needle-gun ”), while the Austrians used
the old muzzle-loader. These and other circumstances explain the
result of a campaign unexampled in history—the Bohemian cam
paign of 1866, ending in the great fight at Sadowa. At one blow,
then, the ancient house of the Hapsburgs, which had held sway
for 600 years, was hurled from its position as arbiter of Germany, to
make way for a power whose very name was first heard but yesterday
in the councils of Europe. But Prussia, although young, was very
swift in action and very stern in dealing with conquered foes. She -
deposed Hanover from her position as a kingdom because she had
sided with Austria [North Germany had generally sided with Prussia
and South Germany with Austria]; and her ultimatum to her enemy
was, that she should withdraw from German affairs, should pay a
large war indemnity, and should give to Italy, who had helped
Prussia, and whom the Austrians very easily disposed of, the old
Italian territory of Venetia. But William was only King of Prussia
after all—not Emperor of Germany.. A further step must be taken
before ‘manifest destiny,” as the Prussians termed it, should be
fulfilled. The old score with France must be settled. Prussia went
on, therefore, quietly perfecting her army, obtaining information as to
France and her defences, uniting the North-German people, and
in general preparing for the struggle which she felt must some day
come, and which she determined should come when she was best
and France worst prepared. France was at this time an empire,
under the rule of Napoleon III., nephew of the great Napoleon. The
people were, to a certain extent, restless—they had not forgotten the
coup a état by which the Emperor had reached the throne. Yet
they were proud of the military successes they had won under his
rule—the victories of the Crimea, of Algeria, of the Austrian cam-
paign. They were proud, also, of their progress in the arts of
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 27
peace, of the extension of their commerce, of the embellishment of
their capital. A little cloud, however, hung in the sky, Germany
had not forgotten that the legions of the great Napoleon had once
laid waste her smiling valleys and her vine-clad hills. She had
allowed to stand the monuments which the invaders had set up, that
these monuments might be a perpetual reminder to her sons of the
duty of avenging the dishonor offered to the Fatherland. But
France, light-hearted, careless France, had closed her eyes to the
present, and lived wholly in the glamor of the past. To her Ger-
many was still the somewhat uncouth neighbor across the Rhine,
whose growing aggressiveness it would some day be necessary to
curb. ‘The opportunity soon presented itself. The Spanish throne
became vacant, and the provisional government elected Prince
Leopold, a scion of the Hohenzollern dynasty. France at once
objected, alleging that this was German intrigue, a deliberate scheme
to extend Prussian influence over Spain, France’s nearest neighbor
to the south. She called upon Prussia, therefore, to disallow the
act. Prussia refused, somewhat brusquely, and war was declared by
Napoleon in July, 1870. The old passion for war, “the furor
celticus,” at once burst into a flame. ‘On to Berlin!” was the rally-
ing cry; and the soldiers boasted that within a month they would
sing the Marseillaise along her streets. But France had calculated
without her host. Silently, but with wonderful rapidity, the German
armies (for the South German States had joined Prussia) were mobil-
ized upon the frontier, and, before the echoes of the boasts of the
boulevards had died away, they were on French soil, their faces
turned toward Paris. France discovered, when it was too late, that
her army was largely on paper, that the German officers knew more
about France than Frenchmen did, and that it was a question, not of
taking the enemy’s territory, but of holding their own. ‘Then fol-
lowed in rapid succession Verdun, Gravelotte, Mars-la-Tour,
Woerth, and many another blood-stained field ; with the sieges of
Strassburg and Metz, and the fateful day of Sedan, ending in
Napoleon’s capture, State imprisonment, and death, But Germany
had not done with her ancient foe. Paris must surrender. In vain
were made overtures of peace. Inch by inch the invading host
crept nearer, until, with famine stalking through her streets, the
victorious legions entered her gates ; and then, in the battle-hall of the
28 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
French kings, and surrounded by the trophies of French arms,
William, King of Prussia, was crowned the Emperor of United
Germany. ‘The French Empire had now fallen, and the Commune
reared its ensanguined head. Frenchmen fought with Frepchmen.
The spirit of ’93 again burst forth with lurid glare. Again Notre
Dame was desecrated ; again the capital became the sport of the
fickle, frenzied mob; once more her streets ran red with blood.
The Commune crushed, Germany demanded her pound of flesh.
The terms were: $1,000,000,000 in money ; the support’ of an army
until that sum was paid ; and the cession, with all their fortresses, of
Lorraine and French Alsace. How that debt was paid is one of the
marvels of history. Day by day cars laden with bullion crossed the
frontier, until, with the recuperative power she has so often shown,
France stood once more before the world, no foeman’s foot upon her
soil. A stable republic, she set herself calmly and determinedly to
profit by the errors of the past. In 1878, and again in 1889, she
gave the grandest expositions the world had seen ; her empire has
extended itself in Farther India, in Madagascar, in Africa, to a degree
undreamt of before; her army is larger than that of Germany ; her
navy second only to that of Britain; her school system in certain
respects is the best in the world; and she stands to-day far stronger
than when her troops set out so boastfully to cross the German Rhine.
Let us now turn to the second great movement of the last thirty
years. ‘There is no more wonderful page in recent history than that
which describes the rise of the Kingdom of Italy. The story can be
told in a few words. For hundreds of years before the middle of
this century, Italy had been merely what Napoleon had called it,
‘a geographical expression.” But there had never died out in the
people’s heart a desire for unification, a longing for the day when the
flag of a united nation should wave “‘from the base of the Alps to
the shores of the sea.” The memories of Rome in ancient days, of
Florence and Pisa, of Venice and Genoa, in modern days, fired the
Italian heart ; and the cry of ‘‘ Italy, one and free,” never entirely died
away. Fortunately there was, at the time of which I am now speak-
ing, in the province of Savoy [Savoy which lies just beneath the
shadows of the Alps back of Genoa], a royal house fit to undertake
this patriotic task. Fortunately, also, Italy was rich in great men:
the King, Cavour, Mazzini, and the lame lion of Caprera—Garabaldi.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 29
Indeed, more than thirty years ago, this housé of Savoy had
accomplished much of this task, for in 1860 it had acquired Naples,
Tuscany, and other minor states; and, in the war of 1859, it had
wrested from Italy’s hereditary foe, Austria, the rich plains of
Lombardy, with its capital Milan. But there were two important
divisions to be gained: the Pontifical States, ¢. e. the city of, and the
country round about Rome; and Venetia, the land of Venice and
her lagoons, of Padua, “‘ whence Portia came,” and of “fair Verona.”
-The latter of these, Venetia, Italy obtained, as we have seen,
from Austria, as a result of the war of 1866. But it was felt that
there could be no real national unity so long as the Pontifical States
were not sharers therein. ‘Turin was only a provincial capital—the
real capital must be Rome. It was deemed necessary, therefore,
that the Pope should yield up his temporal sovereignty, and that his
States should be added to the Italian Kingdom. Whether the Pope
was entitled to such secular sovereignty or not is a disputed question,
into a discussion of which I shall not enter. It was decided in Italy
by the sword. Notwithstanding aid given to the pontifical cause by
various organizations, e. g., the Canadian Papal Zouaves, Rome
opened her gates to the Italian army, and the City of Tiber became
the capital of a United Italy. The year 1870 was a memorable year
in Papal annals. It saw the assembling of the Oecumenical Council,
which proclaimed the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope when
speaking ‘“‘ex cathedra ;” 1t saw the withdrawal of the French troops
from Rome, which withdrawal led to the fall of the Pope’s temporal
power ; and it saw the defeat of France, the eldest daughter of the
church. The changes which the last thirty years have accomplished
in Italy are incredible. Commerce has gone forward by leaps and
bounds; a Colonial Empire has been founded in Africa; the
navy is large and well equipped; the army large and well drilled ;
the cities have made wonderful progress in sanitary and municipal
matters, and many of them have grown with great rapidity, Rome’s
growth offering a parallel to that of the western cities of this con-
tinent ; the Italian people have become accustomed to constitutional
government ; and an excellent educational system has been established.
In a word, Italy, which, 30 years ago, was regarded somewhat as
Portugal or Greece is now, to-day ranks among the great powers of
Europe. It is true, this has not been brought about without great
30 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
cost. The taxation has been enormous ; and, as a result, emigration
has been excessive. The financial condition of the Kingdom is,
therefore, anything but satisfactory. But this is a mere passing
phase ; and, before many years, Italian finances will be put upon a
sound basis. ‘The second great movement in Europe during the
epoch which we are considering is, then, the unification of Italy.
To study the third we must turn to the extreme East, to Russia
and the Balkan Peninsula, the head and front of ‘the Eastern Ques-
tion,” which, like a great sea serpent, periodically rears its head and
agitates the waters of international diplomacy and journalism.
Thirty years ago Russia had but recently recovered from the Crimean
war. This war very rudely dispelled the belief which had prevailed
in Russian military circles since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow,
that the army of the Czar was invincible. It also shattered for
a time the dream upon which the Russian heart has always been set,
viz., the conquest of Constantinople and of the Balkan Peninsula.
In the extreme south-east of Europe is to be found the only nation
that has remained non-Christian in religion, and Asiatic in custom,
language, and blood: non-Christian in religion, for the Turks are
Mohammedans ; Asiatic in blood, language and custom, for they are
Mongolian by blood, Turanian in speech, and polygamous in
marriage relationships. The only race of any size in Europe that
resembles them to-day is the Hungarian, or Magyar race ; but this
people long ago laid aside its most distinctive Eastern manners, and
accepted the Cross of Christ. Its peculiar Turanian speech, compo-
site or agglutinate in structure, and, therefore, allied to the Turkish
language, it still retains. It is not in place to trace the early history
of the Turks in Europe. We remember that in 1453 the Sultan,
Mohammed II., forced the gates of Constantinople, changed the
Church of St. Sophia into the Mosque of Omar, and put an end to
the Greek division of the Roman Empire. We remember that the
invading Moslems. carried their crescent northward to the walls of
Vienna. Hurled back by Sobieski, the Pole, they took refuge
behind the Balkan mountain ridges, seizing Greece, Bulgaria,
Roumania, Servia, and what are now other independent
states, along with what is Turkey proper to this day. From
the time of the conquest the most bitter hatred existed between the
invaders and the old inhabitants of the land. Differing in language,
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 31
race, and religion—for the latter were of the Greek Church—there
was, from the first, rebellion on the one side and oppression on the
other. In the early part of this century the first successful revolt
was inaugurated, the extreme south wresting its independence from
Turkey and forming the Kingdom of Greece. ‘This was an inspira-
tion to the other States. They, too, dreamed of liberty, either as
separate, autonomous powers or else as members of a vast Slavonic
Union under the aegis of Russia, Turkey’s ancient foe. For Russia
was drawn to their side by sympathy and interest: by sympathy,
arising from community of blood and faith ; by interest, because she
had never forgotten the old prophecy that some day the white Czar
shall water his charger in the Bosphorus, and that he who is master
of Constantinople shall be master of Europe and Asia. But, although
the Great Powers sympathized with these Christian provinces as
against Turkey, yet they did not wish to see Russia absorb Turkey.
This for various reasons: because they mistrusted Russia’s kindly
solicitude ; because they wished to preserve the so-called balance of
power ; and because Russia at Constantinople would be dangerously
near certain possessions of their own, e. g., Malta and the Ionian
Islands. Therefore, when in 1854 Russia interfered in the affairs of
Moldavia and Wallachia (now the kingdom of Roumania), she found
herself confronted by the Allied Powers ; and the Crimean War, end-
ing in the defeat of Russia, broke out. The result of this war was
that she was checked in her advance towards the Bosphorus, that
she was shut out from the Dardanelles and the Black Sea, that
certain provisions were made for the better treatment of the
Balkan peoples, and that, to some of them, was granted a limited
independence. Nothing was heard, therefore, of the Eastern ques-
tion for some years. After a time, however, it began to be whisper-
ed that Turkey was disregarding her obligations, and that Russia had
ambitious designs. So, in 1876, the Servians, Montenegrins, and
Bosnians rose against Turkish rule ; in 1876 the Bulgarian atrocities
were committed by Ottoman soldiers ; and in 1877 Russia declared
war. Now the Turks have this peculiarity: when others can be got
to fight for them—as in the Crimean War—they show little disposi-
tion to fight for themselves, but when they must fight alone, they are
among the best troops in the world. In 1877-8 they had no allies,
and their defence against the overwhelming forces of Russia is one
32 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
of the most brilliant chapters in military story. ‘The names of Plevna
and the Shipka Pass have shed a never-dying glory upon Turkish
arms. But even the valor of desperation must yield to numbers.
One by one the lines of defence were broken, and the Russian troops
found themselves at the gates of Constantinople. The prize was
within their grasp, when a British fleet passed the Dardanelles, and
Admiral Seymour sent a message to the Russian commander, that the
taking of Constantinople would mean the opening of his guns upon
the invading camp. ‘The Russians, therefore, halted their troops
without the city gates, and the Treaty of San Stephano was signed :
a treaty amplified by that of Berlin. By the terms of these treaties
further protection was guaranteed to the Christian subjects of the
Sultan ; Austria obtained Bosnia, and England the Island of Cyprus ;
while an enlarged measure of self-government was granted to various
of the Balkan States. The results, then, of the events of the last 30
years in this quarter of Europe are these. The Ottoman Empire,
while still preserving her Asiatic possessions, has been cut down in
her European possessions from a population of 15 to one of 4 mil
lions ; and there have arisen several new Christian states, allied to
Russia by interest and sympathy, but somewhat suspicious of her as
having designs on their independence. These states have, since
1878, made great advances in military strength and general civiliza-
tion, and their existence has given a new turn to the yet unsolved
Eastern Question.
Let us now consider the probable political future of Continental
Europe. And (1): There is the possibility that the present status may
be preserved, z. ¢., that there may be no great war. Since 1878
there has been no such war, and many persons are becoming dubious
of this terrible cloud which is supposed to be forever hanging over
Europe. Possibly it may not be a war-cloud; it may be that the
volcano, said to be ever upon the point of eruption, is only an extinct
volcano. On the other hand, there are many elements of danger ;
there is much inflammable material ready fora conflagration. There
are dynastic jealousies ; there are religious and race feuds, centuries
old ; there is the newly-awakened longing for nationality on the part
of rising states ; and there are the standing armies. A word as to
this last point. ‘There is, I think, a good deal of exaggeration about
the excessive war establishments and the unbearable taxation. Asa
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. Bie
matter of fact, Germany’s war expenditure is not so large as that of
the United States; and the time spent in the army—two years,
shortened, in certain cases, to one year—1s not lost time, by any
means. The results are seen in the! improved physique of
the people, in the lowered death-rate, and in the increased
national health. There can be devised no system for the
thorough training of a people, for their all-round development—
schools, libraries and other means of mental instruction are attached
to continental army-stations—there can be devised no system for
such training, and for training in habits of obedience, promptness,
and thoroughness, that can compare with compulsory military service
for a reasonable term. Therefore, as has often been said, were there
no danger of war, conscription would, in all probability, still be
maintained. On the other hand, the existence of large bodies of
armed men is a provocative of war. The officers desire promotion ; the
men become restless in inaction; the rulers (whether Emperor or
Parliament) wish to test the efficiency of their military system.
Taken altogether, then, it may be reasonably assumed that, sooner
or later, Europe will be plunged into a great conflict.
The disturbing cause will be one of two: The Franco-German
quarrel and the Eastern Question. As to the first. It does seem
almost incredible that a nation so highly civilized a$ is France can
deliberately and avowedly prepare for a war of revenge : a war which
shall deluge two lands, possibly a whole continent, in innocent
blood. This shows how backward, according to our ideas of
right and wrong, France is. But there are many countervailing con-
siderations. We.must not forget that the French believe Prussia to
have intrigued and provoked the war of 1870; that her terms to the
conquered were of unexampled severity; and that France had no
opportunity in the war of showing her real strength. We must not
forget that she lost two provinces which had been in_ her
possession for more than 200 years; and that the people of these
provinces, even yet, would much prefer French rule. At any rate,
right or wrong, that a nation in many things the foremost in the
world, a nation of whom it was said in times of old, ‘‘ Deus omnia per
Francos ”—‘‘ God does all things through the Franks ”—that such a
nation shall lie prostrate before this rude “upstart from northern
forests; that her battle-flags, which have waved in victory in
34 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
every quarter of the world, shall be trailed in the dust—these are
things never to be thought of, not to be entertained for a single
moment, by a true-born son of France. I fear, therefore, that she is
but biding her time ; when she is sufficiently strong she will strike
the blow. And the France of to-day is very different from the
France of 1870. She has laid aside much of the boastful spirit that
came from the victorious campaigns of Louis XIV. and the Great
Napoleon. She has learned wisdom by defeat. What shall be the -
result of that war between giants (for Germany has not been inactive
since 1870, she is quite aware of the designs of France): what the
result shall be, time alone can tell. But, unless other nations
interfere, the war will be waged to the death. For, if France be the
victor, she has the old score of 1815 and 1870 to wipe off; and she
has a good deal of the Latin love of vengeance. If Germany be the
victor, then, as Bismarck once said, ‘‘ Future generations will ask,
Where is the country which was once called France ?”
The second disturbing cause is to be found in the Eastern Ques-
tion—the persistent determination of Russia to absorb Turkey, and
her encroachments in Central Asia. Now, if Russia were a civilized
nation in the true sense—a nation in whose pathway freedom and
justice walk—there would be no such antipathy felt toward her as
is now felt by ofher nations. But Poland, Siberia, and Finland forbid
that belief. Moreover, on many occasions she has broken her
pledged word, e. g., in the case of the navigation of the Dardanelles
and tne Black Sea a few years ago. It is considered unwise, there-
fore, by Great Britain and the other powers to allow her to move
toward Constantinople. Not that they love Turkey more, or indeed
at all, but that they love Russia less.
My own belief is, that the time-honored policy of Great Britain
is unwise. It is true that Russia is faithless, that she has silently
and ruthlessly advanced her posts through Central Asia towards the
Afghan frontier. Great Britain is, therefore, amply justified in acting
as she does, as far as ground of action is concerned. But I do not
believe that Russia in Constantinople would be more dangerous to
the Suez Canal, Egypt, Cyprus, Malta, or any of the other points in
that chain of fortresses and stations which guard Britain’s pathway
to India, than she is now. She will never be satisfied until she
reaches an open southern sea. If she does not reach it at Constan-
tinople, she will elsewhere. If she were allowed to do this without
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 35
interference, we should hear much less of attempts upon India. ‘The
two supreme powers in the east are Russia and Britain. It would
be the wise policy, I believe, on Britain’s part, to acknowledge that,
like her own, the Russian Empire must increase year by year, and to
leave to Time, the great magician, the softening and ennobling of
the Muscovite nature. The one and only strong argument against
this is the loss of Britain’s prestige among the Mohammedans of
India if she failed to check Russia’s advance or to support Turkey
in holding Constantinople.
In conclusion, | am going to do a rash thing, to attempt a fore-
cast of the political map of Europe—a rash thing, because one
should not prophesy until after the event. It seems to me _ that
the present conditions point to the following results: (1) If
France and Germany go to war they will be so evenly matched
that it will be necessary for other nations to interfere in order to avert
mutual destruction. From such interference disarmament will natur-
ally ensue. (2) The Austrian Empire is the least homogeneous of
all European states. Its discordant elements are held together, in
fact, by the respect and love for the good Emperor Francis Joseph,
and by fear of foreign attack. Before many years, in all probability,
the German part will join the German Empire, and the other parts
will be attracted by race affinities to surrounding nations, or else
will form independent states. (3) Italy will acquire the long-
coveted strip of Italian territory on the Adriatic Sea, with the great
seaport of Trieste, and the reproach of Z’/taha Srredenta will have
lost its sting. (4) Russia will reach Constantinople, and “the sick
man of the east,” Turkey, will at last really die, as far as Europe is
concerned. :
These are, at any rate, the directions in which recent move-
ments have pointed, z7z., the unification of scattered nationalities,
and the drawing of lines of cleavage based on race distinctions.
What effect on political Europe the accession of the young
Czar, who is said to be of a somewhat progressive mind, will have,
or what effect the Armenian atrocities will have, it is too early to
attempt to judge. But, whether these or any of these prognosti-
cations shall come true, one thing is reasonably certain, that far
in the future 1s the dawn of universal peace, and that not soon shall the
dave return with the olive branch from her weary wanderings o’er
Europe’s troubled sea.
26 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
ABO ae eyed IOUS, Olt SONNY: (CIRIRIT IK,
Read before the Hamelton Association, Aprtl roth, 1895.
BY DOUGLAS BRYMNER, DOMINION ARCHIVIST, OTTAWA.
At the opening of the campaign of 1843, in the war of 1812, the
United States had determined to abandon their ambitious attempt to
take possession of the whole Continent of America, and to concen-
trate their efforts on the capture of Upper Canada. On the frontier
between Prescott and Lake Erie there were only 2,100 British troops
all told. To attack this force and reduce Upper Canada 6,o00 men
were to be sent by the United States. And by this numerical
superiority the capture of Ogdensburg by the British forces was soon
offset by the taking and occupation of York. This, with the naval
superiority acquired by the United States on Lake Ontario, placed
Upper Canada in the most critical position. The number of the
United States troops was fully five times that of those for the defence
of Upper Canada, and they were in possession of the most important
points, either for attack or defence.
It was doubtful if a battle could be risked by the force under
Vincent at Burlington Heights, and in event of a retreat being deter-
mined on, there were no means of carrying off the few field pieces
remaining, or even the wounded. Should it be thought prudent to
risk a battle the quantity of ammunition Vincent had was only ninety
rounds, so that the position of that part of Upper Canada seemed
desperate. ‘To make assurance doubly sure, two brigades, under
Chandler and Winder, with dragoons and a strong detachment of
artillery, were ordered down to secure the complete defeat and cap-
ture of the regular British force, and with it the possession of Upper
Canada.
This was the position of Vincent’s command previous to the
battle of Stony Creek. Nothing seemed open to him but a retreat,
leaving the wounded and the field pieces in possession of the enemy,
and had Vincent taken this course few could have blamed him. But
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. el
he would not give up without a struggle. One of the first acts of
the United States reinforcement, after encamping, was to drive in the
British advanced posts at Davis’, eight miles from Burlington
Heights, towards Forty-mile Creek, the picket consisting of the light
company of the 49th regiment. The attacking party then took camp
at Stony Creek. On hearing of this Vincent sent off Teut.-Col.
Harvey, the Deputy Adjutant General, to reconnoitre. On his return
he recommended a night attack on the enemy’s camp, whose force
consisted of 3,500 men, that of the British 704, being five companies
of the King’s (that is, the 8th) Regiment, 280 in number, and the
Agth, 424, a total of 704, or, as stated in Harvey’s original letter, 700.
Vincent agreed to the proposal, and in the most noble manner
entrusted the command of the expedition to Harvey, although he
accompanied it himself. In his official report Vincent says: “ T’o
Lieut.-General Harvey, the Deputy Adjutant General, my obligations
are particularly due. From the first moment the enemy’s approach
was known he watched his movements and afforded me the earliest
information. ‘To him, indeed, I am indebted for the suggestion and
plan of operations.”
The night of the 5th June was unusually dark ; at half-past
eleven the march began; strict silence was ordered and enforced ;
the light companies of the King’s and 4oth in front, the 49th in the
centre and the King’s as a reserve. ‘‘In conformity,” says Harvey,
‘with directions I had given, the sentries at the outskirts of the
enemy’s camp were bayonetted in the quietest manner, and the
camp immediately stormed.”
The matter of fact statement that the sentries were quietly done
to death by the bayonet makes us forget to think of the grief stricken
homes to which these men may have belonged, just as we read with
nerves unmoved the ‘butchers’ bill” after every battle, feeling
mechanically that the dead and wounded were but machines, forget-
ting that they were human beings like ourselves, and connected by
ties of love with others who were watching with anguish for the
return of their loved ones. Not with much pathos, but with natural
feeling, the French girl in the song says to her conscript lover :
Oh ! if I were Queen of France, or still better Pope of Rome,
I’d have no fighting men abroad, no weeping maids at home ;
All the world should be at peace, and if kings must show their might,
Why let them that make the quarrels be the only ones to fight. *
38 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
And if kings should fight equally so shouid the rulers of republics.
The surprise was only ‘‘tolerably” complete. A few muskets
‘were fired in spite of orders, and the charge being made across the
line of camp fires, the small number of the attacking force was
plainly seen, and the enemy gaining courage posted themselves on
the heights and poured in a destructive fire of musketry, but the
bayonet dislodged them, took possession of the field pieces, and in
less than three-quarters of an hour the Americans were in full retreat,
having abandoned the guns and everything else, including the two
Brigadiers Chandler and Windez, other officers and roo rank and
file. Before dawn, as previously arranged, the victorious force of
700 against 3,500 retired in perfect order to Burlington Heights, with
Vincent and Harvey leading.
The stories of Vincent having lost his head, and of Harvey
being obliged to take command, of Vincent having wandered in the
woods and being found two days afterwards, and of the disorderly
flight of the attacking force are completely and absolutely contra-
dicted by the official and other reports. “The work was carried out
as previously arranged, and Vincent, so far from being lost, wrote
his official report at Burlington Heights on the very day the action
took place. Other stories, such as that Harvey entered the camp
at Stony Creek in the disguise of a quaker selling potatoes and
taking notes, are equally contradicted, as are some of the incorrect
statements which have obtained currency in the received histories.
The value of this night attack does not appear to have been suffici-
ently realized. In itself, perhaps, not of great importance as an
isolated expedition, the result was to clear the frontier of a formid-
able enemy and greatly to discourage him. ‘The enemy retreated
to seek shelter at Fort George, which was garrisoned by 5,000 men,
but so great was the alarm caused by the success of Vincent that
even Fort George, strongly as 1t was fortified, was not considered
secure, and the great bulk of the American baggage was sent across
the river to Fort Niagara.
It was the most important movement, in that respect, of the
whole war.
On the 8th June, two days after the attack, Vincent wrote to Sir
George Prevost, and I copy the letter from the original among the
Canadian Archives (Series C., Vol. 679, p. 53):
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 39
BuRLINGTON Bay, 8th June, 1313.
Sir : In consequence of our attack on the enemy’s camp on the
morning of the 6th inst., they have made a movement to their rear
and retired back to the Forty-mile Creek, which has given me an
opportunity of pushing out my patrol to their late camp.
I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 2nd inst.,
with a memorandum enclosed. ‘The fleet are this moment reported.
I am, therefore, confident I am perfectly secure in this post as long
as we have the lake open tous. TI have this morning made a change
of position to a place named Coots’ Paradise, on which I am throw-
ing up a strong fortification in my front ; all other parts are so strong
as to secure themselves from an attack of an enemy. In this situa-
tion I am determined to hold out if their whole force of 12,000 1s
brought against me. Col. Harvey and Capt. McDonall will write
very fully on the subject of their new situation to Col. Baynes.
I have to report the arrival of Sir James Lucas Yeo. He informs
me that he cannonaded a camp at the Forty-mile Creek, which he
dispersed with some bateaux. I had hardly given orders for the
detachment of the 8th being disembarked, when I received a private
express from the Forty-mile Creek that in consequence of our fleet
being up the lakes the enemy struck their tents and are retiring to
Fort George. I have, therefore, sent this detachment back to the
Forty-mile Creek with the Commodore, and I have pushed forward
my outposts with some Indians to co-operate with our fleet and take
up their quarters this night at the Forty as my advanced post.
I can assure Your Excellency that a troop of dragoons will be
of the greatest service in this country.
I have the honor, etc.,
JoHN VINCENT, Brig. Cen.
His Excellency Lieut.-Gen. Sir George Prevost, Bart., Etc.
A letter from Col. Harvey to Gol. Baynes, dated the 1 1th June,
copied from the original, among the Canadian Archives (Series C.,
Vol. 679, p. 76), is of some interest. An extract is given:
FORTY-MILE CREEK, Irth June, f813.
My Dear CoLoneL: General Vincent has desired me to for-
ward to you the enclosed report from Jieut.-Col. Evans and accom-
40 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
panying return from Lieut.-Col. Nichol, Q. M. G. of Militia, who
have been actively and usefully employed here for this day or two.
The panic of the American army, you will perceive, has been most
complete, and had the whole of this division been at hand to take
advantage of it, doubtless very many prisoners might have been
taken, and probably some more guns; but I am. not aware that any
further results could have rationally been hoped for. It was quite
impossible, however, for us to know to what a degree the panic pre-
vailed, and even if we had, to have moved sufficiently rapidly with all
the troops to take advantage of it. What we could do was, however,
done, and I think you will be of that opinion when you know that
the enemy only retired from his post at 12 o’clock on the morning of
the 8th, and our advanced troops (amounting to 400 men) were in
possession of it, and advanced from it after the enemy by seven of
the same evening. ‘The distance is 20 miles from our position at the
head of the Lake.
The principal objects Gen. Vincent has had in view in making
a forward movement with the greatest part of the troops to this place
are to communicate with and give every support and assistance in his
power to Sir James Yeo and the fleet, to be at hand to take advan-
tage of the success we sanguinely anticipate from his approaching
recontre with De Chauncey, to give encouragement to the militia and
yeomanry of the country, who are everywhere rising against the fugi-
tive Americans, making them prisoners and withholding all supplies
from them, and lastly, and perhaps chiefly, for the purpose of sparing
the resources of the country in our rear, and drawing the supphes of
the army, as long as possible, from the country immediately in the
enemy’s vicinity. Our position here secures all these important
objects, and so long as our fleet 1s triumphant, it is a secure one.
Should any disaster (which God forbid) befall that, we have no longer
any business here or in this part of Canada.
Enclosed is the report sent by Major Evans, dated roth June,
of which the following 1s a copy :
FORTY-MILE CREEK, roth June, 1813.
Sir: Conformable to the wish of Brigadier General Vincent,
commanding, I herewith transmit a concise and connected narrative
of the late operations of the detachment with which he honored me
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. AT
with the command. In consequence of your order given immediately
after my arrival on 8th June, I embarked in company with Sir James
L. Yeo and proceeded for the squadron, then lying off the mouth of
Burlington Bay, which on our reaching was ordered by signal to
weigh and stand for the Forty-mile Creek. A steady breeze soon
enabled us to gain and come to.an anchor close in with the enemy’s
position, with which we had a brush (on passing in the morning).
By the excellent arrangements of the Commodore, the whole of my
detachment, composed of about 220 of the King’s, was on shore and
in possession of the enemy’s encampment at half-past seven p. m.,
little more than three hours after receiving my instructions. Lieut.-
Colonel Dennis, with the detachment ordered on by land, joined me
soon after, and the Indians quickly followed. The enemy’s flight
and terror is best evidenced by the precipitate manner in which he
abandoned everything which was valuable or could be called to con-
stitute his equipment for field operations. Aware from the nature
of the country that a further co-operation of the naval force could
not be expected, I lost no time in taking measures for a close
pursuit by the Indians, detaching Lieut.-Colonel Dennis with the
Grenadiers of the 49th and part of a company of the 41st to the
Twenty, with directions for that officer to push his dragoons and
Indians just to the skirts of Fort George. These movements, though
not coming up to my expectations, by the capture of the enemy’s|
cannon, were otherwise productive of the most beneficial results.
Many prisoners were taken, the spirit of the loyal part of the country
aroused, the little remaining baggage of the enemy destroyed, his
panic increased and confirmed, and what is of the utmost con-
sequence, certain information received of all his movements. On
the evening of the gth the enemy set fire to and abandoned Fort
Erie, withdrew his forces from Fort Chippawa and Queenston, con-
centrating them at Fort George, and hastily began throwing up field
works, either there to defend himself or cross the river by means of
boats, which he holds in a constant state of readiness according to
circumstances. Yesterday I had information of the militia having
taken a depot of arms in the neighborhood of Queenston, and in the
evening had actually possessed themselves of the town.
I have everything to say in praise of the good conduct of my
men and officers, but have most particularly to remark the zeal,
42 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
spirit and ability with which Lieut.-Colonel Dennis conducted his
share ofthe operations.
I have the honor, etc.,
THos. Evans, Lzewt.-Colone/.
Lieut.-Col. Harvey, Deputy Adjutant General.
The contents of these letters I might have thrown into a
narrative, but I have preferred to give them as they are, to prove
how little dependence can be placed on the accounts given by United
States writers of the operations during the War of 1812. A com-
parison of the preceding letters, with that from General Dearborn,
addressed to the United States Secretary at War, will still further
prove the distortion of truth in the reports which form the ground-
work for the histories of that war written by United States authors.
It may be remarked that, contrary to what Dearborn says, there were
no Indians with the expedition which attacked the camp at Stony
Creek, and it should further be borne in mind that all the events
which followed—the flight of the United States troops, the occupation
of the camps they had held, the evacuation of the posts, were all
visible and so well known that no successful contradiction is
possible.
HEADQUARTERS, FORT GEORGE, June 6th.
Sir: I have received an express from the head of the Lake this
‘evening, with intelligence that our troops commanded by Brigadier
General Chandler, were attacked at 2 o’clock this morning by the
whole of the British and Indian forces ; and by some strange fatality,
though our loss was but small (not exceeding 30), and the enemy
completely routed and driven from the field, both Brigadiers
Chandler and Winder were taken prisoners. ‘They had advanced to
ascertain the situation of a company of artillery when the attack
commenced. General Vincent is reported to be among the killed of
the enemy. Col. Clark was mortally wounded and fell into our
hands, with 60 prisoners of the 49th British regiment. The whole
loss of-the enemy is 250. ‘They sent in a flag, with a request to
bury their dead. General Lewis, accompanied by Brigadier General
Boyd, goes on to take the command of the advanced troops.
I have the honor, etc.,
HENRY DEARBORN.
Hon. General John Armstrong, Secretary at War.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 43
Such a ludicrous travesty of events has scarcely ever been
placed on record. It is not to be wondered at, that with official
reports of this nature to draw from, historical writers of the United
States should fall into the most egregious errors in their accounts of
the War of 1812. The loss on the Bnitish side is given as 250.
The casualty return shows that of killed, the total was 23, namely,
1 officer, 3 sergeants and rg rank and file ; wounded 136, namely,
12 officers, g sergeants, 2 drummers and 113 rank and file; and of
missing, 3 sergeants and 52 rank and file, many of whom subse-
quently found their way back to headquarters. As to the loss of the
United States troops given by Dearborn as 30, the number of
prisoners alone, besides the two Brigadiers, was roo ; the number of
those killed does not appear. It is unnecessary to criticise the other
statements in General Dearborn’s letter, which are sufficiently
refuted by the clearly ascertained facts.
The flight of Proctor from Moravian Village left the Niagara
frontier open to the enemy, and led to the following proposal,
addressed to Noah Freer, Military Secretary to Sir George Prevost
(Canadian Archives, Series C., Vol. 680, p. 322.)
Sir: I beg leave to acquaint you for the information of His
Excellency the Governor-General, that having taken a step of an
extraordinary nature, I think it my duty to make my designs and
motives known to his Excellency. The country between Stony
Creek and Fort George being abandoned to the enemy, I have
presumed (induced by personal ambition and a desire to be of
service to my country), to select a township in the neighborhood of
Fort George and erect it into an independent district pro ‘¢empore,
and declare it in a state of neutrality ; in this manner to prevent the
marauding of the enemy, and to organize it so that when our army
advances in the spring I shall be able to join it with two or three
hundred men. When that happens the nominal and temporary
independence will of course cease. Should it happen (which Heaven
forbid), that that part of the country is to be totally abandoned to
the enemy, I hope to continue its independence, and by forming an
English party make the possession of the country never cease to be
a thorn to the Government of the United States; by this means I
am confident I can be of more service to myself and country than if
4A JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS:
I remained a humble subaltern without a name and_ without
distinction. <
remain eter
Jas. M. CarpDwELL, date L’ns. rooth Reg.
Stony Creek, 26th October, 1813.
INE VEreer,) Hsqey Ete:
_ What was done in reference to this proposal, or whether the
letter was ever answered, does not appear on record.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 45
AN IDYL OF A RAMBLER.
Read before the Hamilton Assoctation, Aprel roth, 1895.
Be ACB. jo MEATS 2 Osa AGW.
When Man was banished from the Garden of Eden he received
the dread sentence that ‘the ground should be cursed for his sake,”
and that “‘in sorrow should he eat of it all the days of his life.” But
we are all aware that this language, though true in its general appli-
cation, is not to be understood in a literal and exclusive sense. Man
was told that the earth should “ bring forth thorns and thistles,” but
it also produces flowers to gratify and fruits to nourish him. ‘The
Infinite Being has said that ‘‘the days of our life shall be marked
with sorrow,” and they are; but the afflictions to which we are
subject are attended with blessed antidotes. Moral sources of enjoy-
ment are given us, as fruits and flowers, for the Soul, and the
teachings of interest should lead us to consider with attention those
gifts which enlarge the capacities of the spirit, and call forth wonder-
ment at the mighty workings of all bounteous Nature. For instance,
who is insensible to the beauties of the rising or the setting of the
summer sun? Who can behold the moonbeams reflected from
silent river, lake or sea, and not feel happy in the sight? None, I
believe, in early life. But, when hardened in the ways of the world
and of man; when the chief end pursued is the accumulation of
wealth, acquisition of power, or pursuit of pleasure, then mankind
loses sight of the beauties of Nature. Were the inherent love of
them cherished by early education, how seldom would it be destroyed
or become dormant, as it too often is. But the student of Nature
finds in every sphere of existence a means of rational enjoyment—
a pleasure so fascinating when grasped at, that the mind for the time
forgets the ills of life, and the glories of Eden spring up in imagina-
tion through the mists of troubles ; for in every bank and woodland,
and running stream, in every bird among the boughs, and every
cloud above his head, stores of interest abound, which enable him to
46 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
forget awhile himself and man, and all the cares of life, in the inex-
haustible beauty and glory of Nature, and of the God who made and
controls her.
Let us walk, side by side, in imagination, with a naturalist in his
daily ramble; let us blend our mind with his, to receive those
impressions which he feels, to share the train of reflection that comes
crowding on his mind, as the affinities of objects lead his-ideas to
wander from the leafiness of the Temperate to the exuberant foliage
of the Torrid Zone. We approach a woodland ; how inspiriting are
the odors that breathe from the upland turf, from the rock-hung
flower, from the hoary and solemn pine. Deep, and dark, and still,
are the shadows of the surrounding trees and bushes. ‘The green
leaves seem to infuse into our hearts a portion of their happiness as
“they clap their hands in glee,” and the joyous birds make melody
all around.’ Here let us pause and gather a single blade of grass,
and examine for a minute quietly, its narrow sword-shaped strip of
fluted green. Ruskin says of this: ‘‘ Nothing, as it seems, there,
of goodness or beauty. A very little strength, and a very little tall-
ness, and a few delicate long lines meeting in a point ; not a perfect
point, either, but blunt and unfinished ; by no means a creditable or
apparently much cared for example of Nature’s workmanship ; made,
as it seems, only to be trodden on to-day, and ‘to-morrow to be cast
into the oven.’” And yet, think of it well, and judge, whether of all
the gorgeous flowers that beam in summer air and of all strong and
goodly trees, pleasant to the eyes, or yielding fruit, stately palm and
pine, strong ash and oak, scented citron, or burdened vine, there be
any by man so deeply loved, by God so highly graced, as that
narrow point of feeble grass. And well does it fulfil its mission.
Consider what we owe merely to the meadow grass, to the covering
of the dark ground by that glorious enamel, by the companies of
those soft and*countless spears. The fields: follow forth but for a
little time, the thought of all we ought to recognize in these words.
All spring and summer is in them; the walks by silent paths, the
rests in noonday heat; the joy of herds and flocks, the sunlight
falling in emerald streaks and soft blue shadows, where else it would
have struck upon the dark mould or scorching dust ; pastures beside
the babbling brooks ; soft banks and knolls of hills, thymy slopes of
down, overlooked by the blue line of the distant sea-crisp lawns, all
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 47
dim with early dew, or smooth in evening. warmth of sunshine; all
these are summed up in the simple words—‘ The Fields.”
Whatever course our thoughts may take, we must remember
that there is no plant, however humble, no flower or weed that
springeth from the earth, but is an organized and living mystery.
The secrets of the abyss are not more inscrutable than the work that
is wrought in its hidden germ. The goings on of the Heavens are
not more incomprehensible than the growth of a simple plant, as it
waves in the summer breeze. The functions that constitute its
growth, flower and fruit, the organs and affinities by which every part
receives the material that answers its purpose, who can unfold or
explain them? As the fruit of one year falls, the seed of centuries
of growth is sown. By the mechanism of Nature, the stocking of
the earth with every kind of growth, from the oak of a thousand
years, to the weed of to-day, is carried on. ‘The acorn falls into
moist earth, and is trodden in by man or beast, to become an oak in
course of years, whose timber may resound to and tremble under the
roar of warfare on the ocean; berries are carried by birds, and
dropped on ledges of rock in any handful of soil that may be there,
to sprout and germinate and grow, and to reproduce in their turn,
seeds for future growth. Winged seeds, such as those of the thistle,
the dandelion, etc., are elevated by the winds till they stop in some
favoured places ; hooked seeds, such as are familiarly called ‘“‘cleavers”
or ‘‘ burrs,” entangled on the dress of the passer-by, or hanging to the
hair or fleecy coverings of animals, may be carried miles away, and
find their resting place in even other lands.
Whilst men, with due care, put seeds into the ground by millions,
Nature plants and sows on a larger scale, surpassing man while he is
busy, and going on with her work while he is sleeping or making
holiday. For every tree that falls thousands are sown ; for every
flower that fades millions are provided. What we do with pains and
care in our flower beds, is done silently all over the islands and con-
tinents of our globe. New life is provided before decay begins.
How beautifully are the lights and shadows thrown abroad, and
the fine transparent haze diffused over the valleys and plains. ‘The
shadows play all day long at silent games of beauty; everything 1s
double if it stands in light. The tree has an unrevealed and muffled
self, lying darkly along the ground; the slender stems of flowers,
48 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
golden rod, wayside asters, meadow daisies and rare lilies, cast
forth a dim and tremulous line of shadow, that lies long all the morning,
shortening till noon, and creeping out again all afternoon, until the
sun descends yon western horizon. Meanwhile, the clouds drop
shadows like anchors, that reach the ground, but will not hold ;
every browsing creature, every flitting bird, every unconscious travel-
ler writes itself along the ground in dim shadow. And, speaking of
the clouds, let us patise a few moments while we look with admira-
tion at the ever changing variety and beauty; at the gorgeous
scenery of summer cloudland, the exquisite variety of tints, the
graceful motions, and the changing shadows which flit over hill and
dale. The finest dyes and most skilful looms can never equal the
tapestry with which God decorates our earthly abode. These are
pictures shut up in no secluded gallery, to be seen only by the rich,
but they are spread alike before the lowly and the lofty, in the city,
and in the remotest solitudes, where all may drink in their beauty,
and discern the wisdom and skill of Him who made them. [Even
the child, as he gazes dreamily at the tiny white speck floating far
away in the blue ether, has his little soul filled with interest, and
when he sees dark masses of vapor come rolling up slowly and
majestically, fold after fold, from the distant horizon, his imagination
will transform those fantastic shapes into gigantic snow-capped
mountains, towering peak upon peak, until he almost longs for wings
to fly and explore their far-off summits. But, how comparatively
few, children or adults, ever pause to give themselves a matter of
fact explanation of the actual formation of clouds, the unerring laws
of their creation or dispersion, or the vast beneficent part they take
in the economy of Nature. ‘The question may be asked why there
are on some days clouds, and again on others none? ‘The answer
is, there are clouds always, although not always visible, or to be
more correct, the material of which clouds are made 1s always there ;
for if the air is warmed by the shooting down of the sun’s rays for
days past, it holds in solution, invisible, the vapor it has imbibed.
But let that air begin to cool, and it parts with its mass’ of moisture ;
in other words it deposits it in the shape of white vapor, being no
longer able to retain it in an invisible form. ‘This delicate little
cloud, or mass of vapor, however, 1s of very precarious existence.
One ray of bright sunshine, the faintest return of heat, would send it
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. AQ
back again from a state of visible vapor to invisible moisture. Its
outward form would be gone, and although we know that its
essence would still subsist, indeed, could never be destroyed, yet
its apparent existence would be ended. It would thus vanish like
many an infant at its very entrance into life, before accomplishing
any specific purpose of its being; but, again, like the infant, it is
only the outward form which sustains annihilation. But heat is not
the only thing by which clouds are affected. Life is ever changing
with them as with mortals; they are liable at any moment to be
whirled into the most fantastic shapes by every fickle wind that
passes. If the temperature of the atmosphere continues to lower,
the delicate gossamer-like vapor (beautifully compared by Lamartine
to the world’s incense floating upwards to the Throne of God), will
resolve itself into large dark masses of rolling clouds, and the mass
of vapor, no longer able to poise itself in the air, descends to earth
in grateful refreshing showers, and perhaps in the bosom of the
cloud now passing overhead, are liquid treasures sucked up from
swamps of Florida, to go and shower fertility and wealth on the
plains of the far off West. Winter and summer “the clouds drop
fatness.” But they have other offices to perform, besides those of
merely dispensing showers, of producing the rains, and of weaving
mantles of snow for the protection of our fields. They have other
commandments to fulfil, which, though less obvious, are not there-
fore the less benign in their influences or the less worthy of our
notice. They moderate the extremes of heat and of cold; they
mitigate the climate. They spread themselves out, preventing
radiation from the earth and keeping it warm ; at another time they
interpose between it and the sun; they screen it from his scorching
rays and protect the tender plants from his heat, the land from the
drought. Having performed this, they are evaporated and given up
to the sunbeam and the winds, to be borne on their wings, away to
other regions which stand in need of their offices. And here I would
say that I know of no subject more fit for profitable thought on the
part of the knowledge-seeking student, than that afforded by the
atmosphere. Of all parts of the physical machinery, of all the con-
trivances in the mechanism of the universe, the atmosphere with its
uses and adaptations appears to be the most wonderful, sublime and
beautiful. In its construction, the perfection of knowledge and
50 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
wisdom is involved, and, to turn to Holy Writ, how appropriately
does Job burst forth in laudation of the latter, as God’s handiwork,
in the xxvii. chapter.
The sighing of the wind as it sways the branches of the forest,
which now bend before the summer zephyr like courtiers doing hom-
age, now bend before the fury of the storm like strong men in
adversity, sounds to our naturalist as angels’ whispers in its gentle-
ness, or in its fury as the voice of One mightier than Manoah’s son
speaking in anger—‘‘The voice of One who breaketh the cedars,
yea, the cedars of Lebanon.” But he will tell you this Nature’s
music 1s never still, never silent, though often varied ; for each tree
has its part—the surging of the oak, the whispering of the elm, the
rustling of the beech, the laugh of the birch, the sighing of the
willow, the moaning of the hemlock, the dirge of the cyprus. The
pine alone remains constant to melody throughout the year. Every
breeze that touches the pine in any season of the year wakes up
myriads of fairy harps which, united, set the air trembling with the
most moving harmony that Nature affords—the harp-music of Nature’s
orchestra. Even the aspect of the woodland itself: if thick with
tangled underbrush, the unexplored impervious forests of the Amazon
rise up to the imagination ; or, if thick with fern and grass, it recalls
visions of Australian fern-trees and wattles—fern-trees, now the only
corresponding and connecting link to the fossil plants of the coal
formation, beneath whose heavy coverts the Saurian monsters roamed,
the giants in the earth of those days; monsters extinct and passed
away, leaving their epitaph in stone to be deciphered only by the
researches of science centuries after their existence.
Should the road lead by or near a pond, our naturalist shrinks
not from the wet and swampy ground surrounding it, for the forget-
me-not is there, with blossom blue as the sky of Heaven, and its
golden eye bright as Hope itself; there is the calamus, or sweet-
scented flag, the iris, the bulrush, heavy and swaying in the wind,
the water-lily, rivalling in its blossom the magnolia of the southern
climes, and harboring under its broad leaves the pike and the perch,
the bass and the pickerel, those favorites of meek Walton’s follow-
ers. The delicate whites and pinks and yellows and blues of the
aquatic blossoms—how bewitching are they in the sunlight! Adher-
ing to the pond weed, or slowly drawing their homes along with
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. Syl
them, are visible the water snails, amongst which is conspicuous the
Planorbis, or Coil Shell, a representative left us of the Ammonite, one
of the most universal fossils of the secondary rocks ; shells whose pro-
portions have dwindled down from their colossal size in days of yore,
when their circumference equalled that of a wheel, to that of an
ordinary small coin, contrasting in their diminution the present pigmy
race of man with his predecessors. Here we see the dragon
fiy disporting on its gauzy wings, itself glittering with blue and
green flashing back the sunshine, now hovering poised above the
surface of the pool as if desirous of telling its kindred larva, who
still remain below, and from one of which it lately sprung, the glorious
beauty hereafter awaiting them when their transformation takes
place ; but the watery element defies the advance of insect life, and
between them there is a great gulf fixed. Fancy may lead us to
picture to ourselves the Grub, preparatory to bursting his prison
house by the water side and rising on glittering wings into the sum-
mer air, promising tidings to its fellows of the state it is about to
enter, and the longings of those left behind to hear something of that
state, dimly fancied by them, but unknown. We could fancy him
returning amidst the transports of his wildest flights, ever and anon,
to the precincts of that watery world which had once been the only
world to him ; and thus divided, yet near, parted, yet united by love,
he hovers about the barrier that lies between them, darting over the
crystal water in the rapture of his new life.
Let us scoop up a handful of water from the pond, and carefully
examine it. Our naturalist will tell us that there is in it a creature
with neither arms nor legs, properly so called, but which catches
animals more lively than itself, and twice its own size ; with no eyes,
yet loving the sunshine: whose stomach can be turned inside out,
apparently without hurting it, and which, if cut in two, will not die,
but each part grow into a perfect creature. To inexperienced eyes
it looks like a tiny piece of green sewing silk, about a quarter of an
inch long, and a little untwisted at one end. ‘This, however, is really
a set of delicate limbs placed round the thicker end of the slender
body of the little Hydra (for such is the name it goes by). These
tentacles, or feelers, float in the water like fairy fishing lines. Little
creatures, invisible to our unaided sight, that have been frisking
round full of life and activity, are seized by them, and one tentacle
52 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
after another being wound around its prey, the process of digestion
takes place. When we laugh at the idea of two or three Hydras
growing out of one, if severed, we are told the reason is that the
principle of life is diffused equally in all its parts ; that any part can
live without the rest, and, like the cutting of a plant having life in
itself, it can grow into a perfect creature.
Journeying onward, he tells us of another animalcule provided
with two hairy wheels upon its head, whirling continually around,
producing a strong current towards its mouth placed between them,
carrying in all lesser objects floating near, and like the rotary wheels
of a steamboat, carrying him onward, unless desirous of a rest, he
grasps with his prehensile tail some friendly water plant. With still
greater surprise we hear that these animalcules each have shells,
which in some places during the course of centuries, have formed
thick layers of white fine earth, so fine, that on the shores of a lake
near Urnea, in Sweden, the peasants have for many years mixed with
their flour this so-called ‘‘mountain meal.” When we come to think
that the vast thickness of the chalk cliffs were all formed from the
deposition of amimalcular exuviee, surely the mind of man is inade-
quate to count the myriads of ages through which this process was
going on, a process still silently and invisibly working in the depth
and darkness of the Atlantic.
Skirting the pond, which has thus engrossed our attention, we
may see rocks now rising up precipitously in rugged masses, now
sloping quietly to the water’s edge, partly clothed with lichens and
moss, here covering the stone to the depth of several inches, there
clustering around some bare patch of rock. From this we learn how
the first accumulation of soil took place, when order was first produced
from chaos ; soil, which year by year increasing from the decomposi-
tion of those rudiments of vegetable life, afforded depth and life for
plants of a higher order and larger growth, to be in turn succeeded
by a more luxuriant vegetation adapted for the support of animal life.
As we gaze upon the distant mountain range, what thoughts
come crowding on our minds. How solemnly and majestically they
raise their rugged peaks to heaven. Now, in token of their royalty
crowned with a diadem of clouds, and now with every one of their
cliffs gleaming in the sunlight like the pictures ofa dream, For ages
they have held communion with the mysteries of the midnight sky.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 53
The earliest beams of the morning have bathed them in living light,
and theirs too have been the kisses of departing day. Man and his
empire have arisen and decayed, but they have remained unchanged,
a perpetual mockery. Upon their summits Time has never claimed
dominion. ‘There, as of old, does the eagle teach her brood to fly,
and the wild beast prowls after his prey. There do the waterfalls
still leap and shout on their way to the dells below, even as when |
the tired hunter, centuries ago, bent him to quaff the liquid element.
There, still, does the rank grass rustle in the breeze, and the pine,
and the cedar, and the hemlock take part in the howling of the gale.
Upon man alone falls the curse of Time. Nature has never sinned,
therefore her glory is immortal. In such scenery we can understand
the full meaning of the words—“ The hills stand round about Jeru-
salem,” and their unchanging aspect whispers into the ear of man
that he is but the moth which flutters in the noontide air.
Again, the voice of Nature is perpetually singing the saddened
strain, “farewell.” It is in the sway of the boughs overhead, and by
presentiment, when they shall stand bare and stark ; the brook rip-
ples already to think how soon it will be choked by frost into a sub-
terranean gurgle ; the mountains are beautifying themselves before
they lay off their robes of beauty for a season ; even the sea, with its
gentle rise and fall, and swelling breast, is telling how its line of
beach will soon be driven snow, and its sands no longer warm.
What is there in life or Nature that says ‘“ farewell” more punctually
and more sweetly than Nature herself. In Spring she sends the early
flowers, her children, to foretell her coming, and in Autumn, instead
of merely disappearing, she summons all her children and all her
works, to stand in full array and make their tender adieu. The order
of departure reverses that of coming. As Summer goes, she makes
this presentation of herself and hers ; then she sends the rest away
one by one, lingering herself until the last in our memories of the
bygone season.
There are certain things in Nature in which we can discern a
human sympathy, a veritable kinship; and if we dismiss these
things by referring them to a general fixed law, then the sympathy
and the friendship are merely transferred to the law. How per-
sistently and ingeniously she thrusts herself upon our senses, claiming
our notice and beseeching our sympathy. There is nothing
54 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
unsightly of all the unsightly things in the world which she does not
try to cover with her fresh growths ; she greens over battle and ruin
and wipes off the blackening of fire. We do our best to shut her
out in our cities, but it is all in vain. She sends her little blades of
grass to push themselves up beside the flagstone ; her ivy climbs the
stone churches and castles, hiding the ravages of time, and her trees
are the fullest representation of herself; the agent of Him at whose
fiat the world emerged from chaos.
But, to resume our walk: Abounding everywhere, and full of
interest, are the birds we meet with in the deep solitudes of the
woods ; the lugubrious cawing of the crow grates upon the ear with
hollow voice, which has for ages been an object of evil omen to the
credulous and the ignorant ; the monotonous sound of the distant
wood-pecker, “tapping the bark of the hollow beech tree,” or making
the woods resound with his notes of laughter, takes up the tale; the
bluebird, the titmouse, or ‘‘chicadee,” that happy restless easy-going
creature, who scorns to leave us for the snow of winter, and picks
up a scanty living round the outhouses of the farm; the finch tribe
with their never ceasing cry, make the very copse alive with their
melody ; whilst the bobolink on the wing, surveying the grassy plains
below him, chants forth a jingling melody of short variable notes,
with such confusion and rapidity that it appears as if a whole colony
of birds were tuning their notes for some great gathering in Nature’s
concert hall. And, as he is so well known a bird, I cannot refrain
from dwelling on his character a little while. Rivalling the European
lark, he is the happiest bird of spring ; he comes amidst the pomp
and fragrance of the season, his life seems all sunshine, all song.
He is to be found in the soft bosoms of the freshest and sweetest
meadows, and is most in song when the clover 1s in bloom. Near
by we may see a tyrant kingbird, poised on the topmost branch of
some veteran tree, who now and then dashes down, assassin-like,
upon some homebound honey-laden bee, and then with a smack of
his bill, resume his predatory watch. Over the pool, the swifts, the
martens and the swallows, seem to vie with each other in acrobatic
flight ; now skimming the surface of the water, now making with a
touch of the wing a scarcely perceptible ripple.
Besides the birds, flicker and flit hither and thither the butter-
fles, small and large, white, grave and gay; grasshoppers are noisy
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 55
beside long stretches of green paths ; improvident fellows who sing
all through the livelong summer day, unmindful and heedless of
coming storms and winter’s stern array; and who would think,
when looking on the painted butterfly, flashing its gaudy colors in
the sunlight, that a few weeks ago it was a grovelling worm, an
emblem of destruction, a caterpillar. How wondrous the change ;
how beauteous the transformation. How typical of the spirit of man,
who, fettered to earth in the flesh, shall one day emerge from the
chrysalis of death, and wing its flight to the Bowers of Eden.
Bounding through the highest tree tops in fearless leaps, light
and graceful in form, with bright black eyes, and nimbleness in every
movement, the squirrel enlivens the scene, who, after scrutinizing
around some mossgrown branch for the disturber of his haunts, hies
away from our gaze, with a defiant chattering that seems to say,
“catch me if you can,” to his nest in some hollow limb, where his
booty of acorns, chestnuts or beech nuts is stored up for winter use ;
and, we think, when following his nimble movements, how some of
our species might relieve our charitable societies of many of their
cares if they would only take this provident little fellow as an example.
But the lengthening shadows warn us to retrace our steps ere the
dark pall of night settles over mountain, valley, tree and stream.
The fogs are rising in the meadows ; a thin, white line of vapor
marks, with well-defined outline, the course of some stream flowing
through them. Long before we reach home the curtain is raised
that concealed the celestial host ; those fires that glow forever, and
yet are not quenched. ‘There they move as they moved and shone
when “the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted
for joy.” It was the same blue spangled dome on high above old
Rome, when she rioted in all her magnificence and luxury. The
‘Shepherds who watched their flocks by night ;? the Magi, whose
knowledge of the heavenly host was more enlarged than any others
of their time, were warned to study that living page for a light to
guide them to the expected Messiah. The Arab, as he travelled the
boundless fields of sand with his trusty camel, the “ship of the
desert,” trusted of old to those burning orbs, for they alone were his
chart and his compass. Beyond the grasp of poor frail man, they
light him from the cradle to the sepulchre. Their beams are ‘shed
upon his monument, until that, too, has crumbled away, and no token
56 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
remains to point to the spot where his ashes lie. Could a voice be
heard from their blue home, doubtless it would speak of a race that
passed from this continent long ere the canvas of Columbus was
furled on these shores ; a race that preceded the Indian ; a people
whose remains are yet among us, but whose history lies deep in
oblivion. All on earth has changed, but the glorious heavens
remain unchanged ; sun, moon, planet and satellite, stars and con-
stellations, galaxy and nebule, still bear witness to the power, the
wisdom and the love which placed them of old, and still sustains
them where they are.
And now, our ramble over, we feel we have associated ourselves
more closely with Nature, and her mighty Master, Gop. The
materials with which that eternal power writes His name may vary,
but the style of the handwriting is the same. And whether in illu-
minated characters he paints it in the field, or in the starry alphabet
bids it flame forth from the face of the firmament : whether He works
in the curious mosaic of a shell, or inscribes it in Hebrew letters on
tables of stone, devotion recognizes its Heavenly Father’s hand, and
admires with reverence His matchless autograph.
In conclusion, let me impress upon the minds of all, how every-
thing in Nature daily speaks to us in the plainest language, points
out to us in its every phase something yet to come ; a something yet
unknown, a mighty hereafter.
As the swallows homeward fly, their young brood raised, their
summer work accomplished, instinct points out to them an unknown
land to which to betake themselves from the chills and storms and
tempests of winter. Something, we know not what, tells them this is
not their rest. As the leaves fall off withered and sere, having done
their work in Nature’s mighty laboratory, the tree les dormant for a
time, but only to gain strength to burst forth in fresh beauty at a
future time ; as the seed is committed to the ground, a dry, shrivelled
object, to all appearance destitute of life, its future as the plant is
provided for by Nature’s hand ; as the sun goes down behind the
mountains, or is shrouded behind cloud, its light 1s hidden but for a
time, to burst forth again resplendent. As the river flows travelling
onward to mix its waters in the unknown depth of ocean,
leaving as it were forever the hills from whence it sprung, it is but to
assume the form of vapour to replenish those springs. As the reed-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. mS
bird builds its nest, a home for its little ones yet unborn, an unknown
sweet voice of kindness bids it, she knows not why, thus look to the
future. Yes, the river is rushing forward, the clouds are hurrying
onward, the winds are sweeping past, because here is not their rest.
Ask the river; ask the clouds ; ask the winds where they go to.
Another land! Ask the great sun as he descends out of sight,
where he goes to. Another land! And when the appointed time
shall come, man also must go ; where? To that other land to which
those voices of Nature have all along directed him : into the presence
of Nature’s God.
58 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
REPORT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SECTION.
head before the Hamilton Association May oth, 1895.
The Section, in submitting this report, desire to state that though
the attendance of members has not been large, the usual interest in
the work of the Section has been maintained by a few, so that at the
end of another year we are able to report that considerable progress
has been made towards making the geological part of the museum
more complete, although it is yet far from perfect, and it 1s scarcely
expected that the dream of the most sanguine will be reached for
some time to come.
The result of last year’s work has been the means of proclaiming
to the geological student that the fossil fauria of the rocks in Ham-
ilton and vicinity has not been exhausted. ‘These rich stores have
been drawn upon from time to time by our worthy and indefatigable
Chairman, and distributed throughout the world. As the result,
Hamilton is credited with three new genera of fossil sponges, and
seven new species, and the end is not yet. ‘This locality is also
renowned for its rich stores of graptolites which have been attracting
the attention of some of the most eminent men of graptolitic lore on
this continent, as well as those of the European.
Mr. A. E. Walker presented to the section a very valuable col-
lection of fossils, properly classified and named, being the result of
forty years’ collection. ‘These fossils are representatives of the dif-
ferent formations, ranging from the Trenton up to the sub-carbonifer-
ous. There is a specimen in this collection obtained from the
Utica-shale which requires particular notice because it reveals to the
palzeontological world an important discovery, now recorded, so far
as is known, for the first time in that horizon.
This specimen referred to has a circular mass of spicules on its
surface bearing a close resemblance to those found in the Niagara chert
beds at Hamilton, and forms the connecting link which traces back
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 59
the glass rope sponges, or closely allied forms of to-day, to their
predecessors in the far-off ages of the earth’s history.
Mr. Walker’s modesty would not allow him to claim this dis-
covery, but we cheerfully proclaim him as the proper person who
should receive credit for it.
The papers read at the meeting of the section have been of more
than ordinary interest, especially to the local geologist, some of them
dealing with questions of local importance, affording a stimulus to
the novitiate, while others dealt with questions about which there is
still some uncertainty because of insufficient data upon which to
draw, so as to come to a definite conclusion.
The section has held seven meetings during the year, at six of
which papers were read.
Following are the subjects treated in these papers, and the dates
on which they were read :
May 25th, 1894.—“‘ Geological Notes,” by Col. C. C. Grant.
Nov. 2nd, 1894.—“‘ Opening Address ” by the Chairman.
Dec. 22nd, 1894.—“‘ Notes on the Devonian Rocks,” by Col.
@2C- Crant.
Jan. 25th, 1895.—“‘ Geological Notes Continued,” by Col. C.
C. Grant.
Feb. 22nd., 1895.—“‘ Geological Notes Continued,” by Col.
Cx Cx Grant.
Mar. 22nd, 1895.—‘‘ The Glacial Man Controversy,” by Col. C.
C. Grant.
Apr. 22nd, 1895.—‘‘ Short Notes on Recent Discoveries,” by
Cols @- ©) Grant:
All of which is respectfully submitted.
AS NED;
Secretary.
60 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
OPENING ADDRESS.
Read before the Geological Section, November 2nd, 1804.
BY €OL. €:)@) GRAND:
A good many new Graptolites have been obtained since the
stone crusher has been at work in the corporation quarry here ;
several were forwarded, by request, to the Geological Survey Office,
Ottawa, and a still greater number to the United States Survey, the
authorities at Washington’s intention being to publish a work on this
class of organic remains. In a paper read to this section on,a former
occasion, I stated that there were about 76 in our local rocks
undescribed by Dr. Spencer. I have now come to the conclusion
that I then underestimated the number. ‘This opinion I communi-
cated to Dr. R: R. Gurley, F. €.S: Ay, of Washington, a) leading
authority on the graptolites, who has been selected to describe the
Niagara ones. In many instances I succeeded in obtaining fhe
Radix, or initial point, a circumstance of much importance. |
Strange to say, the reticulated species, Dectyoneme (Hall) are
furnished, with bases widely differing—the cup-shaped—with a short
stalklike process not unlike the shortened stem of a wine glass.
It was probably buried in muddy sediment, and does not appear
to have been attached to other objects, indeed, none of the graptolites
here were obtained presenting this appearance, except in a few in-
stances only.
The Dictyoneme generally had spreading rootlets, J/ocaules
(Hall) and Rkzzograptus (Spencer), bulbous ones ; Callograptus and
Callyptograptus slight single stems.
Since I forwarded my last parcel to Washington, I succeeded
in obtaining a new species of the former by splitting the upper
glaciated chert bed in which the base is well defined. The free
graptolites, of course, display no attachment process. ‘These are not
unlike the forms described and figured by Hall, from Quebec, and
were probably direct descendants, or at least closely allied varieties
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 61
of the more ancient ones, known at the time of publication as Lower
Silurians.
The low swampy fields close to the Corporation Drain have
contributed as usual some interesting specimens of what we may call
flint flake fossils. I have already expressed astonishment at the
inexhaustible supply turning up annually there. A new drain on the
MeVittie Farm throws considerable light on the matter since the
swamp was drained many years ago. It appears clear enough now.
That the plough has never penetrated deep enough to disturb the chert
beds (in situ) underneath was Dr. Spencer’s view. While
admitting its probability, I felt inclined to believe the swamp water-
had rotted away the softer portion of the upper chert, leaving no
impression on the hard part composed of silex (flinty matter.)
Both theories are quite erroneous. This new drain exposes
the thin flakes, embedded, 1n countless numbers, 1n a white stiff clay,
viz., the ground-up meal of local rocks, pulverized by the glacier.
When it retreated, while it left J7oraznes in some localities adjacent,
there it dropped what we now find resting on the chert beds below.
This escaped observation when the Corporation Drain was first opened.
When it was subsequently deepened, the layers removed would only
hide more effectually the matter originally thrown out.
Water or Weather-worn Greenstones and granites are sometimes
found with the fvnu¢ flakes. Occasionally the latter occur below, dis-
_ playing a similar conveyance as regards both. The boulder clay or
till of Europe in many places exactly corresponds with the clay
resting on our local chert beds, and underlying that ancient lake
beach, known to us as the Burlington Heights.
The remarkable preservation noticeable to us in the beds at the
top of the escarpment of the glacial s¢vzae 1s mainly owing to the
resistance it offers to the penetration of surface water. The color
proves it was little affected by the stagnant marsh which existed
before the Corporation Drain was excavated, where bog tron pene-
trated and stained the flint red or yellow. It was absent, probably,
when the workmen were cleaning out the drain a few years ago. I
remarked the coloring was confined to isolated patches. I think,
therefore, I cannot be far astray in arriving at this conclusion. Many
of the large travelled Niagara boulders resting on the Barton Ridge
beyond the drain, as well as the #/Z, have been removed by the
62 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
farmers even since I arrived at Hamilton. I had no difficulty in
recognizing that some few at least belonged to the same horizon as
the upper glaciated stvomatopora bed of the Carpenter Quarry at
Lime Ridge.
The Cryptazoon I forwarded some years ago to the Redpath
Museum was derived from some higher layer than the one above.
I think no organic remains corresponding to it have been remarked
in this upper layer, and it is impossible to estimate the thickness of
the rock removed or ground down during the great ice age. ‘I can-
not claim the discovery of many new species (graptolites excepted),
-but I am enabled to add a few to the local list of Hamilton fossils,
published by Dr. Spencer.* Some have already been discovered by
Hall, and others are perhaps new to Canada, as I cannot find any
record of their existence here. |
Debarred as we have been for many years by the Grand ‘Trunk
Railway from our scientific pursuits, not only along the line, but
even inside the fences, | am. no longer enabled to contribute any
specimens from the Bluff and Rock Cutting to the Hamilton Museum.
The localities in question are unquestionably the most interesting
about here to a collector. Seven Silurian Star-fishes were obtained
at the former, together with the oldest colored Brachipods known
(Lingule). The latter, which begins at Niagara Shale, lays bare the
Crinoid beds of the series containing two species, Hucalyptocrinus
and several heads of Caryocrinus and Stephanocrinus. Unfortunately
no specimens of the former Crinoids are 1n possession of the Museum.
The General Manager of the Railway alleges he has no option in the
matter, as they are bound by a clause inserted in the Railway Act.
I do not think it ever was the intention of our law makers to include
men in pursuit of science with ordinary tramps. No civilized coun-
try throws obstacles in its way. When I mentioned the matter
recently to a gentleman from the States he remarked “that is about
the most contemptible thing I have heard for some time. But it may be
only a stupid blunder on the part of ignorant officials. If it is as you
say, the Act of the Legislature, why, sir, that only makes it the more
disgraceful to Canada.”
The Niagara Waterlime beds at Russeux Creek have afforded
*You will find the list appended.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 63
nothing new, but the quarry at the Jolley Cut, worked by the Cor-
poration, presented a remarkably fine /cocd from the blue building
limestones. I am inclined to think it an undescribed species of
Buthotrephis (Hall). It may be a detached branch only, yet I
believe now a species of the plant existed in the Palzeozoic Sea
which did not possess a main stem like Authotrephis Gracilis.
Hitherto I supposed some specimens were accidentally separated
from the parent stock. I doubt whether this affords a satisfactory
explanation ; it may be so, in some instances, but decidedly not in
all. I noticed recently in the waterlime beds above the Albion
Mills, where the quarry-men had uncovered the ‘‘Erie,Clay” or
“Till” resting on the upper layer a few darker patches than I had
previously remarked. Possibly they may represent vegetable remains
pushed on by a glacier. The clay appeared undisturbed, containing
rounded pebbles, both above and below. I doubt if modern trees
could produce the appearance in question, even while admitting the
roots sometimes strike deeply into the soil.
FOSSILS RECENTLY OBTAINED.
Buthotrephis—New species, perhaps.
Acidaspis tat/—Not obtained hitherto. New species.
Dalmania Verricosa—Hall, not recorded in Hamilton List,
Spencer. ;
Calymena Platys—Hall ; omitted also in Spencer’s List.
Cornulites Proprius—Hall ; not recorded as occurring at Ham-
ilton in the above.
Cornulites, SP.—Undetermined yet.
_ Crania—Siluriana, Hall.
Crania—New species perhaps ; this has a straight hinge line
and raised upper valve not unlike a Bonnet Limpet (not
known to Dr. Spencer). I believe there is no record of the
other as occurring in Canada.
Several Bryozoons in the glaciated chert beds—Aenzsti/ide,
Ptilodictye, Cladoporide, omitted in Spencer’s List, and
not recorded by others as occurring 1n Canada.
Conularia—_New species.
The Barton water lime furnishes a C/etetes or Mauticulipora,
which may be new. It is better represented by one placed
64
JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
in a side case of the Museum for determination. This was
obtained from a base bed of the series Barton Niagaras.
It also furnished a small Cyrtoceras probably unrecorded,
a very slender Graptolite, and a Brachiopod, not well pre-
served, which may prove to be the one already discovered
in the States and named by Dr. Jas. Hall Anastrophia
Intisplicata. It does not appear among the Canadian
organic remains recorded by the late Dr. Nicholson.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 65
BRIEF NOTES ON THE DEVONIAN ROCKS, ONTARIO.
Read before the Geological Soir, December 24th, 1894.
BY COL. C. C. GRANT.
The Corniferous Limestones of Hagersville, in the neighbor-
hood of Hamilton, are merely a portion of a great formation known
to geologists as the Devonian system. ‘They overlie the Upper
Silurian. Murcheson and Sedgwick calculated the rocks deposited
in the old world, so called, during that age had a thickness of
nearly three miles. It appears to be a little more on this continent
however there appears to be no material difference. Whence was
this great amount of sediment obtained? Evidently from the degra-
dation of pre-existing “‘Archeean ” and ‘Silurian ” lands.
The limestones present many forms of marine life, especially
corals in Ontario, but appear deficient 1n fish remains, which are so
abundant elsewhere, that we frequently notice ‘ the Devonian ” called
“the age of fishes.” A few shark spines from the quarries at
St. Mary’s represent all I have seen, and on reference to Nicholson’s
work, Palzeontalogy of Ontario, I am unable to find that the Toronto
Professors were more successful than I have been in my researches.
Through the persevering efforts of the late Professor Hartt, Sir
W. Dawson, Matthews and others in New Brunswick, Gaspe, etc.,
we are enabled to form an idea regarding the land vegetation of this
age. The record, doubtlessly, is very incomplete, and it is only quite
recently that anything was known respecting it. Flowerless plants
(Acrogens) seem rather scantily represented in the Dominion. I
have heard some highly interesting and plants have been discovered
in the Devonian beds in the United States within the past few years.
Conifers occur in Canada, and the late Dr. Newberry detected a well
marked portion of a 7vee/ern in the coniferous limestones of Ohio.
The latter, probably, was brought down by a river in flood, which
undermined the bank where it grew. It was only within the past
quarter of a century that I learned that “the calamites” of the
carboniferous had put in an appearance at an earlier period of this
world’s history in a geological point of view. I was once endeavor-
66 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
ing to give an incredulous friend a little insight regarding the coal
measures of England, stating coal itself was nothing more or less
than mineralized vegetable matter, the production of Paleozoic
“rafts,” not widely differing from such as
we now see In a great river on the American continent. He noticed
near Edinburgh, that the miners had discovered a large tree in an
erect position, the roots plainly recognized, partly imbedded in indu-
rated sand or sandstone. How did it come there ? was the question.
The Duke of Argyle probably would have afforded a far more satis-
factory explanation than American geologists, for who can doubt the
swamps, ‘lake basins ” or
universal deluge brought together land plants and sea shells, and
buried both indiscriminately in the places where discovery is claimed ?
For such things, however, in the course of conversation I called my
friend’s attention to a small jointed plant growing in moist, swampy
places, commonly called Mare’s Tail, and informed him it was closely
allied, 1f not a degraded descendant of a tree-like form some 50 or 60
feet long, which flourished in Paleozoic times, named cadamites. Do
you really mean that? ‘‘ What, sixty feet !” he exclaimed, in astonish-
ment. And then, after a brief pause—‘ Well, Charlie, it may not be
a Mare’s Tail, but a mare’s nest that you and your stonebreaking
friends have found.”
The oldest air breathers—insects and land snails, were discov-
ered by Hartt and Matthews in New Brunswick in the formation.
The flora there, in Iceland, and Gaspe Bay leads us to infer that it
enjoyed a warm and damp atmosphere, a tropical climate. Indeed,
the numerous corals amount to positive proof of the latter.
Quitting this portion of the subject, let us proceed to investigate
the organic remains in the limestones and shales, the sea or fresh
water deposits. ‘‘ Many parts of the coniferous limestones,” remarks
Nicholson, in Paleontology of Ontario, ‘are almost wholly made up
of corals, and as these are silicified, they usually weather out from the
softer matrix. In the shales (Hamilton) they are obtained free from
adhering material. In both they are obtained in exquisite preserva-
tion.” [conclude from the foregoing that the Professor discovered,
as I did many years ago, the most likely place to procure perfect
specimens was in fields, where the glacial drift was exposed on the
surface, and not in quarries.
What first strikes the stranger in a Devonian district here is the
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 67
extraordinary number, as well as great variety of these Zoophytes.
Nicholson and Hinde added some new species to 80 or go already
known, and I am satisfied there are several still undescribed. The
FPolyzoa also are quite abundant. Perhaps owing to the condition in
which they are usually found-—fragments and very seldom complete
—this class has been greatly neglected. | Many of them are exceed-
ingly small, and are calculated to escape observation altogether. The
authors of Paleontology of Ontario added some new genera, and, I
think, about 15 species to the ones previously determined, but the
number may be largely increased if some One residing in a Devonian
district could be induced to make these organic remains a particular
object in collection. Let us imagine we are standing by the conifer-
ous seashore, and looking down into the clear, warm waters of the
great sea which then spread over a very large submerged portion of
this continent.. What a beautiful picture would have been presented
to the Naturalist! Look on a coral reef in the tropics! Every
bright and brilliant color that our gardens on land display, are there
reproduced with added brilliancy and beauty. ‘‘ In passing over these
splendidly adorned grounds the boat seemed to float on air,” remarks
the German Naturalist, Schoph. On the clear bottom the spectator
floats over groves of sea plants, gorgonas, corals, alcyoniums, sponges,
burning red, intense blue, lively green, golden yellow, perpetually
varying, they afford no less delight than the most exquisite garden on
earth.
Now, if we reflect for a moment on the fossilized corals in our
museum, and our cases are yet incomplete ; if we restore the living
creatures that built up the stony cells and reefs, Hagersville for ex-
ample ; clothe the various species with their varied tints and hues ;
add the sea anemones (Actinee) which I consider undoubtedly existed,
but left no record of such existence, as they do not secrete a calcar-
eous skeleton, like the other members of the family ; without taking
into account a few matters, we may form a faint idea of the ancient
sea and its living wonders, which no human eye has ever witnessed.
A recent traveller, Mr. Boyle, gives us a description of what he
saw at Chaughi, near Singapore. During my military career I never
had the good fortune to visit any one of the United Kingdom’s
Eastern possessions, but a near relative of mine is well acquainted
with the locality, and has assured me the account is not exaggerated,
58 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
nor the picture he sketches too highly colored. I need not hesitate,
therefore, to place before you the extract I have taken from an
eloquent and interesting work recently published, bearing the title of
“Odd Quarters.” “ The smooth sand below high water mark was
a parterre of sponges, green and red, and purple-blue intermixed
with coral. Corals! Imagine their beauty in the spot where Nature
placed them, every lip and hollow on the cream white surface traced
out in vividest pencillings of green, with the sea-flowers of sponge
around them. After the first impulse of delight, one almost comes
to overlook the charming foreground ; for beneath the water lies a
tangle and a maze of all things lovely, for shape and color, for growth
and motion. Coral takes a hundred flowery forms, weeds branch
like trees or wave like serpents. | Sponges are cups of amethyst and
ruby. One sees just as clearly into the depths below as into the air
above, and almost as far as it seems there are corals shaped like an
egyptian lily and as white, three feet in diameter, in which a mermaid
might take her bath ; others in a thicket, have each branch covered
with showy rosettes which bear a morsel of green velvet in their
bosoms ; small fish, as quick as hummingbirds and almost as gay,
dart to and fro.”
Such a scene as Mr. Boyle so eloquently describes may also have
presented itself by the shore of the ancient Devonian Sea. If we
except the fishes—the latter widely differ from their predecessors,
but there is one in the North Pacific, WZonocentris Carinata, possess-
ing so many characteristics of the fossilized remains discovered in
Paleozoic rocks, that research or accident may reveal its existence,
also at the olden time, when the empire of the sea was fiercely con-
tested by mail-clad fishes with bony armour, gigantic cuttles, and
crustaceans whose size may be estimated not only by feet but yards.
Its coat of scale mail is so hard as to resist the most powerful thrust
of any sharp instrument, and this would insure its preservation 1n the
stony sediment of the ancient seas, if it really existed then. Little
was known of the Devonian fishes until Hugh Miller’s discoveries in
the old red sandstone of Scotland. Their prodigious abundance
there now led Sir Archibald Geikie to infer that they were essentially
inhabitants of lakes and rivers. ‘‘Some,” he adds, ‘‘ found their way
to the sea, as indicated by the occurrence of the remains with the true
marine fauna.” ‘The various colors so characteristic of the family in
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 69
modern times (the so-called parrot fish of the North Pacific, for
instance) we may not expect to find, but the bone plated and bone
scaled presented, perhaps, no less brilliant appearance than the
Lepidostens (Garfish), which in the current at Fort Erie, looks as if it
had been encased in silver scale armour. ‘‘ The Ganoids in the Corn-
iferous rocks, U.S. A.,” remarks the late Dr. Newberry, ‘“‘including the
Onychodus, Macropetahcthy, greatly surpass the Z/asmo branches in
number and size, and I examined many thousand fish remains from
these Devonian beds,” he adds. Perhaps the most wonderful mem-
ber of the family was the Dzzichtes the lamented Palaeontologist
described, from the shale of Ohio, furnished with a head buckler
three feet long, and provided with such formidable teeth that ren-
dered it the equal of, if not superior to, any sharks then existing. It
may be asked what reason was there for substituting the term
Devonian for the older name—old red sandstone? Dr. Page and
others could see no good grounds for the change either, but the old
red sandstone of Hugh Miller merely represents a portion only of a
vast series of beds, which attain a thickness of some 15,000 feet
nearly three miles, and such a name could be hardly applicable to
limestones, shales, etc. ; but it is retained by general consent for the
fresh water lake or lagoon deposits of the formation. Undoubtedly
true, sea fishes are occasionally found embedded therein, but New-
berry remarks: ‘“‘The majority I examined on this continent very
likely inhabited inland lakes, and, like the modern salmon and white
trout, a few found their way there perhaps for spawning purposes.”
A similar opinion has been expressed by Sir A. Geikie since, when
referring to specimens discovered in the red sandstones of Scotland,
and among others which he thinks were inhabitants of inland lakes.
These latter must have swarmed in the waters. Their bodies le
piled on each other, and so well preserved as to show they were sud-
denly killed. He attributes their destruction to earthquake shocks
‘and escaping gasses, and alleges that some of the larger lakes in
central Scotland were once marked active volcanoes that erupted
lava and ashes 6,000 feet thick. We have evidence also of great dis-
turbances on the American continent about the close of the age. Sir
W. Dawson considers a portion of the Nova Scotia granite belongs to
that period. You may recollect in a former paper I called attention
to a remarkable discovery made by the Rev. M. Harvey in New-
=
7O JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
foundland, viz., seals living in fresh water lakes away inland and
breeding there. No doubt their predecessors occupied bays or
reaches that had been cut off from the sea, and they gradually
became accustomed to the brackish, and finally to fresh water. Now,
such a circumstance may have also occurred in former times, and would
afford an explanation how things in general got occasionally mixed
up, and throws some light on the vexed question, viz., How can we
account for crustaceous remains, Plerygetus, for example, occurring in
fresh water deposits? ‘The common cray fish is considered to be
merely a degenerate descendant of the lobster, which accidentally had
been cut off from the open sea, and contrived to increase and multiply
despite its uncongenial surroundings,
There has been degeneracy as well as progress in life. Every
geologist knows that. We frequently hear it stated, “God saw that
it was good,” or, as commentation explains, every living thing was
perfect of its kind, as it’ came direct from the Creator’s hand.
Paleeontologists know such to be a popular error. You may notice
a marked capacity for improvement in the living descendants of the
Lucrinites, or sea lilies even. ‘The earliest Z7zcobztes are also greatly
inferior to their successors, and thus through the ages. We cannot
ignore the unquestionable progress of the various families. Does
Nature ever produce a perfect creation ? was a question put by a city
clergyman recently, and answered in the negative. All experience
appears to be of the opinion expressed, and in accordance with
Nature’s law of development. Compare, for instance, the two figures
(Crinoids) of the late E. Billings, Palzeontologist, Canadian Geologi-
cal Survey.
About two years ago a farmer from Hagersville brought a box of
corals to the city for sale. Mr. Charlton requested me to take charge
of it until called for, as he was leaving Hamilton for the season. On
examining the contents I noticed the posterior half of a large shell,
which I felt assured must be unknown. The part preserved dis-
played coarse ribbing, and was g inches across. As the beak and
hinge were absent I felt it could not be restored. I requested the
owner to be on the lookout for one in better preservation. Professor
Whiteaves obtained a like specimen from St. Mary’s. On examining
the figure I found it agreed with the Corniferous one incomplete from
Hagersville. It was named by the Palzontologist, Paneuka Grandis.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. Wee
GEOLOGICAL NOTES IN CONTINUATION.
Read before the Geological Section, January 25th, 1895.
BY COLT Erte GRANT:
No doubt many of the fossils found in this neighborhood may
prove to be of more common occurrence in the higher portions of the
formation elsewhere, still their appearance here, at or near the base
of the Niagara, may be put on record. In the paper read on a late
occasion, viz., 2nd November, I confined myself chiefly to pointing
out organic remains in local beds that are rare, little, or altogether
unknown. In the Palsontology of Ontario (Nicholson) eleven pages
only are devoted to describing or naming the fossils found in the
Medina, Clinton and Niagara rocks of the entire Province. Surely
this must be insufficient to convey an adequate idea of the richness
‘in organic remains contained in the entire Ontario series.
Dr. James Hall, of Albany, emphatically pronounced what now
remains of our chert beds (12 feet) on the brow of the escarpment
to be a most interesting sub-series of the middle Silurians, appar-
ently of local occurrence. Yet I find we are not credited with pos-
sessing above half a dozen common Srachiopods and a single
Dictyonema (D. Gracilis, Hall). The Barton, or Waterlime, sub-
division, 85 feet in thickness, resting on the Niagara chert, with its
once concealed treasures of Spencer, so rich in plants and corals,
Brachiopods, was quite unknown to the Toronto professors. I cannot
find even a characteristic mollusc of the beds referred to, since
Atrypa reticularis occurs all through the formation, and even that is
mentioned as being abundant at Thorold merely. Our cases are very
incomplete as regards Barton specimens, and several of the more
characteristic ones are unrepresented, viz., Zvochoceras desplainense ;
a large Cyrtoceras, an Avicuda found in a layer considerably above
the former (a new species probably), and JZurchesonia, which merely
leave empty cast in a limestone bed. However, as the beds in
which they were found are noted, we may expect to procure some,
at least, for our cases yet. The new proprietor of the Albion quarry
72 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
expresses his intention of working the cement on a more extended
scale, and he believes there will be an increased demand for it when
it is better known.
The glacial grooves at the lime ridge (Carpenter’s quarry), on
the upper layer of the Bartons, known to us as the Stromatopora
bed, in general are not so well defined as in the chert at the brow of
the escarpment, but on a recent visit I noticed a very remarkable
exception—the oversoil had been removed recently and a furrow
underneath was exposed. [ts dimensions exceeded any I have seen
on this continent as yet, although larger grooves, I understand, have
been observed in other parts of the Province. It was three feet
broad and six or seven inches deep ; the stripping was too limited to
afford me an opportunity of ascertaining how far it extended. A
local glacier would probably (subsequent to the general retreat of the
great ice sheet) obliterate some of the previous markings. ‘The striee,
however, in this particular case corresponded, as regards direction,
- with the grooving of the underlaying chert at the escarpment. The
adjoining rocks on both sides (same horizon) displayed merely
scratches and a polished surface. We can scarcely conceive what
appearance this locality presented at the beginning of the glacial age.
This consideration appears to me to be frequently .overlooked.
Hundreds of feet of hard Niagara limestone must have been ground
down and removed before the chert was exposed to the grinding
process in the immediate vicinity of this city. We can hardly
realize the vast changes, the different aspects, presented in the present
and the past. Mr. A. E. Walker mentioned at the late meeting of
the Geological Section how surprised a friend of his (a stranger)
appeared to be when he pointed out to him the glacial markings
near the Jolley Cut here, adding, “In the portion of the upper beds
I examined in New York State there was little, if any, grooving, but
polishing and scratches as far as my examination went.” Well, such
an experience strikes me as the one to be expected, for, as the great
glacier travelled on southward, shod with or bearing frozen boulders,
sand or gravel, is it not natural to suppose the former were the first
to be loosened from the moving mass and to be detached closer to -
the source in valleys where they have been dropped? I am, unfor-
tunately, unacquainted with the glacial Moraines, or glaciated areas,
in New Jersey, Ohio. The localities at present are attracting con-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. BS
siderable attention since the publication of ‘Man and the Glacial
Period.” But while one may notice a difference of opinion among
the able scientific men—the Wrights, Holmes, Leveretts, Claypoles,
Salisburys, Uphams——on one point, all agree that the drift and
boulders from the north were undoubtedly transported by land ice,
and were derived originally from the Canadian Highlands. The
writers above named have omitted to afford us information respecting
the size of the Archean rocks observed so far south in the boulder
till. This term is seldom used by geologists on this continent. The
stiff blue clay, charged with masses of stone of various weights, is
known best in the Old Country by this name, and the material resting
on the chert and underlaying the Burlington Heights sand gravel
and water-worn shingle and boulders precisely agrees with the
European boulder till so frequently mentioned by Sir A. Geikie.
In referring to ‘““The Great Ice Age” at the conclusion of a
paper read at the late meeting, I alluded to a local ‘‘ Moraine” close
to the Barton school-house and toll-gate that is merely one of a
series of mounds irregularly parallel to the stone road, extending to
the Kerr farm on the Glanford road, and perhaps beyond. ‘The
material consists chiefly of coarse sand, clay, Niagara limestones
(similar to the ones at Lime Ridge), fragments of chert and occasion-
ally rounded weathered boulders (of rather small dimensions), of
Gneiss, greenstone, etc.
The different theories regarding the phenomena presented by
the great ice age are known to all the older members of the Geologi-
cal Section. The astronomical theory regarding the cause which led
to appearances in post-tertiary days has even now defenders in
Europe, while it certainly appears to be discredited generally on this
continent by leading geologists. If ‘an ice age” was developed at
the termination of every ten or twelve thousand years, they ask,
surely we must see sufficient proof in the older rocks, from ‘the
Cambriaus” upward. Why not produce any evidence that may
show such was obtainable? We might point to ‘the Millstone Grit,”
“the Devonian Conglomerate,” (capping Slieve Na Mon in Ireland),
or the older loose, uncemented conglomerate, which forms the foun-
dation of our Quebec Citadel. A granite boulder discovered in the
English chalk some years ago was pointed out as positive proof of
“a glacial age” during the time’ of the cretaceous formation, because,
74 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
as alleged, it was found in undisturbed layers or beds, and most
probably was conveyed by an iceberg. A tree undermined on the
bank of a flooded river frequently has a mass of rock entangled in
the roots. I saw, when a boy, one carried a considerable distance
in an almost upright position on the Munster Blackwater. Such,
perhaps, was the means of conveyance in this case, and not ice.
When we reflect at the time the chalk was deposited palms, myrtles,
magnohias, sequiras flourished, that corals and tropical or sub-tropical
shells abounded in the English seas, it 1s difficult to imagine the
existence of floating ice. We have undoubted evidence that a real
tropical climate prevailed a little later in ‘‘ Eocene time.” Unless we
recognize the importance of a paper (to which I have already refer-
red), by Prof. Matthews, New Brunswick, it appears impossible to
account for well-developed Cones, Nautidi, Volutes, Olives, Mitras
— habitants of warm seas—occurring in Tertiary beds containing an
undoubted Fauna, now characteristic of a colder climate. I consid-
ered formerly that the minute cowrie of Ireland was merely a degen-
erated descendant, dwarfed by a change in climate, but I
subsequently noticed a member in the tropics, which, corresponding
in size and general appearance, I looked upon as a mere variety of
the living Irish shell. I have seen fossilized Moluscs which were
obtained from London clay, England’s Eocene. ‘They presented a
blanched appearance, not unlike what we call dead shells, but yet
retaining a considerable portion of the original color. If we exam-
ine the Flora of the Eocene rocks, and the Strata, estimated at not
less than 12,000 feet, we find plants (remarks Geekie) having living
representatives in the hotter part of India, Africa, Australia and
America. Now, although we may find mingled with the above the
Chestnuts, Willows, Elms and Laurels, characteristic of more tem-
perate climates, yet it does not follow that they flourished precisely
at a similar level above the sea. Many of the remains possibly were
conveyed from high hills to the plains below by streams or river
floods. Near Newcastle, Jamaica (up in the Blue Mountains), I
have often seen, after heavy tropical rains, the swollen brooks
carrying down to the lowlands trees, ferns, etc., torn from the banks.
These vegetable remains would undoubtedly be mixed with a Flora
below, foreign to the hills. May not this have occurred also in
ormer times? It seems reasonable to think so, and would it not
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 15
sufficiently explain why we now find tropical plants embedded with
ones which flourish in more temperate climates ?
I believe ice to have been the sole agent capable of transporting
some of the large rocks noticeable in the ‘Conglomerate at the base
of the Citadel, Quebec, and icebergs were probably the means of
transport at a later period than a Silurian or Cambro-Sil. age. The
Devonian Conglomerate of this Continent, Jamaica, and Ireland, is
composed of pebbles, varying from 1 to 4 inches in diameter, of
Trap, Quartz, Greenstone, Porphyry, all rounded or waterworn,
cemented by Silex. The description will do for all, and each
appeared to me to represent portions of older sea beaches.
One thing I remarked at ‘‘The Devil’s Bit,” in the south of
Ireland. Although limestone pebbles in the Devonian Conglomerate
which caps the Silurian hill there were not altogether absent, I
never succeeded in obtaining a complete fossil, or even a fragment
of one, which could be recognized. ‘Their hardness was very great,
and the cementing material of these rounded pebbles resisted
fracture even better than /eneous Porphyries. The Bit looks as if a
big wedge had been cut out and removed altogether bodily. The
story is that the old gentleman was in such a rage with a Cowherd
there who deceived him, and slipped through his claws, that he took
a bite out of the mountain, flew off with it and dropped it on the
spot now called “The Rock of Cashel.” We may hear many ©
remarkable stories of what are called Metamorphic rocks. I think
we may reasonably claim this gentleman in black as one of our oldest
field geologists. Wonderful to relate, during his flight he converted
that mass of Devonian conglomerate into fossiliferous mountain lime-
stone. I know this, and can vouch for the fact, for I passed some
days in its examination. Surely this circumstance ought to convince
the most sceptical individual.
NOTES.
‘ Carbonized wood has been found, it is said, on this continent
in the early tertiaries. It has been remarked half a century ago also
in Europe in the same beds. What folly to adduce this as a proof of
man’s existence at such a period! Would not lghtening fire the
forests then as in our own days, leaving the charcoal in evidence,
which is almost indestructable, like baked clay ?
The following extract, recently received from the States, is of
76 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
some interest to conchologists. The writer, Chas. T. Simpson,
claims that even in land shells of the same species the color is not
always persistent. It may be remembered that in a paper pub-
lished some years ago in: the Proceedings of the Association the
claim that the color of sea shells was owing solely to light was dis-
puted at a time when the statement was generally accepted. ‘‘ While
living at Braidentown, Florida, I found Budimulus Dormant quite
abundant, living and dead, in heavy lands north of Manatee River,
and with the typical form on the very same trees I found quite a
number of specimens without a vestige of color. The ground of
most of these shells was a lovely pale porcelain, the spots were
reddish brown, sometimes forming uninterrupted bands, clouded,
and more or less distant.”
Detached remarks like the above are rarely published in our
proceedings. They may be, perhaps, incorporated as Notes. ‘The
foregoing is of considerable interest to concologists, more especially
collectors of land and fresh water shells.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 77
NOTES ON GEOLOGICAL MATTERS IN
CONTINUATION.
Read before the Geological Section, February 22nd, 1895.
The Council of the Association were kind enough to publish,
perhaps, more papers on Geological matters than we could have
reasonably expected. Still many written or verbal remarks in
explanation are necessarily omitted, and could not well be incorpor-
ated in the proceedings. I am not surprised to learn that a doubt
I expressed relative to the age of a portion of the rocks on the north
shore of Anticosti requires a little additional light, more especially
since the views expressed appear to be opposed to the opinions of
Sir W. Logan and Professor E. Billings. My remarks, I believe, to
this effect, were as follows, in reference to the Silurians of the North
shore: ‘While these rocks undoubtedly hold many organic remains,
found below the Hudson River series, I doubt whether any of these
beds themselves occur there.” ‘The conclusion arrived at by Sir W.
Logan and Prof. Billings rested solely on organic remains obtained
by Richardson, an officer of the Canadian survey. Evidence of this
sort may not prove altogether reliable. For instance, between the
West Point Light-house and Ellis or Gamache Bay there are a good
many well-preserved fossils in shale at the foot of a small cliff. They
represent a curlous mixture of Upper Hudson River (Bala) and Niag-
ara (Wenlock) specimens. ‘The majority obtained by Richardson
there belonged to the latter series, whereas the ones I extracted
belonged to the former, and I looked upon these shales as true pas-
sage-beds, connecting the Cambro-Sils. and the Silurians.
I wish to call particular attention to the following paragraph,
taken from page 221, “Geology of Canada, 1863:” ‘Loose frag-
‘ments of black, strongly bituminous shales (Graptolitic) in every
““ way resembling those of the Utica formation and of some of the
‘‘interstratified beds of the Hudson River, are met with on the
‘“ beach on the North side of Anticosti. These are probably washed
‘“up in storms or pushed up by the ice from the intermediate chan-
78 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
“nel (viz., between the Mingan Islands and Anticosti).” Now, is
it not natural to suppose we must have had indications of these shales
in the cliffs of the island also, if the Bird’s Eye, Black River, etc.,
actually existed there? The Utica shale occurring at Collingwood,
etc., if you examine some of the specimens in the Museum cases,
will be found to contain large numbers of Trilobite fragments
(Asaphus Canadensis) (Chapman), and occasionally a few Brachi-
pods, but the former are altogether absent from the shales you find
among the shingles on the Anticosti shore. It certainly closely
resembles the Utica rock, but one may well hesitate to confidently
recognize it as such.
The Hudson River, or ‘“ Bala beds,” are said to be some twelve
feet in thickness in the Quebec Province. That Anticosti was once
joined to the main land can scarcely be doubted. The Flora and
Fauna, with a few exceptions, are similar. No snakes have ever
been seen there, however, and, stranger still, notwithstanding the
many wrecks along the coast, rats are never seen there alive. The
French fishermen believe the climate proves fatal to them. Hawks,
eagles, foxes and martins may, perhaps, have more to do with it. It
can scarcely be imagined that the air of one of the healthiest islands
on the globe, where sickness is almost unknown, is responsible for
their absence.
Lever in “Con Cregan” lands the hero of the work on the
island, and gives an amusing account of the means taken to rid him-
self of his unwelcome predecessors, the rodents, which shared with
him the shelter afforded by his cheerless domicile. Putting aside
this circumstance as an exaggeration, merely intended to heighten
the effect for his readers, the novelist’s description of the surround-
ings, both in Anticosti and Quebec, bear the impress of personal
observation, and could scarcely have been otherwise acquired.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 79
NOTES ON THE GLACIAL MAN CONTROVERSY
(AS REGARDS ONTARIO).
BY COL €./'C- GRANT:
head before the Geological Section, March 22nd, 1895.
Since the discoveries of human implements in Trenton drift
gravel beds by Dr. Abbott, the late Miss Babbitt, and others, an un-
necessarily angry discussion has been going on for years in the States
respecting Glacial Man on this continent. Personally the locality is
unknown to me, so I prefer to abstain from any remarks on this
particular find. If man existed here in the ice age (viz., in North
America), as a hunter he would naturally follow the differ-
ent animals driven Southward by the great ice sheet as it approached.
Now, where should we look for evidence of man’s existence then ?
Where but in places which contain terminal Moraines, derived from
the continental glacier? We can hardly expect to find it elsewhere,
since all human records would probably be obliterated wherever the
moving mass passed over.
Even admitting that Dr. Abbott may be mistaken (a circum-
stance many eminent men deny), some of us may feel we are
indebted to the scientific pioneers who first called attention to a very
important and highly interesting subject, which some carping critics
themselves neglected.
The writings of another glacial geologist (Professor Wright) we
cannot afford to lose sight of, whose views coincide with Abbott’s.
The most formidable opponent these are likely to encounter is the
archzologic geologist, W. H. Holmes. He describes how he went
systematically to work in opening up trenches in the undisturbed
portion of the gravel beds in question without obtaining a trace of
an ‘fart relic.” ‘‘ Relics of art,” he states, ‘‘ were found upon the sur-
face and in such portions of the talus as happened to be exposed.
Nothing in the gravels in place, and we closed the trench with the
firm conviction that it was absolutely barren of art.” After all, the
80 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
above evidence is merely negative, and there is just a possibility that
accidental absence from a particular portion of the gravels has not
been taken sufficiently into account.
I have been collecting Indian relics in the Province of .Ontario
for upwards of a quarter of a century, and previously in Quebec, yet
I never found anything which led me to believe that the red men
had been here for any considerable time. I have ascertained from
old residents that the gravel ridge which runs through Hamilton
from the Church of Ascension, by Central School to Burlington
Heights, was formerly an Indian trail. It represents the old lake
beach, when the waters of Ontario were about 130 feet higher than
at present (the Lake Iroquois of Dr. Spencer). Many thousand
years must have elapsed since these water-worn shingles, pebbles
and sands were first deposited on the glacial till underlying.
When the cutting was made at the Desjardins Canal, the remains
of a deer, a beaver, and portions of the jaws and teeth of two ele-
phants, were discovered there. Accompanied by Mrs. Holden, a
lady who takes great interest in local history, Indian antiquities, etc.,
I paid a visit last summer to the gentleman who had the contract
for the excavation. He informed me that the bones were lying in
the consolidated gravel several yards from the surface (they did not
appear to have been rolled up by the waves on the beach). Horns
of the buffalo or bison were also discovered there, but these were
taken away by a bystander, who kept them. ‘The circumstance was
probably unknown to Sir W. Logan, the then director of the Cana-
dian Geological Survey, who fortunately succeeded in securing the
other organic remains. As I am unable to find it recorded in the
Proceedings published in 1863, I may be permitted to refer to this
omission. I must admit I have been greatly disappointed in obtain-
ing no proof as yet of the existence of man in the consolidated
gravels of this ancient beach. A few Indian relics were found on
the surface soil, but little importance can be attached to that. I
was likewise mistaken in supposing I might probably find other por-
tions of the two extinct elephants there. Large masses topple down
every year west of the canal, and although carefully examined I can
find no indications of bones or flint implements. We know from
experience in the Old Country that tusks frequently break into small
fragments when you attempt to remove them from loose gravel. The
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 81
carbonate of lime which binds the pebbles and sand together would
likely act as a preservative at the Iroquois beach.
Although unsuccessful in this instance, personally I do not doubt
for a moment that the red men lived in North America before the
Mammoth became extinct. The proof seems too strong to be
affected by carping denial or charges of fraudulent manufacture in
recent times by white men. ‘Doctors, parsons” (and geologists are
not included), remarks the late Judge Haliburton (Sam Slick), ‘do
not meet face to face like these gentry (J. E. Sawyers), and then
shake hands like good fellows, after a fair, stand-up fight. They fire
long shots at their opponents when their backs are turned, and insert
scalping, cutting and venemous articles in works devoted to science
and defamation. Your parson sends to religious newspapers, in a
truly charitable spirit, anonymous communications displaying scanty
sympathies with sinners, which they believe all to be who differ from
them.”
Many centuries probably have passed since the primitive forest
first appeared on the brow of the escarpment south of the city. The
glacial till rests on the polished and striated beds of the Niagara
chert. The surface soil above that again is so exceedingly thin that
one is surprised that so little decayed vegetation is shown there. Did
the local glaciers linger longer here than we suppose? or was the
re-foresting, after the great ice sheet retreated, slowly progressive ?
How long since they disappeared we cannot tell. ‘‘In a certain
sense it may be said,” remarks Sir A. Geikie, ‘the ice age still exists
among the snow fields and glaciers of Europe.”
In an apparently undisturbed portion of the till at the city
quarry I extracted a few years ago an irregular-shaped piece of
polished chert with a deep-cut groove (V) in the centre (there is one
also on the opposite side not so well marked). While it presents the
appearance of human workmanship, this may be deceptive. The
grooving and polishing may be owing to ice passing over and attach-
ing it to its base. ‘There are no indications that roots of trees pene-
trated the subsoil there ; the blue clay (weathered) was quite hard
about it. I recently learned that a flint arrow-point was discovered
by some workmen employed by Mr. C. Myles in sinking the foun-
dation of a row of houses at the foot of his property on Hannah
street, in the red Medina clay. The land in rear is very steep, and
82 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
a land slip would have buried a surface implement probably lower
than six or seven feet, or it may have fallen into the hollow left by
an uprooted forest tree.
We have no right to assume that mound-builders (Indians) were
the Aborigines of America. Indeed, it seems more likely they were
recent immigrants from Asia by way of Behring Straits. Look to
the burial mounds recently opened in the Canadian North-West. The
bark in which the crumbling bones were enveloped was so complete-
ly preserved as to be easily recognized. What we want to know is
something regarding the real Aborigines—-some one who can throw
light on the ancient inhabitants of Yucatan, the Pigmies (smaller
than the race of dwarfs in Central Africa), whose diminutive arches,
temples, houses and tombs are still existing. Ina paper on “ Man
and the Glacial Period,” by Professor Warren Upham, the following
invitation occurs: “‘ Every worker who comes into this field and
devotes his spare time to glacial explorations and studies as Prof.
Wright, deserves the hearty welcome of all fellow-glacialists.”
This is the only excuse I can offer for inflicting this paper on the
Section, which possesses, in the present state of things, this only
merit, viz., it is zon-commuittal. But, respecting the ‘‘ Paleoliths” of
America and Europe, probably ninety-nine per cent. of those I have
seen were merely rejected coras or damaged implements, such as one
can obtain in the vicinity of any modern Indian camping-ground of
less than a century ago.
I recently received from Arizona a few small “ bird arrow-points,”
so called, made from onyx, agates, etc. I cannot believe these
exquisite little implements were formed by Turanian red men. I
would be more inclined to attribute their manufacture to a people
more advanced in civilization—the Mayas, for instance. I have not
heard they were ever discovered in northern burial mounds, and I
do not recollect that they are recorded as found in southern ones,
but, if so, it would, probably, not be of much importance.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 83
SHORT NOTES ON RECENT DISCOVERIES.
Read before the Geological Section, April 22nd, 1895.
BYe COL Cl Cen GRANGE:
The beautiful collection of Algae (sea) and land plants presented
to the Hamilton Association by our late lamented friend,
Professor Wright, finds a fitting and honored place in the
Botanical Case. Such specimens, however, as come _ under
the head “Sertularia” (Halcyonoid Polyps) are of animal, not
vegetable, nature, and are undoubtedly out of place there. Admit-
ting that we cannot recognize them as fossils, yet they are considered
by many Palzeontologists here and in Europe to be so nearly allied
to the extinct Graptolites of former ages that doubts have been
expressed whether these modern forms may not actually prove to be
merely modified by surrounding circumstances, at least in some
instances. To restrict this section merely to fossilized organic re-
mains would place it at a great disadvantage, since we are compelled
to investigate the past life from the still existing. If the Council
were In a position to provide a case open to public examination,
it would prove an additional attraction to the visitors.
AN ANCIENT FOSSIL CORAL FROM THE CLINTON
ROCKS, HAMILTON.
In a collection of fossils brought from the Arctic regions some
years ago, the late Dr. Salter recognized a coral (Syringopora) sup-
posed to be characteristic of the Devonian formation. As it was
associated, however, with other fossils of undoubted Upper Silurian
(lower Helderberg type), he claimed it as the oldest dis-
covered. ‘The specimen submitted for the inspection of the Geolog-
ical Section takes it back to another stage, viz., to the time when the
Clinton beds were deposited. It occurs a little above the Medina
grey-band in the lower shales. As far as I can learn no Syringopora
84 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
as old as this has hitherto been discovered. For a reef-building
coral it seems singular to find it in muddy sediment.
Since the foregoing was written Mr. A. Walker placed in one
of the cases a Syringopora he discovered in the Niagara limestones
at Thorold, Ont., some years ago.
PALAOZOIC SPONGES.
I have just received from Dr. Head, Chicago, the author’s
catalogue, ‘‘ Palazeozoic Sponges.” Hamilton is credited in it with
three new Genera and seven new species of Upper Silurian sponges ;
so we cannot complain that the Niagara ones have been neglected.
The majority of the Tennessee sponges were, I believe, from the
Doctor’s personal collection, which was so greatly admired at the
World’s Fair, Chicago. Unaided by the States or its universities
my old friend, at a very considerable expense, prepared for micro-
scopical examination a great number of our Hamilton specimens,
independent of others he discovered in Tennessee. Strictly he may
be right in rejecting detached Spicules ; but if Salter had not figured
and described the Cambrian sponge from these fragments ( Proéo-
spongia Fenestrata), which he erroneously ascribes to Walcott, we
may never have carried the Hexactineloid sponges back to the Cam-
brian age.
In a paper read before the Geological Section, published in No.
to of the Proceedings of the Hamilton Association, you may remark
your chairman expressed his belief that Phyllograptus Dubius
(Spencer) belonged to new distinct genera. From Dr. Gurley’s letter,
he evidently arrives, independently, at this conclusion also. Your
chairman was unacquainted with the European Graptolite it resem-
bles, not having seen it figured or described. The Retiolites of the
Clintons is Hall’s Graptolite, but is figured so imperfectly that I am
not at all surprised at the Doctor failing to recognize it. The
ranching cellules are too far apart or separated.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 85
HAMILTON SPONGES.
BY A. E. WALKER.
During the winter I have had a number of our Silicious sponges
cut and polished in order to get a more perfect understanding of their
skeletal structure, and to work out the form of the spicules. They
have been sent to Professors Zittle and Rauff, of Bonn, Germany,
who are writing a special work on these forms, which will be beauti-
fully illustrated. All the Niagara sponges will be classified, and
those not named will be described and named. ‘The plates follow-
ing illustrate a few of the pronounced forms.
No. 1.—This plate gives a vertical section of one of the
Aulocopina, showing the osculum from the upper opening to where
it is broken at the base.
86 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
No. 2.—This plate gives a general idea of the Axlocopina
Granti (discovered by Col. Grant and named by Dr. Billings) as it
would appear divested of its flinty filling,
No. 3.—Some time ago I drew attention towards a branching
form of the Azlocopina that I had discovered. The cut gives you
an illustration of a specimen found by Col. Grant. My specimens
have been sent to Germany.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 87
No. 4.—This plate gives a good idea of the spicular structure
of the Astylo Spongia. The varied forms have all the same spicular
arrangement. As these forms are in the hands of Dr. Herman
Rauff, of Bonn, I will not presume to do more.
NO. 5.
No. 5.—This plate shows two forms of Astvlo Spongia Piaemassa,
both of which I found at Hamilton.
88 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
REPORT OF Tie PHORO GRAIG SE Cil@N:
Read at the Annual Meeting, May oth, 1895.
Your Photographic Section beg leave to present the following
Report for the year ending 9th May, 1895.
During the summer months not much was done in the way
of business, although the Section still held their meetings—one per
month.
A number of outings were held by the Section. . Ithaca Ney.
Johns Hopkins Wniversity..0.. 7.52 72." .. Baltimore, Md.
Kansas City Scientist . eee: BREEN . Kansas City, Mo.
Wisconsin Academy of Satu. Ae ea Lieto Madison, Wis.
Society of Alaskan Natural Historyand Ethnology. Sitka, Alaska.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 95
Nemeulturale College: se. acess. 2 5 ved). eansing,, Mich,
Golorado Scientific Society... . .. 4... 2. -Wenver, Col.
Niuseum-of Naturali Elistony. 2. so ae Albany, N. Y.
Rochester Academy of Sciences..............Rochester, N. Y.
(3) WEST INDIES.
Imstituce ofjamaiCa de ee Kanestom,. jamaica:
(4) SOUTH AMERICA.
The Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society
of British Guiana....... ... Georgetown.
Il.—EUROPE.
(1) GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
England.
Bristol Naturalists’ Club.. ‘Bristol:
Literary and Philosophical Soceyy ot eek oy leeds:
Conchological’Society a2) esses wage eS
Royal Society... a na en ne ers LOM CLO:
Noval Colonial institute: 7 0
Society of Science, Literature and Art..... iu
Eeolo mica SOCICtY ete OP Nae auice ler as
Mamnchesten Geological: Society 2 ya 7.6 <. Manchester
Mining As ociation and Institute of Cornwall. . .Camborne.
Scotland.
Glasgow Geographical Society.......
Philosophical Society s.22. 9.2.
Glasgow.
C6
Treland.
Revel Irish Academy. . é ee oo Ul LiTa
Royal Geological Soucy, a ireland: ei eee
Naturalists Wield @lulbmeete st...) belfast:
(2) AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
EAE MTOpologisches G.esellsehaltsys. 0" 6 sem Vienna.
K: Kk. Geologische Reichsanstalt.)..% 02...
(13
96 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
(3) BELGIUM.
Societe Geolosique de Beloiques.94.... 5... Liége.
(4) DENMARK.
Société Royal des Antiquaires du Nord........ Copenhagen.
(5) FRANCE.
Académie Nationale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres
CATS nie ates Ses eae ey te es OnGlealinxe
Académie Nationale des Sciences, Arts et Belles-
ISObEReS ie Sea G mei ee Cie cn cn Song ener EEE RE an Caen.
Académie Nationale des Sciences, Arts et Belles-
ettrese Fee ae. oe Pte ae . Dijon.
Societe Geolosique: du Nord.) 25 6272) Wille:
Societe Geologique de Hrances 454.5 40s. Paris.
(6) GERMANY.
Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein... .. oe 20 Rrement
Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein.......... Bea Carlsruhe.
ComiteiGcolopiqucnn i.) Was G ee St. Petersburg.
ITJ.—ASIA.
(1) INDIA.
Asiatic Societies of Bombay and Ceylon.
MSiatiC) SOcleby oly Bengal eaten Calcutta.
Geological Sumyey wot indian ae
(2) STRAITS SETTLEMENT.
The Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Singapore.
(3) JAPAN.
Asiatic: Society,of fapan\ «aster te Tokyo.
IV.—AFRICA.
(1) CAPE COLONY.
South African Philosophical Society.........:.Cape Town.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
V.—AUSTRALASIA.
(1) AUSTRALIA.
Miter Awstralian Museum, 2.
Royal Society of New South Wales.......
Linnean Society of New South Wales.... .
Australian Natural History Museum... .
alnlieniilbreathyOl Vactonas 22 i Soe
Royal Society of Queensland. 229) 2235. .
(2) NEW ZEALAND.
New Zealand Institute... 3.2283. =.
Pr
Ww
“
le
e
wm
is
a
S
Z
=
P
ovyalsSociety of Pasmania <2... 2.2. 2.
Melbourne.
13
. Brisbane.
Wellington.
Hobartown.
OT
98 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,
@Obtiuary.
WALTER S. CHAPMAN.
In the last Journal of Proceedings it was our sad duty to record
the loss of two active and well-known members of the Association.
But a more painful duty now awaits us. Even death, when
it comes at the sunset of a long and useful life, may justify its
approach. ‘To-day we chronicle the loss of one whose life had yet
scarce shed the freshness of youth. Mr. Chapman was born at
Hamilton on the 16th day of September, 1871, and was thus but 24
years of age at the time of his death, which occurred on the 3rd day
of September of the present year.
Karly in life Mr. Chapman chose the medical profession as _ his
intended vocation, and applied himself diligently to his preparatory
school course. But a higher fate ruled otherwise. When but eleven
years of age failing health and a severe affection of the eyes com-
pelled him to abandon all study for a time. A trip to Europe for
change and medical treatment so far restored his health as to enable
him to complete his public school course and spend two years in
collegiate work, when a second loss of strength forced him to relin-
quish all thought of undergoing the severe strain of university work.
Though compelled to forego the pleasure of school life, Mr.
Chapman did not in the least lose his thirst for knowledge. The
study of nature, to which he had been early drawn, now became his
ruling passion, microscopy and botany being his favorite departments.
In the last of these he has left as a memorial of his zeal a collection
of Canadian and foreign plants which would do credit to a scientist
of far older years. It was at this time that Mr. Chapman became
interested in the work of the Association, among whose members he
found companions congenial to his quiet and studious disposition.
Being of a retired nature he always avoided the very appearance of
notoriety. ‘The Association, however, were not slow in discovering
his real merit, and soon appointed him to one of its offices, a position
which he held at the time of his death,
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 99
It was not to the work of the general association alone, how-
ever, that the deceased confined his attention. He was a most faith-
ful attendant at the meetings of the Biological Section, and on the
formation of the Photographic Section became one of its most
active members, devoting much attention to landscape scenery, of
which he leaves behind a most excellent collection.
Mr. Chapman was a most painstaking officer, never being
absent from his post, with the exception of a few months in the spring
of 1894, when failing health compelled him to take a trip South ;
yet even at this time he was so governed by his love of scientific
pursuit as to seek health where nature might best be studied.
Ever a companion of nature, Death overtook him in the midst
of his devotions at her sacred shrine, and the moaning of her quiet
waters chanted their sad requiem over the corse of her spotless child.
As we lament to-day over his open grave, let us ask. ourselves
whether death can come untimely to that man who, even in youth,
hath learned to live in peace with all, and who leaves behind him a
memory as pure as those flowers he had learned so much to love.
| eye) JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
LIST OF MEMBERS
= OF THE -
HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
HONORARY.
root, Grant ee Cole Cy Ce eiamilton:
1882 Macoun, John, M. A., Ottawa.
1885 Dawson, Sir Wm., F. R. S., F. G.S., F. R. C. S., Montreal:
1885 Fleming, Sanford, C. E., C. M. G., Ottawa.
1885 Farmer, William, C. E., New York.
1885 Ormiston, Rev. William, D. D., Gladstone, Los Angeles, Cal.
1886 Small, H. B., Ottawa.
1886 Charlton, Mrs. B. E., Haiailton.
1887 Dee, Robert, M. D., New York.
1o07 Weefer, Thomas ©. (G@) Es Ottawa:
1890 Burgess, I. J. W., M. D., F. R. S. C., Montreal.
1891 Moffat, J. Alston, London.
CORRESPONDING.
1871 Seath, John, M. A., Toronto.
1881 Clark, Chas. K., M. D., Kingston.
1881 VanWagner, Lieut.-Col, P. S., Stony Creek.
Toot Spencer Jo We Bsc. eho. i GS easavantalen Gar
1882 Lawson, A. C., M. A., California.
1884 Bull, Rev. Geo. A., M. A., Niagara Falls South.
1885 Frood, T., Sudbury.
1889 Yates, Wm., Hatchley.
1889 Kennedy, Wm., Austin, Texas.
1891 Hanham, A. W., Quebec
1892 Wolverton, L., M. A., Grimsby.
1895 Jones, P. E., M. D., Hagersville.
LIFE.
1885 Proudfoot, Hon. Wm., Q. C., Toronto
THE HAMILTON
ASSOCIATION.
ORDINARY.
1892 Adam, Alex. E. | 1884
1882 Adam, Jas. R. | 1890
LooreAtdous, Jj. Eek. B.A: 1890
Tom exandenoAls, He Ss SC. 1895
1892 Alexander, Ernest 1887
moomeanemian Cs C2) Me A: | 1894
1892 Baker, C. O. T8gqI
1892 Baker, Alfred H. 1892
1885 Baker, Hugh C.
1880 Ballard, W. H., M. A.
1895 Beasley, Mrs. Thos.
1880 Black, Geo.
1890 Bonney, H. P.
1881 Boustead, Wm.
1892 Bowman, j. W.
1881 Bowman, Wm.
1880 Briggs, Samuel
1857 Brown, Adam
1891 Brown, O. J., M. A.
1885 Buchanan, W. W.
1892 Buckley, Miss M. A.
1892 Burkholder, J. G. Y.
Toso; Burns, Rey. A., BD. D::
IEIES IDS
1894 Burns, Miss B.
r89t Burns, J. M.
1889 Campbell, D. J.
1894 Campbell, Robt.
1892 Cameron, Chas. E.
1890 Cape, John.
HOO Carpenter ids, why. Ae
1895 Carry, Mrs.
18gt Chapman, J. R.
18gt Chapman, W.
1880 Charlton, B. E.
1891 Cheyne, John P., Com-
mander R. N.
| 1880
1892
1892
1872
1880
1892
1892
1891
1892
1890
ISSe
1891
I8Q1
1882
1890
1880
1880
1880
I8QI
| 1880
1892
1880
1882
1883
1888
1892
1887
1883
IOot
Childs, W. A., M. A.
Clank Deo Da) Dans:
Cloke, J. G.
Coburn ei
Colquhoun, I. A.
Crawford, G.
Crawiord, |. i Bs AG
Crisp; Alt @:
Cummings, James
Cuttriss, Geo. H.
Davidson, Mrs. M.
Dickson, George, M. A.
Dillabough, E. H., M. D.
Devine, A. L.
Dow, R. C.
Eastwood, John M.
Edgar, Robt. L.
Elliott, W. H., B.A., Ph. B.
Evans, J. DeV.
Evans, W. Sanford
Fearman, F. W.
Ferres, James
Pinch €s.S:
Findlay, W. F.
Fletcher,” Rev. D: He, DD:
Forbes, A. F.
Foster, F. G.
Foster, W. C.
Garretty Ac ao:
Gaviller, Alex.
Gaviller, E: A:, M: D:
Gibson, Hon. J. M., M-A.,
Ne By
Grant Aer:
Grant, W. J.
Greene, Joseph
Grossman, Julius
102
1888
1894
1882
1892
1887
1890
1892
18g1
1887
18g2
1895
1882
1890
1884
1892
1890
1857
1890
1880
1880
1891
1887
1880
18901
1894
1891
1857
1890
1884
1890
1895
1880
1857
1891
1890
1886
1892
1892
JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Galbraith, W. S.
Eanseleke. (Ds DS
Harris, W. J.
Fleming, AC td Te ORsune
Hobson, Thos.
Holden, Mrs. J. Rose
Holliday, John, M. A.
latory | |e (Ce
Ireland, S.J.
Komnige Ace VIE Ae
Knox, John.
Laidlaw, Rev. R. J.,
Lancefield, R. T.
Lee, Lyman, B.A.
Lees, George
Lees, Thomas
Leggat, Matthew
Leslie, Geo. M.
Leslie, James, M. D.
Littlehales, ‘Thomas
Rochead. ali Ving se
Logie, W. A., B. A., LL. B.
Eyle, Samuel, Rev.; D:D:
McClemont, Wm. M.
McConnell, Miss L.
McCullough, C. R.
Mcllwraith, Thos. |
McInnes, Hon. Donald
McLaren, Major Henry
McKaughiin, JE i.) Bj Ac
McLagan, Alex.
Macdonald, J. D., M. D.
Malloch, A. E., M. D.
Mone
Marshall, William
Martin, Edward, Q. C.
Mathesius, R. A.
Mills, Edwin
D. D. |
1887
1886
1884
1887
1892
1837
1890
1890
1892
1891
1886
1887
1883
1870
1891
1880
1887
1892
1885
1892
1892
18QI
1891
1881
1899
1892
1882
1892
1892
1887
1892
18go
1880
18901
1885
1592
1890
Mills, Geo. H.
Milne, Alex.
Mitchell, Wm.
Moles Wane. Mie Re Cr Weise
Moodie, Jas. R.
Moore, A. H., Lieut.-Col.
Moore, Charles
Moore, Henry E.
Morgan, Arthur
Morgan, S. A., B. A.
Morgan, W. 5S.
Morris, Thomas, Jr.
Murton, J. W.
Mullin, John A:, M. D
Myles, Wm. H.
INK, wel IE,
Nelligan, J. B.
Noyes, Mrs. Ed. F.
Overell, M. J.
Plant, John
Pottenger, John
Powis, A.
Rastiek,, Bie:
Rastrick, F. J.
Reynolds, T. W., M. D.
Roach, George
Robertson, R. A.
Robinson, W. A.
Ross, Lucien G.
Rutherford, Geo.
Sanford, Hon. W. E.
Sanford, E. Jackson
Schofield, W. Ines BurAs
Scriven, P. I.
Sinclair, S. B., M. A.
Smart, Wim. L.
Southam, Richard
Staunton, F. H. Lynch-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 103
1890 Staunton, George Lynch- | 1891 Turner, J. B., B. A.
1890 Stratton, A.W., B.A., Ph.B. | 1892 Turner, W. J
1892 Swanzie, Miss Kate G. lersou: diynnells |e Wie) Ca.b).
1892 Sweet, David | 1881 Vernon, Elias, M. D.
1892 Sweet, Harry : | 1887 Walker, A. E.
HoOoZ smith, Ij. eb | 1892 White, Wm.
re92 oykes, W. }., B. A. | 1888 Williams, C. J.
1892 Thompson, R. A., B. A. | 1881 Willams, J. M.
1881 Tuckett, Geo. E. | 1892 Wilson, Wm.
1891 Turnbull, A. C. | 1857 Witton, H. B.
1892 Turnbull, J. D. e1ss5 Witton, El. Bo. Ir, B.A.
1892 Turnbull, W. R. | 1891 Witton, J. G., B. A.
1880 Turnbull, Wilham |
HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
OFFICERS FOR 1895-6,
President.
Alay NER
ist Vice-President. 2nd Vice-President.
T. W. REYNOLDS, M. D. A. EY WALKER.
Corresponding Secretary. Recording Secretary.
REV..J./ Hi. LONG, VE AS Te Ta: S. A. MORGAN, B. A,
Treasurer. Curator.
Fee Mis BURNS. ALEX. GAVILLER.
Asst. Sec’y and Curator.
WALTER CHAPMAN.
Council,
P..LeSCRIVENG J. ESP ALDOUS, Boays Wit SB LLIOPE.B, Anite.
THOMAS MORRIS, JR., MAJOR McLAREN.
Auditors.
H. P. BONNEY, F.. HANSEL:
Jamilton Pissoeiati On
FOR SESSION OF 1895-96.
NURSE Sx Tr:
: CoNTENTS:
Page i 3 Wayside Notes... i, 16k eae
pen A =F
[ 6 | Geological Notes.......... ..-- 140
Abstract of Minutes, 1895-6.... 8 | Description of Railway Cutting 147
Our Critics Answered ........, 15.
Our Local Graptolites...... .. 159
Notes on Pipestone District,
Miri vise) ge on ae eee oe Ne
Report of the Photographic Sec-
Pine LONE cre sv cisterns cit «Acne aisipe wav LO
@urator’s. Report. coe 1
Financial Statement.......... 179 Beat
Report of Corresponding Secre- ae!
PAM te ei eae eee ee OUR
eport GiCouncile <2. S19
Inaugural Address . Boe gates
cetylene Gas ............... 18
The New Ontario ............, 28
China, Past and Future....... 57
Opposing Forces vs. Inaction .. 70
Neglected Methods of Education 81
socal Museums............... 96°
Our Educational System ...... 110
Report of Biological Section... 123
Biological Notes...... ........ 124
a
|
Report of Geological Section... 138
AUTHORS OF PAPERS ARE ALONE RESPONSIBLE FOR STATEMENTS = =~
MADE AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED THEREIN.
PRINTED FOR THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION BY THE:
SPECTATOR PRINTING COMPANY. : I ea)
1896. ni aes
‘
a )
Vs Ce Rie re Bay
. i. C
rach
i
o 1 \) lf
py oy l
vee |
BOX
hae, i
} \
JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS
ON awells,
amiltop fAssoeiation
FOR SESSION OF 1895-96.
I Ole WES pSasy | Py Saea ee
AUTHORS OF PAPERS ARE ALONE RESPONSIBLE FOR STATEMENTS
MADE AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED THEREIN.
PRINTED FOR THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION BY THE
SPECTATOR PRINTING COMPANY.
1896.
OPRiCEks: FOR 1595-96.
President:
A. 1. NEILL.
Mire-Preoivents ;
ats We REYNOEDS, M.D: A. E. WALKER.
Serretavies:
REV I. Ho LONG MA, LB: S. A. MORGAN, B. A.
Creasurer: Cuvatoyv and Librarian:
J. M. BURNS ALEX. GAVEL ER:
Agsat. Serretary and Curaior:
WALTER CHAPMAN.
Council:
JOE: Be ALDOUS, Bak THOMAS MORRIS, Jr.
We ELLIOT 2 A. Ph B. MAJOR McLAREN.
P. L. SCRIVEN,
3lusewun:
PUBLIC LIBRARY BULEDENG,
MAIN STREET WEST.
OF FICE-
PRESIDENT.
First Vicre-Pres.
Srconp Vicr-PRrRes.
1857
1858
1859
1860
186]
1875
1880
188]
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1890
1891|A. Alexander, F.S. Se./A. T. Neill
1892)A. Alexander, F.S. Sc./A. T. Neill
1893)A. Alexander, F.S. Sc.JA. T. Neill
1894
1895
Rev. W.Ormiston,D.D.\John Ra
John Rae, M. D., F. R.
G.S.
Rev. W.Ormiston,D.D.
Rev. W. Inglis, D. D..
Rev. W. Ormiston,D.D.
BTM Ae Aine cise aos pe
A. T. Neill
eee erence ees
|
|
e, M. D., F.R.
G.S.
Rev. W.- Ormiston, D.D)
J.B. Hurlburt, M. A.|
LL. D.
T. Mecllwraith. .....
J.B. Hurlburt, M. A ,
LL. D.
We Proudfoot. 42 .s7 Judge Logie .........
Judge Logie.......... H. B. Witton, M. P...
873|H. B. Witton, M. P...]J. M. Buchan, M. A...
1974|H. B. Witton, M. P...|J. M. Buchan, M. A...
eB Watton) S25 so: J. M. Buchan, M. A..
T. Mellwraith........ Rev. W. P. Wright,
M.A.
J.D. Macdonald, M. D.|R. B. Hare, Ph.D...
J. D. Macdonald, M.D.|B. E. Charlton......
J. D. Macdonald, M.D.|/B. E. Charlton. .....
J.D. Macdonald, M.D.)/H. B. Witton ......
Rev. C. H. Mockridge,|Rev. S. Lyle....:...
WES aN DID):
Rev. C. H. Mockridge,|/Rev.S. Lyle.........
M. A., D. D.
Rev. 8. Lyle, B. D....|B. E. Charlton.
8|Rev. S. Lyle, B. D....|T.J.W. Burgess, M.B..,
F.R.S. C.
B. E. Charlton ...... ,|T.J.W. Burgess, M.B.,
= ReneS aCe
B. BE. Charlton ......- J. Alston Moffat......
A. T. Neill
J. B. Hurlburt, M. A.,
LL. D.
J. B. Hurlburt, M. A.,
IGG AD).
Chas. Robb
Rev. W. Ormiston,D.D.
Rev. W. Inglis, D. D...
Richard Bull
Richard Bull
dtodd 60 D006
A. T. Freed
W. H. Mills
B. E. Charlton’ 222225
J.A. Mullin, M.D....
H. B. Witton
_|Rev. C. H. Mockridge,
M.A., D. D.
W. Kennedy
Matthew Leggat ......
W. A. Childs, M. -
W. A. Childs, M.
J. Alston Moffat ......
Ae Nel eae wias ea iene
Cree e rs. ee eee-
T. W. Reynolds,
T. W. Reynolds,
A. E. Walker
BEARERS.
Cor. SEc.
Rec. Src.
TREAS.
T’. C. Keefer, C. I
T. C. Keefer, C. E.
T. C.- Keefer, C. EH.
Wm. Craigie, M.D.
Wm. Craigie, M.D.
J. M. Buchan, M.A
J. M. Buchan, M.A
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
R. B. Hare, Ph. D.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
H. B. Witton, B.A.
H. B. Witton, B.A.
H. B. Witton, B.A.
H. B. Witton, B.A.
Thos. Morris, Jr...
Thos. Morris, Jr...
W.McG.Logan,B.A
W.McG.Logan,B.A
Rev. J. H. Long,
M.A., LL. B.
Wm. Craigie, M.D.
Wm. Craigie, M.D.
Wm. Craigie, M.D.
Wim. Craigie, M.D.
Wi. Craigie, M.D.
I. B. McQuesten,
M. A
Ig, 4535) JL
M.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
cQuesten,
A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
Geo. Dickson, M.A.
A. Robinson, M. D.
Wm. Kennedy ....
Wm. Kennedy ....
A. Alexander
A, Alexander
A. Alexander
KREIS: Sc?
A. Alexander
E.S. Se.
A. Alexander
F.S. Sc.
A. Alexander
EK. S. Sc.
A. Alexander
F. 8S. Se.
A.W.Stratton, B.A.
C. R. McCulloch ..
S. A. Morgan, B.A.
S. A. Morgan, B.A.
S. A. Morgan, B.A.
. G. Crawford...
W.G. Crawford...
Richard Bull
Richard Bull
A. Macallum, M.A.
Thos. Morris, Jr...
J. M. Burns
Lisr. and Cur
A. Harvey,
A. Harvey.
A. Harvey.
Chas. Robb.
.|T. MclIlwraith.
T. MclIlwraith.
T. MelIlwraith.
T. MclIlwraith.
T. Mcliwraith.
T. McIlwraith.
Richard Buli ..... A. T. Freed.
RichardyB willis. W.H. Ballard,
M. A.
Richard Bulli .....|}W. H. Ballard,
M. A.
Richard Bull ..... W.H. Ballard,
M. A.
Richard Bull ..... Wm. Turnbull.
.|Richard Bull ..... A. Gaviller.
Richard Bull ...../A. Gaviller.
Richard Bull . _|A. Gaviller.
Richard Bull..... A. Gaviller.
Richard Bull ...../A. Gaviller.
Richard Bull ..... A. Gaviller.
Richard Bull ..... A. Gaviller and
G. M. Leslie.
Richard Bull... .. A. Gaviller and
G. M. Leslie.
Thos. Morris, Jr...|A. Gaviller and
W. Chapman.
A. Gaviller and
W. Chapman.
A. Gaviller and
W. Chapman.
MEMBERS Gk (COGNCIE.
1857—Judge Logie; Geo. L. Reid, C. E.; A. Baird; C. Free-
_ land.
1858—Judge Logie; C. Freeland; Rev. W. Inglis, D. D. ; Adam
Brown; C. Robb.
1859—Rev. D. Inglis, D. D.; Adam Brown ; Judge Logie; C.
Freeland ; Richard Bull.
1860—J. B. Hurlburt, M. A., LL. D.; C. Freeland ; Judge Logie ;
Richard Bull ; Wm. Boultbee ; Dr. Laing.
1871—Geo. Lowe Reid, C. E.; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.; A.
Macallum, M. A.; A. Strange, M D.; Rev. A. B. Simpson.
1872—Judge Proudfoot ; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A. ; John Seath,
MA} Ds Cameron WAS a breeds
1873—Judge Logie ; T. McIlwraith ; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A. ;
A. Alexander ; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1874—Judge Logie ; T. McIlwraith; Rev. W, P. Wright, M. A ;
A. Alexander; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1875—Judge Logie ; T. McIlwraith; Rev. W. P, Wright, M. A. ;
A. Alexander; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1880—M. Leggat; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.; A. Alexander.
Rey, A. Bums; Mc As VLD.) D:
1881—T. Mcllwraith ; Hi. B. Witton ; Ay J. Freed; Reva Week.
Wright, M. A.; A. F. Forbes.
1882—T. Mcllwraith ; H. B. Witton ; A. T. Freed ; A. F. Forbes ;
Rev. C. H. Mockridge, M. A., D. D.
1883—A. Alexander; A. Gaviller; A. F. Forbes ; T. McIlwraith ;
R. Hinchcliffe.
1884—A. Gaviller; A. F. Forbes; T. MclIlwraith; R. Hinch-
cliffe ; W. A. Robinson.
1885—-W. A. Robinson; S. Briggs; G. M. Barton; J. Alston
Moffat ; A. F. Forbes.
1886—J. Alston Moffat; Samuel Slater; Wm, Milne; James
Leslie, M. D.; C. S. Chittenden,
1887—J. Alston Moffat; James Leslie, M. D.; P. L. Scriven ;
Wm. Milne; C. S. Chittenden.
1888—]. Alston Moffat ; B. E. Charlton ; T. W. Reynolds, M.D. ;
S. J. Ireland; Wm. Kennedy.
1889—T. W. Reynolds, M.D. ; S.J. Ireland ; William Turnbull ;
A. W. Hanham ; Lieut.-Col. Grant.
1890—Col. Grant; A. W. Hanham; W. A. Robinson; A. E.
Walker ; Thomas Morris, Jr.
1891—Col. Grant; W. A. Robinson; J. F. McLaughlin, B. A. ;
T. W. Reynolds, M. D.; Wm. Turnbull.
1892—T. W. Reynolds, M. D.; W. A. Robinson ; P. L. Scriven ;
Wm. Turnbull; Wm. White.
1893—James Ferres; A. E. Walker; P. L. Scriven; William
White; W. H. Elliott, Ph. B.
1894—James Ferres ; A. E. Walker; P. L. Scriven ; J. H. Long,
Ve Awe Bye We He Biliott Bs A. Ph. Bb.
1895—J. E. P. Aldous, B. A.; Thomas Morris, Jr.; W. H.
Elliott, B. A., Ph. B ; P. L. Scriven; Major McLaren.
ABSTRACT OF MINUTES
OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE
Hamilton Association
DURING THE
SESSION: Gi 159596.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7th, 1895.
OPENING MEETING.
The meeting was called to order by the late President, Mr.
Briggs, who at once introduced to the members the newly elected
President, Mr. A. T. Neill.
The newly elected President then delivered his inaugural ad-
dress, in which he outlined the sphere and duties of the Association.
At the conclusion of the President’s address, Mr. Geo. Black
explained and illustrated the properties of the newly discovered
ascetylene gas.
Following the custom of previous years, the President then gave
over the meeting to the chairmen of the various sections for the pur-
pose of displaying the work of each.
Through the kindness of Prof. Aldous a short programme of
music was rendered.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER, sth, 1895.
The President, A. T. Neill, in the chair.
Minutes of the last regular meeting were read and confirmed.
Applications for membership were received from George Mc-
Gorman, M. D., F. F. MacPherson, B. A., and Wm. C. Herriman,
M. D.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 9
The Recording Secretary, S. A. Morgan, B. A., was then intro-
duced to read the paper of the evening, entitled ‘“‘ China, Past and
Future.”
In his paper the lecturer endeavored to set forth the great
national ideals which give solidarity to the Chinese nation and from
these to draw some conclusions as to the probable future of these
remarkable people.
An interesting discussion followed the reading of the paper
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16th, 1896.
President A. T. Neill in the chair.
The minutes of the last regular meeting were read and confirmed
George McGorman, M. D., F. F. MacPherson, B. A., and Wm.
C. Herriman, M. D., were elected ordinary members of the Associa-
tion.
Applications for membership were received from Messrs. A.
Mullin, T. O. Baldwin, W. C. Thompson, W. Kerruish and W. H.
Johnson.
The President then introduced to the Association Mr. Archibald
Blue, of the Bureau of Mines, who read a paper entitled “‘ The New
Ontario.”
The paper treated in a clear and exhaustive manner of the
geography, history and natural resources of this portion of our vast
Dominion,
The lecturer closed his paper with an earnest wish that men
and means would soon be forthcoming for the development of this
portion of our heritage.
The thanks of the Association were tendered Mr Blue for his
instructive paper.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6th, 1896.
President Neill in the chair.
Minutes of the former meeting were read and confirmed.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a number
of exchanges.
The Curator reported the receipt from Washington of a number
of fossils of the Miocene period.
io JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Messrs. A. Mullin, T. O. Baldwin, W. C. Thompson, W.
Kerruish and W. H. Johnson were elected ordinary members of the
Association.
The Corresponding Secretary then read the two papers of the
evening.
The first was from the pen of Mr. Wm. Yates, of Hatchley, and
contained a series of notes on Biological matters.
The second, which was written by Mr. H. B. Small, of Ottawa,
treated of nature study as a means of relieving the strain imposed by
the conditions of modern civilization.
The papers were much enjoyed by the members and a spirited
discussion followed.
THURSDAY, MARCH sth, 1896.
The President in the chair.
Minutes of former meeting were read and confirmed.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a number
of exchanges.
The First Vice-President, T. W. Reynolds, M.D., was then
introduced to read the paper of the evening, entitled ‘‘ Neglected
Methods of Education.”
Defects in both home and school education were indicated by
the lecturer and practical remedies suggested. The lecture was
listened to with great attention, and an interesting discussion fol-
lowed.
THURSDAY, APRIL 2nd, 1806.
The President, A. T. Neill, in the chair.
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.
The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of a number
of exchanges, and the Curator a number of contributions to the
Museum. :
Mr. A. Alexander, F.S.5., then read a valuable paper on
‘* Local Museums.”
The paper outlined the original purpose of a local museum,
next giving the modern conception of such an institution as an in-
tegral part of the national educational system, and closed by sug-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. TI
gesting a number of necessary reforms in our own Museum to bring
it up to this modern conception.
An animated discussion followed.
THURSDAY, MAY 7th, 1896.
The President, A.T. Neill, in the chair.
Minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.
Mr. H. B. Small, of Ottawa, was appointed to represent the
Association at the approaching meeting of the Royal Society.
Papers were read as follows:
‘“‘ Biological Notes,” by Mr. Wm. Yates, Hatchley, and ‘ Our
Educational System,” by Inspector J. H. Smith.
Both papers contained much valuable and interesting informa-
tion.
The annual meeting was then held, and the following reports
read :
Report of the Council, by the Secretary.
od ““ ** Corresponding Secretary, by Rev. |..H. Long,
PME PAC SIE eB:
Treasurer, by J. M. Burns.
’ Curator, by Alex. Gaviller,
3 ‘“* “Geological Section, by A. T. Neill.
‘ Biological Section, by A. Alexander.
: ‘“ “Photographic Section, by J. M. Eastwood.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year :
President, - - - 5 Awe. Neill:
First Vice-President, - T. W. Reynolds, M. D.
Second Vice-President, - A. E. Walker.
Corresponding Secretary, - Revia)y Eeaong,)MeAy nibs
Recording Secretary, - - S.A. Morgan, B. A.
Treasurer, - - - BP. le Seriven:
Curator, - : : - Alex. Gaviller.
Asst. Curator, - - = H. S. Moore.
AUditors;).y- - - H. P. Bonney and F. Hansel.
Councill:; J.B Aldous, By Aj Wi. Hi Eliott,; BaAweseh.! Bi
Thomas Morris, Jr., George Black and J. M. Burns.
12 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.
Read at the Aniual Meeting, May, 7th, 1896.
Your Council take pleasure in submitting the following report
for the season of 1895-6.
The Council has held seven meetings since its last annual re-
port, the proceedings of which have been duly recorded.
Seven meetings of the General Association have been held, at
which the following papers were read and discussed :
1895.
Nov. 7th.—‘“‘ Inaugural Address,” President A. T. Neill.
Nov. 7th.—‘“‘ Acetylene Gas,” George Black.
Dec. 5th.—‘ China, Past and Future,” S. A. Morgan, B. A.
1896.
Jan. 16th.—‘‘ The New Ontario,” Archibald Blue,
Feb. 6th.—‘ Biological Notes,” William Yates.
Feb. 6th.—‘ Opposing Forces,” H. B. Small.
March 5th.—‘‘ Neglected Methods of Education,” T. W. Reynolds,
M. D.
April 2nd.—‘ Our Local Museum,” A. Alexander, F. S. S.
May 7th.—‘“ Biological Notes,” William Yates.
May 7th.—‘‘ Our Educational System,” Inspector J. H. Smith.
Our membership has been increased by the addition of eight
new members and one has withdrawn.
Mr. H. B. Small, of Ottawa, who has represented us so ably
during the past few years at the annual meetings of the Royal So-
ciety of Canada, has again been appointed our representative at the
approaching meeting.
The desirability of effecting some change in the general con-
duct of our Museum, whereby it might the better meet the modern
requirements from such an institution, has received much attention
from your Council. As yet, however, through financial considera-
tions, we can suggest no solution of the difficulty.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
Ara NIE Bs: S. A. MORGAN, B.A,
President. Secretary.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 13
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Read before the Hamilton Association, November 7th, 1595.
BY PRESIDENT A. T. NEILL.
The influence of an association such as the Hamilton Associa-
tion should be in the highest and best sense educationai. The goal
towards which its members are constantly striving is the attainment
of scientific truth.
The operation of this association does not come in conflict with
the teachings of our schools and colleges, but becomes an auxiliary
in the dissemination of scientific knowledge, a field of labor
wherein the student who has acquired a theoretic knowledge may
pursue practically that particular branch of natural science which
best suits his taste and inclination. We are all given faculties pos-
sessing apprehensive as well as appreciative powers, and it is our
privilege, nay, it is our duty, to assiduously and studiously cultivate
those faculties, so that we may be the better able to fulfil the in-
tended object of our mission in this life, and I do not know of a
study more elevating, and at the same time more humbling, than
the study of natural science ; while it teaches the wonders of crea-
tion it also teaches the insignificance of man, who presumes to
measure his finite mind with the infinite, When once the desire to
know is awakened in an individual, and he feels the cravings of a
hungry mind, there and then only will his efforts be directed into
that particular channel of scientific research which commands his
special attention. There will be no insurmountable obstacles to
impede his progress, no weakening of purpose, but every energy,
mental and physical, will conserve to the accomplishment of the
end in view, ‘The apparent difficulty which first meets the student
of science is the nomenclature. The adoption of Latin names inde-
scribing the genera, species, etc., in parts of a plant, is justifiable
where you consider that the field of science is as extensive as the
surface of the globe which we inhabit, and consequently embraces
14 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
many countries peopled by races speaking different languages.
Latin being the basis of many languages, and natural science being
considered a branch of higher education, therefore the adoption of
Latin to express the names and parts of scientific objects is consid-
ered more universal in its application to the different languages ot
the world, insuring thereby greater uniformity ; hence its use.
Consider what confusion would naturally arise if each different
speaking nation or people insisted upon calling a particular object
by the name expressed in their native language ; the sciences would
be divided into as many sections as there were different languages,
and its general adaptation would be impossible, and although the
nomenclature may be and is difficult, yet it is possible to acquire an
intimate knowledge of any one of the branches of science by religi-
ously devoting one hour only per day for one year to the study.
The man or woman who is an ardent student, as well as an admirer
of nature, will not be over-concerned about the foibles, gilt, tinsel or
conventionalities of society, because he or she can find more sub-
stantial pleasure in the contemplation of the pages of the book of
nature.
I would recommend all who hear me to take up some branch of
scientific research and make it your special hobby or favorite pur-
suit, in the exercise of which you develop the body, cultivate and
liberalize the mind, thereby rising to a higher and fuller realization of
what we are capable mentally of accomplishing. The study of any
one of the branches of science to him or her who has passed beyond
the rudimentary stage experiences an inexpressible pleasure in the
discovery of a single fact, which discovery but opens the door to a
further and extended mental view in that particular avenue of thought
or research, and although in the next forward step the mental atmos-
phere may not appear to be so clear, yet, by persistent and faithful ap-
plication, the apparent cloud of mystery will vanish, and with new light
will come fresh knowledge, which is so gratifying to the earnest stu-
dent. Which of you can go out in the bright and balmy morning of
spring and not feel touched by the sense of gratitude when you see
around you evidence of returning and renewed life, and when by a lit-
tle mental reflection you recall to mind the little plant that grew in
this quiet nook as if retiring in its nature it sought some secluded
spot where it might fulfil its mission undisturbed by the rude hand of
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, 15
man, or on yon prominent bluff that o’erhangs the rocky steep as if
it too was seeking to evade the exterminating hand, and we look ex-
pectantly from day to day to see the-same varieties occupy the self
same places that they did in the year that has gone, and we are not
disappointed. The faculty of observation is thus cultivated by such
studies so that we can with almost certainty tell where is to be found
this or that object of natural history. ‘The more we study natural
history the more deeply we are impressed with the innumerable
phases it presents to our view.
Here in this museum we are surrounded by objects collected
by the different sections—Geological, Biological, Photographical,
etc., and as you will have an opportunity to examine the specimens
for yourselves, which I have no doubt will prove to be of interest to
you, and will engage your attention more fully and satisfactorily
than I can in the few minutes left at my disposal, I shall, however,
briefly allude to the Geological section of the Association carried on
under the direction of the able chairman, Col. C. C. Grant.
This branch of scientific study claims to be one of the most im-
portant of all the sections. The effectual work of the members of
the Geological section is quite apparent in this museum. See the
large number of specimens in the cases, besides a large number of
duplicates which are stored away under the side cases, as well as
the hundreds which have been sent to different parts of the world
by our chairman. Let me say here that the large collection of
fossils does not represent the whole work of the members of the
section. The term Geology comprises, strictly, a knowledge of the
physical history of the earth, as revealed to us by the study of the
rock-masses which lie around and beneath us, and by a comparison
of the results of ancient phenomena, with the forces and agencies
still at work in modifying the surface of the globe. As Geology is
thus essentially based on the study of rocks and their contents, and
as rocks are made up of a certain number of simple minerals, it is
necessary, or at least advisable, to obtain a knowledge of these lat-
ter, so as to be able to recognize them where met with, so that the
student can assign each fragment ot rock, because of its mineral
composition, to its proper place in the formation or the system
which marks the different geological periods of time in the forma-
tion of the rocky crust of the earth. Practical Geology may be ar-
16 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS.
ranged under the following general heads: Lithology, Stratigraphy,
Palaeontology and Historical Geology. First, Lithology is the
study of the rocks as mineral aggregates and as material composing
the earth’s crust. Second, Stratigraphy is the consideration of the
arrangements of the rocky masses of the earth on a large scale.
Third, Palaeontology is the study of fossil remains of plants and
animals imbedded in the earth’s crust, in connection with the suc-
cession of deposits ascertained by Stratigraphical investigation.
Fourth, Historical Geology is the application of all the above to the
geological history of the earth, and connects the elements of prac-
tical geology with the theory and application of the subject.
For the greater convenience of the study of Geology the scien-
tists have divided and sub-divided the rocky structure of the earth
into as many divisions as the differences in composition will warrant.
In Canada the rocky crust has been divided by the geologist into
twelve systems, these again are divided into many formations or
groups, representing a particular epoch in geologic time. Those
formations in which we in and around the City of Hamilton are
more directly interested are called the Medina, Clmton and Nia-
gara formation forming part of the silurian system. In order to
be able to distinguish fragments of one from the other we note the
well marked deposits composed of clay, sand and lime in such
proportions and having imbedded in them certain fossils peculiarly
characteristic to them as to be almost certain of their place in the
geological chain. They are in some, and particularly in Niagara
formation, clearly marked. The bed dividing the above forma-
tion from the Clinton is composed of light grey magnesian
limestone, weathering yellowish, holding the fossil known as
Pentamuous Oblongus in great abundance, to the uniniti-
ated they are mistaken for hickory nuts fossilized. The divi-
sion between the Clinton and Medina formation is also clearly
defined by the deep band of grey sandstone, no doubt well
known to many of you. ‘To become a geologist in the proper
sense of the word entails much study as well as physical labor. He
must be able to pronounce with certainty upon any specimen sub
mitted for his investigation, because of his familiarity with the com-
position of the different strata in the different formations. I do not
think that it would be drawing too largely upon the imagination to
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 17
suppose for the present that the different strata are but leaves in the
book of nature, and that the fossil remains are but the illustration
of the book, which make more lasting impression upon the mind
of the geologist, who sees already in his mind the circumstance
that placed these remains in their present position. He looks back
through the vista of years or eons of time when these animals which
lie entombed in their rocky grave glided about in their natural
element as the various forms of marine life disport themselves in
the lakes, seas and oceans of the present time. In conclusion let
me ask, do we, surrounded as we are with rare opportunities to be-
come acquainted with the natural history of this particularly favored
district, make the most of our opportunities? I will leave you
to answer. But our great business with this life is to read the
book of its teaching, and we shall find that life is not the doing
of drudgeries, but the hearing of oracles. The ancient mythology
was but a leaf in the book, for it peopled the world with spiritual
nature, and science, many-leaved, still spreads before up the same
tale of wonder.
18 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS.
ACETYLENE GAS.
Read before the Hamilton Association, Nov. 7th, 1895. Enlarged before the
Physical Section, May 21st, 1896.
BY MR. GEO. BLACK.
Great inventions and discoveries are often apparently the re-
sult of accident, but the seizure of the occasion and turning it to
account marks the true scientist. Such was the case when our
countryman, Thos. L. Willson, discovered his method of producing
calcium carbide, for it was known to chemists as a rare product, as
shown by the following references :
Sir Humphrey Davey observed that when Carbon and Potas-
sium were heated sufficiently to vaporize the potassium, a substance
was formed which has been recognized as the first reference to a
group of carbides.
In 1836 Brezelius announced that the black substance formed
in small quantities as a by-product in producing potassium from po-
tassic carbonate and carbon was carbide of potassium.
Wohler, in 1862, announced that he had made the carbide of
calcium by fusing an alloy of zinc and calcium with carbon. He
ascertained that it decomposed in contact with water, forming cal-
cic hyrate and acetylene.
Berthelot, in 1866, described sodium carbide or acetylene so-
dium. He discovered that the high temperature of the electric arc
within an atmosphere of hydrogen would unite with carbon of the
charcoal terminals and form acetylene gas.
In 1388, Willson, in experimenting with his electric furnace trying
to form an alloy of calcium from some of its compounds, noticed
that a mixture containing lime and powdered anthracite acted on by
the arc fused down to a heavy semi metallic mass, which having
been examined and found not to be the substance sought for was
thrown into a bucket containing water near at hand with the result
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 1g
that violent effervescing of the water marked the rapid evolution of
a gas, the overwhelming odor of which enforced attention to its
presence, and which on the application of a match burned with a
smoky but luminous flame and numerous explosions. It was acety-
lene gas.
To Willson is due the credit of discovering how to make cal-
cium carbide at the price of about one cent a pound in unlimited
quantities instead of the rare laboratory product obtained in grains
at the rate of about $10.000 per pound, thus producing not only a
new light, but for manufacturing and commercial purposes opened
up a vast range of new combinations of hydro-carbons at a much
cheaper rate than ever existed before. The dream of the chemist
has been realized, and synthetic chemistry took several strides for-
ward. The possibilities of cheap carbide for light or chemical com-
binations places Willson in the front rank of the scientific men of
the age.
Calcium carbide Ca C, is described as a dark brown, dense sub-
stance, having a crystalline metallic fracture of blue or brown appear-
ance, with a specific gravity of 2.262. In a dry atmosphere it is
odorless, but in a moist atmosphere it emits a peculiar smell, resem-
bling garlic or phosphorus. When exposed to air in lumps it absorbs
moisture and the surface becomes coated with a layer of hydrate of
lime, which to a certain extent protects the rest of the substance
from further deterioration. It is not inflammable and may be ex-
posed to the temperature of a blast furnace without taking fire, the
exterior only being converted into lime. When brought into contact
with water or its vapors at ordinary temperatures it rapidly decom-
poses, one pound when pure generating 5,892 cubic feet of acetylene
gas at a temperature of 64° F.
Calcium carbide is manufactured from powdered lime and car-
bon in the shape of ground coal, coke, peat or charcoal, these two
substances being fused together in an electric furnace. The process
is yery simple, and may be described, thus :
The lime and carbon, having been ground to a fine powder, is
intimately mixed in a certain proportion and fed into a crucible or
furnace, the lower part of which has a carbon plate which is attached
to one of the dynamo terminals ; the other terminal is connected to
an upright carbon resembling the upper carbon of an arc lamp, but
20 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
much larger, being about three feet long and twelve by eight inches
in cross section. An alternating current is delivered by means of
transformers to the carbons at about roo volts and rooo amperes.
A small portion of the mixture is fed into the furnace, the upper
carbon is raised about three inches, to form an arc, and the mixture
is fused by the intense heat, which ranges from 3,500 to 4,000 degrees
C., while that of the ordinary smelting furnace is only 1,200 to 1,500
degrees C. The carbon is gradually raised and fresh mixture fed in
till a mass of molten carbide about three feet high is made, when
the current is turned off and the carbide allowed to cool. The noise
of the arc is said to be very peculiar, especially when the supply of
mixture begins to fail.
COST OF CALCIUM CARBIDE.
To positively ascertain the cost of this product the ‘“ Progres-
sive Age” of New York sent three commissioners to Mr. Willson’s
Alluminum factory at Spray, N.C., in March last, to investigate
thoroughly, and their report is published in that journal under date
of 16th April, 1896. The commission consisted of Messrs, Hous-
ton and Kennelly, well-known electricians, and Dr. Leonard P. Kinni-
cutt, director of the department of chemistry at Worcester Polytech-
nic Institute, who investigated thoroughly and took full charge of
the factory during two separate days, making two runs of the sub-
stance and taking samples with them for testing in their own labora-
tories. Notwithstanding that the factory at Spray was only an experi-
mental one, and the greatest possible output only one ton per 24
hours, and the fact that transportation of material was excessive,
costing $3.05 per ton for coke and $4.55 per ton for lime, and esti-
mating $11 per day for labor, including a superintendent at $4 per
day, they figure the cost at $32.76 per ton.
Messrs. Houston and Kennelly add a separate estimate for the
production of five tons daily under more favorable circumstances,
but with water power at $5 per year, as at Spray, and figure the cost
at $20.04 perton. They add: “ The cost of producing calcium carb.
‘electrically, is evidently limited by the cost of lime, coke and elec-
“tric power, no matter what the scale upon which the process is
conducted.
“Tf we assume a perfect electric furnace in which neither ma
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, 21
“terial nor energy is wasted, that is, a furnace which ensures the
“complete union of calcium and carbon without loss and with no
‘Cescape of heat in the process, we know that one ton of carbide
‘‘would require for its production 1,750 lbs. of lime and 1,125
“ pounds of pure coke.
*“Tt has also been calculated from thermo-chemical data that
“14 electrical horse-power hours will be almost precisely the right
‘‘amount of energy to produce one pound of carbide, or 3.000
‘‘ horse-power hours per short ton of carbide,
“ Consequently, if Lis the cost of lime in dollars per ton, C
“the cost of coke per ton, and P the cost of electrical horse-power
“hour, a theoretically perfect plant would yield carbide at a cost
‘per ton, exclusive of labor and fixed charges, of 0.875 L + 0.5625
=@ 7-83-0001 PB.
‘“‘ For example, if lime (assumed pure) costs $2.50 per short ton,
“coke (assumed pure) costs $2.75 per short ton, and an electrical
‘“horse-power of 300 working days of 24 hours each cost $12 at fur-
“nace terminals, (0.1667 cent per working horse-power hour), the
‘limiting cost of carbide in a perfect furnace would be $8.73 per
“short ton.
‘We may therefore summarize as follows: Calcium carbide
‘“ by the electric furnace cannot be manufactured cheaper than $8.73 ©
“per short ton for material and power, exclusive of electrode car-
‘“‘ bons, labor, depreciation, interest and other fixed charges.
“ Owing to impurity of materials, and departure from theoreti-
‘“cal perfection in the electric furnaces, we found at Spray the ac-
“tual cost of material and power, irrespective of electrode carbons,
Plabonn etc mismimsas le poinas. (Glen cme:
“Under favorable conditions such as we believe can be real-
‘ized in particular localities, the total cost per short gross ton on a
“plant whose output is five tons daily might be $20. Under the
“‘actual conditions existing at Spray during our tests, we find the
“total cost to be $32.76 per short gross ton if the plant were worked
“ continuously.”
In the above lowest estimate of Messrs. Houston and Ken-
nelly, they place horse-power at $12, whereas Mr. Willson has se-
cured water power at Spray, and also in Canada, at a cost not ex-
ceeding $5 per horse-power.
22 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
On this basis, and assuming L at 2.50, C at 2.75 and P 5.00,
the figure would amount to 2.18 + 1.55 + 2.00, ora total of $5.81 ;
the cost of lime and coke however is placed at a very low figure,
but it is evident that the true theoretical minimum price is between
$5.80 and $8.73.
I have also the following estimates of cost at the Niagara Falls
establishment, as follows :
To produce one ton of carbide, at the rate of ro tons per day,
it requires—
200 electrical H. P. 24 hours at $20 per year....$10.95
TMA onlbsaicoke lat: Sassoupenton rere fe erence 2.52
ISSO 4 SC MtiMe fatyPA.S Os ets a rt aed ate eee een 405
Labor depreciation cies cules ts sien io OanS
$23 70
It is noticeable that this estimate is somewhat in excess of the
theoretical values as laid down by Messrs. Houston and Kennelly,
and may be improved on as experience is gained.
I was informed that the first run of carbide manufactured at
Niagara Falls early in May gave about 257 better results than their
estimate, and that they hoped to improve still more as they gained
experience and the men got used to their work.
Mr. Willson commenced to erect a factory at Merritton in April
on the old Welland Canal, where he has secured 1,500 horse power
at Locks 8, y and ro, and expects to turn out carbide at the rate of
7% tons daily at the lowest possible cost. He has also secured a
very large amount of power in the Province of Quebec, where he
intends to manufacture not only for Canada, but for export to foreign
countries.
It is quite evident from the report of the ‘‘ Progressive Age ”
Commissioners, and from the experience of the Niagara Falls Com-
pany, that calcium carbide can be made and sold at a price to com-
pete with ordinary gas and electric light.
It takes to produce too pounds Ca C2, as shown theoretically,
87% pounds lime and 56% pounds of carbon, of the latter 371%
pounds combine with the calcium and 1834 pounds combine with
the 25 pounds of oxygen of the lime and escapes from the furnace
as carbon monoxide, in accordance with the following formule ;
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 23
Ca O + 3C = 'Ca C2 -2 CO
87% lbs + 564% = 100+ 43% lbs.
Ca C2 = Ca + C2
too lbs = 625 + 374 lbs.
(CO) = (Cia- ©
4334 lbs = 1834 + 25 lbs.
Calcium carbide contains 62.5 parts of calcium and 37.5 parts
of carbon in too, and when brought into contact with water, acety-
line is generated to the extent of 5.89 cubic feet of gas to each
pound of carbide used ; or by weight roo lbs. of carbide and 56}
lbs. of water evolve 40.65 pounds of acetylene gas, and form 115.62
lbs. of calcic hydrate (slacked lime) in accordance with the follow-
ing formula :
CaC2e-- 22 © — Ca Ori Oe-- C2 Ee
100 + 56.25 = 115 62 + 40.626.
The acetylene gas so generated contains in 100 parts 92.3 parts of
carbon and 7.7 parts of hydrogen, or in the 40,625 pounds gener-
ated from too lbs. of carbide we have 37% lhs. of carbon and 3}
lbs. of hydrogen.
Acetylene can be produced from carbide by the addition of
water and distributed and stored in a gasometer, or the gas may be
compressed into a liquid and kept in a suitable cylinder and drawn
off as required for consumption, a reducing valve being adjusted to
give the necessary pressure for burning, one cubic foot of liquid
expands into 400 cubic feet of illuminating gas, so that a large sup-
ply may be stored in a very small space ; but for experimental pur-
poses, and for a limited supply, it is preferable to make the gas di-
rect from carbide and store it in a gasometer.
The pressure necessary to liquify acetylene depends upon the
temperature. At 65° it requires a pressure of nearly 600 lbs., at 32°
323 |bs., at 28.6° below zero 135 lbs., and at 1,160° below zero 15
lbs. We see that there is no danger of freezing it at any habitable
place.
As an illuminant acetylene surpasses in brilliancy all other illum-
inants known. When burned at the rate of five cubic feet per hour
it gives 240 to 250 C. P., whereas the best coal or water gas rarely ~
exceeds 22 candles for each five cubic feet burned per hour. Acety-
lene gas thus gives 10 to 12% times the light of ordinary gas, or tooo
24 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
feet is equivalent to 10,000 to 12,500 of ordinary gas. Acetylene is
a commercially pure gas, containing 98 per cent acetyelne and 2 per
cent of air; the latter having slight traces of other substances, it is
clear and colorless, with specific gravity of 0.91.
When a light is applied to acetylene in open air it burns with a _
bright yellow but very smoky flame on account of its extreme rich-
ness in carbon, but when confined and delivered under suitable
pressure it gives an extremely white light, resembling the oxy-
hydrogen light and is the nearest in color and purity to sunlight of
any known artificial light.
ITS POISONOUS NATURE.
Acetylene when made from expensive chemicals was know to be
very poisonous, but as made from lime and carbon it is proved to
be less injurious than ordinary gases; its strong pungent smell is a
safeguard, as no one can remain in an atmosphere of it a sufficiently
long time to be harmed. Handy for hotels where the guests blow
out the lights. In such an event the ‘‘ Blowhard” could noi get
asleep before he or some one else would be compelled to investigate.
The effect on the human system is rather to intoxicate than stupify,
and while it is absorbed by the blood it does not form combinations
with it, it asphyxiates less rapidly than ordinary gas. Moissan, of
France, and others made exhaustive experiments with the greatest
care with acetylene and coal gas on animals, and proved conclusive-
ly that coal gas was very much more poisonous than acetylene.
EXPLOSIBILITY.
Acetylene, when mixed with one and a quarter times its volume
of atmospheric air becomes slightly explosive, and reaches its maxim
explosibility with five volumes of air, so that ordinary gas is
more explosive than acetylene. Accidents and explosions reported
recently have given the impression that the gas it very dangerous.
Let us examine this feature. Take the case of the accident in Que-
bec last winter. An ingenious mechanic made his own dynamo,
furnace and carbide ; he was experimenting with the gas under pres-
sure to liquify it so as to get it into the smallest possible space, he
had an iron pipe eight inches long and four inches in diameter with
cast iron ends, a pressure guage at one end and a valve at the other ;
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 25
he had reached a pressure of 360 lbs. to the inch, and observing
that the gas was escaping around the valve he used a hammer to
stop the leak when a portion of the metal broke away and the gas
escaping struck him in the eye penetrating his brain and killing
him instantly. Ordinary air under similar conditions would have
been as fatal. It was afterwards found that the iron ends were thin
and porous and the wonder was that they stood the pressure ; there
was no explosion ; the coroner’s verdict was ‘‘accidental death.”
The explosion at New Haven, Conn., 21st January last, was
caused by men experimenting with liquid acetylene, under a pressure
of 600 pounds to the inch; and I presume all accidents reported
might be traced to unauthorized parties experimenting with crude
apparatus and ignorant of the necessary conditions for safety. We
know that air, water, gas, or electricity, are dangerous under certain
conditions, but harmless when properly controlled, and it is no
argument against acetylene that it is also dangerous when improperly
handled.
EFFECT ON ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
When I first saw acetylene gas in September, 1894, I felt sorry
for the electric companies, because I thought the gas companies
would readily adopt the new gas and regain their former monopoly
of lighting. But I do not feel quite so downcast now ; I realize that
the margin of cost of production is not so great and believe that gas
companies will feel the competition equally with electric unless they
adopt the new gas for use pure, or as an enricher to their present
output ; it is said to be useful as an enricher for coal gas but not so
suitable for water gas.
Prof. Lewes of England, one of the best gas authorities there,
suggests that gas companies should distribute a low illuminating
coal gas of about 12 C. P. through their mains for heating, cooking,
etc, and that each piace using illuminating gas be supplied with a
cylinder of acetylene to be fed into the illuminating pipes in a certain
determined proportion ; by some such process as this there remains
a large field for coal gas, otherwise coal and water gas must go.
The incandescent light has held first place for interior illumina-
tion on account of its steadiness, purity, coolness, and not with-
drawing oxygen from the air nor adding noxious elements to it.
Acetylene will divide this field with the incandescent bulb; it isa
26 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
pure white steady light, of low heating power, withdraws very little
oxygen from the air, and does not add impurities to any great ex-
tent ; its flame has a temperature of goo to 1,000 degree C, while
ordinary gas has 1,400 degree C, but as only one-tenth to one-
fifteenth of the quantity is used for equal light, its heating effect is
slightly in excess of the incandescent bulb.
Taking the theoretical E. H. P. necessary to produce one ton
of carbide as 3,000 horse-power hours, and using the same fora
supply of electric light by incandescent 4 Watt lamps, we have the
following :—3,000 x 746 = 2,238,000 Watts + 64 gives 34,970 16
C. P. lamps for one hour, or 1,453 burning 24 hours continuously.
The same power equals one ton carbide, which burned in 4
foot burners gives 31,500 164 C. P. lights or 1,213, burning twenty-
four hours. This gives a margin apparently in favor of electric
lighting ; but you cannot use all your electric lights at the source
of cheapest production, nor run a continuous even load for twenty-
four hours, but have in addition to sustain losses in distribution
more than proportionate to the distance conveyed ; also lamp re-
newals. With the carbide it is different, it can be made at the place
of cheapest production on a constant load night and day, anda
small sum transports the carbide to any place desired, where it can
be used to its full power without loss. Figure out for yourselves the
problem of transmitting electric current for use 10 to too miles
from source of production and transporting carbide by freight the
same distance, and the comparison will be largely in favor of car-
bide. Hence for use in close proximity to the power house on a
steady even load day and night, the cost will be about the same if
power cost the same, but as that is not practicable in electric light-
ing the margin is in favor of carbide, but not to such an extent as
to seriously hurt the electric companies employing the best appara-
tus under the most approved conditions, as may be found in large
cities, but it is possible in small towns where the best and most
economical conditions cannot be obtained, and a thorough manager
secured, well up in the scientific as well as the practical conditions,
electric lighting may suffer.
The ease of distributing acetylene is remarkable ; owing to its
high illuminating power very small main pipes may be used, and as
' frost does not effect it the pipes need only be laid below the surface,
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 24
so that little or no expense need be incurred in piping a town. If
the cost of mains equal cost of poles and wires the central station
or gas house only requires a small tank for a generator, and a gas-
ometer of suitable size; as compared with engines, boilers and
dynamos running when only one light is required.
We may then conclude that in the race for supremacy closet
economy will be practised, better service given, the public will be
benefitted, all will let their light shine to the best of their ability,
and the one best deserving of patronage will survive.
28 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
THE NEW ONTARIO.
A Paper read before the Hamilton Association, January 16th, 1896.
BY ARCHIBALD BLUE, ESQ.
The New Ontario is a title which in the common use describes
all that part of the Province lying beyond the Mattawan and French
rivers and the Nipissing, Huron and Superior lakes, to the north and
west boundaries. ‘These boundaries, now clearly defined and estab-
lished by an Imperial statute, were for nearly twenty years a subject
of keenly waged dispute between the Governments of Ontario and
the Dominion ; and at one time, after Manitoba had been projected
into the quarrel, feeling ran so high that recourse to arms was im-
minent. The extent of country involved in this dispute, while very
much larger, is perhaps not less valuable in its resources of timber
and minerals than the region in dispute between Guiana and
Venezuela, over which the two great Anglo-Saxon nations were just
now talking of war. In one important particular, too, there is a close
parallel in the conduct of the negotiations. The President of the
United States has named commissioners to determine what is the
true divisional line between British Guiana and Venezuela ; and this
work being done, he declares it will be ‘‘the duty of the United
States to resist by every means in its power, as a wilful aggression
upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of
any lands or the exercise of governmental jurisdiction over any terri-
tory which, after investigation, we have determined of right belong
to Venezuela.” The Government of Canada also, at an early stage
in the negotiations with Ontario, and before any limits were proposed
or discussed, appointed a commissioner and authorized him to pro-
ceed and trace out, survey and mark the boundaries on the west and
north of the Province according to the specific and definite instruc-
tions given to him. ‘The same arbitrariness appears in both cases ;
but in the action of the Government of Canada in 1872 there was a
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 29
tangible interest at stake, and in the action of the Government of the
United States in 1896 there is nothing but a sentiment. Had the
Government of Ontario tamely acquiesced in the instructions issued
from Ottawa, instead of vigorously contesting their claim to
the final award, it would have meant to this Province the loss of
100,000 square miles of territory.
The New Ontario lies within boundaries declared by the Im-
perial Parliament in 1889,in an Act passed in accordance with the
terms of an address from the Senate and Commons of Canada pre-
sented to the Queen in that year. These boundaries are substantially
the same as those agreed upon in 1878, in the award of the arbitra-
tors appointed by the Dominion and Ontario Governments, but
subsequently repudiated by the Dominion Government ; and, as far
as they go, they are identical with the boundaries found by the Judi-
cial Committee of the Privy Council in 1884. In the schedule to
the Imperial Act they are described as follows :
“Commencing at the point where the international boundary
between the United States of America and Canada strikes the
western shores of lake Superior, thence westerly along the said
boundary to the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods, thence
along a line drawn due north until it strikes the middle line of the
course of the river discharging the waters of the lake called lake Seul,
or the Lonely lake, whether above or below its confluence with the
stream flowing from the Lake of the Woods towards lake Winnipeg,
and thence proceeding eastward from the point at which the before
mentioned line strikes the middle line of the course of the river last
aforesaid, along the middle line of the course of the same river
(whether called by the name of English river, or as to the part be-
low the confluence, by the name of the river Winnipeg) up to lake
Seul, or the Lonely lake, and thence along the middle line of lake
Seul or Lonely lake to the head of that lake, and thence by a straight
line to the nearest point of the middle line of the waters of lake St,
Joseph, and thence along that middle line until it reaches the foot
or outlet of that lake, and thence along the middle line of the river
by which the waters of lake St. Joseph discharge themselves to the
shore of the part of Hudson bay commonly known as James bay,
and thence southeasterly, following up the said shore to a point
where a line drawn due north from the head of lake Temiscaming
30 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
would strike it, and thence due south along the said line to the head
of the said lake, and thence through the middle channel of the said
lake into the Ottawa river, and thence descending along middle of
the main channel of the said river,” etc., to a stone boundary on the
north bank of lake St. Francis in the St. Lawrence river.
The eastern boundary of the Province was first determined
in 1791 by the Imperial Order in Council establishing the Provinces
of Upper and Lower Canada, including the section of it from the
head of lake Temiscaming defined by “a line drawn due north until
it strikes the boundry line of the Hudson bay.” ‘The exact starting
point of this line was finally fixed in 1872, by agreement between
the Governments of Ontario and Quebec, in 1873 and 1874 it was
surveyed as far north as the height of land by joint commissioners
appointed for the purpose, and in 1874 the line was ratified by the
Legislatures of the two Provinces. As laid down on the maps, it
starts from the parallel of 47° 33' 48” 37’ and is as nearly as may
be along the meridian of 79° 30’ west from Greenwich. The western
boundary is only the meridian of the northwest angle of Lake of the
Woods, and the joint commissioners under the Treaty of Ghent as-
certained this point to be in latitude 49° 23’ 55” north, and in longi-
tude 95° 14! 38” west from Greenwich.* The New Ontario there-
fore extends across 15° 44/ 38” of longitude, which on the latitude
of 50° measures 701 statute miles.7
The greatest breadth from north to south, measured from the
mouth of the Spanish river in Georgian bay to the mouth of the Al-
bany river in James bay (or say from 46° 15’ to 52° 30’ north lati-
tude) is about 430 miles, and the least is along the western bound-
ary, where it is about 80 miles. From the mouth of Pigeon river
on the Minnesota boundary to the foot of lake St. Joseph, near the
meridian of 90°, it is about 215 miles; from Fort Michipicoten on
the east shore of lake Superior to Henley House on the Albany
river, along the meridian of 85°, it is about 240 miles ; and the
average breadth is probably 250 miles. ‘The area has been variously
estimated ; it is not less than 150,000 square miles, and it may be
* Report of the Commissioners under the Treaty of Ghent made 23rd
October, 1826. Hertslet’s Treaties, vol. xiii, pp. 898-9.
} The length of a degree of longitude on the parallel of 50° is 235,171
feet, or about 44.44 English statute miles.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 31
175,000 square miles. Even at the lower of these estimates it is larger
than Minnesota and Wisconsin by 16,000 square miles, larger than
Wisconsin and Michigan by 44,000 square miles, larger by 7,000 square
miles than three States the size of New York, and larger than our part
of Ontario south of the French and Mattawan rivers by about 100,000
square miles. The passenger train on the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way which leaves Mattawa at the mouth of the Mattawan river at 8.11
o'clock Monday evening, and goes at a speed, including ali stops, of
254 miles per hour—through North Bay and Sudbury, coasting the
north shore of lake Superior 195 miles from Heron Bay to Fort
William, and on through Rat Portage at the foot of Lake of the
Woods—does not reach Ingolf station near the Ontario and Mani-
toba line until 11.57 a. m. on Wednesday. But the length of the
run 1s 1,004 miles.
From these figures and comparisons it is seen that the New
Ontario is a large country—doubtless much larger than most of us
down here have ever conceived or suspected, for I think it must be
confessed that even the best informed among us have a great deal
yet to learn of its lengths and breadths, as well as of its physical as-
pects and varied resources.
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REGION.
But is not the title of the New Ontario something of a misno-
mer? May we not say that it is really the Old Ontario? Is it not
the very oldest part of our continent, and has it not furnished the
materials out of which not alone this lower Ontario but many States
across the great lakes have been built up? Almost the whole ex-
tent of it, all excepting a portion of the Hudson Bay slope anda
small area around lake Temiscaming, is a mountain built country.
Through long cycles of time the most conspicuous physical feature
in North America was the high range of Archzen rocks which swept
in a magnificent curve through what is known in our time as the
regions of Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and the Northwest Terri-
tories, around the head of Hudson bay, from the Atlantic ocean in
the east to the Arctic in the north. These rocks covered an area of
Over 2,000,000 square miles, and we can hardly guess the height to
which they were raised by the forces that heaved them into moun-
tain masses long, it may be, before there was any sea, The average
32 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
elevation is from 1,500 to 1,600 feet above the present sea level ac-
cording to Logan, and probably less than 1,000 feet according to
Selwyn. ‘There are many points of 2.500 to 3,000 feet ; in the Ad-
irondacks are mountains more than 5,oco feet above the sea; and
along the eastern and northern coasts of Labrador are chains esti-
mated at heights from 5,000 to 10,000 feet. It is supposed that
the denuding forces were not so great or so active in J.abrador as
farther west ; and having in view the immense extent of the sedi-
mentary formations, from at least the base of the Huronian upwards
through the Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian systems to the rela-
tively recent glacial drift which cover the region of the lakes and be-
yond them south and west to a depth in places of many thousands
of feet, and the fact that the materials of all these excepting part of
the limestones were derived from the ancient rocks of the north, the
conclusion appears to be irresistible that the range or ranges, for
probably there were several parallel ones, must have reached a lofty
height throughout their whole extent. Logan, about forty years
ago, gave to this primitive nucleus of the continent the name Lau-
rentian, from the rocks which compose it forming the high moun-
tainous country known as the Laurentides, which extend for nearly
a thousand miles north of the river St. Lawrence from Quebec into
Labrador. He maintained that the rocks of the Laurentian system
are almost without exception old sedimentary beds which by action
of heat have become highly crystalline, composed of schists, fel-
spars, quartzites and limestones, with intrusive masses of granites,
syenites and diorites, and that their aggregate thickness is not less
than 30,000 feet. It seems probable however that a number of the
rocks which Logan has described as stratified are of purely igneous
origin, and that their foliated structure is a result of folding and
shearing when under great pressure they were being raised into
mountain forms. ‘The fine-grained hornblende-gneisses, the mica-
gneisses and the chlorite-gneisses are of this class, and are often
traced into massive granites and granitoid gneisses, which are clearly
igneous. “All of these rocks,” Van Hise says, ‘‘are completely
crystalline. None of them show any unmistakeable evidence of
having been derived from the sedimentaries, but many can be traced
with gradations into massive rocks, and therefore the greater pro-
portion of them are igneous, if a completely massive granular struc-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, 33
ture be proof of such an origin.”* So also Dr. Adams affirms that
the indistinct foliation of the fundamental gneiss—a term used to
designate the lower portion of Logan’s Lower Laurentian,—is not
in many cases “‘a survival of original bedding, but is clearly due to
movements in a plastic mass.” Of the upper portion of the Lower
Laurentian, known as Logan’s Grenville series, Dr. Adams appears
to think that the crystalline limestones and gneisses, while showing
great dynamic action, are in all probability made up in part if not
wholly of sedimentary material, often occurring in well defined bands
or layers like the strata of later formations. But as regards the so-
called Upper Laurentian, which embraces the Anorthosite or Norian
series of Logan, his view is that their igneous and intrusive charac-
ter is well established ; and that while they frequently show a dis-
tinct and often a perfect foliation, they are but eruptive masses which
have found their way upward by cutting the rocks of the fundamen-
tal gneiss and the Grenville series, in many cases being thrust be-
tween the bands or strata of the latter in directions of least resist-
ance and having foliation induced in them under pressure while
deeply buried and very hot.; The fact is however that there are
many points upon which the authorities are not yet agreed, either as
regards the origin, age, classification or nomenclature of the older
rocks.
For the present purpose it is enough to be assured that while
there are large areas in which eruptive masses of granite and gneiss
have penetrated the Huronian rocks and thrown them into folds,
proving thus their later age, in general the reverse is the case—the
Huronian resting unconformably on the Laurentian and being there-
tore of later origin; that the Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian sys-
tems are in regular order more recent than the Huronian ; and that
these successive systems of rocks have been built out of the ruins of
the underlying ones.
In the course of secular cooling, it may safely be assumed, the
crust of the earth became folded by contraction to form high moun-
tains and deep valleys, and when after the lapse of long ages the
temperature had fallen to the point at which water might form and
accumulate the processes of degradation and upbuilding must have
* Journal of Geology, vol.1., p. 115.
+ Journal of Geology, vol. 1., pp. 828-334,
34 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
gone forward rapidly. The atmosphere, the rains and the hot waters
became effective agencies in altering the physical features of the
earth by erosion, and the fundamental rocks began to be covered by
the sedimentaries. But the internal forces were active yet and for
ages after ; the mountain-making folding continued,and great masses
of igneous rocks were intruded into the cooling crust or extruded
upon it. The waters of the sea grew in volume, the Archean high-
lands subsided, and once or twice in their history, if not oftener,
they were over a very large extent submerged. In that sea the
Huronian rocks—possibly a portion of the Laurentian also, and the
foliated members of it certainly if they are sedimentary—were laid
down, but we have no data for calculating their mass. The Huron-
lans extended over large areas to the north and south, much of
which is hidden by overlying deposits ; in the typical region north of
lake Huron their thickness was computed by Murray to be 18,000
feet, and their aggregate thickness as originally laid down may have
been not less than 40,000 or 50,000 feet. At two successive periods
in their history the rocks of this great system were folded and tilted
into mountain forms, followed by two long periods of active erosion
during which the denudation was deep enough to remove the entire
series in places, and wear the mountains down to stumps. How far
if at all, glacial agencies operated in this cutting down and carrying
away of Huronian material to construct new systems, there is no
means of determining ; but there is nothing improbable in the sup-
position that they were as active in those early ages of the earth as
they have been in the later period, the record of which the ice has
so left written upon the face of the rocks that we may read it.
Following the Huronian system by the classification of the
Canadian geologists, there come next in order the formations of the
Cambrian system, embracing the Animikie, Nipigon and Potsdam,
with an aggregate thickness of 54,000 feet according to some meas-
urements, and of 63,000 feet according to others. The Nipigon
alone has a thicknees computed at 50,000 feet, composed almost
wholly of gabbros, diabases, amygdaloids and lavas ejected through
fissure and crater during a long period of volcanic activity, and re-
sulting in the great east and west synclinal which forms the basin of
lake Superior.
After the Cambrian rocks came those of the Silurian system
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 35
with a thickness in lower Ontario of over 4,000 feet, and after these
- we have a few formations of the Devonian with a thickness of 600
feet, the most recent of which are probably older than lake Huron,
lake Erie or lake Ontario.
Now from the close of the Laurentian system considerable areas
of our so-called New Ontario have been dry land ; and what length
of time elapsed in the interval between the end of the Laurentian
age and the deposition of the Chemung and Portage beds, which
are the most recent of the lower Ontario formations, we may possi-
bly conceive when it is ascertained that the aggregate thickness of
the rocks is 18 to 22 miles. Or if we take only the period from the
close of the Nipigon formation, during which fully three-fourths of
the New Ontario was dry land, and all except the pre-Cambrian por-
tion of lower Ontario was under the sea, we find that enough time
had elapsed for the deposition of strata more than a mile in thick-
ness. And that time must have been relatively long, as none of the
rocks are of igneous origin ; all are sedimentary.
Obviously therefore, when looked at from the geological point
of view, the title of the New Ontario is something of a misnomer.
How does it appear when looked at in the light of modern his-
tory, of written documents and annals ?
ITS HUMAN I{ISTORY.
There are few places in southern Ontario whose beginnings can-
not be found within the limits of a century. Fort Frontenac, on
the site of Kingston, was built in 1673, and Fort Rouille, on the
site of Toronto, about 1750, and these were the only important posts
in our part of the country during the French occupation. There
were no settlements worthy of mention excepting those on the De-
troit river until after Canada had been acquired by the British ; and
then the earliest were those formed by the loyalists at the close of
the American war for independence. Kingston and Niagara were
the first towns, and they date their origin from 1783. The first
houses in Toronto were built in 1794, and the town plot of Hamil-
ton was not laid out until 1813.
But in the New Ontario of the north the fur traders, both
French and English, began active business more than two centuries
ago, and many forts and posts were established throughout the re-
30 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
gion. The Hudson’s Bay Company obtained its charter from
Charles II in 1670, and throughout the territory known as Rupert’s
land it was active and dominant for a period of two hundred years,
or until the surrender of the territory to the Queen in 1869, at which
time it occupied about twenty-five forts and trading posts within
Ontario limits. Fort Albany, at the mouth of Albany river, was
built by this company in 1683 or 1684, Henley House on the same
river in 1744, and in 1730 a fort upon the Moose at or near where
Moose Factory now stands. But the French traders were earlier on
the field than the English, and for nearly a century they occupied a
much larger extent of it. In 1673, the same year in which Fort
Frontenac was built, they established two trading posts near the
parallel of 50°, one on the Abitibi river and the other on the Mis-
sinaibi. The intrepid explorer, Daniel Dulhut, whose name is pre-
served in Duluth, built a fort at the mouth of the Kaministiquia
river in 1678, and called it Caministoygan; and before 1684 he
built another far inland, the sight of which is supposed to be at the
foot of lake St. Joseph, on the northern boundary. The French
also built a fort at the mouth of the Moose river in 1686, and a post
at the foot of Abitibi lake before 1688. ‘Their post at Sault Ste. Marie
was established in 1670, three years before Fort Frontenac was
built ; and in 1731 they had reached the head of Rainy river, where
La Verandrye built Fort St. Pierre, the ruins of which are yet visible
under the shadow of stately trees, which have grown from seed to
maturity since the time it was deserted.* The site of Fort St. Pierre,
as well as that of Fort Frances, two or three miles below it, is one
of the most beautiful in the New Ontario.
But with the loss of Canada the activity and enterprise of the
French traders passed away, the blithe and hardy coureurs des bois
were scattered, and for the next twenty years the Hudson’s Bay
Company enjoyed a monopoly of the trade in peltries with the
Indians, saving the extent to which a few individual merchants and
small companies in Montreal were able to send their agents and
goods into the country.
*«« At the entrance of the river there is a rapid,” Sir Alexander Mac-
kenzie wrote in 1801, ‘‘ below which is a fine bay, where there had been an
extensive picketed fort and building when possessed by the French; the
site of it is at present a beautiful meadow, surrounded with groves of
oaks.’ Voyages from Montreal, p. lvi.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 37
In 1783 however, a new competitor arose when the Northwest
Company was organized, and until the two companies united in 1821
their rivalry was a strife that broke out once or twice into war. ‘The
new company was composed largely of Highland Scotch merchants,
and most of their officers and clerks and many of their employees
were of the same nationality; but they also recruited into their ser-
vice large numbers of the forest runners trained up in the palmy
days of the old French traders. The enterprise of the company was
shown by the construction of a canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was
open to navigation in the summer of 1800, being fifty-five years be-
fore the completion of the canal on the American side. It had also
a shipyard at the beautiful sandy point a few miles above the falls,
known as Pointe aux Pins, once covered with red and white pine,
the best of which were cut down and used for building the company’s
vessels for navigating the waters of Lake Superior before the close of
last century.*
Such instances of active enterprise no doubt go far to justify
the belief expressed by Masson that had it not been for the quarrel
of the Northwest Company with Lord Selkirk and the amalgamation
with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, “the opening up of a
line of communication between Canada and the Northwest Terri-
tories, and consequently the settlement of that country from Canada,
would have been advanced by a quarterr of a century.” The inter-
ests of the Northwest Company, Mr. Masson says, were intimately
bound up with those of Canada, while those of the Hudson’s Bay
Company were in an entirely opposite direction.t So bright indeed
*In the winter of 1770 Alexander Henry and his associates in a mining
enterprise on the north and south shores of Lake Superior, built a barge fit
for the navigation of the lake, at their shipyard at Point aux Pins, and laid
the keel of a sloop of forty tons; but it was not until August of 1772 that
the sloop was launched.—Henry’s Travels, pp. 226 and 234.
+ In Cauchon’s memorandum it is stated that the Canadian Northwest
Company were everywhere in advance of their rivals. ‘They were the
first to spread themselves beyond the limits of the French, over the prairies
of the Saskatchewan ; they were the first to discover the great river of the
north, now bearing the name of Mackenzie, and pursue its course to its dis-
charge in the frozen ocean ; they were the first to penetrate the passes of
the Northern Cordilleras and plant their posts upon the shores of the Pacific ;
and with such indomitable energy did they carry on their business that,
at the period of Lord Selkirk’s interference, they had upwards of 300 Ca-
nadians, ‘ voyageurs,’ employed in carrying on their trade to the west of
the Rocky Mountains.”
a
38 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
seemed the outlook for Sault Ste. Marie at one time that it was
pointed out as offering the best market for the farm products of the
country around Toronto. “The soil in the neighborhood of York
(Toronto) is said to be rich,” John Johnston of the Sault wrote in
1800, ‘‘and the farmers could raise a vast quantity of provisions,
were they encouraged by having a sure market for them. This
could easily be accomplished by opening a communication with the
Bay of Machedash, from whence to the Island of St. Joseph the
distance is only ninety leagues. From the bay, a chain of islands
extends to the northwest, of which St. Joseph is the last ; these ren-
der the navigation perfectly safe, as you may either keep outside of
them or between them and the shore, with safe anchorage every-
where. By this channel, provisions may be brought to St. Joseph,
St. Mary and Michilimackinac in half the time and for half the ex-
pense they are procured from Sandwich, Detroit, etc, and the re-
turns from the above places would arrive much sooner and safer at
Montreal.” Concerning the fortunes of Matchedash itself under
this scheme, Johnston had not a doubt on his mind “but that it
would soon become the most thriving place in Upper Canada, and
the centre of provisions and transport trade for the fur countries.”*
But the chief seat of the Northwest Company’s enterprise was
on the north shore of lake Superior. Fort Charlotte, the place first
selected, was at Grand Portage, at the mouth of Pigeon river. Fear-
ing however that it might be within the United States boundary, a
new location for business headquarters was chosen at the mouth of
the Kaministiquia river and named Fort William, after William Mc-
Gillivray, one of the partners of the company. It soon became the
* John Johnston’s Account of Lake Superior in Les Bourgeois de la
Campagnie du Nord-Ouest, by L. R. Masson, vol. 1.
+ The first fort on this river was built by Dulhut in 1678, and it was
re-built by LaNoue under instructions from the French Government in
1717. The name Kaministiquia (which has undergone many modifications
of orthography) is said by John Johnston to mean the ‘river of difficult
entrance,’ and by Sir John Richardson the ‘‘river that runs far about,”
while Dr. Bigsby translates it ‘‘ the river of the isles.”
A further interesting narrative of how the seat of the fur trade on lake
Superior came to be transferred from Fort Charlotte to Fort William is
given by Dr. Bigsby: ‘“‘ During great part of the eighteenth century,” Dr.
B. writes, ‘‘before the union of the Indian traders into one company, the
Northwest, the Lake Superior end of the Grand Portage was a pent-up
hornet’s nest of conflicting factions intrenched in rival forts. The traders
first coalesced into two companies, one called the ‘ X. Y. Company,’ from a
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 39
most important post north of the great lakes, and at some seasons
of the year the number of traders assembled there was not less than
3.000, gathered from all quarters of the Northwest to which the
operations of the company had extended.
But Fort William was something more than the central depot
for the exchange of furs and goods. It was the meeting place where
the affairs of the company were planned every year between a few
of the leading partners at Montreal and partners from the various
trading stations in the wilderness. ‘‘ Here, in an immense wooden
building,” to quote Washington Irving, ‘‘ was the great council hall,
as also the banqueting chamber, decorated with Indian arms and
accoutrements, and the trophies of the fur trade. The house
swarmed at this time with traders and voyageurs, some from Mon-
treal, bound to the interior posts, some from the interior posts
bound to Montreal. The councils were held in great state, for every
member felt as if sitting in parliament, and every retainer and de-
pendent looked up to the assemblage with awe, as to the house of
lords. There was a vast deal of solemn deliberation, and hard
Scottish reasoning, with an occasional swell of pompous declama-
tion. These grave. and weighty councils,” Irving goes on to say,
““were alternated by huge feasts and revels, like some of the old
feasts described in Highland castles. The tables in the great ban.
mark placed on their pack, and consisted of Sir Alexander McKenzie and
Messrs. Ogilvy, Richardson and Forsyth ; and of the Northwest Company,
at whose head were Messrs. W. and 8. McGillivray, McTavish and others.
Latterly both these firms united to contend with the old Hudson’s Bay
Company, acting under the charter of Charles the Second and later parlia-
mentary sanction. The American Government, properly conceiving that
the Grand Portage, the centre of so much commercial activity, was within
their territory, signified about the year 1802, to the amalgamated company,
now called the Northwest Company, their intention of imposing a duty of
from twenty to twenty-five per cent. on all goods landed there. After hav-
ing in vain offered a composition of five per cent., the Northwest Company
abandoned the place, but not before they had well examined the Pigeon
river from the north end of the Grand Portage down to lake Superior. Sir
Alexander McKenzie occupied a long time in this task, accompanied by
two Indians, but they found that high falls, rapids and shelving precipices
rendered the river utterly impracticable for commercial purposes. The
company then built their Fort William, and made the Dog river and other
streams and lakes their road into the Northwest fur countries, although
this is inferior in every respect to the old route, so much so, that the voy-
ageurs had to be coaxed and bribed into the use of it. I am obliged to Mr.
Astronomer Thompson for this information.”—The Shoe and Canoe, or
Pictures of Travel in the Canadas, by John J. Bisby, M. D., vol. 1, pp.
240-1.
40 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
queting room groaned under the weight of game of all kinds; of
venison from the woods, and fish from the lakes, and hunters’ deli-
cacies, such as buffaloes’ tongues and beavers’ tails; and various
luxuries from Montreal, all served up by experienced cooks brought
for the purpose. ‘There was no stint of generous wine, for it was a
hard-drinking period, a time of loyal toasts, and bacchanalian songs,
and brimming bumpers.”*
Neither Toronto, nor Niagara, nor Kingston could approach
the commercial greatness of Fort William ninety years ago; and in
no part of the interior of the lower peninsula were such scenes of
activity to be witnessed as along the highways of trade in the interior
of the northern country, from the Ottawa tiver to Lake of the
Woods.
From lake Superior there were two routes to the Northwest :
one from Grand Portage through the boundary waters to Rainy lake,
and the other up the Kaministiquia river and Dog lake, across the
long portage to Savanne river, and thence through Lac de Mille Lacs
and a succession of smaller lakes, down the Maligne and Meccan or
Namakan rivers into Rainy lake. The latter was the route usually
* Trving’s Astoria, p. 8 (Bohn’s edition). The X. Y. Company, which
was a section of the Northwest Company, detached from it in 1796, but re-
united with it in 1804, and had its headquarters at Grand Portage. The
mode of living there is described as follows by Sir Alexander Mackenzie,
(Voyages from Montreal, p. xlvi): ‘The proprietors, clerks, guides and
interpreters mess together, to the number of sometimes an hundred, at
several tables, in one large hall, the provision consisting of bread, salt pork,
beef, hams, fish and venison, butter, peas, Indian corn, potatoes, tea, spirits,
wine, etc., and plenty of milk, for which purpose several milch cows are
constantly kept. The mechanics have rations of such provisions, but the
canoe-men, both from the north and Montreal, have no other allowance
here, or in the voyage, than Indian corn and melted fat. The corn for this
purpose is prepared before it leaves Detroit, by boiling it in a strong alkali,
which takes off the outer husk; it is then well washed, and carefully dried
upon stages, when it is fit for use. One quart of this is boiled for two
hours, over a moderate fire, in a gallon of water; to which, when it has
boiled a small time, are added two ounces of melted suet; this causes the
corn to split, and in the time mentioned makes a pretty thick pudding. If
to this is added a little salt (but not before it is boiled, as it would interrupt
the operation), it makes a wholesome, palatable food, and easy of diges-
tion. This quantity is fully sufficient for a man’s subsistence during
twenty-four hours, though itis not sufficiently heartening to sustain the
strength necessary for a state of active labor. The Americans call this
dish hominee.’”’ In a foot note Sir Alexander adds that corn is ‘the
cheapest provision that can be procured, though from the expense of trans-
port the bushel costs about twenty stirling at the Grand Portage. A man’s
daily allowance does not exceed tenpence.”’
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 41
taken by the Northwest Company’s traders; and from the pen of
R. M. Ballantyne, who came over it on his way from Norway House
to Montreal in 1845, we have a graphic picture of the scenes that
must have been witnessed along those waterways for well nigh forty
years, covering the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the
nineteenth century. ‘‘ Many years ago, in the time of the North-
west Company,” Ballantyne writes, “‘the echoes among these wild
solitudes were far oftener and more loudly awakened than they are
now. ‘The reason of it was this: The Northwest Company, having
their headquarters at Montreal and being composed chiefly of Cana-
dian adventurers, imported their whole supplies into the country and
exported all their furs out of it in north canoes by the same route
over which we now travelled. As they carried on business on a large
scale, it may be supposed that the traffic was correspondingly great.
No less than ten brigades, each numbering twenty canoes, used to
pass through these scenes during the summer months. No one who
has not experienced it can form an adequate idea of the thrilling
effect the passing of these brigades must have had upon a stranger.
I have seen four canoes sweep round a promontory suddenly and
burst upon my view, while at the same moment the wild, romantic
song of the voyageurs, as they plied their brisk paddle, struck upon
my ear; and I have felt thrilling enthusiasm on witnessing such a
scene. What then must have been the feelings of those who had
spent a long dreary winter in the wild northwest, far removed from
the bustle and excitement of the civilized world, when thirty or forty
of these picturesque canoes burst unexpectedly upon them, half
shrouded in the spray that flew from the bright vermilion paddles,
while the men, who had overcome difficulties and dangers innumer-
able during a long voyage through the wilderness, urged their light
craft over the troubled waters with the speed of the raindeer, and
with hearts joyful over the happy termination of their trials and
privations, sang with all the force of three hundred manly voices one
ot their lively airs, which rising and falling faintly in the distance as
it was borne. first lightly upon the breeze, and then more steadily as
they approached, swelled out in the rich tones of many a mellow
voice, and burst at last into a long, enthnsiastic shout of joy. Alas!”
Mr. Ballantyne exclaims, ‘the forests no longer echo to such sounds.
The passage of three or four canoes once or twice a year is all that
42 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
breaks the stillness of the scene ; and nought save narrow pathways
over the portages, and rough wooden crosses over the graves of the
travellers who perished by the way, remains to mark that such things
were.”*
Such was our New Ontario under the regime of the trading
companies ; it had an early beginning as compared with the Ontario
of the south ; but the stronger of the companies absorbed or de-
voured the weaker, and while large profits were earned the country
was not in the faintest degree bettered in the end by their opera-
tions. It had always indeed been the policy of the Hudson’s Bay
Company to keep up the primeval state of the forest, as the found-
ing of settlements was incompatible with the life of the fur trade.
Moreover, history teaches the lesson that a company organized with
powers of government and exclusive rights to carry on trade ina
country has for its first consideration the commercial idea, and every-
thing else is subordinate. ‘The Hudson’s Bay Company had no
other thought for the two centuries during which it held sway in north-
ern Canada than how the largest dividends could be earned for the
shareholders. So it was with the English East India Company, whose
over-ruling hand was felt in India for more than two and a half cen-
turies, down to the close of the mutiny. And so we have just
seen it to be with the British South Africa Company, whose filibus-
tering raid into the Transvaal came perilously near to plunging Eu-
rope into war. The Hudson’s Bay Company relinquished its au-
thority overy the territory of northern Ontario—the portion of it be-
yond the height of land—in 1869 ; but it took twenty years to settle
the disputes which arose afterwards between the Dominion and Pro-
vincial Governments as to the true boundaries and the ownership of
*R. M. Ballantyne’s Hudson’s Bay, pp. 279-80. As descriptive of the
kinds of canoes used by the fur traders, Mr. Ballantyne says: ‘‘ A number
of candtes de maitre, or very large canoes, are always kept in store here
(Fort William) for the use of the Company’s travellers. These canoes are
of the largest size, exceeding the north canoe in length by several feet, be-
sides being much broader and deeper. They are used solely for the purpose
of travelling on lake Superior, being much too large and cumbersome for
travelling with through the interior. They are carried by four men instead
of two like the north canoe; and besides being capable of carrying twice as
much cargo, are paddled by fourteen or sixteen men. Travellers from
Canada to the interior generally change their candtes de maitre for north
canoes at Fort William before entering upon the intricate navigation
throught which we had already passed ; while those going from the interior
to Canada change the small for the large canoe.” pp. 287-8.
-THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 43
the land, timber and minerals. Therefore it is only since 1880,
when the limits on the north and west were determined by Imperial
Act, that settlers, lumbermen and mining prospectors have been sure
of titles over a large extent of the region. And this is why it is .
called the New Ontario.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE COUNTRY.
The physical features of the country cannot be accurately de-
scribed yet, because they are not sufficiently known. There isa
height of land extending westward from the Quebec boundary as
far as the goth meridian, which forms the watershed between Hud-
son bay and the great lakes. There is another, running northward
near the goth meridian from the American boundary to the s5oth
parallel, and then turning north-westward between lake St. Joseph
and lake Seul, enters Keewatin territory and reaches Hudson bay
near the mouth of Nelson river.
The first of these watersheds to the north includes the basin of
the Moose river, with its three large tributaries, the Abitibi, the
Metagami and the Missinaibi; and a portion of the basin of the
Albany river, with the Kenogami as its chief tributary from the On-
tario side.
South of the watershed are numerous rivers flowing into the
St. Lawrence system of waters, including the Montreal, which joins
the Ottawa ; the French, which drains lake Nipissing and its tribu-
taries, and lake Wahnapitae through a river of the same name, into
Georgian bay; the Whitefish, Spanish, Mississaga and Thessalon,
into lake Huron; and a number of rivers into lake Superior, the
largest of which are the Goulais, Michipicoten, White, Pic, Nipigon,
and Kaministiquia.
The headquarters of those streams flowing north to Hudson bay
and south to the great lakes often interlace each other, and there are
a number of lakes on the tableland which discharge their waters
both north and south, Shoal lake, northeast of lake Nipigon, is one
of these. It is 300 feet above the level of lake Nipigon, to which it
sends a contribution of its waters down the Ombabika river, and
1,200 feet above the level of the sea, to which an equal contribution
is made through the channels of the Powitic and Albany rivers.
“ No portage occurs on the Ombabika for about nine miles before
44 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. ,
reaching Shoal lake,” Dr. Bell reports, ‘“‘nor for nearly five miles
beyond its northern outlet ; so that we passed the height of land
with the greatest possible ease, having had about seventeen miles of
uninterrupted canoe navigation from the time we made the last
portage on the southern side till we came to the first in going down
on the northern.”* Lake Temagami, which lies about thirty miles
north of the west end of Lake Nipissing, is remarkable for having
had at one time four outlets ; but since its level has fallen the num-
ber is reduced to two—the Metabechawan river to the Ottawa, and
the Sturgeon to lake Nipissing By these lakes along the northern
divide and the streams which discharge their waters, Ontario is
found to be cut up into a number of islands, the largest of which is
the One we occupy.
The portion of the Province west of the north and south water-
shed, near the goth meridian, lies within the basin of the Nelson river,
which, next to that of the Mississippi, is the largest river basin on
the continent. Lake Seul in the north, Rainy lake in the south, and
Lake of the Woods in the west collect the Ontario waters of this
basin to discharge them through Winnipeg river into the lake of that
name, there to mingle with the waters of Red river from the highlands
of Minnesota and of the Saskatchewan from the Rocky mountains,
and be borne by the mighty Nelson into Hudson bay.
In the closing period of the glacial age, as the ice field slowly
retreated towards the arctic circle, the region towards which those
streams from the eastern, southern and western slopes converge
became the bed of what was no doubt the largest fresh water lake
ever formed upon this earth. Lake Agassiz, for that is the name by
which it is now known, is traced as to its shore lines by well defined
gravel and sand beaches from the height of land in Minnesota north-
ward tothe 55th parallel, and at least from Rainy lake, if not from
lake Seul, west to the Souris river. The area of this lake is computed
to have been 110,000 square miles, or about 15,000 square miles
larger than the combined areasof the lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron,
Erie and Ontario.+ ‘The valley of Rainy river, as well as the plains
of Minnesota, Dakota and Manitoba, owe their fertility to the silt
deposited in this ancient lake ; and it is not unlikely that we owe to
* Geol. Sur. Can., 1871-2, p. 107.
+ Warren Upham in Can. Geol. Sur., 1888-9, p. L1z.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 45
its action also, to some extent, the deeply indented shore lines of
Rainy lake and Lake of the Woods, which promise to aid in the
development of the resources of the country bordering upon them
by the facilities they offer to an extended navigation.
But like every country over which the glaciers moved, the whole
north is a land of lakes, and so thoroughly is it threaded by streams
running into and out of the labyrinth of lakes that the skilled woods-
man with his canoe may steer his way in any course at his will.
Many of the lakes, too, are of rare beauty, with clear biue waters and
studded with lovely islands, of which Temagami, Crow, Shebandowan,
Greenwater and Baril are fair types. ‘Temagami lake, 600 feet, and
Crow lake, 800 feet deep, are among the most picturesque in the
world. Of rivers also there is an infinite variety, of ali breadths and
lengths and colors ; and even in the same stream one may discover
every shade of change. For miles together it may be level and
placid as a stretch of canal, Then the rocky banks are seen to con-
tract, the current becomes a rapid, and presently expands into a
lake. Or there are shallows, a maze of channels through islets
clothed with spruce or cedar, a terraced fall, a swirl of eddies, a rush
of the foam-flecked flood between walls of rock, with the almost
constant lakelet or lagoon in a setting of dark woods beyond, where
in a margin of grass or reeds.
The lotus loils on the water,
And opens its heart of gold,
And over its broad leaf-pavement
Never a ripple is rolled.*
And so the rounds of change go on through shifting scenes of quiet
and turbulence. Such a river is the Seine, which, flowing out of Lac
des Mille Lacs, carries down in its tortuous way to Rainy lake the
overflow of a thousand other lakes besides. A canoe trip starting
from Savanne on the Canadian Pacific Railway, traversing Lac des
Mille Lacs, Baril, Brule, Windigoostigwan, Elbow and Crooked Pine
Lakes, and thence down current on the Atik-okan and Seine rivers
to Rainy lake, and on, if one is in the mood, across this lake to Fort
Frances, down the Rainy river to Hungry Hall, and over Lake of
the Woods to Rat Portage, where the Canadian Pacific Railway is
* From Cleopatra, by W. W. Story.
46 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
reached again,—this is an outing as replete with interest and exhil-
aration, and offers as much in the way of adventure as the heart of
any lover of nature can desire. Especially so if it is taken late in the
summer or early in the autumn, when the poplar woods are begin-
ning to golden, and the mountain ash is laden with red-ripe clusters
of berries, and the career of the pestilent black fly is over and gone
for the season.
The information we possess of the Hudson Bay slope is prac-
tically limited to what has been seen along the rivers, for it is
doubtful if any white man has yet crossed that country from east to
west north of the 4oth parallel. ‘The general impression is that a
large portion of the basin of Moose river is a treeless waste, covered
with peat bogs, and not likely to have any agricultural value. But
until more is known of it than any traveller or explorer has yet
learned by canoeing up and down the chief rivers, with here and
there an excursion of one or two miles into the timber out from their
banks, it is useless to speculate on the future of this region.
The discovery of what appears to be a most valuable tract of
country, on the Quebec side, east of the Moose river basin, has only
been made known to us during the past year. By the exploraticns
of Henry O’Sullivan, of the Crown Lands Department, Quebec, and
of Dr. Robert Bell, of the Geological Survey, it has been ascertained
that in the basin of the Nottaway river and its tributaries, the Was-
wanipi and the Mekiskan or Bell, there is a tract of rich and finely-
timbered land as large in extent as the whole of England, of which
nothing whatever was known two years ago. The description given
of it in Mr. O’Sullivan’s report, recently published, is intensely
interesting to every Canadian, as well as to students of physical geo-
graphy, and inspires us with the hope that regions of perhaps equal
extent and value may be found in Ontario also, beyond the height
of land. We shall only know by exploring for it, as has been done
in Quebec. The Hudson’s Bay Company, whose only interest is in
the fur trade, we can depend wiil never tell us any good thing of the
country which might have the effect of inviting the settler, the miner
or the lumberman to disturb the haunts of the Indian trapper and
hunters
* In the report of his explorations, dated 15th May, 1895, Mr. O’Sulli-
van says: ‘‘ The general impression, formed no doubt from the experience
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 47
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND NATURAL RESOURCES,
After the account already given of the Archzen rocks of the
New Ontario, it is not necessary to write more than a few words on
its geology. Belts of the Huronian system of rocks, running gener-
ally in a northeast and southwest direction overlie the Laurentians
all the way from Lake of the Woods to the Ottawa river, and extend
to the southern limits of the territory along the international bound-
ary and the shores of lake Superior and lake Huron. What is known
as the “‘ great belt ” of this system stretches from lake Superior north
of lake Huron to lake Mistassini in Quebec, a length of about 700
miles. Around lake Superior there are Cambrian rocks (of the
Animikie and Nipigon series) over the Huronian, and it is thought
also that there js an area of Lower Cambrian north of lake Huron,
in the basin of the Vermilion river, the length of which is thirty-six
miles and the greatest breadth 8 miles. Around Sault Ste. Marie is
a formation of red sandstone which is believed to be of Potsdam
age ; west and northwest of lake Temiscaming is an important area
of Niagara limestones ; while on the Hudson Bay slope, lying up
over the Laurentian and Huronian rocks and extending from the
eastern boundary of the Province westward beyond the Kenogami
river, are several formations of the Silurian and Devonian systems,
including the Niagara, Onondaga and Corniferous rocks. In the
region southwest of James bay, Dr. Bell says, the Corniferous forma-
of surveyors and explorers in this Province, was that all that northern
region was a Cold rocky waste, and certainly any one who would visit the
head waters of any of our large rivers flowing into the St. Lawrence from
the north would naturally be impressed with the feeling that there was
little use in searching for anything worth having, excepting perhaps fish,
game and minerals, any farther north, and I must confess that this was
my own impression until last summer. On St. Jean Baptiste day, 24th
June last (1894), the Reverend Father Gueguin said mass in my tent at the
foot of lake Dumoine. That reverend gentleman has been missionary among
the upper Ottawa and Hudson bay slope Indians for nearly thirty years.
After mass, as we were descending the Dumoine river in company with Mr.
L. A. Christopherson, Father Gueguin, in relating some of his experience
among the Indians, told me of having seen some good land and large tim-
ber in the neighborhood of lake Waswanipi, and strongly advised me to try
and explore that country. Mr. Christopherson, guardian of the Hudson
Bay Company’s post at Grand Lake Victoria for the last twenty years, was
of a different opinion. He said that he did not think there was anything
worth having beyond the height of land. To use his own words: ‘‘ The
interior Indians who visited the post could not get an axe-handle there.’ ”
This is in keeping with the traditional policy of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
48 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
tion occupies an area larger than all the western peninsula of On-
tario.
Of all the natural resources of the New Ontario the forest is the
one of most obvious value, for there is nothing to hide or obscure it.
There are yet wide tracts of pine land, although many square miles
have been cut over by the lumberman and more have been swept
and destroyed by fire. It seems likely that most of the country now
covered with poplar was one time under pine. West of Port Arthur
the pine forest was burnt over within the memory of men yet living.
In his Narrative of the Red River Expedition of 1857 Prof. Hind
says he found extensive areas covered with burnt forest trees, chiefly
of pine, in the valley of the Kaministiquia river as far as Little Dog
lake, where the formidable barrier of Great Dog lake comes into
view. On Dog river he observed wide areas strewed with the black-
ened trunks of trees ; and in the young forest which seemed fresh
and green at a distance, “the ground was found to sustain the
charred remains of what had once been a far more vigorous vegeta-
Clones
And of the country beyond Lac des Mille Lacs he writes: At
Brulé portage [between Baril and Brulé lakes] I ascended a steep hill
bordering a small rapid stream called Brulé river, and from an altitude
of fully 200 feet had a fine view of the surrounding country. The
vegetation upon the hillside and summit was truly astonishing, and
the term Brulé portage received an unexpected interpretation on
finding hidden by a rich profusion of brushwood the dead trunks of
many noble pines. Throughout the day the tall trunks of white
pine, branchless and dead, rising in clumps or in single loneliness
far above the forest, had attracted attention, and on the side of the
Brulé hill we observed many prostrate half-burnt trees of the largest
size. One dead trunk was measured and found to be twelve feet in
circumference five feet from the ground. A living tree, tall, clean
and apparently quite sound, measured nearly ten feet in circumfer-
ence, and many of the prostrate pines were of equal dimensions.
There can be little doubt that these were the remains of a magnifi-
cent white pine forest, which formerly extended over a vast area in
this region, since from the summit of the hill the forms of scattered
* Viol. 31-5 spy "49%
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 49
living trees, or tall branchless and scathed trunks met the eye in
every direction. ‘The young second growth indicated a soil not in-
capable of sustaining pine trees of the largest proportions ; black
cherry, birch (both white and black), alder, small clumps of sugar
maple, and a thick undergrowth of hazelnut now occupies the do-
main of the ancient forest. The southwest side of this hill formed
a precipitous escarpment 150 feet above the waters of a long, clear
lake. All around the eye rested upon low dome-shaped hills dip-
ping towards the northeast and covered with a rich profusion of
second growth. The vast wilderness of green was studded with
black islands of burnt pine, and a few isolated living trees, serving
by their surprising dimensions to tell of the splendid forests which
must have once covered thecountry. . . . The uniform size of
second growth timber on the Brulé hill seemed to prove that the
great fire which devastated this region may have occurred about thirty
years since.” That would be about seventy years ago. Another
fire which destroyed a valuable pine forest occurred about twenty-
five years ago in what is now known as the Sudbury country, north
of lake Huron. It is said that in one day this fire ravaged a tract
seventy miles long by thirty wide, or in all about 2,000 square miles. +
* Vol. 1, pp. 63-64,
+ The first fire in this region occurred in 1864, and extended from lake
Nipissing to Bruce Mines along the shores of Georgian bay and lake Huron.
The fire of 1871 followed in the wake of the previous one, but covered a
much larger area in the interior. Mr. D. F. Macdonald of Parry Sound,
who knows the region intimately, writes me: ‘‘The hardwood ridges and
dense swamps seemed to be the only effective barriers of the conflagration.
Lakes and rivers made no break in the fiery torrent as it rushed along the
pine-clad and moss-covered ridges of rock and sandy or gravelled plains.
The fire of 1871 was doubtless the fiercest, as it destroyed every tree and
plant in its course, as well as animals, I found the charred bones of an
Indian on the Wahnapitz river in the autumn of 1872, and no doubt he had
been smothered in the smoke and flames. The burnt barrel of his gun, his
hatchet, knife and kettle, with the metallic buttons of his clothes and a few
wrought iron nails from the canoe, were all commingled with his charred
bones. This shows that the fire was heavy and hot when an Indian would
become a victim to its ferocity. Had he followed the river he would have
been swept over the falls; he ran the fiery gauntlet about half way across
the portage with the canoe on his shoulders, when he fell smothered with
smoke and heat and was cremated on the spot. Both fires originated in
the neighborhood of lake Nipissing, and in 1871 there were no persons on
that lake except John Beatty at the mouth of South river, and Norman
McLeod, the Hudson’s Bay trader, near the mouth of the Sturgeon, and a
few Indians on the Beaucage reserve, on Goulas point, and at Chaudierre
falls.” The fire in 1864 took place in the first week in May, Mr. Samuel A.
Marks of Bruce Mines informs me. Only five houses were saved in the
Copper Bay section of the village, and about 1,500 people were left homeless.
50 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
The same region, Indian tradition says, was burnt over about one
hundred and thirty years ago. Indeed it is very probable that suc-
cessive forests have grown up and have perished in the flames in
past milleniums, since the land became fitted for the sustaining of
tree life upon it. Hitherto little use has been made of timber other
than pine, of which there are immense areas in the New Ontario ;
but it is certain to find a market, and the Province will yet derive a
large revenue from it. Even now there is an active demand for pop-
lar and spruce for the manufacture of pulp, and this is fast becoming
an industry of great magnitude. As for the future, one hardly dares
trust himself to forecast what our needs may be a century or a quar-
ter of a century hence, for the wit of man is seeking out many
inventions. But in all human probability we shall never be able to
find a complete substitute for wood in the arts; and it is not too
early now for adopting schemes to conserve our forests. There are
many parts of the north so rough and rocky as not to possess any
prospective value for agriculture, but suitable enough for forest
growth. What better policy can be chosen as regards such tracts
than to set them apart in perpetuity as Crown forests? ‘This is a
simple plan, and it possesses the merit of being well started already,
in the sense that Nature has planted the trees and prospered their
growth under its own conditions.
As an agricultural country, there is much to be said for the
north. It is true, as just stated, that many parts are too rough and
rocky for tillage; but other parts are as full of promise as any of our
older counties. This is especially true of the river valleys north of
lake Huron, where the soil is wonderfully productive. And there
are many other areas of equal excellence, such for example as the
regions around lake Tamiscaming (where twenty-five townships
embracing 575,000 acres are surveyed), to the north and west of
lake Nipissing, and in the valley of the Vermillion river. For the
growth of peas and oats, timothy and clover. and root crops of all
kinds, there is no more suitable land anywhere than in those districts ;
and they are equally well adapted for the dairy industry and the
production of beef and mutton, as the pastures are nourishing and
water abounds everywhere. Beyond Port Arthur and Fort William
there are many good tarms, and on the Wabigoon river, 200 miles
from Fort William, there is a tract of land now being opened for
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 51
settlement, where the Ontario Government has already established a
dairy farm, which promises remarkably well. No doubt many other
regions of fertile land exist throughout our northern domain ; but of
those that are well known it may be safe to say that the largest and
best is the country on the Rainy river lying between Rainy lake and
the Lake of the Woods. Writing of this district and the river itself
in his Narrative ofa Journey round the World, Governor Simpson of
the Hudson’s Bay Company said: “From Fort Francis downwards
a stretch of nearly a hundred miles, it is not interrupted by a single
impediment, while yet the current is not strong enough naturally to
retard an ascending traveiler. Nor are the banks less favorable to
agriculture than the waters themselves to navigation, resembling in
some measure those of the Thames near Richmond. From the very
brink of the river there rises a gentle slope of green sward, crowned
in many places with a plentiful growth of birch, poplar, beech, elm
and oak. Is it too much for the eye of philanthrophy to discover,
through the vista of futurity, this noble stream, connecting as it does
the fertile shores of two spacious lakes, with crowded steamboats on
its bosom, and populuous towns on its borders.* This is a glowing
description for a Hudson’s Bay officer to give ; but Governor Simp-
son recanted it with ingenuity when the claims of his company
seemed to be in jeopardy before a committee of the Imperiai House
of Commons a few years afterwards. When the passage from his
book was read to him, first by Mr. Gordon and subsequently by Mr.
Roebuck, Governor Simpson said he only meant the description to
apply to the bank, ‘“‘the lip of the river” as he phrased it. ‘“ The
back country is a deep morass, and never can be drained in my
opinion.” And again: “I confine myself to the banks; the back
country is one deep morass extending for miles.” The Governor’s
explanation was ingenious in a little sense, but it had the demerit of
being untrue. The fertile land along the Rainy river on the Ontario
side extends nearly from one lake to the other, a distance of about
eighty miles, and its breadth is said to range from five to twenty-five
miles. The land also rises steadily towards the north, so that drain-
age is easy ; indeed the swampy ground a mile back from the river is
found by levels to be seventy feet above it. The soil is deep and
“Narrative of a Journey Round the World during the years 1841 and
1842, vol. 1., pp. 45-6.
52 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS.
rich, and the climate is favorable for the maturing of almost every
kind of cereal grown in lower Ontario. Ballantyne, who ascended
the river on his way from Norway House to Montreal, as previously
noted, has given us his impressions of it in a book published long
after he had left the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company. “ Next
morning (September 11, 1845) we commenced,” he writes, “the
ascent of Lac la Pluie river. This is decidedly the most beautiful
river we have yet traversed—not only on account of the luxuriant
foliage of every hue with which its noble banks are covered, but
chiefly from the resemblance it bears in many places to the scenery
of England, recalling to mind the grassy lawns and verdant banks of
Britain’s streams, and transporting the beholder from the wild scenes.
of the western world to his native home. ‘The trees along its banks.
were larger and more varied than any we had hitherto seen—ash,
poplar, cedar, red and white pines, oak and birch being abundant,
whilst flowers of gaudy hues enhanced the beauty of the scene.”*
This is almost a true picture, but settlement now extends along many
miles of the river on the Ontario side, and to some extent at least
the forms of natural beauty have been changed and marred. The
description however is remarkably faithful of the Minnesota side,
where. except for glades with wide-branching elms and a few gaps
cut by squatters, the banks are yet clothed with the primeval forest.” +
* B. M. Ballantyne’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 272.
+ In his Voyages from Montreal, p. lvi, Sir Alexander Mackenzie says.
of the Rainy river and the country along its banks: ‘‘ This is one of the
finest rivers in the Northwest, and runs a course west and east one hundred
and twenty computed miles; but in taking its course and distance minutely
I make it only eighty. Its banks are covered with a rich soil, particularly
to the north, which, in many parts, are clothed with fine open groves of oak,
the maple, the pine, and the cedar. The southern bank is not so elevated,
and displays the maple, the white birch and the cedar, with the spruce, the
alder, and various underwood. Its waters abound in fish, particularly the
sturgeon, which the natives both spear and take with drag-nets. But not-
withstanding the promise of this soil, the Indians do not attend to its culti-
vation, though they are not ignorant of the common process, and are fond
of the Indian corn, when they get it from us. Though the soil at the foot
is a stiff clay, there is a garden, which, unassisted as it is by manure, or
any particular attention, is tolerably productive.” Dr. Bigsby, who went
down the Rainy river in 1823, makes this reference to it in his book—Shoe
and Canoe: ‘‘ A thousand years ago, while yet our England was a wolfish
den, the silver Trent of the midland counties must have greatly resembled
the Lapluie of the present day. I am not sure that the fur trader, an
Italian perhaps, had not a hut on its banks; but certainly at the time we
are speaking of both these streams flowed smoothly and freely in a succes-
ions of lovely and sequestered reaches, and through terraced meadows,
alternating with rich woods and reedy marshes. The Lapluie seems made
for a pleasure excursion; all is serenity and beauty.” Vol. 1, p. 270.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 53
But the best hopes for the New Ontario are no doubt built upon
its mineral wealth, the extent and value of which we are only begin-
ning to realize. The rocks of the Huronian and Cambrian systems
are found to be mineral-bearing over a wide extent ; and from the
number of discoveries made every year in new and unexpected local-
ities, we have an assurance that as yet only a little of this hidden
treasure has come to be known. In the Animikie slates of the Cam-
brian system silver mines have been worked at points far apart, some
of which have proved to be very rich. Silver Islet alone has yielded
upwards of $3,000,000. In the Nipigon rocks of the same system
native copper and copper sulphide have been discovered at many
places, but notably on Michipicoten island and point Mamanise, where
the occurrences are the same as on Keweenaw point on the south
shore. But too much of the exploratory work hitherto has been
extravagantly done, both on the island and the mainland. As an
illustration, it may be stated that the Quebec Mining Company in
1848-50 expended at Point of Mines $232,256, chiefly above ground, ~
before any quantity of ore was raised on the lodes were proved to
be valuable. A village of fifty or sixty houses was built for miners
and other employes, besides offices, stores, magazines and a sawmill.
Inspector William Gibbard, who visited the location in 1860, reported
that he found smelting works, crushing mills, jigging works, stamp
forges, railroads, hundreds of yards of iron chain, ladders, furnaces,
scows, etc., in a dilapidated state, thousands of fire brick, and an
expensive conduit about one mile long made to convey water to the
stamps.* This was an expenditure preparatory to mining, before
it had been proven that there was more than a surface show of ore:
and the capital being thus wasted the company was left without means
to carry on the actual work of mining or establish the value of their
property by sinking deep shafts upon the veins.¢ It is however in
* Report of the Commissioner of Crown Lands of Canada for 1860, p.
90,
+ In 1767 and 1768 the east shore of lake Superior was explored by
Alexander Henry and copper was discovered at a number of points from
Mamainse headland to Michipicoten harbor, which was called by the Indians
the coast of Nanibojou. In the spring of 1768 Mr. Henry met Alexander
Baxter, his partner, to whom he communicated the information of his dis-
coveries, and measures were taken for working the mines. In 1770 Mr.
Baxter returned from England, bringing with him papers by which, with Mr.
Bostwick and himself, Mr, Henry was constituted a joint agent and partner
54 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
the Huronian system of rocks that the greatest variety of minerals
is to be found. Ores of copper, nickle, iron, gold and other metals
have been discovered, and operations are carried on which promise
to establish a large industry. At the Bruce and Wellington mines,
north of Lake Huron, copper mining was carried on for about 27
years, ending with 1875, and the value of the output in that time is
reported to have been as muchas $7,000,000. At the Sudbury mines,
the ores of which yield nickle, copper and some cobalt, the total ore
output of the mines for the six years 1890-95 was 539,936 tons, of
which there was smelted and reduced to matte in the furnaces 430,539
tons. For five years 1891-95 this industry paid for labor at the mines
and works the large sum of $1,436,216 ; and the value of the products
of nickel, copper and cobalt for the four years 1892-5, computed at the
selling price at the furnaces, was $2,781,800, or an average of $695,450
for working the mines. They passed the winter together at Sault Ste. Marie
and built a barge fit for the navigation of the lake, besides laying the keel
of a sloop of forty tons. In May, 1771, they went to explore the island of
Yellow Sands (Caribou island) where they hoped to find gold, but a stay of
three days did not enable them ‘‘to find gold nor even yellow sands.” On
the fourth day they sailed to the east shore, examined the coast of Nanibojou
where they found several veins of copper and lead, and returned to Point
aux Pins, where they erected an air furnace. The assayer made a report
on the ores, stating that the lead ore contained silver in the proportion of
forty ounces to the ton, and the copper ore only in very small proportion.
The rest of the season and the following winter and spring were passed in
exploring and mining at Ontonagon on the south shore; but in June the
whole establishment of miners returned to Sault Ste. Marie. ‘In the
following month of August,’ Henry records, ‘‘ we launched our sloop, and
carried the miners to the vein of copper ore on the north side of the lake.
Little was done during the winter ; but, by dint of labor performed between
the commencement of the spring of 1773 and the ensuing month of Septem-
ber, they penetrated thirty feet into the solid rock. The rock was blasted
with great difficulty; and the vein, which at the beginning, was of the
breadth of four feet. had in the progress contracted intofour inches. Under
these circumstances we desisted and carried the miners back to the Sault.
What copper ore we had collected, we sent to England; but the next season
we were informed that the partners there declined entering into further ex-
penses. Inthe interim, we had carried the miners along the north shore as
far as the river Pic, making, however, no discovery of importance. This
vear therefore, 1774, Mr. Baxter disposed of the sloop and other effects of
the company, and paid its debts. The partners in England were his Royal
Highness the Duke of Gloucester, Mr. Secretary Townshend, Sir Samuel
Tutchet, baronet, Mr. Baxter, counsel of the Empress of Russia, and Mr.
Cruickshank; in America, Sir William Johnson, baronet, Mr. Bostwick, Mr.
Baxter and myself. A charter had been petitioned for and obtained ; but,
owing to our ill success it was never taken from the seal office.” Travels
and Adventures in Canada, by Alexander Henry, pp. 234-5. This was no
doubt the earliest attempt at mining made on the Canadian shore of lake
Superior.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 56
a year. Iron ore has been found in many localities in the Huronian
formations, but the largest and most valuable deposits are believed to
be the hematites of the Mattawan river range and the magnetites of
the Atik-okan. Both these are of immense extent; in fact the ore
is in mountainous bodies, and millions of tons could be mined as in
an open quarry. But for the present they lie far from railways, and
the home market is only opening. Gold however is found more
generally than any of the other metals. It has been discovered in
the Sudbury district, in the townships along the valley of the Thes-
salon river, on the north shore of lake Superior, and in many places
throughout that part of the Province which les within the basin of
Nelson river. This latter district embraces Lake of the Woods and
Rainy lake and the territory drained by their tributary rivers, as well
as a portion of the slope drained by the English river, and is 200
miles long by too broad. ‘The discoveries made here within the
last three years have raised great expectations, and some of the
properties upon which development work has been done are confi-
dently asserted to be rich and valuable. ‘There are now six stamp
mills in that country for treating gold ore, with an aggregate capacity
of sixty stamps, and more are likely to go up this year if the needed
capital is got. Those northern gold fields are certainly as well
deserving of the attention of miners and capitalists as many in the
United States, in Russia, or in Australia. But the production of
bullion in large and paying quantities seems to be needed to estab-
lish confidence in them, and this work remains to be done.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
Enough has been said of the New Ontario as regards its extent,
its physical characteristics and natural resoures to prove that it is an
important possession ; and it is humbling to our pride as men of an
enterprising and progressive race to confess that so little has been
done to occupy and utilize it. Fifteen years ago (in 188r) it had
seven organized municipalities, with a population as taken by the
assessors of 4,765. In 1895 it had forty-eight municipalities, and a
population of 36,000. ‘This is some progress, but it ought to be far
more. ‘There are more men leaving our Province every year than is
represented by the increase of these fourteen years, and it may well
be doubted if they have gone to a better country for improving their
56 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,
a,
circumstances. The two things most needed to open up the New
Ontario are population and capital. British capital and emigration
are turned towards the United States, in many parts of which a
British citizen cannot hold a foot of ground in his own name; and
towards the Transvaal, where he has no civil rights, and pays the
great bulk of the taxes without even the privilege of educating his
children in the schools in his own tongue. He could depend on
getting fair treatment and the security and all the rights of citizenship
if he came to the New Ontario instead, and he might find there
scope for all his energies.
But it is an old saying that the gods help those who help them-
selves. If we take a proper interest in the north country ourselves
we may do much to turn it to a good account. We do not lack for
men or capital. Our men in far too large numbers cross over to the
United States to swell the population of that country. Much of our
capital is in the banks. ‘The official statement for the month ending
31st December last shows that there was deposited by the public in
the chartered banks of Canada the very large sum of $187,119,573,
whereof $119,667,176 is presumably drawing a low rate of interest,
it may be 3 or possibly 31% per cent, while $67,452,397 is at call,
drawing none. There must be openings in the New Ontario for
investing a portion of this capital with a chance of realizing good
profits ; and every investment of this nature THERE is patriotism, as
well as enterprise and pluck; by which I mean a real investment,
where there is some risk of loss as well as of gain, not a loan upon a
gilt-edged mortgage. Ought not the policy to be, That we ourselves
possess the land and win its wealth ?
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. oi
CHINA, PAST AND FUTURE.
Read before the Hamilton Association, Nov. 7th, 1895.
BY S. A. MORGAN, B. A.
It has been said that the family precedes the nation, as the in-
vidual does the family. While this may be physically true, as regards
the first stages of national life, we find the very opposite to hold
good in the relationship existing between the individual and the
nation in the more advanced stages of civilization. Like the indi-
vidual, the nation which is truly national is a living and unified
organism. It lives not to itself alone, but moves ever on, guided by
some spiritual impulse to the realization of its mission to humanity.
To partake, therefore, of national life it is not sufficient simply to set
our dwelling place within certain geographical limits or to trace our
lineage through certain ancestral lines. That man is truly a citizen
who finds fixed in his own breast these impulses which give char-
acter and permanence to the nation, and who in his own life gives
expression and development to the same. Instead, then, of the in-
dividual being above the nation, the individual will ever be found to
inherit from the nation whatever he possesses of intellectual and
moral permanence in his character.
In what, then, may national life be said to consist? National
life finds its source in the establishment of certain civic ideals as
universal motives among any number of individuals. To develop
the nation is to develop the individual in and through these national
traditions ; to unify and solidify the nation is to give these ideals
such an environment as will enable them to develop in every
direction.
This being true, how are we to pursue our investigations into
the nature and progress of individual nations? Not by devoting our
whole attention to the idiosyncrasies of particular individuals, but by
establishing the sources and relative values of the living forces, physi-
58 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
cal, intellectual, and moral, by which the nation is inspired in its
onward progress ; by perceiving what in them is of universal truth and
beauty, what partakes of falsehood and decay.
In our conceptions of the relative importance of nations as in
those of individuals we are too prone to be swayed by utilitarian
considerations, and to attribute to physical conditions phenomena
which often carry a far more spiritual signification. In the nation,
no less than in the individual, heroic actions will ever be found to
proceed from nobility of thought, while thought itself must draw in-
spiration from iofty ideas and sentiments. ‘To rightly understand
the main springs of national life it is not alone nor chiefly necessary
to investigate is external or physical conditions. These, it is true,
have their part to play, but a more essential explanation of the spir-
itual force of a nation is to be found in her prevailing sentiments of
beauty and goodness, as found crystalized in the nation’s religion,
literature, art, philosophy, and social life.
This fact can be established by numerous illustrations. It is
the ancient classical world, whose religion pictured gods in the form
of heroes and made virtue synonymous with valour, that has given
the world its greatest examples of heroic action. In the case of our
own land, we know that our national life really dates from the time
when that heroic band of men, sacrificing the labors of the past,
began life anew amid the forests of Upper Canada for the sake of
Britain and British institutions, ‘To-day the guiding star of our
national life is to repeat in the new world the glory of the motherland,
to establish here a second fountain head of British faith, enterprise,
valour and piety. Such is the well-spring of our national life and we
may be assured that all dreams of Americanization and French
republics will prove as visionary as the political success of those
who propagate them. Again, at our very door, we have a nation
whose birth throes were the expression of a demand for individual
liberty, and to such an extent has this ideal insinuated itself into
the fibre of the nation, that in this short time it has more than once
threatened by its intensity the solidarity of that which it should
cement.
But humanity is broader than the nation. ‘‘ Her destiny will
on the way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs asunder.” For
national life, then, to be permanent, it is not alone sufficient that
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 59
these national impulses should permeate and guide a community of
minds. They must also play their part in the wider field of human
progress. Here they must hold their own in the clash with other
systems, and happy is that nation which finds its own ruling senti-
ments harmonizing with the onward march of humanity.
Having premised so much in regard to the nature of national
life, and the proper method to be pursued in its investigation, I trust
it will not be necessary to offer anything by way of excuse, for the
point of view from which we are to conduct our investigations this
evening. We have before us not only the most ancient, but in many
respects the most remarkable example of national life to be found in
the pages of human history. A nation compared with whose life the
life of surrounding nations has been as the generation of leaves. A
nation which three centuries before the great Athenian sages reasoned
on life and human destiny, and six centuries before the meek Galli-
jean teacher brought to mankind his message of love, was able to
produce a philosopher who, guided (shall I say?) by the light of
reason alone, was able to give forth for the direction of his fellow
man, ‘“ Do not unto others what ye would not that they should do
unto you.”
Venerable in age, it also presents phenomena unheard of in the
history of western nations. Nor is its importance to be measured
solely by the interest of the past. Having striven for ages, shut up
in the isolation of its own being, to work out its individual mission,
it must now yield itself to the influence of a wider destiny. As to
the probable results of this movement it is our purpose briefly to
speculate this evening.
It has already been laid down that national life study should
consist in a study of these subjective or spiritual impulses which find
expression in the nation’s life and character. In the nation no less
than in the individual, mind is above matter. Here only can they
develop themselves with a reasonable freedom of movement ; from
this everything of a more material nature will be found to receive
its coloring.
There are always three aspects under which the Philosophy or
spirit life of a nation may be viewed: ‘Thought in its relationship
to the universal—Religion ; thought in its relationship to the indi-
vidual—Sociology or Ethics ; thought in its relationship to nature-——
60 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Science and Art. Of these three, the former, thought in its relation-
ship to the universal, may be said to be above, and in a certain
sense to direct the course of the other two. In fact so true is this
of some nations (e. g. the one before us) that we find it impossible
to distinguish clearly between the two, religion and ethics or morality.
Ethical writers distinguish three sources of ground work upon
which the social morality of a people may rest: rational ethics,
based on the nature of necessary thought ; theological ethics, on the
revealed will of God ; emperical ethics, on observation and induc-
tion.
While Chinese morality may, in some of its aspects, be said to
fall under the third phase, yet to such an extent has their ethical
life been influenced by their conception of the nature of the deity
that we shall best understand the nature and relationship of the
whole by approaching their social and practical life from the reli-
gious side.
The religious life of the Chinese, in some of its respects, may
be said to be unique. They are credited with being the possessors
of three systems of religion which may be termed national, and
which for centuries have lived peaceably side by side; and to-day
it is no uncommon thing to find the same person boasting himself
an adherent of all three of the national systems. ‘This, at first sight,
might seem to argue much for the religious toleration of the people,
but its true explanation lies elsewhere. It is to be explained partly
by the fact that these systems in a manner supplement one another,
partly in the fact that they have each been in a manner identified
with the state administration, but more largely by the fact that they
all have been made to rest on and harmonize with a more primitive
form of nature worship and ancestral idolatry.
Of the three so called religions of China only two, Taouism and
Buddhism, are properly religious systems. The third, Confucianism,
is rather a system of imperial ethics, but founded in harmony with
the religious conceptions of the nation.
The influence which any religious system will exert over the life
and actions of its adherents will be found to differ according to the
conceptions which it forms of the universal.
In general, all religions may be divided into two classes under
this head, Subjective religion, in which the deity as pure spirit and
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 61
free personality is attributed with unlimited power. Objective relig-
ion, where the divinity as an unspiritual nature being is conceived as
limited and subordinated to an unchanging and eternal world order.
The general effect of these two opposite phases of religious
thought will be readily apparent. ‘The former, with its free person-
ality and high conception of divine power, will equally emphasize the
personality and moral activity of the individual, and there will arise
a consequent dissatisfaction with the present natural state. The
second, with its contradiction of free personality in the divine, will
be wanting in moral activity and individuality, and tend rather to a
uniform submission to the natural world order, as found in man and
the outer world, personality thus becoming passive and obedience
the highest virtue.
We stated a few moments ago that the apparent toleration of
the various systems of religion in China was explained chiefly by the
fact that they all rested on a primitive form of nature worship. In
this system heaven and earth are set forth as the Great Father and
Mother of the universe. By heaven, however, is meant but the
pure physical ether, which first spontaneously organized itself out of
chaos ; while earth represents the coarser and heavier elements.
These two, representing the male and female elements in nature,
produced the seasons, and these latter the products of the earth.
The adoration of heaven and earth, as the parents of all things,
forms the life centre of the whole of China’s religious thought ; and
to this day the most solemn religious ceremony in the national
worship is to be seen when, twice each year, the Emperor, as the
high priest of China, enters the Temple of Heaven at Peking to
offer up his devotions for a propitious year.
On this conception of nature rests that remarkable ceremony
which may be called the real religion of China, ancestral worship.
When the ancient worship treats its chief god, heaven, as the male
principle, and relates it to earth as the female element, we can see
that two opposite conceptions are likely to arise in the national mind.
First, the corresponding physical relationship of husband and wife
is prone, by its similarity to the national religion, to be to a certain
extent deified. Second, religion itself, by its resemblance to the
common place of every day life, will tend to become rational and
material, the practical will tend to overshadow the spiritual.
62 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
The first of these tendencies resulted, in a remote age of Chinese
civilization, in that form of worship .known as ancestral idolatry.
Acting at first as a tendency to elevate the parental relationship, and
establish filial piety as the highest duty, the spiritual conception
soon found itself overtaken by this child of morality ; for looking
upon the father and the mother of the family as types of the great
father and mother of the universe, they soon carried filial piety into
the sphere of religious belief, where it became established as ances-
tral worship, which is simply piety extended beyond the grave. A
further explanation of this custom lies in their conception of the
human soul. ‘This is supposed to possess a threefold division, one
of which at death enters Hades, one the grave, and the third of
which lingers about the ancestral home. ‘The last two of these must
be provided for by the descendants, and if neglected are wont to
punish their unfilial offspring. ‘Vhe offerings of the living, to be
acceptable, must be presented by a male descendant; and, with the
exception of food, since they are for the spirits of an invisible world,
must be rendered invisible by burning.
To enter into a long description of the minute particulars of
ancestral worship would be beyond the scope of the present paper.
A few thoughts as to its general effect must suffice. While ancestral
worship may seem, in its first conception, to have rested on a
foundation of love, there can be no doubt that fear is now the
motive power. ‘To make the dead dependent on the living for their
happiness, and to endow them with power to inflict punishment
when neglected, is to chain hopelessly the living present to a dead
past. ‘Two duties are ever present to the devout Chinaman, to pro-
vide for the comfort of his ancestors, and to leave behind him a line
of male descendants who shall perform a like duty for him. Such a
system must tend to root a people perpetually to their existing en-
vironment. All progress will be considered a dangerous innovation,
and a colonizing spirit the most sacriligious impiety. No wonder
that such a people should be remarkable for the absence of a critical
and scientific spirit.
But while we note the defects of the system, its advantages
should not be overlooked. It renders sacred and secure, internally,
the home and the nation. As the Emperor must reign in order to
perform the requisite rites for securing the favor of Heaven and
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 63
earth, so the family must be held together, that no break may occur
in the ancestral worship. Whether these benefits are adequate
from the broad standpoint of humanity to counterbalance the serious
defects of the system, is doubtful indeed.
Let us next notice what additional elements have been intro-
duced into the religious fibre of the nation by the three so-called
national religious systems.
CONFUCIANISM.
As has already been mentioned, Confucianism is in no way
concerned with the supernatural, and indeed lay no claim to such.
We noted above, in describing the conception of the Chinese con-
cerning their nature god as male and female, the likelihood of
religion itself becoming humanized. Confucianism is but the reali-
zation of this on the practical or ethical side, and represents an
attempt to solve the mystery of life by the use of the intellect alone.
To say that China does not owe much to Confucianism would
be grossly unjust. A system which rests on a belief in the dignity
of human nature cannot but appeal to humanity, and perhaps there
is no nation among whom outward politeness, love of peace, and a
fixed mode of living are so firmly established. But like every human
institution, this one also has its inherent defect. From the days of
Confucius to the present intellect has ever failed to control habit,
unless resting on some higher spiritual ideal. And to-day there is
perhaps no nation where is to be found such remarkable combin-
ations of external politeness and inner dishonesty as may be found
among the modern disciples of Confucius.
TAOISM.
If Confucianism is the result of the humanizing of the primitive
religion, Taoism may justly be said to represent the same in a
materialized form. We have seen how, in the Confucian philosophy,
man was made the measure of all things, and social duty the only
rule of action. But man, however much you may direct his thoughts
to the facts of this life, cannot wholly deny his spiritual nature. The
question, ‘‘Whence came I?” will make itself felt, and direct the
spirit of man to find some object of worship, some superior being to
control its destiny. This craving of the human spirit Taoism under-
took to satisfy. The very conditions, however, under which the
64 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
system originated could result in nothing but the elaboration of a
vast medley of superstitions.
Starting from the conception that divinity is but an essence of
matter, this religion, among a people so little endowed with the
scientific spirit, soon found in the invisible agencies of nature the
immediate presence of deity. Taoism thus in time developed into
an elaborate system of superstitious idolatry, busied only with the
evils of the present life. Such a religion could only result in weaving
around the daily life of the people a web of superstitious notions,
and letting loose upon its unhappy adherents a host of dread spirits
until the very breath of the air becomes the voice of a demon. Thus
the Chinese are to-day the most superstitious of nations, and it is no
uncommon thing to find matters of the utmost importance, public
and private, decided by some chance whim.
BUDDHISM.
Buddhism, the third great religion of China, is not a native of
that country. Originating in India, where it was almost exterminated
by persecution, it then made its way into China; and, after a struggle
of a few centuries, found itself holding at least a second position in
the religious favor of the people. To give anything like a full
account of the circumstances connected with the introduction of the
new religion would carry us beyond the scope of the present paper.
Our purpose is solely to discover what influence it has exerted, and
still is exerting, on Chinese belief and character. For this, a brief
outline of the main phases of the system must suffice. Perhaps no
better means could be adopted for showing the central thought of
Buddhism than the quoting of a few typical thoughts from Indian
philosophy which represent the true spirit from which Buddhism
arose.
‘* One hundred years is the appointed span
Of human life ; one half of this goes by
In sleep and night; one half the other half
In childhood and old age; the rest is passed
In sickness, separation, pain and service,
How can a human being find delight
In such a life, vain as a watery bubble?”
Or again:
‘‘ One course alone is proof against alarm,
Renounce the world and safety shall be won.”
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 65
From this it may be seen that Buddhism is but another name
for pessimism of life and asceticism. Its object is to remove the
misery resulting not only from bodily action but also from false
knowledge. This view of human life is arrived at by the Buddhist
from the following reasoning: As birth is necessarily followed by
age, misery, and death, this individual existence can be only an
expression of misfortune or punishment. If such, then life must
have had some previous existence whose condition was responsible
for the misery suffered by the individual in the present life. Thus
the Buddhist has a remarkable chain of reasoning by which, from the
basis of ignorance, he traces the conscious individuality of this life ;
from individuality, birth ; from birth, decay ; and from decay, death.
But, recognizing this life as a life of retribution only, the Budd-
hist at once must claim for all forms of earthly life a previous exist-
ence. This leads to the doctrine of transmigration, the great
central principle of the Buddhist faith. Personal life is but the
revolution of a wheel, which carries us from the present life into the
unseen world, and vice versa. ‘To this wheel all individual exist-
ence, whether of this or the unseen world, is bound, and its cease-
less revolutions are but the expression of the various rewards and -
punishments incident to personal existence. To teach man how to
escape from this wheel of life and death is the object of the Budd-
hist faith. To do this we must lose our personal identity, must
enter a state where thought shall cease to be our thought, and where
life shall, as it were, cease to live,——a state without condition and
without attribute. This state is the Nirvana, or the real heaven of
Buddhism. Situated without the revolution of the wheel of personal
existence, it contains only what is permanent and enduring. To
arrive at this the soul must renounce the world of the flesh and
purify itself by constant meditation, the real saviour of the system.
From this it may be seen that the basis of this doctrine is
metaphysical and transcendental.
Although the speculative philosophy of the Buddhists, in its in-
troduction into Chinese life, suffered much from its contact with the
materialism of Chinese thought, still the benefits which it has con-
ferred on the national character are great and most apparent. Both
the native forms of belief had busied themselves only with the physi-
cal, the practical and the seen. No account was taken of these
66 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
obstinate questionings concerning the unseen world, which will arise
in the heart of man. Even Taoism, while it affected a form of reli-
gious devotion, was tied to the ills of physical existence. Buddhism
alone has given to the people whatever they possess of religious
speculation. To its Heart of Pity, which sees in every sentient
being the manifestation of an immaterial and immortal existence,
must be attributed the humility, politeness and charitable disposi-
tion for which the Chinese are justly praised.
But, great as have been these benefits, they have not been pur-
chased without cost. To purchase real happiness at the price of
individuality, as in the Buddist Nirvana, and to view the present life
as a stage of retribution for the sins of a previous existence, is to
extinguish all energy and personality from the character of a people
already too void of spiritual activity.
Such are the leading phases of thought which for centuries have
been solidifying the Chinese national mind, and which have resulted
in ingraining the following tendencies in the national character :
1. Fatalism in the practical affairs of life.
2. Impersonality in the intellectual life.
3. Lack of imagination in the emotional life.
Volumes might be written to illustrate how the Chinaman feels
himself hemmed in, and his free personality limited by his environ-
ment. Buta single illustration must suffice, the superstition termed
feng shui, or wind or water. By these are meant certain spiritual
forces which are supposed to belong to and influence every locality
relative to its occupants. So fixed is this idea that it is no uncom-
mon thing to find one neighbor taking proceedings against his fellow
for having influenced for evil the local spirits. For instance, Mr.
Halcombe relates a circumstance in which a certain American official
was prevented from erecting chimneys on his residence for fear of
disturbing the local genii.
The impersonality of the intellectual life of the Chinese is visible
in every department of thought. The very language furnishes a
perpetual illustration, by the depreciative terms which are used in
speaking of the first person, in fact in many of the dialects there is
a lack of any definite term for the ego or first person. Again in
their poetry the absence of personification is a marked characteristic.
In their fine arts the same feature is perceptible, Chinese painting
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 67
devotes itself chiefly to landscape, while ;sculpture busies itself with
the production of huge images or grotesque figures.
But in no place, perhaps, is the evil effect of the absence of a
high and active spiritual ideal more apparent among the Chinese than
in their emotional life. Imagination, that mother of all spiritual
beauty and human progress, may be said to be absent from the na-
tional character. This isin no place more apparent than in the
utter absence of the scientific spirit. Both fine and mechanical arts
the Chinese have had from remote antiquity, but in no department
do they pass beyond the stage of copyist. To search for general
principles, to pass from the particular to the universal is a stretch of
imagination too great for the meagre philosophic spirit of the ordin-
ary Chinaman.
Unsatisfactory as these leading national traits of character may
seem from the western standpoint, we must not forget that they
have not been without their accompanying compensation. It is to
this very lack of personality, this dread of change in thought and
environment, this bringing down of the divine to the level of every
day life, that has enabled the nation to conserve itself throughout
the centuries in spite of extortion and injustice in its government,
and extreme poverty and wretchedness among its people.
But that such a state can much longer continue seems strongly
improbable. We have seen that a time will come in the history of
every nation when she must adjust herself to the progressive con-
ditions of humanity. The onward wave of western life and thought
is already forcing itself through the shattered wall of Chinese isola-
tion. Can we, from the light of past history, form any conceptions
as to the probable results ?
First, there is always the possibility of the nation rising to the
requirements of its new environment, and working out its own salva-
tion by means of its inherent energy. That sucha result will happen
in the case of this people seems strongly improbable. The Chinese
nation presents in a most intensified form the disadvantages associ-
ated with a too close relationship between government and religious
belief. Every disturbance, therefore, which takes place on one of
these fields is sure to be accompanied with corresponding upheavals
in the other sphere. Such a condition could result only in long and
bloody internal contentions among a people too prone to the phrensy
68 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
of religious superstition, Nor are there present in the Chinaman of
to-day any elements which could produce that strong form of govern-
ment which. must ever mount guard, when a people are passing
through that transition stage which ever precedes intellectual and
political advancement.
The second and more probable line of readjustment lies along
the path of foreign influence. This may come in either of two ways,
military conquest or a political protectorate. Perhaps no greater
calamity could overtake such a nation as the Chinese than the former
of these. Toa nation so peaceable, and so dependent for inspiration
on their social and politico-religious environment, military conquest
could result only in a reduction of the people to the lowest depths
of slavery and barbarism. All things, therefore, point to a political
protectorate as the line of least resistance for national readjustment.
But even a protectorate to be effective must fulfil certain conditions.
It must be exercised by a nation strong and patient ; strong to hold
in due check all these impulses which are at all times liable to burst
forth when a nation is passing through a reorganizing crisis ; and
patient to allow a less gifted people time to advance themselves to a
higher intellectual and moral level. Such a protectorate could be
successfully exercised only by a nation which is able to separate
political government from religion; for only in this way could the
stability of the governing body be proof against the violent upheavals
of a reconstruction period.
Among the ruling powers of the earth, one people alone possesses
the moral force and judicious administrative aptitude to stand guard
over the destinies of a nation during such a period. ‘To the British
people has fallen the destiny of conserving and bearing on the torch
of civilization, which though flickering at times is yet destined to
jlluminate the earth. Already by her conduct in India, in Egypt
and elsewhere, she has proven herself true to her destiny, nor will
she here be found wanting when the hour for action shall have
arrived. But, it may be asked, will Europe allow this work to go
on? But here let us not forget that a second Britain has arisen
beyond the sea, and however much America may delude herself, at
present with a supposed non-interference policy in internationa]
affairs, and a distrust of the British policy, to me, at least, it seems
impossible that, when the days of her national maturity have fully
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 69
arrived, she can any longer deny the inherited instincts of her nature.
That spirit which has made Britain a ruler among the nations is the
spirit which gave to America her national being. Nor will that
common spirit deny its brotherhood in the hour of decisive action.
In our considerations thus far we have looked upon the Asiatic
only as a receiver from western civilization, but it should not be
overlooked that western thought, high as it is, may receive some-
thing from its humble eastern brother. Modern Aryan thought is
now so tinged with scientific doubt, and a belief in the uncondi-
tioned liberty of the individual as to threaten the destruction of law
and government. It would not, therefore, be altogether unprofita-
ble for the western philosopher to turn once more to the East, and
there, under the mystic Heavens, to feel that neither spiritually nor
physically can man deny the universal brotherhood, nor his depend-
ence on an all-enveloping environment.
In conclusion let me add that these humble predictions have
been evolved from the laboured speculations of the student and not
from the revelations of a prophet. But whether any or none of
these things come true, of this, I feel, we can be assured, that the
relations at present existing between the orient and the occident are
not long to continue in their present status. Whether their readjust-
ment is to be marked by a giving and receiving of mutual benefits,
or with bloodshed and the social decline of either part is evident to
the great Ruler of the universe alone.
70 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
OPPOSING FORCES VS. INACTION.
Read before the Hamilton Association, February 6th, 1896,
BY H. B. SMALL, OTTAWA.
To relieve the tension of the perpetual struggle which modern
requirements have forced upon mankind, we require something upon
which we may fall back—something that will tend to calm the excite-
ment of the whirl of everyday life.
Idleness or inaction will not soothe the mind, or quiet the nerves,
but a change of action or of thought will, and there is nothing per-
haps that will better meet the case than the pleasure to be derived
from books and reading. We hardly appreciate our good fortune in
belonging to the roth century, for, one hundred years ago many of
the most delightful books of to-day were unwritten, and we possess
infinite opportunities of obtaining what our less fortunate ancestors
would have revelled in. Sir John Lubbock, not long ago remarked
that he was sometimes disposed to think that the great readers of
the next generation will be not our lawyers and doctors, our business
men and our manufacturers, but the laborer and mechanic. The
former work mainly with their head; the brain becomes exhausted,
and much of their leisure time must be devoted to air and exercise.
The laborer and mechanic, on the contrary, have in their working
hours taken sufficient bodily exercise and can therefore give any
leisure to reading and study. To further this the schools of to-day
afford an excellent education, and access to the best books is now
easy to those who desire. The school education now equals the
college education of fifty years ago. Jeremy Collier, an old writer,
well said of books: ‘‘ They are a guide in youth and an entertain-
“ment for age. They help us to forget the crossness of men and
‘« things, compose our cares and passions and lay our disappointments
“asleep. Some relate the events of past ages, while others reveal
“ the secrets of nature. Some teach how to live, others how to die.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, 71
‘They open the various avenues of all the Arts and Sciences ; they
“are never troublesome, but answer every question. In return for
“all their services, they only ask a convenient chamber in some
“corner, where they may repose in peace, and are more pleased
“with the tranquility of retirement than with the tumults of so-
© CIE or
Many readers miss much of the pleasure of reading, by forcing
themselves to dwell too long on one subject continuously. If two, or
three, different subjects are kept on hand (one of them of an amus-
ing character) by changing as soon as a sense of weariness super-
venes, each can be again taken up with renewed zest ; but the wider
the field the more important it is that the reader should benefit by
the very best works in each class. Not that he should confine him-
self to them, but he should commence with them, and they will
naturally lead on to others. Lord Brougham used to say—“ It is
“well to read everything of something, and something of every-
‘“ thing.”
In this way only can we ascertain the bent of our own tastes,
and a young man’s desultory reading will perhaps be one of the most
useful means for finding what his life’s career should be. By his
own discursive reading he can learn what work for his peculiar abili-
ties is open for him in the world. and he will judge easily what line
of study he should first pursue. Then, following out this clue, he
can proceed to fulfil the requirements of education and the incli-
nation of his own mental disposition. ‘The main practical question
of the selection and proper use of books rests not on what is good
in general, or in special literature, but what is best fitted for each
individual. The foundation of success in life is physical and men-
tal, nervous and moral aptitude, and from this condition future
capabilities may be to some extent foreseen. These capabili-
ties are the indicators of the course of reading required, and by
them a youth’s career should be selected and decided on. It is
not in the means or the reach of all of us to travel, but the next best
thing to it, when it cannot be indulged in, is the reading descrip-
tions of voyages and travels, and some of them are so graphic, and
so ably depict scenes and places, that if the reader in after days
chances to visit them, his ideas are prepared for what he sees, and
he readily recognizes, almost like an old frequented spot,-some at
72 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
least of the scenes which the description has already pencilled in
his mind.
The fewer well selected books a youth has to begin with the
safer he is against loss of time. The most important question at that
period of life is not what sfa/7I1 read, but what weed I read. His
care should be to read as @¢é/e and think as much as possible ; thus
he will find what he immediately requires to know, and so make the
need the object of his next acquirement in his books. This method
tends to education, develops mental power, and makes a cultivated
man, A man does not want to be a mere animated book-case, but
he wants to have within himself the condensed matter of the book-
case. A hurried careless method of reading is one of the chief dangers
a student should guard against, and the habit of casting a book aside
as soon as read, without pondering over its contents, recalling the
argument and refreshing the memory where it failed, is apt to render
worthless all the previous effort. Whateley said that writing an
analysis or table of contents, or notes, is very important for the study
of any one subject. A fact or subject sought out fixes itself more
firmly in the memory than most of those passed in the ordinary
course of reading. ‘The ever increasing mass of periodical literature
tends more and more to the habit of a snatchy mode of perusal, but
to a certain extent this has its advantage. A busy man who has not
time to turn aside from his own work to the thorough investigation -
of the topic of the hour may sometimes, in the pages of a magazine,
find the case tersely stated by distinguished advocates on both sides,
and he may thus discern the main positions of assailant and assailed.
A good review of a new work is occasionally afforded by periodical
literature. But, to have any real value a review should be read only
after the work to which it relates. Distinct from the discriminating
reader and progressive student, there is a very large class who are mere
devotees of books of any kind, reading, however, chiefly the lighter
literature of the day. ‘These become feeble minded, intellectually
dissipated and incapable of serious study. ‘This class exists chiefly
amongst women, girls and boys, and they become so absorbed in
light reading that many of them are ignorant even of the existence of
works of standard merit. Men are not so much given to this, but
that may be accounted for by their more continuous use of the news-
paper, which is to their taste what cheap literature is to the others.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. ie)
I do not, however, by any means wish to condemn the entire use of
this style of reading, for, if I remember right, Gladstone calms his
nerves and quiets his brain by reading for half an hour nightly, be-
fore retiring, a portion of some new publication which a student or a
reviewer would be apt to class as trash. It is the change which
refreshes the mind. Literature exists to please, to lighten the burden
of men’s lives, to make them for a short time forget their sorrows
and their sins, their disappointed hopes, their grim futures, and those
men of letters are the best loved who have best performed literature’s
truest office. The truth or falsehood of a novel is immaterial, but to
soothe sorrow, to bring tears to the eyes or smiles to the cheeks of
humanity is no mean ministry.
“Oh for a book and a shady nook, where I may read all at
my ease of the new and the old,
For a jolly good book, whereon to look, is better to me than
gold.”
Before leaving this subject—reading—I wish to impress upon
every reader, and especially the young and those with a prospect of
many years before them, the great utility of keeping a scrap book tor
clippings and extracts. Items that appear from day to day may
prove exceedingly valuable in the future, and the only time to secure
these is whilst they are before you. Anyone who has tried to locate
a paragraph or an article he thinks he saw at some indefinite time
can testify to the difficulty there is in finding it again. There is not
a fact or a fugitive paragraph that you see in your paper, which will
not come up again at some future time. But, in keeping a scrap-
book never fail to index it, and to keep up the index, or its usefulness
is gone. Of course every one can be his own judge as to the subjects,
but a literary man will be astonished at the end of a year at what a
mass of information he has stored up for future use. State in it also
the source from which the scrap is obtained, as well as the date of
publication. Speaking from personal experience, when I was a boy
at school, I obtained at a London book stall, an odd volume of
Robert Southey’s “Commonplace Book,” as the reprint of his scrap
book was called, and its utility was so apparent to me after persual,
that I followed out his plans, and the benefits I have gained from
my scrap books at various times are incalculable. I have recently
74 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
read an account of a similar plan on a more extended scale, now
adopted in the Brooklyn Library, and which is assuming such pro-
portions that the space assigned to it is called the “ Reference De-
partment,” and all its subjects are classified.
Drawing is another opponent to inaction, a recreation too lightly
regarded, but which is really a most important adjunct, not only to
the pleasures of the leisure hour, but which may be turned to advan-
tage in after jife. From an industrial point of view there is hardly
any trade or occupation in which drawing is not of daily and hourly
utility. For technical purposes it is constantly in requisition, by
architects, engineers, military and naval men, designers, and others,
and its usefulness to geographers, astronomers, artists, and scientific
men generally, is justly acknowledged. Hitherto drawing has been
the property of the few, and its acquirement in schools has been
classed with comportment and calisthenics. Through its power of
representing the phenomena of Nature as they appear to the eye, it
appeals in the most direct way to every human being. It enables
the artist to stir the emotions of all those who can appreciate beauty
in form, whatever may be their nationality. Those who aspire to take
a leading and active part in the doings of this and the next genera-
tion must look to the requirements of the future, since the world’s
drama is being played on conditions which rapidly change. They
will need the fullest developments of the resources of the body, of
the senses, of the mind. Without a knowledge of drawing this com-
plete efficiency cannot be attained. Drawing is an admirable train-
ing for both eye and hand, and although artists, like poets, are born,
not made, yet everyone can learn to draw elevations, plans, and sec-
tions. It is astonishing how many go through the world without the
aid of that marvellous descriptive power which drawing affords. The
capacities of youth are a mine of wealth, and it is galling to think in
after years that we neglected to work a vein of precious metal until all
chance of working it successfully has passed away, and nothing is
more depressing than to point to one’s wasted hours, and the lost
opportunities of by-gone life.
Making collections of various objects is a most interesting recrea-
tion—whether the ‘specimens be shells, or stones, or plants, or
perhaps, stamps, or coins, it matters not, each whilst tending to amuse
at the same time instructs. The collection of stamps has often been
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 75
ridiculed, but there is much knowledge obtained in such a pursuit.
The geographical distribution of countries with a certain amount of
their history very quickly impresses itself on the mind of the collector,
much in the same way as the numismatist gathers from his ancient
coins and medals, a memory of great actions, chronology and heathen
mythology, whilst from those of more modern times he becomes
cognisant of many points of history, which without these reminders
he might never have given heed to. ‘To collect objects of interest in
our daily walks, no matter whether leaves or stones, or fungi, or any-
thing whatever, will start a train of thought and lead off the mind
with a pleasant strain of reasoning that very quickly dispels the tension
in which weightier matters had kept the brain. Kingsley based one of
his finest popular lectures on a stone that he picked up by the wayside
on his way to the lecture hall, it affording him all the subject matter
he needed for the evening. It is astonishing how quickly the idea of
arrangement follows collection, and what pleasure is gained in show-
ing to others specimens collected by oneself. Then comes in the
idea of rivalry with other collectors, aud of supremacy where the
struggle alluded to already evinces itself. But itis a pleasant and an
honorable struggle and one to be urged on all who wish to make life
pleasant, and to step off once in a way from the beaten path of hard
brain toil and the dry details of a business life.
Botany, probably because of the names or terms used in it, is
regarded by many as a dry and difficult study. But without a know-
ledge of it, however much you may admire flowers or trees, they are
like a beautiful woman in a crowd—a stranger to you. With a
knowledge of it they become at once friends—you know something
of them. You go out into the fields, or the forests, or along the
riverside, and the familiar families of plant life all have an interest in
your eyes.
Again, take Natural History. Its study equals in the pleasure it
affords the sportsman’s pleasure in the chase, and whilst his sport is
confined to the comparatively few species of game left in its natural
state, the naturalist has open to him the insect world, birds and in-
fusoria—a countless number, the pursuit and study of which are
equally as fascinating as the hunters’ trophies of his gun.
Take Geology, where the untrained eye sees nothing but dirt
and mud, science will reveal wonderful possibilities. The mud is a
76 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
mixture of sand and clay, and dirt; separate it and see what a
history its component parts have; strain out the water, and its study
alone is a history. Ruskin well describes this when in speaking of a
street gutter he says, ‘At your own will you may see in it either
‘the refuse of the street or the image of the sky.”
Take electricity. No branch of science rivals in interest that of
electric force, and at no time in the history of research has any
branch of science made so great or so rapid progress during the years
since 1881. With its now acknowledged usefulness for lighting
comes its introduction for the production of power, and many trades —
requiring the application of a motor for driving light machinery will
have an ever ready source of it at their command in their own quar-
ters. Its power for lighting mines and at the same time affording
motive power in them is now being utilized in the mining districts of
the west. Late English papers describe its application for lighting
purposes at the new St. Catharines lighthouse at the southern extrem-
ity of the Isle of Wight, to the extent of 700,000 candle illuminating
power, replacing the former oil light at the same point of 730 candle
power, thus being rooo times more brilliant. The Spectator calls it
the “legitimate descendant of the beacon on the hill-top, developed
“through the different stages of the tallow candle and the flat and
“concentric wick oil lamp.” The same page says, “ We wonder
“to-day at such achievement, but perhaps our descendants will
‘i]luminate the more frequented sea routes as we light our streets,
‘‘with buoys bearing powerful electric lights upon them, the light
“gendered by the action of the tides, and will marvel that we could
‘““have been content to let our great ships blunder on the rocks or
“fall foul of one another for lack of so simple a precaution.” For
driving street cars electricity is demonstrated already. For a motive
power in steamships, experiments are now going on to develope it,
and the result when attained will be of incalculable advantage, as the
space hitherto occupied by coal will become available for cargo.
Electricity again is applied to surgery and is used in the fine arts ;
there is no saying what it may not yet be made to do, and the old
remark holds good, that ‘‘Magnetism is in its infancy, and electricity
‘““is as yet unborn,”
Take again Astronomy. Within the last quarter of a century
a remarkable advance has marked the methods and aims of astronomy.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, a4
A younger and more vigorous science has sprung up, walking with
hurried or halting footsteps along paths far removed from the staid
courses of its predecessor. ‘The new science concerns itself with the
nature of the heavenly bodies, the old one regarded exclusively their
movements. This younger science enquires what sun, moon, stars
and nebulze are made of, what stores of heat they possess, what
changes are in progress, what vicissitudes they have undergone, or
are likely to undergo. The elder study attained its object when the
theory of celestial motions showed no discrepancy with fact, when the
courses of the heavens came directly up to time, and their observed
places agreed to a finitesimal point with their predicted places.
Very different modes of observation must now be employed to further
such different objects ; in fact the invention of novel modes of inves-
tigation has had a prime share in bringing about the change in
question, and investigations carried out at higher altitudes than have
hitherto been more than temporarily available are now going on in
permanent observatories. The great Lick Observatory, of California, -
founded through the princely generosity of one man, whose name
will live in the annals of liberality forever, James Lick, will soon add
to the marvels of knowledge most astounding facts, if we are to give
credence to what the observers have already unofficially announced.
Located on one of the peaks of the coast range, 4440 feet above the
sea, the atmosphere in summer is cloudless, and even during the
winter there are many nights favorable for observation. Out of sixty
nights tested, prior to the site being fixed upon as to the quality of
telescopic vision there, Professor Newcomb found fourty-two as nearly
perfect as possible, seven of a medium quality, and only eleven cloudy
or misty, and his season of observation extended over the first half
of Octcber. With the ordinary telescope he then used he discov-
ered forty-two new double stars, many of them not having been seen
before clearly enough for the discernment of their composite character.
But the present needs of science are by no means filled by an alti-
tude of of 4000 and odd feet. Already observing stations are recom-
mended at four times that altitude, and the ambition of the coming
astronomer will be satisfied only when he reaches that altitude where
he can no longer find wherewith to inflate his lungs. Such are the
growing exigences of celestial observation. Europe has not remained
behind America in this significant movement. An observatory was
As) JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
nominally completed on Mount Etna in 1882, from which Professor
Langely distinguished nine stars forming the pleiades, whilst from
ordinary levels only six can be seen with the naked eye, and glimpses
of a seventh and an eighth with telescopic aid. Nature seldom
volunteers information ; usually it has to be extracted from her by
skilful cross-examination. No opportunities of seeing will avail those ~
who know not how to look, and the elevated sites now chosen for
the exquisite instruments constructed by modern opticians, give
abundant promise of increased astronomical knowledge.
I could cite the various branches of study, all tending to op-
pose inaction, but I must pass on toaclose. Science has done
much to ennoble mankind in freeing it from superstition. Before
its searching light the belief in witchcraft and ghosts has disappeared,
and intolerance of every kind is fast on the wane. The most im-
portant secrets of nature are often hidden away in the most unex-
pected places. The refuse of factories has, by the application of
science, yielded many articles now in daily requisition, and things
which are familiar parts of our everyday life would still be unknown
except for scientific research. That discoveries innumerable await
the successful explorer of nature no one can doubt. Sir John Her-
schell said: ‘Since it cannot be but that innumerable and most
‘important uses remain to be discovered among the materials and
‘objects already known to us, as well as amongst those which the
“ progress of science must hereafter disclose, we may conceive a
‘well grounded expectation not only of constant increase in the
‘‘ physical resources of mankind, and the consequent improvement
“in their condition, but of continual accession to our power of
“ penetrating into the arcana of nature, and becoming acquainted
“with her highest laws. And it is not only in a material point of
‘‘ view that science would thus benefit a nation, but it will raise and
“ strengthen the national as surely as the individual character. ‘The
“ field on which the victories of science have already been won, is
‘teaming with problems of the widest bearing on many questions of
‘the day—social, philosophical, religious and natural. To the
‘scientific man belongs the spirit of the great world, brooding upon
“things tocome. In the truest sense his is the future. The in-
“heritance of the part is ours, and in the literature of our own and
<‘ other countries we may study the great generalizations of science,
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 79
“clarified by their passage through great minds, twined to shape,
‘and incorporated in the consciousness of the race by the pen of
“poet and philosopher. Firmly centered in the present we can
“ reach out a hand both to the past and to the future, and become
“the heirs of all the ages. But we must bear in mind that science
‘“‘is not to be degraded to a machine for grinding general laws out
“ of large collections of facts. We must guard especially against the
“error of assuming scientific arrogance whilst in search of evolving
“a true scientific spirit, and of becoming overbearing whilst discuss-
‘“‘ing with those who differ from our views.”
Science is no longer looked upon as dangerous to those who
follow it ; faith is never weakened by its attainment. ‘The materials
of the universe by which we are surrounded are full of the evidences
of a Creator; they crowd upon us from every side, wherever we turn
our eyes we read them. Their evidences are inscribed on the blue
dome of Heaven and on the gorgeous cloud turrets of the western
sky, on the rocky cliffs which record the memories of long buried
ages and on the green sods which cover the last new made grave.
The material with which the Eternal writes His name, and the style
of His handiwork, are evermore the same, whether He writes it in
the golden characters of the mine or the metallic lustre of the hills,
science recognizes its great Author’s hand and admires with reverence
His matchless autograph.
Science and art are constantly coupled together, but they really
move in very different planes and touch different parts of human
nature. When science comes in at the door, art flies out at the win-
dow, for the former appeals to the intellect, art to the emotions, and
man is so constituted that when intellect is in the ascendant the
emotions sink out of sight ‘The sympathizing spirit of art is opposed
to the critical spirit of science. The artist seeks beauty, finds like-
nesses and discerns the ideal through the real. The votary of science
seeks facts, draws distinctions, strips the real to the skin and bone.
Poetry is the art of arts, but what would science do with the finest
poem? The revels and play of poetic fancy would wither and shrivel
under the hard realism of science. And this is why science needs
to be cautiously handled and taught. It must not be roughly thrust
on the student, but gradually instilled. Its teaching must be popu-
larized, placed before the people in an easy and familiar way, devoid
80 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
of long words and classifying terms, and so explained that all may
understand. ‘The lectures before such a society as ours should be of
this nature, explanatory and pleasing, yet possessing instruction, for
pedantic illustrations never carry an audience with them.
Then, there is a difference again between literature and science.
The former holds a certain attitude of conservatism, the latter is
essentially revolutionary. In a few years hence the theories and
writings of scientists of the present day, on many points, will be laid
on the shelf, and like coral insects, those who built the science of
to-day, will be dead from the moment that their successors have
raised over them another inch of the interminable reef. They will
have lived their day and done their work in paving the way and lay-
ing foundations for fresh lines of thought, for new theories of specu-
lations, and whilst we at times feel a disposition to smile at what we
are pleased to term “exploded” ideas and chimerical deductions,
we must realize that what we ourselves accept as established facts
will in all probability, under the kaleidoscopic revolutions of science,
raise in future generations another smile at our want of penetration.
The nebula we describe may turn out a star cluster, the aurora may be
traced to far other causes than those we now assign to it, whilst the
adaptability to navigation and other practical arts of the wild effusions
of a Jules Verne may prove not in themselves a wonder, but a won-
der why their adaptability lay so long unnoticed nor made use of.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, 81
NEGLECTED METHODS OF EDUCATION.
Read before the Hamilton Association, March 5th, 1895.
BY T. W. REYNOLDS, M. D.
In selecting a subject for discussion I am in a measure treading
in the footsteps of others, but in view of the fact that our Association’s
great aim is educational, I feel that no further apology is necessary
for the choice that I have made. Certainly no one, in what we
so proudly and justly call ‘‘this enlightened age of ours,” will dispute
the value of education, but I think our time can be profitably spent
in considering some of the methods of achieving that great desidera-
tum, a good education. Some of our members who are members of
the great teaching profession will perhaps feel inclined to say that I
am introducing matters which are not only the province of the various
teachers associations, which meet from time to time throughout the
province, but have been far better dealt with at these meetings.
Such I have no doubt is the case as regards the ordinary recognized
methods of education, but even as an onlooker is always said to see
more of a game and to be a better judge than those actually engaged
in it, so in this case I think that a layman like myself may be per-
mitted to at any rate relate his experience in the hope that possibly
something of value may be found therein, at least to those of us who
are amateurs at the best as far as teaching is concerned ; although
from my own professional experience I know that the truly eclectic
man is ever ready to avail himself of suggestions or experience wher-
ever found, be it among professional men or lay. I feel also that in
drawing upon my own experience for ideas, there is a strong possi-
bility of offering something original for your consideration and thus
laying before you the equivalent of special investigations made in
any of our special departments of work. My title though reminds
me that it is, however, not the ordinary methods such as are generally
82 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
accepted and approved of and have received the sanction of profes-
sional educationists that we are to consider, but it is those that are
generally neglected.
I have desired to call your attention to these because of my firm
belief that there are many valuable aids to education which have
either been relegated to the shelves of a cobwebby desuetude or else
are still regarded as mere so-called fads, which are only thought fit
to be considered as mere pastimes or recreations for individuals
contemptuously called cranks by those who alone in the eyes of the
world are ordinarily deemed to be truly wise. As on another occa-
sion I had the honour of offering myself as a champion in the cause
of fads, I do not intend this evening to more than casually refer to
their value from an educational point of view, but I shall endeavor
to discuss the other methods that seem to me to be now neglected.
At the same time I must admit that I have no doubt that in many
branches taken up in the schools the differences between the methods
that are now in vogue and those used in my school days are to the
credit of modern methods, but as I said I wish to call attention to
some that I have good reason for believing are now discredited in
great measure.
Before entering upon the consideration of these methods, it
would be as well, perhaps, to define what is meant by the compre-
hensive term, education. Literally it means to lead or draw out, but
although the office of the educator can to a certain extent be thus
described, still there are other processes at work or that should be
Such as those of building and strengthening these tender faculties of
the intellect which are thus brought to light.
Various similies have been used, and one with which we are
particularly familiar was, I can well remember, to be found in one of
the school books in use twenty-five years ago. ‘This allegory I think
was from Addison’s Spectator, which expresses the idea of education
thus: ‘‘ What sculpture is to the block of marble, education is to the
human soul.” I have not my old school books at hand and am
indebted to a more modern work for my quotation, but I can well
remember how the simile took my fancy of the statue being con-
cealed in the block of marble until the sculptor by repeated efforts
produced the statue and gave it its fine finish and brought to light
its various beauties of form and outline.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 83
But though I am a great admirer of the work of the stone mason
and feel that many beautiful lessons can be derived from such sim-
iles as that above mentioned, there is another simile which I think
is more appropriate, and especially on account of its bearing on the
subject I have chosen it now.
The simile which I would present is that of the work of a
gardener in tending and rearing plants either for the house or garden.
This may seem to be a resort to a very ordinary occupation, and yet
therein lie some very valuable lessons to which I would like to draw
attention.
Let us look then at Horticulture, or perhaps I had better say
Floriculture, for it is the care of the tender flowers that calls forth
the efforts which seem to me most symbolical of those of the educa-
cator, for we find the skilful gardener will not only sow the seeds
from which in time the beautiful plant will grow, but he will also see
that the proper soil is provided, that this soil is well watered and
manured, and that the proper amount of light and heat are also
furnished in order to favor healthy growth. Floriculture is also a
valuable example to us, in considering methods of education, because
it is so universal an occupation amongst all classes of society, not
only as a livelihood, but as a favorite recreation, and one justly
popular, while from the three classes of floriculturists that are to be
met with we can I think draw types of three classes of educators.
The first class of floriculturists are what I would term the do-
mestic class, those who take the complete charge of their gardens,
not by any means as I intimated as a livelihood, but as a most
delightful and at the same time profitable recreation. For where can
more healthful pleasure be found than in the work attendant upon a
garden of one’s own, where one does all the work oneself, preparing
the ground for the seeds or cuttings, then doing the necessary planting,
followed by the interest with which each stage of growth is watched
from the time that the first tiny leaf is seen above the ground till the
last available flower has been picked, while at the same time the
ground is kept carefully weeded and watered, and should occasion
require, the plant is shaded from too much sunlight when it is liable
to be injurious ; and where can we find such flowers as are to be
found in these gardens that have been tilled by these domestic flori-
culturists, flowers that are often slightingly designed old-fashioned,
84 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
but which far excel in fragrance and beauty those that are to be
found in the gardens of the other two classes to which I will refer.
The second class of floriculturists are those who get outside
professional help to do the heavy work, often from want of time to
do it themselves, to give them due credit for their efforts, and then
look after the easier and more enjoyable parts of the work themselves.
Such gardens often have rarer and more showy plants than are to be
found in the first class of gardens.
The third class of floriculturists are the purely professional, and
while the gardens taken care of by them are often more admired by
the ordinary passerby because of the gorgeous and costly plants they
contain, the owners of these gardens will not have the satisfaction
that they would have experienced if they had taken either complete
charge or even the partial amount which fell to the lot of those in
my second class. |
Let us now return to our text, so to speak, and see where the
simile is applicable. ‘To begin with, I think we can divide methods
of education into three great classes, viz.: 1st, home teaching ; 2nd,
part home and part school education ; and 3rd, complete school or
professional methods.
The first class that I would refer to are the professional class,
and of their methods I have but this to say, that having been edu-
cated myself in a great measure in the common schools of our
beloved Province I have the deepest respect and gratitnde for their
methods, but at the same time I would say this that I think they
will be most successful when they achieve the utilitarian and not the
ornamental only, when to return to our simile, they show in their
gardens the good old domestic plants brought to a higher stage of
perfection by the more successful methods at the disposal of the
professional gardener.
The second or middle class therefore is the one that should be
most successful, as it should combine the amateur or domestic class
and the professional, but unfortunately it often tends to take only a
smattering from both, but not their strong points, which would make
such a powerful union.
The last or domestic class is the one to which I would draw
particular attention because in a great measure it comprises those
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 85
methods that seem to me to be neglected, in fact they are mainly to
be found in this class.
The domestic class therefore being so important in my estimation,
it will be advisable for me perhaps to explain what I mean, and it is
this: The class which provides that finish and, at the same time, that
good foundation for a first-class education, which are to be only had
where the parents are able and willing to not only impart the first rudi-
ments, but when it is deemed advisable to send the children to school,
maintain a careful supervision of the lessons taught in school, while
at the sametime they areconstantly imparting information in branches
which only can be properly taught at the home fireside. Here I
would revert to my garden simile, for as in an old fashioned flower
garden there are many sweet flowers such as were to be found in the
gardens of our grandparents, such as it is apparently impossible for
professional gardeners to rear, so there were many lessons that our
parents learnt from their parents and we ourselves may have learned
in a measure, but which we do not seem able to have either the time
or ability to impart to our children, and it is useless to look to our
schools for instruction in them.
However, I am reminded here of an apparent injustice I am
doing our good friends, the members of the Y. W. C. A., and more-
over, this reminder is made the more forcible because it has the
support of my allegory. Within the last few years, amongst flower-
loving people, there has been a demand for some of the oldfashioned
flowers, such, for instance as sweet peas and cornflowers, and the
florists have accordingly attempted with varying success to supply
the demand. In the same way there is now also an appeal made for
instruction in domestic arts, and the matter has been brought very
forcibly to the attention of the Board of Education by the Y. W. C.
-A., but I have grave doubts whether the training that these ladies are
so anxious and willing to give would equal that received in the old
school, the home. Many a joke is made about the. comparisons
made by young husbands between their wives’ cooking and that of
their mothers, the contrast being in favour of the latter ; and certainly
our parents and grandparents had much skill in this respect that
could never be achieved in our best equipped modern school of
manual training, and the same may be said of housekeeping in
general.
86 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
It will naturally be asked then to what are we to attribute this
state of affairs? Are we not, it will be pertinently asked, as clever
as our parents, and are not our facilities greater? To which it mus;
be promptly answered that there is no evidence of mental degener_
ation, nor are we wanting in facilities, but on the contrary we are
truly blessed in this respect and are justly proud of our posses-
sions.
But this pride, alas, is a presage of our coming destruction, and
to this abundance of riches we must attribute our poverty, for, unfor-
tunately, where we have so many means of achieving what we desire
we do not content ourselves with one or two implements but are ever
looking for new ones or else too gladly trying the new ones that are
advocated.
Another evil arises from the apparent greater activity of our
minds. Weare so constantly like the Athenians of old, looking for
something new, that we forget the injunction of the ancient sage that
there is nothing new under the sun.
As a result of this constant looking out for new objects of in-
terest we find there is either a continual neglect of the old reliable
interests or else there is a tendency to superficiality. We get only a
smattering of knowledge of the various branches of education to
which we apply ourselves, and our time is so taken up with our
various occupations that we have no time for any of them and are
liable to neglect often some of the most important ones. Likea child
surfeited with new toys we will ere long have a cupboard full of cast-
off occupations and recreations.
This too constant absorption and ill-advised arrangement of our
time is, I take it, one of the features of our times which is of rather
grave omen, and should require our most serious consideration, for in
time, as a result of the anxiety and worry which are often necessary
concomitants, there cannot but follow exhaustion of the intellectual
faculties with all that that means, in fact at times insanity and even
death.
Another evil too that we sometimes see is that by an apparent
repulsion we lose heart at the thought of so many expedients lying
before us, and we do not exert ourselves to make a proper selection
of the materials at hand, but having one or two fairly servicable we
content ourselves with them, and so drop into a stereotyped method
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 87
and soon fall behind in the race of life, not from over use but from
an equally deplorable disuse.
On all sides it will be admitted that this age is also in danger
from the fact that old fields of labor are fast becoming exhausted, not
only from the want of that productiveness which might supply the
demands that would have been made by our forefathers, but because
there is such a keen competition from so many more occupants being
in the field, that they are driven to seek new fields which will soon
suffer from exhaustion unless something is done to regulate this
competition and make a better adjustment of the time at our dis-
posal.
We must seek for relief therefore, and in our methods of
education naturally think that we will find that great assistance can
be obtained, but unfortunately not so much as we wish and this I
think is due to the fact that too much is now expected from our
professional schools of education while we neglect the domestic
school.
There is also a tendency on the part of the home authorities to
shirk some of the responsibility that rests upon them. I have al-
ready endeavored to show some of the reasons for this, noteably the
great want of time in this busy age.
Another factor is a peculiarity of human nature that we see
illustrated in the dealings of the public in general with other public
arrangements for their welfare, for while at one time they would look
askance at the proposals of educators to help them, now they expect
everything from them, even as in the case of hospitals and asylums ;
at one time the public could hardly be induced to send their relatives
and friends to them for treatment, while now a great difficulty that
those in charge of these institutions have to face is how to prevent
unsuitable cases being sent to them.
There is also a tendency to shirk responsibility shown in another
way on the part of the domesticschool. We are constantly being
treated to dissertations on the amount of home work that is imposed
on scholars. Now I am quite willing to admit that there is considerable
foundation for the charge, and it forms in fact one feature of that state
of affairs I have referred to, viz., the disposition in these days to multi-
ply occupations and so absorb too much of our time. But there are,
as In every case, two sides to this question and I think there is a
88 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
tendency to misplaced sympathy, too much being given the scholars
and not enough shown for their painstaking teacher. I have never
taught school myself, as far as day schools are concerned, but I will
admit to having had a little experience in Sunday school work, and
from what I encountered there I am disposed to sympathize very
much with the teacher, and I think that if the different classes of
educational methods were put on another footing far better results
would be achieved.
I have already expressed my disapproval of the tendency to
multiply studies, but I have no objection to a variety if properly
managed. In my own experience at the schools I attended,
during the acquisition of my elementary education, many subjects
were actually crammed into my memory which I have long since
forgotten. For instance in the common school we used at one time
to memorize long columns of dates without any information as to
the events they represented, but these have long been forgotten,
never to be recalled, except perhaps when the same figures are pre-
sented to notice, as the number of a telephone—my tailor for in-
stance has the same number as the year that one of the English
monarchs came to the throne. During my professional course,
though, I had an experience that I think might be utilized as a par-
tial solution of the difficult problem of arranging children’s lessons.
At the medical school we had, as is more or less the case everywhere, a
certain number of didactic lectures, and on every subject we had to
attend two courses. ‘These lectures we used to take down in our
note books more or less fully. When the time came for the second
course of lectures we would find that our professors would often re-
peat the lectures word for word, and accordingly used to adopt
the plan of following the lecture with our old notes, making additions
when any new matter was introduced. ‘Then, on returning to our
boarding houses, instead of reading up our notes as we had to do
when first we took them down, we could read up our books of ref-
erence or text books on the same subject. Now why could nota
similar plan be adopted in our public schools. Let the teachers
teach the subjects in the schools and then let there be home work
bearing on the work of the schools, with just enough to learn to fit
the scholars for long enough examinations next day to show that they
have profited by the teaching of the day before.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 89
By no means do away with home work, but on the contrary let
the domestic feature be encouraged for several reasons: First of all,
the teacher with a large class numbered by the scores cannot individ-
ualize and give that particular attention to a scholar which could be
given at home ofan evening, and so assist in maintaining the degree of
progress attained by a brighter companion. Secondly, even as the
owner of the garden referred to in my simile, who works it himself,
will not only enjoy the recreation of gardening for the sake of the
flowers that will grow all the better for the time he devotes to them,
but will also feel stronger and brighter in every way, so the parent
who looks after his or her child’s lessons of an evening will not only
feel rewarded by seeing his child's mental growth but he will find
that his own mental powers are refreshed by the return to subjects
once well known but now long forgotten. Thirdly, the parent can
also act the counterpart of the reference books and text books used
by the college student, and give information often that will serve to
impress more fully the lessons taught in the schools than ordinary
school teaching will do, for undoubtedly the lessons taught by a
parent have far more lasting impression than those taught by an out-
sider, who has not the influence that instinctively goes with the in-
struction imparted by a loving parent who has gained the confidence
that the most skilful teacher may take years to win from the scholar.
Another reason that I would advance is that there is too much
tendency in these days to desert the home circle of an evening, when
there are so many outside attractions and such a tendency to seek
amusement from home, on the part of not only the fathers, but even
the mothers and children themselves. If, therefore, the parents
made more of a practice of looking after their children’s lessons of
an evening than I am afraid is often the case, while at the same time —
the teachers arranged their share of the work so that the lessons
would not be too extensive, we would find the home circles would
have time for profitable recreations as well. Many a parent who
now finds his time so all-absorbing would find that as a result of the
time so given up of an evening he would be able to turn his attention
with far brighter faculties to his business the next day. A series of
children’s books was much in vogue thirty years ago, some of them
if not all by Maria Edgworth, the principal characters being a boy
and girl named Harry and Lucy, that in fact being the title of some
go JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
of the series. These two children were made to take what we would
now consider rather an oldfashioned interest in popular science, but
nevertheless for my part I have never forgotten some of the inform-
ation that I derived from them, but what I would particularly call
attention to was the method in which these children were taught.
Harry used to discuss these subjects with his father while the latter
was shaving in the morning. In our days the average father has no
time to shave in the morning ; he either shaves at odd times when
he thinks he most needs it, or else rushes into a barber shop at a
spare moment. Now how much better would it be if we could only
arrange our business affairs so as to have these spare moments, not
only for our children’s instruction, but to save ourselves from a pre-
mature exhaustion of our faculties and energies.
So much for general teaching. And now there are some espec-
ial branches that are either neglected or improperly taught, so far as
my observations go and judging from my own personal experience.
But first of all, to be candid and at the same time better enforce my
remarks, I would like to refer to the well taught ones. To begin
with then the three R’s, reading is certainly better taught than it
used to be, and in fact the same may be said of the other members
of the group, for before I left school more prominence was being
given to the practical rules in arithmetic, and easier methods were
being adopted, while writing also was being given more attention to,
though I notice that the business colleges are still inclined to teach
fancy writing. Shorthand writing was barely known in my time, and
though bookkeeping was taught it was not taught any too well then.
Spelling, of course, we used to learn, but I think the great fact was
not sufficiently emphasized, that a good speller must ever try to have
the word he would spell before his mind’s eye. In these days of
phonetic spelling there is, I am afraid, a tendency to lose sight of the
derivation of words and encourage the cultivation of the ear more
than the eye, but it will be none the less needful to picture the word
especially until the new characters that have been advocated are
fully adopted.
Literature in my day was an almost unknown subject, and even
now I think that while it forms a prominent feature of our school
curricula, it is one of the branches that would be the better taught
if the home influences were called on to assist. In my day the
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. cep
specimens of English literature that were brought to our notice were
only produced as reading pieces, or else, what was most uninteresting
of all, to be analysed, and nothing could be more likely to make the
average scholar detest a selection of poetry than this attempt to find
the subject and predicate in a specimen of Milton’s blank verse.
Having then my own experience in this respect in view I would beg
my friends the professional educators to see to it that there is nothing
in their methods to create a distaste for the author whose works may
furnish the literature for the year’s examination, but on the contrary
encourage them to make a study of the same author when at home.
The next subject I would refer to is one that I approach with
fear and trembling, and that is grammar. During my school days I
had at least three different text books on the subject as far as Eng-
lish grammar is concerned, and from what I can gather there have
been several since, while it is doubtful to my mind if it is really
properly taught yet. And here I think that the best instruction is to
be had in the home circle, and that it will be found that the best
grammar is spoken by those who have the best ear and have been
taught from their earliest years to almost think it a crime to use bad
grammar. ‘There are two particular bugbears whose use has probably
been a puzzle to us all, those little words “shall” and “will.” My
mother, who was English, used to proudly tell me that an English-
man never made a mistake in their use, while she would intimate to
me that as my father was Irish it was very doubtful whether I would
ever learn to use them properly. In one of J. M. Barrie’s works he
makes one of his characters, a London editor, say to the hero, who
is being given a position as a leader writer: ‘‘ You are Scotch, are
you not? How are you on the use of ‘shall’ and ‘will’?” To
which he is bound to reply that he is not at all certain as to their
proper use.
There are two other branches which are liable to be thought
dry and uninteresting, viz: geography and history. ‘These, I think
could be made more attractive if the domestic school was more ap-
pealed to, and also if in teaching the former we did not simply teach
the names of rivers, lakes, and seas, islands, peninsulas and capes,
cities, towns and villages, and state the boundaries of the countries,
but on the contrary endeavored to point out the historical points of
interest connected with them.
Qg2 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Then with regard to history, do not let it be an accumulation of
dry dates and enumeration of facts to which they correspond, but let
fuller particulars be given of the most important ones.
With regard to geography, in these days of excursions it is with-
in the power of the teacher, whether belonging to the professional or
domestic class, to visit some of the points mentioned and thus be
better able to describe them.
An especially weak point though, in my experience of the teach-
ing of history, is that not enough attention is given to Canadian
history. I was taught very little of it at school because I was allowed
to skip a class after a promotion examination, and the class I passed
over was the only one in which was taught Canadian history. The
other day I picked up the school history now in use and found that
it was, according to the title page, both an English and Canadian
history, but on investigation discovered that the Canadian section
was at the end of the work, and I wondered whether in all probability
that part of the book would ever be reached.
There is, I know, rather a tendency to belittle Canadian and
American history, and also make out that there is very little of liter-
ary and historical interest to be met with when travelling in this
country, while we dilate on the points of interest and beauty to be
met with in other countries.
I will admit that I have erred in this respect to some extent
myself, for many of the places of note in this country that I have
visited during my holiday trips were the objects of tours I have made
since visiting the European continent. At this present time there
are people in the city of Hamilton who have never perhaps visited
the Thousand Isles. In 1894, I met a young Hamiltonian who had
often visited Muskoka and Georgian Bay, and who was then making
his first trip down the St. Lawrence, while I had then just returned
from my first visit to Mackinaw, and last summer was the occasion
of my first visit to Parry Sound and Muskoka. To come nearer
home, how many have visited Lake Medad? I, for one, have not,
and if it had not been for field day trips of the biological section I
might yet have to make my first trip to Ancaster sulphur springs or
the burning spring at Mount Albion. I have also heard of people
who had never gone up the incline railway to see the view ; some
have never been in the public library building or the museum of our
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 93
Association, while others have. never visited Chedoke or Webster’s
Falls, and I must confess that I have never yet gone to the top of our
City Hall, although in 1890 I went to the top of the Capitol at
Washington. ‘These instances alone will show how much of practical
geography might be learnt at little or no expense if we would only
jook about us while at home.
Then to turn to history, how many have visited the scene of the
battle of Stony Creek? How many are acquainted with the history
of even our own city and can tell where the first Protestant church
in Hamilton stood? I had the actual building pointed out to me
on the occasion of a visit to Hamilton in 1878, the first visit that I
ever made here, and like many visitors I saw things then that I might
never see here when a resident. How many have read the history
of the first trip made to Hamilton or Burlington bay, of which we
have record? ‘Then to turn to the physical geography or history of
this neighborhood, how many have read a paper read before our
Association which advances the very plausible theory that the Grand
river once emptied into Hamilton bay? Considerable interest might
be roused also amongst scholars if they were taught the origin of some
of the names of our cities or even our very streets. A visit to some
of our churchyards and cemeteries might also be made very inter-
esting from the historical suggestions that would arise from some of
the inscriptions. I remember one of my friends telling me how
impressed he was with the fact that no members were to be
found in Hamilton of some families whose names he had seen in
Hamilton cemetery, and the same could be said of most old ceme-
teries.
By thus exciting an interest in the history of our own locality,
we will cultivate a taste for investigations of a similar kind when
visiting other parts of our own country, and I think it will be found
as I have already intimated that we need not bewail the want of his-
torical associations in connection with the different points to be seen
when travelling on our own beautiful rivers and lakes.
Quite as stirring scenes have been enacted here if we only had
the records, and it is a most favorable sign the interest shown in the
proceedings of the several historical clubs that have been formed
throughout the Dominion, and the increased patriotic sentiment
that is being fostered.
94 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
But while I would thus advocate the special study of our own
history, we must not forget the history of the land from which our
forefathers came, as so much of our own history is involved in it.
However if the interest is properly aroused in our own, as a conse-
quence it will soon follow that the scholar will want to extend his
studies in the direction of the history of the older countries, and
moreover, I think he will find the study less irksome when taken up
under those circumstances.
Another branch of study that should be more encouraged is
that which we as members of this Association are particularly inter-
ested in—the study of the geology, fauna and flora of our own land,
and this also is work for the domestic school in particular. On
other occasions I have presented my views on the subject, views
which I am sure will be echoed, and in fact have been already often
dealt with by other members of the Association, but in view of the
pertinency of the subject a further reference will be in order now.
The particular point that I would dwell on is that not only is
the study of natural history in all its branches of value from the in-
terest attached to the objects of this study, but the fact that they are
best studied in the open air, necessitating long walks or drives, is
alone of great benefit, especially when it draws those whose occupa-
tions are inclined to keep them too closely confined, away from their
toil and worry, consequently when these branches are being studied
in the domestic school as they should be, the parents who take a
proper interest in their children’s lessons will reap this benefit, thus
carrying out my garden simile in an additional way. Another very
important argument in favor of the study of natural science is that
it cultivates the child’s powers of observation, and thus gives them
another great aid to happiness.
I think no better instances of the value of the life devoted to
this study could be found than is presented by some of our worthy
members. One I know of was failing in health and was ordered to
give up business and keep in the open air. This gentleman, who is
now residing in another city, when he was ordered to stay out of
doors as muchas possible, accordingly devoted himself to entomology,
and so thoroughly that he was able by his contributions to scientific
journals to enhance the happiness of his friends while he now holds
an important position in connection with his chosen study.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 95
I would also call attention to the life of the gentleman whose
notes have often been contributed to our meetings. A conversation
with him is a marvellous treat, and especially if in the open air.
There is not a plant that he does not know the botanical name of,
and not a bird whose note he does not recognize at once.
In conclusion, I would say that to some of my hearers I may
seem to be rather too conservative and inclined to discredit modern
advances. Such a charge I would refute, for no one is more willing
to admit the value of new systems and methods, but I would like to
utter a note of warning as the spirit of competition is so great and
there is such a tendency to consider the latest invention and theory
the best, that it behooves us to be on our guard, and while we would
prove all things and by no means reject them because they are new,
yet let us give them a careful test and then only hold fast that which
is good. ‘These ideas I am afraid are rather fragmentary and at the
best only suggestions, but if they in any way assist in our work as
educators I will feel highly rewarded.
96 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,
LOCAL MUSEUMS.
Read before the Hamilton Association, Nov. 7th, 1895.
BY A, ALEXANDER.
The subject which I have chosen for this night’s paper is ‘‘ The
Local Museum as an adjunct to our educational system.” A dry
subject you may say, but not so to me, though very likely you may
consider my f¢veatment of the subject as dry as the average museum
specimen is.
Allow me to preface my remarks on the subject proper with a
few reasons for choosing this subject for discussion.
And first of all, I may say that though we have had a museum
as you see it to-night for about fifteen years, we have never, as far as
I know, once sat down together to decide what our objects were in
founding and continuing it. This may appear rather a serious re-
flection upon our wisdom in this connection. Well, I thought it
must surely be time that we as an Association should look our mu-
seum and each other straight in the face, and ask each other and
ourselves what we propose doing in relation to it, and what we had
been doing for the promotion of Literature, Science and Art through
the influence of this miscellaneous collection which we call our
museum. ;
In the second place, I may state that ever since 1888, the year
when we began, through the Biological Section, the collecting, nam-
ing, classifying and preserving, for future reference by the botanical
students and general public of the city, of the native flora of the
Hamilton district, from a defined area, I have had the idea ever
present to my mind which I purpose trying to make clear in this
paper, I thought if plants, why not animals and rocks, fresh water
and land shells, and insects ?
It always appeared to me that not only to the teachers and
students of our college and common schools, but also to the ordin-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 97
ary dweller in our city, such a complete collection of the natural
objects found in our neighborhood, properly classified, named and
clearly labelled and openly exhibited, would not only be interesting
beyond conception, but would be a great aid and auxillary to the
educational machinery of our city. Not only would such a collec-
tion, if formed on the lines which I will indicate, be a valuable ad-
junct to our school system, but also to our Free Library, for surely
the actual specimen of bird, or insect, or flower, must convey a
clearer and more perfect conception than the best executed illustra-
tion in a book possibly could do.
The third reason that I will name for bringing this matter
before my fellow members to-night is, that among the many sights
which interested me in 1892, during my visit to Europe, none
pleased me more than a visit made to the new Great National Mu-
seum of Natural History at Kensington, London, and to a museum
in my native county of Perth, Scotland. In the former I saw what
appeared to me a perfect collection arranged on the lines on which
the museum of the future will always be if it is to take its place as
an educational factor.
It is not necessary here to give a description of the vast build-
ing, or of the seemingly interminable succession of airy, light and
spacious galleries and rooms, and the collections from every part of
the world of the former named institution. Suffice it to say, that in
it is contained all the natural history objects removed from the
British Museum, as well as the collections of nearly ail the learned
societies in London, including those of the Royal Society, the Zoo-
logical and Anthropological Societies, and others.
It is in truth a Nationat Museum, and worthy of the Great
Empire, at the heart and centre of which it stands.
The other museum is a provincial one, and is in the town of
Perth, on the beautiful banks of the Tay. ‘This museum has been
in existence as an old-time museum, or curiosity shop if you like,
for many years, for I remember being taken to it by my father more
than half a century ago: but, except a dim memory of an elephant’s
tusk, an alligator, whose glass eyes were dim with dust, a mummy
case said to contain a second cousin to one of the Pharaohs, with
numberless rusty swords and claymores, chairs that Scottish kings
and nobles had sat on, with many stuffed birds and other natural
98 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
history objects, all without arrangement, or, as far as I remember,
any attempt to convey any definite idea. But now how changed!
It seems that about twenty years ago a few enthusiastic naturalists
connected with the society having charge of the museum, resolved
to make as complete a collection as possible of the flora and fauna of
the county of Perth, and only last November the collection which I
saw in 1892, with additions since made, was removed to a fine new
wing built on purpose to receive this local gathering of the birds,
animals, flowers, rocks and minerals of the county. Among these
collectors was Colonel Drummond Hay, of Pitfour Castle, a resident
of the parish in which I first saw the light, and who has made a
life-study of the habits of ‘‘The Birds of Tay,” and who has con-
tributed nearly the whole of the magnificent ornithological portion
of this fine collection. The occasion of this opening was considered
so important from a Scientific and educational point of view that all
the leading educationists and scientific men of neighboring counties
were there, and several from Edinburgh and London, as well as the
leading citizens and country gentry. When I saw that collection
three years ago it seemed to me a realization of the dream I had
been indulging in regarding this museum of ours. What they have
done we surely can do. If they hada Colonel Hay we havea
Colonel Grant, who has shed a lustre over geological science and
collecting, and therefore on us just as the former has on ornithology
and the Perth museum. And have we not a MclIlwraith, who has
with a life-long devotion given himself to this study, and whose bird
knowledge has been laid at our feet, and who has by the same made
us known and respected in many lands besides our own. Need I
speak of Mr. A. E. Walker and our worthy President, able coadju-
tors of Col. Grant in bringing to light the hidden things of the rocks.
These, with Mr. Dickson in botany, and the yet undiscovered suc-
cessor of our good friend Mr. Moffat in entomology, should give us
good heart in starting out to found and carry out what I am sure
must be the museum of the future in this city.
If we make an effort therefore to so agitate this matter from to-
night that we can get the authorities, either national, provincial
or municipal, to believe that the district museum on the lines indi-
cated by this paper is a necessary part of the country’s educational
equipment, we will have done a good work, and helped on the gen.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 99
eral advancement of human knowledge of the common objects which
are lying all around our path.
The only other reason why I chose this subject, which I will
name, is that some months ago a sister society in this city was
agitating the question of a museum, I presume primarily historical.
It occurred to me that it would bea pity if two institutions in the
same community should be claiming recognition as desirous of
founding a museum when one of them had already a nucleus of a
museum in hand, and when by union the objects of both could be
realized with greater ease.
Just one word more before I come to the subject proper, and
this by way of encouragement, to undertake the collection hinted at.
The older members of the Association will remember that, when we
took up house of our own, after having lived for many years in tents
as it were, our properties available for museum purposes con-
sisted of a few old boxes of fossils and minerals, a moth-eaten emu,
a dilapidated flying squirrel, a spiny fish (the ornithorinchus), an old
owl, a large wasp nest, a copy of the Breeches bible, and a few sun-
dry curios.
And now we see what has been added, largely without much
effort, an indication I think of what might be in a few years hence
if we lay down a plan and vigorously carry it out.
It is hardly necessary for me to say anything in such a meeting
as this upon the advantages of such a work as I trust our Associa-
tion desires to encourage by means of a museum. We will, if you
please, take that for granted.
The formation of such societies as ours in all the principal cen-
tres of population in the country, and not only on this western con-
tinent but in all lands in which anything like intellectual culture has
a hold upon the people, is a proof that they fulfil a national want in
the human mind in its present stage of development. The steady
increase in the number of these societies—for they are mostly the
offspring of the latter half of the present century—shows that this
want is becoming more keenly felt as time goes on. I find out of
sixty-three societies affiliated with the British Association, which is
to meet in Toronto next year, no less than forty-eignt of them had
their origin since 1850. I have not been able to get the statistics
of kindred societies in the United States and Canada, but it would
100 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
be found to be as true of them. °I may therefore safely say that
societies for the study of natural history are the growth of our own
age, and I think a sign of its intellectual advance.
I must, however, remember that it is not of our society gener-
ally that I have to speak to-night, but of one of the methods by
which it proposes to carry on the practical study of natural science
by the formation of a museum, or more especially as to the value of
our museum as a means of education.
Of the general value of museums—using the word in its widest
sense as collections of works of art and of nature—in the intellectual
advance of mankind, there can be no question, How could art
make any progress, how could it even exist, if its productions were
destroyed as soon as they were created, if there were no museums,
public or private, in which they could be preserved and made avail-
able to mankind now and hereafter? How could science be studied
without ready access to the materials upon which knowledge is built
up? In many branches of science, especially those called natural
history, the progress was mainly commensurate with the abundance |
and accessibility of such material. ‘Though the first duty of mu-
seums was without question to preserve the materials upon which
the history of mankind and knowledge was based, I have noticed in
the numerous succession of essays, addresses, lectures and papers,
constituting what I may be permitted to call the museum literature
of the last twenty or thirty years, the gradual development of the
conception that the museum of the future is to have for its complete
ideal not only the simple preservation of the objects contained in it,
but above all, their arrangement in such a manner as to provide for
the instruction of those who visit it. In other words, the value of
the museum will be tested not only by its contents but by the ¢veat-
ment of those contents as MEANS OF ADVANCING KNOWLEDGE.
I suppose the first recorded institution which bore the name
museum, meaning a temple or haunt of the muse, was that founded
by Ptolemy Soter at Alexandria about 300 B. C., an excellent paper
on which was read before this Association several years ago by Mr.
Glyndon. But that was not a museum in our sense of the word, but
rather in accordance with its etymology, a place appropriated to the
cultivation of learning, or which was frequented by a society or
academy of learned men, devoting themselves to philosophical
studies and the pursuit of knowledge.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. Io!
Passing over (for time will not permit) the slight indications
left of the existence of collections at all resembling our modern mu-
seums among the ancients, we find with the revival of learning in
the middle ages, the coé/ecting instinct inborn in so many persons of
various nations and periods, but so long in abeyance, spring into
existence with considerable vigor, and a museum, meaning at that
time a collection of miscellaneous objects as well as natural curiosi-
ties, often associated with a gallery of sculpture and painting, be-
came a fashionable appendage to the establishment of many wealthy
persons of superior culture. As far as I can ascertain, all the ear-
liest collections comparable to what qwe call museums were formed
by and maintained at the expense of private individuals—sometimes
physicians, whose studies led them to a taste for biological science.
I find also that great merchant princes, whose trading connec-
tions afforded opportunities for bringing together things that were
considered curious from foreign lands, made collections called mu-
seums. Sometimes ruling monarchs, in their private capacity, had
_ tastes running in that direction. In every case, however, these col-
lections were maintained mainly for the gratification of the possessor
or his personal friends, and rarely, if ever, associated with any sys-
tematic teaching or public benefit. In England, the earliest im-
portant collectors of miscellaneous objects were the two John Trade-
scants, father and son, the latter of whom published in 1656 a little
work called “‘ Museum Tradescantianum, or, a collection of Rarities
preserved at South Lambeth, near London.” I once saw a copy of
this work, and the wonderful variety, and in many instances incon-
gruous juxta position, of the objects contained in that collection,
made it very amusing reading.
Upon the association of individuals together into societies to
promote the advancement of knowledge, these bodies, in their cor-
porate capacity, frequently made the formation of a museum part of
their function. The earliest instance of this, I suppose, must have
been the Royal Society, who had a museum in Crown Court, Lon-
don, as early as the latter part of the 17th century.
But however interesting it might be to pursue this historical
part of the rise of the museum, to keep this paper within due bounds,
and have time for discussion at the close, I must content myself
with the two instances named.
102 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
As far as I am able to find out, the idea that the maintenance
of a museum was a portion of the public duty of the State, or of any
municipal body, had no where entered into the mind of man at the
beginning of the last century, nor indeed to any large degree at the
beginning of this century, for that matter. Even the great teaching
bodies—the universities (whose museums are now next to the na-
tional ones, the most important in the country) were slow in acquir-
ing collections. Of course it must be remembered that the subjects
considered most essential to the education they then professed to
give, were not those which needed illustrations from the objects
which could be brought together in a museum.
It is also worthy of remark, that notwithstanding the multipli-
cation of public museums during the present century, and the greater
resources and advantages which many of them possess, which pri-
vate collectors can not command, the spirit of accummulation in in-
dividuals has happily not passed away, although naturally directed
into rather different channels than formerly.
The general museums or collections of old time were now for
the most part left to governments and institutions, which afforded
greater guarantees of their permanence and public utility, while ad-
mirable service was done to science by those private persons with
leisure and means, who, devoting themselves to some special sub-
ject, amassed the materials by which its study could be procured in
detail, either by themselves or by those they knew were qualified to
do so. These collections, if they fulfilled their most appropriate
destiny, ultimately became incorporated by gift or purchase in one
or other of the public museums, and then served as permanent fac-
tors in the education of the nation, or, I might say, of the world.
The great national State supported museums which now exist
in every civilized country had certain definite purposes in view, and
methods of management which it is quite unnecessary for me to dis-
cuss now, for I want to speak of local museums and not national
ones.
No provincial or local institute could endeavor to enter into
competition with them, especially in the means they could, or ought
to supply, of advancing detailed knowledge by exhaustive collections
in every subject. To the extent of such an institution as the British
Museum, or those great museums on this continent, such as the
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, 103
Smithsonian Museum at Washington, or the one at Ottawa, which
is but in its infancy, I say to the extent of these there should be no
limit but those imposed by nature herself.
In the case, however, of all other museums, large or small, be-
longing to a town, institution, society or school, the first considera-
tion in its establishment should be, to have some definite and limited
object or purpose to fulfil, and the next, that means should be
forthcoming not only to establish it but to maintain it in a suitable
manner to fulfil that purpose. Some were enthusiastic enough to
think that a museum in itself was so good an object that they had but
to provide a building and cases, and a certain number of specimens,
no matter exactly what, to fill them, and then the thing was done,
whereas in truth the work had then only begun.
What a museum really depended on for its success and useful-
ness, was not its building, not its cases, not even its specimens, but
its curator. I look upon it that the local museum, to take its place
among the educational forces of the present time, must have a de-
finite object in view. I have already said that the success of such a
museum depends chiefly upon its curator and his staff. He is the
life and soul of the institution. We might as well build a church
and expect it to perform the duties required of it without a minister,
or a school without a schoolmaster, or a garden without a gardener,
as to build or form a museum and not provide a competent staff to
take care of it. I think at this point, and before I more definitely
say what I earnestly hope may be done with our museum, I may be
permitted to say that even our own little collection, miscellaneous
as it is, would not have been in the excellent condition in which we
find it to-day if it had not been for the unremitting devotion and
painstaking care, I had almost said loving care, manifested by our
valued and much esteemed curator, Mr. Gaviller, and with him I
would bear testimony to that part of our treasures which is by far
the most valuable, viz., the geological specimens that have been
brought together and arranged by our honored friends, Colonel
Grant, Mr. A. E. Walker and the President.
As I have already hinted, the first consideration in founding a
museum is to have a definite object or purpose to fulfil.
What in such a city as Hamilton should be the object? As I
have already said, we founded a museum about fifteen years ago,
104 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
and as far as I know this is the first time that the object and purpose
has been discussed, but it is not too late.
Instead of a general miscellaneous collection of all kinds of
curiosities thrown indiscriminately together as we find in the old
fashioned country or city museums. I suggest that we confine our
endeavors to two distinct objects, and two only (well, so that we have
not to throw any of our specimens away, say three), resolutely re-
fusing to mix them together or destroy the value of either by intro-
ducing into them specimens which however precious or interesting
in themselves would detract from or interfere with the special les-
sons to be derived from either of these two or three series.
The one should be a local collection, in which the natural his-
tory, the various animals, comprehending insects, birds, etc., the
wild flowers, the fossils, and the minerals of a certain definite area,
of which Hamilton would be the centre, would be so exhibited, -ar-
ranged and named, that any one could identify every creature and
plant he might chance to meet with in his walks. We have only to
fix our boundary and then the object becomes absolutely definite
and limited. Everything not occurring in a state of nature within
that boundary should be rigorously excluded. We have already, as
I have before stated, made a good beginning with the native plants,
and our geological treasures already brought together will furnish a
very good representation of our local rocks and fossils. I have no
doubt our very good friend, Mr. MclIlwraith, would permit us to
become his debtor once more for a few duplicate specimens as a
nucleus for a local ornithological collection. For entomology we
could get a few points from our old and kind friend Mr. Moffatt.
The fresh water and land shells of the district would be interesting,
and as Mr. Hanham, an old member of our Association once showed,
the district is especially rich in these, for he and Mr. George Leslie
in a few short seasons actually added several shells not before cata-
logued as being found in Canada.
Surely among the membership of this Association we have
young men with enthusiasm enough and tastes to prompt them to
take a hold of this really valuable work, one of the most important
we can take up and accomplish.
With painstaking collecting, and the necessary investigating,
and a moderate amount of curatorial work continuously applied as
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 105
new specimens came in—for it would be a long time before the
natural history even of this limited region was exhausted in all its
aspect would make that collection one of deep interest to all the
intelligent dwellers in the district, and a model to be followed in
other local museums,
Natural history in its various branches is now becoming a sub-
ject of general education. ‘There isa large class of persons who
would in all probability, year by year, as time went on, bear a greater
proportion to the general population of the country, who, without
having the time, the opportuuity, or the ability to make a profound
study of any one branch of science, yet took a general interest in its
progress, and wished to possess some knowledge of the world around
them, and with the principal facts ascertained with regard to it in
at least some portions of it. For such persons, our museum, if ar-
ranged as I have indicated, and well organized, would be a benefit
to a degree that could scarcely be realized at present.
Of course, while I consider that our first, and in some respects
our most important, aim should be to make this local collection, I
admit, from an educational point of view, it would be quite inade-
quate to give a general and consistent idea of the richness and va-
riety of the natural productions of the world in which we live, and
for that purpose, in a city like Hamilton, with its high educational
status, its Collegiate Institute and Normal College in prospect, we
should have another collection, requiring another room, the con-
tents of which must be gathered from every available source. It is
upon this part of a museum that the skill, the knowledge, the judg-
ment and the capacity of the museum curator would be exercised to
the utmost.
Instead of, as in the former series, we would welcome every ad-
dition, if originating within the prescribed limits, it would be one of
his principal duties sternly to refuse everything that did not dis-
tinctly claim a definite place in the system adopted. It would be
necessary in this division of the museum to determine on a general
plan for the series—nothing being admitted that did not fall in with
it, and this plan should be rigidly kept to.
The number of specimens must be strictly limited according to
the nature of the subject to be illustrated and the space available.
None must be placed too high or too low for ready examination.
106 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
There should be no crowding of specimens one behind the other,
every one must be perfectly and distinctly seen, and with a clear
space around it. Could we imagine a picture gallery with half the
walls partially or entirely concealed by others hung in front of them ?
Though this may appear to you preposterous, yet this seemed to be
still the approved arrangement of specimens in most public mu-
seums. If an object is worth putting in a museum it was surely
worth such a position as would enable it to be seen. Every speci-
men exhibited should be good of its kind, and all available skill and
care should be spent upon its preservation, and rendering it capable
of teaching the lesson it was intended to convey. Every specimen
should have its definite purpose, and no absolute duplicate should
on any account be admitted. Above all, the purpose for which each
specimen is exhibited, and the main lesson to be derived from it
should be distinctly indicated by the labels affixed both as headings
of the various divisions of the series, and to the individual speci-
mens. Mr. Brown Goode, the director of the U.S. National Mu-
seum, puts the point better than I can when he says, ‘“ An efficient
educational museum may be described as a collection of instructive
labels, each illustrated by a well selected specimen.”
I have already said that the museum required watchful and in-
cessant care, not only must the specimens contained in it, all more
or less perishable in their nature (as we have experienced by having
to throw away a large part of one of our entomological collections)
be continually looked to, and cleaned and renewed when necessary,
but fresh ones must be added to make the different series complete,
and they must often be re-arranged to keep pace with the continu-
ous advance of scientific knowledge.
An educational museum could not stand still or it ceased to be
of any value. It would have to keep abreast of the rapidly flowing
stream of knowledge. Now that could not be done without con-
tinual expenditure. If we are to have a museum which will fulfil its
highest purpose we must face that question.
Our museum, even in its present form, exists because of the
voluntary care bestowed upon it by the gentlemen I have already
named, whose unremitting watchfulness have alone made it presenta-
ble and of interest to the general public altogether apart or largely
so from any educational feature. But if founded on the lines which
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 107
I have hurriedly and imperfectly laid down, there must be a perma-
nent paid curator. Voluntary assistance was valuable, and we have
had splendid examples of what it can do, but we cannot depend on
that for any long continuance. A museum would never be what it
ought or do all that might legitimately be expected of it until the
curator’s profession was properly remunerated.
This brings me to the last point I wish to make. How was the
permanence of a museum like this to be secured? I have said in
the early part of this paper that museums were once all the private
property of individuals. Then associations or societies of individuals
took them up. Now it was gradually being recognized that it was
the duty of government and municipalities to maintainthem. Nearly
all the London societies formerly possessed museums, but as the col-
lections grew the expense of keeping them became a burden, and
they had been gradually transferred to government or other institu-
tions.
The marvellous spread of free libraries, partly state supported
and rate supported in our Dominion, especially in this Province,
which had taken place during the last few years, appeared to be
only the prelude to museums maintained in the same way, The
underlying idea of a library and a museum was precisely the same.
They were both instruments of intellectual culture, the one as much
as the other. That idea has been illustrated on a magnificent scale
in the great national Library and Museum in London, and on this
side of the ocean at Washington in the great Smithsonian Institute,
Library and Museum. I hope that we shall soon find that an
orderly well arranged and well-labelled museum would be acknow-
ledged as a necessity in any well considered scheme of educational
progress. Then the museum and the library would go hand in
hand as necessary complements to each other in the advancement
of science and art, and the intelligent development generally. A
book without illustrations is of comparatively little value in teaching
many of the most important subjects now comprised in general edu-
cation. A museum should be a book, or rather a library of books,
illustrated not by pictures only but by actual specimens of the ob-
jects named. ‘The great principle of expending public money upon
purposes of education, though comparatively new, is now con-
ceded upon all sides. ‘The cost of supporting a few really efficient
108 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
museums, of which I hope the Hamilton Association Museum will
be one, would be but a trifle compared with the thousands spent
upon far less efficient modes of educating and elevating the peo-
ple.
I have thus, I fear rather imperfectly, indicated what I con-
sider should be our aim in the future management of the museum :
ist. That our first work should be the collecting, naming, classify-
ing and exhibiting of a collection of the objects found in a state of
nature in a prescribed area around our city. That adopted by the
Biological Section is a circular area, with a radius of twelve miles
from the City Hallas acentre. Of course this might be modified
so as to make the County of Wentworth the district from which our
collections would be made. 2nd. Another series, more general,
with a room distinct from the other, as I have indicated, and I
would recommend a third room to receive the miscellaneous con-
tributions and donations made to the museum of objects which
could not be placed in either of the other two, and of value either
as teaching something or having a historical value.
I think I hear you saying how can we do all this when we are
crowded now? Well, I answer, we can’t do it in our present room,
with our present space and present means. I have in the course of
this paper, at least by implication, shewn where the means for carry-
ing on the work must or should come from,
And now I must draw this, already too long paper to a close
by quoting a few paragraphs from others as corroborative of the
opinions I have expressed, to show that if what I have stated as my
idea of what our museum should be in its aims be a dream that I
am not the only dreamer.
APPENDIX.
In a committee report made to the British Association for the
Advancement of Science upon the provincial museums of the united
kingdom, it is stated :
‘“The special objects of a free rate supported museum. in a
provincial town should be, rst, To contribute its share to the general
scientific statistics of the country by collecting and preserving speci-
mens of the natural and artifi ial productions of the district in which
it is situated,
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 10g
2nd, To procure such other specimens as may be desirable for
illustrating the general principles of science, and the relations of the
locality to the rest of the world.
3rd, To receive and preserve local collections or single specimens,
having any scientific value, which the possessors may desire to devote
to public use.
Ath, So to arrange and display the specimens collected as to
afford the greatest amount of popular instruction consistent with
their safe preservation and accessibility as objects of scientific study.
5th, To render special assistance to local students and teachers
of science.
Mr. F. T. Mott, a member of the committee whose report I
quoted from, in a paper read before the Leicester Literary and
Philosophical Society on the ‘‘ Development of Museums as public
instructors.” says: ‘‘Museums, free libraries and art galleries have
this in common, that they are each expected to fulfil two purposes
which are somewhat incongruous, and require to be pursued by
different methods and very different appliances. Each of these
institutions is expected to minister to the wants both of trained
students and of the untrained and ignorant public; and the demands
of these two classes of persons are so diverse that they must be pro-
vided for separately. The free library must have its lending depart-
ment for the general public, and its reference department for students.
The art gallery must have attractive and interesting pictures for
ordinary visitors, but it must also have masterly studies for the
instruction of young artists. [he museum, however, has a still more
complex and difficult part to play. It has not only to provide for
the diverse wants of students and visitors, but it has also to contribute
to the general progress of scientific knowledge. Every museum, at
least every provincial rate-supported museum, which is a public and
in some sense a national institution has a threefold duty, rst, to the
nation at large ; 2nd, to the students of the neighborhood, and 3rd,
to the local public. If museums are ever to be more than a confused
compound of the curiosity shop and the peep show, which very many
of them are at present, this three fold duty must be very clearly
recognized and sufficiently carried out.”
IIo JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Read before the Hamilton Association, May 7th, 1896.
BY INSPECTOR J. H. SMITH.
I have taken advantage of the kind invitation of your corres-
ponding secretary to lay before you a brief outline of the evolution
of our educational system. We all look with feelings of pride upon
its achievements, and although the high altitude of our individual
ideals may not be reached, yet taken all in all there can be no rea-
sonable doubt that it has few, if any, rivals for the foremost posi-
tion. Perhaps I may venture further, and say that it surpasses all
in many respects, and seldom falls below their level at any point.
This is notably true if we make our comparisons with those on this
continent, and measurably so, if made with those of the old world.
The circumstances and environment of the people, as well as the
forms of government, render it somewhat difficult to make a fair and
just comparison, yet the results show that we have a system which
when placed side by side with those of other countries (as at the ex-
hibitions in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Paris, London and Chicago),
nobly sustained its high reputation, won for itself a permanent posi-
tion in the van of progressive educational systems, and brought dis-
tinguished honors to Canada. A careful study of its development
will show that its rise has been wonderful, its progress phenomenal,
and its future bright with the signs of a greatly enlarged usefulness.
To this phase of the question I therefore purpose directing your at-
tention.
In order to trace this system through the various stages of its
growth and development, and to assist us in forming a fairly accu-
rate idea of the sources whence it has sprung, it will be neces-
sary to refer to the early colonial history of this continent. In these
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. IIt
references we shall confine ourselves to facts bearing upon educa-
tional matters, and which show quite conclusively that some of the
principles underlying our present system were, even in these colonial
days, recognized and applied. As early as 1633, a school was opened
in New Amsterdam, and in 1638 provision was made, ‘‘ That each
householder and inhabitant should bear such tax and public charge
as shall hereafter be considered proper for the maintenance of school-
masters.” This is the first recorded instance on this continent of
the application of the principle of taxation for the support of schools.
In 1635 the first school was opened in Boston, and in 1642 a reso-
lution was passed by the general court or legislative body, enjoining
upon the local authorities the necessity of seeing, ‘‘ That the child-
ren and servants of each family be taught to read fluently the Eng-
lish language, and to acquire a knowledge of the penal laws.” This
resolution or law was enforced by a penalty of twenty shillings for
neglect, and so far as my researches have gone, is the first instance
of compulsory education. In 1647 the first legislative enactment in
favor of schools was made in Massachusetts, and the Governor of
Connecticut declared in 1670, ‘* That one-fourth of the revenue of
the State was devoted to schools.”
The absence of newspapers, the scarcity of books, and the want
of means for rapid transit in these early days, caused public opinion
to be very slow in making its influence felt. These hindrances, to-
gether with the political excitement that steadily increased in fer-
vency until it led to the revolt of the thirteen colonies, threw the
cause of education far into the background, and seriously retarded
the advancement of learning. When this unfortunate war was
brought to a close, large numbers of faithful adherents and loyal
upholders of British supremacy, finding the altered state of their re-
lations to the government distasteful to their feelings and repugnant
to their sense of honor, left their homes, and began life as pioneers
of civilization, on the northern shores of the great lakes. These
loyal people brought with them, not only fealty to England’s throne,
and a love for British institutions, but a deeply seated desire to rear
in this, the land of their choice, a nation that should become one of
the brightest gems in the British crown. The only means by which
such a desirable end could be attained was that of educating the
people, for no nation has risen to an honorable position in the world
112 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
without at least having the governing classes well educated, and no
nation has attained a high degree of excellence in commerce, or
manufactures, or agriculture, without having the benefits of educa-
tion widely diffused among the masses.
The ruling principle of government in this Province being more
democratic than aristocratic in its tendencies, it follows as a natural
sequence that the proper education of the masses is a matter of
prime necessity. The reign of the common people has steadily ad-
vanced in influence, until now, freedom, education and religious
equality are the inalienable rights of all. There was a struggle, long
and at times very bitter, before these blessings were secured to us,
and nowhere are the effects of this struggle to be seen more clearly
than in our early educational history. The leading actors in this
drama have passed away, but they have bequeathed to us an educa-
tional system, of which it may be truly said, that it is a monument
more durable than brass or marble, and more noble than the con-
quest of nations, or the destruction of armies.
To the early educational history of this Province, we shall now
turn our attention and endeavor to trace the growth and develop-
ment of those principles which underlie our present system. Owing
to the sparseness of the population, and the poverty of the majority
of the people in these early days, only a few private schools were
opened. Kingston has the honor of having had the first school of
any kind in Upper Canada. In 1785 the Rev. Dr. Stewart opened a
school in Cataraqui, now Kingston, in which the study of classics
was a leading feature. This was followed by one at Port Rowan,
in 1789, one at Niagara in 1792, one at Ancaster in 1796, and one
at York in1798. About the beginning of the present century, other
schools were opened, the principal ones being at Cornwall, Sandwich
and St. Catharines. These were entirely supported by fees, and
were patronized by the more wealthy people.
The Legislature of Upper Canada in 1797 sent a memorial to
His Majesty, George III, asking a grant of land for the endowment
of District Grammar Schools, and of a Provincial University. In
reply to this memorial the Duke of Portland, then Colonial Minis-
ter, sent a despatch to the acting Governor, in which he says :—
“His Majesty has expressed his gracious intention to comply with
the wishes of the Legislature of his Province of Upper Canada in
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. MGA
such manner as shall be judged to be most effectual ; first, by the
establishment of free Grammar Schools in those districts in whi h
they are called for ; and secondly, in due process of time by estab-
lishing other seminaries of a larger and more comprehensive nature ~
for the promotion of religious and moral learning and the study of
arts and sciences.”
In accordance with the terms of this dispatch half a million
acres of land were set apart for higher education, but it was soon
found that even this large quantity, at the prices then current,
was quite insufficient for endowing a number of Grammar Schools.
This scheme had therefore to be abandoned, and in 1807 an Act
was passed establishing a Public School in each of the eight dis-
tricts into which this Province was then divided, and giving an an-
nual grant in support of the same. A Board of Trustees, consisting
of not less than five members appointed by the Governor, were em-
powered to make rules and regulations for the guidance of teachers
and pupils, to appoint, with the approval of the Governor, suitable
persons as teachers, and to have the general oversight of all school
matters. The location of these schools was fixed by statute. When
this Act was first passed its duration was limited to four years, but
in 1808 it was made permanent. In 1819 it was amended, and
three additional schools established, provision being made at the
same time for the free education of a limited number of poor but
worthy children, and for the holding of public examinations annually.
On the 12th of July, 1819, an Act was passed establishing a Public
School in the District of Gore. ‘This school was opened in 1820 in
the village of Hamilton, then seven years old. Stephen Randall
was the first teacher, a clever, scholarly man, educated by the
Bishop of Quebec. Dr. Rae, John Law, James Cahill and Patrick
Thornton also taught, and so far as I can learn, followed in
the order named. Two more schools were established in 1823,
and in 1837 the school in Vittoria was removed to the present
city of London. In 1839 the name was changed from Pub-
lic to Grammar Schools, the principle of local municipal grants
introduced, and a permanent endowment of 250,000 acres of
crown lands was made. With these changes and amendments
the Act of 1807 remained in force until it was superseded by
the Grammar School Act of 1853, which brought.these schools more
Ti4 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
directly under the control of the Education Department. By this
Act candidates for the position of head master, other than University
graduates, were required to pass an examination to test their fitness
for this work, Inspectors were appointed, and in 1858 a Model
Grammar School was opened in Toronto for the professional train-
ing of teachers. ‘This school was closed in 1863, with the expecta
tion that Upper Canada College would give a good classical and
commercial education to its students, and at the same time afford
ample facilities for this professional training. This latter hope was
never realized, and in 1885 certain Collegiate Institutes were set
apart as training schools for instruction in the theory of education
and the practice of teaching. Additional legislation, which greatly
promoted the efficiency of the Grammar Schools and added to their
usefulness, was obtained in 1866, but not without a hard struggle on
the part of the promoters. By the Act of 1871 the name was changed
to that of High School, and a superior order of classical schools es-
tablished under the title of Collegiate Institutes. Shortly after these
changes had taken place an additional Inspector was appointed, uni-
form Entrance Examinations instituted, and the principle of ‘ pay-
ment by results” adopted. ‘To apply this principle practically some
test was necessary. ‘This test was found in the ‘ Intermediate ”
Examination, which provoked something more than a spirited and
generous rivalry among the head masters. The principle of pay-
ment by results has wisely been abandoned and the more equitable
one based upon the salaries, the equipment, and the average attend-
ance, substituted therefor. The Intermediate has been merged into
the non-professional examination of teachers, and more recently into.
that of matriculation to our Universities. These secondary schools
occupy an honorable place in our educational system, and are
worthy the most cordial and hearty support of our people. Whether
we look at the buildings and equipments provided, the liberal course
of study pursued, the quantity and quality of the work done, or the
scholarship of those in whose charge they are placed, we feel that
they are schools which any people might well be proud to possess,
and we honor them accordingly.
In 1816, or nine years after the establishment of District Public
Schools, an Act was passed, granting the sum of $24,000 annually,
from the revenues. of the Province, for the support of Common
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. TL5
Schools. This sum was apportioned among the different Districts
into which the Province was divided on the basis of population.
The machinery for the management of these schools was of the simp-
lest form and consisted of a Board of Education for each District,
composed of five persons appointed by the Governor, and of a Board
of three Trustees who were elected annually, on the first day of June,
by the supporters of the school. The conditions necessary to estab-
lish a Common School were,—that the inhabitants of any town,
township, village or place should unite and provide a school-house,
furnish twenty scholars, and guarantee a portion of the teacher’s
salary. These conditions being complied with, a grant not exceeding
$100 was paid to the teacher from the money set apart by the
Legislature for the support of Common Schools. This Act being an
experimental one, was limited to four years’ duration. In 1820, the
Legislature reduced the annual grant to $10,000, ordered it to be
divided equally among the Districts, and repealed the time limit.
With these changes this Act formed the basis of the Common School
system and remained in force until 1841, when it was superseded by
the School Act of that year.
During the interval from 1820 to 1841 a number of special
and temporary Acts were passed, some for the purpose of fixing the
annual legislative grant, others to convey school sites from individ-
uals to school trustees, while others were for the relief of teachers,
who had suffered loss by the defalcations of some of the District
treasurers. In all this time little or no progress was made in
elementary education, except that the schools had increased in num-
ber. According to the testimony of leading public men, and of
persons travelling through the Province, the condition of educational
matters was simply deplorable. ‘The schools were schools in name
only, for to quote from a memorial presented to the Governor in
1835,—“‘ The little instruction given to the children under the name
of education has no influence over their morals, does nothing to open
or expand their intellectual faculties, much less to direct them on
their conduct through life. English reading imperfectly taught,
something of writing, and the first five rules of arithmetic, which the
teachers we employ are seldom able to explain, make up the meagre
sum total of what the rising generation learn at our Common
Schools.”
116 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Earnest efforts were put forth by a large number of people to
advance the cause of popular education ; petitions were presented to
the Legislative Assembly, on the strength of which committees were
appointed to consider the matter, and devise some means of relief,
but all these efforts proved futile. The reasons for this failure are so
forcibly and clearly stated in a memorial presented to the colonial
office in 1832 that I cannot forbear giving you the following extract
from it. The memorialists say: ‘‘ The establishing of places of
learning for the children of persons holding situations under the
Local Government and a few other wealthy or influential individuals,
at great public cost, but placed beyond the control of public opinion,
and from which the sons of the yeomanry derive no benefit or
advantage, while the exceedingly numerous and very reasonable
petitions of that yeomanry for public support to the all important
cause of general education throughout the colony are steadily resisted
by persons in authority, in and out of the Assembly, and even declared
to be unnecessary in the present state of the public finance, has the
effect of preventing that steady increase of capable men, fit for jurors,
for township and county officers, and for the halls of legislation,
whose feelings and interests would be most closely united and iden-
tified with the welfare, the happiness, the general prosperity of their
native country, and whose minds would (under a better order of things)
become fitted for the correct transaction of the public business of the
colony by previous observation, study and contemplation.” One of
the most important of these committees was that composed of Dr.
Charles Duncombe and Messrs. T. D. Morrison and T. Bruce, who
presented an elaborate report, and a carefully prepared Act in which
a comprehensive scheme of popular education was laid before the
Legislative Assembly. ‘This met the fate of other reports, and it was
not until the Union of 1840 was an accomplished fact that any
attempt was made at School Legislation.
In 1841 an Act was passed providing for the establishment and
maintenance of Common Schools, and by it an attempt was made
to bring these schools under the provisions of the same law
both in Upper and Lower Canada. This, however, proved a
failure, for in 1843 it was repealed and two separate Acts passed, one
for each of the Provinces. ‘This Act, shortlived as it was, is deserv-
ing of more than a passing notice, since it indicated the strong current
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. TI7
of public opinion that was setting in, favorable to a greatly enlarged
measure of popular education. ‘The principal provisions of this Act
were the establishment of a permanent fund for the support of Com-
mon Schools, the appointment of a Chief Superintendent of Educa-
tion, the introduction of the Separate School System, the utilizing of
certain portions of the municipal machinery (such as it was at that
time), for advancing the interests of these schools, and the formation
of school districts. When this Act was under discussion in the
Legislature, large numbers of petitions asking that the Bible be made
a text book in the Common Schools, were presented to the House of
Assembly. ‘These had the effect of raising a strong opposition from
the Catholic members, and the government of the day took the
somewhat unusual course of submitting one of their own measures
to a special committee of the House, to devise some means of har-
monizing these conflicting interests. The result of this committee’s
work, was, that power was given in certain cases to establish separate
schools. ‘These provisions have been continued in successive Acts,
until finally they were confirmed by the Confederation Act of 1867.
The School Act of 1843, in addition to the provisions contained
in the Act of 1841, made the Provincial Secretary, ex-officio Chief
Superintendent of Education, with power to appoint an assistant. It
also gave authority to the District Councils to appoint County and
Township Superintendents, and to establish County Model Schools
for the gratuitous instruction of teachers.
In 1844 the Rev. Dr. Ryerson was appointed Chief Superinten-
dent of Education, and in 1846 brought before the Legislature his
first school bill, which provided for the appointment of a Provincial
Board of Education, the establishment of a Normal School, the
appointment of District Superintendents, and levying an equivalent
to the legislative grant upon the different municipalities. This Act
was found defective in regard to the management of schools in cities
and towns, and therefore in 1847 a short act was passed remedying
these defects. The next school legislation took place in 1849, when
an Act was passed which caused Dr. Ryerson to tender his resignation
to the government of the day. This, the Attorney General refused
to accept, and took the somewhat unusual course of recommending
the Governor to suspend the operations of this Act until such time
as Dr. Ryerson could draft another, which from his knowledge and
118 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
experience in these matters, would meet the educational wants
of this Province. This was done accordingly and the School
Act of 1850 became the law of the land. The provisions of this Act
were so much more comprehensive in the matter of detail and so
much broader in their scope than those of former Acts, that it was
looked upon by not a few of the leading men of the times as being
almost revolutionary in its tendencies. Among other things it defined
clearly the manner of electing Trustees, and the duties and preroga-
tives of this office; fixed definitely the powers given to the various
Municipal Corporations ; provided for the appointment of Township
Superintendents, and the formation of County Boards of Public
Instruction ; prescribed the duties of the Chief Superintendent, and
the powers vested in his office; and made provisions for the estab.
lishment of the Council of Public Instruction to assist in the
management of certain parts of the school system. Supplementary
Acts were passed in 1852 and 1853, and the consolidation of these
was completed in 1858, after which no important legislation took
place until, in 1871, the principles of the Charter Act of 1850 were
extended so as to meet the increased educational requirements of
the time. By this Act, Township Superintendents were exchanged
for County Inspectors, the providing of adequate accommodation
was made imperative, a uniform standard of examination for all
teachers was established, the right given to every child within certain
ages to attend school, and contributions to the Superannuation Fund
were made compulsory. When radical changes, similar to these, are
made in any law, especially if these changes involve an increased
expenditure of money, strong opposition to their enforcement is
almost sure to follow. This was the case after the passage of the
Acts of 1850 and 1871, but now that the good results of these laws
are seen in the greatly improved state of the schools and premises,
the people naturally feel proud of the progress made and uphold the
laws which made these improvements possible. It required a firm
hand and a strong consciousness of being in the right to withstand
the pressure brought to bear to modify certain provisions of these
laws, but Dr. Ryerson possessed the necessary firmness, and our
educational interests were greatly benefited thereby.
Two important changes have been made in our school laws since
1871, the one caused by Dr. Ryerson resigning the office of Chief
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION, 119
Superintendent of Education, which led to the abolition of that office
and the appointment of a Minister of Education, the other arose out
of the necessity of having none but trained teachers placed in charge
of our schools. The Normal Schools were unable to meet the
demand thus created, and this led to the establishment of ounty
Model Schools for the professional training of Public School Teachers.
These changes have been productive of great good to our system,
have strengthened its hold on public confidence, and have given us
unequalled facilities for the education of the youth of our country.
From the brief sketch that I have been able to give of the vari-
ous Acts that have been passed by the Legislature, from the earliest
times to the present, and of the administration of these laws, it will
readily be seen that the following principles are the outcome of that
legislation, and form the basis of our present educational system.
These, briefly stated, are :
I. That our Public Schools are Free Schools. This forms the
chief corner-stone of our school system, and is the result, on the one
hand, of an enlightened public opinion demanding that this princi-
ple shall be embodied in our statutes, and on the other, of that in-
telligent legislation that yielded to this reasonable demand, and made
it the law of the land.
2. That adequate accommodation and properly qualified teachers
are provided for every child. ‘This follows as a natural sequence, for
if the schools are free to all, then they should be placed so that they
are accessible to all. ‘These two principles embody the idea that the
property of the country is responsible for the education of the youth
of the country, since the value of the property is greatly enhanced
by the diffusion of education among the masses, and conversely, the
prevalence of illiteracy depreciates the value of property.
3. That every child has the right to an education such as will fit
him for the duties of citizenship. ‘This is a necessary complement of
of our system of responsible government, for if the people are to pass
judgment upon the acts of their representatives in parliament, or
take part in the government of the country through our municipal
system, or assist in the administration of justice through our local
courts, it follows that they must be educated sufficiently well to ex-
ercise the rights of franchise, and discharge the duties of a citizen
in an intelligent manner.
120 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
4. That every teacher is specially trained for the duties of his pro-
fession This is simply the natural outcome of the three principles
already mentioned, for if the money expended in providing accom-
modation and furnishing the means necessary for the proper educa-
tion of the children of the country be wisely spent, it follows that
the education received should be of the most suitable kind, and
none but trained teachers can do this work satisfactorily and with
the best results.
5. That the general oversight of the Schools ts placed tn the hands
of thoroughly trained and expertenced teachers. Like the preceding
principle, this follows as a natural sequence, for the work done, even
by trained teachers, requires thorough and systematic revision to en-
sure the vitality and efficiency of the schools, and to give a guaran-
tee to the public that the work, both in regard to quantity and
quality, shall be properly done.
6. That the examination of teachers, the courses of study pursued,
and the general direction of certain portions of the educational ma-
chinery ts placed in the hands of teachers of distinguished merit and
special fitness for the work. ‘Yhis principle raises our profession to a
higher level, and causes it to command the respect of the people at
large, for none are so capable of judging of the fitness of men for
certain positions, and the discharge of the duties connected there-
with, as those who are intimately acquainted with the work. There-
fore, it must be apparent that the principle is a sound one, and an
‘additional guarantee that the members of the: teaching profession are
properly prepared for their work.
7. That the entire system ts placed under the guidance and man-
agement of a Minister of Education, who by virtue of his office holds
a seat in the Government, and therefore under our Constitution must
represent a constituency in this Province ‘This is the last principle I
shall name, and it forms a fitting completion to the series already
enunciated. ‘To every well-wisher of our system it must be appar-
ent that the head of the Education Department should have a seat
in the Government ; because (1) the educational interests of the
country are equal, if not greater, in importance than those of any
other department ; (2) the schools should be managed in the inter-
ests of the people, and therefore their representatives should have
among them some person competent to give full information con-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 2PE
cerning all matters pertaining thereto; (3) the large sums of money
granted for educational purposes should be under the control of a
Minister of the Crown, who, in turn, is responsible to the people’s
representatives ; (4) as the greater part of the management of our
educational affairs is in the hands of, or largely influenced by, the
teaching profession, and the people furnish large sums of money in
support thereof, what is more fitting, and more in accordance with
right and justice, than that the connecting link between the two
should be at the head of the Education Department, and at the
same time occupy a seat in the Government commensurate in im-
portance with the interests he represents.
This may not be an ideal system, but it approaches as nearly
to it as any that has come within the range of my knowledge. ‘The
principles which underlie it must commend themselves to every
well-wisher of popular education, for they are based upon truth and
justice. That phase of education embraced in the term “‘ religious
instruction ” (a vague and indefinite phrase), in my humble judg-
ment, does not come within the limits ot legislative enactments, but
belongs to the home and to the Church. Christian education is
one of the prerogatives of every true teacher ; for, by his walk, his
conversation and his daily life, he teaches lessons of greater import-
ance and more lasting value than any lessons he teaches in the pre-
scribed course of study. Teachers may do much in this respect, but
it must be left in their hands to seize the opportunities as they pre-
sent themselves, and impress on the minds of their pupils the great
truths of the Christian religion.
We have glanced at the rise and progress of an educational
system whose cradle was the log school house of the hardy
pioneer, whose infancy was spent in the midst of that political and
sectarian turmoil which culminated in the Mackenzie rebellion, and
whose youth was nurtured and cared for by the judicious and far-
seeing intelligence of that thoughtful educational statesman, Dr.
Ryerson, until it. developed into early manhood and received an
honored place in the highest councils of the nation. ‘That place it
holds to-day. Inthe person of a member of our own profession,
into whose hands its destinies have been placed, it is opening up
wider fields of usefulness, freeing itself from encumbrances that have
been left as legacies of the past, and girdling itself to meet the
122 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
demands of that renewed intellectual life that is advancing upon us
with all the force generated by the greatly increased mental vigor of
the coming generation, the sound of whose footsteps is already heard
along the corridors of our educational institutions. We have this
system as a part of our heritage, and a noble one it is, for in its scope
it reaches down to the undeveloped intellect of the infant in the
kindergarten, leading him by gentle steps along the pathway of
knowledge for which his soul thirsts, opening up as he advances in
years the secrets that lie hidden at the very threshold of learning,
and as he grows stronger feeding him from the vast stores of the
past until in the full strength of manhood he goes forth to grapple
with the great problems of life.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 123
REPORT OF THE BIOLOGICAL SECTION.
Read at the Annual Meeting, May 7th, 1896.
The Biological Section have held regular monthly meetings
during the past winter at which we had a fair attendance and pleasant
intercourse on subjects of interest to the section.
Our chairman has undertaken the listing of all wild plants found
in this district. Of this we shall hear more later.
At one of our meetings Mr. Alexander read a paper on the
subject, “ Why should we study Biology.”
Although this was the only original paper read during the season,
our meetings have been full of interest and instruction.
The opening up of the T. H. and B. Railway will make localities
formerly distant easier of approach for botanical research.
We start the summer with good intentions to make large addit-
ions to the Herbarium and to the other branches of the Museum.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
J. M. Dickson, H. S. Moore,
Chairman. Secretary.
124 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
BIOLOGICAL NOTES.”
Read before the Hamilton Association, February 6th, 1896.
BY WM. YATES, HATCHLEY, ONT.
The musk-rat seems to be in several respects a diminutive edi-
tion of the beaver, though not quite ‘so communistic. In many
places they are known to build huts of coarse sedge grass, which are
situated at some distance from the banks of shallow streams: but
these animals show considerable adaptability in choice of residence ;
for where the stream is characterized by high loamy shores the
musk-rat shows a preference for excavations whose ingress and egress
is mainly below the usual water level of the stream, and when a
watercourse is of the size and permanence as regards non-liability to
dry up in summer season, the rodents often increase in numbers to
such an extent as to commit considerable depredations upon such
farm crops as grow in the vicinity.
Many of our neighbors have made complaint of the damage to
corn fields, both in the stage of early cereal growth and also when
the forming ears are in a sweet and succulent state. Field carrots
also suffer from their ravages, and full-grown musk-rats are fre-
quently seen swimming the creeks, on the way to their rendezvous,
carrying huge mouthfuls of green clover stalks in the succulent state
of blossom. They also visit the apple orchards when the ripe fallen
fruit abounds, and have been known to visit barns where heaps
of sweet apples had been temporarily stored. The hunters declare
that the musk-rat burrows are generally too deep and too much
ramified for successful raiding by the digging out process, and trap-
ping or shooting are the most general appliances for capture.
In one of our recent abnormally dry autumns, when the water
in the channel of our local creek had dried up, except in a very few
of the deepest parts of the channels, and near to this limited area of
water supply there seemed to be a concentration of musk-rat popu-
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 125
lation in the holes in the bank. Some industrious spade work was
therefore resorted to, and this, supplemented by canineefforts, re-
sulted in the capture of eleven musk-rats and one mink—the latter
seeming, for the moment at least, not on unfriendly terms with his
semi-aquatic associates. Great numbers are annually captured for
the sake of the skins, and yet the musk-rat population seems to re-
main undiminished ; and these rodents hold their own status better
than most of the original quadrupeds that cultivation and the clear-
ing of forests have thinned off.
The Canadian otter, too, was once a common inhabitant of our
creeks and large rivulets, and some of the settlers remember the
time when the splash of the otter as he jumped off the edge of the
plank bridges into the water at road crossings was a quite common’
incident, and offer s/ides, or runs, down the steep banks of streams
were common phenomena during the deep snows of winter. The
last otter capture that we have heard any report of in this locality
was made by an acquaintance of the writer in May, 1863. With
the drainage progress of the country, and consequent disappearance
of the supply of fish, otter existence has become an impossibility.
The musk rat does not seem to possess the robust burrowing
power of the groundhog, but prefers to domicile itself in the loose
earth near bridge embankments, and its subterranean operations are
frequently the cause of the giving way of mill-dams in flood-time,
also the culverts on railways are often rendered insecure by the
musk-rat excavations in proximity to the timber or masonwork, and
they are hated pests to railway section men and _ hydrographic
engineers.
In the vicinity of a wooden bridge that crosses a stream near
this place, it is an entertaining sight to watch the playfulness and
gambols in the shallow water of a family group of juvenile musk-rats
towards the end of the month of June. Their romping and sport is
as rollicking as that of kittens or puppies in warm sunshine, but on
the approach of an intruder an instant retreat to their semi-aquatic
refuge is accomplished. The roots of the cat-tailed sedge, and also
those of the pond lilies are relished by these rodents and are fre-
quently stored in their hybernaculum for winter use. On one
occasion last summer a large hawk had noticed the “ water polo
like” amusements of the rodent family party alluded to above, and
126 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
made a dash into the edge of the stream to secure a victim, but
disturbed perhaps by our sudden approach through an opening
among the trees, Mr. Falco was foiled in his aim and darted away in
very evident chagrin at his luckless fiasco.
The grace and ease of the musk-rat’s underwater movements
are admirable! Even in April when the waters are cold from the
recently melted ice of winter, we have noticed them rapidly progress-
ing along the bottom of streams containing one or two feet depth of
water, and occasionally stopping in their course to take a nibble at
the submerged succulent roots of the plants mentioned above. ‘Their
semi-webbed feet and scaly-vertically flattened tail and their coat of
dense moisture-resisting fur, enables them to find evident enjoyment
in the plane of life in which Providence has placed them.
The musk-rat is believed to produce young but once a year,
and as many as eight have been known to have been given birth to
at one litter. The female frequently has a habit of going away from
the family rendezvous just before the time of parturition, and making
a new nest near by under a big heap of logs or in a rocky hollow,
to give birth to her progeny in as much seclusion as is attainable.
This instinct of sequestration is supposed to give security against the
non-too-affectionately inclined propensities of the old males of the
species towards the younger fry, whom they with farsighted malignity
seem to regard as embryo rivals and competitors.
A number of instances are on record in this vicinity where
about the beginning of May the female pregnant musk-rat has been
met with, in the hour of darkness, on such a quest ; and they are
very irritable and pugnacious at such a juncture, and bravely attack
large quadrupeds, such as colts or young bovines that happen to
cross their path, when on this errand of concealment intent.
Like the spaniel dog, the musk-rat on leaving the watery element
after a swimming or diving excursion is prone to give itself a thorough
and vigorous shaking, and can then enter its cosy resting place in
warmth and comfort.
RAPTORKES,
As in several previous years large hawks have been seen dur-
ing the month of December just passed. On last Christmas day
(the weather being mild) my son, who, with his small terrier dog,
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 127
was walking along the highway opposite to a piece of woods, a large
hawk was seen on the roadway struggling with a full grown ruffed
grouse, which had apparently just been stricken with the hawk’s
talons when in rapid flight across the clearing. The hawk was soon
driven from its prey by the hostile demonstrations of man and dog,
and took immediate flight to the high branch of a neighboring tree,
but its victim the grouse had received mortal injuries, and died im-
mediately afterwards in the hands of the human interrupters of the
fray.
This incident suggested the reading of the old time legends of
the art of falconry, and exemplified the wonderful velocity of flight
of the hawk species. Although the grouse family are endowed with
great muscular power of wing when pursued by the large hawks,
they have little or no chance of escape in the clearing ; for ina
straight unimpeded flight the falcon is sure of his prey, and the only
chance of the fugitive is in twists and angular progress among
branches or boughs. No accurate idea of the hawk’s wing power
can be formed from watching the bird’s flight when circling aloft in
its pride and recreation near the clouds in spring time. ‘Their speed
of motion when about to seize their prey must be seen to be realized,
the very air hums with vibration when they swoop down in a dia-
bolic curve on the object that they wish to appropriate, and every
nerve and sinew, and plume and quill, is strained to the most des-
perate tension, and failure is almost out of the range of possibility.
These non-migrating hawks prowl about the bush haunts of the
ruffed grouse, and live well where the latter are numerous ; for they
have, when the snow is not deep, to search on the ground for food
in the open beech or maple forests, where their capture by the hawk
is easily accomplished ; but when the snows become deep, and the
grouse have to depend for food supply upon the buds of the aroma-
tic birch-shrub, and a precarious assortment of bush-berries, the -
thickets are a protection from the assaults of their powerful winged
.enemies. Such is the dread of the ruffed grouse of the falcon tribe
that quite a number of instances have been reported of the grouses
flying into houses, or into the open doors of barns (where men have
been working) in mortal fear when pursued by their fiendish foes.
Not very long ago one of these December or winter-lagging
hawks swooped down in the poultry yard of the writer and struck its
128 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
talons into the body of a fine guinea hen. We, who witnessed the
‘coup ’—cudgel in hand—took part in the fracas, and only af-
ter some wild and random striking and pursuing, and sensational
shrieking on our part, was the sanguinary aggressor driven away.
It may serve to give an idea of the velocity of the flight of birds
of prey, when swooping at an object, to mention an incident that
occurred several summers ago, in the garden of one of our neigh-
bors. A number of half grown tame ducks were wandering among
the vegetables, among which rank weeds had been growing, but
some of which had been mown down with a scythe a day or two be-
fore the date of our incident. DenversCol
Museumiot Natural slistony . 42 selene ieee Albany, N. Y.
Rochester Academy of Sciences .............. Rochester, N. Y.
(3) WEST INDIES.
Instituterof Jamaicaye ss 4.1 sD atetere el eno ata ienraces Kingston, Jamaica.
(4) SOUTH AMERICA.
The Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society
Of British,Guiana ees.) ss eee etter Georgetown.
II.— EUROPE.
(1) GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
Lingland.
Bristole Naturalist:syGluloh eerste ce sors cera ect Bristol.
Literary and Philosophical Society of Leeds..... Leeds.
@honchological Societypems: so cs
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Royal Colomialiimstitute ee aoe = occ ce
Society of Science, Literature and Art........-. ny
Geological Societyerey ase eee seer ieee x
Manchester Geological Society..............-- Manchester.
Mining Association and Institute of Cornwall... .Camborne.
Cardiff; Photographic Societyy 17). )-- -ci)- eke Cardiff.
Scotland,
Glasgow Geographical Society ........-...-.:. Glasgow.
66
Philosophical Society.) 5)s..c sleet eee ee )esenetien
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
Treland.
melcovalelrishw Academy series. cal. Aig ee ace. Dublin.
Royal Geological Society of Ireland............ “
Niaturalistsieriel ale @luby ergy, oy ces eee eet Belfast.
: (2) AUSTRIA-HUGARY.
Anturopologische Gesellschaft. 45.45.54: Vienna.
Keven Geolosische Weichsanstalty). 4. sem) ee ae es
Mirentschine Sclentinic SOGIety. ses .). ssa Trentchin.
(3) BELGIUM.
Socicre Geolozique de Beleique "7.5... eo leiéoe:
(4) DENMARK.
Société Royal des Antiquaires du Nord..... '....Copenhagen.
(5) FRANCE.
Académie Nationale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres
CAN LS Paine creer ee cael omne amen tenis Gree Na wa 2h Bordeaux.
Académie Nationale des Sciences, Arts et Belles-
BS Cine reer ated eat ae mesa naa ge eae ee Caen.
Académie Nationale des Sciences, Arts et Belles-
WeLtKeSi er vont Una aoe ia Ais en er a Dijon.
SOCIO Ceolong tis Cl INOW. so besos es see dc don - Lille.
Sociese Geolosiqueder ramen sia enc. ea tis.
(6) GERMANY.
Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein.... ; PU are ana Bremen.
INiaturwissenschaftheher Verein. 4-4) ae. Carlsruhe.
(7) RUSSIA.
CamitesGcologiques mss see oe ee St. Petersburg,
Russisch-Kaiserliche Mineralogische Gesellschaft ie
III —ASIA.
(1) INDIA.
Asiatic Societies of Bombay and Ceylon.
AGAIS SOO, OH IBSEN 4 bose bee c ooo sd eeu. Calcutta.
Geologicalysunveysotmlndiape. aan ate ee ue
183
184 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
(2) STRAITS SETTLEMENT.
The Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. . Singapore.
(3) JAPAN.
Asiatic Society of Jiapant- saver eee Tokyo.
IV.—AFRICA.
(1) CAPE COLONY.
South African Philosophical Society............ Cape Town.
V.—AUSTRALIA.
(1) AUSTRALIA.
GheyAustraliany Museums ieceye ei eee Sydney.
Royal Society of New South Wales............
Linnean Society of New South Wales..........
Australian Natural History Museum........... Melbourne.
Public Wibrany ote victorial arn. eres eee s
NoyaliSocieby of Queensland) 4s. ee emer eeeee Brisbane.
(2) NEW ZEALAND.
NewrZealandilinstitutey mace nea se eee ree Wellington.
(3) TASMANIA.
Royal Society,of. Gasmaniag wer. seo ac ae Hobartown.
It will be noticed that several new names occur on this list of
scientific bodies. It is hardly necessary to say that our Association
receives copies of Proceedings, Journals, and in some instances
valuable books, from these various societies and governmental de-
partments.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
Je Ee EONG;
Cor Sow VHawAe
HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
OFFICERS FOR 1896-7.
President.
A. T. NEIUL.
Ist Vice=President. 2nd Vice-President.
T. W.REYNOLDS, M. D. A. EH. WALKER.
Corresponding Secretary. Recording Secretary.
REY. J. H. LONG, M. A., LL. B. S. A. MORGAN, B. A., B. PAXD.
Treasurer. Curator.
P. L. SCRIVEN. ~ ALEX. GAVILLER.
Asst. Curator.
H. S. MOORE.
Council.
J. P. E. ALDOUS, B. A.; W. H. ELLIOTT, B. A., PH. B.;
THOMAS MORRIS, JR.; GHORGE BLACK; J. M. BURNS.
Auditors.
H. P. BONNEY, fF. HANSEL, D. D. 8.
¥ ace alue Sd eee ‘n
vas (eh
WAST NGTOY q.
OF THE
~ Damilton Association
a
FOR SESSION OF 1896-97.
WUMBER Ss=IriL.
CONTENTS.
es % PAGE. PAGE.
: Officers for 1896-7............. 3 | Memo. of the Cutting on the Spur
: Office-bearers from 1857......... 4 Line where it crosses Main St. W. 44
Members of Council from 1857... 6 | The Function of Poetry.......... 46
Report of Council..........-... 8 | The Dynamics of Social Peril..... 57
Inaugural Address.............. 9 | Report ofthe Photographic Section 67
: Lake Medad and the Kwin-Ni-Bi- Report of the Biological Section.. 69
Nah Collection of Indian Relics. 14 | Notes by the Wayside........... 73
Report of Geological Section. .... 18 | The Battle of Stony Creek....... 79
Notes on Some Recent Additions - Curators Reporte ices. la a 93
to Ontario Palzeontology...... 20.| Financial Statement............ 94
Local \ Palzeontological Notes in Botanical istem ieee eat uci oy: 95
Contimuationge se eye 27 | Palzontological List............ 128
Local Palzeontological Notes in Honorary Members............. 137
(Gontimuationee s.r a 34 | List of Exchanges.............. 138
The Mineral of Our Local Rocks. 38
z
AUTHORS OF PAPERS ARE ALONE RESPONSIBLE FOR STATEMENTS {
MADE AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED THEREIN.
PRINTED FOR THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION BY THE
TIMES PRINTING COMPANY.
1897.
JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS
— Danilton Eessoctation
FOR SESSION “OF 1896-97.
ap Iran Sass Pesan rac.
““AUTHORS OF PAPERS ARE ALONE RESPONSIBLE FOR STATEMENTS
MADE AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED THEREIN.
PRINTED FOR THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION BY THE
TIMES PRINTING COMPANY.
1897.
ae
A ie i
tes iy |
re
Na i)
SamcCeks ROK ) 1596-9.
President :
PNG) APS INS IULIUA
Vice=Presidents:
T. W. REYNOLDS, M. D. XE WACKER:
Secretaries :
REVO HeLONG) Niel Bt
S A. MORGAN, B. A., B. Paed.
Treasurer : Curator and Librarian:
Py ba SCRIVEN. ALEX. GAVILLER.
Asst. Secretary and Curator:
H. S. MOORE.
Council :
J. Bae PALE DOUS mByrAs THOMAS MORRIS, ie
Werke EiilO@: BAG. Phy B: GEORGE BLACK.
J. M. BURNS.
Museum:
PUBLIC. LIBRARY BUILDING,
MaIn STREET WEST.
OFFICE-
‘PRESIDENT.
First VICE-PREs. SECOND VICE-PREsS.
1857|Rev. W. Ormiston, D.D.
1858|John Rae, M. D., F. R.
G. S:
1859|Rev. W. Ormiston, D. 1D.
1860] Rev. W. Inglis, D. D .
1861|Rev. W. Ormiston, D.D.
W.. Proudfoot
1871
1872|Judge Logie
1873|H. B. Witton, M. P....
1874|H. B. Witton, M. P....
H. B. Witton
1875
1880]/T. MclIlwraith
1881|J. D. Macdonald, M. D.
1882|J. D. Macdonald, M. D.
Macdonald, M. D.
1883|J. D.
1884|J. D. Macdonald, M. D.
Rev. C. H. Mockridge,
MAC DD:
Rev. C. H. Mockridge,
M. A., D. D.
Rev. S: Lyle, B: D:...--
1885
1886
1887
1888|Rev. S. Lyle, B. D
1889/B. E. Charlton
1890|B. E. Charlton
1891;A. Alexander, F. S. Sc.
1892/A. Alexander, F. S. Sc.
1893/A. Alexander, F. S. Sc.
1OVUIS JReASC OLS Sh goood
1895|A. T. Neill
1896/A. T. Neill
..|H, B. Witton, M. 2...
John Rac, IMIG IOS to ASI fgn 1By a M. A.,
G. IGG, 1D);
Rev. a Ormiston, D.D/J. B. Hovtbor, M. A.,
ILE,
J. B. Hurlburt, M. A.|Chas. Rah “a a atest aie
JLU5 1D);
SA Meliwiraithy 32 a. Rev. W. Ormiston, D. D.
J. B: Hurlburt M. A.,|Rev. W. Inglis, D. D.
LL. D.
Judge Logie Richard Buil
Richard Bull
Jee MieBurchan,- MES AC iy Aqua knee en: -errinnten
ee vieeB uchany si ocAMer TAN alegre dem pscr eins
uM Buchan, Me VAs) |Weret.) Mall sic saree mele
Revs «Web. Wiieht. Ee iB Wittonenieneimereer
M. A.
IRS Bylot, 105 ID), 65.40 BepEAaCharltonwaeaeaceee
B. E. Charlton je eA Mrallins Mee Dee
B. E. Charlton H. B. Witton
Jalo s MMR 5 65666 ac Rev. C. H. Mockridge,
MeVAS DD:
IREWo Sk IBUle ss s600 a006 Wemlcenne diy seasiarreretets
INevenon peylenvanrsrrciersers Matthew Leggat.......
BaveCharltontaeee er W. A. Childs, M. A
T. J. W. Burgess, M.B.,)W. A. Childs, M. A....
Is IRS Sa Ce
ae 2 My Burgess, M.B.,|J. Alston Moffat.......
a ee Ee
Wo ee Motiat eran Ad TeNeill iin oR eeeee
JN Is INGUIN G6 85500000 Se Briggs) se crisesepy se
Ne ARS NGI ga boi 6806 Sy | EVMWIS Sbeoseoobo nC
AW WNeil agers ener T. W. Reynolds, M. D
Aly yoINei lee ernuaistelsts T. W. Reynolds, M. D.
T. W.. Reynolds, M. D.|A. BE. Walker .........
T. W. Reynolds, M. D.|/A. E. Walker.
BEARERS.
Cor. SEC. Rec. SEc. TREAS. LIBR. AND CUR.
T. C. Keefer, C. E.}Wm. Craigie, M. D.]|W. H., Park...... A. Harvey.
T. C. Keefer, C. E.|Wm. Craigie, M. D.)W. H. Park....... A. Harvey
T. C. Keefer, C. E.|Wm. Craigie, M. D.)W. H. Park. ..... A. Harvey
Wm. Craigie, M. Wm. Craigie, M. D.|W. H. Park .|Chas. Robb.
Wm. Craigie, M. Wm. Craigie, M. D.|W. H. Park....... T. MclIlwraith.
J. M. Buchan, M. I. B. McQuesten,|W. G. Crawford....|T. McIlwraith.
J. M. Buchan, M. A.|I. Uae McQuesten,|W. G. Crawford. ...|/T. MclIlwraith.
Geo. Dickson, M. om Shien M. A.|Richard Bull....... T. MclIlwraith.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.|Geo. Dickson, M. A.|Richard Bull....... T. MclIlwraith.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.|Geo. Dickson, M. A.|A. Macallum, M. A.|T. McIlwraith.
R. B: Hare, Ph. Geo. Dickson, M. A.]Richard Bull....... A. IT. Freed.
Geo. Dickson, M. A.|A. Robinson, M. D.|Richard BuJl....... W. H. Ballard,
Geo. Dickson, M. A.|Wm. Kennedy...... Richard’ Bull 3. .4. Ww Ht Ballaca,
Geo. Dickson, M. A.|Wm. Kennedy...... Richard) BullGe2. 4s: “Tat ilar
Geo. Dickson, M. A.|A. Alexander....... Richard Bull....... ae ene
Geo. Dickson, M. A.|A. Alexander....... Richard Bull....... A. Gaviller.
Geo. Dickson, M. A. Alexander....... Richard Bull....... A. Gaviller.
H. B. Witton, B. Mee aes Richarda Bulle go A. Gaviller.
H. B. Witton, B. candor Ae, Richard Bull....... A. Gaviller.
H. B. Witton, B. A. eae: Hiei Richard Bull 2% A. Gaviller.
H. B. Witton, B. A. nae enter te Richard Bull....... A. Gaviller.
Thos. Morris, Jr.... awe cane B.A.|Richard Bull....... A. Gaviller and
G. M. Leslie.
Thos. Morris, Jr....|C. R. McCulloch. ..|Richard Bull....... A. Gaviller and
G. M. Leslie.
Thos. Morris, Jr....)/A. Gaviller and
W. Chapman.
Thos. Morris, Jr....|A. Gaviller and
W. Chapman.
A. Gaviller and
W. Chapman.
A. Gaviller and
H. S. Moore.
W. McG. Logan, B.A.|S. A. Morgan, B. A.
W. McG. Logan,B.A.|S. A. Morgan, B. A.
Rev. J. H. Long,|S. A. Morgan, B. A.|J. M. Burns
MPA ela
Rev. J. H. Long,|S. A. Morgan, B. A»|P. L. Scriven
M. A., LL. B. B. Paed.
MEMBERS Oh (COaGnhcilE:
1957-—Judge Logie; Geo: Iu) Reid, GH. “Ae Baird; ©.) ree:
land.
1858—Judge Logie; C. Freeland; Rev. W. Inglis, D. D.; Adam
Brown ; C. Robb.
1859—Rev. D. Inglis, D. D.; Adam Brown; Judge Logie ;
C. Freeland; Richard Bull.
1860—J. B. Hurlburt, M. A., LL. D.; ‘C. Freeland; Judge Logie;
Richard Bull; Wm. Boultbee; Dr. Laing.
1871—Geo. Lowe Reid, C. E.; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.; A.
Macallum, M. A.; A. Strange, M: D.; Rev. A. B. Simpson.
1872—Judge Proudfoot; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.; John Seath,
MEA Ee ID: Cameron); At die Freed.
1873—Judge Logie; T. McIlwraith; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.;
A. Alexander ; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1874—Judge Logie; T. MclIlwraith; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A.;
A. Alexander ; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1875—Judge Logie; T. Mcllwraith; Rev. W. P. Wright, M. A. ;
A. Alexander ; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.
1880—M. Leggat; I. B. McQuesten, M. A.; A. Alexander,
Reva Aw Burnsi ME vA ae Ds) AD:
1881—T. MclIlwraith; H. B. Witton; A. T. Freed; Rev. W. P.
Wright, M. A.; A. F. Forbes.
1882—T. Mcllwraith; H. B. Witton; A. T. Freed; A. F. Forbes;
Rey. |C.. Hi.,>Mockridge, M./A.,'D. D.
1883—A. Alexander; A. Gaviller; A. F. Forbes ; T. McIlwraith;
R. Hinchcliffe.
1884—A. Gaviller; A. F. Forbes; T. MclIlwraith; R. Huinch-
cliffe ; W. A. Robinson.
1885—-W. A. Robinson; 8S. Briggs; G. M. Barton; J. Alston
Moffat ; A. F. Forbes.
1886—J. Alston Moffat; Samuel Slater; Wm. Milne; James
Leslie, M. D.; C. S. Chittenden.
]
1887—J. Alston Moffat; James Leslie, M. D.; P. L. Scriven ;
Wm. Milne; C. S. Chittenden.
1888—J. Alston Moffat ; B. E. Charlton ;.T. W. Reynolds, M.D. ;
S. J. Ireland ; Wm. Kennedy.
1889—T. W. Reynolds, M. D.; S. J. Ireland ; Wiliam Turnbull ;
A. W. Hanham ; Lieut.-Col. Grant.
EOoo——Cola,Grant, pA. Wi. Hanham Woe Robinson: 7A.) By.
Walker ; ‘Thomas Morris, Jr.
1891--Col. Grant; W. A. Robinson; J. F. McLaughlin, B. A. ;
T. W. Reynolds. M. D.; Wm. Turnbull.
18921. W. Reynolds, M. D. ; W. A. Robison; P. L. Scriven ;
Wm. Turnbull ; Wm. White.
1893—James Ferres; A. E. Walker; P. L. Scriven; William
White ; W. H. Elhott, Ph. B.
1694—James Herres; A. &. Walker; P. L. Scriven’; J. Hi. Long,
Meas oe Ba Week. Elhott.Bovaabh., Ib.
EOQG= je. Pa eAldous.. Ba Aes homas | Mornsiii, sie ble
Elliott, B. A., Ph. B.; P. L. Scriven; Major McLaren.
1896—J. E. P. Aldous, B. A.; Thos. Morris, Jr.; W. H. Elliott,
Bea, Phe: ; George Blacks) Mey Burns:
8 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.
Your Council take pleasure in submitting their report for the
session of 1896-97.
_ There have been held during the present session six meetings
of the Council and eight of the General Association.
At five of our General Meetings papers were read, as follows :
1896.
Nov. 5th.—‘‘ Inaugural Address,” President A. T. Neill.
1897.
Jan. 7th.—‘ The Battle of Stony Creek,” Inspector J. A. Smith.
Feb. 4th.—‘‘ The Function of Poetry,” F. F. Macpherson, B. A.
May 6th.—‘‘ The Dynamics of Social Peril,” Mr. J. T. Barnard.
June 3rd.—‘‘ Lake Medad and the Kwin-Ni-Bi-Nah Collection of *
Indian Relics,” J. O. McGregor, M. D.
The programmes for the three remaining General Meetings
were furnished by the members of the Photographic Section.
Three new members have been added during the session and
none have withdrawn.
Many valuable additions have been made to the Museum:
among these speciai mention should be made of the unique col-
lection of Shells and Indian Relics, lately placed in the Museum
through the kindness of Mrs. S. E. Carey.
T. J. W. Burgess, M. D., an Honorary Member of the Associa-
tion, has kindly consented to act as our representative at the
approaching meeting of the Royal Society of Canada.
In closing this, another year, in the history of our Association,
while we may justly look with pride on the work of the present
session, yet every member conversant with its needs and its pos-
sibilities must feel that much still remains to be accomplished.
Notwithstanding the untiring efforts of our various sections, it may
truly be said that we are as yet but beginning to investigate the
rich stores which nature presents to us in this favored locality, while
much already in our possession needs both more room and a better
arrangement in order that it may effect its highest possible good as
a means of scientific education. ‘This, however, can be effected
only by each member striving to do well what pertains to his partic-
ular department.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
AV yihy INOUE IG, S. A. MORGAN, B. A., B. Paed,
President. : Secretary.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. ©
- INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
READ BEFORE THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
BY PRESIDENT A. T. NEILL.
It had been my intention to take up the subject of Museums in
my opening remarks, but that subject has been very ably dealt with
by the past President, Mr. A. Alexander, who read a very interesting
paper on “Local Museums” during the last term. ‘This paper you will
find in the printed proceedings of the Hamilton Association for last
session. I therefore concluded to supplement my previous remarks
made in the inaugural address last year, upon the pleasure and
benefits derivable from the study of Natural History Science.
Owing to the very interesting programme which has been pre
pared for your entertainment, I have been limited in time, so that
my remarks will be general in reference to the above named subject,
though specific in regard to the effect upon the mind when pursued
not merely as a recreation, but studied with the view of deriving a
permanent benefit, and should these few remarks awaken in any of
my hearers a desire to take up the study of Natural History, I would
suggest that such ones should become members of the Association
and connect themselves with the section which best suits their in-
clination and taste. Active participation in the work is the only way
to succeed in the study of Natural Science, and under the guidance
of a member of experience, you will be conducted to the various
fields where specimens can be obtained. Much valuable time will
thereby be saved to be spent in the study of these specimens.
Should any difficulty arise as to the identification of the species, the
specimens in the Museum are always available for comparative study,
and will no doubt greatly assist the earnest student.
I shall now proceed with the remarks upon the subject which I
have intimated.
To those whose minds are imbued with the love of Nature as
she presents herself in the ever varying attitudes of organized exist-
ence, and attires herself in robes of richest green, so welcome and so
10 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
refreshing to the senses after a long and dreary winter, and after
having drunk deeply of the pleasures of the summer season, we are
now permitted to participate in the beautiful and picturesque scenery
which the autumn presents in the various tinted slopes and dales,
sadly suggestive of a summer that is gone and reminding us of the
near approach of winter; to those who welcome truth in whatever
phase she is discoverable in the physico-vital records of a past and
passing world ; to those who cherish glimpses of the infinite, and
would fain tear aside the veil that separates the seen from the unseen ;
to those, in short, who look through Nature up to Nature’s God, I
may be privileged to speak a word or two to-night.
There never was a time in the history of the world when the
demand for workers in all the departments of Natural Science was so
widespread as it is at the present day, consequently we hear of many
able and scholarly men devoting their time and talents to the study
of the sciences, and as a result of their investigations, we learn almost
daily of some new discovery in economic or physical science. ‘These
discoveries, which are so frequently announced through the medium
of the press, have the effect of stimulating other workers in this great
field to a laudable ambition and a desire to communicate something
new to the world. We might ask in how many cases has the student,
in any branch of science, not been rewarded in a greater or less
degree by some important discovery.
It is a peculiar fact that men of leisure do not, as a rule, devote
their time and talent in the direction of the most entertaining and
fascinating branch of education. ‘The human mind is naturally in-
quisitive, and as such, can find full scope for all its energies in the
scientific field. A thirst after knowledge is in itself a refreshing
symptom of healthy progress, though it may in some minds result in
the mere fact of gratifying a desire to be entertained, instead of
affording that peculiar and substantial satisfaction as experienced in
the acquisition of further definite knowledge in some one of the
branches of scientific study.
In the daily walks of life, whatever direction our duties may take,
or whatever character they may assume, nothing is more essential
than a well regulated mind, able to observe, to store up and to form
a correct estimate of the value of facts, and also to draw deductions
based upon a reasonable hypothesis, to their proper conclusions as
warranted by the circumstances, and the possession of an intellect of
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. II
this discerning power is of immense advantage, not only in the acqui-
sition of knowledge, but in the formation of correct opinions.
It is admitted that in so far as a man of narrow sympathies is
concerned, a fair amount of the so-called common sense principle
may be all that is absolutely necessary for his pecuniary advance-
ment, but~if we desire to obtain the higher and more intellectual
development of a well regulated mind, the power of detecting the
most subtile distinctions between one thing and another, and a
thorough comprehension of our social position, we must look to the
cultivation of our mental processes. The absence of a retentive
memory is by no means indicative of original stupidity, want of in-
dustry, or lack of talent, yet those who would become masters of this
valuable product of mental discipline can only do so. by pursuing
some subject, the study of which would involve a methodized and
continuous process of abstract reasoning. Confusion and oblivious-
ness are after all the result of indiscriminate observation, and the
highest degree of cerebral activity will fail to recall facts once familiarly
known unless the storehouse of the mind has been filled in a
gradual and tentative manner. Those of you who have at times
bewailed the lack of a retentive memory, in proof of the above state-
ment, may in some degree recall the circumstances or conditions
under which the knowledge of a subject was obtained, and now is, as
it were, shrouded in mental darkness despite your anxious and im-
patient attempts to recall the desired fact, rule, or name of subject
under consideration.
This is an age of rapid progress in which time does not seem
long enough to enable many of us to say with eminent satisfaction
that we have completed this day’s work, and the avenues through
which we derive knowledge of the world, its business and social
relations, preferring at all times brevity in the treatment of subjects,
hurrying over many items at one time which is productive of con-
fusion of facts and has a tendency to induce the habit of indiscrim- -
inate observation. The brain cannot and will not store up knowledge
under such circumstances and be ever ready at the call of the
indifferent student. ‘There must also be a lively and active interest
bestowed upon the subject, and where possible, so as to fix indelibly
the impressions about to be made, use appropriate illustrations which
appeal to the sense of sight. When the eye has become familiar
with the form and color, and with all the minute of detail, it will
12 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
aid the memory in recalling the name of fossil, plant, bird, or other
object. The memory, like other organs of the body, is strengthened
and invigorated by reasonable exercise. It is true to-day, as it was
in the earlier times, though not to so great an extent, that in many
instances the cultivators of Natural History Science confine them-
selves, for the most part, to the mere collection of cabinet specimens,
whose individual worth is estimated by comparative beauty or
singularity of form, whilst the more important facts and phenomena
respecting the relation of these animal, vegetable and mineral bodies,
the one to the other, are entirely overlooked.
I would not condemn these collectors. They should be encour-
aged, for by their desire to possess a goodly collection, by whatever
name you may choose to designate it, they very frequently meet with
and procure valuable specimens, and in such a state of preservation,
as regards form and color, that they might be regarded as typical of
their species. ‘These collectors are thereby unconsciously doing a
good work, and the army of scientific workers are not slow to acknow-
ledge the fact.
It would be exceedingly difficult for us to imagine a mind capable
of retaining within its grasp the multitudinous facts which scientific
investigation has unfolded and brought to light. Let us suppose,
for the present, that there was such a mind capable of comprehend-
ing in full detail the whole range of the scientific world, and could
see mirrored before him not only the explored, but also the unex-
plored fields of Science. We cannot doubt but that a flood of light
would be thrown upon their intermutual relations, and special de-
pendence on the objects by which they are surrounded. Notwith-
standing this drawback, the limitation of the human mind, as regards
the comprehension of nature in all its phases, the various students of
natural and scientific research, have, perforce, become specialists in
their particular branch of study, and have produced, as the result of
their labors, a cogent statement of facts, which, when united, places
before the student a concise and instructive collaboration, based upon
the fundamental unity of plan, which pervades all created nature
throughout time and space.
Those who look upon botany, zoology and geology, as so many
distinct sciences, should bear in mind that the laws regulating the
facts which these various branches of study have generally brought
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 13
to light, exhibit but one grand scheme of contrivance, adoption and
design. The philosophical and truth loving naturalist perceived that
in all epoths of the world’s history, in whatever condition its cosmical
elements have appeared, the laws prevailing hitherto are the same as.
those in operation at the present day, and the singularly varied
results that we now witness’ are regulated by the degree, direction
and conditions imposed upon those laws by the allwise Creator, who
alone is capable of ordaining or abrogating their existence.
In the study of Natural History, in the widest acceptation of the
term, I can claim, as I did in my remarks one year ago to-day,
especial consideration, on the ground of its uplifting and ennobling
tendency, and in doing so can powerfully appeal to the honest con-
victions of one of her most favored sons. I refer to the eminently
philosophical address, by the late Professor Huxley, on ‘Natural
History as Knowledge, Discipline and Power,” delivered in the
capacity of Fullerian Professor, at the Royal Institution, in 1856,
forty years ago. He said: ‘ Let those who doubt the efficiency of
science, as moral discipline, make the experiment of trying to come
to a comprehension of the meanest worm or weed, of its structure,
its habits, its relation to the great scheme of nature. It will be a
most exceptional case, if the mere endeavor to give a correct outline
of its form, or to describe its appearance with accuracy, does not call
into exercise far more practice, perseverance and self denial than
they have easily at command, and if they do not rise up from the
attempt in utter astonishment at their habitual laxity, an inaccuracy
of their mental processess and in some dismay at the pertinacious
manner in which their subjective conceptions and hasty preconceived
notions interfere with their forming a truthful comprehension of
objective facts. There is not one in fifty whose habits of mind are
sufficiently accurate to enable him to give a truthful description of
the exterior of a rose.” It is too true, that things familiarly known
and understood, often fail to leave their due impression on the mind.
They teach no lesson. ‘They do not awaken even a passing interest.
Such indifference should not exist in man possessed of the faculty of
appreciation in so eminent a degree, if his mind has been fully
awakened to the importance of using aright, and not allowing to lie
dormant those heaven-born faculties, which tend to make this life a
brighter and happier one.
14 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
LAKE MEDAD AND THE KWIN-NI-BI-NAH COLLEC-
TION OF INDIAN RELICS.
READ BEFORE THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
BY J.-O. MCGREGOR, M. D.
This beautiful little lake, with the homely but filial name, is sit-
uated just within the western limit of Halton County, in the znd
Concession north of Dundas Street. It has an area of about 4o
acres, and is undoubtedly the remains of a lake eight or ten times as
large, having a broad outlet running in a northerly direction, as well
as a much smaller one leading into Lake Ontario. -That the adjoin-
ing marsh to the west, and the marshy ravine extending northerly,
together with the present lake, were once parts of the same body of
water, is shown by the marl deposit found at the bottom of all three.
The existing portion of the old lake has been preserved by the
-entrance here of several streams fed by powerful springs, of which
the largest could furnish the city of Hamilton with an abundant sup-
ply of pure water, while the adjoining marsh has been made such by
_ washings from the banks which form its borders.
Lake Medad is noted for its pure water and ice; the excellent
quality of its fish: its beautiful and picturesque scenery, as well as
for marl-of first quality, but most of all for things archeological.
With these last in an honest and imperfect manner I shall now
attempt to deal.
The western border of the lake is a rugged and mostly perpen-
dicular ledge of rocks. Here at the bottom of the ledge bursts forth
the principal spring that feeds the lake. Near this spring, on the
bank above, which, as well as the adjacent country for miles around,
was and is the best of corn land, was situated a large Indian village
or town, which, as shown by the position of its ash-pits, occupied the
northern slope of a U shaped piece of ground, gently rising in three
directions, north, east and south from the open part of the U, which
may be conceived to be on the top of the ledge just mentioned.
Loe
ihe
les
a
LANDING PLACE—LAKE MEDAD.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. T5
Through the midst of the U, from top to bottom, ran a deep cut,
which with the ledge just mentioned served to protect the town to
some extent on its southern and western sides, while the northern
and north-eastern sides of the U, which form a ridge, were most
probably palisaded. I have no doubt that this village was the
Otinawatawa, visited first by LaSalle in 1669. In the fall of this
year that unfortunate but heroic explorer was among the Senecas
seeking a guide to the Ohio (then identical with the Mississippi).
He failed to get one, but a young Indian who was on a visit then
from the Iroquois colony of Otinawatawa, offered to conduct him to
his home, where he would find a competent guide. LaSalle accept-
ed and set forth. His party proceeded to Lake Ontario, thence along
the southern shore of the lake past the mouth of the Niagara to the
head of the lake, thence north a few miles to the village of
Otinawatawa.
This account answers perfectly to the location of the village
described above (which is about five miles, as the crow flies, from
the head of the lake), and to no other known Indian village. At
this village, or one of the neighboring villages, LaSalle (in Septem-
ber) met Louis Joliet, another explorer almost as celebrated as
himself. These villages will be referred to later on.
About four hundred yards to the north of Otinawatawa was the
burial ground of the colony. As in all other observed similar cases,
this burying ground was the most elevated part of the ground adja-
cent to the village, and was discovered to the present generation by
the bones and wampum which a hedge-hog threw out of an ossuary
wherein he had made his burrow. So far three ossuaries have been
found here and explored. They are similar to those of other locali-
ties, being five or six feet deep, of variable size, and containing, in
addition to human bones, the utensils, implements and ornaments of
those therein buried. ‘These ossuaries, as well as the neighboring
ash-pits, had all been opened up before my attention was called to
them ; yet by far the greater part of my collection has come from the
banks of Lake Medad.
The other localities from which I have obtained Indian relics
are an ossuary on the banks of the 12-mile creek, about a dozen
miles from Bronte, near which, on the river he loved so well, Chief
Kwin-Ni-Bi-Nah was buried, after whom I have named my collection ;
16 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
also the roth and 13th concession of East Flamboro, and the 7th
concession of Beverly. In all these localities ossuaries have been
discovered in connection with the ash-pits, except those in the 13th
concession of East Flamboro. ‘The ash-pits here are so different
from the others I have mentioned as to merit special attention.
In the first place they are very old, being covered with soil and
vegetable matter to the depth of two feet, and the ash-pits themselves
are four feet or more in depth. In the first foot of the ash-bed
pottery of different patterns was found ; in the next two feet bones
and bone implements, while near the bottom were broken and
~ charred human bones mingled with the bones of the deer, the bear
and other animals. ‘This last circumstance proves that anciently the
Indians of this village were cannibals.
As no articles of European manufacture are found in these ash-
pits, we must conclude that the village ceased to exist before the
beginning of the 16th century. It was in one of these ash-pits that
I found my most valued ceremonial stone. In shape it is the seg-
ment of a circle’s circumference, and nearly round; in size it is
about 10 inches long and 1 inch thick; in color a reddish brown.
There is a hole in the centre like that of a pick-axe ready to receive
its handle.
The large univalve shells found occasionally in the ossuaries are
interesting from several points of view. They are all of one type,
being inversely spiral, or what is known as cone shells, and are said
to be peculiar to the Gulf of Mexico. If so, we need not wonder
that these Indians could tell LaSalle and other white men of the
great river Ohio (which was identical with the Mississippi) and of the
immense gulf into which it emptied.
Moreover, the Indians of Otinawatawa must have been either
great travellers or enterprising traders, and very rich, as proved by
the vast number of precious things made from these shells. From
these precious shells were made wampum (or Indian money), beads,
amulets and other ornaments of the highest character. Of the three
cone shells in my collection, two came from the ossuary at
Otinawatawa.
The Kwin-Ni-Bi-Nah collection includes about a peck of wam-
pum, a magnificent necklace, two feet long, made of cone shell and
stone beads, ranging in size from peas to acorns, and arranged so as
Kale
re a See
Seashy
Sie
‘avaaw ayMv1 SAOd¥ MNVG NO AYVNSSO G3HLYVANN NV
ae ie - ane PES oliGe Se Se
a UNS gy eee BS ee a
(Sfp es ee S oy \ see = nt yi \\Y as CY Ree SA eg aD See = ee Be
7 ee, ae aes = ew (il. Re fd ON ee ie 2 u
a OP eee a Se is ise : SR IAS eres SATE ses VN SINS NN Sera DSSS ong
ij, ~ awe ee) IN y so thy We SN oe Green, 1832
Dalmamikesh Nimnwmlarusi oe ce nes oe ey een el iu Un “
lerclas; (Bolton sees sec aes ta Bigsby, 1825, Jour. Nat. Sc.
PNCIG aS Pispee Lalli sist: velea ieee. Gus pecs Spencer, 1880, Niag. Foss.
DallmamiagViernucosa neces case ia Tee ar htm ue ae Hall
WB allianarnvavavareilanse net sich ince oer ah sey leg ees in oe age
INGIGASDIS == By SPECIES. Weta eu s eye etie peial eele ame re ag
EURIPTERID&.
env aos, @anadensis ys is i. see Dawson, 1879, Can. Nat.
RAINS:
JENUNEIONO AHS) ONOBIS ACE eNO NU AMCkS Aad Aisi Vleugiehes aur aL Uh MAC ask nlp Dawson
Three others undescribed—two from Barton and one from
Pentamerus bed, Hamilton.
CLINTON FOSSILS, HAMILTON, ONT.
Genera and Species. Reference.
Buthotepinisieraciicn mercy rasa a. = eelalabale Ne Vern O52
Wels CRISES coo6o¢ Sits ie es
te Varenoalmmata. escent Creu oe ov
IN@OUS; WANEOWS WEDS 5. sco sninlon eels 6 uo Ni aes avast: es a
Stromatopora Sp.
ConephyllumiNiagarense.,.5.-.. 2... Ss cote « ‘
Zaphremtisnpilateralisi sq silk. (yea mn eye rece n: i e
Graptolithus@lintomensis iit: Geisler cena) <* Re 7
INGtEOlIteS; WeMOSUSH) Os aus 0) eT Pianeta Or stilts : ie
Eel oporar fragilis i.) Mga ee er tees ek ae eran fea ee oe -
Clathroporafrondosa) 9-206 2 tna eae raat ae st se
BoOlyporaincep tac. ese va iy cel aya ele ge ES i
134 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Genera and Species. Reference.
iReteporay angulatays 08). oy see sneer edally ealaN Eve anee
(inematopora tuberculosai ameter) Sin miata ie
Merista cylindrica... See iie N8 bales CURA OS at oa ce t
Athyris Ve aor PORN I IM < f
Mineulavoblatays ery vtec raise betel ete alos anny a
‘Posidoniay alata viele. oN; ue kacuen vent Cnceo ei aana ati ie ie
Posidonomya Hombordea | Rapa cient tent a) OG a iS
PlatyostomalmNilagarenSish snare ere an eerie a a
@rthoceras.claratumay ie pice: was) ete cee wn ate te a o
@ncoceras|sulorectutayeys wae ihe an ee e: ‘3
SonulariayNiaganrenSis: sy. cease cea ee otek ey sence oc i ren =
Mentaculitesy distans yawn wey se etek a aes a a
Rusignitesybilobatuss te eesrss aril ci cose aetna ie “
Monticuliporailycoperdoimi ry eriiep sted castles ae eee Say 1847
PalzeastenGrantincs 25.04. seep pS pencen NidgemhOssilsnanonty
HenestelladbicomiSijo hee tee: eee mie 4 My
INhin@poOKaytVanOSsay Hive cee Mee wer tsakys sf oe a
Euealyptocnimus) decorus 4.) 4.0 eye a ehillips sansa
Fenestella prisca. . Ce en ta See Gn ae a ca he be co ILO ORME: LOO)
Strophomena rGaaboidalis idleeaitscensee te rate mereuseene Wahlenberg, 1821
Orthis elegantula.. arama Melcher salen oni ui LOTR Na}, T3257
Lingula oblonga.. COR nate Mowalu ce tanctrs zee neclenet ts ©O MEA Ch MTEo RO
Ichnites—4 Gaacerained species. ;
Arthrophycus Harlani.
Rusophycus (Hall) = Rusignitis (Dawson); Buthotrephis (Hall).
Main stem absent (may be detached branches).
STAR FISHES.
Two or three (if Prof. Elliott’s proves to be a new species, as we
think it is).
CYSTOIDHA CRINOIDAA.
A Cystid, recently sent to G. S. C., Ottawa.
A Crinoid, since obtained, not differing much from a Lower Silurian,
one described by the late E. Billings (a new genus, perhaps).
It bears a close resemblance to another Crinoid (much smaller),
I sent to Prof. Billings many years since.
Glyptocrinus plumulosus.
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 135
GASTEROPODA.
Pleurotomaria—new species, probably—undescribed.
Murchisonia—z species—undescribed.
LAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
Tellinomya curta (Hall).
iG elliptica (Hall).
Pterinea brisa (Hall).
BRACHIOPODS.
Streptorynchus tenuis (Hall).
Orthis calligramma var. Davidsoni (Hall)
‘sp. (with finer Striae), undescribed perhaps.
Lingula perovata.
‘¢ new species (Hall) ; var. L. oblata (Dawson).
Crania—undescribed, probably.
Tentaculites neglectus (Nicholson).
Ichnites—several described and figured by Dawson.
Arthroclema—new species, probably.
MEDINA FOSSILS, HAMILTON, ONT.
Genera and Species. Reference.
Arthrophycus Harlani.... Hall, 1853, Pal. N. Y., Vol. II. Locality
Grimsby.
RalzeophycusySpeclesijeys 1a) 0 res tmieets oe Hamilton and Grimsby
Zaphrentisbilateralis: 54. Fall, Pak iN. Vol. ir. 135250 tamil
ton and Grimsby.
iMiny pay Ollatareciy: 2 0: Mallerd52, als Novo. Vole We elamuiltom
and Grimsby.
Modiolopsis orthonota..Conrad, Ann. Report, N.Y.,1839. Hamilton
species.............Dundas, Hamilton and Grimsby
Murchisonia subulata .......?.Conrad, 1842, Nat. Science Journal
Hamilton.
Murchisonia conoidea...Hall, 1852, Pal. N. Y., Vol. II. Locality
Hamilton and Grimsby.
Pleurotomaria litorea..... Hall, 1852, Pal. N. Y., Vol. II. Locality
Hamilton and Grimsby.
136 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
Genera and Species. Reference.
Pleurotomaria pervetusta...... Conrad, 1838, Ann. Rep. Locality
Hamilton and Grimsby.
Ichnites (several species). Hamilton and Grimsby.
Stromatopora (SpeCleSemman es (eee eee ee wee ee Hamilton
Athyris CESS se pcck sce a aU SS ae Aa .
lnmeulayeuneatarey aan EEO A a as Conrad, 1839, Report N. Y.
Miodiolopsis sorimigenean 55. cne ee : 1838, S
Orthoceras Species. aes career een aes Hamilton
Havosites Niagarensis) (or closely, allied) Wen sete sew e
sMentaculitesii2 SPECIES ty a yak ar sie ie ecel orehe ote acer
Crinoid Stems.
Elalopeaiy swears PRE Haier ate Cerise tamer RO TATU OE, Mong Grimsby
Six or seven Fucuoids, (Hamilton), omitted in Spencer’s list ; also
some undescribed Bucannella trilobata—Conrad, 1838, Ann.
epi Nerve
Nore.—Since the catalogues of local fossils were prepared, Dr. Jas. Hall,
Director-general of the New York State Survey, has figured and described
‘*Lingulops Granti,” Niagara beds, and ‘‘ Lingula Lingulata,” Clinton, from
Hamilton, Ont., Silurian rocks. A few others, also, were lately obtained, not
yet named.
1881
1882
1885
1885
1885
1885
1886
1886
1887
1887
1890
1891
1871
1581
1881
1881
1882
1884
1885
1889
1889
1891
1892
1885
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 137)
HONORARY MEMBERS
OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION.
Grant, Le-Col? © C., Hamilton:
Macoun, John, H. A., Ottawa.
Dawson Sig Wines hs Roos. H-G..S., Fy Re CC. Se. Montreal
Fleming, Sanford, C. E., C. M. G., Ottawa.
Farmer, William, C. E., New York.
Ormiston, Rev. William, D. D., Gladstone, Los Angeles, Cal.
Small, H. B., Ottawa.
Charlton, Mrs. B. E., Hamilton.
Dee, Robert, M. D., New York.
Keefer, Thomas C., C. E., Ottawa.
Burgess, i. J; W., M: D., FE. R.S. C.,, Montreal:
Moffat, J. Alston, London.
CORRESPONDING.
Seath, John, M. A., Toronto.
Clark, Chas. K., M. D., Kingston.
VanWagner, ‘Lieut.-Col. Paros otoney, Creel
SpencempliaVj base. Phy DD: FG. S., savannah, Ga;
Lawson, A. C., M. A., California.
Bull, Rev. Geo. A., M. A., Niagara Falls South.
Frood, T., Sudbury.
Yates, Wm., Hatchley.
Kennedy, Wm., Austin, Tex.
Hanham, A. W., Quebec.
Woolverton, L., M. A., Grimsby.
LIFE.
Proudfoot, Hon. Wm., Q. C, Toronto.
138 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,
LIST OF EXCHANGES.
I.—AMERICA.
(1) CANADA.
Astronomicaljand Physicalysocietyays.4. 9 eo: Toronto.
Canadian Institute....... Rae SR Marae Mien NA
Naturalblistonyy Society, of morontone ste es eee a
DEORE OF AVaACUNRINS oo e686 oc c0c kb 0b os os56 a
Library onthe Oimiversityeii erica ri aoe oe
Buble irbranyi: suet aaaarent us an uvem estes b Soi 00 i
Geological) sunyey oti Canadanaani- ee aac Ottawa.
@ttawamkieldgNatunalists;1C@luloet er re ene reece
Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society.... ...... get
INovalasociety olfq Canadaaaris: = canoe ene ee ee
Departmentiol Acnculturen ay roar ec ee “
Entomological! Societya. a) scm re minra sear London.
KentvillewNaturalistss Clubye eng ntesee ern Kentville, N.S.
Murchison(scientiic society. ee are ees Belleville.
Natural vlistonye Society eran ns sar een aire Montreal.
TEibrary of WicGill Wiaiversityan sania eee et
Nova Scotia Institute of Natural Science......... Halifax.
Literary and Historical Society of Quebec........(Quebec.
Le rnstitut«Canadien) de @ucbecuse mee wemee er ch
Natural History Society of New Brunswick....... St. John.
Manitoba Historical and Scientific Society ....... Winnipeg.
Guelph Scientuie) Association eee ae ....Guelph.
@ueen's, Universityee case ee ene ee Kennes tone
(2) UNITED STATES.
Kansas: Academypol ScienCen an ier entrain ae ‘Topeka, Kan.
Kansas! University ‘@uanterlyee ase eee Lawrence, Kan.
IPSO VS 6 346 wii ‘ab eldapielasons Nowy 2) at ae Ne Mate ete oe a Cambridge, Mass.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences......... Boston, Mass.
Library of @berlin College. (2h ie Oberlin Olio:
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 139
American Association for Advancement of Science. .Salem, Mass.
NationaleAcademysomsclences745.5) oss nee ee Cambridge, Mass.
Miusemmron Comparative Zoology 2. feta uses se m
ANimercicae IDIGIECE SOE Vacca slobeu5 ood ooace4 sf “s
United States Department of Agriculture........ Washington, D.C.
Biolosicalysocietyjok Washingtone... 446. 44-44. : oT
Philosophical Society of Washington............ “ ce
SmMthsonian enStitweOms fees | soe ee ae se ‘s s
Wiaitede states: Geological Surveys. 4500 -45--. a MG
American Society of Microscopists.......... ee ButtalavaNe ve
Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences............. co i
California Academy Ol SClences! 0.22.2... - =: SanFrancisco, Cal.
Californmianstate Geological Societyanmac.- 4642. Us et
Santa Barbara Society of Natural ay eececticaltesits tf Ps
University of California. . a eee Es berkleyaneals
Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences . ..- Minneapolis, Minn.
Academy of Natural Sciences....... SS ADEE ae Philadelphia, Pa.
PNEAGeMMVROMS CICNCES Saks sie tegen teats eee St. Louis, Mo.
Missounpbotanical Gancdlens srw) ase esc e ey ef ee
mie rican @hemical: SOCICtY ss teria oy seater New York City.
News Works Macroscopical SOciety ..-7-. 45 i - Ke es
Pine MIeIMMeAM SOCLebyi A Nees slain cay weer eres H S
AmenricaneAstronomicaly society se <4) a ec) sei) bs ‘
American Geovraphical, Society. 4: % os <)).40- fees: & ‘s
News York Academy) of Sciences. 98502 gee 4: ss es
Weriay xe tevancal(ClOI)s 6 34 som eae Mom eene see es
@entral Parke Mienagenion es. (0) ck wee aligns gs ‘
Connell) Naturalwitstonys Society... n-ne ian Ithaca, N. Y.
Gas Isloplaias WinhyesitiiveS seg seacoast oc bec Baltimore, Md.
KeamsasnGityasclentist rss. hss: seamen ae: . Kansas City, Mo.
Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters..Madison, Wis.
Society of Alaskan Natural History and Ethnology .Sitka, Alaska.
(Wmiversitydomelenmmae crete as eS enceie walkers snopeenee Philadelphia, Pa.
prarilelam Maserete sory tench ges ia teio en avalos s ‘
Wilaie IDG oeidianesaleanlo cremate Am On ola ean oc mMnini Washington.
veld) Columban Miiseumiss yon vais erceee Chicago.
NeademmypOn SCIENCES: sig hs ae ee eres oe Chicago.
Neneulturalk@ ollesen seine Mina menicts penne hin cn. Lansing, Mich.
\
140 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
ColoradorScientilic Socletyaea ee. acre Denver, Col.
Miaseum yon Naturalli@aistony ae yer ee Albany, N. Y.
INoehester Academy, Of Sciences ae ae Rochester, N Y.
(3) WEST INDIES.
inistitutetof Jamaica, eames seem ae Kingston, Jamaica.
(4) SOUTH AMERICA.
The Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society
Of Bettys yuan ete eu co eee ies Georgetown.
IT.—EUROPE.
(1) GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
Lingland.
Bristol Naturalists; @lulyy meee settee Bristol.
Literary and Philosophical Society of Leeds...... Leeds.
ConchologicalySociety- sa oe es eee ae
RoyallSocietys i306 etal s Ve ris aaa R anne London.
Royali@olonialliinstitute ses aie ner en a¢
Society, olsciences Witeratune andy Ants a5 weer ob
GeologicaluSocie tye Gite mei re ieee eye “
Manchester GeologicalSociety=. (e741 Manchester.
Mining Association and Institute of Cornwall... ..Camborne.
Cardiffizhotooraphic) Societys ae sae eee Cardiff.
Scotland.
GlasvowsGeographicalsocietyenc -. eos. eee Glasgow.
Philosophical Society.....- PARADE anaes LON ein 4 0 0 a
Treland.
Royal Irish Academy. . Meiy piciavas &Dimlonin.
Royal Geological Shite of oande Se Ra cea es
Nattunalists7abreldm@lulome nie ae ee Belfast.
(2) AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
Anthropologische \Gesellschait 4/42...) 4esne vale ming:
Ke Ky Geolosische)erehsanstalte 9 ans ae “
Trentschin/ Scientific Society... 2566 yee eilacemtcehin:
THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. IAI
(3) BELGIUM.
Societe Geologique; de) Belerqueh arene an 4 abIese:
(4) DENMARK.
Société Royal des Antiquaires du Nord.........Copenhagen.
(5) FRANCE.
Académie Nationale des Sciences, Belles Lettres
eG Ariss Ba } Ce Ra . Bordeaux.
Académié Navigate as Sree Avr et Bese.
Lettres . : Be Aaa eal aviMiey nay et ea Caen.
Académié Hes Nationals aaa fer et Belles-
Wettres: : oe ee
Société @cianaue a Nord Sse eee es
_ Société Géologique de tne Sip sebeeedepais clea ies sh Uns!
(6) GERMANY.
Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein................Bremen.
Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein................Carlsruhe.
(7) RUSSIA.
Comité Géologique. . : soot.) Petersbunes
Riussich-Kaiserliche Mineralonicene Cdiink. ¢
III.—ASIA.
(1) INDIA.
Asiatic Societies of Bombay and Ceylon.
NSIALI CHS OCIC EY, Ol BEM OAL is cies ae rae ayn: Calcutta.
CeolovicaleSurveyvomlmdiace se 3 qee a weed
(2) STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
The Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society .. Singapore.
(3) JAPAN.
NSIALIC SOCICLY; ORM ApAl 1). 2.5.10 lal eedtel ens cee OKO:
IV.—AFRICA.
(1) CAPE COLONY.
South African Philosophical Society............Cape Town.
142 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS.
V.—AUSTRALIA.
(1) AUSTRALIA.
hevAustralian Museum Swarr ieee een Sydney.
Royalsocicty, of New South Wiallesime yo nee a semi ie
itunnean’ Society,of New) South Wales:i. 5 soreness
Australian Natural History Museum...........Melbourne.
HyjPubhe Library of Victonianoini. nti. - eel ient ing
RoyaltSociety ofa @ueenslandia eee seein eS brismamnes
(2) NEW ZEALAND.
INewsZealandtinstititenanasaeee een oe rw Ve limetom
(3) TASMANIA.
Royal Society of Tasmania’. 20.22.22. 2.5.2. J. Hobartown-
HAMILTON. ASSOCIATION.
OFFICERS FOR 1897-8.
President.
A. ALEXANDER, F. S. Sc.
ist Vice-President. 2nd Vice=President.
T. W. REYNOLDS, M. D. A. E. WALKER.
Corresponding Secretary. Recording Secretary.
WM. C. HERRIMAN, M. D. S. A. MORGAN, B. A., B. PAID.
Treasurer. Curator.
Pp. L. SCRIVEN. ALEX. GAVILLER.
Asst. Curator.
H. S. MOORE.
Council.
W. H. ELLIOTT, B. A. THOS. MORRIS, Jr.
ROBT. CAMPBELL. J. Rk. MOODIE. WM. WHITE.
Auditors.
H. P. BONNEY. F. HANSEL, D. D. S.
mp
Bue
i g as,
a a ih
ea
opty
int taal on AAR RRO Ais clay: sei
AP A “MARRBARES
WAN a A Ranaaa. os alae p eran
: 3 = Nin A ade ges : AA Pee E pe f\ lava
< s ie if ; a i i - ni Ae ee
2 i Mi A A
oie
oats ee av Mi, 1 RARA PAW ls) Wmennees
rete ay oo Seance
/ : sagt hha ra ies Prgannncccce aw
AS an PRIARSIA WY TAMIR AAA AAW ar
RAT AR Maia at anne Aaa’ Aanaanan oS SAAR AEE WG
RRA soe Pe saaaninrans nate Manos Ms
AAT ARRAN A ANAL iran, aaa \ A NY aa ei
me (vaaaa A Ex
+ ALLE Ww van aun UB ROARK WANA nn.
nye eRRAAHANNancAlotea ay: on
a center ,
Plated Ane
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