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MÉMOIRES 


ET 


COMPTES: KEINE» 


DE LA 


SOCIÉTÉ ROYALE 


DU 


CANADA 


POUR L'ANNÉE 


TOME IV. 








MONTRÉAL : 
DAWSON FRÈRES, LIBRAIRES-ÉDITEURS. 
1887. 


PROCEEDINGS 


AND 


Sete Neo Coll ONS 


OF THE 


RONA 80 CO LE PY 


OF 


CANTAL DES 


LOR? THE ns 18867 


VOLUME IV. 








MONTREAL: 
DAWSON BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 
1887. 


Exrerep according to Act of Parliament in the year 1887 in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture 
by Dawson Broruers, for the RoyAL Soctery. é 


al 
i 


13155: 


ic 





PRINTED BY THE GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY, MONTREAL, 





SEE OF CONTENTS: 


PROCEEDINGS. 
PAGE 
Brocmlinss Jr 10e eee MMA ne ADP ER nce Set ec DU CODE Eden Due il 
Officers and List of Members... ..........… RCE dE oats rte D nee een U es ee hie XXXIII 
TRANSACTIONS. 
SECTION I. 
CPL NICH ee RAT MUOUIS. HREOMNTTH re tancaeeetsoas'eh someone se nme sense rca oo 1 
II. Le golfe Saint-Laurent (1600-1625). Par BENJAMIN SULTE... .....…. ................. 7 
II. Un Pèlerinage au pays d'Evangeline. Par L’ABBE CASGRAIN............................. 19 
AOC Dunn ME arEMECA SD DE CELLES AN een mme cr seen enr ee en. 65 
DRPeSpasessomorestaeleEliStotre. leat Jn Nem MIOUNE "ee sc. 71 
SECTION II. 
I. The Right Hand and Left-handedness. By DANTE WIKESONiG. 2e eee 1 
II. Local Government in Canada: an Historical Study. By JoHN GEORGE Bourinor... 43 


III, Historical Record of the St. Maurice Forges, the Oldest Active Blast-Furnace on the 


Continent of Amence by PIC EWIURTERE MES ENVIE I Se 77 

IV. Brief Outlines of the most famous Journeys in and about Rupert’s Land. By Rev. 
CRORGUY OR VCH tes anne Rae mone dE CHA TO Eu CCE 91 
Vee Bhev ost Atlantis: By DANTRE WILSON. ems aera xgtaewe aeatee. deste’ eavdeldessseaeesee 105 


SECTION III. 


PePresidential Address. By CHARLES CARPMAEL:. 0.2... 22e - se sticosasscsscssewncoseoe 1 
IT. The Genetic History of Crystalline Rocks. By T. STERRY HUNT.......................... 7 
III. On the Colouring Matter of Black Tourmalines. By E. J. CHAPMAN..................... 39 
IV. Time-Reckoning for the Twentieth Century. By SANDFORD FLEMING................... 43 
V. Du choix d'une projection pour la carte du Canada. Par E. DEVILLE................ 00.08 57 
VI. Supplement to “ A Natural System in Mineralogy, etc.” By T. STERRY Hunt......... 63 
VII. On Some Canadian Minerals. By B. J. HARRINGTON...............................,., x il 
VIII. On Some points in reference to Ice Phenomena. By Dr. ROBERT BELL.................. 85 

IX. Abel's Forms of the Roots of the Solvable Equation of the Fifth Degree. By GEORGE 
PATIO Nau VO WIN Clay sas araiece ote ee ane sas cent se dan sn eue sinduatleina s datcue ede QORMOe 93 


IT TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


SECTION IV. 


I. Presidential Address: Some Points in which American Geological Science is indebted to 


Chieti by RON IE AMD STE ONEE RER s00a0EuN0 SoDGNODSAONOHAN gocG0ea00 

IT. Recent Additions to Canadian Filicinea, with New Stations for some of the Species 
PTEVIOUSLY TENOT LED” Leda Wey UIRGINSS see eee sense ese nee ec re 

III. On the Fossil Plants of the Laramie Formation of Canada. By Sir J. WILLIAM 
ASW ES ON, RE ne mare nee sans memes eme diner e eee eee eee Poe eee CE 

IV. On the Silurian System of Northern Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec. By L. W. 
YOU BIO) nn Ou ete rene sense rase ee re ere me CC 0e CES 

V. Note sur le contact des formations paléozoïques et archéennes de la province de Québec, 
Par L’sBBE J. C. LAFLAMME.. RP OS non sonic to 

VI. Mechanism of Movement in Cucurbita, Vitis and Robinia. By D. P. PENHALLOW...... 
VII. On Certain Borings in Manitoba and the Northwest Territory. By GEORGE M. 
DAWSON RAs ve ceees eet cose sista viowenssitnenen et een el 00e eas 

VIII. Illustrations of the Fossil anes of the Devonian Rds of Canada (Part I). By J. F 
IW IEDIOA VES: rece taiacs reson tiedbsaelnesoanatery essees tea dened: 20e ete eee 


IX. On some Marine Invertebrata, dredged or otherwise collected by Dr. G. M. Dawson, in 
1885, in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia, in Discovery Passage, Johnstone 

Strait, and Queen Charlotte and Quatsino Sounds, British Columbia; with a 
Supplementary List of a few land and fresh-water shells, fishes, birds, etc., from the 
sameiresion. By) Hi Wi EUDRAVIES NES eee eee ene 

X. On the Glaciation and Pleistocene Subsidence of Nor Tee New Brunswick and South- 
Basterma@uebec! oo Byehi CHALMMRS "Er on ee ee ee 

XI. Onthe Cambrian Faunas of Cape Breton and a By G. F. MATTHEW... 
XII. Notes on the Limestones of East River, Pictou, N.S. By EDWIN GILPIN, JUN......... 
XIII. Preliminary Report on some Graptolites from the Lower Palæozoic Rocks on the South 
Side of the St. Lawrence from Cape Rosier to Tartigo River, from the North Shore 

of the Island of Orleans one mile above Cap Rouge, and from the Cove Fields, 

Quebec. "By CHARLES LAPWORTH 2.52 «duscscccseco cree ee 


101 


139 
147 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. III 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


SECTION III. 


Cut to illustrate DR. SANDFORD FLEMINGS paper on Time-Reckoning for the Twentieth 
Century, p. 51. 

Cut to illustrate PROFESSOR HARRINGTON’S paper on Canadian Minerals, p. 83. 

Plate to illustrate DR. SANDFORD FLEMING’s paper on Time Reckoning, etc. 


SECTION IV. 


Cut to illustrate Mr. T. J. W. BURGESS'S paper on Canadian Filicineæ, p. 12. 

Cuts to illustrate Mr. J. F. WHITEAVES'S paper on Marine Invertebrata, etc., pp. 114, 
124, 125. 

Cuts to illustrate Mr. G. F. MATTHEW'S paper on Cambrian Faunas, etc., pp. 151, 153, 
155, 156. 

Two plates to illustrate SIR WILLIAM Dawson’s paper on Fossil Plants of the Laramie 
Formation. 

Three plates to illustrate PROFESSOR PENHALLOW’s paper on Mechanism of Movement 
in Plants. 

Five plates to illustrate Mr. J. F. WHITEAVES’S paper on Fossil Fishes of the Devonian 
Rocks. 

Plate to illustrate Mr. E. GILPIN'S paper on the Limestones of East River, Pictou 
Co., N.S. 





ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 





ER OCHEDINGS FOR 1856. 





FIFTH GENERAL MEETING, MAY, 1886. 





SESSION I. (May 25th.) 


The Royal Society of Canada held its fifth general meeting in the Railway Committee room, 
Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, on Tuesday, May 25th. The President, Dr. Daniel Wilson, took the 
chair at 11 o’clock a.m., and formally called the meeting to order. 

The Honorary Secretary then read the following 


Report or Councit. 


The Council have the honour to submit their Annual Report. 

In the month of May last, the Council appointed the following gentlemen as members of the 
Printing Committee, viz., Drs. T. Sterry Hunt and Daniel Wilson, Sir William Dawson, Prof. Alex, 
Johnson, Drs. Fréchette and Chauveau, and Mr. Thos. Macfarlane, of whom three should constitute a 
quorum. 

The following Report of the Printing Committee has been submitted to the Council:— 

“The Printing Committee have to report the publication of the third volume of the Proceedings 
and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, which appeared May 22nd, and contains 640 pages 
of text (being a little larger than the report last year), and not less than thirteen pages of maps and 
plates. They would note also the great number of pages of tabulated figures in the paper on the 
Longitude of Montreal, the printing of which necessarily caused much additional expense and con- 
siderable delay. Still farther delays have been caused by the great amount of alteration made by 
some writers in their proof-sheets, and by their remissness in many cases in returning these sheets. 
The Committee, under all these circumstances, have reason for congratulation in the fact that their 
task is completed before the Annual Meeting, and that copies of the volume are now in the hands of 
the Society. Their thanks are due for the many courtesies shown by the publishers Messrs. Dawson 
Bros. of Montreal, and to Mr. R. W. Boodle, the acting editor, for his skill, care and efficient services. 

“They call attention to the fact that of the Report on Fellowships, etc., which forms an Appen- 
dix of fourteen pages to the Proceedings of this year, 750 copies, printed apart, have already been 
distributed to the members of the Society, to Universities, learned societies, and others interested. 

“The Committee would earnestly recommend to all the members of the Society greater care in 
the preparation of their papers for publication. No paper should be sent to the Secretaries until it is 


Proc. 1886. A. 


IT ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


in a completed state and ready for printing, without farther additions. They would also urge that 
papers should be sent in without delay, in order that printing might commence at once, and would 
recommend that August Ist be fixed as a date at which all matter should be in the hands of the 
Printing Committee, and after which no more can be received. 

“They have got from the publishers a statement herewith appended of the number of copies of 
the Volumes I and II, now on hand, amounting to 298 copies of Vol. I, and 327 copies of Vol. IT. 

“The accounts of the Society with the publishers, up to May 22nd, have been received and are 
herewith submitted.” 

Montreat, May 22nd, 1886. 

The Royal Society of Canada. 


To Dawson Brothers, Dr. 





Hor Balancevasiper last aCCOumt....s...>c0ccecas ses acsen ene cravereetels serie tee) $ 288 53 
Account Of CMIIME ..........cccnscee..Secvcersstencessensasssessensav teens snevens sever 327 00 
Foreign and domestic freight, express charges on deliveries ................ 331 61 
SIADONOAT canocn saooobnns psonadeacaqansbnododooosoUDbonRUoDICUONDHDOSuQDaDEGCeCObcD godnoc 3 75 
Cases, packing, shipping ExXpenseS essence chere eee 85 90 
Tasnobiayee GIP GEA, (CO) PIE Eee cer S006. couonahaogtconenu 28 50 
PSP SENSES Ola OMMANLLCES/eeeseleci aves ose sieectulen sso eee eee ects ee 144 00 
TPE DEIR, conoooanognoscoseoon ONDDOOUETHEORONIOE aabococ casnonoocous apbogbansonge SedsooA0C 1,391 25 
PORTA MPIOONSE rence scene encens eee ee ee 58 37 
TOME ONS. cooncoss Ga: nonosboconodnodnsaqocencoSconso Db ope coniocooncsodaboadadaodon 6 ooo90 420 00 
Composition ................…. D nn cc ch Ou oc ocoo Ps gon ab LÉO nat 1,606 53 
TRS TOIL paopocbosoosadbodechouos CHAse nos nooobasod ue 00 cdonnodnonnadonndnoon0 CAREC 303 50 
Cancelledimatte Eee ere ee srcessecides den steeesrassneneanene etme nieeceaecar 50 00 
ANIM MOTE UTA, (CO}O\y~ ee. cree eee eee 280 57 

$5,319 51 
iB ya Cashtracccnsermoctsscetoescssienscsceeeaer sete ere LE $ 235 00 
he Bo daaban 008. “pod Sonn QU 000 annn da duos Abe TAG saa AIN ToDbE TEE 328 00 
EC et ee csonc On oui 200 00 
sc bo 000 Lo dou no cena cot onob de aao 00000 a 040 800 00 
BO de eds uno onto seb vosutbhdocqudonseao 1 once 403 87 
5 TE SoSH ond aoa6AGp JunbIRI a 6 aobodcHodsoconomosoarocn ane 2,227 48 

—— 4,194 35 





$1,125 16 
A special copy of the Transactions for the year 1884 was forwarded to Her Majesty the Queen, 
through His Excellency the Governor-General, and the following acknowledgment duly received :— 
Orrawa, April 19, 1886. 
J. G. Bourtnot, Æsq., Clerk of the House of Commons, de. : 


Sir,—I have the honour to forward to you herewith a copy of a despatch from the Colonial Office, 
acknowledging the receipt of a copy of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for the year 
1884, and conveying Her Majesty’s thanks to the Society. 


I have the hononr to be, Sir, your obedient servant, 


HENRY STREATFIELD, 


Governor-General’s Secretary. 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. U1 


[copy. | 
Downixa Street, March 26, 1886. 


Governor-General the Most Hon. the MArqurss or LANSDOWNE, G. C. M. G., dc. : 


My Lorp,—I have received and laid before the Queen your Lordship’s despatch, No. 50, of the 
23rd ult., forwarding for Her Majesty’s acceptance a copy of the Transactions of the Royal Society of 
Canada, for the year 1884, and I am commanded to convey to the Society, through your Lordship, 
Her Majesty’s thanks for the volume. 

I have, ete., 


(Signed) GRANVILLE, 


The Honorary Secretary communicated to Professor Bonney, the distinguished President of the 
Geological Society of London, the fact of his having been unanimously elected one of the Correspond- 
ing Members of the Royal Society, and subsequently received the following letter of acceptance :— 


British ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, 
22 Albemarle St., Lonpon, W., June 18, 1885. 
To J. G. Bourinor, Esq., Hon.-Sec. Roy. Soc. Canada: 


SiR,--Your letter of June 2nd, announcing my election as a Corresponding Member of the Royal 
Society of Canada, has caused me no less surprise than pleasure. I should not have deemed myself 
worthy of so high an honour, and shall regard it as an incentive to render myself worthy of the con- 
fidence which your members have reposed in me. Pray convey to them my sincere thanks, and 
express my sense of obligation. 

I remain, Sir, yours faithfully, 
T. G. Bonney. 


During the past winter the Council had the honour of an interview with the Premier and other 
members of the Government of Canada, and urged on them the desirability of continuing the grant 
of $5,000 which the Society has received for the last three years. Several members of the Council 
addressed the Ministers on the subject, and the Premier replied in very satisfactory terms, expressing 
his approval of the work already done by the Society, and his own opinion that it was deserving of 
financial assistance. He promised to bring the matter to the attention of his colleagues, and at his 
suggestion the Council addressed a memorial to the Governor-General, setting forth the objects and 
labors of the Society and formally praying for a renewal of the grant. We are happy to be able to 
state that the Government has placed the sum in the Estimates, and we have every confidence that 
Parliament will approve the recommendation and pass the vote in due form. 

The Council have continued to coéperate with the British Association in pressing on the Cana- 
dian Government the importance of publishing Tide Tables, and the necessity of establishing for 
this purpose stations for continuous Tidal Observations in the waters of the Dominion. A large dele- 
gation, composed of members of the Royal Society, of the Committee appointed by the British Asso- 
ciation, and of the Board of Trade of Montreal, waited on the Minister of Marine and Fisheries in 
January last, and gave him full explanations on a subject of such great interest to the commerce 
and marine of Canada. At a subsequent interview, on the same day, with the Premier and other 
members of the Cabinet, arguments were advanced in favour of the scheme, and information given on 
practical points connected with the proposed observations. It is satisfactory to know that the mem- 
bers of the Government appeared to approve of the propositions submitted to them, but in conse- 
quence of the expenditures entailed by the surveys of Georgian Bay and by the expeditions to Hudson 
Bay, they have been unable, so far, to recommend a vote to Parliament. The deputation, however, 


IV ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


felt encouraged by the interview, and there is much reason for coming to the conclusion that no long 
time can pass before the Government will take the matter into their earnest and favourable considera- 
tion. Under these circumstances, the Council recommend that the Royal Society continue to press 
on the Government and the Parliament of Canada the importance of these Observations. 

In accordance with the regulations of the Royal Society, invitations were issued by the Honorary 
Secretary to the leading literary and scientifie societies of Canada, asking them to send delegates to 
take part in all general and sectional meetings for the reading aud discussion of papers, and to com- 
municate statements of the work done by their respective associations. It is gratifying to find that 
the responses to these invitations have been most cordial, and we shall have an average attendance of 
representatives of bodies who are doing a most useful work throughout the Dominion. The Transac- 
tions for the past two years contain summaries of the labours and investigations of these societies, 
which will be very interesting to all those wishing information as to the intellectual development of 
this country. The Council believe that in thus coüperating with all the kindred societies throughout 
the Dominion, the Royal Society is performing a work which is eminently satisfactory, since it 
enables a number of persons to meet together from all parts of Canada, and compare notes of literary 
and scientific progress in its different Sections. The Royal Society is not exclusive, but is intended 
to be thoroughly national and representative in its object and scope. 

The following is a list of the Societies which have appointed delegates to this Annual Meeting : — 


List or DELEGATES FROM AFFILIATED SOCIETIES. 


. Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Moutreal—W. D. Lighthall. 
. Historical Society, Winnipeg.— Rev. Dr. G. Bryce. 

. Entomological Society of Ontario— W. H. Harrington. 

. Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.—Dr. J. M. Harper. 

. Natural History Society of Montreal.—d. H. Mason. 

. Nova Scotia Historical Society.—Rev. Dr. J. Forrest. 

. Natural History Society of St. John, N.B.—J. A. Estey. 

. Institut Canadien, Ottawa.—#. R. E. Campeau. 

. Société Historique de Montréal.— 4. Garneau. 

10. Ottawa Literary and Scientifie Society.— W. P. Anderson. 

11. Canadian Institute, Toronto.—Prof. W. H. Ellis. 

12. Institut Canadien de Québec.—J. J. T. Frémont. 

15. Geographical Society of Quebec.—H. J. J. B. Chouinard. 

14. Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club—R. B. Whyte. 

15. Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science.—A. H. MacKay (substitute, Maynard Bowman). 
16. Murchison Society of Belleville—Thos. Wills. 

17. Hamilton Association —T. C. Keefer. 


Bm oo bo + 


D x 





© © -T 


The necessity of a stricter compliance with the rule that requires members to send in titles 
and abstracts of papers, at least three weeks before the day of the Annual General Meeting, is urged 
by the Council in view of the great advantages that all the members derive from being made cogni- 
sant in time of the subjects that are to be discussed in the Sections. For the first time this year, 
the Honorary Secretary published the titles and abstracts so far as he had received them, and for- 
warded them by mail to the members of the Society. But it will be seen that the rule has been 
observed in only a few cases. It is also necessary to state that members should make their abstracts 
as brief as possible. In one or two cases the matter was altogether too full for publication. 

It is satisfactory to know that the volumes of the Transactions which have been sent to other 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886, V 


countries have met with a very favourable reception, and that a large number of publications are now 
received in the course of the year from foreign societies. So far, on account of the Royal Society’s 
having no place for a library, the value of these exchanges is in a great measure lost to the members 
and other persons who may be desirous of consulting these scientific and literary publications. In 
view of this fact, the Society should, as soon as possible, take into its serious consideration the 
necessity of making provision for suitable rooms where the members can meet as occasion requires. 
It is hoped that in the event of the Government of the Dominion erecting at some future time a suit- 
able building for a National Museum in Ottawa, it will be possible to procure from them the accom- 
modation required by the Society. 

The Council think it advisable to call attention to the difficulty that arises of obtaining a large 
attendance of members of the Society at the Annual Gencral Meetings. The average attendance for 
four years has not exceeded forty-five out of a total membership of eighty Fellows. This year, the 
Colonial and Indian Exhibition has naturally attracted to England a number of gentlemen who have 
taken an active part in the proceedings of the Society. In asking the attention of the Society to this 
subject, the Council would at the same time refer specially to the rule which sets forth, that “Any 
member failing to attend three years in succession, without presenting a paper, or assigning reasons 
in writing satisfactory to the Society, shall be considered to have resigned.” The attention that was 
called to this rule at the Annual General Meeting of 1885, has produced a good effect, since it has 
induced several members to take a more active interest in the work of the Society, by sending 
papers, which will be found of considerable interest and value. In this connection, the Council 
regret to state that Mr. Charles Sangster has sent in a formal resignation of his membership in 
Section I, on account of the condition of his health, which prevents him from taking an active part 
in the work of the Society. Under these circumstances, the Council would recommend that Mr. 
Sangster’s resignation be accepted. 

Some doubts having arisen as to the interpretation to be placed on Rule 6, providing for the 
election of new members, the Council would recommend that the second paragraph of the Rule be 
rescinded, and the following substituted therefor :— 

“The number of members in each section shall be limited to twenty. Any vacancy occurring 
in any Section shall be reported to the Secretary of that Section by the Honorary Secretary, as early 
as possible. The Section shall proceed at the time of the Annual General Meeting to nominate by 
ballot for the filling of such vacancy, The nominations, with reasons stated in writing, shall then be 
transmitted to the Council, and by it submitted for final vote to the Society at its General Meeting of 
the ensuing year.” 


List or MEMBERS PRESENT. 


The Honorary Secretary called over the roll of members, and the following gentlemen responded 
to their names :— 

Dr. Daniel Wilson, Very Rev. T. E. Hamel, Sir W. Dawson, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, J. G. Bourinot, 
G. T. Denison, Prof. Chapman, A. Lusignan, Dr. R. Bell, J. M. LeMoine, P. Lemay, F. N. Gisborne, 
W. Kirby, Abbé Tanguay, A. D. DeCelles, T. Macfarlane, G. Stewart, Jun., Dr. J. A. Grant, C. H. 
Carpmael, Dr. Sandford Fleming, Dr. G. M. Dawson, G. C. Hoffmann, J. F. Whiteaves, Dr. Withrow, 
Prof. Bailey, Dr. Æneas Dawson, John Reade, Prof. J. A. K. Laflamme, J. Fletcher, Dr. Fortin, 
B. Sulte, J. Tassé. 


Business. 


The minutes of the Fourth General Meeting, May, 1885, as printed in the third Volume of the 
Transactions, were read and approved. 


VI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


The resignation of Mr. Sangster, as a member of Section IT, was accepted in accordance with 
the recommendation of the Council. 

The draft of Rule 6, as amended by the Council in their Report, was then considered, and form- 
ally adopted nem. con. 


REPORTS FROM AFFILIATED SOCIETIES. 


The Honorary Secretary then again read the list of delegates, and the following Reports were 
submitted from the Affiliated Societies :— 


I.—From the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montreal, through Mr. W. D. LIGHTHALL :— 


Our Society, though the word ‘‘ Numismatic” stands before “ Antiquarian” in its title, pursues 
chiefly antiquarian work. It was incorporated in 1869, and holds mectings once a month, from 
November to April. During the last two years, great advantage has been found in holding the meet- 
ings at members’ residences, where the Society has been greatly instructed by the view of private 
collections and unique objects, with which it would have been otherwise impossible for the whole to 
become acquainted, and the sociable atmosphere of such receptions has contributed greatly to the 
free communication of ideas; while the young men in particular have been attracted by this means 
to increased interest in the objects of the Society, which they see so happily pursued in the private 
life of their elders. 

The following papers have been read during the past session :— 


Nov. 17. Château Boisbriant, by Mr. R. Lyman. 
The Glastonbury Penny, by Mr. R. W. McLachlan. 
Dec. 15. Meanderings in History, by Mr. Henry Mott. 
Jan. 15. Notes on the Conseil Souverain, by Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau. 
Feb. 16. Old Edinburgh and its Associations, by Mr. J. H. Bowe. 
March 16. The Louisbourg Medals, by Mr. R. W. McLachlan. 
April 15. The Old Parish Churches of the Province of Quebec, by Mr. W. D. Lighthall. 


Besides the holding of these meetings, our work includes the support and publication of the 
Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, and the gathering together of a collection of coins and 
other objects, which is kept by one of the officers. We also endeavor, where possible, to protect and 
preserve “the ancient landmarks,” and to prosecute and encourage antiquarian work of all kinds in 
our neighborhood. 

For instance, it is almost certain that the old Church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours, nearly the 
sole remaining public relic of consequence in Montreal, was saved from absolute demolition by the 
efforts of the Society, though very painful alterations have been made. Nor is it likely that several 
books treating of interesting matters would have seen the light of publication had the Society not 
been steadily doing its duty—such, for example, as the “History of Montreal Jail and the Prison 
Records,” by the Rev. John Borthwick, Chaplain, which is just appearing. 

Among our members, Mr. Henry Mott is bringing out an admirable “History of Montreal;” Mr. 
Charles T. Hart is gathering a large, unique and invaluable collection of photographs of old localities 
and buildings, chiefly old parish churches, which are fast disappearing. Mr. Roswell Lyman is 
adding industriously to the accurate sketching and measurement of antiquarian structures and 
articles. The Society is, in fact, turning its attention strongly to the importance of registering the 
actual mould and impress of historic things by pictorial means, and its suggestions have moved seve- 
ral outside painters who have reproduced in color such objects as the Bonsecours Church above 
mentioned, before alteration, and the homestead of La Salle, on the Fraser Farm, at Lower Lachine, 
the latter of which was exhibited at the Spring Exhibition of the Royal Academy at Montreal. A 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. VII 


little has been done, likewise, in the way of taking heel-ball impressions from monumental inscrip- 
tions. The writer would take this opportunity to recommend that some one should undertake a set 
of the more interesting Canadian inscriptions, of which there are many of value in the churches and 
graveyards. The process is the simple one of laying a piece of white “lining-paper” (which any 
wall-paper dealer sells) over the inscription and rubbing across the surface with shoemaker’s heel- 
ball. Indeed, to make a broad suggestion, every family ought to possess a set of these simple records 
pertaining to itself. I shall close my sketch of our year’s work by adding that material is being 
collected by our Secretary, Mr. Bowe, for a projected description of the coats-ofarms of French 
Canadian seigniorial families, 





IJ.—From the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, through Dr. Jon Harper :— 


As I predicted last year, in making my report as delegate from the Literary and Historical 
Society of Quebec to the Royal Society of Canada, the efforts of our President, George Stewart, Jun., 
to place our Society more directly in line with the literary activity of to-day have been attended by 
the most favorable results. A greater interest has been taken in the various departments of our 
work, and in none more so than in the reading of papers and in the arrangements for a course of 
lectures. The latter particularly have been a great success, the various lecturers having been greeted 
by large audiences, consisting of the members of the Society and the citizens of Quebec. Though 
our finances are not altogether yet in a sufficiently flourishing condition to enable the Society to 
resume its work of publishing papers and original documents, arrangements were made whereby a 
printed Report of our Transactions has been issued; and in the name of the Society, I have much 
pleasure in presenting the Council of the Royal Society with a copy of this Report, wherein will be 
found the record of the Society’s proceedings for the past three years, and a reprint of the “Histoire 
du Canada,” by Abbé de Belmont—a memoir which was first published by our Society in 1840 from 
the original MS, in the Bibliothéque du Roi at Paris. The various papers and lectures which have 
been received by the Society, as may be seen from the printed Report, are as follows :— 


Noy. 19, The Administration of de Denonville and the Second Term of Frontenac: Inaugural 
Address, by the President, Dr. Stewart. 

Dec. 3. A Yeur’s Experience among the Eskimos in Hudson Strait, by Mr. W. A. Ashe. 

Dec. 11. Burmah and the Indo-China Territory in its connection with the Canadian Pacific 
Railway, by Lieut.-Col. W. Rhodes. 

Dec. 18. Impressions de voyage, sir Walter Scott, sa carrière, ses écrits, son château d’Abbots- 
ford, by Mr. J. M. LeMoine. 

Dec. 30. Une course dans le nord de l'Afrique, by the Hon, Justice Routhier. 

« Jan. 29. Quebec and Literature, by Dr. John M. Harper. 

Feb. 12. Historic Glimpses in the Old World, by Rev. Dr. Mathews. 

Feb. 19. The Origin of the Saguenay, by Abbé J. C. K. Laflamme. 

Feb. 26. Hudson Strait, by Mr. W. A. Ashe. 

March 12. Stories of Coast Life, and Description of some of the least known and most interesting 
Fish of Canada, by Mr. J. U. Gregory. 

March 19. Railways and Waterways, by Mr. Joseph Shehyn. 


Our membership includes at the present time about two hundred and thirty names, and a Com- 
mittee has been appointed to secure additional members, in order to place the Society in a sound 
financial position. During the year, twenty-four new members have been elected, while twelve of the 
old members have withdrawn. Six of our most highly esteemed members died during the year, viz., 
William Darling Campbell, Ninian Davidson, E. C. Burke, William Home, Michael Stevenson and 
Dr. Jackson. His Excellency the Marquis of Landsdowne, Governor-General of Canada, was elected 


VIII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


patron and honorary member of the Society; and the following gentlemen were elected correspond- 
ing members, viz., I. Allen Jack, Recorder of the City of St. John, N.B., and B. Percy Scott, of 
Windsor, N.S. 

The Library continues to improve under the superintendence of the energetic Librarian, Mr. F. 
C. Wurtele, who reports that during the year 2,234 volumes were given out to members. 

The following gentlemen were elected to office for the year 1885-6 :— 


TETRE SCI ocannosoon os aonacguopur onto opongoonesadte George Stewart, Jun. 
( Wm. Hossack. 
À > 1 D 
| Cyr. Tessier. 


WicCe=bresidon ter mecs ess sms eee ee | AE eye 

J. Whitehead. 
ABREEYSIIIRETE * nocooansaononnSopaasncaScAonSonqoabaDoDo6060 Edwin Pope. 
TEI SENEIEND, coosjnoco soabconcnecddadasodoonoansdbaccaadec . Fred. C. Wurtele. 
TRE CORGIM PT SECC LAVE nero eee es J. F. Belleau. 
Corresponding Secretary.......................... W.S. Bennett. 
Council Secketiaiyeacedscessest sisson senee .ese20. Alexander Robertson. 
CHEATO NO EME ER sn eeemseseseenee J. U. Gregory. 
CuratorsOh eA panalnsaesceascss seer saeeckclss secs cies/s R. McLeod, 


Herbert M. Price. 
Hon. D. A. Ross. 
Peter Johnston. 
Mr. R. Turner was appointed Auditor for the ensuing year. 


ie M. LeMoine. 


Additional Members of Council............... | 





III.—From the New Brunswick Natural History Society, through Pror. BAILEY :— 


The New Brunswick Natural History Society, of St. John, respectfully submits to the Royal 
Society of Canada the following report of progress for the past year :— 

The Society has a membership of over one hundred members, and among them many active 
naturalists, who are doing zealous and careful work in the several departments in which they are 
engaged. Owing to the yearly grant received from the Local Government of New Brunswick, the 
Society has been enabled to increase its Museum accommodation, and to engage more effectively in 
original work. Valuable additions have been made during the year to its Museum, especially in the 
departments of geology, botany, zoology, ornithology, etc. 

During the summer of 1885, a summer camp was held under the auspices of a working club of 
the Society, on Frye’s Island, near the entrance to Passamaquoddy Bay. The work principally 
carried on was in geology, zoology and botany, and considerable introductory work was done in 
marine zoology and botany. 

The accompanying Bulletin contains a more complete resumé of the work of the Society during 
the past year, and is herewith transmitted to the members of the Royal Society for their inspection. 





IV.—From the Hamilton Association, through Mr. T. C. KEErFER. 


The Association has held nine meetings during the year just closing. The attendance at these 
meetings was good, and the interest manifested in the subjects brought before the members satisfac- 
tory. The following were the subjects of the papers :— i 

1. The Mound Builders’ remains in Manitoba, by Mr. Charles N. Bell, 

2. The Pressure and Elasticity of the Atmosphere (illustrated by numerous experiments), by 

Mr. A. Gaveller. 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. IX 


3. American Ornithology, by Mr. Thomas Mcllwraith. 

4. Pessimism, by Rev. Samuel Lyle. 

5. The Phosphate Trade of Canada, by Dr. H. B. Small. 

6. Telegraphic Communication with a Moving Train, by Mr. George Black. 
7. Life in Nature and Evolution in Life, by Mr. J. Alston Moffatt. 


Our Association is fortunate in having as a member Mr. Thomas MeclIlwraith, who, has contribu- 
ted during this Session so mt'h original work to the Biology Section, in the shape of a full 
description of no less than two hundred and fifty birds of Canada. This important work has been 
handed over unconditionally to ‘he Association, and will be published and distributed shortly, and 
will form a valuable addition to the science of ornithology. 

The Geological Section has not been overlooked, for Lt.-Col. Grant and other members have 
added to our collection of specimens. 

The Reading Room has been supplied with some of the leading scientific magazines and reviews. 

Our present membership is one hundred and forty-five, twenty-four new members having been 
admitted during the Session. 





V.—From the Murchison Scientific Society of Belleville, through Mr. T. Writs. 


In presenting the report of the Murchison Scientific Society of Belleville, we have to express 
our regret that, in consequence of the pressing business engagements of so many of our members, not 
much original work has been done during the past year, but papers have been read on the following 
subjects: Fresh Water Sponges, the Early History of Electricity, Fruit and Flowers, and Physio- 
logical and Pathological Chemistry. Meetings have been regularly held, and several microscopical 
exhibitions have been given. The Society was honoured by a visit from the members of the Phar- 
maceutical Society of Ontario, which held its convention in Belleville, in August, and the conver- 
sazione which was given in their honour was well attended. Progress continues to be made with 
the Museum, and a number of valuable and interesting articles have lately been presented which add 
much to the attractiveness of the collection. 

The officers for the present year are :— 


IP TOSI END serres mere rm since nance Mr. Thos. Wills. 
Wice-Bresidcnibe sceseavsrses eee cree eee ee Mr, O. C. Greenleaf. 
SWCIREIENEY? -Houcorsoc dot ondonbeones once e ec e 7 sogadeqd Mr. W. R. Smith. 
IPTOABSUTEL seems des des sm rc esse trente se ess Mr. E. W. Edwards. 


VI.—From the Institut Canadien-français d'Ottawa, through Mr. F. R. E. Camera, C. St.-S. 


Le bureau de direction de l'Institut Canadien-français d’Ottawa, fier comme les années précé- 
dentes de l'honneur que lui a fait la Société Royale du Canada en l’invitant à présenter un rapport 
sur ses opérations de l’année courante, peut se vanter de l’état comparativement prospère de ses 
finances. 

Nous avons éprouvé, le 6 avril 1885, une perte considérable par l'effondrement du toit de notre 

I ) ; 
édifice, mais les souscriptions généreuses de ses membres et d’autres personnes sympathiques 
2 I 5 1 ) 
s’elèvant à près de sept cents dollars, ont couvert une partie de nos frais de reconstruction, qui se 
montent à plus de seize cents dollars. 

Le gouvernement d’Ontario continue à accorder l'allocation annuelle de trois cents dollars, ce 
qui est d’un grand secours pour nous, surtout dans cette période critique que nous avons à traverser. 

re de nos membres titulaires es ux cent trente-sept. 

Le nombre d bres titula t de deux cent trente-sept 

Pendant l’année littéraire qui vient de s’écouler, onze conférences ont été données devant 

I ) 


Proc. 1886. B. 


x ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


l'Institut, en présence d’assistances généralement nombreuses, qui témoignaient de l’intérét porté aux 
lettres par la population frangaise d’Ottawa. 


Ces conférences se résument comme suit : — 


lo La langue que nous parlons, par M. Napoléon Legendre, de la Société Royale. 
20 Deux femmes d’après Corneille, par le R. P. Fillâtre, O.M.T. 
30 Montéalm,.par M. P. J. Ubalde Baudry, greffier adjoint du conseil privé. 
40 Une résurrection, par le R. P. Nolin, O.M.I. 
5o Au pôle nord, par M. Achille Talbot, avocat. 
60 L'étude des sciences naturelles, par le R. P. Marsan, O.M.I. 
fo Les traces d’aborigénes constatées par la découverte de spécimens archéologiques, par M. 
Faucher de Saint-Maurice, M.S.R.C. 
80 Nos premières relations littéraires avec la France, par M. Alphonse Lusignan, de la Société 
Royale. 
90 L’Angleterre et la Russie dans l'Inde, par M. Napoléon Champagne, secretaire de l’Institut 
Canadien-français d'Ottawa. 
100 Les falsifications dans le commerce et dans la société, par le Dr F. X. Valade. 
11o Le drame et les auteurs dramatiques au Canada, par l'honorable Pascal Poirier, sénateur. 


Je constate un intérêt pour nos séances publiques, qui ne s’abat point. Sans doute, le nombre 
de ceux qui viennent s’instruire à notre foyer n’augmente pas vite, mais c’est une consolation de 
savoir qu’il ne décroit pas. 

Tout dernièrement, nous avons noué des relations avec cinquante-sept sociétés littéraires et 
scientifiques, dont: 

26 de France, 14 des Etats-Unis d'Amérique, 4 d'Angleterre, 2 d'Italie, 2 de Suisse, et 1 de 
chacun des pays suivants: Algérie, Autriche, Bavière, Belgique, Ecosse, Egypte, Irlande, Russie, 
Sicile et Suède. 

Les nombreuses publications que nous avons reçues de ces différentes sociétés sont autant de 
précieuses acquisitions pour notre bibliothèque, et, si la fortune nous favorise, nous pourrons peut-être 
un jour, peu éloigné je l’espère, publier nous aussi nos conférences et nos délibérations, que nous 
serions si heureux d'offrir aux sociétés avec lesquelles nous sommes en correspondance. 

Somme toute, notre état financier et notre situation littéraire sont satisfaisants, et je puis 
ajouter qu’ils nous permettent d'espérer un progrès prochain. 

En terminant, j'ai l'honneur de vous présenter la liste suivante des membres du bureau de notre 
institution pour l’année expirant le premier jeudi d'octobre mil huit cent quatrevingt-six : — 


I TESTA ONG Sacre case aeeaeeene ieaane ones th ose ee ee F. R. E. Campeanu, C. St-S. 
ler vice-président ................................Chs Desjardins. 

2nd Gs RE D ne J. L. Olivier. 

SECLÉ AIT ALCNIVIB TE = eee scores Napoléon Champagne. 
Assistant secrétaire-archiviste ................ J. B. A. Pigeon. 

WBNS SONNE) eee eee nt seine decane L. J. Béland. 

Bib TOtHECAINS, ere ess s scisciociesseicissites ces Napoléon Boulet. 
SursbounkrdnlsmMUs6e cece eee s-merrenreeree J. Auger. 


Dr L. C. Prévost. 

Aug. Laperrière. 

J. A. Pinard. 

Ant. Champagne. 

P. H. Chabot. 
UA. Blais. 


Conseillers errors tee eee ceseress see 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XI 


VII.—From the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, through Mr. R. B. Wayre:— 


In presenting to your honourable Society the fourth report from the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ 
Club, the Council have great pleasure in being able to say that its work has been carried on with in- 
creased and gratifying success. The Club has, at present, over one hundred and eighty ordinary and 
seven corresponding members, making it numerically one of the strongest scientific societies in the 
Dominion, and as regards original work performed by the members, it can compare favourably with any 
similar society. 

The usual excursions to places of interest in the vicinity were held at intervals during the sum- 
mer, and many valuable facts concerning the natural history of this district were recorded. 

Much useful work was also accomplished at the subexcursions, which were held on Saturday 
afternoons, to points in the immediate neighborhood of the city. These subexcursions are of the 
character of out-door classes, and are conducted with a view to enable the younger and less experi- 
enced members to study the different branches under the guidance of the appointed leaders, whose duty 
it is to give any assistance and explanation that may be necessary. During the winter, six soirees 
were held—one being an evening devoted to the microscope, at which short papers were read and slides 
exhibited, illustrative of the different subjects; while at the others the following papers were read :— 

1. The President’s Address, by W. H. Harrington. 

2. The Black Bear, by W. P. Lett. 

3. Water Crystallization affected by Magnetic or Electric action, by E. Odlum (Pembroke.) 

4. The Teaching of Mineralogy, by Rev. C. F. Marsan. 

5. Ottawa Dragonflies, by T. J. McLaughlin. 

In addition, there were reports from the leaders of the work done during the year in the various 
departments of natural history, and notes by members. These, as well as the papers read, were fol- 
lowed by discussions of an interesting nature, which discussions are a distinctive feature of the soirees. 

Afternoon lectures were also given during the winter on the following subjects :— 

Entomology (4), by W. H. Harrington and J. Fletcher. 

Mineralogy (1), by Rev. C. F. Marsan. 

Ornithology (1), by W. L. Scott. 

Botany (5), by J. M. Macoun and R. B. Whyte. 

The five on Botany were delivered before the students of the Normal School, by request of Prin- 
cipal McCabe. In addition to these lectures, at the request of the Inspector of Public Schools for 
Ottawa, a weekly class in Botany has been organized as part of the regular instruction for the Senior 
Students at the Central School West. The attendance and attention displayed at this class have been 
most encouraging to the Senior Leader in Botany, who has undertaken the work. 

The Council are much gratified to know that their efforts in the way of encouraging the study 
of natural history are being more appreciated, the attendance at the soirees, the excursions and the 
classes, has been larger, and the interest shewn by those present has been much more marked than in 
any previous year. 

A copy of the Club Transactions, No. 6, containing 132 pages and 2 plates, is herewith submitted, 
and we hope that it will be found a creditable addition to our list of publications. 

At the annual meeting of the Club, held on March 17, the following officers were elected for the 
year 1886-87 :— 


Presid Cnibsserecces te ces cesser escteonesees cetisrcdescl Prof. J. Macoun. 
Wiree-Pvesidentserccscectesseesssctenesdecesse ce { ul ue ie, 
SECRET adonoc  Sgobbocuocbtion du Beat eee NE Jel AIN OtOn, 
IDrATANe-r eee. -e SCOR ERR IC den er ne se Ca ES F. R. Latchford. 

3 (3. Fletcher, 
COMMITTEE RS rss creme se etacewsisesscstecs seni Dr. Small, 


Rev. Prof. Marsan. 


XII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


-The following leaders have been appointed in their several subjects :— 


Geology—H. M. Ami, Prof. Marsan, H. P. Brunell and T. W. E. Souter. 
Botany—R. B. Whyte, Principal Woods and Dr, H. B. Small. 
Entomology—J. Fletcher, W. H. Harrington and T. J. McLaughlin. 
Conchology—ton. P. A. Poirier and F. R. Latchford. 

Ornithology—W. L. Scott, G. R. White and J. M. Macoun. 

Zoology—H. B. Small and W. P. Lett 


SESSION II. (Afternoon Sitting.) 


Reports rrom ArriLrArED Societies. (Continued.) 


The members of the Society assembled at 3 o’elock, p.m., and the President called the meeting 
to order. 

Mr. George Stewart, Jun., acted as Secretary in Mr. Bourinot’s absence. 

The Societies which had not reported at the morning meeting were then called upon, and the 
following reports were accordingly presented :— 


VUI.—From the Entomological Society of Ontario, through Mr. W. H. HARRINGTON :— 


As delegate from the Entomological Society of Ontario, I have much pleasure in announcing that 
the Society which I have the honour to represent, continues its labours with undiminished energy and 
success. Its membership is large, and it is everywhere recognized as one of the most important 
scientific institutions of the country. 

Its monthly publication, the Entomologist, continues to receive the support of, and to be weleomed 
by, entomologists of all places, and Vol. XVII. for 1885, is a most valuable addition to the recorded 
knowledge of American insects. The contributors to this volume, forty in number, include the leading 


Canadian workers, and many of the best known entomologists of the United States. A complete set. 


of the Entomologist and of the annual reports will be found to contain a vast store of information in 
regard to the structure, classification, distribution, and habits of our insect foes and friends. 

The title “Entomological Society of Ontario” might lead many to suppose that its work was 
limited to this province, but in reality, it is carried on by members in all parts of the Dominion, 
from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia. The faunas of the latter province, and that of the 
Northwest Territories have been investigated during recent years by several experienced collectors, 
and large additions have been made to Canadian lists, and many new species discovered in the 
several orders of insects. 

Through the contributions of members, the collection maintained by the Society has rapidly 
increased in size and value. By special request of the Dominion Government, this collection has been 
sent to the Colonial Exhibition just opened in London. It was first carefully rearranged by members 
having special knowledge of the various orders, and was much improved by having a large proportion 
of the old specimens replaced by fresh material, and by having a large amount of new material 
incorporated. The collection, as thus arranged and enlarged, fills over one hundred large cases, and 
will undoubtedly favourably impress all beholders with the great number and variety of our insects. 

The Society has learned with pleasure that a competent entomologist is proposed to be employed 
in connection with the experimental farm to be started for the investigation of scientific agriculture. 
Such an officer is a decided essential, and his duties will be, to quote from Prof. Saunders’s Report to 
the Department of Agriculture, “to investigate the habits of insects destructive to farm and garden 
crops, fruits, etc., as well as those affecting animals, with a view of testing such remedies as may be 
available for their destruction. He should also prepare such collections for the Museum at the Cen- 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XIII 


tral Station as would illustrate the insects injurious and beneficial to vegetation, and duplicate collec- 
tions of a similar character, as early as practicable for each of the substations.” 

In this connection, it may be stated that Mr. Fletcher, who is at present acting as Honorary 
Entomologist, has, under exceptionally unfavorable conditions, and without being able to devote his 
time to the work, or to employ needed assistance, published a report containing a large amount of 
information about the insects which were found to be most injurious during the past year. The 
report is based upon his personal observations in different sections, and upon voluminous corres- 
pondence from all parts of the Dominion. It is an earnest of what might be accomplished by an 
entomologist having the necessary equipment and assistance to prosecute and record investigations. 

Fortunately, neither from Mr. Fletcher’s report, nor from those of the Entomological Society, do 
we find that any especially destructive new pests were met with during the past year, nor were some 
of the old ones so abundant and devastating as formerly, The ravages of the Larch Saw-Fly (We- 
matus Erichsonii) and of the Spruce-bud Moth (Tortrix fumiferana) showed signs of decrease. The 
Clover-seed Midge (Cecidomyia leguminicola) continued to do serious injury over extended areas, but if 
farmers will act upon the suggestions which have been made in our reports regarding the cultivation 
of this crop, they can harvest a good yield of seed. 

Two of the most destructive insects in Canada for many years past have been the Codling Moth 
(Carpocapsa pomonella) and the Plum Curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar), the former destroying or injur- 
ing probably one-fifth of our apple crop, and the latter often causing a total failure of the crop of 
plums. Numerous remedies have been proposed and employed against these pests, but the labour 
required was, in each instance, considerable, and the results were scarcely ever entirely satisfactory. 
Experiments made during recent years by our members have, however, proved that Paris green is an 
efficient and practicable remedy, when mixed with water and sprayed upon the trees as soon as the 
flowers have been fully fertilized. 

These facts are mentioned by me in order that a knowledge of them may be diffused by the Fel- 
lows of your honorable Society, and by the Delegates to this meeting. 

The loss to the country annually by the ravages of insects upon crops of all kinds is so enormous, 
that it becomes the duty of every society, interested in the prosperity of the country, to do what may 
be in its power to enable agriculturists to conquer their small but numerous foes. 


IX.—From the Société de Géographie de Québec, through AnBk LAFLAMME : — 


Le comité de régie de la Société de Géographie de Québec a l'honneur de faire un rapport des 
opérations de la Société pendant l’année 1885. 

Le bail de notre société avec l’Institut Canadien de Québec expirait le 30 avril 1885, et le prix du 
loyer devenant trop onéreux pour nos ressources, nos directeurs ont dû songer à trouver un autre 
local. Après bien des recherches infructueuses, nous avons décidé de faire un marché avec messieurs 
les commissaires du gouvernement fédéral chargés de l’octroi des licences dans la ville de Québec, par 
lequel nous avons eu l'autorisation d'occuper conjointement avec eux les salles dans lesquelles nous 
nous réunissons encore aujourd'hui. Cette installation n’était que temporaire, et entrainait de sérieux 
inconvénients ; mais nous avons dû nous en contenter jusqu'à ce jour. Nos successeurs seront sans 
doute plus heureux que nous dans leurs démarches pour régler cette importante question ; nous le 
soubaitons vivement. 

Le lac Mistassini a continué d'attirer l'attention publique durant l’année qui vient de s’écouler. 
On se rappelle les démarches nombreuses et pressantes entreprises par notre Société depuis plusieurs 
années pour engager les gouvernements d'Ottawa et de Québec à faire explorer cette immense région 
encore à peu près inconnue. 

Nous voulions connaître les ressources du grand nord de notre province, et nous avions l'ambition 
bien légitime d'assurer à la partie occidentale de la Confédération canadienne les mêmes chances 


XIV | ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


d’agrandissement et de progrès vers le Nord, que celles obtenues par nos concitoyens d’Ontario, du 
Manitoba et la Colombie-Anglaise. Le résultat de nos efforts a été l’organisation d’une expédition au 
lac Mistassini sous l’autorité combinée des gouvernements d’Ottawa et de Québec, et préparée par la 
commission géologique du Canada et le département des Terres de la couronne de Québec. Bien que 
nous ne puissions pas maintenant juger la valeur des résultats pratiques de cette exploration, parce 
que les rapports officiels n’en sont pas encore publiés, il nous est cependant permis d’espérer que nous 
en recueillerons des fruits précieux pour la science géographique et pour la connaissance de notre 
propre pays. 

Malgré la modicité de nos ressources, nous avons pu continuer la publication de notre bulletin, et 
le No IV est maintenant prêt à être distribué. On y remarquera que les études sur la région du lac 
Mistassini et les vallées du lac Saint-Jean et du Saguenay, et la question des explorations en général 
ont été la préoccupation dominante de nos conférenciers et de nos collaborateurs. 

Notre société a continué d’être en rapports d'amitié avec la plupart des sociétés de Géographie du 
monde entier, et la longue liste de nos échanges et des dons que nous avons reçus prouve que notre 
Société est tenue en grande estime chez nous et à l'étranger. 

Nous saisissons avec empressement l’occasion de notre assemblée générale pour offrir nos senti- 
ments de vive reconnaissance aux hommes distingués qui ont contribué par leurs écrits et leur confé- 
rences à la confection de notre bulletin, et aussi aux nombreuses sociétés et aux bienfaiteurs dont les 
envois généreux ont enrichi notre bibliothèque. 

L'année 1885 a moissonné parmi nos membres et nos officiers. Elle nous a enlevé un homme 
distingué dans la personne de M. Franklin B. Hough, de Washington, membre honoraire, et un jeune 
officier de notre Société, M. Joseph Chouinard, l’un des assistants secrétaires-correspondants. 

Le rapport de notre trésorier démontre avec l’éloquence irrésistible des chiffres la nécessité des 
efforts sérieux pour ranimer le zèle de nos membres, pour rallier ceux qui nous ont laissés, pour recru- 
ter en grand nombre de nouveaux adhérents, afin que l’œuvre entreprise par notre Société, non-seule- 
ment ne périsse pas, mais grandisse et produise la riche moisson ambitionnée par nos fondateurs. 
On ne saurait trop déplorer le malheur des temps qui a forcé, nous aimons à le croire, le gouvernement 
de Québec à supprimer les octrois aux sociétés qui s'occupent de science et de littérature. Espérons 
que le moment n’est pas éloigné où les efforts généreux des rares adeptes de la science et des lettres en 
notre pays ne seront pas entièrement méconnus, qu'après avoir largement pourvu aux besoins maté- 
riels de notre peuple, on fera une part aussi large que possible des deniers publics pour aider à ces 
associations qui travaillent, avec désintéressement et sans espoir de récompense pour leurs membres 
dévoués, à favoriser une belle et noble cause, la cause de la science et de l'éducation, et font à elles 
seules, au Canada, ce qui dans tous les pays est l’œuvre des gouvernements, c’est-à-dire une œuvre 
nationale. 


ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT. 


- 


The President, Dr. DANIEL Writson, then delivered the following address :— 


We meet to-day after another year of work as a Society, to report progress, and to submit, in the 
various Sections, the contributions of the year to the departments of letters and science embraced 
within our comprehensive organization. In fulfilling the duty that now devolves on me, I might be 
tempted to follow the example of some who, in analogous positions, have surveyed the whole field of 
work, with its possibilities and opportunities: I might aim at a resumé not only of the actual achieve- 
ments of Canadian science and letters, but of all that lies within the compass of its most ambitious 
aims. But such an attempt would involve a review of the intellectual life of the age. Physics and 
metaphysics, paleontology, archeology, history, and belles-lettres, all alike claim our attention; but 
amid the wide diversity of intellectual activity which marks the era, a disposition is increasingly 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1856. XV 


manifested to give the foremost place to questions which directly affect humanity. The speculations 
of science more and more converge towards one centre; and along with this it is impossible to over- 
look the growing tendency among one class of inquirers to translate hypothesis into scientific dogma. 
It is well that we should ever bear in remembrance that “Evolution,” which is the magic word 
assumed for the present to solve all difficulties, necessarily implies progressive change ; and so points 
to a beginning—a Creator. This novel hypothesis of the great English naturalist of our century, 
which offers for its acceptance a new ecience of life, has revolutionized the whole course of scientitic 
speculation. The geologist, responding to its appeal, undertakes, on strictly scientific evidence, the 
significant problem of the antiquity of man. The biologist unites with the paleontologist, in a 
renewed search for his pedigree. The psychologist has embraced within the sphere of his philosophic 
speculations the evolution of the intellectual powers, the conscience, and the will; and assumes no 
less dogmatically to determine the descént of mind. 

With so vast a range of speculation thus comprehended within the field of scientific research, 
the most gifted student might well hesitate to cope with the theme, in this its revolutionary stage. 
For me, the attempt would be altogether presumptuous; and I shall best fulfil the duty now devolving 
on me by limiting myself mainly to one department of research, which, as I conceive, has special 
and urgent claims on the attention of this Society at the present time. 

The Science of Language, itself among the youngest of the sciences, has not escaped the influence of 
the new revolution; and novel theories of the evolution of language itself supersede earlier inquiries 
into the origin of letters. In one respect the Royal Society of Canada differs in its constitution 
from older kindred societies of the mother country, in so far as it includes, within the recognized 
work of its Sections, both French and English literature. Here, accordingly, language finds its legiti- 
mate place; and without embarking on the seemingly shoreless sea of speculation and hypothesis 
that I have indicated, there are certain aspects of comparative philology which are full of interest 
and value to ourselves as Canadians. This department of study will not hamper in any degree the 
legitimate operations of other Sections ; though it may influence inquiry in certain allied directions. 
But here, it seems to me that, without limiting the freedom of individual members in their choice of 
subject, much work of great practical value may be accomplished by a judicious selection of themes 
specially necessitating prompt consideration. The literature of France, with its “Chanson de Roland,” 
its Froissart, its Moliére, Corneille, Racine; and all its brilliant creations, to the latest productions 
of de Musset or Merimée, pertains, like contemporary English literature, to European classics. 
Canadians may emulate the great masters in letters, as they have elready done in more than one 
department; but the republic of letters is free to all without the fostering aid of a Society such as 
this. It is, indeed, a matter of just interest to watch the growth of a native Canadian literature m the 
languages both of France and England; and to trace the influence of novel environments moulding 
and fashioning our intellectual, no less than our physical development. But without slighting this 
attractive branch of work, it appears to me that more important results may be anticipated from a 
class of communications that have already received some attention in the past, and which I hope to 
see making greater demands on our space in the future. They are exemplified in the volume of 
Transactions now issued, in such papers for example, as “ La race française en Amérique,” “ L’élément 
étranger aux Etats-Unis; ” ete., as in previous volumes, we had “Les races indigènes de l'Amérique 
devant l'Histoire,” “Les aborigènes d'Amérique, leurs rites mortuaires ; ” and in another, but not 
less interesting aspect: “La province de Québec et la langue française.” In like manner, in both 
the present and the past volumes, papers on “The Half-Breed,” “The Huron-Iroquois,” and others 
of the aboriginal races of the continent have been contributed to Section IT. Thus the ethnology 
and comparative philology, not of Canada only, but of America, have, to some partial extent at 

-least, been brought under review. It is a small portion of the wide field mapped out for our joint 
labours; but in this direction, as it seems to me, valuable results may be anticipated, marked by such 
local character as will naturally be looked for from our Canadian Royal Society, and constitute a 


XVI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


special feature of its Transactions. The polished language of cultured France, though here trans- 
ferred to a region beyond the Atlantic, is kept en rapport with the Parisian centre of refinement, and 
fed from the perennial fount of French literature. But here also are the peasants of Normandy and 
Brittany, transplanted to “la Nouvelle France,” under the old regime, bringing with them to their 
new home a provincial patois, embodying elements peculiar to those scenes of Scandinavian coloniza- 
tion and Celtic institutions. Here, unaffected by revolutions that have so largely influenced the more 
recent history of France and of Europe, they have dwelt for generations, intermingling to some 
extent with the aborigines, and brought into novel relations with other intrusive races of the New 
World. To the modern Frenchman, they cannot fail to present in many ways a singularly attractive 
study; but it is in their philological aspect that the widest value lies; and the changes already 
noticeable in idiom and vocabulary, have awakened an intelligent interest among many students of 
language. The cultivated Frenchman not only brought with him to his new home, a written 
language, and a literature rich and varied in its attractions, but the intervening ocean has scarcely 
impeded his enjoyment of its latest triumphs. But the habitant has stood in very different relations 
to the language. It was to him from the first an unwritten local dialect; and now illustrates, in 
some singularly striking aspects, the beginning anew of a process of evolution akin to that to which 
we owe the whole Romance languages. This is a branch of comparative philology, of interest to all 
Canadians, and which has a special claim on the attention of Section I. 

But a wider interest pertains to the native languages, and to the indigenous races of this continent. 
Their approximation in physical characteristics to the Asiatic Mongol renders all the more remark- 
* able the wide diversity of speech between the two continents. On both, indeed, an agglutinate char- 
acter predominates in large groups of languages; but beyond this, any affinities thus far traced out 
are remote and uncertain. Here, therefore, is a problem in comparative philology, of which a solution 
may not unreasonably be looked for from us. In this direction unquestionably lies the determination 
of questions relating to the origin of the American race; the ethnographic key to the earliest 
migrations ; the prehistoric chronicle of this western hemisphere; the interpretation, it may be, of 
the venerable myth of the lost Atlantis, which vainly excited the interest of the disciples of Socrates, 
as even then a tradition from old times before that era to which they belonged, when the world was 
two thousand three hundred years younger than it is now. 

Looking to the subject in its narrowest aspect, the native Janguages of this continent are deserv- 
ing of careful study; and those of our own Dominion have a claim on our attention, as a Society, 
which we cannot ignore without discredit to ourselves. We owe not a little of the knowledge of them, 
thus far secured, as one—and not the least valuable—of the results due to the devoted labours of 
French missionaries for upwards of two centuries among the Indians of Canada and the Northwest. 
The Huron version of the Lord’s Prayer, reproduced in the second volume of the Society’s Trans- 
actions, was derived from a MS. of the seventeenth century, ascribed to the Rev. Father Chaumonot ; 
and is of value as an example of the language of that race, when first brought into intimate 
intercourse with Europeans. The vocabulary of the language, prepared by the same zealous Jesuit 
missionary, is still in existence; but its present custodian, M. Paul Picard, son of the late Huron 
Chief, Tahourenche, has hitherto repelled all applications for its purchase, and even for permission to 
have it printed. Its genuineness is placed beyond dispute by the date of the water-mark on the 
paper, and its interest and value are unquestionable. Our earliest knowledge of the native vocabu- 
lary of the Province of Quebec is derived from the two brief lists furnished by Cartier as the result 
of his visit in 1535; and a comparison of them with the Huron vocabulary leaves no doubt of their 
affinity. We have also the dictionary of the Recollet Father, Gabriel Sagard, printed at Paris in 
1632. But the recovery of the vocabulary of Father Chaumonot, and its printing by the Royal 
Socicty, will furnish an important addition for the study of the language of a people interestingly 
associated with the early history of Canada, and will be a creditable work for either of the Literary 
Sections. I regret that my own efforts to obtain access to the MS., with a view to laying it before 
the Section of English Literature and of History, have thus far failed. 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XVII 


We already owe to the “Lexique de langue iroquoise,” and to the “ Etude philologique sur 
quelques langues sauvage de l'Amérique,” of Abbé Cuoq, valuable help to the study of the Iroquois 
and Algonquin tongues. We are no less indebted to the Rev. Father Lacombe for the like aid in 


’ 


his “ Dictionnaire et grammaire de la langue des Cris.” But the frontiers of Quebee are still oceu- 
pied by native tribes little affected by the civilization of European intruders, and beyond this, the 
Eskimo of Labrador are easily accessible. In Ontario, the Huron-Iroquois are being transformed 
into an industrious, civilized people. In the Maritime Provinces, the Micmacs and Milicents are in 
process of like transformation; and on many Canadian reserves, the representatives of Algonquin 
and other tribes are now settled, and gradually learning to conform to the usages of their supplanters, 
But in such a process, language and much else which is invaluable to the ethnologist, must disappear ; 
and still more is this the case in the great wilderness of the Northwest. There, in very recent years, 
the buffalo roamed in vast herds, furnishing an unfailing supply, not only of food, but of furs and 
skins, from which the tents, robes, and couches of Crees and Blackfeet were fashioned, and on which 
the Hudson Bay factors largely depended for like supplies. The Indian tribes lived around the Hud- 
son Bay forts much after the fashion of their fathers, bartering the produce of the chase for other 
needful supplies. But now all this is at an end. A revolution of the most radical character has super- 
vened. The inevitable disappearance of the wild hunter tribes of the Northwest, at no distant date, 
can no longer be questioned. Some memorial of the native races will, doubtless, survive in civilized 
tribes settling down to cultivate the soil over which their fathers roamed as nomad hunters. But 
such a process cannot fail to involve the extinction of the native languages from which alone the 
ethnical affinities and the history of the race are to be recovered. 

Nor must we overlook the significance of the fact that the Province of Manitoba began its 
independent career with a population of some ten thousand half-breeds. In that old historic past, 
when the gifted Roman annalist followed on the steps of imperial conquest in the British Islands, 
the dark type of the Silurian Britons was noted by Tacitus, and assigned by him to an Iberian 
source. In the latest classification of anthropologists, the modern representatives of this persistent 
type are designated “ Melanochroi,” the assumed representatives of the metis of Europe's prehistoric 
dawn, when the first wave of Aryan immigration came in contact with their Turanian or Allophylian 
precursors. Here, in our own Dominion, the same great Aryan wave, which reached the shores of 
the New World before the close of the fifteenth century, and, with ever added volume, has driven 
before it the native tribes, moves westward with irresistible aggression; and on our Northwest 
frontier, the same results are everywhere apparent. The ethnological history of Europe repeats 
itself here; and this phenomenon of the rise of a race of mixed blood settling down among the 
intruding colonists is replete with interest to the student of ethnology. 

I bring this subject under your special notice now, because it is one that demands immediate 
attention, one indeed that will not brook delay. The Indian may survive for a time. The inter- 
blended elements due to the contact of native and intruded races, I doubt not, will remain as a 
permanent factor in our future population. But the aboriginal arts must vanish; the native tradi- 
tions, in which so much history lies embodied, will scarcely survive to another generation; and as 
for their languages, if not recovered from the lips of the living generation, they will ere long be as 
utterly beyond recall as the snows of the past winter. Yet it is to comparative philology that we 
have to look for the solution of problems of highest interest and value to ourselves. If we are ever 
to recover any reliable clue to the ancient history of this continent, and the source and affiinities of 
the nations to whose inheritance we have succeeded, this can only be done by means of comparative 
philology; and for this, the materials must be gathered ere it be too late. “The Comparative 
Vocabularies of the Indian tribes of British Columbia,” the work of one of our own members, in 
conjunction with Dr. Fraser Tolmie, which was published in connection with the Geological and 
Natural History Survey of Canada, in 1864, is a timely and valuable contribution to the desired 


Proc, 1886, c, 


XVIII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


materials. But the reception which it met with from those in authority was not greatly calculated 
to encourage the repetition of such disinterested labours. 

It is in work of this kind, at once of great practical value, and yet essentially unremuncrative, if 
judged by the test of mere profitable pecuniary results, that Canada has to look for the most beneficial 
labours of its Royal Society. The history of the Geological Survey, both here and in the United 
States, is well calculated to guide us in this respect. Geology has long enjoyed the fostering care of 
the Government in both countries, though rather in its economic, than in its scientific aspect. 
Large sums have been expended, and an efficient staff employed, in surveying and mapping out the 
geological structure of the continent. The sister sciences, and especially those of mineralogy and 
chemistry, have been enlisted in its service; and paleontology has necessarily been largely elucidated 
in the combined research. But the urgent demand is ever for what are called practical results. 
True, it is to the disinterested study of pure science, to the love of abstract truth, that we owe all 
the grand, practical fruits by which science is revolutionizing the world. But Canada has been, till 
recently, sufficiently indifferent to this; and as for the United States—after doing splendid work in 
geology, ethnology, hydrography, geodesy, and meteorology, and publishing works of no less scientific 
than practical value—a commission recently appointed by Congress to investigate the operations of 
the various scientific bureaus, has draughted a bill restricting the work and publications of the 
Geological Survey, and absolutely forbidding the expenditure of any portion of the Government 
appropriation for the publication of paleontological material, or for the discussion of geological 
theories. In other words, there shall be no seed-time for science. Henceforth it must be harvest 
through all the seasons. This, I doubt not, is a mere passing phase of misapplied thrift, which will 
speedily give place to a wiser recognition of the economic value of all scientific research. But I 
refer to such experience elsewhere, rather than to any action in our own Dominion, because we may 
the more impartially estimate the probable results. The scientific value of the labours, and of the 
published results, of the United States Geological Survey has been widely recognized; and the 
restrictions suggested by the recent commission, will be felt throughout the scientific world, even 
more keenly than would the withdrawal of American specie and all its equivalents by the commercial 
world. It will not only be a great discouragement to American science, but, if persisted in, would 
enormously diminish the practical usefulness of the Survey. It is impossible to neglect pure science, 
and yet hope to reach those results which are but its latest fruitage. Paleontology, with all its 
marvellous disclosures relative to ancient life; chemistry, with its determination of the origin of 
crystalline rocks, or its wondrous spectrum analysis, revealing to us the physical structure of the 
heavens; or physics, with its more comprehensive discoveries of the correlation of forces—all alike 
present themselves to the “practical” mind as mere sports of scientific speculation, with no possible 
bearing on the economic needs, or the industrial interests of the community. What can it benefit 
the miner to learn of Tertiary vertebrates; or the farmer to be assured of the verification of the 
Hesperornis, the Ichthyornis, or other toothed birds of the Cretaceous strata of our North American 
continent? It is not indeed a matter of wonder that, to the man of “advanced vews” in political 
and social science, who claims above all things to be “practical,” it should seem a matter of equal 
indifference whether the dawn of life has been discovered in the Hozoon Canadense of our Laurentian 
rocks; or the existence of palæolithic man in America has been demonstrated by the recovery of the 
turtle-back celts in the drift of New Jersey. Nevertheless, to note only one familiar instance, the 
determination of the relative age of the strata of the Earth’s crust has been of scarcely less economic 
value in the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, in saving the useless expenditure of many thousands 
of dollars in a vain search for coal, than in guiding the geologists of Nova Scotia in the develop- 
ment of their rich coal fields. It is the same in every department of science. Amber (jlext pov) 
furnished the first hint of latent Electricity, which perpetuates in its name the seemingly insignificant 
beginnings of that branch of science to which we now owe the telegraph, the telephone, electric 
light, the ocean cable; which have annihilated space, and outstripped time in their winged messages 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XIX 


over Jand and sea. Yet such is the world’s inheritance, won for her in the ardent search for abstract 
truth, in the unselfish devotion to pure science. We can no more look for the practical fruits of 
science without such preliminary labour, than for the reaping of the harvest where there has been 
no seed-time, 

The institution of this Royal Society by the Canadian Legislature is in itself a recognition of the 
value thus assigned to pure science. By our constitution it is provided “that the advice and assis- 
tance of the Society shall at all times be at the disposal of the Government ;” and in no way can this 
be more legitimately rendered than by interposing to prevent a premature demand for economic 
results arresting the researches of science. We are not likely to forget that Canada is still a young 
country—favoured in many ways on that very account, by reason of the unimpeded course that thus 
lies before us; but also with some of the difficulties incident to national youth. The learned societies 
of Europe have, in many cases, endowments at their disposal, which enable them to render efficient 
aid to science, and to issue costly works dealing with subjects such as no publisher would view with 
favour. No such endowments as yet exist in Canada; and occasions will occur when it may be our 
duty—looking to the true interests of the Dominion—to recommend to the Legislature a liberal 
encouragement of the higher work of pure science in various departments, without neglecting those 
immediate practical results which the country reasonably looks for as evidence of the enlistment of 
science in the service of the people. 

The volume of Transactions now issuing from the press will, I believe, be found in some respects 
in advance of its predecessors, and do no discredit to the representatives of Canadian letters and 
science. I have already referred to some of the contributions embodied in the work of Sections I and 
II, when inviting to a line of research, in which the biologist, no less than the philologist and the 
littérateur, will find a legitimate field. The contributions to Section III will also be found to include 
valuable work, alike in pure physics and mathematics, and in their practical application. The Council 
of the Society had occasion during the past year to press on the Government the desirableness, in 
the interest of our commercial navy, of carrying out a systematic hydrographic survey, not only in 
the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, but along our whole Atlantic and Pacific coasts, so as to follow up the 
work already so efficiently executed by the United States Geodetic and Coast Survey. In connection 
with this, attention may be fitly directed now to a valuable paper on “ Tidal Observations in Cana- 
dian Waters.” I may also be permitted, without invidious distinction, to note in Section IV the 
continuance, by Mr. Matthew of St. Jobn, of his description of the Cambrian fossils, adding consider 
ably to our knowledge, and keeping Canada in advance of other parts of the Continent on this subject. 
A contribution by Prof. Ramsey Wright on the anatomy of an interesting group of fishes, will, I 
believe, be found to introduce a style of work of which little has hitherto been done in Canada. The 
catalogue of Canadian butterflies, by Mr. Saunders, renders our knowledge more complete and system- 
atic; and gives information as to their local distribution, which may be of practical significance in 
relation to a branch of animal life, which, however beautiful, is regarded with well-grounded dis- 
favour by the agriculturist. Sir William Dawson’s paper on the latest Cretaceous discoveries of 
fossil plants in the Northwest, adds to North American geology a new horizon of Lower Cretaceous 
plants not previously known, including a number of novel and interesting species. I may also refer 
here to the contribution by Professor Chapman of a piece of local economic geology in his account of 
the Wallbridge hematite mine, in order to note in passing that this was, I believe, one of the deposits 
resorted to by the aborigenes, and used as a pigment. Among the primitive native implements in 
the Redpath Museum, at Montreal, may be seen the antler picks and shells used by the Indians in 
collecting the hematite for their own purposes. 

In this slight and very partial glance at some among the subjects treated of in the new volume, 
my notice is necessarily meagre, as I have only had access to some of its detached sheets; and 
therefore cannot pretend to aim at any exhaustive review of the work embraced in its varied 
contents. By our very constitution, as a Society, alike scientific and literary, the range of themes is 


XX ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


necessarily comprehensive and diversified. In all alike, we shall ever, I trust, set before ourselves, 
a lofty standard; finding in literature a stimulus to the highest culture, and in science the motive to 
a reverent, yet fearless search for all truth. 


The Vice-President, the Very Reverend T. E. Hamet, then spoke as follows :— 


Monsieur LE PRésipenT, Messieurs :— L’objet de la Société Royale est d’encourager l'étude et le 
développement de toutes les branches du savoir au Canada. Deux choses sont done en présence 
comme buts de nos efforts combinés: le développement des ressources matérielles et intellectuelles 
que peut présenter notre immense pays, pour le plus grand avantage de ceux qui l’habitent, et l’élé- 
vation du niveau intellectuel de notre jeunesse studieuse. Inutile de dire que la première partie sera 
comme un écho de la seconde, et que nos ressources tant matérielles qu'intellectuelles se développeront 
d'autant plus vite que le pays présentera une armée plus nombreuse de travailleurs zélés et intéressés. 
C’est à augmenter cette armée que travaille la Société Royale du Canada. 

Mais y at-il de l'ouvrage pour tant de travailleurs ? — La réponse à cette question ést probable- 
ment ce qui a embarrassé un certain nombre de personnes, lorsque Son Excellence le marquis de 
Lorne a jeté les premiers fondements de la Société Royale. On a alors contesté l'utilité pratique de 
cette société, et on lui a prédit une existence éphémère, voire même la plus triste fin, l’inanition. Seu- 
lement, tandis que les uns trouvaient le pays trop bien organisé, d’autres au contraire le trouvaient 
trop peu avancé pour une semblable société. 

Les premiers soutenaient que la Société Royale n'avait pas sa raison d’être dans le pays, parce 
qu’il n’y à rien à faire comme encouragement à l'initiative privée; que, d’un côté, les lettres prennent 
un développement plutôt à modérer qu'à exciter, et que, de l’autre, pour les sciences, la commission 
Géologique du gouvernement et les sociétés d'Histoire naturelle du pays absorbent tout ce qui peut 
être un objet d'étude. 

Tl semble quelque peu paradoxal de dire que notre pays est tellement bien organisé qu'il n'y a 
plus qu'àse croiser les bras et à laisser faire. Cependant, sans partager précisément cette idée, un 
bon nombre de nos compatriotes paraissent être sous l'influence d'un préjugé qui conduit pratiquement 
au même résultat. On dirait que nous avons pris à la France l’idée que tout ce qui sort de l'intérêt 
particulier et de ce qui ne regarde que le besoin spécial de la famille individuelle, doive être fait par 


le gouvernement. C’est là une manière de voir qui nous distingue complètement de nos compatriotes | 


d'origine anglaise, et malheureusement à notre désavantage. 

Tandis que l'Anglais cherche constamment à se rendre utile à la société par les efforts de son 
initiative privée, le Canadien-frangais se fait un scrupule de travailler pour l'avantage général, à moins 
d'y être obligé par une fonction gouvernementale. Ce n’est pas que l’on ait horreur de procurer le 
bien public, car c’est une course au clocher parmi nos Jeunes gens pour avoir une place du gouverne- 
ment. Or je dis que c’est là une tendance dangereuse, parce qu’elle favorise cette nonchalance intel- 
lectuelle qui ne voit rien à faire pour le public, en dehors de ce qui peut rapporter immédiatement 
quelques sous 4 la famille. Au surplus, cette malheureuse tendance conduit, comme autre consé- 
quence, à l’étroitesse d’esprit et à la mesquinerie. Heureusement c'est un défaut guérissable, et c’est 
à cette guérison que contribuera la Société Royale, en encourageant le travail individuel et l'initiative 
privée. 

Hatons-nous de faire voir que l'ouvrage ne manquera pas; et cela, au risque de paraître, pour 
quelques instants, favoriser l'opinion de ceux qui prétendaient que la Société Royale était une œuvre 
prématurée, parce que le pays ne présente pas encore assez de ressources pour fournir les éléments 
d’une société organisée sur des bases aussi larges. Ces personnes soutenaient que les associations de 
ce genre ne peuvent convenir qu'aux vieux pays, dans lesquels les ressources accumulées pendant des 
siècles permettent à une classe assez nombreuse d'hommes indépendants de fortune, de se livrer à des 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XXI 


travaux et à des recherches de longue haleine, sans crainte de la faim, et sans être obligés de gagner 
leur pain de chaque jour. 

Eh bien, oui, cela est vrai, Messieurs, notre immense pays n’est encore que dans l’enfance, et 
tout y est à faire. Ne nous laissons pas ébiouir par nos magnifiques voies de communication. Ilya 
longtemps que nous jouissons de nos fleuves, ainsi que de nos lacs, qui sont des mers; mais ce n’est 
pas ce qui a fait avancer l'étude de nos ressources naturelles. De même, si nous avons ou si nous 
espérons avoir bientôt un magnifique réseau de chemins de fer; si nous pouvons admirer ce colossal 
Pacifique Canadien, qui nous met à quelques jours seulement des Montagnes Rocheuses et de 
Vancouver; — c'est le commerce qui l’a fait pour son besoin, comme il l’aurait fait ailleurs, s’il lett 
trouvé plus avantageux. Mais encore une fois ce n’est pas cela qui fait connaître les ressources du 
pays, excepté en ce sens qu'il en facilite les recherches. En réalité tout reste encore à étudier. 

Remercions le gouvernement de ce qu'il a fait jusqu'ici, surtout par l'institution de la commission 
Géologique, et prions-le de faire encore beaucoup plus. Mais ce ne sera pas assez. La commission 
Géologique n’a, jusqu'à ce jour, fait examiner qu'une bien petite partie de nos interminables domaines, 
et ce qu’elle a parcouru garde encore bien des détails secrets à scruter. Ses ressources, très limitées, 
ne lui permettent guère de constater, pour bien dire, que les grandes lignes. Or, s’il en est ainsi de 
la géologie, que faut-il penser des autres parties, moins favorisées, des sciences naturelles ? 

Pour me servir de l'expression de notre premier président, sir William Dawson, s’il y a quelque 
part des fruits à recueillir, ce ne peuvent être encore que des fruits de printemps. Et partout ail- 
leurs, loin de songer à la récolte, nous n’en sommes qu’à l’époque où il faut défricher, éclaircir, labou- 
rer, planter et semer. 

Jetons un coup d'œil sur le champ ouvert à nos efforts. Laissons de côté la physique, la chimie 
et l'astronomie, qui supposent plus de ressources et ne sont pas toujours accessibles aux études privées» 
bien que nos collèges et nos grandes écoles puissent faire beaucoup dans ce champ d'observation. 
Mais il y a la météorologie, la minéralogie, la géologie locales, qui peuvent toujours ajouter à la science 
générale, et qui sont accessibles à l'étude privée. 

Puis vient l’étude des êtres vivants, animaux et végétaux. A part les grands animaux qui sont 
recherchés par le commerce, et nos grandes essences forestières, la faune et la flore de notre pays ne 
sont quincomplétement connues par les travaux de quelques chercheurs infatigables, qui sont bien 
loin de suffire à la peine. Quant à la paléontologie, qui suppose l'anatomie et la physiologie com 
parées, elle n’est étudiée que par quelques rares sommités de la science. 

Chose singulière, il y a plus de cent ans que nos immenses forêts sont parcourues en tous sens 
par les chasseurs, les explorateurs de coupes forestières, les sauvages et les coureurs de bois de toutes 
les dénominations; il n'y a pas un lac, pas une rivière qu'ils ne connaissent et qui n’ait un nom, pas 
un versant de montagne, pas une vallée dont ils ne puissent vous dire les essences, et cependant, à 
part les endroits habités, la géographie de notre pays n’est pas connue d’une manière précise. Je 
doute fort qu'on puisse tracer sur une carte le cours exact de l'Ottawa jusqu’à sa source; et que 
dire des autres rivières bien moins importantes! Pourquoi? Parce que voyageurs, chasseurs et 
exploiteurs de forêts se contentent de jouir pour leur propre compte sans s'inquiéter du public. Si 
seulement quelques-uns de nos hommes instruits qui, de temps en temps, s’enfoncent dans nos foréts 
pour y faire la pêche ou la chasse, voulaient simplement se donner la peine de fixer leur itinéraire, 
d’y condenser leurs souvenirs et leurs informations certaines, ils rendraient de grands services à notre 
géographie. 

J'ai parlé des sciences, parce que ce sujet m'est plus familier ; mais nos amis des sections litté- 
raires ne me pardonneraient pas si je ne signalais aussi les nombreux desiderata du champ de leur 
travail. Les ouvrages d'imagination, poésie et prose, ont certainement leur mérite, et doivent être 
encouragés; mais ce n’est là que le partie agréable des travaux littéraires. Il y en a d’autres beau- 
coup plus ardus, parce qu'ils supposent des efforts, des recherches, des études préliminaires pénibles. 

Notre histoire, par exemple, surtout si l’on y comprend tout le Dominion, n'est-elle pas une mine 


XXII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


riche et féconde pour le chercheur consciencieux, même si l’on se borne aux faits et gestes des Euro- 
péens et de leurs descendants en Amérique? Or il y a toutes les populations sauvages, si intéres- 
santes à tous les points de vue, — populations qui tendent rapidement à disparaître, et dont l’histoire 
préhistorique présente tant de problèmes. 

Les langues sauvages sont elles-mêmes des plus importantes à étudier, puisque bientôt elles n’exis- 
teront plus que dans nos livres. Et c’est avec beaucoup de raison que monsieur le président vient 
d'appeler sur ce point l’attention de la Société Royale. 

Dans une autre direction se présentent à nous tous les problèmes de notre état actuel de société : 
l’économie sociale et politique, science qui suppose tant de statistiques encore inconnues; puis la 
lutte du travail et du capital, le paupérisme, la colonisation, l'éducation, la concurrence, la protection 
et le libre échange, les impôts directs et indirects. . . . Tout le monde parle de ces grands sujets qui 
intéressent à un si haut degré notre jeune pays; mais on en parle contradictoirement, parce qu’on ne 
les connaît qu'à des points de vue restreints, faute de ces recherches préliminaires, de ces chiffres, 
accumulés patiemment et sans parti pris, pour servir de base à une argumentation exempte de 
préjugés. 

Comme on le voit, ce ne sont pas les problèmes qui manquent à nos recherches. Le danger est 
bien plutôt dans la crainte du découragement à la vue de tant de travaux, dans tant de directions 
différentes. Comment en effet aborder toutes ces études pratiquement? (C’est ce à quoi je veux 
essayer de répondre, et ce sera le côté pratique de ces quelques remarques. 

Avant de lire et d'écrire, on apprend patiemment à connaître et à former ses lettres. De même, 
avant de faire de la science d’ensemble, il faut commencer par en étudier, reconnaître et réunir les 
matériaux. Or c’est précisément cette étude préliminaire qui est essentiellement du ressort du travail 
privé. I] n’est pas même nécessaire d'indiquer dans quelle direction chacun doit exercer son énergie, 
puisque tout est à étudier. Que chacun se persuade seulement qu'il peut et qu’il doit se rendre utile 
en prenant une part quelconque dans l’accomplissement de cet immense programme; puis, qu’il suive 
son goût et qu'il persévère. 

Vu l'importance du sujet, qu'on me permette d'entrer dans plus de détails, en prenant pour 
exemple l'Histoire naturelle, et, dans celle-ci un des nombreux objets d'étude qu’elle présente, l’ento- 
mologie ou l'étude des insectes. L’entomologie comprend sept à huit grandes divisions: eh bien, je 
ne conseillerais pas à un amateur d'entreprendre la collection de toute la faune entomologique de son 
voisinage, ni même toute une des grandes divisions de cette intéressante étude, mais simplement un 
de ses grands genres. C’est le seul moyen d'arriver à s’en rendre maitre, et de l'étudier à fond. 

Vouloir faire autrement, c’est se morfondre et n’aboutir à rien d’utile, à moins de pouvoir y con- 
sacrer tout son temps, ou d'être doué d’une de ces volontés de fer, qui ne reculent devant aucune peine, 
et que les années ne diminuent pas, comme, par exemple, notre abbé Provencher. -Mais les Proven- 
chers sont rares, et il faut compter avec les faiblesses générales de la nature. 

D'ailleurs ils sont peu nombreux ceux qui, parmi nous, peuvent consacrer tout leur temps à une 
étude quelconque, vu que chacun doit commencer par s'assurer le pain de chaque jour à l’aide d’une 
profession rémunérative quelconque. Aussi fais-je appel, en ce moment, non pas à des travailleurs 
qui se fassent une occupation unique de l'étude des sciences, mais à des personnes engagées dans une 
profession lucrative, et je leur demande seulement de consacrer une partie de leurs loisirs à une étude 
déterminée et restreinte. Cette étude, en même temps qu’elle sera pour elles une récréation, aura 
l'avantage de contribuer au progrès général. 

Nous en avons un très frappant exemple dans notre illustre collègue, M. l'abbé Tanguay. Tenu 
à un ouvrage de travail déjà fatiguant par lui-même, M. l'abbé Tanguay a dévoué ses loisirs à un seul 
objet, classifier nos registres de baptêmes, mariages et décès. Ce travail si simple, commencé dans un 
petit nombre de localités, puis continué patiemment de paroisse en paroisse, durant plus de trente 
ans, a donné naissance à cet ouvrage monumental, unique en son genre, gloire de la race française en 
ce pays, le Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes. Et combien d’autres perles précieuses 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XXIII 


dont ces registres, si arides en apparence, sont devenus la mine féconde entre les mains de notre 
infatigable travailleur ! 

On ne saurait done trop faire valoir l'importance de concentrer les efforts de ses moments de 
loisir sur un objet restreint d'étude. J’ai connu un jeune naturaliste à Québec, ayant, dans le cœur de 
la ville, un jardin à sa disposition, et qui a entrepris, une année, dans ses moments libres, le matin 
avant ses heures de bureau, de faire la collection complète des insectes de tous genres qui fréquen- 
teraient son jardin. La collection s'augmenta tellement qu'il dit renoncer à tout prendre, et se 
borner à certaines classes. On cite un autre amateur qui entreprit la même recherche sur une échelle 
bien plus réduite, en faisant avec soin la chasse aux insectes qui fréquentaient les quelques pots de 
fleurs, ornement de son balcon. 

Si, dans chaque localité de notre immense Dominion, les quelques jeunes gens instruits qui s'y 
rencontrent, occupaient ainsi quelques-uns de leurs loisirs à la collection des spécimens ou à l’étude 
de l’une des mille subdivisions des trois règnes de la nature, dans les environs de leur demeure, chacun 
suivant son goût, et cela avec persévérance, quelle masse de matériaux ne ramasseraient-ils pas ainsi! 

Or la science est communicative de sa nature. Ils sont bien rares, et heureusement, ceux qui se 
plaisent à étudier égoïstement pour eux-mêmes. (Généralement on aime à faire part de ses décou- 
vertes, et ceux qui font des collections n’ont pas de plus grand plaisir que de montrer le résultat de 
leurs recherches. De là à la formation de sociétés locales ou régionales, dans lesquelles chacun 
apporte son contingent d'information curieuse aussi bien qu'utile, il n’y a qu'un pas. A cet égard 
l'Ottawa Field Naturalist Club est un exemple aussi encourageant qu’il est facile à imiter. 

C’est ici que pourrait intervenir avec profit notre Société Royale, dont un des résultats les plus 
avantageux, comme l’a fort judicieusement fait remarquer notre dévoué secrétaire, M. Bourinot, est 
d'encourager les sociétés scientifiques dispersées dans tout le pays, en même temps qu'elle peut 
devenir, pour ces sociétés, l'intermédiaire de la publication des travaux coordonnés de leurs membres. 

Ce que j'ai dit en prenant pour exemple les sciences naturelles, peut se dire, comme de raison, de 
toutes les autres branches des connaissances humaines. 

Verrons-nous bientôt ce réseau de travailleurs et de sociétés locales couvrir tout notre immense 
et magnifique pays? C’est un trop beau rêve pour qu'il se réalise; mais hâtons-nous de dire qu'il 
n’est pas nécessaire que ce plan s'exécute dans son entier. Si l’on ne peut trouver cent travailleurs, 
tâchons d’en susciter dix. La noble contagion de l'étude et du travail utile se propagera petit à 
petit. Faisons donc autour de nous une propagande aussi active que possible; et si, en moyenne, 
chacun des membres de la Société Royale détermine un seul travailleur de bonne volonté à se mettre à 
l’œuvre, nous aurons assurément bien mérité de la patrie. J'ajoute que nous aurons aussi bien mérité 
de la religion: car chaque travailleur arraché ainsi à Voisiveté est une conquête faite sur les mau- 
vaises passions, vu que celles-ci sont le plus souvent incompatibles avec la noble passion de l'étude, 

The Society then adjourned at the call of the Council, in order to give an opportunity for the 
meeting of the respective sections. 


SESSION III. (May 28th.) 
The Society was called to order at 3 o’elock by the President. 
REPORTS FROM AFFILIATED SOCIETIES. (Continued.) 


X.—From the Société Historique de Montréal, through M. GARNEAU : — 


La Société Historique de Montréal se réjouit à juste titre de voir un de ses membres élevé à la 
haute dignité de cardinal. Son Eminence Mgr Taschereau, alors prêtre du séminaire de Québec, avait 
bien voulu devenir un de nos premiers membres, Comme la Société Historique en était encore à ses 


XXIV ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


débuts, elle fut sensible à l'honneur de pouvoir compter dans son sein un homme déjà remarquable par 
sa science et par son amour pour les études historiques. Nous ne doutons pas que Son Eminence ne 
profite de sa position élevée pour favoriser les recherches relative à l'histoire du Canada, comme elle 
l'a déjà fait d’ailleurs pendant son dernier voyage à Rome. 

Si nous avons des motifs de nous réjouir, nous en avons aussi de nous attrister en voyant les rangs 
des anciens membres s’éclaircir. Cette année, nous avons eu à regretter la perte de M. le juge Loran- 
ger, qui prenait, surtout depuis quelques années, une part active à nos délibérations. 

Depuis son dernier rapport, la Société a continué de s'occuper de la publication d’un premier 
cahier du livre d'ordres des campagnes de 1755-59. L'impression vient d'en être terminée, et le volume 
sera bientôt distribué. Nous publierons l’année prochaine les ordres de la campagne de 1756. 

Notre bibliothèque s’est enrichie de plusieurs pièces manuscrites, offertes par M. le juge Baby. 
Ces pièces se rapportent au commerce de la colonie dans les premières années qui ont suivi la con- 
quête. Grâce à la générosité de plusieurs membres, nous avons augmenté considérablement nos col- 
lections de Factums de la cour d'appel, de brochures et de documents parlementaires. Nos échanges 
avec le Smithsonian Institute nous ont permis de compléter plusieurs publications importantes. Cepen- 
dant nous sommes forcés d’avouer que nous n’avons encore, en fait d'ouvrages sur l’histoire du Canada, 
que ceux qui sont considérés comme indispensables. 6 

Le président a continué de faire copier soit au greffe de cette ville, soit ailleurs, les pièces qui ont 
rapport à l’histoire particulière de Montréal. 

Il est peut-être encore plus utile en ce moment de recueillir des documents que de les publier, ou 
d'acheter des livres. C’est pourquoi la Société Historique de Montréal prie la Société Royale de vouloir 
bien user de son influence auprès du gouvernement fédéral, afin que celui-ci fasse copier — mais avec 
toute l'exactitude possible — les documents dont l'importance pour notre histoire lui a été signalée. 


XI.—From the Natural History Society of Montreal, through Mr, ALrrep Henry MASON :— 


It is my privilege to have the honour to report to this distinguished Society the work done by 
the members of the Natural History Society of Montreal during the past session 1885-86 :— 

The Society has held five meetings, at which the following original papers have been read :— 

1. The Origin of the Ainos and their final Settlement and Distribution in Japan, by Prof. Pen- 

hallow. 
. Boulder drift and Sea Margins at Little Metis, by Sir William Dawson. 
Pleistocene Fossils of Anticosti, by Lt.-Col, Grant. 
. Exploration of some Mounds in the Northwest, by C. N. Bell. 
. Description of New Fresh-Water Sponges, by A. H. MacKay. 
The Hydration of Wood Tissues in Trees and Shrubs, by Prof. Penhallow. 
The danger of Poisoning from the Commercial Uses of Arsenic, by Dr. J. Baker Edwards. 
The Physical Characteristics of the Ainos, by Prof. Penhallow. 
Canadian Minerals, by Dr. Harrington. 
. Our Northwest Prairies: their Origin and their Forests, by A. T. Drummond. 
11. The Forests of Canada, by Dr. Robert Bell. 
12. The Protection of North American Birds, by Alfred H. Mason. 
13. Polyembryony, by Prof. Penhallow. 


OAS Tm w LY 


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Most of these papers have been printed in the Canadian Record of Science, a journal published by 
the Society, the editors being members of the Society, and their services voluntary. Five hundred 
copies of this journal are published quarterly, 350 being distributed amongst the members and in 
exchanges. The Society exchanges Proceedings with the scientific publications in Canada, with 
23 in the United States, 87 in Great Britain, 25 on the Continent of Europe, and one in Australia. 
These exchanges are available for the use of the members. 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XXV 


The Society provides six original scientific Lectures during the Winter months, called the 
“ Somerville Course of Lectures,” and the public are admitted free. The following lectures were 
delivered by members of the Society last session, and as there are no fees, the whole work is a labour 
of love :— 

1. Antiseptics and Disinfectants, by Alfred H. Mason. 
The Chalk Formation, by Rey. W. J. Smyth. 
The Source of Igneous Rocks, by Thos. Macfarlane. 
The Chemistry of Bread and other Farinaceous Foods, by. Dr. Casey A. Wood. 
Cotton and Cotton Manufactures, by Wm. Hobbs. . - 
Breathing and Ventilation, by Dr. J. B. McConnell. 
The History of a Modern Volcano, by Sir William Dawson. 


Bi Gd sis 69 NO 


The Society has a Museum, which is open to the public daily, at a nominal charge, and to mem- 
bers and their families free. It comprises objects in four different departments of science—zoology, 
botany, geology and mineralogy; also miscellanies and antiquities. Several contributions have been 
added during the past session. 

The Library contains over 3,000 volumes of publications in accord with the objects of the Society ; 
amongst these are many very rare books, not to be found in any other library in Canada. During 
the past session, the whole of the books have been overhauled, classified and numbered, and a com- 
plete catalogue is in course of compilation. 

For some years, the Society has received material assistance in the good work it is doing from 
the Provincial Government. The Council regret that this grant has recently been withdrawn, and 
if any of the members of this, the foster-daughter of Canadian scientific societies, can influence the 
restoration of this grant, we respectfully ask your sympathy and coüperation. 





XII.—From the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science, through Pror. A. H. MacKay. 


This session of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science has produced as large a number of papers 
on subjects connected with Natural Science as usual, shewing that in the twenty-fourth year of its 
existence it is still vigorous. It has been called upon to mourn the loss of its late esteemed 
President, Robert Morrow, one of its most zealous workers in comparative anatomy, whose papers 
have contributed much to the value and interest of the Proceedings and Transactions of the Institute. 
Dr. John Somers has succeeded as President. 

List of papers read during the session, 1885-6 :— 

1. Additional Notes on Glacial Action, at Bedford Basin, Halifax Harbour, and North-west Arm, 
by Dr. Honeyman. 

2. New Plants of Nova Scotia, by Dr. Somers. 

3. On the Relative Bulk of certain Aqueous Solutions and their Constituent Water, by Dr. 
MacGregor. 

4, Sable Island, its probable Origin and Submergence, by Simon D. Macdonald. 

5. Additions to former list of Plants collected in the vicinity of Truro, N. S., 1885, by G. G. 
Campbell. 

6. Fungi of Novia Scotia, by Dr. Somers. 

7. The Carboniferous of Cape Breton, by Edwin Gilpin. 

8. Notes of a Polariscopic Examination of Crystalline Rocks of Antigonish County, N.%S., by 
Dr. Honeyman. 

9. Observations on the Currents of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by John J. Fox. 

10. Notes on the Anatomy of Delphinus delphis, by Dr. Somers. 

11, Geology of Antigonish County reviewed, by Dr. Honeyman. 


Proc. 1886. D. 


XXVI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


12. Additions to the Catalogue of Nova Scotian Fishes, ete., by Dr. Honeyman. 
13. On Specimens of Labrador Duck in the McCulloch Museum, Dalhousie College, by Andrew 


XIII.—From the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba, through Pror. Bryce. 


The Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba has just completed the seventh year of its 
existence, the last year having been the most vigorous. 

One of its first aims was to establish a Reference Library of Canadian and Northwest Literature. 
It has now, in this department, 300 volumes, so that with the private library of the President, and 
that of the Province, almost any books necessary for prosecuting the study of Canadian history are 
procurable in Manitoba. During the past year, the Society has combined its Library with that of the 
University of Manitoba, the Isbister Library of 4,400 volumes, and has taken charge of the whole. 
The Society has consequently some 11,000 volumes in its rooms, which form the chief place of resort 
in Winnipeg, for those of literary or scientific inclinations. During the year, special steps have been 
taken to increase the Natural History and Archeological Museum of the Society. Communication 
has been opened with some hundreds of persons scattered from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains, 
and promises have been given of additional articles in Indian work, as well as fossils from the 
Silurian, Cretaceous, and Laramie formations During the year, a small amount was devoted to 
following up the explorations of the aboriginal mounds, which have been going on for several years 
under the auspices of the Society. Invitations have been given to the Society to visit different mound 
regions, especially one group of twenty, seemingly fortification mounds, which were so remarkable 
as to have attracted the attention of Prof. Hind in his flying visit through the south of Rupert's 
Land, in 1858. The Society has had, during the past year, its most successful year so far as papers 
are concerned, almost all of them being the results of original research. They were as follows :— 


SESSION oF 1884-5. 


1. Galileo, by Ex-Judge Ryal. 
2. Ethnology of Alaska, by Mr. J. Hector Inkster. 
3. Hudson Bay, by Dr. Walton Haydon. 


SESSION oF 1885-6. 

The Old Settlers of Red River. Inaugural lecture by the President, Dr. Bryce. 
. Economic Minerals of the Northwest, by Mr. A. McCharles. 

. Geology of Lake Winnipeg, by Prof. J. H. Panton. 

. British Columbia, by Mr. Walter Moberly. 

. Time-Marking, by Mr. R. E. W. Goodridge. 

. Chinook Winds, by Mr. A. Bowerman. 

. Characteristic Mammals of the Northwest, by Mr. E. E. T. Seton. 

. The Celt in the Northwest, by the President. 


ai 


oO Or Où R © D 


The Society is indebted to the Provincial Government, and &) the city of Winnipeg, for the con- 
tinuance of grants, one of $250 and the other of $500. 

It has also received bountiful recognition from the Hon. Sir Donald A. Smith, Messrs. C. J. 
Brydges, J. H. Ashdoun, F. W. Stobart, Commissioner Wrigley and others. 

The receipts of the Society for the year were some $2,300, there being a small balance on hand 
at the end of the year. The financial affairs of the Society have been well managed, and are in a 
flourishing condition. Exchanges are maintained with all the leading societies in Great Britain, 
United States and Canada. 

A number of the members of the Society are much interested in a project submitted to the 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XXVII 


Royal Society by our President in his “Plea for a Canadian Camden Society,” two years ago. The 
plan suggested the feasibility of printing, say two or three works a year, under the auspices of the 
Royal Society, by a system of subscriptions. Unpublished manuscripts, early books out of print, and 
the material needed for historical study can be had in abundance to make such a scheme successful. 
In the Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, there is in manuscript the travels of Alexander Henry, Jun., 
which are most valuable for the Northwest history of 1800-10. There is in private hands the 
Journal of David Thompson, Astronomer of the North-West Company of Montreal. Mr. Thompson, 
from whom Thompson River, British Columbia, was named, was, about the beginning of this century, 
one of our most adventurous and successful explorers. He died at Williamstown, Glengarry County. 
In the Hudson’s Bay Co.’s Library, London, there is a manuscript of the explorer in the French 
times, Pierre Radisson; also that of Peter Fidler, of the Hudson’s Bay Co. 

If some energetic bookseller were to undertake the matter, under the direction of a Committee 
of the Royal Society, no doubt, with the codperation of the affiliated societies, subscriptions could be 
got which would make the scheme self-sustaining from the beginning. 

Our Society would earnestly urge the matter on the attention of the Royal Society. 


XIV.—From the Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society, through Mr. Wu. P. ANDERSON :— 


I have the honour again to represent the Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society as its delegate, 
and to submit its report of work done since the last meeting. 

The year has been for the Society an uneventful one, consequently there is little of interest to 
submit. The usual routine work has been gone through with a fair measure of prosperity, and the 
reading-room and library have been efficiently maintained, the reading-room especially being well 
patronised, and containing a great many of the best newspapers and periodicals. 

On behalf of the Society, I beg to extend to all the Fellows of the Royal Society a most cordial 
invitation to use our library and reading-room, 25 Sparks Street, during their present visit. The 
necessity for some less formal meeting room than the reading-room, where conversation could be freely 
indulged in, had long been felt. It was, in consequence, lately determined to prepare an extra room 
for that purpose, and it is hoped that this action will have the effect of extending our social influence, 
and also of inducing the chess-players of the city to make our rooms their headquarters. 

During the winter a programme of lectures was prepared, and these were delivered for the most 
part to large audiences. It was deemed expedient to enlist our staff of lecturers wholly from residents 
in the city, and this new departure was attended with a gratifying measure of success, 

The plan which has been followed for two or three years past, of inviting short essays from the 
younger members of the Society, on this occasion produced two or three exceptionally brilliant 
papers, and proved the wisdom of thus encouraging rising literary ability. The following is a list of 
the lectures and addresses given :— 


Inaugural address on Science in Canada, by the President, Mr. William P. Anderson. 
The Rocky Mountains and what I saw in them, by Prof. Macoun. 

A Study of Thackeray, by Mr. Martin J. Griffin. 

The Hudson Bay Territories and their Inhabitants, by Dr. Robert Bell. 

Travels in the South Seas, by Mr. F. N. Gisborne. 

A Topic of the Times, by the Hon. Wm. McDougall, C.B. 

. Gaspé Peninsula, past and present, by Mr. R. W. Ells. 

. Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Writings, with illustrative readings, by Mr. J. M. Oxley. 
. Is Vivisection, or Experimentation on the Lower Animals, justifiable? by Dr. R. M. Powell. 
. Byron, by Mr. A. Lampman. 

. Edgar Allan Poe, by Mr. A. W. Gundry. 


Fey OES) fen) EN Pe PS 


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XX VIII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


The Society at present occupies rooms of which the lease will expire in about two years’ time, 
and as their value is steadily increasing, we find ourselves face to face with the problem of having to 
find new quarters. The advisability of having a building owned by the Society is sufficiently 
apparent, but heretofore the encouragement offered in Canada for the pursuit of literary or scientific 
studies has not been very great, and without any endowment, or the prospect of securing any, the 
outlook is far from hopeful. 

I would suggest that the Royal Society might in some degree help to influence public opinion 
favourably, in the direction of supporting more generously societies whose only aim is the intellectual 
improvement of the citizens. 

Our best prospects of securing a building are by uniting with other associations in the city 
having kindred objects, such as the Field Naturalists’ Club and the local Art Association, and by 
joint effort putting up a building which will accommodate all the several Societies; to this end our 
efforts must be directed during the coming year. 

The annual election of officers for the ensuing year took place on April 30th last, with the 
following result :— 


Présidents ane ten ame nn eee Wm. P. Anderson. 
ATEHVACE-PReRITEN DES eee eee W. D. LeSueur. 
Second ‘“ nn chee basen et Pense J. P. Featherston. 
D'OCLELAEYIE eee seen ee ee Le F. K. Bennetts. 
RE ASUTOME Sera eee eee eee J. R. Armstrong. 
TADrALTANERES Peace nee os One RE D ee J. H. Brown. 
Cüraton RER carcasse raies ares H. M. Ami. 

x O. J. Jolliffe. 
Members 0MCOUN CIRE res ere D. Ewart. 


J. C, Kearns. 


RESOLUTIONS. 


The following Resolutions were then adopted :— 


1. That the Council be instructed to consider the method of electing members under Section 6 of 
the Rules and Regulations, and to recommend to the Society, at its next General Meeting, such 
amendments as may seem desirable. (On the motion of Sir W. Dawson, seconded by Mr. T. 
Macfarlane. ) 

2. That the thanks of this Society be communicated to the Speakers of the Senate and the 
House of Commons, for the accommodation and facilities afforded to its members during the present 
General meeting. (On the motion of Mr. George Stewart, Jun., seconded by Abbé Casgrain.) 

3. That the Society tenders its acknowledgments to the Literary and Scientific Society, and the 
Field Naturalists’ Club of Ottawa, for the courtesies extended to its members during their present 
visit to this city. (On the motion of Sir W. Dawson, seconded by Very Rev. T. E. Hamel.) 


REPORT OF SECTIONS. 


The following Reports of Sections were then presented, in accordance with usage :— 


Rapport de la Section I. 


Nous avons l'honneur de soumettre le rapport de la section française :— 

1. Nous regrettons que le nombre des membres qui ont pu assister cette année à nos séances soit 
si faible. Ils étaient 15 en 1882, — 8 en 1883, — 12 à l’assemblée de Québec, et 14 à celle d'Ottawa, en 
1884, — et 13 en 1885. Nous n’étions que sept cette année, ce qui ne doit pas pourtant prouver que 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XXIX 


nous prenons moins d'intérêt aux travaux de la Société, car deux de nos membres sont en Europe en 
mission officielle; deux sont députés à l'assemblée législative de Québec, qui est maintenant en 
session; quatre sont retenus à Québec par leur devoir de membres et de secrétaire du conseil de 
l'Instruction publique, lequel s’est réuni hier le 26 ; un autre préside la cour supérieure qui siège en 
ce moment ; deux ont envoyé des excuses qui ont été acceptées par notre section ; les deux autres 
n’ont pas envoyé de lettres, mais nous savons que l’un d’eux est paralytique. 

2. Les travaux qui ont été lus sont au nombre de dix ; cinq se rapportent à l’histoire, trois sont 
des œuvres poétiques ; un autre est l'éloge du regretté M. Oscar Dunn, fait par son successeur, d’après 
la coutume suivie dans l’Académie française ; le dernier traite un point préhistorique. 

3. Notre section recommande l'insertion de sept de ces travaux dans les mémoires de la Société 
Royale. 

4. La section française a remarqué avec regret que l’on n’a pas obéi cette année à l’injonction de 
la Société, exigeant que le titre français fût imprimé sur le dos de nos mémoires comme le titre 
anglais. 

5. Tout en remerciant le parlement pour la gracieuse permission qu’il nous donne de siéger dans 
ses chambres, nous exprimons le désir que la Société Royale puisse bientôt tenir ses séances dans des 
chambres à elle. 

6. La section française désire pouvoir accorder trois diplômes chaque année à des personnes qui 
n'appartiennent pas à la Société. Son but est d'encourager le talent des jeunes gens et les études 
sérieuses en histoire; littérature, archéologie, etc. Les membres de la section paieraïient de leur bourse 
le coût de ces diplômes, et ceux-ci seraient signés par le président et le secrétaire de la section, et 
contresignés par le président et le secrétaire généraux. 

7. Les élections ont eu lieu ce matin. Ont été élus : — 


Président — PaAuLzL DE CAZESs. 
Vice-président — PampuiLE LeMay. 
Secrétaire — ALPHONSE LUSIGNAN. 


Le tout humblement soumis. 


BENJAMIN SULTE, président. 
A. Lusianan, secrétaire. 


Report of Section IT. 


I have the honour to report that Section IT has elected as office-bearers for the ensuing year :— 


R. M. Bucks, MD. President. 
Wu. KirBy, Vice-President. 
GEORGE STEWART, JUN., Secretary. 


. 


The Committee on Publications is composed of Dr. Daniel Wilson, John George Bourinot and 
George Stewart, Jun. 

The Committee appointed last year to consider the question of publishing memoirs, or old books 
relating to Canadian history, travel, etc., under the auspices of the Royal Society, was reappointed. 
The Committee is composed of John George Bourinot, Chairman; John Reade, John Lesperance, and 
George Stewart, Jun. 

The Secretary formally notified the Section that Mr. Charles Sangster had resigned his mem- 
bership of the Royal Society. In accordance with Rule 6, a nomination to fill his vacancy was made 
and submitted to the Council. 


XXX ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 
The following papers were read :— i 
I. Caractacus, the British Hero, a poem. By Rev. A. McD. Dawson, LL.D. 
II. Some Prehistoric Remains in Manitoba. By Cuas. N. Beit, F.R.G.S. 
III. Mair’s Tecumseh. By Ligur.-Cou, G. 'T. Dentson, LL.B. 
IV. The Right Hand. By Danret Witson, LL.D. 
V. The Wilderness Missions of Canada, By Rev. Dr. Wirnrow. 
VI. Local Government in Canada. By J. G. Bourtnor, F.S.S. 
VII. Historical Record of the St. Maurice Forges. By F. C. Wurrece. 
VIII. The Lost Atlantis. By Danrez Wizson, LL.D, 
IX. Some Notes on Canadian Ethnology. By Jon READE. 
X. The Emotions, their place in Mind. By Pror. Wu. Lvazr, LL,D. 
XI. Noted Journeys in Rupert’s Land and Beyond. By Pror. J. Bryce. 
XII. Malcolm and Margaret, a poem. By Rev. A. McD. Dawson, LL.D. 


I have the honour to be, Sir, 
Your obedient servant, 


GEORGE STEWART, Jun., Secretary. 


Report of Section III. 


The number of members of the Section in attendance was ten. The absent members were Profs. 
Bayne, Cherriman, Dupuis, Haanel, Johnson, MacGregor and Loudon, Drs. Fortin and Girdwood, and 
Mr. C. Baillairgé. 

The following papers were read, in full or in abstract, before the section :— 


I. Presidential Address. By ©, CARPMAEL, M.A. 
IT. The Genetic History of Crystalline Rocks. By T. Srerry Hunt, M.A., LL.D., F.RS. 
III. Supplement to “A Natural System in Mineralogy.” By T. Srerry Hunt, M.A., LL,D. 
FRS. 
IV. The Colouring Matter of Black Tourmalines. By E. J. Coapman, Ph.D., LL.D. 
V. Some Canadian Minerals. By B. J. Harrinaton, B.A., Ph.D. 
VI. A Meteorite from the Northwest. By A. G. Coteman, Ph.D., communicated by Prof. 
Haanet. (Read by C. CARPMAEL.) 
VII. Some Points in reference to Ice Phenomena. By Rogerr Betti, M.D., LL.D. 
VIII. Paper on Time-Reckoning for the Twentieth Century. By Sanprorp FiEmine, C.M.G., C.E. 
IX. Le choix d’une projection pour la carte du Canada. By E. Devizze, Surveyor General. 
X. Abel’s Forms of the roots of solvable equations of the fifth degree. By G. Paxton YounG, 
M.A. (Read by C. CARPMAEL.) 
XI. Conditions of the Solvability of Ejections of prime degrees—Kronecker’s law. By G. 
Paxton Youna, M.A. (Read by C. CARPMAEL.) 


The following resolutions were passed :— 


(1). “ That the Council be requested to continue to codperate with the Committee of the British 
Association in soliciting the attention of the Government to the important matter of Observations on 
Tides and Currents of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.’ 

(2). “That the Council be requested to memorialize the Government on the subject of the 
erection, at Ottawa, of a suitable building for a National Museum, in connection with the Geological 
and Natural History Survey of the Dominion, and with accommodation for this Society, and for a 
Library.” 


PROCEEDINGS FOR 1886. XXXI 


(3). “That this section recommends to the favorable consideration of the Council the proposal 
to assist Dr. Franz Boas, of Berlin, pecuniarily or otherwise, in his further explorations in Baffin 
Land, during the present year.” 

The officers elected for the ensuing year were :— 


Mr. T. MAcFARLANE, M.E., President. 

Mr. SANDFORD FLEMING, C.M.G., C.E., Vice-President. 

Mr. G. C. Horrman, F. Inst. Chem., Secretary. 
CHARLES CARPMAEL, President. 
G. C. Horrman, Secretary. 


Report of Section LV. 


The number of members of the Section attending the meeting was eight; but Mr. G. F. 
Matthew, who was not able to be present, sent two papers to be read. 
The following is a list of papers which were read, in full or by title :—-- 
I. Presidential Address on the Obligation of Geological Science to Canada. By Sir Win- 
LIAM Dawson. 
IT. The Fossil Flora of the Laramie Series of Western Canada. By Str Writram Dawson. 
III. Une Étude Géologique sur les phénomènes de contact entre les formations Siluriennes et 
Archéennes de la Province de Québec. By Asst J. C. K. LAFLAMME. 
IV. Quelques notes sur la pureté de la glace des riviéres, exposant surtout le résultat des 
travaux que j'ai faits à Québec dans le cours de l'hiver. By Agé J. C. K. LAFLAMME. 
V. Some recent additions to the list of Canadian Ferns. By Dr. T. G. W. Buraess. 
VI. On the Cambrian Faunas of Cape Breton and Newfoundland. By G. F. Marrarw. 
VIT. Illustrations of the Fauna of the St John Group. By G. F. Marraew. 
VIII. The Silurian System of Northern Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec. By Pror. L. W. 
BAILEY. 


IX. Notes on the Glaciation and Pleistocene Subsidence of Northern New Brunswick and 
South-eastern Quebec. By R. CHALMERS, communicated by Dr. G. M. Dawson. 

X. On some Marine Invertebrata, etc., from the coast of British Columbia. By J. F. 
WHITEAVES. 

XI. Illustrations of the Fossil Fishes of the Devonian rocks of the Dominion. Part I. By 
J. F. WHITEAVES. 

XII. List of the Crustacea collected by Dr. G. M. Dawson on the coast of British Columbia in 
1885. By Pror.S$. J. Smrra, of Yale College, communicated by J. F. Wurreaves. 

XII. On certain borings in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. By Dr. G. M. Dawson. 

XIV. Notes on some points in Arctic American Geology. By Dr. G. M. Dawson. 

XY. Notes on the Carboniferous marine limestone formation of the East River, Pictou County, 
N.S. By E. Grzprin, Jun. 

XVI. Preliminary Report on some Graptolites from the Lower Palæozoic rocks on the south 
side of the St. Lawrence from Cap Rosier to the Tartigo River, from the rocks of 
Orleans Island, Cap Rouge, and the Cove fields, Quebec. By Pror. CHARLES LAPWORTH, 
LL.D., (of Mason College, Birmingham, England), communicated by J. F. WuirEAves. 

XVII. Mechanism of Movement in Cucurbita, Vitis and Robinia. By Pror. D. P. PENHALLOw. 


The following resolution was passed unanimously by the section:—“That the Council be 
requested to memorialize the Government on the subject of the erection at Ottawa of a suitable 
building for a National Museum, to embrace the accommodation necessary for the Geological and 


XXXII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


Natural History Survey of the Dominion, and for this Society and its Library, and respectfully to 
urge that, in view of the present insufficiency of the building of the Survey, and of the need of 
further provision for the adequate display of economic as well as scientific specimens, and of the 
preservation of ethnological remains, the erection of such a building is a matter of much importance 
to the welfare and reputation of the Dominion.” 


The election of officers of the Section for the ensuing season resulted as follows :— 
President, Rey. Pror. LAFLAMME. 


Vice-President, Dr. R. BELL. 
Secretary, J. F. WHITEAVES. 


J. F. Warreaves, Secretary. 


ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 


The Society then proceeded to the election of officers for the year 1886-7, and the following 
gentlemen were nominated and unanimously elected :— 


President —Very Rey. T. E. Hamer, M.A. 

Vice-President.—G. Lawson, Ph.D. LL.D. = 
Honorary Secretary.—J. G. Bourinor, ESS. 

Honorary Treasurer.—J. A. Grant, M.D., F.GS. 


The thanks of the meeting were then voted to the retiring officers for their assiduity in further- 
ing the interests of the Society during the past twelve months, 
The Society then adjourned, 





(ite ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


FOUNDER: THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE MARQUIS OF LORNE. 


ORT GE Rise bh OR 1S'3'6—S) 7. 


HONORARY PRESIDENT AND PATRON : 


HIS EXCELLENCY THE MOST HONOURABLE THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, G.C.M.6. 


GOV ERNOR-GHNERAL OF CANADA. 


PRESIDENT - - - VERY REV. T. E. HAMEL, M.A. 
Vice-PRESIDENT - - G. LAWSON, PH.D., LL.D. 


EX-PRESIDENTS. 


HON. P. J. 0. CHAUVEAU, LL.D., L.D., Montreal. 
T. STERRY HUNT, LL.D., F.R.S., Montreal. 
DANIEL WILSON, LL.D., F.R.S.E. 


OFFICERS OF SECTIONS. 


SEC. I1—French Literature, History, and Allied Subjects. 


PRESIDENT - - - - PAUL DE CAZES. 
Vicr- PRESIDENT - - - PAMPHILE LEMAY. 
SECRETARY ~ - ~ — A. LUSIGNAN. 


SEC. II— English Literature, History, and Allied Subjects. 


PRESIDENT - - - - 2. MAURICE BUCKE, M.D. 
Vicr-PRESIDENT ~ - - W. KIRBY. 
SECRETARY  — - = = GEO. STEWART, Juy., D.C.L. 


SEC. I11— Mathematical, Physical, and Chemical Sciences. 


PRESIDENT - - ~ - T. MACFARLANE, M.E., C.E. 
Vice- PRESIDENT - - - SANDFORD FLEMING, C.M.G. 
SECRETARY ~ - - ~ G. C. HOFFMANN, F. Inst. Chem. 


SEC. IV.—Geological and Biological Sciences. 


PRESIDENT = — - — #® #£REY. J. C. K. LAFLAMME, DD. 

Vice- PRESIDENT - - - R. BELL, M.D., F.G.S. 

SECRETARY - - —  — J. F. WHITEAVES, F-.G.S. 
Honorary SECRETARY - - - - - J. G. BOURINOT, F.S.S. 
Honorary TREASURER - - - - - J. A. GRANT, M.D. F.G.S. 


The Council for 1886-87 comprises the President and Vice-President of the Society, the Presidents, Vice- 
Presidents and Secretaries of Sections, the Honorary Secretary, and the Honorary Treasurer, besides ex-Presidents 
of the Society (Rule 7) during three years from the date of their retirement. 


Proc. 1886. E. 


THE ROVA LS OCTET NO EE CANAD A? 





LIST OF MEMBERS, 


1886-87. 


I.—LITTÉRATURE FRANÇAISE, HISTOIRE, ARCHÉOLOGIE, ETC. 


Bien, L’AB8Bé L. N., STD. université Laval, Québec. 
Bors, L’ABBé L. E., Maskinongé. 
> 
CASGRAIN, ABBE H. R., LL.D., Québec. 
Crauveau, P, J. O., LL.D., L.D., Montréal. 
De Cazes, PAUL, Québec. 
DeCaerzes, A. D., Ottawa. 
Fagre, Hecror, Paris, France. . 
Favoner pp Sarnt-Mauricn, N., Québec. 
Frécuerrp, Louis, LL.D., Nicolet. 


Li:cenprn, NAPOLÉON, Québec. 


| 





LeMay, PAMPHILE, Québec. 

LeMoixe, J. M., Québec. 

Lusianan, A., Oltawa. 

Marcuanp, F.-G., Saint-Jean, Q. 
Marmerrts, Joserx, Ottawa. ? 
Roururer, A. B., LL.D., Québec. 

SuLTE, BENJAMIN, Oltawa. 

TANGUAY, L'ABBÉ Cyprien, L.D., Ottawa. 
Tassk, Josprx, Montréal. 


VerreAU, L’Aggé Hospice, LL.D., Montréal. 


Il.—ENGLISH LITERATURE, HISTORY, ARCHÆOLOGY, ETC. 


Bovrinor, Jonx GrorGe, M.A., F.S.S., Ottawa. 
Bucky, R. Maurice, M.D., London, O. 

Dawson, Rev. ÆNEas Macponni1, LL.D., Ottawa. 
Denison, Lr-Cor. G. T., B.C.L., Toronto. 


Grant, Very Rev, G. M. D.D., Principal of Queen’s 
University, Kingston. 


Korry, WizrAM, Niagara. 

LESPERANCE, Jon, Montreal. 

Linpsey, CHARLES, Toronto. 

Lyazz, Rev. W., LL.D., Dalhousie University, Halifax. 


Murray, Grorer, B.A., High School, Montreal. 





Murray, Rev. J. CLark, LL.D., McGill University, 
Montreal. 


McCozz, Evan, Kingston. 

Reape, Joan, Montreal. 

Surrx, Gotpwry, D.C.L., Toronto. 

Srewarr, Guoren, Jun., D.C.L., Quebec. 

Warson, J., M.A., LL.D., Queen’s University, Kingston. 


Witson, Daxrez, LL.D., F.R.S.E., President of Univer- 
sity of Toronto, Toronto. 


Wirarow, Rev. W. H., D.D., Toronto. 


YouxG, G. Paxton, M.A., University of Toronto, 
Toronto. 








AU ee ~£- 


THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 


XXXV 


III. —MATHEMATICAT, PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL SCIENCES. 


BarzLarG£, C., C.E., Quebec. 


Carpmant, C.H., M.A., Superintendent of Meteorologi- 
cal Service, Toronto 


CrarmAn, E. J., Ph.D., LL.D., University of Toronto, 
Toronto. - 


CrerrimAN, J. B., M.A., Ottawa. 


Devitt», E., Surveyor General, Ottawa. 


Duruis, N. F., M.A., F.R.S.E., Queen’s University, 
Kingston. 


ELemNG, SANDFORD, C.M.G., C.F., Ottawa. 
Fortin, P., M.D., Montreal. 
Girpwoop, G. P., M.D., McGill University, Montreal. 


GISBORNE, F. N., M.LT.E.E, C.E., Ottawa. 





Haanet, E., Ph.D., Victoria University, Cobourg. 


Ha, Very Rey. T. E., M.A., Rector of Laval Univer- 
sity, Quebee. 


Harrixeton, B. J., B.A., Ph.D., McGill University, 
Montreal. 


Horrmann, G. C., F. Inst. Chem., Geological Survey, 
Ottawa. 


Hunt, T. Srerry, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., Montreal. 
Jonxsox, A., LL.D., McGill University, Montreal. 
Loupox, J. T., M.A., University of Toronto, Toronto. 
MAcFARLANE, T., M.E., Montreal. 


MacGrecor, J. G., M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S.E., Dalhousie 
University, Halifax. 


IV.—GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 


Barzey, L. W., M.A., Ph.D., University of New Bruns- 
wick, Fredericton. 


Bert, Rogert, M.D., C.E., F.G.8., Geological Survey, 
Ottawa. 


Burcess, T. J. W., M.D., London, O. 


Dawson, G. M., D.Sc., A-R.S.M., F.G.S., Geological Sur- 
vey, Ottawa. 


Dawson, Sim J. Wri11am, C.M.G., LL.D., FRS, Princi- 
pal of McGill University, Montreal. 


FLETOHER, JAMES, Ottawa. 


Gizrin, Epwiy, M.A., F.G.S., Inspector of Mines, 
Halifax. 


Grant, J. A., M.D., F.G.S., Ottawa. 
Hoxeyman, Rev. D., D.C.L., Museum, Halifax. 
Joxes, J.M., E.LS,, Halifax. 





LAFLAMME, Rav. J. C. K., D.D., M.A., Laval University, 
Quebec. 


Lawson, G., Ph-D., LL.D., 
Halifax. 


Dalhousie University, 


Macouwn, J., M.A., F.L.S., Geological Survey, Ottawa. 
Marrnew, G. E., M.A., St. John, N.B. 

Pexxazzow, D. P., B.Se., McGill University, Montreal. 
Saunpers, W., London, O. 


SELWYN, A, R. C., LL-D., FRS. F.G.8., Director of the 
Geological Survey, Ottawa. 


Sr. Cyr, D. N., Quebec. 
Warrpaves, J. F., F.G$., Geological Survey, Ottawa. 


Waicar, R. Ramsay, M.A., B$c., University of Toronto, 
Toronto. 


CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 


Tan Marquis or LORNE. 


Bonney, T. G., D.Se., LL.D., F.RS., London, England. 


Dovcsr, Came, secrétaire perpétuel de l’Académie 
française, Paris, France. 


RETIRED MEMBERS. 


Marnier, XAVIER, de l'Académie française, Paris, France. 
PAREMAN, Francis, LL.D., Boston, Mass. 


Rameau pp SAINT PÈRE, EDMé, Adon, Loiret, France. 


(See RULE 7.) 


Bourassa, NAPOLÉON, Montebello. 
Girin, J. Bernarp, M.D., M.R.CS., Halifax. 
Oster, W., M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 


SOCIETE ROYALE DU CANADA 


MÉMOIRES 


SECTION I 


LITTERATURE FRANCAISE, HISTOIRE, ARCHEOLOGIE, ETC. 


ANNEE 1886 





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SECTION I, 1886 psp MÉMOIRES 8. R. CANADA. 


I— Le Pionnier, 


Par Louis FRÉCHETTE. 


( Lu le 25 mai 1886. ) 


J'ai bien connu jadis le vieux Baptiste Auclair. 
C'était un grand vieillard jovial, ayant l’air 
Déluré d’un ancien capitaine en retraite. 
Autrefois au Nord-Ouest il avait fait la traite, 
Et sa fortune aussi, disait-on dans le temps ; 
Mais on n’en était pas bien sûr, car à trente ans 
Il était retourné, sans le moindre étalage, 
Reprendre la charrue et sa place au village, 
Héritier de la terre et du toit paternels. 

C’est là que je l’ai vu, dans les jours solennels, 
Rieur, et se faisant craqueter les jointures, 
Nous raconter ce qu’il nommait ses aventures. 


Il avait élevé seize enfants : huit garçons 

— Là-dessus je ne sais plus combien de bessons — 
Et huit filles, tous seize installés en ménage. 

Il n’en portait pas moins gaillardement son âge. 

— J'ai, disait-il, bon pied bon ceil, et sapristi ! 

Sans me vanter, jamais je ne me suis senti 

Si jeune et si dispos que lorsque la cohorte 

De mes petits-enfants vient frapper 4 ma porte. 

Et j'en ai, Dieu merci, cent dix-sept bien comptés ! 
Beau chiffre, n’est-ce pas ? Tenez, vous plaisantez, 
Vous autres, lorsque vous discutez politique, 
Nation, avenir; l’œuvre patriotique, 

Jeunes gens, c’est la mienne! Un homme est éloquent, 
Et peut se proclamer bon patriote. quand ? 
Quand il a cinquante ans labouré la prairie, 

Et donné comme moi cent bras a la Patrie. 

Mettez cela dans vos papiers, beaux orateurs ! 


Et, parcourant des yeux son cercle d’auditeurs, 
Il éclatait de rire attendant la réplique. 


tn 


ec. I, 1886.— 1. 


LOUIS FRÉCHETTE 


Le vieillard conservait une étrange relique 
Au fond d’un vieux bahut à moitié ruiné ; 
Il tenait ce trésor de son père, et l’ainé 

De ses enfants devait en avoir Vhéritage.... 
Il ne lui plaisait pas d’en dire davantage. 


Un beau soir cependant qu'on le sollicitait, 

Il étala l’objet devant nos yeux ; c'était 

Un petit vêtement de gros chanvre, une espèce 
De chemise d’enfant, lourde, grossière, épaisse, 
Mal cousue, et portant sur son tissu taché 
Quelques traces d’un brun noiratre et desséché. 


— C’est la du sang, Messieurs, du sang de race fière ! 
Dit le vieillard. Et puis, roulant sa tabatière 

Entre ses doigts noueux, il nous fit le récit 

De la simple et navrante histoire que voici: 


Ce fut un temps bien rude et plein d’âpres angoisses 
Que les commencements de ces belles paroisses 
Qu'on voit s’échelonner aujourd’hui sur nos bords. 
Quand, du haut du vaisseau qui s’ancre dans nos ports, 
Le voyageur charmé se pâme et s’extasie 

Au spectacle féerique et plein de poésie 

Qui de tous les côtés frappent ses yeux surpris, 

Il est loin, oui bien loin de se douter du prix 

Que ces bourgs populeux, ces campagnes prospères 
Et leurs riches moissons coûtèrent à nos pères. 

Chez nous, chaque buisson pourrait dire au passant : 
Ces sillons ont moins bu de sueur que de sang. 

Par quel enchainement de luttes, de souffrance, 

Nos aieux ont conquis ce sol vierge à la France, 

En y fondant son culte immortel désormais, 

La France même, hélas! ne le saura jamais. 


Quels jours ensanglantés ! quelle époque tragique ! 
Ah! ce fut une race à la trempe énergique 

Que les premiers colons de ce pays naissant. 

Ils vivaient sous le coup d’un qui-vive incessant : 
Toujours quelque surprise, embüche, assaut, batailles ! 
Quelque ennemi farouche émergeant des broussailles ! 
Habitants égorgés, villages aux abois, 

Prisonniers tout sanglants entraînés dans les bois!... 
Les femmes, les enfants veillaient à tour de rôle, 
Tandis que le mari, le fusil sur l'épaule, 


LE PIONNIER 


Au pas ferme et nerveux de son cheval normand, 
Semeur de l'avenir, enfonçait hardiment 

Dans ce sol primitif le soc de sa charrue ; 

Et si, l’été suivant, l'herbe poussait plus drue 
Dans quelque coin du pré, l'on jugeait du regard 
Qu'un cadavre iroquois dormait là quelque part. 
Personne n’en faisait de cas, c'était la mode. 


Mais arrivons de suite au sanglant épisode 
Conté par mon ami le vieux Baptiste Auclair. 


Au penchant d’un talus baigné par le flot clair 
Où le beau Nicolet, à trente arpents du fleuve, 
Mire aujourd'hui gaiment sa cathédrale neuve, 

À l'ombre d’un bouquet de pins au faite altier, 
Que les siècles n’ont pu terrasser tout entier, 
Trois de ces pionniers, en ces jours de tourmentes, 
Avec l'espoir prochain de saisons plus clémentes, 
Avaient planté leur tente à la grace de Dieu. 


L'un d’eux se nommait Jacque. I] avait dit adieu 
Aux droits, Ala corvée, a la taille, aux gabelles, 
Pour s’en venir chercher, avec d’autres rebelles, 
Sous des cieux où le fisc n’etit pas encore lui, 
Un peu de liberté pour les siens et pour lui. 

Sa femme, une robuste enfant de Picardie, 

Trois fois avait doté leur famille agrandie 

D'un nouveau-né gaillard, alerte et bien portant. 
Et l’œil des deux époux allait à chaque instant, 
Avec un long regard, hélas ! souvent morose, 
Des aînés tout brunis au bébé frais et rose. 


Or ce dernier n’avait que six mois seulement, 
Lorsque se déroula l’affreux événement 
Qui sur un lit d’horreurs le jeta seul au monde. 


Pour les colons l’année avait été féconde. 

La pente des coteaux et le creux des vallons 
Etalaient, souple et lourd, un manteau d’épis blonds 
Qui, comme un lac doré que le soleil irise, 

Flottait luxuriant au souffle de la brise. 

L'heure de la moisson était venue ; aussi 

Le cœur des défricheurs, oubliant tout souci, 
Montait reconnaissant vers Celui dont l’haleine 
Féconde les sillons et fait jaunir la plaine. 


LOUIS FRECHETTE 


Un soir, notre ami Jacque, après mir examen, 
Prépara sa faucille, et dit : —“ C’est pour demain!” 
Puis il pria longtemps et dormit comme un juste. 


Hélas ! si par hasard, ce soir-là même, juste 

A Vheure où les colons se livraient au sommeil, 
En amont du courant, prêt à donner l'éveil, 
Quelqu'un ett cotoyé la rive solitaire, 

Il eût sans doute vu, furtifs, rasant la terre 

Dans l’ombre de la berge, et pagayant sans bruit, 
Trois longs canots glisser lentement dans la nuit. 
C’étaient les Iroquois — ces maraudeurs sinistres 
Dont les premiers feuillets de nos anciens registres 
Racontent si nombreux les exploits meurtriers. 
Rendus non loin des lieux où nos expatriés 
Avaient fortifié leur petite bourgade, 

Dans un enfoncement propice à l’embuscade, 

Ils prirent pied, masqués par un épais rideau 

De branchages touffus inclinés à fleur d’eau, 

Puis sur le sable mou halèrent en silence 

Leurs pirogues au fond le plus obscur de l’anse, 
Et, sous les bois, guettant et rampant tour à tour, 
Tapis dans les fourrés, attendirent le jour. 


Celui-ci se leva radieux et superbe. 


C’est fête aux champs le jour de la première gerbe : 
Aussi nos moissonneurs, les paniers a la main, 

Dès l’aube, tout joyeux, se mirent en chemin. 

Les aînés, que la mère avec orgueil regarde, 
S'avançaient, tapageurs, en piquet d'avant-garde, 
Tandis que Jacque, ému, riait d’un air touchant 
Au petit que sa femme allaitait en marchant. 

Car, suivant la coutume, on était en famille. 


Bientôt, au bord d’un champ où l’épi d’or fourmille, 
On fit halte. Partout, des prés aux bois épais, 

Nul bruit inusité, nuls indices suspects, 

Rien qui troublat la paix des vastes solitudes. 

Du reste on n’avait nul sujet d’inquiétudes : 

Pas une bête fauve, et, quant aux Iroquois, 

Is n’osaient plus tirer leurs flèches du carquois, 
Refoulés qu'ils étaient au fond de leurs repaires. 

On pouvait donc compter sur des jours plus prospères 
Enfin, l’espoir au cœur, et ne redoutant rien, 


LE PIONNIER 


Jacque — après avoir fait le signe du chrétien — 
Près du marmot dormant au creux d’une javelle, 
Commença les travaux de la moisson nouvelle. 


Vous voyez le tableau: dans le cadre assombri 

De l'immense forêt qui lui prête un abri, 

Une calme clairiére où l’on voit, flot mouvant, 
Les blés d'or miroiter sous le soleil levant ; 

À genoux sur la glèbe, et tête découverte, 

Les travailleurs penchés sur leur faucille alerte ; 
Deux enfants poursuivant le vol d’un papillon ; 
Et puis ce petit ange, au revers d’un sillon, 
Parmi les épis murs montrant sa bouche rose... 
C'était comme une idylle au fond d’un rêve éclose. 


Qu'advint-il ? on ne l’a jamais su tout entier. 


Ce matin-la, quelqu'un, en suivant le sentier 

Qui conduisait du fort à la rive isolée, 

Entendit tout à coup, venant de la vallée 

Où Jacque était allé recueillir sa moisson, 

Quelque chose d’horrible à donner le frisson. 
C’étaient des cris stridents, aigus, épouvantables ; 
Et puis des coups de feu, des plaintes lamentables, 
Appels désespérés et hurlements confus 

Frappant lugubrement l’écho des bois touffus. 

Les farouches rumeurs longtemps se prolongèrent ; 
Longtemps dans le lointain des clameurs s’échangérent ; 
Et puis, sur la rivière où le bruit se confond, 
Succéda par degrés un silence profond... 


Le soir, lorsque les deux colons du voisinage 
Osèrent visiter la scène du carnage, 

Un spectacle hideux s’offrit à leurs regards : 
Trois cadavres sanglants, défigurés, hagards, 
Jacque et les deux enfants, pauvre famille unie, 
Dans une même horrible et fatale agonie, 

Yeux crevés, ventre ouvert, le crâne dépouillé, 
Gisaient là sur le so] par le meurtre souillé. 
Quant à la femme, hélas ! elle était prisonnière ; 
Sans doute condamnée à mourir la dernière 

À quelque affreux gibet par l’enfer inventé. 


On plia le genou sur le champ dévasté, 
Et, de ces cœurs naïfs glacés par l'épouvante, 


LOUIS FRÉCHETTE — LE PIONNIER 1 


La prière des morts allait monter fervente, 
Lorsqu’au De profundis clamavi, — faible et doux, 
Un long vagissement venant on ne sait d’où 
Répondit aussitôt comme un cri d'âme en peine. 


Les colons étonnés retinrent leur haleine.... 


C'était comme un sanglot d’enfant ; et, stupéfait, 
Quelques instants plus tard, on trouvait en effet, 
Dans le creux d’un sillon, la face contractée, 
Perdu sous un amas de paille ensanglantée, 

Un enfant de six mois suffoquant à demi. 

Sans doute que la mère avait de l'ennemi 

Par cet ingénieux moyen trompé la rage, 

Et, dévotiment sublime, avait eu le courage 

De marcher à la mort d’un cœur déterminé, 

Sans trahir d’un regard le pauvre abandonné ! 





— Or ce pauvre orphelin, ce pauvre petit être, 
Fit le vieux plus ému qu’il ne voulait paraître, | 
Voici le vêtement qu'il portait ce jour-là ; ES 
Et, si je le conserve avec respect, cela 

Ne surprendra bien fort personne ici, j’espére, 
Car cet enfant, c'était mon arriére-grand-pére ! 


PRIT COTE 


SECTION I, 1886. STE À MÉMOIRES 8. R. CANADA 


Il — Ze golfe Saint-Laurent 


( 1600-1625 ) 


Par BENJAMIN SULTE. 


( Lu le 26 mai 1886. ) 


I 


Avant le premier voyage de Cartier (1534), les trafiquants, français fréquentaient le 
golfe Saint-Laurent. La pêche et la traite des pelleteries y attiraient les armateurs. Lors 
de la visite de Champlain (1603), le troc s’avangait déjà dans le fleuve jusqu'au lac 
Saint-Pierre, et les nations situées plus à l’ouest en avaient connaissance. 

Nous avons pris l'habitude de concentrer notre attention entre Montréal et Québec, 
durant la période de Champlain. Je me propose de reporter un instant la pensée du lec- 
teur sur le bas du fleuve, principalement dans le golfe, au cours des vingt-cinq années qui 
s’écoulent de 1600 à 1625. 

Si je ne soulève pas de problème intéressant, je pourrai du moins offrir un tableau des 
choses les plus ordinaires dans ces parages, et montrer que la lutte — car il y a toujours 
lutte en ce monde — avait lieu plutôt pour le commerce qu’en faveur de la colonisation. 
Le vaste et riche domaine maritime que comprenaient en ce moment les terres appelées la 
Nouvelle-France était tout, aux yeux des navigateurs et des hommes employés au négoce. 
Prendre au sérieux l'établissement de Québec et le Canada proprement dit, n’entrait point 
dans les idées du temps. De cette manière les efforts de la France, ou plutôt des Français, 
s’arrétaient à la porte de notre pays. Le champ ainsi exploité satisfaisait les ambitions du 
grand nombre. Au-delà se trouvait l’avenir, que peu de personnes étaient en état d’appré- 
cier. Une Nouvelle-France non seulement maritime mais terrestre — colonisée en un mot 
— paraissait comme un rêve aux yeux du vulgaire ; aussi Champlain était-il peu écouté, 
encore moins secouru. 

L’amiral de Coligny, reprenant (1555) le travail de Roberval, avait voulu fonder une 
colonie stable. Il obtint l’assentiment d'Henri II; mais on s’occupait alors de la Floride 
et du Brésil, d’où André Thevet revenait chargé de renseignements. Le Canada fut négligé 
encore une fois. Cartier venait de mourir. Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon conduisit ses 
compatriotes vers l'Amérique du Sud sans pouvoir les y fixer. Cet échec qui parut inex- 
plicable, dans un pays regardé comme supérieur au Canada, ne pouvait que faire reculer 
l’idée coloniale, et c’est ce qui ne manqua pas d'arriver. 

Mézeray, parlant de Villegagnon, dit qu'il “ commença de faire voir aux Espagnols 
qu'ils ne seraient pas tout seuls les maîtres du nouveau monde.” L’impression de Mézeray 
date de la fin du gouvernement de Richelieu, 1640; il est douteux qu’elle ait existé à la 


8 BENJAMIN SULTE 


cour de France vers 1560. Toutefois les Bretons, et avec eux la famille de Cartier, persis- 
taient à se diriger du côté du Saint-Laurent, mais pour les fins du commerce uniquement. 
Les Anglais faisaient de même, sur une assez grande échelle, se tenant de préférence à 
Terre-Neuve, tandis que les Basques allaient au Cap-Breton, et les marins de Saint-Malo 
jusque dans le fleuve. 

Pontgravé, Chauvin, de Chatte, Champlain, tentèrent en 1603 de créer le mouvement 
canadien. L’année suivante, Henri IV permit à toute les classes de la noblesse de se livrer 
au négoce sans déroger, aussi commencèrent-elles à entrer dans les compagnies anciennes 
ou qui se formaient dans cette vue ; elles y coudoyaient les gens de robe et les marchands- 
bourgeois, — ce qui était un spectacle nouveau. 

Les Basques débitaient beaucoup de poisson sur les marchés de France. Ils tournérent 
les regards des armateurs vers la région de l’Acadie. Le golfe Saint-Laurent était redouté 
des pilotes à cause de ses côtes dangereuses et des tempêtes qui y sévissent. De deux 
maux on choisit le moindre : l’Acadie fut préférée. 

L'expérience personnelle des navigateurs tenait lieu de renseignements écrits ou 
publiés. Les cartes, s’il y en avait, était la propriété secrète de ceux qui les dressaient, à 
la suite de leurs propres voyages. Telle maison de commerce payait les services de pilotes 
et de capitaines qui possédaient des connaissances spéciales dans cet ordre de choses, et 
parvenait à réaliser de forts bénéfices en perdant moins de vaisseaux ou en trafiquant sur 
les côtes peu ou point connues de ses rivales. Tout était mystère pour les mariniers de 
l'Europe dans ce golfe immense, dans ces baies profondes, dans ces rivières étonnantes, 
dans ce fleuve rempli d’écueils et balayé par les ouragans. L'amitié des sauvages ne se 
partageait pas non plus également entre les races civilisées qui cherchaient à traiter avec 
eux. Chaque capitaine exerçait un prestige plus ou moins direct sur l’imagination des 
diverses tribus. C’est pourquoi la palme du succès revenait au plus habile navigateur et 
au plus adroit négociateur. La bravoure sous les armes et le génie militaire dans les com- 
bats étaient aussi des qualités de rigueur. Le pavillon de certains navires était plus 
respecté que celui d’un autre, à cause du chef d'équipage qu'il annonçait aux matelots 
étrangers comme aux indigènes. 

Le trajet entre les deux continents se faisait rarement en ligne droite. Le P. Biard, 
parti de Dieppe en 1611, raconte qu'il toucha d’abord deux ou trois fois aux côtes d’ Angle- 
terre, puis descendit en longeant les terres de France jusque vers La Rochelle, où il fut tout 
surpris de voir le navire continuer sa route au sud jusqu'aux iles Acores, après quoi, virant 
de bord, il se dirigea vers le Cap-Breton. Ces zigzags se rencontrent dans plusieurs voyages 
de l’époque. Les marins m'ont dit, ajoute le P. Biard, que pour trois raisons ils descendent 
ainsi aux Acores: pour éviter la mer du Nord, pour s’aider des vents du sud, pour mieux 
calculer leur marche sur le soleil ; mais, dit-il de nouveau, je n’en veux rien croire. Ils 
descendirent jusqu’à 39° 30’ sans voir les Acores, et tournérent, pour atteindre le grand 
banc de Terre-Neuve, qu'il estime large en quelques endroits de vingt-cinq lieues. “Sur 
le bord de ce grand banc, dit-il, les vagues sont d'ordinaire fort furieuses trois ou quatre 
lieues durant, et ces trois ou quatre lieues on appelle les Acores....' Nous entrames dans 
les glaces sur les Açores du banc, degré du nord 46... et le cing mai nous descendimes à 


Canseau.”’ 





! L’imprimé que j'ai sous les yeux dit bien Açores, mais je pense qu’il faut mettre accores, contour d’un bane 


sous-marin ou d’un écueil. On dit aussi écores. 


LE GOLFE SAINT-LAURENT 9 


Le petit tableau qui suit met en regard quelques localités européennes et américaines 
qui se trouvent sur une méme latitude tout en jouissant de températures tres différentes : 


50° — Ville de Dieppe. Milieu de la pointe nord de Terre-Neuve. Passage entre ile d’An- 
ticosti et la rive nord du fleuve Saint-Laurent. Ville de Winnipeg. 

47 — Ville de Nantes. Sortie de la Loire. Passage entre Terre-Neuve et le Cap-Breton. 
Ville de Québec. 

46° — Ville de La Rochelle. Pointe est du Cap-Breton. Villede Sorel. Michillimakinac. 

46°, 45°, 44°— Grand banc de Terre-Neuve. La Nouvelle-Ecosse. Montréal. Kingston. 

43° —Saint-Jean-de-Luz, pays des Basques. Pointe sud de la Nouvelle-Ecosse.  Ports- 
mouth, entre Portland et Boston. 

40° — Ville de Lisbonne, Portugal. Iles Açores. Ville de Philadelphie, Pensylvanie. 


Done, le P. Biard alla du 50° au 40°, et remonta au 46° pour arriver à Canseau, Cap- 
Breton. Ayant, si l'on veut, cent lieues à parcourir du nord au sud, il en avait fait quatre 
cents. 


IT 


Au printemps de 1604, le sieur de Monts, partant pour fonder un poste en Acadie, 
confia un navire au capitaine Pontgravé, avec instruction de chasser de Canseau et des 
alentours du Cap-Breton les Français qu'il y rencontrerait faisant la pêche ou la traite. 
Pontgravé captura quelques Basques, mais on sait que cela ne sullisait pas pour arranger 
les affaires de son maître, lesquelles se gâtaient fort en ce moment. l’année suivante, le 
fondateur de Port-Royal se recommandait aux pêcheurs de morue pour se procurer les 
moyens de retourner en France; ils lui brilérent la politesse, et de plus portèrent plainte 
à Henri IV, qui leur donna gain de cause. 

Poutrincourt, qui obtint le privilege de de Monts, ne manqua pas, dés 1606, de recom- 
mander au même Pontgravé la saisie des bâtiments qu'il trouverait au Cap-Breton. Les 
navires de de Monts qui fréquentaient encore le golfe Saint-Laurent, à la suite d’une 
entente avec Poutrincourt, furent pillés à cette époque par des corsaires hollandais. 

Sully, ambassadeur d'Henri IV, baissait pavillon, à trois lieues des rives de France 
devant la menace d’un simple brigantin de Londres. La marine anglaise tenait la mer, 
les Hollandais venaient en second lieu, les pirates d’Alger et de Tunis s’en mélaient, les 
entrepreneurs de colonie, comme de Monts, n'avaient que des vaisseaux armés; et de tout 
cela résultaient des hostilités continuelles. 

Dans l'été de 1608, Pontgravé, se rendant à Québec, voulut arrêter des commerçants 
basques qui trafiquaient sur son chemin ; mal lui en prit car ils résistèrent, capturèrent 
son bâtiment, et blessèrent Pontgravé lui-même d’un coup de feu. La situation n’en était 
que plus mauvaise; à peine commencées les colonies de Port-Royal et de Québec se 
voyaient entourées d’ennemis appartenant à quatre ou cing nations aventureuses. 

Pontgravé est le marin qui a le plus souvent parcouru le golfe Saint-Laurent, de 1600 
à 1630. Sur des coquilles de quarante à cent tonneaux, il se lançait à travers l'océan et 
les dangers du grand fleuve, bravant le froid, les glaces, les vents, les compagnies hostiles, 
les corsaires, la famine, les révoltes de ses propres matelots, et faisant passer les Malouins 
partout, selon son cri de guerre connu. Si ce capitaine avait laissé des mémoires écrits, 


Sec. I, 1886. 2. 


10 BENJAMIN SULTE 


ne serait-ce qu'un journal de bord, nous saurions beaucoup de choses qui se sont effacées 
du souvenir des hommes. A défaut de tels renseignements, tachons de reconstruire une 
partie de ce passé déjà lointain. 

Poutrincourt raconte que, retournant en Acadie, en 1610, un navire de forban fit mine 
de l’attaquer,' et ne se retira qu'après avoir constaté les forces du bâtiment français. 

Il existait des pirates dans ces parages antérieurement à Poutrincourt. Remarquons 
cependant que la mort d'Henri IV, survenue le 14 mai 1610, inspirait une audace nouvelle 
aux écumeurs de mer. Jusque-là le roi de France était parvenu à contenir, dans une cer- 
taine mesure, les forbans des Etats barbaresques, ainsi que d’autres, qui leur aidaient dans 
les entreprises de ce genre. Lui mort, et la terreur de son nom dissipée, les pécheurs du 
Saint-Laurent offraient une proie facile aux coups des Tunisiens et des Algériens. 

Par le traité intervenu entre le sultan et Henri IV, “les Vénitiens, les Anglais, les 
Espagnols, les Portugais, les Catalans, les Ragusois, les Genevois, les Anconitains et les 
Florentins, et généralement toutes nations” pouvaient librement trafiquer dans l’empire 
ture “sous l’aveu et sûreté de la bannière de France, laquelle, dit le traité, ils porteront 
comme leur sauvegarde... obéissant aux consuls français. et d'autant que les corsaires 
de Barbarie, allant par les ports et havres de France, y sont reçus et secourus, et aïdés à 
leur besoin de poudre et plomb et autres choses nécessaires à leur navigation, trouvant 
des vaisseaux français à leur avantage, ils ne laissent de les piller et saccager, en faisant 
les personnes esclaves, contre notre vouloir et celui du défunt empereur Méhémet notre 
père. commandons que les Français pris contre la foi publique soient remis en liberté... 
Si les corsaires continuent leurs brigandages, à la première plainte qui nous en sera faite 
par l’empereur de France, les vice-rois et gouverneurs des pays de l’obéissance desquels 
seront les voleurs et corsaires seront tenus des dommages et pertes qu’auront faits les 
Français, et seront privés de leurs charges... Si les corsaires d’Algers et Tunis n’observent 
ce qui est porté par cette capitulation, que l’empereur de France leur fasse courir sus, les 
chastie... nous approuvons... Se trouvant par notre empire des esclaves français, étant 
connus pour tels des embassadeurs et consuls *, ceux au pouvoir desquels ils se trouve- 
ront faisant refus de les délivrer, qu'ils soient obligés de les amener ou envoyer à notre 
Porte, afin d’être jugés à qui il appartiendra..  Déclarons ceux qui contreviendront à ce 
notre vouloir, rebelles, ete.” * 

Cette situation changea notablement après l'assassinat du roi de France, car un enfant 
placé sur le trône, au milieu des factions italiennes et françaises qui se disputaient le 
pouvoir, n'avait rien de redoutable aux yeux des Turcs. 


Ill 


Le capitaine Foulques (ou Foucques, ou Fouque), de La Rochelle, commandait un 
navire a destination de l’Acadie, dans la société du sieur de Monts, en 1604; il comman- 





* Lescarbot dit que c’était vers les Casquets, un peu à l’ouest de Dieppe. Ne pas confondre cette localité avec 
le Conquet, petite ville de la basse Bretagne, pays des Cornouailles, que Champlain mentionne à la page 349 de ses 
Œuvres. 

* Un frère de Poutrincourt vivait en Turquie et s’était fait musulman. 

* Archives curieuses de ? Histoire de France, série 1, t. XV, pp. 411, 414, 419 et 421. 


a, bis ss ie 


LE GOLFE SAINT-LAURENT ia 


dait aussi le Jonas, qui partit de La Rochelle, en 1606, avec la colonie de Poutrincourt. 
C’est lui sans doute qui nous a laissé le rapport suivant, daté de 1612: 

“ Memoires portants plvsievrs advertissems presentez av Roy par le Capitaine Fouc- 
ques, Capitaine ordinaire de sa Maiesté en la marine du Ponant, apres estre deliuré de la 
captiuité des Tures, pour le soulagement des Francois, et autres nations Chrestiennes, 
marchands et matelots qui trafiquent sur mer. 

“Sire : — Il me serait mal seant, suyvant mon petit jugement, si je n’avoi adverty 
Vostre Majesté des tyrannies et cruautez qui se commettent journellement sur vos 
pauvres subjects françois, Dieu m’ayant de sa grace retiré de cette mesme peine afin de 
vous en donner advertissement, pour en prendre la vengeance, ayant la force et la puis- 
sance en la main, que Dieu vous a donnée pour ce faire contre tous payens et infidelles, 
lesquels pensent aller librement à leur trafiques et navigations ordinaires, sur l’as- 
surance de la continuation de la paix accoutumée entre Vostre Majesté et le Grand- 
Sultan, qui néanmoins ne laisse à présent, et tous autres de la nation chrestienne et 
voyager, d’estre pris et menez captifs dans la ville des Thunes (Tunis), par le Carosse- 
men ou ses adhérans, qui est un homme ture de nation, aagé de cinquante-cinq 
ans ou environ, homme bazanné, fort Grand et puissant à l’advenant, qui estoit soldat 
pour le grand Sultan sous le baschat (pacha) que le dit Sultan tient ordinairement au 
royaume de Thunes ; et ce dit Carossemen estant natif de la dite ville de Thunes, estant 
soldat genissaire, est si bien parvenu depuis quinze ans qu'il a assujetty tous les grands 
de Thunes sous son obéyssance, pour avoir acquis l'amitié de tous les genissaires et bas- 
chats. Et il n’y a que douze ans qu'il n’avoit que deux esclaves dont l’un est François de 
Croisy, lequel il tient encore en son pouvoir, et à présent a sept cens esclaves à luy seul, 
tant Italiens que Francois, Espagnols et Flamans; et a deux galères bien armées, des 
meilleures qui se peut voir, avec six grands vaisseauz, dont le moindre est de trois cens 
tonneaux, et deux pataches, par le moyen de quoy il s’est rendu seigneur et supérieur 
dans tout le pays... Ses vaisseaux prennent sur tous, tant Francois que Flamans et autres, 
soit terreneviers ou pescheurs venant de la Terre-Neufve, ou navires marchans, sans ex- 
empter aucune nation. Il y a trois ans ‘ qu'il n'y avait rien de cecy ; en toute la force 
de Thunes il n’y avait que deux galliotes ou trois au plus ; ils ne prenaient point sur les 
François comme ils le font à présent. S'ils prenaient quelque chose, ils ne captivaient 
point les hommes, si ce n’est que, depuis les dits trois ans, un meschant forban anglais, 
nommé Gardes, et un autre Flamen, ou forban ou vouloir, qui est marié à Marseille, nommé 
de Haiis, lequel s’est retiré à présent dans la ville d’Arges ( Alger), ne captivant nuls Fran- 
cois, mais prenant et pillant leurs marchandises. Et est dans un navire à luy de six cens 
tonneaux et quarante pièces de canon, avec trois cens hommes, et deux autres moyens na- 
vires prenant sur toutes nations ; et un appelé Biche, un appelé Sanson, un appelé Antoine 
et un nommé Glandfil, tous capitaines voleurs et forbans, anglois de nation, lesquels ont 
esté bien venus avec Carossemen et ses associés turcs. Lesquel Anglois ont instruit les 
Turcs à armer et mettre vaisseaux sur mer, prendre et captiver sur toutes nations chré- 


tiennes.... Et avec toute ceste force destruiront la chrestienté, si on n’y met remède, et la 
France qui en patira le plus, comme n'ayant eu jusques à présent aucune deffence en la 
coste.... Quant au roy de France, il (le Carossemen) dit qu'il est plus fort que luy, et 





1 Cest-a-dire avant la mort d'Henri IV. 


12 BENJAMIN SULTE 


qu'il ne scauroit avoir mis deux galléres en mer, et qu'avec les siennes il ira jusque dans 
les ports de France... Le consul des Francois qui est à Thunes est l’un des traistres ; il 
a de chacun Francois qui est là captif dix escus pour consentir et dissimuler avec le Caros- 
semen.... I] est marié à Marseille, et s’apelle Hugues Changet.... Il y a aussi un appelé 
Soubéran, qui est natif de Nimes, avec ses consors, qui sont un appelé Anthoine Lovie, 
Corse, marié à Marseille, et ses deux beau-frères, les Martins de la dite ville, et Antoine 
Belanger et Servien, commissaires de l'artillerie de Provence, et monsieur Nicolas, maistre 
fondeur de Marseille ; ceux-cy ont mené un nommé Guillaume, fondeur de son estat et 
nepveu de ce maistre fondeur du dit Marseille, qui est fondeur du Carossemen à Thunes, 
pour faire des canons. A la fin de juillet dernier, ils avaient achevé de fondre la qua- 
triesme pièce de batterie et coursiers de galléres....” ' 


IV 


On le voit, la situation n’était guère rassurante. Pour les colonies de la Nouvelle- 
France elle se compliqua de l'hostilité des armateurs anglais. Samuel Argall détruisit en 
1618, ~ les postes de Saint-Sauveur et de Port-Royal, les seuls établissements français de 
l'Acadie. C’était un acte de brigandage, commis en pleine paix et sans l’excuse d’une pro- 
vocation. Voilà bien les mœurs du temps. 

De nombreux vaisseaux de toutes les nations sillonnaient le golfe, 4 la recherche de 
la morue et autres produits de la pêche. Chacun s’en tirait avec peine et misère, et les 
aggressions allaient leur train. J'ai raconté, il y a deux ans, l’existence de Biencourt et 
de ses gens en Acadie, après 1615. Deux compagnies françaises commencèrent (1619) a 
exploiter les côtes de la peninsule. On dit que, en 1621, il circula dans le golfe huit cents 
navires de traite et de pêche. Les Anglais s’établissaient en 1620 au Massachusetts. 
Biencourt et Latour érigeaient des forts. Sir William Alexander tentait de créer une co- 
lonie écossaise sur les ruines de celle de Poutrincourt. 

Tout cela ne se faisait pas sans amener des conflits, et, comme le désir de s'emparer 
des meilleurs endroits de ce nouveau monde grandissait à Londres et à Paris, le recours à 
la force brutale suivait le développement des ambitions mises en jeu pour y parvenir. 
Biencourt, Latour et Champlain, qui visaient plus haut que le simple commerce, ne re- 
cueillaient presque aucun avantage ; ils étaient même exposés à beaucoup de contre- 
temps et de tracas par suite de ces animosités. On les voit s’en plaindre fréquemment. 
La lettre admirable de Biencourt’® (1618) nous en fournit une preuve assez tangible. Paris, 
qui s’approvisionnait de poisson dans notre golfe, se voyant menacé d'en manquer par 
suite des périls que couraient les navires français dans ces parages où les haines natio- 
nales s’exerçaient ouvertement, tandis que la France était en proie aux guerres civiles et 
religieuses. 


La lutte du parlement et des princes contre Marie de Médicis, le soulèvement des 








1 Archives curieuses de l’ Histoire de France, série 1, t. XV, p. 363. 

? Les princes français étaient en pleine révolte contre le jeune Louis XIII et son ministre Concini. L'influence 
française devenait nulle en Europe. 

* Mon ami Alfred Garneau dit qu’il attribuerait cette lettre à Mare Lescarbot, si elle ne portait une autre 
signature. En effet, c'est le style de Lescarbot. Je crois qu’il l'a écrite, et que Biencourt l’a signée, car il n’y a pas 
d'apparence que ce dernier fût un écrivain. 


LE GOLFE SAINT-LAURENT 13 


huguenots de Guienne et du Languedoc (1615), l'arrestation du prince de Condé, vice-roi de 
la Nouvelle-France (1616), l'envoi de trois armées royales contre le parti des princes, l’as- 
sassinat de Concini (1617), la révolte du Béarn, les débuts de la guerre de Trente ans en 
Europe (1618), la guerre entre Louis XIII et sa mère (1619), la réunion de la Navarre à la 
France (1620), la prise d’armes des calvinistes du royaume (1621), la guerre de la Valteline 
(1623), la guerre contre Gênes, une autre insurrection des protestants francais (1625), — il 
n’en fallait pas davantage pour empêcher Louis XIII de s'occuper du Canada, si toutefois 
il en avait eu le désir 

Richelieu, entré au Conseil (1624), était mal vu du roi, et d’ailleurs ce ministre était 
trop occupé des affaires du dedans pour songer à celles du dehors. 

Depuis 1605, Jacques I, fils de Marie Stuart, régnait paisiblement sur l'Angleterre 
d’où il avait chassé les jésuites après la célèbre “conspiration des poudres.” Ses sujets 
profitaient de la tranquillité publique pour créer des colonies sur le littoral de l’Atlanti- 
que, et supplanter les Français dans le golfe Saint-Laurent, où ils venaient pêcher en eau 
trouble, — c’est le cas de le dire, puisque la France ne protégeait plus ses nationaux dans 
ces parages. Au moment où Richelieu pesa décidément dans la destinée de son pays, et 
parla tout haut de surveiller les affaires de l'Amérique, le roi d'Angleterre maria son fils 
ainé, Charles I, avec Henriette, fille d'Henri IV, et mourut aussitôt (1625), laissant le 
trône à ce fils désormais allié de la France, croyait-on. 


y 


Le frère Gabriel Sagard, se rendant au Canada, dans l’été de 1623, nous fournit une 
peinture assez vive de ce qui se passait sur l'Océan à cette époque. Citons quelques lignes 
de sa description : 

“On se plaint avec raison du grand nombre de voleurs et de larronneaux, qui en guise 
de chenilles ceuvrent aujourd’hui presque toute la surface de la terre, dont les uns semblent 
honnêtes gens et passent pour de gros messieurs, et ceux-là sont les pires de tous, car ils 
dérobent beaucoup et font pendre ceux qui prennent le moins. Les autres, moins dange- 
reux, sont ceux qui comme hiboux ne vont que de nuit, sont assez mal couverts et aussi 
peu courtois. De ces pirates vous en voyez qui font les honnêtes marchands pour n'être 
point soupçonnés, et surprendre quand ils trouvent leur coup disposé... et ce fut un de 
ceux-là qui nous vint menacer à deux ou trois cents lieues en mer... mais il nous laissa 
aller, ayant bien opinion qu’allant en Canada on n'avait pas grand richesse. Nous ren- 
contrâmes un petit navire anglais. Il pouvait s’esquiver, mais comme nous étions assez 
bons voiliers, nous allames à lui et lui demandames, selon la coutume de la mer usitée par 
ceux qui se croyent les plus forts: “ D'où est le navire ?” — Il répondit : “ Angleterre.” — 
On lui répliqua: “ Amenez!” c’est à dire abaissez vos voiles, sortez votre chaloupe et venez 
nous faire voir votre congé... En cela il se commet souvent de très grands abus, pour ce 
que tel feint d’être marchand, et avoir bonne commission, qui lui-même est pirate et mar- 
chand tout ensemble, se servant des deux qualités selon les occasions et rencontres. De 
même nos mariniers eussent bien désiré la rencontre de quelque petit navire espagnol, où 
il se trouve ordinairement de riches marchandises, pour en faire curée et contenter aucune- 
ment leur convoitise, comme si prendre le bien d’autrui sur mer n’était pas larçin et 
volerie obligeant à la damnation éternelle, aussi bien que le prendre sur terre... Nos 


14 BENJAMIN SULTE 


Anglais vinrent à nous, savoir : leur maitre, un vieil gentilhomme... ils appréhendaient 
le même traitement qu'ils sont accoutumés de faire aux Français, quand ils ont le dessus, 
c’est pourquoi leur chef offrit en particulier à notre capitaine tout ce qu’ils avaient en 
marchandises en leur navire, pourvu que la vie sauve on les laissât aller en leur pays 
avec un peu de vivres, ce que notre capitaine refusa... Néanmoins il nous fit accepter un 
baril de petun et un autre de patates: ce sont certaines racines des Indes, en forme de 
gros naveaux, rouges et jaunes, mais d’un goût beaucoup plus excellent que toute autre 
racine que nous ayons par deça.” 

Si l’on veut savoir comment se gouvernaient les affaires du golfe et du fleuve Saint- 
Laurent, de 1621 à 1625, lisons les mémoires de Champlain, dont voici quelques extraits : 

En 1621, le roi et le duc de Montmorency adressèrent des lettres au fondateur de 
Québec pour lui recommander de faire bon accueil à la nouvelle compagnie dirigée par les 
sieurs de Caen, sur quoi Champlain fit l'observation suivante: “ Pendant qu’une société, 
en un pays comme celui-ci, tient la bourse, elle paye, donne et assiste qui bon lui semble. 
Ceux qui commandent pour Sa Majesté sont fort peu obéis, n'ayant personne pour les 
assister que sous le bon plaisir de la compagnie, qui n’a rien tant à contre cœur.” 

Le 23 juillet 1623, Champlain écrivait de Québec : 

“ Ce jour même arriva le pilote Doublet, lui sixième, dans une double chaloupe qui 
venait de l’ile Saint-Jean et Miscou, où était le sieur de la Ralde en pêcherie, qui donnait 
avis au sieur de Caen que des Basques s'étaient retirés à la dite ile Saint-Jean pour se 
mettre en défense si on les allait attaquer, ne voulant subir aux commissions de Sa Majesté, 
et qu'ils s'étaient saisis d’un moyen vaisseau où était un nommé Guers (ou plutôt Guérard ), 
qui l’année d’auparavant était venu à Tadoussac... Ces Basques avaient donné de mau- 
vaises impressions de nous aux sauvages des côtes. Le premier du mois de juin,’ arriva 
à Québec un canot de Tadoussac qui nous dit qu'aux environs du Bicq il y avait un vais- 
seau rochelois qui traitait avec les sauvages, que dans ce vaisseau était un puissant homme 
qui y commandait, étant toujours masqué et armé... L'on empêche les autres vaisseaux de 
venir traiter avec les sauvages.” Ceux-ci, ajoute-t-il, se procuraient des marchandises à 
meilleur marché des Rochelois et des Basques que de la Compagnie du Canada. Ce même 
printemps, l’un des vaisseaux des sieurs de Caen fut pris par les Hollandais ou Flamands. 
Le 19 septembre 1624, Champlain retournant en France, aperçut dans le golfe Saint-Laurent 
un navire de La Rochelle et lui donna la chasse, mais sans pouvoir l’atteindre. Le frère 
Sagard, qui était du voyage, dit que ce navire était “un pirate rochelois qui nous était 
“venu reconnaitre.” I] ajoute que les équipages de Champlain parlaient avant ce moment 
d'attaquer onze bâtiments basques, vers Miscou, et d'aller ensuite s'emparer des vaisseaux 
espagnols aux iles Açores. “ Dieu sait quelle prouesse nous en eussions faite, dit-il, n’ayant 
“pu prendre an forban de soixante tonneaux !” Le 27 septembre, sur les bancs de Terre- 
Neuve, une petite barque où commandait Cananée se sépara de Champlain, pour aller à 
Bordeaux, selon l’ordre qu'il en avait. Depuis, nous sûmes qu'elle fut prise des Turcs, le 
long de la côte de Bretagne, qui amenèrent les hommes qu'ils y trouvèrent et les firent 


esclaves.” 


Dans la commission que le duc de Vendatour accorde à Champlain, le 15 février 1625, : 





1 Vers cette date, le capitaine Charles Daniel, qui commandait un navire de Dieppe en destination du Canada» 
soutint sans désavantage un rude combat contre des bâtiments anglais. (Julien Félix: “ Voyage du capitaine 
Charles Daniel.” ) 


ee a 


LE GOLFE SAINT-LAURENT 15 


il autorise celui-ci à saisir hommes, vaisseaux et marchandises, de provenance française 
qu'il trouvera trafiquant notamment depuis Gaspé jusqu'au cinquante-deuxième degré 
nord, et à les livrer à la justice. Champlain ajoute : “Il y a un lieu dans le golfe Saint- 
Laurent qu'on nomme la Grande-Baie, proche du passage du nord de l'ile de Terre-Neuve, 
à cinquante-deux degrés, où les Basques vont faire la pêche des baleines.” 

Dans l’été de 1626, Champlain étant à Québec raconte que le sieur de la Ralde lui 
envoya des nouvelles de Miscou, ' portant qu'il avait trouvé plusieurs vaisseaux qui 
traitaient avec les sauvages, contre les défenses du roi, et demandant des secours armés 
pour en opérer la capture *. 

Ainsi marchait l'établissement du Canada, c’est-à-dire que rien de durable ne se 
faisait. Champlain en avait un chagrin continuel. La morue, le hareng, le castor, lori- 
gnal, — il paraissait impossible de sortir de là. Le projet de cultiver les terres se mettait 
sur le papier, et y restait. Tout ce qui ne rapportait point de bénéfice immédiat pouvait 
être approuvé, mais non exécuté. L'heure allait venir néanmoins où une politique 
moins aveugle serait invoquée par les hommes d’Etat. 


VI 


Fouillez les archives de France et les livres imprimés, vous ne trouverez pas deux 
auteurs de la force de Lescarbot et Champlain sur l'idée coloniale, à venir jusqu’au 
moment où Richelieu prit la direction des affaires. Cela ne veut pas dire qu’il n’y eût en 
France, avant 1625, des hommes éclairés et tout à fait bien disposés en faveur de ce mou- 
vement ; certes, nous n’aurions qu'à citer le président Jeannin et son groupe pour affirmer 
d'honorables exceptions ; mais pris comme ensemble, le monde administratif français était 
très en arrière des Espagnols sous ce rapport. 

Dans la Revue de géographie de Paris, 1885, M. Léon Deschamps a publié une étude 
dont j'emprunte ici des passages, sous forme de citations ou d'analyses. Il dit : 

“ Avec cette promptitude de jugement et de pessimisme à notre égard qui nous sont 
particuliers, les contemporains de Champlain et Lescarbot — quelques-uns du moins — ont 
préféré l'aventure de Villegagnon à l’expédition de Champlain ou de beaucoup d’autres, 
pour asseoir leur jugement. Mais il s’est trouvé heureusement des patriotes éclairés, 
comme Rasilly, pour faire voir que ce sont vieilles chimeres.”  Rasilly, ajoute-t-il, écrivait 
en 1626: “ Plusieurs personnes de qualité et même du Conseil m'ont dit et soutenu que 
la navigation n'était point nécessaire en France, d'autant que les habitants Wicelle ne 
voyant toutes choses que pour vivre et s'habiller, sans rien emprunter des voisins: par- 
tant, que c'était pure erreur de s’arrêter à faire naviguer — et que l’exemple est que l’on a 
toujours méprisé au passé les affaires de la mer comme étant de tout inutiles : et outre que 
les Français ne sont pas capables d'entreprendre de voyages de long cours, ni planter 
colonies. A quoi je réponds que ce sont vieilles chimères de croire que la navigation ne 
soit pas nécessaire en France, et que les Français ne soient propres à naviguer, et je pré- 
tends faire voir le contraire... J’ai le cœur tout serré quand je viens à considérer les dis- 





1 En 1627, il y avait parmi les Cent-Associés un nommé Guillaume Martin, et c’est son fils, je crois, qui acheta, 
vers 1680, le titre de marquis de Miscou (voir le Magasin Pittoresque, année 1849, p. 247). 
* Œuvres de Champlain, pp. 996-7, 1045-6, 1059, 1061, 1075, 1088 et 1113. 


16 BENJAMIN SULTE 


cours que font tous les jours les étrangers quand ils parlent de la France, et même j'ai eu 
dispute pour soutenir l'honneur du royaume.” 

Le 10 septembre 1626, Richelieu écrivait à Rasilly: “Quand votre frère Launay 
Rasilly sera ici, nous parlerons particulièrement ensemble ” du projet des colonies. 

Jean de Lauzon adressait au cardinal, le 26 novembre 1626, une lettre dans laquelle, 
s'exprimant au nom des négociants de Rouen, il dit que ces derniers remercient le roi de 
l'intérêt qu'il porte au commerce et du souci qu'il a de le protéger contre les corsaires, 
mais ils lui remontrent qu'il n’a pas pris, à leur avis, la meilleure voie pour aller au but. 
D'abord l'achat de navires aux Hollandais n'aurait pas du être fait au nom du roi, à cause 
“ de l’appréhension qu'ils ont (les Hollandais) que le roi ne devienne puissant sur la mer.” 
Et ils ajoutent que, si l’on avait emprunté le nom des négociants, le roi serait servi avec 
plus de diligence. Ce n’est pas assez; il faut que le roi fasse construire les vaisseaux en 
France, “non pas en si grand nombre à la fois, mais tant il y a qu’il pourrait être servi 
avec contentement.” Une partie de ces vaisseaux pourraient être employés “a l'assistance 
des navires marchands,” à la condition qu’on donne aux négociants la liberté entière d’y 
préposer ‘telles personnes de probité et valeur reconnues qu’ils pourront choisir eux- 
mêmes. Ils fourniraient des vaisseaux, les tiendraient en état de servir le roi. Quant à 
la dépense, ils proposaient une répartition à prendre sur les marchandises convoyées.” A 
aucun prix ils ne veulent de capitaines nommés par le roi. Les continuelles pertes souf- 
fertes durant les dernières années font que les négociants refusent de contribuer à la 
construction des navires ici mentionnés, mais ils indiquent un moyen d’y pourvoir : c'est 
de faire comme le roi d'Angleterre qui “l'an passé fit par forme d'emprunt de grandes 
levées sur les étrangers de nouveau établis en son royaume jusqu'à faire payer vingt mille 
écus à tel d’entre eux.” On est, disent-ils, d’une tolérance inouie pour les étrangers qui 
habitent la France ; on leur accorde des lettres de naturalisation, sans même exiger qu'ils 
possèdent ou contribuent en ce pays. “Ils n’y font aucunes acquisitions d'immeubles, 
n’y font construire aucuns vaisseaux, et ayant tous leurs biens en une cassette le trans- 
portent quand il leur plait.’ ' Bien plus, on leur donne les mêmes droits et faveurs 
qu'aux Français, tandis que les autres nations se réservent chez elles certains priviléges, 
comme en Angleterre, par exemple, où les Anglais ne paient que moitié des droits impo- 
sés aux Français qui les fréquentent. 


VII 


Les grandes compagnies datent de ce moment, c’est-à-dire de 1626. 

Après avoir cité les textes ci-dessus, M. Léon Deschamps continue: “Il est important 
de savoir d’où est venue l’idée des grandes compagnies dont le monopole et les privilèges 
ont tant nui au succès de nos établissements. Richelieu a exposé toute sa politique 
coloniale devant l'assemblée des notables en 1626, et ses mémoires donnent l'analyse de 
son discours : “Il n’y ade royaume si bien situé que la France et si riche de tous les 
moyens nécessaires pour se rendre maitre de la mer. Pour y parvenir, il faut voir comme 
nos voisins s’y gouvernent, et il faut faire de grandes compagnies, obliger les marchands 





s 


1 La plupart de ces citations conviennent encore à l’état des choses en France, deux siècles et demi après 
Richelieu. 


LE GOLFE SAINT-LAURENT 17 


d'y entrer, leur donner de grands privilèges comme ils font; faute de ces compagnies, et 
parce que chaque petit marchand trafique à part, et partant pour la plupart en de petits 
vaisseaux et assez mal équipés, ils sont la proie des corsaires et des princes non alliés, 
parce qu'ils n’ont pas les reins assez forts comme aurait une grande compagnie, de pour- 
suivre leur justice jusqu'au bout. Ces compagnies seules ne se voient pas néanmoins 
suffisantes si le roi de son côté n’est armé d’un bon nombre de vaisseaux pour les mainte- 
nir puissamment au cas qu’on s’opposat par force ouverte à leurs dessins. Outre que le 
roi en tirerait cet avantage qu’en un besoin de guerre il ne lui soit pas nécessaire d'avoir 
recours à mendier l’assistance de ses voisins.” 

Cette année, 1626, le cardinal-ministre achetait des Hollandais vingt navires et avait 
obtenu, non sans supplications, qu'on les lui cédât avec la permission de les faire monter 
et commander par des Français. 

M. Deschamps expliqua encore ce fait : “ Richelieu a été amené, par l'invitation des 
Espagnols, des Anglais et surtout des Hollandais, à choisir le système des compagnies pri- 
vilégiées comme mode unique de fondation et d'exploitation des colonies, et ce système a 
pesé depuis lors et jusqu'à la Révolution sur notre histoire coloniale” Il veut toutetois 
que l’on rende hommage au génie du cardinal : “ C’est Richelieu qui a réellement inau- 
guré la politique coloniale, en lui donnant une place et un rôle dans le jeu de sa politique 
continentale. Après lui, malgré la pauvre administration de Mazarin, qui laisse nos 
vaisseaux pourrir au port, malgré la Fronde et malgré les déprédations financières la tra- 
dition fut suivie. Les actes et mémoires du gouvernement et des particuliers ne sont pas 
moins nombreux de 1642 à 1660 que dans la période précédente.” 

En 1626, dans son Mémoire au roi, Richelieu demande de relever la puissance mari- 
time de sa patrie, sans laquelle, dit-il, il ne fallait plus faire état d'aucun trafic. Se voyant 
en faveur, il annonce qu'il est résolu à consacrer un million et demi de francs par année 
à l'entretien de trente vaisseaux de guerre pour tenir les côtes nettes. I] songeait à créer 
une nouvelle France — même plusieurs Frances en Amérique. Il lui semblait que l'Europe 
devait agir comme tête du mouvement universel — donner l'impulsion et garder la supré- 
me puissance sur des colonies qui seraient le dédoublement des nations du vieux monde — 
et il voulait que la France eût sa part de ces entreprises à la fois glorieuses et profitables. 
M. Deschamps l’en félicite : “ La marine et les colonies ont été des constantes et princi- 
pales occupations de Richelieu. Dès le début de son ministère, il s’est fait donner la 
charge de grand-maitre, chef et surintendant général de la navigation et commerce du 
Canada. Son brevet de grand-maitre est du mois d'octobre 1626, mais déjà, en 1625, il 
adressait à Louis XITI un “ Règlement pour la mer” et un “Mémoire” qui contenaient 
des idées novatrices... Il mérite la première place, moins parce qu'il est le premier en 
date, que parce qu'il est le véritable initiateur de la politique coloniale ; Colbert en a seul 
la gloire devant la postérité. Il serait injuste de contester à Colbert son mérite, mais il 
est certain qu'il n’a été que l'élève de Richelieu. Il a fait analyser et classer toutes les 
pièces du cabinet de son devancier, les a étudiées et s’en est servi. L'examen des docu- 
ments gardés aux archives des affaires étrangères ne laisse aucun doute à cet égard.” 

C'était done un nouveau courant d'idée qui traversait la France en 1625-26. Riche- 
lieu a eu la gloire de le comprendre et d'utiliser sa force. S'il n’a pas réussi tout à fait, 
imputons-en la faute à cette politique de conquête ou de domination européenne dont il 
fut saisi peu d'années après 1626, tout comme Louis XIV en 1673, au moment où il venait, 


Sec. I, 1886.— 3. 


18 BENJAMIN SULTE — LE GOLFE SAINT-LAURENT ; 


avec l’aide de Colbert, de préparer les plans les plus beaux et les plus exécutables en 
faveur du Canada. Dès que l’ambition d’un grand ministre ou d’un grand roi se repliait 
sur la seule Europe, il rétrécissait son rôle sans le savoir, et renvoyait à la postérité ou à. 
un autre peuple que le sien, la noble tâche de dominer le monde entier par l'expansion 
coloniale. 


SECTION I, 1886. [RAONE] Mémoires 8. R. Canapa. 


IT — Un Pélerinage au pays d'Evangeline, 


Par L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN. 


(Lu le 27 mai 1886.) 


oa 


A mon ami A. Ducros-DECELLES, 


Bibliothécaire du Parlement, à Ottawa. 


Mon CHER AMI, — “ J'apprends, m'écrivez-vous, que vous êtes de retour d’un voyage 
dans les provinces maritimes, et que vous étiez 4 Grand-Pré juste au jour anniversaire de 
l'expulsion des pauvres Acadiens. Que n’étais-je auprès de vous pour partager les émo- 
tions que vous avez dû ressentir en visitant le site du village, du cimetière et de l’église, 
d’où les infortunés Acadiens furent forcés, l'épée dans les reins, de prendre le chemin de 
l'exil! Faites-moi donc du moins part de quelques-unes de vos impressions, de ce que 
vous avez vu, observé, de ce qui vous a le mieux redit le passé de l’Acadie. Que reste-il 
des ruines de l’ancien Port-Royal, des forts Beaustjour, Beaubassin, etc.? Tout ce que 
yous m’apprendrez aura pour moi de l'intérêt.” 

Mon cher ami, vous m’écrivez comme si je revenais de l’Acadie les mains pleines de 
dépouilles archéologiques. Détrompez-vous, je n’ai fait qu’une excursion de touriste, et 
n'ai guére rapporté que des impressions et des notes de voyage. Mais, puisque vous le 
désirez, les voici: je les transcris de mon carnet, et vous les envoie telles que je les ai 
prises au vol de la pensée, un peu comme ces gibiers que je voyais abattre par les chasseurs 
dans les jones de la rivière Gaspareaux. 

La seule étude qui mérite votre attention dans ce journal de voyage est le récit de la 


dispersion des Acadiens, d’aprés des documents dont les uns sont nouveaux, les autres 
peu connus. 


Départ de Québec à huit heures du matin, le 1er octobre. — Je ne sais plus quel auteur 
a dit: “Je ne connais pas de plaisir plus triste que celui des voyages.” Rien de plus 
vrai, si le voyageur n’a pas un but arrêté. Il a beau changer de scène, chevaucher, comme 
on disait au temps de Boileau, “ l'ennui monte en croupe et galope avec lui.’ Aussi ai-je 
bien eu le soin de donner un sens à l’excursion que j’entreprends. J'irai voir Grand-Pré, 
le pays d’Evangeline, et les colonies acadiennes qui fleurissent aujourd'hui heureuses et 
grandissantes, comme avant la dispersion, non loin du bassin des Mines, sur les bords du 
Peticoudiac et du Memramcook. 

Le train express de l’Intercolonial longe à toute vitesse les falaises de Lévis, et décou- 
vre les divers points de vue du port de Québec; l'ile d'Orléans, avec ses coquettes maisons 


20 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


échelonnées sur ses hauteurs, ombrées çà et là de massifs d'arbres ; la nappe de neige du 
saut Montmorency, les prairies de Beauport, et au-dessus de tout le paysage, le cap crénelé 
de la vieille forteresse, avec sa ceinture de maisons, et sa forêt de mâts à ses pieds. Tout 
familiers que sont les Québecquois avec leur paysage, ils ne s’en lassent jamais; ils 
permettent volontiers aux touristes de l’admirer en passant, mais ils se réservent de 
l’admirer toujours. 

Arrivé à Campbellton à 7 heures du soir. — Campbellton, village anglais, à 805 milles 
de Québec, et situé au fond de la baie des Chaleurs, sur la rivière Ristigouche, qui sert ici 
de frontière entre la province de Québec et celle du Nouveau-Brunswick. De l’autre côté 
de la rivière, s'élève le village sauvage de Sainte-Anne de Ristigouche, sur un étroit 
plateau resserré entre l’eau et les montagnes. ; 

Je m'arrête ici quelques jours afin de voir de près ces bonnes familles micmaques, dont 
le souvenir se mêle à mes premières impressions d’enfance. Il me semble encore voir 
passer leurs longues files de canots d’écorce au bord de la grève. Leurs petites flottilles 
de quinze ou vingt pirogues ne doublaient pas la pointe de la Riviére-Ouelle sans s’y 
arrêter, car, comme je l'ai déjà dit ailleurs, les sauvages ont toujours affectionné ce promon- 
toire couvert de bois, où ils avaient abondance de chasse et de pêche. Ils trainaient leurs 
embarcations sur le sable du rivage, et y dressaient leurs cabanes pour quelques jours. La 
fumée de leurs feux, que nous apercevions au-dessus des arbres, nous avertissait de leur 
présence. Ils ne tardaient pas à descendre au manoir, attirés surtout par les présents que 
leur faisait ma mère, qui avait pour eux des prévenances de toutes sortes, car elle a tou- 
jours eu pour ces pauvres sauvages une affection qu’elle ne négligeait en aucune occasion 
de nous communiquer. 

J'ai encore présentes à l'esprit quelques-unes de ces figures caractéristiques et 
étranges pour nous, avec leurs traits osseux et basanés, leurs yeux perçants et leurs longs 
cheveux noirs et plats. Leur accoutrement n'était pas moins étrange que leur personne. 
Ils étaient le plus souvent tête nue; la couverte de laine dont ils s’enveloppatent leur des- 
cendait jusque au-dessous des genoux, et leurs pieds étaient chaussés de mocassins. Les 
femmes portaient sur leurs épaules des charges d’ustensiles en écorce et de paniers de 
toutes grandeurs et de toutes nuances. En retour des présents qu’elles recevaient, elles 
donnaient aux enfants quelques-uns de ces petits paniers, qui nous servaient de jouets 
entre nos heures d'école. 

Un matin, on voyait la flottille, dont chaque canot était chargé de cinq ou six sau- 
vages, prendre le large et pagayer vers la pointe des Aulnaies, pour de là remonter 
jusqu'à Québec, où ils recevaient leur pré du gouvernement, qui consistait en fusils, 
munitions, couvertes, etc. etc. Mais un autre motif les engageait à entreprendre ce long et 
pénible voyage ; ils venaient satisfaire leur dévotion envers la “ bonne sainte Anne du 
Nord,” pour laquelle, de temps immémorial, ils ont eu un culte touchant, et qui a souvent 
été récompensé par d’éclatants miracles. La plupart faisaient coincider leur pèlerinage 
avec la date des distributions annuelles ; mais en d’autres temps, même aux époques 
rigoureuses de l’année, on voyait passer des familles entières, des malades se trainer péni- 
blement, mendier l'hospitalité le long de la route, dans l’unique but d’aller implorer la 
sainte patronne dans son sanctuaire privilégié. 

Un soir — c'était la veiile de Noël — pendant que ma mère était occupée au salon à 
faire une lecture aux aînés de ses enfants, afin de les préparer à la fête du lendemain, 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE sl 


une de nos domestiques vint lui annoncer que deux sawvagesses venaient d'entrer et deman- 
daient à lui parler. Attirés par la curiosité, nous accourümes à sa suite. 

Les deux sauvagesses, la mère et la fille, étaient assises auprès du poéle, dans la 
cuisine. La jeune fille, maigre, pâle comme une morte, avait l’air presque mourante. Une 
toux creuse, qui lui déchirait la poitrine, indiquait clairement qu’elle était à un période 
avancé de la consomption. Les deux pèlerines venaient demander l'hospitalité afin 
d'être proches de l’église et d'assister à la mes-e de minuit, où elles voulaient communier. 
Ma mère leur fit immédiatement préparer à souper, et les invita à s'approcher; mais ni 
l’une ni l’autre ne consentirent à prendre une seule bouchée, disant qu'elles ne voulaient 
pas se priver de faire la communion. Ma mère eut beau leur expliquer que, la communion 
n'ayant lieu qu'après minuit, il était permis de prendre quelque chose auparavant, que le 
prêtre qui célébrait la messe faisait de même, elles s’y refusèrent obstinément. Aveugle 
mais touchante foi de ces bonnes gens, qui fait bien voir la fermeté de leur croyance, et 
le grand respect qu’elles avaient pour l’eucharistie. 

Ces pèlerinages ont cessé peu à peu depuis l'érection de l’église actuelle de Ristigou- 
che, qui a été dédiée à sainte Anne. Cette église, dont l’intérieur a été achevé il y a une 
vingtaine d'années, est sans prétentions architecturales, mais propre et convenable. Il 
n’en est pas de même du presbytère, qui a été mal construit ef qui est devenu inhabitable, 
surtout en hiver. Comme il n’y a dans le voisinage aucune maison où le prêtre puisse se 
retirer, et qu'il n’y a aucunes ressources pour bâtir un nouveau presbytère, les pauvres sau- 
vages sont exposés à être privés un jour où l’autre de leur curé, et à n'être desservis que 
par voie de mission. Cet éloignement leur serait fatal, car aucune population n'a plus 
besoin de l'œil vigilant du pasteur. Espérons que la bonne sainte Anne, pour laquelle ils 
ont toujours la même dévotion, viendra à point à leur secours, comme elle a fait tant de 
fois dans le passé. 

Les maisonnettes du village, lesquelles sont bâties et meublées à peu près comme 
celles de nos cultivateurs pauvres, sont échelonnées tout le long de la réserve, qui n’a guère 
que trois milles d’étendue. Quelques-unes sont assez spacieuses et ont un certain air de 
propreté et de confort. 

Le costume de ces Micmacs n’a guère d’original que l’espèce de turban que portent 
les femmes, qui consiste en un grand foulard rouge qu’elles enroulent autour de leur téte. 
A peine y en a-t-il quelques-uns parmi cette tribu qui aient le vrai type sauvage. Leurs 
traits et les noms de famille de plusieurs d’entre eux rappellent le sang européen dont ils 
sont plus ou moins mélés. Comme partout ailleurs, ils sont plus aptes à s’approprier les 
vices que les vertus des blancs. Insouciants et sans prévoyance comme au temps jadis, ils 
ne sadonnent guère a la culture, n’ensemencent que quelques petits champs de pommes 
de terre et de grains. La pêche et la chasse sont encore leurs occupations favorites, et ils 
n'ont rien perdu de leur habileté à construire et à guider leurs admirables canots d’écorce, 
vrais chefs-d’ceuvre de légèreté, d'élégance et de solidité. Les bêtes à fourrures deviennent 
de plus en plus rares dans cette région ; mais les caribous, m’assurent quelques chasseurs, 
sont encore assez communs dans la presqu'ile gaspésienne. Les meilleurs hommes parmi 
cette tribu micmaque trouvent une source de profits en servant de guides aux sportsmen 
anglais, américains, etc., qui viennent en été dans ces parages pour la pêche à la mouche, 
soit du saumon, soit de la truite. Ils sont doux et tranquilles, parlent peu et ont gardé 
quelque chose de cette timidité et de cette réserve naturelles à leur race. Les désordres 


22 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


que cause parmi eux l’ivrognerie ont été réprimés depuis que leur missionnaire a fait 
nommer par le gouvernement fédéral un officier de police qui veille sévèrement a l’obser- 
vation de la loi. Quiconque leur livre de la boisson est passible d'une très forte amende 
ou de la prison. Aucun blanc ne peut demeurer sur la réserve après le coucher ou avant 
le lever du soleil. 

Dimanche, 4 octobre. — A la grand’messe, un chœur de sauvages et de sauvagesses 
chantent dans leur langue les principales parties de l'office divin. Leur voix, justement 
vantée, est d’une beauté rare, avec un timbre mélancolique qui pénètre et impressionne. 

Les éloges qu’en ont faits les anciens voyageurs n’ont rien d’exagéré : “Je les ai plus 
d'une fois, racontait Dièreville en 1700, entendus chanter dans l’église de Port-Royal à la 
grand’messe et à vépres ; les voix des femmes particulièrement étaient si douces et si tou- 
chantes que je croyais entendre les anges chanter les louanges de Dieu. Les voix des 
hommes se mélaient de temps en temps si justement avec celles des femmes, que cela 


» 1 


faisait un effet admirable, et j'en étais charmé. 

Invité à faire le sermon, j'admire l’éloquence et les gestes expressifs de l'interprète 
Polycarpe, qui, debout à la balustrade, me dévore des yeux pendant que je parle; puis, 
après avoir écouté un passage de mon sermon, le traduit avec la plus étonnante fidélité, 
au dire de plusieurs des assistants qui comprennent les deux langues, et que j'ai pris la 
peine d'interroger ensuite. Polycarpe est depuis quelques années le chef de la tribu ; c’est 
un grand gaillard dans toute la force de l’âge, beau type de sang mêlé, d'un visage et d’un 
caractère avenants, influent parmi les blancs comme dans sa tribu. 

La population micmaque de Ristigouche, dont le chiffre reste à peu près stationnaire, 
ne dépasse pas 500 âmes. Comme tous les autres groupes de race indigène, elle est desti- 
née fatalement à disparaitre ou à se noyer dans le flot populaire qui l’environne. A la fin 
du siècle prochain, il n’en restera probablement pas d'autre trace que les manuscrits en 
langue sauvage de l'abbé Maillard, surnommé l’apôtre des Micmacs, dont j'ai feuilleté les 
pages jaunies et rongées par le temps dans la bibliothèque de la mission. Ces manuscrits 
qu'on ne peut ouvrir sans éprouver un sentiment de respect et d’admiration, à la vue des 
patients travaux et du zèle apostolique qu'ils indiquent, ces glossaires dont les feuilles 
usées se détachent, sout bien les monuments qui conviennent le mieux pour rappeler le 
souvenir de ces tribus éphémères que le souflle de la civilisation emporte comme les feuil- 
les de leurs forêts. 


II 


Lundi. — Matinée d’automne claire et fraiche. La température en septembre et octobre 
est plus douce dans la baie des Chaleurs que dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent. 

La riviére Ristigouche coule entre des montagnes fortement accentuées et couvertes 
de foréts primitives. On n’apercoit de champs cultivés que sur les plateaux qui bordent 
les rivages. 

Les montagnes s’ouvrent en bleuissant au loin, de cap en cap, baignant leurs pieds 
dans les eaux de la baie des Chaleurs. 

Sur l’avant-scène, au milieu de la rivière, se détache du ciel bleu la vigoureuse sil- 





1 


Voyage de Dièrevillegn Acadie ; édition imprimée à Québec, 1885, p. 101. 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D’EVANGELINE 23 


houette d’un navire norvégien chargé de bois de construction, qui appareille pour Belfast. 
Trois autres navires sont amarrés le long des quais. Il y a cent vingt-cinq ans, au mois 
de juillet 1760, le méme nombre de vaisseaux étaient ancrés dans cette méme rade; mais 
c'était la guerre et non le commerce qui les avait poussés jusqu'ici “Québec, raconte 
l’abbé Ferland dans son Voyage dans la Gaspésie, avait été pris l’automne précédent. Pressée 
par le marquis de Vaudreuil, la cour de Versailles envoyait de faibles et tardifs secours 
au chevalier de Lévis, qui était décidé à tenter une attaque contre Québec. La flottille 
française s'était amusée en route à poursuivre quelques navires ennemis ; aussi fut-elle 
devancée par les vaisseaux anglais, qui lui barrérent le passage à l'entrée du fleuve Saint- 
Laurent. Elle se jeta alors dans la baie des Chaleurs, et remonta la rivière Ristigouche, 
où le commandant, M. de Danjac, trouva quinze cents personnes réfugiées sur ses bords, 
et vivant dans un état déplorable de misère. Le capitaine Byron. probablement le célèbre 
navigateur, grand-père du poète de ce nom, s’avança avec les vaisseaux le Fame, le Dorset- 
shire, V'Achilles, le Scarborough et le Repulse, pour attaquer la flotte française, qu'il rencontra 
le 8 juillet à peu près dans cette partie du Ristigouche. Elle était composée du Machault, 
de trente-deux canons, — de l’Espérance, de trente, — du Bienfaisant, de vingt-deux, — du 
Marquis de Marloze, de dix-huit. Les Français s'étaient préparés à recevoir chaudement 
l'ennemi ; leurs vaisseaux étaient protégés par la pointe à la Batterie, où plusieurs canons 
avaient été mis en position. Plus bas, à la pointe à la Garde, d’où la vue s'étend jusqu’à 
l'embouchure du Ristigouche, était un piquet de soldats, qui avaient ordre de veiller sur 
le cours de la rivière et d’avertir de l’approche de la flotte anglaise. 

“ Favorisés par un bon vent, les vaisseaux de Byron remontérent sans obstacle jus- 
qu’à la pointe à la Batterie, où une vive canonnade s’engagea. Deux bâtiments francais 
furent mis hors de combat, et les canons de la batterie réduits au silence. Le Bienfaisant 
et le Marquis de Marloze durent alors se retirer vers le village sauvage, tandis que les 
Anglais s’avancaient jusqu'à la pointe à Martin, sur la rive opposée, où ils souffrirent 
beaucoup du feu de quelques canons placés à fleur d'eau. Cependant leur artillerie supé- 
rieure criblait les vaisseaux français. Un de ceux-ci fut poussé au rivage, près de la cha- 
pelle de Ristigouche, tandis que le commandant de l'autre mettait le feu aux poudres, afin 
de l'empêcher de tomber aux mains des Anglais. 

“ Resté maitre du champ de bataille par la destruction de la flotte ennemie, Byron fit 
détruire un amas de cabanes décoré du nom de Nouvelle-Rochelle, et situé sur la pointe 
à Bourdo, à trois milles au-dessus du village de Ristigouche. Pendant ce temps les 
Français et les Micmacs se réfugiaient dans les bois, où ils attendaient en sûreté le départ 
de la flotte anglaise. 

“ L’imagination se reporte vivement vers ces scènes animées et terribles, quand on se 
trouve sur le théâtre mème de la lutte. Les vaisseaux des deux nations rivales se croisant, 
se fuyant, se rapprochant ; leurs longs payillons qui flottent dans les airs et portent un 


‘défi à l'ennemi; au milieu des broussailles du rivage, ces troupes sauvaces erotesquement 
oO fo} o | 


coiffées et habillées; ces caps arides surmontés du drapeau blane et défendus par des 
pièces Wartillerie, dont la gueule s’allonge hors des meurtrières pour vomir le feu et la 
mort ; ces nuages de fumée roulant sur les eaux et dérobant aux combattants la vue du 
ciel; les craquements des mats qui se brisent, les sifflements aigus du commandement, le 
bruit de la mousqueterie et du canon, les cris de la victoire, de la douleur et de la rage : 
voilà les parties du drame qui se jouait, il y a soixante-quinze ans, sur le théâtre resserré, 


24 L’ABBE CASGRAIN 


au milieu duquel nous nous trouvons. C'était un des épisodes de la rivalité entre la 
France et 1’ Angleterre.” 


Ill 


Mardi, 5 octobre. — De Campbellton à Memramcook, deux cent cing milles. Une nuit 
en sleeping car. Avec tout leur esprit inventif, les Américains trouveront difficilement 
un moyen de locomotion plus commode et plus confortable que ces chars-dortoirs ; ce qui 
n'empêche pas qu’on en sorte toujours plus ou moins ahuri, poudreux, harassé. Il en est 
des nuits qu’on y passe comme des champignons, la meilleure ne vaut rien. 

De la gare de Memramcook, on aperçoit à droite, sur une hauteur, à deux milles de 
distance, le beau portail gothique de l’église paroissiale, le college de Saint-Joseph et le 
joli couvent des religieuses de la Charité. On a quitté le pays des montagnes. Un sol 
ondulé et fertile, qui me rappelle les plaines de la Vendée ou de la Touraine, s'étend de 
tous côtés à perte de vue. Je me sens le cœur réjoui en songeant que cette belle contrée 
arrosée par les rivières Memramcook et Peticoudiac est encore toute française. Les Aca- 
diens, qui en avaient été expulsés en 1755, en ont de nouveau pris possession, et ils y ont 
si bien prospéré qu'ils forment aujourd'hui le groupe le plus important de leur race au 
Canada. La paroisse de Memramcook à elle seule ne compte pas moins de six mille âmes. 
Les terrains que leurs ancêtres avaient conquis sur la mer par les travaux d’endiguement 
qu'ils avaient faits le long des deux rivières, et qui avaient été submergés après la dis- 
persion, ont été remis en culture dès leur retour. Ces terrains ont été tellement agrandis 
d'année en année, qu'aujourd'hui leur longueur totale n’a pas moins de trente milles sur 
une largeur considérable. 

Le brave Acadien qui m'a fourni son rustique équipage pour me conduire au collège, 
me fait remarquer les aboiteaux' qui suivent les contours du Memramcook et qui ressem- 
blent de loin à un immense serpent couché dans l'herbe. 

Pendant que je passe devant le portail de l’église, j'admire ses élégantes proportions 
et la flèche hardie qui le surmonte. J’observe, sans pouvoir me l'expliquer, la ressem- 
blance de cette pierre de taille avec celle quia servi à la construction des rues fashiona- 
bles de New-York. 

Le collège est un vaste et superbe corps de logis en pierre de taille comme celle de 
l'église, à quatre étages et à toit mansard, flanqué à droite d’un pavillon qui n'attend que 
celui de gauche pour donner à l'édifice toute son ampleur et sa beauté. 

Il est tenu par des religieux de Sainte-Croix, la plupart canadiens. A la distance 
où ils sont de la province de Québec, ils n’ont pas souvent occasion de voir des compa- 
triotes, surtout des membres du clergé. Aussi ma visite parait-elle leur faire un sensible 
plaisir. 

— Soyez le bienvenu, me dit en me serrant vivement la main, le supérieur, excellent 
P. Lefebvre. Vous vous êtes bien fait attendre, car un de nos pères nous a annoncé 
votre venue pour l'ouverture des classes, mais vous ne pouvez arriver mieux à point. 
Nous faisons demain l'inauguration de notre nouvelle chapelle, qui fait partie de l’aile 
que nous venons d'achever, et pour laquelle un de nos anciens élèves, un Acadien, l’abbé 





1 Digues. 


LE de A ON ERA, Ue Pere. al 


. UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 25 


Cormier, nous a fait don de trois mille dollars. C’est lui-même qui vient la bénir et 
chanter la messe ; et c'est vous qui nous donnerez le sermon. 

J’ai beau me récrier, alléguer les meilleures raisons du monde, le P. Lefebvre est 
inflexible ; 11 n’y a qu'à se soumettre. 

Le collège de Memramcook n'a guère plus de vingt ans d’existence (1864), et il marche 
déjà de pair avec les collèges classiques de la province de Québec. Plusieurs de ceux-ci 
lui sont même inférieurs sous le rapport de l’organisation matérielle. L'édifice actuel, 
qui ne date que d’une dizaine d’années, a été construit selon les meilleures conditions 
hygiéniques ; le système de chauffage à l’eau chaude, la ventilation, la distribution de l’eau 
dans tous les étages au moyen d’un aqueduc qui n’a pas moins d’un mille de longueur, 
rien n'y manque, hormis peut-être ce qui fait défaut dans toutes nos maisons d'éducation, 
je veux dire une salle de gymnase établie d'après un système raisonné, telle qu'il en 
existe quelques-unes aux Etats-Unis, — système admirable dont le but est de proportionner 
le développement physique au développement intellectuel, et qui réalise d'aussi près que 
possible l’axiome antique mens sana in corpore sano. Les études se divisent en cours com- 
mercial et cours classique, et sont suivies par deux cents élèves, dont le nombre va crois- 
sant chaque année. Ce résultat est di principalement à l’enseignement pratique du fran- 
çais et de l’anglais, qui est facilité par le mélange à peu près égal d’éléves parlant l’une ou 
l’autre langue. Au surplus la situation du collège de Saint-Joseph, sur les confins du 
Nouveau-Brunswick et de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, au centre même des populations acadiennes, 
ne pouvait étre mieux choisie. Ce concours de circonstances en explique le grand et 
rapide succès, mais ce succès est dû avant tout à un homme qui restera comme l’insigne 
bienfaiteur des Acadiens. 

Remontez à l’origine de chacune de nos institutions catholiques, vous trouverez un 
prêtre. Ici encore c’est un prêtre qui apparaît au premier jour, et qui est l’ame de cette 
œuvre. C’est sous l'inspiration du P. Lefebvre, c’est par son zèle, son énergie, sa persé- 
vérance, son habileté administrative, en un mot par toutes les qualités qui- distinguent 
les fondateurs, qu'a été créé et organisé ce magnifique établissement. Le collège de Saint- 
Joseph est le seul de ce genre, dans les provinces maritimes, qui soit particulièrement 
dédié aux Acadiens. 

On ne saurait exagérer l'importance d’un pareil établissement. Le plus grand mal- 
heur des Acadiens n’a pas été leur dispersion, mais l'abandon presque complet dans 
lequel ils ont été laissés durant près d’un siècle. Dans toute cette douloureuse période, ils 
n’ont eu, on peut dire, aucun moyen d'instruction. La plupart furent même longtemps 
sans avoir de missionnaires résidant au milieu d’eux. ' 

On conçoit l’état Vignorance et de stagnation qui s’en est suivi. Mais de nos jours 
une ère nouvelle a commencé pour les Acadiens, et elle coincide précisément avec l’ou- 
verture du college de Memramcook, qui en a été la principale cause. I] en est sorti toute 
une pléiade d'hommes instruits, actifs, animés d’un patriotisme ardent et éclairé, qui ont 





1 Le clergé du Canada se trouvait réduit en 1766 à cent trente-huit prêtres séculiers et réguliers; et l’évêque de 
Québec, Mgr Briand, était obligé d'envoyer des missionnaires sur tout l'immense territoire qui s'étend depuis 
l’'Acadie jusqu'aux Illinois. 

Dans la lettre de mission donnée par ce prélat au P. de la Brosse, le 11 avril 1770, il est dit “qu’il aura à 
desservir tous les catholiques établis depuis Cacouna et au-dessous jusqu'à l’Acadie, l'Ile Saint-Jean ( Prince- 
Edouard) et YIle Royale ( Cap-Breton );” c’est-à-dire une étendue de pays de plus de cing cents milles. 


Sec. I, 1886. — 4. 


26 L'ABBE CASGRAIN 


fait leur réputation dans différentes carrières, et qui défendent la cause de leurs compa- 
triotes sur tous les terrains de la vie publique et privée. On compte parmi eux des séna- 
teurs, comme M. Poirier, écrivain aussi distingué que sage politique, des députés aux 
communes et aux législatures provinciales, comme MM. Landry, LeBlanc, Terriault, Le- 
Billois, etc., des avocats, des médecins, des instituteurs et d’excellents prêtres, parmi les- 
quels i] faut compter l'abbé Cormier, curé de Cocagne, l’insigne bienfaiteur du collège 
dont j'ai déjà mentionné le nom. Chaque année voit s’accroitre cette phalange d'hommes 
remarquables, qui, avec le temps, fera reprendre au peuple acadien la place que ses mal- 
heurs lui avaient fait perdre. 


IV 


6 octobre. — Le soleil se lève radieux et promet une si belle journée que le P. Le- 
febvre me propose une promenade dans la campagne. Nous irons visiter les bords de la 
rivière Peticoudiac jusqu'à son embouchure, et nous reviendrons en remontant le cours du 
Memramcook. — Après le déjeuner, la voiture nous attend au pied du grand escalier en 
pierre de taille, qui conduit à la porte principale du collège. Pendant que nous descen- 
dons l’avenue le père me fait remarquer les cours spacieuses des élèves, les belles planta- 
tions qu’il a faites, et qui déjà donnent une ombre agréable durant les chaleurs de l'été. 
Le chemin de fer Intercolonial passe au pied de la colline, et n'attend que l'érection d’une 
gare nouvelle pour déposer les voyageurs à quelques arpents d'ici. 

Voilà devant nous le couvent des sœurs du Sacré-Cœur, et celui des sœurs de la Cha- 
rité, dont les religieuses sont presque toutes acadiennes. Les sœurs du Sacré-Cœur s’oc- 
cupent de différentes bonnes œuvres, et veillent en même temps à l'entretien et à la nourri- 
ture des élèves du collège. Les sœurs de la Charité tiennent un pensionnat qui est assez 
nombreux et prospère. 

— Cette grande maison que vous voyez près de l’église, me dit le P. Lefebvre, c’est 
l’ancienne école fondée par mon prédécesseur, le vénérable curé Lafrance. Un de ses 
frères, qu'il avait fait venir de Québec, y a enseigné pendant quelques années. Les Aca- 
diens n’ont pas eu de meilleur ami que le curé Lafrance. Dieu seul, qui l’a récompensé, 
connait les sacrifices qu'il a faits pour l'instruction de la jeunesse. Il a le mérite d’avoir 
eu, le premier, l’idée d’un collège ici. Il lui a légué toutes ses épargnes et de grandes 
terres qui donnent actuellement un excellent revenu. 

Au nom de ce digne prêtre, le P. Lefebvre aime à associer celui de Mgr Sweeney, 
évéque de Saint-Jean, N. B. dont la sollicitude est au-dessus de tout éloge. C’est Mgr 
Sweeney qui en 1864 est allé lui-même à Montréal frapper à la porte des pères de Sainte- 
Croix pour les prier d'entreprendre l’œuvre de l’enseignement dans son diocèse. Aucune 
institution ne lui tient plus au cœur que le collège de Memramcook. Sa main est toujours 
ouverte pour venir en aide aux élèves pauvres qui montrent d’heureuses dispositions, sur- 
tout s’ils donnent des espérances pour l'Eglise. 

— Ce cheval appartient-il à votre maison, demandai-je au P. Lefebvre, en lui dési- 
gnant le bel alezan qu'il conduit avec une parfaite dextérité ? 

— Ne savez-vous pas, reprend le père avec un sourire satisfait, que nous avons un 
haras qui nous donnent les meilleures espérances ? Celui-ci en provient. Vous avez raison 
de le remarquer; mais je vous en montrerai d'autres que vous admirerez bien d'avantage, 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE eT 


si vous êtes un connaisseur. L’élevage est profitable dans ce pays-ci. Aujourd'hui même 
j'ai refusé pour une paire de jeunes chevaux un prix qui vous étonnerait et qu'on trouve 
bien rarement à Montréal ou à Québec. 

Le P. Lefebvre s'entend en agriculture aussi bien qu’en enseignement. Curé de la 
paroisse en même temps que supérieur du collège, il s'intéresse aa progres matériel autant 
que spirituel de ses paroissiens. I] les réunit pendant les svirées d’hiver, et leur commu- 
nique le fruit de ses études et de son expérience. Afin d’inspirer du gout pour l’agricul- 
ture à ses écoliers, il les fait assister à ses conférences. Il fait préparer d'avance une thèse 
par l’un deux, et il en prend occasion pour développer ses propres idées, dissiper les pré- 
jugés, suggérer des améliorations. 

Ces leçons et les résultats qu'il obtient sur les terres du collège, dont il surveille lui- 
même la culture, ont déjà produit une révolution dans les esprits. Les Acadiens se sont 
mis à l’œuvre, et ils se piquent d'honneur pour rivaliser avec le P. Lefebvre. Est-il 
besoin d'ajouter qu'ils apprécient son dévouement, qu'ils l’aiment comme un père, qu'un 
mot de lui est une parole d'Evangile. Le P. Lefebvre est le souverain de toute cette 
contrée ; son influence est sans rivale parmi toutes les classes et toutes les nationalités ; 
le peu que je viens d’en dire prouve qu’il en est digne. 

Modeste comme le vrai mérite, le P. Lefebvre rejette la plus large part de ses succès 
sur ses coopérateurs, qui de fait l’ont merveilleusement compris et secondé. C’est un éloge 
de plus pour celui qui a su ainsi faire concourir tous les éléments qui l’entouraient à l’éta- 
blissement de son œuvre. 

L'aspect général de ce pays fait songer aux environs de Montréal. A la franche allure 
des gens, à la politesse et à l’air de connaissance avec lesquels ils nous saluent au pas- 
sage, on s'aperçoit bien qu'on est dans un pays français et catholique. On le devinerait 
sans cela à la seule apparence des maisons. Elles n'ont pas cette architecture de fantaisie, 
ces airs de prétention plus ou moins ridicule qu’on remarque dans les campagnes des 
Etats-Unis, et qui menacent de s’introduire au Canada. On voit que les propriétaires les 
ont bâties en vue de leur propre confort et non pour attirer les yeux des passants, et qu'ils 
ont profité de leur expérience des lieux et du climat. Le site de ces habitations est bien 
choisi, et leurs ouvertures principales regardent le soleil levant, afin d'en recevoir abon- 
dance de lumière et de chaleur. Leur construction simple et régulière est faite de façon à 
présenter le moins de surface possible au vent et au froid. L’habitant acadien s’y montre 
tel qu'il est, vrai homme des champs dans le sens antique du mot, en ayant gardé les 
gouts modestes et les solides qualités. 

Le pays que nous parcourons est un terrain d’alluvion assez accidenté, et partout ou- 
vert à la culture. Dans les champs, des groupes d'hommes et de femmes sont occupés 
activement à faire la dernière récolte, celle des pommes de terre, qui donne ici de magnifi- 
ques rendements, car les Acadiens n’ont pas de rivaux pour ce genre de culture. 

Grâce à l'allure alerte de notre monture, nous arrivons bientôt sur les hauteurs qui 
dominent le cours de la rivière Peticoudiac. Le paysage qu’on y a sous les yeux est gra- 
cieux et doux comme une idylle. Les deux rives s'élèvent graduellement en amphithéa- 
tres, couronnés d'arbres verts et tachetés de blanc par les maisons proprettes des Acadiens, 
qui ont l’air heureuses avec leurs granges et leurs remises bien tenues et fermées d’un en- 
clos de palissades blanchies à la chaux. A droite, la vue suit les méandres de la rivière, 
jusque dans les profondeurs des terres; à gauche elle s'étend jusqu’à son embouchure qui 


28 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


s'ouvre en large entonnoir sur la baie de Fundy, dont les eaux bleuâtres se confondent là- 
bas avec le ciel. 

Vous voyez distinctement d'ici, me dit le P. Lefebvre, cette seconde pointe qui 
s’avance dans la baie et qui ferme l’horizon de l’autre côté du Peticoudiae, c’est la pointe 
de Chipoudy; c’est là que vint s'établir, en 1699, le meunier Thibaudeau avec sa famille 
qu'il amenait de Port-Royal. C’est dans la baie de Chipoudy qu'il bâtit son moulin et établit 
sa colonie, qui dès son vivant était déjà si florissante. Vous vous rappelez le beau chapitre 
qu'en a écrit notre ami M. Rameau dans son histoire d’Une colonie féodale. C’est une de 
ses meilleures pages. Le portrait de ce colon entreprenant, de sa vaillante femme et de 
ses enfants, l’arrivée des familles qui vinrent les rejoindre, les progrès de l'établissement, 
la satisfaction du vieux Thibaudeau à la vue de ses travaux si bien récompensés, des riches 
moissons, des troupeaux augmentant d'année en année, la paix et le contentement qui 
régnaient dans cette solitude, si loin du monde qu’elle semblait à l'abri des moindres 
dangers, tout cela est tracé avec une vérité saisissante. (C’est une délicieuse pastorale ; on 
serait même tenté de croire, de prime abord, à un tableau de fantaisie fait à plaisir, tant il 
est frais et séduisant ; mais les documents officiels, les recensements sont là pour attester 
la réalité des faits. Pendant le demi-siècle qui suivit la mort de Thibaudeau, la colonie 
de Chipoudy continua à prospérer. Mais, hélas ! aucune trace n’en reste aujourd’hui. 
Tout a disparu depuis la tourmente de 1755. Des étrangers occupent maintenant leurs 
foyers, cultivent leurs champs et jouissent des fruits de leurs travaux. Le nom même de 
Chipoudy, qui rappelait trop le souvenir des malheureux spoliés, a été changé pour un 
nom moderne. 

L’expulsion des habitants de Chipoudy, de Peticoudiac et de Memramcook n'avait 
pas été effectuée par la ruse comme à Grand-Pré et à Pisiquid, mais par la force ouverte. 

Un fort détachement de troupes anglo-américaines, sous le commandement du major 
Frye, avait fait une descente à Chipoudy et avait brülé toutes les maisons sur le bord de 
l’anse, ne laissant intactes que celles qui se trouvaient à l’entrée du bois, où les habitants 
purent les protéger en faisant feu sur les assaillants. 

De là Frye avait jeté une partie de ses hommes sur la rive gauche du Peticoudiac, 
pour faire mettre le feu à l’église et au village ; mais les habitants avaient eu le temps de 
se reconnaitre et de se réunir avec un parti de sauvages sous les ordres de M. de Boishé- 
bert. Ils les surprirent, les cernèrent et en firent un affreux massacre. La moitié resta 
sur la place, ou fut prise; le reste s'enfuit vers le rivage et s’abrita derrière les digues, où 
il se défendit jusqu'à ce que Frye ett le temps de débarquer et de les rejoindre. Il voulut 
reprendre l'offensive ; mais, après un combat acharné, il fut obligé de se rembarquer en 
toute hâte. 

Mais que pouvait cette poignée d'hommes sans espoir de secours, contre des régiments 
armés de toutes pièces ? Ils se virent forcés d'abandonner leurs terres et de se réfugier dans 
les bois, emportant avec eux les objets les plus précieux. Si vous entrez aujourd’hui chez 
certaines familles acadiennes originaires de Chipoudy, de Peticoudiac et de Memramcook, 
vous entendrez le récit des scènes navrantes qui se passèrent alors et dont elles ont gardé 
la tradition. 

Un des détachements qui avait le plus harcelé les Bostonnais et les avait forcés de se 
rembarquer, était commandé par Noël Brassard, vieux chasseur et milicien accoutumé aux 
guerres de partisans. 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 20 


Aucun habitant du lieu n’avait plus d'intérêt que lui à défendre ses foyers. Il était 
père de dix enfants dont le dernier avait à peine huit jours; il avait avec lui sa vieille mère 
octogénaire. Son père, l’un des premiers colons de Peticoudiac, lui avait légué, avec la 
maison paternelle, une grande et belle terre en pleine culture, qui lui donnait une honnête 
aisance. Aussi Noël Brassard ne pouvait se résigner à la pensée de quitter Peticoudiac 
pour aller errer dans les bois avec sa famille, aux approches de nos terribles hivers. Il 
savait quelles misères les y attendaient; il savait que les plus faibles y trouveraient une 
mort certaine. 

Dans l'assemblée des habitants où le départ fut décidé, Noël Brassard opina pour une 
lutte à outrance, et ce ne fut qu'après que toute la paroisse eût été abandonnée qu'il se 
décida à rejoindre les fugitifs. 

Pendant que sa femme, qui pouvait à peine se trainer, se dirigeait vers la lisière de la 
forêt, suivie de ses enfants, et portant le dernier-né dans ses bras, il entassait dans une char- 
rette le peu d'effets qu'il pouvait emporter et y étendait sa vieille mère, que les émotions 
des derniers jours avaient réduite à l’extrémité. Il eut bientôt rejoint sa famille qui l’at- 
tendait sur le haut de la colline d’où l’on apercevait le village à moitié incendié et l'entrée 
du Peticoudiac. 

Ils s’arrêtèrent là silencieux ; les enfants se pressaient autour de leur mère en étouf- 
fant leurs sanglots ; pour Noël Brassard, il ne pleurait pas, mais il était pale comme un 
mort, et ses levres tremblaient quand il regardait sa femme qui soupirait en essuyant ses 
larmes. Le soleil se couchait en arrière d’eux sur la cime des arbres — un beau soleil clair 
d'automne qui réjouissait tout le paysage. Ses rayons obliques allumaient des reflets d’in- 
cendie sur les fenêtres des maisons, et allongeaient leurs ombres dans la vallée. 

La mère Brassard, épuisée de force, avait paru à peu près insensible pendant le trajet ; 
mais alors elle ouvrit les yeux, et, comme si l'éclat des objets la ranimait, elle se mit à 
examiner l’une après l'autre chacune des maisons du village; elle jeta un long regard 
d'adieu sur le toit où elle avait si longtemps vécu ; puis ses yeux restèrent fixés sur le cime- 
tière dont les tombes et les croix blanches brillamment illuminées se dessinaient en relief 
sur l'herbe du gazon. 

— Je n'irai pas plus loin, soupira-t-elle à son fils; je me sens mourir. Tu m’enterreras 
là, près de ton père. 

La voiture se remit en marche ; mais, quand elle eut fait quelques arpents sur le 
chemin cahoteux et mal tracé qui plongeait dans la fort, Noël Brassard s’apereut que le 
visage de sa mère devenait plus blanc que la cire ; une sueur froide perlait sur ses joues. 

Sa femme et lui s'empressèrent autour d’elle pour la ranimer, mais ce fut en vain. 
Elle était morte. 

Le lendemain au soir, deux hommes étaient occupés à creuser une fosse dans le cime- 
tière de Peticoudiac. A côté d’eux attendait le missionnaire, M. LeGuerne, qu'ils avaient 
eu le temps d’aller prévenir. Noël Brassard et son beau-frère se hâtèrent d'achever leur 
besogne, car la lune, alors dans son plein, montait rapidement à l'horizon et aurait pu 
facilement trahir leur présence. 

Quand la fosse fut terminée, le missionnaire revêtit son surplis avec son étole noire, et 
récita à voix basse les prières de l’absoute. Il aida ensuite les deux hommes à combler la 
fosse. 

— Avant de partir, leur dit-il, nous allons réciter un De profondis au pied de la grande 


30 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


croix, afin de mettre nos morts sous la protection de Dieu et les défendre contre la profa- 
nation des hérétiques. 

Un instant après, la porte du cimetière grinça sur ses gonds, ei tout rentra dans le 
silence. 

Noël Brassard n’était qu’au commencement de ses tribulations, Malgré ses sinistres 
pressentiments, s’il eût pu prévoir tous les malheurs qui l’attendaient, il aurait reculé 
d’épouvante. 

Dans le cours de cet affreux hiver, il perdit sa femme et tous ses enfants, hormis deux, 
un garçon et une fille. De Peticoudiac à Ristigouche, où il arriva dans les premiers jours 
du printemps, on aurait pu suivre sa marche à la trace des tombes qu'il avait laissées der- 
rière Jui. | 

Dans son désespoir, il ne pouvait entendre prononcer le nom d’un Yankee sans être 
saisi d’une espèce de frénésie. Il confia les deux enfants qui lui restaient à sa sœur Mar- 
guerite d'Entremont, qui elle-même avait perdu tous les siens, et il se remit à son 
ancien métier de chasseur ; mais cette fois, ce n'était pas pour faire la chasse aux 
animaux des bois, c'était pour faire la chasse à l’homme, la chasse à tout ce qui portait le 
nom d’Yankee ou d'Anglais. A la tête de quelques partisans habiles au tir comme lui, et 
comme lui exaspérés par l’excès du malheur ; il n’épargna rien pour faire à ses ennemis 
tout le mal qu'il en avait souffert. Pendant les cinq années qui suivirent, il se mit à la 
disposition des officiers français, qui l'employèrent à soulever les tribus sauvages, et à les 
accompagner dans leurs sanglantes expéditions. Chaque fois qu'il abattait un ennemi, il 
faisait une entaille sur la crosse de son fusil. Ce fusil a été conservé par ses descendants, 
et l’on n’y compte pas moins de vingt-huit marques. 

Au printemps de 1760, Noël Brassard était de retour à Ristigouche. Quand le mar- 
quis de Danjac vint s'y réfugier avec ses quatre vaisseaux, il réclama le privilège de 
servir un des canons qui furent débarqués sur la pointe à la Batterie pour défendre l’em- 
bouchure de la rivière. Les artilleurs se firent tuer sur leurs pièces, et Noël Brassard, qui 
s'était battu comme un lion, pointait le dernier canon resté sur son affut, quand il fut 
coupé “en deux par un boulet. 

Pendant que nous cotoyons le Peticoudiac, le P. Lefebvre m'intéresse vivement en 
me rapportant quelques-unes des traditions qu’il a recueillies de la bouche des Acadiens. 

— Avez-vous remarqué, me dit-il, le calice dont vous vous êtes servi ce matin, lors- 
que vous êtes allé dire la messe à l’église ? C’est un calice en argent à coupe dorée, d’un 
travail fort simple, mais d’un prix inestimable pour nous, car il est aussi ancien que l’A- 
cadie, et il a échappé au désastre du siècle dernier. 

Avant de se réfugier dans les bois, les marguilliers qui avaient la charge de l’église en 
l'absence du missionnaire, l’enfouirent sous terre avec quelques autres pièces d’argenterie. 
Afin de le retrouver, ils firent une excavation au milieu du cimetière, à la rencontre d’une 
croix qu'ils tracèrent au moyen de deux cordes tendues d’un angle à l’autre. Dans une 
requête adressée en 1805, à Mgr Denault, évêque de Québec, par les habitants de la baie 
Sainte-Marie, on trouve quelques détails précis sur la manière dont furent conservés les 
vases sacrés et les ornements de plusieurs églises. “ Au temps de l'enlèvement des Aca- 
“ diens, y est-il dit, les ornements et les vases sacrés des églises de nos cantons furent en 
“ grande partie sequestrés par plusieurs habitants et cachés dans le bois, et ainsi préservés 
“du pillage ; ensuite ramassés et remis à feu M. Maillard, missionnaire. Après la mort 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 31 


“de ce vénérable prêtre, tous ces effets se trouvèrent entre les mains de Louis Petit- 
“ pas qui avait pris soin de lui durant sa dernière maladie ; mais d’après des ordres précis 
“de Mgr l’évêque de Québec, tout fut livré à M. Bailly, missionnaire dans notre province 
“ Plusieurs de nos habitants ic et à Sainte-Anne d’Argyle ont pleine connaissance de cela. 


‘ M. Bailly en se retirant laissa quelques ornements, entre autres deux anciennes chasubles 
“ que nous avons ici et deux calices d'entre ceux qui lui avaient été remis ; il emporta le 
“ reste. Ces deux calices furent laissés à un M. Wealling, chez qui M. Bailly se retirait à 
“ Halifax. Ce missionnaire ayant cessé de venir en cette province, le dépositaire est de- 
“ meuré comme investi de ces calices, mais s’en trouvant embarrassé, il les a remis à un 
“ Acadien nommé Charles-Amand Surette, après les avoir offerts à plusieurs autres, parce 
“que apparemment il croyait que les Français y avaient plus de droit que les Irlandais. 

“ Les choses étaient en cet état, lorsque nous avons eu pour missionnaire M. LeDru, 
“ français d’origine et religieux dominicain. Ce prêtre étant au Cap-Sable, entendit parler 


“ de ces calices, et pour les avoir il s’adressa par une requête, dont il existe encore une 


“ copie, au gouverneur qui autorisa l’envoyé à prendre les calices demandés chez le parti- 
“ culier qui les avait en dépôt. Muni de la permission de Mgr le gouverneur, le porteur 
“ s'adressa à Charles-Amand Surette, qui lui remit deux calices avec une petite custode, 
“ qui furent apportés à M. LeDru, au Cap-Sable. Un de ces calices a été enlevé et laissé à 
‘ Halifax ; Votre Grandeur a eu la bonté d’en ordonner la restitutition.” ' 

Il existait jadis, à l'entrée de la rivière Peticoudiac, un village abénaquis assez bien 
peuplé, mais il en reste aujourd’hui peu de familles, qui vivent la plus grande partie de 
l’année dans les forêts. Quelques-uns des pères du collège viennent de temps en temps 
faire l’office et donner des instructions dans leur petite chapelle qui paraît assez bien con- 
servée. Elle est entourée de quelques pauvres chaumières dont plusieurs sont abandon- 
nées. Il n’y a d'apparence de vie que devant une de ces maisons où un groupe de femmes 
et d'enfants, aux types sauvages fortement accentués, s'occupent à préparer les éclisses de 
bois dont elles font leurs paniers. Elles suspendent leur travail en nous voyant passer, 
et nous accueillent du regard avec cette expression de figure et ce maintien qui indiquent 
le respect traditionnel des sauvages pour les robes noires. 

L'embouchure du Memramcook et celle du Peticoudiac sont séparées par un promon- 
toire assez élevé où différentes compagnies américaines ont ouvert des carrières de pierre 
très facile à travailler et d’une belle couleur gris perle. Une grande partie de cette pierre 
est transportée aux Etats-Unis et a servi à la construction de plusieurs belles rues de New- 
York. Je m'explique maintenant le rapprochement qui m'est venu à l'idée, au premier 
coup d'œil que j'ai jeté sur le portail de l’église et sur le collège de Memramcook. 

Nous traversons le promontoire en suivant le chemin de la carrière dont nous cotoyons 
les immenses fossés, et nous redescendons dans la vallée du Memramcook. Lorsque nous 
l’avons quittée à notre départ, ses eaux boueuses étaient toutes basses et laissaient à décou- 
vert les pentes luisantes et roussâtres de ses rivages. Maintenant la rivière coule à pleins 
bords et inonderait la campagne si elle n'était pas retenue entre ses deux puissantes jetées. 

Dans cette partie de la baie de Fundy, la marée monte avec une extrême rapidité, et 
s'élève jusqu’à une hauteur perpendiculaire de soixante et quinze pieds. Elle arrive en 
roulant une vague énorme qui enlève du fond de la baie une épaisse couche de vase ou 





' Archives de Varchevéché de Québec. 


82 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


limon qu’elle dépose en se retirant. C’est ainsi que se sont formés de siècle en siècle ces 
rastes estuaires qui sont devenus une des grandes richesses du pays. Le sel marin qui 
s’y trouve mêlé leur donne une telle fertilité qu'il dispense de tout autre engrais. I] suffit 
d'y arrêter le cours de la marée et de laisser la pluie laver la surface du sol, qui se couvre 
bientôt d'une luxuriante végétation. Ces prés naturels n’ont besoin d’autre culture que 
d'un labour tous les sept ou huit ans. Les récoltes de foin et les pâturages qu’on y fait 
ont le double avantage d'être abondants et d’une qualité supérieure. Les Acadiens qui 
en firent les premiers essais ne s’y trompèrent pas. Ils y établirent leurs principales 
colonies qui, dès la fin du dix-septième siècle, s’étendaient sur tout le littoral de la baie, 
depuis le bassin des Mines jusqu'à Chipoudy. 
La journée était avancée lorsque nous fûmes de retour de notre agréable promenade. 
Je dis adieu à regret aux professeurs du collège qui, pendant le court séjour que je venais 
de faire au milieu d’eux, m'avaient autant édifié par leur régularité que charmé par leur 
politesse. Je crois voir encore la bonne figure réjouie du P. Lefebvre me disant en me 
donnant une dernière poignée de mains: “ Ah! ca, ne l’oubliez pas; il faut nous revenir 
bientôt.” 


y 


De la gare de Memramcook à celle d’Amherst, une heure. A mi-chemin, on aperçoit 
sur la droite, à une petite distance, les ruines de l’ancien fort Beauséjour, aujourd'hui fort 
Cumberland, assis sur un coteau qui se projette vers l’est et qui domine la magnifique 
baie, si bien appelée par les Français Beaubassin. Comme l'après-midi était belle, et que 
le soleil était encore assez haut sur l'horizon, je résolus d’en profiter, et je commandai une 
voiture au maitre de l'hôtel, M. Ward, brave Irlandais catholique, qui m'offrit de me con- | 
duire dans la sienne. Chemin faisant, je l’interrogeai sur Amherst et ses environs. 

— Nous sommes, me dit-il, dans un pays tout à fait protestant, qui garde encore 
presque tous les anciens préjugés contre notre religion. Il n’y a ici qu'une poignée de 
catholiques irlandais et une pauvre petite église desservie par un jeune prêtre irlandais. 

De la belle paroisse de Beaubassin, il ne reste pas de vestige. Le fer et le feu y ont 
été promenés pendant des années; tout ce qui portait le nom d’Acadien a été traqué 
comme une bête fauve. Pour en retrouver des débris dans ces parages, i] faut aller jusque 
dans les iles et sur les bords du golfe, ou à l’extrémité méridionale de la Nouvelle-Ecosse. 

Au sortir du village d’Amherst, on remarque l’emplacement encore visible du fort 
Lawrence bati par les Anglais sur les ruines de celui de Beaubassin. Les remparts qui 
étaient en terre en ont été abattus et jetés dans les fossés que l’on distingue encore a des 
plis de terrain où la charrue peut passer. Cet emplacement fait partie d’une ferme dont 
le propriétaire a bâti sa demeure sur un des bastions. L'’Inlercolonial passe au pied du 
talus, et coupe la terre où se trouvait le cimetière. On a mis à découvert plusieurs corps, 
lorsque ce chemin de fer a été construit. 

Du fort Lawrence la plaine descend en pente douce jusqu'à la petite rivière Messa- 
gouetche, qui servait au siècle dernier et qui sert encore aujourd'hui de frontière à la 
Nouvelle-Ecosse. De 1a la plaine remonte graduellement pour former l’éminence sur 
laquelle repose le fort Cumberland. Avec les projectiles modernes les deux forts pour- 
raient se canonner facilement, car ils ne sont pas distants d’une lieue. Le Messagouetche, 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 33 


avec ses eaux ternes et fangeuses, avec ses écores roussâtres et ses digues, est une minia- 
ture du Peticoudiac. Quand la marée s’est retirée, il n’est plus qu'un ruisseau encaissé 
qui traine sans bruit ses eaux limoneuses sur une pente insensible. On le traverserait 
sans y faire attention, s’il n’évoquait le souvenir des scènes sanglantes dont il a été le 
théâtre. C’est ici que venaient se rencontrer les partis de guerre stationnés aux deux forts, 
pour s’en disputer le passage après avoir ravagé les terres et brülé les moissons des 
pauvres Acadiens. C’est derrière cette digue, et couchés dans ces grandes herbes, que se 
tenaient les espions micmacs qui commirent contre l’infortuné Howe ce meurtre qui sou- 
leva tant @indignation dans les deux camps. ! 

Le soleil était près de l'horizon quand je descendis de voiture au pied du fort Cum- 
berland. Lorsqu'on jette un coup d'œil sur le paysage dont on jouit du haut des remparts, 
on comprend pourquoi les Français donnèrent à ce lieu le nom de Beauséjour. Au reste, 
ils ont laissé en bien d'autres endroits l'empreinte de l’admiration que leur inspirait ce 
pays, ce qui atteste en même temps jusqu'à quel point était développé chez eux le senti- 
ment de la nature. Cette belle nappe d’eau qui s'étend au pied du fort Beauséjour c'était 
pour eux la baie de Beaubassin avec son fort auquel ils s'étaient plu de donner le même 
nom. Plus loin, au delà de ces montagnes c'était le Port Royal. 

Si les conquérants ont fait acte de bonne politique en bannissant ces souvenirs 
francais, ils n’ont guère fait preuve de bon gout. Que rappellent en effet les noms de 
Lawrence, d'Annapolis, de Cumberland, sinon des personnages d’une valeur médiocre, 
tandis que les premières désignations exprimaient la beauté des lieux. 

Il y a deux siècles, Mgr de Saint-Vallier parlait ainsi de Beaubassin : “Sa situation 
“est charmante. Cet établissement est au fond d’une baie de six lieues de tour où se 
“ jettent sept belles rivières, et qui communique avec la baie française par un passage qui 
“ n’a qu'une demi-lieue de large, et sans danger.” ” 

De son côté l'intendant De Meules écrivait en 1685: “Il y a tout autour de Beaubassin 
“ une si grande quantité de prairies qu'on y pourrait nourrir cent mille bêtes à cornes ; 
“ l'herbe qui y vient s'appelle mise/te, très propre pour engraisser toutes sortes de bestiaux. 
“ Aux deux côtés des dites prairies, ce sont de douces côtes toutes couvertes de bons bois 
“ francs ; on y a déjà fait plus de vingt-deux habitations sur de petites éminences que les 
“habitants y ont choisies pour avoir communication dans les prairies et dans les bois... 
“Il n’y a aucun de ces habitants qui n’ait trois ou quatre corps de logis assez raisonnables 
“pour la campagne. Ce lieu de Beaubassin est si heureusement situé pour faire des 
“ nourritures considérables de bestiaux, que si l’on établit à Port-Royal des relations 


(4 


“régulières avec nos iles de l'Amérique, il s'y trouverait assez de bestiaux pour le 





! L'abbé Maillard a raconté très au long les détails de cet incident qui a servi de prétexte à des attaques contre 
les missionnaires, surtout contre l’abbé Leloutre. — (Lettres de Pabbé Maillard sur les Missions micmaques.... Soirées 
canadiennes, année 1863. 

Si l’on veut se former un jugement impartial sur cette époque, il faut tenir compte, en étudiant les documents 
français, de l'esprit anti-religieux que Voltaire et les philosophes avaient mis alors en vogue. Les préjugés contre 
le catholicisme et le clergé n'étaient pas moins intenses parmi les Français que parmi les Anglais. 

L'auteur de l'Histoire de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, Beamish Murdoch, quoique protestant, fait la même remarque en 
parlant du jugement qu’il porte sur l'abbé Leloutre. “Il faut cependant se rappeler, dit-il, que nous avons pris nos 
informations sur ce personnage, de sources qui n'étaient pas amies des prêtres de son ézlise ; les Français de cette 
époque étant entachés de la philosophie de Voltaire.” 

2 Histoire du séminaire de Québec. 


Sec. I, 1886. — 5. 


84 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


“commerce des îles, et leur fournir leur provision de bœuf, que l’on tire des pays 
“étrangers.” ! 

Le fort Cumberland est un vaste pentagone dont les remparts assez élevés et bien 
conservés sont en terre recouverte d’une épaisse couche de gazon. Les courtines sont 
percées de casemates dont la construction solide a résisté à l’action du temps. On distin- 
gue encore parfaitement sur les remparts les embrasures des canons, qui ont tous été 
enlevés avec le matériel de guerre. La poudrière, placée dans les fossés sous la protection 
d'ouvrages avancés, est complètement en ruines. Il n’existe à l’intérieur de la forteresse 
qu'un édifice à toiture défoncée, ouvert à tous les vents, qu'on dit avoir été la caserne des 
officiers. 

Autour de cette masure déserte paissait un troupeau de bétail qui s'enfuit à mon 
approche jusqu'au bord des bastions, d'où il me regarda d’un air effarouché, comme s'il 
n’eut jamais été troublé dans cette solitude. Tel est l’état d'abandon et d’oubli dans lequel 
est tombée cette position stratégique disputée autrefois avec acharnement par les deux 
puissances rivales. Elles en avaient tout d'abord compris l'importance. Par sa situation 
à l'endroit le plus rétréci de l’isthme, Beauséjour était la clef de l’Acadie. Il communi- 
quait sur l’océan d'un côté par la baie Française, dont les eaux venaient battre à ses pieds, 
de l’autre par le golfe Saint-Laurent au moyen du fort Gaspareaux, bâti tout exprès au 
fond de la baie Verte. : 


Par malheur, au moment du danger, la garde de ce poste avait été confiée à l’un des 
mauvais génies de la Nouvelle-France, Vergor, l’ami de Bigot, le même qui plus tard, par 
lacheté ou par trahison, devait livrer à Wolfe l’accès des plaines d'Abraham. 

Au mois de juin 1755, un fort détachement de troupes anglo-américaines, commandé 
par Monkton, vint mettre le siège devant Beauséjour. Vergor n'avait à leur opposer que 
cent-cinquante hommes de troupes régulières ; mais il eût pu le repousser avec l’aide des 
quinze cents Acadiens et sauvages réfugiés autour du fort, s’il ne les eût d'avance indis- 
posés contre lui par d’indignes traitements, et en leur refusant le nécessaire, tandis que 
les magasins étaient remplis. ? 

Pendant que la voiture m’emportait du côté d’Amherst, au moment où le soleil cou- 
chant jetait ses derniers rayons sur les grands prés et sur la baie de Beaubassin, je ne pus 
me défendre d’un sentiment de tristesse en songeant à la perte irréparable que la France 
a faite de cette admirable contrée et du vaillant peuple qui l’avait colonisée. La cour de 
Versailles a eu bien des torts vis-à-vis de la Nouvelle-France; mais nulle part l'ingrati- 
tude et l’impéritie de cette cour ne sont plus sensibles que sur cette terre acadienne, tou- 
jours fidèle et toujours sacrifiée. Si on y eût dépensé seulement la moitié de ce qu'a coûté 
le chateau de Versailles, on pourrait compter aujourd’hui un million d’Acadiens richement 
établis autour de la baie, qui n’aurait pas perdu le nom de baie Française. 





1 Archives de la marine à Paris. 

* Cest à Vergor que l’intendant Bigot écrivait: “ Profitez, mon cher Vergor, de votre place ( de Beauséjour ) ; 
taillez, rognez, vous avez tout pouvoir, afin que vous puissiez bientôt me venir joindre en France, et acheter un 
bien a portée de moi.” 

Le fait suivant peint administration de Vergor. Afin d’arracher aux Acadiens le peu d’argent qui leur 
restait, il leur défendait d'aller s’approvisionner chez les Anglais, et il leur vendait les effets que le gouvernement 
français envoyait pour leur propre soutien. 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 35 


VI 


D’Amherst à Truro, au fond de la baie de Cobequid, soixante-treize milles. Cette 
petite ville anglaise a pris la place de la paroisse acadienne de Cobequid, anéantie en même 
temps que les Mines. Il en a été de même de Pisiquid, aujourd’hui Windsor, qui rivalisait 
de prospérité avec Cobequid où il y avait deux églises, l’une pour les blancs, l’autre pour 
les sauvages sur la rive opposée. Le même missionnaire pouvait ainsi desservir les deux 
églises et partager également ses soins entre les chrétiens des deux races. On saisit ici sur 
le fait la supériorité de la colonisation française sur celle de nos voisins, sous le rapport de 
l'humanité et de la civilisation. Le voisinage de ces deux églises, dans une mission 
composée de blanes et de peaux rouges, vivant côte à côte dans une constante amitié, 
indique l'esprit qui chez nous animait l'Eglise et l'Etat. La colonisation française a été 
un bienfait pour les indigènes, tandis que celle de l'Angleterre a été pour eux une 
calamité. Leur instinct ne se trompait pas quand il leur faisait voir dans les Français des 
frères et des amis, et dans les Anglais des indifférents on des ennemis. Ceux-ci ont eu à 
souflrir davantage de leur barbarie, précisément parce qu'ils n’ont cherché à se les con- 
cilier que lorsqu'ils y ont été poussés par leur propre intérêt. Congoit-on après cela qu'on 
nous fasse un reproche de ne pas avoir mieux réussi à humaniser ies sauvages, tout en 
avouant que leur génie était réfractaire à la civilisation ? Nos pionniers et nos mission- 
naires n’ont-ils pas poussé l’héroisme et la persévérance jusqu'à leurs limites? S'il y a res- 
ponsabilité quelque part, ne retombe-t-elle pas de tout son poids sur ceux qui, au lieu de 
seconder leurs efforts, ont plutôt cherché à les entraver ? 

De Truro à Windsor le trajet en voiture le long de la baie de Fundy peut se faire en 
quelques heures ; mais il n'y a de communication par voie ferrée qu’en passant par 
Halifax. 


VII 


8 octobre. — Kentville, à sept milles de Grand-Pré, anniversaire du premier embarque- 
ment des Acadiens. Kentville est un village agréablement situé sur les bords de la 
rivière Cornwallis qui se jette dans le bassin des Mines. Hier au soir, en descendant à la 
gare, j'ai fait l’heureuse rencontre de M. Lyon, irlandais d’origine, qui a vécu longtemps 
tout auprès de Grand-Pré, dans la ville naissante de Wolfeville. Il est familier avec tous 
les souvenirs qui se rattachent à Grand-Pré. 

Je commande une voiture et je profite de l'offre qu’il me fait de m’accompagner. 

Le soleil levant commençait à dissiper une brume épaisse qui s'était levée pendant la 
nuit de la baie de Fundy, et faisait présager une journée claire et agréable. 

L'aspect général du pays est bien différent de celui que présente le fond de la baie, 
Les hauteurs qui lui servent ici de contreforts sont très bien accentuées et sont rayées de 
ravins au fond desquels coulent plusieurs rivières qui se jettent dans le bassin des Mines : 
la rivière aux Canards, celle des Habitants et celle de Gaspareaux gardent encore leurs 
noms acadiens. 

On a dit avec raison que ce littoral qui comprend les trois comtés d’Annapolis, Kings 
et Hants, est le jardin des Provinces Maritimes. On peut en effet traverser ces trois 
comtés presque sans sortir des vergers. Outre les cerisiers, les pruniers et les poiriers, les 


36 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


plus belles variétés de pommes y réussissent admirablement. De chaque côté du chemin 
que nous suivons, d'innombrables pommiers sont chargés à se rompre de fruits superbes. 
Certaines variétés, telles que la pomme Béliveau, portent encore le nom des Acadiens qui, 
les premiers, les ont cultivées. Dès la fin du dix-septième siècle, les arbres fruitiers étaient 
une des grandes ressources du pays. 

“Il y a des endroits, écrivait Dièreville en 1700, aussi bien plantés de pommiers qu’en 
Normandie.” 

Comme nous descendions la déclivité au bas de laquelle s'élevaient l’église et le vil- 
lage de Grand-Pré, le soleil achevait de disperser les brumes à l'horizon, et diamantait les 
eaux du bassin. A notre gauche le cap Blomedon, l’ancien cap Doré des Français, dont la 
falaise roussatre, à demi déboisée, s'allonge pour former l’anse des Mines, se dégageait len- 
tement des buées blanches qui flottaient à son sommet et à l'embouchure des rivières aux 
Canards et des Habitants, tandis qu’a une demi-lieue vers la droite la riviére Gaspareaux 
étalait en serpentant dans la plaine, sous un ciel éclatant, la surface argentée de ses eaux, 
qu'elle dégorgeait avec la marée baissante dans l'entrée du bassin. Au-dessus du vaste 
plateau qui a donné son nom à Grand-Pré, et qui n’a pas moins de deux ou trois milles de 
longueur sur une largeur de plus d'un mille, erraient de petits nuages isolés, semblables à 
un troupeau de brebis paissant dans l’azur du ciel. 

Quand on est descendu au bas de la colline sur laquelle est groupé le village de 
Wolfeville, on a devant soi une campagne tranquille et solitaire comme aux jours des 
Acadiens. La Grand’Prée, entourée de ses puissantes digues est toujours une commune qui 
sert de pâturage aux bestiaux, dont on aperçoit des groupes disséminés çà et là dans le 
lointain. - 

Le chemin qui conduisait au village est marqué par une rangée de saules trés anciens. 
Une autre rangée plus ancienne encore traverse le terrain qui appartenait à l'église. Un 
de ces saules que j'ai eu la curiosité de mesurer n’a pas moins de vingt pieds de circonfé- 
rence. Quoique la croissance de cette espèce d'arbres soit rapide, il n’y a cependant pas de 
doute que ceux-ci n'aient été témoins des scènes de l'expulsion. 

Le site qu'occupaient l’église et ses dépendances est redevenu un champ désert. Le sol 
a été nivelé et l'herbe pousse drue autour des pierres que Ja charrue a arrachées aux 
fondations. 

Le seul ouvrage de main d'homme qui ait été respecté est un puits, d’où l’on tire une 
eau excellente, et qui servait à l'usage de la mission. 

Quoique le site soit charmant, aucun des nouveaux occupants n’a voulu s'y bâtir, soit 
que ce lieu rappelat trop vivement des souvenirs qu'on n’aimait pas à réveiller, soit que 
Von craignit que ce séjour ne portat point bonheur. Au dire de mon guide, les gens de 
l'endroit ne parlent pas volontiers de ceux qui les ont précédés, et j'ai trouvé moi-même 
fort peu communicatifs ceux que j'ai interrogés. 


VIII 


Pour bien connaître quelle était la position des Acadiens dans la Nouvelle-Ecosse, à la 
date de leur expulsion, il est nécessaire de remonter jusqu’au traité d'Utrecht (1713). 
D'après ce traité, l’Acadie était cédée par la France à l'Angleterre, et les colons français de 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE ET 


cette province, qui reçut alors le nom de Nouvelle-Ecosse, passaient sous la couronne 
d'Angleterre. Mais par une clause spéciale du traité, le hbre exercice de la religion catho- 
lique était garanti aux Acadiens, et une année de délai était accordée à ceux d’entre eux qui 
préféreraient se retirer de la province.’ Peu de jours après la signature du traité (11 avril 


1713), la reine Anne enleva cette restriction et prolongea le délai indéfiniment. * 


Le serment d’allégeance que leur fit prêter l’un des premiers gouverneurs d’Annapolis, 
le général Richard Philipps, contenait la condition expresse qu'ils ne porteraient pas les 
armes contre les Français ni contre les sauvages. Cette condition lui parut nécessaire 
pour engager les Acadiens à rester attachés à la province, dont ils étaient les seuls habi- 
tants. De là le nom de neutres ( French neutrals) qui leur fut donné depuis. 

Il était facile de prévoir qu'un pareil régime ne pouvait aboutir qu'à des résultats 
funestes pour le petit peuple naissant, qui se trouvait ainsi placé entre deux puissances 
rivales, toujours prêtes à en venir aux mains, et qui ne manqueraient pas de se disputer sa. 
neutralité. Il était fatalement destiné à être victime ; mais son infortune a dépassé toute 
prévision. * 

Quoique, en général, le joug des gouverneurs anglais ne fit pas sévère, cependant 
quelques-uns d’entre eux molestèrent les Acadiens et les mécontentèrent par des actes 
arbitraires, principalement en entravant leurs missionnaires dans l'exercice légitime de leur 
ministère. Ainsi on voulut les forcer à rejeter l'autorité de l’évêque de Québec, de qui ils 
relevaient, et à violer par là les règles les plus élémentaires de la hiérarchie catholique * On 
alla jusqu'à voulgir disposer des cures, à déplacer des curés et à les remplacer par d’autres. 
Ainsi le P. Félix Pain, euré des Mines, s'étant attiré la disgrace du gouverneur Armstrong, 
espèce de maniaque qui finit par se suicider, celui-ci prit sur lui de l'enlever de sa cure et 
de nommer à sa place le F. Isidore, moine récollet frappé d'interdiction, qu'il aurait main- 
tenu dans ce poste, si les paroissiens des Mines ne s'étaient révoltés et n'avaient chassé cet 
intrus. ” 

On avait aussi empêché les Acadiens de bâtir de nouvelles églises et de réparer les 
anciennes. On en avait même démoli quelques-unes : à la Prée-Ronde de Port-Royal 
entre autres. Certains gouverneurs voulurent même imposer des lois aux missionnaires 
jusque dans l'administration des sacrements de l'église. Ainsi, par exemple, le gouver- 
neur Mascarène écrivit des lettres de menaces à l'abbé Desenclaves, parce qu'il avait 
refusé l’absolution à des individus qui refusaient de faire les restitutions auxquelles ils 
étaient obligés. 





1 Archives de la Nouvelle- Ecosse, p. 12. ? Idem, p. 15. 

3 Le second gouverneur anglais à Port-Royal, le colonel Vetch, évaluait en 1713 la population acadienne à 
deux mille cinq cents âmes. “ Les Français, écrivait-il aux lords du commerce, sont, avec les sauvages, les 
seuls habitants de ce pays ; et, comme ils ont contracté des mariages avec les sauvages qui sont de même religion, 
ils ont sur eux une puissante influence. Cent Français, nés dans le pays, parfaitement accoutumés comme ils le 
sont aux forêts, habiles à marcher en raquettes et à conduire des canots d’écorce, sont de plus grande valeur et d’un 
plus grand service que cing cents hommes nouvellement arrivés d'Europe. Il faut en dire autant de leur habileté 
à la pêche et à la culture du sol.” — Archives de la Nouvelle-Écosse, p. 6. 

4 Archives de l'archevéché de Québec. — Toutes ces archives ont été compulsées, et celles du séminaire de Québec, 
qui l'ont déjà été en partie, le seront entièrement avant la publication définitive de ce travail. 

5 Documents. notes et traditions sur l’Acadie recueillis par M. Sasseville, curé de Sainte-Foye. — Je suis redevable 
à M. l'abbé Sasseville, qui s’occupe depuis de longues années de l’histoire du Canada, d’une foule de précieux rensei- 
gnements sur l’Acadie.— Archives de la Nouvelle- Ecosse — passim. 

5 Histoire de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, pur B. Murdoch, v. 1, p. 409. 


88 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


Ces procédés vexatoires firent naître des défiances dont profitèrent les émissaires fran- 
çais pour engager une partie des Acadiens à violer la neutralité qu'ils avaient promise. 
Ce fut là le commencement des interminables querelles au sujet du serment, qui allèrent 
toujours en s’envenimant jusqu’à la catastrophe de 1755. 

Le gouverneur Cornwallis et ses successeurs mirent en œuvre toutes les mesures de 
persuasion et de menaces pour arracher aux Acadiens un serment sans réserve. 

I] faut bien se rappeler quelles étaient les lois de la Grande-Bretagne contre les catho- 
liques à cette date, et sous quel joug étaient alors courbés les Irlandais, pour saisir toutes 
les conséquences que pouvait entrainer un tel serment. Les missionnaires des Acadiens, 
gardiens de leur foi, n’étaient-ils pas justifiables de manifester leurs craintes à ce sujet ? 
Pouvaient-ils même, en conscience, ne pas leur en faire voir les dangers ? ' 

Ce fut pour mettre un terme a toutes ces vexations, et aussi pour obéir aux sollicita- 
tions qui leur étaient faites de venir s'établir au Canada que, au printemps de 1750, les 
Acadiens adressèrent au gouverneur Cornwallis une requête pour demander l’autorisa- 
tion de quitter la province. 

C'était le seul parti raisonnable qu'ils avaient à suivre, puisque d’une part ils ne 
voulaient pas prendre plus d'engagements vis-à-vis du gouvernement anglais que n’en 
avaient pris leurs pères, et que de l’autre on exigeait d’eux des formules de serment de plus 
en plus sévères. 

Le gouverneur répondit qu'ils n'avaient qu'à se conformer aux règlements établis 
dans la province pour les personnes désirant en sortir, c’est-à-dire qu’à se munir de passe- 
ports; et “que rien ne l’empécherait d'accorder de tels passeports à tous ceux qui lui 
en demanderaient.” Ce consentement, qui était un aveu éclatant de la justice de leur 
demande, n’était au fond qu'un leurre destiné à dissimuler un refus réel, que le gouver- 
neur n’osait affirmer tout haut de crainte de voir les Acadiens lui échapper. 

Il ajoutait dans sa réponse que, pour le moment, il ne pouvait pas accorder de passe- 
ports, qu'il fallait attendre que la paix fut rétablie dans la province. Mais, continuait-il, 
vous pouvez vous en reposer sur ma parole (you can rely upon my word): aussitôt que la 
tranquillité sera rétablie, nous donnerons des passeports à tous ceux qui en demanderont.” 

Dans le reste de sa réponse, il employait tour à tour la persuasion et les menaces pour 
les retenir. “Mes amis, leur disait-il entre autres choses, du moment que vous avez 
déclaré votre désir de partir et de vous soumettre à un autre gouvernement, notre détermi- 
nation a été de n’empécher personne de suivre ce qu'il s’'imagine être son intérêt... Mais 
nous vous avouons franchement que votre détermination de partir nous fait de la peine. 
Nous connaissons bien votre industrie et votre tempérance, et nous savons que vous n'êtes 
adonnés à aucun vice, ni à aucune débauche... Vous possédez les seules terres cultivées 
de la province; elles produisent assez de grain et nourrissent assez d'animaux pour suflire 
à toute la colonie... Cette province est votre pays ; vous et vos pères l’avez cultivée ; natu- 
rellement vous devriez jouir des fruits de votre travail.” * 

Le gouverneur concluait en leur rappelant l'obligation de prêter serment, mais sans 
oser l’exiger de fait, de crainte de les voir partir; puis il leur défendait de faire des 





1 Le serment du Test ne fut aboli dans la Nouvelle-Ecosse qu’en 1827. Ce fut Haliburton, élu par les Acadiens 
du comté de Clare ( baie Sainte-Marie ) qui le fit abolir. Il faut lire le beau portrait qu’il fit des Acadiens et de leur 
missionnaire, l'abbé Sigogne, dans le discours qu’il prononga à cette occasion. 

2 Archives de la Nouvelle- Ecosse, p. 139 et suivantes. 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 39 


assemblées sans une permission spéciale. Enfin il leur déclarait que ceux qui s’éloigne- 
raient ne pourraient emporter aucun de leurs effets avec eux, et que tous leurs biens 
seraient confisqués. 

En d’autres termes, c'était les déclarer prisonniers. (C'était aussi violer ouvertement 
la clause XIV du traité d’Utrecht, où il était “expressément pourvu à ce que les sujets du 
roi de France auraient la liberté de se retirer en aucun lieu qu’ils jugeraient convenables, 
avec tous leurs effets mobiliers.” On a vu que le terme d’un an, d’abord fixé, avait été 
prolongé indéfiniment par la reine Anne. 

La réponse du gouverneur Cornwallis contenait cependant deux aveux qu'il est très 
important de noter, parce qu'ils sont une confirmation du traité. D'abord il reconnaissait 
pleinement le droit qu’avaient les Acadiens de quitter la province ; ensuite il engageait sa 
parole de les laisser partir dés le premier moment favorable. 

Les Acadiens ne se faisaient guère illusion sur cette dernière condition. Ils voyaient 
clairement que le gouverneur ne cherchait qu'à gagner du temps. Aussi poursuivirent- 
ils leurs déinarches. Frustrés de ce côté, ils s’adressérent à la cour de France, où ils firent 
parvenir leurs requêtes. Le roi et ses ministres finirent par s’en émouvoir, et l’ambas- 
sadeur de France à Londres fut chargé au mois de mai 1755 de proposer au roi d'Angle- 
terre d'accorder trois ans aux habitants français de la péninsule, pour s’en éloigner avec 
leurs effets, et de leur donner tous les moyens nécessaires pour faciliter ce transport. 

Le roi d'Angleterre ne crut pas devoir accéder à cette demande, donnant pour raison 
que ce serait priver la Grande-Bretagne d'un très grand nombre de sujets uliles. 

Il faut rendre cette justice au cabinet de Londres que, en communiquant au gouver- 
neur de la Nouvelle-Ecosse ce refus de laisser émigrer les Acadiens, il lui enjoignait 
“ d’user de la plus grande précaution et de la plus grande prudence, de peur, ajoutait la 
“ dépêche, que, par leur départ, le roi de France ne profitât d'un si grand nombre de sujets 
* utiles.” 

On verra par ce qui va suivre de quelle manière le gouverneur Lawrence, second suc- 
cesseur de Cornwallis, exécuta les ordres du cabinet de Londres. 


IX 


Quelques historiens ont voulu nier que la convoitise des colons anglo-américains ait 
été une des causes de l’expulsion des Acadiens ; mais il n’y a qu'à ouvrir la collection des 
documents officiels de la Nouvelle-Ecosse pour en trouver la preuve : 

“ Ils possèdent les meilleures et les plus grandes terres de cette province, écrivait en 
1754 le gouverneur Lawrence! aux lords du commerce, et je ne puis m'empêcher de 
penser qu'il serait beaucoup mieux, s'ils refusent de prêter serment, qu'ils en fussent 
chassés.” ? 

D'autre part, les lords du commerce lui répondaient le 20 octobre suivant : 





* Lawrence avait été nommé lieutenant-gouverneur de la Nouvelle-Ecosse en 1754. 

* They possess the best and largest tracts of land in the Province... I cannot help being of opinion that it 
would be much better, if they refuse the oaths, that they were away. — Extract from a letter of Governor Lawrence 
to Lords of trade, August Ist, 1754. — Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia, p. 213. 


40 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


“Si le juge en chef est d'opinion qu’en refusant de prêter serment sans réserve, ou en 
désertant leurs établissements pour se joindre aux Français, ils ont forfait à leur titre de 
propriété, nous désirerions que des mesures efficaces fussent prises pour mettre à exécution 
par un procédé légal une telle forfaiture, afin de vous mettre en moyen de concéder leurs 
terres à toutes personnes désirant se fixer en cet endroit, où nous croyons qu'un établisse- 
ment serait d’une grande utilité, s’il pouvait être effectué dans l’état actuel des choses ; 
et comme M. Shirley‘ a insinué dans une lettre à Lord Halifax qu'il est probable qw'on 
pourrait se procurer un nombre considérable d'habitants de la Nouvelle-Angleterre pour S'y établir, 
vous feriez bien de le consulter sur ce sujet.” ” 

Si les colons américains ne sont pas venus s'emparer des terres des Acadiens immé- 
diatement après leur expulsion, c’est qu'il était trop dangereux de s’y fixer à cause du 
voisinage de ceux des habitants qui s'étaient réfugiés dans les bois avec les sauvages. * 

La chute du fort Beauséjour, qui mit presque toute la presqu'ile aux mains des 
Anglais, décida du sort des Acadiens. Quoiqu’on en ait dit, la prestation du serment 
qu'on avait cessé de leur demander ne les aurait pas sauvés; car elle ne leur eût arraché 
du cœur ni leur attachement à leur religion, ni leurs sympathies pour les Français. Au 
fond ce fut la leur grand crime, qualifié par les uns de fanatisme, par les autres d’héroisme, 
selon le point de vue où chacun se place. La preuve, c’est que ceux d’entre eux qui 
avaient prêté serment ne furent pas plus épargnés que les autres; ils furent comme eux 
condamnés à la déportation. 

Détestés par les Anglais, contre lesquels un certain nombre d’entre eux étaient tou- 
jours plus ou moins prêts à se liguer malgré leurs intérêts, délaissés par les Français du 
moment que ceux-ci ne pouvaient plus se servir d'eux comme d'instruments, ils n'avaient 
de véritables amis que les missionnaires, dont les cpnseils leur paraissaient les plus désin- 
téressés. Peut-on leur reprocher d’avoir eu complètement tort en écoutant leurs avis ? 

Les missionnaires n’ont-ils pas été les seuls qui leur soient restés fidèles dans leur 
malheur? L'abbé Maillard, par exemple, l’un des plus remarquables, n’a-t-il pas continué 
à servir ceux qui s'étaient réfugiés dans les parages du golfe ? N'est-il pas mort au milieu 
d'eux, usé de fatigues et de privations ? * 

L'abbé Desenclaves n’a-t-il pas vécu dans les bois avec ceux qui avaient cru trouver 





! Gouverneur du Massachusetts. 

2 ,... Ifthe Chief Justice should be of opinion that, by refusing to take the oaths without a reserve, or by 
deserting their settlements to join the French, they have forfeited their Title to their Lands, we could wish that 
proper measures were persued for carrying such forfeiture into execution by legal process, to the end that you 
might be enabled to grant them to any person desirous of settling there, were we apprehend a settlement would be 
so great utility, if it could, as Mr. Shirley has hinted in a letter to the Earl of Halifax, that there is a probability of 
getting a considerable number of People from New-England to settle there, you would do well to consult him 
upon it.— Extract from a letter of Lords of Trade and Plantations to Governor Lawrence, Whitehall, October 29th, 
1754, p. 237. 

# Ce n'était pas le désir qui faisait défaut. Joshua Winslow écrivait du fort Lawrence au colonel Winslow en 
date du 23 septembre 1755: “ You have a fine Parcel of Stock. (C’est ainsi qu’il désignait les captifs acad ens ). 
I wish they were Equally Distributed among a number of Good Fa.nilys and the Lands well Settled.” — Journal 
du colonel Winslow ; extraits publiés par la Société Historique de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, vy. III, p. 139. 

Cette convoitise datait d’un demi-siècle ; elle avait été l’un des motifs qui avaient engagé, en 1710, les provin- 
ciaux de la Nouvelle-Angleterre à s’enrôler dans l'expédition de Nicholson contre Port-Royal. — Collections of Nova 
Scotia Historical Suciety, v. IV, p. 22. 

' A Halifax, où il mourut en 1768, il fut assisté à ses derniers moments par des Acadiens et des sauvages. 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 41 


une retraite du côté du Cap-Sable, jusqu’à ce que, traqué par les Anglais, il eût été fait pri- 
sonnier avec les siens et jeté sur les côtes de la Nouvelle-Angleterre ? 

Et l’abbé Leloutre lui-même, dont la conduite fut inexcusable à certains égards, et 
qui s’attira les justes reproches de son évêque, n’eut-il pas, du moins, le mérite de payer 
de sa personne, d'exposer sa vie bien des fois pour ses ouailles?' Si les Acadiens l’a- 
vaient écouté lorsqu'il les pressait d’émigrer, lorsqu'il leur disait qu'ils étaient sur un 
volcan, qu'ils n'avaient pas de pires ennemis que ceux qui les entretenaient dans une 
fausse sécurité, n’auraient-ils pas échappé à la déportation ? Et, au moment de la crise, si 
sa bravoure et son infatigable énergie eussent été secondés par Vergor, n’aurait-il pas pu 
rallier les Acadiens et les sauvages des environs de Beauséjour, empêcher la chute de ce 
fort, et par là même rendre impraticable l'attentat des Mines? A son retour en France, 
après sa captivité en Angleterre, n’a-t-il pas passé le reste de ses jours à réunir les Acadiens 
dispersés dans les ports d’Agleterre et à les former en paroisse à Belle-Ile en mer ? 

I] est risible de lire les attaques dirigées dans le temps et aujourd’hui méme contre 
les missionnaires des Acadiens. On leur a fait un crime impardonnable de leur attache- 
ment a la France, et d’y avoir exhorté les Acadiens. Quelques-uns ont sans doute manqué 
de prudence et ont poussé trop loin leur zéle patriotique: leur devoir leur imposait une 
certaine réserve ; mais n’était-ce pas une intolérable tyrannie que d’exiger d’eux davantage ? 
Les Prussiens de nos jours tiennent une main de fer sur le clergé de l’Alsace-Lorraine ; 
mais qui songe a faire un crime a celui-ci de rester fidéle 4 la France, et d’entretenir le 
peuple dans ce sentiment ? 

I] faut lire les documents relatifs à l’Acadie pour se faire une idée des tracasseries et 
des insultes auxquelles étaient soumis les missionnaires. Outre un serment sévère qu'on 
exigeait d'eux, ils étaient soumis à un espionnage continuel, et ils n'avaient pas même la 
liberté de sortir de la province sans un permis spécial. 

’étaient des hommes modérés, ? écrivait d’eux en 1791 un des agents les plus actifs 
de la déportation, l'honorable Brook Watson. Et cependant, sur une vingtaine de mis- 
sionnaires qu’eurent les Acadiens de 1713 à 1755, huit furent bannis et plusieurs autres 
jetés en prison. 

L'évèque de Québec, dont le clergé était peu nombreux, avait toutes les peines du 
monde à envoyer des prêtres dans ces ergastules de la Nouvelle-Ecosse. Le clergé qui 
trouvait un ministère pastoral beaucoup plus facile au Canada, refusait de s'y rendre; et 
l'évêque avait fini par déclarer qu'il n’enverrait plus de missionnaires chez les Acadiens. 
Ce ne fut qu’à force de supplications de leur part qu’il consentit à s'occuper d’eux plus 
longtemps. 


Xx 


Lorsque, aprés la prise de Beauséjour, Monckton communiqua au colonel Winslow, les 
instructions secrètes qu'il avait reçues du gouverneur Lawrence pour l'expulsion des 
Acadiens, les Anglo-Américains étaient sous impression toute vive de l’humiliante défaite 





! Le gouverneur Cornwallis avait offert cent livres sterling pour sa téte. 
? Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, v. 11, p. 150. 


Sec. I, 1886. — 6. 


42 L’ABBE CASGRAIN 


de Braddock à Monongahela. Les alarmes et le surcroit d’animosité qu'avait excités ce 
désastre expliquent en partie la manière barbare dont cet ordre fut préparé et exécuté. 

Mais il faut bien avouer aussi qu'il était difficile de trouver un groupe d'hommes 
mieux faits pour tramer et accomplir une telle entreprise: chefs et soldats étaient animés 
du même esprit. Lawrence, qui en fut le principal organisateur, s’est peint lui-même dans 
une proclamation signée de sa main en 1756. Par cette proclamation, il promettait une 
récompense de trente livres sterling pour chaque prisonnier sauvage, du sexe masculin, 
au-dessus de seize ans, amené vivant; vingt-cinq livres pour chaque scalpe de guerrier 
sauvage et la même somme pour chaque sauvagesse ou enfant amené vivant.’ C'était le 
même Lawrence qui reprochait aux Acadiens de lui enlever l'amitié des sauvages. 

Murray, dont on connaîtra le caractère par la suite de ce récit, écrivait à Winslow en 
lui parlant des troupes: ‘“ Vous savez que nos soldats détestent les Acadiens, et que, s’ils 
peuvent seulement trouver un prétexte pour les tuer, ils les tueront.” * 

Embarqué le 14 août, à Beauséjour, avec un détachement de trois cent treize miliciens 
de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, Winslow descendit la baie de Chignectou, et, profitant de la 
marée, pénétra dans le bassin des Mines, où il vint jeter l’ancre en face de Grand-Pré. 

Le vétéran américain, qui avait accepté cette mission indigne d’un soldat, n’avait pas 
l'âme tranquille, car il avait la conscience du rôle odieux qu'on lui faisait jouer, et de la 


\ 


flétrissure qu’il allait attacher à son nom. Plusieurs passages de son journal laissent 





1 Histoire de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, par B. Murdoch, v. I, p. 308. 

2 Journal de Winslow, p. 107. 

Beamish Murdoch dans son Histoire de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, v. II, p. 47, cite le jugement de l’amiral Knowles 
sur les soldats anglo-américains qui composaient la garnison de Louisbourg où il commandait: He calls the New- 
England soldiers lazy, dirty and obstinate: “Every one I found, here, from the generals down to the corporals, 
were sellers of rum.” 

L’extrait suivant d'une lettre du rév. Hugh Graham au réy. Dr Brown, d’Halifax, datée de 1791, achèvera de 
faire connaître le caractère des soldats américains : 

“ A party of rangers of a regiment chiefly employed in scouring the country of the deluded French who had 
unfortunately fallen under the bann of British policy, came upon four Frenchmen who had all possible caution, 
ventured out rom their skulking retreats to pick some of the strageling cattle or hidden treasure. The solitary 
few, the pitiable four, had just sat down weary and faint on the banks of the desert stream in order to refresh 
themselves with some food and rest, when the party of Rangers surprised and apprehended them, and as there 
was a bounty on Indian scalps, a blot, too, on England’s escutcheon, the soldiers soon made the supplicating signal 
the officer’s turned their backs, and the French were instantly shot and scalped. A party of the Rangers brought 
in one day 25 scalps, pretending that they were Indian’s, and the commanding officer at the fort, then Col. Wilmot, 
afterwords Governor Wilmot (a poor tool) gave orders that the bounty should be paid them. Capt. Huston who had 
at that time the charge of the military chest, objected such proceedings both in the letter and spirit of them. The 
Colonel told him, that according to law the French were all out of the French, that the bounty on Indian scalps 
was according to: “ Law, and that tho’ the law might in some instances be strained a little, yet there was a neces- 
“ sity for winkin: at such things.” Upon account, Huston, in obedience to orders, paid down £260, telling that 
the “curse of God should ever attend such guilty deeds.” A considerable large body of the French were one time 
surprised by a party of the Rangers on Peticoudiac River; upon the first alarm mcst of them threw themselves 
into the river and swam across, and by way the greater part of them made out to elule the clutches of these 
bloody hounds, tho’ some of them were shot by the merciless soldiery in the river. It was observed that these 
Rangers, almost without exception, closed their days in wretchedness, and particularly a Capt. Danks who even 
rode to the extreme of his commission in every barbarous proceeding. In the Cumberland insurrection (late war) 
he was suspected of being “Jack on both sides of the bush,” left that place, Cumberland, in a small jigger bound 
for Windsor, was taken ill on the passage, thrown down into the hold among the ballast, was taken out at 
Windsor, is half dead, and had little better than the burial of the dog, He lived under a general dislike and 


died without any to regret his death.” 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 48 


entrevoir les remords qui l’agitaient. Au reste, il aurait fallu avoir dépouillé tout senti- 
ment humain pour n'être pas ému à la pensée de tant de malheurs dont il allait étre un 
des premiers auteurs. Sans doute, à ses yeux, les Acadiens étaient de grands criminels ; 
ils avaient résisté aux promesses aussi bien qu'aux menaces qu'on leur avait faites; ils 
étaient un perpétuel danger pour son pays. Mais il se disait aussi que leur entêtement, 
qu'il qualifiait de stupide, avait pour mobile un sentiment que les hommes ont toujours 
respecté : celui de la religion et du patriotisme. Ilne pouvait se dissimuler qu'il y avait 
de la sincérité dans leur croyance, quelque superstitieuse qu’elle lui parût, et dans leur 
patriotisme puisqu'ils y sacrifiaient leurs intérêts ; et il pressentait que l’avenir serait plus 
sévère pour sa conduite que pour celle de ses victimes. 

“J'en ai pesant sur le cœur et sur les mains, écrivait-il.... J'ai hâte d’en avoir fini 
avec cette besogne, la plus pénible dans laquelle j'aie jamais été employé.” ' 

Autour de lui se déroulait une nature riante, où tout respirait le calme et le bonheur 
de la vie champêtre. L’horizon bleuâtre des montagnes qui ferment au nord le bassin 
des Mines, et les âpres falaises, couronnées de forêts, du cap Blomedon qui en protège 
l'entrée, étaient noyés dans l'atmosphère chaude et vaporeuse du soleil d'août. Les eaux 
du bassin, gonflées par le flux, s’@panouissaient comme une nappe de lumière, en emplis- 
sant les digues et les rivières aux Canards, des Habitants, de Gaspareaux, dont les rivages 
étaient animés par des groupes de jeunes gens et d'enfants attirés par la curiosité. 

Au bord de l’eau s’étendait à perte de vue la Grand'Prée, toute jaunissante de mois- 
sons, ou animée par les troupeaux qui paissaient le riche gazon ; et au-delà, sur les pentes 
verdoyantes des coteaux qui entourent le bassin, étaient disséminées les maisons simples 
et rustiques des Acadiens, avec les villages de Grand-Pré et de la rivière aux Canards, 
surmontés des clochers de leurs églises, qui se dessinaient sur l’arrière plan des hauteurs 
boisées qui encadrent l'horizon. 

Les habitants, dispersés dans leurs champs, interrompaient par intervalle leurs 
travaux pour se demander ce que signifiait l’arrivée de ces nouvelles troupes. Malgré les 
vagues rumeurs qui leur étaient venues de divers côtés, ils ne soupçonnaient évidemment 
pas l’épouvantable catastrophe qui était sur le point de fondre sur eux. Dans quelques 
jours cependant, ce vallon si paisible et qui abritait tant de familles heureuses, allait 
devenir le coin le plus désolé du monde. 

Winslow ne fit d’abord que jeter l’ancre devant Grand-Pré; il remonta la rivière 
Pisiquid (aujourd'hui l’Avon), et débarqua ses troupes au village de Pisiquid où avait été 
bâti un fort en palissades nommé fort Edward, d’où le capitaine Murray avait l'œil sur la 
population environnante. Winslow fit dresser les tentes de ses soldats autour du fort, et 
passa quelques temps auprès de Murray pour concerter avec lui les moyens de préparer le 
piége qu'ils avaient à tendre, sans éveiller les soupçons des Acadiens ; puis il redescendit 
à Grand-Pré. 

En l'absence du missionnaire, il fit venir quelques-uns des principaux paroissiens, 





1 Things are now very heavy on my heart and hands.... I impatiently wait... that once at length we may get 
over this troublesome affair, which is more grevious to me than any service I was ever employed in. — Journal 
of Winslow, p. 97, 134. 

Le commandant de Port-Royal, John Handfeld, à qui Winslow écrivait ces dernières paroles, était poursuivi 
par le même sentiment de honte et lui répondait: “I Heartily join with you in wishing that we were both of us 
got over this most disagreable and troublesome part of the service. — Journal de Winslow, p. 142. 


44, L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


et leur enjoignit d’enlever les vases sacrés de l’église, car il voulait s’en servir pour faire 
son quartier général. Cette profanation par laquelle Winslow inaugurait son arrivée 
était de sa part une imprudence de nature a trahir ses intentions hostiles, et qui aurait 
du, ce semble, éveiller la méfiance des habitants. (Ceux-ci cependant n’en furent guère 
émus, ce qui prouve bien ce que valait le régime de douceur dont se vantaient les auto- 
rités officielles en reprochant aux Acadiens de s’y être montrés ingrats. 

Mais les Acadiens avaient fini par s’endurcir aux vexations et à s'endormir au bord 
de l’abime. Ils avaient cru donner des preuves suffisantes de leur neutralité en livrant 
leurs armes. Ce fut leur dernière faute et la plus grande; car elle les laissait à la merci 
de leurs ennemis. Ceux-ci n’eurent plus qu’à attendre une occasion favorable pour tendre 
leurs pièges et les y faire tomber. Elle était venue. 

Winslow transforma l'église en arsenal et en salles d'armes, dressa les tentes de ses 
soldats sur la place publique, et s'établit lui-même dans le presbytère. Pour prévenir 
toute surprise, il fortifia son camp d’une enceinte de palissades, et il écrivit au gouver- 
neur Lawrence, qui lui avait exprimé la crainte que les habitants en fussent alarmés : 
“ Ces travaux ne leur ont pas causé la moindre inquiétude, car ils y ont vu la preuve que 
le détachement doit passer l'hiver au milieu d’eux.”* Et Winslow concluait en disant 
que, les récoltes n'étant pas encore terminées, il était convenu avec Murray d'attendre 
jusqu’au vendredi suivant pour publier l’ordre du gouverneur. 

Le 30 du mois, Murray, venu du fort Edward à Grand-Pré, s’enferma dans le pres- 
bytère avec Winslow pour conclure les derniers préparatifs. I] fut convenu que Winslow 
sommerait toute la population mâle des environs de Grand-Pré de venir le rencontrer à 
l'église pour entendre l’ordonnance du roi, et que Murray ferait de même à Pisiquid. 
Winslow fit alors entrer les officiers qu’il avait sous ses ordres, leur fit prêter serment de 
garder le secret, et leur communiqua ses instructions et ses plans. Aucun d'eux ne fit 
d’objection, et Murray reprit le chemin du fort Edward. 


XI 


Dans la journée du dimanche, le dernier que les pauvres Acadiens avaient à passer 
en paix au sein de leurs familles, Winslow eut la satisfaction d’observer qu'il n'y avait 





1 Afin de priver les Acadiens de lenrs conseillers les plus éclairés, et par 14 de mieux assurer Je succés du 
complot, Lawrence avait donné ordre de s'emparer d’avance des missionnaires soit par la ruse, soit par la force 
ouverte. Les trois desservants de cette partie de la baie, MM. Chauvreulx, Daudin et Lemaire, avaient été arrêtés 
dès le milieu de juillet précédent, conduits à Halifax et détenus séparément sur la flotte de l’amiral Boscawen. Ils 
furent ensuite envoyés en Angleterre d’où ils passèrent en France. 

Ces actes de violence n'avaient pas trop surpris leurs paroissiens, car ceux-ci étaient habitués à voir leurs 
prêtres en butte aux persécutions. I] faut bien avouer aussi que les Acadiens, aveuglés par tant d'intérêts qui les 
attachaient à leur pays, refusaient obstinément d'ouvrir les yeux à l'évidence. Ils avaient été inutilement avertis 
depuis longtemps. Le plus clairvoyant de leurs missionnaires surtout, l'abbé Leloutre, avait en vain accumulé sur 
sa tête toutes les colères et toutes les haines de leurs ennemis, en démasquant sans relâche leurs projets; les pré- 
dictions de cette autre Cassandre n'avaient pas été plus écoutées que celles de la fatidique Troyenne. Simples et 
droits, les Acadiens étaient faciles à tromper ; leurs oppresseurs, plus perfides que les Grecs, le savaient, et ils ne 
reculaient devant aucune trahison pour y arriver. On verra par certaines citations qui vont suivre, dans quel 
réseau de mensonges les malheureuses victimes avaient été enveloppées. 

* Journal de Winslow, p. 85. 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 45 


aucun mouvement inusité dans le village. La seule contrariété qu'il éprouvat fut de voir 
que les moissons n’étaient pas encore toutes rentrées, et qu'une partie allait peut-être 
échapper à la destruction. Il avait pu le constater durant une tournée qu'il venait de 
faire dans le voisinage avec une cinquantaine de ses hommes. 

® Des croisées ouvertes du presbytère il était témoin ce jour-là d’une scène qui ne 
pouvait manquer de se graver dans sa mémoire, et qui lui revenait sans doute lorsqu'il 
tracait certains passages de son journal, où l’on devine les pensées troublantes qui l’obsé- 
daient, comme ce qui suit, par exemple: “ Nous aurons bientôt les mains pleines de l’af- 
faire désagréable qui nous oblige à chasser un peuple de ses anciennes habitations, les- 
quelles dans cette partie du pays, ont une très grande valeur.” ' 

C’est que, malgré lui, il établissait un contraste terrible entre la douce pastorale qu'il 
avait sous les yeux et les scènes de désespoir qu'il allait provoquer dans quelques jours. 
Ce contraste lui apparaissait d'autant plus violent qu'on était précisément à l'époque de 
l’année où le bassin des Mines offrait le coup d'œil le plus séduisant, et que, du point de 
vue où il était, il embrassait tout l’ensemble et les détails de ce charmant paysage avec le 
mouvement rural qui l'animait. 

On se sentait au milieu d’une atmosphère de quiétude et de sérénité, dans cette soli- 
tude lointaine et ignorée du monde, autour de cette nappe d’eau, à peine moirée par la 
brise, abritée comme un lac, là-bas, par des hauteurs bleuissantes, plus près par le pro- 
montoire abrupt du cap Doré, ici par un cercle de pentes douces terminées par la Grand’ 
Prée. On y entendait beugler les vaches qui remontaient vers les étables où les atten- 
daient les laitières. I] n’y avait pas jusqu'au chant du grillon, caché dans l'herbe, qui ne 
rappelât le bonheur domestique. 

Ce bonheur, il est vrai, n'avait pas atteint ce degré de perfection, cet idéal qu'ont 
voulu y voir certains auteurs qui en ont fait des tableaux de fantaisie : l’Acadie n’a jamais 
été l'Arcadie. Les Acadiens avaient leur part des misères et des défauts qui sont l'apanage 
de l'humanité. Un bon nombre d’entre eux étaient processifs comme les Normands leurs 
pères, jaloux les uns des autres, comme les Canadiens leurs frères. Ils n'étaient pas tou- 
jours dociles, obéissants à leurs missionnaires, comme l'ont supposé quelques auteurs 
aussi loin en cela de la vérité que les idéalistes qui les ont représentés comme des hommes 
parfaits ; mais, en général, ils étaient bons, aflables et serviables. L'esprit français, tou- 
jours gai, toujours vif, prompt aux reparties, s'était conservé parmi eux, bien qu'ils 
n’eussent d'autre instruction que les solides principes du christianisme. Modérés dans 
leurs goûts, simples dans leurs habitudes, ils avaient peu de besoins, et ils étaient contents 
de leur sort. L’incomparable fertilité de leurs terres, moins difficiles à ouvrir et à cultiver 
que celles du Canada, leur donnait en peu d’années assez d’aisance pour établir leurs 
enfants autour d’eux, et pour jouir d’une vieillesse heureuse. Quant à leur moralité, elle 
n’a pas besoin d'autre preuve que l’étonnante fécondité des familles, qui n’a été égalée 
que par celle des pasteurs boers du Transvaal. ? 





1 Sh ll soon have our hands full of desagreable business to remove people from their ancient habitations 
which, in this part of the country, are very valuable. — Journal de Winslow, p. 72. 

2 Voici un témoignage non suspect de la pureté des mœurs et du caractère des Acadiens, écrit en 1791, par 
l'honorable Brook Watson, qui avait commandé le détachement envoyé à la baie Verte pour en enlever les habi- 
tants et brûler les maisons. 

“ C'était un peuple honnête, industrieux, sobre et vertueux; rarement des querelles s’élevaient parmi eux. 
En été les hommes étaient constamment occupés à leurs fermes, en hiver ils coupaient du bois pour leur chauffage 


46 L'ABB# CASGRAIN 


La population de Grand-Pré était répandue par essaims dans le village, ou apparais- 
sait aux fenêtres ouvertes et devant les portes des maisons. (a et là s’élevaient des cris 
joyeux d'enfants attroupés sous les arbres des vergers chargés de fruits, ou des voix de 
femmes qui chantaient pour endormir leurs nouveaux-nés. Quelques vieillards, assis sur 
les clôtures, fumaient tranquillement leurs pipes en devisant du lendemain. Des groupes 
de garçons et de jeunes filles, vêtus de leurs habits du dimanche, passaient, en causant, 
aux abords de l'église : les jeunes gens habillés d’étoffe tissée à la maison ; les jeunes filles 
portant jupon et mantelet, coiffées de chapeaux de paille tressée de leurs mains. Bien des 
couples qui, en ce moment, se faisaient des aveux et formaient des projets d’union, étaient 
loin de se douter qu'ils étaient à la veille d'être séparés pour ne plus jamais se revoir. 


XII 


Dans la journée du mardi, Winslow prétexta une excursion en chaloupe du côté de 
Pisiquid, pour s'assurer auprès de Murray que rien n'y avait transpiré de leur guet-apens ; 
et ils s’entendirent pour faire aux deux endroits l’assemblée à trois heures de l'après-midi, 
le vendredi suivant. Ils rédigèrent ensuite la sommation aux habitants qu'ils firent tra- 
duire par un marchand de l'endroit nommé Beauchamp. 

La voici : 

“ John Winslow, écuyer, lieutenant-colonel et commandant des troupes de Sa Majesté, 
à Grand-Pré, les Mines, la rivière aux Canards et les lieux adjacents. 

“ Aux habitants des districts sus-nommés, aussi bien aux anciens qu’aux jeunes gens 
et aux petits garçons. 

“ Comme Son Excellence le gouverneur nous a instruit de sa dernière résolution, con- 
cernant les matières proposées récemment aux habitants en général, en personne, Son 
Excellence désirant que chacun d’eux füt parfaitement informé des intentions de Sa Majesté 
qu'il nous a aussi ordonné de vous communiquer, telles qu’elles nous ont été données ; 





et leurs clôtures, et faisaient la chasse; les femmes s’occupaient à carder, filer et tisser la laine, le lin et le chanvre 
que ce pays fournissait en abondance. Ces objets, avec les fourrures d’ours, de castor, de renard, de loutre et de 
martre, leur donnait non seulement le confort, mais bien souvent de jolis vêtements. Ils leur procuraient aussi 
les autres choses nécessaires ou utiles au moyen du commerce d'échange qu’ils entretenaient avec les Anglais et 
les Français. Il y avait peu de maisons où l’on ne trouvât pas une barrique de vin de France. Ils n'avaient d’au- 
tres teintures que le noir et le vert; mais afin d'obtenir du rouge dont ils étaient remarquablement épris, ils se 
procuraient des étoffes rouges anylaises qu’ils coupaient, échiffuient, cardaient, filaient et tissaient en bandes dont 
étaient ornés les vêtements des femmes. Leur pays était tellement abondant en provisions que j'ai entendu dire 
qu’on achetait un bœuf pour cinquante chelins, un mouton pour cinq, et un minot de blé pour dix-huit deniers. On 
n’encourageait pas les jeunes gens à se marier à moins que la jeune fille ne put tisser une mesure de drap, et que le 
jeune homme ne pit faire une paire de roues. Ces qualités étaient juzées essentielles pour leur établissement, et 
ils n'avaient guère besoin de plus, car chaque fois qu’il se faisait un mariage, tout le village s’employait à établir 
les nouveaux mariés. On leur bâtissait une maison, défrichait un morceau de terre suffisant pour leur entretien 
immédiat; on leur fournissait des animaux et des volailles; et la nature, soutenue par leur propre industrie, les 
mettait bientôt en moyen d’aider les autres. Je mai jamais entendu parler d’infidélite dans le mariage parmi 
eux. Leurs longs et froids hivers se passaient dans les plaisirs d’une joyeuse hospitalité. Corame ils avaient du 
bois en abondance, leurs maisons étaient toujours confortables. Les chansons rustiques et la danse étaient leur 
principal amusement.” — Cullctions of Nova Scotia Historical Society, v. IL, p. 132. 

Voilà ce qu’avaient fait des Acadiens les prêtres dont on a cherché, de nos jours comme de leurs temps, à 
flétrir la mémoire. On juge de l'arbre par ses fruits. 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE AT 


“ Nous ordonnons donc et enjoignons strictement par ces présentes à tous les habi- 
tants, aussi bien des districts sus-nommés que de tous les autres, aux vieillards de méme 
qu'aux jeunes gens, et aussi à tous les garcons de dix ans, de venir à l’église de Grand-Pré 
vendredi, le cinq courant, à trois heures de l’aprés-midi, afin que nous leur fassions part 
de ce que nous avons recu ordre de leur communiquer; déclarant qu’aucune excuse ne 
sera admise sous aucun prétexte que ce soit, sous peine de confiscation de leurs biens 
meubles et immeubles. 

“ Donné à Grand-Pré, le deux septembre en la vingt-neuvième année du règne de 
Sa Majesté, A. D. 1755.” ! 

Une proclamation semblable fut rédigée au nom de Murray pour les habitants du 
district de Pisiquid. 

La veille de l’assemblée, les deux commandants dépéchérent leurs officiers vers les 
principaux centres pour aflicher cette proclamation. Ils trouvèrent partout les habitants 
sans défiance, occupés dans les champs à achever leurs récoltes. 

Le lendemain, dès l'heure de midi, tout le détachement américain était sous les armes 
devant le portail de l’église de Grand-Pré, les fusils chargés, prêts à faire feu. Dans la 
matinée, une distribution de poudre et de balles avait été faite aux soldats. 

Winslow, en grand uniforme, entouré de son état-major, stationnait devant le presby- 
tère. Ses regards inquiets se tournaient souvent vers les différents chemins qui condui- 
saient à Grand-Pré, et il ne put réprimer sur ses traits l'expression de la joie secrète qu'il 
éprouva lorsqu'il les vit se peupler de longues files d'habitants, les uns à pied, verant des 
environs, les autres en voiture, arrivant des Mines, de Gaspareaux, de la rivrère aux 
Canards et de l'intérieur des terres. 

Winslow, dont le portrait a été conservé, n’ayait pas la tournure d’un colon américain ; 
puissant de taille, il paraissait plutôt un gros Anglais, joufilu, rubicond, avec des yeux à 
fleur de téte, vrai type qui convenait a une pareille exécution. 

A trois heures précises, quatre cent dix-huit Acadiens de tout age étaient réunis dans 
l'église. Quand les derniers furent entrés, et les portes fermées et gardées, le commandant, 
accompagné de quelques officiers, vint se placer debout, dans le chœur, devant une table 
sur laquelle il posa ses instructions et l'adresse qu'il avait à lire. 

Il promena un instant ses regards sur cette foule de figures halées par le soleil, qui le 
fixaient dans un anxieux silence ; puis il leur lut l'adresse suivante que traduisait à mesure 
un interprète : 

“ Messieurs, j'ai reçu de Son Excellence le gouverneur Lawrence les instructions du 
roi, que j'ai entre les mains. C’est par ses ordres que vous êtes assemblés, pour entendre 
la résolution finale de Sa Majesté concernant les habitants français de cette sienne province 
de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, où depuis près d’un demi-siècle vous avez été traités avec plus 
dindulgence qu'aucuns autres de ses sujets dans aucune partie de ses Etats. Vous savez 
mieux que tout autre quel usage vous en avez fait. - 

“ Le devoir que j'ai à remplir, quoique nécessaire, m'est très désagréable et contraire 
à ma nature et à mon caractère, car je sais qu'il doit vous être pénible étant de même 
sentiment que moi. Mais il ne m’appartient pas de m’élever contre les ordres que j'ai 
reçus ; je dois y obéir. Ainsi, sans autre hésitation, je vais vous faire connaitre les instruc- 





! Journal de Winslow, p. 90, 


48 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


tions et les ordres de Sa Majesté, qui sont que vos terres et vos maisons, et votre bétail et 
vos troupeaux de toutes sortes sont confisqués par la couronne, avec tous vos autres effets, 
excepté votre argent et vos objets de ménage, et que vous-mémes vous devez être trans- 
portés hors de cette province. 

“ Les ordres péremptoires de Sa Majesté sont que tous les habitants francais de ces 
districts soient déportés ; et, grace à la bonté de Sa Majesté, j'ai reçu l’ordre de vous 
accorder la liberté de prendre avec vous votre argent et autant de vos effets que vous 
pourrez emporter sans surcharger les navires qui doivent vous recevoir. Je ferai tout en 
mon pouvoir pour que ces effets soient laissés en votre possession et que vous ne soyez pas 
molestés en les emportant, et aussi que chaque famille soit réunie dans le même navire ; 
afin que cette déportation, qui, je le comprends, doit vous occasionner de grands ennuis, 
vous soit rendue aussi facile que le service de Sa Majesté peut le permettre ; j'espère que 
dans quelque partie du monde où le sort va vous jeter, vous serez des sujets fidèles, et un 
peuple paisible et heureux. 

“ Je dois aussi vous informer que c’est le plaisir de Sa Majesté que vous soyez retenus 
sous la garde et la direction des troupes que j'ai l'honneur de commander.” ! 

Winslow termina son discours en les déclarant tous prisonniers du roi. 

Il est plus facile d'imaginer que de peindre l’étonnement et la consternation des 
Acadiens en écoutant cette sentence. Ils comprirent alors que les vagues soupçons qu'ils 
avaient refusé d'entretenir étaient trop fondés ; et que cette assemblée n'avait été qu'un in- 
fame piège où ils s'étaient laissé prendre. Cependant ils ne réalisèrent pas du premier coup, 
toute l’horreur de leur situation: ils se persuadérent que l’on n'avait pas réellement 
l'intention de les déporter. Ils ne pouvaient se figurer qu'il eût pu se trouver un ministre 
anglais à Londres pour conseiller au roi d'Angleterre de tendre un tel piège et de signer 
un pareil arrêt. Et ils avaient raison: c'était un audacieux mensonge. Jamais pareil 
ordre n'était parti d'Angleterre. L'initiative en était due à Lawrence, poussé par ses 
subalternes anglo-américains, qui voulaient à tout prix assouvir leur haine contre les 
Acadiens. 

La révélation de ce fait prendra par surprise bien des lecteurs accoutumés à croire le 
contraire ; cependant elle est appuyée sur les documents officiels les plus authentiques, sur 
les dépêches mêmes du ministre de Londres au gouverneur Lawrence en personne. 

Après la prise de Beauséjour, celui-ci s'était empressé d’en annoncer la nouvelle en 
Angleterre, et, dans sa dépéche, il insinuait en termes assez vagues son projet de déporter 
les Acadiens en masse. 

Le secrétaire d’Etat, sir Thomas Robinson, ne comprit pas toute la portée de ses 
paroles, mais il en fut alarmé, et il se hata de lui répondre: “On ne voit pas clairement 
si vous avez intention d’enlever tons les habitants francais de la péninsule... ou bien si 
vous entendez parler seulement de ceux des habitants trouvés à Beauséjour, quand ce fort 
a été évacué par la garnison... Quelle que soit votre intention, il n’y a pas de doute. que 
vous avez considéré les conséquences pernicieuses qui pourraient résulter d’une alarme 
qui aurait pu être donnée a tout le corps des Français neutres, qu’une insurrection soudaine 
pourrait être le résultat du désespoir, et aussi quel nombre additionnel de sujets utiles 
pourrait être donné, par leur fuite, au roi de France. Par conséquent il ne peut trop vous 





1 Journal de Winslow, p. 94. 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 49 


être recommandé d’user de la plus grande précaution et de la plus grande prudence dans 
votre conduite vis-à-vis ces neutres, et d’assurer ceux d'entre eux en qui vous pouvez avoir 
confiance, particulièrement lorsqu'ils prêteront serment à Sa Majesté et à son gouverne- 
ment, QU'ILS PEUVENT DEMEURER DANS LA TRANQUILLE POSSESSION DE LEURS TERRES, sous 


9 


une législation convenable.” ° 

Cette réponse est en date du 13 aout 1755, c’est-à-dire précisément au moment où 
Lawrence mettait à exécution son complot et déchainait ses limiers américains. 

On voit maintenant sur qui retombe la responsibilité de la déportation des Acadiens, 
Le cabinet de Londres y fut complètement étranger ; il recommandait à ce moment-là 
même, avec la plus vive instance, les mesures de paix et de conciliation. Cette déporta- 
tion fut due au zèle indiscret de ses représentants en Amérique qui, obsédés sans cesse par 
leurs entourages, fléchirent devant leur fanatisme, et, disons-le aussi, devant leur frayeur. 

Il n’y a pas un mot dans cette dépêche qui ne soit une contradiction de la conduite 
de Lawrence. Ce fait est si remarquable que nous croyons devoir nous arrêter un instant 
à étudier cette dépêche pour mieux faire ressortir cette contradiction. 

Et d’abord, elle dévoile que Lawrence avait dissimulé son projet de bannissement 
général: “Il parait, dit-elle, par votre lettre du 28 juin, que vous avez donné des ordres 
au colonel Monckton de chasser en tous cas, hors du pays, les habitants français désertés (de leurs 
terres). On ne voit pas clairement, ajoute la dépêche, si vous avez intention d'enlever tous 
les habitants français de la péninsule, dont le nombre s'élève à plusieurs mille... ou bien 
si vous entendez parler seulement de ceux des habitants trouvés à Beauséjour, quand ce 
fort a été évacué par la garnison ; ce dernier projet parait plutôt avoir été votre intention, 
puisque vous ajoutez, que si M. Monckton désire l'assistance des habitants français désertés, pour 
mettre les troupes à l'abri, vu que les casernes du fort français ont été démolies, il pourrait leur faire 
faire tout le service en leur pouvoir.” 

N’est-il pas manifeste, d’après ce passage, que Lawrence avait dissimulé son plan dans 
sa lettre ? 

Ensuite quelle ligne de conduite lui trace le secrétaire d'Etat? Sont-ce les mesures 
d’intimidation et de rigueur qu'il lui conseille ? Tout au contraire, il lui impose le plus 
strict devoir (i cannot be too much recommended to you) d'agir avec la plus grande précaution 
et une extrême prudence, non seulement pour ne pas alarmer les Acadiens et exposer 
l'Angleterre à perdre, par leur fuite, ces sujets utiles; mais de plus il lui enjoint de les 
rassurer, particulièrement ceux qui viendront prêter serment d’allégeance, et de leur 
garantir la tranquille possession de leurs terres. ‘‘ Ce qui m’a engagé à attirer votre atten- 
tion toute particulière sur cette partie de votre lettre, ajoutait sir Thomas Robinson, qui 
évidemment redoutait les violences de Lawrence, c’est la proposition qui m’a été faite, pas 
plus tard qu’au mois de mai dernier, par l'ambassadeur de France, savoir: “ Qu'il soit 
“ accordé trois ans aux habitants français de la péninsule pour s’en retirer avec leurs effets, 
“et que tous les moyens de faciliter ce transport leur soient aussi accordés. Les Anglais, 
“ ajoutait l'ambassadeur, devraient regarder sans nul doute cette proposition comme très 
“ avantageuse pour eux.” A quoi ila plu à Sa Majesté de faire la réponse suivante que je 
vous envoie pour votre particulière information, savoir: ‘‘ Qu’en ce qui regarde la proposi- 

“ tion d'accorder trois ans aux habitants francais de la péninsule pour émigrer, ce serait 





? Archives de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, p. 279. 


Sec. I, 1886.—7. 


BO L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


“priver la Grande-Bretagne d’un nombre très considérable de sujets utiles, si une telle 
“ émigration s’étendait aux Français qui habitaient cette province au temps du traité 
“ d'Utrecht et à leurs descendants.” 

Voila quelles étaient les instructions émanées du cabinet de Londres. Il n’y a pas à 
se méprendre sur l'esprit qui les avait dictées : c'était un esprit d’apaisement et de paci- 
fication. 

On reste épouvanté quand on les compare avec la conduite tenue par Lawrence. Où 
étaient, de sa part, les mesures de précaution et d'extrême prudence pour ne pas alarmer 
ces sujels utiles ? 

N’ayait-il pas, au contraire, fait tout en son pouvoir pour les pousser à ce désespoir 
dont le secrétaire d'Etat lui marquait les pernicieuses conséquences ? Toutes leurs armes 
leur avaient été confisquées et jusqu'à leurs canots de pêche et toutes leurs autres embarca- 
tions. Quand leurs députés étaient venus à Halifax, dans le cours de l'été, pour supplier 
Lawrence de leur restituer ces objets, ils les avait accablés de reproches et de menaces en 
refusant de les leur rendre.’ Est-il étonnant qu'après de pareils traitements, ils aient été 
effrayés de prêter le serment sans réserve qu'il exigeait d'eux avec la rigueur d’un pro- 
consul romain ? Et ce qu'il y a de plus incroyable, c’est qu'après toutes ces intimidations, 
lorsque ceux d’entre eux qui se décidèrent enfin à prêter ce serment si redoutable à leurs 
yeux, se présentèrent devant Lawrence, celui-ci, au lieu de les accueillir avec une exlréme 
précaution el prudence, et de leur assurer la tranquille possession de leurs terres, les repoussa avec 
hauteur en leur disant “qu'il était trop tard ; et que désormais ils seraient traités comme 
des récusants papistes ” et il les fit mettre en prison? 

Nous le demandons : qu’y a-t-il de commun entre cette conduite barbare et les instruc- 
tions du cabinet de Londres ? N’est-il pas évident qu'il y avait chez Lawrence une déter- 
mination bien arrêtée de se débarrasser à tout prix des Acadiens, ces ennemis invélérés de 
notre religion, comme écrivait le même Lawrence dans la dépêche où il annonçait leur 
déportation. * 





1 Archives de la Nouvelle-Ecosse. p. 247 et suivantes. ? Idem, p. 256. Idem, p. 281. 

Lawrence savait très bien qu'il n'avait pas le droit de présumer de la volonté du gouvernement anglais. Il 
n'avait qu’à ouvrir les dé; éches adressées depuis longtemps à ses prédécesseurs pour lire les ordres les plus formels 
à cet égard, ccmme celui-ci par exemple: 

“.... You are not to attempt their removal without His Majesty’s positive order.” — Archives de la Nouvlle- 
Ecosse, p.58. Et cette reccmmandation à lord Cornwallis: “....We doubt not but that you will continue using 
all possible means that may prevent the French inhabitants retiring from the province.” — Id., p. 611. 

Le cabinet de Londres n’avait pas osé signer l’ordre d’expulsion, parce qu’il se rappelait que la position fausse 
faite aux Acadiens était due à son attitude et à celle de ses agents vis-à-vis d’eux, surtout au serment de neutralité 
que des gouverneurs leur avaient permis de prêter. L’honneur de l'Angleterre était engagé dans ce dilemme: ou 
protéger les Acadiens, ou les laisser partir librement. 

Ceux qui veulent étudier cette question au point de vue légal peuvent consulter une savante dissertation 
publiée sur ce sujet par un historiographe américain. I] démontre que les Acadiens furent bannis, non pas pour 
délit politique, mais à cause de leur religion, et qu’on ne prit pas la peine d'observer les formalités les plus élémen- 
taires de la loi. 

Nous en extrayons le passage suivant : 

“Supposing, now, that the English laws against Popish Recusants applied to the inhabitants of the British 
Colonies — a puint which is surely not very certain and though maintained by a New England Winslow in 1755, 
would have been gravely questioned by a New England Adams in 1775 — we come to consider what recusancy was, 
and what the penalties for recusancy were. 

“The recusancy had to be established by indictment and trial. A person could be convicted only “upon 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 51 


Ah! s'il y avait eu à Halifax un vrai représentant du cabinet de Londres, les Acadiens 
n'auraient pas été bannis, et cette tache n'aurait pas été infligée à la civilisation. 

Les événements de la guerre, qui se précipitèrent durant les années suivantes, détour- 
nèrent l'attention des ministres anglais, et leur firent accepter les faits accomplis. ! 


XIII. 


Quand, aprés la fameuse assemblée du 5 septembre, les prisonniers acadiens virent 
Winslow sortir de l’église, quelques-uns des plus âgés le suivirent au presbytère et le con- 
jurèrent de leur permettre d'aller avertir leurs familles de ce qui venait de se passer, de 
crainte qu’elles ne prissent trop d'inquiétude. Après s'être consulté avec ses officiers, il 
consentit à laisser sortir chaque jour vingt des prisonniers, mais à la condition que les 
autres répondraient de leur retour. Chaque famille devait être enjointe d'apporter des 
vivres pour ceux des siens qui étaient détenus. 

Murray écrivit le même jour à Winslow qu'il avait réussi à s'emparer de cent quatre- 
vinot trois hommes ; et tous deux se félicitèrent de leur succès. Mais leur joie fut tem- 
pérée par les nouvelles qu'ils reçurent de Port-Royal et de Chipoudy. 





“indictment at the King’s suit or a regular action or information on the statute of 23 Eliz. I, or an action of debt 
“at the King’s suit alone, according to the statute of 35 Eliz. L”* Fines were imposed for recusaney, and if these 
were not paid the crown was empowered, “ by process out of the exchequer, to take, ssize and enjoy all the goods, 
“and two parts as well of all the lands, tenements and hereditaments, leases and farms, of such offender... leaving 
“the third part only of the same lands, tenements and hereditaments, leases and farms, to and for the maintain- 
“ance and relief of the same offender, his wife, children and family.” 

The severe acts of even Queen Elizabeth went no further. There was no provision by which the wife and 
children were punished for the offence of the father, nor was he deprived of all his lands. And even on conviction 
of recusancy, new proceedings were required before the crown could occupy the lands. “ But as to lands and 
“ tenements,” says Cowley, “ there must first be an office found for the kind; for regularly before the finding of 
“ such office, lands or tenements cannot be seized into the King’s hands.” + ‘The recusant was regarded as a 
tenant fur life, even of the two-thirds, which went to the heir in remainder. The laws did not confiscate the lands 
absolutely ; and these laws gave no authority whatever to any oflicer to seize the recusant and his whole family 
and carry them off. 

“There was no warrant whatever in English law for proceeding against Popish Recusants in the manner in 
which Lawrence and his Council did. And if there were individuals who were guilty of over acts of treason, they 
had power to punish them, but no law of Enland authorized the seizure of property of a whole community and the 
removal of their persons.” — The American Catholic Quarterly Review, October, 1884. The Acadian Confessors of 
the Faith, 1755, p. 596. 


* Couley’s laws as concerning Jesuits, Seminary Priest, Recusants, etc., and concerning the oaths of supremacy and 
allegiance, p. 252. 
t Cowley’s Laws, p. 104. 


! Certains historiens ont avancé qu’on n’avait eu recours à la déportation qu’aprés avoir épuisé tous les moyens 
de douceur. Le cabinet anglais était loin, comme le prouve la dépêche de sir Thomas Robinson, d’être de ce 
sentiment. 

Au reste, la persécution religieuse plus ou moins sourde qu’ayaient eue à subir les Acadiens, et dont nous avons 
cité quelques exemples, mitige singulièrement ce prétendu régime de douceur. Nous pourrions au besoin multi- 
plier ces exemples. 


52 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


Les habitants de Port-Royal avaient eu vent de la conspiration, et s'étaient enfuis 
dans les bois; un petit nombre seulement avaient été saisis. ! 

On a vu ce qui s'était passé à Chipoudy. Le major Frye en était encore tout cons- 
terné, le jour où il fit son rapport à Winslow. Et l’un de ses officiers ajoutait en le confir- 
mant: “ Tout notre monde ici est dans la crainte que vous, qui êtes au cœur de cette nom- 
breuse engeance démoniaque, n’éprouviez le même sort, ce dont je prie Dieu qu'il vous 
préserve.” ? 

Ces facheuses nouvelles firent craindre un soulèvement parmi les prisonniers. Il est 
probable qu'ils en cherchèrent l’occasion, et qu'ils s’y seraient déterminés, s'ils n'avaient 
pas conservé quelque illusion sur le sort qu'on leur réservait. (C’est ce que firent plus 
tard une bande d’entre eux à bord d’un des vaisseaux, dont ils s'emparèrent. 

Les jours qui suivirent l'assemblée, des patrouilles furent envoyées dans les différentes 
directions pour saisir ceux qui avaient échappé à la première arrestation. Les soldats 
tiraient sans pitié sur tous ceux qui cherchaient à fuir. Un habitant du nom de Melançon, 
parait-il, ayant aperçu une des patrouilles dans le voisinage de sa maison, s'était élancé sur 
un de ses chevaux pour gagner le bois; mais une balle était venue l’atteindre et le jeter 
mort sur la route. Plusieurs autres eurent le même sort. Bientôt l’église de Grand-Pré, 
qui avait été convertie en prison, fut encombrée de près de cinq cents des malheureux 
Acadiens. 

L’enceinte palissadée servait de préau, où, durant le jour, un certain nombre avaient 
la permission d’errer à tour de rôle, sous l'œil des sentinelles, qui avaient ordre de tirer 
sur quiconque ferait mine de vouloir s'évader. 

On ne peut lire sans attendrissement la requête que les Acadiens présentèrent à Wins- 
low, peu de jours après leur détention. 

Il est de mode parmi leurs adversaires de les qualifier d’ignorants, d'hommes inférieurs, 
dénués de sentiments élevés. On va voir par cette requête admirable dans sa simplicité, 
quelle distance il y avait entre eux et leurs bourreaux. 

“ A Ja vue, disaient-ils, des maux qui semblent nous menacer de tous côtés, nous 
sommes obligés de réclamer votre protection et de vous prier d'intercéder auprès de Sa 
Majesté, afin qu’elle ait égard à ceux d’entre nous qui ont inviolablement gardé la fidélité 
et la soumission promises à Sa Majesté ; et, comme vous nous avez donné à entendre que 
le roi a ordonné de nous transporter hors de cette province, nous supplions que, s’il nous 
faut abandonner nos propriétés, il nous soit au moins permis d'aller dans les endroits où 
nous trouverons des compatriotes, le tout à nos propres frais; et qu'il nous soit accordé 








1 Le passage suivant d’une lettre de M. l'abbé LeGuerne, qui, comme on le sait, était missionnaire de Mem- 
ramcook, Peticoudiac et Chipoudy, révèle quelque chose des moyens perfides qu’on avait employés pour attirer les 
Acadiens. 

.... I] n’est point de trahisons dont l'Anglais ne se soit servi contre l'habitant, soit pour l'emmener, soit 
pour sonder ses intentions.... C’étaient des espérances des plus flatteuses... la paix ramènerait un chacun sur 
son ancienne habitation... 

... Le commandant anglais par ses promesses séduisantes, des offres captieuses, et par des présents même... 
avait cru me mettre dans ses intérêts. Se croyant donc assuré de moi, il me manda qu'il souhaitait de me voir 
incessamment. Je me gardai bien des embüches qu'il me tendait; à une lettre où il me pressait encore de bannir 
toute defiance et de me rendre au fort (Beauséjour), je répondis que je me souvenais que M. Maillard avait été 
embarqué malsré une assurance positive d’un gouverneur anglais, et que j’estimais mieux me retirer que de m’ex- 
poser en aucune manière.” — 10 mars, 1756. 

> Journal de Winslow, p. 102. 


—E—————e— CC CO 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 53 


un temps convenable pour cela, d'autant plus que par ce moyen nous pourrons conserver 
notre religion que nous avons profondément à cœur, et pour laquelle nous sommes con- 
tents de sacrifier nos biens.” ' 

Winslow, qui a couché cette requête dans son journal, n’a pas même soupçonné la su- 
blimité des sentiments qu’elle exprimait. Après l'avoir transcrite, il passe à l'ordre du jour 
sans ajouter un mot. 

Winslow était également resté sourd à toutes les supplications des femmes et des en- 
fants. Voyant les plus hardis s’indigner ouvertement et se concerter ensemble, il craignit 
qu'ils ne vinssent a se porter à quelque acte de désespoir, et, sur l'avis de ses officiers, il 
résolut de profiter de l’arrivée de cinq vaisseaux de Boston qui venaient d’ancrer à l’em- 
bouchure de la rivière Gaspareaux, pour faire monter sur chacun d’eux cinquante des 
captifs. 

Dans la matinée du 10 septembre, la garnison fut appelée sous les armes, et placée 
derrière le presbytère en colonnes adossées à l’un des longs pans de l’église qui faisait face 
aux deux portes de l'enceinte palissadée. Winslow fit alors venir celui des anciens, connu 
sous le nom de père Landry, qui, sachant le mieux l'anglais, servait ordinairement d’inter- 
prète, et il lui dit d’avertir les siens que deux cent cinquante d’entre eux seraient embar- 
qués immédiatement, et qu'on commencerait par les jeunes gens, qu'ils n'avaient qu'une 
heure de délai pour se préparer, parce que la marée était sur le point de baisser. “ Landry 
fut extrémement surpris, ajoute Winslow ; mais je lui dis qu'il fallait que la chose fut 
faite, et que j'allais donner mes ordres.” ? 

Les prisonniers furent amenés devant la garnison, et mis en lignes, six hommes de 
front. Alors les officiers firent sortir des rangs tous les jeunes gens non mariés au nombre 
de cent quarante et un, et, après les avoir mis par ordre, ils les firent envelopper par quatre- 
vingts soldats détachés de la garnison sous le commandement du capitaine Adams. 

Jusqu'à ce moment tous ces malheureux s'étaient soumis sans résistance ; mais, quand 
on voulut leur ordonner de marcher vers le rivage pour y être embarqués, ils se récrièrent 
et refusèrent d’obeir. On eut beau les commander et les menacer, tous s’obstinérent dans 
leur révolte avec des cris et une agitation extrêmes, disant avec raison que, par ce procédé 
barbare, on séparait le fils du père, le frère du frère. Ce fut là le commencement de cette 
dislocation des familles, qui n’a pas d’excuse, et qui a marqué d’une tache ineflacable le 
nom de ses auteurs. 

Quand on sait qu’une partie de ces jeunes gens n'étaient que des enfants de dix à 
douze ans, et par conséquent bien moins redoutables que des hommes mariés dans la force 
de l'âge et qui avaient de plus grands intérêts à sauvegarder, on ne peut comprendre ce 
raffinement de cruauté. 

Il faut laisser Winslow lui-même raconter cet incident : “ J’ordonnai aux prisonniers 
de marcher. Tous répondirent qu'ils ne partiraient pas sans leurs pères. Je leur dis que 
c'élait une parole que je ne comprenais pas, car le commandement du roi était pour moi 
absolu et devait être obéi absolument, et que je n’aimais pas les mesures de rigueur, mais 








1 Journal de Winslow, p. 112. 

On ne dira pas que c'étaient les prêtres qui avaient dicté cette requête aux Acadiens ; il n’y en avait pas dans 
les environs. MM. Chauvreulx, Daulin, LeMaire et Maillard avaient été faits prisonniers ; LeGuerne était fugitif, 
avec la plupart de ses paroissiens, vers le fond de la baie ; et Desenclaves, avec les siens, du côté du Cap-Sable, 

2 Journal de Winslow, p. 109. 


54 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


que le temps n’admettait pas de pourparlers ou de délais, alors j'orlonnai à toutes les 
troupes de charger à la baionnette et de s’avancer sur les Français. Je comman- 
dai moi-même aux quatre rangées de droite des prisonniers, composées de vingt- 
quatre hommes, de se séparer du reste ; je saisis l’un d’entre eux qui empéchait les autres 
d'avancer, et je lui ordonnai de marcher. Il obéit.”' Le reste des jeunes gens se rési- 
gnèrent à suivre, mais non sans résistance, et avec des lamentations qui firent mal à 
Winslow lui-même. Une foule de femmes et d'enfants, parmi lesquels se trouvaient les 
mères, les sœurs, les fiancées de ces infortunés, étaient témoins de cette scène déchirante et 
en augmentaient la confusion par leurs gémissements et leurs supplications. 

De l’église au lieu de l’embarquement la distance n’est pas moins d’un mille et demi. 
Elles s’attachérent à leurs pas pendant tout ce trajet, en priant, pleurant, s’agenouillant, 
leur faisant des adieux, essayant de les saisir par leurs vêtements pour les embrasser une 
dernière fois. 

Une autre escouade, composée de cent hommes mariés, fut embarquée aussitôt après 
la première, au milieu des mêmes scènes. Des pères s’informaient de leurs femmes restées 
sur le rivage où étaient leurs fils, des frères, où étaient leurs frères, qui venaient d'être 
conduits dans les navires ; et ils suppliaient les officiers de les réunir. Pour toute réponse, 
les soldats pointaient leurs baionnettes et les poussaient dans les chaloupes. 

Chaque famille eut ordre de nourrir les siens à bord, comme elle avait fait à l'église. 


XIV 


En lisant les instructions de Lawrence, on est naturellement porté à croire qu'il ait 
au moins recommandé de ne pas séparer les membres d'une même famille en les dépor- 
tant; mais il n’en est nullement question, pas plus que dans les rapports que lui adressait 
Winslow. ? 

Lawrence avait d’autres préoccupations : une de celles qu'il avait le plus à cœur, 
était de se faire choisir les plus beaux chevaux dans les écuries des Acadiens. Il avait 








1...‘ Order ye prisoners to march. They all answered they would not go without their fathers. I told 
them that was a word I did not understand, for that the King’s command was to me absolute and should be 
absolutely obeyed and that I did not love to use harsh means, but that the time did not admit of parlies or delays, 
and then ordered the whole troops to fix their bayonets and advance towards the French, and bid the 4 right-hand 
files of the prisoners consisting of 24 men, which I told of myself to devied from the rest, one of whom I took hold 
(two opposed the marching ) and bid march: he obeyed and the rest followed, though slowly, and went of praying, 
singing, and crying, being met by the women and children all the way ( which is 14 mile) with great lamentations 
upon their knees, praying, &c. — Journal de Winslow, p. 109. On a conservé l'orthographe de l’auteur. 

* Dans le mémoire secret adressé par Lawrence à Murray, on lit le passage suivant gui n’a pas besoin de com- 
mentaires : 

“Take an opportunity of acquainting the inhabitants that if any attempt by indians or others to Destroye or 
otherwise Molest his Majestys Troops, you have my orders to take an Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth and in 
Shorte Life for Life from the nearest Nighbours where such Mischiefe is Performed,” 

“Choisissez une occasion pour prévenir les habitants que s’il se fait aucune tentative de la part des sauvages 
ou autres pour détruire ou molester de quelque maniére les troupes de Sa Majesté, vous avez mes ordres de 
prendre ceil pour œil, dent pour dent, en un mot vie pour vie sur les plus proches voisins du lieu où s’accomplira 
tel méfait.” 





UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 55 


donné tout exprès, pour cela, un sauf-conduit à un nommé Moïse LesDerniers qui fit une 
levée dans les différentes paroisses. ' 

Murray, que Lawrence avait chargé de lui rendre le même service, écrivait à Wins- 
low: “J'ai vu plusieurs chevaux, mais je n’en ai trouvé aucun qui, je pense, puisse lui 
plaire, je suis informé aujourd'hui qu'il y a un cheval noir appartenant à un nommé 
Amand Gros, de Grand-Pré, qui, me dit-on, sera un cheval de selle qui conviendra à son 
goût. Je désire donc que vous soyez assez bon que d’ordonner à René Leblane, fils, ou à 
quelques autres Français, de s’en emparer et de me l’amener. ” 

Winslow espérait que les transports destinés à recevoir toute la population ne tarde- 
raient pas à arriver ; mais il fut trompé dans son attente. Sept de ces transports, expédiés 
de Port-Royal, n’entrérent dans le bassin des Mines qu'aux premiers jours d'octobre. 

Quelle que fut la dureté de Winslow pour les habitants de Grand-Pré, elle n’était 
rien comparée à celle que Murray montra à Pisiquid. Elle n’était rien surtout comparée 
à la brutalité des soldats anglo-américains qu'inspiraient une haine invétérée et des luttes 
sanglantes contre les Acadiens. Winslow finit par en être indigné, et ces désordres allèrent 
si loin qu'il dût publier un ordre du jour défendant, sous peine de châtiment sommaire, à 
tous soldats et matelots de quitter leurs quartiers, afin, disait-il, de mettre fin aux dé- 
tresses d'un peuple en détresse. * : 

Trois des transports furent détachés du convoi et envoyés à Pisiquid, où, depuis des 
semaines, Murray les attendait avec impatience. Dans la lettre qu’il écrivait à Winslow pour 
lui annoncer leur arrivée, se trouve un passage où d’un trait il se peint lui-même: 
“ Aussitôt que j'aurai dépéché mes vauriens (my rascals) je descendrai pour arranger nos 
affaires et me reposer un peu avec vous.” * 

Il écrivait quelques jours auparavant : “J'ai hâte de voir embarquer ces pauvres 
misérables.… Alors je me donnerai le plaisir de vous rencontrer et de boire à leur bon 
voyage. ° 

Dès que tout fut préparé pour le départ, le commandant fit une proclamation ordon- 
nant aux habitants de se tenir prêts pour le huit octobre. Winslow avait annoncé dans 
l'assemblée du cinq septembre que les familles ne seraient pas divisées et que les habi- 
tants de chaque village seraient, autant que possible, embarqués sur les mêmes navires. 
On a vu, par ce qui s'était passé lors du premier embarquement, ce que valaient ces pro- 
messes. Au reste, nous avons sous la main une masse de faits, recueillis parmi les descen- 
dants des Acadiens, qui prouvent que le nombre des familles démembrées fut considé- 
rable. 


Tel était l'attachement de ces pauvres gens pour leur pays, que, malgré les déclara- 





1 Permit the Bearer Moses LesDerniers to go to Grand-Pré, to the Rivers Cannard and Habitant to look for 
some horses for the use of the lieutenant governor and bring the same to this Fort. 

Fort Edward 3rd september 1755. A Murray, to all concerned. 

The number of horses mentioned above are six, AGS Me 

Autre sauf-conduit au même par Winslow, 4 septembre. — Journal de Winslow, p. 91-93. 

Cette date du 4 septembre est à remarquer: c'était la veille de l’assemblée où tous les biens des Acadiens 
allaient être confisqués au profit de la couronne. Lawrence n'avait pas voulu perdre l’occasion d’être le premier 
à mettre la main impunément sur ce qu’il y trouvait de plus précieux. On saisit ici sur le fait l'esprit qui animait 
l'organisateur de l'expédition : on connaît celui des subalternes. : 

* Journal de Winslow, p. 108. 8 Idem, p. 113. 

* Idem, p. 171. 5 Idem, p. 108. 


56 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


tions les plus formelles, réitérées durant tout un mois, ils s’obstinaient encore à se faire 
illusion, et gardaient quelque espoir de n’étre pas déportés. Ce ne fut qu’au dernier 
moment qu'ils ouvrirent les yeux. 

I] faut renoncer a décrire les scénes de cette lamentable journée du 8 octobre. On 
a peine à entendre même les récits imparfaits qu'en font aujourd'hui les petits-fils des 
exilés. C’est cette journée du 8 octobre qui leur est restée dans l'esprit, quand ils parlent 
parlent de l’année du grand dérangement. 

Dès le matin de ce jour, des foules de femmes et d'enfants, venues de toutes les direc- 
tions, depuis la rivière Gaspareaux jusqu'à Grand-Pré, des vieillards décrépits, des malades, 
des infirmes, trainés dans des charrettes encombrées d’effets de ménage, des mères por- 
tant leurs nouveaux-nés dans leurs bras, étaient poussés vers la Grand’Prée par des 
escouades de soldats sans pitié. Le chemin qui conduisait a travers cette grande plaine 
jusqu’au bord de la digue où se faisait l'embarquement, fut bientôt tout grouillant de 
cette masse d'êtres faibles et désespérés qui avaient peine à se mouvoir au milieu du 
tumulte et de la confusion générale. Des invalides, de faibles femmes chargées de far- 
deaux, tombaient de fatigue le long de la route, et ne se relevaient que sous les menaces 
ou devant les baionnettes. Les uns s’avançaient mornes et silencieux, comme frappés de 
stupeur, les autres en pleurant et en gémissant ; quelques-uns en proférant des malécic- 
tions ; d’autres enfin, pris d’une exaltation pieuse, murmuraient des cantiques, à l'exemple 
des martyrs.” Les cris des enfants effrayés qu'on entendait de tous côtés se mélaient aux 
aboiements d’une multitude de chiens qui rôdaient autour de cette foule en cherchant leurs 
maitres. 





1 Voici quelques fragments de cantiques que chantaient alors les Acadiens, et qu’on a retrouvés écrits sur des 
feuilles volantes, qu’ils emportaient parmi leurs objets les plus précieux. Une de ces feuilles se conserve au British 
Museum de Londres : 

I 


Faux plaisirs, vains honneurs, biens frivoles, 
Ecoutez aujourd'hui nos adieux. 

Trop longtemps vous fûtes nos idoles ; 

Trop longtemps vous charmales nos yeux. 
Loin de nous la futile espérance 

De trouver en vous notre bonheur! 

Avec vous heureux en apparence, 

Nous portons le chagrin dans le cœur. 


Il 


Vive Jésus! 
Vive Jésus! 

Avec la croix, son cher partage. 
Vive Jesus, 

Dans les cœurs de tous les élus ! 
Portons la croix, 


Sans choix, sans ennui, sans murmure 
Portons la croix! 
Quoique trés amére et trés dure, 
Malgré les sens et la nature 
Portons la croix! 


——— 


UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 57 


Mais ce fut au bord de la grève, à l’heure de l’embarquement, que la confusion fut 
extrême et que se passèrent les scènes les plus désolantes. Tous ces malheureux furent 
entassés pêle-mêle dans les chaloupes, malgré leurs plaintes, que la plupart des équipages 
ne comprenaient même pas, ne sachant pas leur langue; et l’on ne prit pas plus de soin 
pour faire monter les membres de chaque famille dans les mêmes transports qu'on en avait 
mis lors de l'embarquement des jeunes gens. Aussi est-ce en ce moment, d'après la tra- 
dition, qu’eut lieu le plus grand nombre de séparations. ! 

Pour comble de malheur, Winslow se trouva ce jour-là dans une disposition d’esprit 
qui fit taire en lui le peu de sentiment humain qu'il avait pu montrer jusque-là. La 
veille de l’embarquement, vingt-quatre des prisonniers, profitant de l'obscurité de la nuit 
augmentée par la pluie, s'étaient échappés d’un des transports sans que les huit sentinelles 
de garde, ni les hommes de l'équipage, eussent pu lui en rendre compte. : 

En apprenant cette nouvelle le matin même de l’embarquement, Winslow tomba 
dans un état d’exaspération dont lui-même donne la mesure dans le passage suivant de 
son journal: ‘‘ Je fis faire l'enquête la plus stricte qu'il me fut possible pour savoir com- 
ment ces jeunes gens s'étaient échappés hier, et d’après toutes les circonstances, je recon- 
nus que c'était un nommé François Hébert qui se trouvait à bord du navire et y embar- 
quait ce jour-là ses effets, qui en avait été l’auteur ou l’instigateur. Je le fis venir à terre, 
le conduisis devant sa propre maison, et alors, en sa présence, je fis brüler sa maison et sa 
grange, et je donnai avis à tous les Francais que, dans le cas où ces hommes ne se ren- 
draient pas d'ici à deux jours, je servirais tous leurs amis de la même manière; et non 
seulement cela, mais que je confisquerais tous leurs biens de ménage, et que si jamais ces 
hommes tombaient entre les mains des Anglais, il ne leur serait accordé aucun quartier.” ? 

Quand le soleil jeta ses derniers rayons sur le bassin des Mines une partie de la popu- 
lation était rendue à bord des navires. Cinq autres transports, arrivés les jours suivants, 
enlevèrent le reste. Cette chasse à l’homme s'était poursuivie avec une atroce activité sur 
tout le littoral de la baie de Fundy. Dans les environs de Beauséjour, Monkton en avait 
capturé et expédié au-delà d’un mille; Murray, onze cents à Pisiquid; Winslow, deux 
mille cing cent dix, dans des vaisseaux effroyablement chargés; ° enfin Handfield, seize 
cent soixante-quatre dans la baie de Port-Royal. 

Les débris de la population qui avaient échappé aux recherches, avaient pris la fuite 
dans les bois. Le nombre total des déportés acadiens dépassait le chiffre de six mille, * sur 
une population entière d'environ quatorze mille habitants. 





1 De l’autre côté de la baie, dans les seules missions de Memramcook, de Peticoudiac et de Chipoudy, soixante 
femmes avaient été séparées de leurs maris, jetées de force dans les navires. — Lettre de l'abbé LeGuerne à M. Pré- 
vost, 10 mars 1756. Plusieurs de ces mères avaient des garçons qui leur avaient aussi été enlevés. 

Il était souvent arrivé que des prisonniers avaient fait dire à leur famille de ne pas venir se rendre, dans 
l'espérance où ils étaient d’être rapatriés après la guerra. 

2 ,... Made the strictest enquiry I could how these young men made their escape yesterday, and by every 
circumstance found one Francis Hebert was either the contriver or abetter who was on Board Church and this day 
his effects shipt, who I ordered a shore, carryd to his own house and then in his presence burnt both his house 
and barne, and gave notice to all the French that in case these men did not surrender themselves in two days, I 
should serve all their friends in the same manner and notonly so would confiscate their household goods and when 
ever those men should fall into the english hands, they would not be admitted to quarter. — Journal de Winslow, 
p. 166. 

$ I put in more than two to a tun, and the people greatly crowded. — Journal de Winslow, p. 179. 

* Haliburton porte ce chiffre à 7 ou 8,000. 


Sec. I, 1886. — 8. 


58 L'ABBE CASGRAIN 


Dans le Bassin des Mines, les transports, chargés de leur cargaison humaine, n’at- 
tendirent qu'un bon vent pour lever leurs ancres et cingler hors de la rade. Winslow eut 
un moment d’orgueilleuse satisfaction quand il les vit déployer leurs voiles et doubler, 
lun après l’autre, le cap Blomedon. Il avait réussi au-delà de ses espérances. Toute 
cette vaste baie, où travaillait, comme un essaim d’abeilles, un peuple industrieux, était 
maintenant déserte. Dans les villages silencieux, où les portes et les fenêtres des maisons — 
battaient au vent, on n’entendait plus que les pas de ses soldats et les mugissements des 
troupeaux qui erraient inquiets autour des étables, comme pour chercher leurs maitres. 

D'après les ordres qu'il avait reçus du gouverneur Lawrence, toutes les constructions 
devaient être détruites afin que les habitants échappés aux poursuites, privés d’asiles, 
fussent forcés de se rendre. 

Les derniers navires qui emportaient les exilés n'avaient pas encore franchi l'entrée 
du bassin des Mines, quand ces infortunés, qui jetaient un regard d'adieu sur leur cher 
pays, apercurent des nuages de fumée qui montait du toit des maisons. En quelques ins- 
tants, toute la côte, depuis Gaspareaux jusqu'à Grand-Pré, fut en flamme, car les granges 
et les étables, toutes pleines de foin et de gerbes,' prirent feu comme des trainées de 
poudre. Un eri de douleur s’échappa de toutes les poitrines. 

Mais ce fut surtout lorsque les Acadiens virent brûler la jolie église de la rivière aux 
Canards, dont l'incendie leur faisait voir clairement le sort qui attendait celle de Grand- 
Pré, que leur désespoir fut inexprimable.? 

Ces deux temples surmontés de leurs gracieux clochers, et dont les boiseries inté- 
rieures, sculptées avec goût, étaient toutes en bois de chêne, leur avaient couté tant de 
sacrifices! Qu’étaient devenus les vases sacrés, les ornements d'église, dont plusieurs, fort 
riches, leur avaient été envoyés en présent par le roi Louis XIV ?* C'était à la garde de 
leurs églises qu’ils avaient confié leurs morts abandonnés dans les cimetières. Ils avaient 
encore dans l'oreille les sons joyeux des cloches qui les appelaient aux offices des diman- 
ches et qui leur annoneaient l’angelus de l'aurore et du soir. Hélas! ils savaient qu'ils 








1 I] n’y eut guère d’épargné que les blés mis en farine pour la nourriture des troupes et des déportés. 
2’ Batisses brilées par Winslow dans le disirict des Mines : 








Autres 

Noy. Maisons. Granges. bâtisses. 
2 A lariviére Gaspareaux..... a0 soospudeacco. 2S) 39 19 
5 A la rivière aux Canards, des Hebitaute, Perreault. 76 81 33 
6 A la rivière aux Canards et des Habitants ........ 85 100 75 
7 A lariviere aux Canards et des Habitants........ >» 45 56 28 
255 276 155 
276 
255 
Moulins en différents endroits ......,..... soccer etesetmesnecene several 
Eplise ere. 0000213006 00000dquas SHAAODA dd os 196900.33d600 000 50 il 
Total...... Slelstelcloliatetevatelaiieictetetetentets Bodnp000 00000 698 


Le capitaine Osgood, resté quelques jours après le départ de Winslow, brûla l’église de Grand-Pré, qui avait 
servi de caserne, et ce qui restait de maisons. 
% Le roi avait donné en 1705 un calice, un ciboire, un ostensoir en argent massif, et un ornement complet. 





UN PÈLERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 59 


allaient être jetés dans des contrées où ils ne verraient plus ces beaux offices, nila robe 
noire de leurs prêtres ! 

Quand les habitants de Port-Royal réfugiés dans les bois avaient vu, comme eux, 
leurs maisons incendiées, ils n’avaient pas osé sortir de leur retraite; mais quand ils 
avaient vu mettre le feu à leur église, ils s'étaient élancés furieux sur les incendiaires, en 
avaient tué ou blessé vingt-neuf et mis les autres en fuite; puis ils s'étaient rejetés dans 
les bois. 

Décembre était avancé quand Winslow eut fini son œuvre de destruction. Il ne 
s'était pas hâté de prendre la mer, afin d'emmener ceux des fugitifs que la faim et la 
misère forçaient de sortir des bois. Les derniers embarqués mirent à la voile, dans l’aprés- 
midi du 20 décembre, au nombre de deux cent trente-deux sur deux goelettes: l’une à 
destination de Boston, l’autre de Virginie. 

Il semble que Longfellow, qui a si bien chanté les malheurs des Acadiens, et qui, 
parait-il, n’a jamais vu Grand-Pré, ait été assis en face du cap Blomedon, lorsqu'il écrivit 
ce beau passage par où s'ouvre son poème d'Evangeline : 


This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, 
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, 
Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, 

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. 

Loud from its rocky caverns, tle deep-voiced neighbouring ocean 
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest. 


This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it 

Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman ? 
Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers, — 

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands, 

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven ? 

Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers for ever departed ! 

Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October 

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far over the ocean ! 
Nought but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pré. 


“ C’est la forêt primitive. Les pins murmurants et les mélèzes vêtus de leur barbe de 
mousse et de leur robe de feuillage, se dressent, vagues et confus dans le crépuscule, 
comme les druides d'autrefois, et font entendre des voix tristes et prophétiques. L’océan 
voisin jette sa grande voix dans les cavernes sonores des rochers, et ses accents inconso- 
lables répondent aux soupirs de la forêt. 

“ C'est la forêt primitive; mais où sont les cœurs qui battaient comme celui du che- 
vreuil, quand il entend dans la bruyère la voix du chasseur ? Où sont les toits de chaume 
du village, la demeure de l'habitant acadien, dont la vie voilée par les ombres de la terre, 
mais reflétant l’image des cieux, s’écoulait comme les ruisseaux qui arrosent les terres 
vierges? Les chaumières dévastées ont disparu, et leurs habitants sont partis pour tou- 
jours, dispersés comme la poussière et les feuilles, quand les violentes rafales d'octobre les 
saisissent et les font tourbillonner dans l’air et pleuvoir au loin sur l'océan! Du joli 
village de Grand-Pré, il ne reste plus rien que la tradition.” 


60 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


XV 


L'abbé LeGuerne a raconté quelques-unes des scènes navrantes dont il avait été 
témoin : ' 

“ La plupart des malheureuses femmes ( des environs de Beauséjour) séduites par de 
fausses nouvelles... emportées par l’attachement excessif pour des maris qu’elles avaient 
eu permission de voir trop souvent, fermant l'oreille à la voix de la religion, de leur mis- 
sionnaire et à toute considération raisonnable, se jetèrent aveuglément et comme par 
désespoir dans les vaisseaux anglais, On a vu dans cette occasion le plus triste des 
spectacles ; plusieurs de ces femmes n’ont pas voulu embarquer avec leurs grandes filles 
et leurs grands garcons par le seul motif de la religion. ? 

L'expédition dirigée contre Cobequid trouva le village abandonné, et ne put qu’incen- 
dier les maisons. Les Cobequites, (c’est ainsi qu'on les appelait), traversèrent dans l’ile 
Saint-Jean, (ile du Prince Edouard), où ils espéraient se mettre à l’abri de nouvelles atta- 
ques; mais ils n'étaient qu'au commencement de leurs malheurs. 

Ils furent rejoints par cinq cents autres fugitifs des environs de Beauséjour et de 
Tintamarre qu'y fit passer l’abbé LeGuerne. 

La destination des déportés avait été prévue d'avance par le gouverneur Lawrence 
qui, d'Halifax, avait dirigé toutes les opérations. Ils devaient être débarqués dans les 
principaux ports de mer du littoral américain, depuis la Nouvelle-Angleterre jusqu’à la 
Géorgie, c'est-à-dire sur une étendue de plusieurs centaines de milles. Cet ordre, dont 
peut-être Lawrence n’apereut pas toutes les conséquences, fut le plus barbare et le plus 
fatal aux Acadiens, car il mettait un grand nombre de familles séparées dans l’impossibi- 
lité de se retrouver. 

Aucune raison ne peut justifier un pareil acte; il eut été au contraire de bonne 
politique d'établir les Acadiens ensemble dans quelqu’une des provinces éloignées, où 
leur présence n'aurait offert aucun danger, où ils se seraient multipliés avec la rapidité 
qu'on leur connaissait, et où ils auraient fini par devenir les citoyens fidèles de la grande 
république. 

Pendant que les transports cinglaient sur la baie de Fundy, un Acadien de Port- 
Royal, du nom de Beaulieu, ancien navigateur au long cours, ayant demandé au capitaine 
du navire où il était détenu avec deux cent vingt-quatre autres exilés, en quel lieu du 
monde il allait les conduire : 

— Dans la première ile déserte que je rencontrerai, répondit-il insolemment. C’est 
tout ce que méritent des papistes français comme vous autres. 

Hors de lui-même, Beaulieu, qui était d'une force peu ordinaire, lui asséna un coup 
de poing qui l’étendit sur le pont. Ce fut le signal pour les autres captifs, qui probable- 
ment s'étaient concertés d'avance. Quoique sans armes, ils se précipitèrent sur leurs 
gardes, en tuèrent quelques-uns et mirent les autres hors de combat. 

Beaulieu prit ensuite le commandement du transport, et alla l’échouer dans la rivière 
Saint-Jean, près de la mission que dirigeait alors les PP. Germain et De la Brosse. 





1 L'abbé LeGuerne, qui a laissé une relation des événements de 1755, était natif de Bretagne. Homme de 
science, poète même à ses heures, il devint, après son retour des missions, professeur de philosophie au séminaire 
de Québec, à qui il légua sa bibliothèque et ses manuscrits. I] mourut en 1789, curé de Saint-François de l'Ile 
d'Orléans. 

* Lettre de M. l'abbé LeGuerne, 10 mars, 1756. 





UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 61 


Durant les cinq années de guerre qui suivirent l’automne de 1755, toute la Nouvelle- 
Ecosse fut sillonnée de partis d'éclaireurs qui firent une chasse implacable aux fugitifs 
acadiens. Ceux-ci s'étaient divisés en deux courants : l’un qui remontait par étapes vers 
les frontières du Canada; l’autre qui inclinait vers l'extrémité de la presqwile, espérant 
trouver quelque asile inaccessible et des moyens de vivre au bord de ia mer. L’abbé 
Desenclaves, qui avait accompagné une partie de ces derniers dans leur fuite de Port- 
Royal, se trouvait encore au milieu d'eux en 1756, dans les environs du Cap-Sable. On 
voit quel était leur sort par l'extrait suivant d'une lettre qu'il écrivait à Québec en date 
du 22 juin: “ Nous sommes en prières, disait-il, pour obtenir sur nous les miséricordes du 
Seigneur, mais il est à craindre que nos paroles ne manquent de la force d’une foi vive. 
Tout le Cap de Sable avait été à couvert de toute insulte jusqu'au 23 avril, qu'un village 
fut investi et enlevé ; tout fut brulé, et les animaux tués ou pris, et une maison a quatre 
lieues de là eut le même sort, le même jour. Le dimanche après la Passion, on pillait une 
maison et on prit les bestiaux appartenant à M. Joseph Dentremont qui avait été pris à la 
pêche avec un fils à lui, un à sa femme et un garçon du Port-Royal. Il y avait à une 
petite lieue de la maison, mon presbytère et une modeste chapelle ; ils n’y ont pas encore 
été, ils n’ont pas même brûlé un petit oratoire que j'avais où ils ont été, le lundi de la 
Pentecôte. Ils forcèrent sans doute M. Joseph Dentremont de les conduire chez ses enfants 
dont ils en tuèrent un, lui enlevèrent la chevelure, pillèrent leur cabane, qu'ils brülèrent ; 
ils emmenèrent quelques animaux. Les autres enfants ont pris la fuite, tout le reste s’est 
retiré dans les bois faisant garde en cas de surprise. Je compte qu'ils auront de la peine 
à me trouver avec une vingtaine d'âmes qui sont avec moi; nous n'avons rien laissé dans 
nos maisons, pas plus que dans l’église; nous attendons ici la miséricorde du Seigneur. 
Si les choses ne s’accomodent pas, nous ferons notre possible pour gagner la rivière Saint- 
Jean au printemps ; si elles s’accomodent et que Mer le veuille, j'irai finir mes jours dans 
quelque coin de communauté en Canada. Sinon, il faudra que je passe en France d’où 
j'ai reçu des lettres d’instances tout fraichement. Plaise à la miséricorde de Dieu de me 
faire connaitre sa sainte volonté. Souvenez-vous de nous dans vos saints sacrifices.” ! 

Cette lettre laissait assez prévoir ce qui devait arriver : l'abbé Desenclaves et son petit 
troupeau furent cernés, embarqués sur un navire et envoyés à Boston. 

Malgré ces dragonnades, un certain nombre de familles, entre autre celles du bassin 
des Mines et de Port-Royal, qui passèrent l'hiver de 1756 dans le voisinage de la baie de 
Fundy, parvinrent à se tenir cachées jusqu’à la conclusion de la paix, grâce surtout à l’ami- 
tié des sauvages. Ralliées ensuite par les missionnaires, leurs seuls et inséparables amis, 
et rejointes par d’autres familles acadiennes, revenues de l'exil, elles ont été l’origine des 
florissantes paroisses qu'on voit aujourd'hui autour de la baie Sainte-Marie. 


XVI 


Du site aujourd’hui désert qu’occupait Grand-Pré, on aperçoit un bon nombre d’habi- 
tations disséminées sur les hauteurs qui s’arrondissent autour du bassin des Mines; mais, 
hélas! pas une de ces maisons n'est habitée par des Acadiens. Elles ont été bâties sur 
les cendres de leurs foyers, par des hommes étrangers à leur race, qui vivent en paix 
et richement sur ces domaines que d'autres mains avaient ouverts à la culture. Cette 





! Archives de Varchevéché de Québec. 


62 L'ABBÉ CASGRAIN 


pensée me donnait un serrement de cœur, chaque fois qu’en traversant la Grand’Prée, je 
jetais un coup d'œil sur le paysage environnant. 

Avant de m’éloigner, je voulus suivre le chemin qu’avaient parcouru les exilés jus- 
qu'au lieu de l’embarquement. Là, assis sur le talus de la grande digue au pied de 
laquelle venait battre l'océan, je restai longtemps à écouter le bruit mélancolique de ces 
mêmes flots qui avaient mêlé leurs gémissements à ceux des infortunés bannis. J’ouvris 
Evangeline et j'en lus les principaux passages. On conçoit ce que peut avoir de charmes 
une telle lecture faite sur le théâtre même des événements. J invite ceux qui ont pris 
quelque intérêt à ce qui précède à relire le poème d’ Evangeline ; ils se convaincront, malgré 
ce qu'ils ont pu voir de contraire dans des publications récentes, que la touchante élégie 
de Longfellow est en tout point l'écho fidèle et poétique de la tradition. 

9 octobre. — Au lever du soleil, promenade à pied sur les montagnes qui dominent 
Kentville. On y jouit d'une vue à vol d'oiseau de la vallée par où coule la rivière Gaspa 
reaux, et du bassin des Mines, dont on est éloigné d’environ sept milles ; c’est un des plus 
gracieux panoramas de l'Amérique du Nord. 

Départ de Kentville par le train du matin. Le long de la route, comme en plusieurs 
endroits de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, je suis choqué des cris que poussent des attroupements 
d'enfants à l’arrivée du train aux gares ; on dirait des hurlements de loups furieux. Quelle 
différence avec l'excellente tenue de la foule qu'on rencontre dans les gares de chemin de 
fer de la province de Québec. Si de pareilles inconvenances se commettaient dans nos 
campagnes, les réprimandes sévères des curés y auraient bien vite mis un terme. On 
qualifie nos habitants de priest ridden. Je ne sais jusqu’à quel point les Néo-Ecossais 
écoutent leurs ministres ; mais je puis assurer qu ils n’y perdraient pas sous le rapport de 
la politesse, s’ils apprenaient a vivre sous la houlette de nos pasteurs. 

Le chemin de fer côtoie la rivière Annapolis (autrefois rivière Dauphin) depuis sa 
source jusqu'à son embouchure. Voici ia Prée-Ronde, où florissait jadis une paroisse aca- 
dienne. Il n’en reste aucune trace, pas plus que de celle de Port-Royal, petite ville toute 
anglaise qui ne répond plus qu'au nom d’Annapolis. Elle n’a d'autre iutérêt que les 
ruines de son fort, aujourd’hui abandonné comme celui de Beauséjour. C’est le même 
système de fortification en terre, sur une plus grande échelle. La poudrière placée à l'abri 
d'une des courtines est très bien conservée et remarquable par la force de ses voûtes en 
plein cintre, dont les larges et épaisses briques ont la blancheur et la dureté du marbre. 

J'ai pour cicerone M. le juge Cowling, antiquaire du lieu, à qui m’a présenté en 
arrivant un exceilent avocat d’Annapolis, M. Chesley, dont j'ai fait l’heureuse rencontre 
dans le train. 

Le juge, dont la conversation est très intéressante, me dit avec regret que le même 
esprit de mercantilisme ignare qui a failli faire perdre à Québec son cachet d’antiquité 
en lui enlevant ses fortifications, règne à Annapolis. Des spéculateurs ont fait des tenta- 
tives auprès du gouvernement fédéral pour faire mettre en vente les terrains qu’occupe le 
fort. 

— Ne serait-ce pas un crime de lèse-antiquité ? ajoute le juge Cowling. Si l’attention 
du ministre était attirée sur ce sujet, nul doute qu'il ne prendrait des mesures pour faire 
veiller à la conservation de ces monuments du passé auxquels se rattachent tant de sou- 
venirs et qui sont si rares sur notre continent. 

Dans l'après-midi, excursion en voiture vers le haut de la rivière, au petit village 


—— nt dl) 


UN PELERINAGE AU PAYS D'EVANGELINE 63 


d'Equille situé à deux milles de Port-Royal. Sur la falaise très escarpée au pied de 
laquelle coule la rivière, se voit encore des restes de fortifications d’une assez grande 
étendue. Au milieu d'un verger voisin une excavation indique l'endroit où existait, 
paraît-il, une chapelle bâtie par les Français ; on y a découvert quelques petits ustensiles en 
or, qui ont dû servir à la mission. J’ai vu dans le salon du propriétaire de ce verger, M. 
Hoyt, deux de ces objets et plusieurs pointes de flèches et de lances en pierre taillées par 
les sauvages, et qui ont été trouvées dans les alentours. 

10 octobre. — Départ d’Annapolis pour Saint-Jean, Nouveau-Brunswick. On comprend 
pourquoi les Français ont donné au bassin que nous traversons le nom de Port-Royal, 
quand on le parcourt par une journée resplendissante comme celle dont nous jouissons. 
Cette vaste nappe d’eau qui ressemble à un lac, et qui ne communique avec la mer que 
par un étroit passage, est encaissée entre des hauteurs cultivées couronnées d’une guir- 
lande de forêts toujours vertes. Toutes les flottes du monde pourraient y ancrer à la fois 
et y manœuvrer à l'aise. 

Du gut de Digby à Saint-Jean, traversée très agréable par un beau clair de lune et un 
calme parfait. 

Deux jours après, je rentrais à Québec par l’Intercolonial, emportant avec moi des 
impressions et des souvenirs dont ces notes de voyage ne sont qu'un vague reflet. 





SECTION I, 1886. Les] Mémorres Soc. Roy. CANADA. 


IV — Oscar Dunn, 


Par M. A. D. DECELLES. 


( Lu le 25 mai 1886.) 


Parmi les tombes que nous avons vues se creuser en si grand nombre, des deux côtés 
de notre route, depuis dix-huit mois, et que peut-être nous avons, hélas ! presque toutes 
oubliées, tellement ces deuils multipliés finissent par ne laisser que des impressions fugi- 
tives, fT s’en trouve une portant un nom que nous ne pouvons encore aujourd’hui prononcer 
sans éprouver un serrement de cœur, Ce nom éveille sans doute, chez vous comme chez 
moi, des regrets aussi vifs, si j'en juge par ce que je ressens, que le jour où la fatale nou- 
velle nous arrivait que sa main venait soudain de se glacer dans celles de l’ami qui le 
voyait passer, sans transition, de la vie active aux torpeurs de la mort. Vous ne l’avez pas 
oublié, en dépit des événements de tous genres qui sont venus nous impressionner si 
_ fortement pendant ces derniers mois ; vous ne l’avez pas oublié parce que DUNN appartenait 
à cette catégorie peu nombreuse d'hommes dont la perte est un véritable deuil, et qui 
laissent dans la mémoire de ceux qui les ont aimés de longs et durables souvenirs. C’était 
une physionomie d'élite qui ne pouvait rester dans l'ombre ; c'était une nature originale 
qui se détachait en un vif relief sur l’uniformité de la foule ; par-dessus tout, c’était un 
ami qui ne tenait pas à ceux qui l’affectionnaient par ces attaches banales d’un jour, 
nouées trop facilement, et rompues sans peine et sans secousse. Aussi quels regrets dans 
les milieux où il avait été répandu, lorsque l’on apprit sa fin foudroyante! Ai-je besoin 
de peindre la poignante émotion que vous avez ressentie comme moi? Ai-je besoin de rap- 
peler ces exclamations de douleur qui éclataient à Québec et qui trouvaient d’unanimes 
échos parmi ses amis de Montréal et d'Ottawa? Nous qui n'avions pas été témoins du 
coup de foudre qui l’a enlevé, nous ne pouvions plus nous revoir sans donner cours à nos 
tristes pensées. Je n’ai jamais vu l’amitié survivre à la séparation suprême avec des sou- 
venirs plus persistants mélés à des regrets plus affectueux. 

Si, le 15 avril 1885, nous étions frappés dans nos affections les plus vives, ce jour-là, 
les lettres canadiennes et la Société Royale se sentaient, elles aussi, atteintes dans leurs 
plus chères espérances. Elles voyaient disparaître à 40 ans — âge où dans les autres pays, 
l’on commence généralement à se faire jour au sein de la foule —un homme à qui nous 
devons tant de travaux intellectuels, un publiciste qui a éparpillé dans une demi-dou- 
zaine de journaux, à Paris, à Québec, à Montréal, tant d’écrits fortement pensés, d’une 
forme si personnelle, d’une spontanéité si prime-sautière. 

Dunn était une de ces rares individualités qui, par la force de leur caractère, la nature 
de leur esprit, arrivent forcément aux premiers rangs. Marquées en quelque sorte du 
sceau du génie, emportées par une puissance extraordinaire, elles s'imposent à leur entou- 
rage, font accepter leur empire dans le domaine de l'intelligence, Il s'était révélé ce 


Sec. I, 1886.—9. 


66 M. A. D. DECELLES 


-qu'il serait, de bonne heure. “Dès ses premières années au collège de Saint-Hyacinthe, 
me disait un de ses anciens condisciples, Oscar Dunn était un élève hors de pair; nous 
sentions une supériorité chez lui; déjà s’ébauchait dans sa personne et ses manières la 
figure si caractéristique que nous avons connue. Aussi ses précepteurs le surveillaient-ils 
d’une façon toute spéciale comme un élève appelé à de belles destinées.” A cette consi- 
dération que lui valait sa nature d'élite, s’ajoutait un sentiment d'intérêt tout particulier 
qu'avaient fait naître les contestations judiciaires dont il avait été l’objet dans son enfance. 
On savait que, né d’un père protestant et d’une mère catholique, il était resté orphelin fort 
jeune, et que les deux familles, représentant son père d’une part et sa mère de l’autre, 
s'étaient disputées devant les tribunaux pour savoir s’il serait écossais et protestant, ou 
canadien-français et catholique. Cette contestation, qui avait fait dépendre de la parole 
d’un seul homme toute sa destinée, avait beaucoup impressionné Dunn, et elle ne fut pas 
sans influence sur ses idées. Est-ce à cet épisode si singulier de sa vie qu’il devait cette 
aversion si prononcée pour tout ce qui peut provoquer, dans notre état social, des ani- 
mosités religieuses ou nationales ? N'est-ce pas ce sentiment qui plaçait sur ses*lévres, 
quelques minutes avant sa mort, le vœu que les tristes événements du Nord-Ouest se 
dénoueraient sans catastrophe de nature à amener un choc entre les différentes nationa- 
lités de notre pays ? 

Pour un bon nombre des étudiants que nos collèges versent chaque année dans notre 
société, la vie publique se présente sous les dehors les plus fascinateurs ; c’est la terre pro- 
mise, l'Eden que leurs lectures, leurs études littéraires et historiques leur ont fait rêver ; 
c'est l’avenue large et facile où l’on s’élance pour devenir Richelieu, Pitt, Cavour, Glad- 
stone ou d’Israéli. Hélas ! ces pauvres inexpérimentés, éblouis de loin par de rares succès 
que dissimulent à peine bien des revers de médailles, se doutent peu que cette avenue, 
qui, dans leur imagination, mène à tout, ne conduit le plus souvent, dans la réalité, qu'aux 
dégoûts, aux déceptions et parfois à la ruine; ils ne se doutent pas de combien de misères, 
de sacrifices sont tressées les plus belles couronnes que nous offre la décevante politique ; 
ils ne se doutent pas quelle chaine de désillusions portent en même temps ses rares élus ! 
Oscar Dunn, avec sa nature généreuse, ses nobles instincts, ses grands rêves d'avenir, 
subit à un haut degré la fascination de la politique. Mais son ambition avait un but 
élevé, et il était trop fier, avait une trop haute idée de ce qu’il voulait entreprendre pour 
ne pas se préparer de la manière la plus sévère à la carrière qui l’attirait, et où il devait 
éprouver tant de déceptions ! 

I] lui semblait que la meilleure préparation à la vie publique était le journalisme, 
qui, dans les conditions où il pouvait y entrer, le mettrait d'emblée en rapports avec les 
hommes marquants du pays, lui permettrait d'étudier toutes les questions qui devraient 
être familières à quiconque aspire aux premiers rôles du théâtre parlementaire. A peine 
sorti du collège, il passa sans transition du banc de l’écolier au fauteuil de rédacteur du 
Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe. I] fit son apprentissage à rude école. Dès ses débuts, tout 
d’abord très remarqués, il eut pour adversaire un homme qui a été regardé comme un de 
nos plus forts polémistes ; la lutte s’engagea à la fois sur la politique et sur des questions 
de religion. Dunn, armé comme on peut l’étre au sortir d’une classe de philosophie, eut 
toutes les audaces de la jeunesse qui l’empéchaient de se rendre compte de la force de son 
adversaire et de douter de la sienne; il ne poussa pas cependant l’assurance jusqu’à négli- 
ger de fourbir ses armes par des études sérieuses et soutenues. Cette polémique politico- 





OSCAR DUNN 67 


religieuse, qu'il mena plusieurs années durant contre M. Dessaulles, attira les yeux sur le 
jeune écrivain. I] eut bientôt son petit cercle d’admirateurs qui ne lui ménagérent pas les 
applaudissements. Cette gloriole des premiers succès dont se gorgent et se contentent trop 
d’aspirants à la renommée, et qui en perd un grand nombre, ne l’éblouit point. Il n’y vit 
qu'un coup d’aiguillon, un encouragement à faire mieux, ayant trop de valeur, trop le sen- 
timent de la perfection pour ne pas sentir qu’il était loin d’avoir ville gagnée. Aussi saisit- 
il avec empressement l’occasion qui se présenta d’aller étudier à Paris. J] voulait en quel- 
que sorte refondre, sous la surveillance de maitres expérimentés, l'instrument si riche 
wil possédait, le couler dans un nouveau moule, afin d'être certain qu'il rendrait un son 
’ . 
bien français. Il ne fut ni étonné, ni froissé lorsque ses aînés au Journal de Paris lui firent 
comprendre, en lui rendant ses essais chargés de corrections, qu'il lui restait — ce dont 
? =) 
il se doutait — beaucoup a apprendre dans l’art si difficile d'écrire la langue de Racine et 
de Victor Hugo. 
Vous voyez, Messieurs, quelle idée Dunn s'était faite du journalisme et des études 
wil exige chez ceux qui le regardent comme une carrière ingrate, si vous voulez, mais 
5 1 s g ) 
après tout très honorable. Il serait à souhaiter que ses opinions fussent partagées par 
I g P 
un plus grand nombre de ses successeurs qui croient n'avoir plus rien à apprendre dès 
wils ont agencé quelques phrases boiteuses dans un journal, et qui se posent en écri- 
g D 1 

vains parce qu'ils sont lus, la passion politique faisant tout accepter, jusqu'aux choses les 
lus incroyables. Ce n’est pas ainsi que Dunn entendait le journalisme, qui, à son sens 
J ? > 
était une profession, tandis que pour d’autres il n’est qu'un de ces métiers faciles qui se 

peuvent exercer sans apprentissage. 
A son retour au Canada, Dunn fit partie de la rédaction de la Minerve, et c’est dans 
les colonnes de ce journal qu'il mena avec tant de verve et de vigueur, cette brillante série 

5 ? 
de campagnes dont se souviennent encore les dilettanti de la politique. Il arriva bientôt 
à exercer une véritable influence non seulement à Montréal, mais dans une grande partie 
de notre province. Pour ne citer qu'un effet de l’autorité de sa parole, qu'il me soit permis de 
I 


- rappeler que personne ne contribua plus que lui a former l’opinion publique, lorsque ce 
PE que p 5 


que l'on appelle l'affaire Guibord vint mettre en émoi le district de Montréal. La population 
ne paraissait pas d’abord saisir toute la portée de cette cause célèbre ; elle ne s’en rendait 
pas un compte bien exact; et, tout en s’inclinant devant l'autorité diocésaine, elle réclamait 
des explications. Une série d'articles d’une force de logique peu ordinaire, écrits avec 
cette chaleur et cette clarté qui étaient la caractéristique de sa manière, portèrent la con- 
viction dans les esprits ; et l'accord de la raison avec la foi aux décisions de l’évêque cou- 
ronnérent cette démonstration, qui n’aurait pas déparé l’œuvre d’un casuiste. 

Ce sera peut-être une révélation pour plusieurs d’entre nous, d'entendre dire que 
Dunn s'était nourri pendant plusieurs années de saint Thomas d'Aquin, et qu'il faisait 
alterner l’étude de l’Ange de l’Ecole avec celle de l’histoire, du droit et de l’économie poli- 
tique. Il faisait peu de cas de la littérature légère, lisait peu ou point de romans, et avait 
en horreur tout ce qui sentait limitation de la chronique parisienne. Son genre d’étude 
déteignait sur son style. Rarement, il laissait carrière à son imagination. Il allait droit 
au but, visait à la concision, avec une affection particulière pour le trait, le mot qui 
frappe juste. Il excellait à trouver la note exacte, pleine d'actualité, à réduire ses idées 
en formules qui se gravent dans l'esprit, qui peignent une situation; il était arrivé à 
donner à ses pensées une intensité souvent remarquable. Personne n’enlevait comme lui 


68 M. A. D. DECELLES 


l’article d'actualité sur l'événement encore tout chaud ; personne ne s’entendait comme lui 
à arriver bon premier, pour créer au plus tôt cette impression qui reste souvent sur un fait 
tombé dans le domaine de la notoriété publique. Il avait en horreur les longs articles 
qui se trainent d’une colonne à l’autre. Parler haut et peu de temps, telle semblait être 
pour lui la devise du journaliste qui veut diriger l’opinion publique. 

Je ne voudrais pas m’attarder à parler de son bon labeur à la Minerve, mais je ne puis 
m'empêcher de signaler une longue discussion à laquelle il prit une part active: c’est 


celle qui s’engagea dans la presse au sujet de l’université Laval. Je n'ai pas besoin de 


dire que, mettant de côté tout esprit de clocher, toute rivalité de ville, qui paraît mesquine 
lorsqu'il s’agit de l’œuvre nationale et religieuse la plus en vue en Amérique, il embrassa 
la cause de cette grande institution. Il était convaincu, — permettez-moi de dire nous 
étions convaincus, puisque je combattais à ses côtés, — que la cause de Laval était intime- 
ment liée aux plus chers intérêts de notre famille française, et que, si cette institution, 
dont chaque pierre coûtait un sacrifice, ou représentait un élan de dévouement à la patrie, 
à l'éducation, était perdue, la cause nationale elle-même en recevrait une terrible atteinte. 
Qui voudrait à i’avenir se sacrifier pour le pays, si des sacrifices qui se chiffraient par des 
milliers de dollars, si des actes de dévouement qui s’enchainaient les uns aux autres 
depuis vingt-cinq ans, étaient tenus en si mince estime par ceux qui étaient appelés à en 
profiter le plus ? : 

C’est vers 1872 que je devins son collaborateur à la Minerve, et, s’il m'était permis de 
mêler quelques souvenirs personnels à ces pages, je dirais que les années que j'ai passé 
avec lui compteront parmi les plus heureuses de ma vie. Il était impossible de se donner 
un meilleur ami et un plus agréable camarade. Quel heureux temps si tôt envolé! Com- 
bien il a fui trop vite en emportant dans son cours tout ce qui compose le trésor des illu- 
sions et des bonheurs rêvés, mais pas même entrevus! Sans souci de la fortune, un peu 
blasés sur les invites du monde, nous allions gaiment notre chemin, plus heureux que les 
millionnaires les plus enviés de la ville. Tout entier au journal, nous y traitions les ques- 
tions du jour avec entrain, avec plaisir même ; nous nous amusions parfois à y développer 
dos théories sur les finances, que nous ne pouvions pas, dans la pratique, soumettre à 
l'épreuve de l'application, à risquer des opinions politiques qui effarouchaient les amis du 
journal, et que l’on mettait sur le compte des écarts de la jeunesse. De délicieuses pro- 
menades à travers la ville venaient interrompre agréablement nos travaux, que nous 
reprenions à notre retour quand nos bureaux n'étaient pas encombrés de personnes venues 
de tous les points de la province. L'heure du lunch était la plus joyeuse de la journée. 
Autour de la table du restaurant que nous honorions de notre confiance, sinon de nos 
folles dépenses, se trouvaient toujours avec nous une foule d’amis prêts à commenter, à 
critiquer nos articles du matin. C'était l'heure de la conversation lancée à grand orchestre. 
Elle prenait une tournure absolument orageuse, quand Dunn, pour amuser les convives, 
amenait la discussion sur un terrain où ses idées se heurtaient à celles d’Achintre, un 
des convives habituels, qui apportait là toute l’exubérance du Midi, toute la fougue de 
la Provence. Les badauds, attirés par le bruit, croyaient qu'on allait s’égorger. Vous 
voyez leur naïve surprise lorsque, quelques minutes plus tard, après le café, ils aper- 
cevaient les bruyants convives sortir bras dessus bras dessous pour reprendre d'une façon 
aussi prosaique que pacifique le chemin du bureau. Pardon, Messieurs, de m'être laissé 
aller à ces souvenirs. J'ai voulu marquer comment on faisait du journalisme à Montréal, 
en l’an de grace 1872. 





OSCAR DUNN 89 


Comme je le disais tantôt, le journalisme ne pouvait être pour lui qu'une étape. Ce 
n’est pas ici une carrière où l’on puisse s'établir d'une façon permanente. Excellente école, 
le journalisme finit par amener la lassitude, et souvent l’homme de valeur qui s’y trouve 

-attaché, s'aperçoit qu'après avoir poussé la fortune de tant d’autres, il n’a pas avancé la 
sienne. Dunn tenta d'entrer au parlement, à deux reprises, en 1872 et en 1875, aux élec- 
tions générales qui eurent lieu à ces époques. Il ne put conquérir assez de suffrages pour 
obtenir un mandat. On dit que le plaideur malheureux a vingt-quatre heures pour mau- 
dire son juge ; le candidat déconfit jouit d’un privilège analogue: celui de prouver à qui 
veut l'entendre que s’il a été battu il n’y est pour rien, et qu’au contraire, si ses amis 
avaient suivi ses instructions, ou que s’il n'avait pas été trahi à la dernière heure. il aurait 
certainement été élu à une majorité fabuleuse. Notre ami ne versa jamais dans cette fai- 
blesse. Il aurait pourtant eu le droit de déplorer sa défaite et d’en éprouver de profonds 
dégoüts; mais, s’il en éprouva, jamais candidat battu ne dissimula mieux son amour 
propre froissé, et ne supporta mieux un revers. 

Dunn, entrant dans la vie publique, aurait voulu y faire aussi bonne figure que dans 
le journalisme. Le parlement était à ses yeux une illustre assemblée, dont nul ne devait 
faire partie s’il ne se sentait de force à ajouter à son prestige. Mais avait-il choisi le 
meilleur moyen de réussir? Le peuple ne demande pas autant de sacrifices à ses élus ; il 
les veut plus près de lui, placés moins haut, plus accessibles. Comme tous les hommes 
d'étude, Dunn ne connaissait pas le peuple, et négligeait trop les habiletés nécessaires au 
candidat qui veut faire la chasse aux électeurs. Ceux-ci, très indifférents à ces études qui 
avaient tant de prix aux yeux de Dunn, sont plus sensibles aux petites ruses, aux bons 
offices qui vont droit au cœur. C’est pourquoi nous voyons toujours au parlement beau- 
coup plus de candidats élus que de candidats véritablement dignes de l'être. 

Après son insuccès de 1875, il entra au ministère de l’Instruction publique à Québec, 
tout en caressant l'espoir, comme il m'en a souvent fait la confidence, que les événements 
lui permettraient un jour de réaliser ses espérances. Dans cette nouvelle sphère, il eut 
bientôt donné des aliments à son activité et à son besoin d'action. Il ne se laissa pas 
envahir par cette somnolence intellectuelle qui vient trop souvent surprendre le fone- 
tionnaire public condamné, par état, à une besogne routinière, ne laissant aucun élan à 
l'initiative individuelle, et fatale à bien des esprits d'élite. On le vit s’occuper de projets 
qui avaient pour but de favoriser les intérêts matériels de la littérature canadienne, tout 
en contribuant à répandre davantage l'instruction populaire. Ils ont été jugés diverse- 
ment, mais, quel qu’en fut le mérite, ils n’en témoignent pas moins d’un désir sincère de 
travailler à la chose publique. 

Il continuait ses études, et pour y faire diversion, en même temps que pour répondre 
à ceux qui nous accusaient, nous Canadiens-français, de parler un patois incompréhen- 
sible hors de la province de Québec, il publia son Glossaire franco-canadien, remarquable 
travail, qui, malgré quelques erreurs, n’en reste pas moins un des titres les plus sérieux 
à la considération qui s'attache à son nom. Bien accueilli au Canada, apprécié de la façon 
la plus flatteuse en France, le Glossaire aurait eu, peu de temps après sa publication, les 
honneurs d'une seconde édition, si la mort lui avait laissé le temps de la préparer. 

À Québec, cette ville si française par l'esprit et le cœur, Dunn conquit l’amitié de 
ceux qui furent à même de le connaître. Il se fit remarquer dans un cercle qui comptait 
pour membres les esprits les plus cultivés de cette ville si attique. Tous l’aimaient 


70 M. A. D. DeCELLES — OSCAR DUNN 


comme nous l’avions aimé à Montréal. C’était un ami comme il s’en rencontre rarement, 
le cœur et la bourse toujours ouverts, n’ayant que le regret de n’avoir pas la bourse aussi 
grande que le cœur. Que d’amis dans la détresse l’ont trouvé secourable? C'était vers 
les amis dans l’adversité — chose assez rare — qu'il se sentait le plus fortement attiré. 

Brillant causeur, aimant la société des intimes, il apportait dans les réunions la vie et 
la gaieté. Il avait une façon à lui de raisonner; il entrait brusquement en matière, d’un 
ton qui paraissait cassant, et qui pour nous n'était que l’éclat de sa franchise. D'une 
grande fermeté de caractère, plein d’égards pour ceux qui ne partageaient pas ses opi- 
nions, il est resté du commencement à la fin de sa carrière solidement ancré dans ses 
croyances. Catholique avant tout, il se disait heureux d’avoir conservé la foi de son jeune 
âge dans son intégrité. Hn passant à Rome, lors de son voyage en Europe, il avait été 
présenté au Saint Père comme journaliste catholique, et il aimait à rappeler les incidents, 
de cette audience. Lorsque, après sa sortie de la presse, il réunit en volume ses principaux 
articles, il donna pour épigraphe à ce recueil ces paroles que Pie IX lui avaient adressées : 
“ Vous êtes bon catholique ; soyez droit d'intention, et Dieu vous sauvera de toute erreur.” 
Lorsque, pendant les derniers temps de sa vie, quelques ennemis personnels firent planer 
des doutes sur son orthodoxie, il en ressentit de vives angoisses. Dédaignant de répondre 
à ses détracteurs, auxquels il n'aurait eu qu’à montrer ses états de service pour les écraser, 
il écrivit à l'autorité religieuse, de cette plume qu'il avait souvent et si utilement em- 
ployée à la défense de l'Eglise, une énergique protestation pour revendiquer l'honneur de 
sa foi indignement mise en suspicion. 

Hier, en jetant les yeux sur les pages éloquentes qu'il écrivait à la mémoire de Lucien 
Turcotte, enlevé comme lui au milieu de la vie, en pleine maturité de talent, je me suis 
arrêté sur ce passage que je vais vous lire: “ Hélas ! que nous reste-il de ce grand cœur, 
de cette belle intelligence ? Un simple souvenir. C’est beaucoup pour l'exemple qu'il 
nous retrace ; qu'est-ce pour notre amitié ? qu'est-ce pour la patrie, qui fondait tant 
d’espérances sur son enfant? On dirait qu'une fatalité pèse sur les jeunes gens doués de 
génie. Les uns sont annihilés par les eirconstances ou par les persécutions, les autres 
s’anéantissent eux-mêmes par la paresse ou les habitudes, et la mort enlève les plus irré- 
prochables. Remontez seulement à vingt années en arrière; comptez tous les jeunes 
gens marquants et même célèbres qui sont disparus de la scène pour des causes diverses, 
et dites si notre nationalité n’est pas bien malheureuse de perdre ainsi tant de nobles 
défenseurs, sans avoir obtenu d’eux les services qu'ils pouvaient rendre ? 


Le ciel de ces élus devient-il envieux, 
Ou faut-il croire, hélas ! ce que disaient nos pères, 
Que lorsqu'on meurt si jeune on est aimé des dieux ? 


“Qui méritait plus que Lucien Turcotte une longue vie? On serait tenté de croire 
à l'injustice du sort qui ne lui a pas permis de travailler longtemps pour son pays, si l'on 
ne savait que Dieu veille sur les peuples et les individus avec une infinie miséricorde.” 

Ne dirait-on pas, Messieurs, que ces lignes ont été écrites pour Dunn lui-même, et ne 
vous semble-t-il pas que je ne puis mieux terminer, qu'en les lui appliquant, ce travail 
consacré à sa chère mémoire ? 





SECTION I, 1886. 7 A Mémoires 8. R. CANADA. 


V — Les pages sombres de V Histoire, 


Par J. M. LEMOINE. 


( Lu le 26 mai 1886. ) 


La dispersion projetée des habitants de la Nouvelle - York, 1689. — Le massacre de Glencoe, 1692. — 
La dispersion des Acadiens, 1755. 


MESSIEURS, — J'aime à me figurer l'Histoire comme un drame prolongé, varié, plein 
de mystère, où le sombre l'emporte sur le gai, les ombres sur les rayons. Elle a, n'en 
doutons pas, plusieurs phases. 

Il en est une, selon moi, fort intéressante — utile, dirai-je — à étudier : celle où elle se 
révèle au point de vue de la morale, comme règle des actions humaines. , 

Dépouiller les principaux acteurs, si sympathiques, si séduisants qu’ils soient, de 
leurs paillettes, de leurs oripeaux, de leurs toges, de leur sceptre même; les réduire à la 
taille, à la condition de simples mortels, sujets comme nous aux lois inexorables de la jus- 
tice et de l'humanité ; leur distribuer éloge ou blame selon la dictée d’une froide équité, 
n'est-ce pas introduire un changement complet dans la mise en scène, et, pour bien des 
personnages, substituer la vérité aux mirages trompeurs du passé qui les entouraient ? 

Appliquer l’histoire à la politique, c’est-à-dire juger à ce point de vue les actions des 
hommes, est un principe vieux comme le monde. 

Il arrachait, il y a deux mille ans, à un illustre Romain, l’exelamation connue : Discite 
Justitiam et non temnere Divos. Soyez justes et respectez la divinité. 

Ce cri de la conscience humaine revendiquant ses droits, souvent poussé, si souvent 
méconnu pendant le long crépuscule du paganisme, ne l’a-t-il pas été également pendant 
l'ère vantée de la civilisation moderne ? 

Bien des cœurs généreux parmi les historiens se sont cependant insurgés contre l’idée 
de l'injustice triomphante. Plusieurs n’ont pas craint de marquer au fer rouge les turpi- 
tudes du crime en haut lieu. 

Jamais je n’oublierai l'impression profonde que me fit, lorsque j'étais bien jeune encore, 
la lecture du volume du savant académicien Etienne Jouy, “ La morale appliquée à la poli- 
tique,” aussi bien que les éloquentes dénonciations du grand historien Archibald Alison, 
stigmatisant les monstres de cruauté qui souillèrent le sol français pendant la révolution 
de 1789. 


LA DISPERSION PROJETEE DES HABITANTS DE LA NOUVELLE-VORK, 1689. 


On était en 1689 ; l’astre de Louis XIV avait atteint son apogée ; une aurore radieuse 
lui avait assuré des jours sereins ; mais le crépuscule menacait de se faire — lui apportant 
ses ombres. 


72 J.-M. LeMOINE 


Le prince d'Orange, son implacable ennemi, venait de gravir les marches du trône 
de la Grande-Bretagne. | 

Versailles, il est vrai, n'avait pas cessé d’éblouir le monde par l'éclat de ses fêtes, de ses 
richesses artistiques. Trois fois par semaine, dans des soirées d’un éclat sans pareil, Louis 
le Grand, s’étalait magnifiquement au milieu de sa cour, dans son féerique palais, dans ses 
salons fastueux, dits salles de l’Abondance, de Vénus, de Diane, de Mars, de Minerve, @ Apollon ; 
mais, il semblait moins enjoué, quelquefois même préoccupé, se mélait moins aux bril- 
lants groupes de grands seigneurs, aux essaims de jolies femmes, aux cercles d'hommes 
de lettres ; son front était soucieux; il consacrait plus d’heures à son cabinet de travail et 
à ses ministres. 

Il y avait un coin de ses Etats où son astre n’avait pas le même éclat. Cette contrée, 
c'était la France nouvelle d’au-dela des mers, pour laquelle il avait tant fait. De ce loin- 
tain pays. il ne lui venait que bruits sinistres, rumeurs de guerre avec les indigènes, avec 
les colonies anglaises voisines. Nes forts étaient saccagés, sa colonie chérie ravagée par 
le féroce, l’insaisissable Iroquois. 

Les dépêches de Denonville devenaient de jour en jour plus sombres, alarmantes 
même, bien que la nouvelle du terrible massacre, à Lachine, près de Montréal, le 4 août 
1689, n’eut pas encore traversé l'océan. 

Pour rétablir son prestige, il lui fallait frapper un grand coup. Le chevalier de 
Callières, qui commandait en second sous le marquis de Denonville, lui prépara un plan 
de campagne à la fois neuf et audacieux. Le roi l’adopta avec des modifications. ! 

Il ne s'agissait de rien moins que de la conquête et de la dispersion de la colonie 
anglaise avoisinante : Manhatte, sur Hudson, la Nouvelle-York, comme elle fut nommée 
plus tard. 

Au dire de Callières, la chose était facile: la force militaire au Canada suflisait, avec 
l’aide de deux vaisseaux de guerre, pour coopérer sur les rives de l'Atlantique, c’est-à-dire 
1,600 hommes, dont 1,000 de troupes régulières et 600 miliciens. 

L'armée traverserait en pirogues et en bateaux le lac Champlain et le lac George, 
s’emparerait d’abord d’Albany, puis descendrait le cours de l’Hudson, et tomberait à l’impro- 
viste sur la Nouvelle-York, bourgade d'à peu près 200 hommes en état de porter les armes. 








s 


? Empruntons à un document officiel le texte même des instructions envoyées par le roi de France à son 
brave lieutenant, le comte de Frontenac, en juin 1689: “Si parmy les habitans de la Nouvelle York, il se trouve 
des Catholiques de la fidélité desquels il croye se pouvoir asseurer, il pourra les laisser dans leurs habitations après 
leur avoir fait prester serment de fidélité à Sa Majesté... I] pourra aussi garder, s’il le juge à propos, des artisans 
et autres gens de service nécessaires pour la culture des terres ou pour travailler aux fortifications en qualité de 
prisonniers.... Il faut retenir en prison les officiers et les principaux habitans desquels on pourra retirer des 
rançons. A l’esgard de tous les autres estrangers (ceux qui ne sont pas Francais), hommes, femmes et enfans, sa 
Majesté trouve à propos qu’ils soient mis hors de la Colonie et envoyez à la Nouvelle Angleterre, à la Pennsylvanie, 
ou en d’autres endroits qu’il jugera à propos, par mer ou par terre, ensemble ou séparément, le tout suivant qu'il 
trouvera plus seur pour les dissiper et empéscher qu’en se se réunissant ils ne puissent donner occasion à des entre- 
prises de la part des ennemis contre cette Colonie. Il envoyera en France les Français fugitifs qu'il y pourra 
trouver, et, particulièrement ceux de la Religion Prétendue Réformée.” Mémoire pour servir d’ Instruction à Monsieur 
le Comte de Frontenac sur l'Entreprise de la Nouvelle York, 7 juin, 1689. 

Pour les détails de l’attaque sur New-York, consulter les dépêches: Le Roy à Denonville, 7 juin 1689; Le 
Ministre à Denonville, même date; Le Ministre à Frontenac, même date; Ordre du Roy à Vaudreuil, même date; Le 
Roy au Sieur de la Cafinière, même date; Champigny au Ministre, 16 novembre, 1689, etc. 


LES PAGES SOMBRES DE L’HISTOIRE 73 


Les vaisseaux de guerre en croisière à l’entrée du port attendraient l’arrivée des troupes 
de terre et leur préteraient main forte. 

La campagne ne durerait au plus qu'un mois ; elle promettait d’importants résultats. 
D'abord les Anglais seraient écrasés et ne seraient plus à même de fournir, comme par le 
passé, des armes aux implacables ennemis des Canadiens, aux Iroquois; ensuite, New- 
York aux mains des Français, on aurait accès par eau en toutes saisons, et une entrée au 
Canada plus commode que le Saint-Laurent; finalement, la chute de la Nouvelle-York, 
n’entrainerait-elle pas plus tard celle des colonies anglaises de la Nouvelle-Angleterre ? On 
l’espérait. 

Aux velléités de conquête de Louis XIV se mélaient des sentiments qui font peu 
d'honneur à ce grand prince: la cruauté envers les vaincus et l'intolérance en matière de 
croyance religieuse. 

Il y avait, en 1689, en France, un homme de guerre capable de se charger de l’exécu- 
tion de cet étrange projet : l’ancien vice-roi du Canada, le brave vieux comte de Frontenac. 
Louis XIV s’adressa à lui. 

L’énergique septuagénaire fit voile en août pour le Canada, avec deux frégates ; c'était 
deux mois trop tard. 

Le roi lui-même prépara les instructions que Frontenac devait suivre, après la prise 
de la Nouvelle-York. 

On Jui enjoignit de disperser aux quatre vents la colonie anglaise; de la détruire de 
fond en comble ; de séparer, s’il le fallait, et déporter les familles ; d’emprisonner et ran- 
çonner ceux qui refuseraient de renier leur foi; de confisquer leurs biens au profit de la 
couronne ; de réduire les ouvriers et gens de métier à la condition de forçats, et les obliger 
de travailler aux fortifications, si le commandant de l’expédition le jugeait à propos; de 
saccager le territoire de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, voisin du Canada, et de prélever des con- 
tributions sur les territoires plus éloignés. 

Plusieurs causes contribuérent à faire échouer l’entreprise des Français contre la 
Nouvelle-York. 

D’abord d’interminables retards dans l’équipement des deux frégates armées pour cette 
expédition; puis, des tempêtes et des vents contraires sur l’océan, qui prolongérent telle- 
ment la durée de la traversée, que la saison fut jugée trop avancée, à l’arrivée des vais- 
seaux, pour songer à mettre en marche l’armée de terre. 

L’affreux massacre de Lachine, la présence des Iroquois sur la frontière, la nécessité 
de protéger la colonie contre une nouvelle irruption de ces barbares, ainsi que d’autres 
causes firent ajourner à d’autres temps le projet criminel du grand monarque. New-York 
fut laissé à sa destinée. 


LE MASSACRE DE GLENCOE, 1692. 


Le mode sommaire prescrit par Louis XIV pour se débarrasser de voisins incommodes, 
en 1689, produisit ses fruits quelques années plus tard, en 1692. Un souverain voisin sut 
même renchérir sur son procédé. 

Guillaume d'Orange, appelé en 1688 au trône des Stuart, avait lui aussi de mauvais 
voisins, des sujets incommodes. D'abord les Irlandais: son armée les eût bientôt mis à 
la raison. 

Sec. I, 1886.— 10. 


74 J.-M. LeMOINE 


Il avait encore dans son royaume d’autres voisins — des sujets encore plus incommodes 
et tout aussi impraticables : les montagnards d’Ecosse. 

Au sein des ravins et des sombres vallées de la Calédonie, vivait depuis plusieurs 
siècles un peuple qui n'avait rien de commun avec les populations environnantes. Pau- 
vres, illettrés, vindicatifs, mais athlétiques et endurcis à la fatigue et au combat, les mon- 
tagnards d’Ecosse, impatients de tout frein, avaient en partage un sol ingrat, presque 
stérile. Ils ensemençaient d'avoine quelques rares arpents de terre, vivaient de chasse, 
de pêche, etc. De petits chevaux nommés shelties, quelques maïgres brebis, de grands 
bœufs encore plus sauvages que leurs maitres, tel était le patrimoine, les ressources que 
les clans d'Ecosse ou tribus se transmettaient de génération en génération. Une noble 
qualité sociale, cependant, était encore vivace parmi ces farouches habitants des bruyères : 
une hospitalité large et affectueuse. 

Le fier highlander ne ressemblait nullement au paisible habitant des plaines, immiscé 
dans le commerce et l’agriculture. 

Il en résultait des rixes fréquentes entre les deux classes qui habitaient ce pittoresque 
pays, — un état de guerre presque chronique. 

Il y avait de plus entre les divers clans des rancunes inextinguibles. Ainsi les 
Campbell et les MacDonald étaient d'ordinaire à couteaux tirés, avec le grand MacCallum 
More (le duc d’Argyle). Les MacLeod, les MacPherson, les MacNeil, les MacGregor avaient 
aussi chacun leur sujet de guerre; des vendetta de famille dignes de la Corse se transmet- 
taient religieusement parmi ces farouches populations qui ne connaissaient d’autre loi que 
celle du plus fort, d’autre arbitre que la claymore. 

Les Ecossais des plaines —/owlanders — étaient presque tous presbytériens, tandis 
que leurs fiers voisins des montagnes, s'ils professaient un culte quelconque, se disaient 
catholiques romains. 

Les belliqueux “fils du brouillard ” ou children of the mist, comme on les nommait, se 
distinguaient aussi des lowlanders, ou habitants des plaines, par leurs habitudes de dépré- 
dations. 

Sur le chapitre du bien d'autrui, leurs idées étaient passablement communistes : les 
troupeaux, les récoltes, les denrées même des lowlanders et des sassenachs ou Anglais d’au- 
delà de la Tweed, voilà sur quoi ils comptaient pour suppléer à ce qu'une avare nature 
avait refusé à leur sol comme moyen de subsistance. 

Rob Roy, un montagnard type immortalisé par Walter Scott, résumait en deux lignes 


leur credo social : 
“ They should take who have the power, 


“ And they should keep who can.” 


Rien d'étonnant si l’on se plaignait d’eux comme voisins. 

Guillaume de Hollande, tout grand capitaine qu'il était, voyant qu'il lui était pres- 
que impossible d'atteindre les repaires de ces intraitables populations, conçut l’idée de se 
prévaloir de leur misère et d'acheter leur fidélité avec de l'or britannique. Douze a 
quinze mille louis eussent suffi. Ce projet échoua. Macaulay ajoute: “Avec un peu 
d’or on eût pu épargner des flots de sang.” 

Trois grands seigneurs se disputaient la préséance en Ecosse, le duc d’Argyle ( Mac- 
Callum More ), le comte de Breadalbane, son cousin, et sir John Dalrymple, mieux connu 
sous le nom de Master of Stair. 





LES PAGES SOMBRES DE L’HISTOIRE 75 


C’est surtout la sinistre influence de cet habile homme d'Etat qui est responsable de 
l’affreuse boucherie que nous allons décrire. 

Dans le but de pacifier les highlands, le roi d'Angleterre lança d’Edimbourg, une pro- 
clamation dans laquelle il ordonnait a ses sujets écossais de se soumettre, promettant 
amnistie entière aux rebelles qui préteraient serment de fidélité jusqu'au 31 décembre 1691 
inclusivement, et dans laquelle il dénonçait à la vindicte des lois comme traitres et rebelles 
ceux qui refuseraient ou négligeraient de se soumettre à cette injonction. 

Les préparatifs militaires qui accompagnaient cette proclamation alarmèrent les clans ; 
tous ou presque tous se hâtèrent de donner leur adhésion avant le terme fixé; tous, 
excepté le clan des MacDonald de Glencoe. La fierté du chef de ce clan, Maclan, lui fit 
ajourner à la dernière heure ce qu’il eût du faire tout d’abord. 

Maclan remit donc au 31 décembre 1691, son voyage pour se faire assermenter, lui et 
ses vassaux. Quand il se présenta au fort William et demanda qu'on lui fit prêter le 
serment requis, il découvrit à sa surprise que l’oflicier de ce poste, le major Hill, n’était 
pas magistrat, et qu’il lui faudrait aller à Inverary pour être assermenté. 

On était en plein hiver; les routes étaient encombrées de neige; le trajet dura six 
jours. Muni d’une lettre de recommandation du major Hill, il se présenta devant le 
shérif d’Argylshire, le 6 janvier, 1692. Le shérif hésita longtemps, alléguant que ses pou- 
voirs étaient limités par les termes de la proclamation royale, qu'il n’osait assermenter un 
rebelle qui n'avait jugé à propos de se soumettre qu'après l'expiration du terme fixé par la 
proclamation. Enfin, le shérif se rendit aux vives instances de Maclan, et l’assermenta. 
I] lui remit, pour présentation au conseil d’Edimbourg, un certificat spécial expliquant le 
retard. 

Le bruit que Maclan ne s'était pas soumis dans le temps voulu parvint bientôt aux 
oreilles des trois grands seigneurs d’Ecosse, alors à la cour du roi Guillaume: Argyle, 
Breadalbane et Stair, tous trois hostiles aux MacDonald. 

Ils en ressentirent une secrète et sinistre joie. Enfin, ils avaient donc une excellente 
occasion de se venger de leurs mortels ennemis, les MacDonald de Glencoe ! 

En anéantissant ce repaire de brigands, Stair aurait en sus la satisfaction et la gloire 
d’inaugurer toute une révolution sociale en Ecosse. Macaulay, l’habile panégyriste de 
Guillaume III, a soin de mettre tout l’odieux de ce complot à la charge de ses ministres 
et de ses conseillers; puis, il en prend occasion pour rappeler une série d’atrocités com. 
mises par les MacDonald. Il en est qui semblent à peine croyables. 

L'histoire du clan, ajoute-t-il, malgré des exagérations et des légendes, était un tissu 
de massacres et d’assassinats. On répétait que les MacDonald, de Glengary, pour quel- 
que affront qu'ils avaient subi du peuple de Culloden, en cernèrent l’église un dimanche, 
et, après en avoir fermé les portes, brülèrent vifs tous les paroissiens qui s’y trouvaient 
assemblés. Pendant l'incendie, le musicien attitré de ces meurtriers imitait par dérision, 
sur sa cornemuse, les cris de désespoir des victimes. Un parti de MacGregor, ayant 
coupé la tête à un ennemi, lui remplirent la bouche de pain et de fromage, déposèrent 
cette tête sanglante, sur une table en face de la sœur de la victime, et eurent la joie sau- 
vage de voir cette pauvre femme perdre l'esprit, par l'horreur que lui causa ce sanglant 
spectacle. 

On porta ensuite ce hideux trophée en triomphe au chef. Le clan se réunit dans une 
ancienne église ; chacun porta la main sur le crâne de la personne assassinée, et jura de 


76 J.-M. LEMOINE 


protéger les assassins. Les habitants d’Higg auraient capturé quelques MacLeod, puis, 
après les avoir liés pieds et poings, les auraient lachés à la dérive dans une pirogue, pour 
devenir le jouet des flots ou périr de faim. 

Les MacLeod se seraient vengés en renfermant la ne d'Eigs en une caverne, 
et en allumant à l'entrée un brasier qui consuma hommes, femmes et enfants. 


Pour avoir divulgué les auteurs d’un crime, un homme fut lié à un arbre, puis poi- 
gnardé ; le vieux chef du clan lui aurait donné le premier coup de poignard. La foule 
aurait ensuite suivi l'exemple du chef, chacun lui enfoncant son poignard dans le corps. 

Le Master of Stair en était arrivé à la conclusion qu'il fallait traiter comme des bêtes 
fauves ce ramas de bandits. Homme de lettres, homme d'Etat, profond jurisconsulte, il 
ne fut pas embarrassé de puiser dans l’histoire des précédents pour justifier ses actes. 

Stair haissait les clans, moins parce qu'ils étaient partisans de la dynastie déçue — 
les Stuart — que parce qu'il les considérait comme les ennemis irréconciliables de la loi, 
du commerce, de l’industrie. 

La destruction, non seulement des MacDonald, mais de bien d’autres clans qui ne 
valaient pas mieux, signifiait la perte d’au-dela de 6,000 personnes. 

On a de Stair une lettre contenant ses instructions aux troupes chargées de la triste 
mission dont il sera question plus tard; cette lettre est d’un calme et d’une concision 
terribles : “ Vos troupes, y est-il dit, ruineront en entier le pays de Lochaber, les terres de 
Lochiel, de Keppoch, de Glengarry, de Glencoe. Vous serez revêtus de pouvoirs suffisam- 
ment étendus. J'espère que les soldats n’embarrasseront pas le gouvernement de pri- 
sonniers.” 

A peine cette sanguinaire missive eut-elle été expédiée, que la nouvelle se répandit 
à Londres que tous les clans, hors celui de MacDonald de Glencoe, avaient fait leur sou- 
mission au roi; désappointement pour Stair. 

Restait encore néanmoins un clan en révolte ; mais un obstacle s’opposait à la froide 
vengeance de Stair. Maclan, le chef des MacDonald, avait réellement prêté le serment 
voulu, bien que subséquemment au terme fixé par la proclamation royale. 


Par une ténébreuse intrigue ourdie probablement par Stair, le certificat du shérif 
d’ Argyle constatant la prestation du serment fut supprimé ; s’il fut communiqué privé- 
ment au père du Master of Stair, président du conseil d’Edimbourg, il ne fut jamais soumis 
officiellement au conseil. 

Stair, Breadalbane, Argyle ayant, dit Macaulay, comploté la perte des MacDonald, 
ils n'avaient plus qu’à remplir la formalité de s’abriter derrière la sanction royale. 

Il fallait done avoir un ordre signé du roi Guillaume. On avait fait au roi des pein- 
tures si sombres de ces montagnards, que le prince anglais, déjà prévenu contre eux, se 
persuada facilement — s’il y réfléchit du tout — que c'était une bonne occasion de mettre 
un terme aux déprédations dont tant de personnes se plaignaient. 

Guillaume signa le fatal warrant. “Il signa, dit Burnet, mais sans lire l’ordre qu'on 
lui présenta.” Il était conçu comme suit: “Quant à Maclan de Glencoe et cette tribu, 
si l'on peut la séparer clairement des autres montagnards, il serait convenable, dans l’inté- 
rêt de la loi, d’extirper ce ramassis de bandits ? 

Je vous ferai grace des nombreux motifs invoqués pour atténuer cette atroce sentence, 
que Macaulay prête à son héros Guillaume III, afin de le laver de ce crime odieux. 


LES PAGES SOMBRES DE L'HISTOIRE TF 


Macaulay, comme d’ordinaire, abonde en raisons spécieuses sinon convaincantes, et 
fournit un plaidoyer fort brillant, plein d’éloquence. 

Mais hatons-nous d’en venir a la catastrophe. 

Si l’on ett agi ouvertement et employé la main armée pour détruire les MacDonald, 
le mode ett au moins trouvé des apologistes ; l’histoire avait des précédents tout prêts. 
Mais c’est précisément ce qu'il n’eût pas été sage d'entreprendre. La force était impuis- 
sante contre ces rapaces renards des highlands blottis dans leurs inaccessibles tanières. 
On eut donc recours à la ruse, à la trahison. 

Le ler février 1692, cent vingt troupiers du régiment d’Argyle, commandés par un 
capitaine Campbell et un lieutenant Lindsay, se dirigèrent sur Glencoe. 

Lindsay était bien dans son rôle: un front d’airain, une hypocrisie consommée, un 
cœur inaccessible à la pitié, l'avaient désigné à l’autorité. 

Ses relations de famille avec Maclan lui avaient donné de rares facilités pour s’intro- 
duire parmi les MacDonald : sa nièce avait épousé Alexandre, le fils du grand chef. 

L'arrivée des habits rouges avait d’abord inspiré de l’alarme, que le lieutenant Lindsay 
dissipa en affirmant que les troupes n'étaient stationnées dans les environs que pour y 
prendre leurs quartiers d'hiver. On les reçut à bras ouverts ; on l’hébergea lui et sa troupe 
dans le hameau. 

Les MacDonald, avec cette hospitalité proverbiale qui distingue les clans d’Ecosse, 
mirent leurs chaumières aussi bien que leurs provisions de bouche à la disposition des 
troupes anglaises ; les officiers étaient cordialement reçus comme hôtes, admis sous le toit 
domestique des chefs, partageant avec eux les joies, la vie intime de famille. Les longues 
soirées d'hiver s’écoulaient agréablement au coin du feu de tourbe. On s'y livrait aux 
amusements du temps. La partie de cartes même n'était pas oubliée, dit Macaulay. 

La perfidie poursuivait sa course tortueuse. Le capitaine Campbell montrait une 
affection particulière pour la nièce du chef, ainsi que pour son mari. Chaque matin il 
allait chez eux réclamer le traditionnel coup d’appétit —un verre d’eau-de-vie de 
France — don peut-être du dernier des Stuart. Ses relations lui fournirent les moyens 
de tout voir, de bien épier les sentiers de la forêt qui pourraient faciliter la fuite des vic- 
times, lorsque le signal du massacre serait donné. 

I] faisait rapport de jour en jour à son chef, le lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, qui devait 
plus tard le rejoindre et lui prêter main forte à la tête d’un détachement de 400 soldats, 
choisis à dessein dans le clan Campbell, les ennemis mortels des MacDonald. 

Hamilton avait fixé la date de la boucherie au 13 février, à cinq heures avant le jour. 
A cing heures précises, ce 13 février, le capitaine Campbell avec ses 120 séides devait 
égorger tous les Macdonald de Glencoe âgés de moins de soixante-dix ans, hommes, 
femmes et enfants. 

La veille, Campbell et Lindsay avaient soupé et joué une partie de cartes chez ceux 
qu'ils avaient mission de massacrer quelques heures plus tard. 

L'histoire raconte que pendant cette nuit d'horreur les soldats se lamentaient et 
murmuraient. “Rencontrer les MacDonald sur le champ de bataille, c’est bien! s’écrie un 
soldat, mais les surprendre et les égorger dans leurs lits, cela me répugne.” “Notre 
devoir est d’obéir, lui répond un camarade ; s’il y a mal en ceci, c’est anos chefs à en 
porter la responsabilité.” 


78 J.-M. LeMOINE 


A cing heures du matin, Hamilton, retardé par l’état des routes, n’était pas encore 
arrivé ; les ordres de Campbell étaient péremptoires, et la boucherie commença. 

Inverrigen, qui hébergeait Campbell, et neuf autres MacDonald furent pris à l’impro- 
viste, liés et assassinés. Un enfant de douze ans, enlaçant de ses bras les genoux de Camp- 
bell, demanda en sanglotant qu'on l’épargnat. Campbell allait fléchir, mais une brute 
ayant nom Drummond brüla la cervelle à l'enfant. 

Un chef du nom d’Auchintriater, qui s'était levé de bonne heure ce matin-là, et qui 
était assis avec sa famille composée de huit personnes autour de son feu, essuya une 
décharge de mousqueterie qui l’abattit avec sept de ses enfants; son frère s’évada et se 
cacha dans la forêt. 

Lindsay étant allé frapper amicalement à la porte du grand chef Maclan, ce dernier, 
sans rien soupçonner, lui ouvrit la porte et recut une balle dans la tête. Ses deux servi- 
teurs furent égorgés, et sa vieille épouse, alors vêtue avec la rude magnificence due à son 
rang, se vit dépouillée et assaillie par la soldatesque effrénée. Un troupier, tenté par une 
bague qu’elle avait au doigt, et ne pouvant la lui enlever, lui déchira la chair avec ses 
dents. Elle expira le lendemain. 

Bien que le guet-apens ett été préparé avec une habileté consommée, l’arrivée tardiye 
du lieutenant-colonel Hamilton et de ses 400 soldats, et surtout l'erreur capitale des égor- 
geurs, qui s’en remirent à leurs armes à feu, au lieu d'employer le poignard, qui fait son 
œuvre sans bruit, firent manquer en grande partie le sanguinaire complot. 

Les habitants de cinquante chaumières, alarmés par les décharges de mousqueterie, 
avaient pris les sentiers glacés des montagnes. Le fils du chef Maclan, éveillé par ses - 
fidèles serviteurs, au moment même où vingt soldats allaient le cerner, s’évada. 

On compta à peu près trente cadavres, y compris ceux de deux femmés. Ce qui fit 
frissonner d'horreur les bouchers mêmes, ce fut la main d’un petit enfant que l’on ramassa, 
tranchée sans doute dans le tumulte. 

Un seul MacDonald avait survécu; mais, comme il était âgé de plus de soixante-dix 
ans, on avait cru que son grand âge le protégerait ; Hamilton le massacra froidement. 

On mit le feu au hameau ; puis les troupes se mirent en marche, conduisant avec elles 
des troupeaux de moutons, des chèvres, neuf cents bœufs et vaches, et deux cents petits 
chevaux ou ponies écossais. 

Combien de fuyards trouvèrent la mort dans les neiges des montagnes ? 

Combien de pauvres mères avec leurs enfants à la mamelle blanchirent la plaine de 
leurs os ou servirent de pâture aux oiseaux de proie ? Qui le saura ? 

Après le départ des soldats, plusieurs des survivants revinrent contempler les cendres 
et les décombres de leurs demeures, et donner la sépulture aux cadavres de leurs proches. 

La tradition raconte que le barde du clan escalada un rocher voisin du lieu du sinistre, 
et de ce point élevé, exhala ses poignantes lamentations sur ses frères égorgés et sur leurs 
demeures incendiées. 

Quatre-vingts ans plus tard, le peuple de cette morne vallée de Glencoe, répétait 
encore ce lai funèbre. 

Voila une des pages les plus sombres des annales de la Grande-Bretagne; et, si l’o- 
dieux de cette hécatombe doit retomber surtout sur le Master of Stair, le comte de Brea- 
dalbane et le duc d’Argyle, est-ce que la mémoire du souverain anglais Guillaume II], tout 
illustre capitaine qu'il a été, est exempte de souillure ? 





LES PAGES SOMBRES DE L’HISTOIRE 79 


Avant de signer l'ordre fatal, n’etit-il pas dû se renseigner et du mode que l’on pren- 
rait pour ‘‘extirper les bandits” dont on avait à se plaindre, et du nombre des coupables ? 
P D 


LA DISPERSION DES ACADIENS — 1755. 


Voila un problème d'histoire bien digne assurément de fixer l’attention de cette 
Société, mais dont la solution finale, selon nous, devra être ajournée jusqu’au moment où 
nos archives pourront s'enrichir des documents que l'historien Parkman a eu l’inappré- 
ciable avantage de consulter à l'étranger, et qui forment la base de son brillant récit. ! 

Le travail sérieux le plus récent sur cette question est celui de M. Parkman. Nous 
tacherons de l’analyser, en y mélant nos propres commentaires, et sans nous croire tenu 
d'accepter toutes ses conclusions. 

Il en est peu parmi nous qui ignorent les détails de la dispersion des Acadiens, Ce 
qui, selon moi, est moins connu, ce sont les circonstances qui la précédèrent. 

La proscription par voies de fait, ou la suppression des faibles nationalités par la dis- 
persion, n’était pas, comme je viens de le faire voir, un fait inoui dans les annales de la 
France et de l'Angleterre. Le duel à mort pour la possession de la partie nord de ce con- 
tinent, qui se continua près d’un siècle entre ces deux puissances, faisait pressentir que 
l’extermination des premiers habitants du sol, d’abord, puis l’anéantissement de colonies 
entières, deviendraient aux yeux des souverains des deux pays des éventualités fort 
possibles, désirables même. Point important à constater. 

Ce sont donc les causes et les circonstances qui inspirèrent ce lugubre coup de 
théâtre, que je me propose d'exposer succinctement en ce travail. Je laisse à dessein de 
nombreuses lacunes à combler, un champ vaste que mon savant collègue, M. Casgrain ? 
saura exploiter avec son habileté bien connue. 

“Le conflit en Acadie, dit Parkman, possède un sombre intérêt, puisqu'il se termina 
par une catastrophe que la prose et la poésie ont commémorée, mais dont les causes ont 
été incomprises.” 

L’Acadie, c’est-à-dire, la péninsule de la Nouvelle-Ecosse avec l'addition, selon la pré- 
tention des Anglais, de ce que constitue présentement le Nouveau-Brunswick, fut conquise 
par le général Nicholson, en 1710, et formellement cédée par la France à la couronne 
anglaise, trois années plus tard, par le traité d'Utrecht. 

Par ce traité ‘il fut expressément .stipulé, que ceux des habitants français, qui dé- 
sirent y demeurer et d’être sujets du royaume de la Grande-Bretagne, devront avoir la 
libre jouissance de leur religion, selon le rite de l'Eglise romaine, en autant que les lois 
de la Grande-Bretagne le permettent,” mais que ceux qui désireraient émigrer, pourraient 
le faire avec leurs effets, pourvu qu’ils émigrassent dans l’année, On prétend même que 
la reine Anne aurait étendu indéfiniment cette période. 

Peu de colons se prévalurent de ce droit d’émigrer dans l’année, et, ce terme expiré, 
ceux qui restaient furent requis de prêter serment d’allégeance au roi George II. Il n’est 
pas douteux, ajoute Parkman, qu'avec un peu de temps, ils se fussent soumis, si on ne les 





1 Montcalm and Wolfe. Boston, 1884. 
? M. l'abbé H. R. Casgrain devait traiter un autre côté du sujet, à la même séance, dans son intéressante étude 


intitulée : Un pèlerinage au pays d’Evangeline. 


80 J.-M. LEMOINE 


eût pas troublés ; mais les autorités françaises du Canada et du Cap-Breton firent de leur 
mieux pour les en empêcher, et employèrent des agents pour entretenir leurs sentiments 
d’hostilité contre Angleterre. 

Les commandants anglais, à Annapolis, eurent plus d’une fois raison de soupçonner 
que les attaques dirigées contre eux par les sauvages, étaient inspirées par les Français. 
Ce ne fut que dix-sept ans après le traité que les Acadiens se déterminèrent à prêter le ser- 
ment, sous des réserves qui le rendaient presque illusoire. Enfin, vers 1730, la plupart 
des habitants, ne sachant écrire, apposaient leur croix à un serment ' qui reconnaissait 
George II, souverain de l’Acadie, lui promettant fidélité et obéissance. La tranquillité 
régna jusqu'en 1745. La guerre éclata cette année-là. Une partie des Acadiens restèrent 
neutres, tandis que d’autres prirent les armes contre les Anglais, et que plusieurs four- 
nirent aux ennemis de ces derniers des renseignements et des provisions. La puissance 
de Angleterre en Acadie, défendue seulement jusque alors par une faible garnison à 
Annapolis et un détachement encore plus faible à Canceau, s’accrut vers ce temps d’une 
manière notable. Louisbourg, pris par les Anglais pendant la guerre, avait été restitué 
par un traité. Les Français se préparèrent de suite à convertir cette ville en une redou- 
table station navale et militaire. 

Le cabinet anglais, pour contrecarrer cette mesure, se mit à l’œuvre et créa une autre 
station. 

On choisit le havre de Chibouctou, sur la plage sud de l’Acadie. 

En juin 1749, une flotte de transports anglais, y jeta l’ancre, chargée d’au moins 
2,500 immigrants, des ouvriers, des gens de métier, des laboureurs, des soldats, des matelots, 
des officiers licenciés à la clôture de la guerre et séduits par les offres de terres que leur 
faisait le gouvernement anglais dans le nouveau monde. C'était une colonie créée par le 
roi lui-même. Edward Cornwallis, oncle de lord Cornwallis, qui servit plus tard en 
Amérique, fut nommé gouverneur et commandant en chef de la colonie. On assigna aux 
colons des lots de terre; on traca des rues; on bâtit; puis, on entoura le tout de palissades, 
et avant l'hiver on eût pu voir la ci-devant garnison anglaise de Louisbourg monter la 
garde autour de ces remparts improvisés en bois. En 1752, la nouvelle colonie avait 
atteint le chiffre de 4,000 âmes et plus. Ainsi naquit la florissante capitale de la Nou- 
velle-Ecosse — Halifax. En comptant la faible garnison d’Annapolis et les détachements 
des petits forts, pour surveiller les Acadiens et les sauvages, Halifax représentait la puis- 
sance entière de l'Angleterre dans la péninsule acadienne. 

Les Français, toujours chagrins de la perte de l’Acadie, étaient décidés à la recon- 
quérir soit par la force, soit par la diplomatie. La fondation d'Halifax indiquait que ce 
ne serait pas chose facile, et leur faisait craindre également pour Louisbourg. Il y avait 
pour la France un point qui ne souffrait pas de contestation. Bien qu’un grand nombre 
d’Acadiens fussent nés sous le pavillon anglais, depuis 1710, il fallait tacher de les retenir 
français dans leurs affections, et leur mettre dans l'esprit qu'ils étaient encore sujets 
français. 

En 1748, on en fixait le chiffre à 8,850 communiants, soit de 12,000 à 13,000 âmes. 





1 Voici la formule du serment: “Je promets et jure sincèrement, en Foi de Chrétien, que je serai entièrement 
fidèle et obéirai vraiement à Sa Majesté le roy George Second, que je reconnais pour le souverain seigneur de 
l' Acadie ou Nouyelle-Ecosse ; ainsi Dieu me soit en aide.” 


—_——T.CmCre CO 


LES PAGES SOMBRES DE L’'HISTOIRE 81 


L'émigration en 1752 les avait réduits à 9,000 environ. L’Acadie était divisée en six 
paroisses : d’abord Annapolis, la plus considérable ; les autres centres étaient Grand-Pré, 
sur le bassin des Mines ; Pisiquid, maintenant Windsor, et Cobequid, maintenant Truro. 
Leurs prêtres étaient des missionnaires dépendant du diocèse de Québec. C’étaient aussi 
leurs magistrats. Ainsi régis au spirituel et au temporel par des sujets français, et fran- 
çais par le cœur, ils représentaient dans cette province anglaise une organisation cons- 
tamment en désaccord avec elle. 

Bien que, par le douzième article du traité d’Utrecht, la France eût solennellement 
déclaré les Acadiens sujets anglais, le gouvernement français intriguait constamment pour 
les convertir en ennemis de la puissance anglaise. 

L'historien Parkman trouve la preuve de tout cela dans la masse de documents 
officiels qu'il est allé consulter en France, en Angleterre et dans la Nouvelle-Esosse ; mal- 
heureusement ces documents n'existent pas au Canada. 

Ce n'est pas que les Acadiens eussent à se plaindre du traitement qu'ils avaient à 
subir des Anglais. Bien au contraire, la foi des traités avait été respectée. Il est vrai 
que, de temps à autres, on arrétait leurs missionnaires, quand ils s’oubliaient jusqu’au 
point de soulever les populations contre le gouvernement britannique, et qu’on les forçait 
sous peine de l'exil, de ne rien faire pour nuire aux intérêts du souverain anglais; le 
conseil d’ Halifax les admonestait et les congédiait. 

On était en 1749 ; une seconde génération avait vu le jour ; Halifax venait d’être fondée. 

Le gouverneur Cornwallis ne se contenta pas de la formule de l’ancien serment de 
fidélité et d’obéissance ; car les Acadiens répétaient que l’ancien gouverneur de la province 
— Phillips — leur avait donné l’assurance que l’on ne les forcerait pas à prendre les armes 
contre les Français ou les sauvages. 

Il est vrai qu’on n’exigea pas d’eux ce service militaire ; que virtuellement ils seraient 
demeurés neutres, si plusieurs d’entre eux, oublieux de leur serment, ne se fussent joints 
aux partis de guerre des Français. Ceci induisit Cornwallis à exiger une formule de ser- 
ment aussi complète que celle que signaient les autres sujets anglais, 

De là, grande consternation parmi les Acadiens, qui envoyèrent des délégués à Hali- 
fax, mais sans résultat satisfaisant ; ils s’inspiraient en ceci de conseils qui leur venaient 
de l'étranger. 

Boishébert, par l'entremise des missionnaires, les exhorta fortement à refuser de prêter 
aucun serment d’allégeance formelle au roi de la Grande-Bretagne, les engageant à émi- 
grer à l'ile Saint-Jean et autres îles françaises voisines. Louis XV était tenu au courant 
de tout ce qui se passait, et encourageait en sous main les Acadiens à molester les An- 
glais, afin de dégouter ces derniers de leur nouvelle fondation — Halifax. 

L’abbé LeLoutre se distingua par ses efforts contre le gouvernement britannique : il 
préchait aux Acadiens fidélité à la France, et, au cas de refus, il menaçait les colons de 
lâcher sur eux ses féroces néophytes, les Micmacs. Tout cependant, à son dire, devait se 
faire dans l'ombre, afin de ne pas compromettre le gouvernement français. 

Cornwallis,' irrité de ces menées, écrivit à l’évêque de Québec, se plaignant amère- 
ment de la conduite de ses missionnaires. I] l’informa de plus, que, si cet ordre de choses 
continuait, les missionnaires en défaut seraient jugés et punis sévèrement. 





* Cornwallis to the Bishop of Quebec, 1 December, 1749. 


See. I, 1886, — 11. 


82 J.-M. LeMOINE 


Les choses continuant d'aller de mal en pis; un malheureux incident vint encore 
aigrir les esprits: ce fut l'assassinat, par les Micmacs, alliés des Français, d’un officier 
anglais de distinction, le capitaine Edward Howe, au moment où, sous la protection d’un 
drapeau blanc, il s’avangait vers les Français comme parlementaire. 

Puis, vint la discussion, à Paris, de la question des limites du Canada, entre le roi de 
France et le roi d'Angleterre. Après trois années de débats, les commissaires nommés par 
les deux couronnes ne purent en venir à aucune solution satisfaisante. 

Le traité @ Utrecht donnait, il est vrai, l’Acadie à l'Angleterre ; mais en quoi consis- 
tait l’Acadie ? 

Un grand nombre d’Acadiens, dociles aux conseils des Français, s'étaient retirés au 
fort Beauséjour, où flottait le drapeau de la France ; d’autres avaient émigré aux posses- 
sions françaises avoisinantes : le Cap-Breton, Vile Saint-Jean, à proximité suffisante pour 
prendre part à un moment donné, à l'invasion de l’Acadie anglaise. Leurs compatriotes 
qui étaient demeurés sous le pavillon britannique, en comptant les Acadiens des Mines et 
de la vallée de la rivière Annapolis et de quelques autres établissements moindres, pou- 
vaient fournir un total excédant tant soit peu 9,000 âmes. Ils n'avaient pas à se plaindre 
de leurs maîtres, qui ne les maltraitaient pas dans leurs possessions; pour ne pas avoir 
émigré, ils n'étaient pas davantage des loyaux sujets du roi George II. 

La nouvelle interprétation du traité d’Utrecht, par la France, lui accordant plus de la 
moitié de la péninsule acadienne et la presque totalité de la population française, hâta la 
marche des événements, bien que ce territoire eût été en la possession de l’Angleterre 
depuis plus de quarante ans. 

La France, selon les idées du temps, pouvait en entreprendre la conquête par la voie 
des armes. 

L’Angleterre, de son côté, réclamait beaucoup plus de territoire qu’elle n’en occupait 
alors. 

Du côté de la France, une invasion de l’Acadie était probable. 

Le roi de France, qui avait encouragé les pauvres Acadiens à résister à l'Angleterre, 
était, en honneur, tenu de leur prêter main forte dans leur soulèvement projeté. 

La perte de l’Acadie nuisait beaucoup à la puissance et au prestige de la France au 
Canada. L’Acadie était un trait d'union entre le Canada et la forteresse de Louisbourg ; 
son sol fertile, sa colonie de laboureurs industrieux, fourniraient en temps de guerre des 
provisions de bouche aux garnisons et aux troupes françaises ; ses havres serviraient de 
stations navales pour menacer les colonies anglaises avoisinantes. Chez le militaire 
anglais, on disait qu’une escadre francaise chargée de troupes dans la baie de Fundy, 
serait le signal d’un soulèvement général des Acadiens du bassin des Mines et de la vallée 
d Annapolis, aussi bien que des autres populations françaises. 

Les chances de réussite d’une telle invasion étaient bonnes. Québec et Louisbourg 
enverraient des secours aux Acadiens, lesquels avec leurs sauvages alliés seraient en 
moyen d’opposer une armée supérieure en nombre à celle que Halifax et le petit fort 
délabré d’Annapolis pourraient réunir pour aider l'Angleterre. Le fort français Beausé- 
jour était une menace perpétuelle pour les Anglais, qui avaient raison de s’alarmer, comme 
il est facile de s’en convaincre en référant aux lettres échangées entre le gouverneur du 
Canada, le marquis de Duquesne et le commandant du fort Beauséjour. 

Lawrence, le gouverneur de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, était désireux de chasser les colons 


LES PAGES SOMBRES DE L'HISTOIRE 83 


français établis en cette province. La France se servait de ces pauvres Acadiens comme 
de dociles instruments pour pousser ses projets ambitieux, comme des jouets de ses 
caprices et de sa politique vacillante, sans toutefois leur accorder même un seul régiment 
comme renforts. Impuissants à servir activement leur ancienne patrie, les Acadiens 
étaient devenus un embarras permanent pour |’ Angleterre. 

La prise par Lawrence et Sherley, aidés des milices de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, du fort 
Beauséjour où commandait de Vergor, et du fort Gaspereau où commandait de Villerai, 
par Winslow, préludait à l'expulsion complète des Français hors de la péninsule; néan- 
moins les forces à la disposition de l'Angleterre étaient si faibles, qu'il leur serait impos- 
sible de tenir tête aux Acadiens, s’ils se réunissaient tous aux détachements français et 
aux sauvages ; comme ils refusaient de prêter le serment de fidélité, le gouverneur de la 
Nouvelle-Ecosse refusait de compter sur eux. 

_ Les Acadiens, bien qu'ils eussent pour habitude de se dire “neutres ”, n'étaient en 
réalité que des ennemis campés au cœur d’une province conquise par |’ Angleterre. 

Le gouverneur Lawrence, enhardi par les succès récents des armes anglaises, à Beau- 
séjour et à Gaspereau, crut le moment favorable pour exiger des Acadiens, sans distinc- 
tion, un serment de fidélité sans réserve aucune. 

Ils refusèrent formellement de le prêter. Le général anglais parait avoir agi de la 
sorte sur sa propre responsabilité et quant à ce qui s’en suivit, sans les ordres de son 
souverain. 

L'armée, de suite, organisa dans le plus parfait secret, son terrible projet de pros- 
cription. 

Vendredi, le 5 septembre 1755, se consomma le lugubre drame, sinon avec toutes les 
circonstances atroces que la poésie et la légende ont trouvé utile d'inventer, du moins 
dans des conditions lamentables à l’extrême. 

Un peu plus de 6,000 hommes, femmes et enfants, perfidement parqués à Grand-Pré 
et ailleurs, furent déposés sur des vaisseaux, déportés et dispersés dans les colonies an- 
glaises, depuis le Massachusetts jusqu'à à la Géorgie. La proscription dans le nouveau 
monde, rêvée par Louis XIV, se réalisait sous son petit-fils Louis XV. 

Il en est qui cherchèrent refuge jusque sous le pavillon français à Québec, et ce ne 
furent pas les moins malheureux. Des détachements furent dirigés de la Virginie en 
Angleterre, en France même. 

La Nouvelle-Angleterre avait trouvé le moyen d’assouvir sa haine contre le nom 
français. | 

Les cruelles formalités que Louis XIV, en 1689, avait prescrites pour disperser et 
anéantir la colonie anglaise de la Nouvelle-York, qu'il n'avait pu subjuguer, George IT les 
exécuta sur ses sujets acadiens de la Nouvelle-Ecosse ; les pauvres Acadiens avaient com- 
mencé par être les instruments de Louis XV, ils finirent par en être les victimes. 

Pour les bons et industrieux habitants de Grand-Pré, coupables d'avoir trop aimé 
une patrie ingrate, il y aura, Messieurs, comme pour bien d’autres nationalités, une renais- 
sance, une réhabilitation devant le tribunal d’une impartiale postérité. 

Messieurs, en yous soumettant ce résumé de trois incidents historiques fort connus, 
je me suis borné à vous signaler les motifs et les circonstances qui les ont inspirés. A vous 
de les juger. 

Vous aurez, ou je me trompe fort, une note de censure à apposer à chacun. Louis 


84 J.-M. LeMOINE — LES PAGES SOMBRES DE L’HISTOIRE. 


XIV, inspiré par l'intolérance religieuse autant que par la politique, n’échappera pas à la 
sentence de votre tribunal, bien que les circonstances l’aient empêché de donner suite au 
projet atroce qu’il avait formé contre la colonie anglaise et hollandaise de la Nouvelle- 
York. 

Vous aurez également à décider du degré de culpabilité du roi George II pour avoir 
laissé disperser d’une manière si cruelle, en 1755, la colonie française en Acadie, conquise 
en 1710, — du degré de culpabilité du colonel Lawrence, — et du rôle de la Nouvelle-Angle- 
terre dans ce triste drame. 

Mais surtout vous jugerez sévèrement, j'espère, malgré ses éloquents apologistes, le 
grand prince anglais, Guillaume d'Orange, pour avoir autorisé le hideux massacre de 
Glencoe, et cela avec une perfidie peu ordinaire. 

Puis vous avouerez avec moi, n'est-ce pas ? que les peuples ont dans leurs annales, 
chacun, des pages sombres qu’ils aimeraient à désavouer. 


N.B. — Le lecteur curieux d'approfondir la question de la dispersion des Acadiens, 
telle que l’a traitée l'historien Frs Parkman, est invité à lire les deux chapitres IV et VIII 
dans Montcalm et Wolfe, vol. I, pp. 90-122 et 234-284. 


ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


TRANSACTIONS 


SEÉCIMONAINE 


ENGLISH LITERATURE, HISTORY, ARCHÆOLOGY, ETC. 


PAPERS FOR, 1886: 





SECTION Il, 1886. EAN] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


I.—The Right Hand and Left-handedness. 


By Dante WirsON, LL.D., F.R.S.E., President of University College, Toronto. 


(Read May 25, 1886.) 


The hand of man is one of his most distinctive characteristics. Without it he would 
be, for all practical purposes, inferior to many other animals. It is the executive portion 
of the upper limb whereby the limits of his capacity as “the tool-user” are determined. 
As such, it is the essential seat of the primary sense of touch, the organ of the will, the 
instrument which works harmoniously with brain and heart, and by means of which 
imagination and idealism are translated into fact. Without it, man’s intellectual superi- 
ority would be to a large extent unavailable. In its combination of strength with deli- 
cacy, it is an index of character in all its variations in man and woman from childhood to 
old age. It marks the refinement of high civilisation, no less than the dexterity and force 
of the skilled inventor and mechanician. In the art of the true portrait painter, as in 
works of Titian and Vandyke, the hand is no less replete with individuality than the face. 
The unpremeditated action of the orator harmonizes with his utterance; and at times the 
movements of his hands are scarcely less expressive than his tongue. 

It is not necessary to discuss the purely anatomical relations of the human hand to 
to the fore-limb of other animals; for, if the conclusions here set forth are correct, the 
special attribute now under discussion is not necessarily limited to man. But the practi- 
cal distinction lies in the fact that the most highly developed anthropoid, while in a sense 
four-handed, has no such delicate instrument of manipulation as that which distinguishes 
man from all other animals. In most monkeys there is a separate and movable thumb 
in all the four limbs. The characteristic whereby their hallux, or great toe, instead of 
being parallel with the others, and so adapted for standing and walking errect, has the 
power of action of a thumb, gives the prehensile character of a hand to the hind limb. 
This is not confined to the arboreal apes. It is found in the baboons and others that are 
mainly terrestrial in their habits, and employ the four limbs ordinarily in moving on the 
ground. 

Cuvier’s determination of a separate order for man as bimanous has been challenged. 
Man is, indeed, still admitted to form a single genus, Homo; but, in the levelling process 
of scientific revolution he has been relegated to a place in the same order with the 
monkeys and, possibly, the lemurs, which in the development of the thumb are more 
man-like than the apes. In reality, looking simply to man as thus compared with the 
highest anthropoid apes, the order of Quadrumana is more open to challenge than that of 
the Bimana. The hind-limb of the ape approaches anatomically much more to the human 
foot than the hand ; while the fore-limb is a true, though inferior, hand. The ape’s hind- 
limb is indeed prehensile, as is the foot of man in some small degree; but alike anatomi- 


Sec. IL. 1886. 1. 


2 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


cally and physiologically the fore-limb of the ape, like the hand of man, is the prehensile 
organ par excellence ; while the primary function of the hind-limb is locomotion. 

There are, unquestionably, traces of prehensile capacity in the human foot ; and even 
of remarkable adaptability to certain functions of the hand. Well-known cases have 
occurred, of persons born without hands, or early deprived of them, learning to use their 
feet in many delicate operations, including not only the employment of pen and pencil, 
but the use of scissors, with a facility which still more strikingly indicates the separate 
action of the great toe, and its thumb-like apposition to the others. In 1882 I witnessed, 
in the Museum at Antwerp, an artist without arms, who skilfully used his brushes with 
his right foot. He employed it with great ease, arranging his materials, opening his box 
of colours, and “handling” his brush, seemingly with a dexterity fully equal to that of 
his more favoured rivals. At an earlier date, during a visit to Boston, I had an opportunity 
of observing a woman, labouring under similar disadvantages, execute elaborate pieces 
of scissor-work, and write not only with neatness, but with great rapidity. Nevertheless 
the human foot, in its perfect natural development, is not a hand. The small size of the 
toes, as compared with the fingers, and the position and movements of the great toe, alike 
point to diverse functions and a greatly more limited range of action. But the latent 
capacity of the system of muscles of the foot—scarcely less elaborate than that of the hand, 
—is obscured to us by the rigid restraints of the modern shoe. The power of voluntary 





action in the toes manifests itself not only in cases where early mutilation, or malforma- 
tion at birth, compels the substitution of the foot for the hand; but among savages, where 
the unshackled foot is in constant use in climbing, and feeling its way through brake 
and jungle, the free use of the toes, and the power of separating the great toe from the 
others, are retained, in the same way as may be seen in the involuntary movements of 
a healthy child. A brief experience of the soft, yielding deerskin moccasin of the Red 
Indian, in place of the rigid shoe, restores even to the unpractised foot of the whitemana 
freedom of action in the toes, a discriminating sense of touch, and a capacity for grasping 
rock or tree in walking or climbing, of which he has had no previous conception. The 
Australian picks up his spear with the naked foot; and the moccasin of the American 
Indian scarcely diminishes the like capacity to take hold of a stick or stone. The Hindu 
tailor, in like manner, sits on the ground holding the cloth tightly stretched with his 
toes, while both hands are engaged in the work of the needle. 

Such facts justify the biologist in regarding this element of structural difference 
between man and the apes as inadequate for the determination of a specific zoological classi- 
fication. Nevertheless man still stands apart as the tool-maker, the tool-user, the manipu- 
lator. A comparison between the fore and hind limbs of the Chimpanzee, or other ape, 
leaves the observer in doubt whether to name both alike hands or feet, both being loco- 
motive as well as prehensile organs; whereas the difference between the hand and foot 
of man is obvious, and points to essentially diverse functions. The short, weak thumb, 
the long, nearly uniform fingers, and the inferior play of the wrist, in the monkey, are in 
no degree to be regarded as defects. They are advantageous to the tree-climber, and 
pertain to its hand as an organ of locomotion ; whereas the absence of such qualities in 
the human hand secures its permanent delicacy of touch, and its general adaptation for 
all manipulative purposes. 

The human hand is thus eminently adapted to be the instrument for carrying out the 





HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 3 


purposes of intelligent volition. It is the necessary concomitant of man’s intellectual 
development, not only enabling him to fashion all needful tools, and to contend success- 
fully with the fiercest and most powerful animals, provided by nature with formidable 
weapons of assault, but also to respond to every mental prompting in the most delicate 
artistic creations. The very arts of the ingenious nest-makers, the instinctive weavers or | 
builders, the spider, the bee, the ant, or the beaver, place them in striking contrast to 
man in relation to his handiwork. He alone, in the strict sense of the term, is a manufac- 
turer. The Quadrumana, though next to man in the approximation of their fore-limbs to 
hands, claim no place among the instinctive architects, weavers, or spinners. The human 
hand, as an instrument of constructive design, or artistic skill, ranks wholly apart from 
all the organs employed in the production of analogous work among the lower animals. 
The hand of the ape accomplishes nothing akin to the masonry of the swallow, or the 
damming and building of the beaver. But, imperfect though it seems, it suffices for all 
requirements of the forest-dweller. In climbing trees, in gathering and shelling nuts or 
pods, opening shell-fish, tearing off the rind of fruit, or pulling up roots, in picking out 
thorns or burs from its own fur, or in the favourite occupation of hunting for each other’s 
parasites, the monkey uses the finger and thumb; and in many other operations, performs 
with the hand what is executed by the quadruped or bird less effectually by means of the 
mouth or bill. At first sight, we might be tempted to assume that the quadrumanous 
mammal had the advantage of us; as there are, certainly, many occasions when an extra 
hand could be turned to useful account. But not only do man’s two hands prove greatly 
more serviceable for all higher purposes of manipulation than the four hands of the ape; 
but as he rises in the scale of intellectual superiority, he seems as it were to widen still 
further this difference in proportionate manipulative appliance, by converting one hand 
into the special organ and servant of his will; while the other is relegated to a subordi- 
nate place, as its mere aider and supplement. 

There is thus a progressive scale, from the imperfect to the more perfectly developed, 
and then to the perfectly educated hand—all steps in its adaptation to the higher purposes 
of the manipulator. The hand of the rude savage, of the sailor, the miner, or blacksmith, 
while well fitted for the work to which it is applied, is a very different instrument from 
that of the chacer, engraver, or cameo-cutter; of the musician, painter or sculptor. This 
difference is unquestionably a result of development, whatever the other may be; for, as 
we have in the ascending scale the civilised and educated man, so also we have the edu- 
cated hand as one of the most characteristic features of civilisation. But here attention 
is at once called to the distinctive preference of the right hand, whether as the natural 
use of this more perfect organ of manipulation, or as an acquired result of civilisation. 
The phenomenon to be explained is not merely why each individual uses one hand rather 
than another. Experience abundantly accounts for this. But if, as seems to be the 
case, all nations, civilised and savage, appear from remotest times to have used the same 
hand, it is vain to look for the origin of this as an acquired habit. Only by referring it 
to some anatomical cause can its general prevalence, among all races, and in every age, 
be satisfactorily accounted for. Nevertheless this simple phenomenon, cognisant to 
the experience of all, and brought under constant notice in our daily intercourse 
with others, seems to bafile the physiologist in his search for any entirely satisfactory 
explanation. 


“+ DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


To the quaint speculative fancy of Sir Thomas Browne, with his strong bent towards 
Platonic mysticism, this question, like other and higher speculations with which he 
dallied, presented itself in relation to what may well be called, “ first principles,” as an 
undetermined problem. ‘‘ Whether,” says he in his “ Religio Medici,” “ Eve was framed 
out of the left side of Adam, I dispute not, because I stand not yet assured which is the 
right side of a man, or whether there be any such distinction in nature.” That there is a 
right side in man is a postulate not likely to be seriously disputed ; but whether there is 
such a distinction in nature remains still unsettled, two centuries and a half after he thus 
started the question. The proofs, nevertheless, are varied, and at least on this broad aspect 
of the question, as it seems to me, conclusive. The evidence which language supplies 
leaves no room to doubt the prevalence of the habit of using one specific hand for all 
actions requiring either unusual force or special delicacy ; and will be found to coincide 
with still older proofs furnished by the implements and the drawings of prehistoric 
times. Even among races in the rudest condition of savage life, such as the Australians, 
and the Pacific Islanders, terms for “right”, the “right hand”, or approximate expres- 
sions, show that the distinction is no product of civilisation. In the Kamilarai dialect 
of the Australians bordering on Hunter’s River and Lake Maquarie, matara signifies 
“hand”, but they have the terms turovn, right, on the right hand, and ngorangon, on the 
left hand. In the Wiraturai dialect of the Wellington Valley, the same ideas are expressed 
by the words bumalgal and miraga, dextrorsum and sinistrorsum. 

The idea lying at the root of our own decimal notation, which has long since been 
noted by Lepsius, Donaldson and other philologists, as the source of names of Greek and 
Latin numerals, is no less discernible in the rudest savage tongues. Among the South 
Australians the simple names for numerals are limited to two, viz. ryup, one, and politi, 
two; the two together express “three” ; politi-politi, four ; and then “five” is indicated 
by the term ryup-murnangin, i. e., one hand; ten by politi-murnangin, i. e., two hands. The 
same idea is apparent in the dialects of Hawaii, Raratonga, Viti, and New Zealand, in the 
use of the one term : lima, rima, linga, ringa, etc., for hand and for the number 5. Fulu, 
and its equivalents, stand for “ten”, apparently from the root fu, whole, altogether ; while 
the word fau, which in the Hawaian signifies ‘ready ”, in the Tahitian “right, proper, ” 
and in the New Zealand, “ expert, dextrous,” is the common Polynesian term for the right 
hand. In the Vitian language, as spoken in various dialects throughout the Viti or Fiji 
Islands, the distinction is still more explicitly indicated. There is first the common term 
linga, the hand, or arm ; then the ceremonial term daka, employed exclusively in speaking 
of that of a chief, but which, it may be presumed, also expresses the right hand ; as, 
while there is no other word for it, a distinct term sema is the left hand. The root se is 
found not only in the Viti, but also in the Samoa, Tonga, Mangariva, and New Zealand 


? 


dialects, signifying “to err, to mistake, to wander ;”’ semo, unstable, unfixed; while there 
is the word matau, right, dexter, clearly proving the recognition of the distinction. In the 
case of the Viti, or Fijian, this is the more noticeable, as there appears to be some reason 
for believing that left-handedness is unusually prevalent among the native of the Fiji 
Islands. In 1876 a correspondent of “the Times ” communicated a series of letters to that 
journal, in which he embodied anthropological notes on the Fijians, obtained both from 
his own observations during repeated visits to the Islands, and from conversation with 
English, American, and German settlers, at the port of call, and on the route between 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 5 


San Francisco and the Australian Colonies. “The Fijians,” he says, “are quite equal 
in stature to white men; they are better developed relatively in the chest and arms 
than in the lower limbs; they are excellent swimmers, and, if trained, are good rowers. 
Left-handed men are more common among them than among white people ; three were 
pointed out in one little village near the anchorage.” Yet here, as elsewhere, it is 
exceptional. 

The evidence of the recognition of native right-handedness reappears in widely 
separated islands of the Pacific. The Samoan word lima, hand, also signifying “ five ” ; and 
the terms lima maira, right hand, and lima woat, left-hand, are used as the equivalents of our 
own mode of expression. But also the left-hand is lima tau-anga-vale, literally, the hand 
that takes hold foolishly. In the case of the Samoans, it may be added, as well as among 
the natives of New Britain, and other of the Pacific Islands, the favoured hand corres- 
ponds with our right hand. My informant, the Rev. George Brown, for fourteen years a 
missionary in Polynesia, states that the distinction of right and left hand is as marked as 
among Europeans ; and left-handedness is altogether exceptional. In the Terawan lan- 
guage, which is spoken throughout the group of islands on the equator called the 
Kingsmill Archipelago, the terms atai or edai, right, dexter, (entirely distinct from rapa, 
good, right.) and maan, left, sinister, are applied to bai, or pai, the hand, to denote the 
difference, e. g., te bai maan, the left hand, literally, the “ dirty hand,” that which is not used 
in eating. The languages of our American continent furnish similar evidence of the 
recognition of the distinction among its hunter-tribes. In the Chippeway the word for 
my “right-hand” is ne-keche-neenj, ne being the prenominal prefix, literally “my great 
hand.” “My left-hand ” is ne-nuh-munje-neenj-ne. Numunj is the same root as appears in 
nuh-munj-e-doon, “1 do not know ” ; and the idea obviously is “the uncertain, or unreliable 
hand.” Again, in the Mohawk language, “the right-hand” is expressed by the term 
Ji-ke-we-yen-den-dah-kon, from ke-we-yen-deh, literally, “I know how.” Ji is a particle 
conveying the idea of side, and the termination dah-kon has the meaning of “ being accus- 
tomed to.” It is, therefore, the limb accustomed to act promptly, the dextrous organ. 
Ske-ne-kwa-dih the left-hand, literally means “ the other side.” 

Analogous terms are found alike in the languages of civilised and barbarous races, 
expressive of the inferiority of one hand in relation to the other, which is indicated in 
the classical sinistra as the subordinate of the dextra manus. The honorable significance of 
the right hand receives special prominence in the most sacred allusions of the Hebrew 
scriptures ; and in medieval art the right hand in benediction is a frequent symbol of the 
First Person of the Trinity. In the Anglo-Saxon version of the New Testament the 
equivalent terms appear as swythre and wynstre, as in Matthew vi. 3: ‘“ Sothlice thonne thu 
thinne aelmessan do, nyte thin wynstre hwaet do thin swythre;” “ When thou doest alms, 
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” Again the distinction appears in 
a subsequent passage thus: “ And he geset tha scep on hys swithran healfe, and tha tyecenu 
on hys wynstran healfe.” (Matt. xxv. 34) Here the derivation of swythre from swyth, 
strong, powerful, swythra, a strong one, a dextrous man, swythre, the stronger, the right- 
hand, is obvious enough. It is also used as an adjective, as in Matthew v. 30: “ And gif 
thin swytrhe hand the aswice, aceorf hig of;” “ Andif thy right hand offend thee, cut it off.” 
The derivation of wynstre is less apparent, and can only be referred to its direct significance, 
se wynstra, the left. In the Greek we find the isolated apuorepos, apiotepa, left, » apiorepa, 


6 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


the left hand. Whatever etymology we adopt for this word, the depreciatory comparison 
between the left and the more favoured de&ia, or right-hand, is obvious enough in the 
oxaics, the left, the ill-omenéd, the unlucky ; oxazorns, lett-handedness, awkwardness ; 
like the French gauche, awkward, clumsy, uncouth. The Greek had also the term derived 
from the left arm as the shield-bearer ; hence £7° aozida, on the left, or shield side. 

The Gaelic has supplied to Lowland Scotland the term ker, or carry-handed, in com- 
‘mon use, derived from lamh-chearr, the left hand. In the secondary meanings attached to 
ker, or carry, it signifies awkward, devious; and in a moral sense is equivalent to the 
English use of the word “sinister.” To “gang the kar gate” is to go the left-road, 7. e., the 
wrong road, or the road to ruin. There is no separate word in the Gaelic for “right 
hand,” but it is called /amh dheas and lamh ceart. Both words imply “ proper, becoming, 
or right.” Ceart is the common term to express what is right, correct, or fitting, whereas 
dheas primarily signifies the “south”, and is explained by the supposed practice of the 
Druid augur following the sun in his divinations. In this it will be seen to agree with 


‘ 


the secondary meaning of the Hebrew yamin, and to present a common analogy with the 
corresponding Greek and Latin terms, hereafter referred to. Deisal, a compound of dheas, 
south, and il, a guide, a course, is commonly used as an adjective, to express a lucky or 
favorable occurrence. The “left hand” is variously styled /amh chli, the wily or cunning 
hand, and lamh cearr, or ciotach. Cearr is wrong, unlucky, and ciotach is the equivalent of 
sinister, formed from the specific name for the left-hand, ciotag, Welsh chwithig. According 
to Pliny,’ “The Gauls, in their religious rites, contrary to the practice of the Romans, 
turned to the left.” An ancient Scottish tradition traces the surname of Kerr to the fact 
that the Dalriadic king, Kynach-Ker or Connchad Cearr, as he is called in the “Duan 
Albanach,” was left-handed ; though the name is strongly suggestive of a term of reproach 
like that of the Saxon Ethelred, the Unready. 

Milton, in one of his Sonnets, plays in sportive satire with the name of another left- 
handed Scot, “Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp.” The person referred to under the first 
name was the Earl of Antrim’s deputy, by whom the invasion of Scotland was attempted 
in 1644, on behalf of the Stuarts. The name is scarcely less strange in its genuine form 
of Alastair MacCholla-Chiotach ; that is, Alexander, son of Coll, the left-handed. This was 
the elder Macdonnel, of Colonsay, who was noted for his ability to wield his claymore 
with equal dexterity in the left hand or the right; or, as one tradition affirms, for his skill 
as a left-handed swordsman after the loss of his right hand: and-hence his soubriquet of 
Colkittock, or Coll, the Left-handed. The term “carry” is frequently used in Scotland as 
one implying reproach, or contempt. In some parts of the country, and especially in 
Lanarkshire, it is even regarded as an evil omen to meet a carry-handed person when 
setting out on a journey. Jamieson notes the interjectional phrase car-shamye (Gaelic 
sgeamh-aim, to reproach) as in use in Kinrosshire, in the favourite Scottish game of shintie, 
when an antagonist takes what is regarded as an undue advantage by using his club, or 
shintie in the left hand. All this, while indicating the exceptional character of left-hand- 
ness, clearly points to a habit of such frequent occurrence as to be familiarily present to 
every mind. But the exceptional skill, or dexterity, as it may be fitly called, which usually 
pertains to the left-handed operator, is generally sutficient to redeem him from slight. The 








1 Hist. Nat., lib. xxviii. c. 2. 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. Th 


ancient Scottish game of golf, which is only a more refined and strictly regulated form of 
the rustic shintie, is one in which the implements are of necessity right-handed, and so 
subject the left-handed player to great disadvantage, unless he provides his own special 
clubs. The links at Leith have long been famous as an arena for Scottish golfers. King 
Charles I was engaged in a game of golf there, when, in November, 1641, a letter was 
delivered into his hands which gave him the first account of the Irish Rebellion. The 
same links were a favorite resort of his younger son, James IJ, while still Duke of York, 
and some curious traditions preserve the memory of his relish for the game. There, accord- 
ingly, golf is still played with keenest zest ; and among its present practisers is a left-handed 
golfer, who, as usual with left-handed persons, is practically ambidextrous. He has 
accordingly provided himself with a double set of right and left drivers and irons ; so that 
he can use either hand at pleasure according to the character of the ground or the position 
of the ball, to the general discomfiture of his one-handed rivals. The Scotchmen of 
Montreal and Quebec have transplanted the old national game to Canadian soil; and the 
latter city has a beautiful course on the historical battle-field, the scéne of Wolfe’s victory 
and death. There experience induced the Quebec Golf Club, when ordering spare sets of 
implements for the use of occasional guests from Great Britain, to consider the propriety 
of providing a left-handed set. In the discussion to which the proposal gave rise, it was 
urged to be unnecessary, as a left-handed player generally has his own clubs with him ; 
but finally the order was limited to two left-handed drivers, so that when a left-handed 
golfer joins them he has to put with his driver. The considerateness of the Quebec golfers 
was no doubt stimulated by the fact that there is a skilled golfer of the Montreal Club 
whose feats of dexterity as a left-handed player at times startle them. A Quebec golfer 
writes to me thus: “There is one left-handed fellow belonging to the Montreal Club who 
comes down occasionally to challenge us; and I have watched his queer play with a 
good deal of interest and astonishment.” 

To the left-handed man his right hand is the less ready, the less dexterous, and the 
weaker member. But in all ordinary experience the idea of weakness, uncertainty, unre- 
liability, attaches to the left hand, and so naturally leads to the tropical significance of 
“unreliable, untrustworthy,” in a moral sense. Both ideas are found alike in barbarous 
and classic languages. An interesting example of the former occurs in Ovid’s “ Fasti ” 
(ii. 869), where the poet speaks of the flight of Helle and her brother on the golden-fleeced 
ram, and describes her as grasping its horn, “ with her feeble left hand, when she made 
of herself a name for the waters,” 7. e., by falling off and being drowned :— 


“ Utque fugam capiant, aries nitidissimus auro 
Traditur. Ille vehit per freta longa duos. 

Dicitur informa cornu tenuisse sinistra 
Femina, cum de se nomina fecit aque.” 


In the depreciatory moral sense, Plautus, in the “Persa” (IL. ii. 44) calls the left hand 
furtifica, “thievish.” “ Estne hæc manus? Ubi illa altera est furtifica leva?” So in like 
manner the term in all its forms acquires a depreciatory significance, and is even applied 
to sinister looks. So far, then, as the evidence of language goes, the distinction of the 
right from the left hand, as the more reliable member, appears to be coeval with the 
earliest known use of language. 


8 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


This preferential use of one hand as the more skilful, and hence the more honoured 
member, at an early stage in the use of weapons of war, or in the apt labours of the 
husbandman or craftsman, finds confirmation from another line of evidence. The pre- 
valence of a decimal system of numerals among widely severed nations, alike in ancient 
and modern times, has been universally ascribed to the simple process of counting with 
the aid of the fingers. Mr. Francis Galton, in his “ Narrative of an Exploration in Tropical 
Africa,” when describing the efforts of the Damaras at computation, states that the mental 
effort fails them beyond ‘ree. “ When they wish to express four, they take to their fingers, 
which are to them as formidable instruments of calculation as a sliding rule is to an 
English school-boy. They puzzle very much after five, because no spare hand remains to 
grasp and secure the fingers that are required for units.” Turning to the line of evidence 
which this primitive method of computation suggests, some striking analogies reveal a 
recognition of ideas common to the savage and to the cultivated Greek and Roman. 
Donaldson, in his “New Cratylus,’ in seeking to trace the first ten numerals to their 
primitive roots in Sanskrit, Zend, Greek and Latin, derives seven of them from the three 
primitive prenominal elements. But five, nine and ten are referred directly to the same 
infantile source of decimal notation, suggested by the ten fingers, as that which has been 
recognised in similar operation among the Hawaians and the Maoris of New Zealand. 
“One would fancy, indeed, without any particular investigation of the subject, that the 
number five would have some connection with the word signifying ‘a hand’, and the 
number {ex with a word denoting the ‘right hand’; for in covnting with our fingers we 
begin with the little finger of the left hand.” Hence the familiar idea, as expressed in its 
simplest form, where Hesoid (Op. 740) calls the hand réyro£or, the five-branch ; and 
hence also zeurad£w, primarily to count on five fingers. 4 

Bopp, adopting the same idea, considers the Sanskrit pan’-cha as formed of the copula- 
tive conjunction added to the neuter form of pa, one, and so signifying “ and one.” Benary 
explains it as an abbreviation of pén-i-cha, ‘and the hand”—the conjunction being 
equally recognisable in pan'’-cha, 7év-re and quin-que. This, they assume, expressed the idea 
that the enumerator then began to count with the other hand; but Donaldson ingeniously 
suggests the simpler meaning, that after counting four, the whole hand was opened and 
held up. To reckon by the hand was, accordingly, to make arough computation, as in the 
“Wasps,” of Aristophanes, where Bdelycleon bids his father, the dicast, “ first of all caleu- 
late roughly, not by pebbles, but amo xe1pôs, With the hand.” 

The relation of deSza to déx-a and dextra, déu-a, decem, Seu-610s, decster, illustrates the 
same idea. Grimm, indeed, says, “ In counting with the fingers, one naturally begins with 
the left hand, and so goes on tothe right. This may explain why, in different languages, 
the words for he left refer to the root of five, those for the right to the root of ten.” Hence also 
the derivation of finger, through the Gothic, and Old High German, from the stem for 
“five” and “left” ; while the Greek and Latin da@xrvios and digitus, are directly traceable 
to déexv and decem. The connexion between apiorepad and sinistra is also traced with little 
difficulty ; the sibilant of the latter being ascribed to an initial digamma, assumed in the 
archaic form of the parent vocabulary. Nor is the relationship of deS:a with digitus a 
far-fetched one. As the antique custom was to hand the wine from right to left, so it may 
be presumed that the ancients commenced counting with the left hand, in the use of that 
primitive abacus, finishing with the dexter or right hand at the tenth digit, and so 
completing the decimal numeration. 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 9 


The inferior relation of the left to the right hand was also indicated in the use of the 
former for lower, and the latter for higher numbers beyond ten. In reckoning with their 
fingers, both Greeks and Romans counted on the left hand as far as a hundred, then on the 
right hand to two hundred, and so on alternately, the even numbers being always 
reckoned on the right hand. The poet Juvenal refers to this, in his tenth Satire, where, 
in dwelling on the attributes of age, he speaks of the centenarian, “ who counts his years 
on his right hand : ”— 


“ Felix nimirum, qui tot per secula mortem 
Distulit, atque suos jam dextra computat annos, 
Quique novum toties mustum bibit.” À 


À curious allusion, by Tacitus, in the first book of his History, serves to show that the 
German barbarians beyond the Alps no less clearly recognised the significance of the 
right hand, as that which was preferred, and accepted as the more honourable member. 
The Lingones, a Belgian tribe, had sent presents to the legions, as he narrates; and in 
accordance with ancient usage, gave as the symbolical emblem of friendship, two right 
hands clasped together. “ Miserat civitas Lingonum vetere instituto dona legionibus, 
dextras, hospitii insigne.” The dextræ are represented on a silver quinarius of Julius 
Cæsar, thus described in Ackerman’s “Catalogue of rare and unedited Roman Coins,” 
“ PAX. 8. C. Female head. Rev. L. AEMILIVS. BVCA. III. VIR. Two hands joined.” ! 

Other evidence of a different kind confirms the recognition and preferential use of the 
right hand among our Teutonic ancestors from the remotest period. Dr. Richard Lepsius, 
in following out an ingenious analysis of the primitive names for the numerals, and the 
sources of their origin, traces from the common Sanskrit root daga, Greek déxa, through the 
Gothic taihun, the hunda, as in tva hunda, two hundred. He next points out the resem- 
blance between the Gothic hunda, and handus, i.e. “the hand,’ showing that this is no 
accidental agreement, but that the words are etymologically one and the same. The 
A.S. hund, a hundred, originally meant only “ten,” and was prefixed to numerals above 
twenty, as hund eahtatig, eighty, etc. 

. Thus far philological evidence clearly points to a very wide prevalence of the recog- 
nition of right-handedness ; and when we turn from this to the oldest sources of direct 
historical evidence, the references abundantly confirm the same conclusions. More than 
one allusion in the “ Book of Judges” show that the skill of the left-handed among the 
tribe of Benjamin was specially noted ; while at the same time, the very form of the record 
marks the attribute as exceptional; and all the more so as occurring in the tribe whose 
patronymic—ben yamin, the son of the right hand,—so specially indicates the idea of 
honour and dignity constantly associated with the right hand throughout the Hebrew 
Scriptures. When, as we read in the “ Book of Judges,” the Lord raised up a deliverer of 
Israel from the oppression of Eglon, King of Moab, Ehad, the son of Gera, was a Benja- 
mite, a man left-handed. He accordingly fashioned for himself a two-edged dagger which 
he girt under his raiment upon his right thigh ; and thus armed, he presented himself as 
the bearer of a present from the children of Israel to the King, and sought a private inter- 
view, saying: “I have a secret errand unto thee, O King.” The special fitness of the left- 





1 Ackerman i, 106. 
Sec. IL., 1886. 2. 


10 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


handed messenger, in this case, was, it may be presumed, that as he put forth his left 
hand to take the dagger from his right side, the motion would not excite suspicion. But 
also, as we learn from a later chapter, a body of seven hundred chosen marksmen, all 
left-handed, were selected from the same tribe for their preéminent skill. “Everyone 
could sling stones at a hair breadth and not miss.” Nevertheless the relative numbers 
are not such as to suggest that left-handedness was more common among the tribe of Ben- 
jamin than in others of the tribes. Of twenty-six thousand Benjamites that drew the 
sword, there were the seven hundred left-handed slingers ; or barely 2.7 per cent. ; which 
does not greatly differ from the proportion noted at the present time. In the song of 
triumph for the avenging of Israel over the Canaanites, in the same “ Book of Judges,” 
the deed of vengeance by which Sisera, the Captain of the host of Jabin, King of Canaan, 
perished by the hand of a woman, is thus celebrated :—‘She put her hand to the nail, and 
her right hand to the workman’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera.” 
Here, as we see, while their deliverer from the oppression of the Moabites is noted as a 
Benjamite, a left-handed man ; Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, is blessed above women, 
who with her right hand smote the enemy of God and her people. Along with those 
references may be noted one of a later date, recorded in the first “ Book of Chronicles.” 
When David was in hiding from Saul, at Ziklag, there came to him a company of Saul’s 
bretheren of Benjamin, mighty men, armed with bows, who could use both the right 
hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow. These latter, it 
will be observed, are noted not as left-handed, but ambidextrous ; but this is characteristic 
of all left-handed persons; though even amongst them the unwonted facility with both 
hands rarely, if ever, entirely supersedes the greater dexterity of the left hand. Possibly 
the patronymic of the tribe gave significance to such deviations from normal usage; but 
either for this, or some unnoted reason, the descendants of Benjamin, the Son of the Right 
Hand, appear to have obtained notoriety for exceptional aptitude in the use of either hand. 

So far it is manifest that the preferential use of one hand specially designated by a 
term that came to be associated with honour, dignity and trust, was common to many 
ancient people; and is perpetuated in the languages both of civilised and savage races. 
But this suggests another inquiry of important significance in the determination of the 
results. The application of the Latin dexter to “ right-handedness” specifically, as well as 
to general dexterity in its more comprehensive sense, points, like the record of the old 
Benjamites, to the habitual use of one hand in preference to the other; but does it neces- 
sarily imply that their “right hand” was the one on that side which we now concur in 
calling dexter or right? In the exigencies of war or the chase, and still more in many of 
the daily requirements of civilised life, it is necessary that there should be no hesitation 
as to which hand shall be used. Promptness and dexterity depend on this, and no hesi- 
tation is felt. But, still further, in many cases of combined action, it is needful that the 
hand so used shall be the same ; and wherever such a conformity of practice is recognised 
the hand so used, whichever it be, is that on which dexterity depends, and becomes practi- 
cally the right hand. The term yamin, “the right hand,” already noted as the root of the 
proper name, Benjamin, and of the tribe thus curiously distinguished for its left-handed 
warriors and skilled marksmen, is derived from the verb yaman, to be firm, to be faithful, 
as the right hand is given as a pledge of fidelity, e. g., “ The Lord hath sworn by his right 
hand” (Isaiah, Ixii. 8). So in the Arabic form, bimin Allah, by the right hand of Allah. 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. itil 


So also with the Hebrews and other ancient nations, as still among ourselves, the seat at 
the right hand of the host, or of any dignitary, was the place of honour; as when Solomon 
“caused a seat to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand” (1 Kings, 
ii. 19). Again, the term is frequently used in opposition to semal, left hand ; as when the 
children of Israel would pass through Edom ; “ We will go by the king’s highway; we 
will not turn to the right hand or to the left” (Numbers, xx. 17). 

But a further use and significance of the terms helps us to the fact that the Hebrew 
yamin and our right hand are the same. In its secondary meaning it signified the “ south, ” 
as in Hzekiel, xlvii. 1: “The forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters 
came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.” 
The four points are accordingly expressed thus in Hebrew: yamin, the right, the south; 
kedem, the front, the east; semol, the left, the north ; achor, behind, the west. To the old 
Hebrew, when looking to the east, the west was thus behind, the south on his right hand, 
and the north on his left. This determination of the right and left in relation to the east 
is not peculiar to the Hebrews. Many nations appear to have designated the south in the 
same manner, as being on the right hand when looking to the east. Its origin may be 
traced with little hesitation to the associations with the most ancient and dignified form 
of false worship, the paying divine honours to the Sun, as he rises in the east, as the Lord 
of Day. Thus we find in the Sanskrit dakshina, right hand, south ; puras, in front, east- 
ward ; apara, pagchima, behind, west ; wltara; northern, to the left. The old Irish has, in 
like manner, deas or ders, on the right, southward ; oirthear, in front, east ; jav, behind, west ; 
tuath, north, from thwaidh, left. The analogous practise among the Esquimaux, though 
sugested by a different cause, illustrates a similar origin for the terms “right” and “ left.” 
Dr. H. Fink, in a communication to the Anthropological Institute (June, 1885) remarks :— 
“To indicate the quarters of the globe, the Greenlanders use at once two systems. 
Besides the ordinary one, they derive-another from the view of the open sea, distinguish- 
ing what is to the left and to the right hand. The latter appears to have been the origi- 
nal method of determining the bearings, but gradually the words for the left and the 
right side came to signify at the same time ‘south’ and ‘north’.” 

A diverse idea is illustrated by the like secondary signifiance of the Greek oxazos, left, 
or on the left hand ; but also used as “west”, or ‘“ westward”, as in the Iliad, ili. 149, oxazat 
mviat, the west gate of Troy. The Greek augur, turning, as he did, his face to the north 
had the left—the sinister, ill-omened, unlucky side,—on the west. Hence the meta- 
phorical significance of æprorepos, ominous, boding ill. But the Greeks had also the 
other mode of expressing the right and (eft, derived from their mode of bearing arms. When 
Carlyle, at the advanced age of seventy-five, lost the use of his right hand, which had for 
so many years wielded the pen with such marvellous effect on his age, among the 
reflections which this privation suggested to him, he asks. “ Why that particular hand 
was chosen ?” and dubiously answers : “ Probably arose in fighting ; most important to 
protect your heart and its adjacencies ; and to carry the shield on that hand.” Archaic 
vases suffice to illustrate the mode of carrying the shield among the Greeks and hence, the 
shield-hand became synonymous with the left. The right side was #7? dopuv, the spear 
side, while the left was, 7 aozida, the shield side. The familiar application of the terms 
in this sense is seen in Xenophon’s ‘‘ Anabasis ” (IV. iii. 26) Kai zmapnyyeie tots Aoxayots 
HAT EV @UOTIAS momnoacbat ENXAOTOV TOV EAUTOD Aoyor, apy aonidas mapayayovTras TV 


12 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


évaporiav él palayyos, “He ordered to draw up his century in squads of twenty-five, 
and post them in line to the left.” And again, Anabasis, IV. iii. 29: Tots 62 rap éavr® 
mapnyyetev .. . avacrpépavras éxt Oopv, u.7.A., “He ordered his own division, turning 
to the right” The word a‘piorepos has also been interpreted as “the shield-bearing arm.” 
Among the Romans, we may trace some survival of the ancient practise of wor- 
shipping towards the east, as in Livy, i. 18, where the augurs are said to turn the right 
side to the south, and the left side to the north. But the original significance of turning 
to the east had then been lost sight of ; and the particular quarter of the heavens towards 
which the Roman augur was to look appears to have been latterly very much at the will 
of the augur himself. It was, at any rate, variable. Livy indicates the east ; but Varro 
assigns the south, and Frontinus the west. Probably part of the augur’s professional 
skill consisted in selecting the aspect of the heavens suited to the occasion. But this done, 
the flight of birds and other appearances on the right or on the left, determined the will 
of the gods. “ Why,” asks Cicero, himself an augur, “ Why should the raven on the right, 
and the crow on the left, make a confirmatory augury ?” “Cur a dextra corvus, a sinistra 
cornix faciat ratum ?” (De Divin.i.) The left was the side on which the thunder was 
declared to be heard which confirmed the inauguration of a magistrate, and in other 
respects the augur regarded it with special awe. But still the right side was, in all ordi- 
nary acceptance, the propitious one ; as in the address to Hercules (Ain. viii. 302) :— 


“ Salve, vera Jovis proles, pecus addite divis ; 
Et nos et tua dexter adi pede sacra secundo.” 


The traces of a term of common origin for right (south) in so many of the Indo-Euro- 
pean languages is interesting and suggestive ; though the ultimate word is still open to 
question. How the equivalent terms run through the whole system may be seen from 
the following illustrations: Sanskrit, dakshina (cf. deccan) ; Zend, dashina ; Gothic, taihs-vo ; 
O.H. German, zéso ; Lithuanian, desziné; Gaelic, dheas; Erse, dess (deas); Latin, dexter ; 
Greek, de&10s, ete. The immediate Sanskrit stem daksh means “to be right, or fitting ;” 
secondarily “to be dexterous, clever,” ete. This is evidently from a root, dek, as the western 
languages show. It was usual at an earlier period to trace the whole to the root, dik, to 
show, to point ; but this is now given up. Probably the Greek dex-o ai (déyouar) take, 
receive, preserves the original stem, with the idea primarily of “seizing, catching.” This 
leads naturally to a comparison of daxr-v-Aos, finger, and dig-i-tus, dox-d-vn, fork, etc. 
(see Curtius’ “Outlines of Greek Etymology. ”) 

Right-handed usages, and the ideas which they suggest, largely influence the ceremo- 
nial observances of many nations, affect their religious observances, bear a significant 
part in the marriage rites, and are interwoven with the most familiar social usages. 
Among the ancient Greeks the rites of the social board required the passing of the wine 
from right to left—or, at any rate, in one invariable direction,—as indicated by Homer in 
his description of the feast of the gods, (Iliad, i. 597, feots evdéE1a maou oivoyoer,) Where 
Hephæstus goes round and pours out the sweet nectar to the assembled gods. The direc- 
tion pursued by the cup-bearer would be determined by his bearing the flagon in his right 
hand, and so walking with his right side towards the guests. This is, indeed, a point of 
dispute among scholars. But it is not questioned that a uniform practice prevailed, 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 13 


dependent on the recognition of right and left-handedness ; and this is no less apparent 
among the Romans than the Greeks. It is set forth in the most unmusical of Horace’s 
hexameters : “Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum abit ;” and finds its precise elucidation 
. from many independent sources, in the allusions of the poets, in the works of sculp- 
tors, and in decorations of fictile ware. The determination of the actual right and left 
of the Greeks and Romans, as of other nations, is of importance, in order to ascertain if 
they were the same as our own. But the true direction of the Hebrew right and left has 
a special significance, in view of the fact that whilst the great class of Aryan languages, 
including the ancient Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, appear to have been written from left to 
right, and the same characteristic is common to the whole alphabets and writings of India: 
all the Semitic languages, except the Ethiopic, are written from right to left. Habit 
has so largely affected our current handwriting, and modified its forms into those best 
adapted for rapid and continuous execution in the one direction, that its reversal at once 
suggests the idea of a left-handed people. But there is no true ground for this. So long 
as each character was separately drawn, and when, moreover, they were pictorial or ideo- 
graphic, it was, in reality, more natural to begin at the right, or nearer side, of the papyrus 
or tablet, than to pass over to the left. The forms of all written characters are largely 
affected by their mode of use, as is abundantly illustrated in the transformation of the 
Egyptian ideographs in the later demotic writing. The forms of the old Semitic alphabet, 
like the Egyptian hieroglyphics. are specially adapted to cutting on stone. The square 
Hebrew characters are of much later date; but they also, like the uncials of early 
Christian manuscripts, were executed singly, and therefore could be written as easily 
from right to left as in a reverse order. The oldest alphabets indicate a special adapta- 
tion for monumental inscriptions. The Runic characters of northern Europe owe their 
peculiar form apparently to them being primarily cut on wood. When papyrus leaves 
were substituted for stone, a change was inevitable ; but the direction of the writing 
only becomes significant in reference to a current hand. The Greek fashion of 
boustrophedon, or alternating like the course of oxen in ploughing, illustrates the 
natural process of beginning at the side nearest to the hand; nor did either this, or the 
still earlier mode of writing in columns, as with the ancient Egyptians, or the Chinese, 
present any impediment, so long as it was executed in detached characters. But so soon as 
the reed or quill, with the coloured pigment, began to supersede the chisel, the hieratic 
writing assumed a modified form; and when it passed into the later demotic hand- 
writing, with its seemingly arbitrary script, the same influences were brought into 
play which control the modern penman in the slope, direction, and force of his stroke. 
One important exception, however, still remained. Although, as in writing Greek, the 
tendency towards the adoption of tied letters was inevitable, yet to the last the enchorial 
or demotic writing was mainly executed in detached characters, and does not, therefore, 
constitute a true current hand-writing, such as in our own continuous penmanship 
leaves no room for doubt as to the hand by which it was executed. Any sufficiently 
ambidextrous penman, attempting to copy a piece of modern current writing with either 
hand, would determine beyond all question its right-handed execution. But no such 
certain result is found on applying the same test to the Egyptian demotic. I have tried 
it on two of the Louvre demotic MSS. and a portion of a Turin papyrus, and find that 
they can be copied with nearly equal dexterity with either hand. Some of the characters 


14 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


are more easily and naturally executed, without lifting the pen, with the left hand than 
the right. Others again, in the slope and the direction of the thickening of the stroke, 
suggest a right-handed execution, but habit in the forming of the characters, as in 
writing Greek or Arabic, would speedily overcome any such difficulty either way. I 
feel assured that no habitually left-handed writer would find any difficulty in acquiring 
the unmodified demotic hand ; whereas no amount of dexterity of the penman compelled 
to resort to his left hand in executing ordinary current writing suffices to prevent such a 
modification in the slope, the stroke, and the formation of the characters, as clearly indi- 
cates the change. 

So soon as the habitual use of the papyrus, with the reed pen and coloured pigments, 
had developed any uniformity of usage, the customary method of writing by the Egyptian 
appears to have accorded with that in use among the Hebrew and other Semitic races ; 
though examples do occur of true hieroglyphic papyri written from left to right. But the 
pictorial character of such writings furnishes another test. It is easier for a right-handed 
draftsman to draw a profile with the face looking towards the left; and the same influence 
might be anticipated to affect the direction of the characters incised on the walls of temples 
and palaces. This has accordingly suggested an available clue to Egyptian right or left- 
handedness. But the evidence adduced from Egyptian monuments is liable to mislead. A 
writer in “ Nature” (J. 8., April 14th, 1870), states as the result of a careful survey of the 
examples in the British Museum, that the hieroglyphic profiles there generally look te the 
right, and so suggest the work of a left-handed people. Other and more suggestive 
evidence from the monuments of Egypt points to the same conclusion, but it is deceptive. 
The hieroglyphic sculptures of the Egyptians, like the cufic inscriptions in Arabian 
architecture, are mainly decorative; and are arranged symmetrically for architectural 
effect. The same principle regulated their introduction on sarcophagi. Of this, examples 
in the British Museum furnish abundant illustration. On the great sarcophagus of 
Sebaksi, priest of Phtha, the profiles on the right and left column look towards the centre 
line; and hence the element of right-handedness is subordinated to decorative require- 
ments. If this is overlooked, the left-handedness ascribed above to the ancient Egyptians 
may seem to be settled beyond dispute, by numerous representations both of gods and 
men, engaged in the actual process of writing. Among the incidents introduced in the 
oft-repeated judgment scene of Osiris—as on the Adytum of the Temple of Dayr el Medi- 
neh, of which I have a photograph,—Thoth, the Egyptian God of Letters, stands with the 
stylus in his left hand, and a papyrus or tablet in his right, and records concerning the 
deceased, in the presence of the divine judge, the results of the literal weighing in the 
balance of the deeds done in the body. In other smaller representations of the same 
scene, Thoth is similarly introduced holding the stylus in his left hand. So also, in the 
decorations on the wall of the great chamber in the rock-temple of Abou Simbel, Rameses 
is represented slaying his enemies with a club, which is held in his left hand; and in the 
sculptures of Pasht, she is decapitating her prisoners with a scimiter, held in the left 
hand. This evidence seems so direct and indisputable as to settle the question; yet 
further research leaves no doubt that it is illusory. Ample evidence to the contrary is to 
be found in Champollion’s “ Monuments de l'Egypte et de la Nubie”; and is fully con- 
firmed by Maxime Du Camp’s “Photographic Pictures of Egypt, Nubia, etc.,” by Sir 
J. Gardner Wilkinson’s “Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” and by other 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 15 


photographic and pictorial evidence. In a group, for example, photographed by Du 
Camp, from the exterior of the sanctuary of the palace of Karnak, where the Pharaoh is 
represented crowned by the ibis and hawk-headed deities, Thoth and Horus, the hierogly- 
phies are cut on either side so as to look towards the central figure. The same arrange- 
ment is repeated in another group at Ipsamboul, engraved by Champollion “ Monuments 
de l'Egypte,” (Vol. I. Pl. 5) Still more, where figures are intermingled. looking in 
opposite directions—as shown in a photograph of the elaborately sculptured posterior 
facade of the Great Temple of Denderah,—the accompanying hieroglyphics, graven in 
column, vary in direction in accordance with that of the figure to which they refer. 
Columns of hieroglyphics repeatedly occur, separating the seated deity and a worshipper 
standing before him, and only divided by a perpendicular line, where the characters are 
turned in opposite directions corresponding to those of the immediately adjacent figures. 

When, as in the Judgment scene at El Medineh and elsewhere, Osiris is seated looking 
to the right, Thoth faces him holding in the off-hand—as more extended, by reason of 
the simple perspective,—the papyrus or tablet ; while the pen or style is held in the near 
or left hand. To have placed the pen and tablet in the opposite hands, would have required 
a complex perspective and foreshortening, or would have left the whole action obscure 
and unsuited for monumental effect. Nevertheless, the difficulty is overcome in repeated 
examples: as in a repetition of the same scene engraved in Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson’s 
“ Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians” (Pl. 88), and on a beautifully executed 
papyrus, part of “The Book of the Dead,” now in the Louvre, and reproduced in facsimile 
in Sylvestre’s “ Universal Palæography ” (Vol. I. Pl. 46), in both of which Thoth holds 
the pen or style in the right hand. The latter also includes a shearer holding the sickle 
in his right hand, and a female sower, with the seed-basket on her left arm, scattering 
the seed with her right hand. Examples of scribes, stewards, and others engaged in 
writing, are no less common in the scenes of ordinary life; and though when looking to 
the left, they are, at times, represented holding the style or pen in the left hand, yet the 
preponderance of evidence suffices to refer this to the exigencies of primitive perspective. 
The steward in a sculptured scene from a tomb at Elethya (Monuments de l'Esypt, 
Pl. 142), receives and writes down a report of the cattle from the field servants, holding 
the style in his right hand, and the tablet in his left. So is it with the registrar and the 
scribes (Wilkinson, figs. 85, 86), the steward who takes account of the grain delivered 
(fig. 387), and the notary and scribes (figs. 73, 78)—all from Thebes, where they superin- 
tend the weighing at the public scales, and enumerate a group of negro slaves. 

In the colossal sculptures on the facades of the great temples, where complex 
perspective and foreshortening would interfere with the architectural effect, the hand in 
which the mace or weapon is held appears to be mainly determined by the direction to 
which the figure looks. At Ipsamboul, as shown in “Monuments de l'Egypt,” PI 11, 
Rameses grasps with his right hand, by the hair of the head, a group of captives of various 
races, negroes included, while he smites them with a scimiter or pole-axe, wielded in his 
left hand; but an onlooker, turned in the opposite direction, holds the sword in his right 
hand. This transposition is more markedly shown in two scenes from the same temple 
(Pl. 28). In the one Rameses, looking to the right, wields the pole-axe in the near or 
right hand, as he smites a kneeling Asiatic ; in the other, where he looks to the left, he 
holds his weapon again in the near, but now the left hand, as he smites a kneeling negro. 


16 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


On the same temple soldiers are represented holding spears in the near hand, right or 
left, according to the direction they are looking (Pl. 22); and swords and shields are 
D in like manner (PI. 28). The same is seen in the siege scenes and military 
reviews’ of Rameses the Great, on the walls of Thebes and elsewhere. The evidence is 
misleading if the primary aim of architectural decoration is not kept in view. In an 
example from Karnac—appealed to in proof that the Egyptians were a left-handed 
people,—where Thotmes III holds. his offering in the extended left hand, his right 
side is stated to be towards the observer. Nor are similar examples rare. Thoth and 
other deities, sculptured in colossal proportions, on the Grand Temple of Isis, at Phile, 
as shown by Du Camp, in like manner have their right sides towards the observer, 
and hold each the mace or sceptre in the extended left hand. But on turning to the 
photographs of the Great Temple of Denderah, where another colossal series of deities is 
represented in precisely the same attitude, but looking in the opposite direction, the 
official symbols are reversed, and each holds the sceptre in the extended right hand. 
Numerous similar instances are given by Wilkinson ; as in the dedication of the pylon of 
a temple to Amun by Rameses III, Thebes (No. 470); the Goddesses of the West and East, 
looking in corresponding directions (No. 461), ete. 

Examples, however, occur where the conventional formule of Egyptian sculpture 
have been abandoned, and the artist has overcome the difficulties of perspective; as in a 
remarkable scene in the Memnonium, at Thebes, where Atmoo, Thoth, and a female 
(styled by Wilkinson the Goddess of Letters), are all engaged in writing the name of 
Rameses on the fruit of the Persea tree. Though looking in opposite directions, each 
holds the pen in the right hand (Wilkinson, PI. 54 4). So also at Beni Hassan, two artists 
kneeling in front of a board, face each other, and each paint an animal, holding the brush 
in the right hand. At Medinet Habou, Thebes, more than one scene of draught-players 
occurs, where the players, facing each other, each hold the piece in the right hand. Simi- 
lar illustrations repeatedly occur. 

Among another people, of kindred artistic skill, whose records have been brought anew 
to light in recent years, their monumental evidence appears to furnish more definite 
results; while proof of a wholly different kind leaves no room to doubt that among them a 
specific hand was recognised as that which every child learned to prefer as soon as reason 
assumed its sway. When the prophet had proclaimed the destruction of Nineveh, and 
resented the Divine mercy to its repentant people which seemed to falsify his message, 
the lesson taught him by the withering of his gourd is thus set forth: “ And should not 
I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that 
cannot discern between their right hand and their left?” That the Ninevites and the 
ancient dwellers on the Euphrates and the Tigris were a right-handed people appears to 
be borne out by their elaborate sculpture, recovered at Kourjunjik, Khorsabad, Nimroud, 
and other buried cities of the great plain. The sculptures are in relief, and frequently of 
aless conventional character than those of the Egyptian monuments, and are consequently 
less affected by the aspect and position of the figures. The gigantic figure of the Assyrian 
Hercules—or, as supposed, of the mighty hunter, Nimrod—found between the winged 
bulls, in the great court of the Palace of Khorsabad, is represented strangling a young 
lion, which he presses against his chest with his left arm, while he holds in his right 
hand a weapon of the chase, supposed to be analogous to the Australian boomerang. On 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 17 


the walls of the same palace the great king appears with his staff in his right hand, while 
his left hand rests on the pommel of his sword. Behind him a eunuch holds in his right 
hand, over the king’s head, a fan or fly-flapper ; and so with other officers in attendance. 
Soldiers bear their swords and axes in the right hand, and their shields on the left arm. 
A prisoner is being flayed alive by an operator who holds the knife in the right hand. 
The king himself puts out the eyes of another captive, holding the spear in his right 
hand, while he retains in his left the end of a cord attached to his victim. Similar evi- 
dence abounds throughout the elaborate series of sculptures in the British Museum and in 
the Louvre. Everywhere gods and men are represented as “discerning between their 
right hand and their left,” and giving the preference to the former. 

It has been already shown that in languages of the American continent, es in 
those of the Algonquins and the Iroquois, the recognition of the distinction between the 
right and left hand is apparent; and on turning to the monuments of a native American 
civilisation, evidence similar to that derived from the sculptures of Egypt and Assyria 
serves to show that the same hand had the preference in the New World as in the Old. 
In the Palenque hieroglyphics of Central America, for example, in which human and 
animal heads frequently occur among the sculptured characters, it is noticeable that they 
invariably look towards the left, indicating, as it appears to me, that they are the graven 
inscriptions of a lettered people, who were accustomed to write the same characters from 
left to right on paper or skins. Indeed, the pictorial groups on the Copan statues seem to : 
be the true hieroglyphic characters; while the Palenque inscriptions correspond to the 
abbreviated hieratic writing. The direction of the profile was a matter of no moment to 
the sculptor, but if the scribe held his pen or style in his right hand, like the modern 
clerk, he would as naturally draw the left profile as the penman slopes his current hand 
to the right. In the pictorial hieroglyphics, reproduced in Lord Kingsborough’s “ Mexican 
Antiquities,” as in other illustrations of the arts of Mexico and Central America, it is also 
apparent that the battle-axe and other weapons and implements are most frequently held 
in the right hand. But to this exceptions occur; and it is obvious that there, also, the 
crude perspective of the artist influenced the disposition of the tools, or weapons, 
according to the action designed to be represented, and the direction in which the actor 
looked. 

Such are some of the indications which seem to point to a uniform usage, in so far as 
we can recover evidence of the practice among ancient nations. But far behind their most 
venerable records lie the chronicles of Paleolithic ages: of the men of the drift and of 
the caves of Europe’s prehistoric dawn. “I wonder,” says Carlyle, when the deprivation 
of the use of his right hand forced this enquiry on his special notice, “I wonder if there 
is any people barbarous enough not to have this distinction of hands; no human Cosmos 
possible to be even begun without it.” It need not, therefore, surprise us that evidence 
is now adduced which seems to prove that the draftsmen of European’s Paleolithic Era 
gave the preference to the right hand ; and that the flint implements of the drift reveal, 
by the direction of the grooves produced on their surface in the process of flaking, that 
their manufacturers were also, with rare exceptions, right-handed. 

The troglodyte of Europe’s Paleolithic dawn has transmitted to us his ingenious 
works as a draftsman ; and in the graphic representations of the mammoth, the reindeer, 
the fossil horse, and others of the contemporary fauna, which have been preserved through 


Sec. IL, 1886. 3. 


18 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


all the intermediate ages, securely sealed up in the cave breccia, we have illustrations of 
the hand-usage of primitive times of profounder significance than any that the monuments 
of Assyria or Egypt supply. Among those there are undoubted left-handed drawings ; 
and above all a remarkably skilful and spirited sketch of a reindeer grazing, recovered 
from a cave at Thayngen, in the Kesserloch, Schaffhausen. The examples of the art of 
the Paleolithic draftsmen thus far recovered are too few in number to admit of any 
general conclusion as to the relative use of the right or left hand among the primitive 
cave men. There is, indeed, among them a larger percentage of left-handed draftsmen 
than would ordinarily be looked for as exceptional deviations from the normal practise 
among a right-handed people. But, without attempting to deduce any statistical results 
of general application from such narrow premises, the evidence is distinctly in favour of 
primitive right-handedness. 

So far, then, it seems to be proved that not only among cultured and civilised races, 
but among the barbarous tribes of both hemispheres—in Australia, Polynesia, among the 
Arctic tribes of our northern hemisphere at the present day, and among the Palzeolithic 
men of Europe’s Post-Pliocene times,—not only has a habitual preference been manifested 
for the use of one hand rather than the other, but among all alike the same hand has 
been preferred. Yet, also, it is no less noteworthy that this prevailing uniformity of prac- 
tice has always been accompanied by some very pronounced exceptions. Not only are 
cases of exceptional facility in the use of both hands of frequent occurrence ; but while 
right-handedness everywhere predominates, left-handedness is nowhere unknown. The 
skill of the combatant in hitting with both hands is indeed a favourite topic of poetic 
laudation, though this is characteristic of every well-trained boxer. In the combat 
between Entellus and Dares (Ain. v. 456), the passionate Entellus strikes, now with his 
right hand, and again with his left :— | 


“ Præcipitemque Daren ardens agit æquore toto, 
Nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra.” 


But the more general duty of the left hand is as the guard, or the shield-bearer, as where 
Æneas gives the signal to his comrades, in sight of the Trojans (Æn. x. 261)— 


“Stans celsa in puppi; clipeum cum deinde sinistra 
Extulit ardentem.” 


The right hand may be said to express all active volition and all beneficent action, as 
in Ain. vi. 370, “ Da dextram misero,” “ Give thy right hand to the wretched,” 7. e., give him 
aid ; and so in many other examples, all indicative of right-handedness as the rule. The 
only exception I have been able to discover occurs in a curious passage in the “ Eclogues” 
of Stobæus Jlep? puyns, in a dialogue between Horus and Isis, where, after describing a 
variety of races of men, and their peculiarities, it thus proceeds: “ An indication of this 
is found in the circumstance that southern races, that is those who dwell on the earth’s 
summit, have fine heads and good hair; eastern races are prompt to battle, and skilled in 
archery for the right hand is the seat of these qualities. Western races are cautious, and 
for the most part left-handed ; and whilst the activity which other men display belongs 
to their right side, these races favour the left.” Stobæus, the Macedonian, belongs, at 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 19 


earliest, to the end of the fifth century of our era, but he collected diligently from numer- 
ous ancient authors, some of whom would otherwise be unknown ; and here he gives us 
the only indication of a belief, however vague, in the existence of a left-handed people. 
Of the occurrence of individual examples of left-handedness, the proofs are ample, from 
the earliest times to the present. Professor Hyrtl, of Vienna, affirms its prevalence among 
the civilised races of Europe in the ratio of only two per cent.; and the number of the 
old Benjamite left-handed slingers, as distinguished from other members of the band of 
twenty-six thousand warriors, did not greatly exceed this. In the ruder conditions of 
society, where combined action is rare, and social habits are less binding, a larger number 
of exceptions to the prevailing usage may be looked for; as the tendency of a high civilis- 
ation must be to diminish its manifestation. But education is powerless to eradicate it 
where it is strongly manifested in early life. My attention has been long familiarly 
directed to it from being myself naturally left-handed ; and the experience of considerably 
more than half acentury enables me to controvert the common belief, on which Dr. Hum- 
phry founds the deduction that the superiority of the right hand is not congenital, but 
acquired, viz., that “the left hand may be trained to as great expertness and strength as 
the right.” On the contrary, my experience accords with that of others in whom invet- 
erate left-handedness exists, in showing the education of a lifetime contending with only 
partial success to overcome an instinctive natural preference. The result has been, as in 
all similar cases, to make me ambidextrous, yet not strictly speaking ambidexterous. 
The importance of this in reference to the question of the source of right-handedness 
is obvious. Mr. James Shaw, by whom the subject has been brought under the notice of 
the British Association, and the Anthropological Institute, remarks in a communication 
to the latter : “ Left-handedness is very mysterious. It seems to set itself quite against 
physiological deductions, and the whole tendency of art and fashion.” Dr. John Evans, 
when commenting on this, and on another paper on “ Left-handedness” by Dr. Muirhead, 
expressed his belief that “ the habit of using the left hand in preference to the right, though 
possibly to some extent connected with the greater supply of blood to one side than the 
other, is more often the result of the manner in which the individual has been carried in 
infancy.” This reason has been frequently suggested ; but if there were any force in it, 
the results to be looked for would rather be an alternation of hands from generation to 
generation. The nurse naturally carries the child on the left arm, with its right side 
toward her breast. All objects presented to it are thus offered to the free left hand ; and 
it is accordingly no uncommon remark that all children are at first left-handed. If their 
training while in the nurse’s arms could determine the habit, such is its undoubted 
tendency; but if so, the left-handed nurses of the next generation would reverse the 
process. Nevertheless the bias towards a preferential use of either hand varies greatly in 
degree. The conclusion I am led to, as the result of long observation is that the pre- 
ferential use of the right hand is natural and instinctive with some persons; that with a 
smaller number an equally strong impulse is felt prompting to the use of the left hand ; 
but that with the great majority right-handedness is mainly the result of education. If 
children are watched in the nursery, it will be found that the left hand is offered little 
less freely than the right. The nurse or mother is constantly transferring the spoon from 
the left to the right hand, correcting the defective courtesy of the proffered left hand, and 
in all ways superinducing right-handedness as a habit. As soon as the child is old enough 


20 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


to be affected by such influences, the fastening of its clothes, the handling of knife and 
spoon, and of many other objects in daily use, help to confirm the habit, until the art of 
penmanship is mastered, and with this crowning accomplishment—except in cases of 
strongly marked bias in an opposite direction, —the left hand is relegated to its very 
subordinate place as a mere supplementary organ, to be called into use where the 
privileged member finds occasion for its aid. 

But on the other hand, an exaggerated estimate is formed of the difficulties experi- 
enced by a left-handed person in many of the ordinary actions of life. It is noted by Mr. 
James Shaw that the buttons of our dress, and the hooks and eyes of all female attire, are 
expressly adapted to the right hand. Again, Sir Charles Bell remarks : ‘ We think we 
may conclude, that everything being adapted, in the conveniences of life, to the right 
hand, as for example the direction of the worm of the screw, or of the cutting end of the 
augur, is not arbitrary, but is related to a natural endowment of the body. He who is 
left-handed is most sensible to the advantages of this adaptation, from the opening of the 
parlour door to the opening of a penknife.” This idea, though widely entertained, is to a 
large extent founded on misapprehension. It is undoubtedly true that the habitual use 
of the right hand has controlled the form of many implements, and influenced the arran- 
gements of dress, as well as the social customs of society. The musket is fitted for a 
habitually right-handed people. So, in like manner, the adze, the plane, the gimlet, the 
screw and other mechanical tools, must be adapted to one or the other hand. Scissors, 
snuffers, shears, and other implements specially requiring the action of the thumb and 
fingers, are all made for the right hand. So also is it with the scythe of the reaper. Not 
only the lock of the gun, or rifle, but the bayonet and the cartridge-pouch, are made or 
fitted on the assumption of the right hand being used; and even many arrangements of 
the fastenings of the dress are adapted to this habitual preference of the one hand over 
the other; so that the reversing of button and buttonhole, or hook and eye, is attended 
with marked inconvenience. Yet even in this, much of what is due to habit is ascribed 
to nature. A Canadian friend, familiar in his own earlier years, at an English public 
school and university, with the game of cricket, tells me that when it was introduced for 
the first time into Canada within the last thirty-five years, left-handed batters were 
common in every field; but the immigration of English cricketers has since led, for the 
most part, to the prevailing usage of the mother country. It was not that the batters 
were, as a rule, left-handed ; but that the habit of using the bat on one side or other was 
in the majority of cases so little influenced by any predisposing bias, that it was readily 
acquired in either way. But, giving full weight to all that has been stated here 
as to right-handed implements, what are the legitimate conclusions which it teaches ? 
No doubt an habitually left-handed people would have reversed all this. But if, with 
adze, plane, gimlet, and screw, scythe, reaping hook, scissors and snuffers, rifle, bayonet, 
and all else—even to the handle of the parlour door, and the hooks and buttons of his 
dress—daily enforcing on the left-handed man a preference for the right hand, he 
nevertheless persistently adheres to the left hand, the cause of this must lie deeper than 
a mere habit induced in the nursery. 

It is a misapprehension, however, to suppose that the left-handed man labours under 
any conscious disadvantage from the impediments thus created by the usage of the 
majority. With rare exceptions, habit so entirely accustoms him to the requisite action, 


HAND AND LEFTHANDEDNESS. Bi 


that he would be no less put out by the sudden reversal of the door-handle, knife-blade, 
or screw, or the transposition of the buttons on his dress, than the right-handed man. 
Habit is constantly mistaken for nature. The laws of the road, for example, so univer- 
sally recognised in England, have become to all as it were a second nature ; and, as the 
old rhyme says :— 


“Tf you go to the left, you are sure to go right ; 
If you go to the right, you go wrong.” 


But throughout Canada and the United States, the reverse is the law ; and the new im- 
migrant, adhering to the usage of the mother country, is sorely perplexed by the persis- 
tent wrong-headedness, as it seems, of everyone but himself. 

Yet the predominant practice does impress itself on some few implements in a way 
sufficiently marked to remind the left-handed operator that he is transgressing normal 
usage. The candle, “our peculiar and household planet !” as Charles Lamb designates it, 
has well nigh become a thing of the past ; but in the old days of candle-light the snuffers 
were among the most unmanageable of domestic implements to a left-handed man. They 
are so peculiarly adapted to the right hand that the impediment can only be overcome by 
the dextrous shift of inserting the left thumb and finger below instead of above. As to 
the right-handed adaptation of scissors, it is admitted by others, but I am unconscious of 
any difficulty that their alteration would remove. “He that has seen three mowers at 
work,” says Carlyle, “ one of whom is left-handed, trying to work together, and how im- 
possible it is, has witnessed the simplest form of an impossibility, which but for the dis- 
tinction of a ‘ right hand,’ would have pervaded all human things.” But, although the 
mower’s scythe must be used in a direction in which the left hand is placed at some dis- 
advantage—and a left-handed race of mowers would undoubtedly reverse the seythe— 
yet even in this the chief impediment is to cooperation. The difficulty to himself is soon 
overcome. It is his fellow workers who are troubled by his operations. Like the 
handling of the oar or still more the paddle of a canoe, or the use of the musket or rifle,— 
so obviously designed for a right-handed marksman,—the difficulty is soon overcome. It 
is not uncommon to find a left-handed soldier placed on the left of his company when 
firing. The writer’s own experience in drilling as a volunteer was that, after a little prac- 
tice, he had no difficulty in firing from the right shoulder ; but he never could acquire an 
equal facility with his companions in unfixing the bayonet and returning it to its sheath. 

But, as certain weapons and implements, like the rifle and the scythe, are specially 
adapted for the prevailing right hand, and some ancient implements have been recovered 
in confirmation of the antiquity of the bias; so the inveterate left-handed manipulator 
at times reinstates himself on an equality with rival workmen who have thus placed him 
at a disadvantage. Probably the most ancient example of an implement expressly adapt- 
ed for the right hand is the handle of a bronze sickle, found in 1873 at the lake-dwelling 
of Müringen, on the Lake of Brienne, Switzerland. Bronze sickles have long been famil- 
iar to the archeologist, among the relics of the prehistoric era, known as the Bronze Age; 
and their forms are included among the illustrations of Dr. Ferdinand Keller’s “ Lake 
Dwellings.” But the one now referred to is the first example that has been recovered 
showing the complete hafted implement. The handle is of yew, and is ingeniously carved 
so as to lie obliquely to the blade, and allow of its use close to the ground. It is a right- 


22 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


handed implement, carefully fashioned so as to adapt it to the grasp of a very small hand, 
and is far more incapable of use by a left-handed shearer than a mower’s scythe. Its 
peculiar form is shown in an illustration which accompanies Dr. Keller’s account ; and, 
in noting that the handle is designed for a right-handed person, he adds: “Even in the 
Stone Age, it has already been noticed that the implements in use at that time were fitted 
for the right hand only.” But, if so, the same adaptability was available for the left- 
handed workman, wherever no necessity for coéperation required him to conform to the 
usage of the majority. Instances of left-handed carpenters who have provided themselves 
with benches adapted to their special use have come under my notice. Iam also told of a 
scythe fitted to the requirements of a left-handed mower, who must have been content to 
work alone; and reference has already been made to sets of golfing drivers and clubs 
for the convenience of left-handed golfers. 

The truly left-handed, equally with the larger percentage of those who may be 
designated truly right-handed, are exceptionally dextrous ; and to the former the idea that 
the instinctive impulse which influences their preference is a mere acquired habit, trace- 
able mainly to some such bias as the mode of carrying in the nurse’s arms in infancy, is 
utterly untenable. The value of personal experience in determining some of the special 
points involved in this inquiry is obvious, and will excuse a reference to my own obser- 
vations, as confirmed by a comparison with those of others equally affected, such as 
Professor Edward 8. Morse, Dr. R. A. Reeve, a former pupil of my own, and my friend, Dr. 
John Rae, the Arctic explorer. The last remarked in a letter to me, confirming the idea 
of hereditary transmission: “ Your case as to left-handedness seems very like my own. 
My mother was left-handed, and very neat-handed also. My father had a crooked little 
finger on the left-hand. So have I.” Referring to personal experience, I may note as 
common to myself with other thoroughly left-handed persons, that, with an instinctive 
preference for the left-hand, which equally resisted remonstrance, proffered rewards, and 
coercion, I nevertheless learned to use the pen in the right-hand, apparently with no 
greater effort than other boys who pass through the preliminary stages of the art of pen- 
manship. In this way the right hand was thoroughly educated, but the preferential 
instinct remained. The slate-pencil, the chalk, and pen-knife, were still invariably used 
in the left hand, in spite of much opposition on the part of teachers; and in later 
years, when a taste for drawing has been cultivated with some degree of success, the 
pencil and brush are nearly always used in the left hand. At a comparatively early age 
the awkwardness of using the spoon and knife at table, in the left hand, was perceived 
and overcome. Yet even now, when much fatigued, or on occasion of any unusual diffi- 
culty in carving a joint, the knife is instinctively transferred to the left hand. Alike in 
every case where unusual force is required, as in driving a large nail, wielding a heavy 
tool, or striking a blow with the fist, and in any operation demanding unusual delicacy, 
the left hand is employed. Thus, for example, though the pen is invariably used in the 
right hand in penmanship, the crow-quill and etching needle are no less uniformly em- 
ployed in the left hand. Hence, accordingly, on proceeding to apply the test of the hand 
to the demotic writing of the Egytians, by copying rapidly the Turin enchorial papyrus 
already referred to, first with the right hand and then with the left, while some of the- 
characters were more accurately rendered as to slope, thickening of lines, and curve, with 
the one hand, and some with the other, I found it difficult to decide on the whole which 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 28 


hand executed the transcription with greatest ease. In proof of the general facility thus 
acquired, I may add that I find no difficulty in drawing at the same time, with a pencil 
in each hand, profiles of men or animals facing each other. The attempt to draw diffe- 
rent objects, as a dog’s head with the one hand and a human profile with the other, is 
unsuccessful, owing to the complex mental operation involved; and in this case the 
coéperation is apt to be between the mind and the more facile hand. In the simultaneous 
drawing of reverse profiles, there is what, to an ordinary observer, would appear to be 
thorough ambidexterity. Nevertheless, while there is in such cases of ambidexterity, 
characteristic of most left-handed persons, little less command of the right hand than in 
those exclusively right-handed, it is wholly acquired ; nor, in my own experience, has the 
habit of considerably more than half a century overcome the preferential use of the other 
hand. 

When attending the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science held at Buffalo in 1867, my attention was attracted by the facility with which 
Professor Edward 8. Morse used his left hand when illustrating his communications by 
crayon drawings on the blackboard. His ability in thus appealing to the eye is well 
known. The Boston “Evening Transcript,” in commenting on a course of lectures 
delivered there, thus proceeds: “We must not omit to mention the wonderful skill 
displayed by Professor Morse in his blackboard drawings of illustrations, using either 
hand with facility, but working chiefly with the left hand. The rapidity, simplicity, 
and remarkable finish of these drawings elicited the heartiest applause of his audience.” 
Referring to the narrative of my own experience as a naturally left-handed person 
subjected to the usual right-hand training with pen, pencil, knife, etc., Professor Morse 
remarks in a letter to me: “I was particularly struck by the description of your experiences 
in the matter, for they so closely accord with my own: my teachers having in vain endea- 
‘ voured to break off the use of the left hand, which only resulted in teaching me to use my 
right hand also. At a short distance, I can toss or throw with the right hand quite as accu- 
rately as I can with my left. But when it comes to flinging a stone or other object a long 
distance, I always use the left hand as coming the most natural. There are two things 
which I cannot possibly do with my right hand, and that is to drive a nail, or to carve, 
cut, or whittle. For several years I followed the occupation of mechanical draughtsman, 
and I may say that there was absolutely no preference in the use of either hand; and in 
marking labels, or lettering a plan, one hand was just as correct as the other.” I may 
add here, that in my own case, though habitually using the pen in my right hand, yet 
when correcting a proof, or engaged in other disconnected writing, especially if using a 
pencil, I am apt to resort to the left hand without being conscious of the change. In 
drawing, I rarely use the right hand, and for any specially delicate piece of work, should 
find it inadequate to the task. 

The same facility is illustrated in the varying caligraphy of a letter of Professor 
Morse in which he furnished me with the best practical illustration of the ambidextrous 
skill so frequently acquired by the left handed. He thus writes: “ You will observe that 
the first page is written with the right hand, the upper third of this page with the left 
hand, the usual way [but with reversed slope], the middle third of the page with the left 
hand, reversed [i.e. from right to left], and now I am again writing with the right hand. 
As I have habitually used the right hand in writing, I write more rapidly than with 


224 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


the other.” In the case of Professor Morse, I may add, the indications of the hereditary 
transmission of left-handedness nearly correspond with my own. His maternal uncle, 
and also a cousin, are left-handed. In my case, the same habit appeared in a paternal 
uncle and a niece; and my grandson, manifested at an early age, a decided preference 
for the left hand. Even in the absence of such habitual use of both hands as Professor 
Morse practises, the command of the left hand in the case of a left-handed person is such 
that very slight effort is necessary to enable him to use the pen freely with it. An apt 
illustration of this has been communicated to me by the manager of one of the Canadian 
banks. He had occasion to complain of the letters of one of his local agents as at times 
troublesome to decipher, and instructed him in certain cases to dictate to a junior clerk 
who wrote a clear, legible hand. The letters subsequently sent to the manager, though 
transmitted to him by the same agent, presented in signature, as in all else, a totally 
different caligraphy. The change of signature led to inquiry ; when it turned out that 
his correspondent was left-handed, and by merely shifting the pen to the more dextrous 
hand, he was able, with a very little practice, to substitute for the old cramped pen- 
manship, an upright, rounded, neat, and very legible handwriting. 

In reference to the question of hereditary transmission, the evidence, as in the case of 
Dr. Rae, is undoubted. Dr. R. A. Reeve, in whom also the original left-handedness has 
given place toa nearly equal facility with both hands, informs me that his father was 
left-handed. Again Dr. Pye-Smith quotes from the “ Lancet” of October, 1870, the case of 
Mr. R. A. Lithgow, who writes to say, that he himself, his father and his grandfather, 
have all been left-handed. This accords with the statement of M. Ribot in his “Here- 
dity.” “ There are,” he says, “ families in which the special use of the left hand is here- 
ditary. Girou mentions a family in which the father, the children, and most of the 
grandchildren were left-handed. One of the latter betrayed its left-handedness from 
earliest infancy, nor could it be broken of the habit, though the left hand was bound 
and swathed.” Such persistent left-handedness is not, indeed, rare. In an instance com 
municated to me, both of the parents of a gentleman in Shropshire were left-handed. His 
mother, accordingly watched his early manifestations of the same tendency, and 
employed every available means to counteract it. His left hand was bound up, or tied 
behind him ; and this was persevered in until it was feared that the left arm had been 
permanently injured. Yet all proved vain. The boy resumed the use of the left hand 
as soon as the restraint was removed ; and, though learning like others, to use his right 
hand with facility in the use of the pen, and in other cases in which custom enforces 
compliance with the practise of the majority, he remained inveterately left-handed. 
Again a Canadian friend, whose sister-in-law is left-handed, thus writes to me: “I never 
heard of any of the rest of the family who were so; but one of her brothers had much 
more than the usual facility in using both hands, and in paddling, chopping, etc., used 
to shift about the implement from one hand to the other in a way which I envied. As 
to my sister-in-law, she had great advantages from her left-handedness. She was a 
very good performer on the piano, and her bass was magnificent. If there was a part 
to be taken only with one hand, she used to take the left as often as the right. But it 
was at needle-work that I watched her with the greatest interest. If she was cutting out, 
she used to shift the scissors from one hand to the other; and would have employed the 
left hand more, were it not that all scissors, as she complained, are made right-handed, 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 25 


‘and she wished, if possible, to procure a left-handed pair. So also with the needle, she 
used the right hand generally; but in many delicate little operations, her habit was to 
shift it to the left hand.” 

In these and similar cases, the fact is illustrated that the left-handed person is neces- 
sarily. ambidextrous. He has the exceptional “dexterity” resulting from the special 
organic aptitude of the left hand, which is only paralleled in those cases of true right- 
handedness where a corresponding organic aptitude is innate. Education, enforced by 
the usage of the majority, begets for him the training of the other and less facile hand ; 
while by an unwise neglect the majority of mankind are content to leave the left hand as 
an untrained and merely supplementary organ. From the days of the seven hundred 
chosen men of the tribe of Benjamin, the left-handed have been noted for their skill ; and 
this has been repeatedly manifested by artists, Foremost among such stands Leonardo 
da Vinci, skilled as musician, painter, and mathematician, and accomplished in all the 
manly sports of his age. Hans Holbein, Mozzo of Antwerp, Amico Aspertino, and Ludo- 
vico Cangiago, were all left-handed, though the two latter are described as working 
equally well with both hands. In all the fine arts the mastery of both hands is advanta- 
geous ; and accordingly the left-handed artist, with his congenital skill and his cultivated 
dexterity, has the advantage of his right-handed rival, instead of—as is frequently assumed 
—starting at a disadvantage. 

It now remains to consider the source to which right-handedness is to be ascribed. 
Its universal predominance, alike among civilised and savage races, from the earliest 
prehistoric dawn, altogether precludes the idea that it isa mere habit begot by custom and 
usage, and developed into a system by education. The bias in which this predominant 
law of dexterity originated must be traceable to organic structure; but, while the results 
are so manifest, the source seems thus far to elude research. One anatomical feature in 
the arrangement of the bodily orgaus does, indeed, suggest a cause for the preference 
of the limbs on one side of the body over the other, which would seem to satisfy the 
requirements in this direction, if accompanied by exceptional deviations from the normal 
condition corresponding to the occurrence of left-handedness ; and in this direction a 
solution has been mainly sought. The bilateral symmetry of structure, so general in 
animal life, seems at first sight opposed to any inequality of action in symmetrical organs. 
But anatomical research reveals the deviation of internal organic structure from such 
seemingly balanced symmetry. Moreover, right or left-handedness is not limited to the 
hand, but partially affects the lower limbs, as may be seen in football, skating, in the 
training of the opera-dancer, etc. ; and eminent anatomists and physiologists have affirmed 
the existence of a greater development throughout the whole right side ot the body. Sir 
Charles Bell says: “The left side is not only the weaker, in regard to muscular strength, 
but also in its vital or constitutional properties. The development of the organs of action 
and motion is greatest upon the right side, as may at any time be ascertained by measure- 
ment, or the testimony of the tailor or shcemaker.” He adds, indeed, ‘“ Certainly, this 
superiority may be said to result from the more frequent exertion of the right hand; but 
the peculiarity extends to the constitution also, and disease attacks the left extremities 
more frequently than the right.” 

With the left-handed, the general vigour and immunity from disease appear to be 
transferred to that side; and this has naturally suggested the theory of a transposition of 


Sec. II., 1886. 4. 


26 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


the viscera, and the consequent increase of circulation thereby transferred from the one 
side to the other. But the relative position of the heart is so easily determined in the 
living subject, that it is surprising how much force has been attached to this untenable 
theory by eminent anatomists and physiologists. Another, and more generally favoured 
idea, traces to the reverse development of the great arteries of the upper limbs a greater 
flow of blood to the left side; while a third ascribes the greater muscular vigour directly 
to the supply of nervous force dependent on the early development of the brain on one 
side or the other. 

So far as either line of argument prevails, it inevitably leads to the result that the 
preference of the right hand is no mere perpetuation of convenient usage, matured into an 
acquired, or possibly an hereditary habit; but that it is, from the first, traceable to innate 
physical causes. This, as Sir Charles Bell conceives, receives confirmation from the fact 
already referred to, that right or left-handedness is not restricted to the hand, but affects 
the corresponding lower limb, and, as he believes, the whole side; and so he concludes 
thus: “On the whole, the preference of the right hand is not the effect of habit, but is a 
natural provision; and is bestowed for a very obvious purpose.” Nevertheless, the argu- 
ment of Sir Charles Bell is, as a whole, vague, and scarcely consistent. He speaks 
indeed of right-handedness as “a natural endowment of the body,” and his reasoning 
is based on this assumption. But much of it would be equally explicable as the result of 
adaptations following on an acquired habit. Its full force will come under consideration 
at a later stage. Meanwhile it is desirable to review the various and conflicting opinions 
advanced by other inquirers. 

The theory of Dr. Barclay, the celebrated anatomist, is thus set forth by Dr. Buchanan, 
from notes taken by him when a student: “The veins of the left side of the trunk, and of 
the left inferior extremity, cross the aorta to arrive at the vena cava; and some obstruc- 
tion to the flow of blood must be produced by the pulsation of that artery.” To this Dr. 
Barclay traced indirectly the preferential use of the right side of the body, and especially 
of the right hand and foot. “All motions,” he stated, “produce obstruction of the cireu- 
lation; and obstruction from this cause must be more frequently produced in the right 
side than the left, owing to its being more frequently used. But the venous circulation 
on the left side is retarded by the pulsation of the aorta, and therefore the more frequent 
motions of the right side were intended to render the circulation of the two sides uniform.” 
The idea, if correctly reported, is a curious One, as it traces right-handedness to the excess 
of acompensating force for an assumed inferior circulation pertaining naturally to the 
right side ; and incidentally takes into consideration an abnormal modification affecting 
the development or relative disposition of organs. Both points have been the subject of 
more extended consideration by subsequent observers. It is curious, indeed, to notice 
how physiologists and anatomists have shifted their ground, from time to time, in their 
attempts at a solution of what has been very summarily dismissed by others as a very 
simple problem; until, as Dr. Struthers remarks, it “has ceased to attract the notice of 
physiologists only because it has baffled satisfactory explanation.” 

The eminent anatomist, Professor Gratiolet, turned from the organs in immediate 
contact with the arm and hand, and sought for the source of right-handedness in another, 
and as I incline to think, truer direction ; though he only presented a partial view of this 
aspect of the case. According to Professor Gratiolet, in the early stages of fætal develop- 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 27 


ment, the anterior and middle lobes of the brain on the left side are in a more advanced 
condition than those on the right side, the balance being maintained by an opposite 
condition of the posterior lobes. Hence, in consequence of the well-known decussation of 
the nerve-roots, the right side of the body—so far as it is influenced by brain-force,— 
will, in early foetal life, be better supplied with nervous force than the left side ; and 
thereby movements of the right arm would precede and be more perfect than those of the 
left. But the premises of Gratiolet are disputed ; and even if proved, they must raise 
further questions, not merely as to the origin, but also as to the influence of such an 
unequal development of the brain on the action of the limbs. 

Dr. Andrew Buchanan, Professor of Physiology in the University of Glasgow, in a 
paper communicated by him to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, in 1862, entitled 
“ Mechanical Theory of the predominance of the right hand over the left; or more generally, 
of the limbs of the right side over those of the left side of the body,” aimed at a solution 
of the question in a new way. According to him, “The preferential use of the right hand 
is not a congenital, but an acquired attribute of man. It does not exist in the earliest 
periods of life.” Nevertheless, “no training could ever render the left hand of ordinary 
men equal in strength to the right ;” for “it depends upon mechanical laws arising out 
of the structure of the human body.” This theory is thus explained : In infancy and 
early childhood, there is no difference in power between the two sides of the body ; but 
so soon as the child becomes capable of bringing the whole muscular force of the body into 
play, ‘he becomes conscious of the superior power of his right side, a power not prima- 
rily due to any superior force or development of the muscles of that side, but to a purely 
mechanical cause. He cannot put forth the full strength of his body without first making 
a deep inspiration; and by making a deep inspiration, and maintaining afterwards the 
chest in an expanded state, which is essential to the continuance of his muscular effort, 
he so alters the mechanical relations of the two sides of his body, that the muscles of his 
right side act with a superior efficacy; and, to render the inequality still greater, the 
muscles of the left side act with a mechanical disadvantage.” Hence the preference for 
the right side whenever unusual muscular power is required; and, with the greater 
exercise of the muscles of the right side, their consequent development follows, until the 
full predominance of the right side is the result. 

This theory is based, not merely on the preponderance of the liver and lungs on the 
right side, but on these further facts: that the right lung is more capacious than the left, 
having three lobes, while the left has only two; that the liver, the heaviest organ of the 
body, is on the same side ; and that the common centre of gravity of the body shifts, more or 
less, towards the right, according to the greater or less inspiration of the lungs, and the 
consequent inclination of the liver resulting from the greater expansion of the right side 
of the chest. Herein may possibly lie one predisposing cause leading to a preferential 
use of the right side. But the evidence adduced fails to account for what, on such a 
theory, become abnormal deviations from the natural action of the body. The position 
of the liver, and the influence of a full inspiration, combine, according to Dr. Buchanan, 
to bring the centre of gravity of the body nearly over the right foot. Hence in actively 
overcoming a resistance from above, as when the carter bears up the shaft of his cart on 
his shoulder, the muscular action originates mainly with the lower limb of the same side, 
which partakes of the same muscular power and development as the corresponding upper 


28 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


limb. On all such occasions, where the muscular action is brought directly into play in 
overcoming the weight or resistance, Dr. Buchanan affirms that the right shoulder is much 
more powerful than the left; but in the passive bearing of weights it is otherwise. The 
very fact that the centre of gravity lies on the right side, gives a mechanical advantage in 
. the use of the left side in sustaining and carrying burdens ; and this assigned preéminence 
of the left side and shoulder, as the bearer of burdens, is accordingly illustrated by means 
of an engraving, representing “ a burden borne on the left shoulder as the summit of the 
mechanical axis passing along the right lower limb.” 

In the year following the publication of Dr. Buchanan’s “ Mechanical Theory,” Dr. John 
Struthers communicated to the Edinburgh “ Medical Journal,” a paper, “On the relative 
weight of the viscera on the two sides of the body ; and on the consequent position of 
the centre of gravity to the right side.” In this he shows that the viscera situated on the 
right side of the medial line are on on average 2275 oz. av. heavier than those on the left 
side. The right lung, in the male, weighs 24 oz., the left 21, giving a prepondance of 3 oz., 
in favour of the right. The average weight of the heart, in the male, is 11 oz. But the 
left side is not only the larger, but the thicker, and as the result of careful experiments 
by Dr. Struthers, he assigns to the right side a full third of the weight of the heart, or 34 
oz. for the right, and 74 for the left side. Other viscera are estimated in like manner, 
with the result from the whole that the centre of gravity of the body, so far as it depends 
on their weight and position, is nearly three-tenths of an inch distant from the medial 
plane towards the right side. As a physical agent constantly in operation in the erect 
posture, Dr. Struthers states that this cannot but exert an influence on the attitudes and 
movements of the body and limbs; and he accordingly indicates his belief that this 
deviation of the centre of gravity furnishes the most probable solution of the causes “ of 
the preference of the right hand by all nations of mankind.” 

The value of Dr. Struthers’ determination of the exact weight and relative eccentri- 
city of the viscera on the two sides of the body was fully recognised by Dr. Buchanan ; 
and in acommuuication to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow in 1877, he stated that he 
had been led to greatly modify his earlier opinions. He had, as shown above, ascribed 
the predominance of the right hand over the left to the mechanical advantage which 
the right side has in consequence of the centre of gravity inclining toit. But he says, in 
his later treatise, “I judged hastily when I inferred that this is the ground of preference 
which prompts the great majority of mankind to use their right limbs rather than their 
left. The position ofthe centre of gravity on the right side is common to all men of normal 
conformation, and furnishes to all of them alike an adequate motive, when they are about to 
put forth their full strength in the performance of certain actions, to use the limbs of the 
right side in preference to those of the left. But such actions are of comparatively rare 
occurrence, and the theory fails to explain why the right limbs, and more especially the 
right hand, are preferred on so many occasions where no great muscular effort is required ; 
and fails still more signally to explain why some men give a preference to the limbs of 
the left side, and others manifest no predilection for either.” Dr. Buchanan accordingly 
proceeds to show, that there is not only the element of the position of the centre of gravity 
as the pivot on which all the mechanical relations of the two sides of the body turn ; but 
there is, as he conceives, this other and no less important element. “ The centre of gravity 
situated on the right side, is variously placed upwards or downwards, according to the 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 29 


original make or framework of the body.” In the great majority of cases this lies above 
the transverse axis of the body, with a consequent facility for balancing best, and turning 
most easily and securely, on the left foot, with the impulsive power effected by the muscles 
of the right lowerlimb. Man is thus, as a rule, right-footed : and, according to Dr. Buchanan, 
by a necessary consequence becomes right-handed. By a series of diagrams he accordingly 
shows the assumed variations : (1) the centre of gravity above the tranverse axis, with 
its accompanying right-handedness ; (2) the centre of grayity corresponding with the 
transverse axis, which he assigns to the ambidextrous; and (3) the centre of gravity 
below the transverse axis begetting left-handedness. The whole phenomena are thus 
ascribed to the instinctive sense of equilibrium, which constitutes a nearly infallible guide 
in all the movements of the human body. The greater development of the organs of 
motion of the right side is therefore, as he conceives, rot congenital, but arises solely from 
the greater use that is made of them. The relative position of the centre of gravity 
depends accordingly on the original conformation of the body. Broad shoulders, muscu- 
lar arms, a large head and a long neck, all tend to elevate the centre point; while the 
contrary result follows from width at the haunches and a great development of the lower 
limbs. 

The intermediate condition, in which the centre of gravity falls upon the transverse 
axis, with no instinctive tendency to call into action the muscles of the one side of the 
body in preference to those of the other, constitutes, according to Dr. Buchanan, the most 
happy conformation of the body. “It belongs,” he says, “ more especially to the female 
sex. Itis this that so often renders a young girl a perfect model of grace and agility. 
It is the same conformation that enables the ballet-dancer to whirl round on her one foot 
till the spectators are giddy with looking at her, when she completes her triumph by 
revolving with the same ease and grace on her other foot also.” He further adds: “ If 
accurate statistics could be obtained, I believe it would be found that while a very great 
majority of males are right-handed, the proportion of females is less ; and that, on the 
contrary, a larger proportion of females than of males are ambidextrous or left-handed.” 

Consistently with the ideas thus set forth, both Dr. Buchanan and Dr. Struthers 
regard right-handness as an acquired habit, though under the influence and control of the 
mechanical forces indicated by them. “ As the question,” says the latter, “ in so far as it 
can bear on the cause of the preference of the right hand, must turn on the weight and 
position of the viscera in the child at the period when the predominance of the right hand 
is being gradually developed, in the second and third years and afterwards, it is necessary 
to make the calculation from the facts as presented in children.” In a letter to myself he 
thus writes: “I have again and again verified the fact in my own children, that in early 
childhood there is no preference for one hand more than the other.” But this, as has been 
already shown, may be partly due to modes of nursing and other temporary causes 
affecting the child in its first infantile stage ; and though it may undoubtedly be affirmed 
of many, if not indeed of the majority, of children at that stage, a certain number will be 
found to manifest a distinct preference, at a very early age, for one or the other hand. In 
the case of a niece of my own, the left-handedness showed itself very soon; and in my 
grandson, it was independently observed by its mother and nurse, and brought under my 
notice, that so soon as he was able to grasp an object and transfer it from one hand to the 
other, he gave the preference to the left hand. A like decided preference for the right 


30 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


hand, though doubtless also comparatively rare, is more frequent ; and the further research 
is carried, the more manifest does it appear that—whatever be the originating cause,—the 
preferential use of what we designate the right hand is instinctive with a sufficiently large 
number to determine the prevalent usage; while with a smaller number an equally strong 
impulse is felt prompting to the use of the left hand, in defiance of all restraining influences. 
It is indeed always necessary to give full weight to the influences of education, the whole 
tendency of which, from early childhood, operates in one direction. The extent to which 
this is systematically employed to develop the use of the one hand at the expense of the 
other, is illustrated by the conventional rules for the use of the knife and fork. It is not 
sufficient that the knife shall be invariably held in the right hand. The child is taught 
to hold his knife in the right hand and his fork in the left when cutting his food ; but 
when either the fork or spoon is used alone, it must forthwith be transferred to the right 
hand. All voluntary employment of the left hand in any independent action is discoun- 
tenanced as awkwardness or gaucherie ; and thus, with a large majority, especially among 
the more refined and artificial classes of society, it is rendered a comparatively useless 
member, employed at best merely to supplement the other. Yet I am not aware that left- 
handedness is greatly more prevalent among the rude and uncultured classes, or among 
savage than civilized races ; as would certainly be the case if right-handedness mainly 
depended on an acquired habit. The Rev. George Brown, who has spent upwards of 
fourteen years as a missionary among the Polynesians, informs me that left-handedness is 
as rare among the natives of the Pacific islands as with ourselves; while in all their 
languages the distinction is clearly indicated. Dr. Rae, to whose own inveterate left- 
handedness I have alluded, thus writes to me in reference to its prevalence among the 
races of Arctic America: ‘“ Unfortunately, I did not take particular care to notice when 
among the Indians and Eskimos, whether any or many of them were left-handed. From 
what I have noticed, some of them seem to be ambidextrous. But from a curious story 
told me about a bear throwing a large piece of ice at the head of a walrus, and the narrator 
telling me that he threw it with the left forepaw, as if it was something unusual, 
probably left-handedness is not very common among the Eskimos.” 

Turning next to the idea set forth by Dr. Buchanan as to the greater preponderance of 
ambidexterity or left-handedness among females, the results of my own observation by no 
means tend to confirm this. I have already noted the case of a lady whose left-handedness 
is accompanied by great dexterity. I have repeatedly met with cases of ladies who use the 
needle skilfully with the left hand ; but the results of enquiries addressed to musicians 
and music teachers, indicate that in the great majority of cases the cultivation of the 
left, as the weaker or less skilful hand, has to be sedulously enforced in the training 
of the female organist and pianist. It is because left-handed pianists are rare that their 
exceptional dexterity is noted, as in the case of a Canadian lady referred to above: “She 
had great advantages from her left-handedness. She was a very good performer on the 
piano, and her bass was magnificent.” 

Again asto the pirouetting of the trained ballet-dancer, I have been assured that much 
practise is required to obtain equal facility on either foot. Dr. Buchanan traces the deve- 
lopment of the limbs in their active use, from the first effort of the child to stand erect ; 
next, the learning to balance himself and turn round on a single foot, and so through a 
succession of stages, until at length “the child becomes right-footed. It is not till long 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 31 


after that the right arm acquires its predominance.” But the coordination of the right or 
left hand and the corresponding foot is by no means so invariable as to justify any such 
theory. Hopping, pirouetting, and standing on one foot, are comparatively exceptional 
actions. The two lower limbs are most frequently employed in necessarily alternate 
locomotion. The use of the lower limbs, moreover, is much more independent of direct 
conscious volition than that of the hands, and the purposes to which their action is applied 
are rarely of a nature to invite special attention to them. There is, however, an instinctive 
tendency with many, if not indeed with the majority, to use one foot in preference to the 
other, but not necessarily the corresponding one to the dextrous hand, be it right or left. 
In skating, for example, where military training has not habituated to the use of the left 
foot in starting, 
football, it is not with most players a matter of mere chance which foot will be used 


most persons have an instinctive preference for one foot. So also in 


in starting the ball. Possibly the same reason may help to account for the invariable 
tendency of a blindfold walker to deviate to one side or the other. It is scarcely possible 
to walk in a straight line with the eyes shut. The one leg apparently tends to outwalk the 
other. Guided mainly by my own experience, I remarked, when first writing on this 
subject, that “the same influences appear to affect the whole left side, as shown in hopping, 
skating, football,” etc. But this is partial and uncertain. Dr. Brown-Sequard affirms that 
right-sidedness affects the arms much more than the legs, and in proof of this he states that 
“it is exceedingly rare that the leg is affected in the same degree by paralysis as the arm.” 
Dr. Joseph Workman, for many years Medical Superientendent of the Provincial Lunatic 
Asylum at Toronto, thus writes to me: “When you say that left-footedness is (only) as 
frequent as left-handedness, I am quite sure you are in error. I remember well, when I 
was a boy, observing the fact among labouring men engaged in what was called in Ireland 
‘sodding’ potatoes, in ridges about five feet wide, instead of planting in drills, that in 
any given number of men, from four up to a dozen, right and left-footedness prevailed 
about equally. Each pair carrying up the work of a ridge required to be right and 
left-footed men. I am myself left-footed ; and of eight brothers, I believe about four were 
left and four right-footed. Sir Charies Bell, in asserting that ‘no boy, unless he is 
left-handed, hops on the left foot, asserts far more than the fact. I believe every boy will 
hop on his spade foot ; at least Ido so, and I am not left-handed; and I instinctively do 
so because I dig with this foot.” 

Dr. Buchanan states that “in all adults who use the right hand in preference to the 
left—that is, in the great majority of mankind,—the muscles of the right side, as well as 
the bones and other organs of motion, are more highly developed than those on the left 
side;” and the predominance of the upper limb follows, as a rule, the previous develop- 
ment of the lower limb on the same side. The power of overcoming weight or resistance, 
and that of passively bearing weights, he assigns to opposite sides,—both naturally 
resulting from the centre of gravity lying on the right side. If such be the case, the 
great majority of mankind should instinctively use the same side in bearing a burden. A 
favorable opportunity occurred for testing this question. During a voyage of some days 
in one of the large steamboats on the Mississippi River, my attention was attracted by the 
deck-porters, who at every landing are employed in transporting the freight to and from 
the levee, and in supplying the vessel with cordwood. They constitute, as a class, the 
rudest representatives of unskilled labour, including both whites and negroes. For hours 


32 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


together they are to be seen going at a run to and from the lower deck of the vessel, 
carrying sacks of grain, bales, chests, or bundles of cordwood. Watching them closely, I 
- observed that some gave the preference to the right and some to the left shoulder in bear- 
ing their burden ; and this whether, as with bale and sack, they had it placed on their 
shoulders by others, or, as with cordwood, they took the load up themselves. Noting 
in separate columns the use of the right and left shoulder, and in the case of loading 
with cordwood the employment of the right and left hand, I found the difference did 
not amount to much more than sixty per cent. In one case I noted 137 carry the 
burden on the left shoulder to 81 on the right ; in another case 76 to 45; and in the case 
of loading cordwood, where the natural action of the right hand is to place the burden on 
the left shoulder, so that the use of the right shoulder necessarily implies that of the left | 
hand, the numbers were 65 using the left shoulder and 36 the right. Here, therefore, 
a practical test of a very simple yet reliable kind fails to confirm the idea of any such 
mechanical cause inherent in the constitution of the human frame, tending to a uniform 
exertion of the right side and the passive employment of the left, in muscular action. 

While thus questioning some of the assumptions and deductions set forth by Dr. 
Buchanan, it must be acknowledged that his later theory has this great advantage over 
other attemps to account for right-handedness that it equally meets the cases of deviation 
from prevalent usage. No theory is worthy of serious consideration which deals with 
left-handedness as an exceptional deviation from habitual action : as where, in his earlier 
treatise, Dr. Buchanan expressed the belief that many instances of left-handedness are 
“merely cases of ambidextrousness, when the habit of using the left side, in whatever 
way begun, has given to the muscles of that side such a degree of development as enables 
them to compete with the muscles of the right side, in spite of the mechanical disadvan- 
tages under which they labour.” “There is an awkwardness,” he added, “in the muscular 
efforts of such men, which seems to indicate a struggle against nature.” But for those 
indisputable cases of “men who unquestionably use their left limbs with all the facility 
and efficiency with which other men use their right,” he felt compelled either to resort to 
the gratuitous assumption of “ malformations and pathological lesions in early life, diseases 
of the right lung, contraction of the chest from pleurisy, enlargement of the spleen, dis- 
tortions of the spine,” etc.; or to assume a complete reversal of the whole internal organic 
structure. 

More recently, Dr. Humphry, of Cambridge, has discussed the cause of the prefer- 
ential use of the right hand, in his monograph on “ The Human Foot and Human Hand,” 
but with no very definite results. Many attempts, he says, have been made to answer 
the question, Why is man usually right-handed ? “ but it has never been done quite satis- 
factorily ; and I do not think that a clear and distinct explanation of the fact can be given. 
There is no anatomical reason for it with which we are acquainted. The only peculiarity 
that we can discern, is a slight difference in the disposition, within the chest, between 
the blood-vessels which supply the right and left arms. This, however, is quite insuffi- 
cient to account for the disparity between the two limbs. Moreover, the same disposition 
is observed in left-handed persons and in some of the lower animals; and in none of the 
latter is there that difference between the two limbs which is so general among men.” 
Dr. Humphry accordingly inclines to the view that the superiority of the right hand is 
not natural, but acquired. “ All men,” he says, “are not right-handed; some are left- 


>» BONES 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 38 


handed ; some are ambidextrous ; and in all persons, I believe, the left hand may be 
trained to as great expertness and strength as the right. It is so in those who have been 
deprived of their right hand in early life ; and most persons can do certain things with 
the left hand better than with the right.” So, far, therefore, Dr. Humphry’s decision 
would appear to be wholly in favour of the conclusion that the superiority of the right 
hand is an acquired habit. But after stating thus much, he adds: “ Though I think the 
superiority of the right hand is acquired, and is a result of its more frequent use, the 
tendency to use it in preference to the left is so universal, that it would seem to be natural. 
I am driven, therefore, to the rather nice distinction, that, though the superiority is 
acquired, the tehdency to acquire the superiority is natural.” 

This “nice distinction ” amounts to something very like an evasion of the real diffi- 
culty, unless we assume Dr. Humphry to mean only what Dr. Buchanan states, that during 
the weakness of infancy and childhood the two hands are used indiscriminately ; and 
the preferential use of one side rather than the other does not manifest itself until the 
muscular system has acquired active development. All the processes by which dexterity 
in the manipulation and use of tools is manifested, are acquired, whether the right or the 
left hand be the one employed. Men are not born with carpentering, weaving, modelling 
and architectural instincts, requiring no apprenticeship or culture, like ants, bees, spiders, 
martins and beavers ; though the aptitude in mastering such arts is greater in some than 
in others. If the tendency in their practice to use the right hand is natural, that is to 
say innate or congenital, then there need be no nice distinctions in affirming it. But 
on any clearly defined physiological deductions of right-handedness from the disposition 
of the organs of motion or circulation, or any other uniform relation of the internal 
organs and the great arteries of the upper limbs, left-handedness becomes mysterious, 
if not inexplicable, unless on the assumption of a corresponding reversal of organic 
structure; for Dr. Humphry’s assertion that “in all persons the left hand may be trained 
to as great expertness and strength as the right,” is contradicted by the experience of left- 
handed persons in their efforts to apply the same training to the right hand. 

To the most superficial observer it is manifest that the anatomical disposition of the 
vital organs is not symmetrical. The heart lies obliquely, from above downwards, and 
from right to left; the trachea is on the right side, and the right and left subclavian 
veins and arteries are diversely arranged. There are also three lobes of the right lung, 
and only two of the left ; and the liver is on the right side. Here, therefore, are sources 
of difference between the right and left sides of the body, which, if subject to variation, 
offer a possible explanation of the phenomenon that has so long baffled physiologists. To 
the variations in the disposition of those organs attention has accordingly been repeatedly 
directed; as in the occasional origin of the left subclavian artery before the right, which, 
as hereafter noted, Professor Hyrtl suggested as the cause of the transfer of dexterity to 
the left limb. But instances have repeatedly occurred of the entire transposition of the 
viscera. “There are men born,” says Dr. Buchanan, “who may grow up and enjoy perfect 
health, in whom the position of all the thoracic and abdominal viscera is reversed. There 
are three lobes of the left lung and only two of the right, the liver is on the left side, and 
the heart is on the right; and so forth.” Those, and other malformations, as well as 
pathological lesions, especially if they occur in early life, may affect the relative power of 
the two sides; and Dr. Buchanan, at a later date, reported a case that came under his own 


Sec. IT., 1886. 5. 


34 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


notice, in which the entire transposition of the viscera coexisted with left-handedness. 
But he had already adopted the mechanical theory, subsequently modified, as explained 
above; and it is only in a closing remark in his paper of 1862 that he makes a passing 
reference to this remarkable coincidence. 

Professor Hyrtl, of Vienna, the eminent anatomist already referred to, in discussing 
the cause of left-handedness in his ‘‘ Handbuck der Topographischen Anatomie” (1860), 
affirms a correspondence between the ratio of left-handed persons and the occurrence of 
certain deviations from the normal arrangements of the blood-vessels. “It happens,” he 
says, “in the proportion of about two in a hundred cases, that the left subclavian artery 
has its origin before the right, and in these cases left-handedness exists, as it also often 
actually does in the case of complete transposition of the internal organs ; and it is found 
that the proportion of left-handed to right-handed persons is also about two to one 
hundred.” Professor Hyrtl thinks that ordinarily the blood is sent into the right subclavian 
under a greater pressure than into the left, on account of the relative position of these 
vessels; that in consequence of the greater supply of blood, the muscles are better 
nourished and stronger; and that therefore the right extremity is more used. In cases of 
anomalous origin of the left subclavian, etc., the reverse occurs, and therefore the left 
hand is employed in preference. The theory of Professor Hyrtl has this feature to recom- 
mend it, that it assigns a cause for the prevalent habit, which, if confirmed, would equally 
account for the exceptional left-handedness; and no proffered solution of the question, 
founded on organic structure, is deserving of attention which fails to do so. But the 
statistics of such internal organic structure are not, like those of the transposition of the 
heart and immediately related organs, accessible in the living subject, unless in very rare 
exceptions; and the occurrence of one or two cases in which the deviation from the 
normal arrangement of the artery, or the entire transposition of the viscera, is found to 
coexist with left-handedness, may only be misleading. 

A correspondent of “Nature” (June 9, 1870) refers to a case of transposition of 
the origin of the right subclavian artery, disclosed by the occurrence of aneurism, where 
the person was ascertained to have been undoubtedly right-handed. In the following 
year an interesting article by Dr. Pye-Smith appeared in the “Guy’s Hospital Reports,” 
and was subsequently reprinted, with additions, under the title of “The connection of 
left-handedness with transposition of viscera and other supposed anatomical causes.” In 
this the author states that he found the deviation from the normal arrangement of the 
primary branches of the aorta, in which the right subclavian arises from the third part of 
the aortic arch, to occur four times in 296 dissections. As this variation, he says, “cannot 
be recognised during life, its connection with left-handedness is not easy to investigate. 
But in one case, at least, Dr. Peacock ascertained for me that the subject of this abnor- 
mality, whose heart and arteries he had examined for another purpose, was right-handed 
during life.” Any one can tell on which side his heart lies ; but the disposition of the 
subclavian artery is wholly beyond his cognizance; and, indeed, Professor Hyrtl, while 
referring to this abnormal organisation as one probable cause of left-handedness, does not 
affirm more than that the one has been ascertained in some cases to be an accompaniment 
of the other. The evidence that in other cases it has been unaccompanied by left-handed- 
ness shows that it is no necessary source of deviation from normal action. 

The other theory, that left-handedness is an inevitable accompaniment of the trans- 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. | 35 


position of the viscera, is more easily tested. It is one that has been repeatedly suggested ; 
and has not only received the sanction of Professor Hyrtl, but is supported by some 
undoubted cases in which the two conditions coexisted. But, as Dr. Pye-Smith remarks, 
“a few such instances only prove that transposition of the viscera does not prevent the 
subject of the abnormality from being left-handed. Though attention has hitherto been 
little drawn to this point, there are enough cases already recorded to show that for a 
person with transposed viscera to be left-handed is a mere coincidence.” In confirmation 
of this, Dr. Pye-Smith refers to four cases, one of which came under his own observation 
in Guy’s Hospital, where the subjects of the abnormal disposition of the viscera had been 
right-handed. In the “ Rochester (N.Y.) Express,” of October, 1877, a notice appeared of 
an autopsy on the body of George Vail, of Whitby, Ontario, who had recently died in the 
Rochester Hospital. Dr. Stone, as there stated, “noticed upon the first examination, when 
the patient came for treatment, that there was what is technically called ‘juxtaposition of 
the heart,’ which is a very rare condition. He was gratified at the autopsy to have his 
diagnosis coufirmed, the heart being found on the right side of the body, instead of the 
left.” I immediately wrote to Whitby, and in reply was informed that no one had ever 
noticed in Vail any indication of his being left-handed. A similar case of the transposition 
of the viscera, in which, nevertheless, the person was right-handed, recorded by M. Géry, 
is quoted in Cruveillier’s “ Anatomie,” (I. 65.) Another is given by M. Gachet, in the 
“ Gazette des Hospitaux,” August 31, 1861; and a third in the Pathological Transactions, 
Vol. XIX. p. 447 (“ Nature,” April 28, 1870). This evidence suffices to prove that there is 
no true relation between the transposition of the viscera and left-handedness. Dr. 
Struthers has shown that ‘‘as far as the viscera alone are concerned, the right side is at 
least 225 ounces heavier than the left, and that this is reduced 7? ounces by the influence 
of the contents of the stomach, leaving a clear preponderance of at least 15 ounces in 
favour of the right side.” The preponderance of the right side, he adds, is probably 
considerably greater than 15 ounces, and it is rendered still more so in the erect posture. 
The total weight of viscera on the right side he states at 50? ounces, while that of the left 
side is only 28 ounces, giving a visceral preponderance on the right side of 22? ounces. 
But if this relative excess of weight on the right side be the true source of right-handed- 
ness, the transposition of the viscera ought to be invariably accompanied with a corres- 
ponding change. A single example of the preponderant cause, unaccompanied by the 
assumed effect, is sufficient to discredit the theory. 

There remains to be considered the source suggested by Professor Gratiolet, when he 
turned from the organs in immediate contact with the arm and hand to the cerebral 
centre of nerve force. The statements advanced by him that the anterior convolutions of 
the left side of the brain are earlier developed than those of the right, when taken in 
connection with the well-known decussation of the nerve-roots, would account for the 
earlier development of the muscles and nerves of the right arm; but his opinion has been 
controverted by competent observers. This, however, does not dispose of the question. 
A recent observer definitely affirms that “the large proportion of cases of ataxic aphasia 
occur in association with right-sided hemiphlegia, although others are on record in which 
it has appeared in connection with left-sided hemiphlegia in left-handed persons.” 
(Encyc. Britann, art. Aphasia.) In those an intimate relation is thus established between 
right or left-handedness and the development of the opposite cerebral hemisphere. “The 


36 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


opinion,” says Dr. Pye-Smith, “that some difference between the two sides of the brain 
has to do with our preference for the right hand over the left may, perhaps, be supported 
by two very interesting cases of aphasia occurring in left-handed persons, recorded by 
Dr. Hughlings Jackson and Dr. John Ogle. In both these patients there was paralysis of 
the left side ; so that it seems likely that in these two left-handed people the right half of 
the brain had the functions, if not the structure, which ordinarily belong to the left. To 
these cases may be added a very remarkable one published by Dr. Wadham (St. George’s 
Hosp. Rep. 1869). An ambidextrous, or partially left-handed lad, was attacked with left 
hemiplegia and loss of speech; he had partly recovered at the time of his death, twelve 
months later, and then the right insula, and adjacent parts, were found softened.” 

The remarkable difference in the convolutions of different brains, and the consequent 
extent of superficies of some brains over others apparently of the same size, have been a 
matter of special observation, with results lending confirmation to the idea that great 
development of the convolutions of the brain is the concomitant of a corresponding 
manifestation of intellectual activity. But the complexity in the arrangement of these 
convolutions, and the consequent extent of superficies, often differ considerably in the 
two hemispheres of the same brain ; and it seems not improbable that left-handedness 
may prove to be traceable to certain structural differences between the right and left 
hemispheres. The variations in shape and arrangement of the convolutions in either 
hemisphere may be no more than the accidental folds of the cerebral mass, in its later 
development in the chamber of the skull; and within ordinary limits they probably 
exercise no appreciable influence on physical or mental activity. From long and 
careful observation, especially of children, I am satisfied that with the great majority, 
right-handedness is mainly the result of education, or a compliance with prevailing usage. 
Little effort would be needed with such to superinduce left-handedness. But there is a 
sufficient number of persons naturally and instinctively right-handed to determine the 
bias of the majority; though they cannot influence another, and smaller number, who 
have an equally strong and ineradicable impulse to the use of the left hand. Where, 
therefore, opportunity is afforded for examination of the brain, it is desirable that in every 
case of marked inequality between the two hemispheres, inquiry should be instituted as 
to the concurrence of a strongly pronounced right or left-handedness. 

But it has also been affirmed as the result of repeated observations, that there is often 
a decided difference in the weight of the two hemispheres of the brain. M. Broca stated 
that in forty brains he found the left frontal lobe heavier than the right ; and Dr. Boyd, 
when describing the results obtained by him from observations on upwards of 500 brains 
of patients in the St. Marylebone Hospital, says : “ It is a singular fact, confirmed by the 
examination of nearly 200 cases at St. Marylebone, in which the hemispheres were weighed 
separately, that almost invariably the weight of the left exceeded that of the right by at 


LE] 


least the eighth of an ounce.” Dr. Brown-Sequard also, as hereafter noted, makes this 
apparent excess in weight of the left hemisphere of the brain the basis of very compre- 
hensive deductions. Again Dr. Bastian affirms, as the result of careful observation, 
that the specific gravity of the grey matter from the frontal, parietal, and occipital 
convolutions, respectively, is often slighly higher on the left than it is on the right 
hemisphere. Such deductions, however, have been questioned ; and Professor Wagner 
and Dr. Thurnam both state that their careful independent investigations failed to 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 37 


confirm the results arrived at by M. Broca and Dr. Boyd. From the weighing of the two 
hemispheres of eighteen distinct brains, Professor Wagner found the right hemisphere 
the heavier in ten, and the left in six cases, while in the remaining two they were of 
equal weight. Dr. Thurnam, without entering into details, states that the results of his 
weighings did not confirm Dr. Boyd’s observations ; adding that “ fresh careful observa- 
tions are certainly needed before we can admit the general preponderance of the left 
hemisphere over the right.” Though the two hemispheres of the brain are sufficiently 
distinct, they are united at the base ; and even with the most careful experimenters, the 
section through the cerebral peduncles and the corpus callosum is so delicate an opera- 
tion that a very slight bias of the operator’s hand may affect the results. That a differ- 
ence however is occasionally demonstrable in the weight of the two hemispheres is 
unquestionable, and encourages further observation with a view to ascertain definitely 
how far the evidence is in accordance with the hypothesis of left-handedness being 
referable to an exceptionally greater action of the right side of the brain. It is in full 
accordance with what has already been aflirmed as to the very partial prevalence of any 
strongly defined bias in the majority for the preferential use of either hand, that many 
brains should come under the notice of careful observers where little or no difference can 
be found between the two hemispheres. But weight is not the only element of variation. 
Dr. Bastian, in “ The Brain as an Organ of Mind,” draws attention to the unsymmetrical 
development of the two hemispheres as one of the most notable peculiarities of the human 
cerebrum. This is not only the case with reference to the number and arrangement of 
the convolutions, but it has been noted by various anatomists that the left hemisphere 
is very frequently slightly longer than its fellow. Nor are the distinct functions and 
the independent action of the two hemispheres of the brain by any means limited to the 
range of action now under review. 

Among the higher cerebral functions, the power of articulate speech has been assigned 
to the left hemisphere ; and Dr. Broca located it specifically in the third left convolution. 
Commenting on this, Dr. Bastian remarks: “It has been thought that a certain more 
forward condition of development of the left hemisphere—as a result of hereditary right- 
handedness recurring through generation after generation,—might gradually become 
sufficient to cause the left hemisphere to take the lead in the production of speech- 
movements. Some little evidence exists, though at present it is very small, to show that 
it is left-handed people more especially who may become aphasic by a lesion of the right 
third frontal gyrus.” Dr. Bastian further assumes it to be indisputable that the greater 
preponderance of right-hand movements in ordinary individuals must tend to produce a 
more complex organization of the left than of the right hemisphere ; and this both in its 
sensory and motor regions. With the left-handed, however, so many motives are constantly 
at work tending to call the right hand into play, that the compensating influences must in 
their case tend to check any inequality in the development of the two hemispheres. As to 
the supposed greater liability of left-handed people to aphasia, I have failed to find any 
confirmation of this idea. But here it will be seen that, while Dr. Bastian recognises a 
correlation between the development of one or other cerebral hemisphere and the greater 
dexterity of the opposite hand, he is inclined to regard right or left-handedness as the 
cause, rather than the effect. 

Dr. Brown-Sequard, who strongly favours the idea of superiority, both in size and 





38 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


weight, of the left over the right cerebral hemisphere, also ascribes the source of this to 
the greater frequency and energy of all right-hand movements. Hereverts to an argument 
derived from left-handedness when discussing his theory that the two hemispheres practi- 
cally constitute two distinct brains, each sufficient in itself for the full performance of 
nearly all mental operations, though each has also its own special functions, among 
which is the control over the movements and the organs of opposite sides of the body. 
“ Every organ,” he says, “ which is put in use for a certain function gets developed, and 
more apt or ready to perform that function. Indeed, the brain shows this in point of mere 
size ; for the left side of the brain, which is used most, is larger than the right side. The 
left side of the brain also receives a great deal more blood than the right side, because 
its action preponderates; and every organ that acts much receives more blood.” He 
accordingly affirms that the growth of the brain up to forty years of age, if not indeed to a 
considerably later period of life, is sufficiently marked to require the continued enlargement 
of the hat. Speaking of himself, as having then passed his fifty-sixth year, he says:— 
“There is no period of six months that has passed that I have not found my hat, if 
neglected and put aside, has become too small. The head growing is very strong proof 
that the brain grows also.” The opinions advocated by the leading anatomists of Hurope 
in the earlier years of the present century, differed widely from this. It was indeed 
maintained by Semmering, the Wenzels, and Tiedemann, that the brain attained its 
greatest development not later than at seven or eight years of age. But, without going 
so far as Dr. Brown-Sequard is prepared to do, the old idea as to the complete develop- 
ment of the brain in youth is now abandoned, and the latest observers have produced 
evidence in proof of the brain increasing in weight, so that the greatest average weight 
occurs between thirty and forty years of age. They do not, however, indicate any such 
increase in actual bulk as Dr. Brown-Sequard implies. In the majority of cases, 
indeed, the comparatively early ossification of the sutures would alone suffice to 
preclude the possibility of such a growth of the head, as Dr. Brown-Sequard 
assumes to be demonstrable even beyond the age of fifty-six. Without due 
allowance for the stiffness of a new hat, and the shrinking of an old one when out of use, 
hat-measurements may prove very deceptive. On his assumption relative to the normal 
excess of the left hemisphere of the brain, there ought to be a greater equality between 
the two hemispheres in a left-handed than a right-handed person, owing to the more 
equal employment of the two sides of the brain by the latter. But he fails to appreciate 
the bearings of his own argument in the case of a left-handed person conforming in many 
ways to the usage of the majority, yet instinctively giving the preference to the left hand. 
He dwells on the fact that very few left-handed persons have learned to write with the 
left hand, and that those who can do not write nearly so well with it as with the right 
hand. Even in persons who are left-handed naturally, so that the right side of the brain 
may be assumed to control the reasoning faculties and their expression, he argues that the 
left side of the brain “can be so educated that the right hand, which that side of the 
brain controls, produces a better handwriting than that by the left hand, though that is 
controlled by the better developed brain.” But the reasoning is alike partial and mislead- 
ing. The left-handed person systematically submits to disabilities in his efforts to comply 
with the usage of the majority, not only in holding his pen in the right hand, but in the 
direction and slope of the writing. A left-handed race would naturally write from right 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 39 


to left, sloping the letters towards the left, and so would place the right-handed penman 
at a like disadvantage, wholly independent of any supposed change in the functions or 
preponderating energy of either hemisphere of the brain. But even in the absence of 
practice, the command of the left hand in the case of a truly left-handed person is so great 
that very slight effort is required to enable him to write with ease with that hand. 

In so far as right-handedness is a result of organic structure, and not a mere acquired 
habit ; some trace of it should be found in the lower animals; though in a less degree. 
Dr. Buchanan, in discussing his “ Mechanical Theory,” notes that, “ While the viscera of 
the quadruped have the same general lateralised position as in man, there is a reason why 
this should be carried to a greater extent in man than in the quadruped, owing to the 
much greater lateral development of the chest and abdomen of the human figure, in order 
to adapt it to the erect posture, as contrasted with the great lateral flattening of the 
trunk in quadrupeds. The equipoise is therefore more disturbed in man than in the 
quadruped.” In the case of the monkey, its necessities as a climber no doubt tend to 
bring all its limbs into constant use ; but, possibly, careful study of the habits and gestures 
of monkeys may disclose, along with their ambidextrous skill, some traces of a preference 
for the limbs on the one side. The elephant has been repeatedly affirmed to betray a 
strongly marked right-sidedness ; and this is reiterated in a communication by Mr. James 
Shaw to the Anthropological section of the British Association, where he notes the 
“curious fact that elephants have been frequently known to use the right tusk more than 
But the statement is vague, and, 


, 


the left in digging up roots, and in doing other things.’ 
even if confirmed by adequate proof, can scarcely be regarded as the equivalent of right- 
handedness. In dogs it may be noticed that they rarely move in the direct line of their 
own body, but incline to one side or the other, the right hind-foot stepping into the print 
of the left fore-foot, or vice versa. In the horse, as in other quadrupeds, a regular alternation 
in the pace is manifest, except when modified by education for the requirements of inan. 
I experienced no difficulty in teaching a favourite dog to give the right paw ; and no child 
could more strongly manifest a sense of shame, than he did when reproved for the 
gaucherie of offering the wrong one. The saddle horse is trained to prefer the right foot 
to lead with in the canter; while the same animal is educated differently when destined 
for a lady’s use ; but I have been informed by two experienced veterinary surgeons that, 
while some horses learn with very slight training to start with the right foot, others 
require long and persevering insistency before they acquire the habit. A curious relation 
between man and the lower animals in the manifestation of the organic influences here 
noted, is indicated by a writer in the “Cornhill Magazine,” when referring to the well 
ascertained fact that aphasia is ordinarily accompanied with disease of the right side of the 
brain, says: “ Right-sidedness extends to the lower races. Birds, and especially parrots, 
show right-sidedness. Dr. W. Ogle has found that few parrots perch on the left leg. Now, 
parrots have that part at least of the faculty of speech which depends on the memory of 
successive sounds, and of the method of reproducing such imitation of them as a parrot’s 
powers permit ; and it is remarkable that their left brain receives more blood, and is better 
developed than the right brain.” The same writer expresses his doubt as to monkeys 
showing any tendency to right-handedness ; but with the constant use and training of the 
hands by the quadrumana in their arboreal life, opportunities for the manifestation of any 


40 DANIEL WILSON ON THE RIGHT 


instinctive preference for either hand must be rare; and is likely to elude all but the most 
watchful observers. 

A paper was communicated by Dr. Delaunay to the Anthropological Society of France, 
on the subject of right-handedness. I only know of it by an imperfect notice, in which 
he is reported to look on the preferential use of the right hand as a differentiation arising 
from natural selection, while he regards ambidexterity as a mere “survival.” But Dr. 
Pye-Smith long ago remarked that “it is clear that in the progress of civilisation one or 
other hand would come to be selected for the more characteristic human actions for which 
only one is necessary, such as wielding a pen or other weapon;” but he recognises the 
insufficiency of the suggestion, and adds in a foot note: “The difficult point is to guess by 
what process the right rather than the left hand has been so universally preferred.” He 
then glances at possible guidance to be derived from the study of the habits of savage 
tribes ; though still the old difficulty recurs; and he thus proceeds; “In default of any 
better suggestion, might one suggest an hypothesis of the origin of right-handedness from 
modes of fighting, more by way of illustration than as at all adequate in itself? Ifa 
hundred of our ambidextrous ancestors made the step in civilisation of inventing a shield, 
we may suppose that half would carry it on the right arm and fight with the left, the 
other half on the left and fight with the right. The latter would certainly, in the long 
run, escape mortal wounds better than the former, and thus a race of men who fought. 
with the right hand would gradually be developed by a process of natural selection.” To 
this idea of right-handedness as one of the results of a survival of the fittest, Dr. Delaunay 
adds the statement, professedly based on facts which he has accumulated, that ambidex- 
terity is common among idiots. The results noted probably amount to no more than the 
negative condition of general imbecility, in which the so-called ambidexterity of the idiot 
involves, not an exceptional skill in the left hand equalising it with the right, but only a 
succession of feeble and often aimless actions manifesting an equal lack of dexterity in 
either hand. Where left-handedness is strongly developed, it is, on the contrary, not 
only accompanied with more than average dexterity in the organ thus specialised ; but 
also with a command of the use of the right hand, acquired by education, which gives 
the individual an advantage over the great majority of right-handed men. The surprise 
occasionally manifested at any display of dexterity by left-handed performers, as though 
it were accomplished under unusual disadvantages, is altogether unjustified. In reality, a 
strongly developed left-handedness is, equally with a strongly developed right-handedness, 
an indication of exceptional dexterity. Such skill as that of the left-handed slingers of 
the tribe of Benjamin is in no way exceptional. All truly left-handed, as well as all 
truly right-handed persons, are more likely to be dextrous than those who are unconscious 
of any strong impulse to the use of either hand. The bias, whether to the right or the 
left, is, I feel assured, the result of special organic aptitude. With the majority no well- 
defined bias betrays any unwonted power, and they merely follow in this, as in so much 
else, the practice of the greater number. But there is no such difference between the two 
hands as to justify the extent to which, with the great majority, one is allowed to become 
a passive and nearly useless member. The left hand ought to be educated from the first 
no less than the right, instead of leaving its training to be effected, imperfectly and with 
great effort, in later life, to meet some felt necessity. Wherever the early and persistent 
cultivation of the full use of both hands has been accomplished, the result is greater 


HAND AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS. 241 


efficiency without any counteracting awkwardness or defect. In certain arts and pro- 
fessions, both hands are necessarily called into play. The skilful surgeon finds an 
enormous advantage in being able to transfer his instrument from one hand to the other. 
The dentist has to multiply instruments to make up for the lack of such acquired power. 
The fencer who can transfer his weapon to the left hand, places his adversary at a 
disadvantage. The lumberer finds it indispensable in the operations of his woodcraft 
to learn to chop timber right and left-handed; and the carpenter may be frequently seen 
using the saw and hammer in either hand, and thereby not only resting his arm, but 
greatly facilitating his work. In all the fine arts the mastery of both hands is advan- 
tageous. The sculptor, the carver, the draftsman, the engraver, and cameo-cutter, each 
has recourse at times to the left hand for special manipulative dexterity; the pianist 
depends little less on the left hand than the right; and as for the organist, with the 
numerous pedals and stops of the modern grand organ, a quadrumanous musician would 
still find reason to envy the ampler scope which a Briareus could command. On the other 
hand, it is no less true that, while the experience of every thoroughly left-handed person 
shows the possibility of training both hands to a capacity for responding to the mind 
with promptness and skill, at the same time it is none the less apparent that in cases of 
true left-handedness there is an organic specialization which no enforced habit can wholly 
supersede. 

The conclusion at which I finally arrive is that left-handedness is due to an excep- 
tional development of the right hemisphere of the brain. I have long delayed the printing 
of this monograph on the subject, in expectation of some response to appeals I have 
repeatedly made to medical friends, in the hope that the occurrence of some strongly 
marked case of left-handedness among hospital or other patients might afford an oppor- 
tunity of bringing it to the test. But in the passive condition of mortal disease there is 
little occasion to draw attention to the left-handed action of a patient; and I must leave 
the point to be determined hereafter under some favouring opportunity. My own brain 
has now been in use for more than the full allotted term of three score years and ten, and 
the time cannot be far distant when I shall be done with it. When that time comes, I 
should be glad if it were turned to account for the little further service of settling this 
physiological puzzle. If my ideas are correct, I anticipate as the result of its exam- 
ination, that the right hemisphere will not only be found to be heavier than the left, 
but that it will probably be marked by a noticable difference in the number and arrange- 
ments of the convolutions. 


Nore.—The subject which is fully dealt with in the above paper has been previously considered by the writer 
in some of the aspects here reviewed. He has now embodied these, along with the results of more recent investi- 
gations. See “ Right-handedness,” Canadian Journal, N.S., 1871, Vol. xiii. p. 193 ; “ Left-handedness,” Zbid., 1872, 
Vol. xiv. p. 465 ; “ Primeval Dexterity,” Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, 1885, Vol. iii. p. 125 ; “ Palzeolithic 
Dexterity,” Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1886, Vol. iii. See. ii. p. 119. 


Sec. II. 1886. 6. 


SECTION II., 1886. PRES M Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IL.—Zocal Government in Canada: an Historical Study. 


By JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT. 


(Presented May 27, 1886.) 


“Local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Municipal institutions are 
to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people’s reach; they teach men 
how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the 
spirit of municipal institutions, it cannot have the spirit of liberty.” De Tocquevirze, Demveracy in 
America Vol. I. Ch. v. 


J.—INTRODUCTORY. 


I propose to give in this paper an historical review of the origin and growth of the 
municipal system of Canada. Such a review suggested itself to me after a careful perusal 
of the valuable series of essays that are appearing from the press of the Johns Hopkins 
University in the state of Maryland.’ These studies are remarkable for the information 
they give on a subject to which historians of the United States have hitherto devoted very 
little attention. The papers that have already been published with respect to the local 
institutions of Virginia, of Maryland, and of the New England States, enable us to follow 
step by step the progress of the people in self-government. Under the conviction that a 
similar paper on local government in Canada may be of some value to students of political 
science in the absence of any work or treatise hitherto devoted to the subject, I shall 
endeavour to evolye out of a chaos of old documents, statutes, and histories such facts as 
may give a tolerably accurate idea of the gradual development of those local institutions 
on which must always rest, in a great measure, the whole fabric of popular liberty. 

Such a subject ought to be interesting to every Canadian, but especially to the historical 
student. The former may care to learn something of the history of those institutions 
which perform so important a part in the economy of his daily life. The latter must find 
a deeper attraction in tracing the origin of the municipal government of this country even 
to those ancient institutions, which, very many centuries ago, kept alive a spirit of liberty 
among our English forefathers and among the German nations.” 





‘Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Herbert B. Adams, editor. Three 
series have already appeared. 

-“The origin of local government in England, like that of our civil liberty, must be sought in the primitive 
but well ordered communities of our Saxon forefathers. ... . The German nations, as described by Cæsar and 
Tacitus, were nothing but associations of self-governed villages, or larger districts, occupied by separate families, 
or clans, among whom there was not even the shadow of a common national allegiance, except for the purpose of 
war. Such was the organization of the Saxons, Jutes and Angles, when they first settled in England.” Cobden 
Club Essays, 1875, Local Government in England, by Hon. G. C. Brodrick, p. 3. 


44 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


The Dominion of Canada now extends over a territory between the Atlantic and 
Pacific oceans, even greater in area than that of the United States. Its organized divis- 
ions consist of the provinces of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 
Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia, each of which possesses a very liberal 
system of representative government. Every province has a lieutenant-governor, appointed 
by the government of the Dominion, and a legislature composed in Nova Scotia, New 
Brunswick and Quebec, of a legislative council nominated by the crown, and of a 
legislative assembly elected by the people on a very liberal franchise. In Manitoba, 
British Columbia, and Ontario, there is no second chamber, while, in Prince Edward 
Island, that body is elected by the people. The” Northwest Territories which extend 
from Manitoba to the frontier of British Columbia—territories out of which may be formed 
many states as large and fertile as Minnesota—are as yet divided into mere territorial 
districts, over which preside a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the Ottawa government, 
and a council, partly nominated by the crown, and partly elected by the people. In all 
of the provinces, as well as in the principal settlements, villages and towns of the North- 
west, now exists a system of municipal institutions which are the growth of the expe- 
rience of the past forty years, since the people of the old provinces of Canada have grown 
in population and wealth, and have fully recognized the necessity of managing their 
purely municipal and local affairs in councils elected by themselves. These municipal 
institutions are the creation, and are under the jurisdiction, of the provincial legislatures, 
in accordance with the constitution, known as the British North America Act 1867, which 
gives the control of all general national affairs to the federal government, and the 
administration of all local matters to the legislatures of the provinces. As the municipal 
institutions of Canada, in the first instance, owe their existence to statutory enactments 
of the legislatures of the provinces, so they can be amended only by the authority of the 
same superior bodies. 

The political history of Canada may be divided into three important epochs. First 
of all, there was the era of the French Regime which lasted for about a century and a 
half, from the 3rd of July, 1608, when Champlain established his seat of government on 
the picturesque heights of Quebec, until 1760, when France gave up the contest with 
England, for the supremacy on the continent of America. Then came the period from 
1760 to 1840, when the provinces slowly increased in population under British Rule, and 
gained valuable experience in the working of representative institutions. Then followed 
the important and interesting period from 1840 to 1867, when the political liberties of the 
people were enlarged, and they were given responsible government in the full sense of 
the term. Since 1867, the various provinces, united as the Dominion of Canada, have 
entered on a fourth era pregnant with promise. 


Il—Tue FRENCH REGIME, 1608-1760. 


During the days of French domination in Canada, we look in vain for evidences of 
self-government in any form, such as we see in the town-meetings of Massachusetts and 
in the counties and parishes of Virginia, or in other local divisions of the old English 
Colonies in America, in all of which we can see the germs of liberty and free institutions 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. A5 


from the earliest days of their history. The system of government that was established 
on the banks of the St. Lawrence was the very opposite of that to which the people of 
New Engiand always clung as their most valued heritage. While the townsfolk of 
Massachusetts were discussing affairs in town-meetings, the French inhabitants of Canada 
were never allowed to take part in publie assemblies, but were taught to depend in the 
most trivial matters on a paternal government. Canada was governed as far as possible 
like a province of France. In the early days of the colony, when it was under the rule 
of mere trading companies chartered by the king, the governors practically exercised 
arbitrary power, with the assistance of a council chosen by themselves. Eventually, 
however, the King, by the advice of the great Colbert, took the government of the 
colony into hisown hands, and appointed a governor, an intendant, and a supreme or 
sovereign council to administer under his own direction the affairs of the country. The 
governor, who was generally a soldier, was nominally at the head of affairs, and had the 
direction of the defences of the colony ; but to all intents and purposes, the intendant, 
who was a man of legal attainments, had the greatest influence in many ways. He had 
the power of issuing ordinances which had the effect of law, and in the words of his 
commission “to order everything as he shall see just and proper.” An examination of 
these ordinances proves conclusively the arbitrary and despotic nature of the government 
to which the people were subject, and the care that was taken by the authorities to give 
them as little liberty as possible in the management of those local matters over which 
the inhabitants of the British Colonies exercised the fullest vontrol. These ordinances 
regulated inns and markets, the building and repairs of churches and presbyteries, the 
construction of bridges, the maintenance of roads, and all those matters which could 
affect the comfort, the convenience, and the security of the community. 

It is interesting to notice how every effort that was made during the continuance 
of the French rule, to assemble the people for public purposes, and give them an oppor- 
tunity of taking an interest in public questions, was systematically crushed by the orders 
of the government in accordance with the autocratic spirit of French monarchy. The 
first meeting of the inhabitants was called on the 18th of August, 1621, by Champlain, in 
Quebec, for the purpose of getting up a petition to the king on the affairs of Canada.! 
But this was a very exceptional event in the history of the colony. A public meeting of 
the parishioners to consider the cost of a new church could not be held without 
the special permission of the intendant. It was the custom in the early days of the 
colony to hold public meetings in Quebec under the chairmanship of members of the 
sovereign council for the purpose of discussing the price and quality of bread and the 
supply of firewood, ‘Such assemblies, so controlled,” says Parkman, “ could scarcely, 
one would think, wound the tenderest susceptibilities of authority; yet there was an 
evident distrust of them, and after a few years this modest shred of self-government is 
seen no more.” ? 

We have a striking illustration of the arbitrary policy pursued towards the colony by 
the king and his ministers in the action they took with reference to an attempt made by 
Count de Frontenac in 1672 to assemble the different orders of the colony, the clergy, the 
noblesse or seigneurs, the judiciary, and the third estate, in imitation of the old institutions 








! Doutre et Lareau, Histoire Genérale du Droit Canadien, i. 13, 14. 
* Parkman’s Old Régime in Canada, pp. 280, 281. 


46 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


of France. He compelled the estates of Canada, as he called them, to take the new oath 
of allegiance before a great assemblage of persons. The French king did not long leave 
the haughty governor in doubt as to his opinion of this innovation on the policy laid 
down for the government of the colony. “The assembling and division that you have 
made,” wrote Colbert, “of all the inhabitants of the country into three orders or estates 
with the object of administering to them the oath of allegiance might have some effect for 
the moment; but it is well to consider that you should always observe in the administra- 
tion of public affairs those forms which are followed here, and that our kings have deemed 
it inexpedient for a long time past to assemble the states-general of their kingdom, with 
the view perhaps of insensibly destroying the ancient system. Under these circumstances 
you should very rarely, and in fact it would be better if you should never give this form 
to the people of the country. It will be advisable, even after a while, when the colony is 
more vigorous than at present, to suppress by degrees the syndic who presents petitions 
in the name of the inhabitants, as it seems better that everyone should speak for himself, 
and no one for all.” * 
The history of the officer just named, the syndic, of itself gives us some striking 
evidence of the stern determination of the government to stamp out every vestige of 
_popular institutions, however insignificant it might be. The syndics d'habitations are 
said to have been originally constituted by Colbert to act as municipal officers appointed 
by the people of the cities to preserve public rights. The references to these function- 
aries in the history of those times are very vague: they appear to have existed in Quebec, 
Montreal, and Three Rivers in 1647, but they ceased to exist by 1661. The government 
was determined to have no town-meetings or municipal officers in the province of 
Quebec. In 1663, a meeting of the citizens of Quebec was called by the supreme council, 
on the requisition of the attorney-general, to elect a mayor and two aldermen for that 
town. The people accordingly chose Jean-Baptiste Legardeur, Sieur de Repentigny, for 
mayor, and Jean Madry and Claude Charron for aldermen; but these persons soon 
resigned in consequence, it is well understood, of the influence brought to bear upon 
them by the authorities. They declared that, having regard to the smallness of the 
population, it would be better to appoint a syndic. The first election held for this pur- 
pose was annulled, and another, called irregularly by the governor, made a nomination. 
It appears that the bishop, Monseigneur de Laval, a haughty, determined man, who 
proved himself during his memorable career in Canada a true descendant of the great 
house of Montmorency, was opposed to the action taken in this matter, and his friends in 
the council protested against the swearing in and installation of the syndic. The gover- 
nor, M. de Mezy, took upon himself to suspend the obstinate councillors, and consequently 
committed a violation of the royal instructions, for he had no power of appointing these 
functionaries without the consent of the bishop, or of dismissing or suspending them at 
his own discretion.” Without dwelling further on these official squabbles, frequent enough 
in those times, it is only necessary to add that the sequel was that the country heard no 
more of attempts to establish even a semblance of popular representative government in 
the towns of Canada. The policy of the king and his advisers was determinately antago- 





1 Doutre et Lareau, pp. 169,170; Chauveau, Notice sur la publication des Régistres du Conseil Souverain, 
etc., p. 34. 
? Chauveau, pp. 24-30; Garneau, i. 179, 180; Parkman’s Old Régime, p. 281; Doutre et Lareau, p. 129. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 47 


nistic to such institutions. “It is of great consequence,” wrote Meules to the minister in 
1685, “not to give any liberty to the people to express their opinions.” ' 

The administration of local affairs was exclusively under the control of the king’s 
officers at Quebec. As I have already shown, the ordinances of the intendant and of the 
council were the law. The local or territorial divisions of the colony had no connection, 
as the townships, parishes, and counties of the English colonies in America, with the 
local affairs of the people. The country was subdivided into the following divisions for 
purposes of government, settlement and justice : * — 


1. Districts. 
2. Seigniories. 
3. Parishes. 


The Districts were simply established for judicial and legal purposes, and each of 
them bore the name of the principal town within its limits; viz., Quebec, also called the 
Prévôté de Québec, Montreal, and Three Rivers. In each of these districts there was a 
judge, appointed by the king, to adjudicate on all civil and criminal matters. An appeal 
was allowed in the most trivial cases to the supreme or superior council, which also 
exercised original jurisdiction. * 

The greater part of Canada was divided into large estates or seigniories, which were 
held under a modified system of feudal tenure, established by Richelieu in 1627,‘ with 
the view of creating a colonial aristocracy or noblesse, and of stimulating settlement in 
a wilderness. By this system, which lasted until 1854,° lands were as a rule held 
immediately from the king en fief or en roture. The seignior, on his accession to the 
estate, was required to pay homage to the king, or to his feudal superior in case the lands 
were granted by another than the king.® The seignior received his land gratuitously 
from the crown, and granted them to his vassals who were generally known as 
habitants or cultivators of the soil. The habitant or censitaire held his property by the tenure 
of en censive, on condition of making annual payments in money or produce known as 
cens et rente, which were ridiculously small in the early times of the colony.’ He was 
obliged to grind his corn at the seignior’s mill (moulin banal*), bake his bread in the 
seignior’s oven, give his lord a tithe of the fish caught in his waters, and comply with 
other conditions at no time onerous or strictly enforced in the days of the French regime. 
The land of the censitaire went to his heirs, but in case he sold it during his life time, one 
twelfth of the purchase-money was given under the name of Jods et ventes to the seignior. 
In case the latter at any time transferred, by sale or otherwise, his seigniory—except of 





1 Meules au Ministre, 1685. 

2 Bouchette, A Topographical Description of the Province of Lower Canada, etc., pp. 86, 87. 

5 Doutre et Lareau, p. 130. * Garneau, i. 171. 

5 It was abolished after many years of agitation by 18 Vict. c. 3. 

5 Parkman, p. 245. 

7 Half a sou, and half a pint of wheat, or a few live capons, wheat and eggs, would represent the cens et 
rente for each arpent in early days. Parkman’s Old Régime, p. 249. 

8The government appear to have rigidly enforced the seignior’s rights in the case of the moulin banal. For 
instance, in 1706, the intendant issued an ordinance forbidding the Dame de La Forét from turning her mill in the 
county of St. Laurent while there was a moulin bunal in that place. Doutre et Lareau, p. 237. 


48 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


course in the event of natural hereditary succession—he had to pay a quint or fifth part 
of the whole purchase money to his feudal superior, but he was allowed a reduction 
(rabat) of two thirds when the money was paid down immediately.’ 

The system, irreconcilable as it is with our modern ideas of free settlement, had 
some advantages in a new country like Canada, where the government managed every- 
thing and colonization was not left to chance. The seignior was obliged to cultivate 
his estate at the risk of forfeiture—and many estates were from time to time resumed by 
the crown—and consequently it was absolutely necessary that he should exert himself 
to bring settlers upon his lands. The conditions of the tenure were in early times so 
trivial as not to burden the settler. The obligation of the censifaire to grind his corn in 
the seignior’s mill was an advantage, since it insured him the means of procuring bread 
which it would have been otherwise difficult to find in a country where there was neither 
money nor enterprise. The seigniories were practically so many territorial divisions 
where the seigneur was master and adviser to his censitaires. He had the right of dispens- 
ing justice in certain cases, though this was a right he very rarely exercised.” As 
respects civil affairs, however, both lord and vassal were to all intents and purposes on 
the same footing, for they were equally ignored in matters of government. 

In the days of the French regime, the only towns for many years were Quebec, 
Montreal and Three Rivers. Villages were but slow in growth, despite the efforts of the 
government to encourage them. In remote and exposed places—like those on the 
Richelieu, where officers and soldiers of the Carignan regiment had heen induced to 
settle—palisaded villages had been built ; but in the rural parts of the province generally, 
the people appear to have considered their own convenience. The principal settlements 
were, in the course of time, established on the banks of the St. Lawrence from Quebec to 
Montreal. The people chose the banks of the river, as affording them in those days the 
easiest means of intercommunication. As the lots of a grant en censive were limited in 
area—four arpents in front by forty in depth—the farms in the course of time assumed 
the appearance of a continuous settlement on the river. These various settlements 
became known in local phraseology as Côtes, apparently from their natural situation on 
the banks of the river. This is the derivation of Côte des Neiges, Cote St. Louis, Côte 
St. Paul, and of many picturesque villages in the neighborhood of Montreal and Quebec.* 

The parishes were established for ecclesiastical purposes, and were grouped on each 
side of the St. Lawrence and Richelieu. Their extent was exactly defined in September, 
1721, by a regulation made by Messieurs de Vaudreuil and Begon, assisted by the Bishop 
of Quebec, and confirmed by an Arrét du Conseil of the 2nd of March, 1722. These parishes 
are constantly referred to in the ordinances of the superior council, in connection with 
the administration of local affairs. In the parishes, the influential men were the Curé, 
the seignior, and the captain of the militia.” The seignior, from his social position, 





1 For a succinct description of the main features of the seigniorial tenure, see Parkman’s Old Régime, ch. 15 ; 
Garneau, i. 171-174. 

2The seigniors rarely exercised their judicial rights; the Seminary of St. Sulpice was almost the only one 
to do so ; the council exercised superior jurisdiction in all cases. Doutre et Lareau, pp. 133, 305. 

’ Parkman’s Old Régime, p. 234. 

4 Edits et Ordonnances, i. 443. Doutre et Lareau, pp. 259, 260. Bouchette’s Canada, p. 86. 

5“ The most important persons in a parish were the curé, the seignior, and the militia captain. The seignior 
had his bench of honour in the church. Immediately behind it was the bench of the militia captain, whose 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 49 


exercised a considerable weight in the community, but not to the degree that the 
representative of the church enjoyed. From the earliest time in the history of the colony, 
we find the Roman Catholic church exercising a dominant influence—an influence, it 
must be admitted, discreetly and wisely used for the welfare of the people committed to 
its spiritual care.' Next to the curé in importance was the captain of militia, who was 
exceedingly useful in the absence of civil authorities in carrying out the orders and 
instructions of the government in the parishes. The whole province was formed into 
a militia district so that, in times of war, the inhabitants might be obliged to perform 
military service under the French governor. In times of peace, these militia officers 
executed the orders of the governor and intendant in all matters affecting the king. A 
captain was appointed for each parish, and in some of the larger divisions there were 
two or three.” 

By reference to the numerous ordinances of the intendant, we can see pretty 
accurately how such local matters as the construction, maintenance, and repair of roads 
and bridges were managed in the seigniories and parishes. In case it was considered 
necessary to build a church or presbytery, the intendant authorized the habitants to 
assemble for the purpose of choosing from among themselves four persons to make, with 
the curé, the seignior, and the captain of the militia, an estimate of the expense of the 
structure. It was the special care of the captain of the militia to look after the work, 
and see that each parishioner did his full share.* It was only in church matters, in fact, 
that the people of a parish had a voice, and even in these, as we see, they did not take 
the initiative. The Quebec authorities must in all such cases first issue an ordinance. 

All the roads and bridges of the colony were under the supervision of the grand 
voyer, or superintendent of highways, appointed by the king. We find in the proceedings 
of the council on the Ist of February, 1706, the regulations which governed this impor- 
tant oïlicer in the discharge of his duties. He was obliged to visit all the seigniories 
at certain times of the year and make provision for the highways wherever necessary. 
The roads and other local improvements were constructed after consultation with the 
proprietors of lands and the most responsible persons of the place, at the expense of the 
people immediately interested. All the work was performed under the direction of the 
captain of militia in the parish.‘ 

The position of the people in French Canada for a century and a half has been tersely 
set forth by the writers to whom we have frequently referred: “ Without education, 
without an opportunity of taking part in public affairs, without an interest in the public 
offices, all of which were filled up by persons sent out by the Government, the Canadian 
people were obliged to seek, in the clearing of the forest, in the cultivation of the field, 
in the chase, and in adventure, the means of livelihood, and hardly ever busied themselves 
with public matters. Sometimes they thought they were becoming ‘a people’ on this 





duty it was to drill the able-bodied men of the neighborhood... . . Next in honor came the local judge, if any 
there was, and the church-wardens” Parkman’s Old Régime, p. 387. The precedence in church and processions 
was regulated by ordinance. See Doutre et Lareau, p. 242. 

1“ Lower Canada had, when we received it at the conquest, two institutions which alone preserved the sem- 
blance of order and civilisation in the community—the Catholic Church and the militia, which was so constituted 
and used as partially to supply the want of better civil institutions.” Lord Durham’s Report, p. 31. 

? Doutre et Lareau, p. 136. ’ Edits et ordonnances, ii. 295. 

* Edits et ordonnances, ii. 135, 

Sec. IL. 1886. 7. 


50 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


continent, and might acquire a larger degree of liberty, but all such aspirations were 
promptly checked by the governor, the intendant and the bishop, in obedience to the 
instructions of the king. No social union existed between the people, no guarantees for 
civil liberty were ever established. On every occasion the people were taught to have 
no ambition for civil power, or for a share in public businesss. Reduced at last toa 
state of passive obedience, they accepted the orders and edicts of the king without a 
murmur.” ! 

It is easy to understand that the result of this autocratic, illiberal system of govern- 
ment was complete social and political stagnation.” It was not until the people of 
French Canada had been for many years under a British system of government, that they 
awoke to the full consciousness cf their rights, and began to take that practical interest 
in public affairs which was the best evidence of their increased intelligence. 


III—LowEr CANADA, 1760-1840. 


For three years after the conquest of Canada, the government was in the hands of 
military chiefs who had their headquarters at Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, the 
chefs lieux of the three departments into which General Amherst, the first English 
governor-general, divided the new province. During this military regime the people as 
a rule settled their difficulties among themselves, and did not resort to the military 
tribunals which were established to administer law throughout the conquered territory.’ 
In 1763, King George III established four new governments in America, viz., Quebec, 
East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada. For nearly thirty years, the people of the govern- 
ment of Quebec were not represented in a legislature, but were governed up to 1774 by 
a governor-general, and an executive council, composed in the first instance, of the two 
lieutenant-governors of Montreal and Three Rivers, of the surveyor-general of customs, 
and of eight others chosen from leading residents of the province. In 1774 the imperial 
parliament for the first time intervened in the affairs of the country, and passed the 
Quebec Act, by which the government was entrusted to a governor-general and a 
legislative council appointed by the crown, inasmuch as it was deemed ‘“inexpedient to 
call an assembly.” This irresponsible body was to contain not more than twenty-three and 
not less than seventeen members, and had power with the consent of the goyernor-general 
“to make ordinances for the peace, welfare, and good government of the province.” It 
had no authority, however, to impose any taxes or duties, except such as the inhabitants 
of any town or district might be authorized to assess or levy within its precincts for the 





1 Doutre et Lareau, p. 308. 

? “The institutions of France, during the period of the colonisation of Canada were, perhaps, more than those 
of any other European nation, calculated to repress the intelligence and freedom of the great mass of the people. 
These institutions followed the Canadian colonist across the Atlantic. The same central, ill-organized, unimprov- 
ing and repressive despotism extended over him. Not merely was he allowed no voice in the government of the 
province, or the choice of his rulers, but he was not even permitted to associate with his neighbours for the 
regulation of those municipal affairs which the central authority neglected under the pretext of managing.” 
Lord Durham’s Report, p. 9. 

# Attorney-general Thurlow’s Report in Christie’s History of Lower Canada, i. 49, 50. 

* Christie, i. 49, 50, 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 51 


purpose of making roads, erecting and repairing public buildings, or for any other purpose 
respecting the local convenience and economy of such town or district. 

During the military regime, the captains of militia dispensed justice and carried out 
the orders of the authorities in the parishes.” The king, in 1763, gave instructions to 
Governor Murray, who succeeded General Amherst, to lay out townships and provide 
town sites, with the view of encouraging the settlement of English-speaking people. 
Provision was also made for building a church, and for giving 400 acres of land to the 
support of a clergyman, and 200 acres for a schoolmaster.’ In 1764 the governor 
established courts of quarter sessions for the trial of petty causes. These courts were 
composed of justices of the peace who had to address their warrants to the captains and 
other officers of militia in the first instance.* The majority of the inhabitants dwelling 
in each parish were also permitted to elect, on the 24th of June in each year, six men to 
act as Baillis and Sous-Baillis.° The names of these men were sent in to the deputy 
secretary of the province, and the governor-general, with the consent of the council, 
appointed the persons who were to act. These officers had for some years the inspection 
of the highways and bridges, and also acted as constables. In 1777, it was deemed advis- 
able to pass an ordinance providing for the repair and maintenance of the roads and 
bridges in the province, under the direction of the grand voyer, whose office was reéstab- 
lished in accordance with the desire of the imperial government to continue the old 
institutions of the country, to which the people were accustomed. The old French 
system was practically again in force. The proprietors and farmers were required to 
keep up the roads and bridges that passed by their respective properties. All repairs 
were performed by statute labour or at the cost of the parish. The judges of common 
pleas on circuit were to report on the state of the communications, as provided for in the 
ordinance.’ 

In 1791 a very important constitutional change took place in the political condition 
of Canada. At the close of the American War of Independence, a large number of people 
known as United Empire Loyalists, on account of their having remained faithful to the 
British Crown during that great struggle, came and settled in the provinces. Some ten 
thousand persons, at least, made their homes in Upper Canada, while a considerable num- 
ber found their way to the Eastern Townships which lie to the south of the St. Lawrence, 
between the Montreal district and the frontier of the United States. The Parliament of 
Great Britain then thought it advisable to separate the French and English nationalities 
by forming the two provinces on the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, known until 1867 
as Lower Canada and Upper Canada. To the people of both sections were granted repre- 
sentative institutions.’ By a proclamation of the governor-general, dated 7th of May, 
1792, Lower Canada was divided, for legislative purposes, into the following twenty-one 
counties :—Bedford, Buckingham, Cornwallis, Devon, Dorchester, Effingham, Gaspé, Hamp- 
shire, Hertford, Huntingdon, Kent, Leinster, Montreal, St. Maurice, Northumberland, 





‘14 Geo. III. c. 83; Bourinot’s Parliamentary Procedure, ch. i. on Parliamentary Institutions in Canada, 


pp. 9-12. - 
* Doutre et Lareau, p. 485. * Ibid., p. 563. 
* Ibid., p. 589. 5 Tbid., p. 590. 


° Ordinances for the Province of Quebec (Brown and Gilmore), p. 86. 
731 Geo. III. c. 31; Bourinot, p. 14. 


52 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


Orleans, Quebec, Richelieu, Surrey, Warwick, and York.! The names of some of these 
divisions recall well-known counties or shires in England. 

The system of government established in 1791 continued in force until the suspen- 
sion of the constitution of Lower Canada, as a consequence of the rebellion of 1837-8, 
under the leadership of Papineau and other men whose names are familiar to all students 
of Canadian political history. During these years, the country was practically governed 
by the governor-general and the executive and legislative councils, both nominated by 
the former. The popular house, however, had little influence or power as long as the 
government was not responsible to the people’s representatives, and was indifferent to 
their approbation or support. The result was an irrepressible conflict between the 
assembly, and the legislative and executive councils supported by the governor-general. 
The fact was, the whole system of government was based on unsound principles. The 
representative system, granted to the people, did not go far enough, since it should have 
given the people full control over the public revenues and the administration of public 
affairs, in accordance with the principles of ministerial responsibility to parliament as 
understood in the parent state. More than that, it failed, because it had not been estab- 
lished at the outset on a basis of local self-government, as was the case in the United 
States, where the institutions of New England and other colonies had gradually prepared 
the people for a free system of government. Turning to the remarkable report on the 
affairs of Canada which bears the name of Lord Durham, who was governor-general and 
high commissioner in 1839, we find the following clear appreciation of the weakness of 
the system in operation for so many years in the old provinces of Canada: “If the wise 
example of those countries in which a free and representative government has alone 
worked well, had been in all respects followed in Lower Canada, care would have been 
taken that, at the same time that a parliamentary system, based on a very extended 
suffrage, was introduced into the country, the people should have been entrusted with a 
complete control over their own local affairs, and been trained for taking their part in 
the concerns of the province by their experience in the management of that local business 
which was most interesting and most easily intelligible to them. But the inhabitants of 
Lower Canada were unhappily initiated into self-government at exactly the wrong end, 
and those who were not trusted with the management of a parish were enabled by 
their votes to influence the destinies of a state.” * 

The following divisions existed in Lower Canada, between 1792 and 1840, none of 
which, however, were constituted with a view to purposes of local government :— 


1. Districts. 
2. Counties. 
3. Parishes. 
4. Townships. 








1 Bouchette’s Topographical Description of Lower Canada, etc., p. 86. It appears that Nova Scotia was the first 
province in British North America to establish the old Norman division of “ County,” which is the equivalent of 
the Saxon “Shire.” 

* This remarkable document, it is now well understood, was written by Mr. Charles Buller, who accompanied 
Lord Durham in the capacity of secretary. “In fact written by Mr. Charles Buller, and embodying the opinions of 
Mr. Gibbon Wakefield and Sir William Molesworth on Colonial policy.” Note by Mr. Reeve to Greville’s Memoirs 
(second part), i. 142. © # Lord Durham’s Report, p. 35. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 53 


The four districts were Quebec, Three Rivers, Montreal, and St. Francis, which were 
established for purely judicial purposes. The courts therein had unlimited and supreme 
original jurisdiction. In addition to these superior districts there was the inferior division 
of Gaspé with a limited jurisdiction. 

The counties were, as I have already intimated, established for parliamentary objects ; 
for Lord Durham observed that he knew “of no purpose for which they were constituted, 
except for the election of members for the house of assembly. The parishes, into which 
the seigniories were divided, were the old divisions established in the days of the French 
regime. The limits of the parishes, as set forth in the ordinance of 1721, were not strictly 


1 


adhered to as the population spread, and settlements became more numerous. It was 
consequently found necessary from time to time to build many new churches, that the 
means and accommodation for religious worship might keep pace with the numerical 
increase of the congregations. For the support of these churches, portions of ancient 
parishes were, as the occasion arose, constituted into new ones? The townships were 
established a few years after the Conquest, principally for surveying purposes, in order to 
meet the requirements of the considerable English population that in the course of time 
flowed into Upper and Lower Canada.’ 

The people that dwelt in the local divisions had no power to assess themselves for 
local improvements, but whenever a road or bridge was wanted it was necessary to apply 
to the legislature. In consequence of this, the time of that body was constantly occupied 
with the consideration of measures, which should have been the work of such local 
councils as existed in different parts of the United States. The little schemes and intrigues 
into which the representatives of different localities entered in order to promote and carry 
some local work and make themselves popular with their constituents gave rise to a 
great deal of what is known, in American parlance, as “log-rolling.” “When we want 
a bridge, we take a judge to build it” was the forcible way, according to Lord Durham’s 
Report,‘ in which a member of the provincial legislature described the tendency in those 
days to retrench on the most important departments of the public service in order to satisfy 
the pressing demands for local works. 

It would be supposed that the British-speaking people of the townships, whose early 
lives had been passed in the midst of the liberal local institutions of the old British 
Colonies, would have been desirous of introducing into their respective districts at least a 
semblance of municipal government. We look in vain, however, for such an effort on 
their part. They appear to have quietly acquiesced in a state of things calculated to 
repress a spirit of local enterprise and diminish the influence of the people in the admin- 
istration of public affairs. Indeed, we have some evidence that the government itself 
was prepared for many years to discourage every attempt to introduce into Canada any- 
thing like the local system that had so long existed in New England. British statesmen 
probably gemembered the strong influence that the town-meetings of Boston had in 
encouraging a spirit of rebellion, and thought it advisable to stifle at the outset any 
aspirations that the Canadian colonists might have in the direction of such doubtful insti- 
tutions. “TI understand,” wrote Mr. Richards in a report to the secretary of state for the 





1 Report, p. 35. * Bouchette, p. 86. 
* Bouchette, p. 87; Lord Durham’s Report, p. 36. * Report, p. 29. 


54 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


colonies, ordered by the house of commons to be printed as late as March, 1832, “that 
the Vermonters had crossed the line and had partially occupied several townships, bring- 
ing with them their municipal institutions; and that when the impropriety of electing 
their own officers was pointed out to them, they had quietly given them up, and promised 
to conform to those of Canada.” ' 

While the legislature was, to all intents and purposes, a large municipal council for 
the initiation and supervision of all local improvements, the affairs of the differ- 
ent parishes and townships were administered as far as consonant with the old 
French system. The grand voyer and militia captain continued to be important function- 
aries in the administration of local affairs. All the highways and bridges had to be 
repaired and maintained under the direction of the grand voyer or his deputy. Whenever 
it was necessary to open up a new road or to change an old one, it was the duty of 
these officials, on receiving a petition from the locality, to call a public meeting with 
reference to the matter, by a notice published at the parish church door after the morning 
service. The grand voyer or his deputy had the power of dividing every parish, seigniory, 
or township, into such sections as he should think proper, and allot to each an overseer of 
highways and bridges, to be chosen at a meeting of householders, called and presided 
over by the eldest captain or senior officer of militia. These meetings were held 
in the public room of the parsonage of the parish, or at such other place as the captain of 
militia might direct. The grand voyer had alone the power of appointing a surveyor of 
roads and of considering and deciding on reports made by such officers to him on the sub- 
ject of highways. It was the duty of the justices of the peace, assembled in quarter 
sessions, to hear and adjudicate on all questions that might arise under this law. The 
same regulations, however, did not apply to the cities and parishes of Quebec and Mon- 
treal. Here the justices of the peace in sessions had practically the regulation of high- 
ways, streets, and local improvements, and appointed all the officers necessary to carry 
out the same. They also fixed and determined the sums of money that had to be paid 
for such purposes.” 

As a matter of fact, the grands voyers, who lived in Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, 
had no very onerous functions to discharge. The people of the parishes and townships 
learned to depend on the legislature and only performed the work imposed on them 
by the law regulating statute labour. The absence of effective municipal institutions 
was particularly conspicuous in the cities of Quebec and Montreal, where it would be 
expected that more public spirit would be shown. “These cities,” I again quote from 
Lord Durham’s Report,’ “ were incorporated a few years ago by a temporary provincial 
act of which the renewal was rejected in 1836. Since that time these cities have been 
without any municipal government and the disgraceful state of the streets and the utter 
absence of lighting are consequences which arrest the attention of all and seriously affect 
the comfort and security of the inhabitants.” » 

In every matter affecting the administration of civil and judicial affairs there appears 
to have been a remarkable absence of anything approaching a workable system by which 
the people might manage their affairs. More than that, there was actually an insufficiency 
of public officers for the administration of justice. Outside the cities, the machinery 








1 Lord Durham’s Report, p. 36. * See Lower Canada Statutes, 1796. * Report, p. 36, 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 55 


of civil government was singularly defective. A sheriff was appointed only for each of 
the four judicial districts. Neither sheriffs nor constables nor parochial officers could be 
found in the majority of the counties of the province. It is true there were a number of 
justices of the peace who assembled in quarter sessions in accordance with the system so 
long in vogue in England and her colonies, but these men were appointed without much 
regard to their qualifications for the position and even the permanent salaried chairmen, 
appointed by the crown, were in the course of time abolished by the legislature, and 
these inferior courts consequently deprived of the services of men generally of superior 
attainments.' Practically, the affairs of each parish were regulated by the curé, the 
seignior and the captain of militia, as in the days of French government. Thanks to the 
influence of these men, peace and order prevailed. Indeed as we review the history of 
French Canada in all times, we cannot pay too high a tribute to the usefulness of the 
French Canadian clergy in the absence of the settled institutions of local government. 
In fact, it was only in ecclesiastical affairs that the people ever had an opportunity of 
exercising a certain influence. The old institution of the fabrique—which still exists * in 
all its vigour—enabled them to meet together whenever it was necessary to repair a 
church or presbytery. When the religious services were over, the people assembled at 
the church door and discussed their affairs. 

No doubt the influences of the old French Regime prevailed in Lower Canada for a 
long while after the conquest. A people whose ancestors had never learned the advan- 
tages of local self-government, would be naturally slow to awake to the necessity of 
adopting institutions under which the American colonists had flourished. It may be 
true, as Mr. Parkman says, that the French colonists, when first brought to America, 
could not have suddenly adopted the political institutions to which the English-speaking 
colonists at once had recourse as the natural heritage of an English race. It is still more 
true, as the eminent American historian adds, that the mistake of the rulers of New 
France “was not that they exercised authority, but that they exercised too much of it, 
and instead of weaning the child to go alone kept him in perpetual leading strings, mak- 
ing him, if possible, more and more dependent, and less and less fit for freedom.” When 
the French Canadian became subject to the British Crown, he was, literally, a child who 
had never been taught to think for himself in public affairs. He was perfectly unskilled 
in matters appertaining to self-government, and had no comprehension whatever of that 
spirit of self-reliance and free action which characterizes the peoples brought up under 
Teutonic and English institutions. In the course of time, however, the best minds 
among them began to appreciate fully the advantages of free government, and to their 
struggles for the extension of representative government, the people of British North 
America owe a debt of gratitude. . It took a long while, however, to educate the people of 





‘Lord Durham’s Report, p. 39. 

* The law still makes special provision for the erection and division of parishes, the construction and repair of 
churches, parsonages, cemeteries and for the meeting of fabriques. Every decree for the canonical erection of a 
new parish, or for the subdivision, dismemberment or union of any parishes, or with regard to the boundaries 
of parishes, must be publicly read from the pulpit or chapel of the parish, and other formal steps taken to notify 
the inhabitants of the proposed measure, before commissioners appointed by the state can give civil recognition 
to the decree. On the procés verbal of these officers, the lieutenant-governor may issue a proclamation under the 
great seal of the province, erecting such parish for civil purposes. See Consol. Stat. Low. Can., c. 18, and amending 
Statutes. 


56 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


French Canada up to the necessity of establishing a liberal system of municipal institu- 
tions. As we shall see, before the close of this paper, it was not until after the Union of 
1840 that the French Canadians could be brought to acknowledge the benefits of local 
taxation imposed by their own local representatives. In this respect, they made less 
progress than the people of Upper Canada, to whose history we shall now proceed to 
refer. 


IV.—Upper CANADA, 1792—1840. 


As I have already stated, Upper Canada was settled by United Empire Loyalists, who 
came into the country after the War of Independence. The majority of these people settled 
on the shores of Lake Ontario, in the vicinity of Kingston and the Bay of Quinté, in the 
Niagara district, and in other favoured localities by Lakes Ontario and Erie.’ On the 24th 
of July, 1788, the governor-general issued a proclamation ? constituting the following 
districts in Western or Upper Canada, viz., Luneburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau, Hesse. 

Luneburg comprised the towns or tracts known by the names of Lancaster, Char- 
lottenburg, Cornwall, Osnabruck, Williamsburg, Matilda, Edwardsburg, Augusta and 
Elizabethtown. Mecklenburg comprised Pittsburg, Kingston, Ernestown, Fredericksburg, 
Adolphustown, Marysburg, Sophiasburg, Ameliasburg, Sydney, Thurlow, Richmond, and 
Camden. Nassau comprised the extensive district which extends from Trent to Long 
Point on Lake Erie, and Hesse, the rest of the western part of Canada to Lake St. Clair. 
To each of these districts were appointed a judge and a sheriff, and justice was administered 
in courts of common pleas. The justices were taken from the best men the country offered 
in the absence of persons of legal attainments. The judges in those primitive times seem 
to have possessed almost absolute power. 

The first local divisions of Upper Canada appear to have been the townships. The 
British Government was extremely liberal in its grants of land to the Loyalists and the 
officers and soldiers who settled in Upper Canada and the other provinces. The grants were 
made free of expense on the following scale: to a field officer, 5,000 acres; to a captain, 3,000 ; 
to a subaltern, 2,000; to a private, 200. Surveys were first made of the lands extending 
from Lake St. Francis, on the St. Lawrence, to beyond the Bay of Quinté. Townships were 
laid out and divided into concessions and lots of 200 acres. Each township generally 
extended nine miles in front and twelve in the rear, and varied from 80,000 to 40,000 acres. 
The townships were not named for many years, but were numbered in two divisions.’ One 





! Ryerson’s Loyalists in America, ii. 189. 

* See Proclamation in Collection of Acts and Ordinances relating to Upper Canada, York, 1818. Luneburg is 
correctly spelt in the Proclamation, but in course of time it became, for some unexplained reason, “ Lunenburg.” 
The name still survives in the changed form in Nova Scotia. 

* Canniff’s History of the Settlement of Upper Canada, p. 62; also foregoing Proclamation. 

* Judge Duncan of Luneburg was a storekeeper and a captain in the militia; he dealt out law, dry goods and 
groceries alternately. Zbid., p. 506. 

* Canniff; Ryerson, ii. 224-5. Dr. Scadding, Toronto of Old, p. 362, gives an amusing account of the frivolous 
way in which many of the old Townships of Upper Canada were named in the course of years. Flos, Tay and Tiny, 
which are namés of three now populous townships in the Penetanguishene district, are a commemoration of three 
of Lady Sarah Maitland’s lapdogs. Some one wrote Jus et Norma, as a joke, across a plan of anewly surveyed region, 
and three townships were consequently known as “Jus”, “Et”, and “Norma” for years until they were changed 
to Barrie, Palmerston and Clarendon respectively. “Aye,” “ Yea,” and “ No” were also designations of local divisions. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 57 


division embraced the townships below Kingston on the St. Lawrence, and the other the 
townships westward to the head of the Bay of Quinté. One of the first settlers of Upper 
Canada has given us the following description of the mode in which the townships were 
granted by the government :— 

“At length the time came in July, for the townships to be given out. The governor 
came and having assembled the companies before him, called for Mr. Grass, and said, 
Now you were the first person to mention this fine country, and have been here formerly 
as a prisoner of war. You must have the first choice. The townships are numbered, 
first, second, third, fourth and fifth; which do you choose?’ ‘The first township’ (Kings- 
ton). Then the governor says to Nir John Johnson, ‘ Which do you choose?’ He replies, 
‘The second township’ (Ernestown). To Colonel Rogers, ‘Which do you choose?’ He 
says ‘The third’ (Fredericksburg). To Major Vanalstine, ‘Which do you choose?’ ‘The 
fourth’ (Adolphustown). Then Colonel McDonell got the fifth township, (Marysburg). 
So, after this manner, the first settlement of Loyalists in Upper Canada was made.” : 

The districts which were constituted in 1788 were intended mainly for judicial 
purposes, and were named after great houses in Germany, allied to the royal family of 
England. The same was the case with the first townships that were laid out. The first 
township was called Kingstown, after His Majesty George IIL; Ernestown after Ernest 
Augustus, eighth child of the King; Adolphustown, after another son.” Provision was 
made for future towns during the first surveys. A plot was generally reserved in some 
locality which seemed especially adapted for a town. This was the case in Adolphus- 
town, where a lot was granted to each of the settlers. But towns were of very slow 
growth, until some years after the establishment of a separate government in Upper 
Canada, when settlers’ began to flow steadily into a country whose fertility and produc- 
tiveness commenced at last to be understood. Not a few of the towns owe their establish 
ment to private enterprise and prescience in the first Instance.’ 

In 1791 Upper Canada was separated from French Canada, and became a province 
with a legislature composed of a lieutenant-governor, a legislative council appointed by 
the Crown, and a legislative assembly elected by the people When heutenant-governor 
Simcoe undertook the administration of the affairs of the new province, he issued a 
proclamation dividing it into nineteen counties, as follows: Glengary, Stormont, Dundas, 
Grenville, Leeds, Frontenac, Ontario, Addington, Lenox, Prince Edward, Hastings, 
Northumberland, Durham, York, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent” Some of 





! Ryerson, ii. 209. 

*“King George III. who died in 1820, aged $2, having reigned 60 years, had a family of 15 children, whose 
names were George, Frederick, William Henry, Charlotte Augusta, Matilda, Edward, Sophia Augusta, Elizabeth, 
Ernest Augustus, Augustus Frederick, Adolphus Frederick, Mary Sophia, Octavius, Alfred, and Amelia. These 
royal names were appropriated to the townships, towns, and districts.” Canniff, p. 439. 

#4 Windsor (now Whitby) was so named about 1819 by its projector, Mr. John Scadding, the original grantee 
of a thousand acres in this locality. On a natural harbour of Lake Ontario, popularly known as Big Bay, Mr. 
Seadding laid out the town, built the first house, and named the streets, three of them after his three sons—John, 
Charles and Henry.” Ryerson, ii. 260. One of these sons, here mentioned, is the well known antiquarian of 
Toronto, Rev. Dr. Scadding. 

431 Geo. ITI, c. 31. 

° See Proclamation in Statutes of Upper Canada, i. 23. 


Sec. IL., 1886. 8. 


58 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


the well settled counties were divided into ridings,' each of which sent a representative 
to the legislature. In other cases one representative was elected for two or more 
counties. One of the first acts of the legislature was to change the names of the four 
divisions established in 1788 to the Eastern, Midland, Home, and Western Districts.” In 
the course of years the number was increased by the addition of the Johnstown, New- 
castle, Niagara, London and Gore Districts.’ These districts were intended mainly for 
legal and judicial purposes. But all these old names, so familiar in provincial history, 
have become obliterated by the county organisations. 

The Duke de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt, who visited the country in 1795, and had 
several interviews with Governor Simcoe, at Newark, now Niagara, the old capital of Upper 
Canada, informs us that the division of the four districts into counties was “purely mili- 
tary, and related merely to the enlisting, completing and assembling of the militia. The 
militia of each county is commanded by a lieutenant.” * Whilst the Duke was, no doubt, 
correct in the main, it must not be forgotten that the erection of counties was also 
necessary for purposes of representation. A section of the act establishing the Constitu- 
tion of Upper Canada expressly provided: His Majesty may authorise “the governor 
or lieutenant-governor of each of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada to issue a 
proclamation dividing such province into districts or counties or circles, towns and town- 
ships, and appointing the limits thereof, and declaring and appointing the number of 
representatives to be chosen by each of such districts, counties or circles, towns and 
townships respectively. Members for the legislature were then, and for many years 
afterwards, chosen by freeholders having real property to the yearly value of forty shil- 
lings in districts, counties or circles, and five pounds sterling in towns and townships, or 
who paid a rental in the latter at the rate of ten pounds sterling a year.’ 

The legislature was composed of plain, practical men, who went energetically to 
work in the first sessions to provide for the wants of the few thousands of people scattered 


95 


throughout the wide extent of country over which their jurisdiction reached. For many 
years their principal duties were confined to measures for carrying on Jocal improvements. 
It was considered “requisite, for the maintenance of good order and the rigid execution of 
the laws, that proper officers should be appointed to superintend the observance thereof.” 7 
Accordingly, the people were authorised by statute to meet in any parish, township or 
reputed township or place on the warrant of the high-constable, who was to preside on 
such occasions. These assemblies were composed of the inhabitants who were house- 
holders and ratepayers in the locality interested, and were held in the early times, for 
convenience sake, in the parish church or chapel. They had to elect a parish or town 
clerk, who was to make out annual lists of the inhabitants within a district, keep the 
records, and perform other business connected with such an office. The other officers 
appointed were as follows: assessors, to assess all such rates and taxes “as shall be 


imposed by any act or acts of the legislature;” a collector, “to receive such taxes and 





'Trithings or Ridings were divisions peculiar to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, though Robertson (Scotland 
under her early Kings, iii. 433) is inclined to trace them in Kent and Surrey. Bishop Stubbs, however, (Constitu- 
tional History, i. 100) considers the view “ very interesting but very conjectural.” 


? Upp. Can. Stat. 32, Geo. III. c. 8. 5 Bouchette, p. 590. Scadding’s Toronto, p. 361. 
* De la Rochefoucault-Liancourt, Voyage dans les Etats Unis et le Haut Canada, i. 434. 
5 31 Geo. III, c. 31. s. 14. 5 Imp. Stat. 31 Geo. ITI, c. 31, 


7 Upp. Can. Stat. 33 Geo. ITI, c. 2. 


— > pr 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 59 
rates in the manner authorised by the legislature ;” overseers of roads and highways, 
“to oversee and perform such things as shall be directed by any act passed touching or 


€ 


) 


concerning the highways and roads in the province,” and to act as fence-viewers “con- 
formable to any resolutions that may be agreed upon by the inhabitants at such 
meetings”; a pound-keeper, to impound all stray cattle. The act also provided for two 
town-wardens. As soon as there should be any church built for the performance of 
divine service according to the use of the Church of England, then the parson or minister 
was to nominate one warden and the inhabitants the other. These wardens were a cor- 
poration to represent the whole inhabitants of the township or parish, with the right to 
let or sell property, to sue and be sued. The high-constable, who called and presided 
over the township meetings, was appointed by the justices in quarter sessions. The pre- 
siding officer had to communicate a list of persons nominated at these meetings to a 
magistrate, who was to administer to them the oath of office. In case the persons 
appointed at the meeting refused to act, they were subject to a penalty, and the magis- 
trates in sessions called for that purpose proceeded to fill the vacancies. In case there 
were not thirty inhabitants in a township, then they were considered to form part of the 
adjacent township which should contain the smallest number of inhabitants.’ 

The following extract from the early records of the township of Sophiasburg, or the 
6th township lying on Picton and Quinté Bays, will be read with interest, because it 
shows that there was an attempt made to establish a parish system on the basis of that so 
long existent in the parent state. No similar record can be found in the annals of the old 
townships of Upper Canada, although the references in the Constitutional Act of 1791, 
and in several provincial statutes, go to show that the erection of parishes was in the 
minds of those who were engaged in developing local institutions in the country :— 

“Passed at Sophiasburg, at a regular town meeting, 3rd March, 1800. And be it 
observed—That all well-regulated townships be divided into parishes. Be it enacted by 
the majority of votes, that this town shall be divided into parishes, and described as fol- 
lows: St. John’s, St. Matthew’s, St. Giles, Mount Pleasant.” * 

It does not appear, however, that parishes were established to any extent on the Eng- 
lish system throughout Upper Canada, although they were general for ecclesiastical 
purposes. The Church of England was the dominant religious body for many years, and 
there was an effort made to establish it by giving it large reserves of public lands. We 
shall see, however, later on, that parishes were established in the maritime provinces for 
civil purposes as in some of the old English colonies in America. 

In accordance with the British system of local government in counties, the magis- 
trates in sessions performed an important part in the administration of local affairs. 





* One of the first recorded town meetings (Canniff, p, 454) held in accordance with the act, was that of 
Adolphustown, which came off on the 6th of March, 1793. The following words are an exact transcript of the 
record:—“ The following persons were chosen to officiate in their respective offices, the ensuing year, and also the 
regulations of the same: Reuben Bedell, township clerk; Paul Huff and Philip Dorland, overseers of the poor; 
Joseph Allison and Garit Benson, constables; Willet Casey, Paul Huff and John Huyck, pound-keepers; Abraham 
Maybee and Peter Rutland, fence-viewers. The height of fence to be 4 feet 8 inches; water fence voted to be no 
fence. Hoggs running at large to have yokes on 18 by 24 inches. No piggs to run until three months old. No 
stallion to run. Any person putting fire to any bush or stable, that does not his endeavour to hinder it from doing 
damage, shall forfeit the sum of forty shillings.” (Signed) Pamir DorLanp, T. Clerk. 

* See before, p. 58. 5 Canniff, p. 472. 


60 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


These courts of quarter sessions have long existed in English counties, and their functions 
have been regulated by aseries of statutes commencing in the T'ndor times and coming down 
to the present day. The English counties were subdivided into petty sessional divisions. 
At the head of this civil organisation in a county is the lord-lieutenant and the Custos 
Rotulorum. These two offices are usually held by one person, who holds office under 
a special commission from the Crown, and is generally a peer of the realm or large land- 
owner. “ His office,” says Hallam, “ may be considered as a revival of the ancient local 
earldom, and it certainly took away from the sheriff a great part of the dignity and impor- 
tance which he had acquired since the discontinuance of that office. Yet the lord-lieutenant 
has so peculiarly military an authority that it does not in any degree control the civil power 
of the sheriff as the executive minister of the law.” 

It would appear from the old records that there was a similar officer appointed in the 
early times of Canada. Speaking of Lower Canada, Lord Durham says: “ The justices of 
the peace scattered over the whole of Lower Canada are named by the governor on no very 
accurate information, there being no lieutenants or similar officers of counties in this as in 
the upper province.”* The Duke de la Rochefoucault, writing in 1795, says: “Simcoe 
is by no means ambitious of investing all power and authority in his own hands, but 
consents that the Meutenants, whom he nominates for each county, should appoint the 
justices of the peace and officers of the militia.’ From these and other references to the 
duties of the officer, he appears to have discharged functions similar to those of the lord- 
lieutenant in England, since he appointed justices and commanded the militia. The 
title, however, appears to have fallen into disuse in the course of a few years, though 
there was a custos rotulorum or chairman of sessions in all of the provinces. The lieut- 
enancy in Upper Canada never assumed as much importance as did the same office in 
Virginia. ° 

As I have already shown, the justices in sessions appointed as in England a high 
constable, and discharged certain functions now performed by municipal bodies in 
Canada. All moneys collected by assessors of taxes were to be paid into the hands of 
treasurers who were appointed by the justices in general quarter sessions. The justices 
so assembled directed how the moneys were to be disbursed in accordance with the law. 
The legislature, from time to time, regulated the time and place for holding these courts. 
The quarter sessions were held in 1793, at Adolphustown, Kingston, Michillimackinac. 
Newark, New Johnstown, and Cornwall, then the principal towns of the province. The 
jurisdiction of the justices was very extensive in those times. They had the carrying out 
in a great measure of the acts of the legislature providing for the defraying of the expenses 
of building court houses and jails, of keeping the same in repair, of the payment of jailers, of 
the support and maintenance of prisons, of the building and repairing of houses of correc- 
tion, of the construction and repairs of bridges, of the fees of coroners and other officers, 





1 The English Citizen Series. Local Government in England, M. D. Chalmers, p. 93. 

? Const. Hist., (Eng. ed. 1881) ii. 134. * Report, p. 41. * Vol. i. 416. 

5 “One is struck by the prominence of the lieutenant, anciently the commander, who, besides being the chief 
of the militia in his county, was a member of the Council, and as such a judge of the highest tribunal in the county. 
With Commissioners of the Governor he held monthly courts for the settlement of suits, not exceeding in value 
one hundred pounds of tobacco, and from this court, appeal was allowed to the Governor and Council.” Local 
Institutions of Virginia. By Ed. Ingle (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) p. 83. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 61 


and of all other matters that were essentially of a local character. Whenever it was necessary 
to establish a market, the legislature had to pass a special act giving the requisite power 
to the court of sessions. For instance, we find an act authorising the justices in this 
court ‘‘to fix, open and establish some convenient place in the town of Kingston as a 
market, where butcher’s meat, butter, eggs, poultry, fish and vegetables, shall be exposed 
to sale, and to appoint such days and hours as shall be suitable for that purpose, and to 
make such other orders and regulations relative thereto as they shall deem expedient.” ! 
The justices of the peace had also other important functions to discharge out of the ses- 
sions. For instance, it was on their certificate that the secretary of state granted licenses 
to public houses. These licenses were only granted after full inquiry and discussion at 
public meetings duly called for that purpose by the high constable or other public 
officer Thejustices in quarter sessions also appointed surveyors of highways to lay out, and 
regulate statute labour on the*public roads. All persons were liable to work on the roads, 
in proportion to the assessment on their real and personal property.’ 

For the first fifteen or twenty years of the history of the administration of civil affairs 
in Upper Canada, the burdens of the people were exceedingly small. A Canadian his- 
torian says on this point: “No civilised country in the world was less burdened with 
taxes than Canada West at this period. A small direct tax on property, levied by the 
district courts of sessions, and not amounting to £3,500 for the whole country, sufficed 
for all local expenses. There was no poor rate, no capitation tax, no tithes, no ecclesias- 
tical rates of any kind. Instead of a road tax, a few days of statute labour annually 
sufficed.’ 

Under such circumstances we can easily understand why the condition of Kingston, 
for many years the most important town of Upper Canada, should have been so pitiable 
according to a writer of those early times: “The streets [in 1815] require very great 
repairs, as in the rainy seasons it is scarcely possible to move about without being in 
mud to the ankles. Lamps are required.... But first the legislature must form a code 
of laws, forming a complete police. To meet expense, government might lay a rate upon 
every inhabitant householder in proportion to value of property in house.’°’ Subse- 
quently, when Kingston became the seat of government, the municipal authorities were 
encouraged to make improvements in streets, drainage, sidewalks, and otherwise. When 
the town of York was incorporated as a city, in 1834, under the name of Toronto, it had 
not a single sidewalk within its limits, and the first mayor, Mr. W. Lyon Mackenzie, had 
to initiate a system of local improvements under great difficulties.° 

As the country filled up, and the necessity arose for roads and bridges and other 
local improvements, the taxes increased ; although they never became heavy under the 
unsatisfactory system that prevailed, until after the reunion of the Canadas in 1841. The 
time of the legislature was constantly occupied in passing acts for the construction of public 
works necessary for the comfort, safety and convenience of particular localities. A large 
amount of “parish” business was transacted in those days by the legislature which 
might as well have been done by local councils. As compared with Lower Canada, how- 








‘ Upp. Can Stat. 41 Geo. ITI, c. 3. * Ibid., 34 Geo. III, ec. 12 
# Tind., 48 Geo. ITI, c. 12. * MceMullen’s History, p. 247. 
5 Canniff, p. 432. 5 Lindsey’s Life of Mackenzie, i. 312. 


62 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


ever, the people had eventually a workable system of local government, which enabled 
them to make many improvements for themselves. The construction of canals and other 
important works of provincial importance, on an expensive scale, at last left so little funds 
in the treasury that the parliament of this province alone, among the North American 
colonies “was, fortunately for itself, compelled to establish a system of local assessment, 
and to leave local works in a great measure to the energy and means of the localities them- 
selves.” ' Still the system, as the country became more populous and enterprising, proved 
ultimately quite inadequate to meet the requirements of the people and to develop their 
latent energies. The legislature was constantly called upon to give power to local authori- 
ties to carry out measures of local necessity. Whatever taxation was necessary for local pur- 
poses had to be imposed through the inconvenient agency of courts of quarter sessions, 
over which the people exercised little or no control. If the people of a city or town 
wished to be incorporated, they were forced to apply to the’ legislature for a special act. 
The powers granted to these corporations were by no means uniform, and great confusion 
resulted from the many statutes that existed with respect to these bodies. “No lawyer,” 
says a writer on the subject,” “ could give an opinion upon the rights of an individual in 
a single corporation without following the original act through the thousand sinuosities 
of parliamentary amendment, and no capitalist at a distance could credit a city or town 
without a particular and definite acquaintance with its individual history.” It was not, 
however, until after the reunion of the Canadian provinces, that steps were taken to estab- 
lish in Upper Canada a larger system of popular local government in accordance with 
the wise suggestions made by Lord Durham and other sagacious British statesmen. But 
before we can refer to this part of the subject, I must first review the early local history 
of the maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. 


V.—THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 


When Nova Scotia became a possession of England ‘by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, 
the only place of any importance was Port Royal, originally founded by a French gentle- 
man-adventurer, Baron de Poutrincourt. The English renamed the place “ Annapolis 
Royal,” in honour of Queen Anne, and for some years it was the seat of government. The 
province in those days had a considerable French Acadian population, chiefly settled in the 
Annapolis valley, and in the fertile country watered by the streams that flow into the Bay 
of Fundy. For some years there was a military government in Nova Scotia. In 1719, the 
governor received instructions to choose a council for the management of civil affairs 
from the principal English inhabitants, until an assembly would be formed to regulate 
matters in accordance with the instructions given to the American colonies generally. 
This first council was composed exclusively of officers of the garrison and of officials 
of the public departments. The French inhabitants in their respective parishes were 
permitted, in the absence of duly appointed magistrates, to choose deputies from among 
themselves for the purpose of executing the orders of the government and acting as 








1 Lord Durham’s Report, p. 48. 
2 J. Sheridan Hogan, Prize Essay on Canada, 1885, p. 104. 


Leds 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 63 


arbitrators in case of controversies in the French settlements. An appeal was allowed 
to the governor at Annapolis.’ 

In 1749, the city of Halifax was founded by Governor Cornwallis on the shores of 
Chebucto Bay, on the Atlantic coast. The government of the province was vested in a 
governor and council, and one of their first acts was to establish a court of general 
sessions, similar in its nature and conformable in its practice to the courts of the same 
name in the parent state. In 1751 they passed an ordinance that the town and suburbs 
of Halifax be divided into eight wards, and the inhabitants empowered to choose annually 
the following officials “for managing such prudential affairs of the town as shall be 
committed to their care by the governor and council :—eight town-overseers, one town- 
clerk, sixteen constables, eight scavengers.’ 

It was only after the establishment of the first legislature that Nova Scotia was 
divided into local divisions for legislative, judicial, and civil purposes. The first House of 
Assembly, elected in 1758, was composed of twenty-two representatives, of whom sixteen 
were chosen by the province at large, four by the township of Halifax, and two by the 
township of Lunenburg. It was at the same time provided that whenever fifty qualified - 
householders were settled at Pisiquid (now Windsor), Minas, Cobequid, or at any other 
township which might be thereafter erected, it should be entitled to send two representa- 
tives to the assembly.! In 1759, the governor and council divided the province into five 
counties: Annapolis, Kings, Cumberland, Lunenburg and Halifax.’ A few years later the 
whole island of Cape Breton was formed into a county.” 

The legislature appears to have practically controlled the administration of local 
affairs throughout the province, except so far as it gave, from time to time, certain powers 
to the courts of quarter sessions to regulate taxation and carry out certain public works 
and improvements. In the first session of the legislature, a joint committee of the council 
and assembly choose the town officers for Halifax, viz., four overseers of the poor, two 
clerks of the market, four surveyors of the highways, two fence viewers, and two hog-reeves.’ 
We have abundant evidence that at this time the authorities viewed with disfavour 
any attempt to establish a system of town government similar to that so long in operation 
in New England. On the 14th of April, 1770, the governor and council passed a resolu- 
tion that “the proceedings of the people in calling town-meetings for discussing questions 
relative to law and government and such other purposes, are contrary to law, and if per- 
sisted in, it is ordered that the parties be prosecuted by the attorney-general.”* The 
government of Nova Scotia had before it, at this time, the example of the town-meetings 
of Boston, presided over by the famous Samuel Adams, and doubtless considered them as 
the very hotbeds of revolution.” What the Tories thought of these popular bodies can be 





' Haliburton’s History of Nova Scotia, i. 93, 96. 2 Thid., p. 163. 

* Murdoch’s History, ii. 199. * Haliburton, i. 208. Murdoch, ii. 334, 351. 

à : Murdoch, ii. 373,374. In the election for the Assembly that came off in August of the same year, the coun- 
ties in question returned two members each ; the towns of Lunenburg, Annapolis, Horton, and Cumberland, two 
each, and the township of Halifax, four, or twenty-two representatives in all. 

; eee p. 454. ? [hid., p. 361. © Haliburton, i. 248. 

* Bancroft very truly considers Samuel Adams more than any other man, “the type and representative of the 
New England town-meeting.” History of the Constitution, ii. 260. For an interesting account of his career, see 
Samuel Adams, the Man of the Town Meeting, by J. K. Hosmer. Here the reader will be able to obtain a very 
accurate idea of the important influence that Adams and the town-meetings of Boston exercised over the destinies 
of America. No wonder was it that the governing class in Halifax frowned upon all manifestations of popular 
feeling in the province. 


64 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


understood from the following extract, which gives the opinion of a rabid writer of those 
revolutionary times. “This is the foulest, subtlest, and most enormous serpent ever issued 
from the egg of sedition. I saw the small seed when it was implanted; it was a grain 
of mustard. I have watched the plant until it has become a great tree.” 

In the course of time the province was divided for legislative, judicial and civil pur- 
poses, as follows :— 

1. Divisions or circuits, generally consisting of one or more counties, for purposes 
connected with the courts. 

2. Districts, generally of one or more townships, established, as a rule, for the con- 
venience of the people, who had the privilege conferred upon them of having a court of 
sessions of the peace for the regulation of their internal affairs. 

3. Counties, generally established for legislative purposes. 

4. Townships, which were simply subdivisions of the county intended for purposes 
of local administration or of representation. 

In each county there was a sheriff and justice of the peace, whose jurisdiction 
extended throughout the same. Each district was generally provided with a court house 
which belonged to the county. The townships did not contain any definite quantity of 
land, as was generally the case in Upper Canada. The inhabitants appear, according to 
Judge Haliburton, “to have had no other power than that of holding an annual meeting 
for the purpose of voting money for the support of the poor.”* Up to very recent times, 
the justices in sessions were practically the local governing bodies in the various divisions 
of the province. Even Halifax was not allowed a special act of incorporation as a city 
until 1841, although its people made frequent applications to the legislature for power 
to manage their own affairs. The time of the legislature was taken up with making 
provision for local wants. All the roads and bridges were built and maintained, and 
the public schools supported by the legislature. The system that so long prevailed, by 
which members of the legislature controlled the expenditures for local works, was well 
calculated to demoralize public men and encourage speculation and jobbery. Large sums 
were frittered away by the appointment of road commissioners with reference only to 
political considerations.’ It was one well adapted to stimulate the energies of village 
politicians, and the spirit of party in the counties. 

As respects local affairs, the people had little or no voice. The grand jury, in the 
court of sessions of the peace, annually nominated such number of persons for town 
officers as the justices should direct, and out of them the latter made the appointments. 





' Daniel Leonard, cited by Hosmer, p. 45. ? Haliburton’s Hist., ii. 8, 9. 

® Murdoch, ii. 449. In 1850 Mr. Howe attempted to pass a bill dividing the county of Halifax into townships, 
and conferring certain municipal privileges upon the inhabitants. The people were to have the power to raise 
funds by assessment for the support of education and for other public purposes, and to elect their own township 
officers, including magistrates. Lord Grey, however, took exception to the measure, and the Queen’s assent was 
withheld. Speeches and Public Letters of Hon. Joseph Howe, i. 642. 

*“ According to a report presented to me by Major Head, an assistant commissioner of enquiry whom I sent to 
that colony [Nova Scotia], a sum of £10,000 was, during the last session, appropriated to local improvements ; this 
sum was divided into 830 portions, and as many commissioners were appointed to expend it, giving, on an aver- 
age, a commissioner for rather more than every £12, with a salary of 5s. a day, and a further remuneration of two 
and a half per cent. on the money expended, to be deducted out of each share.” Lord Durham’s Report, p. 29. 
This demoralising and wasteful system lasted until very recently in Nova Scotia. 





LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 65 


The grand jury had also the power to raise money for certain public purposes within a 
particular division. Of their own knowledge, or on the representation of three freeholders, 
they could make presentments for money for building or repairing jails, court-houses, 
pounds, or for other necessary local purposes. .In the event of their neglecting to act, in 
certain cases the justices in sessions could amerce the county. The officers appointed at 
the sessions were a county treasurer and assessors. The clerk of the peace, as in England, 
was appointed by the custos, as chairman of the sessions; the office of sheriff was a 
government appointment. Practically, in Nova Scotia, as in the other provinces, the 
English county system prevailed. 

If we now turn to the province of New Brunswick, we find that a similar system 
existed until very recently. This province originally formed part of the extensive 
and ill-defined territory known in French times as “ Acadie” For some years it was 
governed by the governor and council of Nova Scotia, until the settlement of a large 
number of Loyalists on the banks of the St. John River brought about a change in its 
political constitution. Then the imperial authorities thought it expedient to create a 
separate province, with a government consisting, in the first instance, of a governor 
and council of twelve members, exercising both executive and legislative powers, and, 
eventually, of an assembly of twenty-six members. 

On the 18th of May, 1785, a charter was granted by Governor Carleton for the incor- 
poration of Parr Town, on the east side of the St. John River, and of Carleton, on the west 
side, as a city under the name of St. John. The inhabitants were given a mayor, recorder, 
six aldermen and six assistants, and the city was divided into six wards. St. John, 
consequently, was the first city incorporated in British North America, and it remained so 
for many years, as Halifax and other towns were refused the same privileges for a long 
while. 

In 1786 the governor, council and assembly passed an act providing that the 
justices of the general sessions of the peace for the several counties of the province should 
annually appoint, out of every town or parish in the same, overseers, clerk, constables, 
clerks of markets, assessors, surveyors, weighers of hay, fence-viewers. It will be seen 
from this and other acts that the divisions for local purposes consisted of counties, 
townships and parishes. In 1786, an act was passed for the better ascertaining and 
confirming of the boundaries of the several counties within the province, and for 
subdividing them into towns or parishes “ for the more convenient and orderly distribution 
of the respective inhabitants, to enable them, in their respective districts, to fulfil the 
several duties incumbent on them, and for the better administration of justice therein.” 

Town and parish appear to have been always synonymous terms in this province. 
In the interpretation clause of a recent act, “parish” is defined as “parish, incorporated 
town or city.”* This designation of one of the civil divisions of New Brunswick is, no 
doubt, so much evidence of the desire of the early settlers, many of whom were from 
Virginia and Maryland,’ to introduce the institutions of their old homes. In all of the 
British colonies, indeed, the town system had long been in use. In the first instance, the 





1 Murdoch, iii. 42, 2 N.B. Cons. Stat., c. 100, s. i. 

* Among the members of the first council of New Brunswick, 1784, were Chief Justice Ludlow, formerly a 
judge of the supreme court of New York ; Judge Israel Allen, of Pennsylvania; Gabriel G. Ludlow, of Maryland; 
Judge John Saunders, of Virginia. Not a few Virginia Loyalists settled in New Brunswick. Murdoch, iii. 42. 


Sec. IL, 1886. 9. 


66 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


colonists introduced the local institutions of the parent state, with such modifications as 
were suitable to the conditions of their existence. But the “parish” of the colonies, as a 
rule, bore little resemblance to the historic “ parish” of England. The latter was simply 
the old township of the Saxons in an ecclesiastical form: “ the district assigned to a church 
or priest; to whom its ecclesiastical dues and generally also its tithes are paid. The 
boundaries of the parish and the township or townships with which it coincides, are 
generally the same; in small parishes the idea and even name of township is frequently, 
at the present day, sunk in that of the parish ; and all the business that is not manorial is 
despatched in vestry meetings, which are however primarily meetings of the township 
for church purposes.” ' - 

Throughout New England the township was the political unit. It is true that 
the religious convictions of the people dominated in all their arrangements for the 
administration of civil affairs. An eminent authority has said of the people of Massa- 
chusetts: “They founded a civil state upon a basis which should support the worship of 
God according to their conscientious convictions of duty; and an ecclesiastical state com- 
bined with it, which should sustain and be in harmony with the civil government, 
excluding what was antagonistic to the welfare of either.” * In England the parish was 
invested with civil functions, and the old Saxon township became gradually absorbed in 
former. But in New England the parish and township had really distinct meanings. 
Whenever the word “ parish” was there used, it was to denote the township from an ecclesi- 
astical point of view, as well as a portion of township not possessing town rights. Con- 
sequently the “parish of Massachusetts” was essentially a term used for religious purposes, 
and had no reference to civil matters which were all discharged in the township or political 
unit of the community.’ In Virginia, however, the parish attained considerable promin- 
ence in the administration of local affairs. The early settlers of the old Dominion were 
men wedded to the ancient institutions of the parent state, and they set up the system 
long established in England, with such changes as were adapted to the circum- 
stances of the country. Parishes were originally coterminous with the old plantations or 
with thecounties, and covered immense areas. In the course of time, when the country 
became more settled, counties were laid out and divided into parishes. Some of these 
parishes sent representatives to the house of burgesses in early times of the colony, and they 
were always important local units in the civil organisation of the country. It does not, 
however, appear that they ever possessed powers entirely equal to those enjoyed in the 
parent state.“ No doubt the loyalists who settled in New Brunswick and other sections 
of British North America were so accustomed to this division that they naturally introduced 
it when they came to organise the new province. We have already seen, in our sketch of 
local government in Upper Canada, that there was an effort made to establish parishes in 
that section. It is only in New Brunswick, however, that the name has become perma- 
nently inscribed on the civil organisation of the country. I do not of course refer in this 
connection to French Canada, where the division was constituted purely for ecclesiastical 
purposes, and had no relation to the English parish which is the descendant of the 





1 Stubbs, Const. Hist., i. 85. 2 Parker’s Lowell Institute Lectures, p. 403. 
* The English Parish in America; Local Institutions in Virginia, by E. Ingle. p. 52. 
* Local Institutions, etc., pp. 52, 53, 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 67 


township of early English times—itself developed from the mark communities of the 
Teutonic tribes.’ 

The Island of Prince Edward, originally known as St. John’s, formed part of the 
province of Nova Scotia until 1769, when it was created a separate province, with a 
lieutenant-governor, a combined executive and legislative council, and in 1773 a legislative 
assembly of eighteen members.” The history of this island is interesting from the fact that it 
gives an instance of a land system which kept the province in a state of agitation for many 
years, until it was finally settled soon after the union with the Dominion. The island was 
surveyed by Captain Holland in 1765, and in 1767 divided into sixty-seven townships, 
containing in the aggregate 1,360,600 acres.’ This extensive tract was conveyed by ballot 
with some reservations, to officers and other individuals who had claims or supposed 
claims on the crown, and a landed monopoly was in this way established in the island. 
The grantees were to settle in the province or establish a certain number of settlers within 
ten years, but these proper conditions were practically laid aside and an absentee owner- 
ship allowed to grow up, to the great injury of the tenants who farmed the lands. In 
those days the crown availed itself lavishly of its prerogatives with very little regard to 
future settlement on the public lands of the country over which it exercised dominion. 
Previous to the arrangement just mentioned, a British nobleman had applied to the king 
for a grant of the whole island. His proposition was to divide it into hundreds* as in 
England, or baronies as in Ireland. These hundreds or baronies were to be divided into 
manors over which would preside a court baron, in accordance with the old English system. 
Townships were to be carved out of hundreds; courts leet and courts baron were also 
to be established under the direction of the lord paramount. A local historian has clearly 
epitomised the whole proposition as follows: “ There was to be a lord paramount of the 
whole island, forty capital lords of forty hundreds, four hundred lords of manors, and eight 
hundred freeholders. For assurance of the said tenures, eight hundred thousand acres 
were to be set apart for establishments for trade and commerce in the most suitable parts 
of the island, including one county town, forty market towns, and four hundred villages.” 





1“ Primarily the parish is merely the old township in its ecclesiastical aspect. We can, therefore, trace the 
descent of the modern civil parish through the ecclesiastical parish, up to the old Saxon township. It may be safely 
said that the English parish is the legitimate descendant of the Teutonic mark, and that the English parish, the 
New England township, the French or Belgian commune, and the village community of Northern India, are but 
variations of one common type which reproduces itself wherever the Aryan race is found. Whether the Teutonic 
mark system was ever introduced into England by our Saxon forefathers is an open question, but the Saxon town- 
ship owed many of its distinguishing characteristics to the mark system. The township was so called from the 
tun or hedge which surrounded the group of homesteads.” Chalmers’ Local Government in England, p. 36. 

* Bourinot, p. 69. 8ee also copy of commission of the first lieutenant-governor, Captain W. Paterson. Canada 
Sessional Papers, 1883, No. 70, p. 2. 

* Campbell’s History, pp. 3,19. Colonial Office List, 1885, p. 38. 

* It does not appear that ‘‘ hundreds” were ever established in Canada. The union of a number of townships 
for the purpose of judicial administration, peace and defence, formed what is known as the hundred or wapentake, 
in Anglo-Saxon times. “It is very probable,” writes Stubbs (i. 96, 97) “that the colonists of Britain arranged 
themselves in hundreds of warriors ; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal districts. The only 
conclusion that seems reasonable is that, under the name of geographical hundreds, we have the variously sized 
pagi or districts in which the hundred warriors settled.” The first civil divisions of the infant settlement of Mary- 
land were called “hundreds,” and the election district of “Bay Hundred” on the eastern shore of the state, is a 
memorial of those old times. Local Institutions of Maryland, by L. W. Wilhelm, p. 39. A similar division was 
also known in the early history of Virginia. Ingle, pp. 40-47. 


68 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


Each hundred or barony was to consist of somewhat less than eight square miles, and the 
lord of each was bound to erect and maintain forever a castle or blockhouse as the capital 
seat of his property, and as a place of retreat and rendezvous for the settlers; and thus, on 
any alarm of sudden danger, every inhabitant might have a place of security within four 
miles of his habitation. A cannon fired at one of the castles would be heard at the next, 
and thus the firing would proceed in regular order from castle to castle, and be “the 
means,” adds the noble memorialist, “of putting every inhabitant of the whole island 
under arms and in motion in the space of one quarter of an hour.” ' 

But this proposition was not entertained by the king, who had had some experience 
of a similar plan which failed in Carolina.” The division, however, of the whole island, 
among a few proprietors, appears to have had consequences probably fully as disastrous 
as would have been the concession to a single nobleman, who might have taken a deep 
interest in its settlement, as was notably done by Lord Baltimore in Maryland. 

The island was originally laid out in counties,’ parishes and townships. The county 
lines appear to have been run from north to south across the island at two of its widest 
parts. Where the boundaries of townships or parishes touch the county lines, they are 
coterminous therewith. The same is true of the township and parish lines. The average 
area of the townships is 20,000 acres, though number 66, the last regular township 
surveyed, contains only 6,000, and number 67, an irregular block in the centre of the 
island, is somewhat larger than the average. 

Each parish includes from three to six townships. In addition to the territorial 
divisions before mentioned, there was laid out in each county, at the time of the original 
survey, a site for a chef lieu, or county town. For Queen’s County, a town plot was laid 
out on the site of the present city of Charlottetown, at the head of Hillsboro’ Bay, where 
the North-West and Hillsboro’ Rivers unite. The town of King’s County was laid out at 
Georgetown, on the south-east coast, on Cardigan Bay, and, for Prince County, a town site 
was surveyed on the east side of Richmond or Malpeque Bay, near its mouth. To each 
of these town sites there were attached distinct areas of land called ‘ commons” * and 
“royalties,” ° which covered about 6,000 acres each, and were not included in any of the 
townships. Instead of being reserved for their original purpose, the common and royalty 
attached to each town site were subsequently sold by the crown as farm lands, and are 








! Campbell’s History, ch. i. p. 11. 

2 Shaftesbury and Locke attempted to frame a constitution for Carolina, which would “ connect political power 
with hereditary wealth.” Bancroft’s History of the United States, ii. 146. 

3“Tn 1768 the Island was divided into three counties :—(1.) King’s, containing 20 townships, 412,100 acres; 
county town, Georgetown, 4,000 acres (Les Trois Rivières). (2.) Qneen’s, 23 townships, 486,600 acres; county town, 
Charlottetown, 7,300 acres (Port la Joie). (3.) Prince County, 23 townships, 467,000 acres; county town, Princetown, 
4,000 acres (Halpeqne)” Murdoch’s History, ii. 474 The names in parentheses are those of the old French 
settlements. 

4 These common lands were a memorial of Anglo-Saxon times. “The pleasant green commons or squares 
which occur in the midst of towns and cities in England and the United States most probably originated from the 
coalescence of adjacent mark-communities, whereby the border-land used in common by all was brought into the 
centre of the new aggregate....In old towns of New England.... the little park....was once the common 
pasture of the town.” Fiske’s American Political Ideas, pp. 39, 40. 

5“In its primary and natural sense, ‘royalties’ is merely the English translation or equivalent of 
regalitates, jura regalia, jura regia.” See an interesting definition of the term given by the judicial committee of 
the privy council, Legal News (Montreal), vi. 244 ; and Bourinot, p. 690. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 69 


now occupied and cultivated as such, though the city of Charlottetown extends beyond 
the old town site, and covers a portion of thecommon. The county town of Prince County 
was not established at Princetown, but at a point on the shores of Bedeque Bay, on the south 
coast, now called “ Summerside.” 

As we have just seen, there was an attempt made in Prince Edward Island to 
establish parishes as in other parts of the old colonies, but, in the course of time, these 
local divisions became practically useless, and are seldom mentioned now, except in legal 
proceedings connected with old land titles. It is only in Prince Edward Island, I may 
add, that we come across the term “royalties ” as reservations of the crown, in the vicinity 
of the old settlements. In the other provinces, however, provision was made for the 
establishment of commons,’ though, in the course of time, they, too, in the majority of 
cases, were leased for private purposes and ceased to become available for the general use 
of the community. The legislature of Nova Scotia, for instance, passed an act in 1816 to 
lease twenty-five acres of the Halifax common, in half acre lots, for 999 years.’ 

In this island, the several divisions to which we have referred appear to have been 
established chiefly for representative and judicial purposes. No system of local govern- 
ment ever existed in the counties and parishes, as in other parts of America. The legis- 
lature has been always a municipal council for the whole island. 


VI.—TueE ESTABLISHMENT OF MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE PROVINCES OF THE 
DOMINION. 


We have now brought this review of local government up to the time when a 
new era in the history of political institutions commenced in all the provinces of British 
North America. The troubles which culminated in the Rebellion of 1837-8 led to the 
reunion of the Canadas and the concession of a more liberal system of government to the 
people. The British authorities recognised the necessity of leaving the people free to 
control their own internal affairs, and of giving up that system of paternal government 
which had worked so unsatisfactorily. Between 1840 and 1854 all the provinces were 
granted responsible government in the real sense of the term, and entered almost 
immediately on a career of political and national progress which was in remarkable 
contrast with the condition of things previous to 1840. The legislation of the province 
was distinguished by greater vigour as soon as the people obtained full control of their 
,own taxation and revenue. The result was the improvement of the communications of 
the country and the passage of measures in the direction of increasing the responsibilities 
of the people in the management of their local affairs. 

In the speech with which Lord Sydenham, then governor-general, opened the legisla- 
ture of 1841, he called attention to the fact that it was “highly desirable that the principles 
of local self-government, which already prevail to some extent throughout that part of the 
province which was formerly Upper Canada, should receive a more extended application 
and that the people should exercise a greater control over their own local affairs.”* The 





! Nova Scotia Archives, Aikins, p. 700. * Murdoch, iii. 415. 
* Assembly Journals, 1841, p. 8. 


70 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


legislature accordingly went energetically to work to provide forthe internal government 
of the upper province. Some difficulties arose in dealing with this question on account 
of the position taken by Lower Canada. During the suspension of the constitution in 
French Canada, an ordinance had been passed by the special council “ to provide for the 
better internal government of this province by the establishment of local or municipal 
institutions therein.” The province was divided into twenty-two districts, comprising 
certain seigniories, townships, and parishes. The governor and council fixed and deter- 
mined the number of councillors who were elected for every district. The warden was 
appointed by the governor-general, and his duties were regulated by instructions from 
the same high functionary. The meetings of householders, at which the parish or town- 
ship officers as well as the district councillors were elected and other business was trans- 
acted, were convened on the authorisation of the warden by one of the justices of the 
peace for the district. The governor had the power to dissolve a district council under 
extraordinary circumstances. Instructions were issued by the governor and council to 
the chairmen of parish or township meetings, assessors, collectors, surveyors of highways 
and bridges, overseers of the poor, and other local officers. ' 

Consequently, the system in operation in Lower Canada was entirely controlled by 
the government. It was the desire of the Upper Canadians, who had been gradually edu- 
eated for more popular local institutions, to elect the warden and other officers. The 
measure which was presented in 1841, by Mr. Harrison, provincial secretary of the 
upper province, provided that the inhabitants of each district should be a body corporate 
within the limits prescribed by the act, and provision was made for the formation of 
municipal councils, to consist of a warden and a fixed number of councillors in each dis- 
trict. Power was given to these councils to assess and collect from the inhabitants such 
moneys as might be necessary for local purposes, and generally to adopt measures for the 
good government of the respective districts represented in these local bodies. The Upper 
Canadians naturally wished to elect their own warden, but it was argued that it was inex- 
pedient to concede to one province privileges not given to the other. The French 
members in the legislature were not only opposed to the measure passed by the special 
council, but believed that, if they sanctioned the passage of a liberal measure in Upper 
Canada, it would be followed by similar legislation for Lower Canada. The most influen- 
tial men in that province were opposed at that time to any system that might impose local 
direct taxation on the people. ° 

Imperfect as was the act of 1841, it was the commencement of a new era in municipal 
government in Canada. In the course of a few years the act was amended, and the people 
at last obtained full control of the election of their own municipal officers. Statutes 
passed from time to time swept away those numerous corporate bodies which had 
been established by the legislature of the old province, and provided by one general law 
“ for the erection of municipal corporations and the establishment of police regulations in 
and for the several counties, cities, towns, townships and villages in Upper Canada.” * 
Lower Canada was also brought into the general system, according as the people began 
to comprehend the advantages of controlling their local affairs. The ordinance of the 





1 Canada Sessional Papers, 1841, App. X. * Dent’s Canada since the Union of 1841, i. 146. 
3 Con. Stat. 12 Vict. c. 80, and 12 Vict. c. 81. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. Fil 


special council was repealed in 1845 by an act, which provided that every township or 
parish should constitute a municipal corporation, represented by a council elected by the 
people, and presided over by a president or mayor, also elective.!" This parish organisa- 
tion seemed peculiarly well adapted to the habits of the people of French Canada, where 
the parish is connected with their dearest and most interesting associations; but for 
some reason or other it was soon changed to a county government, which lasted for a 
number of years? Without, however, dwelling on the numerous acts which occupied 
considerable time in the legislature for years with the object of maturing and perfecting 
a general municipal system acceptable to the people and commensurate with their 
progress in self-government, it is sufficient to say that some time before 1867, when the 
provinces were confederated, Upper and Lower Canada enjoyed at last local institutions 
resting on an essentially popular basis, and giving every possible facility for carrying out 
desirable public improvements in the municipal divisions. The tendency of legislation 
indeed for years took a dangerous direction. Acts were passed, in 1853 and subsequent 
years, enabling the municipalities to borrow money for the construction of railways on the 
guarantee of the province.’ The result was much extravagance in the public expendi- 
tures and the increase of local taxation in many municipalities of Canada, which 
hampered the people for many years, notwithstanding the benefits derived from the 
construction of important public works, until the government was forced to come to their 
assistance and relieve them of the burdens they had imposed upon themselves. 

At the present time, all the provinces of the Dominion of Canada enjoy a system of 
local self-government which enables the people in every local division, whether it be a 
village, town, township, parish, city, or county, to manage their own internal affairs in 
accordance with the liberal provisions of the various statutory enactments which are the 
result of the wisdom of the various legislatures of the different provinces within half a 
century. It is in the great province of Ontario that we find the system in its complete 
form. While this system is quite symmetrical in its arrangement, it is also thoroughly 
practical, and rests upon the free action of the ratepayers in each municipality. The 
whole organisation comprises :— 

(1.) The minor municipal corporations, consisting of townships, being rural districts 
of an area of eight or ten square miles, with a population of from 3000 to 6000. 

(2.) Villages with a population of over 750. 

(8.) Towns with a population of over 2000. Such of these as are comprised within a 
larger district termed a “county,” constitute 

(4.) The county municipality, which is under the government of a council composed 
of the heads of the different minor municipal divisions in such counties as have already 
been constituted in the province. 

(5.) Cities are established from the growth of towns when their population exceeds 
15,000, and their municipal jurisdiction is akin to that of counties and towns combined. 
The functions of each municipality are commensurate with their respective localities. 





! Turcotte, Canada sous l’Union, ii. 24. 

* In 1855 Mr. Drummond, then attorney-general, brought in a bill restoring the parish municipality, while 
preserving the county organization. Turcotte, ii. 260. 

* Turcotte, ii. 202. See Consol, Stat. 22 Vict. c. 83. 

* Canadian Economics; Montreal Meeting of the British Association, 1884, p. 317. 


72 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


The council of every county consists of the reeves and deputy reeves of the townships 
and villages within the county, and one of the reeves or deputy reeve shall be the warden. 
The council of every city consists of the mayor, and three aldermen for every ward. The 
council of every town consists of the mayor and of three councillors for every ward where 
there are less than five wards, and of two for each ward where there are five or more 
wards. The council of every incorporated village and of every township consists of one 
reeve (who presides) and of four councillors. The persons elected must be natural-born 
or naturalised subjects of the Queen, reside within the municipality, and be possessed of a 
certain legal or equitable freehold or leasehold varying from $400 in townships to $1,500 in 
cities for freehold, and from $800 to $3,000 for leasehold. The electors must be ratepayers 
in the municipality. Every election must be held in the municipality to which the 
same relates. The election is by ballot, and complete provision is made for the trial of 
controverted elections and the prevention of corrupt practices. The municipal officers 
comprise a warden, mayor or reeve, clerk, treasurer, assessors, collectors, auditors, valuators. 
The mayors, reeves, aldermen and councillors are elected by the taxpayers, but the warden 
and all the other municipal officers are appointed by the councils. The powers of 
these bodies are exercised by by-law,’ when not otherwise authorised or provided for. 
Certain by-laws require the assent of the ratepayers. The councils have the power to 
pass such laws creating debts and levying rates under certain restrictions set forth in the 
statute: for the purchase of property; for the appointment of municipal officers; for the 
aid of agricultural and other societies, manufacturing establishments, road companies, 
indigent persons and charities ; for taking a census; with respect to drainage, the purchase 
of wet lands, the planting of ornamental trees, driving on roads and bridges, the seizure 
of bread or other articles of ight weight, or short measurement; for the security of 
wharves and docks and the regulation of harbours; for the laying out and improvement 
of cemeteries, the prevention of cruelty to animals; for the purchase of property required 
for the erection of public schools thereon ; and providing for the establishment and sup- 
port of public schools according to law ; for the regulation of fences; for the preservation 
of the public peace and morals; for the licensing of ferries; for the establishment of 
markets, fire companies, sewerage and drainage; for the aid of railways, by taking stock 
or granting a loan or bonus to the same” These municipal bodies can be restrained in 
Ontario, as indeed in other provinces, by the superior courts when their by-laws are in 
excess of their powers. The courts may also compel them to exercise their power in 
proper cases. The provincial legislature grants the municipal authorities certain powers, 
and at the same time commits the proper exercise of those powers to the controlling care 
of the courts.” 

The council of every municipal district in Ontario has now the power to make such 
material improvements as are necessary for the convenience and comfort of the people ; 
but, more than that, the whole municipal organisation has been satisfactorily adapted to 
the requirements of a national system of education. On the enterprise and liberality of 








1 This legal term is a historic link that binds our municipal system to the old English township. In the shires 
of England where the Danes acquired a firm foothold the township was often called “by”; it had the power of 
enacting its own “ by-laws,” or town laws, as municipal corporations have generally to-day. Fiske’s American 
Political Ideas, p. 46. 

? Revised Statutes of Ontario, c. 174. * O'Sullivan’s Manual of Government, p. 191. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 73 


the municipalities depends the efficiency of the educational system of the province. The 
wealthy communities are able to erect school houses, which are so many evidences of 
their deep interest in public education and of the progress of architectural taste in the 
country. The legislature has also given power to any incorporated city, town or village 
to establish free libraries whenever a majority of the taxpayers express themselves in 
favour of such institutions.! In Ontario, as a rule, municipalities have taken advantage of 
the admirable opportunities which the law gives them of promoting the welfare and 
happiness of all classes, which are so intimately connected with the education and 
culture of the people. The city of Toronto, indeed, immediately availed itself of the law 
providing for free libraries, and has set an example which it is to be hoped will be followed 
by other communities in Canada. 

In all the other provinces the municipal system, if not quite so symmetrical as that 
of Ontario, is based on the same principles. In the province of Quebec the municipal 
divisions consist of villages, towns, parishes, or townships and counties. The parish is 
necessarily recognised in the general law provided for the municipal organisation of the 
province. When a canonical parish has been once formed by the proper ecclesiastical 
authority,” it may at any time be erected into a municipality by civil authority. 
Although the law makes a general provision for the civil erection of a parish, it is also 
frequently found expedient to avoid the expense of the necessary proceedings by obtaining 
special powers from the legislature for erecting and confirming a parish for all civil pur- 
poses.’ The county council is composed of the mayors of the several local municipalities 
of the county in which those officials have been elected. The councillors elect one of 
their number to be mayor of the local municipality, while the warden is chosen by the 
county council. The principal officers are the secretary-treasurer, who receives and pays 
out taxes and other moneys in accordance with law, auditors, inspectors of roads and 
bridges, pound-keepers, and valuators. The cities and towns of the province are, 
however, incorporated by special acts, and their mayors as well as councils are elected by 
the people. 

In the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the people were more laggard 
in adopting a municipal system than in Upper Canada. Nova Scotia had for years a 
permissive act on its statute book, by which any county might be incorporated when the 
people made formal application to the governor-in-council in the manner provided. It 
was not, however, until 1879 that an act ‘ was passed providing for the incorporation of 
the whole province. The county councils now consist of a warden and councillors. 
The council elect a warden from among themselves, a clerk, treasurer, auditors, assessors, 
pound-keepers and overseers of highways. All the powers and authorities previously 
vested in the grand jury and sessions, in special sessions, or in justices of the peace, to 
make by-laws, impose rates or assessments, and appoint township or county officers, 
are now exercised by the various municipal councils in the province. The money 
annually voted for road and bridge service is now appropriated by the councils of the 
municipalities under the inspection of supervisors or commissioners.’ Cities and towns 
are incorporated by special acts, and the mayors and wardens are elected by the inhabit- 








1 Ont. Stats., 45 Vict. c. 22. * See before, p.55, note. 
# For example, Quebec Stat., 45 Vict. ce. 41. * Nova Scotia Stat., 42 Vict. c. i. 
5 N.S. Stat., 44 Vict. c. i., and by 45 Vict. c. i. and 46 Vict. c. i. 


Sec. II., 1886. 10. 


74 JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT ON 


ants duly qualified by law. In New Brunswick a similar municipal system has been for 
years in operation.” 

The little province of Prince Edward Island, however, has never established a 
complete municipal system; the legislature is practically the governing body in all 
matters of local improvement. It passes acts establishing and regulating markets, and 
making provision for the relief of the poor, for court houses, jails, salaries, fire depart- 
ment, ferries, roads and bridges, and various other services which, in the more advanced 
provinces, are under the control of local corporations. Every session the house resolves 
itself into a committee of the whole, to consider all matters relating to the public roads, 
and to pass resolutions appropriating moneys for this purpose, in conformity with a certain 
scale arranged for the different townships.’ Charlottetown and Summerside have special 
acts of incorporation. Provision, however, was made some years ago for the establish- 
ment of certain municipal authorities in towns and villages of the island. Wardens may 
be elected by the ratepayers of a town or village, to perform certain municipal duties of a 
very limited character.* 

In British Columbia, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories very liberal provision 
exists for the establishment of muncipal corporations on the basis of those that exist in 
Ontario.” 


VII. —CoNCLUSION. 


I have attempted in the preceding pages to trace, step by step, the various stages 
in the development of that system of local self-government which lies at the foundation 
of the political institutions of the provinces of the Dominion. We have seen that 
progress in this direction was very slow until the people increased in wealth and political 
knowledge, and were granted a larger measure of liberty in the administration of provin- 
cial affairs. We look in vain during the days of the French Regime for anything 
approaching those free institutions which are the natural heritage of an Anglo-Saxon 
people. Under the invigorating inspiration of those political representative institutions, 
which followed the supremacy of England in Canada, the French Canadians, like all other 
classes of the population, learned, at last, to appreciate the advantages of being permitted 
to manage their own local affairs. It is noteworthy, however, that we do not find 
anything approaching the town system of New England during the early times of British 
North America. Those primary assemblies of Massachusetts, which were so many repre- 
sentatives of the folkmoot of early English times," were never reproduced among the 





! See act incorporating town of Sydney, 48 Vict. c. 87. It is not easy to understand why the municipal heads 
of towns in this province should be called “ wardens.” A distinction should certainly be made between the warden 
of the county and the heads of the other municipalities. It is confusing, to say the least. 

* Revised Statutes of New Brunswick, ec. 99. 5 Assembly Journals, 1884, p. 222. 

*P. E. I. Stat., 33 Vict. c. 20. 

° See Brit. Col. Stat., c. 129; Man. Stat., 46 and 47 Vict. c. 1; Ordinances of N. W. T., No. 2,1885. In the North- 
west Territory, the heads of the councils, outside of cities and towns, are designated “chairmen.” Elsewhere these 
officers are known as ‘‘mayors.” In Manitoba, the old titles of “reeve” and “mayor” are preserved in the 
municipalities. 

° “A New England town meeting is essentially the same thing as the folk-mote.” E. A, Freeman, American 
Institutional History, p. 16. 


LOCAT GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 75 


people that settled the provinces. Indeed, the conditions under which those countries 
were peopled were antagonistic to the establishment of the town organisations of New 
England. The British government, after its experience of the old Thirteen Colonies, 
decided to guide the affairs of their remaining possessions with the hand of a gentle 
despotism, and did not permit the formation of institutions which might weaken the 
allegiance of the people to the crown. It was however a mistaken idea, as it was clearly 
pointed out in Lord Durham’s Report, to have discouraged the establishment, at an early 
period, of a municipal system in Canada, which would have educated the people in self- 
government, and made them more capable of grappling with the difficulties of the repre- 
sentative institutions granted them in 1791. However, the genius of an English race for 
managing their own affairs rose superior to the influence of a paternal government many 
thousand miles distant, and won, at last, for the people of Canada, a complete municipal 
system, which may well be the envy of the British people, who are now endeavouring to 
extricate themselves from the chaos of local laws, which make local government in the 
parent state so unintelligible to the ordinary citizen.’ All sections and peoples of the 
Dominion are equally favoured in this respect. Throwing aside the traditions of a race 
unfamiliar in early times with the institutions of the Teutonic peoples, the French 
Canadians have also been brought into the van of municipal progress, and enabled to pro- 
mote many measures of local necessity, which, otherwise, they could not have accomplished. 

In a paper of a strictly historic scope, it would be out of place to dwell at any length 
on the merits and demerits of the institutions which now prevail throughout the 
Dominion. It is only necessary to say that we should not conceal from ourselves the fact 
that there is always danger in a system which hands practically to the few the control of 
the affairs of the many—which, in a measure, encourages the tendency of the majority 
to shift responsibility on to others, and, consequently, gives constant opportunities to the 
corrupt and unscrupulous demagogue to manage the municipal affairs of a community in 
a manner most detrimental to the public interests. Indifference to municipal affairs on the 
part of those who should have the greatest stake in their careful, economical management, 
is an ever present peril under a system like ours. The abstention of the educated and 
wealthy classes from participation in local affairs, is a growing evil which, in some 
communities in the United States, has led to eross extravagance, corruption and misman- 
agement. No doubt, if it were possible to resort to the folkmoot of the old times of our 
ancestors, or to their best modern exemplar, the township meetings of New England, and 
permit the people to assemble and consult together on their local affairs, a public advan- 
vantage would be gained ; but, unfortunately, such assemblages seem only possible in 
primitive times, when population is sparsely diffused, and large cities and towns are the 
exception.” The rapid increase of population, and the numerous demands of our complex 





1“ English local government can only be called a system on the Zucus non lucendo principle. There is neither 
coérdination nor subordination among the numerical authorities which regulate our local affairs. Each authority 
appears to be unacquainted with the existence, or, at least, with the work of the others. ‘There is no labyrinth so 
intricate” says Mr. Goschen, ‘as the chaos of our local laws.’ Local government in this country may be fitly 
described as consisting of a chaos of areas, a chaos of authorities, and a chaos of rates.” Chalmers’ Local Govern- 
ment in England, p. 15. No wonder then that English statesmen have at last awoke to the necessity of grappling 
with a problem which Canada herself has in a great measure solved. 

? Since the remarks in the text were penned, I have had an opportunity of reading a paper on the Town and 
City Government of New Haven by C. H. Swetmore, Ph. D., in which the impracticability of the old town system 


76 BOURINOT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. 


civilisation, have forced on us a municipal system which must be representative in its 
character —which must entrust to a chosen few the management of the affairs of the 
whole community. The dangers of the system are obvious to all, and should be carefully 
borne in mind by the intelligent and sagacious leaders and thinkers of every community. 
Happily, as the peril is apparent, so the remedy is always open to the majority. The 
security of our local institutions rests on the vigilance of an outspoken press, on the 
watchfulness of the superior legislative bodies, and on the frequency of elections, 
during which the people have abundant opportunity of criticising and investigating the 
administration of municipal affairs. On the whole, then, it would be difficult to devise and 
mature a system better calculated to develop a spirit of self-reliance and enterprise in a 
community, or to educate the people in the administration of public affairs. It is not too 
much to say that the municipal bodies of this country are so many schools where men 
may gain a valuable experience, which will make them more useful, should they at any 
time win a place in that larger field of action which the legislature offers to the ambitious 
Canadian. 





of New England under modern conditions is clearly proved. In New Haven, there is a dual system of town and 
city government. The annual town meeting, the ancient general court for the town (the folkmoot of all the voters 
resident in the Republic of New Haven), is still periodically held for the election of town’s officers, authorising and 
estimating expenditures, and determining the annual town tax for 75,000 people. The author cited says (p.69) :— 
“This most venerable institution in the community appears to-day in the guise of a gathering of a few citizens, 
who do the work of as many thousands. Only the few understand the subjects which are under discussion. But 
citizens of all parties and of all grades of respectability ignore the town-meeting and school-meeting alike. Not 
one-seventieth part of the citizens of the town has attended an annual town-meéeting ; they hardly know when it 
is held.” The proposal to abolish this dual system where it exists in New England, and substitute a simple 
administration, is now familiar to every one. The old system, in fact, has outlived its usefulness. 


SECTION IL. 1886. 7] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IITI.— Historical Record of the St. Maurice Forges, the Oldest Active Blast-Furnace on 
the Continent of America. By F.C. WuRTELE, Librarian of the Quebec Literary 
and Historical Society. 


(Communicated by Dr. George Stewart, May 26, 1886.) 


The St. Maurice Forges are situated on the River St. Maurice, about nine miles north- 
west of the town of Three Rivers, in the county of St. Maurice, province of Quebec. The 
establishment of the post of Trois Rivieres was made in the year 1617, because it was 
found desirable by the French authorities at Quebec to have a central trading port on the 
St. Lawrence, midway between Quebec and Montreal. It is on record that in 1617 
Champlain and Father Joseph sailed for France, after sending Father Jean d’Olbeau and 
Brother Pacifique Duplessis to the post of Trois Rivières. ‘‘ Metaberoutin” was the Indian 
name for the River St. Maurice, and when the French navigators arrived at its mouth 
they found three large channels formed by two extensive islands, and exclaimed, “ Voila, 
trois rivières ; ” thus, from that circumstance, the post was named “Trois Rivières,” or 
“Three Rivers.” 

Many narratives and historical facts are found in the “ Relations des Jesuites,” and in 
old French manuscripts, from which the following brief account is taken of a trip made 
in 1635 from Quebec to Trois Rivières, by Buteux and Paul le Jeune, Jesuit Fathers of the 
Mission de la Conception :—‘‘ On September 8th, 1635, we arrived at Trois Rivières. It is 
an agreeable place of residence; the soil is sandy, and at certain seasons the fishing is 
very lucrative. An Indian would occasionally bring back several sturgeons in his canoe, 
the smallest of which would be six feet in length. There is also a large quantity of other 
kinds of excellent fish. The French have called this place ‘Trois Riviéres,’ because a very 
fine river here falls into the St. Lawrence by three different channels. This division is 
caused by several small islands, which stop the outlet of this river, which is called by the 
Indians Metaberoutin. The country between Quebec and this new settlement, which I 
shall in future call ‘ La Résidence de la Conception,’ appéared to me to be very pleas- 
antly situated; it is drained by a number of rivers and small streams which flow at 
intervals of distance into the St. Lawrence, that king of rivers, which, even at thirty 
leagues from Quebec, is two to three thousand yards wide.” 

Jacques Buteux and Jean de Quen resided at Trois Riviéres, in 1641, when de 
Champfleur was governor of that place. 

Colbert, the prime minister of Louis XIV, sought to discover some new means of 
increasing the prosperity of New France, and was particularly anxious to discover iron 
ore, which, from information he had received, was very abundant. In August, 1666, he 
sent Sieur de la Tesserie to Bay St. Paul, where he discovered an iron mine which appeared 
to be rich. In 1665, de Courcelles was appointed governor, and Talon, the intendant of 
New France. The latter, in 1667, by Colbert’s orders, caused some explorations to be 
made, and on his return to France in 1668, he succeeded in obtaining the sanction of 


78 F. C. WURTELE ON 


Colbert for new mining explorations, and Sieur de la Potardière was sent to Canada 
for that purpose. On his arrival at Quebec he was shown specimens of iron ore brought 
from Champlain and Cap de la Madelaine, by order of Daniel de Remi, Seignieur de Cour- 
celles. One sample was mixed with sand and the other was massive. La Potardière 
visited the mines near Trois Rivières, and strange to say, reported that they offered 
nothing advantageous, either in quality or quantity. The result of this unfavorable 
report was that nothing was attempted towards their development for many years. 

Dr. Michel Sarrasin, in his “ Mémoires,’ makes the following reference to these 
mines :—“*The discovery of the mineral on the banks of the St. Maurice dated from 1667, 
but the establishment was not conducted with skill or judgment until 1736.” And in 
another paragraph says : “The establishment made about the year 1733, by order of the 
King, for working the iron mines on the St. Maurice, about nine miles above Cap de la 
Madelaine, was always called ‘ Les Forges’ or ‘ Le Village des Forges.’ ” 

Baron Maseres, in a book published in London, in 1772, says, that the first deed which 
appears in connection with the Forges, is the original concession of the seigniory of St. 
Maurice to Dame Jeanne Jalope (Jallaut, according to Abbé Tanguay), widow of Maurice 
Poulin, Sieur de la Fontaine, king’s attorney for Trois Riviéres. The seigniory was given 
to her and her children and their heirs in consideration of a letter from Talon, the intendant, 
that in which he promised, if Poulin would do certain things, he would give him a deed. 
The date of the concession is August 14th, 1676, and is signed at Trois Riviéres, by 
Ducheneau, the lieutenant-governor. It states that she is to have the right to work all 
mines, etc., and it appears that she could not sign her name. 

Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, succeeded de Courcelles as governor of New 
France, in 1672. In referring to the original manuscripts relating to his administration, 
some allusion to the St. Maurice iron mines is occasionally found, showing that they were 
then considered valuable. The following is an extract from a letter of Comte de Frontenac 
to the French government, dated November 2nd, 1672 :—‘ The iron mine, of which I have 
already spoken, is of great consequence. I have visited it myself, in order that I may be 
enabled to give a more accurate account of its nature. I am gratified to learn that another 
mine has been discovered in Champlain, which is much richer than the Cap de la Madelaine 
mine, and the ore is in greater abundance. I apprehend that it will be next to impossible 
to exhaust this mine, as there is an extent of country of four leagues in length, from Cap 
de la Madelaine to Champlain, which is covered with iron ore; all the streams indicate its 
existence. I had the curiosity to taste the water, and I found it all strongly impregnated 
with rust and iron ore, but the miners whom I sent there establish the fact beyond doubt. 
They are now working there, and if you have any intention of establishing forges and a 
foundry, you may be certain that the material will not be wanting. There are six piles 
of ore now lying at Cap de la Madelaine, which, according to the annexed report of the 
miner, would last for two castings a day for four months. The important question is the 
placing of the forges. For my part, I should prefer building them on Ruisseau Pepin, 
which is in Champlain, rather than at the Cape, where the Jesuit Fathers have a mill 
already in operation. By thus placing the forges, they would be between the two mines, 
and the material could be more easily conveyed from both to the central establishment. 
When you have decided upon establishing the said forges, as the workmen you will send 
out will be competent men, they, perhaps, can decide better whether there is enough water 


THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 79 


in the stream I have above mentioned, to work the wheels of the projected forges, and 
can also judge whether it would not be practicable to bring the other streams in the 
neighborhood, such as Ruisseau d’Hertel, to increase the quantity of water. The chief 
miner, who is here, assures me that this can be easily and successfully done. It is 
certain that if these forges are once established, many advantages will result to the 
colony: excellent iron will be manufactured there, and the consumption of fuel will help 
materially in the clearing of the forest land. Moreover, many men will be employed at 
the works, and a market will thus be afforded for the surplus provisions which we have 
at our disposal.” 

There appears to have been a deed of donation of the seigniory, on January 19th, 
1683, from Dame Jeanne Jalope to her son Michel Poulin, in which he also undertakes 
certain obligations towards his brothers and sisters. Andon April 30th, 1683, there is a 
discharge from Jean Baptiste Poulin de Courval, one of the brothers. 

In 1681, the Marquis de Denonville thus writes to the French Government :—‘ I am 
convinced that there is a very fine iron mine in the vicinity of Trois Riviéres, where a 
forge could be profitably worked. I wish I had a man here who could plan the construc- 
tion of an establishment of that kind; it would be of great use to his Majesty the King and 
the whole colony. M. Vallon can inform you, my lord, how M. de Colbert has tested the 
quality of the ore, and with favorable results. I have sent a small quantity to M. Arnoul, 
who can give you an account of it. There is a large stream in the vicinity of the mine.” 
The French Government were evidently unwilling to act on the suggestions of their offi- 
cials in Canada on the subject of iron mines; for five years later de Denonville again sent 
a despatch, dated November 18th, 1686, as follows :—“ I have this year again had the iron 
mine near Trois Rivières thoroughly examined. I am convinced that there is a much 
larger quantity of that metal than the colony requires. The great desideratum is the dis- 
covery of a stream or water-power which can be used in winter, and with a view to 
this, we require an able, experienced man who could see what could be done for the 
establishment. Last year I sent a sample of this iron to France, and the iron-workers, who 
found it of good quality and percentage, wish to have fifteen or twenty barrels to give it a 
thorough trial as to quality: it would be well to satisfy them on this point next year. If 
our Northern Company should succeed, there would be no difficulty in accomplishing this 
desirable object.” On November 28th, 1690, there is a deed of discharge from François 
le Maistre de la Morille, who married Mdlle. Poulin, the sister. Pierre Poulin a son of 
Michel Poulin, on April 4th, 1725, made acte de foi et hommage, the feudal acknowledgment 
of his tenure, to the governor at the Castle of St. Louis, in Quebec, for himself and his 
brothers, for the fief and seigniory of St. Maurice. 

On April 5th, 1725, l’aveu et denombrement, the acknowledgment and survey, or census, 
of the seigniory was made. The King does not seem to have granted the mining rights 
along with the land, for he gave a license to work the mines, to Francheville, on March 
22nd, 1780. 

A company was formed on January 16th, 1733, consisting of Francheville, Peter 
Poulin, Gamelin, and Cugnet, for working the mines, and forges seem to have been put 
up; but Francheville died, and the enterprise having proved unsuccessful, his widow, 
with Poulin, Gamelin and Cugnet, on October 23rd, 1735, surrendered the forges and the 
rights of working the mines to the Crown. 


80 F, C. WURTELE ON 


On October 15th, 1736, Peter Poulin, Louise de Boulanger, his wife, and his brother, 
Michel Poulin, a priest, sold the fief and seigniory of St. Maurice, which was necessary for 
working the mines, to a new company, composed of Francois Etienne Cugnet, Pierre 
Francois Taschereau, Olivier de Vezain, Jacques Simonet and Ignace Gamelin, for 6,000 
livres, with no terms, so long as they paid them 300 livres a year. 

The King, by an order in council on April 22nd, 1737, empowered the above partner- 
ship, called Cugnet and Company, or “ La Compagnie des Forges,” to work the forges, 
and advanced them the sum of 100,000 livres, claiming no rent or dues of any kind. As 
the original grant of land to the widow Poulin, in 1676, viz., one league frontage on 
River St. Maurice by two leagues inland, was not now deemed sufficient, Hocquart, the 
intendant, on September 12th, 1737, conceded to Cugnet and Company the fief of St. 
Etienne, because they represented themselves as being in want of wood, and that if they 
were forced to buy it from the habitants, or farmers, they would have to pay ruinous 
prices for it. This is the first time that the forges were properly worked, and in 1739, a 
skilled artisan was brought from France, who possessed a knowledge of the different 
branches of manufacturing wrought and cast iron, combined with a competent skill in 
working mines. Some few years later, in 1740, Cugnet and Company, having exhausted 
their capital in erecting furnaces, smelting houses, workshops and other buildings, were 
forced to return their charter to the “Gouvernement de Trois Rivières,” and on May 
1st, 1743, the King ordered the forges to be reunited to the royal domain, and an attempt 
was made with some success to carry on the works on account of, and in the name of, the 
King. Skilled workmen came from France, who repaired the furnaces and built the 
walloon hearth, which has been in use ever since and is still visible. 

Prof. Peter Kalm, in his travels through New France, stopped at Trois Riviéres on 
August 3rd, 1749, and visited the Forges, fully describing them in his “Travels into North 
America,” published in London, in 1771. He remarked that ‘there are here many officers 
and overseers, who have very good houses built on purpose for them. It is agreed on all 
hands, that the revenues of the iron works do not pay the expenses which the king must 
every year be at in maintaining them. They lay the fault on the bad state of population, 
and say that the few inhabitants in the country have enough to do with agriculture, and 
that it, therefore, costs great trouble and large sums to get a sufficient number of workmen. 
But however plausible this may appear, it is yet surprising that the king should be a loser 
in carrying on this work, for the ore is easily broken, very near the iron works and very 
fusible. The iron is good and can be very conveniently dispersed over the country. These 
are, moreover, the only iron works in the country, from which everybody must supply him- 
self with iron tools, and what other iron he wants. But the officers and servants belonging 
to the iron works appear to be in yery affluent circumstances.” 

Bigot was appointed intendant at Quebec, in 1748. In 1752 he recommended 
Franquet, who had been sent from France as royal inspector of fortifications, to visit 
the St. Maurice Forges, which he did, and gave an interesting account in a manuscript, 
still extant, of his reception at the “ big house,” or “ La Grande Maison des Forges,” 
and of the working of the concern. The following is an extract :—“ M. Bigot, intendant 
of New France, who resides at Quebec, had recommended me to visit the St. Maurice 
Forges, as the establishment was extensive, and as he had no doubt that I should be 
pleased to be in a position to give an account of it. By stopping at Trois Rivières, T 


THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 81 


could reach the forges in two hours; so having settled upon that course, I requested 
M. Rigaud, who was then in charge of that post, to accompany me. We left Trois 
Rivières at 5 o’clock in the morning with M. de Tonnancour, and other friends, whom 
M. Rouville, director of the forges, had invited to accompany us. On leaving the town 
we ascended a hill covered with sand, crossed a plain and passed through a wood of 
stunted trees, on emerging from which, we stood on a hill overlooking the valley in 
which the said forges of the king are situated. We crossed a wooden bridge over a small 
stream, and disembarked from our conveyance at the door of the director’s dwelling. 
After the first ceremony of reception by the director, his wife and the other employées, we 
proceeded to visit the works. The stream, which drives the machinery, is dammed up in 
three places ; the first dam drives the wheel for the furnace, the second and third, each a 
trip hammer. Each dam has a water pass to prevent overflow in high water; it is sup- 
posed that the stream or water-power is sutliciently strong to drive two more hammers. 
The buildings of the post are irregularly situated on the banks of the stream, and little 
or no taste seems to have been displayed in placing them. The principal building is 
the director’s residence, a very large establishment, but scarcely large enough for the 
number of workmen who have to be accommodated.’ On entering the smelting forge, 
I was received with a customary ceremony. The workmen moulded a pig of iron, about 
fifteen feet long, for my special benefit. The process is very simple: it is done by 
plunging a large ladle into the liquid, boiling ore, and emptying the material into a gutter 
made in the sand. After this ceremony, I was shown the process of stove moulding, 
which seems a simple though an intricate operation ; each stove is in six pieces, which are 
separately moulded ; they are fitted into each other, and form a stove about three feet high. 
I then visited the shed where the workmen were moulding pots, kettles and other hollow 
ware. On leaving this part of the forge, we were taken to the hammer forge where 
bar iron of every kind is hammered out. In each department of the forges, the workmen 
observed the old ceremony of brushing a stranger’s boots; in return they expect some 
money to buy liquor to drink to the visitor’s health. This establishment is very extensive, 
employing upwards of 180 men. Nothing is consumed in the furnaces but charcoal, 
which is made in the immediate vicinity of the post. The ore is rich, good and tolerably 
clean ; formerly it was found on the spot, now the director has to send some distance for 
it. The management of these forges is economical. It must be readily understood, that, 
owing to the numerous branches in which expenditure must be incurred, unless a compe- 
tent man be at the head of affairs, many abuses would be the consequence. Among other 
employés, his Majesty the King supports a Recollet father at this establishment, with 
the title of awmonier. This iron is preferred to the Spanish iron, and is sold off at the 
king’s store, in Quebec, at the rate of from twenty-five to thirty castors (beaver skins) per 
hundredweight. In order to obtain a better knowledge of the position of these works, I 
would refer to the notes sent to the court of France, on this subject, wherein will be 
found all details of their management. I may say, however, in conclusion, that they are 
unprofitable to the King, and I am assured that if they were offered on lease at public 
sale, 100 pistoles per annum might be procured for them. After a splendid dinner at 
M. de Rouville’s mansion, we returned to Trois Riviéres, highly pleased with our visit, 





! The “big house,” or the “grande maison des forges,” as it is called, was still inhabited in 1863. 


Sec. IL. 1886. 11. 


82 F. C. WURTELE ON 


and took supper at M. de Tonnancour’s. The distance from town to the forges is 
nine miles.” 

The notes referred to by Franquet, addressed to the French court, contain little of 
sufficient interest to require translation. He dwells upon the nature of the management, 
the necessity of greater economy, the advisability of sending out competent operatives and 
furnace men from France, and lays down, in general terms, a plan for the successful work- 
ing of the mines. We have reason to believe that many of his suggestions were acted 
upon by the French government, as a marked improvement was effected in the manufac- 
ture of iron work at the forges from 1752 to 1759. 

These extracts are from the only reliable authorities on the subject in early Canadian 
history, and clearly establish the discovery of iron ore, and subsequent working of the 
St. Maurice Forges, until the year 1752, within a very short time of the conquest of French 
Canada by the English. 

On September 18th, 1759, the battle of the Plains of Abraham was won by General 
Wolfe, and Quebec subsequently capitulated. The war was carried on for a year longer 
before the whole of Canada was ceded to England. The articles of capitulation between 
Lord Amherst, commander-in-chief of his Majesty’s troops in North America, and the 
Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor and lieutenant of the king of France in Canada, were 
signed at Montreal on September 8th, 1760. 

In Article 44 of these capitulations the following clause occurs :—‘ The papers of the 
intendancy, of the officers of the comptroller of the marine, of the ancient and new 
treasurers of the King’s magazines, of the officers of revenues and Forges of St. Maurice, 
shall remain in the power of M. Bigot, the intendant, and they shall be embarked for 
France in the same vessel with him. These papers shall not be examined.” 

Thus the St. Maurice Forges, and all pertaining thereto, became the property of 
George III, king of England. The employés were kept on, and the forges were worked 
under the direction of the military authorities for five years, when they were transferred 
to the civil government of Trois Riviéres. The following letters narrate the management 
of the forges during what is termed the “Military reign” in Canada, and prove that 
General Amherst lost no time in getting the works in operation under the new regime. 

“ Lettres et Placards afflichés dans la gouvernement des Trois Rivières, 1760 à 1764, 
durant la régne militaire. 

“Ordres à Monsieur Courval, inspecteur aux Forges, pour la régie des Forges, ler 
Octobre, 1760. 


“ MONSIEUR :—Son excellence, M. le Colonel Burton, m’a ordonné, de vous faire sçavoir, 
qu'en consequence des instructions qu'il à reçu de Monsieur le General Amherst, il juge 
à propos de faire exploiter a loisir la fonte qui est déjà tirée des mines, et pour cette effet 
voudroit retenir sur le même pied que ci-devant les ouvriers dont vous trouverez les noms 
à la suite de la presente. Le charbon étant un article indispensable, et dont les forges sont 
actuellement mal pourvués, et son excellence ayant appris qu’il y en a plusieurs fourneaux 
déjà preparés ; il vous plaira d'engager en qualité de journaliers les charbonniers et autres 
que vous jugerez absolument necessaires pour faire la cuisson et autre ouvrages dependants 
de cette partie là. Vous tiendrez, s’il vous plait, une compte exacte des gens que vouz em- 
ploirez, du temps que durera leurs travaux, et de quantité de charbon qu'ils feront. Vous 


THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 83 


prendrez sur vous les soin de faire graisser et relever les soufflets des forges, en un mot, de 
faire les petites reparations qui sont absolument nécessaire pour mettre les forges en état 
d'exploiter peu à peu la fonte dont il est parlé ci-dessus. 


“ Jai l'honneur d’être, Monsieur, &c., &c. 


“ J. BRUYERE.” 


Bruyère was evidently acting as secretary to Colonel Burton. Colonel Haldimand was 
military governor of Trois Riviéres, and also commandant of the troops on that station 
from April 25th, 1762 to July 6th, 1765, and all of his letters and documents are now in 
the Dominion Archives office at Ottawa, being called the “Haldimand collection” of 
manuscripts, from which the following extracts are taken. 

In 1762. the lords of the board of trade and plantation in London, requiring informa- 
tion on the resources of Canada, forwarded a series of questions to General Murray, who 
returned the replies, dated May 31st, 1763, called “Report of General Murray on 
Quebec.” Question No. 16 (B. 7, page 78, in the Haldimand collection), “ What number 
of forges in this Province, what iron made, in what form and quantity ?” was answered 
from Trois Rivières by Colonel R. Burton :— 

“ The only forges in this government are those of St. Maurice, seven or eight miles 
behind the town of Trois Riviéres, up the river of that name. That establishment consists 
of one furnace and two forges, built upon a rivulet, whose water never freezes; it dis- 
charges itself into the River St. Maurice, from whence the iron may be easily conveyed in 
batteaux to magazines at Trois Rivières, and from thence in vessels to Montreal, Quebec 
or Europe. There are besides a large stone house for the manager, and wooden houses 
for the people employed at the forges or other necessary works. The mine that has hith- 
erto supplied the forges, lies very near the surface of the earth, in a low, marshy ground, 
seven or eight miles from them. There has hitherto been no road made to it, as they used 
to fetch the ore in winter upon sledges, but a good one may be easily made. The iron made 
from this ore is so excellent in quality, that in a late trial made by order of his Excellency 
General Amherst, it was found greatly superior to any made in America, and even exceeds 
that imported from Sweden. The mine was opened in 1732, and granted in 1736 to a com- 
pany. They having no bottom, and wanting economy, were obliged to abandon it in 1741. 
The King, who had advanced them a sum of money, and could not be paid, took the grant 
back, and ever since 1742 the forges have been worked for the benefit of the king under the 
direction of the intendants. The mine has produced ore in such plenty, that in the year 
1746 the single furnace returned 1,011,090 lbs. of cast iron, which produced 500,000 lbs. net 
weight of iron bars,besides a great quantity of stoves, pots, etc. Notwithstanding which, the 
great number of useless people kept there, such as a director, a comptroller, a treasurer, 
a contractor for the forges and provisions, several overseers, a chaplain and others, at large 
salaries; the little attention paid to the lands to procure oats and hay for the establishment, 
instead of buying it at a great distance and at a considerable price, with the connived 
fraud of those that passed the accounts, rendered that establishment rather burthensome 
than profitable to the crown, and the king was always proved debtor. From the begin- 
ning of the year 1761 to the latter end of the year 1762, not to engage in too large repairs, 
the forges, by order of his Excellency, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, have been worked on a small 


84 F. C. WURTELE ON 


scale, and have cost $11,325, for which they produced iron bars of different sizes to the 
weight of 285,400 lbs , besides 180 iron stoves. The ore, which has been run and worked, 
was already brought to the foot of the furnace. All the machinery, tools and buildings, 
that had been for some years past condemned by the French, as unfit for use or service, 
are now in a most ruinous condition, and cannot absolutely go on much longer without a 
thorough repair. But, however, the natural advantages still remain, viz., the mine itself, 
to which may be added another yet untouched, behind Cape Madelaine, lying about three 
miles from the forges on the other side of the River St. Maurice, the woods above the 
establishment, some clear lands to grow oats, lowlands .that may easily be turned into 
meadows for hay, not granted yet, a quarry of limestone, absolutely necessary for the 
melting of ore, rebuilding or repairing the furnace, etc., eight miles up the River St. 
Maurice, navigable with a small batteau. and lastly the rivulet upon which two more 
forges and a furnace may be built without any incumbrance to each other. All these, if 
thought proper, may certainly be greatly improved to the advantage of the crown by 
supplying his Majesty’s navy with proper iron for shipbuilding. 
“ At Trois Rivières, in Canada, the 31st day of May, 1763. 
“R. BuRTON.” 


The forges were also utilized for converting unserviceable ordnance into bar iron. 
The returns in 1762 showed a profit of $3,314, and the works were always carried on to 
advantage, but it was a troublesome undertaking, and not congenial to military men. 
General Gage was of opinion that it would be best for the Crown to lease them to 
intelligent, responsible parties, who would soon make a fortune. 

The civil government of Canada was established August 12th, 1764, and General 
Gage wrote from New York on September 17th, following, to Colonel Haldimand, to 
settle the forge accounts and transfer them to the civil governor, Cramahé. 

Under date of June 21st, 1765, Colonel Burton wrote from Montreal to Colonel 
Haldimand, as follows :— 

“JT have received a letter from General Gage, dated June 5th, acquainting me that, as 
the forges are now in the hands of the civil government, a regular account should be 
stated from the time they began to be under my care until they were delivered up to the 
civil governor, that, whatever balance there may be, it must be paid into the hands of 
the deputy paymaster-general, to be credited by them to the Crown.” 

The civil government did nothing with the forges, and they remained idle till 1767, 
when an enterprising Quebec merchant, named Christophe Pellissier, formed a company to 
resuscitate the works. A petition was, therefore, addressed, through his Excellency Guy 
Carleton, governor-in-chief of the colony, to George III, asking for a lease of the St. 
Maurice Forges to the company at a moderate rental. The petition was acceded to, and 
on June 9th, 1767, a proclamation was issued by the governor, granting the tract of land 
and works known as “Les Forges de St. Maurice,” to Messrs. Christophe Pellissier, 
Alexandre Dumas, Thomas Dunn, Benjamin Price, Colin Drummond, Dumas St. Martin, 
George Allsop, James Johnston, and Brooke Watson, for the term of sixteen years, 
commencing on June 9th, 1767, and ending on the same day in the year 1783. The rent 
was fixed by this proclamation at the annual sum of £25, lawful money of the province 
of Quebec. 


THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 85 


The company made repairs and erected buildings at a cost of £4,500, and turned out a 
great quantity of iron, strictly adhering to the French system of working in use before the 
Conquest ; beyond this there is no reliable information about Pellissier and Company’s 
management until the invasion of Canada by the Americans in 1775, when Trois Riviéres 
seemed to be a sort of headquarters for the enemy, who were continually passing to and 
from Quebec, till their final overthrow at La Croix Migeon, near Pointe du Lac, by 
General Carleton, in 1776. 

The following interesting and reliable.information about the forges under Pellissier’s 
management is taken from the “Mémoires de Laterriére,” written by a young French 
gentleman, Pierre de Sales Laterrière, who having come from France in 1766, and been 
appointed agent at Quebec for the St. Maurice Forge Company in 1771, sold their 
manufactures at their store, situated in front of the lower town market, facing Notre 
Dame Church. 

In February, 1775, he was appointed inspector of works, under the managing director, 
Christophe Pellissier, and resided at the forges, in the big house, with a competent salary 
and one-ninth interest in the company. His description of the works is as follows :—“ On 
the banks of the Riviere Noir or St. Maurice, nine miles from Trois Riviéres, one arrives at 
the forges, very pleasantly situated in a seigniory of twelve square miles, called the Fief 
St. Maurice. The country is flat, of a yellow sandy soil, containing many swamps and 
brälés, where the iron ore is found. This ore contains sulphur and earthy matter, and 
yields about thirty-three per cent. of pure iron. The only fuel used is charcoal, that for 
the furnaces is made from hard wood, and for the refinery, from soft wood. There are from 
400 to 800 persons employed in the woods, mines, quarries, workshops and offices of the 
Company, including the managing director, inspector, book-keeper, foreman, six furnace- 
men, two stokers, one caster, eight moulders, with as many assistants. At each forge there 
worked, besides six men, two stokers, four smiths, four carpenters, and sixteen laborers.” 
The works employed eight boatmen, four prospectors of mines, forty carters, and others such 
as wood-cutters, charcoal burners, miners, road-makers, firemen, and eight men busied in 
the saw mills. For the convenience of the employés and their families, the company kept 
a store for the sale of provisions and other merchandise, and also did a considerable trade 
with the Téte de Boule Indians, who came down the River St. Maurice. Around the 
forges and big house, where the manager and his staff resided, quite a village of work- 
men’s houses had sprung up, some 130 in number, neat and clean, with pretty gardens 
and parterres. The gross proceeds of the forges were from £10,000 to £15,000 in the 
working season or campagne, as it was called, of seven months, being about £50 per day 
each from the furnaces and foundry, and £50 per week from each forge. The working 
expenses consumed about two-thirds, leaving one-third to be annually divided among those 
interested. The works were carried on with energy and success, and yielded a good profit.” 

Owing to the incursions of the Americans mentioned before, Trois Riviéres was a 
stirring place, but rather dangerous than pleasant to live in. “General Montgomery passed 
here with his army to his fatal and unsuccessful attack on Quebec. Pellissier’s loyalty to 
King George was of a very frail nature, and, from his sympathy with the enemy, he 
passed freely through their lines, and had an interview with Montgomery at his head- 
quarters at Holland House, near Quebec. He also materially assisted the Americans by 
furnishing them with stores, provisions, etc. to the extent of some £2,000. By his 


86 F. C. WURTELE ON 


orders shot and shell were cast at the forges, to be used at the bombardment of Quebec. 
Affairs went on thus till the retreat of the Americans began, and Trois Rivières was not 
clear of them till their complete defeat by General Carleton at the battle of Pointe du Lac 
on June 8th, 1776. 

The inspector narrates that when the English fleet with Carleton’s army on board 
arrived at Trois Rivières, the Americans or ‘ Bostonnais”, as they were called, retreated to 
Sorel ; but a force of some 4,000 of them returned to attack Trois Riviéres, conducted by a 
habitant from Machiche, named Larose, as far as Pointe du Lac. The English general was 
informed of their designs and took up a position at La, Croix Migeon, on the heights 
commanding the town and its environs, where he waited their attack and completely 
routed them, killing a great many. The next day his Excellency ordered the inspector of 
the forges to send out all his hands to beat the woods, which they did, taking some 
130 prisoners in a starving condition, fed them and turned them over to the English at 
Trois Riviéres. 

The night before the battle the manager, Pellissier, received a warning note from his 
friend the grand vicaire, St. Onge, which caused him at once to make off in his canoe to 
his friends “ Les Bostonnais ” at Sorel, not forgetting to take with him all the available 
funds of the forges, and also the bills or vouchers of the above mentioned advances, 
which he subsequently collected from the American Congress and sailed for France. 

These losses considerably hampered the operations of the forges, but by hard work 
and inspector Laterriére’s indomitable energy they soon were in as flourishing a condition 
as ever, and reached under his management in 1778 the zenith of success. An order now 
came from Pellissier to make up the accounts and close up his interest in the concern, 
which was completed in October, 1778, when Alexandre Dumas, in whose favor the trans- 
fer was made, took charge of the works and conducted the affairs of the company to the 
expiration of the lease on June 9th, 1783. 

Governor Haldimand, by Royal proclamation, leased the forges and lands pertaining 
thereto to the Hon. B. Conrad A. Gugy, a member of the council, for a term of sixteen 
years, commencing on June 10th, 1785, on the same conditions as those imposed upon 
Pellissier and Company. The annual rental was fixed at the sum of £18 15s. 0d. sterling 
money of Great Britain. 

In the beginning of the year 1787 Gugy got into financial difficulties, and on March 
10th of that year his estate, together with the unexpired lease of the St. Maurice Forges, 
was sold by sheriff Gray of Montreal. The lease was adjudged to Messrs. Alexander 
Davison and John Lees, copartners, for the sum of £2,300 currency. Subsequently this 
partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Davison became sole proprietor of the unexpired lease. 

On June 6th, 1793, Alexander Davison sold his rights and titles to the premises to 
George Davison, David Monro and Matthew Bell, copartners, for the sum of £1,500 currency. 
On March 20th, 1799, at the recommendation of Governor Prescott, the lease was extended 
to April Ist, 1801, at a rental of £18 15s. sterling per annum, in favor of the same parties. 
At the expiration of this lease, the governor, Sir Robert Shore Milne, by proclamation, 
leased the property to Messrs. Monro and Bell for a term of five years, to end in 1806, at a 
rental of £850 per annum. At its expiration the lease was extended for one year, when 
it was advertised in the “Quebec Gazette” to be sold by public auction on June 11th, 
1806, the lease to count from April 1st, 1807. The necessary plans and surveys not being 


THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 87 


completed, the sale was postponed, and readvertised on the same conditions for October 
1st, when it took place, and was adjudged to Mr. Bell for £60 per annum for a term 
of twenty years, because the auctioneer had no instructions to put on it an upset price. 
Consequently the executive council refused to ratify the sale, as the difference between 
the former lease, £850, and £60 was too great. Therefore the same firm were permitted 
to hold the property in sufferance at the old rental, £850, till January 1st, 1810, when the 
governor, Sir James Henry Craig, leased the forges and lands attached thereto to the same 
firm of Monro and Bell for a term of twenty-one years, to end on March 31st, 1831, at an 
annual rental of £500 currency. It is said that the amount of profit realised from the 
date of their first occupation to 1806, exceeded that on their subsequent operations even 
at the reduced rental of £500 per annum. The cause is easily seen, when it is recorded 
that the governors of Canada revelled in the enjoyment of every luxury that the hospi- 
tality of Messrs. Monro and Bell could provide for them. The Tally-ho Hunt Club was 
an institution at the forges, and their shouts of “Tally-ho!” resounded through the hills 
and dales of the River St. Maurice, and the “ brush” was competed for by well-mounted 
red-coated cavaliers, with as much energy and activity as in the mother land beyond the 
sea. These extravagances easily absorbed whatever profits the forges yielded,—and from 
their being the only manufacture of the kind in the country, the profits must have been 
enormous. 

The lease was extended from year to year by orders-in-council till 1834, when a ten 
years’ lease was granted to the same firm. It then came to the knowledge of the gov- 
ernment that great dissatisfaction existed among the people of Three Rivers, and others, 
on account of the monopoly of such a great extent of land held by the lessees of the St. 
Maurice Forges in virtue of their lease. That the town of Three Rivers was shut in, and, 
moreover, the lands were required for settlement. Also, the trade of the town derived no 
advantages from the works, because the company imported all their supplies and sold all 
their manufactures through agents residing in the different cities of Canada. This was 
proved by a commission, appointed in 1836 by Government, to take evidence on certain 
things connected with the Jesuits’ estates. Accordingly the Government ordered Mr. E. 
Parent to make a report on the forges. This was completed and sent in to the executive 
council, being dated September 15th, 1843, and approved by his Excellency the Governor- 
General on the 26th. It contained the recommendation “that Mr. Bell continue in 
occupation for one year beyond the present term, and then for reasons set forth, among 
others, that it would be more beneficial to the revenue, to the holders of the forges, to the 
people of Three Rivers, to the trade and manufactures of the province, that the forges be 
sold to the best advantage and to the highest bidder.” Surveyor-General Thomas Parke 
was ordered to make a complete survey, and subdivide the tract into farm lots. 

By order of Lord Metcalfe, the governor-general of Canada, on November 20th, 1845, 
a report from D. B. Papineau, commissioner of crown lands, was made, pointing out the 
disadvantages resulting from the system hitherto pursued, of letting out the Forges of 
St. Maurice and the lands adjoining, and recommending the immediate sale of the forges, 
on certain conditions; and the disposing of the lands after the tenure en franc aleu 
roturier, and à rente foncière, rachetable under certain conditions. An order-in-council, 
approving the recommendations contained in the above report was passed on November 
22nd, 1845, and on December 19th the forges were advertised to be sold by public 


88 F. C. WURTELE ON 


auction on Tuesday, August 4th, 1846, at 11 o’clock, in the forenoon, at the court-house 
in Three Rivers. An order-in-council, of July 29th, fixed the upset price, at £3,000. 
The sale took place as ordered, and the forges were adjudged to Mr. Henry Stuart for 
£5,575, thirty bids, in all, having been given by Messrs, T. Hart, Henry Stuart, Matthew 
Bell, and Judah. Mr. Stuart offering to purchase the fiefs St. Etienne and St. Maurice, 
a report was made by the commissioner of crown lands, dated September 19th, 1846, 
recommending their sale to him for £4,500. But by order-in-council they were advertised 
to be sold by public auction on November 3rd, the upset price to be £4,500. The sale 
took place and the fiefs were adjudged to Mr. Henry Stuart, for £5,900 currency, according 
to the advertised conditions. Forty bids were given over the upset price, two by Mr. 
Hugh Cameron, and the rest by Messrs. George Pacaud and Henry Stuart, mostly of £25 
each. Mr. Stuart commenced operations vigorously, and expended large sums of money in 
the latest improvements in machinery. He repaired the big house, increased the staff of 
workmen, and a French engineer induced him to invest more money on new works, 
which soon proved to be utterly useless. 

So Mr. Stuart leased the place for a term of four years, on certain conditions, to the Hon. 
James Ferrier, of Montreal, from 1847 to 1851, who carried on the works with great 
success, owing to a strict system of economy in every department, proving that profits 
could be realised. In November, 1851, his term expired, and Messrs. Andrew Stuart and 
John Porter, of Quebec, purchased the forges and fiefs St. Etienne and St. Maurice from 
Henry Stuart, by assuming the payment of the balance of the purchase money owing to 
the Government. 

Their occupation was not successful. The whole place seemed to have deteriorated. 
They tried to get concessions from the government on the terms of their purchase, but it 
seems without success. The forges fell into disuse, and the purchasers into arrears with 
the Government. The lands were nearly all squatted on by actual settlers, and in addition 
to this, the part of the lands bordering on the River St. Maurice was crossed by the booms 
of Mr. George Baptist. These gaye rise to many difficulties, and the Crown, in order to 
solve them, determined to bring the property to sale, and, under cover of its mortgage, 
bought in the whole, when having protected Mr. Baptist’s rights, it settled with the settlers 
by disposing of the lands as follows. The following is taken from report of Crown 
Lands for 1861, headed “The Crown Domain ” :— 

“ The Forges of St. Maurice, together with a number of lots in the township of St. 
Maurice, for which titles had not been issued by the original purchasers to the settlers, 
were seized in virtue of a judgment obtained by the court for non-payment of the balance 
of the purchase price of the property, and sold on the 22nd October. The forges not 
bringing the value set upon them by the Crown, were acquired by the latter for $7,200, 
and are now for sale. Nearly all the lands, most of which were squatted upon and 
improved, were also bought by the Crown to be disposed of to the settlers.” 

The following extract from the “ Report of Crown Lands ” for 1862, relates to the final 
disposal of the property by tender :— 

“The Forges of St. Maurice, purchased by the department in 1861, at sheriff's sale, 
in the case of Regina vs. Stuart et al., after due advertisement (by tender) were sold to Mr. 
Onesime Heroux, of St. Bernabé, for $7,000, of which he paid one-fourth cash, and the 
balance is exigible in three equal annual instalments with interest. The township of St. 


THE ST. MAURICE FORGES. 89 


Maurice (containing the fiefs of St. Etienne and St. Maurice), which the Crown acquired at 
the same time as the forges, under cover of its mortgage of bailleur de fonds, for the 
purpose of protecting the numerous squatters settled there, have since (with the exception 
of some half dozen of poor lots) been sold to the settlers at the price of 40 cents an acre, all 
of which has been received in cash, and the patents issued for the lots. The sale of these 
lots and that of the Forges was conducted by Mr. Judah, the officer in charge of the 
Domain branch of the Department, and not through the instrumentality of an agent, by 
which a saving of the usual commission to the latter, on the proceeds of sale, has been 
effected.” 

M. Heroux kept the farm attached to the forges, and sold to Messrs. John MacDougall 
and Sons, of Three Rivers, on April 27th, 1863, the forges proper, and water-powers, etc. 
for £1,700 currency. At the time of this sale the property was considered to have been 
exhausted, but the Messrs. MacDougall proved it to be the contrary ; fuel and ore were 
procured as required, and the forges were worked by them for many years. The big 
house, built in the time of the French, was burnt down on the night of June 11th, 1863, 
after the MacDougalls’ purchase, and was rebuilt by them on the original site. The old 
walloon hearth is still preserved. 

The property was transferred to Mr. George MacDougall, on December, 18th 1876, and 
the forges were worked to the summer of 1883, when operations ceased; they have not 
been worked since, and are not likely to be put in blast again, because the ore and wood 
in the vicinity have been exhausted. 

Iron ore was first discovered on this continent in 1607, near Jamestown, Virginia, and 
on April 10th, 1608, a ship loaded with it sailed for England. In 1620, skilled workmen 
arrived and works were established on Falling Creek, a tributary of the James River, about 
sixty-six miles above Jamestown; but misfortune seemed to follow the enterprise, for on 
March 22nd, 1622, the Indians made a raid on the settlement, massacred Mr. Berkeley, the 
manager, and all his men, and destroyed the iron works. No further attempt was made 
to make iron in Virginia for many years. Sixty years after iron ore was found in 
Virginia, the mines on the banks of the River St. Maurice were discovered. Furnaces 
and forges were erected in 1733, and from that time for 150 years they have been in 
active operation. This can be said of no other works of the kind on the continent of 
America. Thus the St. Maurice Forges hold an important and prominent position in 
the history of Canada. 


Sec. IL, 1886. 12. 





SECTION Il. 1886. NOTA Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IV.—Brief Outlines of the most famous Journeys in and about Rupert’s Land. 


By GrorGceE Bryce, LL.D., Manitoba College, Winnipeg. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


AG 
Different Limits Assigned to Rupert’s Land. 


(1) Sir George Simpson, in his evidence before the committee of the Imperial Parlia- 
ment, claimed that Rupert’s Land extended from Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains. 

(2) It was claimed by others that the western boundary of Rupert’s Land was a line 
from Deer Lake south, about 102° 30’ W. longitude. 

(3) Probably the most generally accepted definition of Rupert’s Land, based upon the 
charter of the Hudson’s Bay Company (1670), is the region whose waters flow into 
Hudson Bay, except so far as the old Province of Quebec entered this territory on its 
southern side. 

The country lying to the west and north of Rupert’s Land was divided into 
sections :— 

(a) The territory drained by the rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean, including 
therein the region of the Athabasca, Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers. 

(b) All the country lying on the west of the Rocky Mountains, between the Russian 
territory on the north and Columbia River on the south. 

The wide expanse of country lying west and north of Rupert’s Land was technically 
known as the “Indian Territories,” and over this an exclusive fur-trading license was 
given to the Hudson’s Bay Company by the Imperial Parliament, in 1821, for twenty-one 
years. This license was again renewed in 1838. The country lying to the west of the 
Rocky Mountains, reached by the Peace River, was, at times, called New Caledonia. 


B. 
Configuration of Rupert's Land and Indian Territories Favorable for Voyaging. 


Two main arteries lead from Hudson Bay to the interior :— 

(1) The most northerly of these is by way of Churchill River, at the mouth of 
which stood, in early days, Prince of Wales Fort, with massive stone walls and fortifica- 
tions. Down this river, which was also called English River, the Hudson’s Bay Company, 
for many years, received the trade of the interior without even leaving the coast, the 


92 GEORGE BRYCE : OUTLINES OF 


Indian tribes bringing their furs to the mouth of the river on the bay. By canoe and 
portage Lake Athabasca was reached by this route, which gave immediate communica- 
tion with Mackenzie River to the Arctic Sea; with Great Slave Lake and Great Fish 
or Back River to the north-east; and with Peace River to the west. This last river 
afforded a pass through the Rocky Mountains to New Caledonia, flowing as it does 
through the Rockies from their western side, and connecting there by portages with the 
Fraser and Columbia Rivers of the Pacific slope. 

(2) The second avenue to Rupert's Land was, by leaving Hudson Bay at York 
Factory, ascending Nelson River, and reaching Lake Winnipeg, which has three great 
tributaries : (1) Winnipeg River, which bears toward the lake the waters of Lake of the 
Woods, Rainy Lake and River, and other streams from a point within forty miles of Lake 
Superior ; (2) Red River, which runs from the very sources of the Mississippi northward 
and receives the Assiniboine, one of whose tributaries, the Souris, approaches the Missouri 
at its head waters, and whose main body comes hundreds of miles from the western 
prairies ; (3) the Saskatchewan, the “mighty rapid river” as its name implies, which 
drains, with its two branches, above the forks, a vast country, reaching to the Rocky 
Mountains. The wide region thus drained, consisting of the three geological areas—the 
Laurentian, the Prairie country, and the Rocky Mountain and Pacific slope—owing to its 
numberless lakes and interlacing rivers, afforded, even in its wild and unimproved condi- 
tion, wonderful means of communication for the explorer. 


C. 


The Fur-Trading Companies Promoted, sometimes for their own purposes, and at times for the 
advancement of geographical knowledge, the Exploration of this Domain. 


(1) The French fur-traders, to whom belongs the glory of exploring the Upper Lakes 
and the Mississippi, discovered, by way of Lake Superior, the Winnipeg River branch of 
this communication, and to them belongs the honour of finding, by this route, the Red, 
Assiniboine, Upper Missouri, and Saskatchewan Rivers, even to the Rocky Mountains. 

(2) The original Hudson’s Bay Company, leaving the sea, by the northern route and 
also by Nelson River, in 1774 established themselves on the Saskatchewan, and by the 
year 1800 held numerous points in Rupert’s Land. 

(3) The North-West Company of Montreal, which had, by its still independent 
traders, carried on trade from the Upper Lakes, even to Lake Athabasca, from the year 
1766, became, in the year 1787, a strong company, so that,in a generation, its posts 
stretched from Montreal to Columbia River on the Pacific, and the men in its employ 
numbered five thousand. 

(4) The X Y Company, or New North-West Company, to which belonged Sir Alexander 
Mackenzie and the Hon. Edward Ellice, was an offshoot of the North-West Company, 
and, beginning in 1796, it continued till 1804. It erected posts by the side of those of the 
North-West Company, so that, about the year 1800, there were points where a Hudson’s 
Bay, a North-Wester, and an X Y Fort stood side by side. 

(5) The Astor Fur HP of New York, begun in 1810, only lasted a few years, 


JOURNEYS IN RUPERTS LAND. 93 


but owing to the fort built by it, at the mouth of Columbia River, it did something of 
itself, and much more by the opposition it stirred up among the other companies, to 
encourage exploration. 

(6) In 1821, by the union effected, there was but one fur company in Canada—the 
United Hudson’s Bay Company. While at times following the policy of erecting a 
Chinese wall around its territory, yet, by the work of its officers, and by the facilities it 
afforded to great explorers, the Hudson’s Bay Company has done much to increase the 
geographical knowledge of Rupert’s Land and the regions beyond. 


D. 


Bibliography of the Noted Journeys. 


(1) La VERANDRYE. 
(a) Original documents in Archives in Department of Marine and Colonies, 
Paris. 
(b) Letter of Marquis de Beauharnois, 1728. Parliamentary Library at Ottawa. 
(c) Revue Canadienne, Vol. X. Three articles by B. Sulte, Montreal, 1873. 
(d) Paper originally published in “ Moniteur,” by P. Margry, found in a 
Report on Boundaries by the Ontario Government, 1878. 


(2) La FRANCE (JOSEPH.) 
(a) Account of countries adjoining Hudson’s Bay. By Arthur Dobbs. 4to. 
London, 1744. 
(b) Report of Inquiry into Hudson’s Bay, 1749. 


(3) HEARNE (SAMUEL) 
A journey from Prince of Wales Fort to Coppermine, etc. By Samuel Hearne. 
4to. London, 1795. 


(4) MACKENZIE (ALEXANDER.) 
Voyages from Montreal, etc. By Sir Alexander Mackenzie. 4to. London, 
1801. 


(5) Three Great American Expeditions :— 


I. Lewis and CLARK. 
(a) Journal of the expedition up the Missouri and over the Rocky Mountains. 
By Patrick Gass. 8 vols. 8vo. London, 1808. 
(b) Voyage depuis l’embouchure, etc. 8vo. Paris, 1810. 
(c) History of the expedition, etc. By Paul Allen. Svo. Dublin, 1817. 


IT. Prxe (Z. M) 


Exploratory travels, etc. By Zebulon M. Pike, Major U. 8. Army. 4to. London, 
1811. 


94 GEORGE BRYCE: OUTLINES OF 


III. Lone (8. H.) 
Narrative of an expedition to source of St. Peter’s, etc. By W. H. Keating, 
geologist and historiographer. 2 vols. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1824. 


(6) FRANKLIN (Str JOHN.) 
Narrative of an Overland Journey to the Polar Nea, 1819-22. 4to. London, 
1823. 


(7) FRANKLIN and RICHARDSON. 
Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, 1825-26-27. 
By Capt. John Franklin and Capt. John Richardson. 4to. London, 1828. 


(8) Back (CAPT. GEORGE.) 
Arctic Land Expedition to the Mouth of Great Fish River, in 1833-35. By 
Capt. Back. 8yo. London, 1836. 


(9) Stpson (T.) 
(a) Narrative of the Discovery of the North-West Coast of America, 1836-39. 
8vo. London, 1843. 
(b) Life and Travels of Thomas Simpson. By his brother, Alexander Simpson. 
8vo. London, 1845. 


(10) RAE (JOHN .) 
Narrative of an expedition to the Shores of the Arctic Sea, 1846-47. By John 
Rae. 8vo. London, 1857. 


(11) RICHARDSON (SIR JOHN.) 
Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, through Rupert’s Land to the 
Arctic Sea. By Sir John Richardson, 1847-9. 8vo. New York, 1852. 


(12) MILTON and CHEADLE. 
The North-West Passage by Land. By Viscount Milton and Dr. Cheadle. 8vo. 
London, 1865. 


(13) FLEMING (SANDFORD.) 
(a) Ocean to Ocean. By G. M. Grant. 8vo. Toronto, 1873. 
(b) do. do. do. (Revised edition.) 8vo. London, 1877. 
(c) Canadian Pacific. By Charles Horetzky. 8vo. Montreal, 1874. 


E. 


Outlines of Famous Journeys. 


(1) PIERRE GAUTHIER DE VARENNES, SIEUR DE LA VERANDRYE, was the son of the 
Governor of Three Rivers, in Quebec, and was born in the year 1685. He went home to 
France, entered the army, fought at the battle of Malplaquet, and was severely wounded 


JOURNEYS IN RUPERT’S LAND. 95 


there. He returned to Canada invalided, with his rank of lieutenant, but this was not 
recognized in Canada. In consequence, the young lieutenant entered the fur trade, and 
found at Michilimackinac and in the Upper Lakes his field of labour. He was in charge 
of Fort Nepigon in 1728. Here La Verandrye heard of the interior, from Ochagach, a 
savage, who drew a map on birch bark, which was sent to the Governor, Beauharnois. 
Authority was given to La Verandrye and a Jesuit missionary, Gonor, to penetrate these 
little known regions, where no white man had trod. The following are the main points 
of the exploration :— 


1731.— Aug. 26.—La Verandrye’s party left Lake Superior, by way of Pigeon River, for 
the interior. In the same year the explorers reached Rainy Lake and built at its 
foot Fort St. Pierre, whose ruins are still visible. 


1732.—The party discovered Rainy River and entered Lake of the Woods (Lac des Bois, 
also Minitie), and on its south-west shore built Fort St. Charles. Here, on 
Massacre Island, La Verandrye’s son, a priest, and a number of the party were 
murdered by the Sioux. 


1734.—By descending Winnipeg River, Lake Winnipeg (Owinipique, ‘muddy water,” 
Ojibway) was reached, and at the mouth of the river Fort Maurepas was built. 


1735.26.— Crossing Lake Winnipeg, and entering Red River (Miskouesipi, “ blood-red 
river,” Ojib.) at the mouth of the Assiniboine River, called by La Verandrye 
“St. Charles,” was built Fort Rouge, on the site of the present city of Winnipeg. 


1738.—At some time before this year, at Pointe des Bois, some two hundred miles up 
Red River, above Fort Rouge, was built a fort. In this year, also, Fort de la 
Reine was erected on the site of the present town of Portage la Prairie. 


1743.—La Verandrye’s sons ascended the Assiniboine, left it to explore one of the 
tributaries, the Souris River, called by them “ Riviére de St. Pierre” by portage 
from its head-waters to the Missouri, and up this river to the foot of the Rocky 
Mountains (Montagnes de pierre). After this, in the same year, La Verandrye 
returned to Quebec. 


1743=8.—During these years were discovered Lakes Manitoba (Manitowaban, “ Spirit’s 
Straits”), Winnipegoosis (“Little Winnipeg”), and Dauphin, and Forts Dauphin 
and Bourbon were erected. 


1748.—Ta Verandrye’s son ascended the Saskatchewan (“ Rapid River.”) 


1749.—La Verandrye was on the point of joining his sons to seek the sources of the 
Saskatchewan, when he died in Montreal, at the age of sixty-four. La Verandrye’s 
sons now lost their license, and were succeeded by Legardeur de St. Pierre. 


1752.—Fort Jonquière was built near the site of the present town of Calgary, on Bow 
River, near the Rocky Mountains by direction of St. Pierre, 


96 GEORGE BRYCE: OUTLINES OF 


1753.—Fort à la Corne was erected near the forks of the Saskatchewan. 
1755.—Before this date, Fort Poskoiac had been erected in the same region. 


_1757.—Before this year, Fort des Prairies was built on the Saskatchewan. 


(2) JosePH La FRANCE. 

This adventurer was born at Michilimackinac, in 1704, a French half-breed. He had 
traded furs on the Upper Lakes and had visited Fort Frontenac. In 1738, La France, who 
was a species of free-booter, was seized by the governor and a party whom he chanced to 
meet on Nipissing River. Escaping from his captors, with his gun and only five charges 
of powder, the forest ranger reached Sault Ste. Marie—through two hundred miles of 
trackless wilderness. Having now lost everything, La France determined “to go to the 
English on Hudson Bay.” 


1740.—He followed La Verandrye’s route down Rainy Lake and River (du Pluis)—then 
through Lake of the Woods (Lac des Bois, also des Iles), reached, by way of River 
Winnipeg, the Lake of the same name, and on its banks joined Cris or Chris- 
tinaux (Cree) Indians, and tells of a flat country full of meadows on its shores. 
1742.—Visited Lake Winnipegoosis with the Indians. Turned now towards the bay, 
and passing Lakes Du Siens and Cariboux, reached Pachegoia. This is the meet- 
ing place of the Indians who go down River Nelson to York Factory. April 4, 
one hundred canoes having been built from the birch trees which abound at 





Pachegoia, the furs were shipped and La France chosen captain of the expedi- 
tion, which, June 29, arrived at York Factory. La France was the first man 
certainly known to have followed the “ watery way” through the country from 
Lake Superior to Hudson Bay. 


[Nore—It is well-known that the French Huguenot traders, Groselliers and 
Radisson, claimed to have discovered Hudson Bay, crossing through the country from 
Lake Superior to Hudson Bay, before 1670, the year in which the Hudson’s Bay Company 
was formed. There is no certainty as to their expedition !] 


(3) SamuEL HEARNE. (“The Mungo Park of Canada.”) 

The Hudson’s Bay Company had for a hundred years clung to the coast. Their 
connections were with bands of Indians living in the interior, so far west as Athabasca 
and the Saskatchewan, who came with their furs every year to the sea coast. The North- 
West Company of Montreal was penetrating the country, whence their trade came, and 
they found it necessary to extend their explorations to the interior, and built posts at 
leading points. The man who took chief part in this inland enterprise was Samuel 
Hearne, an officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company. 


1769.—The explorer was provided with an escort, with astronomical and other instru- 
ments, and with instruments from Moses Norton, Governor of Prince of Wales 
Fort. His orders were, in passing through the country, to cultivate friendly rela- 


JOURNEYS IN RUPERTS LAND. 97 


tions with the several tribes, and “to smoke your calumet of peace with their 
leaders, in order to establish a friendship with them.” He was to seek the Copper- 
mine River. ‘If,’ say the instructions, “the said river be likely to be of any 
utility, take possession of it on behalf of the Hudson’s Bay Company,” by cutting 
your name on some of the rocks, and also the date of the year, month, etc. 

Nov. 6.—Hearne set out from the mouth of Churchill River, with a salute of seven 
guns from Prince of Wales Fort, and, Dec. 11, after continual desertions of his 
men, and dastardly conduct on the part of his guides, arrived at the fort, having 
gone inland some two hundred miles. 





i 


QU 
QU 





. 23, Hearne began a second voyage. On this expedition he reached a point 
five hundred miles inland, but his chief astronomical instrument was broken by 
an accident, and he returned to the coast in November. 

On Dec. 7 of this year, the third voyage was undertaken, but this time with no 
firing of cannon. Making slow progress in winter, a rendezvous was reached 
by the explorer and several hundred Indians, and a dash made across the barren 
lands, and the Coppermine River reached. 


1771.—July 18—At this date, Hearne reached the mouth of the Coppermine, and looked 
out upon the Arctic Ocean—its discoverer. His scientific knowledge was so 
defective that he fixed the mouth of the Coppermine at 71° N. instead of 67° 48’. 


1774. Saskatchewan. 





(4) SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. 

Mackenzie was a young Scotchman, who came to Canada as a boy, entered the fur 
trade, and became a trader among the Nor’-Westers. At this date he was in pursuit of 
furs at Fort Chippewyan, on Lake Athabasca. His Company being rivals of the Hudson’s 
Bay Company, he was stimulated by Hearne’s discovery. 


1789.—June.—He started with four canoes, manned by French Canadians and Indians. 
At the end of July, after stirring adventures with strange Indians, and annoy- 
ances from his own party, Mackenzie reached the Arctic Sea by way of the river 
bearing his name. 


1791.—Mackenzie spent this year in Great Britain, having found, on his first voyage, the 
necessity for greater mathematical knowledge. 


1792.—Oct.—Mackenzie left Fort Chippewyan, and started up Peace River to cross the 
Rocky Mountains, and reach the Western Sea. He wintered on Peace River, 
trading for furs, and experiencing the warm Chinook winds coming through the 
Peace River pass, thought the Western Sea very near. 


1793.—In oe spring the explorer went on his way, ascending Peace River. Upon 
July 22, the daring traveller, after almost unimaginable hardships, reached the 
Pacific Ocean, and inscribed on the face of a rock: “Alexander Mackenzie, from 
Canada by land, 22nd July, 1793.” This was the first crossing of North America, 
north of Mexico, by the white man. 


Sec. II., 1886. 13. 


98 GEORGE BRYCE: OUTLINES OF 


(5) Three Great American Expeditions—The American Government, during the first 
quarter of this century, sent out three important expeditions, all connected with the settle- 
ment of the boundary line between the newly-acquired territory of Louisiana and the 
British possessions. The undefined territory of Louisiana was annexed to the United 
States in 1803. 


I. Lewis AND CLARK. 
The object of this expedition was to explore the Missouri country, and cross the 
Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. 





1804.—May 14—Captains Lewis and Clarke, of the Army of the United States, with 
twenty or thirty soldiers and a dozen voyageurs, entered the mouth of the 
Missouri. By November, the expedition, having travelled some sixteen hundred 
miles, reached the country of the Mandans, who are dwellers underground, cul- 
tivate the soil, and make pottery. [A remnant still survives. They have been 
called the “ white-bearded Sioux.”] The explorers were here visited by British 


traders from Souris River. 


1S05.— Aug. 18—The head waters of the Missouri, three thousand miles from the 
“mouth, were reached. Horses were got, and after traversing for sixty miles 
through the mountains, a most difficult country, a navigable river, the Lewis, 
so called from the commander, “was descended by canoes and the Columbia 
gained. They thus reached, on Nov. 15, the Pacific Ocean, by wary of the 
Columbia River. Here they spent the winter in Fort Clatsop. 


1806.—March 23.—The return journey was begun, one party ascending Clarke River. 
On Sept. 23, the reunited party arrived at St. Louis, fired a salute, and going on 
shore, received a most hearty and hospitable welcome from the “ whole village.” 


IJ. Lieur. ZEBULON M. PiKe. 

1805.— Aug. 9—Lieut. Pike, of the U.S. Army, with twenty soldiers, left St. Louis to 
ascend the Mississippi to find its sources. Sept. 4, Prairie du Chien was reached. 
Oct. 1, the party left the Falls of St. Anthony. 


1806.—Feb. 1—The expedition had arrived at Otter Tail, Red Cedar, Red Lake, etc. 
“The country,” says Pike, has the appearance of “an impenetrable morass or 
boundless savannah.” On the 13th, the latitude of the source of the Mississippi 
was found to be 47° 42’ 40”. David Thompson, the astronomer of the North- 
West Company, had, in 1798, taken the same observation and made it 47° 38’. 
Lieut. Pike, having descended the Mississippi, arrived at St. Louis April 30. 


[Norr.—Lieut. Pike took part in the war between Canada and the United States, as 
Major Pike. He was, unfortunately, killed by the blowing up of a magazine at York, 
being struck in the breast bya heavy stone, April, 1813.] 


JOURNEYS IN RUPERTS LAND. 99 


III. Mayor 8. H. Lona. 

1823.—It was determined by the American Government to explore St. Peter River, and 
“the country situated on the northern boundary of the United States, between 
the Red River of Hudson’s Bay and Lake Superior.” 

On April 30 a party, under Major Long, with W. H. Keating, geologist and historio- 
grapher, left Philadelphia, passed through the country to Ohio, and thence went 
to Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi. 

On July 6 they arrived at St. Anthony Falls, leaving Lake Travers, which the Indians 
call Otter Tail; on the 26th. This lake is one of the sources of the Mississippi 
and of Red River. On Aug. 8, the flag of the United States was hoisted on 
an oak post at Pembina, on the boundary line, 49° N. On the north side of the 
post were letters, G. B., and on the south, U.S. 

The intention of the explorers had been to follow the boundary to Lake Superior, but 
dense swamps rendered this impossible. 

On the 9th, the expedition left Pembina to descend Red River. They reached Fort 
Douglas, the centre of Selkirk Colony, and site of present city of Winnipeg, on 
the 11th, leaving on the 17th to descend Red River. On the 19th, Red River 
having been left behind, and Lake Winnipeg crossed, the party arrived at the 
mouth of Winnipeg River. On the 25th they gained the head of Winnipeg 
River. They crossed on the 28th the Lake of the Woods and entered the mouth 

. of Rainy River, gaining Fort William, on Lake Superior, by Sept. 13, thus 
making eight hundred and twenty miles in twenty-seven days. The party left 
Sault Ste. Marie, Oct. 3; descended Lakes Huron, St. Clair and Erie; entered Erie 
Canal, and haying reached Albany, proceeded homeward. The expedition 
reached Philadelphia on the 26th, having accomplished this marvellous voyage 
in less than six months. 


(6) Str JoHN FRANKLIN. 

One of the first efforts to explore the country to the north of Rupert’s Land was 
begun by Capt. John Franklin. He was accompanied by Dr. Richardson, surgeon of the 
Royal Navy, and Mr. George Back, both of whom afterwards commanded important 
expeditions. 


1S19.—May 23.—The party embarked in the Hudson’s Bay Company ship “ Prince of 
Wales” at Gravesend. Capt. Franklin, before leaving England, had conferred 
with Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the veteran explorer. | 
Aug. 30.-—“ Prince of Wales” arrived at York Factory. 


1820.—Jan. 17—Having come inland, the party reached Fort Cumberland, on the 
Saskatchewan, 690 miles from York. 

On March 26, Dr. Richardson having remained at Cumberland House, Capt. Franklin 
and Back arrived at Fort Chippewyan, 857 miles from Cumberland. Dr. Richard- 
son overtook the party here on July 13, and on the 18th the party left Fort 
Chippewyan for the Polar Sea. On Oct. 6 the party entered the winter quarters 
they had built, calling them “ Fort Enterprise.” 


100 GEORGE BRYCE: OUTLINES OF 


1821.—The expedition left Fort Enterprise June 14 to go to the Coppermine, and thence 
to the Polar Sea. They reached the mouth of the Coppermine July 18, and found 
it to be 67° 47° 50”, thus correcting Hearne’s mistake. On the 21st, the expedition 
started to coast the Arctic or Polar Sea to the east; and on Aug. 16, after a 
journey along a very indented coast of 555 geographical miles, for 64°, reached 
Cape Turnagain. From this point, the expedition started back over barren 
grounds. They endured much suffering, living chiefly on ‘tripe de roche” 
(Cladonis rangiferina), and on Labrador tea (Ledum palustre), eating bits of burnt 
leather. Fort Enterprise was reached, but was desolate. Party wintered at 
Moose Deer Island. 


IS22.—May 26—They left their wintering place, where five months had been spent. 
On the return journey Fort Chippewyan was left behind on June 5. The party 
airived at Norway House July 4. Here the greater number of the men of the 
expedition were sent to Montreal, with orders on the Hudson’s Bay Company for 
their payment. On the 14th, Capt. Franklin arrived at York Factory, and was 
received with much kindness by Governor Simpson and Mr. McTavish, repre- 
sentatives of the two companies—Hudson’s Bay and North-West—which had 
united in the preceding year. 


(7) CAPTAINS JOHN FRANKLIN AND JOHN RICHARDSON. (Second Overland Journey,1825-1.) 

This journey was undertaken by Capt. Franklin. In his party were Dr. Richardson 
and Lieut. Back, his former companions, and Mr. Kendall. The object of the expedition 
was to explore the coast of the Polar Sea. 


1825.—July 25.—The party left Fort Chippewyan to descend the Mackenzie River. They 
went into winter quarters in September at the fort they had built, called “ Fort 
Franklin,” at the entrance to the Great Bear Lake. 


1826.—July 4—The party divides. The western party, under FRANKLIN, with LIEUT. 
Back, left Point Separation in the ‘ Lion” and “ Release.” They reached the 
mouth of the Mackenzie, and coasted up the western shore of the Polar Sea. 
Though desiring to reach the Icy Cape of Capt. Cook, in longitude 161° W., the 
party was not able to proceed further than “ Return Reef,” which it they gained 
on Aug. 17. On Sept. 21, they arrived at Fort Franklin. 
July 4——-RicHarpson took command of the eastern party in boats “ Dolphin ” and 
“Union.” On the 10th, they arrived at mouth of Mackenzie River, and on Aug. 
8, by coasting the Polar Sea, they reached the mouth of the Coppermine. Having 
ascended the Coppermine River, or crossed Great Bear Lake, they arrived at Fort 
Franklin, before Franklin, on Sept. 1. 


1827. 





April 12.—Party arrived at Fort Chippewyan. On Sept. 29, Franklin and 
Richardson reached London. 


(8) Carr. GEORGE Back. 
In the year 1829, the well-known navigator, Sir John Ross, had gone, by ship, to 
seek the North-West passage. His absence for three years caused alarm. The British 


JOURNEYS IN RUPERTS LAND. 101 


Government, City of London, Royal Geographical Society, and many private subscribers 
contributed to send an expedition for the rescue of the gallant captain. The command 
was given to Capt. Back, who had accompanied Franklin on his first and second expedi- 
tions, of 1819 and 1825. 


1833.—The expedition left England in February. ‘The route taken was by New York, 
overland to Montreal, thence by voyageur’s route up the Ottawa and the Upper 
Lakes, from Fort William to Lake Winnipeg, Norway House. Here another start 
was made up the Saskatchewan, to Portage La Loche, and the journey continued 
northward. On July 29, Fort Chippewyan, on Lake Athabasca, was reached. 
Here the real work of exploration began. The Indians discouraged the party 
greatly by their dismal account of the route. 

Aug. 11, Back, with five men in his canoe, started for the Arctic Sea. He was 
followed by A. R. McLeod, an enterprising officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 
with his men. The route was by way of the Great Fish River, going out of the 
eastern extremity of the Great Stone Lake. 

1834.—The party spent this winter of 1833-4 in buildings they had erected, called “ Fort 
Reliance.” After many adventures, the estuary of the Fish or Back River was 
reached about latitude 68° N. 


1835.—March 21.—Capt. Back began his return voyage and passed by way of Chippe- 
wyan homewards, reaching Norway House, June 24. He had, while in the far 
north, received letters telling him that Sir John Ross had returned safely in 1833 
to Great Britain, having been rescued by the crew of a whaler. 


(9) THoMAS SIMPSON. (Simpson and Dease’s Explorations.) 

This expedition was undertaken by the Hudson’s Bay Company, for the purpose of 
discovering the north-east coast of America, Dease was the senior officer, and had accom- 
panied Franklin, though Thomas Simpson, a relative of Sir George Simpson, has received 
most notice. 


1837.— On June 1, Simpson and Dease’s party carried in two seaboats, named “ Castor ” 
and “ Pollux,” and a bateau called “Goliath,” left Fort Chippewyan to descend 
the Mackenzie River. On July 6, the Arctic Ocean burst on the view of the 
expedition, and was saluted with joyous cheers. As they journeyed coasting 
the ocean, Return Reef was reached on the 23rd, and the party arrived at 
Boat Extreme on the 30th. On foot from Boat Extreme, Point Barron was visited 
Aug. 3, the western point which their instructions covered. They saw this 
point with emotion, 21° west of the mouth of Mackenzie River. On the 17th, they 
reéntered the mouth of the Mackenzie. By ascending the Mackenzie, and 
traversing Great Bear Lake, their winter quarters were gained Sept. 25. These 
they cailed “ Fort Confidence.” 


1838.—June 6.—They started for Coppermine River, reaching its mouth July 2. On the 
17th, they made a second sea voyage—now eastward from 115° W. On Aug. 25, 
they discovered new land, erected a stone pillar and unfurled the Union Jack 


102 GEORGE BRYCE : OUTLINES OF 


in the name of Great Britain. On Sept. 3, they reëntered Coppermine River. 
On the 14th, they arrived at Fort Confidence for winter. 


1839.—June 15—Descended the Coppermine, and in eighteen days emerged from its 
mouth. Aug. 20, reached furthest point east, Cape Britannia, 94° W., having been 
within one hundred miles of the Magnetic Pole, on Boothia Felix. Simpson and 
Dease explored the Arctic Coast for 40°—a marvellous result. On Sept. 24, they 
arrived at Fort Confidence again. 


1840.—Feb. 2.—The party reached Fort Garry. June 30, Simpson desired to return to 
Arctic Sea, but, no instructions coming, started home, and on the 13th or 14th, 
was killed on prairies of Minnesota, either by half-breeds or by suicide. Body 
taken back to Red River settlement, and buried in St. John’s Cemetery, 


Winnipeg. 


(10) Joun RAE, M.D. 

This expedition was to follow up the discoverers of Simpson and Dease, but by 
exploring the coast of Hudson Bay and reaching, if possible, the Cape Britannia of the 
aforesaid explorers. 


1846.—June 13.—Dr. Rae, with ten men, started in two boats, the “ North Pole” and 
“Magnet,” from York Factory. 
July 5, party left Fort Churchill. On Sept. 2, expedition wintered in house they had 


built, which was called “ Fort Hope.” This was on Repulse Bay. 





1847.— April 19.—Reached Lord Mayor Bay, on the north side of Rae Isthmus, and on 
Gulf of Boothia, and erected a monument. In May they reached Fort Hope, and 
again sallied forth to coast the west shore of Melville Peninsula. A point was 
reached within ten miles of the Straits of Fury and Hecla. June 9, arrived at 
Fort Hope again. Aug. 12, Fort Hope left for return to York Factory. Sept. 6, 
party arrived at York Factory. 


(11) Str Jonw RICHARDSON. (Overland Search for Sir John Franklin.) 

In 1845, Sir John Franklin, in the ships “ Erebus” and “Terror,” with a party of 130, 
had sailed away to seek the North-West passage. Two of the expeditions to search for 
the lost navigator were overland, or along the coast of Rupert’s Land. 


1848.—March 25.—Dr. Richardson, accompanied by Dr. Rae, left England. Not less than 
180 tons of pemmican, made from beef in £ngland, was shipped to Rupert’s 
Land, by way of Hudson Bay, for the use of the expedition. The expedition 
proceeded by New York, Montreal, the Ottawa Canal route, the Upper Lakes, 
River and Lake Winnipeg, ete. July 11, Fort Chippewyan was reached. By 

Aug. 3, the mouth of the Mackenzie River, on the Arctic Sea, was gained. 
During the autumn of this year, the party was not able to reach the mouth of the 
Coppermine, along the coast. Having gained Back’s Inlet, the expedition made 
across the country for Coppermine River, reached it, and, ascending it, came to 
the house already erected, to which the name “ Fort Confidence ” had been given. 


JOURNEYS IN RUPERTS LAND. 103 


1849.—In the summer of this year, Dr. Rae descended the Coppermine, but found no 
traces of Franklin on the Arctic Coast. On Nov. 6, Dr. Richardson arrived in 
England. 


[Nore.—The Successful Search for Sir John Franklin was accomplished by two explorers. 
(1) On Aug. 15, 1853, Dr. Rae reached his old quarters, at Repulse Bay. March 31, 1854, 
he went on a spring journey. April 17, arrived at Pelly Bay. This bay lies to the west 
of Simpson peninsula. Here he got from the Eskimos the story that, in 1850, forty white 
men had proceeded south, and that, afterwards, their corpses had been found on the shore. 
He obtained from the Eskimo, telescopes, guns, watches, compasses, silver spoons and 
forks, with crests engraved, silver-headed walking stick, engraven with “Sir John 
Franklin, K.C.B.,” Sir John’s Hanoverian Order of Knighthood. Dr. Rae purchased a 
number of these. They had been obtained by the Eskimo by trade from the south. Dr. 
Rae arrived in England, claimed the reward, and obtained a portion of it. (2) The Final 
Settlement of the Question of Sir John’s fate took place in 1859. Capt. McClintock, found 
a record left by the party, at Point Victory to the north-west of King William’s Island. 
Sir John Franklin had died June 11, 1847. The ships, the “Terror ” and “Erebus” were 
deserted April 22, 1848, having been beset since 1846.] 


(12) Viscount Minron AND Dr. CHEADLE. 
This journey is usually called “The North-West Passage by Land.” The book by 
Milton and Cheadle is charming in style. 


1862. 





July 18.—The explorers reached the Hudson’s Bay Company port, Georgetown, 
in Minnesota, some 200 miles of the boundary, a memorial of the Company’s 
original claim. From Georgetown, the party took canoes and descended Red 
River to Fort Garry. Aug. 23, much interested in the Red River settlement, they 
went west, over the prairies, with a brigade of carts. This was the typical mode 
of prairie travel. Sept. 26, the travellers determined to winter 550 miles 
north-west of Fort Garry. They built a winter camp, which they called “ La 
Belle Prairie.” 


1863.— April 3—The party left camp to proceed westward. Forts Pitt and Edmonton 
were passed. June 29, Jasper House was gained in the foothills of the Rocky 
Mountains. The party passed on through the Yellow Head (Téte Jaune) Pass. 
July 18, the explorers here ferried across the head-waters of Fraser River, near 
Téte Jaune Cache. Passing southward, Thompson River was reached. The road 
was here lost, and hardships, almost incredible, were endured, after which they 
arrived at Kamloops on the Thompson. After resting, the journey was resumed, 
the Fraser was reached, and Yale, and New Westminster and Victoria visited. 
Again ascending the Fraser, far up its course, the mines at Cariboo were explored. 
On Dec. 24, the party left Victoria, B.C., for Britain. 


(13) SANDFORD FLEMING. 
This journey belongs to the period of Confederation, rather than to that of Rupert’s 
Land, and yet, in 1872, when it took place, Rupert’s Land had hardly changed in any 


104 BRYCH’S OUTLINES OF JOURNEYS IN RUPERTS LAND. 


respect. Principal Grant, as secretary of the expedition, well describes its progress. It 
differed in route from that of Milton and Cheadle, only in that it was conducted from 
“ocean to ocean” through Canadian Territory. 

It may be said really to have begun at the mouth of the Kaministiquia, on Lake 
Superior. It followed the old canoe route by Rainy Lake and River, but left Lake of the 
Woods, not by Winnipeg River, but at the North-West angle, and thence proceeded to 
Fort Garry by the Dawson Road. The writer met the party at Fort Garry early in 
August, 1872. 

The route from Fort Garry westward was that of Milton and Cheadle. On their 
returns journey the party left Esquimalt, in Vancouver Island, Oct. 14, to travel by way 
of the Pacific Coast steamer and Union Pacific Railway. This journey may be looked upon 
as the precursor of our Canadian Pacific Railway, though a more southerly route, and 
another pass has been followed by that great national line. 


F. 
Results Achieved. 


1. La Verandrye and his immediate successors discovered and explored all the great 
rivers of the fertile portion of the Canadian Northwest. 

2. La France first led the way from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay. 

3. Hearne discovered the Coppermine River, the Arctic Sea, and was the Hudson’s 
Bay Company’s pathfinder to the interior. 

4. Mackenzie discovered Mackenzie River, the Arctic Sea, and first crossed the Rocky 
Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, north of Mexico. 

5. Pike discovered the sources of the Mississippi. Lewis and Clark gave ground for 
claims of country on Columbia River by the United States, explored the Missouri, and 
discovered rivers on the Pacific slope. Long established the boundary of 49° N., and made 
a remarkably rapid journey. 

6. Franklin, Richardson, Back, Simpson, Dease and Rae may be said to have explored, 
outlined and named the whole coast of the Arctic ocean from Point Barron to Hudson Bay. 
Their names are all attached to rivers, straits or capes discovered by them. Their voyages 
are marvels of endurance and skill. Richardson and Rae were celebrated for their search 
for Franklin. 

7. Milton and Cheadle accomplished their voyage with great tact, and their delightful 
book has been the thesawrus from which many of their successors have drawn. 

8. Mr. Sandford Fleming’s journey was the preliminary exploration for the Canadian 
Pacific Railway. 


SECTION IL. 1886. [| 1058] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


V.—The Lost Atlantis. 


By DANIEL Winson, LL.D., F.R.S.E., President of University College, Toronto. 


(Read May 28, 1886.) 


The legend of Atlantis, an island-continent lying in the Atlantic Ocean over against 
the pillars of Hercules, which, after long being the seat of a powerful empire, was 
engulphed in the sea, has been made the basis of many extravagant speculations. The 
story is recorded in the “Timzeus” and, with many fanciful amplifications, in the “ Critias” 
of Plato. According to the dialogues, as reproduced there, Critias repeats to Socrates a 
story told him by his grandfather, then an old man of ninety, when he himself was not more 
than ten years of age. According to this narrative, Solon visited the city of Sais, at the 
head of the Egyptian delta, and there learned from the priests of the ancient empire of 
Atlantis, and of its overthrow by a convulsion of nature. ‘No one,” says Professor Jowett, 
in his critical edition of “The Dialogues of Plato,” “knew better than Plato how to 
invent ‘anoble lie’;” and he, unhesitatingly, pronounces the whole narrative a fabrication. 
The world, like a child, has readily, and for the most part, unhesitatingly accepted the 
tale of the Island of Atlantis.” But to the critical editor, this reception furnishes only an 
illustration of popular credulity, showing how the chance word of a poet or philosopher 
may give rise to endless historical or religious speculation. In the “ Critias,” the legendary 
tale is unquestionably expanded into details of no possible historical significance or genuine 
antiquity. But it is not without reason, that men like Humboldt have recognised in the 
original legend the possible vestige of a widely spread tradition ef earliest times. In this 
respect, at any rate, I purpose here to review it. 

It is to be noted that even in the time of Socrates, and indeed of the elder Critias, this 
Atlantis was referred to as the vague and inconsistent tradition of a remote past; though 
not more inconsistent than much else which the cultured Greeks were accustomed to 
receive. Mr. Hyde Clarke, in an “ Examination of the Legend,” printed in the Transac- 
tions of the Royal Historical Society, arrives at the conclusion that Atlantis was the name 
of the King, rather than of the Dominion. But king and kingdom have ever been liable 
to be referred to under a common designation. According to the account in the “ Timzeus,” 
Atlantis was a continent lying over against the pillars of Hercules, greater in extent than 
Libya and Asia combined; the highway to other islands, and to a great ocean, of which 
the Mediterranean Sea was a mere harbour. But in the vagueness of all geographical 
knowledge in the days of Socrates and of Plato, this Atlantic domain is confused with 
some Iberian or western African power, which is stated to have been arrayed against 
Egypt, Hellas, and all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. The knowledge 
even of the western Mediterranean was then very imperfect; and, to the ancient Greek, 
the West was a region of vague mystery which sufficed for the localisation of all his 


Sec. IL., 1886. 14. 


106 DANIEL WILSON ON 


fondest imaginings. There, on the far horizon, Homer pictured the Elysian plain, where, 
under a serene sky, the favourites of Zeus enjoyed eternal felicity; Hesiod assigned the 
abode of departed heroes to the Happy Isles beyond the western waters that engirdled 
Europe; and Seneca foretold that that mysterious ocean would yet disclose an unknown 
world which it then kept concealed. To the ancients, Elysium ever lay beyond the 
setting sun; and the Hesperia of the Greeks, as their geographical knowledge increased, 
continued to recede before them into the unexplored west. 

In the youth of all nations, the poet and historian are one ; and, according to the tale 
of the elder Critias, the legend of Atlantis was derived from a poetic chronicle of Solon, 
whom he pronounced to have been one of the best of poets, as well as the wisest of men. 
The elements of oral tradition are aptly set forth in the dialogue which Plato puts into the 
mouth of Timzeus of Locris, a Pythagorean philosopher. Solon is affirmed to have told the 
tale to his personal friend, Dropidas, the great grandfather of Critias, who repeated it to his 
son ; and he, eighty years thereafter, in extreme old age, told it to his grandson, a boy of 
ten, whose narrative, reproduced in mature years, we are supposed to read in the dialogue 
of the “Timæus.” Even these are but the later links in the traditionary catena. Solon 
himself visited Sais, a city of the Egyptian Delta, under the protection of the goddess, Neith 
or Athene. There, when in converse with the Egyptian priests, he learned, for the first 
time, rightly to appreciate how ignorant of antiquity he and his countrymen were. “O 
Solon, Solon,” said an aged priest to him, “ you Hellenes are ever young, and there is no 
old man who is a Hellene; there is no opinion or tradition of knowledge among you 
which is white with age.” Solon had told them the mythical tales of Phoroneus and 
Niobe, and of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and had attempted to reckon the interval by genera- 
tions since the great deluge. But the priest of Sais replied to this that such Hellenic 
annals were children’s stories. Their memory went back but a little way, and recalled 
only the latest of the great convulsions of nature, by which revolutions in past ages 
had been wrought: “the memory of them is lost, because there was no written voice 
among you.” And so the venerable priest undertook to tell him of the social life and 
condition of the primitive Athenians nine thousand years before. It is among the events 
of this older era that the overthrow of Atlantis is told—a story already “white with 
age” in.the time of Socrates, three thousand four hundred years ago. The warriors of 
Athens, in that elder time, were a distinct caste; and when the vast power of Atlantis 
was marshalled against the Mediterranean nations, Athens bravely repelled the invader, 
and gave liberty to the nations whose safety had been imperilled ; but in the convulsion 
that followed, in which the island-continent was engulphed in the ocean, the warrior race 
of Athens also perished. 

The story, as it thus reaches us, is one of the vaguest of popular legends, and has been 
transmitted to modern times in the most obscure of all the writings of Plato. Nevertheless, 
there is nothing improbable in the idea that it rests on some historic basis, in which the 
tradition of the fall of an Iberian, or other aggressive power in the western Mediterranean, 
is mingled with other, and equally vague iraditions of intercourse with a vast continent 
lying beyond the pillars of Hercules. Mr. Hyde Clarke, in his “ Khita and Khita-Peruvian 
Epoch,” draws attention to the ancient system of geography, alluded to by various early 
writers, and notably mentioned by- Crates of Pergamos, B.C. 160, which treated of the 
Four Worlds. This, he connects with the statement, by Mr. George Smith, derived from 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 107 


the cuneiform interpretations, that Agu, an ancient king of Babylonia, called himself 
“ King of the Four Races.” He also, assigns to it a relation with others, including its Inca 
equivalent of Tavintinsuzu, the Empire of the Four Quarters of the World. But the extrava- 
gance of regal titles has been the same in widely diverse ages; so that much caution is 
necessary before they can be made a safe basis for comprehensive generalisations. Four 
kings made war against five, in the vale of Siddim ; and when Lot was despoiled and taken 
captive by Chederlaomer, King of Elam, Tidal, King of Nations, and other regal allies, 
Abraham, with no further aid than that of his trained servants, born in his housé, three 
hundred and eighteen in all, smote their combined hosts, and recovered the captives and 
the spoil. Here, at least, it is obvious that “the King of Nations” was somewhat on a par 
with one of the six vassal kings who rowed King Edgar on the River Dee. Certainly, 
within any early period of authentic history, the conceptions of the known world were 
reduced within narrow bounds; and it would be a very comprehensive deduction from 
such slight premises as the legend supplies, to refer it to an age of accurate geographical 
knowledge in which the western. hemisphere was known as one of four worlds, or con- 
tinents. When the Scottish poet, Dunbar, wrote of America, twenty years after the voyage 
of Columbus, he only knew of it as “the new-found isle.” . 

The opinion, universally favoured in the infancy of physical science, of the recurrence 
of convulsions of nature, whereby nations were revolutionised, and vast empires destroyed 
by fire, or engulphed in the ocean, revived with the theories of cataclysmic phenomena in 
the earlier speculations of modern geology ; and has even now its advocates among writers 
who have given little heed to the concurrent opinion of later scientific authorities. Among 
the most zealous adyocates of the idea of a submerged Atlantic continent, the seat of a 
civilisation older than that of Europe, or of the old East, was the late Abbé Brasseur de 
Bourbourg. As an indefatigable and enthusiastic investigator, he occupies a place in the 
history of American archeology somewhat akin to that of his fellow-countryman, M 
Boucher de Perthes, in relation to the paleontological disclosures of Europe. He had the 
undoubted merit of first drawing the attention of the learned world to the native tran- 
scripts of Maya records, the full value of which is only now being adequately recognised. 
His “ Histoire des Nations Civilisées” aims at demonstrating from their religious myths 
and historical traditions the existence of a self-originated civilisation. In his subsequent 
“ Quatre Letters sur le Mexique,” the Abbé adopted, in the most literal form, the venerable 
legend of Atlantis, giving free rein to his imagination in some very fanciful speculations. 
He calls into being, “from the vasty deep,” a submerged continent, or, rather, extension 
of the present America, stretching eastward, and including, as he deems probable, the 
Canary Islands, and other insular survivals of the imaginary Atlantis. Such speculations 
of unregulated zeal are unworthy of serious consideration. But it is not to be wondered at 
that the vague legend, so temptingly set forth in the “ Timæus,” should have kindled the 
imaginations of a class of theorists, who, like the enthusiastic Abbé, are restrained by 
no doubts suggested by scientific indications. So far from geology lending the slightest 
confirmation to the idea of an engulphed Atlantis, Professor Wyville Thomson has shown, 
in his “ Depths of the Sea,” that while oscillations of the land have considerably modified 
the boundaries of the Atlantic Ocean, the geological age of its basin dates as far back, at least, 
as the later Secondary period. The study of its animal life, as revealed in dredging, 
strongly confirms this, disclosing an unbroken continuity of life on the Atlantic sea-bed 


108 DANIEL WILSON ON 


from the Cretaceous period to the present time; and, as Sir Charles Lyell has pointed out, 
in his “ Principles of Geology,” the entire evidence is adverse to the idea that the Canaries, 
the Madeiras, and the Azores, are surviving fragments of a vast submerged island, or 
continuous area of the adjacent continent. There are, indeed, undoubted indications of 
volcanic action ; but they furnish evidence of local upheaval, not of the submergence of 
extensive continental areas. 

But it is an easy, as well as a pleasant pastime, to evolve either a camel or a continent 
out of the depths of one’s own inner consciousness. To such fanciful speculators, the lost 
Atlantis will ever offer a tempting basis on which to found their unsubstantial creations. 
Mr. H. H. Bancroft, when alluding to the subject in his “Native Races of the Pacific 
States,” refers to forty-two different works for notices and speculations concerning Atlantis. 
The latest advocacy of the idea of an actual island-continent of the mid-Atlantic, literally 
engulphed in the ocean, within a period authentically embraced by historical tradition, is 
to be found in its most popular form in Mr. Ignatius Donnelly’s “Atlantis, the Antedilu- 
vian World.” By him, as by Abbé Brasseur, the concurrent opinions of the highest 
authorities in science, that the main features of the Atlantic basin have undergone no 
change within any recent geological period, are wholly ignored. To those, therefore, who 
attach any value to scientific evidence, such speculations present no serious claims on 
their study. There is, indeed, an idea favoured by certain students of science, who carry the 
spirit cf nationality into regions ordinarily regarded as lying outside of any sectional pride, 
that, geologically speaking, America is the older continent. It may at least be accepted as 
beyond dispute, that this continent and the great Atlantic basin intervening between it 

and Europe are alike of a geological antiquity which places the age of either entirely 
apart from all speculations affecting human history. But, such fancies are wholly super- 
fluous. The idea of intercourse between the Old and the New World prior to the fifteenth 
century, passed from the region of speculation to the domain of historical fact, when the 
publication of the “ Antiquitates American” and the ‘‘ Grénland’s Historiske Mindes- 
mœærker,” by the antiquaries of Copenhagen, adduced contemporary authorities, and 
indisputably genuine runic inscriptions, in proof of the visits of the Northmen to Green- 
land and the mainland of North America, before the close of the tenth century. 

The idea of pre-Columbian intercourse between Europe and America, is thus no 
novelty. What we have anew to consider is, whether, in its wider aspect, it is more con- 
sistent with probability than the revived notion of a continent engulphed in the Atlantic 
Ocean ? The earliest students of American antiquities turned to Pheenicia, Egypt, or other 
old-world centres of early civilisation, for the source of Mexican, Peruvian, and Central 
American art or letters; and, indeed, so long as the unity of the human race remained 
unquestioned, some theory of a common source for the races of the Old and the New World 
was inevitable. The idea, therefore, that the new world which Columbus revealed, 
was none other than the long lost Atlantis, is one that has probably suggested itself 
independently to many minds. Other references to America have been sought for in 
obscure allusions of Herodotus, Seneca, Pliny, and other classical writers, to islands or con- 
tinents in the ocean which extended beyond the western verge of the world as known to 
them. That such allusions should be vague, was inevitable. If they had any foundation 
in a knowledge by elder generations of this western hemisphere, the tradition had come 
down to them by the oral transmissions of centuries; while their knowledge of their own 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 109 


eastern hemisphere was limited and very imperfect. “The Cassiterides, from which tin is 
brought ”—assumed to be the British Isles,—were known to Herodotus only as uncertainly 
located islands of the Atlantic of which he had no direct information. When Assur- 
yuchurabal, the founder of the palace at Nimrud, conquered the people who lived on the 
banks of the Orontes from the confines of Hamath to the sea, the spoils obtained from them 
included one hundred talents of anna, or tin; and the same prized metal is repeatedly 
named in cuneiform inscriptions. The people trading in tin, supposed to be identical 
with the Shirutana, were the merchants of the world before Tyre assumed her place as 
chief among the merchant princes of the sea. Yet already, in the time of Joshua, she was 
known as “the strong city, Tyre.” “Great Zidon ” also is so named, along with her, when 
Joshua defines the bounds of the tribe of Asher, extending to the sea coast; and is celebrated 
by Homer for its works of art. The Seleucia, or Cilicia, of the Greeks, was an attempted 
restoration of the ancient seaport of the Shirutana, which may have been an emporium of 
Khita merchandise; as it was, undoubtedly, an important place of shipment for the 
Pheenicians in their overland trade from the valley of the Euphrates. One favoured 
etymology of Britain, as the name of the islands whence tin was brought, is barat-anna, 
assumed to have been applied to them by that ancient race of merchant princes—the 
Cassiterides being the later Aryan equivalent, Gr. xacoirepos, Sansk. kastira. 

In primitive centuries, when ancient maritime races thus held supremacy in the 
Mediterranean Sea, voyages were undoubtedly made far into the Atlantic Ocean. The 
Pheenicians, who of all the nations settled on its shores, lay among the remotest from 
the outlying ocean, habitually traded with settlements on the Atlantic. They colonised 
the western shores of the Mediterranean at a remote period ; occupied numerous favour- © 
able trading posts on the bays and headlands of the Euxine, and of Sicily and others of 
the largest islands; and passing beyond the straits, effected settlements along the coasts 
of Europe and Africa. According to Strabo (i. 48), they had factories beyond the pillars 
of Hercules in the period immediately succeeding the Trojan war, an era which yearly 
becomes for us less mythical, and to which may be assigned the great development of 
the commercial prosperity of Tyre. The Phœnicians were then widening their trading 
enterprise, and extending explorations so as to command the remotest available sources of 
wealth. The trade of Tarshish was for Pheenicia what that of the Hast has been to 
England in modern centuries. The Tartessus, on which the Arabs of Spain subsequently 
conferred the name of the Guadalquivir, afforded ready access to a rich mining district ; 
and also formed the centre of valuable fisheries of tunny and murena. By means of its 
navigable waters, along with those of the Guadina, Phenician traders were able to 
penetrate far inland; and the colonies established at their mouths furnished fresh starting 
points for adventurous exploration along the Atlantic seaboard. They derived much at 
least of the tin, which was an important object of traffic, from the mines of north-west 
Spain, and from Cornwall; though, doubtless, both the tin of the Cassiterides and amber 
from the Baltic were also transported by overland routes to the Adriatic and the mouth of 
the Rhone. It was a PhϾnician expedition which, in the reign of Pharaoh Necho, B.C. 
611-605, after the decline of that great maritime power, accomplished the feat of circumnavi- 
gating Africa, by way of the Red Sea. Hanno, a Carthaginian, not only guided the Punic 
fleet round the parts of Libya which border on the Atlantic, but has been credited with 
reaching the Indian Ocean by the same route as that which Vasco de Gama successfully 


110 DANIEL WILSON ON 


followed in 1497. The object of Hanno’s expedition, as stated in the “ Periplus,” was to 
found Liby-Pheenician cities beyond the pillars of Hercules. How far south his voyage 
actually extended along the African coast is matter of conjecture, or of disputed interpre- 
tation, for the original work is lost. It is sufficient for our purpose to know that he did 
pursue the same route which led in a later century to the discovery of Brazil. Aristotle 
applies the name of “ Antilla” to a Carthaginian discovery; and Diodorus Siculus assigns 
to the Carthaginians the knowledge of an island in the ocean, the secret of which they 
reserved to themselves, as a refuge to which they could withdraw, should fate ever 
compell them to desert their African homes. It is far:from improbable, that we may 
identify this obscure island with one of the Azores, which lie 800 miles from the coast 
of Portugal. Neither Greek nor Roman writers make other reference to them; but the 
discovery of numerous Carthaginian coins at Corvo, the extreme north-westerly island of 
the group, leaves little room to doubt that they were visited by Punic voyagers. So that 
there would be nothing extravagant in the assumption that we have here the “ Antilla” 
mentioned by Aristotle. While the Carthaginian oligarchy ruled, naval adventure was 
still encouraged; but the maritime era of the Mediterranean belongs to more ancient 
centuries. The Greeks were inferior in enterprise to the PhϾnicians; while the Romans 
were essentially unmaritime; and the revival of the old adventurous spirit with the rise 
of the Venetian and Genoese republics, was due to the infusion of fresh blood from the 
great northern home of the sea-kings of the Baltic. 

The history of the ancient world is, for us, to a large extent, the history of civilisation 
among the nations around the Mediterranean Sea. Its name perpetuates the recognition 
of it from remote times as the great inland sea which kept apart and yet united, in inter- 
course and exchange of experience and culture, the diverse branches of the human family 
settled on its shores. Of the history of those nations, we only know some later chapters. 
Disclosures of recent years have startled us with recovered glimpses of the Khita, or Hittites, 
as a great power centred between the Euphrates and the Orontes, but extending into Asia 
Minor, and about B.C. 1200 reaching westward to the Aigean Sea. All but their name 
seemed to have perished; and they were known only as one among diverse Canaanitish 
tribes, believed to have been displaced by the Hebrew inheritors of Palestine. Yet now, 
as Professor Curtius has pointed out, we begin to recognise that “ one of the paths by which 
the art and civilisation of Babylonia and Assyria made their way to Greece, was along the 
great highroad which runs across Asia Minor;” and which the projected railway route 
through the valley of the Euphrates seeks to revive. For, as compared with Egypt, and 
the earliest nations of Eastern Asia, the Greeks were, indeed, children. It was to the 
Pheenicians that the ancients assigned the origin of navigation. Their skill as seamen was 
the subject of admiration even by the later Greeks, who owned themselves to be their 
pupils in seamanship, and called the pole-star, the Phcenician Star. Their naval commerce 
is set forth in glowing rhetoric by the prophet Ezekiel. “O Tyrus, thou that art situate at 
the entry of the sea, a merchant of the people of many isles. Thy borders are in the 
midst of the seas. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners. Thy wise men, 
O Tyrus, were thy pilots. All the ships of the sea, with their mariners, were in thee to 
occupy thy merchandise.” But this was spoken in the last days of Tyre’s supremacy. 

Looking back then into the dim dawn of actual history, with whatever fresh light 
recent discoveries haye thrown upon it, this, at least, seems to claim recognition from us, 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 11511 


that in that remote era the eastern Mediterranean was a centre of maritime enterprise, such 
as had no equal among the nations of antiquity. Even in the decadence of Pheenicia, 
her maritime skill remained unmatched. Egypt and Palestine, under their greatest rulers, 
recognised her as mistress of the sea; and, as has been already noted, the circumnaviga- 
tion of Africa—which, when it was repeated in the fifteenth century, was considered an 
achievement fully equalling that of Columbus,——was accomplished by Phceenician mariners. 
Carthage inherited the enterprise of the mother country, but never equalled her achieve- 
ments. With the fall of Carthage, the Mediterranean became a mere Roman lake, over 
which the gallies of Rome sailed reluctantly with her armed hosts ; or coasting along 
shore, they “committed themselves to the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted 
up the mainsail to the winds;” or again, “strake sail, and so were driven,” after the 
blundering fashion described in the voyage of St. Paul. To such a people, the memories 
of Punic exploration or Phcenician enterprise, or the vague legends of an Atlantis beyond 
the engirdling ocean, were equally unavailing. The narrow sea between Gaul and Britain 
was barrier enough to daunt the boldest of them from willingly encountering the dangers 
of an expedition to what seemed to them literally another world. 

Seeing then, that the first steps in navigation were taken in an age lying beyond all 
memory, and that the oldest traditions assign its origin to the remarkable people who 
figure alike in early sacred and profane history—in Joshua and Ezekiel, in Dius and 
Menander of Ephesus, in the Homeric poems and in later Greek writings—as unequalled 
in their enterprise on the sea, what impediments existed in B.C. 1400 or any earlier 
century, that did not still exist in A.D. 1400, to render intercourse between the eastern 
and the western hemisphere impossible ? America was no further off frcm Tarshish in 
the golden age of Tyre, than in that of Henry the Navigator. With the aid of literary 
memorials of the race of sea-rovers who carved out for themselves the Duchy of Nor- 
mandy from the domain of Charlemagne’s heir, and spoiled the Angles and Saxons in 
their island home, we glean sufficient evidence to place the fact beyond all doubt that. 
after discovering and colonising Iceland and Greenland, they made their way southward 
to Labrador, and so, some way along the American coast. How far south they actually 
explored the New England shores is matter for dispute, but that does not, in any degree, 
affect the present question. Certain it is that, about A.D. 1000, when St. Olaf was intro- 
ducing Christianity by a sufficiently high-handed process into the Norse fatherland, 
Leif, the son of Eric, the founder of the first Greenland colony, sailed from Ericsfiord, or 
other Greenland port, in quest of southern lands already reported as seen by Bjarni Herjulf- 
son, and did land on various parts of the North American coast. We know what the ships 
of those Norse rovers were: mere oared galleys, not larger than a good fishing smack, and 
far inferior to it in deck and rigging. For compass they had only the same old “ Pheenician 
star,” which, from the birth of navigation, had guided the mariners of the ancient world 
over the pathless deep. The track pursued by the Northmen, from Norway to Iceland, and 
so to Greeniand and the Labrador coast, was, doubtless, then as now, beset by fogs, so that 
“neither sun nor stars in many days appeared :” and they stood much more in need of 
compass than the sailors of the “Santa Maria,” the “ Pinta” and the “Nina,” the little fleet 
with which Columbus sailed from the Andalusian port of Palos, to his first discovered land 
of ‘“Guanahani,” variously identified among the islands of the American Archipelago. 
Yet, not withstanding all the advantages of a southern latitude, with its clearer skies, we 


112 DANIEL WILSON ON 


have to remember that the “Santa Maria,” the only decked vessel of the expedition, was 
stranded ; and the “ Pinta” and “ Nina,” on which Columbus and his party had to depend 
for their homeward voyage, were mere coasting craft, the one with a crew of thirty, and 
the other with twenty-four men, with only latine sails. As to the compass, we perceive 
how little that availed, on recalling the fact that the Portugese admiral, Pedro Alvares de 
Cabral, only eight years later, when following on the route of Vasco de Gama, was carried 
by the equatorial current so far out of his intended course that he found himself in sight 
of a strange land, in 10°S. lat., and so accidentally discovered Brazil. It is thus obvious 
that the discovery of America would have followed as a result of the voyage of Vasco de 
Gama round the Cape, wholly independent of that-of Columbus; but so far from the 
compass furnishing any help, it could only have been influential to prevent it. What 
befell the Portuguese admiral of King Manoel, in A.D. 1500, was an experience that might 
just as readily have fallen to the lot of the Phcenician admiral of Pharaoh Necho in B.C. 
600, to the Punic Hanno, or other early navigators; and may have repeatedly occurred to 
Mediterranean adventurers on the Atlantic in older centuries. On the news of de Cabral’s 
discovery reaching Portugal, the King despatched the Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci, who 
explored the coast of South America, prepared a map of the new-found world, and thereby 
wrested from Columbus the honour of giving his name to the continent which he discovered. 

When we turn from the myths and traditions of the Old World to those of the New, 
we find there traces that seem not unfairly interpretable into the American counterpart of 
the legend of Atlantis. The chief seat of the highest native American civilisation, is 
neither Mexico nor Peru, but Central America. The nations of the Maya stock, who 
inhabit Yucatan, Guatemala, and the neighbouring region, were peculiarly favourably 
situated ; and they appear to have achieved the greatest progress among the communities 
of Central America. They may not unfitly compare with the ancient dwellers in the valley 
of the Euphrates, from the grave mounds of whose buried cities we are now recovering 
the history of ages that had passed into oblivion before the Father of History assumed 
the pen. In actual centuries their monuments are not, indeed, so venerable ; but, for 
America’s chroniclings, they are more prehistoric than the disclosures of Assyrian mounds. 
The cities of Central America were large and populous, and adorned with edifices, even 
now magnificent in their ruins. Still more, the Mayas were a lettered people, who, like 
the Egyptians, recorded in elaborate sculptured hieroglyphics the formule of history and 
creed. Like them, too, they wrote and cyphered ; and appear, indeed, to have employed a 
comprehensive system of computing time and recording dates, which, it cannot be doubted, 
will be sufficiently mastered to admit of the decypherment of their ancient records. The 
Mayas appear, soon after the Spanish Conquest, to have adopted the Roman alphabet, and 
employed it in recording their own historical traditions and religious myths, as well as in 
rendering into such written characters some of the ancient national documents. These 
versions of native myth and history survive, and attention is now being directed to them. 
The most recent contribution from this source is “The Annals of the Cakchiquels,” by 
Dr. D. G. Brinton, a carefully edited and annotated translation of a native legal document 
or titulo, in which, soon after the Conquest, the heir of an ancient Maya family set forth 
the evidence of his claim to the inheritance. Along with this may be noted another 
work of the same class: “Titre Généalogique des Seigneurs de Totonicapan. Traduit de 
l'Espagnol par M. de Charencey.” These two works independently illustrate the same 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 113 


great national event. In one, a prince of the Cakchiquel nation, tells of the overthrow of 
the Quiché power by his people; and in the other a Quiché seignior, one of the “ Lords 
of Totonicapan,” describes it from his own point of view. Both were of the same Maya 
stock, in what is now the State of Guatemala. Each nation had a capital adorned with 
temples and palaces, the splendour of which excited the wonder of the Spaniards; and 
both preserved traditions of the migration of their ancestors from Tula, a mythical land 
from which they came across the water. 

Such traditions of migration meet us on many sides. Captain Cook found among the 
mythological traditions of Tahiti, a vague legend of a ship that came out of the ocean, 
and seemed to be the dim record of ancestral intercourse with the outer world. So also, 
the Aztecs had the tradition of the golden age of Anahuac ; and of Quetzalcoatl, their 
instructor in agriculture, metallurgy and the arts of government. He was of fair com- 
plexion, with long dark hair, and flowing beard—all, characteristics foreign to their race. 
When his mission was completed, he set sail for the mysterious shores of Tlapallan ; and 
on the appearance of the ships of Cortes, the Spaniards were believed to have returned, 
with the divine instructor of their forefathers, from the source of the rising sun. 

What tradition hints at, physiology confirms. The races of America differ less in 
physical character from those of Asia, than do the races either of Africa or Europe. The 
American Indian is a Mongol ; and though marked diversities are traceable throughout 
the American continent, the range of variation is much less than in the eastern hemisphere. 
The western continent appears to have been peopled by repeated migrations and diverse 
routes; but when we attempt to estimate any probable date for its primeval settlement, 
evidence wholly fails. Language proves elsewhere a safe guide. It has established 
beyond question some long-forgotten relationship between the Aryans of India and Persia 
and those of Europe; it connects the Finn and Lapp with their Asiatic forefathers ; it 
marks the independent origin of the Basques and their priority to the oldest Aryan 
intruders ; it links together widely diverse branches of the great Semitic family. Can 
language tell us of any such American affinities, or of traces of Old World congeners, in 
relation to either civilised Mayas and Peruvians, or to the forest and prairie races of the 
northern continent ? 

With the millions of America’s coloured population of African blood and yet speaking 
Aryan languages, the American comparative philologist can scarcely miss the significance 
of the warning that linguistic and ethnical classifications by no means necessarily imply 
the same thing. Nevertheless, without overlooking this distinction, the ethnical signifi- 
cance of the evidence which comparative philology supplies cannot be slighted in any 
question relative to prehistoric relations between the Old World and the New. What 
then can philology tell us? There is one answer, at the least, which the languages of 
America give, that fully accords with the legend, “ white with age,” that told of an island- 
continent in the Atlantic ocean with which the nations around the Mediterranean once 
held intercourse. None of them indicates any trace of immigration within the period 
of earliest authentic history. Those who attach significance to the references in the 
“Timzeus” to political relations common to Atlantis and parts of Libya and Europe; or 
who, on other grounds, look with favour on the idea of early intercourse between the 
Mediterranean and the western continent, have naturally turned to the Eskuara of the 
Basques. It is invariably recognised as the surviving representative of languages spoken 


Sec. II., 1876. 15. 


114 DANIEL WILSON ON 


by the Allophyliæ of Europe before the intrusion of Aryans. The forms of its grammar 
differ widely from those of any Semitic, or Indo-European tongue, placing it in the same 
class with Mongol, East African, and American languages. Here, therefore, is a tempting 
glimpse of possible aflinities; and Professor Whitney, accordingly, remarks in his “ Life 
and Growth of Languages,” that the Basque “ forms a suitable stepping-stone from which 
to enter the peculiar linguistic domain of the New World, since there is no other dialect 
of the Old World which so much resembles in structure the American languages.” But 
this glimpse of possible relationship has proved, thus far, illusory. In their morphological 
character, certain American and Asiatic languages have a common agglutinative structure, 
which in the former is developed into their characteristic polysynthetic attribute. With 
this, the Eskuarian system of affixes corresponds. But beyond the general structure, there 
is no such evidence of affinity, either in the vocabularies or grammar, as direct affiliation 
might be expected to show. Elements common to the Anglo-American of the nineteenth 
century and the Sanskrit-speaking race beyond the Indus, in the era of Alexander of 
Macedon, are suggested at once by the grammatical structure of their languages ; whereas 
there is nothing in the resemblance between the Basque and any of the North American 
languages that is not compatible with a “stepping-stone” from Asia to America by the 
islands of the Pacific. The most important of all the native American languages in their 
bearing on this interesting enquiry—those of Central America—are only now receiving 
adequate attention, Startling evidence may yet reward the diligence of students; but, so 
far as language furnishes any clue to affinity of race, no American language thus far 
discloses such a relationship, as, for example, enabled Dr. Pritchard to suggest that the 
western people of Europe, to whom the Greeks gave the collective name of AéAraz, and 
whose languages has been assumed by all previous ethnologists as furnishing evidence 
that they were precursors of the Aryan immigrants, in reality justified their classification 
in the same stock. 

But while thus far, the evidence of language is, at best, vague and indefinite in its 
response to the enquiry for proofs of relationship of the races of America to those of the 
Old World ; physiological comparisons lend no confirmation to the idea of an indigenous 
native race, with special affinities and adaptation to its peculiar environment, and with 
languages all of one class, the ramifications from a single native stem. So far as physical 
affinities can be relied upon, the man of America, in all his most characteristic racial 
diversities, is of Asiatic origin. His near approximation to the Asiatic Mongol is so 
manifest as to have led observers of widely different opinions in all other respects, to 
concur in classing both under the same great division: the Mongolian of Pickering, the 
American Mongolidæ of Latham, the Mongoloid of Huxley. Professor Flower, in an able 
discussion of the varieties of the human species, addressed to the Anthropological Institute 
of Great Britain in 1885, unhesitatingly classes the Eskimo as the typical North Asiatic 
Mongol. In other American races he notes as distinctive features the characteristic form 
of the nasal bones, the well-developed superciliary ridge, and retreating forehead ; but 
the resemblance is so obvious in many other respects, that he finally includes them all 
among the members of the Mongolian type. If, then, the American Mongol came 
originally from Asia, or sprung from the common stock of which the Asiatic Mongol is the 
typical representative, within any such period as even earliest Pheenician history would 
embrace, much more definite traces of affinity{are to be looked for in his language than 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 115 


mere correspondence in the agglutination characteristic of a very widely diffused class 
of speech. But we, thus far, look in vain for traces of a common genealogy such as those 
which, on the one hand, correlate the Semitic and Aryan families of Asia and Europe 
with parent stocks of times anterior to history, and on the other, with ramifications of 
modern centuries. We have, moreover, to deal mainly with the languages of uncivilised 
races. To the continent north of the Gulf of Mexico, the grand civilising art of the 
metallurgist remained to the last unknown; and in Mexico, it appears as a gift of recent 
origin, derived from Central America. The Asiatic origin of the art of Tubalcain has, 
indeed, been pretty generally assumed, both for Central and Southern America; but by 
mere inference. In doing so, we are carried back to some mythic Quetzalcoatl: for neither 
the metallurgist, nor his art was introduced in recent centuries. Assuming, for the sake 
of argument, the dispersion of a common population of Asia and America, already familiar 
with the working of metals, and with architecture, sculpture and other kind redarts, at a 
date coeval with the founding of Tyre, “the daughter of Sidon,” what help does ‘inguage 
give us in favour of such a postulate ? We have great language groups, such as the Huron- 
Iroquois, extending of old from the St. Lawrence to North Carolina; the Algonkin, from 
Hudson Bay to South Carolina; the Dakotan from the Mississippi to the Rocky Moun- 
tains ; the Athabascan, from the Eskimo frontier, within the Arctic circle, to New Mexico; 
and the Tinné family of languages west of the Rocky Mountains, from the Youkon and 
Mackenzie Rivers, far south on the Pacific slope. With those, as with the more cultured 
languages, or rather languages of the more cultured races, of Central and Southern 
America, elaborate comparisons have been made with vocabularies of Asiatic languages ; 
but the results are, at best, vague. Curious points of agreement have, indeed, been 
demonstrated, inviting to further research ; but as yet the evidence of relationship mainly 
rests on correspondence in structure. The agglutinative suffixes are common to the 
Eskimo and many American Indian tongues. Dr. H. Rink describes the polysynthetic 
process in the Eskimo language as founded on radical words, to which additional or im- 
perfect words, or affixes, are attached ; and on the inflexion, which, for transitive verbs, 
indicates subject as well as object, likewise by addition. But, while Professor Flower 
unhesitatingly characterises the Eskimo as belonging to the typical North Asiatic Mongols ; 
he, at the same time, speaks of them as almost as perfectly isolated in their Arctic home 
“as an island population.” Nevertheless, the same structure is common to their language 
and to those of the great North American families already named. All alike present, in an 
exaggerated form, the characteristic structure of the Ural-Altaic or Turanian group of 
Asiatic languages. 

Race-type corresponds in the Old and New World. A comparison of languages by 
means of the vocabularies of the two continents, yields no such correspondence. All the 
more, therefore, is the American student of comparative philology stimulated to Investigate 
the significance of the polysynthetic characteristic found to pertain to so many—though by 
no means to all,—of the languages of this continent. The relationship which it suggests to 
the agglutinative languages of Asia, furnishes a subject of investigation not less interesting 
to American students, alike of the science of language, and of the whole comprehensive 
questions which anthropology embraces, than the relations of the Romance languages of 
Europe to the parent Latin ; or of Latin itself, and all the Aryan languages, ancient and 
modern, not only to Sanskrit and Zend, but to the indeterminate stock which furnished 


116 DANIEL WILSON ON 


the parent roots, the grammatical forms, and that whole class of words still recognisable 
as the common property of the whole Aryan family. Sanskrit was a dead language three 
thousand years ago; the English language, as such, cannot claim to have endured much 
more than fourteen centuries, yet both partake of the same common property of numerals 
and familiar terms existing under certain modifications in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Slavonic, 
Celtic, German, Anglo-Saxon, and in all the Romance languages. Thus far the American 
philologist has been unable to show any such genealogical relationship pervading the | 
native languages ; or to recover specific evidence of affinities to languages, and so to races 
of other continents. There are, indeed, linguistic families, such as some already referred 
to, indicating a common descent among widely dispersed tribes; but this has its chief 
interest in relation to another aspect of the question. 

Professor Max Miiller has drawn attention to the tendency of the languages of America 
towards an endless multiplication of distinct dialects. Those again have been grouped by 
the synthetic process of Hervas into eleven families—seven for the northern continent, 
and four for South America. But we are as yet only on the threshold of this important 
branch of research. In two papers contributed by M. Lucien Adam to the “ Congrès Inter- 
national des Americanistes,” he gives the results of a careful examination of sixteen 
languages of North and South America; and arrives at the conclusion that they belong to 
a number of independent families as essentially distinct as they would have been “ had 
there been primitively several human pairs.” Dr. Brinton, one of the highest authorities 
on any question connected with native American languages, contributed a paper to the 
“ American Antiquarian ” (Jan. 1886), “On the study of the Nahuatl language.” This 
language, which is popularly known as Aztec, he strongly commends to the study of 
American philologists. It is one of the most completely organised of Indian languages, 
has a literature of considerable extent and variety, and is still in use by upwards of half 
a million of people. It is from this area, southward through Central America, and in the 
great seat of native South American civilisation, that we can alone hope to recover direct 
evidence of ancient intercourse between the Old and the New World. But, here again, 
the complexities of language seem to grow apace. In Dr. Brinton’s “ Notes on the Mangue, 
an extinct language formerly spoken in Nicaragua,” he states, as a result of his later 
studies, that the belief which he once entertained of some possible connection between 
this dialect and the Amyara of Peru, has not been confirmed on further examination. This, 
therefore, tends to sustain the prevailing opinion of scholars that there is no direct affilia- 
tion between the languages of North and South America. All this is suggestive either of 
an idea, such as that which Agassiz favoured in his system of natural provinces of the 
animal world, in relation to different types of man, on which he based the conclusion that 
the diverse varieties of American man originated in various centres, and had been distribu- 
ted from them over the entire continent ; or we must assume immigration from different 
foreign centres. Accepting the latter as the more tenable proposition, I long ago sketched 
a scheme of immigration such as seemed to harmonise with the suggestive, though imper- 
fect evidence. This assumed the earliest current of population, in its progress from a sup- 
posed Asiatic cradle-land, to have spread through the islands of the Pacific, and reached 
the South American continent before any excess of population had diffused itself into the 
inhospitable northern steppes of Asia. By an Atlantic oceanic migration, another wave 
of population occupied the Canaries, Madeiras, and the Azores, and so passed to the Antilles, 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 117 


Central America, and probably by the Cape Verdes, or, guided by the more southern equa- 
torial current, to Brazil. Latest of all, Behring Strait and the North Pacific islands may 
have become the highway for a migration by which certain striking diversities among 
nations of the northern continent, including the conquerors of the Mexican plateau, are 
most easily accounted for. 

It is not necessary to include in the question here discussed, the more comprehensive 
one of the existence of man in America contemporary with the great extinct animals of 
the Quaternary Period ; though the acknowledged affinities of Asiatic and American anthro- 
pology, taken in connection with the remoteness of any assignable period for migration 
from Asia to the American continent, renders it far from improbable that the latest oscilla- 
tions of land may here also have exercised an influence. The present soundings of 
Behring Strait, and the bed of the sea extending southward to the Aleutian Islands, 
entirely accord with the idea of a former continuity of land between Asia and America. 
The idea to which the speculations of Darwin, founded on his observations during the 
voyage of the “ Beagle,” gave rise, of a continuous subsidence of the Pacific Ocean, also 
favoured the probability of greater insular facilities for trans-oceanic migration at the sup- 
posed period of the peopling of America from Asia. But more recent explorations, and 
especially those connected with the “ Challenger” expedition, fail to confirm the old theory 
of the origin of the coral islands of the Pacific; and in any view of the case, we must be 
content to study the history of existing races, alike of Europe and America, apart from 
questions relating to palæocosmic man. If the vague legend of the lost Atlantis embodies 
any trace of remotest historical tradition, it belongs to a modern era compared with the 
men either of the European drift, or of the post-glacial deposits of New Jersey and the auri- 
ferous gravels of California. When resort is had to comparative philology, it is manifest 
that we must be content to deal with a more recent era than contemporaries of the 
Mastodon, and their congeners of Europe’s Mammoth and Reindeer Periods, notwith- 
standing the fact that the modern representatives of the later have been sought within 
our own Arctic circle. 

Such evidence as a comparison of languages thus far supplies, lends more countenance 
to the idea of migration through the islands of the Pacific, than to such a route from the 
Mediterranean as is implied in any significance attached to the legend of Atlantis. As to 
the Behring Strait route, present ethnology and philology point rather to an overflow 
of Arctic American population into Asia. Gallatin was the first to draw attention to 
certain analogies in the structure of Polynesian and American languages, as deserving of 
investigation ; and pointed out the peculiar mode of expressing the tense, mood, and voice 
of the verb, by affixed particles, and the value given to place over time, as indicated in the 
predominant locative verbal form. Such are to be looked for with greater probability 
among the languages of South America; but the substitution of affixed particles for inflec- 
tions, especially in expressing the direction of action in relation to the speaker, is common 
to the Polynesian and the Oregon languages, and has analogies in the Cherokee. The dis- 
tinction between the inclusive and exclusive pronoun we, according as it means “ you 
and I,” or “they and J,” ete., is as characteristic of the Maori as of the Ojibway. Other 
observations of more recent date have still further tended to countenance the recognition 
of elements common to the languages of Polynesia and America; and so to point to 
migration by the Pacific to the western continent. 


118 DANIEL WILSON ON 


But this idea of a migration through the islands of the Pacific receives curious confir- 
mation from another source. In an ingenious paper on “the Origin of Primitive Money,” ’ 
originally read at the meeting of the British Association at Montreal in 1884, Mr. Horatio 
Hale shows that there is good reason for believing that the most ancient currency 
in China, consisted of disks and slips of tortoise shell. The fact is stated in the great 
Chinese encyclopædia of the Emperor Kang-he, who reigned in the early years of the 
eighteenth century; and the Chinese annalists assert that metal coins have been in use 
from the time of Fuh-he, about B.C. 2950. Without attempting to determine the specific 
accuracy of Chinese chronology, it is sufficient to note here that the most ancient form of 
Chinese copper cash is the disk, perforated with a square hole, so as to admit of the coins 
being strung together. This, which corresponds with the large perforated shell-disks, or 
native currency of the Indians of California, and with many specimens recovered from 
ancient mounds, Mr. Hale regards as the later imitation in metal of the original Chinese 
shell money. A similar shell-currency, as he shows, is in use among many islanders of the 
Pacific ; and he traces it from the Loo-Choo islands, across the vast archipelago, through 
many island groups, to California; and then overland, with the aid of numerous disclosures 
from ancient mounds, to the Atlantic coast, where the Indians of Long Island were long 
noted for its manufacture in the later form of wampum. “The natives of Micronesia,” 
says Mr. Hale, who, it will be remembered, records the results of personal observation, 
“in character, usages, and language, resemble to a certain extent the nations of the 
southern and eastern Pacific groups, which are included in the designation of Polynesia, 
but with some striking differences, which careful observers have ascribed, with great 
probability, to influences from north-eastern Asia. They are noted for their skill in 
navigation. They have well-rigged vessels, exceeding sixty feet in length. They sail by 
the stars, and are accustomed to take long voyages.” To such voyagers, the Pacific presents 
no more formidable impediments to oceanic enterprise than did the Atlantic to the North- 
men of the tenth century. 

Throughout the same archipelago, modern exploration is rendering us familiar with 
examples of remarkable stone structures and colossal sculptured figures, such as those 
from Easter Island now in the British Museum. Rude as they undoubtedly are, they are 
highly suggestive of an affinity to the megalithic sculptures and cyclopean masonry of 
Peru. Monuments of this class were noted long ago by Captain Beechy, on some of the 
islands nearest the coasts of Chili and Peru. Since then the megalithic area has been 
extended by their discovery in other island groups lying towards the continent of Asia. 

Another subsidiary class of evidence of a different kind, long since noted by me, gives 
additional confirmation to this recovered trail of ancient migration through the islands of the 
Pacific to the American continent. The practice to which the Flathead Indians of Oregon 
and British Columbia owe their name, the compressed skulls from Peruvian cemeteries 
and the widely-diffused evidence of the prevalence of artificial malformation among many 
native American tribes, combine to indicate it as one of the most characteristic American 
customs. Yet the evidence is abundant which shows not only that it was a practice 
among rude Asiatic Mongol tribes of primitive centuries ; but that it was still in use 
among the Huns and Avars, who contended with the Barbarians from the Baltic for the 





1 Popular Science Monthly, xxviii. 296. 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 119 


spoils of the decaying Roman empire. Nor was it merely common to tribes of both con- 
tinents. It furnishes another link in the chain of evidence of ancient migration from 
Asia to America; as is proved by its practice in some of the islands of the Pacific, as 
described by Dr. Pickering, and since abundantly confirmed by the forms of Kanaka 
skulls. By following up the traces of this strange custom, perpetuated among the tribes 
on the Pacific coasts both of Northern and Southern America to our own day, we thus once 
more retrace the steps of ancient wanderers and are carried back to centuries, when the 
Macrocephali of the Euxine attracted the observant eye of Hippocrates, and became 
familiar to Strabo, Pliny, and Pomponius Mela. 

But the wanderings among the insular races of the Pacific are not limited to such 
remote eras. Later changes are also recorded by other evidence. The direct relationship 
of existing Polynesian languages is not Mongol but Malay; but this is the intrusive 
element of a time long subsequent to the growth of characteristic features which still 
perpetuate traces of Polynesian and American affinities. The number and diversity of the 
languages of this continent, and their essentially native vocabularies, prove that the latter 
have been in process of development from a remote period, free from contact with 
languages which appear to have been still modelling themselves according to the same 
plan of thought in many scattered islands of the Pacific. 

Attention has been given in previous papers to the remarkable amount of culture in 
the languages of some of the barbarous nations of North America, traceable, as I conceive, 
to the important part which the orator played in their deliberative assemblies ; but in 
any attempt to recover the history of the new world by the aid of philology we must 
deal with the languages of its civilised races. Among those, the Nahuatl or Aztec has 
been already referred to; and the Mayas have been noted as a lettered people whose 
hieroglyphic records, and later transcripts of writen documents, are now the object of 
intelligent investigation both by European and American philologists. The Maya language 
strikingly contrasts, in its soft, vocalic forms, with the languages of nations immediately 
to the north of its native area. It is that which, according to Stephens, was affirmed to 
be still spoken by a living race in a region beyond the Great Sierra, extending to Yucatan 
and the Mexican Gulf. Others among the cultured native languages which seem to 
invite special study are the Aymara, and the Quichua. Of these, the latter was the 
classical language of South America, wherein, according to its native historians, the 
Peruvian chroniclers and poets incorporated the national legends. It may be described as 
having occupied a place under Inca rule analogous to that of the Norman French in 
England from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. To those ancient, cultured languages 
of the seats of an indigenous civilisation on this continent, and with a literature of their 
own, attention is now happily directed. The students of American ethnology begin to 
realise that the buried mounds of Assyria are not richer in discoveries relative to the 
ancient history of Asia, than are the monuments, the hieroglyphic records, and the 
languages of Central America and Peru, in relation to a native social life which long 
flourished as an indigenous product of their own West. To this occidental Assyria we 
have to look for an answer to many inquiries, especially interesting to ourselves as 
occupants of the western continent. If its architecture and sculpture, and the hiero- 
glyphic records with which they are enriched, are modifications of a prehistoric Asiatic 
civilisation, it is here that the evidence is to be looked for; and if the arts of the sculptor 


120 DANIEL WILSON ON 


and architect were brought to this continent by wanderers from an Asiatic fatherland, 
then those of the potter and of the metallurgist will also prove to be an inheritance from 
the old Asiatic hive of the nations. 

From the evidence thus far adduced it appears that ethnically the American is 
Mongol, and by the agglutinative element his language may be classed as Turanian. The 
Finnic hypothesis of Rask, and the melanochroic Metis of Huxley, alike pertain to a prehis- 
toric era of Europe of which the Finns and the Basques are assumed to be survivals; and 
to that elder era, rather than to any date within the remotest limits of authentic history, 
the languages of America seem to refer us in any search for a common origin with those 
of the eastern hemisphere. But a zealous comparative philologist, already referred to, 
has sought for linguistic traces of relationship between the Old and the New World 
which, if confirmed, would better harmonise with the traditions of intercourse between 
the maritime nations of the eastern Mediterranean and a continent lying outside of the 
pillars of Hercules. In these investigations he aims at determining the relations of the 
Aztec or Nahuatl culture and language to those of Asia. Humboldt long ago claimed for 
much of the former an old world derivation. It seems premature to attempt to deduce any 
comprehensive results from the meagre data thus far gathered. But the author of the “The 
Khita and Khita-Peruvian Epoch,” in tracing the progress of his Sumerian race, assigns 
an interval of four thousand years since their settlement in Babylonia and India. In like 
manner, on the assumption of their migration from a common Asiatic centre, which the 
division of Western and Eastern Sumerian in pronouns and other details is thought to 
indicate, Peru it is conceived, may have been reached by a migratory wave of earlier 
movement, from four to five thousand years ago. Mr. Hyde Clarke indead conceives that 
it is quite within compass that the same great wave of migration which passed over 
India and Babylonia, continued to propagate its centrifugal force, and that by its means 
Peru was reached within the last three thousand years. But, whatever intercourse may 
possibly have been carried on, at such early dates, between the Old and the New World, 
it must be obvious, on mature reflection, that so recent a date for the peopling of South 
America from Asia is as little reconcilable with the very remote traces of linguistic affinity 
thus far adduced, as it is with any fancied relationship with a lost Atlantis of the elder 
world. The enduring affinities of long-parted languages of the Old World tell a very 
different tale. With the comparative philologist, as with the archæologist, time is more 
and more coming to be recognised as an all-important factor. 

But, leaving the estimate of centuries out of consideration, in the researches into the 
origin of the peculiar native civilisation of America here referred to, the recently 
deciphered Akkad is accepted as the typical language of the Sumerian class. This is 
assumed to have started from High Asia, and to have passed on to Babylonia; while 
another branch diffused itself by India and Indo-China, and thence, by way of the 
islands of the Pacific, reached America. Hence, in an illustrative table of Sumerian words 
arranged under four heads, as Western, Indo-Chinese, Peruvian, and Mexican, etc., it is 
noted that “while in some cases a root may be traced throughout, it will be seen that more 
commonly the Western and American roots, or types, cross in the Indo-Chinese region.” 
But another and older influence, related to the Agaw of the Nile region, is also traced in 
the Guarani, Omagua, and other languages of South America, indicating evidences of more 
remote relations with the Old World, and with the African continent. This is supposed 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 121 


to have been displaced by a Sumerian migration by which the Aymara domination was 
established in Peru, and the Maya element introduced into Yucatan. Those movements 
are assumed to belong to an era of civilisation, during which the maritime enterprise 
of the Pacific may have been carried on upon a scale unknown to the most adventurous of 
modern Malay navigators, notwithstanding the essentially maritime character by which 
the race is still distinguished. All this implies that the highway to the Pacific was 
familiar to both continents; and hence a second migration is recognised, in certain 
linguistic relations, between the Siamese and other languages of Indo-China, and the 
Quichua and Aztec of Peru and Mexico. But the problem of the origin of the races of 
this continent, and of the sources of its native civilisation, is still in that preliminary 
stage in which the accumulation of materials on which future induction may be based is 
of more value than the most comprehensive generalisations. 

The vastness of the American twin continents, with their Atlantic and Pacific seaboard 
reaching from the Arctic well nigh to the Antartic circle, furnishes a tempting stimulus to 
theories of migration on the grandest scale, and to the assumption of comprehensive 
schemes of international relations in prehistoric centuries. But they are not more sub- 
stantial than the old legend of Atlantis. The best that can be said of them is that here, at 
any rate, are lines of research in the prosecution of which American ethnologists may 
employ their learning and acumen encouraged by the hope of yet revealing a past not less 
marvellous, and possessing a more personal interest, than all which geology has recovered 
from the testimony of the rocks. But before such can be more than dimly guessed at, the 
patient diligence of many students will be needed to accumulate the needful materials. 
Nor can we afford to delay the task. The Narraganset Bible, the work of Eliot, the 
apostle of the Indians, is the memoria] of a race that has perished; and other nations and 
languages have disappeared since his day, with no such invaluable record of their 
character. Mr. Horatio Hale published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical 
Society, in 1883, a paper on the ‘‘Tutelo Tribe and Language,” derived from Nikonha, the 
last survivor of a once powerful tribe of North Carolina. To Dr. Brinton, we owe the 
recent valuable notes on the Mangue, another extinct language. On our own North- 
western prairies the buffalo has disappeared, and the Indian must follow. On all hands, 
we are called upon to work diligently while it is yet time, in order to accumulate the 
materials out of which the history of this western hemisphere is to be evolved. 

It accords with the idea of Polynesian genealogy, that indications suggestive of 
grammatical affinity have been noted in languages of South America, in their mode of 
expressing the tense of the verb; in the formation of causative, reciprocal, potential and 
locative verbs by affixes; and in the general system of compound word structure. The 
incorporation of the particle with the verbal root, appears to embody the germ of the more 
comprehensive American holophrasms. Such affinities point to others more markedly 
Asiatic ; for analogies recognised between the languages of the Deccan and those of the 
Polynesian group in relation to the determinative significance of the formative particles 
on the verbal root, reappear in some of the characteristic peculiarities of American 
languages. On this subject, the Rev. Richard Garnett remarked, in a communication to the 
Philological Society, that most of the native American languages of which we have definite 
information, bear a general analogy alike to the Polynesian family and to the languages 
of the Deccan, in their methods of distinguishing the various modifications of time ; and 


Sec. II. 1886. 16. 


122 DANIEL WILSON ON 


he adds: “We may venture to affirm, in general terms, that a South American verb is 
constructed precisely as those in the Tamul and other languages of Southern India; con- 
sisting, like them, of a verbal root, a second element defining the time of the action, and 
a third denoting the subject or person.” 3 

So far it becomes apparent that the evidence, derived alike from language and from 
other sources, points to the isolation of the American continent through unnumbered 
ages. The legend of the lost Atlantis is true in this, if in nothing else, that it relegates 
the knowledge of the world beyond the Atlantic, by the early maritime races of the Medi- 
terranean, to a time of hoar antiquity in the age of Socrates, or even of Solon. But at a 
greatly later date the Caribbean Sea was scarcely more a mystery to the dwellers on the 
shores of the Ægean, than was the Baltic or the North Sea. Herodotus, indeed, expressly 
affirms his disbelief in “a river, called by the barbarians, Eridanus, which flows into a 
northern sea, and from which there is a report that amber is wont to come.” Never- 
theless, we learn from him of Greek traders exchanging personal ornaments and woven 
stuffs for the furs and amber of the North. They ascended the Dneiper as far as Gerrhos, 
a trading post, forty days’ journey inland; and the tokens of their presence there have 
been recovered in modern times. Not only hoards of Greek coins, minted in the fifth 
century B.C., but older golden gryphons of Assyrian workmanship have been recovered 
during the present century, near Bromberg in Posen, and at Kiev on the Dneiper. As 
also, far out in the Atlantic, on the most northern island of the Azores, hoards of Cartha- 
ginian coins have revealed the traces of the old Punic voyager there ; similar evidence 
may yet be recovered in Central America, if more ancient voyagers from Sidon, Tyre, or 
Seleucia, did find their way in some old forgotten century to lands that lay beyond the 
waste of waters, which seemed to engirdle their world. 

But also the carving of names and dates, and other graphic memorials of the passing 
wayfarer, is no mere modern custom. When the sites of the Greenland settlements of the 
Northmen of the tenth century were discovered in our own day, the runic inscriptions left 
no room for doubt as to their former presence there. By like evidence we learn of them 
in southern lands, from their runes still legible on the marble lion of the Piræus, since 
transported to its later site in the arsenal of Venice. At Maes How in Orkney, in St. 
Molio’s Cave on the Clyde, at Kirk Michael in the Isle of Man; and on many a rock and 
stone by the Baltic, the sea-rovers from the north have left enduring evidence of their 
wanderings. So was it with the Roman. From the Moray Frith to the Libyan desert, 
and from the Iberian shore to the Syrian valleys, sepulchral, legionary, and mythological 
inscriptions, as well as coins, medals, pottery and works of art, mark the footprints of 
the masters of the world. In Italy itself Perusinian, Eugubine, Etruscan, and Greek 
inscriptions tell the story of a succession of races in that beautiful peninsula. It was 
the same, through all the centuries of Hellenic intellectual rule, back to the unrivalled 
inscription at Abbu Simbel. This was cut, says Dr. Isaac Taylor,’ “ when what we 
call Greek history can hardly be said to have commenced: two hundred years before 
Herodotus, the Father of History, had composed his work; a century before Athens began 
to rise to power. More ancient even than the epoch assigned to Solon, Thales, and the 
seven wise men of Greece: it must be placed in the half-legendary period at which the laws 





1 The Alphabet, ii. 10. 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. ‘128 


of Dracon are said to have been enacted”—the period, in fact, from which the legend 
of Atlantis was professedly derived. Vet there the graven characters are, with their 
authentic bit of history, legible to this day, of the son of Theokles, sailing with his 
company “up the Nile, when King Psamatichos came to Elephantina” So it is with 
Egyptians, Assyrians, Phenicians, and with the strange forgotten Hittites, whose vast 
empire has vanished out of the world’s memory. The lion of the Pirzeus, with its graven 
runes, is a thing of yesterday, compared with the inscribed lion from Marash, covered 
with Hittite hieroglyphs, now in the museum at Constantinople; for the Hittite capital, 
Ketesh, was captured by the Egyptian Sethos, B.C. 1340. All but the name of this once 
powerful people seemed to have perished. Yet the inscribed stones, by which they 
were to be restored to their place in history, remained, awaiting the interpretation of an 
enlightened age. 

If then, traces of the lost Atlantis are ever to be recovered in the New World, it must 
be by some indubitable memorial of a like kind. Old as the legend may be, it is seen that 
literal graphic memorials—Assyrian, Phoenician, Khita, Egyptian and Greek—still remain 
to tell of times even beyond the epoch assigned to Solon. The antiquaries of New England 
have sought in vain for runic memorials of the Northmen of the tenth century ; and the 
diligence of less trustworthy explorers for traces of ancient records has been stimulated 
to excess, throughout the northern continent, with results little more creditable to their 
honesty than their judgment. What some chance disclosure may yet reveal, who can 
presume to guess? But thus far it appears to be improbable that within the continental 
area north of the Gulf of Mexico, evidences of the presence of Phcenician, Greek, or 
other ancient historic race will now be found. Certain it is that, whatever transient 
visits may have been paid to North America by representatives of Old World progress, no 
long-matured civilisation, whether of native or foreign origin, has existed here. Through 
all the centuries of which definite history has anything to tell, it has remained a world 
apart, secure in its isolation, with languages, arts, and customs essentially native in 
character. The nations of the Maya stock appear to have made the gratest progress 
in civilisation of all the communities of Central America. They dwelt in cities adorned 
with costly structures dedicated to the purposes of religion and the state; and had 
political government, and forms of social organisation, to all appearance, the slow growth 
of many generations. They had, also, a well-matured system of chronology ; and have left 
behind them graven and written records, analogous to those of ancient Egypt, which still 
await decypherment. Whether this culture was purely of native growth, or had its origin 
from the germs of an Old World civilisation, can only be determined when its secrets have 
been fully mastered. The region is even now very partially explored. The students of 
American ethnology and archeology are only awakening to some adequate sense of its 
importance. But here appears to have been the centre of a native American civilisation 
whence light was slowly radiating on either hand, before the vandals of the Spanish 
Conquest quenched it in blood. The civilisation of Mexico was but a borrowed reflex of 
that of Central America; and its picture- writing is a very inferior effort imitation of the 
ideography of the Maya hieroglyphics. 

A tendency manifests itself anew to trace the metallurgy, the letters, the astronomical 
science, and whatever else marks the quickening into intellectual life of this American 
leading race, to an Asiatic or other Old World origin. The point, however, is by no means 


124 DANIEL WILSON ON 


established ; nor can any reason be shown why the human intellect might not be started 
on the same course in Central America, as in Mesopotamia or the valley of the Nile. If we 
assume the primary settlement of Central America by expeditions systematically carried 
on under the auspices of some ancient maritime power of the Mediterranean, or of an early 
seat of Iberian or Libyan civilisation, then they would, undoubtedly, transplant the arts 
of their old home to the New World. But, on the more probable supposition of wanderers, 
either by the Atlantic or the Pacific, being landed on its shores, and becoming the unde- 
signed settlers of the continent, it is otherwise; and the probabilities are still further dim- 
inished, if we conceive of ocean wanderers, from island to island of the Pacific, at length 
reaching the shores of the remote continent after intervening generations had lost the 
traditions of their Asiatic fatherland. The condition of metallurgy as practised by the 
Mexicans and Peruvians exhibited none of the matured phases of an inheritance from remote 
generations, but partook rather of the tentative characteristics of immature native art. 

We are prone to overestimate the facilities by which the arts of civilisation may be 
transplanted to remote regions. It is not greatly more difficult to conceive of the redis- 
covery of some of the essential elements of human progress than to believe in the trans- 
ference of them from the eastern to the western hemisphere by wanderers from either 
Europe or Asia. Take the average type of emigrants, such as are annually’ landed by 
thousands at New York. They come from the most civilised countries of Europe. Yet, 
how few among them all could be relied upon for any such intelligent comprehension 
of metallurgy, if left entirly to their own resources, as to be found able to turn the 
mineral wealth of their new home to practical account; or for astronomical science, such 
as would enable them to construct a calendar, and start afresh a systematic chronology. 
As to letters, the picture-writing of the Aztecs was the same in principle as the rude art of 
the northern Indians; and I cannot conceive of any reason for rejecting the assumption of 
its native origin as an intellectual triumph achieved by the labours of many generations. 
Every step is still traceable, from the rude picturings on the Indian’s grave-post or rock- 
inscription, to the systematic ideographs of Palenque or Copan. Hieroglyphics, as the 
natural outgrowth of pictorial representation, must always have a general family likeness; 
but all attempts to connect the civilisation of Central and Southern Amarica with that of 
Egypt fail, so soon as a comparison is instituted between the Egyptian calendar and any 
of the native American systems of recording dates and computing time. The vague year 
of 365 days, and the corrected solar year, with the great Sothic Cycle of 1460 years, so inti- 
mately interwoven with the religious system and historical chronology of the Egyptians, 
abundantly prove the correction of the Egyptian calender by accumulated experience, at a 
date long anterior to the resort of the Greek astronomer, Thales, to Egypt. At the close of 
the fifteenth century, the Aztecs had learned to correct their calendar to solar time ; but their 
cycle was one of only fifty-two years. The Peruvians also had their recurrent religious 
festivals, connected with the adjustment of their sacred calendar to solar time; but the 
geographical position of Peru, with Quito, its holy city, lying immediately under the 
equator, greatly simplified the process by which they regulated their religious festivals 
by the solstices and equinoxes. The facilities which their equatorial position afforded for 
determining the few indispensable periods in their calendar were, indeed, a doubtful 
advantage, for they removed all stimulus to progress. The Mexican calendar is the most 
remarkable evidence of the civilisation attained by that people. Humboldt unhesitatingly 


THE LOST ATLANTIS. 125 


connected it with the ancient science of south-eastern Asia. But instead of its exhibiting 
any such inevitable accumulation of error as that which gave so peculiar a character to 
the historical chronology of the Egyptians, its computation differed less from true solar 
time than the unreformed Julian calendar which the Spaniards had inherited from pagan 
Rome. But though this suffices to show that the civilisation of Mexico was of no great 
antiquity, it only accords with other evidence of its borrowed character. The Mexicans 
stood in the same relation to Central America as the Northern Barbarians of the third and 
fourth century did to Italy ; and the intruding Spaniard nipped their germ of borrowed civi- 
lisation in the bud. So long as the search for evidences either of a native or intruded 
civilisation is limited to the northern continent of America, it is equivalent to an attempt 
to recover the traces of Greek and Roman Civilisation in transalpine Europe. The Mexican 
calendar stone is no more than the counterpart of some stray Greek or Roman tablet 
beyond the Alps; or rather, perhaps, of some Mæsogothic product of borrowed art. 

We must await then, the intelligent exploration of Central America, before any 
certain conclusion can be arrived at relative to the story of the New World’s unknown 
past. On the sculptured tablets of Palenque, Quiriqua, Chichenitza, and Uxmal, and 
on the collossal statues at Copan and other ancient sites, are numerous inscriptions 
awaiting the decypherment of the future Young or Champolion of American palæo- 
graphy. The whole region was once in occupation by a lettered race, having the 
same written characters and a common civilisation. If they learned of some apostle 
from the Mediterranean the grand invention of letters, which, as Bacon says, “ as 
ships, pass through the vast seas of time, and make ages so distant to participate of 
the wisdom, illuminations and inventions, the one of the other ;” then, we may confidently 
anticipate the recovery of some graphic memorial of the messenger, confirming the 
oft-recurring traditions of bearded white men who came from beyond the sea, intro- 
duced the arts of civilisation, and were reverenced as divine benefactors. It cannot be that 
Egyptian, Assyrian, Hittite, Pheenician, and other most ancient races, are still perpetuated 
by so many traces of their wanderings in the Old World; that the Northmen’s graphic 
runes have placed beyond all question their pre-Columbian explorations ; and yet that not 
a single trace of Mediterranean wanderers to the lost Atlantis survives. In Humboldt’s 
“ Researches,” a fragment of a reputed Phoenician inscription is engraved. It was copied 
by Ranson Bueno, a Franciscan monk, from a block of granite which he discovered in a 
cavern in the mountain chain, between the Orinoco and the Amazon. Humboldt recog- 
nised in it some resemblance to the Phenician alphabet. We must remember, however, 
what rudely traced Phœnician characters are; and as to their transcriber, it may be pre- 
sumed that he had no knowledge of Phenician. Humboldt, says of him: “The good 
monk seemed to be but little interested about this pretended inscription,” though, he 
adds, he had copied it very carefully 


The lost Atlantis, then, lies still in the future. The earlier studies of the monuments 
and prehistoric remains of the American continent seemed to point conclusively, to a native 
source for its civilisation. From quipu and wampum, pictured grave-post and buffalo 
robe, to the most finished hieroglyphs of Copan or Palenque, continuous steps appear to 
be traceable whereby American man developed for himself the same wondrous invention 
of letters which ancient legend ascribed to Thoth or Mercury ; or, in less mythic form, to 


126 WILSON ON ATLANTIS. 


the Pheenician Cadmus. Nor has the generally accepted assumption of a foreign origin 
for American metallurgy been placed as yet on any substantial basis. Gold, as I believe, 
was everywhere the first metal wrought. The bright nugget tempted the savage, with 
whom personal ornaments precede dress. It was readily fashioned into any desired shape. 
The same is true, though in a less degree, of copper; and wherever, as on the American 
continent, native copper abounds, the next step in metallurgy is to be anticipated. With 
the discovery of the economic use of the metals, an all-important step had been achieved, 
leading to the fashioning of usefal tools, to architecture, sculpture, pictorial ornamentation, 
and so to ideography. The facilities for all this were, at least, as abundant in Central 
and Southern America as in Egypt. The progress was, doubtless, slow; but when the 
neolithic age began to yield to that of the metallurgist, the all-important step had been 
taken, The history of this first step is embodied in myths of the New World, no less than 
of the Old. Tubalcain, Dædalus, Hephæstus, Vulcan, Veelund, Galant, and Wayland the 
Saxon smith-god, are all mere legendary variations of the first mastery of the use of the 
metals ; and so, too, the new world has Quetzalcoatl, its divine instructor in the same 
priceless art. 

It forms one of the indisputable facts of ancient history that, long before Greece 
became the world’s intellectual leader, the eastern Mediterranean was settled by maritime 
races, whose adventurous enterprise led them to navigate the Atlantic. There was no 
greater impediment to such adventurous mariners crossing the Atlantic in earliest centuries 
before Christ, than at any subsequent date prior to the revival of navigation in the fifteenth 
century. It would not, therefore, in any degree, surprise me to learn of the discovery 
of a genuine Pheenician, or other inscription; or, of some hoard of Assyrian gryphons, 
or shekels of the merchant princes of Tyre “that had knowledge of the sea,” being 
recovered among the still unexplored treasures of the buried empire of Montezuma, or 
the long deserted ruins of central America. Such a discovery would scarcely be more 
surprising than that of the Punic hoards found at Corvo, the most westerly island of 
the Azores. Yet it would furnish a substantial basis for the legend of Atlantis, akin to 
that which the runic monuments of Kingiktorsoak and Igalikko supplied in confirmation 
of the fabled charms of a Hesperian region lying within the Arctic circle; and of the first, 
actual glimpses of the American mainland by Norse voyagers of the tenth century, as 
told in more than one of their old Sagas. But until such evidence is forthcoming, the 
legendary Atlantis must remain a myth, and pre-Columbian America be still credited 
with a self-achieved progress. 


ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


TRANSACTIONS 


SECTION IL 


MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL SCIENCKS. 


PAPERS FOR 1886; 





SECTION III, 1886. TRE ea TRANS. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


L.— Presidential Address. 


By CHARLES CARPMAEL, M.A. 


(Read May 25, 1886.) 


Last year, when I was elected President of this Section, I hoped to be able to find 
ample time for the preparation of my Address. Various unforeseen circumstances have, 
however, combined to prevent me from devoting to this purpose as much time as I had 
desired, and I have been consequently obliged to confine myself to the few hastily pre- 
pared and meagre remarks which I am now about to address to you. 

Four years ago, this Society was organized by His Excellency the Marquis of Lorne, 
and as I was one of those who had the honour of being appointed by His Excellency an 
officer in this Section, it seems to me that it will not be out of place for me now, to refer 
to some of the objects which were aimed at, and to the hopes which were entertained, 
at the time of the organization of the Society, at least so far as they directly affect this 
Section. These objects were, first, to establish a bond of union between the scattered 
workers in different parts of the Dominion, by bringing them together once a year for 
interchange of ideas, and discussion of papers. Next, it was hoped that means would be 
found to publish valuable scientific papers in Canada, which otherwise would either be 
published in very inferior style or in a curtailed form, or at best appear in the transac- 
tions of foreign societies and be little known in Canada. The knowledge that a really 
valuable paper once prepared would find publication in Canada free of cost, would also, 
it was expected, act as a great stimulus to Canadian workers in Science. Another object 
of the Society was to provide a body, whom the Government might refer to when requir- 
ing information on scientific points, and who might call the attention of the Government, 
to the desirability of aiding in scientific researches which were likely to be of national 
benefit. 

With regard to the first of these objects, viz., the bringing together from time to 
time of some of the most eminent scientific workers in the Dominion, it is one of the 
utmost importance in every country. The solitary worker in Science is but too apt to get 
into one groove of thinking and working, but let him meet with others who are interested 
in the same kind of work, let him talk with them of the work he is engaged in, or listen 
to what they have to say of what they are doing, and the chances are that he will get 
some idea which will be of use to him. It may be, that he will be asked a question the 
answer to which requires a more detailed reasoning out of some point than he has yet 
given to it, and this will lead him to a more thorough grasp of his own idea; or it may 
possibly turn out, on his attempting to elaborate his proof, that his former reasoning has 
been fallacious, even if his conclusions have not been false. In such a case, if he has not 
yet written a paper on the subject, the paper when written will be free from errors which 


Sec. IIL, 1886. 1. 


2 CHARLES CARPMAEL: 


might otherwise have occurred in it, and if the paper has been already written, it will 
give the author an opportunity of removing the blemishes before publication; or if the 
error which is detected should seem to require it, he may withdraw the paper altogether. 

Dr. Wilson, the President of this Society for the present year, recently said to me that, 
when he first came to Canada many years ago from Edinburgh, there were two things that 
he missed above all others; the first was the want of a good library to which he could 
refer (for there was then no library worthy of the name in Toronto), and the second was 
the absence of all opportunity of discussing with others, interested in such work as he 
might be engaged in, the various points to which his attention might be turned during 
the progress of his investigations. So many points would be discussed, he added, at 
meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and in other learned societies, that the 
author of any literary or scientific work would generally have his views so modified 
and enlarged before its completion, that he would find it impossible to say, how much was 
really due to his own researches, and how much had been suggested in these discussions. 

It must not be forgotten that what we, as scientific workers, should aim at, is not so 
much the production of a large number of papers, as that such as we may produce shall 
contain new scientific truths, new scientific deductions from old principles, or new and 
improved methods of deducing facts already known, and that they may be as far as pos- 
sible free from error. When once a paper is printed, in which deductions are drawn from 
erroneous premises, or erroneous deductions from true premises, this paper may be read 
by many who will be unable to detect the errors and who may copy them and so spread 
not truth but error. When once widely spread, it is often the work of a very long time 
before the erroneous ideas thus promulgated become eradicated. 

A good instance of this difficulty is the erroneous impression very generally held by 
mathematicians as to specific gravity and density. The specific gravity of a substance is 
commonly taken by them as the weight of a unit of volume of that substance, thus making 
the specific gravity vary from place to place, and introducing unneccessary complication 
into all calculations involving this quantity. The density of the substance is on the 
other hand taken as the mass of a unit of volume of the substance. Eyery practical physic- 
ist must know that specific gravity, like density, is determined by a comparison of the 
masses of equal volumes of the given and a standard substance ; yet in all our elementary 
text books on hydrostatics, at least in the English language, the above way of defining 
specific gravity is still retained, although in the elementary text books on mechanics it is 
clearly pointed out that what are ordinarily called standards of weight are, in the mathe- 
matician’s way of defining weight and mass, in reality standards of mass. 

In France also, at least a few years ago, both terms were used ; and there, according to 
Millar, in tables of specific gravity the unit was usually water at zero cent., while in tables 
of density the unit was water at 4°c. 

If in these countries errors or unnecessary complications, once introduced, are so per- 
sistent, in Canada, or at any rate in Ontario, they are likely to be still more so. We are 
here having introduced into our schools a uniform series of text books, so that if any errors 
creep into them, not the pupils in one school only, but in a whole generation, will be 
brought up in the same errors, which will not therefore stand so good a chance of being 
corrected by the after mixing together of pupils from different schools. 

Although then, whatever precautions we may take, as Science advances, we shall 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 3 


find that we have much to unlearn as well as to learn, it is amatter of no little importance, 
that we should do all we can to prevent errors coming in at the fountain head, that is in 
the original papers in which new ideas are promulgated ; and we should therefore not only 
endeavour to make the papers which we ourselves write as free as possible from errors, 
but, by discussing those which are brought before us, endeavour, if we can, to detect and 
have corrected, before publication, the defects in such papers as may have been written 
by others. 

Some of the papers which have been laid before us at the meetings during the past 
four years have been fairly well discussed ; it would, however, it seems to me, be a great 
benefit to the Society were the discussions still more frequent and more freely participated 
in. Perhaps the ignorance which has generally prevailed heretofore, as to the nature of 
the papers to be read, by preventing the members present from giving any prior consi- 
deration to the subject matter of the paper, may have greatly hindered discussion, An 
effort has been made this year to overcome this difficulty, by printing a short account of 
the contents of some of the papers, and it is to be hoped that, in future, members will 
always endeavour to prepare, when possible, such a short abstract of their papers as will 
give a fair idea of their contents. There is also another way in which members may aid 
in this matter. It is to be assumed that any criticism of a paper is made with the object 
of bringing out the truth, and of preventing errors from appearing in our printed volume ; 
and that any questions that may be asked, are either for the purpose of further elucidating 
some point which is obscure in the paper, or from the desire of the member asking the 
question to obtain further information on a point on which he happens to be ignorant. 
In either case, the member presenting the paper should do his best to elucidate the point ; 
if he has been in error, it is for his own credit that the paper should not be printed with 
errors in it, and if there is no error, the question or criticism may show that some point 
has not been very plainly brought out, and the author may see that, by a slight verbal 
alteration, his meaning may be made clearer. But even if there is no error and no real 
want of clearness in the paper, but the criticism has been made through false reasoning 
of a member who has started or taken part in the discussion, the member presenting the 
paper having presumably the subject at his fingers’ ends, should be able to point out at 
what point the criticism fails, and the consideration due from one member of this Society 
to another should make him willing to do this, and to do it courteously, even though his 
superior knowledge of the subject shews him that the objections which are raised are 
frivolous or absurd. I cannot but hope that the discussions will, in the future, prove to 
be perhaps the most instructive and interesting feature in our meetings, as I have found 
them at meetings of some other societies. 

Let us turn now to the next point which I mentioned as among the principal objects 
in the foundation of the Society, viz., the publication in Canada of valuable scientific 
papers. On this point we have reason to congratulate ourselves on success. We have 
had presented to us and published in our Transactions, papers on a variety of subjects, 
mathemical, chemical and engineering, in numbers satisfactory, considering the small 
number of members, and of quality decidedly high. Most of these papers have been con- 
tributed by members of the Society. It is to be regretted that a larger number of papers 
have not been contributed by outsiders, and we should all endeavour to get scientific 
workers with whom we may be acquainted to occasionally present papers, as we should 


4. CHARLES CARPMAEL: 


thus add to the interest of these meetings and to the value of our Transactions. We should 
also gain this future advantage, that should a vacancy arise in our Section we should be 
able to judge by the value of the papers, which had been contributed to us, whom it was 
desirable to elect to fill the vacancy. 

With regard to the next function of the Society, namely, that of advising the Govern- 
ment on scientific points, we have had, as the President has already informed you, for the 
last two years, a committee to coéperate with a committee of the British Association, in 
urging on the Government the advisability of providing for continuous tidal observations 
in Canada. In January last, these committees, with some members of the Board of Trade 
of Montreal, waited on the Government, and urged that provision be made in the estimates 
for this purpose. The defecit this year has, however, made it difficult to get any matter 
taken up that requires expenditure, and although all the members of the Government 
seem to acknowledge the necessity of accurate observations, the cost of obtaining them 
prevents them for the present from taking the matter up. 

Having made these few remarks and suggestions on the work of the Society, I should 
like to take this opportunity, the best that will perhaps ever occur to me, to point out to 
you how you could aid the particular branch of scientific work with which I am more 
particularly connected as Superintendent of the Meteorological Service of the Dominion 
of Canada. You are probably all of you aware that the Dominion Government has for 
many years past made annually an appropriation for the maintenance of this service. In 
doing this, they have principally in view the providing for storm warnings for the use of 
mariners, and for daily weather predictions for the benefit of farmers and others to whom 
a fairly accurate knowledge for a short time in advance of what weather may be expected 
is of commercial value ; and although the obtaining statistics of climate has not been 
entirely neglected, the vast bulk of the annual grant is absorbed for the two purposes 
which I have named. 

The observations which can be immediately made use of for these two purposes are 
not sufficient for the purpose of tracing out local peculiarities in climate, or for tracing 
these peculiarities to their causes in the local surroundings. To do this we must have 
the statistics which are collected by the Dominion Government supplemented by others 
which are not being collected by them, and the greater portion of which they cannot be 
expected to go to any considerable expense in obtaining. In Europe and also in the United 
States there are meteorological societies which collect much valuable information. These 
societies collect and print statistics, and also publish many papers on Meteorology, and 
are supported solely by the subscriptions of the members. In the United States, in addition 
to the work now performed by the Signal Service, which includes that which was for- 
merly undertaken by the Smithsonian Institute, many of the individual States have 
weather bureaus of their own. 

In Canada we have not many men of means and leisure who are sufficiently inter- 
ested in scientific researches to make them willing not only to devote their time to the 
systematic taking of observations, but to purchase instruments and pay for the printing 
of results. To meet in some measure this difficulty, the Meteorological Service, in the case 
of individuals who reside in districts from which sufficient observations are not already 
received, and who are willing to take observations gratis, furnishes the necessary instru- 
ments and provides for the publication of the observations. Notwithstanding this, there 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 5 


are large portions, even of the Provinces which have long been settled, for which our 
climatological statistics are either very meagre or are altogether wanting. The observa- 
tions of which we have most need are those of precipitation. Ontario and Manitoba are 
the only two of our Provinces in which we have any approach to adequate observations 
of rainfall. In the other Provinces we know the rainfall at a few isolated stations, but 
not at nearly enough to form any idea as to the amount at intermediate points. The 
amount of precipitation depends so much on the configuration of the land, that a very 
much larger number of observing stations is required for this than for the other elements 
which together make the climate of a district. To meet this want, the Departments of 
Agriculture of Ontario and Manitoba have got agents all over these Provinces to report 
the rain and snowfall. The reports are forwarded to the Meteorological Office at Toronto, 
and abstracts of the results are furnished monthly by that office to the Local Governments. 
By this means, an amount of information has been collected which has enabled me to 
prepare maps showing the precipitation with a fair degree of accuracy over the greater 
portion of these two Provinces. These maps show that the precipitation in some parts of 
Ontario is about double what it is in others, and in Manitoba the differences are relatively 
about the same. If we had attempteda few years ago, before we were receiving these 
additional reports, {o draw any conclusions as to the distribution of rainfall over these 
Provinces from such as we did receive, our results would have been altogether erroneous, 
and in the other Provinces we are still unable to give any information, except at a few 
isolated points. 

The same may be said to a great extent in regard to the daily range of temperature, 
which also varies a good deal from place to place, although not to the same extent as the 
rainfall. 

Now, it occurred to me that if I could interest the members of this Society in this 
subject, they might in turn interest friends living in some of the less thickly populated 
portions of their respective Provinces, and get them to volunteer as observers ; or they 
might, perhaps, by bringing the matter to the notice of the Local Governments, induce 
them to do in other Provinces, something like what is now being done in Ontario and 
Manitoba. By this means, great service would be rendered to the Science of Meteorology, 
while the information would at the same time be of immediate practical importance. I 
hope, therefore, that you will bear this want in mind, and endeavour, as opportunity may 
occur, to aid me in a matter of importance to Science, and to the advancement of the 
Dominion and of the individual Provinces. 





SECTION III., 1886. FE | Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


I1.—The Genetic History of Crystalline Rocks. 


By T. Sterry Hunt, M.A., LL.D. (Cantab.) 
(Read in abstract, May 25, 1886.) 


§ 1. Ina preceding essay on the the Origin of Crystalline Rocks,’ we have considered 
at length the different views hitherto maintained as to the mode of their production, and 
have set forth what we have called the “crenitic hypothesis.” It is proposed in the follow- 
ing pages to examine still farther the new hypothesis in some of its aspects, to show how 
far the conception of a single consolidated igneous mass under the combined action of 
water and heat may be made to explain satisfactorily the various facts in the history of 
the earth’s crystalline crust, and thus to reconcile many of the contradictions which still 
divide the geological world as to the relations of stratified and massive crystalline rocks. 
Hence the title of the present essay. 

Of the great divisions adopted by the Wernerian school in geology, those of Primary 
and Secondary correspond respectively to Original and Derived rocks, and were supposed 
to represent earlier and later periods in geologic time; the name of “Transition” being 
applied to the rocks of an intermediate period, believed to mark the passage from the 
conditions of the Primary to those of the Secondary age. The name of “Tertiary” given 
to the rocks of a still later age, and marking a subsequent period in the process of deriva- 
tion, needs no explanation. By the geologists of the Huttonian school the rocks, called 
“Primary ” or “Original” by the Wernerians, were imagined to be in many, if not in all 
cases, Secondary or Derived rocks, the materials of which, got from the disintegration of 
preéxisting masses, had been arranged by water, and subsequently transformed by combined 
mechanical and chemical agencies into their present crystalline condition ; in accordance 
with which hypothesis they have been called “ Metamorphic” rocks. By rejecting, as their 
master Hutton had done, all “inquiry into the first origin of things,” or “the commence- 
ment or termination of the present order,” and by teaching that the rocks, called by Wer- 
nerians “ Primary” and “Transition,” were for the most part, if not wholly, metamorphosed 
portions of derived rocks, which themselves, in their prolongation into other regions, 
could be recognized as Secondary or as Tertiary strata, the Huttonians have sought to des- 
troy the chronological value of the Wernerian terminology. With the abandonment of the 
Huttonian or so-called “metamorphic ” doctrine, now shown to be false, so far at least as 





1 A paper was presented to this Society by the writer, in May, 1885, with the title of “The Geognosy of Crystal- 
line Rocks,” and was accepted for publication in the Transactions, but subsequently withdrawn. In the abstract 
of the paper then read, and afterwards published in the Canadian Record of Science, the phenomena of stratification, 
alike in endogenous veinstones and in eruptive rocks, were discussed with reference both to the crenitic process and 
to the hypothesis of eliquation. The present paper is, under a new title, an extension and development of that of 
last year. 

? Trans. Roy. Soc, Can., Vol. ii. Sec. iii. pp. 1-67. 


8 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


regards the Secondary or Tertiary age of crystalline stratified rocks, we are naturally led 
back to the nomenclature of Werner and his school, which should be equally acceptable 
to endoplutonists and to neptunists, whether the latter adopt the Chaotic hypothesis set 
forth by De la Beche and Daubrée, or the Crenitic hypothesis more recently maintained by 
the present writer in the essay just cited. 

§ 2. The term “crystalline rocks” is conveniently used in geology to designate those 
original aggregates of which crystalline silicates make an essential part. Such silicates 
may, however, be associated in these aggregates with quartz, or with oxyds like magne- 
tite, with carbonates, as in limestones and dolomite, and even with phosphates, as apatite, 
or with sulphates, as karstenite and gypsum. By a certain license the term may also be 
extended to masses of definite hydrous silicates, such as serpentine and pinite, which 
are in great part amorphous and colloidal, and also to uncrystalline silicates, often 
hydrated, and of indefinite composition, such as palagonite, tachylite, pitchstone, and 
obsidian. The silicates having the composition of serpentine and of pinite assume, in 
some cases, proper crystalline forms; palagonite is by heat readily changed in large part 
into a crystalline zeolite; while glassy silicates, such as obsidian, by devitrification, are in 
like manner resolved more or less completely into crystalline species. Hence rock-masses, 
including or even made up of these various uncrystalline materials, may all be regarded 
as inchoately crystalline, and for geognostical purposes may be conveniently classed with 
the crystalline rocks into which they graduate. 

§ 3. When stratified masses of quartz, calcite, dolomite, and karstenite are found 
among contemporaneous crystalline silicated rocks, they generally enclose indigenous 
erystalline silicates, which give them a title to be regarded as parts of the accompanying 
crystalline series. The mineral species just named have, however, in other cases become 
aggregated in crystalline rock-masses in times and under conditions which did not permit 
the genesis of such species as feldspars, micas, amphibole, and pyroxene, which are the 
most characteristic silicates of the crystalline rocks. Hence we find beds of crystalline 
quartz, limestone, dolomite, karstenite, and gypsum interstratified with uncrystalline 
rocks of detrital origin, and of Secondary or Tertiary age. It is worthy of note, however, 
that the conditions for the production of certain mineral silicates have continued in later 
ages, as is Shown by the frequent formation of zeolitic, pectolitic, and other crystalline 
silicates in younger and uncrystalline rocks, and even down to our own time, and, more- 
over, by the occurrence among uncrystalline sediments of later geological periods, of de- 
posits of serpentine, sepiolite, and glauconite. The history of both zeolitic and pectolitic 
silicates (as formed by secretions in basic rocks, and as generated in deep-sea ooze, and in 
the channels of thermal waters,) has been discussed at some length in the preceding essay, 
but there are facts in relation to the other silicates just mentioned which are of such im- 
portance in connection with the origin of crystalline rocks as to merit consideration in this 
place. 

§ 4. Two examples of crystalline silicates related to zeolites in composition, which 
are found injecting organic remains remains in palæozoic limestones, have been observed 
by Sir J. W. Dawson, and were farther described and analyzed by the present writer in 
1871. The first of these is from a Silurian limestone which is found near Woodstock, in 
the province of New Brunswick, and consists almost wholly of comminuted organic re- 
mains, including fragments of trilobites, gasteropods, brachiopods, and joints and plates of 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 9 


small encrinites, the whole cemented by calcite. The pores of the crinoidal remains are 
filled by a peculiar silicate, which is well seen in sections or on surfaces etched by an 
acid. Surfaces thus treated show a congeries of curved, branching, and anastomosing 
cylindrical rods of the injecting mineral, sometimes forming a complete network, and ex- 
hibiting under a microscope coralloidal forms, with a white, frost-like, crystalline aspect 
resembling the variety of aragonite known as flos ferri. The same crystalline mineral, as 
observed by Dawson, occasionally fills the interstices between the larger fragments of 
organic forms in the limestone, and, as he observes, “ was evidently deposited before the 
calcite which cements the whole mass.” 

§ 5. The limestone in question is nearly pure, containing very little magnesia or iron- 
oxyd, and leaves, after the action of cold dilute chlorhydric acid, five or six-hundredths of 
insoluble residue, which is the mineral in question mixed with about one-fourth its 
weight of siliceous sand. The silicate is of a pale grayish-green color when seen in mass, 
and, losing water, becomes bright reddish-brown by calcination. It is partially decom- 
posed by strong heated chlorhydric acid, and completely by hot sulphuric acid, which dis- 
solves alumina, ferrous oxyd, magnesia, and smal] portions of alkalies, leaving flocculent 
silica, which is readily separated by a solution of carbonate of soda from the accompanying 
quartz-grains. Thus analyzed, the mineral, which under a lens appeared wholly crystal- 
line and homogeneous, save the accompanying quartz, yielded silica 38.03, alumina 28.88, 
ferrous oxyd 18.86, magnesia 4.25, potash 1.69, soda 0.48, water 6.91. The atomic ratio of 
this for protoxyds, alumina, silica and water is very nearly 1:2: 3:1, which, abstracting 
the water, is that of zoisite ; the hydrous silicate jollyte being 1:2:3:2. Ihave given to 
this crystalline silicate, which is of curious interest alike for its composition and the mode 
of its occurrence, the name of hamelite for the Rev. Dr. Hamel, Rector of Laval University, 
Quebec. ! 

$ 6. The second silicate above referred to is not unlike hamelite in its characters and 
manner of occurrence, though differing somewhat in atomic ratios. It was found in a 
mass of fossiliferous limestone said to be from a locality in the island of Anglesea, and in- 
cluding, “besides a small coral-like body referred to the genus Verticillopora, joints and 
plates of crinoids, small spiral gasteropod shells, with fragments of brachiopods, and a 
sponge-like organism with square meshes.” All of these organic forms are more or less 
penetrated with a greenish silicate, which fills the cavities of the gasteropods, the central 
canal of the crinoids, and the pores of the Verticillopora. It has also replaced, or filled, 
the spongy fibres, and injected the minute cells of some of the crinoidal fragments, though 
many of these are solid throughout, in which respect the specimen differs from that from 
New Brunswick described above, where the infiltration of the crinoidal remains is much 
more complete and perfect. Sir J. W. Dawson, to whom we owe these observations, sup- 
poses that in both cases the infiltration took place while the remains were still recent 

§ 7. Decalcified surfaces of this limestone from Anglesea show similar appearances to 
those presented by the New Brunswick specimen, and the casts of the gasteropodous 
shells, two millimetres in length, are in some cases perfect. The limestone is nearly pure, 
with the exception of a little fine yellow ochreous matter which is insoluble in dilute 





‘Amer. Jour. Science, 1871, i. 379; also J. W. Dawson, The Dawn of Life, pp. 120-123, with figure of a portion 
of infiltrated crinoid on p. 103, 


Sec. IIL, 1886. 2. 


10 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


chlorhydric acid, and remains suspended in the solution, but is easily separated by wash- 
ing from the pale grayish-green silicate. This equals about three-hundredths of the 
weight of the limestone. When ignited in the air it assumes a bright fawn color, and 
under a lens contrasts strongly with the colorless grains of quartz with which it is mixed. 
Its chemical characters were like those of hamelite, and analyzed in the same manner it 
gave, after deducting 21.0 per cent. of insoluble sand, the following composition: Silica, 
35.72, alumina 22,26, ferrous oxyd 21.42, magnesia 6.98, potash 1.49, soda 0.67, water 
11.46 = 100.00.” This gives for protoxyds, alumina, silica, and water very nearly the 
atomic ratios 3:4: 7:4; but we are not sure of its homogeneous character. A silicate 
very like this in aspect and mode of occurrence has been found in a band of fossiliferous 
limestone near the base of the coal-measures in southern Ohio, but has not yet been 
chemically examined. 

§ 8. In connection with these minerals should be noticed a greenish fibrous asbesti- 
form silicate, elsewhere described by the writer, which occurs in veins traversing the 
anthracite and the carbonaceous shales of the coal-measures at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 
either without admixture or mingled with pyrites, or penetrating white quartz, and also 
coating the fragments of the crumbling disintegrated anthracite. It is a hydrous silicate 
of alumina, ferrous oxyd, magnesia, and alkalies, more basic than those above described, 
yielding the atomic ratios of 4 : 4: 6: 3, and, though differing in structure, is near to pro- 
chlorite or voigtite in composition. ? 

$ 9. We have elsewhere explained how solutions which would otherwise have 
yielded zeolitic minerals or epidote may, by exchanging their lime aud alkalies for mag- 
nesia and ferrous oxyd, have given rise to aluminous double silicates like those just des- 
cribed. In like manner, non-aluminous solutions which might have yielded pectolite, 
apophyllite, or related silicates, by exchange with magnesian or ferrous solutions, may 
give origin to silicates like serpentine, sepiolite, and probably to glauconite. The mag- 
nesian silicates just named occur, as is well known, in aqueous deposits, by themselves or 
mingled with carbonate of lime, in strata of palæozoic or even of cenozoic age, while ser- 
pentine fills the Eozoon of more ancient times. 

§ 10. The probable relations between the protoxyd-silicates and glauconite are worthy 
of notice. By the latter name is designated a soft greenish amorphous mineral sometimes 
found in the cavities in basic amygdaloidal rocks, but more abundantly in sandstones and 
marls, among which it often forms beds, with but little admixture, and is commonly called 
“green-sand.” It is well known that glauconite is met with filling the shells of foraminifera 
and other marine organisms, from early geological times, and even occurs in the same 
manuer in recent foraminifera in various seas. The mode of its occurrence in these cases 
is similar to that of the aluminous double silicates in organic forms from limestones, as 
described above. The composition of glauconite is very variable; and, while essentially 
a hydrous silicate of potash and iron-oxyd, it may contain of alumina from one or two up to 
twelve hundredths or more, and of magnesia from traces up to six hundredths. Indeed, 
a so-called green-sand from the calcaire grossier, according to Berthier, is rather a highly 
ferrous serpentine, containing, silica 40.0, ferrous oxyd 24.07, magnesia 16.6, lime 8.8, 
alumina 1.7, water 12.6 = 98.9. 





! Amer. Jour. Science, 1871, ii. 57. * Trans. Roy. Soe. Can., Vol. iii. Sec. iii. p. 70. 
* Beudant, Traité de Minéralogie, ii. 178. See also Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1866, p. 231. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 11 


§ 11. Their variations show that the material in question is a mixture, and render it 
difficult to fix its real constitution. According to the multiplied analyses of Haushofer, 
the iron present in glauconite is for the most part in the ferric condition, the ferrous oxyd 
in yarious examples ranging from three to seven hundredths. The formula proposed by 
him represents glauconite as containing 6.3 of ferrous oxyd, 8.3 of potash, and 9,6 of water, 
with 22.7 of ferric oxyd and 3.6 of alumina, giving for the atomic ratios of protoxyds, ses- 
quioxids, silica, and water, 1: 3: 9: 3! The very variable quantity of alumina found in 
glauconites may, however, well be owing to a zeolitic admixture; and if we hazard the 
conjecture that the large proportion of ferric oxyd therein is due to a partial oxydation of 
what was originally a ferro-potassic silicate, we should have for its composition before 
peroxydation (deducting the alumina as a zeolite with the above atomic ratios, like faujas- 
ite) a silicate with the ratios for protoxyds, silica, and water, of 8: 9: 8, corresponding 
to sepiolite and to an unknown pectolitic silicate intermediate between pectolite and 
apophyllite, which may be supposed to have given rise alike to talc, to sepiolite, and 
to glauconite. The variable amounts of magnesia in glauconite itself would thus be due 
to an admixture of sepiolite. The reaction of such a soluble pectolitic compound, having 
a lime-potash base like apophyllite, with the dissolved magnesian salts in sea-water 
would generate a magnesian silicate having the ratio of talc and sepiolite (which latter 
forms beds in Tertiary sediments), and with ferrous solutions, by a similar double decompo- 
sition, might yield a ferro-potassic silicate like glauconite. It is well known that, under 
proper conditions, decaying organic matters acting upon sediments containing ferric oxyd 
reduce this and give rise to such solutions, in which ferrous carbonate is often associated 
with a proportion of an organic acid. Such a process of solution and redeposition in forms 
of siderite and pyrites goes on in sedimentary deposits through this agency. This would 
permit the conditions necessary to produce glauconite with the pectolitic silicate, which in 
the absence of the iron-solution would generate sepiolite by reaction with magnesian salts. 

$ 12. The variations in the composition of glauconite-like minerals, and the existence 
in silicates similar to it in their mode of occurrence, of more or less alumina and magnesia, 
probably corresponding, as suggested above, to admixtures of zeolite and sepiolite, are 
farther illustrated by the following analyses by the writer. I is a typical glauconite from 
the green-sand beds of the cretaceous series in New Jersey ; II, a glauconite, remarkable for 
its fine green colour, which forms layers in the Cambrian (Potsdam) sandstone at Red Bird, 
Minnesota; III, a similar material found in a Cambrian sandstone on the island of Orleans, 
near Quebec. The results, after deducting siliceous sand, are calculated for one hundred 
parts, and the whole of the iron is represented as ferrous.’ 











I. Il. III. 

SHIlGS, round amannos 50.70 46.58 50.7 
Ferrous oxyd..-......... 22.50 20.61 8.6 
Maonesia ceboonenagadce 2.16 1.27 Sail 
Ibis, ooc 0 bad dE onde sta 2.49 — 
INinrauntomdodeomodeooons 8.03 11.45 19.8 
POTASH cceccc cecscncece ss 5:80 6.96 8.2 
Od aetateletetclotselericisieteiere versie O7. 0.98 0.5 
WEétoantosc son uses 8.95 9.66 8.5 
100.00 100 00 100.00 





! Cited in Dana’s System of Mineralogy, 5th ed., p. 462. 
* Geology of Canada in 1863, p. 486: also Rep. Geol. Surv. of Canada 1863-69, p. 232. 


12 . T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


§ 13. The crenitic hypothesis advanced by the present writer in the essay already cited, 
to explain the aqueous origin of the mineral species which make up alike the granites and 
the crystalline stratified rocks, supposes that from an early period watery solutions analo- 
gous to those which, in later times, have given rise to zeolitic and pectolitic minerals, played 
an important part in the chemistry of the earth. The double silicates of alumina and lime 
or alkalies, then dissolved, are conceived to have been the source not only of the feldspars 
and the zeolites, but of prehnite, epidote, garnet, muscovitic micas, and tourmalines, and, by 
their reactions with magnesian and ferrous solutions, of the chlorites and the highly proto- 
basic micas. At the same time the dissolved protoxyd-silicates not only gave rise to species 
like pectolite and apophyllite, but by similar reactions, to pyroxene, amphibole, chrysolite, 
serpentine, talc, sepiolite, and glauconite, and, by decomposition through carbonic dioxyd, 
to carbonate of lime. In both cases the solutions, like those in later zeolite-bearing rocks, 
carried free silica and iron-oxyd, which were deposited as quartz and magnetite and hema- 
tite. These silicated solutions, according to this hypothesis, resulted primarily from the 
action of permeating waters at high temperatures, under pressure, upon the universal 
stratum of basic plutonic rock, and secondarily from their action upon the displaced por- 
tions of the stratum, which, in a more or less modified form, have appeared in all geological 
periods as erupted basic rocks. These, in their secreted minerals, show us in later times, 
and on asmaller scale, the process which, in previous ages, built up great masses of indige- 
nous and endogenous crystalline rocks. To what extent these deposits, more or less con- 
cretionary in their origin and their arrangement, were laid down horizontally, and to what 
extent in inclined or vertical layers, as in many veinstones, is a question which will be 
discussed farther on in this essay. 

§ 14. Having thus briefly restated the crenitic hypothesis so far as it is related to the 
classes of rocks already noticed, we have to consider in the next place the question of 
exoplutonic or eruptive rocks. It will be remembered that the existence of such rocks, 
having an igneous origin, was not admitted by the Wernerians, who conceived not only 
all endogenous rocks, but also all exotic masses, except modern lavas, to be of aqueous 
origin. By the earlier Huttonians, who understood better the geological importance of 
the eruptive rocks, these were looked upon as results of the fusion of deeply buried 
detrital materials, themselves derived from similar rocks of higher antiquity. The hypo- 
thesis of great chemical changes to explain the genesis of many crystalline rocks from 
such material, by what was comprehensively designated as “ metamorphism,” and generally 
involved a supposed metasomatic process, was devised at a later day by the disciples of 
Hutton. Haidinger and Bischof may be looked upon as the originators of that view of 
metasomatic changes in rock-masses by aqueous action which, from its supposed analogy 
with the phenomena giving rise to what are called “ pseudomorphous shapes ” or “ pseudo- 
crystals,” has been infelicitously described as “ pseudomorphism on a broad scale.” 

§ 15. The stratiform arrangement, which extends to the intimate structure of crystal- 
line masses such as gneisses and mica-schists, is by endoplutonists supposed to be due to 
movements in an imperfectly homogeneous semi-fluid material, dependent on unequal 
cooling and the rotation of the globe, and to be analogous to the banded structure apparent 
in lavas and furnace-slags. In the exop]utonic hypothesis, on the contrary, it is maintained 
that the internal movements in such material, when forced outwards and upwards through 
the earth’s superficial crust, have given to the masses that laminated structure and that 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 13 


arrangement of the constituent elements which, alike by Wernerians and Huttonians, are 
regarded as evidences of deposition from water. This latter or explutonic view was clearly 
expressed by Poulett Scrope, sixty years since, in his “New Theory of the Earth,” published 
in 1825, wherein he imagines the granite to have formed the original surface of the globe, and 
supposes that movements in extruded portions of the mass compressed beneath overlying 
sediments gave to it the gneissic structure. He insists upon the friction of its elements 
“as they were urged forward in the direction of their plane surfaces towards the orifice of 
protrusion, along the expanding granite beneath, the laminæ being elongated and the 
crystals forced to arrange themselves in the direction of the movement.” This view was 
adopted, though without acknowledgement, by J. D. Dana in 1843, when he argued that 
the schistose structure of gneiss and mica-schist is not a satisfactory evidence of sedimen- 
tary origin, since erupted rocks may assume a laminated srrangement.' 

§ 16. The same notion has continued to find favor among geologists of the plutonist 
school up to the present time. Poulett Scrope himself, in rewriting his famous treatise on 
Volcanoes, after a lapse of thirty-seven years, restates his argument with great precision. 
He therein supposes that the primitive material of the globe, so far as known, was an 
aggregate consisting essentially of feldspar, quartz and mica, in a crystalline or granular 
condition. This material, which was impregnated with water and highly heated, possessed 
a certain plasticity, and when extruded by pressure took upon itself a stratiform structure, 
being “ bodily forced up the axial fissure of dislocation in crumpled zigzag folds or upright 
walls of vertical laminated rock.” To show to what extent this view had met the approval 
of other geologists, Scrope farther observed, “The late Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Darwin, as is 
well known, concurred in the opinion here given, that at least as respects the oldest or 
fundamental gneiss, its foliated structure is due not to original sedimentary deposition, 
but to the movement of the particles under great pressure, while the mass was in a con- 
dition of imperfect igneous fluidity. Prof. Naumann has still more recently advocated. the 
same view, which is, however, resisted by Lyell, Murchison, Geikie, and others.” ? 

§ 17. The same view has very recently been brought forward by Joh. Lehmann, who 
maintains, with Scrope, that the schistose structure in crystalline rocks is no evidence of 
aqueous deposition, but is imposed upon them by the process of extrusion. The Saxon 
granulites, according to Lehmann, were intrusive masses, which consolidated among sedi- 
mentary strata far below the surface, and being afterwards forced up by great pressure, took 
upon themselves a banded schistose arrangement, the adjacent strata, more or less impreg- 
nated by the granulitic material, appearing as micaceous gneisses and mica-schists® The 
whole granulitic series of Saxony may be described as made up of fine-grained binary 
gneisses and mica-schists, and has been by the present writer elsewhere referred to the 
younger gneissic or Montalban series of crystalline rocks. * 

§ 18. An example of the resuscitation of the views of Poulett Scrope in North America 








1 Scrope, Considerations on Volcanoes, etc.. 1825, p. 22. See also J. D. Dana, On the Analogies Between Modern 
Igneous Rocks and the so-called Primary Formations, 1843 ; Amer. Jour. Science, 1843, xly. 104-129, and Trans. Roy. 
Soc. Can., Vol. iii. Sec. iii. p. 13. : 

* Scrope on Voleanoes, 2nd ed., 1862, as revised in 1872, pp. 300-365. 

’ Joh. Lehmann: Untersuchungen über die Enstehung der Altkrystallinen Schiefergesteine, 1884. Not hav- 
ing been able to consult this work, I am indebted for a notice of its argument to a review in the Amer. Jour. Science, 
xxxiii. p. 39. * Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. i. Sec. iv. p. 194. 


14 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


is found in a recent note by Prof. H. Carvill Lewis on the crystalline schists of eastern 
Pennsylvania. A belt of these which crosses the Schuylkill near Philadelphia, long ago 
described by H. D. Rogers, and since by the present writer,' includes a band of granitoid 
gneiss succeeded by micaceous gneisses and micaceous schists, often garnetiferous, compris- 
ing a layer of serpentine with steatite and dioritic rocks, the whole representing both the 
older and the younger gneissic series so well known in eastern North America as Lauren- 
tian and Montalban. The rocks in this belt, notwithstanding their stratiform character, are, 
in the opinion of Lewis, “of purely eruptive origin, consisting of syenites, acid gabbros, 
trap-granulites, and other igneous rocks, often highly metamorphosed. It is the outer peri- 
pheral portions of this zone to which attention is here directed. While the rocks are massive 
on the centre, this outer portion has been enormously compressed, folded and faulted, with 
the result of producing a tough banded porphyritic fluxion-gneiss.” Lewis supposes “a 
recrystallization of the old material under the influence of pressure-fluxion,” by which he 
conceives the feldspar to have been recrystallized. “In similar manner the biotite has 
been made out of the old hornblende, garnets have been developed, and the quartz has 
been granulated and optically distorted by the pressure.” In another example mentioned 
by him, a belt of sphene-bearing amphibolite schist, described as included unconformably 
in the mica-schists of Philadelphia, is supposed by Lewis to be “a highly metamorphosed 
intrusive dyke of Lower Silurian age. The original augite or diallage has been completely 
converted into fibrous hornblende, and the influence of pressure is shown in the perfectly 
laminated character of the schist, in the close foldings produced, and in the minute struec- 
ture of the rock.” “The chemical changes and interchanges of elements which might 
result from a loosening of molecular combinations under extreme pressure,” and their sub- 
sequent rearrangement to form new compounds, suggest to Lewis great possibilities in the 
so-called “mechanical metamorphism,” now advocated by some to replace the discredited 
dogma of chemical metamorphism, which has hitherto played such an important part 
among a school of geologists.’ € 

§ 19. Thus, while the ancient Wernerians maintained the direct deposition of granite 
from aqueous solution in a chaotic ocean, the plutonists, from Poulett Scrope in 1825 to 
Darwin, Naumann, Lehmann, and Lewis, assert the igneous origin not only of granites, 
but of gneisses and micaceous and amphibolic schists, and the followers of the Huttonian 
or metamorphic school hold an untenable and an illogical position between the two,— 
deriving the materials of both these rocks from a primary granitic mass, whose origin is 
unaccounted for, and whose supposed transformations chemistry cannot explain. 

§ 29. It remains to notice, in connection with the neptunian, the plutonic, and the 
metamorphic hypotheses regarding the sources and the geognostic relations of the crystal- 
line rocks, a view that has been proposed to explain the attitude of certain apparently exotic 
masses: which is that their present position is due neither to deposition from solution, 
nor to intrusion in a fluid or plastic condition, but to local movements which have per- 
mitted portions of rigid rock to displace and even penetrate softer and more yielding 
materials in their vicinity. Examples of this are described by Stapff as seen in the 
St. Gothard tunnel in the Alps, where great masses of serpentine have been caused to 





! See Hunt, Azoic Rocks, pp. 10-15 and 200; also Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. i. Sec. iv. p. 171. 
? H. C. Lewis, Proc. British Association, in Nature, Oct. 8, 1885, p. 560. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 15 


traverse adjacent schistose strata ; the solid condition of the introducing rock being made 
evident by the accompanying breccia, consisting of its fragments! There is reason to 
believe that such instances are not uncommon, and that in many cases the phenomenon of 
intrusion is due to the superior hardness of the intruding rock, broken beds or masses of 
which are forced through softer strata; the conditions being the reverse of those which 
attend plutonic or volcanic injections. The notion that rocks when in a solid condition may 
be intruded among others, is found in the pages of more than one writer on geological 
questions, but so far as the writer is aware, is for the first time clearly and satisfactorily 
defined in the description of Stapff, which is an important conception gained for the 
student of geognosy. 

§ 21. The endoplutonists, as we have seen, have sought to explain the laminated 
structure of certain crystalline rocks, not, like the exoplutonists, by the pressure attend- 
ant on extrusion, but by movements in an imperfectly fluid material in which, during 
refrigeration, a separation of solid matters and a process of eliquation were going on. 
The possible production in this manner alike of unstratified and stratiform crystalline 
rocks from an igneous mass is ingeniously set forth by Thomas Macfarlane in his studies 
of the geology of Lake Superior.” He notes first, the occurrence of fragments of denser 
and more basic hornblendic aggregates enclosed in lighter and less basic granitoid 
masses, and from these facts, and the composition and specific gravity of granitic veins 
penetrating the masses, conjectures that these various products represent different stages 
in crystallization from a primitive magma, the first-separated portions from which were 
more basic, and the later more siliceous. 

If this took place when the mass was undisturbed, a granitoid rock would be formed ; 
but if while it was in motion, “ hornblendic and micaceous schists and gneisses were most 
probably the results of this process, and the strike of these would indicate the direction 
of the current at the time of their formation.” The material thus separated, notwithstand- 
ing its greater specific gravity, is supposed to have formed at the surface of the molten 
mass, as a result of cooling; but in Macfarlane’s view “there arrived a time when, from 
some cause or other, these first rocks were rent or broken up, and the crevices or inter- 
stices became filled with the still fluid and more siliceous material which existed beneath 
them. This gradually solidified in the cracks, or in the spaces surrounding the fragments, 
and the whole became again a consolidated crust above a fluid mass of still more siliceous 
material,” which by subsequent movements would again be intruded in the form of veins 
in the broken crust. This restatement of the hypothesis of the solidification of a molten 
globe from above downwards, already taught by Naumann,* serves to show how the 
endoplutonist school explains the origin alike of massive and of stratiform crystalline 
rocks, and may be compared with the detailed statement of the exoplutonist view as set 
forth by Poulett Scrope. 

§ 22. The broad distinction sometimes drawn between stratified crystalline rocks, as 
of indigenous and aqueous origin, and unstratified rocks, as intruded or exotic masses of 
igneous origin, thus finds no place in the hypotheses of the plutonic schools, according to 





! See Trans. Roy. Soc., Can., Sec. i. Vol. iv. pp. 112-4, where details and references are given. 
* Geological Features of Lake Superior, Canadian Naturalist, May, 1867. 
* Trans. Roy. Soc, Can., Vol. ii, Sec. iii. p. 10. 


16 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


both of which these two classes of rocks have come directly from a primitive fused mass, 
which was either simple or had become complex through differentiation. The Huttonian 
school also, which teaches that eruptive rocks, in many if not in all cases, were originally 
sediments, which, as a result of profound alteration, have lost their bedded structure, 
arrives, by a different route, at a conclusion not unlike that of the plutonists ; namely, 
that the differences between stratified and unstratified rocks are due solely to superin- 
duced structure and geognostic relations. Those who, for the most part unfamiliar with 
any other view, acquiesce in the metamorphic hypothesis of Hutton and his followers, 
now so popular with a school of writers on geology, are scarcely prepared, without far- 
ther study, to criticise intelligently either the plutonic or the crenitic hypothesis of the 
origin of crystalline rocks. The latter, as set forth in a previous easy, and concisely 
resumed in § 13 of the present, supposes that the source of all crystalline rocks is to be 
sought in a previously solidified primary plutonic material. The elements of these rocks 
have been derived, in part indirectly, by aqueous solution, and in part directly from this 
original mass, more or less profoundly altered alike by previous aqueous action, and by 
differentiation through crystallization and eliquation. By this hypothesis, as we have 
elsewhere attempted to show, we may hope to lay the foundation of a rational geogeny 
and geognosy. 

§ 23. We have already, in the preceding essay, considered at some length the views 
of those who, noting the existence of predominant types of crystalline rocks, have sought 
to explain their origin by supposing the presence beneath the earth’s solid crust of two 
distinct layers of molten rock: an upper, lighter, and more viscous siliceous or so-called 
acidic stratum, the material of trachytes, granites, and gneiss; and a lower, heavier, and 
more fluid basic layer, the source of doleritic and basaltic rocks,—a view which was put 
forth by John Phillips,’ defended by Bunsen, and elaborated and more definitely formu- 
lated by Durocher. To this are opposed the modified view, by Von Waltershausen, of a 
eradual passage downward in a liquid mass from a more acidic to a more basic portion, 
and the entirely distinct view held and defended by the present writer as the basis of the 
crenitic hypothesis. According to this, the plutonic underworld, so far as it intervenes 
directly in geologic phenomena, is an essentially homogeneous basic rock, not in a state 
of simple and original igneous fusion, but solidified, and subsequently impregnated with 
water, which communicates a certain plasticity to the highly heated mass, and, moreover, 
dissolves and removes therefrom the materials of the trachytic annd granitic rocks,—which 
are thus primarily of aqueous origin. 

§ 24. This process implies secular changes in the composition of the plutonic stra- 
tum, which are moreover local, since the conditions of solution and upward percolation 





1 John Phillips, Manual of Geology (1855), p. 556, after distinguishing between rocks like granite and trachyte, 
containing quartz and trisilicates (orthoclase and albite), and rocks with more basic silicates, such as labradorite, 
pyroxene and chrysolite, suggests “the probability that granite appears among the oldest of the igneous family 
because of the gradual cooling of the internal fluid mass, which, bringing into action the unequal relation to heat 
of the silicates and trisilicates, separated these groups in zones. The former (usually more complicated) mixture 
might remain liquid, while the latter (usually less complicated) separated themselves in a solid state. On this 
supposition the trisilicated zone, being of less specific gravity, would be uppermost. It would be first consolidated, 
and might receive a coating of strata, while the silicated mass remained liquid below.” On this hypothesis, he 
adds: “The trachytic lava of one active volcano, and the doleritic lava of another, would seem to indicate the 
stage to which, in those places respectively, the volcanic process had arrived.” 


a 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 17 


will vary in different areas, and during different periods in the same area. It involves 
also a corresponding change in the nature of the materials dissolved, so that differences 
greater or less are to be looked for in the composition alike of eruptive plutonic and of 
crenitic rocks, when those of different areas and different ages are compared. The evi- 
dence of some such changes, even independent of aqueous action, in the composition of the 
plutonic mass, did not escape the acute observation of Durocher, and was in 1857 discussed 
by him in his remarkable essay on Comparative Petrology.' To this I called attention in 
1858, stating that in Durocher’s view the two strata of molten mineral matter imagined 
by him, “occasionally more or less modified by a partial crystallization and eliquation, or 
by refusion,” give rise to the principal varieties of acidic and basic crystalline rocks. * 

§ 25. This view was stated with great clearness by Durocher, who declared: “The 
magmas which have produced the igneous rocks are to be compared to metallic baths which, 
holding many metals in a state of fusion, separate in solidifying into different alloys, accord- 
ing to the circumstances of their solidification,’—these circumstances being “ conditions of 
an exterior rather than of an interior order.” Subsequently, in comparing a basic and 
highly aluminous phonolite with a trachytic porphyry, more siliceous and less aluminous, 
he remarks that an admixture of these in equal proportions would give the composition 
of a normal trachyte, and expresses the opinion that the rocks thus compared are probably 
“the two opposite products of an eliquation which took place in the midst of the liquid 
mass, as in the formation of two opposite alloys into which a metallic bath is so often 
seen to separate.’ These phenomena of eliquation he conceived to be very general in 
nature: “They must have taken place beneath the surface of the earth, and in its caverns 
and crevices, as well as at the surface.” 

§ 26. The probability of this view is apparent to all chemists who have studied the 
phenomena due to the crystallization and the different melting and solidifying points of 
metallic alloys, as, for example, the separation of lead from its silver-bearing alloy in the 
Pattinson process, and the eliquation of this metal from its alloy with copper. It was 
adopted by Macfarlane in 1867, in explanation of the relations of more or less basic horn- 
blendic and granitic rocks, already cited in § 21, and finds a striking illustration in the 
late experiments of Fouqué and Michel Lévy on the artificial production of crystalline 
mineral species from fused vitreous mixtures. From such a mixture, containing the ele- 
ments of six parts of chrysolite, two of pyroxene, and six of labradorite, kept at a heat 
near whiteness for forty-eight hours, there separated crystals of chrysolite, 0.5 millimetre 
in diameter, together with magnetite and spinel (picotite) ; a vitreous magma still remain- 
ing, from which crystallized, at a lower temperature, macled crystals of labradorite, with 
pyroxene, magnetite, and spinel, as before. It is apparent that with a greater lapse of 
time, and the formation of larger crystals of chrysolite, which has a specific gravity of 
about 3.4, these would, under the influence of gravity, subside, together with magnetite 
and spinel, from a fused glass holding the elements of pyroxene and feldspar, the more so 
as the density of fused doleritic and basaltic material is less than 2.8. From such a slowly 
cooling mixture the process of eliquation would, under favorable conditions, give rise to 
a highly chrysolitic aggregate, on the one hand, and to a dolerite with little or no chrys- 





1 Annales des Mines, xi. 217. A translation of this into English by Haughton was separately published in 
Dublin, in 1859, ? Chemical and Geological Essays, p. 3. 


: Sec. III., 1886. 3. 


18 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


olite, on the other. Moreover, if, as is probable, there are conditions under which pyr- 
oxene may be separated in à similar manner from the feldspathic element, we should 
have a farther differentiation, giving rise to heavier and highly pyroxenic portions on the 
one hand, and to lighter and more feldspathic portions on the other. 

$ 27. The careful student of crystalline rocks will have noticed in ntaure many 
examples of variations in different portions of eruptive masses, which find a ready explana- 
tion in a process of partial solidification and eliquation, as suggested by Durocher and 
illustrated by the experiments of Fouqué and Michel Lévy. This is well displayed in 
certain rocks intruded among the Ordovician strata of the St. Lawrence valley, near Mon- 
treal, and forming the hills known as Rougemont, Montarville, and Mount Royal. These, 
as I have long since described them, are essentially doleritic, but present very great dif- 
ferences in the proportions of their mineralogical elements in contiguous parts. Thus in 
some portions of these masses we have a pyroxene and labradorite rock, in which these 
two elements are pretty equally distributed; while in other portions the rock is almost 
wholly a black, coarsely crystalline pyroxene, with but an insignificant proportion of the 
feldspathic element. Elsewhere the arrangement of these two species gives rise to strati- 
form structure. 

§ 28. As described by me in 1863,’ for Mount Royal, “ mixtures of augite and feld- 
spar are met with, constituting a granitoid dolerite, in parts of which the feldspar pre- 
dominates, giving rise to a light grayish rock. Portions of this character are sometimes 
found limited on either side by bands of nearly pure black pyroxenite, giving at first 
sight the aspect of stratification. The bands of these two varieties are found curiously 
contorted, and ...seem to have resulted from movements in a heterogeneous pasty mass, 
which have effected a partial blending of an augitic magma with one more feldspathic in 
nature.” In the doleritic mass of Montarville, the alternation of a coarse-grained variety 
of dolerite, porphyritic from the presence of large crystals of pyroxene, with a finer-grained 
and whiter variety, is noticed, the two “being arranged in bands whose varying thick- 
ness and curving lines suggest the notion that they have been produced by the flow and 
the partial commingling of two fluid masses.” Of this stratiform structure, it was then 
said, it seems to be due to “ the arrangement of crystals during the movement of the half- 
liquid crystalline mass, but it may in some instances arise from the subsequent formation 
of crystals, arranged in parallel planes.” 

§ 29. The feldspars mentioned, as shown in the published analyses by the writer, 
are near in composition to labradorite. The composite rocks described also contain, be- 
sides pyroxene, more or less magnetite and menaccanite, with chrysolite. This last spe- 
cies is for the most part distributed ‘sparsely, through these rocks, but occasionally, like 





1 Geology of Canada, 1863, pp. 665, 667, and Amer. Jour. igre 1864, xxxvili. 175-178. 

* Farther illustrations of this were given by the author in a communication to the Boston Society of Natural 
History, January 7,1874: “ Among these was a specimen shown from Groton, Connecticut, in which a large angular 
fragment of strongly banded micaceous gneiss is enclosed in a fine-grained eruptive granite, the mica plates in 
which are so arranged as to show a beautiful and even stratification in contact with the broken edges of the gneiss, 
but at right angles to the strata of the latter. Another example is afforded by the eruptive diabase from the meso- 
zoic sandstone of Lambertville, New Jersey, which is conspicuously marked by light and dark bands, due to the 
alternate predominance of one or the other of the constituent minerals; and still another is a fine-grained dark 
micaceous dolerite dike from the Trenton limestone at Montreal, in which the abundant laminæ of mica (probably 
biotite) are arranged parallel to the walls of the dike.” Chem. and Geol. Essays, p. 186. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 19 


the pyroxenic element, occurs in predominant quantity. An example of this is seen in a 
coarsely granitoid chrysolitic aggregate, exposed with the same characters, over an area 
of many hundred square feet, on Montarville. The chrysolite in this rock is in irregular 
crystalline masses from five to ten millimetres in diameter, and was separately analyzed, 
as was the black pyroxene, found in still larger and well defined crystals in the mass, and 
also the feldspathic element, selected as carefully as possible. For an analysis of the rock 
as a whole, it was attacked in fine powder successively by dilute sulphuric acid and by 
a weak solution of soda, the portions thus dissolved being analyzed separately, as well as 
the insoluble residue. The relative proportions of these being 55.0 per cent of the former 
and 45.0 of the latter, it became possible to calculate the composition of the rock as a 
whole. 

§ 30. In the following table, I is the composition of the feldspar ; II, the pyroxene ; 
III, the chrysolite; IV, the soluble portion (55.0 per cent), chiefly chrysolite; V, the 
insoluble portion (45.0 per cent); VI, the rock as a whole, including an undetermined 
amount of titanic oxyd with the iron-oxyd. For the purposes of comparison we give 
under VII the composition of the supposed basic magma of the earth’s interior, as deduced 
by Bunsen from the mean of several analyses of basic eruptive rocks, and under VIII the 
composition of the same, as calculated by Durocher, who, however, admits a range in pro- 
portions through geologic time which includes the figures adopted by Bunsen. The last 
five analyses are necessarily calculated for one hundred parts, and the whole of the iron is 
represented as ferrous oxyd, although an unknown proportion exists in a higher state of 
oxydation. 























Ty IDE IIT. IV 
Silay cejsieewae rete ts 53.10 49.40 37.17 37.3 
Alumina .......: 26.80 6.70 == 3.0 
Times enr ce 11.48 21.88 _— — 
Magnesia......... 0.72 13.06 39.68 33-5 
Ferrous oxyd ..... 1.35 7.03 22.54 26.2 
SOA ere ere me (4 24: 0.74 _ — 
Batashecceeerctre 0.71 = = = 
SViolsitalle years eu-tets-t+7 0.60 0.50 _— = 
99.00 100.11 99.39 100.0 
V. VI. VIL. VIII. 
Siren eos 49.35 42.70 48.47 51.5 
Aluminarcscee...e 18.92 10.16 14.7 16.0 
MER aaadonopocous alse 8.27 11.87 8.0 
Magnesia ........, 6.36 21.29 6.89 6.0 
Ferrous oxyd...... 4.51 16.45 15..38 13.0 
ATK ATIOS vce «nieces 2.50 1.13 2.61 4.0 
100.00 100.00 100.00 ae 


§ 31. The process which has thus given rise in parts of a mountain mass of dolerite 
to considerable areas of a rock containing over 21.0 of magnesia, and more than one half 
its weight of chrysolite, and in other parts of the same mass to an aggregate of pyroxene 
and labradorite, almost, and in some cases wholly, destitute of chrÿsolite, is readily ex- 
plained if we admit a separation from a still fluid mass of the previously crystallized and 


20 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


heavier chrysolite by a process like that imagined by Durocher. It will be noticed that 
the insoluble and non-chrysolitic portion separated from the Montarville rock (V) is near 
in composition to an ordinary dolerite, or to the normal basic types of Bunsen and Duro- 
cher. We may conjecture that dolerites of average composition are, perhaps, themselves 
products separated by eliquation from a more chrysolitic aggregate. 

§ 32. The segregation of groups of crystals which takes place in the devitrification of 
glasses shows, within narrow limits, the process of differentiation through crystallization 
in a homogeneous mass. The operation of this process on a larger scale, giving rise to 
remarkable mineralogical differences, is well shown in the careful studies by Fouqué, in 
1873, on the recent eruptive rocks from Santorin. The ordinary type of these lavas 
examined by him was a vitreous mass enclosing crystals of feldspars, with pyroxene, 
chrysolite, and magnetite. The feldspar was chiefly labradorite, but its association with 
crystals of albite, and with some anorthite, was established. Druses in this same rock 
were, however, filled with anorthite, associated with a pyroxene and a chrysolite, both 
differing from those contained in the paste in being less dense, and in containing less 
ferrous oxyd. In an obsidian-like rock from the same region were rounded masses, some- 
times a metre in diameter, gray in color, and made up of crystalline anorthite, with 
pyroxene, chrysolite, titanite, and magnetite, with very little paste. The small portions 
of alumina found in the analyses of these pyroxenes were apparently, according to Fouqué, 
derived from adherent anorthite, but another variety of pyroxene, seemingly very pure, 
and freed from anorthite, contained 12.4 per cent of alumina, which he regards as an 
integral part of the mineral,—a true aluminous pyroxene. Fouqué made use, in these 
investigations, of concentrated fluorhydric acid which readily attacks the coarsely powdered 
rock, dissolving alike the vitreous paste, albite, labradorite, and anorthite, but leaving 
behind the pyroxene and chrysolite, which, like amphibole, are but slightly attacked by 
the acid, or, like staurolite and zircon, resist its action. 

§ 33. Durocher, in his statement of the hypothesis of eliquation as applied to eruptive 
rocks, of which this process of segregation just noticed is but an illustration, raises, in 
connection with the question of differentiation, another not less important. He concludes 
from his comparative studies-that, “in the long course of the ages which divide the 
Primary and the Tertiary periods from each other,’ there have been changes “in the 
composition of the fluid mass which nourished the eruptions”; and, moreover, that in 
the case of the acidic layer—the source of the granitic and trachytic rocks— “there was a 
diminution of eight or nine hundredths in the proportion of silica, and of one-fifth in the 
potash, while the proportions of lime and iron-oxyd were almost doubled, and that of the 
soda tripled. Similar changes, according to him, have taken place in the basic layer, 
represented by dolerites, basalts, melaphyres, from the comparative study of which he 


* Fouqué, Nouveau procédé pour l'analyse médiate, et son application aux layes de la dernière eruption de 
Santorin; in abstract, Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, June, 1873, Ixxvi. 1181. Also, in extenso, Mem. 
des Savants Etrangers, de l’Acad. des Sciencies, xxii. no. 11. For farther details of this use of fluorhydric acid, see 
Fouqué and Michel Lévy, Minéralogie Micrographique, p. 116. Crystals of zircon from different localities, accord- 
ing to the late observations of Ed. Linnemann, when exposed for ten days to the vapors of fluorhydric acid, crumble 
to a white powder, which is not attacked by fluorhydric acid nor by aqua regia, and is pure silicate of zirconia, 
equal to 93 and 94 per cent. of the crystals. The matters attacked are silicates of various bases, including alkalies, 
lime, magnesia, iron, zinc, and alumina. (Sitz. Berichte Kais. Acad. Wissenschaft, 11, 1885, in Chem. News, 
Nov. 6, 1885.) 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 21 


concludes that “in the ferro-calciferous layer from the Primary to the Tertiary period. . . . 
there was a sensible diminution of silica and potash, and a notable augmentation of soda 
and lime.” Of these changes, “the diminution of silica and potash in the modern rocks, 
both of the acidic and basic groups,” was by Durocher explained by supposing that while 
these imaginary igneous layers remain distinct from each other, there is, nevertheless, 
in each a partial separation of these elements, by gravity, resulting in an accumulation of 
silica and potash in their upper portions, and of lime in their lower portions. The 
augmentation in the proportion of soda was by him referred to a special and independent 
cause, the supposed “intervention of sea-water in the formation of igneous products 
during the latter geological periods,” which, as he writes, would explam “the considerable 
increase of soda in the more modern of the igneous rocks, whether they be derived from 
the acidic or the basic layer.” 

§ 34. While Durocher included in the category of eruptive rocks certain masses, 
such as those of magnetite, serpentine, and various amphibolic rocks, for which an igneous 
origin is not admissible (so that some of his data may be questioned), the correctness of 
his important generalizations, which suggest a vast geogenic problem, cannot be con- 
tested. As regards his proposed explanation, it is easy to conceive that a separation by 
specific gravity might possibly cause such variations, alike in the acidic and the basic 
layer, that the ejections in the course of ages from successively lower portions of each of 
these would show the gradual diminution observed in the proportions of silica and po- 
tash, as well as the augmentation of lime. To this ingenious explanation, however, it is 
to be objected that it is based upon the unproved and, in the opinion of many modern 
philosophers, the untenable hypothesis of a molten substratum, and, moreover, one divided 
into two distinct zones. The whole of the phenomena in question, moreover, admit of a 
simpler and, it is believed, a more probable explanation, by the crenitic hypothesis. This, 
as we have seen, supposes a constant and progressive differentiation of an original basic 
plutonic mass through the action of water, which removes therefrom, in the elements of 
orthoclase and quartz—the chief constituents of granitic rocks,—preponderant proportions 
of silica and potash : an action which would result at last in the partial exhaustion of the 
lixiviated portion of the basic rock, which, with the diminution of the amount of available 
silica and potash, would finally yield to the solvent action of the waters only the elements 
of the more basic feldspars. As a result of this continued process, the crenitic products 
themselves will naturally show a diminution in the proportions of silica and potash, by 
reason of the progressive exhaustion of the source of these, while this residual portion of 
basic rock will not only exhibit a reduction in the proportions of silica and potash, but a 
relative increase in the proportion of lime. Moreover, the sodium and magnesium-chlorids 
which, from the results of subaerial decay, find their way into the surface-waters, which 
subsequently pass downwards in the process of lixiviation, may, by double exchange, 
effect the displacement of potash and the fixation of soda and magnesia in the basic mass, 
as explained farther on. 

§ 35. This hypothesis thus explains at the same time the origin of the highly silicic 
and potassic rocks, represented by the granites, and the conversion of the original plutonic 
stratum into a more and more basic material, progressively richer in alumina, soda, lime, 
and magnesia. It moreover requires that the long-continued lixiviation of a given area 
of plutonic rock should at length reach a point at which water could no longer remove 


22 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


from it the elements of orthoclase and quartz. With the disappearance of the latter would 
come the elements of the more basic feldspars, such as andesite and labradorite, as well as 
protoxyd-silicates, which together predominate in the norites and the diorites, charac- 
teristic crenitic rocks of the later crystalline series, such as the Norian and Huronian, which 
succeed the granites and the granitoid gneisses of the earlier periods. 

The crenitic hypothesis, as we have elsewhere seen, involyes the conception that all 
trachytic and granitic rocks are primarily of crenitic origin, and that penetrating granitic 
masses, when not, as is the case with most granitic veins, directly crenitic or endogenous 
masses, are displaced portions of older crenitic deposits. The first-formed granitic layer 
itself, it is held, may become softened under the combined influences of water and internal 
heat, and being then displaced, may appear in an eruptive form. 

§ 36. The question here arises as to the respective parts which crenitic action, on the 
one hand, and crystallization and eliquation, on the other, may play in the genesis of 
various types of crystalline rocks. It is apparent, from the illustrations which we have 
given, that by the latter process aggregates could, in paleeozoic times, be formed in which 
chrysolite makes more than one half the weight of the mass, and others in which either 
pyroxene or labradorite may largely predominate. The texture and the general facies of 
these different mineral aggregates, not less than their geognostic relations, however, suffice 
to distinguish them from crenitic deposits of somewhat similar composition. It was from 
a failure to recognize these differences that the original Wernerians denied or minimized 
the significance of igneous rocks, on the one hand, and that the later plutonists of both 
schools on the other hand, have argued the igneous origin of rocks of manifestly crenitic 
origin. The Wernerians, from the stratiform structure of gneiss, which they ascribed to 
its aqueous origin, argued for a similar origin for the granite into which it appears to gra- 
duate, while the plutonists from an analogous structure in undoubtedly igneous rocks 
conclude the igneous origin of gneiss. We have already noticed this laminated or stra- 

“tiform character in plutonic rocks, the true significance of which, as evidences of igneous 
flow, should not be lost sight of. 

§ 37. It must be kept in mind that the crenetic process, unlike eliquation, modifies 
the primary mass not only by abstraction, but by addition, since the surface-water which, 
by the hypothesis, is the dissolving agent, will bring with it in solution, in varying pro- 
portions, salts of calcium and magnesium, of potassium and of sodium, the action of all 
which upon the heated plutonic mass will effect certain interchanges, resulting in the 
fixation of bases like magnesia, whose silicated compounds are comparatively insoluble 
in the circulating waters, and perhaps in a substitution of soda for lime. It is not impro- 
bable that potassic solutions from some local source ! could thus be introduced, and give 
rise by their action upon a doleritic mass, either integral or partially differentiated by eli- 
quation, to a material so rich in potash as to furnish the elements of leucite, which has 
the oxygen-ratios of an andesite. 





1 While in ordinary spring-waters the proportion of potassium to sodium salts is small, seldom exceeding two 
or three hundredths of these bases, calculated as chlorids, I have shown that in an alkaline spring-water from 
paleeozoic shales at St. Ours, Quebec, containing in a litre about 0.3 gramme of alkalies, chiefly as carbonates and 
chlorids, the potassium thus calculated equalled 25 per cent. In the case of the water of the St. Lawrence River it 
equals 16 per cent, and of the Ottawa River 32 per cent. See for a discussion of the question of potassium in natural 
waters, the writer’s Chem. and Geol. Essays, pp. 125-137. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 23 


§ 38. The genesis of rocks like phonolite, which are essentially made up of a feld- 
spar having the orthoclase-ratios, with an admixture of a more basic silicate, as nephelite 
or a zeolite, can, however, hardly be explained save as an educt of crenitic action, like tra- 
chyte and granite. It represents, however, a period in the history of the plutonic mass 
when, from a diminution of silica, the production of quartz ceases, and more basic feld- 
spathic or zeolitic compounds begin to replace the orthoclase. When, from compounds 
like these, in which the proportion of protoxyds to alumina falls below the normal 
oxygen-ratio of 1: 3, we pass to those, like the muscovitic micas, most tourmalines, and 
the pinite-like minerals, with a diminished proportion of protoxyds, we have probably in 
all cases to do either with crenitic products or with the direct results of subaerial decay. 

§ 39. Fouqué and Michel Lévy, in their recent experiments, have shown us how to 
form artificially, from mixtures in igneous fusion, in which the proportions of elements 
were prearranged, crystalline aggregates containing leucite with labradorite, pyroxene, 
magnetite, and spinel, and others holding chrysolite in similar associations. The problem 
which lies behind this discovery is to determine how the materials are so grouped in 
nature’s laboratory as to yield the mixtures necessary, in the one case, for the production 
of a leucitophyre, and in the other for a chrysolitic dolerite. The research of the natural 
processes by which these combinations are reached has been the object of the preceding 
inquiry into the results of eliquation, on the one hand, and of the solvent and replacing 

“action of percolating waters, on the other. 

§ 40. It is farther to be noted that the experiments of Fouqué and Michel Lévy were 
made by the slow cooling of mixtures from simple igneous fusion, and the question must 
here be raised how far these reactions would be affected by the intervention of water ; in 
other words, whether, as maintained by Poulett Scrope, Scheerer, Elie de Beaumont, and 
many others, water is not always present in the mass of igneous rocks. So far as experi- 
ments go, the process of cooling from simple igneous fusion would seem to be inadequate 
to account for the origin of many of the minerals of eruptive rocks. Fouqué and Michel 
Lévy inform us that they “ have vainly sought to produce, by igneous fusion, rocks with 
quartz, orthoclase, albite, white or black mica, or amphibole,” although the occasional 
accidental production of orthoclase as a furnace-product has been noticed. The presence 
of albite in the recent lavas of Santorin, in association with labradorite, pyroxene, and 
chrysolite, has been shown by Fouqué (§ 32), and its probable occurrence in a diabase has 
been pointed out by Hawes.’ Both orthoclase and albite have, however, been formed in 
the wet way, at elevated temperatures, under pressure; and pyroxene, while readily 
generated from the products of igneous fusion, was got by Daubrée by the action of super- 
heated water on glass, at the same time with crystallized quartz and magnetite or spinel. * 
The frequent occurrence of pyroxene in veinstones, in intimate association with ortho- 
clase, quartz, apatite, and calcite, suffices to show its aqueous origin, in common with all 
of these species. In like manner, magnetite, which is readily formed in fused basic mix- 
tures, is found crystallized with orthoclase and quartz, with apatite and pyrite, in granitic 
veinstones. Moreover, the fact of its association with garnet, and with zeolitic minerals, 
in the secretions of basic rocks suffices to prove that magnetite, as well as hematite, may 








! Synthèse des Minéraux et des Roches, p. 75. * Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, Vol. ii. See. iii. p. 39, 
3 Ibid., p. 44. 


24 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


be formed by aqueous action. Chrysolite also, is produced by igneous fusion, but its 
presence in crystalline limestone in the form of forsterite, and in massive magnetite as 
hortonolite, shows that, like the related and similarly associated chondrodite, it may be 
formed in the presence of water. ! 

§ 41. The evidences of the intervention of water in eruptive rocks have, since the 
time of Scrope, been too often pointed out to need repetition here. Its elements may even 
be retained in fused compounds at the temperature of ignition, under the ordinary atmos- 
pheric pressure, as seen not only in the hydrate and the acid sulphate of potassium, but 
in certain vitreous borates of sodium and potassium, long -since described by Laurent, 
which at a red heat and in tranquil fusion hold an amount of hydrogen equal to 1.2 and 
1.3 hundredths of water, and are, under these conditions, slowly decomposed by metallic 
iron, with abundant disengagement of hydrogen gas, which burns with a green flame 
from the presence of combined boron.* That, under greater pressure, water may be held 
by other compounds, such as silicates, is undoubted. Hydrous glasses like pitchstone and 
perlite are examples of these, and differ from obsidian in containing three or four hun- 
dredths of water. 

§ 42. The late researches of Tilden and Shenstone on “The Solubility of Salts in 
Water at High Temperatures” throw much light on the geological relations of water. 
While the solvent power of this liquid rapidly increases, when under pressure, at tempe- 
ratures above 100° C.. they have shown that “the increase of solubility follows the order 
of the fusing-point of the solid.” Thus, of potassium-iodid, which melts at 634°, 100 parts 
of water at 180° dissolve 327 parts, while of barium-chlorate, melting at 400°, 100 parts of 
water at 180° dissolve 526 parts. Of potassium-nitrate, melting at 339°, 100 parts of water 
at 120° dissolve 495 parts, or nearly five times its weight; while of silver-nitrate, whose 
fusing-point is 217°, 100 parts of water at 125° dissolve 1622.5 parts, and at 133° 1941.4 
parts, or nearly twenty times its own weight. Of certain substances it can be said that 
they are infinitely soluble at certain temperatures. This is true of the decahydrated 
sodium-sulphate, which melts at 34°, and nearly true for benzoic acid. This substance, 
which melts at 120°, requires for its solution 600 parts of water at 0° and 25 parts at 100°; 
but when heated in a sealed tube to a few degrees above its fusing-point it is miscible 
with water in all proportions. These heated solutions, in the case at least of barium- 
chlorate and potassium-nitrate, are described as notably viscous, a condition which perhaps 
indicates that they are colloidal. * 

§ 43. From these results it is easy to conceive what might be expected at elevated 
temperatures with materials as insoluble, at ordinary temperatures, as quartz or the 
natural silicates. A few hundredths of water at several hundred degrees Centigrade would 
probably convert these into a viscid fluid, from which, as from an anhydrous magma, by 
rest or by partial cooling, definite compounds might successively crystallize,—the mixture 
becoming, to use the simile of Poulett Scrope in speaking of lavas, like a syrup holding 
grains of sugar. From such mixtures partially cooled, or from a heterogeneous plutonic 





1 Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, Vol. ii. Sec. iii. p. 61. 

2 The potassium-borate in question, apart from combined water, contained boric oxyd 58.6, potash 16.3, 
giving the oxygen-ratio 72:5; and the sodium-borate had the same atomic ratios. Aug. Laurent, Compte Rendu 
des Travaux de Chimie, 1850, pp. 86-42. 

3 Philos. Trans., 1884, Part i, pp. 23-36. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 25 


mass impregnated with water and not yet raised to the full temperature of solution, or 
what has been aptly termed ‘“igneo-aqueous fusion,” the more soluble portions, removed 
by percolation or by diffusion, we conceive to have constituted the liquids which in 
earlier times produced the various crenitic rocks. The fact that, as shown by Sorby, ! 
pressure augments the solvent power of water, irrespective of temperature, should not be 
lost sight of in this connection. The remarkable observations of Tilden and Shenstone 
serve to explain and to justify the view of the intervention of water in giving liquidity 
to various eruptive rocks, originally put forward by Poulett Scrope, and afterwards ably 
maintained, among others, by Scheerer and Elie de Beaumont. ? 

The conversion of colloidal magmas, whether hydrous as just described, or an- 
hydrous, as noticed in § 26, into denser crystalline species, not only involves the disengage- 
ment of heat, but as Becker has shown, its disengagement at a maximum rate, thus 
maintaining, with the temperature, the liquidity of the crystallizing magma.’ The pas- 
sage of certain dense species, as epidote, zoisite, garnet, beryl and quartz, when fused per 
se, into vitreous or crystalline forms of less specific gravity ‘ is no exception to this law of 
condensation, since the chemical and physical conditions of the fused mass are unlike those 
of the more complex magma. When such a magma, holding combined a portion of water, 
is changed into anhydrous crystalline species, this will be liberated, as is shown in the 
often observed disengagement from solidifying lavas, of aqueous vapor, sometimes with 
boric oxyd, fluorhydric aud chlorhydric acids, and various chlorids. Hence crystalline 
silicates like epidote, tourmaline, and micas, which contain these volatile elements, will 
only be generated under such conditions as prevent their liberation. 

$ 44. We have already noticed the banded structure (§ 28) which often results from 
movement in the extrusion of more or less differentiated masses of eruptive rocks, simulat- 
ing that produced by the separation from water either of mechanical sediments or of crys- 
talline deposits. It is important in this connection to distinguish between the latter two 
processes, and to insist upon the more or less concretionary character of the matters separ- 
ated from solution, often shown in the lenticular shape of beds of this character, and well 
displayed in the crystalline schists. The conditions under which these were laid down 
from water were less like those of ordinary sediments than of the accumulations of crys- 
talline matter in geodes and in veins. Many facts with regard to the banded character 
of mineral veins are familiar to geologists, and the stratiform character of such deposits 
has often been remarked in smaller vein-like masses. I have elsewhere called attention to 
the fact that crystalline masses having the relations of veinstones may assume great pro- 
portions, and that much granitic rock often regarded as eruptive is in fact of concretionary 
and endogenous origin, discussing the question at some length in 1871.° Veins of this 
kind were then described sixty feet in breadth, traversing the gneisses and mica-schists 
of the younger gneissic or Montalban series, in New England, often coarsely crystalline 





! Proc, Roy. Soc. London, xii. 538. 

? Scrope, Jour. Geol. Soc. London, xii., 326; Scheerer, Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, 1845, iv. 468; and Elie de 
Beaumont, Zbid., 1240 et seq. See farther the author’s Chem. and Geol. Essays, 188-191, and also 5, 6, for farther 
references to the literature of the subject. 

* Becker, Amer. Jour. Science, 1886, xxxi. 120. 

* A Natural System of Mineralogy, etc. Trans. Roy. Soc. Can. Vol. iii. Sec. iii. p. 36. 

5 Granites and Granitic Veinstones, Amer. Jour. Science, 1871. Chem. and Geol. Essays, pp. 191-202. 


Sec. IIT., 1886. 4. 


26 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


and banded, and evidently concretionary, but sometimes so finely granular and homoge- 
neous in portions as to be quarried for architectural purposes, like the indigenous gneisses 
of the series, which they often closely resemble. Remarkable examples of the same phe- 
nomenon are to be met with in the older gneissic or Laurentian series, some of which are 
conspicuous in the sections of these rocks visible in the cañon of the Arkansas River, 
and elsewhere in Colorado. Still more striking examples are met with in the similar 
gneisses in parts of Canada, and are well displayed in Ottawa county, in the province of 
Quebec, where, in the township of Buckingham, veins eighty feet in breadth, and made 
up almost wholly of orthoclase and crystalline cleavable magnetite, traverse for consider- 
able distances the stratified gneiss of the region. ' 

§ 45. In the same county, and near the Riviere aux Liévres, are the great veins 
which have lately been extensively mined for apatite in what is known as the Liévres 
district. Very similar veins also occur a short distance to the southwest, along the Rideau 
canal, in the province of Ontario, in what may be called the Rideau district. The veins 
in this latter area were first described by the writer as early as 1848, and subsequently 
in 1863, in 1866, and in 1884.” The history of these apatite deposits in the two districts, 
which may be considered together, will serve to illustrate some important facts in the 
theory of crystalline rocks. The principal associates of the apatite in these districts are 
pyroxene, phlogopite, orthoclase, quartz, calcite, and pyrite. It was said of the localities 
in the Rideau district, in 1863, that a careful examination in each case shows that “the 
deposit occurs in a fissure in the stratification, and has well-defined walls,” while “a 
banded arrangement of the mineral contents is often very well marked ;” —the various 
minerals named sometimes, occurring in alternate layers, of which the calcite, often with 
included apatite crystals, has “the aspect of a coarsely crystalline lamellar limestone.” 
Farther examples were then given, showing the bilateral symmetry in many of the veins, 
and the occasional presence in them of drusy cavities. Moreover, although small portions 
of apatite were observed in what were regarded as the limestone beds of the enclosing 
gneiss, it was said that “the workable deposits of apatite, with few if any exceptions, are 
confined to the veinstones.” Such were the conclusions announced by the writer as late 
as 1866. Subsequently, in 1884, after farther studies of the Rideau district, he was led to 
write that although the deposits of apatite are in great part in true veins cutting the 
strata, and sometimes including angular fragments of the wall-rock,—which is the char- 
acteristic red or gray gneiss of the country,—they are “in part bedded or interstratified 
in the pyroxene-rock of the region.” With regard to certain apparently bedded deposits 
of apatite it was farther said, “ I am disposed to look upon [them] as true beds, deposited 
at the same time with the enclosing rocks,” which were described as “chiefly beds of 
pyroxene-rock, generally pale green or grayish-green in color, with mixtures containing 
quartz and orthoclase, and distinctly gneissoid in structure.” 

$ 46. I am careful to emphasize this apparent contradiction between the assertion 
of the truly endogenous character of the deposits in which apatite occurs with pyroxene, 








? Geol. Survey of Canada, Report for 1848, p. 132, and for 1863-66, pp. 224-229; also Geology of Canada, 1863, 
pp. 461, 592, 761, and Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers, 1884, vol. xii, pp. 459-468. See farther, B. J. Harring- 
ton, Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1877-78, G., pp 1-36, and J. Fraser Torrance, Jbid., 1882-83-84, J., pp. 3-30, for 
yaluable contributions to our knowledge of the Canadian apatite deposits. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 27 


phlogophite, orthoclase, quartz, and calcite, and that of the interstratification of the same 
apatite, in contemporaneous layers with a gneissoid pyroxenic rock, for the reason that 
both statements are strictly true, and that in their reconciliation light will be thrown on 
the great problem of the genesis of these crystalline aggregates. The mining operations 
on a large scale in these apatite deposits in the Liévres district, especially in the years 
1883-1885, have in fact shown that the stratiform pyroxenic masses are, like the associated 
orthoclase-rock, the apatite, and the calcite, subordinate parts of veins, which assume in 
many cases vast proportions, and at the same time have in parts of their mass a banded 
structure much resembling that of the enclosing gneiss. Illustrations of this condition 
of things abound at the great open cuttings for exploration and for mining which have 
been made at the High Rock, the Union, and the Emerald mines, in Portland and Buck- 
ingham townships, on the Liévres River.' At the first-named locality the nearly ver- 
tical gray hornblendic gneiss, running northeast and southwest, is traversed by venous 
masses, sometimes with the strike, but at other times oblique or even at a right angle. 

§ 47. A study of some of the smaller veins of the region (which are not mined) will 
help to an understanding of the nature and relations of those which are exploited for 
apatite. As seen at the High Rock mine, these lesser veins are from a few inches to 
several feet in width, and are chiefly of a binary granite or pegmatite, often including 
portions of the wall-rock, and sometimes, near their borders, presenting, for a breadth of 
two or three feet, a veritable breccia of angular fragments of gneiss from one to six inches 
in diameter. The granitic veinstone includes two feldspars, one weathering white and 
the other reddish, the latter forming considerable cleavable masses. A little white mica 
is also sometimes met with in these veins, which, in parts of their extension, hold portions 
of green cleavable pyroxene, sometimes in slender strings running with the strike, but in 
other cases filling the greater part of the vein, and including little seams of white felds- 
par, and small masses of greenish apatite,—fine and large crystals of which, and others 
of pyroxene, are, moreover, occasionally found directly imbedded in the granitic vein- 
stone. 

§ 48. Veins of vitreous quartz a foot or more in breadth are met with in the imme- 
diate vicinity, and also sometimes enclose crystals of apatite, or portions of feldspar, by an 
admixture of which they graduate into the binary granite or pegmatite. There is thus 
apparent a transition from pure quartz to a granitic rock, and to one essentially 
pyroxenic, each occasionally bearing apatite, which of itself also forms rock-masses. All 
of these are associated in the larger veins, in alternating bands or irregular lenticular 
masses sometimes a few inches in thickness, but at other times attaining breadths of many 
feet each. A frequent intermediate type of rock in these veinstones consists of a granular 
or coarsely cleavable green pyroxene with an admixture of quartz, and a feldspar, gene- 
rally white in color, but occasionally bluish, and with cleavage-planes an inch in breadth. 
The quartz and feldspar in this aggregate sometimes predominate, offering a transition 
into the granitic rock already noticed, which frequently includes crystals of pyroxene, 





" The workings at each of the three mines named have yielded five thousand tons or more of commercial 
apatite annually for three or four years, and consist for the most part of open cuttings, in some cases to depths of 
over one hundred feet, causing the uncoyering or displacement of great portions of the accompanying rock-masses. 
In other mines in this region, also very productive, shafts have been sunk on apatite bands in these veins to 
depths of one hundred and fifty and two hundred feet. 


28 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE _ GENETIC 


apple-green or grass-green in color, and then sometimes holds clove-brown titanite, brown 
tourmaline, and, more rarely, zircon. 

§ 49. These rocks, essentially made up of feldspar, quartz, and pyroxene, were long 
since noticed by the writer as occurring among the Laurentian gneisses in the Rideau 
district, and at various points in the province of Quebec, and were described in 1866 as 
generally “ granitoid or gneissoid in structure, sometimes fine-grained, and at other times 
made up of crystalline elements from two tenths to five tenths of an inch in diameter. . . . 
They are often interstratified with beds of granitoid orthoclase gneiss, into which the 
quartzo-feldspathic pyroxenites pass by a gradual disappearance of the pyroxene.” The 
occasional presence in them not only of titanite, but of mica, amphibole, epidote, magnetite, 
and graphite, was then noticed, and attention was called to the fact that these mineral 
species are common to the pyroxene rocks and to associated crystalline limestones. 
The feldspar of these intermediate rocks was described as having generally the characters 
of orthoclase, as was shown by the analysis of a specimen from Chatham, Quebec, but as, 
in some cases, triclinic and resembling oligoclase.' Dr. Harrington has since found for 
one of these the composition of albite. 

As will appear from the language just cited, these aggregates were then regarded as 
portions of the country-rock. The pyroxenite seen in North Burgess, in the Rideau 
district, was described as sometimes granitoid, and at other times micaceous and schistose, 
interstratified with what was then called a binary granitoid gneiss, and also with layers 
of crystalline limestone, some of them holding serpentine, and others including pyroxene, 
mica, and crystals of apatite. Both varieties of the pyroxenic rock were then said to 
contain small grains and masses of apatite, in one case forming an interrupted bed, which 
was traced two hundred and fifty feet with the strike, and was in parts two feet in thick- 
ness. 

§ 50. While apatite was thus found in crystals, in lenticular masses, and in layers, 
alike in the calcareous and the pyroxenic stratiform rocks, these same rocks were described 
as traversed at right angles by veins, the banded and symmetrical character of which was 
insisted upon, carrying not only apatite but calcite, quartz, orthoclase, scapolite, pyroxene, 
amphibole, and wollastonite. While the venous character of these secondary deposits 
(which also intersect the red and gray gneissic country-rock) was thus recognized, it was 
not until a later period that it became apparent that the same view was to be extended 
to the greater stratiform masses in which these veins were enclosed; in fact that the 
process of depositing these mineral species had been repeated in these localities, and that 
the pyroxenic and granitic rocks, not less than the interstratified limestone masses, were 
portions of great endogenous masses or lodes.” 

§ 51. At this stage of the inquiry the writer found himself face to face with the 
exoplutonists. Emmons, who, in 1842, first described the geological characters of the 
similar crystalline rocks in northern New York, regarded the whole of them—gneisses, 
granites, iron-ores, and crystalline limestones included — as of plutonic origin, a view 
which was supported by the evident geognostic relations of the calcareous veins. This 
was in accordance with the views of Von Leonhard, Savi, and others in Europe, who 





1 Geology of Canada, 1863, p. 475 ; also Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1863-66, pp. 185 and 224-228. 
*¥For an analysis of the argument, and many references, see Amer. Jour. Science, 1872, iii. 125, and Chem. 
and Geol. Essays, p. 208. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 29 


taught the igneous origin of certain limestones—an opinion afterwards adopted by J. D. 
Dana, who supposed that some of the so-called primary limestones “were of igneous 
origin, like granite.” The aqueous origin of similar calcareous masses in Scandinavia had, 
however, been recognized by Scheerer and by Daubrée, and in Germany by Bischof ; 
while the vein-like character of certain aggregates of this kind, in which various silicates 
and other mineral species are associated with carbonate of lime in the ancient gneisses of 
North America, had been noticed by C. U. Shepard, H. D. Rogers, and W. P. Blake, among 
others, as was shown by the writer in some detail, in 1866. In a paper then read before 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, it was said that deposits of 
carbonate of lime, sometimes of great dimensions, and holding the characteristic minerals 
of the crystalline limestones, are found filling fissures and veins in the Laurentian gneisses. 
These were then designated endogenous rocks, regarded as of aqueous origin, and to be 
carefully distinguished from intrusive or exotic rocks." 

The subject was discussed in the same year in an account of the mineralogy of the 
Laurentian rocks, when it was said, in commenting upon the view of Emmons that such 
masses, and in fact all of the crystalline limestones of the series, are eruptive : — “The 
greater part of the calcareous rocks in the Laurentian system in North America are 
stratified, and the so-called eruptive limestones are really calcareous veinstones or endogen- 
ous rocks, generally including foreign minerals, such as pyroxene, scapolite, orthoclase, 
quartz, ete.”* I had not at that time as yet discovered that these same endogenous 
masses may include, besides calcareous bands, others essentially quartzose, pyroxenic, 
and feldspathic, resembling more or less the strata of the enclosing gneissic series, nor con- 
sidered that these same calcareous bands might sometimes be found in fissures coincident 
with the bedding of the latter. 

§ 52. In 1869 I visited with the late L. 8. Burbank a locality at Chelmsford, Massa- 
chusetts, where limestone has been quarried from interrupted masses, sometimes two 
hundred feet in length, enclosed in gneisses of the ordinary Laurentian type, to which I 
then referred them.” I failed to recognize in the quarries then examined the endogenous 
character which doubtless belongs to some of the limestone-masses of this region, where 
they have been traced, at intervals, for twenty-five miles, through Chelmsford, Boxbor- 
ough, and Bolton; but at the same time I called the attention of Mr. Burbank to the 
question of these vein-like masses, placing in his hands my publications of 1866. He, as a 
result of farther observations, had, in 1871, persuaded himself that all of the limestones of 
the region were newer than the enclosing rocks, not eruptive, but “of a vein-like char- 
acter,” occupying fissures in the gneiss, of which character his descriptions, in certain 
cases, give evidence. * He noted the banded structure visible in the arrangement of the 
various enclosed minerals, as I had described them in 1866 in the similar limestone- 
masses in Canada, and enumerated in the region under consideration : amphibole, pyr- 
oxene, chrysolite (forsterite or so-called boltonite), phlogopite, scapolite, and garnet, 
besides serpentine, in grains or in irregular bands or layers, sometimes traversed by veins 
of SOU To this list may be added spinel: chondrodite, perlite, and titanite. 


' Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Science, 1866, p. we also Can. Natural (IL.) iii. 123, 

* Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1863-66, p. 194. See also the facts resumed in Chem. and Geol. Essays, p. 218. 
* Amer. Jour. Science, 1870, xlix. 75. 

* Burbank. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Ady. Science, 1871, pp. 263-266. 


30 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


§ 53. The late J. B. Perry at the same time and place’ announced a similar conclu- 
sion, to which he had arrived, namely, that these limestones in eastern Massachusetts, as 
well as others elsewhere in New England and in northern New York, though possessing 
“the form of dikes,” “have a vein-like structure, and should be regarded as true vein- 
stones.” He farther says of these deposits: “The foliated structure, with its accompany- 
ing series of mineral substances, each occurring in a determinate order, evinces that the 
process of deposition was gradual and probably long continued.” Thus these observers, 
in 1871, had, although without acknowledgment, confirmed my observations and adopted 
my conclusions of 1866 as to these endogenous calcareous masses of the ancient gneissic 
series. J. W. Dawson had in 1869 recognized ÆEozoon Canadense in a serpentinic lime- 
stone from Chelmsford, and both Burbank and Perry maintained that all of the limestone 
masses of the region were vein-stones, as an argument against the organic nature of 
Hozoon. 

§ 54. The mineralogy of these endogenous, more or less calcareous, masses has been 
the subject of much study. While sometimes having the aspect of a coarsely crystalline 
limestone, and nearly pure, they may include apatite, fluorite, chondrodite, wollastonite, 
amphibole, pyroxene, danburite, serpentine, phlogopite, gieseckite, orthoclase, scapolites, 
brown tourmaline, idocrase, prehnite, epidote, allanite, garnet (sometimes chromiferous), 
titanite, zircon, rutile, spinel, volcknerite, corundum, menaccanite, magnetite, hematite, 
pyrite, and, more rarely, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, molybdenite, and galenite. 
To these must be added stilbite, chabazite, and barite. All of these species have been 
met with in the deposits studied in Canada and New York, while in the similar cal- 
careous masses in eastern Massachusetts chrysolite and petalite occur. Exceptionally, as 
in Franklin and Stirling, New Jersey, there are found in this connection zinciferous and 
manganiferous minerals, as willemite, tephroite, spartalite and franklinite. ° 

The various associations of apatite in these aggregates are worthy of notice. Crystals 
of this species have been observed by the writer directly imbedded in the quartzo-felds- 
pathic vein-stone, in vitreous quartz, in calcite and dolomite, in pyroxene, in crystals of 
phlogopite, in pyrite, in magnetite, in spinel, and in foliated graphite, as well as in a 
massive granular apatite, which sometimes surrounds large and well defined crystals of 
the same species. Dr. Harrington has farther noted its inclusion in amphibole, in ortho- 
clase, in scapolite, in steatite, and in fluorite. On the other hand, apatite crystals have 
been found to enclose quartz, calcite, fluorite, phlogopite, pyroxene, zircon, titanite, and 
pyrite. The apatite of these deposits, so far as known, is essentially a fluor-apatite, con- 
taining in one case, by the writer’s analysis, 0.5 hundredths of chlorine. From these 
facts it is evident that the succession of species in these veins is by no means inyariable. 
Mention should here be made of the apatite occurring in disseminated grains in the great 
deposit of magnetite so extensively mined at Mount Moriah, near Port Henry, New York. 
The banded arrangement of the crystalline apatite, generally reddish in color, and in thin 





5 


1 Perry. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Ady. Science, 1871, pp. 270-276. 

2 For farther and more detailed accounts of the occurrence of the mineral species already mentioned, and 
many others which are found with the calcarous masses of the Laurentian rocks, see Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 
1863-66, pp. 181-229, which were reprinted, with the exception of the last six pages, in the Report of the Regents of 
the University of New York, for 1867, Appendix E. See also, in abstract, Chem. and Geol. Essays, pp. 208-217, and 
farther the reports of Dr. Harrington and Mr. J. Fraser Torrance, cited in the note § 45. 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 31 


layers, occasionally predominating, gives a stratified aspect to the iron ore. A similar 
ageregate is found in the Rideau district, in Ontario. 

§ 55. The stratiform character of these endogenous deposits, as seen alike in the 
individual portions, and in the arrangement of these as constituent parts of a vein, is well 
shown at the Union mine, in the Liévres district. Here the great mass or lode is seen to 
be bounded on the west by a dark-colored amphibolic gneiss, nearly vertical in attitude, 
and with a northwest strike. Within the vein, and near its western border, is enclosed 
a fragment of the gneiss, about twenty feet in width, which is traced some yards along 
the strike of the vein, to a cliff, where it is lost from sight, its breadth being previously 
much diminished. It is a sharply broken mass of gray banded gneiss, with a reéntering 
angle, and its close contact with the surrounding and adherent coarsely granular pyroxenic 
vein-stone is very distinct. Smaller masses of the same gneiss are also seen in the vein, 
which was observed for a breadth of about 150 feet across its strike,—nearly coincident 
with that of the adjacent gneiss,—and beyond was limited to the northeast by a consider- 
able breadth of the same country-rock. 

§ 56. In one opening on this lode there are seen, in a pect of forty feet of the 
banded veinstone, repeated layers of apatite, pyroxenite, and a granitoid quartzo-feldspathic 
rock, including portions of dark brown foliated pyroxene, all three of these being unlike 
anything inthe enclosing gneiss, but so distinctly banded as to be readily taken for 
country-rock by those not apprised of the venous character of the mass. A fracture, with 
a lateral displacement of two or three feet, is occupied by a granitic vein twelve inches 
wide, made up of quartz with two feldspars and black amphibole, which themselves pre- 
sent a distinctly banded arrangement. This same granitic vein is traced for fifty feet, 
cutting obliquely across both the pyroxenite and the older granitoid rock, and at length 
spreads out, and is confounded with a granitic mass interbedded in the greater vein. It 
is thus posterior alike to the older quartzo-feldspathic rock, the pyroxenite, and the 
apatite,—as are also many smaller quartzo-feldspathic veins, which, both here and in 
other localities in this region, intersect at various angles the apatite, the pyroxenite, and 
the granitoid rock into which the latter graduates. We have thus included in these great 
apatite-bearing lodes, quartzo-feldspathic rocks of at least two ages, both younger than 
the enclosing gneiss. A small vertical vein of fine-grained black diabase-like rock inter- 
sects the whole. No one looking for the first time at this section of forty feet, as exposed 
in the quarry, with its distinctly banded and alternating layers of pyroxenite and 
granitoid quartzo-feldspathic rock, including two larger and several smaller layers of 
crystalline apatite, would question the stratiform character of the mass, whose venous 
and endogenous nature is, nevertheless, distinctly apparent on farther study. 

In other portions of the same great vein, which has been quarried at many points, 
this regularity of arrangement is less evident. Occasionally masses are met with present- 
ing a concretionary structure, and consisting of rounded or oval aggregates of orthoclase 
and quartz, with small crystals of pyroxene around and between them ; the arrangement 
of the elements presenting a radiated and zone-like structure, and recalling the orbicular 
diorite of Corsica. The diameter of these granitic concretions varies from half an inch to 
one and two inches, and they have been seen in several localities in the veins of this 
region, over areas of many square feet. 

§ 57. In the Emerald mine the stratiform arrangement in the vein is remarkably 


32 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


displayed. Here, in the midst of a great breadth of apatite, were seen two parallel bands 
(since removed in mining) of pyroxenic rock, several yards in length, running with the 
strike of the vein, and in their broadest parts three and eight feet wide, respectively, but 
becoming attenuated at either end, and disappearing, one after the other, in length, as 
they did also in depth. These included vertical layers, evidently of contemporaneous 
origin with the enclosing apatite, were themselves banded with green and white from 
alternations of pyroxene and of feldspar with quartz. Accompanying the apatite in this 
mine are also bands and irregular masses of flesh-red calcite, sometimes two or three feet 
in breadth, including crystals of apatite and others of dark green amphibole. Elsewhere, 
as at the High Rock mine, tremolite is met with. In portions of the vein at the Emerald 
mine, pyrite is found in considerable quantity, and occasionally forms layers many inches 
in thickness, sometimes with pyrrhotite. Several large parallel bands of apatite here 
occur, with intervening layers of pyroxenic and feldspathic rock, across a breadth of at 
least 250 feet of vein-stone, besides numerous small, irregular, lenticular masses of apatite. 
The pyroxenite in this lode, as elsewhere, includes in places large crystals of phlogopite, 
and also presents in drusy cavities crystals of a scapolite, and occasionally small brilliant 
crystals of colorless chabazite, which are implanted on quartz. 

At the Little Rapids mine, not far from the last, where well defined bands or layers 
of apatite, often eight or ten feet wide, have been followed for considerable distances along 
the strike, and in one place to more than 200 feet in depth, these are, nevertheless, seen 
to be subordinate to one great vein, similar in composition to those just described, and 
including bands of granular quartz. In some portions of this lode the alternations of 
granular pyroxenite, quartzite, and a quartzo-feldspathic rock, with little lenticular mas- 
ses of apatite, are repeated two or three times in a breadth of twelve inches, 

§ 58. The whole of the observations thus set forth in detail above, serve to show the 
existence in the midst of a more ancient gneissic series, of great deposits, stratiform in 
character, complex and varied in composition, and, though distinct therefrom, litholo- 
gically somewhat similar to the enclosing gneiss. Their relation to the latter, however, 
as shown by the outlines at the surfaces of contact, by the included masses of the wall- 
rock, the alternations of unlike mineral aggregates, the evidences of successive and alter- 
nate deposition of mineral species, and the occasional unfilled cavities lined with crystals, 
forbid us to entertain the notion that they have been filled by igneous injection, as con- 
ceived by plutonists, and lead to the conclusion that they have been gradually deposited 
from aqueous solutions. This conclusion is made more apparent when we compare these 
immense banded lodes with the many small veins from a foot in breadth upwards, also 
banded, and lithologically similar to the great lodes, which intersect not only these but 
the ancient gneisses, as already described at the High Rock mine, and also in many other 
localities, especially in parts of the Rideau district. 

It may here be noticed that the very similar banded and vein-like deposits now largely 
mined for apatite in Norway, are regarded by Brogger and Reusch, who have lately studied 
them, as igneous masses irrupted in a liquid condition, : 
hypothesis by which they endeavor to explain many of the phenomena of these deposits. 
For an analysis of their argument, and a forcible statement of the objections thereto, the 
reader atl consult Dr. Harrington’s Cr on the apatite region of the Lièvres. * 











1 Brôgger and Reusch, Zeitschrift d. deutsch. Geol. Gesell. Heft iii. pp. 646-702. Report Geol. Survey ce 
1877-78, G., pp. 11-12. 


has 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 33 


§ 59. These various endogenous deposits are instructive illustrations of the crenitic 
process. The alternations of stratiform layers of quartz, of calcite, and of feldspathic and 
pyroxenic aggregates, with included layers of apatite, pyrite, etc., show that a process 
closely analogous to that which formed the older gneissic series was in operation, and 
gave rise to these banded mineral masses in the midst of rifted and broken strata of the 
older rocks after these had assumed their present attitude. The lithological resemblances 
between the older and the younger deposits are not less remarkable than their differences, 
and suflice to show the great similarity between the conditions which produced the vein- 
stones and their enclosing rocks. The latter, however, appear, in the present state of our 
knowledge, to have been deposited not only ona vaster scale but apparently in a hori- 
zontal or nearly horizontal attitude. 

§ 60. What are regarded as examples of calcareous deposits of the two ages were 
described by the writer, in 1878, as occurring at Port Henry, on Lake Champlain, in the 
State of New York. Near the town isa quarry whence limestone has been got for the 
blast-furnaces of the locality. “Here elongated, irregular fragments of dark hornblendic 
gneiss, from two inches to a foot in thickness, were found completely enveloped in crys- 
talline carbonate of lime. In 1877, five such masses of gneiss were exposed in an area of 
a few square yards. One of these, a thin plate of the gneiss, having been broken in two, 
the enclosing calcareous matter had filled the little crevice, keeping the fragments very 
nearly in their place. The carbonate of lime, which is coarsely granular, and contains 
some graphite and pyrite, is banded with lighter and darker shades of color, and one of 
its layers was marked by the presence of crystals of green pyroxene and of brown sphene. 
The contact of this mass with the surrounding gneiss, which is near by, is concealed. No 
serpentine was found in this limestone, though it abounds in a limestone quarried in the 
vicinity. About half a mile to the north is still another quarry, opened in a great and 
unknown breadth of more finely granular and somewhat graphitic limestone, which 
near its border presents three beds of two or three feet each, interstratified with the 
enclosing gneiss.” Of this it was said that “it presents alternations of lighter feldspathic 
and darker hornblendic beds, with others highly quartzose, and includes layers of a sul- 
phurous magnetite, which are, however, insignificant when compared with the great 
deposit of this ore mined at Mount Moriah, in the vicinity.” 

§ 61. While the great breadth of limestone interstratified with the gneiss was 
regarded as belonging to the ancient series, it was said of the limestone of the first-des- 
cribed quarry, that it “seems clearly to be a brecciated calcareous vein enclosing frag- 
ments of the gneiss wall-rock.' Reference was then made to similar observations in this 
vicinity described by Prof. James Hall in 1876, who, from this breccia of gneiss-fragments 
in an exposure to crystalline limestone, rightly inferred the posterior deposition of the 
latter, and was led to conjecture that it might belong to a newer geological series. The 
only evidence of this, however, was the enclosed fragments of the gneiss, which, in similar 
cases, had led Emmons and Mather to infer the eruptive character of these same lime- 
stones, regarded by the writer as endogenous masses or vein-stones. The great thickness 
of the interstratified limestone-masses which form, according to Logan, integral parts of 
the vast Laurentian series, and their geographical extent, were described in detail in the 





* Azoic Rocks, etc., pp. 166-167; also the Geology of Port Henry, Canadian Naturalist, x, No. 7, 


Sec. IIT., 1886. 5. 


34 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


publications of the Geological Survey of Canada, in 1863, and farther in 1866. À summary 
of these results will be found in the writers volume on Azoic Rocks, page 154. 

$ 62. As regards the genesis, according to the crenitic hypothesis, of the various 
mineral species found in this vast crystalline series, alike in the more ancient strata and 
in their included endogenous masses, we have already considered the formation of the 
double silicates of alumina with alkalies and lime, represented by the various feldspars, 
and more rarely by the scapolites, epidote, garnet, and the muscovitic or non-magnesian 
micas. These latter, though abundant, with garnet and black tourmaline, in some 
granitic veins in this geological series, are rare in those portions in which the pro- 
toxyd-silicates abound; while the silicates of alumina without protoxyd-bases, such 
as are andalusite, fibrolite, cyanite, topaz, and pyrophyllite, are unknown. On the other 
hand, aluminous double silicates with magnesia are abundantly represented by phlo- 
gopite, and protoxyd-silicates with magnesia, such as chondrodite, pyroxene, and amphi- 
bole, are abundant ; the simple calcareous silicate, wollastonite, being more rarely met 
with. The genesis of all these we have supposed to be by the reaction of soluble cal- 
careous silicates with magnesian and ferrous solutions. The magnesia required may be 
found either in salts like those of sea-water, or in solutions of magnesian bicarbonate from 
subaerial decay of plutonic rocks, which solutions, by reacticn with lime-silicates, would 
give rise to insoluble magnesian compounds and soluble lime-carbonate. A similar reac- 
tion, with liberation of silica, would result from the direct operation of carbonic-dioxyd 
upon the lime-silicate. The intervention of ferrous solutions in similar reactions has 
already been discussed in considering the origin of glauconite, in § 10-12. 

§ 63. As regards the presence in these, and similar crystalline rocks, of basic oxyds 
uncombined with silica or with carbonic acid, such as alumina and magnesia in corun- 
dum; spinel and some chromites ; chromic oxyd in the latter and in some spinels; glucina 
and magnesia in chrysoberyl and periclase ; together with zinc, manganese and iron-oxyds 
in spartalite, franklinite, magnetite, and hematite; not to mention titanic oxyd in rutile, 
and in menaccanite and other titanates,—it should be noticed that these various compounds 
for the most part occur in such intimate association with certain silicates as to suggest 
their contemporaneous production. Thus corundum and spinel are found crystallized 
with certain micas, with chlorites, or with feldspars, pyroxene or chrysolite, in which 
latter, or in serpentine, chromite is generally met with. Spartalite and franklinite are 
associated with silicates of zinc and manganese, and magnetite with quartz, with ortho- 
clase, with pyroxene, with chondrodite, or with chrysolite ; while rutile and menaccanite 
are found in like manner with feldspars, with phlogopite, or with serpentine. The inti- 
mate association of magnetite with calcite, with apatite, with pyrite, and with graphite, 
in these deposits, may also be noticed. We must conclude that all these simple and com- 
pound oxyds have been in solution, and have crystallized in the presence of the various 
silicates, etc., and in many cases with quartz. It is evident that the partial reduction 
and solution of ferrous oxyd by the intervention of the products of organic decay, and its 
subsequent precipitation, which in later times, has played so large a part in the genesis 
of iron-oxyds and carbonate, is not the sole agency. A process which separates not only 
iron-oxyd, but chrome-oxyd, alumina, glucina, magnesia, and zinc and manganese-oxyds 
from their silicated combinations, and has permitted them to crystallize side by side with 
silicates, and even with free silica, has intervened in the genesis of these ancient crenitic 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 35 


deposits. The solvent action exerted by solutions of alkaline silicates on oxyds of iron, 
manganese, zinc, Magnesium, and calcium, as well as upon those of tin, antimony, copper, 
and mercury, throws, as elsewhere pointed out, an important light on this problem. ! 

To this we must add the dissociation of silicate of alumina at elevated temperatures, 
under pressure, in presence of alkaline solutions, with separation of silica in the form 
of quartz, as observed by Daubrée and Henri Sainte-Claire Deville’. These experimenters 
obtained at the same time Zeolites. and one of them pyroxene, apparently with magnetite ; 
while Friedel and Sarresin, under similar conditions, got orthoclase and albite, quartz 
and analcite. We are as yet ignorant under what circumstances the liberated alumina 
might be separated from these solutions as corundum or diaspore. The conditions of 
temperature, and the presence of alkaline solutions in these experiments, approach very 
closely to those which we have supposed to concur in the formation of mineral species by 
the crenitic process. 

§ 64. The geognostic and genetic history oi the great endogenous crystalline masses 
which we have now discussed in some detail is important for several reasons: 1. It 
brings before us the views of the plutonists, who see in great bodies of crystalline lime- 
stone, and of magnetite, as well as in granitic veins and in metalliferous quartz lodes, the 
evidences of ignecus eruption. 2. It shows the differences, alike mineralogic and geog- 
nostic, between true exotic rocks (which, with small differences in composition, have been 
erupted through widely separated geologic ages up to the present) and those endogenous 
deposits which are found only in eozoic rocks, and were formed in eozoic time, since their 
fragments are met with in the oldest overlying paleeozoic sediments. 3. It makes evident 
the close mineralogic resemblances between these endogenous crystalline masses and the 
more ancient enclosing rocks, and thus helps us to a clearer conception of the conditions 
under which these ancient gneissic strata, and the pre-gneissic granite itself, were alike 
generated. 

§ 65. The crenitic hypothesis, as we have seen, supposes that the granite, and the 
succeeding crystalline schists, have been built up by matters dissolved from a primary 
plutonic substratum, upon which, as upon a floor, through successive ages, was laid down 
the enormous thickness of crenitic rocks, which, with small exceptions, make up the pre- 
Cambrian terranes. The bearing of this hypothesis upon the great problem presented 
by the corrugated condition of the older crystalline schists has already been noticed in a 
previous essay.” The contraction of a cooling globe, which is often cited in explanation 
of this phenomenon, is clearly inadequate to account for this great and general corruga- 
tion of the strata, and the present writer in 1860 ‘ suggested, as a farther element in the 
explanation thereof, the condensation during crystallization of the mechanical sediments 
from which, in accordance with the Huttonian hypothesis, the crystalline schists were 
supposed to be derived. This explanation, based on an untenable hypothesis, must, how- 
ever, be rejected. The endoplutonist must appeal to contraction in the igneous mass of 
the globe as the only explanation of the corrugations of its outer envelope, while the 
exoplutonist adds thereto the diminution of the liquid interior as the result of successive 
transfers of portions of its mass by ejection of igneous material from beneath a first-formed 





! Trans. Roy. Soc Can., Vol. ii. Sec. iii. pp. 45 and 61. 
* Jbid., Vol. ii. See. iii, p. 49. * [bid., Vol. ii. Sec. iii. p. 60. 
* Amer. Jour, Science, xxx. 138, and Chem. and Geol. Essays, pp. 46, 71. 


36 T. STERRY HUNT ON THE GENETIC 


crust. Against this latter explanation it is to be urged that, as we have endeavored to 
show, the successive groups of stratiform crystalline rocks which have been laid down on 
the pre-gneissic granite, and even this primeval granite itself, are not igneous but aqueous 
in origin, so that the exoplutonic hypothesis itself is untenable. The amount of plutonic 
extravasation in pre-Cambrian times was apparently small. 

§ 66. The crenitic hypothesis, however, admits a transfer of matters from below 
upward, in a state of solution, and the building-up from them, upon the solid floor of 
igneous rock, of the granite and all the succeeding crystalline schists, as in the scheme of 
the exoplutonists. This new aqueous hypothesis thus offers, it is believed, for the first 
time, a reasonable and tenable explanation of the universal corrugation of the oldest 
crystalline strata. The earth, according to this hypothesis, although intensely heated, had 
not, even at the early time when the waters were first condensed on its surface, a liquid 
interior, but was solid; and its crust is supposed to have presented no variations in com- 
position, except such as might result from crystallization and eliquation in a purely igneous 
congealing mass. The superficial quartzo-feldspathic or granitic layer, which is believed 
to overlie everywhere the quartzless basic doleritic rock, did not then exist, but has since 
been derived by crenitic action from the primary plutonic layer. This granitic stratum is, 
however, itself still subject, like the basic stratum beneath, to softening under the combined 
influences of water and heat, and to extrusion in the forms of eruptive granite and trachyte ; 
although it is less fusible, and, consequently, less susceptible of differentiation by eliqua- 
tion. It is, moreover, at the same time, less liable to alteration by lixiviation, from the 
fact that it is not a mass cooled from igneous fusion, but one deposited from water at com- 
paratively low temperatures, and thus lacks the porosity which belongs to the original 
plutonic stratum. 

§ 67. The upward transference of the vast and unknown quantity of material con- 
stituting the ancient granitic and gneissic rocks, which are at least many miles in thickness, 
and the contraction of the plutonic substratum, diminished by the removal of this great 
mass, would necessarily result in great movements of subsidence, with plications and frac- 
tures of the gneissic strata. We are, of course, ignorant whether these processes went on 
to a uniform degree over the whole surface of the earth, and whether similar conditions of 
thickness, and similar corrugations exist in those great portions of the eozoic crust which 
are concealed beneath the ocean’s waters, and beneath accumulations of newer strata. It 
may well be that the plication of the ancient granitic crust was, as in the case of younger 
stratified rocks, limited to certain areas. It can only be affirmed, in the present state of 
our knowledge, that in the relatively very small areas of the oldest gneissic rocks known 
to us, this plication is great and apparently universal, diminishing, however, materially in 
degree in the younger gneissic series. 

§ 68. Within the fractures and rifts of the ancient gneissic strata resulting from these 
great movements, the products of the uninterrupted crenitie process would henceforth be 
deposited, filling them with masses closely resembling those of the enclosing strata. 
Repetitions on a smaller scale of those movements would give rise to newer fissures inter- 
secting alike these strata and the first-deposited vein-stones, in the manner shown in our 
studies of the Laurentian rocks, where the process which produced the original quartzose, 
feldspathic, and calcareous deposits of the series was repeated at least twice, giving rise to 
primary and to secondary vein-stones mineralogically very similar to the first-formed or 


HISTORY OF CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 37 


country-rock, and thereby showing the survival of the original chemical conditions of solu- 
tion and deposition after one, and even after two, movements of displacement and disrup- 
tion in the region. 

§ 69. We have thus endeavored in the present essay to bring together, in the first 
place, a number of facts which serve to throw light upon the generation of mineral silicates 
by aqueous processes, especially in later times, subsequent to the formation of the great 
series of crystalline schists, and thereby help to a better understanding of the crenitic 
hypothesis. We have next considered the two plutonic hypotheses as to the origin of 
erystalline rocks, and have discussed the question of stratiform structure in rocks whose 
eruptive character is undisputed. This has led us to consider the process of differentiation 
in such masses through partial crystallization and eliquation, and, farther, to a discussion 
of the possible relations of water to the process. The secular changes which may be 
wrought in igneous masses by aqueous percolation were next discussed, with reference at 
the same time to the crenitic process. From this we were led to a discussion of the strati- 
form structure seen in vein-like masses for which an igneous origin is inadmissible, and 
which, it is maintained, are endogenous deposits of crenitic origin. An account of these, 
as they have been observed in the ancient gneissic rocks of North America, leads to a 
farther consideration of the crenitic hypothesis, alike in relation to the genesis of the 
silicates, carbonates, and non-silicated oxides of the crystalline rocks, and also to the general 
plication of the ancient crystalline strata. 

§ 70. The conclusions from this extended study are, briefly, as follows : The quartzless 
basic material which is supposed to have constituted the primary plutonic mass, and is 
the direct source of basaltic and doleritic rocks, has been subject to modifications from 
three agencies :— 

1. The solvent action of permeating and circulating waters, which, from parts of it, 
have removed alumina, with preponderating proportions of silica and potash,—the 
elements of granitic, trachytic, and gneissic rocks,—and also silicates of alumina and 
other protoxyds, which have been more or less directly the source of the other silicated 
species of the oxyds, and in part also of the carbonates of the crystalline schists and vein- 
ston: s. 

2. The farther action of the same circulating waters in carrying down from the surface, 
alike in the condition of carbonates, formed by subaerial action, and of sulphates and 
chlorids, large portions of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium, all of which, by 
interchange and replacement, have variously modified the composition of the plutonic 
material. 

3. The process of differentiation in portions of the plutonic mass by partial crystalliza- 
tion and eliquation, thereby giving rise to more chrysolitic and more pyroxenic aggregates 
on the one hand, and to more feldspathic aggregates on the other,—a process in which it is 
conceived water may intervene, giving to the material an igneo-aqueous fluidity. 

All of these agencies, it is believed, have, from the earlier ages, been at work on the 
plutonic substratum, causing secular changes alike in the crenitic products derived there- 
from, and in the residual portion, from which have come, and are still derived, the basic 
eruptive rocks. 





Te 


SECTION III, 1886. 39:71 TRANS. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


III.— On the Colouring Matter of Black Tourmalines. 


By E.J. CHAPMAN, PH.D. LL.D. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


The subspecies of tourmaline, commonly known as “ Schorl ”, presents a deep-black 
colour, combined with perfect opacity. Typical examples, even in fine splinters and on 
the thinnest edges, are completely opaque. To what is this black, opaque condition due ? 

As shown by numerous analyses, and notably by those of Gmelin, Mitscherlich and 
Rammelsberg, the only glass-colouring elements present in tourmaline are iron and man- 
ganese. Most of the older analyses, as those of Gmelin, as well as the still earlier deter- 
minations of Klaproth and others, assume the iron to be present in the condition of 
ferro-ferric oxide, Fe’ O', and the manganese in that of manganic oxide, Mn° O*. In the 
analyses of Arfvedson and Gruner, made at about the same date as those of Gmelin, both 
metals are regarded as sesquioxides; whilst in the comparatively modern analyses of 
Mitscherlich and Rammelsberg they are asserted to be present as monoxides (Fe O and 
Mn O). The facts and deductions brought forward in this attempt to trace out the colour- 
ing matter of shorl and the darker tourmalines, will shew, I think, that the older view 
regarding the condition of the iron in these minerals is really the correct one. 

Manganic oxide, it is well known, constitutes an intensely colouring matter as regards 
vitreous compounds. The finer black beads and ‘‘ bugles,” for example, are coloured 
entirely by about 10 or 12 per cent. of that oxide, the presence of a little boric acid appar- 
ently intensifying the reaction. But, as regards black tourmaline, manganese may be left 
out of consideration, because its amount, whether present as Mn’ O* or otherwise, is 
altogether insufficient to produce the black colour and opacity of the mineral. Many, if 
not most, varieties of schorl shew, under blowpipe treatment with sodium carbonate and 
nitre, a very faint manganese reaction; and the amount of manganese in green and red 
transparent or translucent tourmalines is higher, as a rule, than in black tourmalines. 
Hence the black colour cannot arise from the presence of manganese. Neither can it be 
due to any componnds of titanium, uranium, etc., the absence of these being fully proved 
by analysis. 

It is to the iron, therefore, that we must evidently look as the source of this black 
colour and opacity,—unless the color be regarded as due to the presence of carbon or 
carbonaceous matters, or to the problematical existence of a black allotropic condition of 
the silica or other component present in the mineral. 

Carbonaceous matter, we know, is frequently present in examples of quartz, obsidian, 
etc.; but this burns off more or less readily during ignition, while black tourmaline, 
even in fine powder, exposed to prolonged ignition in the muflle, retains its black colour, 
or assumes merely a brownish tint upon the surface. 


40 ‘ E. J. CHAPMAN ON THE COLOURING 


The existence of a black allotropic condition of silica (or of any of the other compo- 
nents of these dark tourmalines) is a very gratuitous supposition; especially when we 
consider that where a silicate, as amphibole, pyroxene, epidote, garnet, etc., presents 
several varieties or subspecies differing in intensity of colour, the dark kinds always 
contain a certain amount of iron, whilst the lighter varieties are often entirely free from 
ferruginous matter. 

All things considered, therefore, there can be little doubt that the black colour and 
opacity of schorl is due to the presence of iron in some state of oxidation. The question 
is, in what state? Rammelsberg’s analyses might be thought a sufficient answer; but 
with all due recognition of the high place deservedly occupied by this chemist as a 
mineral investigator, there are certain facts which are altogether opposed to the accept- 
ance of his view that all the iron in black tourmaline is in the condition of monoxide. 
Neither Fe O nor Fe? O°, when completely dissolved in a vitreous flux, produces blackness 
and opacity. As first clearly shewn by Berzelius, Fe’ O* in a borax glass—and the reaction 
is the same in a fusible siliceous glass—imparts to this a yellowish tint. On partial 
reduction, when the Fe 0° becomes Fe’ O', the glass becomes bottle-green ; and with excess 
of oxide it turns black and opaque. But on complete reduction to Fe O (not easily effected 
when much colouring matter is present) the blackness and opacity give place to a clear 
green colour, and the glass becomes more or less transparent. In connection with these 
reactions, one may call to mind the oxidizing effect, and its results, of nitric acid on a 
crystal of ferrous sulphate: the blackening of the crystal at first, and the subsequent 
decoloration on the oxidation becoming complete. In one case the deep color results from 
the reduction of Fe? O° into Fe’ O'; and in the other, from the oxidation of Fe O into the 
latter compound. In both cases the blackness or depth of colour is produced not by Fe O, 
nor by Fe’ O’, but by Fe° O'. 

From these considerations, therefore, supported by the experiments described below, 
I think it may be fairly inferred that the iron in the black and deeply-coloured tourma- 
lines is wholly or essentially present as ferro-ferric oxide. 

It might be thought that if the black tourmalines contain Fe’ O' they should be 
attractable in small splinters by an ordinary magnet, whereas they do not show this 
character; but when a borax-glass, or a boro-siliceous glass, is rendered black before the 
blow-pipe, by excess of ferro-ferric oxide, it does not, even in splinters, show any magnetic 
attraction. ; 

The following experiments (the products resulting from which I have the honour to 
lay before the Society) go far to support the view advocated in this paper, namely, that 
the iron in black tourmaline, from which the colour of the mineral is derived, is essen- 
tially in the condition of ferro-ferric, not of ferrous, oxide. 

(1) A portion of a large, intensely-black crystal of tourmaline was subjected, in an 
open crucible, to a strong heat for a couple of hours. It melted, and became slightly 
brown on the surface. When broken, it showed internally a vesicular structure, and 
dull black colour. Portions of other black crystals treated in this manner gave similar 
results. A slight peroxidation of the surface only was effected. The dark colour prac- 
tically remained unchanged. 

(2) Another portion of the large crystal, used in experiment No. 1 was imbedded in a 
thick mass of filings of black pig-iron in an ordinary clay crucible. Powdered anthracite 


if 


MATTER OF BLACK TOURMALINES. Al 


was then filled in nearly to the top of the crucible, and the latter, covered with its lid, 
was kept for a couple of hours at a strong heat in a powerful gas furnace. The iron 
filings became agglutinated, and the tourmaline, transformed into a highly vesicular 
mass, was almost completely decolourised. The coal at the top of the mixture remained 
unchanged until the lid was removed, when combustion of course ensued. A small piece 
of the tourmaline thus rendered practically white, when fused into a borax-bead coloured 
blue by copper oxide, immediately gave rise to red spots and streaks of Cu’ O, thus show- 
ing that the iron had not been converted into Fe’ O’, but that deoxidation had really been 
effected, as proved by the change of colour. ' 

(3) Experiment No. 2, with slight modifications, was repeated on other black crystals. 
All were decolourised, some assuming a pale-greyish or yellowish-white colour, and 
others a delicate pink tint. 

(4) A small, dark-green, translucent crystal of Brazilian tourmaline was treated as 
in experiment No. 2, but the heat was kept up somewhat longer. The crystal remained 
unfused, although slightly rounded on the edges; but it was rendered opaque and dull 
greyish-white in colour. In these green and other translucent examples of tourmaline, it 
is probable that the iron is only partially in the condition of Fe’ O*; and that in lightly- 
tinted examples it may be wholly present as Fe O. But in schorl or black tourmaline, I 
hold that it is essentially if not wholly in the state of ferro-ferric oxide, and that conse- 
quently the earlier view of the constitution of tourmaline is in this respect correct. 


Nore.—Want of leisure has prevented me from extending these investigations to 
other black or deeply-coloured silicates, with the exception of some melanites or black 
garnets from Frascati.. Ignited in an open crucible, these became fused or rounded, but 
retained their dark colour. Treated, as in experiment No. 2, in a reducing mixture in a 
covered crucible, they became, practically, white or greyish-white, but presented at the 
same time a singular phenomenon. Perfectly solid crystals (of sp. gr. averaging 3.80) 
separated into two portions, an outer and an inner portion. The outer part expanded to 
about three times the original bulk of the crystal, forming a thin sheath, within which lay 
the whitened but only partially-fused central portion, like a nut within its shell. This 
bears out an observation made some years ago by Rosenbusch, that many garnets differ 
externally and internally, as regards colour and composition—his remark applying 
especially to these black garnets. Damour, in his analysis of a black garnet from Frascati, 
obtained a small amount of titanic acid, and he attributed the black colour to the presence 
of titanic oxide, seeing that many light-coloured garnets contain more iron. But in these 
lightly coloured subspecies, the iron may be regarded as present in the condition of 
ferrous oxide, whilst in melanite (or, at least, in the black external portion of that mineral) 
it is probably entirely in the form of the ferro-ferric compound, Fe’ O‘. 





None of these crystals gave by fusion with sodium carbonate and nitre more than the very feeblest reaction 
of manganese. : 


Sec. IIL, 1886. 6. 


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SECTION III, 1886. [ 43 ] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IV.—Time-Reckoning for the Twentieth Century. 


By SANDFORD FLEMING, C.M.G., LL.D., C.E., etc. 


(Presented May 26, 1886.) 


During the early historical ages much chronological confusion prevailed, and it is 
largely owing to this cause that the annals of the centuries which preceded the Christian 
era are involved in obscurity. The attempt to end this general disorder was made by 
Julius Cesar who established regulations with respect to the divisions of time and the 
mode of reckoning to be followed. The Julian Calendar was introduced forty-six years 
before Christ. It continued unchanged until the sixteenth century. In 1582 recognition 
was obtained of the errors and defects which the circumstances of the period had made 
manifest and which demanded correction. Pope Gregory XIII accordingly directed the 
Reformation of the Calendar and established new rules of intercalation. These two epochs 
are certainly the most important in the history of our chronology. 

Three centuries have passed since the reform of Pope Gregory. New continents have 
been opened to civilization and immense regions then wholly unknown to Europe have 
been peopled by races busied in commerce and skilled in the arts, and characterized by 
unwearied energy and determination. In these three hundred years a marvellous suc- 
cession of inventions bearing upon human activity and progress has been introduced, 
and the character of nearly every requirement of life has undergone change. The dis- 
coveries and inventions which have marked this period have produced new conditions of 
society ; and our minds have received an impulse, which leads to investigation wherever 
need of improvement appears to be demanded. It is within the last half century more 
especially that the bounds of human knowledge have been so wonderfully extended ; 
perhaps in the whole world’s annals no fifty years have witnessed such a marvellous 
revolution. The triumphs of applied science in facilitating intercourse between men and 
nations have given an extraordinary impulse to general progress, but in so doing they 
have developed imperfections in our system of time-notation which previously were un- 
known, and it is no longer possible to escape the conviction that we have reached a stage 
when further reform is demanded as a requirement of our condition. The necessity for 
a reform in time-reckoning is recognized by the highest authority and has obtained a 
hold of public opinion. The President of the United States, General Arthur, at the 





1 In submitting this paper to the Royal Society of Canada, it is proper to explain that it was prepared by 
request for the Smithsonian Institution, with a view to publication in the Smithsonian Reports. The object is 
to bring out prominently the true principles by which the several nationalities may be guided in the notation 
of time. It is communicated to the Royal Society, with the full knowledge and concurrence of the authorities of 
the Smithsonian Institution, who desire to coüperate in the movement of time-reform by diffusing knowledge on 
this important question in all countries where their publications circulate. 


A4 SANDFORD FLEMING ON TIME 


request of Congress authoritatively took proceedings to bring the subject prominently to 
the attention of the world. After prolonged diplomatic correspondence with the Govern- 
ments of foreign powers, he invited delegates from all nations to a scientific conference 
at Washington in which the subject should be fully considered. 

The Conference met in the autumn of 1884. Twenty-five nationalities were repre- 
sented. The proceedings extended over the month of October, and they resulted in the 
almost unanimous adoption of seven resolutions bearing upon time-reckoning. 

As no records can be in accord unless a common starting point be agreed upon from 
which computations are to be made, the first resolutions had reference to the determination 
of an initial meridian. The meridian passing through Greenwich was selected. 

In the fourth and fifth resolutions the Conference laid down the following important 
principles :— Ê 

IV. “ That the Conference proposes the adoption of a Universal Day for all purposes 
for which it may be found convenient and which shall not interfere with the use of local 
or other standard time where desirable.” 

V. “That the Universal Day is to be a mean solar day : is to begin for all the world 
at the moment of mean midnight of the initial meridian, coinciding with the civil day 
and date of that meridian, and is to be counted from zero to twenty-four hours.” 

The opening of the National Congress at Washington shortly followed the Inter- 
national Conference. The President regarded the importance of the proceedings to be 
such as to call for special mention of them in his annual message. General Arthur thus 
expressed himself on the subject: “The Conference concluded its labours on the first of 
November, having with substantial unanimity agreed upon the meridian of Greenwich as 
the starting point whence Longitude is to be computed through one hundred and eighty 
degrees eastward and westward, and upon the adoption, for all purposes for which it may 
be found convenient, of a Universal Day, which shall begin at midnight on the initial 
meridian and whose hours shall be counted from zero up to twenty-four.” 

There was no exaggerated importance in these allusions, for the conclusions of the 
Conference are productive of most important results. They make provision for terminat- 
ing all ambiguity in hours and dates and for establishing throughout the world, free from 
national susceptibility and caprice, perfect uniformity in reckoning time. Some years 
may elapse before the new notation becomes the one recognized mode of reckoning ; 
but when it shall have been generally accepted in the practice of daily life, it is cal- 
culated to sweep away the difficulties now experienced and it will add greatly to the 
general convenience of civilized man. 

One of the first practical efforts to direct public attention to the rapidly growing ne- 
cessity for a comprehensive reform in time-reckoning can be found in a paper published in 
the Transactions of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, for the session of 1878-79. ' This paper 
adduces in support of its argument many pertinent facts, and points out that the gigantic 
systems of railways and telegraphs which in modern times have been established in both 
continents have developed social and commercial conditions which never previously 
existed. These conditions have so affected the relations of time and distance as to establish 
the fact that our inherited system of notation is defective; that it is Inconvenient to 





' Time-Reckoning and the selection of a Prime Meridian to be common to all Nations. By Sandford Fleming. 


RECKONING FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. AS 

: 
men of business ; that it produces confusion and frequently results in loss of life, and 
leads to other difficulties ; that under the circumstances which have followed the substi- 
tution of steam for animals as a motive power, the ancient usages as retained in our nota- 
tion of hours and dates are generally inappropriate. Moreover, the use of the telegraph 
in our daily lives, practically subjects the whole surface of the globe to the observation 
of civilized communities in each individual locality. It leaves no interval of time between 
widely separated places proportionate to their distances apart. It practically brings into 
close contact the opposite sides of the earth where daylight and darkness prevail at the 
same period. By this agency, noon, midnight, sunrise, sunset, and the whole range of 
intermediate gradations of the day, are all observed and recognized at the same moment. 
Thus in matters out of the domain of local importance, confusion is developed and all 
count of time is thrown into multiplied disorder. 

Again, under the usages now observed, a day is assumed to begin twelve hours before, 
and end twelve hours after, the sun passes the meridian of any place. As the globe is 
constantly revolving on its axis, a fresh meridian is every moment coming under the 
sun ; as a consequence a day is always beginning somewhere and always ending some- 
where. Hach meridian around the circumference of the sphere has its own day, and 
therefore it results that there are, during every diurnal revolution of the earth, an infinite 
number of local days all beginning within a space of twenty-four hours and each con- 
tinuing twenty-four hours. These days overlap each other, but they are as perfectly dis- 
tinct as they are infinite in number. While a day is nominally 24 hours in length, as a 
matter of fact 48 hours elapse between the first beginning and the last ending of every 
week day. Taking the whole globe into our view, Sunday actually commences in the 
middle of Saturday and lasts until the middle of Monday. Again Saturdays runs into the 
middle of Sunday, while Monday begins 24 hours before Sunday comes to an end and con- 
tinues 24 hours after Tuesday commences. Similarly for all the days of the week, as time 
is now reckoned. Except those on the same meridian, there are no simultaneous days on 
the earth’s surface, and as the different days are always in the various stages of advance- 
ment, discrepancies and errors must necessarily result in assigning the precise period 
when an event takes place. The telegraph may give the exact local time of an occurrence, 
but the time so given must be in disagreement with local time on every other meridian 
around the globe. An event occurring on any one day may on the instant be announced 
in a locality where the time is that of the previous day, and in another locality where 
the time is that of the following day. About the period when the month or year passes 
into another month or year, an occurrence may actually take place, according to our 
present system of reckoning, in two different months or in two different years; indeed, 
there can be no certainty whatever with regard to time, unless the precise geographical 
position be specified as an essential fact in connection with the event described. Under 
these circumstances it must be conceded that our present system of notation is most 
defective ; certainly it is unscientific, and possesses every element of confusion: it pro- 
duces a degree of ambiguity which, as railways and telegraphs become greatly mul- 
tiplied, will lead to complications in social and commercial affairs, to errors in chro- 
nology, to litigation in connection with succession to property, insurance, contracts, and 
other matters; and in view of individual and general relationships it will undoubtedly act 
as a clog to the business of life and prove an increasing hindrance to human intercourse. 


46 SANDFORD FLEMING ON TIME 
. 

The problem to be mastered is to put an end to this confusion. In order to do so, it is 
important that we should endeavour to form correct ideas of time and its attributes. 

According to the ordinary usages which we follow, the time of any particular locality 
depends upon its position on the earth’s surface, in other words, upon its longitude. The 
principle followed is that there is a separate time on every meridian around the cireum- 
ference of the globe. Let-us carry this theory to its logical conclusion. Take by way of 
example a hundred or a thousand meridians, each with a distinct and separate time. It 
will be conceded that what is true of one point on a meridian must be true of every point. 
A meridian line runs due north and south on the earth’s surface, from pole to pole; hence 
it follows that, at the point where every meridian must converge, we have the time of 
every meridian. That is to say, at the earth’s pole, a point common to every meridian, 
there are a hundred or a thousand different notations of time, each distinct and separate. 
The extreme absurdity of this hypothesis establishes beyond question that the premises 
are false ; and it is in no way surprising that confusion and difficulty result from a system 
such as we possess, based on principles so erroneous. 

We may here ask the question: “Why should time vary with every mile of longi- 
tude?” The answer comes :—It is not possible to conceive more than a single unity of 
time in the whole universe. Time which is “an infinite continuity in infinite space” 
resembles a mighty river whose unvarying stream passes before us. Such a river is un- 
changeable yet continually changing: volumes of water always advancing are replaced 
by new volumes in perpetual succession, and yet the river continues one and the same 
ever flowing unity. The passing stream of time is much the same, and the problem pre- 
sented to us is to keep a proper record of its flow. It is perfectly obvious that the prin- 
ciples which should govern should be such as to secure complete accord in the detail of 
its admeasurement independently of locality. All peoples are concerned in the attainment 
of harmonious results, and therefore it is important that they should acquiesce in the 
employment of the same unit of computation and in counting the measurements from 
one common zero. 

We have not to look in vain for a convenient unit and the most perfect instrument 
for measuring the passage of time. The rotation of the earth on its axis is marked by 
complete uniformity of movement, and nothing is more certain than the recurrence of 
this diurnal phenomenon. Accordingly the earth itself supplies all our wants as a time- 
keeper: in it we have at our command a perpetual standard for the use and guidance of 
the entire family of man. 

Before, however, we can attain this end it is essential that mankind should come to 
an agreement on the following points :— 

1. With respect to a zero from which the revolutions are to be counted. 

2. The acceptance of a common subdivision and a common notation by which parts 
of revolutions will be known by all and receive universal recognition. 

The importance of a definite understanding on these points is self-evident, for if each 
individual or group of individuals adheres to the practice of observing time from different 
zeros and each maintains separate reckonings of it, the outcome must be general confusion 
such as we now experience. 

If in imagination we place ourselves at one extremity of the earth’s axis, we shall find 
ourselves in a peculiarly favourable position, free from all local influences, for obserying 


RE 


RECKONING FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. AT 


the revolutions of the globe. At no other point in the northern hemisphere are the con- 
ditions the same. A spectator standing at the north pole would have neither east nor 
west ; in whatever direction he might cast his eyes he would look towards the south; he 
would no longer see the daily return of sunrise and sunset; the sun when visible 
would move, or seem to move, in a horizontal line, and its path would encircle the earth 
parallel to and not far distant from the horizon. Under such circumstances it would not 
be possible to note the diurnal revolutions of the earth by the rising or setting of the sun, 
or by the sun’s greatest altitude at mid-day, or by his southern position in the heavens. 
As the passage of time can only be marked by events, what course could be followed ? 
Obviously it would be necessary to take special means to observe the earth’s diurnal 
rotation, and the method most readily to suggest itself would be to select a conspicuous 
object near the horizon and according to this object observe the sun’s passage over it. The 
object so selected would become the zero of time, and the interval between two succes- 
sive solar passages would be the period occupied by a revolution of the earth. If from 
zero the horizon be divided into a series of ares of 15° each, the whole circle around will 
consist of twenty-four divisions. If each of the division points be numbered from zero 
in the direction contrary to the motion of the earth or towards the right, and in imagina- 
tion the numbers be placed in a conspicuous manner against the sky, the spectator will 


have within his range of vision a great dial-plate on which as it revolves the vertical 


sun will continually point to the passing hours. With the twenty-four division points so 
numbered around the circle of the horizon, it is obvious that every hour in the day, and 
equally the smaller divisions of time, will invariably be manifested by the solar passage. 

As the imaginary point of observation, the north pole, is common to every meridian, 
the hours and minutes indicated by the great polar chronometer will be equally common 
to every locality on the surface of the globe. Whatever the longitude, the solar passage 
will be the index of time. Two successive passages at zero will complete an interval of 
twenty-four hours, but it will not be a day in the ordinary sense, as an ordinary day is a 
local phenomenon in no two longitudes identical.’ To distinguish this new interval of 
time common to the whole world from the infinite number of local days at present recog- 
nized, it has been suggested to term it the “Cosmic Day,” or some distinctive appel- 
lation by which it may be known. 

Necessarily the zero point must be arbitrarily selected according to convenience, and 
any zero whatever, other things being equal, would serve the purpose which we have in 
view. We have only to assume the zero so selected to coincide with the Antiprime 
Meridian determined by the Washington Conference, and the Cosmic Day will be identical 
with the Universal Day established under the same authority. A Universal or Cosmic 
Day may therefore be defined as the interval of time between two succeeding Solar pas- 
sages at the Antiprime Meridian common to all nations. 

In his recent discourse on the subject at the Royal Institution, London, the Astronomer 
Royal for Great Britain, Mr. Christie, expressed a preference for the term “ World Time” 
to designate this new measure of duration. It has been termed “ Cosmic Time” by various 
societies and individuals ; but the name is of secondary importance if it be understood that 





* The Nautical Almanic defines an ordinary Solar day to be the interval of time between the departure of any 


. meridian from the Sun and its succeeding return to it. 


48 SANDFORD FLEMING ON THE TIME 


the new measure of time is equally related to every locality. By its very nature, “ Cosmic 
Time,” or by whatever name it may be known, must coincide with some one of the multi- 
plicity of existing times. The decision of the Washington Conference caused it to corres- 
pond with Greenwich Civil Time. Greenwich time is the local time of Greenwich. Cosmic 
Time is a new and an entirely different conception, it is the time of the world common to 
every nation. “Cosmic” and “ Greenwich” time are identical fortuitously, but the expres- 
sions imply two totally different ideas, and a proper deference to national sensitiveness 
suggests the good taste and expediency of distinguishing the two ideas by different terms. 
Some distinctive name is undoubtely called for, until the period arrives when the unifica- 
tion of time will be complete. In the not far distant future it may become equally as 
unnecessary to speak of “ Solar,” “ Lunar,” ‘‘ Astronomical,” “ Civil,” ‘ Nautical,” “ Local,” 
Cosmic,” or “ World” Time, as at present it is unnecessary to attach these or other dis- 
tinctive appelations to “Space.” The simple expression “Time” may then become 
sufficient for all purposes. 























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1 2 3 4 
LONGITUDE LONGITUDE LONGITUDE COSMIC TIME. 

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180° Antiprime Meridian. .|........ 360° and 0°...|... Zero and No, 24 24 “ and change. 








The relation between time and longitude is important. If longitude be reckoned by 
hour meridians as in the second and third columns of the table, that is to say numbered 
continually westward from the Antiprime Meridian, which is the true time zero, the in- 


RECKONING FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 49 


habitants of every individual locality in whatever longitude will daily have an oppor- 
tunity of regulating time by the great natural standard of measurement. The longitude 
of the locality being known, at mean solar passage the time will, invariably and precisely, 
agree with the longitude. Conversely, the time being known, the longitude of the place 
will be in strict agreement with time at the moment of mean solar passage. 

A reference to the plate will make it clear that the solar passage will be the invari- 
able index of Cosmic Time. Fig. 1 shows the relative position of sun and earth at the 
initial instant of the Cosmic Day, that is, at the moment of mean solar passage on the 
Antiprime Meridian adopted by the Washington Conference. 

Fig. 2. Gives the position when the earth has made a sixth of a revolution and four 
hours have elapsed. The solar passage at this stage is on the four-hour meridian. 

Fig. 8. When the earth has made a third of a revolution and occupied a period of 
eight hours, the solar passage occurs on the eight-hour meridian. 

Fig. 4 When the earth has made half a revolution and twelve hours have elapsed, 
the solar passage is at this stage on twelve-hour or Prime Meridian. 

Similarly for every other meridian, and thus the precise relation between Cosmic 
Time and longitude is definitely established. 

It may be said that Cosmic or Universal Time is accepied in science, but its adoption 
in ordinary life can only be gradually and perhaps with difficulty effected. It is not to 
be looked for that a change so marked, involving a reyolution of thought in some of 
our social customs, can be speedily introduced, however desirable it may be in the 
public interest. There is a class of men who habitually express their contempt for what 
they designate as ‘‘ new-fangled notions” and who refuse to go out of sight of old land- 
marks. The usages which we desire to supersede are certainly old, for they took their 
origin when our civilization was young. In those days it was a dogma that the earth had 
a flat surface, but as the belief that the earth is a plane is no longer invested with the 
authority of a truth, we may venture to call in question the theory that each locality on 
its surface possesses an independent stream of time and is called upon to defend and 
maintain it. The human race is no longer confined within a narrow area. It has over- 
spread the surface of the earth ; in the old and new worlds it has grown, in some portions 
of their extent it is still growing, from an infantile condition to a state of manhood. Are 
we not yet able to look beyond one individual horizon, and enlarge our range of vision so 
as to include a system which will satisfy the requirements, not of a locality, but of the 
whole globe ? 

We are living in an age of intellectual and social progress, when men are less fettered 
than our fathers were by the restraints of custom. On the continent of North America 
extraordinary progress has already been made by an essentially practical people towards 
the adoption of a complete reform in time-reckoning. What is known as the Standard 
Hour system, in itself in complete harmony with the principles of Cosmic Time, has been 
in common use for nearly three years, and it is generally recognized as an incalculable 
benefit to the whole community. 

Throughout the United States and Canada, we have outgrown the notion of isolating 
each locality by compelling it to observe a separate time notation. The Continent is 
divided into zones, each zone having the same time throughout its extent, based on a 
meridian which is a multiple of fifteen degrees from the Prime Meridian. Consequently 


Sec. III., 1886. 7. 


50 SANDFORD FLEMING ON TIME 


the time of each zone varies exactly one hour from that of the adjoining zones. Thus all 
the variations of time which formerly were limited only by the number of towns and cities 
and localities w ich observed their own local time, are reduced to the five zones. Only 
at points where the zones come in contact is there any exception to the common satisfac- 
tion which has resulted from the change. These are the only localities where we find the 
old time difficulties, now so happily removed from every other section of the Continent. 
At such localities the difficulties must continue to be felt until Cosmic Time comes into 
general use, for it is the one remedy which can satisfy every requirement. 

The Standard Hour system is an effective preliminary means for the introduction of 
universal time, and it is not confined to North America. In Sweden as well as Great 
Britain the principle is in common use. The Standard time of Sweden is based on the 
meridian fifteen degrees east of the prime meridian, consequently an hour in advance of 
the Prime Meridian time, The time of Great Britain is that of the prime meridian itself. 

The scheme of hour meridians can only be regarded as a provisional arrangement. It 
greatly lessens the difficulties experienced, but it does not wholly remove them. It is, 
however, an important practical step towards the general unification of time as it 
brings the minutes and seconds into complete agreement with the world’s time wherever 
the system is adopted. The Astronomer Royal of Great Britain calls particular attention 
to the breadth of view evidenced by the managers of the American railways who were so 
largely instrumental in having this important step taken. “By adopting a national 
meridian as the basis of their time-system, they might have rendered impracticable the 
idea of a universal time to be used by Europe as well as America. But they rose above 
national jealousies and decided to have their time-reckoning based on the meridian 
which was likely to suit the convenience of the greatest number, thus doing their 
utmost to promote uniformity of time throughout the world by setting an example of the 
sacrifice of human susceptibilities to general expediency.” 

There is one feature of time-refor m alluded to by President Arthur in his message to 
Congress which promises before long to be accepted by the community. I refer to the 
proposal to count the hours from zero to twenty-four. The recent report of the special 
committee on Standard Time of the American Society of Civil Engineers (January, 1886) 
thus alludes to this branch of the subject :— 

“This feature has the authority of the International Conference for its introduction. 
In intelligent circles in Europe, particularly in England and in Russia, also at the an- 
tipodes in Australia, the proposal is reported to have been greeted with enthusiasm. The 
Astronomer Royal of England, Mr. Christie, has established at Greenwich Observatory a 
division of the great dial into 24 hours. In London and in other cities, public clocks 
have been also changed to accustom the English public to this division of the day. Some 
newspapers in all their annoucements adopt the change, and scientific societies give 
notice of their meetings in the same manner as this Society, according to the 24-hour 
system. 

“On this Continent there has been no uncertain sound. In the last annual report of 
the Committee it was stated that 171 managers of railways in the United States and 
Canada had declared their readiness to abandon the division of the day into half-days, 
known as ante and post meridian, and to accept the numeration of the hours in one series, 
from midnight to midnight,—these managers haying under their control some 60,000 
miles of railway. 


RECKONING FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 51 


“ During the past year the seed sown has been fructifying and many who held back 
have been won over and have given their adhesion to the movement. Among the many 
important railways ready to coüperate, some appear to see no necessity for further delay, 
and desire to secure at once the advantages which will result from the change. At this 
date it is publicly announced that the Canadian Pacific Railway Company have deter- 
mined to adopt the 24-hour system, and are actually preparing to make the change at an 
early day. Such proceedings can be accepted as indicating a proper appreciation of the 
reform which the American Society of Civil Engineers has advocated, and equally shows 
the discernment of those who direct the management of the youngest of the trans- 
continental railways. This practical commencement will, without a doubt, be speedily 
followed by other railway companies, and before long we may look for the 24-hour system 
coming into general use.” * 

There is undoubtedly a growing feeling in many quarters in favour of the twenty- 
four hour system. It is reported to be used with great advantage on the whole of the 
cables and other lines of the Eastern Telegraph Company, and its connections extending 
from England through Europe and the Mediterranean to Egypt, and from Egypt to South 
Africa, India, China and Japan, Australia and New Zealand. 

It is a pertinent question to ask, what influence these various changes will have in 
preparing the public mind for another, and it may be said a final change, the adoption 
of one uniform time in every longitude? For it must be evident to the thoughtful ob- 
server that the movement for reforming our time-system will not have attained its object 
until this end be accomplished. 

Those persons who have been in the habit of finishing their daily work at 6 p.m. 
under the twenty-four hour system will end it at 18. Those who retired to rest at 10 or 
11 p.m. will seek their beds at 22 or 23. The idea that solar noon and 12 o’clock are one 





1 At midsummer 1886, the Canadian Pacific Railway was opened from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the 
twenty-four hour system went into force in running “through” trains. The example set by the railway company 
has been followed in the Towns and Villages along the line, and the inhabitants generally having experienced the 
advantages of the change, no desire is expressed in any quarter to return to the old usage. 


*The following foot note is 
added :— “It is proposed to adapt 
clocks and watches now in use to 
the change, by having inseribed on 
the existing dials the new numbers 
of the afternoon hours,—thirteen to 
twenty-four (13 to 24) inclusive, as 
in the Plate. The only practical 
difficulty to be overcome is met by 
the simple expedient of placing on 
the face of the watch or clock a 
supplementary dial showing the 
new afternoon hours in Arabic 
numerals within the present Ro- 
man figures. The supplementary 
dial, must be of thin material, and 
it has been found that by being 
made simply of paper and secured 
to its position by any gum which 
will adhere to an enamelled sur- 
face, the object is attained with- 
out any further alteration of the 





watch or clock. The Committee is 
aware that these seem trifling mat- 
ters to bring under the notice of 
the Convention, but questions of 
greit moment not seldom hinge on 
small details. It is evident from 
what has been set forth, that every 
person in the community, may at 
the cost of a few cents in each case, 
adapt his watch to the 24 hour 
system. The Committee accord- 
ingly repeat their conviction that 
with the disappearance of the only 
practical difficulty at an insignifi- 
cant cost, there is nothing to pre- 
vent the Railway authorities and 
the Community at large adopting 
the change as soon as they become 
alive to its advantages.”—Report 
at the Buffalo Convention of the 
American Society of Civil Engi- 
neers. 


52 SANDFORD FLEMING ON TIME 


and inseparable has already been set aside throughout the United States and Canada ; 
only on five meridians, the 60th, 75th, 90th, 105th and 120th, is it heid to be 12 o’clock 
at the mean solar passage. In all other longitudes throughout North America the identity 
between solar noon and 12 o’clock has practically been swept away. 

These modifications in time-reckoning must tend to remove the idea that there is some 
necessary connection between the numbers of the hours and the position of the sun in 
each local firmament. The force of habit has heretofore associated noon with 12 o'clock, 
but in due time it will become obvious to every one that the hour of the sun’s passage at 
any one locality may with as much propriety be distinguished by any one of the twenty- 
four numbers as by the now generally received number 12. So soon as this new idea 
comes generally to be accepted, so soon as it is understood that the numbers of the hours 
are arbitrary and conventional, it will not be difficult to take the final step in time-reform 
and entirely supersede the present system by a notation which will give to mankind 
throughout the world simultaneous dates and hours and minutes. 

The final step may appear to involve serious changes in much which concerns every 
individual, but it is not to be supposed that it will in any way interfere with the periods 
for labour, sleep, meals, or any ordinary usage. The one change will be in the numbers 
of the hours. In social affairs the regulating influence of daylight and darkness will 
always, as now, be paramount. The terms “noon” and “midnight” will continue to 
preserve their present meaning, although the numbers of the hours at which these periods 
occur will vary in each case according to longitude. Each separate meridian will have its 
own midnight hour distinguished from the midnight hours of other meridians by a distinc- 
tive number. So also with the noon hour, which as already stated will invariably agree 
with the longitude of the place. It is the midnight hour in each locality which will con- 
stitute the initial time-point to regulate the legal hours for opening and closing banks, 
registry and other public offices. The midnight hour may be arbitrarily chosen and be 
established by statute as circumstances may demand. It will be held to be the local zero 
to govern the hours of business, working hours, the hours for attendance at church, at 
school, and at places'of amusement, and generally to regulate all the social affairs of 
life. While the seven week days will practically remain unchanged in every longitude, 
the simple expedient of numbering the hours so that everywhere they will correspond 
with Cosmic Time will result in securing the general uniformity to be desired. Thus it 
will be obvious that in all matters relating to time, whether local or non-local, the same 
hours, minutes and seconds will universally be observed at the same instant. In cases 
when business men separated by long distances make contracts by telegraph, the engage- 
ments will be free from all ambiguity as to time. Both parties will be bound absolutely 
by the same notation. 

The Cosmic Day is a new measure of time, entirely non-local. It will be held to be the 
date of the world, and the change of date will occur at the same instant in all longitudes. 
On the prime meridian the change of date will be at midnight; to the east it will occur 
after midnight ; and to the west of the prime meridian it will come before midnight. It 
will be one hour before or after midnight for every fifteen degrees of west or east longi- 
tude. Fortunately, in nearly all the important countries on the surface of the globe, the 
change of date will occur out of ordinary business hours. 

It will thus be seen that while the contemplated reform will interfere as little as pos- 


RECKONING FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 53 


sible with existing customs, it will result in giving to the human family around the globe 
concurrent dates, and in making every division of time uniform the world over. 

In the adoption of the new system, temporary inconvenience may arise, but it will be 
trifling in extent and not of long duration ; and any momentary disadvantage should not 
be allowed to weigh against the benefits to be secured to mankind for all future ages. 

On the night of November 18th, 1883, a noiseless revolution was effected throughout 
the United States and Canada. The hands of the clocks of some fifty millions of people 
were for the most part moved forward or backward in order to indicate the time of one of 
the five hour zones. The time now observed from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific varies 
with Cosmic Time according to situation from four to eight whole hours. In North 
America therefore, the portion of the problem yet to be adjusted is easy of solution. As 
the minutes and seconds are already everywhere in agreement, the transition to universal 
uniformity of reckoning can be effected simply and with ease. It will only be necessary 
to move forward the dial hands of the clocks an even number of hours, varying from four 
to eight as each case may require, to bring the Continent into complete accord with the 
time of the world. 

When eventually it may become necessary to bring the time throughout all parts of 
North America to the world’s standard, the transition may be effected by adjusting the 
clocks as follows :— 


I.— Cocks 1N THE Hour Zones or THE West MERIDIANS. 


Meripian West. : Hours. 
60° } ( 4 
75° | 5 
QU SE Sodeson will have to be moved forward ....... 1 6 
105° | fi 
12020) lees 


Similarly wherever the scheme of hour meridians be adopted, the common reckoning 
may with equal ease be secured. To the west of the prime meridian, the clocks will 
require to be moved forward, to the east backward. In Europe, Asia and Africa the 
change would thus be effected :— 


II.—CLocxs 1N rue Hour Zones or rxe East MERIDIANS. 


MeriprAN East. Hours. 
15° ) pui 
30° | | 2 
45° 3 
60° f de will have to be moved backward...... 1 4 
75° | | 5 
90° J (ONG 


Thus for example, New Orleans in the hour zone of the 90th meridian west would 
have its clocks advanced six hours, while Calcutta in the 90th meridian east would 
have its clocks retarded six hours. By the same simple process of transition, every city 
and district on the surface of the globe may be brought to the one common time- 
reckoning. 


84 SANDFORD FLEMING ON TIME 


It is a significant fact that at the Washington Conference the principle of Universal 
Time obtained unanimous recognition from the delegates of so many nationalities. It isa 
presage that the peoples whom they represent will before long be fully impressed with the 
belief that a system of reckoning time uniformly throughout the globe is really the one 
rational system by which it can be noted, and the only system which will meet the 
demands of the human family in coming years. It is only step by step that a reform so 
great can be carried out. Moreover, although the difficulties to be overcome are undoubted- 
ly serious, this much may be said with confidence, that they are less formidable than 
those which have already been conquered. A few years back the very question of a uni- 
versal time for all nations was a theory not only new in itself but it was held by many to 
be wild and Utopian, and so impracticable as to be unworthy of consideration. In 1878 
the subject could not command a hearing at the British Association! Since 1878 the argu- 
ments advanced to point out the necessity of change have, however, obtained attention, and 
a general movement for reform has been inaugarated. Scientific and practical men and 
learned societies in both hemispheres have taken part in the consideration of the question. 
It has formed the subject of discussion at International Congresses at Venice and Rome. 
The President and Congress of the United States have been induced to take decisive action 
in connection with it. . The Governments of twenty-five civilized nations have aided in 
its development. The International Washington Conference itself has greatly promoted 
the solution of the problem by coming to an unanimous determination on the essential 
principles to be observed. In several countries the recommendations of the Conference 
have already in part been acted on, and changes have been effected which a few years 
back were not even dreamed of. 

If so much has been accomplished within the eight years since the scheme of reform 
was first promulgated, is it too much to expect that the public mind will be prepared in 
the more advanced communities to accept the final step in a like period ? 

In fourteen or fifteen years we pass into another century. Is it taking too sanguine 
a view to suggest that by that time all nations will be willing to accept the change, and 
that the first day of January in the Twentieth Century may appropriately be inaugurated 
by the adoption of one uniform system of reckoning time throughout the world ? 

I learn from the recent lecture of the Astronomer Royal that the Board of Visitors 
of Greenwich Observatory have unanimously recommended that in accordance with the 
resolutions of the Washington Conference, the Astronomical day should in the English 
Nautical Almanac be arranged from the year 1891 (the earliest practicable date) to begin 
at Greenwich midnight so as to agree with the civil reckoning, and further that steps 
have been taken to give effect to this recommendation ; thus in a few years this source 
of confusion to sailors navigating ships using the Nautical Almanac—embracing at least 
seventy per cent. of the tonnage of the world—will be removed. The distinguished 
Russian Astronomer, Struve, has suggested that all astronomers throughout the world 
should simultaneously abandon Astronomical Time and bring their notation into harmony 
with the civil reckoning. He further suggests that this reform should be introduced into 
the publications of observatories at the initial day of the century.’ The same epoch 








! In reference to this the Astronomer Royal, Greenwich, says (Oct., 1885) “it would be intolerable to have a 
fundamental question of time-reckoning left open for fifteen years.” 


RECKONING FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 55 


seems equally appropriate for a general change and the complete unification of time- 
reckoning. Every auxiliary circumstance points to the possibility of that result being 
attained. The proceedings of the Washington Conference have given the movement an 
immense impulse. Its members have authoritatively recognized the principles on which 
the new notation may be established. So unimpeachable and simple are these principles 
as to be within the grasp of the most limited comprehension. In their application we 
may have to contend against the prejudices engendered by habit and custom, but the 
principles of reckoning time adopted by the Conference are based on truth and they com- 
mend themselves to every one of intelligence, as the proper means to meet the admitted 
emergency. The unanimity with which the Standard Hour system was brought into 
common use in North America is an evidence that the age is sufficiently intelligent to 
adopt a reform when its advantages are understood. It will doubtless require the lapse 
of some years to win over those who feel it to be a bounden duty to cling to old institu- 
tions and existing customs. Gradually, however, the minds of the great mass of men 
will become familiarized with the new ideas and in the end the new system of notation 
cannot fail to prevail. The main obstacles to be overcome are the restraints which tradi- 
tion imposes and the usages which our ancestors have transmitted to us. But prejudices 
of this character can be gradually and certainly surmounted, if the true principles of time- 
reckoning be taught in schools and colleges. In a few years the youth of to-day will 
be moving actors in life, to influence public opinion and so effect an easy escape from the 
thraldom of custom. We have therefore good grounds for the belief that, by the dawn of 
the coming century, the civilized nations may enjoy a system of notation limited to no 
locality ; when the record of the events of history will be unmarked by doubt; when 
ambiguity in hours and dates will be at an end; when every division of time will be 
concurrent in all longitudes. 

These expectations realized, the Washington Conference will have rendered a great 
service to mankind. Ifthe reforms of B. C. 46 and A. D. 1582 owed their origin to the do- 
minant necessity of removing confusion in connection with the notations which existed 
in the then conditions of the human race, in no less degree is a another reform demanded 
by the new conditions which are presented in this age. The needed change could not be 
effected at a more suitable period than at the beginning of the new century, but whether 
then consummated or at some other date, full provision is made for it in the conclusions 
and recommendations of the Washington Conference, which in all probability will be 
held by future generations to mark an epoch in the annals of the world not less impor- 
tant than those of the reforms of Julius Cæsar and Pope Gregory XIII. 


221 





11 








Enr 








LA 
Fst Ear 


As ig | 





SECTION III. 1886. Sr) MÉMOIRES 8. R. CANADA. 


V.— Du choix d'une projection pour la carte du Canada. 


Par E. DEVILLE. 


(Lu le 27 mai 1886.) 


Quand un géographe construit une carte, il ne suffit pas qu'il y représente avec une 
exactitude minutieuse la topographie du pays, il faut encore que la projection qui sert de 
base à son travail soit bien choisie. 

Le nombre des projections connues est trop considérable pour que nous les passions 

~ toutes en revue : nous examinerons seulement les principales, ou celles qui présentent des 
avantages spéciaux pour le Canada. ; 

On peut quelquefois réduire de moitié les erreurs absolues d'une projection en modi- 
fiant convenablement l'échelle. Si, par exemple, dans la projection stéréographique, on 
adopte une échelle telle que les distances près du centre soient diminuées dans le même 

. rapport que celles des bords sont agrandies, l'erreur absolue ne sera plus que la moitié 
de ce qu’elle était quand l'échelle était exacte au centre. Pour la facilité des comparaisons, 
nous considérerons l’altération totale, c'est-à-dire la somme des deux altérations, positive 
et négative. 

Les limites adoptées dans ce mémoire pour la carte du Canada sont le détroit d’Hud- 
son, l'extrémité est de Terre-Neuve, l'extrémité sud du lac Michigan, le mont Saint-Elie et 
l'intersection du rivage de la mer polaire par la frontière de l'Alaska. Cette carte com- 
prend 50 degrés de grand cercle dans un sens et 25 degrés dans l’autre. 


PROJECTIONS ZÉNITHALES 


Les propriétés caractéristiques des projections zénithales sont que les cercles verticaux 
passant par le zénith sont représentés par des droites faisant entre elles des angles égaux 
à ceux de la sphère et les almicantarats par des cercles ayant pour centre commun le point 
d'intersection des méridiens ; elles sont par conséquent symétriques par rapport au zénith. 

Nous ne nous occuperons pas des cas particuliers dans lesquels le plan de l'équateur 
ou celui d’un méridien sont pris comme plans de projection : les erreurs y sont évidemment 
plus considérables qu’en employant le plan de l'horizon. Ils rentrent d’ailleurs dans le 
cas général, en supposant le zénith placé au pôle ou sur l'équateur. 


PROJECTION STEREOGRAPHIQUE. — L’ceil est placé à l’extrémité d’un diamètre et la 
surface de la sphère est projetée en perspective sur un plan perpendiculaire à ce diamètre. 
Cette projection est orthomorphe, c'est-à-dire qu’elle conserve la similitude des surfaces 
élémentaires. Les distances augmentent comme le carré de la sécante de la moitié de la 


Sec. III., 1886. 8. 


58 EK, DEVILLE — DU CHOIX D’UNE 


distance zénithale, et les surfaces comme le carré de cette quantité. Pour le Canada l’al- 


tération des distances est de 0°071, et celle des surfaces de 0‘145. En modifiant l'échelle: 


ainsi qu'il a été expliqué, on réduit ces qualités à 0035 et 0‘071. 


PROJECTION GNOMONIQUE. — Le point de vue est au centre de la sphère, dont on pro- 
jette la surface en perspective sur le plan de l'horizon. Les arcs de grand cercle sont 
représentés par des lignes droites, propriété qui rendrait ce système précieux pour mettre 
en évidence les avantages des voies canadiennes pour les communications entre l'Europe 
et l'Asie orientale. Les déformations sont considérables : sur les parallèles, les distances 
sont augmentées dans le rapport de l’unité au cosinus de la distance zénithale ; sur les 
méridiens le rapport est le carré du précédent. Pour la carte du Canada, ces altérations 
sont de 0°15 et 0:32. En modifiant l'échelle on peut réduire l’altération maximum à 0°16. 


PROJECTION ZÉNITHALE ÉQUIVALENTE DE LAMBERT. — Les verticaux d’azimut sont 
représentés par des lignes droites se croisant au centre de la carte et les parallèles par des 
cercles concentriques dont le rayon est égal à la corde de la distance zénithale. Les sur- 
faces sont conservées, mais les distances sont raccourcies dans le sens des verticaux et 
augmentées sur les almicantarats. L'augmentation est dans le rapport de l'unité au cosi- 
nus de la moitié de la distance zénithale: la diminution est l'inverse. Pour la carte du 
Canada, l’altération est 0°035, positive et négative, soit une altération totale de 0:070. 


PROJECTION ZÉNITHALE ÉQUIDISTANTE. — Les verticaux sont représentés comme pré- 
cédemment et les almicantarats sont des cercles concentriques dont le rayon est égal à la 
distance zénithale. Les distances sur les verticaux sont donc conservées, mais dans le 
sens des almicantarats, elles augmentent dans le rapport de la distance zénithale à son 
sinus. Les surfaces augmentent dans la même proportion. Cette altération est de 0-047 
pour la carte du Canada. Cette projection a été employée sous la forme polaire, par les 
ministères de l’intérieur et de l’agriculture pour représenter en même temps le Canada 
et l'Europe. Dans ce cas, l’altération attteint 0°13. 


PROJECTION ORTHOGRAPHIQUE. — La surface de la sphère est projetée au moyen de 
perpendiculaires sur le plan de l'horizon. Sur les almicantarats, les distances sont con- 
servées ; elles diminuent sur les verticaux, ainsi que les surfaces, dans le rapport du sinus 
à Dare de la distance zénithale. Cette diminution est de 0047 pour la carte du Canada. 


PROJECTION DE SIR HENRY JAMEs.— Le point de vue est placé sur le diamètre pas: 
sant par le zénith, à une distance du centre égale à une fois et demi le rayon de la sphère. 
En désignant par 4 la distance zénithale, l'agrandissement des distances est dans le sens 


des verticaux : 


€ 


bo 


5 + 3.75 cos 4 


(1.5 + cos 4) 








Et dans le sens des almicantarats : 
2.5 
1.5 + cos 6 
Pour la carte du Canada, ces altérations sont de 0-027 et 0:057. Les surfaces sont 
augmentées de 0:085. 


ae - 


PROJECTION POUR LA CARTE DU CANADA 59 


PROJECTION PAR BALANCE D'ERREURS DE SIR G. Airy. — C’est une projection zéni- 
thale dans le genre des précédentes : le rayon des almicantarats est égal à : 


tang 6 + 2 cotang 6 L sec 4 
DE G21 “2 


2 


Pour la carte du Canada, les distances sont augmentées de 0°011 sur les verticaux 
et de 0°054 sur les almicantarats. Les surfaces sont augmentées de 0°065. 


PROJECTIONS CONIQUES 


On développe un ou plusieurs cénes tangents a la sphére sur lesquels on a projeté la 
surface du globe. Ce systéme est le plus général; les projections zénithales n’en sont 
qu'un cas particulier dans lequel l’angle au sommet du cône est de 180°. Les projections 
cylindriques s’y raménent aussi en faisant ce même angle égal à zéro. Nous ne considére- 
rons ici que les projections coniques polaires, c’est-à-dire dans lesquelles le sommet du 
cône est situé sur la ligne des pôles ; ce sont les seules usitées. Les parallèles y sont 
représentés par des arcs de cercle et les méridiens généralement par des lignes droites se 
coupant au pôle. 


PROJECTION CONIQUE ORTHOMORPHE DE LAMBERT. — Le rayon des parallèles est donné 
par la formule: 


DE (tang es) j 


dans laquelle p est le rayon, z la distance polaire, & et À des constantes qui déterminent, 
l’une l’échelle de la carte, et l’autre le rapport des angles des méridiens sur la carte et sur 
le globe. Les distances sont augmentées dans le rapport : 


L’agrandissement des surfaces est le carré de cette quantité. 

En prenant À égal au sinus de la latitude moyenne, ce qui est la valeur la plus favo- 
rable, on trouve que ces agrandissements sont, pour la carte du Canada, respectivement 
égaux à 0°046 et 0':094. 


PROJECTION CONIQUE EQUIVALENTE DE LAMBERT — Le rayon des paralléles est ex- 
primé par la formule 


p=2/m sin 


2 
2} 


m est une constante arbitraire qui exprime le rapport de l'angle au pôle des méridiens sur 


la carte et sur la sphère, 2 sin est la corde de la distance polaire. 


60 BE. DEVILLE — DU CHOIX D'UNE 


Les distances sont diminuées sur les méridiens et augmentées dans la même propor- 
tion sur les paralléles. La diminution sur les méridiens est dans le rapport de 


à 


/M COS 


to] ts 


à l'unité. 

En prenant pour m le carré de la sécante de la moitié de la distance polaire moyenne, 
on trouve que l’altération positive ou négative est pour la carte du Canada, égale à 0:048, 
soit une altération totale de 0°086. 


PROJECTION CONIQUE ÉQUIDISTANTE. — Le rayon du parallèle moyen est égal à la 
tangente de la distance polaire et les degrés de ce parallèle ainsi que ceux des méridiens, 
conservent leur véritable grandeur. Tous les autres parallèles sont agrandis dans le rap- 
port : 

(a + tang z) cos z 
Sin (a + 2) 





z désignant la distance polaire du parallèle moyen et a la distance de ce même parallèle à 
celui que l’on considère. Les surfaces sont agrandies dans la même proportion. L’alté- 
ration est de 0:09 pour le Canada. 

Cette projection a été employée pour la carte des écoles de la province de Québec. 


PROJECTION DE BonNE. — C’est une projection conique équidistante dans laquelle les 
degrés des paralléles sont portés en vraie grandeur sur les cercles qui les représentent. 
Les méridiens sont des courbes qui passent par les points ainsi déterminés. Les surfaces 
sont conservées, mais les distances ne le sont que sur les parallèles. La quantité ¢, dont 
l'angle d’un méridien et d’un parallèle diffère de 90°, est donnée par la formule: 


t sin 2 
tang 2, — tang (2, — 2) 





tang ¢ = t cos z — 


dans laquelle ¢ est la différence de longitude avec le méridien moyen, z, et z les distances 
polaires du parallèle moyen et de celui que l’on considère. Pour la carte du Canada, cet 
angle est de prés de 10°. 

Cette projection a été employée pour la carte du Canada publiée par Johnston de 
Edimbourg, d’après laquelle de nombreuses cartes ont été tracées. 


PROJECTION POLYCONIQUE ORDINAIRE. — Pour expliquer cette projection, sir Henry 
James suppose qu’on découpe la surface de la sphère suivant les parallèles, et qu’on déve- 
loppe la surface en conservant les points de contact sur le méridien moyen. 

Le méridien moyen est une ligne droite sur laquelle les degrés sont portés en vraie 
erandeur. Les rayons des parallèles sont égaux à la cotangente de la latitude. Les degrés 
de ces parallèles sont portés en vraie grandeur sur les cercles qui les représentent et on 
trace les méridiens en joignant les points ainsi déterminés. 

Pour la carte du Canada, l’agrandissement des méridiens près des bords est de 0'12; 
celui des surfaces est à peu près le même. Cette projection est très employée ici : la carte 
publiée par le département des chemins de fer et canaux a été tracée d’après ce système. 


PROJECTION POUR LA CARTE DU CANADA 61 


PROJECTIONS CYLINDRIQUES 


PROJECTION CYLINDRIQUE ORTHOMORPHE OU DE MERCATOR. — L’équateur est déve- 
loppé en ligne droite et les méridiens sont des perpendiculaires a cette ligne. Les cercles 
de latitude sont des parallèles à l’équateur, à la distance ; 


S= L tang (45° + EY 


où / désigne la latitude. Cette distance est connue sous le nom de latitude croissante. 
L’agrandissement des surfaces est dans le rapport : 


be 
cos l 
Et celui des surfaces : 


FREE 
cos” | 


Pour la carte du Canada, en se servant de l’échelle du bord inférieur, on trouve les 
distances plus que doublées au bord supérieur ; les surfaces sont quintuplées. 

Ce système est celui des cartes marines ; il aussi été employé pour la carte des télé- 
graphes publiée par le ministère des Travaux Publics. 


PROJECTION CYLINDRIQUE EQUIVALANTE DE LAMBERT. — Un cylindre droit étant cir- 
conscrit à l'équateur, les méridiens et les parallèles sont représentés par l'intersection de 
leurs plans avec la surface du cylindre. 

Les distances sur les parallèles sont augmentées dans le rapport de l’unité au cosinus 
de la latitude, et sur les méridiens elles sont diminuées d'autant. Pour la carte du Canada, 
cette déformation atteint 2°07. 


PROJECTION SUR LE CYLINDRE SÉCANT. — On construit un cylindre perpendiculaire 
à l'équateur sur le parallèle moyen de la carte. Les degrés de latitude sont portés en vraie 
grandeur sur les génératrices. 
Les distances en longitude sont augmentées d’un côté du parallèle moyen et dimi- 
nuées de l’autre, dans le rapport de: 
cos |, 
cos 1 





/, et l étant les latitudes du parallèle moyen et de celui que l’on considère. Ceci donne 
pour la carte du Canada un agrandissement de 0°63 d’un côté et une diminution de 0°24 
de l’autre, soit une altération totale de 0°87. 

Cette projection a été employée pour la carte des territoires du Nord-Ouest et de la 
Colombie anglaise, publiée par Dawson frères, de Montréal. 


PROJECTION SUR UN CYLINDRE OBLIQUE. — On détermine le grand cercle de la sphère 
qui divise le pays à représenter suivant sa plus grande longueur en deux parties à peu 
près égales, et sur ce grand cercle, on circonserit un cylindre droit. On y projette les mé- 
ridiens et parallèles auxiliaires suivant l’un quelconque des systèmes cylindriques équa- 
toriaux, et l’on calcule leurs intersections avec les méridiens et parallèles véritables, puis 
on joint les points d’intersection. 


62 iE, DEVILLE — DU CHOIX D'UNE PROJECTION, ETC. 


Il serait possible de tenir compte exactement de l’aplatissement de la terre, en cal- 
culant les rayons de courbure de l’équateur et des méridiens auxiliaires et portant sur 
chacun d’eux les degrés en vraie grandeur, mais cela entraînerait des calculs compliqués, 
et il est suflisant dans le cas qui nous occupe de prendre pour rayon de la terre la moyenne 
des rayons de courbure de l'équateur auxiliaire et du méridien central. 

En désignant par /, la latitude de l'intersection d’un méridien véritable avec l’équa- 
teur auxiliaire, a l'angle de ces deux lignes, #la différence en longitude du méridien 
central à celui considéré, 1 la distance de leurs points d’intersection avec l'équateur auxi- 
liaire, et A la latitude de l'intersection de cet équateur par le mériden central, ou a: 

cos a = sin Ô sin À 
tang ju = tang 0 cos À 
tang 1,= tang À cos 6 


Les coordonnées x et y de chaque point d’intersection d’un cercle de latitude / avec 
un méridien sont données par les formules : 


tang x = tang (1 — 1,) cos a 
Q sin y = sin (1 —1,) sina 

On peut construire les méridiens et paralléles auxiliaires en projection de Mercator ; 
dans ce cas on aura une projection orthomorphe. Si l’on désire conserver les surfaces, on 
emploiera la projection équivalente de Lambert. 

Une petite carte du Canada, dressée sur ce systéme, est actuellement en cours d’exécu- 
tion au ministère de l’intérieur ; les méridiens et parallèles auxiliaires ont été projetés sur 
le cylindre sécant. Sur l'équateur auxiliaire les distances sont diminuées de 0:012 et 
augmentées d’autant aux bords supérieurs et inférieurs de la carte, soit une altération 
totale de 0°024. Les surfaces sont altérées dans la même proportion. 

Ce système a l'inconvénient d’exiger des calculs assez longs et qu'il faut recommencer 
toutes les fois qu’on change les limites de la carte. Ni au lieu de représenter tout le 
Canada, on ne voulait en montrer qu’une partie, il faudrait, rigoureusement parlant, cal- 
culer une nouvelle projection, mais la déformation est si faible qu’on pourra se dispenser 
de le faire et la projection générale, quoique n'étant pas la meilleure pour les cartes parti- 
culières, sera cependant amplement suffisante pour tous les besoins pratiques. 


CONCLUSION 


De ce qui précède on peut conclure que la projection la plus exacte pour le Canada, 
de toutes celles qui ont été examinées, est la projection cylindrique oblique. On a vu que 
laltération peut y être réduite à 0‘012, erreur du même ordre de grandeur que celle qui 
est causée par le retrait du papier après impression, et par conséquent négligeable dans 
bien des cas. Pour ceux que la longueur des calculs effraie, on peut recommander la pro- 
jection conique orthomorphe de Lambert. La construction en est simple, et l’altération 
totale de 0:046 peut être réduite à 0‘023 en modifiant l'échelle. La propriété dont jouit 
cette projection de conserver la similitude des surfaces est un avantage important, princi- 
palement lorsqu'on se propose de publier la carte en feuilles séparées. 

La projection polyconique ne convient pas pour les latitudes élevées, et ne devrait 
jamais être employée pour les cartes du Canada. 


SECTION III, 1886. i 63] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


VI.—Supplement to “A Natural System in Mineralogy, etc” 


By T. Sterry Hunt, M.A., LL.D. 


(Presented May 27, 1886.) 


§ 1. In the Transactions of this Society for 1885 appears a paper by the present writer 
entitled “A Natural System in Mineralogy, with a Classification of Native Silicates.” 
(Vol. III. Sec. iii. pp. 25-98.) In printing that paper, a considerable number of errors 
crept into the tables of the various tribes of silicates in the values of P and V, and some- 
times of D also, together with other errors in the formulas themselves. These tables, 
having been revised with care, are here reproduced, with the use of initial letters for the 
crystalline systems, and other changes, which permit them to be printed in a more compact 
form. In thus reprinting them, with the entire paper and some additions, in the author’s 
“ Mineral Physiology and Physiography ” (a volume now in the press), certain comments 
which originally appeared in the right-hand columns of these tables have been incorporated 
with the text. 

§ 2. In further extension of the principles of classification which we have adopted 
for the silicates, it should be said that bismuthic oxyd is to be reckoned with aluminic, 
chromic, ferric, manganic and zirconic oxyds; so that the bismuthic silicates, eulytite, 
agricolite and bismutoferrite belong to the sub-order of the Persilicates, and moreover, 
by their chemical characters, and their volumes, represent in that sub-order the spathoid 
type, of which no examples were known to the writer at the time of preparing the previous 
paper. They thus find a place in the tribe of the Perspathoids, as shown below in the 
revised synoptical table of the sub-order. Therein also the stannic silicate described by 
Breithaupt, in 1847, by the name of stannite may, perhaps, find a place among Perada- 
mantoids. Its specific gravity of 3.55, much below that of a corresponding mixture of 
cassiterite and quartz, leads to the conclusion that it is really a chemical compound. The 
name of stannite was subsequently, in 1868, applied by Dana to tin pyrites, the stannine 
of Beudant, but as its application by Breithaupt has priority, the sulphuretted tin pyrites 
may be called stannipyrite. 

Zirconic silicates are represented in the third sub-order of silicates by the adaman- 
toid species, zircon, lyncurite, auerbachite, and malacone, and in the second sub-order by 
catapleiite among zeolitoids, and by eudialyte, wohlerite and astrophyllite among spathoids 
and phylloids. It is, moreover, a question whether oérstedite may not be a zirconic 
adamantoid of this sub-order. 

§ 3. To recall the atomic notation here used to represent the quantivalent ratios in 
silicates, we subjoin the tabular view giving the symbols employed and their numerical 
values, hydrogen being unity (h = 1.00) :— 


64 


T. STERRY HUNT: 





SUPPLEMENT TO 


Atomic SYMBOLS AND WEIGHTS. 











aq = - = 9.00 cs r= 
© = 0 > OD | à = 

- - - 16.00 me =) i= 
=) = = 19:00 ca - - 
cl - - - 35.50 fie > C 
i = ==) 17.00 DAMES 
na - - - 23.00 fe -- 
k - - - 39.00 mn - - 


133.00 
4,50 
12.00 
20.00 
43.75 
68.50 
28.00 
27.50 


cri - 











- 81.65 fi - - - 18.66 

29.00 mni - - 18.50 
- 32.50 bi - - - 69.33 
- 47.00 SI - 700 
- 44,50 ti - - - 12.50 
~ 3.66 mw => - - 22,50 
- 9.00 th - - - 58.00 
= 17.33 nb - - - 18.80 








The proposed classification of the mineral kingdom, and the place therein of the sili- 
cates, is given in the next table, in which are seen the four classes of Metalline, Oxydized, 
Haloid and Combustible bodies, with their orders and sub-orders, as follows :— 





























CLASSES. ORDERS AND SUB-ORDERS. 
I. 1. MgrarLates: a. Metallometallates ; b. Spathometallates. 
2. OxYDATES.—3. SILICATES : a. Protosilicates; b. Protopersilicates ; c. Persilicates — 

4, TirANATES. — 5. NIOBATES. — 6. TANTALATES. — 7. TuNGsrATES.— 8. Morys- 

IL. DATES.—9. CHROMATES.—10. VANADATES—11. ANTIMONATES.—12. ARSENATES. 
—13. PHosPHATES.—14, NiTRATES.—15. SuLPHATES.—16. Borares.—17. CaAr2o- 
NATES.—18. OXALATES. 

BUG 19. Haoipates: a. Fluorids ; 6. Chlorids; c. Bromids; d. Iodids. 

IV. 20. PyricausraTEs: a. Carbates; b. Carbhydrates. 








In the subjoined list of the tribes of the three sub-orders of the order SILICATE and 
their respective species, some additions and a few changes have been made in the latter. 


SUB-ORDER I. PROTOSILICATE 


SuB-ORDER IT. 


SuB-ORDER III. PRRSILICATE.. .. 


PROTOPERSILICATE .. «+ 


{ Tribe 
| Tribe 
4 Tribe 
| Tribe 
LC Tribe 


[ Tribe 
| Tribe 
4 Tribe 
eae 


1 
2. 
3. 
4 
5 


GE 


Tribe 10. 


( Tribe 11. 


Tribe 13. 


| Tribe 12. 
n\ 
| 


Tribe 14. 
| ‘Tribe 15. 


Hydroprotospathoid (Pectolitoid). 
Protospathoid. 

Protadamantoid. 

Protophylloid. 

Protocolloid (Ophitoid). 


Hydroprotoperspathoid (Zeolitoid). 
Protoperspathoid. 
Protoperadamantoid. 
Protoperphylloid. 

Protopercolloid (Pinitoid). 


Hydroperspathoid (Perzeolitoid). 
Perspathoid. 

Peradamantoid. 

Perphylloid. 

Percolloid (Argilloid). 


A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY. 65 


Trige 1. Pecrourom. Calamine, Thorite, Cerite, Gyrolite, Friedelite, Pyrosmalite, Xonaltite, Plombierite, Diop- 
tase, Pectolite, Datolite, Apophyllite, Okenite ; together with Villarsite, Matricite, Picrosmine, Picrolite, 
and Chrysotile. (Table I.) 

TrisE 2. Prorospatuorp. Danalite, Willemite, Batrachite, Tephroite, Knebelite, Gadolinite, Helvite, Leucophan- 
ite, Wollastonite, Tscheffkinite. (Table IL.) 

Tripp 3. ProrapAMANTOID. Chondrodite, Monticellite, Chrysolite, Phenacite, Bertrandite, Amphibole, Rhodonite, 
Pyroxene, Enstatite, Guarinite, Titanite, Danburite. (Table HI.) 

Trize 4. Prororayzrorn. Thermophyllite, Marmolite, Tale. (Table IV.) 

Tribe 5. Opmiroin. Serpentine, Retinalite, Deweylite, Genthite, Aphrodite, Cerolite, Chrysocolla, Spadaite, Rens- 
selaerite, Sepiolite, Glauconite. (Table V.) 

Trizp 6. Zeourrom. Xanthorthite, Hamelite, Catapleiite, the various Zeolites; with Cancrinite and Ittnerite, 

Edingtonite, Sloanite, Forestite. (Table VI.) 

. Proropprspatnorp. Melilite, Eudialyte, Wohlerite, Humboldtilite, Ilvaite, Geblenite, Sarcolite, Milarite, 
Barylite, Meionite, with Marialite and intermediate Scapolites, Sodalite, Nosite, Hauyne, Lapis-lazuli, 
Leucite, Hyalophane, Orthoclase, Microcline, Nephelite, Paranthite, Eucryptite, Anorthite, Albite and 
intermediate Feldspars, Iolite, Petalite. (Table VII.) 

Tripp 8. PROTOPERADAMANTOID. Pargasite, Keilhauite, Idocrase, Glaucophane, Schorlomite, Garnet, Ægirite, 
Allanite, Beryl, Euclase, Prehnite, Arfvedsonite, Ardennite, Axinite, Epidote, Zoisite, Jadeite, Gas- 
taldite, Acmite, Spodumene, Sapphirine, Staurolite; and the Tourmalines, including Coronite, Schor- 
lite, Aphrizite, Indicolite, Rubellite. (Table VIII.) 

Tribe 9. PRoTOPERPHYLLOID. Astrophyllite, Phlogopite, Pyrosclerite, Penninite, Ripidolite, Prochlorite, Cronste- 
dite, Leuchtenbergite, Venerite, Corundophilite, Biotite, Voigtite, Cryophyllite, Seybertite, Thuringite, 
Jefferisite, Annite, Willcoxite, Chloritoid, Lepidomelane, Zinnwaldite, Oellacherite, Lepidolite, Marga- 
rite, Euphyllite, Cookeite, Damourite, Paragonite, Muscovite. (Table IX.) 

Tripp 10. Pryrrom. Jollyte, Fahlunite, Esmarkite, Bravaisite, Sordavalite, Hygrophilite, Pinite, Cossaite; with 
Palagonite, Tachylite, Pitchstone, and Obsidian. (Table X.) 

Trip 11. Perzeorrrorp. No species known except perhaps Westanite. 

Tree 12. Persparaorn. No species known to represent this tribe except the bismuthic silicates Eulytite, Agri- 
colite, and Bismutoferrite. 

Tree 13. PorapamMaAntoip, Dumortierite, Topaz, Andalusite, Fibrolite, Cyanite, Bucholzite, Xenolite, Wérthite, 
Lyncurite, Malacone, Zircon, Auerbachite, Anthosiderite, (Table XI.) 

Tripp 14. Perpnytiom. Pholerite, Talcosite, Kaolinite, Pyrophyllite. (Table XII.) 

Trine 15. ArGizLoin. Schrôtterite, Collyrite, Allophane, Samoite, Halloysite, Kaolin, Keramite, Hisingerite, Wol- 
chonskoite, Montmorillonite, Chloropal, Cimolite, Smectite. (Table XIII.) 


TRIBE 


“I 


ÿ 4. The subjoined tribal tables include the principal species of each tribe (except 
Tribes 11 and 12, which are not tabulated), their atomic formulas, so far as determined, 
and the values of P and V, as calculated from these—P being the unit-weight or mean 
weight of the oxyd-unit in the species, and V, the volume of this, got by dividing P by 
D = the specific gravity. For the crystalline tribes, the form of the species, when known, 
is designated in these tables in the right hand column, under X ; initial letters being used 
as follows :—I, Isometric; T, Tetragonal ; O, Orthorhombic ; C, Clinorhombic ; A, Anorthic 
or Trictinic ; H, Hexagonal, and R, Rhombohedral. 

§ 5. Prehnite was by Breithaupt included in his order Grammites, and in the order of 
Zeolites by Shephard, following whom, it was, by the author, placed among Zeolitoids. It 
is, however, shown by its volume, hardness, and chemical relations, to be an adamantoid, 
and has accordingly been transferred, in the revised tables, to the eighth tribe. To this 
are now also added glaucophane and gastaldite, two aluminous protopersilicates, whose 
nearest relations are with garnet, epidote and jadeite. The latter species, with P = 16°88 
and D = 3:32, gives V = 5:08; while gastaldite, having the same general formula, with 
P = 1708 and D = 3:04, gives V = 5°61; and dipyre, almost identical in formula, with 


Sec. IIL, 1886. 9. 


66 T. STERRY HUNT : SUPPLEMENT TO 


P = 16:89 and D = 2:64 has V = 6:39. 
sation in similar silicates. 


§ 6. In the species of the colloid type—represented among the various sub-orders of 


We have thus presented three stages of conden- 


TABLE I.— PEcroriroips. 




















SPECIES. FORMULA. P D | Vi | x 
| 

Calamine (zn:Si)0, + aq 24°00) 3250) 6:87 10: 
Thorite (th,si,)o0, + 2aq 32.62 | 5.30 | 6.15 | I. 
Cerite . (cesi)o; +1aq 29.80 | 4.90| 6.08! ? 
Gyrolite . (casi;)0; + 1aq ip 
Friedelite (mn,si;)0; + 2aq R. 
Pyrosmalite (fe.si;)0; + lag H. 
Chrysotile (mg;si,)0; + 2aq ? 
Xonaltite (ca,siz)o; + Jaq P 
Plombierite (causi:)0; + 2aq ? 
Dioptase . (ctysie)o; + 1aq 
Pectolite . (CasSi)On + 12q 
Datolite . (ca:sib;)0) +1aq 
Apophyllite . (casi,)0; + 2aq 
Okenite . (casi,)0; + 2aq 














silicates, by the Ophitoids, Pinitoids and Argilloids, and corresponding to the order Poro- 
dini and the various porodic species of Breithaupt—are included, not only pure colloids 
like chrysocolla and allophane, but admixtures of colloids with crystalloids, as in the case 


Tage II.— Prorospatnuoips.! 




















SPECIES. FoRMULA. P | DAV EX 
Danalite. - - - | (m,sig)o,3- (m=gl, fe, zn) - @ | 99,15 |3.43/6.76| I. 
Willemite. - -|(zn;si)o, - - - - - - - -| 927.75 |4.18]6.63] H. 
Batrachite. - - | (m,Si,)o, - (m—cas;mgs;) - - | 19.50 | 3.03) 6.43] ©. 
|Tephroite.- - -|(mm,sijjo, - - - - - - -| 25.25 |4.12,6.13| O. 
Knebelite. - - - | (m,si,)o, - (m—fe,:mn,.;) - 25.87 | 4.12) 6.15) ? 
Gadolinite. - - |(m,si,)o, - (m —gl, yt, fe) - 6 | 25.66 |4.20/6.10) ©. 
Helvite. - - - | (msi,)o,-(m=gl,mn)- - =| 20.16 |3.30,6.11| I. 
Leucophanite. - | (m,si,jo;- (m=gl,ca,na) - c | 18.05 | 2.97/6.07| O. 
Wollastonite.- - |(casi,)o; - - - - - - - - | 19.383] 2.92) 6.62) C. 
Tscheffkinite. - | (m,si,)o,- (m=ce,ca,fe) - d | 27.00) 4.26) 6.34) ? 














of partially devitrified obsidian and pitchstone, and of chalcedony, a colloidal aggregate of 


quartz and opal, the latter a typical colloid. Such admixtures, however, having the 





! The formulas employed in calculating the values of P and V for the following species are 
a. Danalite — (gl..fe,.,çmn,.;2n,.8i6.0)0.081-0 
b. Gadolinite — (21). Y t2-00/80:75C 80-2581 1-00 )0-00- 
c. Leucophanite — (ca,.gl;.5na3.08i16-0)0280e 
d, Tscheffkinite — [Damour] ce(o.gs£€9.29Ap-r5Si1-g0ti or70)O3+99: 


A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY. 67 


external characters of colloidal or porodic substances, are placed in the colloid tribes; to 
which, in the synoptical tables, we have added sordavalite and hisingerite, the latter 


being regarded as a simple ferric silicate, and thus in the third sub-order. 
For the colloids included under the tenth tribe, the very variable composition of the 
vitreous products of igneous fusion has been insisted upon in § 103, 104 of the previous 


paper. 


TaBze II]. — ProTapAMANTOIDS, 








As regards the limits of species in these and similar cases, the question which 

















<= 
SPECIES. Formua. 12 | 40) | V | x 
Chondrodite. - - |(mgysi,)jo, - - - - - - 18.64 | 3.20] 5.82) O. 
Monticellite. - - | (m,si,)o, - (m= mgp.;Cao.5) - 19.50 | 3.25] 6.00) O. 
Forsterite. - ~-|(mgsi,)o,- - - = - - = 17.50 | 3.30] 5.30} O. 
Chrysolite (1). - | (m,8i,)0, - (Mm = mgp.ofe., - 18.30 | 3.40] 5.38] O. 
Chrysolite (2). - | (mjsi,)o,-(m—=mgy.,fe,. - 19.10 | 3.50) 5.45) O. 
Bertrandite. - - |(glisi;)o, +}aq - - - - - 13.22 | 2.59] 5.10) O. 
Phenacite. - -|(glisio, - - - - - - - 15.75 |3.00) 4.58} R. 
Amphibole (1). - | (msi,)o, - (m — mg, Cay.95) 17.33 | 2.97| 5.88) C. 
Amphibole (2). - | (mysi,)o, - (M = M¥p.gCApegfCp-1) 18.00 | 3.06] 5.88] C. 
Rhodonite. - -|(mmjsi,)o, - - - - - - 21.83 | 3.60} 6.06) C. 
Pyroxene (1). - | (Mm Si,)o, - (m = cay.;mgp.;) - 18.00 | 3.27] 5.50) C. 
Pyroxene (2). - | (m,si,)o, - (m= cay.;mMgp.5) - 18.00 | 3.28] 5.48} C. 
Pyroxene (3). - | (mySi,)o; - (m= cakmg#) - 17.55 | 3.22) 5.45) C. 
Pyroxene (4). - (m,si,)o, - (m = catmg?feh) 18.66 | 3.41| 5.47] C. 
Enstatite (1). - | (m,si,)og - (m = mgyfey,) - - | 17-20 [8.10] 5.54) O. 
Enstatite (2). - | (mysi,)o, - (m= mgp.gfeg.y) - 17.73 | 8.25) 5.45) O. 
Titanite. - - -|(ca,si,tiJo, = - - - - - - | 19.80 |3.50/5.65| C. 
Guarinite.- - - | (casi,ti,)o; - - - - - - 19.80 | 3.50) 5.65) T. 
Danburite. - - | (caysijb;)o3 - - - - - - 15.37 | 3.00 5.12) O. 

















arises is similar to that presented by the various intermediate feldspars and scapolites, 
(which we have elsewhere discussed), and by the intermediate carbon-spars, and is one in- 
timately connected with the high molecular weights which must be assigned to mineral 
species. 


Taste IV.— PROTOPHYLLOIDS. 




















| SPECIES. FORMULA. | P D | V X. 

| Thermophyllite. |(mg;si,)o, + 2aq -|15-33 | 2-61 | 5-87| ? 

| Marmolite. - - |(mg,si,)o, +2aq -| 15°33} 2-41 | 6-35| ? 
Tale. - "| (mesi)ontlaq -| 15°93 | 2°70 || 5:90) O: 
Tale - - - - |(mgssi)o, + $aq -| 15°82 | 2:60 | 6-07] O. | 





§ 7. In the chemical relations of the protoxyds on the one hand, and of alumina on 
the other, upon which, in our system, the sub-orders of silicates are based, a fundamental 
difference appears in the fact that when silicated compounds of the former undergo sub- 
aerial decay—that is to say, are decomposed by the action of carbonated atmospheric 


68 T. STERRY HUNT : SUPPLEMENT TO 


waters—the protoxyd bases are liberated from combination with the silica, which itself is, 
in great part, like the protoxyds, dissolved. In the case of the aluminous double silicates 
thus decomposed (chiefly feldspars and scapolites) while the protoxyd bases, with more 
or less silica, are in like manner dissolved, the alumina remains behind as a definite 
hydrous silicate. The zirconia of the few zirconie protopersilicates known, would, it is 
conjectured, behave like alumina; and the existence in nature of such compounds as wol- 
chonskoite and chloropal shows in chromic and ferric oxyds (which are not dissolved by 
carbonated waters) a similar affinity for silica. The changes in oxydation of iron and man- 
ganese from atmospheric oxygen, on the one hand, and from certain organic matters on 
the other, modify, in ways which are well known, the relations of these metals in decay- 
ing silicates. The titanium which may be present in silicates thus decomposing probably 
separates as titanic dioxyd, since in the younger crystalline schists it generally appears in 
this state, crystallized as rutile. 

§ 8. In the essay on a Natural System in Mineralogy to which this is a supplement, 
attention was called ($$ 29, 31, 65) to the unlike effects of agents which, like chlorhydric 
and nitric acids, combine with their bases, upon silicates of similar centesimal composition. 
As examples of this were cited the cases of meionite as compared with zoisite, and of wollas- 
tonite with amphibole and pyroxene. Illustrations, moreover, are not wanting in the 
similarly related species of other orders, as in the behavior of the different carbon-spars, 
such as calcite, dolomite and magnesite, with the same acids, or of tridymite and quartz with 


- 


Tage V.— OpxiToips. 














SPECIES. FORMULA. ip D Vv 
I 

Serpentine. - - | (mg,siyo; t2uq | 15-33 . 
Retinalite. - - | (mg,si,)o,; + 23aq | 15-00 
Deweylite. -. - | (mg,si,)o; +3aq_ | 14-00 
Genthite. - - - | (ni,si,)o, + 3aq 18-25 
Aphrodite. - - | (mg,si,)o; + faq | 15:13 
Cerolite. - - - | (mg,si,)o, + 13aq | 14-11 
Chrysocolla. - - |(eu,si,)o, + 2aq | 17°53 
Spadaite. - - - | mg;si,:)0,, + 4aq | 15.04 
Rensselaerite. - | (mg,Sij))oy + 1aq | 15-93 
Sepiolite. - - - | (mgisi,)o, + lag | 14°80 
Glauconite. = -| - = - - - - 














a solution of sodium carbonate. The conclusion was then announced (§ 35) that for species so 
related “the hardness and chemical indifference are inversely as the value of V, or in other words, 
they increase with the condensation, the relative amount of which in the species compared 
is shown by the diminution of V ;’ which is the quotient got by dividing the combining 
weight of the chemical unit, or unit-weight, P by the density or specific gravity D 
(water = 1.000). We were thus led to insist upon the fundamental importance of specific 
gravity in solid species, considered not in itself, but in relation to the mean unit-weight. 
This, which was assumed for Silicates and for Oxydates—as that of the compound of eight 


Ww 


A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY. 


parts of oxygen (or its equivalent) with hydrogen, silicon, boron, aluminium, sodium or 
other metal—is readily calculated from the empirical formula of the species. 

$ 9. Attention has, moreover, been called, in an essay entitled “The Genetic History 
of Crystalline Rocks,” presented to the Royal Society of Canada at the present meeting (May, 
1886) to the indifference of certain silicates to fluorhydric acid, which, as is well known, 
attacks many such compounds, and combines not only with the contained bases but with 
the silica itself. It was therein noticed that, as shown by different observers, zircon, 
staurolite, amphibole, pyroxene and chrysolite, resist more or less completely the action of 
this solvent, so that, as Fouqué and others have found, these silicates may be separated 
from feldspars, and from vitreous colloid or porodic silicates like obsidian—all of which 


are readily dissolved by fluorhydric acid. 


Tage VI.— Zeo.irorps. 





‘al 























SPECIES. FORMULA. 12 DAV: 
Xanthorthite.- | (mahsi:)04 + 2aq - (m—=ce, fe) - - - 2.90 
Hamelite. - -| (m,al,si,)o, +1aq - (m= mg,fe,na) | ....|...|... 
Catapleiite. -|(m,zr,si)09 + 2aq - - - - - - -| 18.09] 2.80) 6.46 
Cancrinite. -| (nagal,,Si.7)0,; + 3¢,Ca,03 +44aq - -| ....| 2.42)... 
Thomsonite. -| (m,al,si,)o, + 23aq - (m=—caïnai) -| 13.58 | 2.38) 6.54 
Gismondite. -| (cayal,Sipso)0gs0t43aq - - - - - | 14.38 | 2.26) 6.36 
Natrolite. - -| (ma,al,si,)o+2aq - - - - - -|15.83 | 2.25) 7.03 
Scolecite. - -|(ca,al;sis)o,, +8aq - - - - - - -| 15.08} 2.40) 6.28 
Mesolite. - - | (m,al,sig)o,) + 3aq -(m—cañna) -| 15.15 | 2.40) 6.31 
Levynite. - -| (ca,al,sig)op+4aq - - - - - -| 14.64} 2.16) 6.77 
Pollucite. - -| (mjal,si,)o,. + 1aq - (m= csjna}) -| 21.46 | 2.90) 7.40 
Analcite. - -| (naaljsi,)o., +2aq - - - - - - -| 15.71) 2.29) 6.86 
Eudnophite. - | (na,al,si,)o,,-+2aq - - - - - -| 15.71] 2.27) 6.92 
Laumontite. - | (caal,sisjo., +4aq - - - - - -|14.68 | 2.80) 6.38 
Herschelite. - | (m,al;si,)o,, + 5aq - (m=najk})- -| 14.76 | 2.06 7.16 
Phillipsite. - | (mjal,si,)o,, +5aq-(m—cañnax) -} 14.41 | 2.20) 6.55 
Chabazite. -| (ca,al,si,)o.,+6aq- - - - - - -| 14.05| 2.19] 6.41 
Gmelinite. -| (m,al,si,)o,, +6aq-(m—cagnai) -| 14.11 | 2.17) 6.50 
Faujasite. - - | (m,al,si,)o,;-+9aq - (m — nazca}) -| 13.45 | 1.92) 7.00 
Hypostilbite - | (ca,al,sis)o,, +6aq - - - - - - - 14.10 | 2.20) 6.40 
Harmotome. -| (m,al.si)0,, +5aq - (m= baypnay'y) | 16.78 | 2.45] 6.82 
Epistilbite. -|(caalsi,)o, +5aq - - = - - -| 1447 | 2.25) 6.43 
Brewsterite. -| (m,al,sij,)o,,+5aq - (m—=srznaz) -| 15.27 | 2.45) 6.23 
Stilbite. - -|(caalsi.)o +6aq - - - - - -| 14.23) 2.20) 6.46 
Heulandite. -| (caalsi,)ot5aq - - - - - -| 14-47 | 2.20) 6.58 
Edingtonite. - | (bajal,si,Jo,+4aq - - - - - -| 17-84) 2.71) 6.58 
Sloanite. - - (cmalsi)os F3aq - - = = =.= 15.31 | 2.44! 6.27 
Forestite. - - (cayalpSi,,)o,,+6aq - - - - “ -| 14.56 | 2.40) 6.06 





Meanwhile, Mr. J. B. Mackintosh, of the School of Mines, Columbia College, New 
York, having tried this acid to distinguish between certain gems, called my attention in 
April, 1886, to the fact that garnet was unattacked by it, an indifference ascribed by me to 
the great condensation of this silicate, which is near that of the adamantoids already men- 











“OOH ASASSCHHFPROORSOHH FASB SOOHH.S 








70 T. STERRY HUNT: SUPPLEMENT TO 


tioned. I then suggested, in order to test the correctness of this view, comparisons between 
the adamantoids, epidote and spodumene, on the one hand, and the spathoids, iolite and 
petalite, on the other; predicting that these latter would, like the feldspars, be attacked, 
and the former would resist the action of fluorhydric acid. The correctness of this prevision 
was confirmed by the results of Mr. Mackintosh’s experiments, communicated to me April 


Taste VII.— ProTOPERSPATHOIDS. 


+ 
| SPECIES. | FORMULA. P D V x 


Melilite. - - | (caymsiz)o, - (m= al4fit) - - | 20.46 | 2.10 | 6.60 
Eudialyte. - | (myzr,Si,,)0,3 - (m=—na,.;ca1.:fe,0) 20.30 | 3.00 | 6.76 
Wohlerite.- - Fos ores 
Humboldtilite. | (cajal.si;)oj = - - - - - - | 19.80} 2.90 | 6.65 


























ee 

KR. 

C. 

[Le 

Ilvaite. - - - | (m,f,si;)o,, - (m = feicat)- - | 22.83 | 3.71] 6.15] O. 
Gehlenite.- = | (ca. -9Sij-3)03-3 - (m = al?fif) | 19.83 | 3.06 | 6.48 | T, 
Sarcolite - - | (ca,alsi,jo, - - - - - - -|18.75|2.93| 6.40) T, 
Milarite. - - | (myal,sig)oy) - (QM —=Caysko) - | 16.88 | 2.59 | 6.51] O. 
Barylite. - - | (ba,al,si,)oy. - - - - - - | 25.75) 4.03/ 6.38] 9 
Meionite. - - | (caaljsij,)o.,- - - - - - - | 17.80) 2.74) 6.49) T. 
Wernerite. - | (myalySijg)09- - = = - - - |17.41|2.70 | 6.44] T. 
Ekebergite. - | (m,alsigdon - - - - - - -|17.42|2.74]|6.32| T 
Mizzonite. - | (myal,Si,)o3.- - - - - - -|17.20| 2.62) 6.56) T. 
Dipyre.- - - | (myalgsiny)oy,- - - - - - - | 16.89} 2.64) 6.89) T. 
Marialite. - - | (myalySigg)oyy- - - - - - - | 16.43} 2.57) 6.89) T. 
Sodalite. - - | (nayalsi,,)o,cl,- - - - - - |19.88} 2.80) 8.28) I. 
Nosite. - - - | (najal,si,)o,;+4masjo, - - - | 20.28} 2.40] 8.25] 1, 
Hauyne. - - | (na,alysi,o,+3ea,s,0, - - - | 21.60] 2.50| 8.64] 1. 
Ibaraki, [PS = oO See 20) ECS DT 
Leucite. - - | (kyalsis)o.- - - - - - - |18.16/ 2.56] 7.09) I. 
Hyalophane. - | m,aljsiz)o,, - (m—=bazk}) - - | 19.89) 2.80) 6.92) ©, 
Orthoclase. = | (k,al,siy)og - = - - - - - | 17.37) 2.54) 6.83] C. 
Microcline. - | (kyaljsi,,)o,;- - - - - - - | 17.37 | 2.54 | 6.83] A. 
Nephelite.- - | (najaljsi,;)oy,; - - - - - - | 17-58) 2.66) 6.60| x. 
Paranthite. - | (cajal,siyjo, - - - - - - - | 17.37) 2.75/ 6.31) 'T, 
Eucryptite. - | (lialsijo; - - - - - - - | 15.75| 2.67|5.93| H. 
Anorthite.- - | (cajalsiyjo, - - - - - - - | 17.87) 2.75) 6.52) A. 
Barsowite. - |(caal;si)o, - - - - - - - | 17.11) 2.73) 6.27) 9 
Labradorite. - | (m,aljsig)o;)- (m—caïnai) - 16.97 | 2.70 | 6.28] A. 
Andesite. - - |(m,alssi)o,,-(m—cainai) - | 16.70) 2.68) 6.23) A. 
Oligoclase. - | (m,al,si,)o,;-(m—=nagcat) - | 16.63 | 2.65) 6.27) A. 
Albite. - - - | (majal,si,.)oj, - - = - - - | 16.87) 2.62) 6.24) A. 
Iolite. - - - | (m,al,si;)o,- (m= mg#fe}) - | 16.81) 2.67| 6.29) H. 
2.42] 6.33] C 











Poldlite. == (also ee ue elite | | 

9th, since which time he has greatly extended his enquiries in this direction. He finds that 
while not only the pectolitoids and the zeolitoids, but various spathoids, such as wollas- 
tonite, the feldspars and scapolites, as well as iolite and petalite (together with titanite, 
jefferisite and protovermiculite) are more or less readily corroded by the fluorhydric acid, 
the adamantoids, pyroxene (diopside) enstatite, danburite, garnet, epidote, zoisite, axinite, 





A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY. 71 


beryl, spodumene, black tourmaline, andalusite, topaz and cyanite, as well as various 
phylloids, including tale, muscovite, lepidolite, margarite, phogopite, and ripidolite, are 
not attacked by this reagent. It may be added that datolite, which in the tables we have 
placed among Pectolitoids, appears, from its great condensation and its comparative indif- 
ference to the action of fluorhydric acid, to belong to the Protadamantoids. 

§ 10. Pursuing farther this interesting path of investigation, Mr. Mackintosh has, 
at my suggestion, determined the relative rate of attack, by experiments on equal weights 
of various native silicates reduced to grains of uniform size and exposed to the action of 


Tage VIII.— PROTOPERADAMANTOIDS. 






































Es 

SPECIES. | FORMULA. P D VARIE 

| | 

Pargasite. - |(m,al;si,)o, - (mM == Cag.;Mg}.;) -|17.60 | 3.05 | 5.79] C. 
Keïlhauite. (momisltis)on- - = = = =| 02.2) 8.72)| 7... NC: 
Schorlomite. |(caifissiétis)o,yy - - - - - - 21.41] 3.80) 5.63] ? 
Idocrase. - | (cagal,8is)0i)9 - - - - - -  -|19.30|3.40|5.67| T. 
Garnet. - (caalsi,)o, - -~- = = - =/18.75] 3.50) 5.37] I. 
Allanite. - (m,al,si,)o, - (m = cescadfed) |21.67| 4.00| 5.42] C. 
Ægirite. - | (Mesfijsi,.)o,3 - (m,—na,ca,fe,) |19.72| 3.58 | 5.50] C. 
Beryl. - - |(besal:si:)oygy - - - - - -/|14.92) 2.70) 5.52) H. 
Euclase. - |(be,salsgi,)o + laq - - - - -/14.50| 3.10) 4.67] C. 
Arfvedsonite. |(m,f,81,0)05 - (m,—naca,) ~-|19.26| 8.59 | 5.33) C. 
Ardennite. (nT asi) Og la CO 7018162) PRO: 
Axinite. - |(camsi,..bo,.)o, - (m,=al$fiz) |18.11| 3.27 | 5.53| A. 
Epidote. - | (caym,si;)ogt}aq - (m,==al$fiz) |18.38 | 3.40 | 5.40 | C. 
Zoisite. - - (caalsi,)o; - = - - - - -{17.83] 3.35) 5.82] O. 
Jadeite. - |(naalsi,)o, - - - - - - -{16.88] 3.382) 5.08] ? 
Gastaldite. (myaksis)o9 - - - - - - -|17.08| 3.04/5.61] C. 
Glaucophane. | (mgalsis)oi3 - - - - - - -{17.57| 3,12) 5.63} C. 
Prehnite. - | (casalysig)on + 1aq - - - - -|16.66| 2.95] 5.64) O. 
“Acmite. - | (mpfisSi,,)o,3- (mM, = Na}.;feo.;) - [19.50 | 3.53 | 5.52] C. 
Spodumene. | (li,al\sip)o5 - - - - - - -/15.53/3.18| 4.88) C. 
Sapphirine. |(mgalisi)og - - - - - - -|17.16) 3.48) 4.90) O. 
Staurolite. (fe,al,si,.;)0;5 + 42q - - - -|18.45] 3.75} 4.92) O. 
Coronite. - |(my,alsi;)o9 - - - - - - ~|16.86) 3.05) 5.36) R. 
Schorlite. - |(myalsi,jo,, - - - - - - -{16.68/ 5.10) 5.38) R. 
Aphrizite.- | (mjaljsig)o5 - - - - - - - 17.24 | 3.20 | 5.38] R. 
| Indicolite. (mialsis)ony = = = - - - -|16.42 3.08 | b:33 MR, 
limepetiiten= |(aelasin)ons ee 1606) 9100)|/0:851/, IRs 


an excess of dilute fluorhydric acid. This, with a strength of nine per cent., was found to 
dissolve in one hour’s time, of 100.00 parts of albite, 23.00 parts; of petalite, 28.97; of iolite, 
47.34; of orthoclase 43.45 ; and of leucite 66.30 parts ; while of chrysolite but 5.40, and of 
quartz but 1.56 parts were dissolved. Of opal, under similar conditions, 77.68, and of a 
yellowish noble serpentine (specific gravity = 2.532) 80.67 parts were dissolved, showing 
a great susceptibility of these colloid or porodic species to the action of the acid 
solvent. Labradorite and oligoclase are, like the other feldspars, readily attacked, but the 
separation of an insoluble calcium-fluorid was found to be a disturbing factor in quantita- 


712 T. STERRY HUNT : SUPPLEMENT TO 


tive experiments upon these and other soluble lime-holding silicates. The influence of 
other bases, and the varying proportions of these will, probably, on farther investigation, 
be found of significance. Instead of a constant quantity of the various silicates compared, 
this might be varied with the unit-weights of the several species, which are, for example, 
for albite, 16.37; for orthoclase, 17.37; and for leucite, 18.16. 


Taste LX. — PROTOPERPHYLLOIDS. 














SPECIES. FORMULA. ES SDS AIX 
Astrophyllite. - |(m;m8ij)o);- - - - - - - - - |,..13.32| ...| 0. 
Phlogopite. - - | (myal,sig)o,. - (m,=mg;kes) - - |18.12| 2.85] 6.35| O. 
Pyrosclerite. - - | (mg,al,si,)o,, + 3aq- - - - - = |15.40| 2.74] 5.62| ©. 
Penninite. - - | (mgsçal.ç8is)Ops + 8aq - - - - |15.40| 2.67] 5.76| R. 
Ripidolite. - - |(mg;al;sis)o,, + 4aq - - - - - - |15,88| 2.70] 5.70} C. 
Prochlorite. - = | (m,alSié)Ou-c6 + 3aq - (m,—mpgife,)|17.72| 2.96| 5.98] H. 
Leuchtenbergite. | (mgy.;a]y.98i5-9)0\2-5 + 34aq - = - - [15.46] 2.65) 5.83) H. 
Venerite. - - - | (mym,si,)o,,+4aq - - - - - - |16.84| .… ? 
Corundophilite. - | (m,al,si,)o,,-+ 33aq - (m,— mg,fe,) |15.20| 2.90) 5.21! C. 
Biotite.- - - = |(mym,si,)0,,- (m,—mgs;kys) - - |18.18) 3.00) 6.06) H. 
Voigtite. - - - | (mymsi,)o,;,+4aq - (m,=meg,fe,) - [16.48] 2.91| 5.66) ? 
Cryophyllite.  - | (mgal,si,,)o,, - (m3—= fedalii) - - 17.90 2.91! 6.15} O. 
Seybertite. - - | (mgalysi;)o.) + 3aq - (m,—mg,ca,)- |17.97) 3.15) 5.70) O. 
Thuringite. - - | (fesmssis)o, + 6aq-(m,—al;fi,) - |19.56) 3.19) 6.18) ? 
Jefferisite.- - - | (mgemssi,:)o + 74aq - (m—=al,fi,) - |14.92, 2.80) 6.50) O. 
Annite.- - - - | (mgmpSijs)0j, - (ms =feske) - - - |20.84) 3.17| 6.57) ? 
Willcoxite. - - |(m,alsis)0:, + 2aq - (m,— mg:na,) |16.76| ...| ...| ? 
Chloritoid. - - |(fe,alssi,)o; + laq - - - - - - |18.00| 3.55) 5.07) C. 
Lepidomelane. - |(mym,sijo; - - - - - - - -|---/98.00)...) H. 
Zinnwaldite. - - | (myal,Sig)oj9- (M = kyliys) = - - |17-20) 3.00) 5.78) O. 
Oellacherite. - - | (mal,sig)oy +1aq -(m=k}ba}meg}) |17.33) 2.99) 5.79) ? 
Lepidolite. - = | (m-caly-;Sig-o)Oi-5 - (TA = Kyslig.;) - |16-85) 3.00! 5.61) O. 
Margarite. - - | (ca,alsi,jo, +laq - - - - - - |16.58) 2.99) 5.54) O. 
Euphyllite. - - | (mjal,Sig)o,g- (M=—ky.35naggs) - - [11:07 3.00) 5.69) ? 
Cookeite. - - - | (myalpSiy)o.9 +53aq - (M=lip.;ky-y;) |14-80) 2.70 5.48) ? 
Muscovite. - - |(kalsijos - - - - - - - - 17-75) 3.12) 5.68) O. 
Muscovite. - - |(kalsi)o,; + 2aq - - - - - - |16.77) 2.85) 5.88) O. 
Muscovite. - - |\(kalsipjon - - = - - = - - [LG27) ocr 0. 
Damourite. - - | (kj,alysi,,)ox-+2aq - - - - - - |16.58) 2.79) 5.94) O. 
Muscovite. - - | (kgsalgoSigo)0is5 = - = + - - - |16:80)-..]..-] O. 
Muscovite. - - | (KgsAlgoSig.9)0 55 +2aq - - - - {15-91) 2.75) 5.78 0. 














§ 11. Recent experiments with quartz crystals and sections of crystals show that 
while the crystalline planes are not visibly attacked by a strong acid of 54 per cent., cut 
and polished surfaces are corroded, their loss of weight in an hour’s time amounting in 
some experiments to five and six milligrams for the square centimetre of surface. The 
whole subject of the action of fluorhydric acid on mineral species, now under investiga- 
tion, promises, in the hands of Mr. Mackintosh, who is both a skillful chemist' and a 





A brief preliminary statement of his observations appears from the pen of Mr. Mackintosh (now of Lehigh 
University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) in the School of Mines Quarterly for July, 1886, p. 364. 


A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY, 73 


mineralogist, to yield very important results for the science of mineralogy. His experi- 
ments appear, as will be seen, to show close relations between this solvent action of the 
acid and the condensation or atomic volume of the species, as calculated in the accom- 
panying tables of the various tribes of silicates. 


TABLE X.— Prniroips. 


























SPECIES. FORMULA. ie D V 
Jollyte.- - -|(mal,si,)o, + 2aq - (m = fey.gMg.4) | 15.75 | 2.61 | 6.03 
Fahlunite.- - | (m,al,si;)o) + 1laq- (m= fejmg3) - | 16.03 | 2.70 | 5.93 
Hsmarkite. -|(mjaljsi;joy2aq - - - - - - | 15.89)... 
Bravaisite. -| (k,aljsig)o; + 4aq - - > - - - | 15.82]... 
Hygrophilite. | (kal.sij)o,, F3aq - - - - - - |16.33/...]... 
Pinite. =: - -| (kjal,sij.)0,+3aq- - - - - - | 16.25; 2.80} 5.08 
A Cossaite. - -| (na,al8i,.)0.. + 2aq - - - - - 15.91 | 2.89 | 5.50 





§ 12. It is not enough to have arranged mineral species in orders and tribes. It is 
evident that there are relations between certain species in any given tribe which serve 
to bring them together into families and genera, but which, with our present trivial nom- 
enclature, can be but very imperfectly indicated. The various tourmalines, with different 
quantivalent ratios, will constitute, at least, one genus, with several species; and the 
great tribe of the Protoperphylloids includes many genera and more than one family. In 


Tagze XI. — PERADAMANTOIDS. 


























SPECIES. FORMULA. 12 D V x | 
Dumortierite. - | (al,si,)o; - - 16:33 | 3:36 | 4:86 | C 
Andalusite. - - | (ali,jo, - - 16-20 |: 3:55 | 4-85 | O 
Fibrolite. - - - |(alsi,)o, - - | 16:20 | 3:35 | 4:83 | © 
Topaz. - - - -|(alsi,)ofl, - | 18°40] 3-65 | 5-04 | O 
Cyanite. - - -|(al,si,)o, - - | 16:20 | 3°66] 4:42 A 
Bucholzite. - - | (al,sij)o, - - | 16°00! 3-24] 4-90 | © 
Xenclite. - - -|(aljsi;jog - - | 16°00] 3:58 | 4-46.) C 
Warthita, -- © = |/(aljsi,jo,, + Jaq|15°60)| <--- || .--- | © 
Lyncurite. - - |(zrsi,)o, - - | 22°75 | 4:05 | 5:61 T 
Malacone.- - - | (2r,si,)o,+Jaq| 2122 | 4-00 | 5-30 | T 
Zircon. - - + -|(zrsi,)o, = - | 22:75 |, 4:70 | 4-84 | T 
Auerbachite.- - | (zr,si,Jo; - - | 21:20 | 4-06] 5-2 | T 
Anthosiderite. - | (fisi,)o, +#aq | 17°21 | 3:00 | 5:73 ? 

| 








the Protoperspathoid tribe, the large family of the feldspathides takes in several genera, 
one of them the true feldspars, embracing the albite-anorthite series, and perhaps paran- 
thite and iolite ; and another, the adularia series, with a less condensation, comprehending 
orthoclase, microcline and hyalophane. In this same tribe, besides the scapolite genus, 
which takes in the meionite-marialite series, is a group of related species, including 


Sec. III., 1886. 10. 


74 T. STERRY HUNT : SUPPLEMENT TO 


melilite, humboldtilite, gehlenite, sarcolite, milarite and barylite, which may well con- 
stitute a cognate genus. It is only by a binominal nomenclature, such as is employed in 
other departments of natural history, and has been so often essayed in mineralogy, that 
generic and specific relations, like those just pointed out, can be properly indicated. 
Such a nomenclature, in the Latin language, in connection with the system of classifica- 
tion proposed in this, and in the paper to which it is a supplement, would, it is believed, 


Tagze XI. — PErPHYLLoOIDS. 





SI'ECIES. FORMULA, © |) 1) | V x 





| 
Pholerite . . » [(Lsi;)o; + 2aq a LA 25 2.51 | 5.67 O. 


Talcosite nu (alsi)ons + Laqu.….0,,115:38 2.50 | 6.13} ? 














Kaolinite . . - [Gsis)o; +2aq . . . 11433 | 2.65 | 5.44| O. 
Pyrophyllite . .(alsi)o; aq . . .|15.00 | 2.80/ 5.35| O. 
0. 








Pyrophyllite . .|(aksi)o;+3%aq . . .|15.00 2.92 | 5.13 





give to mineralogy a form and a completeness, the want of which has been a great 
hindrance to its study. The preparation of such a nomenclature by the present writer is 
now well advanced. 

§ 13. We have sought, in the essay on “ A Natural System in Mineralogy,” and in the 
earlier papers cited therein, to lay the basis of such a system by showing how the differ- 
ences in hardness and in specific gravity of mineral species—the first data in the natural- 


Taste XIII. — ARGILLOIDS. 

















| 
SPECIES. | FORMULA. Pp D | Vv | 
a | 
Schrotterite. - - | (al,si,Jo; +5aq - - | 12.80) 2.15 | 5.95 
Collyrite. - - - | (alisi,jo,+43aq_ - | 12.53 | 2.15) 5.83 
Allophane. - - | (aljsi,o;+Gaq- - | 12.27] 1.89 | 6.49 
| Samoite. - - - | (al,si;)o; + 5aq- - | 12.81} 1.89 | 6.66 
Halloysite. - -|(alssi,)o; +3aq- - | 13.80 | 2.40 | 5.75 
Kaolin.- - - -/|(alssi,)o; t2aq- - | 14.33 
Keramite.- - -|(alsi,)o, +2aq- - |13.85 |... 
Wolchonskoite. - | (er,si;)o, + 3aq- - | 15.33 | 2.30 | 6.66 
Montmorillonite. | (al,si,)o, +2aq - - |13.00 | 2.04! 6.37 
Chloropal.- - = | (fisi,Jos+Igaq - |15.51/ 2.10 | 7.38 
Cimolite. - - - | (al,si,jo,+laq- - |14.20 | 2.30 | 6.17 
Smectite. - - - |(alisi,)o; + 4aq- - | 12.55 | 2.10.) 5.97 











history method of Werner, Mohs and Jameson—are intimately connected with and 
dependent upon greater or less complexity of chemical constitution. The arbitrary and 
imperfect chemical method of Berzelius and his modern followers is thus superseded, and a 
new chemistry is made the foundation of a natural system of mineralogy, in which the 
natural-historical and the chemical methods are united and harmonized. The crystallo- 


A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY. 73 


graphic mineralogists have assigned to crystalline individualization, which is but an 
accident of certain mineral species, a disproportionate importance, and a significance 
which has often been misleading. Systematic mineralogy includes all inorganic matters, 
whether gases, liquids or solids, and these latter, whether individualized as crystals or 
existing in the colloidal or porodic state. 

§ 14. The genesis of the various mineral species of the earth’s crust has been effected 
by continuous dynamic and chemic agencies working through successive ages, and has 
determined the differences met with in the successive groups of neptunian rocks, with their 
gradations in character, from the ante-gneissic granite down to the youngest crystalline 
schists and the detrital sediments of still later ages. The same is true of the plutonic 
rocks of different periods, and the laws which have regulated this terrestrial process are, 
as we have elsewhere endeavoured to show, not less certain and definite than those of 


SuB-ORDER I. — PROTOSILICATE. 





== E 





ea 1. Pecrozrroip. 2. PROTOSPATHOID. 3. PROTADAMANTOID. 5. Opurrorp. 
mee V=7°0—5°3 V=6'7—6'0 V=6-0—4°6 V=7°3—5°5 
= re al à ae : =! 
Bsa a R= a) ES Danalite (7:6). - - - - - - - | Chondrodite. 


|§ Willemite. Knebelite. Batrachite. ? | § Monticellite. Chrysolite. 


1: 1 | Calamine. Thorite. Cerite. - |} Tephroite. Gadolinite. Helvite. »|? Phenacite. Bertrandite. 








1:1} | Chrysotile. - - - - - - Leucophanite. - - - - - - D SES ER CN EE © Serpentine. Retinalite. 
1:1} | Gece: Gee s À CRE eh ommae ARR Re metas Deweylite. Genthite. 
1:2 Mn er eu } | Wollastonite. Tscheffkinite. - - - | } raphe BRAS i SE LE 
1:22 | Pectolite. - - - - - - - TS ne DAMON HOT Amphibole. - - = - - - Spadaite. 

LACS EE EN Eee Sy SC LR eee MN) Sei SE CN CANIS CEE Rensselaerite. 

TOI ace oor one ie ENS. Seaton Schott ee 1 - - - - - | Sepiolite. Glauconite. 





1:3} | Datolite. 4, PROTOPHYLLOID. 


A: 4 | Apophyllite. Okenite = -|- - - - - - - - - - - - - - | Guarinite. Titanite. —_ 


F Thermophyllite (3 :4). 
Lb BCE eye SS 3 En Cl NES Palen SG Sen: RS ts Danburite. TE (2 . 5). 


Tale (2 : 6). 

















astronomical and of biological evolution. The changes seen in comparing alike the 
neptunian and the plutonic rocks of succeeding geological periods, mark the steps in the 
mineralogical evolution of the primeval globe. The differentiation of the first anhydrous 
mass through crystallization and eliquation, the subsequent intervention of permeating 
waters, the continuous processes of solution, deposition and segregation, the intervention 
of atmospheric decay, and of the products of subaerial action, alike upon plutonic and 
crenitic rocks, and upon the ocean’s waters, are all factors in this great mineralogical 
evolution. 

§ 15. The mineralogical differences in the various groups of neptunian rocks, as I 
wrote in 1878, “are not the result of subsequent and unlike changes which one and the 
same uncrystalline paleeozoic series has suffered in different geographical areas, but on 
the contrary belong to successive periods in palzeozoic or eozoic times. The great divisions 
of the latter... .. present, in ascending order, a progressive change in mineral characters, 


76 T. STERRY HUNT: SUPPLEMENT TO 


the nature of which has been shown;..... thus constituting a veritable passage in time 
from the granitoid gneiss at the base of the Laurentian, through the intermediate Huro- 
nian and Montalban divisions, to the less markedly crystalline schists of the Taconian.”’ 

While rejecting, in these terms, the notion of the common palæozoic age of the various 
and dissimilar groups of crystalline stratified rocks in north-eastern America, still main- 
tained by some partisans of the Huttonian dogma (one of whom speaks of them as repre- 
senting “ grades in metamorphism”), it must not be forgotten that the genesis, by differ- 
ent chemical processes, of certain silicates has been continued under various conditions, 
through paleeozoic and more recent times to our own. This is seen, not only in the gene- 
ration of pectolitic and zeolitic silicates in the channels of thermal springs, in the deep-sea 
ooze, and in basic eruptive rocks of later as well as earlier periods, but in the zeolitoid sili- 
cates, like hamelite, which I have described as injecting paleeozoic crinoids and mollusks ; 


SUB-ORDER II.— PROTOPERSILICATE. 


























een ee sr = 
. |6. Zrozrrorn. |7. PROTOPERSPATHOID. 8. PROTOPERADAMANTOID. 9. PROTOPERPHYLLOID. 
WM 2 272 2 Sie 
V=7°2—6°3 V = 8°6 — G°1 V=—5°8—4°7 V = 62 —5°1 
| 
XZ: 4:m |- - - - = | Melilite. Eudialyte. - | Pargasite. Keilhauite. - - - - - - Phlogopite. = % 
| : & | A large group of 
SS es) aR - - - | Wôhlerite. Ilvaite. - | Idocrase. Schorlomite (#:3). - - - Phlogopite. - = 4 hydrous magne- 
= a a a es A 
1: 1 :m | Xanthorthite. re CRM ent Garnet. Ægirite, Allanite. Beryl. - Bottes ne ele me aa ae 
say san j= = = = - | Barylite. <= - = - Euclase. Ardennite. Prehnite. - Seybertite. 10. Prsrrorp. 
2 = Hamelite. À = : : Axinite. Epidote. Zoisite. Jadeite. 2 x Fey. 
Na gen À Catapleiite. $ Scapolites. Sodalites. I} Gastaldite. Acmite. - - - - - | ; | Willcoxite. - Jollyte 
6 A Fahlunite. 
LS: ||| ZEOLITES. | PELDSPATHIDES=) NES CCC Coronite.  ) Zinnwaldite. } Brnraisibes 
a 
= i. Edingtonite. : 2 §Spodumene.Sapphirine.? | : Aohte me ilite (L : 5). 
i:4:n } Sloanites i Petalite. - - S =| senate Sa © oi Schorlite. Lepidolite Hygrophilite ( ) 
: ra Margarite- ; 
1:16) mach orestitie. Ne TS ESS ia = PERS) RE ESA EE NER teres j Moscovite: Sordavalite. 
U i 
Beste eran || Ses ks. om al lla eye | nea eae <Aphunite: Euphyllite. |Pinite. 
ij 
= ‘ 3 
Bush stan” [Seg Serer ele TUE S|= 32 = = ==) =| Indicolite: nes Cossaite. 
Mis PS NN CS ROC RCE Rubellite. Muscovite. | (Palagonite. 
Tachylite. 
(With other Pitchstone. 
species). Obsidian.) 








in the glauconite and related species formed from the Cambrian period down to the present 
day ; in the deposition of serpentine in Silurian strata; and in the sepiolite beds of the ter- 
tiary period—the results of processes in which solutions like those which have given rise 
to the crystalline pectolitoids and zeolitoids are supposed to have intervened ” 

§ 16. Neither is the fact to be overlooked that local changes, probably through the 
intervention of thermal waters, and sometimes, though not always, visibly connected 
with the intrusion of plutonic rocks, have (as first pointed by me in 1869 *) effected alike 








1 Hunts Azoic Rocks, p. 253. 

? See on the Serpentines of Syracuse, New York, Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. i. Sec. iii. §§ 27-35; also the 
Genetic History of Crystalline Rocks, [bid., Vol. iv. Sec. iii. §§ 1-13. 

’The Chemistry of the Earth; Report of Smithsonian Institution, 1869. Also Chem. and Geol. Essays, p. 306, 
and the Origin of Crystalline Rocks, Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. ii. Sec. iii. §§ 114-116. 


A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY. wir 


the crystalline rearrangement of previously-formed detrital silicates, and the production 
of new ones, by “the chemical union of heterogeneous elements” present in the sedi- 
ments—processes in either case resulting in the “local development of crystalline sili- 
cates in the texture of clastic rocks.” By all of these methods, crystalline species such as 
quartz, hematite, amphibole, feldspars, garnet, epidote and various micas, as well as ser- 
pentine, glauconite and sepiolite, appear occasionally in sedimentary strata, alike of palæo- 
zoic and'of more recent times. The occurrence of these, and of other species, under such 
conditions has helped to sustain the arguments of those who imagine a very different 
action from these, resulting in the complete transformation of ordinary detrital rocks, such 
as sands and clays, by some metasomatic process, into typical granites, gneisses, and horn- 
blendic and micaceous schists. Of this doctrine of unexplained and inexplicable trans- 
mutations, through which isolated portions of earthy sediments of later periods are sup- 
posed to have been changed into various types of crystalline schists, which in certain areas 
are indistinguishable from those of earlier eozoic times, it need only be said that the 


SuB-ORDER III. — PERSILICATE, 























ei 11. Perzrourtorp.| 12. PERSPATHOID. 13. PHRADAMANTOIN. 14. PerpyLLoin. | 15. ARGILLOID. 
ee lege V= 1717-2 V= 5-744 V=61-51 V =65—5-4 
TUE eee Eee TS, d'encre Ale pap Se een en gen = lee - ee - - Schrütterite. 
1:K# |-------|-----.- - | Dumortierite. - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7 | Collyrite. 
U:K% |------+-/------ | pes aaa cere eee Pie ete 7e Allophane. 
1:2 | Westanite.- - - |{Pyniytite.  } |{PEnoante Viveone Malacone, À || Halcosti (5 : 6). || Samoite 
HR I) aio Ss Sees Stone eo Ole poke iS ioe = - Kaolinite. - - - - | Kaolin. Halloysite, 
1:1% REC 2e = - - - - - - | Auerbachite. - - - - - - - - Hisingerite. 
ED TOO EE Were ES à BNR PETS STATE Pyrophyllite. - - - |p erate ondatte. 
AS de | TEE aimes bio Pyrophyllite. - - - RE 
5 PIE METTENT ORNE MERE Anthosiderite. - - - - - - - DAMON ER Cimolite. 
L 1:4 MÉTIERS EN = leh= tele === = poe ooh aa Smectite. 








supposed examples of it have, one by one, been disproved and abandoned by their former 
advocates. The whole doctrine of regional metamorphism, as maintained by Huttonians, 
was an attempt to substitute the intervention of miracles for the established order of 
mineralogical development.’ 

§ 17. In discussing, in the essay on a Natural System in Mineralogy, the question of 
the chemical constitution and the different degrees of condensation in mineral species, in 
connection with the doctrines of high equivalent weights and polymerism, which are there 
maintained, we have, in deference to the general usage of chemists, employed the terms 
“molecular weight” and “ molecular volume,” although they are in contradiction to our 
own conceptions of the philosophy of chemistry. Moreover, while therein asserting that 
liquids and solids are polymers of gaseous species, and their equivalent weights conse- 
quently multiples of the unit-weights deduced from chemical analysis and vapor-density, 
we have said the. “ molecular weights of these are as yet unknown,” and moreover, 








! The succeeding portions of this paper were not communicated till August, 1886. 


78 T. STERRY HUNT : SUPPLEMENT TO 


“the relations of this unit-weight and unit-volume to those of the molecule to which it 
belongs are unknown.” It was not at the time of writing the above essay, apparent to the 
author, that the principles laid down elsewhere in its pages, and first enunciated more 
than thirty years earlier, necessarily lead to a simple solution of the problem of these 
unknown relations, and of that presented by the distinction between what has been 
designated “the chemical molecule” and the “molecule of the physicist.’ As already 
stated by the author in 1853, the solution of these questions is to be found in the discovery 
of ‘a definite and constant relation..... between its vapor-density and the specific 
gravity of a species in its solid state,” so that “the volume of the condensation in passing 
from a gaseous to a solid state being known, the equivalents of solids, like those of vapors, 
might be determined from their specific gravities.’ It was farther maintained that “ all 
species crystallizing in the same shape have the same equivalent volume, so that their 
equivalent weights, as in the case of vapors, are directly as their densities.” Misled by the 
notions then current, the author failed to attain the conception of the volume as a constant 
quantity, and hence wrote that “the atomic volumes of crystallized species are the com- 
parative volumes of their crystals.” The true conception of the meaning of volume was, 
however, embodied in his assertion, made at the same time, that “ the doctrine of chemical 
equivalents is that of the equivalency of volumes,” and in his declaration that “the simple 
relations of volumes which Gay Lussac pointed out in the chemical changes of gases 
apply to all liquid and solid species,” so that “the application of the atomic hypothesis to 
explain the law of definite proportions becomes wholly unnecessary.” “These views”, it 
was then said, “will be found to enlarge and simplify the plan of chemical science,” and 
they were at the same time farther characterized as “ 
basis of a sound theory of chemistry.” 

§ 18. The subject thus set forth in 1853, was farther discussed in 1867, when it was 
asserted that “the gas or vapor of a volatile body constitutes a species distinct from the 


principles which may serve as the 


same body in a liquid or solid state, the chemical formula of the latter being some multiple 
of the first ; and the liquid and solid species themselves often [probably always] constitute 
two distinct species of different equivalent weights.” ' From this it follows that freezing, 
melting and vaporization are chemical changes. The union of many volumes of vapor or 
gas, in a single volume of a liquid or a solid, is a process of chemical combination, while 
vaporization is chemical decomposition. Such decomposition is either with or without 
specific difference, and examples of these two modes are seen respectively in heterogeneous 
decomposition, and in integral volatilization, which latter is the breaking up or dissociation 
of a polymeric species into simpler forms haying the same centesimal composition. Both of 
these processes are subordinated to the same laws of pressure and temperature, and involve 
similar thermic changes in the relations of the bodies concerned. In this enlarged con- 
ception of the chemical process we find a solution of the problems above proposed, and an 
explanation of the distinction which has been drawn between “the chemical molecule” 
and “the molecule of the physicist.” That the latter has a much less simple constitution 
than the former, as calculated from the results of chemical analysis and from vapor-den- 








1 On the Theory of Chemical Changes and Equivalent Volumes, Amer. Jour. Sci., March 1853; L. E. & D. Philos. 
Mag. [4] V. 536, and in a German translation in the Chemisches Centrablatt for 1853 (p. 849) ; reprinted in Hunt’s 
Chem. and Geol. Essays, pp. 426-437 ; where also will be found (pp. 453-458) the paper of 1867, quoted above, on the 
Objects and Method of Mineralogy, from the American Journal of Science for May, 1867. 


A NATURAL SYSTEM IN MINERALOGY. 79 


sity, has been maintained alike on dynamical and on chemical grounds from the time of 
Favre and Silbermann in 1847, to that of Louis Henry and of Spencer Pickering in 1885, 
and was taught by the writer in 1853, in the essay already quoted. | 

§ 19. If then, as maintained by the writer since 1853, “the doctrine of chemical equi- 
valents” is reducible to that of “the equivalency of volumes,” and applies not only to 
“the chemical changes of gases” but “ to all liquid and solid species ; ” if the production 
of these by the condensation of vapors is a chemical process giving rise to polymers, the 
equivalent weights of which are as much more elevated as their densities are greater than 
those of the vapors which combine to form them, it would seem, as has already been said, 
that the application of the atomic hypothesis to explain the law of definite proportions 
and the chemical process becomes not only unnecessary but misleading. According to this 
hypothesis, which conceives molecules to be built of atoms, and masses of molecules, the 
different ratios in unlike species between the combining weight of the chemical unit or 
molecule (as deduced from the chemical analysis and from the vapor-density), and the 
specific gravity of the mass, are supposed to represent the relative dimensions of the mole- 
cules. Hence, the values got by dividing these combining weights by the specific gravity 
have been called * molecular volumes.” The number of such chemical molecules required 
to build up a physical molecule of constant volume would, according to this hypothesis, 
be inversely as their size. If, however, as all the phenomena of chemistry show, the 
formation of higher and more complex species is by condensation, or, in other words, by 
identification of volume, and not by juxtaposition, it follows that the so-called molecular 
volumes are really the numbers representing the relative amount of contraction of the 
respective substances in passing from the gaseous to the liquid or solid state, and are the 
reciprocals of the coefficients of condensation of the assumed chemical units. 

$ 20. Thus, when steam at 100° and 760 millimeters pressure, with a formula, as 
deduced from its density, of H,O, and a combining weight of 18, (H — 1) is converted into 
water of the same temperature, 1,628 volumes of it are condensed into a single volume, 
having a specific gravity of 0.9588, which at 4 becomes 1.0000. Water is thus 1,628(H,0), 
and the weight of its volume at the temperature of formation as compared with an equal 
volume of hydrogen gas—in other words its equivalent weight—is 1,628X18 — 29,304 
(or 29,244 if H,0 — 17.9633), which corresponds to a specific gravity of 1.0000 at 4. 
The hydrocarbon C,H,, = 58, condenses to a liquid having an observed density of 0.600, 
which corresponds to an equivalent weight, as compared with that of water, of 17,516, or 
approximately 303(C,H,,), but while the reciprocal of condensation (or so-called molecular 
volume) of water—18, that of the liquid hydrocarbon is 600 : 1000: : 58 : 962, which 
value, multiplied by the co-efficient, 303 = 29,251; the calculated density being 0.599. 
The chemical unit or so-called molecule for both of these species is fixed by the density of 
their vapor. 

§ 21. If now for calcite, which is not volatilized but undergoes heterogeneous 
decomposition by heat, we assume, as the chemical unit, CCaO, = 100, with a specific 
gravity of 2,735, we find for its so-called molecular volume, or reciprocal of condensation, 
100 + 2.735 = 35.56. The combining weight of calcite as deduced from this specific gravity 
is 79,922, which gives for calcite the formula 800(CCaO,) = 80,000, while 800X35.56 = 
29,248, very nearly the equivalent weight of water. The specific gravity of some of the 
purest forms of calcite is, according to Breithaupt, 2.74, and upwards; it is not impro- 


80 HUNT: MINERALOGICAL SUPPLEMENT. 


bable that the lower densities found for some other calcites may correspond to isomeric 
species with smaller coefficients of condensation. Aragonite has the formula 860(CCaO,) = 
86,000, with a calculated specific gravity of 2,934. 

Differences in specific gravity like those seen between the isomeric species, calcite 
and aragonite, appear in the hydrocarbons of the terpene group, which, with a common 
centesimal composition, constitute several species differing widely in specific gravity and 
in boiling point, but interconvertible. Analogous differences in specific gravity and in 
boiling point are noticed in the isomeric propylic and butylic alcohols, and correspond 
to greater or less degrees of condensation. 

$ 22 From the above principles, we find :— 

I. The equivalent weight for liquids and for solids, as for gases, varies directly as 
the density, so that having determined this weight for water (which is here made the 
unit of density for gases as well as for liquids and solids) we are enabled to calculate it 
for any species the density of which is known. 

II. The value of the chemical unit being either fixed experimentally, as in the case of 
vapors, or assumed, as in the case of non-volatile species, we, from the equivalent weight 
of the species, determine the coelficient of the condensation therein. ‘i 

III. The value got by dividing the equivalent weight of the chemical unit by the 
density of the species, is the reciprocal of the coefficient of condensation of that unit; 
being called, in the language of the molecular hypothesis, the volume of the chemical unit 
or molecule. 


SECTION III, 1886. Perl TRANS. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


VII.—On Some Canadian Minerals. 


By B. J. HARRINGTON, B.A, PH.D., F.G:S. 


(Read May 26, 1886.) 


I.—SODALITE. 


The mineral sodalite, though not the only silicate containing chlorine, is interesting 
on account of the considerable proportion of that element which it holds. Its occurrence 
in Canada was first noticed by Dr. Hunt, who, many years ago, detected it in small 
quantity in the nepheline-syenite (granitoid trachyte of Hunt) of Brome Mountain. Subse- 
quently it was found by the writer in some of the nepheline-syenites of Montreal and 
Belæil, and more recently it has been discovered by Dr. G. M. Dawson on the Ice River, 
a branch of the Beaver Foot River, near Kicking Horse Pass, in the Rocky Mountains. 

The mineral from Montreal was described by the writer in 1875, and lately that 
from the Rocky Mountains has been examined. In both cases the results of analysis 
agree closely with the formula 3Na,A1,Si,O, + 2NaCl, and are as follows :— 























| CONSTITUENTS. | MONTREAL. Ice River. | FoRMuLA. 
| Silica.......................... 37.52 37.50 37.1 
| Nm e dobauooovro ddobcutocovda 31.38 31.82 31.7 
IMFerric oxide... tr. 0.01 
| Iiiben\oSacos scoala caboabcouabodd seis «Wi one 
IMNTagnesia ce --rreecerete A LE HEAR | 
| OD Alero re oie) er-iols/e oyaleiaisielsletel=lsionstalel= | 19.12 19.34 19.2 | 
| Potash.... ..................... | 0.78 0.27 | 
SaCliitinsooo ance Goer Sr ntoo.LandoD 4.48 4.61 | 4.7 | 
(Glalllaratity coog soncgond005e0 congas 6.91 Tel? 729 
| 
ToraL........... 100.54 100.67 100.0 | 
Specific Gravity-..........2....- 2.220 2,993 | 
l | 














Both varieties are of a fine blue colour, and that from the Rocky Mountains might be 
employed for the purposes of jewelry. A very beautiful polished specimen of it may be 
seen in the museum of the Geological Survey at Ottawa. The hardness in each case is 5.5. 


Sec. III., 1886. 11. 


82 B. J. HARRINGTON ON 


The rocks in which the sodalite occurs require further study. One of them is a 
nepheline-syenite, closely resembling, both macroscopically and microscopically, some of 
those found near Montreal, while another, in which the sodalite appears to be most 
abundant, is a grey gneiss-like rock containing a great deal of quartz, and possibly 
fragmental. 


II. —HURONITE. 


The name “ Huronite ” was long ago given by Dr. Thomson, of Glasgow, to a mineral 
which was found ina boulder of diabase on Drummond Island, in Lake Huron, and 
which was sent to him by the late Dr. Holmes, of Montreal. Thomson regarded it as a 
new species and published a discription and analysis of it in his “ Mineralogy ” in 1836. 

Dana, in his “ Mineralogy,” speaks of it as “an impure anorthite-like feldspar,” but 
also includes it with fahlunite, on the authority of Hunt. Its true affinities are evidently 
with the feldspars, and it may be looked upon as an impure or altered form of anorthite. 
One of the original specimens from Drummond Island is in the Holmes collection at 
McGill College, and an examination of this shows that Thomson’s description is in several 
respects incorrect. The hardness, for example, is about 5} instead of 34, as stated by 
Thomson. Instead of being infusible, it is distinctly fusible (F about 5), while it contains 
alkalies, the presence of which is entirely ignored by Thomson. 

As we have seen, the mineral from Drummond Island was found in boulders, and the 
origin of these was not known. About two years ago, however, an exactly similar material 
was discovered in situ by Dr. Girdwood near Sudbury, Ontario, where it occurs in 
rounded or somewhat angular masses in a dark green dyke of diabase, possibly the source 
of the boulders on Drummond Island. The Sudbury mineral, like that from Drummond 
Island, is of a light yellowish green colour, shows somewhat indistinct cleavage, and in 
places, faint striæ, which are probably due to multiple twinning. It is translucent on the 
edges, and has a rather waxy lustre. The hardness is 54, or a little over, fusibility about 
5, and specific gravity 2.814. Under the microscope, thin sections give evidence of 
considerable alteration, but with polarized light, the banding due to twinning can be seen 
in places. An analysis made by Mr. Nevil N. Evans, chemical assistant in the laboratory 
of McGill College, is given under I., while Thomson’s is’given under [1.— 














CoNSTITUENTS. Ts ie 

SN Da8avebt once doactoneno dc 47.07 45.80 
AÏUMIN AR ee cbr screens rer ce 32.49 33.92 
Ferric Oxides... ----crrrre 0.97 | FeO 4.32 
MEME AS res eces CL AAC 3.30 8.04 
Mapnesias..t aoa ood d0D adoose | 0.22 1372 
IPOtaR he ut rec cotes re De CS M EE T2 
Od EVORSSÉ ER mectteeretlo 2. OB. MS RS a see 
Boss OnAgnitIon. --.------ ee 2279 4.16 

TOTAT:--Cererr cer 101.68 97.96 

_ _ | —e 

SPOCTACROTAVIEY ieee atocietelersiereielete 2.814 2.8625 

















SOME CANADIAN MINERALS. 83 


The rock in both cases is a true diabase, although that examined by Thomson was 
supposed by him to be hornblendic. In each case, the microscope shows the presence of 
augite, a green chloritic mineral, titanic iron ore, and a more or less decomposed plagio- 
clase, the altered portions of which are probably identical with the so-called “ huronite.” 


III].— APATITE. 


Though much has been written with regard to Canadian apatite, little attention 
seems to have been paid to its crystalline form. In so far as the writer’s observation goes, 
the crystals of most common occurrence consist simply of a combination of the hexagonal 
prism and pyramid (GP. P.). A large proportion of the crystals from Renfrew County, 


seul 11 il 


ApPATIrE CRYSTAL FROM RENFREW, ONTARIO. 


however, exhibit the end-face in combination with the above forms, and resemble the 
well-known crystals from Snarum in Norway. More rarely, the Renfrew crystals have 
their vertical edges truncated by the prism of the second order, 2P2,* while in a few 
cases, which have recently come under the writer’s notice, a pyramid of the second order 
(2P2) is also present, the full combination in this case being, as shown in the accompanying 
drawing, coP. P. 0P. 2P2. coP2. 





* Crystals from Bob’s Lake, Bedford, Ontario, also show this form. 





SECTION III. 1886. Fr85041 Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


VIII.—On some points in reference to Ire Phenomena. 


By ROBERT Bey, B.A.Sc., M.D., LL.D. 


. (Read May 27, 1886.) 


In the following notes it is proposed to recall a few facts in regard to ice phenomena, 
most of which must be familiar to you all, and to suggest possible explanations of some 
of these, in the hope of eliciting discussion on a subject which has not yet received the 
attention it deserves. Some of the geological aspects of these phenomena will also be 
noticed very briefly. In Canada we have the best opportunities for studying ice in all 
its aspects, as our country stretches from the comparatively mild climate of Lake Erie, in 
latitude 42°, to the North Pole, and from the ice-laden North Atlantic on the east, to the 
warm Pacific on the west. We have every possible condition for the natural display of 
the phenomena connected with the freezing of water in brooks, and in rivers of the first 
magnitude, in temperate and in high northern latitudes, in ponds and in lakes of 
unrivalled extent, on bold and on shallow sea coasts of immense length, on level lands 
and high mountains; in fact, no other country of the world offers such opportunities 
for studying this subject. 


JcEBERGS.—During the last two summers, the writer, while accompanying the 
Government expeditions to Hudson Strait, made by the S.S. “ Neptune ” and “ Alert, ” 
enjoyed excellent opportunities for observing icebergs, which, for weeks, were the most 
common objects to be seen from the vessels. Off Labrabor, a stream of bergs, several 
hundred miles wide and about two thousand miles long, comes constantly southward. 
These floating islands of ice are more abundant at some seasons than at others, but they 
are never absent. Upwards of one hundred may often be counted from a ship’s deck at 
the same time. When we consider the mass of each of these innumerable bergs and the 
constancy with which they come floating on, we must be struck with the almost incon- 
ceivable amount of ice which is every year brought to the edge of the Gulf Stream. 
What becomes of this enormous quantity of ice? Most seamen will tell you it sinks on 
striking the warm waters. This, of course, is impossible; but the rapid disappearance of 
the bergs after reaching the Banks of Newfoundland does not seem to have been fully 
accounted for. Up to this time, they do not appear to have undergone any marked 
alteration or rapid reduction in size in the course of their voyage southward. When one 
happens to become stranded on the coast of Labrador or Newfoundland, it will remain for 
months, even under the summer sun, with but little diminution in bulk, until some day, 
it starts off again with a high tide, and a strong wind favouring its departure. 

The temperature of the interior of icebergs is probably a good deal below 32° Fah. 
While forming parts of glaciers in the Arctic regions, they have remained for ages at the 


86 DR. ROBERT BELL 


low temperature of these high latitudes, and, owing to their great mass, they would gain 
heat slowly in the short summers. It is well known that each berg is surrounded by a 
wide zone of cold water, and that, in thick weather, the proximity of one of them to a ship 
may be discovered by hauling a bucket of water on deck and testing it with a thermometer. 
As the berg moves south with the ocean current, it carries its chilly zone with it, like a 
planet surrounded by its atmosphere. The Gulf Stream spreads itself on the surface of the 
Arctic Current, and towards its edge it is probably not deep. The berg, extending down 
to a great depth, is borne with comparative rapidity into the opposite-flowing warm 
surface-current. The zone of very cold water, which until now has remained around the 
berg, is immediately swept away, exposing its surface suddenly to a temperature, perhaps 
30° Fah. warmer than it has ever experienced before. This rapid change would, no 
doubt, cause the ice to crack and fall to pieces in a very short time. The berg, lightened 
above, would rise and so bring up new parts of the old ice to be acted upon by the warm 
water, which would always be increasing in depth. The fresh surface of the fragments 
of the berg, having the low temperature of its interior, would be immediately acted on in 
the same way, and these would, in their turn, become fractured over and over again, 
until the whole mass was reduced to a multitude of small pieces, floating on the surface 
of the warm water, with warm air above it. As they became scattered about, the process 
of fracturing, owing to the contrast in temperatures, would continue to go on, and thus 
every trace of the berg would quickly vanish. In order to test the behaviour of ice at a 
low temperature when suddenly immersed in warm water, the following experiment 
was performed in Ottawa on February 27th, 1886. A piece of ice, weighing about ten 
pounds, which had been freely exposed to the outer air, having then a temperature of 
—5° Fah., was brought into the house, wrapped in a fur rug, to protect it from the heat, 
and plunged into a bath of water at a temperature of 87° Fah. Instantly, it began to 
crack in all directions, with distinct detonations, which could be heard in all parts of the 
room. In explanation of the fact that icebergs are occasionally met with far south of 
their usual limit, it may be suggested that these have been retarded by stranding or by 
gales of wind near the Newfoundland coast until their temperature has been raised; and 
that then, floating south-westward near the land, they have afterwards been carried out 
towards mid-ocean by the Gulf Stream. 

It is supposed by some that icebergs have been the means of transporting vast 
quantities of earthy and rocky materials from north to south in former geological times, 
and that this action is still going on. There does not, however, seem to be much foun- 
dation for such speculations. Out of the great number of bergs seen during the two 
voyages above referred to, only a few had any foreign matter, or even marks of disco- 
loration upon them. It was remarked that towards the entrance to Hudson Strait, cases 
of the kind were most frequent among the bergs furthest east. In the event of a berg 
carrying such matter, it would naturally become more visible as the surface melted by 
the sun’s heat on coming south, and if any were present, it should be perceptible by the 
time the berg reached the latitude of Cape Race; yet, out of the large number which 
may often be seen from the deck of an Atlantic steamer near this cape, it is very seldom 
that one is noticed carrying any earth or stones. It would, therefore, appear that icebergs 
have played only a small part in the transportation of boulders or earth during either 
Post-Pliocene or modern times. 


ON ICE PHENOMENA. 87 


Frevp-1ce.—This, which we had ample opportunities of observing on the two voyages 
referred to, appears to be a more important agent in the transport of earthy matter. The 
northern lands of the Dominion are so divided by the sea as to give an immense length 
of coast-line. This is all favourable to the formation of the vast quantities of ice which 
encumber the shores in spring. In many parts where the land is high and steep, quan- 
tities of dust and small pieces of rock are blown out upon the ice by the gales in winter. 
Landslides and avalanches precipitate coarser debris from the steep mountain sides upon 
the ice below. This is the case, especially, in the long fjords in Northern Labrador. In the 
spring, earth, gravel and stones are carried upon it by the torrents formed by the melting 
of the snow. When the sun has loosened this ice sufficiently from the shore, the next 
spring tide carries it away. In shallow bays, with high tides, such as Ungava Bay, the 
ice-pans which float in during the autumn and rest against the low shores, become 
impregnated with the sand and mud, which freeze to the sides at low tide and are incor- 
porated in them as they increase in size during the winter. In the middle of summer, 
the surface having thawed, the whole of this ice becomes “ foxy,” as it is termed, or shows 
discoloration. Many of the pans are completely covered with mud, sand, gravel and 
stones. Shells and sea-weeds may also be observed on some of them, and all have 
received more or less dust, which generally gives them a brownish or grayish color. When 
a pan is suddenly overturned, this gives rise to a dense cloud in the clear sea water. 
Field-ice would therefore appear to be a more important agent in transporting earthy 
matter than icebergs. It has been imagined by some that the smoothing and rounding 
of the rocks, which may often be observed on the shores of the Arctic and sub-Arctic 
regions, is largely due to a chafing action of ice of this class. There seems to be little 
ground, however, for this assumption. When the field-ice packs against the shore, it is 
seldom tossed by the waves of the sea, which are entirely broken down by a compar- 
atively narrow field ; so much so, that the sealing vessels are accustomed to run into such 
ice for shelter, and after they have penetrated a short distance, they are considered safe. 
Ice of this kind does not shove or pile itself on shore, pushing up the boulders and gravel 
in front of it, like the ice of our rivers when they break up in the spring. On the 
contrary, it always appears to lie quietly and easily against the shore. This is probably 
owing to the fact that the open spaces between the pans allow of a great amount of 
compression and adjustment, thus relieving the pressure, which is seldom directly towards 
the land. Indeed, it sometimes happens that the ice will unaccountably leave the shore 
against the wind. 

Dr. Franz Boas of Berlin has observed that in Baffin Land the accumulation of ice in 
narrow channels, through which the tide sweeps, increases the strength of the current, 
which sometimes runs with great velocity. In one place, under such circumstances, he 
observed that stones, boulders and finer debris were set in motion and bored out what he 
calls “giant-kettles ” in solid granite. Similar kettles were seen at this locality, high 
above the present sea-level, shewing that the same action had been going on in past ages. 
This observation recalled to the writer the fact that, more than twenty years ago, he noticed 
great pot-holes on the top of the high limestone cliffs on the east side of the isthmus 
separating Manitowaning Bay from South Bay on Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron. The 
surface of the rock in the vicinity is destitute of soil, but the earth which had accumulated 
in the bottoms of these pot-holes, supported trees, and these, growing out of the deep pits, 
presented a very curious appearance. 


88 DR. ROBERT BELL 


Frazix (ANCHOR) IcE.—This species of ice is familiar to almost every one in Canada. 
It forms, as a spongy mass, in cold weather, on the stones in the bottoms of open rapids, 
in brooks and rivers, and sometimes under the open water, which is often found at the 
outlets of lakes. In clear weather, it gathers abundantly around the boulders, and when 
these rest on other stones or have only a narrow base of support, they are sometimes 
buoyed up by their icy envelope and floated or rolled away by the force of the current. 
Boulders of considerable weight have sometimes been known to be lifted by this means. 

When the weather becomes milder, or the sky overcast, the frazil rises to the surface 
or floats off like a mixture of snow and water. Although the water may remain open 
beneath bridges or over-hanging rocks and large fir trees, frazil is not observed to form im 
such situations. The cause of the formation of frazil had never been satisfactorily 
accounted for, so far as the writer is aware, until Dr. Sterry Hunt mentioned to him that 
he regarded it as due to terrestrial radiation and to be analogous to the formation of hoar- 
frost on the surface of the ground in clear weather. As long as rapid radiation is going 
on, the surface of the submerged stones will have a sufficiently low temperature to retain 
the ice. The chilly water supplies abundant material. In rapids, the surging and 
churning motion would carry down the coldest water from the surface, probably charged 
with multitudes of fine ice-crystals, and throw it against the stones in the bottom, thus 
aiding the process. If this view of its formation be correct, the loosening of the frazil in 
mild or overcast weather would follow as a consequence—as well as the fact that, so far 
as we are aware, frazil does not form under obstructions to radiation such as those which 
have been referred to. 

At rapids in small rivers, where the bed of the stream is filled with boulders, the 
writer has frequently found a narrow and straight channel, sufficient to contain the 
whole stream at low water, excavated among them by the removal of the boulders. The 
latter are piled on either side, especially towards the lower end of the current, and they 
have evidently been buoyed up and rolled out of the bottom of the rapid. Judging from 
their various stages of weathering, and from the different quantities of moss and lichens 
growing upon them, these boulders have evidently been deposited along either side of the 
channel in many different years, showing that the process of excavation has been a gradual 
one. Some of them look as if they had been newly cast out of the bed of the stream. 
The phenomena, just described, are particularly observable in the numerous small rivers 
north of Lakes Huron and Superior and are probably due to the action of frazil. 


Lona OPEN FissuREs.—These, as occurring in the ice of our rivers and lakes, are 
familiar to all who have had occasion to drive much on our winter roads. These singular 
rents sometimes extend for miles, almost in straight lines. They usually make their 
appearance in the early part of winter, and their original formation is said to be accom- 
panied by aloud report. Once established, they remain open all winter, or are covered 
with only a thin film of ice, and their width generally increases, until the greatest cold 
is past. They are often a source of trouble to lumbermen and other travellers on the 
ice, since wooden bridges require to be thrown across them where they intersect the 
winter roads, their width being often from five to ten feet. Their formation has been 
ascribed to sudden changes in the temperature of the air. If this view were correct, we 
should expéct these cracks to open or close with every subsequent rise or fall in the 


ON ICE PHENOMENA. 89 


temperature. In order to test this point, Mr. G. B. Abrey, D. T.$. an accurate scientific 
observer, a few years ago, undertook, at my request, to make a series of exact measure- 
ments of the width of a great ice-crack near his residence at Little Current, on Manitoulin 
Island. The result was that no change of width corresponding to changes in the tem- 
perature of the air was perceptible. It was hardly to be expected that a comparatively 
thin sheet of ice, resting on water of a uniform temperature, would be affected by changes 
in the temperature of the air, especially as it is protected from it by a coating of snow. 
Moreover, if it were a fact that the ice of rivers and lakes expands and contracts to any 
notable extent with changes in the temperature of the air, we should find a perceptible 
motion at the shore, wherever the ice-sheet is not relieved by fissures. But no such 
movement has been detected, and, as we have seen, no variation, due to temperature, 
takes place in the width of the fissures. What then is the cause of these fissures ? This 
question has not yet been satisfactorily answered, so far as the writer is aware ; but it may 
be suggested that the fissures are due to a falling of the water. They form every winter 
in the same situations and generally between the extremities of points on opposite sides of 
the water. A lowering of the wider body of water on each side of the line of the crack, 
would cause the ice to fall away from this line, and when the tension became sufficiently 
great, the fissure would form and would continue to widen with the progressive lowering 
of the water. It is well known that the waters of our large rivers and lakes begin to fall, 
after the frosts of winter have sealed up all the small tributaries, and that the process 
goes on until these feeders begin to run again in the spring. 

Another point in reference to river-ice may be briefly touched upon. It has been 
stated that the ice, which remains on some of our rivers for half the year, might exhibit a 
slight glacier-like tendency to move downward, especially in the centre of the stream. 
Opposite to the city of Montreal, where the current of the St. Lawrence is swift and the 
ice forms to a thickness of two feet, the writer tested this point during different winters, 
by making repeated observations on a series of marks set in straight lines across the 
river, but no deviation could be detected. 


Rines or BOULDERS.—Around the ponds in the rolling country of the second and 
third prairie steppes, these constitute a singular feature in the treeless regions of our 
Northwest Territories. Most of these ponds have uniform basin-shaped bottoms and 
circular or elliptical outlines. The boulders have been removed from their beds and 
deposited as rings all around their margins. These phenomena, which must be due to 
- ice, are described in my Geological Report for 1874 (p. 52), where an attempt is also made 
to account for them. It would appear that, in winter, the ponds freeze to the bottom, 
incorporating in the ice any boulders which may be there. The central, which is the 
deepest part of most of these ponds, would be the last to freeze, and any addition to the 
ice, as the cold increased, would be from water oozing in at this part. All the loss by 
evaporation, which must be great in this dry climate, would be on the upper surface 
and around the edges, while all the increase would be on its lower side, especially in the 
central part. Ponds receiving accessions of water from below, yet shallow enough to 
freeze to the bottom, have been observed on Hudson Bay to assume a distinct dome shape 
before spring. This tendency to grow from the centre, together with the expansion of 
the ice from the intense cold would have the effect of raising the boulders each year and 


Sec. III. 1886. 12. 


90 DR. ROBERT BELL 


of moving them little by little from the central point towards the periphery. After the 
lapse of a sufficient length of time, all the boulders would be deposited around the 
circumference of the pond, as we see them. It is a curious circumstance that when a 
large boulder happens to occupy the central point of a pond, it remains undisturbed, while 
every other boulder is removed. 


DYKES OF BOULDERS AND SHINGLE.—These are found at high-water mark around 
the shores of islands and points in many of our northern lakes of large size which freeze 
over in winter. They are particularly observable where the water is shallow and the 
shores low and shelving, as in Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba, and St. Martin Lake. 
Some of the islands in these lakes are completely surrounded by such dykes, which are 
quite steep on both sides, and have an almost uniform height of about five or six feet. 
They are clearly due to the shoving of the rafts of ice after it breaks up in the spring, and 
as these impinge on different parts of the shore of an island in different years, a dyke is 
at length formed around it. The evidence of recent ice-shoves may be plainly seen here 
and there every year, the freshly upturned earth and boulders marking the sites of those 
of the preceding spring. Similar dykes may sometimes be observed around the upper 
portions of alluvial islands in rivers, and they have been ascribed to human agency by 
those unfamiliar with their mode of formation. 


PERPETUALLY FROZEN SoiL.—The limit of perpetual frost in Canada appears to be 
placed too far south. In the banks of our northern rivers, even as far south as the Nelson, 
it is not uncommon in the middle of summer for a shell of clay to peel off and expose a 
frozen face of thirty or forty feet in height. This, however, does not imply that the 
ground in the neighborhood is everywhere frozen to this depth. The bank-face being 
destitute of snow and exposed to the full force of the winter winds, the frost penetrates 
into it horizontally to a greater depth than it does vertically from the level surface of the 
ground—a depth sufficient to preserve the frost all summer. The writer having called 
Sir Henry Lefroy’s attention to this circumstance, he admitted that, owing to the radiation 
which takes place both vertically and horizontally from steep banks, we may reasonably 
conclude that the frost penetrates to much greater depths in such situations. In more 
southern latitudes, the writer has observed two instances in similar positions, in which the 
ground remained frozen long after it had thawed out everywhere else in the surrounding 
country. One was near the brink of St. Francis River, at Trenholmville, in the province 
of Quebec, and the other in a similar situation on the bank of Nipigon River at Red 
Rock, Lake Superior. In both cases, the discovery was made in digging holes to plant 
posts for mooring boats, and in each, the circumstance was a matter of surprise to the 
inhabitants. In the country around York Factory on Hudson Bay, where the soil is, by 
some, supposed to be perpetually frozen, the swamps are full of water all winter, and the 
snow even prevents thick ice from forming at the surface. Water escaping from these 
swamps trickles down the banks of the rivers, even in the middle of winter. The fact 
that in these regions there is plenty of water under the ice in the small streams, and that 
the beaver inhabits them as far north as Fort Churchill, would appear to show that the 
frost does not penetrate to such a depth as to remain throughout the year. <A test was 
made by the writer in the swamps just behind York Factory in August, 1879. A heavy, 


ON ICE PHENOMENA. O1 


smooth and sharply-pointed pole was driven by two men, by repeated plunges, into the 
soft mud under the vegetable layer to a depth of six feet in a number of places, without 
in any case encountering a frozen stratum. Ice was seen, however, close to the surface 
under hammocks of dry peaty matter. The continued descent of the frost into the ground, 
after the warm weather of spring has set in, is strikingly illustrated at many of the 
posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Drains, leading from cellars, etc., and placed at five 
or six feet beneath the surface, continue to run all winter, but usually in the month of 
May they become converted into solid prisms of ice. 





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SECTION III., 1886. INSSMI] TRANS. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IX.—Abels Forms of the Roots of the Solvable Equation of the Fifth Degree. 


By GEORGE Paxton YounG, University College, Toronto. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


I.—OBJECT OF THE PAPER. 


$ 1. Jerrard having shown, by a peculiar application of the method of Tschirnhäus, 
that every equation can be deprived of its second, third and fourth terms, the problem of 
the solution of equations of the fifth degree is reduced to that of the solution of the 
trinomial quintic 


D +p, c+ ps —0. (1) 
1 
When p, is zero, the roots of this equation are the five values of —p 5. Inthe “ American 


Journal of Mathematics,” (Vol. VII. pp. 170-177) the present writer has demonstrated, that, 
when p, is distinct from zero, the equation does not admit of algebraical solution, unless 


,__ 5 At (8=B) | 
te Be Reale © & 
5 AP @2+B) | i 
ts rer | 


This is the criterion of solvability. To solve the equation, assuming that p, and p, are 
related as in (2), find À from the quartic equation 


M—BM—6V+BA41=0. (3) 
Do) 1 

Era) | a 
nt eee | 





(16+ B)(A+1) A+)’ | 
Then the root of equation (1) is 
ae 2 ul = 
oS? 22a A? ce cea? MG (5) 
A general form of the roots of solvable equations of the fifth degree was found, though 


without deduction, among the papers of Abel after his death, and is given in ‘ Crelle’s 
Journal” (Vol. V. p.386.) Let 


B=p+qvVA+é)+vV fAdt+eythyv 1+ &)} 

6Z=p—q/d+e+v jsAdt+eay—svyd+ e)} | 
B=p+av(i+e—V fRA+E)+R VA +e 
B=p—qgvV(i+e)—V fhdte—hv (1 + e)} 


(6) 


| = 


94 G. P. YOUNG ON ABEL'S FORMS OF THE ROOTS 


where p, g, and e are rational. Also let Q, be a rational function of 4; Q, the same 
same rational function of #, ; Q, the same rational function of #,; and Q, the same rational 
function of #. Then Abel’s form for the root of the solvable quintic wanting the second 
term is 

1 


5 


1 1 nl 

Q (A, 6, 8, &)" +0 (aa a A)” + Q, (68 a 8) + Q, (8, 6, A, 8)". (1) 
Can the value of x in (5) be thrown into this form? It is the object of the paper to show 
that it can. 


II.— PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS. 


§ 2. If s be put for Ts the four values of À, obtained from equation (3), are 


A=S[ItVA+SH+VI2A+S+2V(+8}] 
A= [1-vd+s4+vj{204+s)—-2vd+s)}] 
W=rlit+vdt+s)—v {20+ s)+24+0+8)t] 
À -[1—-vd+s)—vj204+s8)—2v(+s){]. 


| 


2 
4 
3 


| 


These expressions, À, À, À, À, circulate. That is to say, the changes that cause A, to 
become A,, cause À, to become A,, and A, to become A, and A, to become A,. For, in order 
that À, may become 1,, we must alter the sign of 4 (1+ 5°), and take the new radical thus 
produced, viz.  $2 (1+s) —2 4 (1+5)$, with the positive sign. To make the same 
changes on A,, we must first express the radical / {2 (1+ s°) —2 ¥ (1+5)}, which does 
not occur in that form in À,, in terms of the radicals present in À, In fact, 


. ee 2s/(1+s’) 
2s/(1+s) ; 
2il+s)+2vd+s')} 


By making the same changes on A, that were made on À, s A, becomes 





Therefore sÀ,—1— 4 (1+ 5) + 


2s/ (1+s) 
20 +s8)—2yY(1+8)}’ 


or lt+Vd+e)—vj2Zi+s)te2ya+syt, 


which is the value of sA,. Thus, A, has become 1, In like manner, À, becomes 1;, and 
À, becomes A.. 

§ 3. Since 4 is, by (4), a rational function of À, let 6,, 4, 4%, %, be the values of 4 corre- 
sponding respectively to A,, 4,, 44, A4 Then the terms 4, 4, 6, 4, must circulate with 
AA AA PACS Osis 





1+YQ04+8) — 
( A 


Om — — À! 0! a, 


Q is, by (4), a rational function of A. Hence, if the four values of Q, corresponding respec- 


tively to A,, A. Ay As, be @, Q, Q, Q, these expressions, Q,, Q, Q, Q, circulate with 
nains 


OF SOLVABLE EQUATIONS OF THE FIFTH DEGREE, 95 
IJ].— REDUCTION OF THE VALUE OF x IN (5) TO ABEL’s Form. 


§ 4. Taking Q,, @., etc., as above, it will he found that the value of x in (5) admits 


of being written 
Q, (6) 4, 8, a3) 4 Q, (6, 0, 4, 4°) ry Q, (4, 4, 4, POS Q, (6, 8, 6, ae), (9) 
For, as was proved in “Principles of the Solution of Equations of the Higher Degrees” 
(American Journal of Mathematics, Vol. VII), the separate members of the value of 
x in (5), namely, as, a A, À & a”, À a pô, are fifth roots of the four values of 4 That is 
to say, if a, which, by ( 


4), is a rational fraction of A, becomes a, when À has the value J,, 
1 4 


2 L 


A; = À a,” A; ef = À a CA : (10) 


4 


1 
5 


mn 


Os Open lve US 


1 1 
5 5 


( 6; A, A, A, ) NT (A C4 ais ) A, = 
1 1 
Therefore, by (8), 4° = Q, (4; 6, 4, 4, )°. (11) 
As A, runs through the four values 1,, 1,, À,, A,, the expressions #, and Q, run through 


their corresponding values. Hence, from (11), 

RON (RON, a) | 

= Q, (65076, 0°)* | 
ee 


1 
Q, ( A, A. 6, 6, ) i 


D 
I 


But (11), (12) and (10) give us for the value of x the expression in (9). This is Abel’s 
form; only we require to prove that #, 6, 4, 6,, have the forms in (6), which are those 
assigned to them by Abel. Since 4, is a rational function of À,, its form is 
A=ptk/YAt+s)+ ijmtnrnyvl¢ iv 2(1+s) +24 (1+s)}; (13) 
where p, k, m and » are rational. Put 
D=m+n14+s) +2mn(1+ 8°) 
and G= m+ nr? (1+ 8s?) +2mn. 








2 _m (1 2 
Then ‘pa fae et Ro (14) 
D 
2 2 
and À — CURE (15) 
G 


e and h are rational. From (14), keeping in view the values of D and G, we get 
D? (1 + e)=G (1 + s’); therefore 


VA+H=TVA+e). (16) 


Also, (15) and (16) give us 
im+nvy (A+) f2a4+s) +2 YVd+*fay f~adteytavatey}. (7) 


96 G. P. YOUNG ON ABEL’S FORMS, ETC. 


By means of (16) and (17), (13) becomes 


k D 
A=ptavl+te+vfrdtetavate); 


7 





which, by writing q for ae is Abel’s form for 4, in (6). 


IV.—NUMERICAL VERIFICATION. 


§ 5. The above results may be readily verified by taking any equation such as (1), with 
numerical co-efficients related as in (2). The writer has calculated the values of A,, A2, &c., 
6,, Ao, ete., &, dy ete, Q,, Q,, etc. in the case of the equation 


a + » + 3750 = 0; 


and has found that the separate numbers of the expression for x in (5), when arranged in 
the order, 


4 


? hs a,’ Chee À, a @ ‘ 


1 We) 


have respectively the values of the separate members of the expression in (9), taken in 
the order in which they are written in (9). 


SECTION III, 1886. O7] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


X.—A Meteorite from the Northwest. 


By A. P. Coteman, Ph. D, Victoria University, Cobourg. 


(Presented May 27, 1886.) 


Some seventeen years ago, Mr. David McDougall, at the instance of his father, the 
Rev. George McDougall, brought in, by Red River cart, a mass of meteoric iron, weighing 
about 386 lbs. It was found on a hill near Iron Creek, a tributary of Battle River, at a 
point about 150 miles south of Victoria, on the North Saskatchewan. It was sent to 
Winnipeg, and afterwards to the Mission Rooms in Toronto, and now forms the chief 
ornament of the Museum of Victoria University. 

This meteorite was greatly venerated by the Indians, who made offerings to it of 
beads, trinkets or knives before setting out on hunting or warlike expeditions. The 
Indians saw in the markings of its surface the rough features of a face, believed that the 
“stone” attracted lightning, and that it had grown in size and weight since they first 
saw it. 

In outline, this meteorite is irregularly triangular and much broader than it is 
thick. Its surface shows the usual rounded and pitted appearance. It consists of solid 
metal, with scarcely a trace of stony matter, and only a slight oxidation of the surface. 

The specific gravity of the metal is 7.784. An analysis gives the following results :— 





1 B20) CRRA ane en OMS ARIOO mL aIdCh DAO OIOODOCOR Ne De goes ile ERA OOUMONAOCSBOOOD 91°33 per cent. 

Nickel Re ren eee nsosttate siete store Palnssve: isis cele wihule-aie/erei ojersenate SSB! ioe 

(Golarlnasan cbsmvogaua CoC UMOUOUN OOD Een OTD nee ne ea lieelalielie cdelote a ele 0.49 “ SE 
MOTTE nn rentes lien lei e 100.65 


Sec. IIL, 1886. 13. 








Trans. R.S.C., 1886. THE Sux as tae INDEX or Time AND Lonerrupe. Sec. III. Plate I. 




















LUG. J 56 4 
| 




















To illustrate Mr. Sandford Fleming’s paper entitled “Time-Reckoning for the Twentieth Century.” 


L 


fl 

Pas 
= 
Po 
a 
Le 
aye 

ra 

" 
x 





ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 


PÉANSACMIONS 


SECTION IV. 


GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 


PAPERS FOR 1886. 








SECTION LV., 1886. UE Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


I.—_Presidential Address: Some Points in which American Geological Science is 
indebted to Canada. By Str J. WizriAM Dawson, C.M.G., LL.D., FRS. 


(Read May 26, 1886.) 


The position of Canada relatively to original work in Geological Science, is somewhat 
peculiar. Its territory embraces the whole series of geological formations, and is second 
to no other in the interest of its rocks and minerals, and the extent and excellence of its 
exposures. It is thus rich in the raw material of geological discovery. But its skilled 
and trained workers have heretofore been few. It is deficient in great libraries and in the 
apparatus of original research. It possesses no wealthy institutions able to render sub- 
stantial aid, either to research or publication. Its Government has been unable to devote 
large sums to geological explorations, and such aid as it has given has been too much re- 
stricted to merely economic explorations. 

With all this, it lies beside a much greater and more wealthy country, into which all 
its rock formations extend, and which excels it tenfold in number of workers, in means of 
publication, and in government aids to science. It would be too much to expect that this 
powerful neighbour and those who enjoy for the time its advantages, should always be 
generous, forbearing, or even just, or that they should fail to use to the utmost their 
superior vantage in the race for distinction. Practically, while Canada has had much 
reason to be grateful for the friendly and generous sympathy of the naturalists of the 
United States, it has had occasion, in some happily exceptional cases, to smart under their 
vigorous competition, and in some instances to deprecate a spirit of detraction or of unfair 
rivalry. 

It is interesting in these circumstances to enquire what Canada has done in promoting 
the advance of Geological Science, and how far she has been able to keep pace with or anti- 
cipate discovery abroad. In directing your attention to a few facts bearing on this question, 
I shall not hesitate to include with our own native workers, those who have come to us 
from the mother countries of our population, just as in the United States it is customary 
to regard the great men who have been imported from abroad as Americans. 

Perhaps the simplest way will be to begin with the older formations, and to notice 
Canadian discovery as it applies to the different successive periods of geological time, as 
represented in our country. 

Canada has magnificent exposures of the oldest rocks. Our vast Laurentian and 
Huronian territory is unsurpassed in extent and importance. In this, therefore, we should 
have some claims to honourable distinction. That we have such is evidenced by the fact 
that the names “Laurentian” and ‘‘ Huronian” are of world wide currency, and the 
discussions as to the origin and character of these old rocks, and their possible evidence of 
primitive forms of life, have centred around Canadian localities and specimens. 

In this field, Canada has had some eminent workers. The ground was broken in 1823 


Sec, IV., 1886, 1, 


2 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON SOME POINTS IN WHICH AMERICAN 


by Dr. Bigsby’s “ Notes on the Geography and Geology of Lake Huron.”' In this he 
sketched the primitive rocks of Canada, as extending from the north-east of Lake Win- 
nipeg, passing thence along the northern shores of Lakes Superior, Huron and Simcoe, 
and after forming the granitic barrier of the Thousand Islands, spreading themselves 
largely throughout the State of New York. He also notices the principal varieties of 
gneiss and other old rocks, and recognizes their stratified character. About the same time, 
Richardson published his notes on the geology of Franklin’s northern expedition. 

This was followed up by important papers by Bayfield on the “ Geology of the North 
Coast of the St. Lawrence ” * and on Lake Superior,’ and by papers on the Labrador coast 
and St. Paul’s Bay by Lieut. Baddeley,* while Ingall described the country drained by the 
St. Maurice.’ “Baddeley’s papers in particular, published in the early volumes of the Trans- 
actions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, show much accurate knowledge of 
rocks and minerals and attention to stratigraphical relations, while in all these papers 
there is a clear discrimination between the old crystalline rocks and the overlying 
“transition ” beds holding fossils. 

It is not too much to say that these researches between the year 1820 and the institu- 
tion of the Geological Survey of Canada in 1842, which have been well summed up by 
Dr. Harrington in his “ Life of Sir William Logan,” placed Canada for the time in a very 
advanced and honourable position. 

But the work of Sir William Logan, beginning in 1842 and continuing until his 
death, marks an epoch not only in our knowledge of the Laurentian and Huronian in 
Canada, but throughout the world. Logan in his preliminary report notices that the 
labours of Bayfield, Bigsby, Baddeley, Wilson, Green and others, had before his time 
shown that the primary rocks, as he then termed them, “form a continuous line from one 
end to the other of Northern Canada.” In his report for 1845, using Lyell’s term “ meta- 
morphic,” he defines the existence of a lower group of gneiss and of an overlying group 
containing crystalline limestones. He also at this time recognized the still higher forma- 
tion subsequently called “ Huronian,” and a little later the distinctive characters of the 
Upper Laurentian were established. It was in 1854 that the name “ Laurentian” was 
proposed in Logan’s report for that year. 

An attempt has recently been made by certain American writers, not, I am happy to 
say, men of much estimation in their own country, to belittle Logan’s work, and even to 
throw doubts on the validity of the magnificent stratigraphical investigations by which 
he finally established the fact of the continuity and bedded character of the Laurentian 
system and the sequence of its deposits. These detractions might well be passed over in 
silence ; but I may say here that, having gone over several of Logan’s Laurentian sections 
with his maps and notes as my guides, I can testify to the minute accuracy of his work, 
and to the care and sagacity with which he had unravelled the relations of these difficult 
and disturbed formations. I have also much pleasure in knowing that the most eminent 
of the later writers on the Western Geology of the United States, like Chamberlin and 
Irving, fully accord with Logan’s conclusions, which have long been accepted by the best 
authorities in Eastern America and Europe. 








1 Trans. Geol. Soc., Vol. i. Sec. ii. p, 175. * Ibid. Vol. v. (1833) See. ii. p. 89. 
3 Trans. Lit. and Hist. Soc. of Quebec, Vol. i. + Thid. Vol. i. 5 Jbid. Vol. ii, 


GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE IS INDEBTED TO CANADA. 3 


Having been myself mixed up with the farther questions that have arisen as to 
the animal nature of Eozoon, and the vegetable origin of the abundant graphite of the 
Middle Laurentian, I shall say nothing of these farther than this, that if our Canadian con- 
clusions should be substantiated, we shall stand here also in advance of the rest of the 
world. 

In like manner I abstain here from entering into the question of the validity of the 
Montalban, Taconian and Keweenian of our colleague, Dr. Hunt, which are now subjects 
of earnest discussion, but I believe are in great part, at least, based on natural facts per- 
ceived by Logan in his original examinations of the Pre-Cambrian formations of the west, 
but more distinctly defined by Hunt, and which may eventually give a new triumph to 
Canadian geology. I may say here that my own observations have convinced me of the 
reality of the succession of (1) a Lower Laurentian series, the Trembling Mountain gneiss 
of Logan; (2) a Middle Laurentian, the Grenville series of Hunt ; (3) an Upper Laurentian, 
the Labradorian or Norian series; (4) the Huronian series ; (5) the Animikie series ; (6) the 
Keweenian series. All these, except, perhaps, the last, are Pre-Cambrian, and belong to 
the Eozoic period. Of the Montalban I cannot speak so certainly. There is such a series, 
and this of great importance ; but I do not know from my own observations its precise 
geological position. 

I need scarcely sav that the researches of Dr. Hunt in the chemical and dynamical 
geology of these ancient rocks and their relations to the origin of continents and mountain 
chains stand unsurpassed, and of themselves give to Canada a clear title to preeminence 
in this department. 

Before leaving this subject, I may mention an attack which has been made on Sir W. 
Logan by an American writer, on the ground that the name “ Laurentian” had been preoc- 
cupied by Desor. It seems that the latter had used the word ‘“ Lawrentian” to express 
the Pleistocene deposits of the St. Lawrence valley. But the name never gained any cur- 
rency, and Logan’s use of the term, “ Laurentian,” for the old crystalline series was only 
a little later—Logan having applied the name in 1854, while Desor’s use of the similar 
name “Lawrentian,” had occurred in 1851. Logan and Hunt, who coüperated in the 
matter, based the name, not on the St. Lawrence River, but on the old name Laurentides, 
applied by Garneau to the mountain range composed of these rocks. In point of fact, the 
name “ Laurentian” was based on the mountains composed of these rocks, and the name 
“ Lawrentian ” on the river itself; and the latter fell to the ground as useless and inappro- 
priate. à 

The discovery of the rich Cambrian Fauna of St. John, New Brunswick, and in connec- 
tion with this, that of the fossil plants of the neighboring Devonian beds, belong to the 
late Prof. C. F. Hartt, and to our colleagues, Mr. G. F. Matthew and Prof. Bailey. Of these 
discoveries I have remarked : “ The collection and determination of the Cambrian fossils of 
what is now known as the Acadian group, and the excavation of the numerous Devonian 
plants of the same district, constitute in my judgment two of the most important advances 
ever made.in the paleontology of Eastern America.” Hartt published his first report on 
these fossils in 1865, and they were more fully described and illustrated in the second 
edition of my ‘‘ Acadian Geology” in 1868. It is true that long before this time the Para- 
doxides Harlani of the Massachusetts shales had been discovered, and Emmons had endeav- 
oured to illustrate the fossils of the Taconic system. But little attention had been given 


A SIR J. W. DAWSON ON SOME POINTS IN WHICH AMERICAN 


to these facts, though as early as 1852 they had attracted the attention of the great Bohe- 
mian paleontologist, Barrande. Any one who studies the magnificent volumes of Hall, or 
the earlier editions of Dana’s manual, will see that, until Hartt’s discoveries were made, 
the view of American geologists scarcely extended lower in the Paleozoic than the Pots- 
dam sandstone. The work so well begun by Hartt has been followed up by Matthew, 
and we have, in the last volume of our Transactions, a memoir in which many new forms 
are added to this ancient fauna, and we hope at our present meeting to have for the first 
time a subdivision of its fossils according to age, parallel to that ascertained in Western 
Europe. Ina paper to be read at the present meeting, Mr. Matthew is able to tabulate 
sixty-five species and twenty-one varietal forms, from the lowest division of the Acadian 
group, corresponding to the earlier Cambrian of Europe. 

A curious accident has recently happened in connection with Hartt’s collections. 
These remained after his death in the United States, and were offered for sale, and should 
have been acquired for our Canadian collections. The fossil plants I purchased at my 
own expense for the McGill College collection, but the primordial fossils I had not means 
to redeem, and the Survey was at the time equally impecunious. They remained conse- 
quently in Cornell University, and Hartt’s types, which Mr. Matthew should have had as 
the basis of his work, have been republished as a Bulletin of the United States Geological 
Survey, illustrated in a far more sumptuous manner than I was able to afford in my 
“ Acadian Geology,” and there can be little doubt that the effect will be that abroad an 
officer of that Survey will practically receive the credit which should belong to Canadians, 
though he has done little if anything to advance the knowledge of the subject beyond 
the point where Hartt left it. Prof. Bailey, who has been following up the stratigraphy 
of these rocks as ably as the fossils have been worked by Matthew, has directed my 
attention to the fact that in a recent, somewhat pretentious volume issued in Cambridge, 
the work of Canadian geologists in these rocks is sneered at, and that by unfair citations 
of statements made at different times and during the progress of discovery, we are made to 
appear as at variance with one another. On this subject I would say that, in my own 
connection with the geology of the Maritime Provinces, I have ever endeavoured to pro- 
mote the work of my younger geological friends; have at once admitted any new dis- 
covery, even when contradicting the conclusions I had formed from a less complete induc- 
tion of facts; and that the work of Hartt, Matthew and Bailey in the complicated and 
disturbed coast rocks of southern New Brunswick has produced results in stratigraphy and 
palzeontology more accurate, complete and important in the interests of science, than any 
that can be shown with reference to the continuation of these same rocks in New England. 

If the holding of different opinions on debatable points, and the free and active dis- 
cussion of these opinions is to be a ground of accusation against Canadian geologists, I 
fear the next great group of rocks, that Siluro-Cainbrian series to which Logan gave 
the name “Quebec Group,” may afford more ground of complaint. It would be useless 
here to attempt to summarize the discussions in which Hall, Emmons, Dana, and many 
other American geologists have taken part, or the bold and masterly way in which Logan 
and Billings cut the Gordian knot, or the subsequent discussions of Hunt, Selwyn and Mac- 
farlane. I have elsewhere noticed these subjects, and hope to do so again before long. I 
may content myself with quoting a general statement on the subject, made in 1879, and 
still I think correct. 


GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE IS INDEBTED TO CANADA: 5 


When Sir William -Logan commenced the Geological Survey of Canada in 1842, the 
older rocks, in so far as his field was concerned, were almost a /erra incognita, and very 
scanty means existed for unravelling their complexities. The “ Silurian System” of Mur- 
chison had been completed in 1838, and in the same year Sedgwick had published his 
classification of the Cambrian rocks. The earlier final reports of the New York Survey 
were being issued about the time when Logan commenced his work. The great works of 
Hall on the palæontology of New York had not appeared, and scarcely anything was known 
as to the comparative paleontology and geology of Europe and America. Those who can 
look back on the crude and chaotic condition of our knowledge at that time, can alone ap- 
preciate the magnitude and difficulty of the task that lay before Sir William Logan. 
To make the matter worse, the most discordant views as to the relative ages of some of the 
formations in New York and New England which are continuous with those of Eastern 
Canada, had been maintained by the officers of the New York Survey. 

Sir William made early acquaintance with some of these difficult formations. His first 
summer was spent on the coast of Gaspé and the Baie des Chaleurs, where he saw four great 
formations, the Quebec group, the Upper Silurian, the Devonian, and the Lower Carboni- 
ferous, succeeding each other, obviously in ascending order, and each characterized by 
some fossils, most of which, however, were at that time of very uncertain age. I remember 
his showing me in the autumn of that year the note-books in which he had carefully 
sketched the stratigraphical arrangements he had observed, and also the forms of charac- 
teristic fossils. But both wanted an interpreter. The plants of the Gaspé Devonian were 
undescribed ; many of them of forms till then unheard of. The shells and corals and 
graptolites of the older formations could be only roughly correlated with some of those in 
the New York reports. The rock formations are very unlike those of the New York series. 
Still this work of 1842 and 1843 was plain and easy, compared with that which arose in 
tracing these formations to the south-west. I may add here that I have since studied 
some of these Gaspé sections with Sir William’s manuscript note-books in my hand, and 
have been amazed at the extraordinary care and exactitude with which every feature of 
the rocks had been observed and noted down. Much of the detail in these early note-books 
of Sir William still remains unpublished. Those who would detract from the work of Sir 
William Logan, if there are any such, should remember these early beginnings, and com- 
pare them with the massive foundations which have been laid for us to build upon. 

And now, after the labour of more than thirty years on the part of Sir William and 
those he had gathered around him, how do these subjects stand? (1) We have all the 
comparatively flat and undisturbed formations of the great plains of Upper and Lower 
Canada, our share of the interior continental plateau of America, worked out and mapped, 
and their fossils characterized so that a child may read them. (2) The complex hilly dis- 
tricts, with their contorted, disturbed and altered beds, which extend from New England 
to Gaspé, have been traversed in every direction, the limits of their different formations 
marked, and a theory as to their age and structure put forth, which, whether we accept it 
or not, has in it important features of the truth, and rests on facts on which every disputant 
must take his stand. (3) We have the still older formations of the Laurentian hills traced 
in their sinuous windings, and arranged in an order of succession which must stand 
whether the names given by Sir William, and now accepted throughout the world, be ob- 
jected to or not. After the work of Sir William Logan, no cavilling as to names can ever 


6 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON SOME POINTS IN WHICH AMERICAN 


deprive Canada of the glory of being the home of the scientific exploration of the Lauren- 
tian; and much examination of the ground which he explored enables me to affirm that 
no one will ever be able permanently to overset the general leading subdivisions which 
he established in the Laurentian and Huronian systems. 

We may sum this matter up, in so far as Sir William Logan’s work is concerned, and 
that of his assistants, and of Hall and Billings in the department of paleontology. Their 
researches have established :—(1) The general diversity of mineral character in the Palæo- 
zoic sediments on the Atlantic slope as compared with the internal plateau of Canada. In 


these results Bailey, Matthew and Hartt in New Brunswick, and the writer in Nova 


Scotia, have also borne some part. (2) The establishment of the Quebec group of rocks as 
a series equivalent in age to the Calciferous of America, and to the Arenig and Skiddaw of 
England, and the elucidation of its peculiar fauna. (8) The tracing out and definition of 
the peculiar faulted junction of the coastal series with that of the interior plateau, extend- 
ing from Quebec to Lake Champlain. (4) The definition in connection with the rocks of 
the Quebec group, by fossils and stratigraphy, of formations extending in age from the 
Potsdam sandstone to the Upper Silurian, as in contact with this group, in various relations, 
along its range from the United States frontier to Gaspé; but the complexities in connec- 
tion with these various points of contact, and the doubts attending the ages of the several 
formations, have never yet been fully solved in their details. (5) The identification of the 
members of the Quebec group and associated formations with their geological equivalents 
in districts where these had assumed different mineral conditions, either from the associa- 
tion of contemporaneous igneous beds and masses, or from subsequent alteration, or both. 
It is with reference to the results under this head, the most difficult of all, that the greater 
part of the objections to Sir William’s views have arisen, and that recent discussions and 
observations have somewhat modified his conclusions. 

I may be permitted to add that we hope to have at this meeting a communication 
from Prof. Lapworth, so well known as an authority on Graptolites, in which he compares 
the fossils of this group found in Canada with those of Europe, and while giving important 
new light on the whole subject, substantiates the conclusions previously arrived at by 
Canadian geologists, and published in local reports and periodicals. 

In the wide-spread Siluro-Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian formations of the great 
interior plateau of the American continent, the geologists of the State of New York have 
had the start of us, and Hall stands facile princeps as their interpreter. Hall has, indeed, 
by his services to Canadian paleontology, as well as to that of the United States, entitled 
himself to adoption as a Canadian, and has been so adopted by various societies and insti- 
tutions, but next to him we have a right to place Billings, whose accurate work and 
sagacious insight are unsurpassed, and whose industry is evidenced, as I am informed by 
his successor, by his descriptions of more than one thousand new species and sixty-nine 
new genera, while he has added not merely to our catalogue of Canadian fossils but to the 
knowledge of the world. Another special claim of Canada is that to the ownership of the 
Guelph formation, a fossiliferous group wanting in the State of New York, and thus filling 
a gap in the history of life in the Silurian age in America. The fossils of this formation 
were studied by Mr. Billings, and still more recently the collections of Mr. Townsend, a 
local collector, have been described by Mr. Whiteaves, and have added several new fauna 
to those previously known. 


GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE IS INDEBTED TO CANADA, ie 


Of those upper members of the Paleozoic series with which I am myself most conver- 
sant, I shall not say much. Canada has taken the lead in the discovery of insects of the 
Devonian or Erian period. We have discovered and described more of the land plants of 
that period than are known in any other country, perhaps in all other countries ; and the 
Devonian flora of Canada is the term of reference and comparison for that of all other 
countries. New interest has been added to the Erian of America by the discovery, first made 
known by Mr. Ells, of fossil fishes in rocks of this age at the mouth of the Restigouche 
River, a discovery followed up by Mr. Foord, and by the description of the specimens by 
Mr. Whiteaves. The results are a Lower Devonian fish fauna characterized by Cephalaspis 
and Coccosteus and two species of selachians, and an Upper Devonian fauna affording 
Pterichthys, Phaneropleuron, etc., in all eight species. It is interesting to note that these 
faunas are associated with plants characteristic respectively of the Lower and Upper 
Devonian. 

Much has been done in the Carboniferous flora, and more especially in the discrim- 
ination of its successive stages, from the Lower Carboniferous to the Permian. To us 
science owes the earliest discovery in America of Carboniferous batrachians, the oldest 
stomapod crustacean, and the first known palieozoic land shells and millipedes ; and some 
of our grand coast sections and exposures of Carboniferous rocks have become as familiar 
as household words to the geologists of every country. 

Canada is not richly endowed with rocks of the early Mesozoic age, except perhaps 
in those western districts as yet only imperfectly explored. Our Triassic rocks and their 
associated trappean beds were very early studied, and though here we owe much to Jack- 
son and Alger, we have also done much for ourselves. I was amused not long ago to see 
relations of the trappean rocks to the red sandstones long ago established in Nova 
Scotia, only beginning to be applied to the similar rocks of Connecticut and New Jersey. 

Our Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks of the Northwest are only as yet partially explored. 
Still we have already done something to elucidate their structure. The work of Dr. 
Selwyn, Mr. Richardson, Dr. G. M. Dawson and Mr. Whiteaves, has thrown much new 
light on their age and distribution, and we have, I think, taken the lead in disentangling 
the confusion introduced into their flora by a too rigid adhesion to arbitrary classifications 
introduced into palæobotany in Europe. We can show in the Transactions of this Society 
the first clear and consecutive sequence of plants from the Lower Cretaceous into the 
Eocene, and the conclusions based many years ago on collections made in Canadian terri- 
tory, are only now being introduced to notice and recognized as correct in the United 
States. 

In this connection an important discovery has been made by Mr. Whiteaves in the 
study of the fossils collected by Mr. Richardson and Dr.G. M. Dawson, in the Queen Char- 
lotte Islands. Mr. Whiteaves, whose previous studies in English Mesozoic fossils entitle 
him to be regarded as an authority in this matter, finds evidence that beds of the age of 
the English Gault exist in these western regions, and that a portion of the so-called Jurassic 
of the western territories of the United States, is probably Lower Cretaceous. This fact 
brings the geology of the West more into harmony with that of the eastern part of America, 
which seems to have been dry land during the Jurassic period. I find, however, that, in a 
recent article in the “ American Journal of Science,” Mr. Whiteaves complains, apparently 
with justice, that while his conclusions have been only partially accepted, credit is denied 


8 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON SOME POINIS, ETC. 


for the corrections introduced by him, and even the collections and stratigraphical observa- 
tions on which his results were based, are disparaged. 

The quiet way in which the American paleontologist speaks of the collections made 
by Richardson and Dr. Dawson as “some fossils,’ “reported to come from certain beds,” 
when these extensive collections are known to be accompanied with the most careful 
stratigraphical work, would be amusing if it were not provoking. It is only to be paral- 
leled by the similar simplicity of some European paleontologists. One of these, in discus- 
sing the nature of Hozoon laments that no accurate geological work has been done on the 
Canadian Laurentian. Another, when affirming the Cretaceous plants of Vancouver 
Island to be Miocene, speaks of the geology of this island as quite unknown, and a third 
coolly assumes the Devonian beds of New Brunswick to be Carboniferous, because he 
supposes that no one has explored the stratigraphy of these unknown regions! 

In the disputed questions of Pleistocene geology it would be premature to make any 
boast. I may say, however, that the Canadian school of geologists has distinguished itself 
by moderate views as to the Glacial period. The fact that we can study on our own coasts 
many of its operations still in progress has contributed to this. We have also the advan- 
tage in the St. Lawrence valley and the western plains of a vast horizontal distribution of 
Pleistocene beds, and of very rich fossiliferous deposits. Certain it is that we have taken 
the lead in working out the fauna and flora of the so-called “ Glacial Period,” and have so 
far avoided those more extreme notions of continental glaciation which have gained cur- 
rency in the United States. I feel convinced that ultimately our caution in this will be 
vindicated, and that we shall find that the sober afterthought of geologists will refer the 
glaciation of rocks and the transport of boulders quite as much to the action of marine 
currents and floating ice as to land glaciers. A powerful reaction is taking place in this 
direction in Europe, and though the influence of certain great names still upholds in 
the United States very extreme views as to the Glacial Age, they must soon be toned 
down within the limits demanded by our knowledge of physical facts and possibilities. 

I have been able to refer only very generally to a few of the leading departments of 
geological discovery in which this country has taken the lead or has successfully followed. 
Enough has been said to show that though Canadian science labours under many disad- 
vantages, its votaries have not thereby been deterred from working, and that their labour 
has not only been crowned with a fair measure of success, but that they have in many 
cases been able to act as teachers to those who might be supposed to have advanced far 
beyond them. It remains to our younger men to uphold and extend our good reputation 
in these respects, and I trust that as many of them have been favoured with educational 
advantages beyond those of their predecessors, they may also be supplied with greater 
facilities for exploration and publication, and that our public men will beware of falling 
into the popular mistake of limiting our scientific expenditure by a narrow and slavish 
utilitarianism which defeats its own ends. 


SECTION IV., 1886. He A AR Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IL.— Recent Additions to Canadian Filicinecæ, with New Stations for some of the Species 
previously recorded. By T. J. W. Burcess, M.B. 


’ 


(Presented May 28, 1886.) 


The discovery, since the publication of a revision of Canadian Filicineæ by Professor 
Macoun and myself in the Transactions of this Society for 1884, of several ferns, not hith- 
erto regarded as Canadian, and additions to the stations recorded for some of the rarer 
species therein mentioned, leads me to hope that a brief supplemental paper on the same 
subject will not be quite wanting in interest, and to facilitate reference, the numbering 
of the genera, etc., in the previous article, has been retained through this. 


ORDER.—OPHIOGLOSSACE®, Lindi. 


Genus I—OPHIOGLOSSUM, Z. 


1.—0. vUuLGATUM, LZ. The unknown Nova Scotia station of Professor McCulloch 
(vide “ Canadian Filicineæ ” in Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. IF, Sect. IV, p. 174), has prob- 
ably been rediscovered; Mr. Campbell, a student of Dalhousie College, having in 1884 
found it in a field near Truro, at which place Mr. McCulloch used to live. Low meadow, 
Port Stanley, Elgin Co., Ont.—J. Bowman. 


Genus I1L—BOTRYCHIUM, Swz. 


1.—B. LUNARIA, Swz. Open spaces in damp, grassy thickets at the Hudson’s Bay 
Co.’s post on Lake Mistassini, and in a similar locality near the Oatmeal Falls on Rupert 
River, Northeast Territory.—J. M. Macoun. 


2.—B. MATRICARLEHFOLIUM, A. Br. On damp hillsides, under bushes, Dalhousie, N. 
B.—J. Fletcher. Regina, Assa.—N. H. Cowdry. Some specimens collected by Professor 
Macoun in 1885, near Silver City, Alta. on the grassy slope below the peak of Castle 
Mountain, Rocky Mountains, are perhaps referable here, but are too immature to admit 
of separation with certainty from B. lunaria. Further search in this locality for more 
mature specimens is of importance, since, if true B. matricariæfolium, our western limit for 
this species ceases to be Regina. 


3.—B. LANCEOLATUM, Angs. In the Rev. Jas. Fowler’s revised list of New Brunswick 
plants (Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV.) a new station, Kennebeccasis, is recorded by 
Mr. G. U. Hay, but I have seen none of the specimens. 


5.—B. TERNATUM, Swz. Old pastures, Truemanville, Cumberland Co., N. S.—H. 
Trueman, One cf the specimens received from this locality has two perfect sterile fronds, 


Sec. IV., 1886, 2. 


10 T. J. W. BURGESS ON RECENT 


the one rising from near the base of the plant, the other about an inch and a half higher 
up. While examples with two sterile fronds, one the product of the previous year, are 
common, in this case the two are the growth of the same season. In addition, these 
fronds are much more membranaceous than usual, lacking, indeed, almost completely, 
that fleshiness so characteristic of this species. Growing with B. lunaria, but rare, at the 
Oatmeal Falls, Rupert River, N. E. Terr. (var. rutæfolium).—J. M. Macoun. Very rare on 
the snow slides near the summit of the Selkirk Mountains, B. Col., on the line of the C. 
P. Ry.—Macoun. Common about Victoria, Vancouver Island, B. Col., amongst bushes on 
the margins of lakes and swamps (var. australe). —J. R. Anderson. 

Var. DISSECTUM, Milde. Very characteristic specimens were collected in 1885, by 
Professor Macoun, in woods near the Whirlpool, Niagara Falls, Ont., where also was 
found an approach to var. obliquum, Milde. 


6.—B. VIRGINIANUM, Swz. Under hardwood trees, Truemanville, Cumberland Co., 
N. S.—H. Trueman. Very abundant in open, boggy woods, and in burnt woods of any 
kind, all around Lake Mistassini, N. E. Terr.—J. M. Macoun. Rather rare on grassy 
slopes, and in open woods, from Laggan in the Rocky Mountains, Alta., to Donald in the 
Columbia Valley, B. Col., along the line of the C. P. Ry.—Macoun. Common in rich woods 
about Victoria, and in other parts of Vancouver Island, B. Col.—J. R. Anderson. The so- 
called var. gracile, Hook. and Grey., is noted in the Rev. Jas. Fowler’s revised list as occur- 
ring on dry, rocky heights at the mouth of the Upsalquitch River, N. B. 


ORDER.—FILICES, Juss. 


Genus I—POLYPODIUM, Z. 


1.—P. VULGARE, L., var. CAMBRICUM, Willdenow, (P. Cambricum, Li.) Specimens refer- 
able to this form, commonly known in England as Welsh Polypody, from its being originally 
collected in Wales, have been found within our limits. They were obtained on rocks at 
Port Simpson on Portland Inlet, B. Col., opposite the southern extremity of Alaska, and 
were furnished by Mr. J. R. Anderson of Victoria, B. Col. The fronds are broader and 
more oval in general outline than in the type, while the primary divisions are acute, 
widened in the middle, and pinnatifid into narrow, variously shaped segments, many of 
which are serrulate. Being fertile, the specimens might be placed under var. semilacerum, 
Moore, sometimes called Irish Polypody, from its having been first noticed in Ireland, but 
Dr. Milde includes this form under var. Cambricum, the original type of which is always 
barren, and I have preferred to follow him. 


Genus II—GYMNOGRAMME, Desv. 


1.—G. TRIANGULARIS, Æaulf. Reported by Mr. J. R. Anderson as common about 
Victoria, B. Col., on bare hills under the shady sides of rocks. 


Genus III—CHEILANTHES, Swz. 


1.—C. GRACILLIMA, D. C. Eaton. Of this species, Mr. Anderson writes to me, “ found 


ADDITIONS TO CANADIAN FILICINE A. 11 


in fissures of dry rocks on Mount Finlayson, at the head of, and on other hills on the east 
side of, Saanich Arm, near Victoria, B. Col.” 


Genus IV.—PELLÆA, Link. 


1.—P. GRACILIS, Hook. Madawaska, N. B.— Hay (Fowler in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. 
B., No. IV.) Crevices of wet rocks at the mouth of Temiscami River, about twenty-five 
miles from the east end of Lake Mistassini, N.E. Terr.—J. M. Macoun. Crevices of rocks 
in rear of the C. P. Ry. water-tank at Kicking Horse Lake, and at Mount Stephen, 
B. Col.—Macoun. Rocky hillsides, not common, Kootenay District, B. Col.—J. R. Anderson. 


2.—P. ATROPURPUREA, Link. Very rare in crevices of limestone rocks on the moun- 
tains near Kananaskis Station on the C. P. Ry., Alta—Macoun. Hillsides amongst bro- 
ken rocks, not common, Kootenay District, B. Col.—J. R. Anderson. 


Genus V.—CRYPTOGRAMME, R. Br. 


1.—C. ACROSTICHOIDES, À. Br. Common at Victoria, B. Col., among rocks on bare 
hills.—J. R. Anderson. 


Genus VI—PTERIS, L. 


1.—P. AQUILINA, Z. Common at Lake Mistassini, and down the Rupert River to 
James Bay, N. E. Terr.—J. M. Macoun. 

Var. LANUGINOSA, Bong. Our eastern range for this form is now known to extend 
at least as far as the Columbia River, B. Col., Professor Macoun having found it, in 1885, 
abundant in pine woods in the valley of that stream, along the line of the C. P. Ry. 


Genus VIL—ADIANTUM, LZ. 


1—A. PEDATUM, L. “Keswick Ridge, York Co.,—Fowler; Andover, Victoria Co.,— 
Hay ; Moose Mountain, Carleton Co.,—Dr. Bailey.” (Fowler, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., 
No. IV.) 

Var. RANGIFERINUM, #. var. Pinnules longer stalked, convex on the lower border, 
vising from the rachis at an acute angle, gradually tapering at the base, deeply cleft into 
narrow, toothed lobes on the upper side, rounded from below upward at the outer extre- 
mity ; sori few. | 

This very peculiar and beautiful form, to which the name rangiferinum has been given 
on account of the resemblance of the pinnules to the horns of the reindeer, was found on 
thickly shaded rocks overhanging the waters of Gold Stream, at the base of Mount Fin- 
layson, twelve miles from Victoria, B. Col., by Mr. J. R. Anderson. The pinnæ are very 
few in number and long in proportion to the size of the plant, e. g., a specimen about two 
feet high has only three on each of the primary branches, those nearest the forking on 
each side measuring not less than thirteen inches. It is in the pinnules, however, that 
the most marked peculiarities are seen. These, in the ordinary form, are short stalked, 
spring from the rachis at right angles, and have the lower margin usually straight or 
more or less concave, but in this they are well petioled, rise at a very acute angle, and 


12 T. J. W. BURGESS ON RECENT 


have the lower border markedly convex. Their base, instead of being straight and square, 
is gradually tapering ; the upper edge is deeply cleft into narrow, toothed lobes; and the 
outer extremity is not rounded from above downward, but has its upper margin projecting 
beyond the lower, so as to make the rounding just the reverse. Only a few of the lobes 
are fertile. The accompanying figure of a part of a pinna will probably give a better idea 
of these distinctions. 





Fic.—A. pedatum var. rangiferinum. 


Interesting points about this plant, which I am now trying to determine, refer to the 
frequency of its occurrence and constancy in cultivation. 


Genus VIII—LOMARIA, Willd. 


1.—L. SPICANT, Desv. Reported by Mr. Anderson as common in rich woods near Vic- 
toria, Vancouver Island, B. Col., and along the coast of the mainland. All the specimens 
that I have seen from this locality have the pinne, except the lower reduced ones, acute 
or mucronate instead of obtuse, as is said to be oftenest the case. 


Genus X.—ASPLENIUM, LZ. 


1.—A. VIRIDE, Huds. Clefts of shaded rocks at the mouth of Temiscami River, 
twenty-five miles from the east end of Lake Mistassini, N. E. Terr.—J. M. Macoun. In rich 


soil amongst broken rocks, at Port Simpson on Portland Inlet, Northern B. Col—J. R. 


Anderson. 


2.—A. TRICHOMANES, Z. Amongst broken rocks on Mount Isonhailim, near the 
mouth of Cowichan River, Cowichan District, Vancouver Island, and in Kootenay District, 
B. Col.—J. R. Anderson. 


5.—A. THELYPTEROIDES, Mz. For New Brunswick, where this fern is said to be 
scarce, the following new stations are recorded: “Bass River,—ÆFowler ; Fredericton,— 
Vroom ; Salmon River, Victoria. Co..—Hay.” (Fowler, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV.) 


Genus XI—SCOLOPENDRIUM, Smith. 


1.—S. VULGARE, Smith. Three interesting forms, vars. marginatum, ramosum and multi- 
Jidum, of this very variable fern, collected near Woodstock, N. B., have been received from 
Mr. Peter Jack of Halifax, N.S. à 

Var. MARGINATUM, Moore. (Nature Printed British Ferns, II, pp. 139 and 166 ; Hand- 
book of British Ferns, 3rd ed., 198). The following is Mr. Moore’s description :—“ Fronds 


ADDITIONS TO CANADIAN FILICINEZÆ. 13 


narrow-oblong, strap-shaped, truncate at the base; attenuate at the apex, the margin 
inciso-lobate ; fertile ; the epidermis of the under surface also developed near the mar- 
gin into a lobed, excurrent membrane, which bears sori on both surfaces.” In the New 
Brunswick specimens, the peculiar lobed, excurrent membrane is well marked, and gives 
the frond the appearance of being double, i. e., as if two fronds, both soriferous, had been 
pasted together, the one on top of the other. The layer corresponding to the frond proper 
slightly exceeds (one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch) that from the epidermis, and is 
lobed and dentate. The only deviation, which is of little account, from the description, is 
that the base is heart-shaped and auricled instead of truncate. S. vulgare is occasionally 
seen with sori on the upper as well as the under surface of the fronds, which abnormality 
sometimes proceeds from the normal sori being prolonged round the margin; but at 
others they are produced on the upper side within the margin, and without correspond- 
ing ones beneath. This freak, caused in the first of these ways, is a marked feature in 
some of the Woodstock specimens of var. marginatum, which have thus four soriferous 
surfaces instead of the usual three. 

Var. RAMOSUM, Gray. (Moore’s Nature Printed British Ferns, Il, pp. 140 and 195; 
Handbook of British Ferns, 3rd ed., 199.—S. officinarum, Swz., var. ramosum, Willd.) Mr. 
Jack’s specimens closely approach this variety, which is said to be constant in cultivation 
and reproduce itself from spores, being characterized by their short fronds having the 
stipes branched, the branches, which start singly from the stipes, becoming ramified like 
the branches of a tree, and ending in crisped tufts. 

Var. MULTIFIDUM, Gray. (Moore’s Nature Printed British Ferns, II, pp. 140 and 188; 
Handbook of British Ferns, 3rd ed., 198.—S. officinarum, Swz., var. multifidum, Schk.) In 
this form the stipes are unbranched, but the fronds are furcately divided at the apex, and 
these divisions are few—to many—cleft at their points. 


Genus XT1I.—PHEGOPTERIS, Fee. 


1.—P. POLYPODIOIDES, Fee. Rather rare near the line of the C. P. Ry. in the valley 
of Beaver Oreek, Selkirk Mountains, B. Col., both along this stream on stumps, and on 
rocks along mountain torrents near Stony Creek—WMacoun. Shaded, rocky places, Port 
Simpson on Portland Inlet, Northern B. Col—J. R. Anderson.’ 


2.—P. HEXAGONOPTERA, Fee. In rich woods, not common, just east of the Water- 
works Reservoir, Toronto, Ont.—Burgess. 


4.—P. CALCAREA, Fee. Not rare in rather low woods at the base of limestone cliffs, 
and in crevices of the cliffs themselves, at the mouth of Temiscami River, Lake Mistassini, 
N.E. Terr.—J. M. Macoun. 


5.—P. ALPESTRIS, Met. The finding of this species in British Columbia, by Professor 
Macoun, in August, 1885, is strongly confirmatory of its having been originally collected 
by Dr. Lyall in the Cascade Mountains of the same province. It grew abundantly, at an 
altitude of 7000 feet, in wet places on the slopes of the glacier mountain along Bear Creek 
at the summit of the Selkirk Mountains, near the line of the C. P. Ry. The stalks of most 
of these specimens are long in proportion to the size of the plants, in the largest making 


14 T. J. W. BURGESS ON RECENT 


eight inches of the total twenty-four. The fronds, rather narrowly oblong-lanceolate in 
general outline, are gracefully acuminate, and have all the pinne densely soriferous, the 
lower ones being distant and considerably decreased in size. 


Genus XIV.—ASPIDIUM, Swz. 


2a,—A. OREOPTERIS, Swz., (Mountain Shield-Fern), Syn. Fil., 50. Willdenow, Sp. PI, 
V, 247. Eaton, Ferns of N. À. II, 273. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., 105. 

A. montanum, Milde, Fil. Eur. et Atlant., 115. 

A. odoriferum, Gray. 

Polypodium fragrans, L. 

Polypodium montanum, Vogler. 

Polypodium pterioides, Villars. 

Polypodium limbospermum, Bellardi. 

Polypodium oreopteris, Ehrh. 

Polypodium thelypteris, Bolton. 

Polystichum montanum, Roth. 

Lastrea oreopteris, Presl. 

Lastrea montana, Moore. 

Hemestheum montanum, Newman. 

Nephrodium oreopteris, Desvaux. 

Nephrodium montanum, Baker. 

This is a rich, golden-green, handsome, though rather stiff-looking species, found 
growing in patches, usually in open wet ground, in ravines and on mountain slopes, and 
varying in height from one to three feet. Rootstock short, stout, erect or ascending, chaffy, 
and covered with old stalk-bases; stalks short, generally forming about one-fifth or less 
of the height of the plant, somewhat chaffy especially at the base; fronds erect, firmly 
membranaceous, glandular beneath, commonly with some scattered chaff along the rachis, 
ten to thirty inches long, lanceolate in outline, acute, tapering from near the middle to a 
narrow base, pinnate; pinnæ sessile from a broad base and deeply pinnatifid, the middle 
ones lanceolate-acuminate and two to five inches long, gradually reduced to the lowest, 
which are deltoid, one-third to one inch long and slightly but increasingly distant; pin- 
nules numerous, oblong, obtuse, entire or slightly crenulate, and, like A. thelypteris, their 
margins sometimes revolute so as to give them the appearance of being acute; veins free, 
often forked; sori near the margin; indusia very delicate, more or less toothed at the 
margin, fugacious. 

This fern approaches more closely to A. fhelypteris than to any other of our Canadian 
species, but is readily separated, both from it and from A. Noveboracense, by its tufted, not 
creeping, rootstocks. In the absence of root, the most obvious distinguishing characteris- 
tics are that, in the former, the stalks are long, the fronds are rarely narrowed at the base, 
the veins are nearly all forked, and the sori are not marginal; while in the latter, the 
fronds are thin-membranaceous, minutely ciliate and hairy, and the veins are almost always 
simple. Of North American species as a whole, however, A. oreopteris finds its closest 
ally in the Californian A. Nevadense, Eaton. The rootstocks are alike, and both are nar- 
rowed to the base, but as a rule, the former is a coarse, rigid fern, and the latter is slen- 


ADDITIONS TO CANADIAN FILICINE A. 15 


der and graceful, with thinly membranaceous fronds, which have the pinnæ cut deeper 
with wider sinuses and narrower lobes, and the veins mostly simple. 

The fronds of all the Canadian plants I have seen are narrower and more graceful look- 
ing, both as a whole and in all their parts, than those of Unalaskan and most European 
and Asiatic forms, but Professor Eaton, to whom a specimen was sent, writes me, “most 
fronds are broader and have broader pinnules, but I have one from Mettenius which is as 
narrow and slender as yours.” The largest of our specimens examined is one foot and one- 
half long, of which three and one-half inches form the stalk, while the middle pinnæ are 
only about two inches long. The segments, the basal ones of which, especially on the 
upper side, are often large in proportion to those next them (often twice as long) are but 
little more than a line in width, and the under surface is but very slightly glandular. 

A. oreopteris is common in Europe, from England to Spain and to Russia, occurring 
also in Madeira and Asia Minor, but is not found in Siberia. In America, previous to 1885, 
it was only known to exist on the Island of Unalaska, where Mr. L. M. Turner found it 
in 1878, but in August of that year it was discovered by Professor Macoun on Mount 
Dawson, at the summit of the C. P. Ry. pass through the Selkirk Range, B. Col., a little 
south of lat. 51°. It grew in large patches, at an altitude of 6500 feet or a little less, on a 
comparatively dry slope about 1500 feet from the summit of the mountain, immediately 
below the bare, sloping rock, and also in wetter soil and at a greater altitude on a neigh- 
boring mountain, the upper slopes of which were covered by a glacier. 


NoTE.—As this fern belongs to the subgenus Nephrodium and finds its closest relative, 
among our species, in A. thelypteris, its discovery, owing to its less thinly membranaceous 
character and want of creeping rootstocks, would necessitate a change in, and subdivis- 
ion of, subsection * of that subgenus in “ Canadian Filicineæ,” (Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. 
II, p. 200). The first part of Aspidium, in the article referred to, should therefore, by the 
introduction of this species, read :— 

§ Indusia kidney-shaped or round, with a narrow sinus. 

* Fronds membranaceous, decaying in autumn, bipinnatifid. Veins simple or 
once forked. 

+ Rootstock slender and creeping, with scattered fronds. 
A. Noveboracense, Swz. 
A. thelypteris, Swz. 

ff Rootstock short, with clustered fronds. 

A. oreopteris, Swz. 


3.—A. CRISTATUM, Swz. So far as known, this fern is scarce in New Brunswick, and 
the following stations only are recorded: ‘Bass River, Green Head,—Fowler, Hay ; 
Andover and Upper Gaspereaux,— Wetmore.” (Fowler, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV.) 


5.—A. FILIX-MAS, Swz. A second New Brunswick station has been discovered, viz., 
Daley’s Wood, Richmond.—Hay. (Fowler, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV.) Abun- 
dant on the line of the C. P. Ry. on the lower slopes of Mount Carroll near Bear Creek, 
summit of the Selkirk Range, B. Col— Macoun. 


11.—A. LONCHITIS, Swz. One of Mr. A. H. MacKay’s Aspey Bay, Cape Breton, speci- 


16 T. J. W. BURGESS ON RECENT 


mens presents, in its upper two-thirds, a marked resemblance to A. munitum, having nar- 
row and wide-spreading, nearly sessile pinnæ, which are almost destitute of falcateness. 
Their teeth, too, are incurved and almost free from the bristle points, which give so for- 
midable an appearance to typical A. lonchitis. All this gentleman’s other specimens that I 
have seen, from the same locality, are in every respect normal, except that the stalks of 
some of them are longer than is usual in this species. On the upper slopes of Cathe- 
dral Mountain at Kicking Horse Lake, B. Col., and on the snowslides near the summit 
of the Selkirk Mountains, B. Col Macoun. 


12.—A. ACROSTICHOIDES, Swz. A peculiar form of this was found by Mr. Peter Jack 
near Halifax, N.S. The whole of the fronds had the edges of the pinnæ crinkled or 
crimped, while their points were rounded. In other respects, the specimen sent me, which 
was barren, resembled the type. Some additional New Brunswick stations are “ Upper 
Tobique and Kennebeccasis,—Hay ; Mosquito Cove,—Mrs. Heustis ; Andover, common at 
Salmon River,— Wetmore.” (Fowler, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV) 





14—A. ACULEATUM, Swz., (Prickly Shield-Fern, Hard Prickly Shield Fern), Syn. Fil, 
53. Willdenow, Sp. PI, V. 258. Hooker, Sp. Fil., IV. 18. Milde, Fil. Eur. et Atlant. 
104. Hook. and Baker, Syn. Fil., 252. Eaton, Ferns of N. A., Il. 123. Underwood, Our, 
Nat. Ferns, etc., 103. 

A. aculeatum, a lobatum, Hook. 

A aculeatum, var. lobatum, Kunze ; Eaton, Ferns of N. A., II, 124. 

A. lobatum, Smith ; Swartz, Syn. Fil., 53. 

A. lobatum, a vulgare, Doell. 

Polystichum Plunkeneti, DC. 

Polystichum aculeatum, Pres]. 

Polystichum aculeatum, var. lobatum, Moore. 

Polypodium aculeatum, Fries. 

Polypodium lobatum, Huds. 

A handsome, evergreen, prickly-looking fern, found growing among rocks or in rocky 
ravines, generally in mountainous districts. It attains a height of one to three feet, the 
fronds forming a crown. Rootstock stout, erect or ascending, covered with old stalk- 
bases ; stalks variable in length but considerably shorter than the fronds, very chaffy 
with largeand small brown scales intermixed, as is the rachis and usually its branches ; 
fronds one to two feet long, dark-green, rigid, subcoriaceous, more or less. chaffy-fibrilose 
beneath, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, tapering to the apex and also toward the base, 
pinnate; pinne lanceolate from a broad base, acute, generally curved upward (some of 
the lower sometimes horizontal or deflexed) incisely pinnatifid or again pinnate; pin- 
nules obliquely set, variable in shape, rhomboid-oval and sessile or unequally triangular- 
ovate and auricled on the upper side of a slightly stalked base, the superior basal ones 
generally much larger than the next and more distinctly auricled, serrate with the teeth 
aculeate in varying degrees ; sori in two rows on the segments, nearer the midvein than 
the margin. 

Professor Eaton states that the difference between typical A. aculeatum and var. lobatum 
is only that usually seen between the fronds of mature (therefore more divided) and 
younger plants, and includes in var. /obatum, like Kunze and Milde, both these forms. Ihave 


ADDITIONS TO CANADIAN FILICINEÆ, 7 


preferred, however, to combine the two under the specific name, and have also included 
the synonymy of both under the same head. 

The Californian forms, var. Californicum, Eaton, and var. angulare, Braun, are, broadly 
speaking, distinguished from the type by the pinnæ of the former being less, of the latter 
more divided. In var. Californieum, which is more like a hybrid between A. muni- 
tum and A. aculeatum than anything else, the fronds are much elongated, scarcely narrowed 
at the base, and so little divided that even the superior basal segment is scarcely dis- 
tinct as a pinnule and is not at all auricled. In var. angulare the fronds, which are lighter 
colored and less stiff, rigid and prickly-looking, are scarcely or not at all narrowed at the 
base, and so much divided as to be truly bipinnate, the pinnules being distinctly short- 
stalked, mostly auricled, slightly incised, and the superior basal one often again pinna- 
tifid. Var. Braunii, Doell, differs in being less rigid and much thinner in texture, with 
shorter stalk, more narrowed base, and more divided pinnæ, the lower of which are 
obtuse; the pinnules, too, which are more distinct and auricled, have short stalks and 
truncate, rectangular bases, while the under or both sides of the fronds are covered with 
characteristic, long, soft hairs, which are absent or very scanty in true aculeatum. Var. 
scopulinum, D. C. Eaton, is readily recognized by its short, narrowly lanceolate, almost 
smooth fronds, which have ovate, rather obtuse pinnæ, with less aculeate teeth. 

Of a Canadian example sent him, Professor Eaton remarks :—“I have not before this 
seen anything just like your specimen. It is more exactly the European var. /obatum than 
any I have had from California, the difference being in the firmer texture of your plant, 
and the decidedly more aculeate teeth of the pinnules.” 

Heretofore the only forms of A. aculeatum known to be Canadian were vars. Braunii 
and scopulinum, the specimens now referred to the type having been received in 1886 from 
Mr. J. R. Anderson of Victoria, B. Col, who informs me they were collected in moist, 
rocky places at Port Simpson, on Portland Inlet, Northern B. Col. 


Genus XV.—CYSTOPTERIS, Bernh. 


2.—C. BULBIFERA, Bernh. ‘Very abundant about Lower St. John, Coldbrook,—Hay.” 
(Fowler, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV.) 


3.—C. Montana, Bernh. Abundant for about one hundred yards along a spring 
brook, which ran through spruce woods, about ten miles from the H. B. Co.’s. post on Lake 
Mistassini, N. E. Terr.—J. M. Macoun. A few yards of soil on either side of the creek was 
covered with thick moss, in which, and up to the edge of the stream, grew the fern, the 
roots in some cases growing right in the water. Some of the specimens were very large, 
measuring about twenty inches in height. 


Genus XVI.—ONOCLEA, Z. 


1.—O. SENSIBILIS, L., var. OBTUSILOBATA, Torr. “ Richibucto,—Fowler; Havelock, 
King’s Co.,—Brittain.” (Fowler, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV.) 


Genus XVII—WOODSIA, R. Br. 


1.—W. GLABELLA, R. Br, In Rey. J. Fowler’s new list of New Brunswick plants 


Sec. IV., 1886. 3. 


18 BURGESS ON CANADIAN FILICINEÆ. 


(Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., No. IV.) the specimens collected at the Tunnel in Resti- 
gouche by Mr. Fowler, and at Grand Falls by Mr. Jack, are named W. hyperborea. Mr. 
Jack’s Grand Falls plant, however, which I have examined, is undoubtedly true W. gla- 
bella. 


4.—W. OBTUSA, Torr. A specimen collected amongst loose rocks at Port Simpson, on 
Portland Inlet, Northern B. Col., and supplied by Mr. J. R. Anderson, has broad though 
very thin indusia and so is undoubtedly genuine W. obtusa. This important discovery 
renders it possible that Dr. Lyall’s plants, collected on the Galton Mountains, B. Col., in 
1861, may after all be this species, and not W. scopulina, as was stated in “Canadian 
Filicineæ ” (Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. II, Sect. IV, p. 174), Professor Eaton, with whom 
I have communicated on the subject, informing me, that he has never personally exam- 
ined Dr. Lyall’s specimens. Our known stations for this rare Canadian fern are now, 
therefore, two in number, and strangely far apart, the one being in Nova Scotia, the other 
in British Columbia. 


5.—W. scopunina, D. C. Eaton. Specimens, thickly glandular on the upper as well 
as the lower surface, have been received from Mr. Anderson, who says it grows abun- 
dantly amongst loose rocks on Mount Finlayson and other hills about Victoria, B. Col. 


6.—W. OREGANA, D. C. Eaton. The range of this species has been extended along 
the Thompson River to Kamloops, B. Col., where typical specimens, but of rather stunted 
growth, were collected in crevices of dry rocks exposed to intense heat and sunlight, by 
Mr. Jas. Fletcher of Ottawa, in June, 1885. 


Genus XX.—OSMUNDA, L. 
1.—O. REGALIS, Z. Abundant around Lake Mistassini, N. E. Terr.—J. M. Macoun. 


2.—O. CLAYTONIANA, LZ. Very abundant among boulders all around the margin of 
Lake Mistassini, N. E. Terr., and back from the lake in woods on higher ground.—J. M. 
Macoun. 


eee 


SROMION IV., 1886. Pp ae | Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


III. On the Fossil Plants of the Laramie Formation of Canada. 


By Sir J. Witu1am Dawson, C.M.G., LL.D., FRS. 


(Presented May 27, 1886.) 


I. —INTRODUCTORY. 


The following paper is a continuation, and in so far a completion, of those on the 
Mesozoic Floras of Canada contained in Vols. I and III of these Transactions. 

On the geological map of Canada, the Laramie series, formerly known as the Lignitic 
or Lignite Tertiary, occurs, with the exception of a few outliers, in two large areas west of 
the 100th meridian, and separated from each other by a tract of older Cretaceous rocks, 
over which the Laramie beds may have extended, before the later denudation of the 
region. 

The most eastern of these areas, that of the Souris River and Wood Mountain, 
extends for some distance along the United States boundary, between the 102nd and 
109th meridians, and reaches northward to about thirty miles south of the “elbow” of the 
South Saskatchewan River, which is on the parallel of 51° north. In this area, the lowest 
beds of the Laramie are seen to rest on those of the Fox Hill group of the Upper Creta- 
ceous, and at one point on the west they are overlaid by beds of Miocene Tertiary age, 
observed by Mr. McConnell, of the Geological Survey, in the Cypress Hills, and referred 
by Cope, on the evidence of mammalian remains, to the White River division of the 
United States geologists, which is regarded by them as Lower Miocene.’ The age of 
the Laramie beds is thus stratigraphically determined to be between the Fox Hill Creta- 
ceous and the Lower Miocene. They are also undoubtedly continuous with the Fort 
Union group of the United States geologists on the other side of the international 
boundary, and they contain similar fossil plants. They are divisible into two groups,— 
a lower, mostly argillaceous, and to which the name of “ Bad Lands beds” may be given 
from the “ bad lands” of Wood Mountain where they are well exposed, and an upper, 
partly arenaceous member, which may be named the Souris River or Porcupine Creek 
division. In the lower division are found reptilian remains of Upper Cretaceous type, 
with some fish remains more nearly akin to those of the Eocene.” Neither division has 
as yet afforded mammalian remains. 

The western area is of still larger dimensions, and extends along the eastern base of 
the Rocky Mountains from the United States boundary to about the 55th parallel of 
latitude, and stretches eastward to the 111th Meridian. In this area and more especially 
in its southern part, the officers of the Geological Survey of Canada have recognized three 








' Report of Geol. Survey of Canada, 1885. ? Cope in Dr. G. M. Dawson’s Report on 49th parallel. 


20 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS 


divisions as follows :—(1) The Lower Laramie or St. Mary River series, corresponding 
in its character and fossils to the Lower or Bad Lands division of the other area. (2) A 
Middle division, the Willow Creek beds, consisting of clays, mostly reddish, and not 
recognized in the other area. (3) The Upper Laramie cr Porcupine Hills division, corre- 
sponding in fossils and to some extent in mineral character to the Souris River beds of the 
eastern area. 

The fossil plants collected by Dr. G. M. Dawson in the eastern area were noticed by 
the writer in an appendix to Dr. Dawson’s Report on the 49th parallel, in 1875, and a 
collection subsequently made by Dr. Selwyn was described in the report of the Geologi- 
cal Survey of Canada for 1879-80. Those of the western area, and especially collections 
made by myself near Calgary in 1883, were shortly noticed in my paper in Vol. III of 
these Transactions. The present paper includes a revision of this former work, with the 


results of the study of new material collected, principally by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell and Mr. T. 


C. Weston of the Geological Survey, in the western area, and submitted to me along with 
the previous collections by the Director of the Geological Survey. 

In studying these fossil plants, I have found that there is a close correspondence 
between those of the Lower and Upper Laramie in the two areas above referred to 
respectively, and that the flora of the Lower Laramie is somewhat distinct from that of 
the Upper, the former being especially rich in certain aquatic plants, and the latter much 
more copious on the whole, and much more rich in remains of forest trees. This is, how- 
ever, possibly an effect rather of local conditions than of any considerable change in the 
flora, since some Upper Laramie forms recur as low as the Belly River series of the 
Cretaceous, which is believed on stratigraphical grounds to be considerably older than 
the Lower Laramie. 

With reference to the correlation of these beds with those of the United States, some 
difficulty has arisen from the tendency of palæobotanists to refer the plants of the Upper 
Laramie to the Miocene age, although in the reports of Mr. Clarence King, the late 
Director of the United States Geological Survey, these beds are classed on the evidence of 
stratigraphy and animal fossils, as Upper Cretaceous. More recently, however, and partly 
perhaps in consequence of the views maintained by the writer since 1875, some change 
of opinion has occurred, and Dr. Newberry and Mr. Lesquereux seem now inclined to 
admit that what in Canada we recognize as Upper Laramie, is really Eocene, and the 
Lower Laramie either Cretaceous or a transition group between this and the Eocene. In 
a recent paper, Dr. Newberry gives a comparative table, in which he correlates the 


Lower Laramie with the Upper Cretaceous of Vancouver Island and the Faxce and © 


Maestricht beds of Europe, while he regards the Upper Laramie as equivalent to European 
Eocene. Except in so far as the equivalence of the Lower Laramie and Vancouver Island 
beds is concerned, this corresponds very nearly with the conclusions of the writer in his 
paper read to this Society last year,” namely, that we must either regard the Laramie as 
a transition Cretaceo-Hocene group, or must institute our line of separation in the Willow 
Creek or Middle Laramie division, which has, however, as yet afforded no fossil plants. 
I doubt, however, the equivalence of the Vancouver beds and the Lower Laramie, except 








' Newberry, Trans. N. Y. Academy, Feb., 1886. 
* Tbid., Vol. iii. 


OF THE LARAMIE FORMATION OF CANADA. 21 


perhaps in so far as the upper member of the former is concerned.’ I have also to observe 
that in the latest report of Mr. Lesquereux* he still seems to retain in the Miocene certain 
formations in the west, which from their fossil plants I should be inclined to regard as 
Eocene. 

In my original studies of the specimens described in this paper, I had examined and 
noted separately the collections from the eastern and western areas; but as these 
obviously correspond in their divisions, and several of the species are identical, I have, to 
avoid repetition, placed the whole together; noting, however, the localities in which the 
specimens were obtained, and their reference to the Lower or Upper divisions. 

I may state here my obligations to the reports of Lesquereux on the Tertiary Flora 
of the United States, and more especially to Dr. Newberry’s Memoir on the Later Extinct 
Floras of America,’ and to the volume of plates published in illustration of it by the 
United States Geological Survey ‘ as these, referring to localities adjoining the Canadian 
boundary and to beds continuous with ours, have proved of the greatest value for 
purposes of comparison. 


II.—DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES. 


1. Filices. 
ONOCLEA SENSIBILIS, Linn. 

Newberry, Later Extinct Floras of America, p. 89, and Volume of Illustrations, pub- 
lished by the Geological Survey of the Territories of the United States, 1878. Report by 
Dr. G. M. Dawson, on the Geology of the 49th Parallel, Appendix A. 

Leaves of this species are abundant in the beds of Porcupine Creek, (long. 106°) near 
the international boundary, which are of Upper Laramie age. They are also found in the 
Lower Laramie of the same district at the Bad Lands of Wood Mountain. The species has 
also been recognized in the plant beds of the Isle of Mull on the Scottish coast. These 
were at one time regarded as Miocene, but are now recognized by Mr. Starkie Gardiner as 
Eocene. It is a very common American fern at the present day, ranging from Northern 
Canada to Pennsylvania and southward, and from the Atlantic coast into the interior. It 
vindicates its claim to be a long-lived species by its present wide distribution, and the 
considerable varieties of station in which it can flourish. Though living in America it has 
become extinct in Europe. Newberry describes it from the Fort Union group, in which, 
as well as at Porcupine Creek, it is very abundant. Dr. Newberry notices the fact that 
the fossil fronds are intermediate between the common modern variety and var. obtusiloba 
of Torrey. 

Collected by Dr. G. M. Dawson, whose collections in the remainder of the paper will 
be indicated by the letters G. M. D. 


DAVALLIA (STENOLOMA) TENUIFOLIA, Linn. (Plate I, Fig. 1.) 
Report on 49th Parallel, p. 329, Pl. XVI, Figs. 1 and 2. 
This species is found at Porcupine Creek with the preceding, but is more rare. 1 





! Protection Island beds of my paper, Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. i. 
* Cretaceous and Tertiary Plants. * Annals of New York Lyceum, 1868. 
‘ Illustrations of Cretaceous and Tertiary Plants, 1878, 


22 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS 


have compared this plant with recent specimens from the Himalayas in the collection of 
Mr. D. A. P. Watt of Montreal, and find no difference. The genus is not now known to 
be represented in America. Ferns of this type are not uncommon in the early Tertiary of 
other countries, but being known only by barren fronds have usually been referred to the 
genus Sphenopteris. Sphenopteris Brunstrandi of Heer, from the so-called Miocene of Spitz- 
bergen is one of these species, and also S. eocenica of Ettingshausen. 

In regard to distribution, this plant affords a curious contrast to the last. It is now 
confined to Asia, whereas in the Laramie period it was associated in America with our 
common Onoclea. It has not been found in the Laramie of the United States. 

Collected by G. M. D. ; 


2. Equisetacee. 


EQUISETUM, Sp. 

In the Upper Laramie of Porcupine Creek, are many fragments of stems of an Equis- 
etum about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and with twenty to thirty ribs. It is near 
to E. arcticum of Heer, from Spitzbergen, and to E. Wyomingense of Lesquereux, but cannot 
be certainly identified. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


EQUISETUM, (Roots and bulblets). (Plate I, Fig. 2). 

Physagenia Parlatorii, Report of 49th Parallel, p. 329, Pl. XVI, Figs. 3 and 4. 

There can be little doubt that the plants designated by Heer, Physagenia, are really 
roots and tubers of Equisetum. The specimens are from the Upper Laramie of Great 
Valley (lat. 49°, long. 105°); but these objects occur in this formation in various places 
in Canada and the United States. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


3. Conifere. 


THUJA INTERRUPTA, Newberry. (Plate I, Fig. 3). 

Newberry, loc. cit. p. 42. Dawson, Report on 49th Parallel, Ap. A. 

This species is, according to Newberry, very characteristic of the Fort Union group, 
and is equally so of the Upper Laramie at Porcupine Creek. One of the specimens shows 
scales of the cone, which resemble those of 7. gigantea of the west coast, while the foliage 
is nearer to that of 2! occidentalis, the common “cedar” or arbor-vitæ of Canada. Wood, 
having the structure of that of Thuja, is found in the lignites associated with these beds, 
and probably belongs to this species. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


SEQUOIA NORDENSKIOLDI, Heer. 

Heer, Flora Foss. Arctica (Spitzbergen.) 

The common species of Sequoia found at Porcupine Creek and Great Valley seems 
referable to this species, and it is still more abundant in the same Upper Laramie formation 
at Red Deer River. Specimens of the same species from the Fort Union group, presented 
to me by Dr. Newberry, are labelled as this species, though in his memoir S. Langsdor{fii 
alone is mentioned. Our specimens cannot be distinguished from those from Spitzbergen 
figured by Heer, though in form and size the leaves are somewhat variable. Cones also 


OF THE LARAMIE FORMATION OF CANADA. 23 


are found, which, so far as can be made out, are similar to those described and figured by 
Heer. Some of the specimens might, it is true, be referred to S. Langsderfii, but there 
seem so many eradations that I doubt if any specific distinction can be made out. I have 
already indicated in Vol. III of these Transactions that the specimens from Vancouver 
Island which have been referred to S. Langsdorfii, probably belong to 8S. Smittiana of 
Heer, a Cretaceous species. 

This species also occurs on the Mackenzie (Richardson). Along with S. Langsdor{ii, 
it is abundantly distributed in the older Tertiary of Europe and America. So far as 
known, it is limited in Canada to the Laramie series. 

Porcupine Creek and Great Valley, collected by G. M. D.; Cones, Dirt Hills, col- 
lected by R. Bell ; Red Deer River and Bow River, J. B. Tyrrell. 


GLYPTOSTROBUS EUROPEUS, Brngt. 

Heer, Flora Helvetica. 

Fragments of branches and of strobiles, referable, though not very certainly, to this 
species in its wider acceptation among palæobotanists, occur in the Upper Laramie of 
Porcupine Creek. It is found, according to Newberry, in the Fort Union group of Dakota, 
and also, according to Heer, in the so-called Miocene of Greenland. Cones, probably of 
Glyptostrobus, occur rarely in the Porcupine Hill beds. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


TAXODIUM OCCIDENTALE, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. 

This species is found in the eastern division of the Laramie (Selwyn); and in the 
western division, fragments probably referable to it have been found in several places. 


TAXITES OLRIKI, Heer. (PI. I, Fig. 5.) 

Heer, Flora Alaskana, Flora Foss. Arctica, Report of Geological Survey of Canada, 
1879-80. 

Leaves and branches referable to this fine species, collected by Dr. Selwyn in the 
sandstones of the Upper Laramie at Roche Percée, Souris River, were noticed by the 
writer in the report of the Geological Survey of Canada of 1879-80. It was originally 
described by Heer, from Alaska and Spitzbergen, and does not seem to have been noticed 
in the Laramie of the United States. It may have been a northern form. 


SALISBURIA, Sp. 

At least one species of Salisburia belongs to our Laramie Flora. Nutlets occur in 
some of Mr. Tyrrell’s specimens from the Lower Laramie, and fragments of leaves and also 
nutlets were collected by the writer in the Upper Laramie sandstone of Shaganappi Point 
near Calgary. In so far as venation is concerned, these leaves might belong to Les- 
quereux’s species S. polymorpha; but their size and form cannot be made out any further 
than that they represent a broad-leaved species not unlike the modern S. adiantoides. 


4. Monocotyledones. 


LEMNA (SPIRODELA) SCUTATA, Dawson. (PI. I, Fig. 6.) 
Report on 49th Parallel, p. 529, Pl. XVI, Figs. 5 and 6. Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora, 


24 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS 


Fronds, round, kidney-form or sometimes tending to trilobed, undulate at the edges ; 
half an inch to nearly an inch in diameter. Single or grouped, veinless or with very 
faint veins radiating from a marginal spot. Roots long, filiform, proceeding apparently 
from a slight notch on the edge of the frond. 

This was evidently an aquatic plant, producing rounded or rarely trilobed fronds 
about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and haying numerous rootlets proceeding 
from a marginal or submarginal thickened spot. The fronds were evidently fleshy but 
not vesicular, and cellular with extremely delicate radiating veins which can seldom be 
seen. Whether this plant is truly a Lemna it is impossible to decide, in the absence of 
fructification, but I feel-certain that it should not be confounded with Lesquereux’s Pistia 
corrugata, with which that botanist compares it. This I have not seen, but as figured by 
him it differs in size, form, and venation. 

The plant is plentiful and very constant in its characters in the Lower Laramie of the 
Bad Lands of Wood Mountain (G. M. D.); also in the Lower Laramie of Pincher Creek 
(T. C. Weston). 


PHRAGMITES, Sp. 

Many leaves referable to plants of this genus occur in all the collections, from both 
Upper and Lower Laramie, but can only be characterized as stems and leaves of large 
grass-like or sedge-like plants of uncertain affinities. 


Scirpus, Sp. 

Report on 49th Parallel. 

Spikes small, numerous, less than a line long, and with from four to five pairs of 
incurved lanceolate scales. 

Lower Laramie, Bad Lands of Wood Mountain. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


Scirpus, Sp. 
Report on 49th Parallel. 
Spikes with about six pairs of scales and about two lines long. 
Upper Laramie, Porcupine Creek. 
Collected by G. M. D. 


5. Dicotyledones. 


PLATANUS NOBILIS, Newberry, (Plate I, Fig. 7.) 

Newberry, Later Extinct Floras ; Dawson in Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1879-80. 

This magnificent leaf, of which many very good specimens have been obtained, was 
first described by Dr. Newberry in the Annals of the Lyceum of New York for 1868. His 
specimens were from the Fort Union series, near Fort Clarke, on the Upper Missouri, and 
were found in beds then regarded as Miocene Tertiary, though now known to be much 
older, and which are on the horizon of the Lignite Tertiary series of the Souris River. . A 
figure of the leaf is given in Dr. Newberry’s later work, “ Illustrations of Cretaceous and 
Tertiary Plants,” Geological Survey of the Territories, 1878. There can be little doubt 
that this plant is the same with that named by Lesquereux, Platanus dubia, in 1878, and 
subsequently described in his report on the Tertiary Flora of the Western Territories, as 


OF THE LARAMIE FORMATION OF CANADA. 25 


Aralia notata. Fragments of this leaf were obtained by Dr. G. M. Dawson in the region of 
the Souris River in 1874, but they were too imperfect for description. Dr. Selwyn, how- 
ever, found in 1878 in the Upper Laramie sandstones of Roche Percée, on Souris River, 
very perfect specimens, which I noticed in the Report of the Geological Survey for 
1879-80, Dr. Selwyn having kindly placed his specimens in my hands for study. Some of 
these are a foot in diameter, and they show some points of structure not before noticed. 

I may, before referring to these, quote Newberry’s description, which is very full 
and accurate. 

“Leaves large, one and a half feet in length and breadth, petioled, 3 lobed, or sub-5 
lobed, lobes acute, margins of lobes and base entire, or near the summits of the lobes 
delicately sinuate-toothed ; nervation strongly marked, generally parallel; medial nerve 
straight, two basilar nerves of nearly equal length and strength diverge from it at an 
angle of 30°-35°, are straight throughout and terminate in the apices of the principal 
lateral lobes. Above the basilar nerves about 16 pairs of lateral nerves are given off from 
the midrib at about the same angle; these are nearly straight and parallel, terminating in 
the teeth of the margin. From each of the basilar nerves diverge about the same number 
of pairs of branches as from the mid-rib, and these are nearly straight and parallel 
terminating directly in the margin. Of these the second and third exterior one on each 
side, is often much the strongest of the series, and is then prolonged into a small but 
distinct lateral, triangular, acute lobe, giving the leaf a somewhat pentagonal form. From 
this basilar branch of the lateral nerves, 12 or more short, generally simple branchlets, 
spring on the lower side, and 4-5 on the upper side, near the summit, all of which ter- 
minate in the margins. The tertiary nerves connect the adjacent secondary nerves nearly 
at right angles. Sometimes they are straight and parallel, but oftener more or less broken 
and branching where they meet, near the middle of the interspaces. Where the systems 
of nervation of the lateral and middle lobes come in contact, the tertiary nerves are 
stronger and form a somewhat irregular network, of which the areolæ are large and sub- 
quadrate.” 

The above description corresponds perfectly with Dr. Selwyn’s specimens, except 
that only the right basilar nerve sends off a large branch terminating in a lobe; that on 
the left side having somewhat equal branches. 

As to the affinities of the leaf, Newberry remarks that the texture is thicker and the 
surface smoother than most sycamores, resembling in this some tropical leaves ; but as the 
radical structure is that of Platanus, and the associated plants indicate a HUE anal climate, 
he refers the plant to that genus. 

Lesquereux, in describing his Aralia notata, gives nearly the same characters, except 
that he characterizes the secondary nerves as camptodrome, or bending before they reach 
the margin. He admits that he would consider it identical with Newberry’s species but 
for this feature, and further adds that in one of his specimens the outer véins appear to 
be craspedodrome and to terminate in small teeth, and he refers to other cases in which 
such characters are inconstant. In Dr. Selwyn’s specimens, while in the basal part of the 
leaf the veins bend somewhat toward the margin, which is entire, in the upper part they 
run straight to the margin, and terminate in short teeth, separated by broad, shallow 
sinuses. Thus these specimens satisfactorily unite Newberry’s and Lesquereux’s species. 

Dr. Selwyn’s specimens, however, and others subsequently collected by myself at 


Sec. IV. 1886. 4. 


26 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS 


Shaganappi Point, exhibit a peculiarity which seems to have been absent or concealed in 
the specimens studied by Newberry and Lesquereux, in the presence of two short basal 
lobes, extending backward on the petiole. Each of these is about an inch in length, 
pointed, and with one strong exterior tooth and two delicate nerves, one extending to the 
point and the other to the tooth. It does not certainly appear whether these basilar lobes 
are separate or united in the middle. If the latter, they would present some resemblance 
in mode of attachment to the Cretaceous leaves known as Protophyllum, and to the 
Tertiary species of Pterospermites, from which, however, this leaf differs materially in 
other respects. These peculiar basal lobes are preserved only in a few of the specimens. 

In Dr. Selwyn’s specimens the petiole is four inches long in a specimen about a foot 
in diameter. It is channelled, woody in texture, and with an articulating surface at the 
proximal end. This and its great abundance on certain surfaces, shows that the leaf 
belonged to a deciduous tree, which, from the localities cited by the authors already 
named, must have been widely distributed, though as Lesquereux remarks, especially 
abundant to the north. 

It is to be hoped that further research will disclose the fruit of this remarkable tree, 
and thus make its affinities more certainly known. In the meantime, I think it well to 
retain Newberry’s name, as having priority, and quite as likely to be correct as any other. 
If a Platanus, the tree must, as Newberry remarks, haye borne somewhat the same relations 
to our sycamores which Acer macrophyllum of the West Coast bears to the other maples. 
This species would seem to be specially abundant in the “ Second Group” (Evanston, 
Mount Brosse, etc.) of Lesquereux’s arrangement of the Lignitic flora. 

In the sandstones and shale of the Upper Laramie at Shaganappi Point, near Cal- 
gary, I found these leaves very abundant, and showing the same characters with Dr. 
Selwyn’s specimens from the Souris. Fragments referable to this species also appear in 
Mr. Tyrrell’s collections from another locality on the Bow River, and from disturbed beds 
in the foot-hills to the north; and a very similar, if not the same species, occurs in the 
Belly River series, near Medicine Hat. 


PLATANUS RayNnoupsu, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora. Dawson, loc. cit. 

Very abundant with the last at Shaganappi Point. The leaves present many differ- 
ences in size and form, but all of these fall within the limits of the descriptions and figures 
of Newberry and Lesquereux. This is a well known species of the Fort Union division 
in the United States. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


PLATANUS HAYDENTI, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora. 

A leaf not well preserved, but identical, so far as venation and general form are con- 
cerned, with the Fort Union species named above, occurs in Mr. Tyrrell’s collections from 
sandstones of the Upper Laramie on the Bow River. It is associated with leaves of P, 
nobilis. 


CORYLUS ROSTRATA, Ait. 
Newberry, loc. cit. Report on 49th Parallel. 


OF THE LARAMIE FORMATION OF CANADA. 2] 


Specimens of leaves so near to the above modern species that they cannot be separated 
from it occur on the Upper Laramie of Porcupine Creek. Newberry has recognized this 
species in the Fort Union group. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


CoryLus McQuarRil, Heer. 

Heer, Flora Foss. Arctica. 

Fragments pretty certainly belonging to this species appear in the collections from 
the Upper Laramie of Porcupine Creek. The species occurs in the Fort Union group, on 
Mackenzie River, and also in the so-called Miocene of Alaska and Greenland. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


CASTANEA, Sp. 

Quercus. Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1879-80. 

Leaf elongate oblong, margin obtusely dentate at ends of veins, which are rather less 
than a quarter of an inch apart, and at angle of 45° to 47°. Texture coriaceous. 

This leaf occurs in the Upper Laramie of Souris River. It may be the same with 
Lesquereux’s C. intermedia. 

Collected by Dr. Selwyn. 


QUERCUS, Sp. (Plate I, Fig. 8.) 
Leaf long, narrow, with simple straight nerves and entire edges. 
Upper Laramie of Great Valley. 
Collected by G. M. D. 


POPULUS GENETRIX, Newberry. 

Newberry, Joc. cit. 

In the Upper Laramie of Souris River, Great Valley and Shaganappi Point. In the 
publications of Lesquereux and Newberry there are several nearly allied species to which 
this leaf may have belonged; but Newberry’s figure, named as above, has the same 
characters. 


POPULUS ACERIFOLIA, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. 

Found in Dr. Selwyn’s collections from Souris River; also in Mr. Tyrrell’s collections 
from the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, north of Bow River, and in my collections 
from Shaganappi Point. 


PopuLus RICHARDSONII, Heer. 

Fragments of leaves from the Upper Laramie of Porcupine Creek appear to represent 
this species, also found on Mackenzie River. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


Populus ARCTICA, Heer, (Plate I, Fig. 9.) 
Heer, Flora Foss. Arctica. Newberry, loc, cit. 
In the specimens in my possession I cannot certainly separate P. arctica from leaves 
having the character of P. cuneata of Newberry, which may be merely a smaller form. 
Great Valley, G. M. D. Souris River, Dr. Selwyn. 


28 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS 


SALIX RAEANA, Heer. 

Heer, Flora Foss. Arctica. 

This species, occurring in Greenland and on the Mackenzie River, is represented by a 
few specimens in the collections from Great Valley. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


SALIX LARAMIANA, 8. N. (Plate I, Fig. 10). 

Leaf moderately large and wide, veins few, at angle of 45°, forking at an obtuse angle 
toward the margin, which is entire, surface finely reticulate. 

This species, except in its entire margin, resembles very nearly the Sevarians, Heer, 
from Alaska. It occurs in the Upper Laramie of Great Valley. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


ULMus PRÆCURSOR, S. N. (Plate II, Fig. 11). 

Leaves small, thin, inequilateral and rounded at the base. Apex acute, margin 
sinuate. Veins numerous, slightly curved, and dividing toward the margin to enter into 
the unequal serrations. 

This species is nearly related to the U. fenuinervis of Lesquereux, from Florissant, 
Colorado. It does not seem to have been found in the recognized Laramie or Fort Union 
group of the United States. 


SASSAFRAS (ARALIOPSIS) BURPEANUM, Dawson. (Plate II, Fig. 12). 

Dawson, Mesozoic Floras, Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Vol. III. 

This leaf will be found described in the paper above cited. It is from the Upper 
Laramie of Shaganappi Point, and is named after Mr. Burpee, who aided in my explorations 
there. 


SASSAFRAS SELWYNU, Dawson. (PI. II, Fig. 13). 

Dawson, Report Geol. Survey of Canada, 1879-80. 

Leaf somewhat rough on the under side; three lobed, three ribbed, with the central 
lobe longest ; ribs and nerves strong and woody; margin entire and slightly waved; 
breadth, 4°5 centimetres ; length, 5 centimetres. The two lateral nerves diverge at an 
angle of 40° from the midrib. Each lateral rib gives off three small curved veins at its 
base, and these six strong curved veinlets which bend round and become parallel with the 
margin. Slender parallel veins are given off from the inner sides of the lateral ribs, and 
join those of the midrib up to a height of 1°5 centimetres, when the midrib gives off 6 
strong slightly curved parallel lateral veins on each side, at angles of 40°. 

This species is represented by only one well-preserved example and some fragments, 
in Dr. Selwyn’s collections from the Souris River. Its form and venation are very 
peculiar, and [ think entitle it to be referred to Sassafras with quite as much probability 
as many of the leaves from the Cretaceous referred to that genus. It is indeed very near 
to S. cretaceum, Newberry, especially the variety obtusum of Lesquereux. It is to be 
observed, however, that this common Cretaceous species has also been referred to Araliopsis. 
If a Sassafras, it is of interest as being the first representative of that genus in the Laramie 
period. 


Collected by Dr. Selwyn. 


OF THE LARAMIE FORMATION OF CANADA. 29 


VIBURNUM ASPERUM, Newberry. 

This Fort Union Species is quite abundant in the Upper Laramie of Red Deer River. 
Fragments also occur in the Souris River collection and in those from Shaganappi Point, 
where are also fruits which may have belonged to some species of Viburnum. It also 
occurs at Porcupine Creek. 


VIBURNUM CALGARIANUM, Dawson. (Plate II, Fig. 14.) 
Described in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Vol. III, from specimens 
collected at Shaganappi Point. 


VIBURNUM OXYCOCCOIDES, Dawson. (Plate II, Fig. 15.) 
Described as above from specimens collected at Shaganappi Point. Accompanied by 
fruits like those of Viburnum. This species is very near to the modern V. opulus. 


VIBURNUM LANCEOLATUM, Newberry. 
Newberry, loc. cit. 
A leaf from Porcupine Creek seems to represent this Fort Union species. 


CATALPA CRASSIFOLIA, Wewberry. 
Fragments of leaves in the Upper Laramie of Bow River are similar to the above 
species, whose generic relations are doubtful. 


Collected by J. B. Tyrrell. 


SAPINDUS AFFINIS, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. 

Leaves of this characteristic Fort Union species occur in the Lower Laramie of the 
Bad Lands of Wood Mountain, and also in the Upper Laramie of Great Valley. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


ZÆSCULUS ANTIQUA, Dawson. (Plate II, Fig. 16.) 

Report on 49th Parallel, 1875. 

Pericarp 1} inches in length and one inch in breadth; obovate, truncate at the base, 
regularly rounded above with several strong woody spines on the upper half. Seed of 
similar form, but smooth or with a few tortuous impressions. This fruit seems to be an 
Æsculus, but with characters somewhat intermediate between those of the horse-chesnut 
and those of the American buckeye. 

Lower Laramie, Bad Lands, Wood Mountain. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


SYMPHOROCARPOPHYLLUM, Gr. N. 

I place under this name certain leaves from the Upper Laramie of Great Valley, which 
at first I had named Hederophyllum, but now find them so near in form, venation and texture 
to the leaves of the common snowberry that I can scarcely doubt their affinity to these. 
On the same slabs there are remains of berry-like fruits, which probably belong to some 
caprifoliaceous plant, and possibly to the species described below. 


30 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS 


SYMPHOROCARPOPHYLLUM ALBERTUM, 8S. N. (Plate II, Fig. 17.) 

Leaf about an inch in length, obovate, pointed below, rounded at apex, with two 
blunt teeth on the sides. Midrib obscure, veins at very acute angles and evanescent, 
surface finely netted. Upper Laramie of Great Valley. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


S. LINNÆIFORME, 8. N. (Plate II, Fig. 18.) 

Leaf very small, rounded, with five very obtuse lobes, the terminal lobe by much the 
largest. The leaves are tortuous and dichotomous, with a fine reticulation between. Has 
much the general aspect of the leaf of Linnea borealis. ‘Upper Laramie, Porcupine Creek. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


Paniurus CoLOMBI, Heer. 

Heer, Flora Foss. Arctica. Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora. 

Described originally by Heer from Greenland and Spitzbergen, and found along with 
Populus arctica at Carbon, Wyoming. Upper Laramie, Great Valley. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


CARYA ANTIQUORUM, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora. 

Described by Newberry from the Fort Union beds, in which its leaves are abundant. 
Lesquereux finds it in the Yellowstone Valley and at Evanston. Upper Laramie of 
Porcupine Creek. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


JUGLANS RUGOSA, Lesquereux. 

Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora. 

In the Report on the 49th Parallel I referred these leaves to Juglans nigella of Heer, 
but they are still nearer to Lesquereux’s figures, if these represent a true species and not 
merely a varietal form. 

In confirmation of the reference of this and the following species to Juglans, I may 
mention that, in some of the silicified wood of the district which affords the leaves, there 
are trunks which have been sliced by Mr. Weston and show the structure of the modern 
butternut. Porcupine Creek, Upper Laramie. 


Collected by G. M. D. 


JUGLANS SCHIMPERI, Lesquereux. 

Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora. 

Lesquereux’s description is as follows :—‘ Leaves lanceolate, gradually acuminate, 
broadly cuneate, and rounded at the inequilateral base to a short petiole; borders slightly 
undulate, secondary veins numerous, parallel, curved, closely following the borders, 
nervilles distant, areolation subquadrate.” Leaves answering to this description occurs 
in the Upper Laramie shale of Great Valley. Lesquereux’s specimens were from the 
Green River group, which is reported as typical Eocene, and may be newer than the 
Upper Laramie. 


Collected by G. M. D. 


OF THE LARAMIE FORMATION OF CANADA. 31 


JUGLANS RHAMNOIDES, Lesquereux. 

Lesquereux, Tertiary Flora. 

This species is thus described by Lesquereux :—“* Leaves oval, narrowed in a curve 
or rounded to the petiole, very entire; lateral veins thin, distant, curved in passing to the 
borders, camptodrome.” 

Lesquereux’s specimens were from Spring Cañon, Montana, also Black Butte, 
Wyoming, and Point of Rocks, Wyoming, all belonging to his Lower Lignitic or Laramie 
group, and he regards Newberry’s species from the Fort Union group, Cornus acuminata, 
as the same. The species is closely related to, if not identical with, Juglans acuminata, 
Brongt., of the European Tertiary. My specimens are from the Upper Laramie, Porcupine 
Creek. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


TRAPA BOREALIS, Heer. (Plate II, Fig. 19). 
TRAPA MICROPHYLLA, Lesquereux. 

Heer, Flora Alaskana. Dawson, Report on 49th Parallel, 1875. Lesquereux, Tertiary 
Flora. 

Fruits of Trapa, or water chestnut, referred by me to Heer’s Alaska species, were 
recognized in 1876 in the collections of Dr. G. M. Dawson from the 49th parallel, from 
beds belonging to the Lower Laramie group. More recently, Lesquereux has found, in 
beds probably of Laramie age at Point of Rocks, leaves which he has named Trapa micro- 
phylla, and attributes to this genus. In Mr. Tyrrell’s collections from the Red Deer and 
Rosebud Rivers, there are fruits similar to those of Heer’s species, and leaves not dis- 
tinguishable from those described and figured by Lesquereux. We have thus a probability 
that the fruits and leaves belong to the same species. 

Lesquereux’s description of the leaves is as follows :—‘“ Leaves small, (round ?) or 
broadly ovate and obtusely rounded to the petiole, borders denticulate from below the 
middle upward, nervation ternate from the top of the petiole, or irregularly pinnate, 
lateral nerves at an acute angle (15° to 20°), flexuous with dichotomous branches, all 
craspedodrome, areolation distinct, polygonal, minute, by subdivisions of the veinlets at an 
acute angle.” Heer’s description of the fruit is as follows :—“* Nuts two-horned, narrowed 
at base, striate longitudinally, widened in the middle, with two spines which are long, 
divergent and acute; the apex exsert and narrowed.” 

These fruits and leaves are all from the Lower Laramie, with the exception of one 
doubtful example from the Upper Laramie of Great Valley. The localities are Bad Lands. 
(G. M. D) Red-deer and Rosebud Rivers (Tyrrell), and Pincher Creek (Weston). In some 
of these localities the leaves and fruits oceur together, and in some they are associated with 
Lemna scutata and Phragmites. 

The leaves seem to be very variable in form and dimensions, and in Mr. Tyrrell’s col- 
lections there are fragments of much larger leaves than any figured by Lesquereux. 


PHYLLITES VENOSUS, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. 

A leaf of very uncertain affinities; but it furnishes another point of accordance 
between the Canadian Laramie and the Fort Union group, Upper Laramie, Porcupine 
Creek. Collected by G. M. D. 


32 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS 


PHYLUITES, Sp. (PI. II, Fig. 20). 

This is a small oblong leaf, with a mid-rib and a few veins curving toward the mar- 
gin. Near the apex, the sides suddenly curve inward, giving a shouldered or almost three 
toothed aspect. Upper Laramie, Great Valley. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


PHYLLITES CAPARINOIDES, Newberry. 

Newberry, loc. cit. 

Another uncertain species common to the Fort Union and Upper Laramie of Great 
Valley. 

Collected by G. M. D. 


CARPOLITHES, Sp. . 

In Mr. Tyrrell’s collections from Antler Hill, probably Upper Laramie, are several 
kinds of fruits, some of which seem to have been smooth two-valved nuts, and others 
drupes, like those of Viburnum. They are not sufficiently perfect for certain determina- 
tion; but the locality is one deserving the attention of collectors, as likely to afford useful 
information respecting the fruits of the trees of the Laramie forests. It is an interesting 
but somewhat unfortunate circumstance that the sorting action of water has usually 
distributed fruits in different places from the leaves of the same plants. 


II]. —GENERAL REMARKS. 


As the relation of the Belly River series (which on stratigraphical grounds is regarded 
as inferior in position to the Fort Pierre group) to the Laramie is of some interest, it may 
be well to state here that this series closely resembles the Lower Laramie in its physical 
features and in its fossils. The number of species which it has afforded is, however, 
small, and about half of these are distinct from those of the Laramie. 

The species observed in the collections from this group are the following :— 


Sequoia Reichenbachii, Heer. 

Salisburia ? fruits of 
* Lemna scutata, Dawson. (Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., IIL.) 

Brasenia antiqua, Dawson. (Lb.) 
* Platanus nobilis, Newberry. 

Acer Saskatchewense, Dawson. (Ib.) 
* Populus acerifolia, Newberry. 

“~~ latidentata, Dawson. (Ib.) 

*Trapa (probably T. borealis), Heer. 


These few species are scarcely sufficient to afford a basis for definite conclusions. 
Those marked with asterisks are found in the Laramie. The others are distinct, but their 
general aspect does not indicate any great difference of age. It is to be hoped that further 
explorations may disclose a larger number of species, but sufficient is known to indicate 
that the conditions of deposit and of vegetable life were very similar. 


OF THE LARAMIE FORMATION OF CANADA. 33 


Of the plants found in the Laramie itself only the following occur in the lower divi- 
sion, those marked with asterisks being found in both divisions :— 


* Onoclea sensibilis, Linn, 

* Lemna scutata, Dawson. 

* Phragmites, Sp- 

* Scirpus, Sp. 

* Sapindus aflinis, Newberry. 
Æsculus antiqua, Dawson, 

*Trapa borealis, Heer. 
Carpolithes. 


This little flora bespeaks aquatic conditions not favorable to the preservation of land 
plants, but showing that exogenous trees, akin to those of the Upper Laramie above and 
the Cretaceous below, existed. It may be hoped that within our district some locality 
more prolific in plants may be discovered. The Lower Laramie would seem to correspond 
with some of the localities in the United States referred by Lesquereux to his first or oldest 
Tertiary series, though, as already stated, the beds hold remains of Saurians of Cretaceous 
aspect. 

The Upper Laramie flora is decidedly richer, including all the other species described 
in this paper. Its plants are in the main identical with those of the Fort Union group 
of the United States geologists, which it would seem that Lesquereux still holds to be of 
Middle Tertiary age, along with those of the Bad Lands of Dakota and of Carbon, and 
with the so-called Miocene of Alaska, Greenland and Mackenzie River, as described by 
Heer. To this I cannot agree. The evidence of stratigraphy and fossils seems to refer all 
these to the Eocene period. If with Lesquereux we regard the Lower Laramie flora as 
Lower Eocene, and corresponding to that of Sesanne in Europe, then the Upper Laramie 
will be Middle or Upper Eocene. If on the other hand the Lower Laramie be regarded as 
the highest member of the Cretaceous, the Upper Laramie may be Lower Eocene. In the 
meantime I cannot help believing that, notwithstanding the large amount of material 
collected, and the valuable work done by the palæobotanists of the United States Geolo- 
gical Survey, there is still some confusion in the arrangement of the successive floras 
which may require revision in the future. 

With this third paper I close for the present my sketches of the Cretaceous and Early 
Tertiary floras of Canada. I have been induced to leave for a time my favourite Paleozoic 
plants, and to notice the collections made in the less ancient formations of the west, by 
the intrinsic interest of the subject, by the wish to trace up the vegetable kingdom in its 
later stages, and by the belief that some misunderstandings existed which the distinct 
sequence of formations in this country might clear up. 

The material at my disposal has been from several horizons well fixed by geological 
work, and thus, though not in itself large, its study has I think been fruitful of important 
results ; and when in future the flora of the several successive formations from the Lower 
Cretaceous to the Eocene shall have been more fully worked out, though what I have 
been able to do in the infancy of collection in these regions, may be eclipsed by the rich 
additions which will be made, it will I think be found that a good foundation has been 
laid for the understanding of the true succession of vegetable life from the earlier Creta- 
ceous onward. 


Sec. IV., 1886. 5. 


34 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON FOSSIL PLANTS OF THE LARAMIE, ETC. 


A short explanation may be necessary as to nomenclature. In this I have followed 
the methods heretofore used by others. I have, however, done so under protest and with 
certain qualifications as stated in my last paper, to the effect that generic names applied 
to fragments of plants must be merely tentative and provisional, and that they are liable 
to large corrections when more perfect specimens shall be procured. 

In this matter I sympathise very strongly with Dr. Nathorst in his objection to the 
use of modern generic names for mere leayes, and would be quite content to adopt some 
non-committal termination, as that of -phyllum, suggested by him. I feel, however, that 
almost as much is taken for granted if a plant is called Corylophyllum, as if called Corylus. 
In either case a judgment is expressed as to its affinities, which if wrong under the one 
term is wrong under the other, and after so much has been done by so many eminent 
botanists, it seems inexpedient to change the whole nomenclature for so small and ques- 
tionable an advantage. I wish it, however, to be distinctly understood that the leaves 
described in this paper are for the most part referred to certain genera on evidence 
necessarily imperfect, and their names are, therefore, subject to correction as new facts 
may be obtained. 

In the work which I have done on Paleozoic fossil botany, I have laboured by much 
digging to get together all the parts of the plants described, though, after doing this, I have 
often had the mortification to find that botanists accustomed only to hand specimens of 
fossil plants have regarded my statements with suspicion, as if relating to merely imaginary 
restorations. In the case of the deciduous trees of the later formations, it is less easy to 
obtain evidence of this kind, and in the exploration of our Western territories the difficulty 
of transporting bulky specimens has been too great to allow as much to be done as in the 
Devonian and Carboniferous districts of the Hast. 

I may add that, since the publication of my first memoir, Dr. G. M. Dawson has made 
important collections in the Cretaceous coal formation of Vancouver Island. These, while 
more fully illustrating previously described material, will add a number of new species 
which await study and illustration. 

By the kind permission of Dr. Selwyn, the drawings for this and for the previous 
paper have been executed by Mr. L. M. Lambe, artist to the Geological Survey. 


Norr.—Owing to the absence of the author when the foregoing sheets were passing through the press, a few 
trifling errors have occurred which are now corrected. 
Page 22, after “ THusa intERRUPTA,” read ‘ (PI. I. Figs. 3 and 4.)” 
“27, insert “ (PI. I. Fig. 8.) ” after “ Casranna, Sp.,” instead of after “ Quercus, Sp.” 
“30, under “S. LixxætrorMe,” read “the veins are tortuous ” for “the leaves are tortuous.” 
In Plate IT, Figs. 15 and 18 are in part restorations, in consequence of the best specimens having been mislaid. 


— 


SECTION IV., 1886. | fe she Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IV.—On the Silurian System of Northern Maine, New Brunswick and Quebec. 


By L. W. BAILEY. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


Since the time of the publication, in 1842, of Dr. A. Gesner’s Fourth “Report on the 
Geology of New Brunswick,” the Upper Silurian age of the extensive tract comprising the 
northern counties of this Province has been generally accepted; the fossils collected from 
various localities along the St. John River, and again in the counties of Restigouche and 
Gloucester, indicating an horizon about that of the Niagara or Lower Helderberg forma- 
tions. In his “Geology of Canada” for 1863, Sir W. E. Logan described at length the 
same formation, chiefly as found in the Province of Quebec, under the name of the “ Gaspé 


‘Limestone ” series, at the same time referring to its northern base as being found on Lake 


Temiscouata, where a high ridge abutting upon the lake, known as Mount Wissick or 
Mount Lennox, and abounding in fossils, was regarded as resting unconformably upon a 
series of beds at one time supposed to be Devonian, but then referred to the base of the 
Quebec group. In Northern Maine also the same formation had been early recognized by 
Jackson, and was subsequently more fully investigated (in 1860) by Packard and Hitchcock, 
the latter describing the Silurian rocks as found at Lake Sedgewick (Square Lake) and 
some other points, and which were richly fossiliferous, as being unconformably overlaid by 
a series of red shales and conglomerates, referred to the Devonian. In the meantime the 
limits of the formation in New Brunswick remained for the most part undefined, and were 
variously located by different observers. It was not until 1879 that, by simultaneous 
observations on either side of the St. John River, in Carleton county, made by Mr. G. F. 
Matthew and the author, something like satisfactory data upon these points were obtained ; 
the unconformity of the Silurian system with the associated rocks, more particularly along 
the Beccaguimic valley, being then established upon the triple evidence of the composition 
of the conglomerates at the base of the former, the discordance of dip between the two, 
accompanied by progressive overlap, and finally of fossils, the lower rocks being found to 
hold a fauna apparently indicative of the age of the Trenton. In the same valley, at its 
mouth, a series of coarse conglomerates had been previously found by Mr. Chas. Robb to 
contain thin seams of shale abounding in remains of Psilophyta, and, upon the evidence of 
these, the beds containing them, together with a somewhat extensive tract of other coarse 
sediments occurring about the headwaters of the Beccaguimic, were referred (by Mr. R. W. 
Ells) to the Devonian, and regarded:as the equivalents of the Gaspé sandstones. 

A contact of the Silurian with at least two other systems was thus indicated in the 
Beccaguimic valley. But as it was difficult, from the limited exposures of a single narrow 
stream, the strata of which are, for the most part, excessively disturbed, to remove all 
obscurity as to their true relations, the author was led, during the last summer, to visit 


36 L. W. BAILEY ON THE SILURIAN 


some of the other localities which have been referred to above, more particularly those of 
Square Lake and Temiscouata, with the hope that some additional light might be thrown 
upon these points. The results of the comparisons thus made seem to him to be of suf- 
ficient interest to justify their presentation here. 

In order to understand these comparisons, some further reference is necessary to the 
Beccaguimic region. Briefly stated, the conditions here seen are about as follows. In the 
bed of the North Branch stream, just above Shaw’s Mills, are a few exposures of dark grey 
siliceous slates, having a nearly vertical dip, which are here and there capped by brownish 
red conglomerates, in a nearly horizontal position, and through which ridges of the slate 
project irregularly. From observations elsewhere made in the vicinity it seems certain 
that the bulk of these conglomerates are of Lower Carboniferous age, though Some, which 
are harder and of somewhat different aspect, appear to be older, and may be Silurian. 
A little higher up siliceous slates again appear, but these now contain calcareous bands, 
from which, in 1879, Mr. Matthew succeeded in obtaining a number of small shells, 
chiefly of a species of Leptæna (allied to L. decipiens of Billings), as well as others apparently 
of the genera Lingulella, Strophomena and Discina, to which later collections, made by 
myself, Mr. W. McInnes and Mr. W. T. Reed, have added several, though fragmentary, 
specimens of the trilobite genus Harpes. There can be but little question that these beds 
are of Cambro-Silurian age, either Trenton or lower, and they tend to confirm the view so 
long entertained that this is the real age of a part at least of the great bands of slates 
and quartzites which constitute so marked a feature in the geology of this part of New 
Brunswick. 

Passing now to the hills which, at a distance of a few rods only to the north, over- 
look the valley at this point, we meet with strata of a widely different character. Among 
these is a band of grey conglomerates and grits, in which are contained numerous frag- 
ments of black siliceous slate and quartzite, apparently identical with that of the beds in 
the valley below, cemented by a calcareous paste, in which, as observed by Mr. Matthew, 
are contained numerous encrinal fragments. These conglomerates, which at a short dis- 
tance to the north are followed by heavy beds of limestone, are regarded as the base of the 
Silurian system, and, with the associated limestones, containing numerous fossils, have 
been traced for considerable distances through the adjacent country. A ridge of these 
conglomerates crosses the North Branch valley three miles above Shaw’s Mills (their high 
inclination being again strongly contrasted with that of the red Lower Carboniferous con- 
glomerates near by), but between these points are other beds which give further interest 
to the exposures of this vicinity. These consist of a series of sandstones and slates, of 
which the former are often grey, purple or chocolate-brown in colour and in aspect not 
at all unlike some portions of the Lower Carboniferous formation, while the slates are 
dark-grey and black. Both are fossiliferous, but in the sandstones the fossils are few, 
consisting of scattered relics of Crinoids, Orthocerata, and Brachiopods, mostly frag- 
mentary, while the shales on the other hand, at Jeast in certain layers, abound in the 
remains of Graptolites. These were at first believed by Mr. Matthew to contain 
diprionidial forms, but, in larger collections subsequently made, none of the latter could 
be detected, while a further study of the adjacent district confirmed the idea that both the 
slates and sandstones were of the same age as the gray conglomerates, and all Silurian. 

It only remains to state, with further reference to this region, that here and there 


SYSTEM OF NORTHERN MAINE. 37 


through these Silurian sandstones may be found the remains of branching plants, while 
at one point, in close proximity to the siliceous beds first described, is a small exposure of 
quartzose rock containing an abundance of what are evidently Psilophyta, apparently 
undistinguishable from those found by Mr. Robb near the mouth of the river. As the 
conglomerates in which the latter occur are not unlike those described above as forming 
part of the Silurian succession, and as the plant-bearing beds above Shaw’s Mills are 
almost certainly of this age, it is at least possible that all these rocks are really Silurian 
rather than Devonian, as some of them have been supposed to be. 

I now pass to the region of the Fish River lakes in Northern Maine. 

The description of the rocks found in this vicinity, as given in Hitchcock’s “ Report on 
the Geology of Maine” (1861, pp. 420-424) is from the pen of Prof. A. 8. Packard, jun., who, 
however, does not himself express any opinion as to their age. Among these rocks the 
most interesting is a band of highly fossiliferous limestone, outcropping on the western 
shore of Square or Sedgewick Lake, and which has to some extent been locally employed 
as a source of lime. From collections made at the locality by Packard and Hitchcock, the 
late Mr. Billings succeeded in recognizing about forty distinct species, of which fourteen 
were new, while my own visit to the locality, though short, enabled me to obtain a some- 
what greater number, including, as determined by Mr. Ami, two additional species not 
hitherto described. These fossils have been regarded, both by Mr. Billings and Mr. Ami, as 
being of Lower Helderberg age, and the enclosing beds, in this as in other respects, may be 
regarded as the counterpart of the limestone beds of the Beccaguimic region, in New Bruns- 
wick. Associated with these beds on Square and Eagle Lakes, and apparently enclosing 
them, there are, as described by Packard, ledges of red shale and conglomerate, with beds of 
grit, the conglomerates containing fragments of dark slate and jasper, and dipping 45° to 
the northward, in which direction they are followed, first, by bufl-weathering fossiliferous 
sandstones and then by dark clay-slates, which, with other slates and sandstones, occupy 
the remainder of the country northward and eastward to the St. John River valley. A like 
succession was observed on the thoroughfare from Portage Lake, a few miles west of Hagle 
Lake, and at Ashland. All the rocks of the above section have been regarded by Prof. 
Hitchcock as Devonian, and are so represented in his map of Northern Maine, as they are 
in that accompanying the last edition of Sir Wm. Dawson’s “ Acadian Geology.” If how- 
ever the above relations are as supposed, it would seem altogether probable that the great 
bulk of strata here met with is, as on the Beccaguimice, of Silurian rather than Devonian age. 
I may add, from personal examination, that in almost every particular the beds of the 
Fish River lakes bear the closest resemblance to the beds which accompany and enclose 
the limestones. of the Beccaguimic valley. 

It is true that no graptolite-bearing beds were here observed, but beds of very similar 
character occur, while even on the Beccaguimic these beds are but thin. Moreover, in both 
instances the sandstones exhibit the same peculiar Lower Carboniferous aspect. Both 
contain similar remains of crinoids and shells, mingled with stems of plants, while the 
conglomerates in both are also alike in containing numerous fragments of black slate 
associated with others of bright green and red jasper. If to this we add the fact that, 
beneath the conglomerates, etc., above described, we have, on the shores of Portage or 
Nadeau Lake, connected with the other or westerly branch of Fish River, a well defined 


38 L. W. BAILEY ON THE SILURIAN 


belt of dark green siliceous slate," described by Packard under the name of hornstone, and 
containing massive beds of bright red cherty slate, with a nearly vertical dip, we appear 
again to have a repetition of the relations found on the Beccaguimic, these cherty slates 
being, as we believe, the equivalents of the flinty slates of Shaw’s Mills and, like the 
latter, of Cambro-Silurian age. The following tabular view will serve to make this 
parallelism more evident :— 


1.—Brocacumic SECTION. 


A, Cambro-Silurian. 
Black calcareo-siliceous slates, with brachiopods and trilobites. 


B. Silurian. 
1. Grey calcareous conglomerates and grits, holding fragments of black siliceous slates 
and quartzite, jasper, etc., mingled with remains of crinoids. 
. Grey, reddish and brown sandstones and slates, associated with beds of fossiliferous 


bo 


limestone. 
3. Grey conglomerates. 
4. Grey, calcareous and buff-weathering sandstones, with stems of crinoids and shells. 
5. Grey and dark grey slates, with graptolites and remains of plants. 
6. Grey, bluish-weathering and calcareous slates. 


2.—Fisu RIVER SEOTION. 


A. Cambro-Silurian ? 
Dark cherty slates, with bands of jasper. 


B. Silurian. 
1. Grey calcareous conglomerates ? not observed. 
2. Grey, reddish and brown sandstones and shales, associated with beds and containing 
enclosed masses of fossiliferous limestone. 
. Grey, calcareous conglomerate, with pebbles of dark flinty slate, jasper, ete. 
. Grey, calcareous and buff-weathering sandstones, with crinoids and shells. 
Grey and dark grey slates, with remains of plants. 
. Grey, bluish-weathering, calcareous slates. 


D Tp co 


I pass now, thirdly, to the Temiscouata region. Between the latter and the region of 
the Beccaguimic in Carleton county, the St. John River affords an admirable section of the 
Silurian system, without, however, exposing any beds which can with certainty be 
regarded as representing its base. For nearly the whole distance of one hundred and fifty 
miles, including the Madawaska River and the southern half of Lake Temiscouata, the only 
rocks seen are slates with occasional alternating beds of fine sandstone, mostly of grey or 
dark grey colours, but occasionally red or green, the beds of this latter colour being usually 
associated with beds of impure hematite. They are yery generally calcareous, and at times 
highly so, but no actual beds of limestone occur. They are also at many points fossiliferous, 
the fossils including species similar to those of the Beccaguimic, and, like the latter, 
appearing to indicate an Upper Helderberg horizon. Finally, they have been subject to 
extensive disturbance, the plications being general and of the most complicated character. 

The first beds of a markedly different aspect from the above are met with upon the 








1These beds bear some resemblance to the beds of Pointe aux Trembles or Temiscouata Lake, to be presently 
described, and their true position, in both instances, is somewhat uncertain. 


SYSTEM OF NORTHERN MAINE. 39 


Tuladie River, not far from its mouth, and again on the shore of Lake Temiscouata, at a 
point nearly opposite the Tuladie, where they are alluded to in the elaborate section of 
this vicinity, given by Sir W. E. Logan, as “the beds of Pointe aux Trembles.” These rocks 
are massive sandstones, of somewhat dioritic aspect and with bands of purple jasper, 
which pass into and include beds of conglomerate, the pebbles and matrix of which are 
both composed of dark grey or purplish-grey porphyritic petrosilex, mingled at times with 
fragments of black slate. Above these. beds on the shores of the lake, but stratigraphic- 
ally beneath them, the rocks next seen are shales and slates, alternating with sandstones, 
in which we have lately obtained fragments of ribbed shells. Similar beds are well 
exposed at the Tuladie Falls, and like the Silurian slates on the shores of the lake, have a 
pretty uniform south-easterly dip of 70°. The next beds north are those of Black and 
Burnt Points (vide Logan’s section), and are again composed of conglomerates and sand- 
stones, but with the former now greatly predominating and having quite a different 
aspect from those of Pointe aux Trembles, being not only very coarse, but of different com- 
position, the pebbles consisting largely of metamorphic rocks, such as quartzite, white 
sandstone, mica schist, etc., mingled with many of limestone. These beds have also a 
south-eastward dip of 50-60°, and a measured thickness of nearly 1000 feet. They are 
further described by Logan as probably belonging to the Quebec group, and as being 
unconformably covered by the limestones of Mount Wissick next to be noticed. 

An interval of about 1500 yards separates Burnt Point from the eminence last named, 
on whose almost precipitous north-western face (attaining an elevation of 550 feet) a most 
remarkable and interesting section of the rocks composing it may be seen. The order 
of succession and the thickness of the beds, as condensed from Logan’s Report, is as 
follows :— 


Fret 

Wihitishim aasive sandstones sms ce tiecee se ennemie ces eee 45 
Grey coarse calcareous conglomerate, with pebbles of limestone and quartz. 20 
Miegistimesicomce sl ed tereresietemeretietstelelsletelsrslels cialare fereyereitelel=fe/e)-falleleiefelsialaratn 5208006 90 
Green sandstone, with conglomerate bands, as above........... ..,....., 20 
Red and green shales, with included fossiliferous limestone .............,. 125 
Grey nodular limestone, abounding in fossils............. SomanNa edo von 50 
Grey hard sandstone, without observed fossils. ......,....,....... Sondooe 10 
Grey fossiliferous and columnar limestone..........,........,.,.......... 20 
Grey arenaceous limestones and sandstones, with fossils, forming the bulk 

of Mount Wissick, and from the height of the latter estimated as 

RENTE Honest) Wlags55 oagobn adodcs. 095000 ser ob dont en pucooN dans 500 


The dip of the above strata is given as NS. 50, E. < 13°, and it is from this low dip 
chiefly, as compared with the high inclination of the beds north and south of the moun- 
tain, that they are regarded as unconformable to the latter, and as being a part of the 
Gaspé limestone series. The strata north of the mountain are grey calcareous sandstones 
and arenaceous limestones, with dark-banded green slates, highly inclined and greatly 
contorted, which are regarded as belonging to the base of the Quebec group, although 
originally classed and mapped as Devonian. 

Reviewing the above, it would appear that, in the view of Logan, the line of separa- 
tion between the Silurian system (Gaspé limestones) and that of the Quebec group is to 
be found at or near Pointe aux Trembles, all the strata north of the latter, except those of 


40 L. W. BAILEY ON THE SILURIAN 


Mount Wissick, and including the heavy conglomerates of Black and Burnt Points and the 
rocks of the Tuladie and Cabano, being referable to that group, while those to the south, 
together with those of Mount Wissick, are to be referred to the Gaspé Limestone series 
or Nilurian. It is, however, to be observed that Sir William himself seems to have been 
in doubt upon this point, for while on one page (423) he describes the conglomerates of 
Black Point as belonging to the Quebec group, he subsequently refers to them (page 427) 
as being newer than the latter. On the other hand, the very striking resemblances which 
portions of these beds bear to those of the Beccaguimic and the Fish River lakes can hardly 
fail to attract attention. Thus the conglomerates of Black Point, though vastly thicker 
and coarser than anything seen in New Brunswick or Maine, apparently occupy the same 
position as those described on the southern side of the great Silurian plateau. They are, 
indeed, compared by Logan with a certain band of conglomerates met with near the 
mouth of the Siegas, fifty or more miles to the south, in the Silurian tract, a comparison 
which further indicates the uncertainty of opinion in which they were held by him. 
Again, both the green and red shales and fossiliferous limestones of Mount Wissick, 
though as regards the latter of much greater thickness, occupy the same relative position 
and bear much resemblance, both in aspect and in their fossils, to those of Fish River and 
the Beccaguimic. These fossils include large corals (Favosites) Brachiopods (Strophomena, 
Leptena, Pentamerus, etc.), besides several species of Trilobites, and are probably of Lower 
Helderberg age, but until they have been accurately determined this comparison is uncer- 
tain. The most reniarkable difference in the Mount Wissick beds, as compared either 
with those of the Beccaguimic River or the Fish River lakes, is that afforded by the 
massive white sandstones or quartzites which form the apparent base of the eminence 
referred to. No such rocks are to be met with anywhere over the extensive Silurian 
tracts of Northern Maine or New brunswick. They do, however, bear much resemblance 
to the beds of like composition seen at frequent intervals along the Portage road between 
Temiscouata and Riviére du Loup, and again along the line of the Intercolonial Railway 
between the Metapedia River and Rimouski. The greater part of these, however, belong 
to the Quebec group, while those of Mount Wissick are interstratified with the fossili- 
ferous limestones of the mountain, and are unquestionably part of the same formation. I 
am also informed by Mr. R. W. Ells that similar sandstones were found by Mr. Richardson 
to contain remains of Pentamerus oblongus. As the beds underlying them at Mount Wissick 
are almost entirely of the Quebec group, these quartzites would appear to form here the 
lowest member of the Silurian system, which would also appear to include all the beds 
of Lake Temiscouata south of this point—among them the conglomerates of Black and 
Burnt Points and the rocks of Pointe aux Trembles previously referred to the Cambro- 
Silurian. e 

The Temiscouata section, as compared with those of northern Maine and New Bruns- 
wick, previously quoted, would thus stand as given on the succeeding page. 

I may add that, since reading the above paper, further examinations of the region 
about Lake Temiscouata, as well as of portions of Aroostook county, Maine, have been 
made, and numerous fossils obtained from Pointe aux Trembles, Tuladie Lake and else- 
where. These are now in the hands of Mr. Whiteaves, and the results of their examination 
will appear in the reports of the Geological Survey. 


SYSTEM OF NORTHERN MAINE, 


ASCENDING SECTION OF SILURIAN Rocks. 
Lake TEMISCOUATA. 


A. Cambro-Silurian. (Quebec Group.) 
Greenish, reddish and black slates, banded with thin layers of dolomitic limestone. 


B. Silurian. 


Furr 
RW IIS RSAC StOMES ee re mate einen rentals fe aies cme Siete seu me ae e eee eters 200 
Calcareous conglomerates and sandstones, with limestone pebbles.............,.. 130 
Red and green shales, including fossiliferous limestones.............. susie! ajei wtslolele(< 125 
Grey nodular limestones, abounding with fossils, and including bands of hard 
RANABIONE OOOC ODO ARGO Oe ACEO HOG DOD OIDAOOOEIG OOOO hor adcs fn efe ele ee Seok 580 
Méssurestconcealedeeteceeeecreeeemeneamereoceceler es. toeelee lee cr 1276 
Conglomerates (of Black and Burnt Points), with pebbles of Cambro-Silurian 
MOCKS im CluGina ep lM SE SLOM Csteyetete elelstalete! eee ter tee. 1000 


Measures concealed. 

Dark shales and sandstones, with fossils. 

Green and purplish sandstones and conglomerates, forming Pointe aux Trembles. 

Grey-bluish weathering slates and sandstones, continuous with those of Maine 
and New Brunswick. ; 


Sec. IV., 1886. 6. 


Enr 


A 
PACE 
Sarre 





SECTION IV., 1886. [43° | MÉMOIRES 8. R. CANADA. 


s 


V.— Note sur le contact des formations paléozoiques et archéennes de la province de 
Québec. Par L'ABBÉ J. C. LAFLAMME. 


( Lu le 28 mai 1886.) 


Quiconque étudie la stratigraphie des formations archéennes et paléozoiques de la 
province de Québec est frappé des grandes lacunes qui se rencontrent fréquemment dans 
la série des divisions qui en composent l’ensemble. 

Pour expliquer ces lacunes, sir W. Logan, dans la Géologie du Canada de 1863, sup- 
pose une suite de mouvements d’affaissement et d’exhaussement qui auraient affecté 
cette partie du continent américain du Nord, et qui auraient ainsi permis à l’océan silurien 
d’envahir à diverses reprises une partie plus ou moins grande du noyau continental émergé 
dès le commencement des âges géologiques. D'après lui, les grès de Potsdam se seraient 
déposés dans un océan très profond, sauf de petits lambeaux éparpillés sur les rivages. 
Les lits du groupe de Québec auraient pu s’accumuler dans une mer moins profonde, mais 
dont le bassin devait s’enfoncer lentement pour permettre l’accumulation de ces sédiments 
si puissants. Tellement qu'à la fin, l'océan aurait envahi de nouvelles surfaces continen- 
tales, et les premiers lits du calcaire de Trenton se trouvaient ainsi à reposer directement 
sur les formations archéennes, sans aucunes traces de formations cambriennes ou précam- 
briennes. 

Ayant été à même, depuis plusieurs années, d'examiner avec soin et en détail le contact 
du calcaire de Trenton et des gneiss archéens, je prendrai la liberté de vous communiquer 
quelques remarques qui seront peut-être de nature à mieux faire saisir les conditions spé- 
ciales dans lesquelles ces calcaires siluriens se sont déposés directement sur les formations 
archéennes, soit gneissiques, soit labradoritiques. 

Vu l’énorme espace de temps qui s'est écoulé entre l'émergence du noyau archéen 
et les dépôts calcaires, on peut se demander s’il ne serait pas possible d’y trouver quelques 
faits capables de donner une idée de l'érosion qu’avaient subie les surfaces calcaires avant 
d’être recouvertes par les assises calcaires. 

C’est au Saguenay, sur les rivages du lac Saint-Jean, que j'ai observé les phénomènes 
les plus remarquables ayant trait à ce point en particulier. A plusieurs reprises, j'ai pu 
constater, soit un véritable lac calcaire entouré de tous les côtés par des rivages lauren- 
tiens, soit des collines de gneiss perçant de leurs sommets arrondis les assises calcaires 
gisant horizontalement à leur base. La hauteur de ces collines dépassait qnelquefois 
d'une cinquantaine de pieds les lits calcaires supérieurs. Tel est le cas en particulier 
pour une élevation placée au nord-ouest du village de Roberval. Ailleurs les ondulations 
de la surface gneissique inférieure étaient presque insensibles. Et c’est à peine si les rides 
archéennes perçaient les quelques pouces du calcaire déposé sur leur surface. 

En voilà assez pour nous faire voir que la surface du noyau archéen avait déjà été 
passablement modifiée par l'érosion, au moment où l'océan silurien l’envahit pour le 
recouvrir de lits calcaires. D'ailleurs, là où ces derniers ne sont pas très épais, on peut, 


A4 L’ABBE J.-C. LAFLAMME — NOTE SUR LE CONTACT 


dans une certaine mesure, suivre les grandes ondulations du gneiss sous jacent, en notant 
les ondulations du calcaire lui-même. C’est la un fait remarquable que j'ai constaté par- 
tout où j'ai trouvé les lits de Trenton reposant directement sur le laurentien, pourvu que 
leur position originelle n’eût pas été modifiée par des bouleversements subséquents. Sur 
les bords du lac Saint-Jean en particulier, on rencontre plusieurs rochers laurentiens qui 
s’avancent dans le lac, et qui sont recouverts par des lits calcaires disposés en une espèce 
de bonnet arrondi, la stratification concordant absolument avec le plan de la surface gneis- 
sique. De plus, sur les bords du lac comme sur la côte de Beaupré, les lits de Trenton 
inclinent toujours dans le même sens et sous le même angle que l’ensemble de la surface 
laurentienne sur laquelle ils reposent. Cependant, quand l'épaisseur des lits calcaires est 
considérable, ce parallélisme disparait. 

Ceci indique que les lits inférieurs d’une formation se moulent plus ou moins sur la 
surface qui leur sert de support, et qu’ils ne se déposent pas rigoureusement suivant un 
plan horizontal, comme l’indiquent bon nombre de manuels de géologie. 

Je me permettrai d'attirer particulièrement votre attention sur un fait qui m'a tou- 
jours frappé dans l'examen des nombreux contacts géologiques que j'ai eu à faire. (C’est 
d’un côté la netteté de la surface laurentienne, l’absence de toute trace de décomposition 
dans les gneiss, les syénites ou les granites, et de l’autre la continuité presque mathéma- 
tique des mêmes surfaces, que vous les examiniez dans les parties dénudées ou dans les 
endroits encore recouverts de calcaire. 

Tout le monde sait que nos roches laurentiennes cèdent en général assez facilement 
aux actions atmosphériques. Les minéraux qui les constituent se décomposent à la longue, 
et les surfaces exposées à l’air et à l’action des plantes sont bien vite altérées. Evidem- 
ment, durant les longues années qui se sont écoulées entre l'émergence du continent 
archéen et les dépôts siluriens, la surface des roches exposées à l’air a dû être profondé- 
ment altérée. De cette altération ont certainement résulté des débris minéraux en grande 
quantité. Comment se fait-il alors que ces surfaces, une fois ensevelies sous les eaux 
aient été si bien lavées qu'il ne reste plus aucune trace de leur altération antécédente ? 
Comment se fait-il que les détritus aient complètement disparu, de manière que la tran- 
sition d’une formation à l’autre soit toujours aussi tranchée qu'on le remarque, et que 
les lits calcaires inférieurs ne renferment presque jamais de fragments des assises sur 
lesquelles elles reposent ? Je sais qu’on a mentionné l'existence de galets laurentiens 
dans quelques-uns de ces lits calcaires. Mais, au lac Saint-Jean, là où l’on peut si facile- 
ment étudier les phénomènes de contact, je n’en ai jamais vu. 

Faut-il attribuer ce curieux état de choses à l'existence de grands courants qui, au 
moment de l’envahissement des continents, auraient balayé, nettoyé les surfaces envahies, 
et transporté au loin les débris qu'ils leur arrachaient ? La chose n’est pas impossible. 
Cependant ces courants sont quelquefois difficiles à supposer, par exemple, dans le bassin 
si restreint et si bien fermé du lac Saint-Jean. 

Dans un autre ordre de faits, la continuité presque absolue d’une même surface lau- 
rentienne, dans les parties dénudées et dans les parties recouvertes de calcaire, porte à 
conclure que l'érosion du glacier quaternaire sur les roches archéennes n’a peut-être pas 
été aussi considérable qu’on est exposé à le croire au premier abord. Le glacier aurait 
plutôt régularisé et poli la surface des roches que modifié profondément les grandes lignes 
des reliefs continentaux. 


DES FORMATIONS PALÉOZOIQUE ET ARCHÉENNES 45 


Le contact du calcaire et des schistes immédiatement supérieurs, — contact qu'il est 
facile de constater en maints endroits, et au Saguenay et aux environs de Québec, — est 
lui-même très intéressant. Le passage du calcaire compact à une argilite bien carac- 
térisée est très brusque. Pas de traces de transition d'aucune sorte. Le premier lit argi- 
liteux, le plus inférieur, est en règle générale d’un noir assez foncé, et grouillant à peu 
près exclusivement de graptolites; ce qui indique un changement subit dans l'océan 
silurien, et une apparition également subite d’un faune d’un type tout à fait différent. 

Ces schistes gardent partout leur caractère bitumineux. Quelquefois même ils peu- 
vent servir de combustible. A Vile de la Traverse, au lac Saint-Jean, ile qui n’est tout 
entière qu'un amas de ces schistes plus ou moins effrités, le feu prit un jour dans les 
graviers bitumineux du rivage et brila pendant dix-huit mois. Il ne fut éteint que par 
une hausse extraordinaire du lac. Dans les mêmes schistes se trouvent encore des sources 
minérales, partout où ils n’ont été soumis qu'à peu de bouleversements. 

Je ne puis quitter cette région du Saguenay, si intéressante par le développement 
du silurien inférieur, sans signaler un troisième bassin silurien qui n’est pas encore indiqué 
sur les cartes géographiques. Le rapport de 1863 mentionne le gisement calcaire du lac 
Saint-Jean. Dans le premier volume des travaux de la Société Royale, j'ai indiqué l’exis- 
tence d’un second bassin silurien situé au nord-est du Saguenay, et dont j’ai été chargé 
plus tard de faire le relevé. Je suis heureux de compléter aujourd'hui ces renseigne- 
ments en affirmant l'existence d’un troisième dépôt de calcaire silurien placé à peu près 
dans l’angle formé par la baie des Ha! Ha! et la rivière Saguenay. La carte détaillée 
n’en a pas encore été faite. Cependant tout laisse croire que le calcaire est, là aussi, recou- 
vert des argilites d’Utica, bien que je n’aie pu encore le constater de visu. La présence de 
sources minérales en cet endroit est pour moi un indice très probable de ce fait. 

Je n’ai jamais pu voir les argilites d’Utica reposer directement sur le laurentien, si ce 
n’est dans les nombreuses failles de la côte de Beaupré. Or, comme ces argilites ont recou- 
vert partout le Trenton, elles ont du nécessairement se déposer sur les rivages gneissiques 
de l’océan à la fin de l’époque Trenton, et leur absence actuelle des surfaces laurentiennes 
doit être sans doute attribuée à l’action du glacier quaternaire qui a balayé du premier 
coup ces roches légères et friables. 

Les remarques que je viens de faire sur les contacts du laurentien et du Trenton, 
dans la région du Saguenay, s'appliquent également aux mêmes phénomènes tels qu’on 
les voit sur la côte de Beaupré. Ici encore on trouve le calcaire reposant directement et à 
peu près horizontalement sur le gneiss, sans aucune trace de transition d’une formation à 
l’autre. La surface des assises laurentiennes est parfaitement nette, et, comme au Saguenay, 
ne présente pas la plus légère trace de décomposition. 

Cependant j'ai observé sur les bords du Montmorency, là où l’on peut suivre ces con- 
tacts sur l’espace de plusieurs arpents, une particularité que je crois digne d’être signalée. 
C’est l'existence, dans la surface gneissique sur laquelle repose le calcaire, de cavités cir- 
culaires, étroites et profondes, toutes remplies d’un calcaire fossilifère absolument sem- 
blable aux lits immédiatement superposés. L’apparence de ces cavités est tellement carac- 
téristique, qu'à première vue, on les rapporte naturellement à ces chaudières ou marmites 
de géants creusées par les rivières dans les assises sur lesquelles elles coulent. Et je crois 
réellement qu’elles ont une origine analogue, qu’elles sont de véritables chaudières creu- 
sées par les rivières archéennes, se déchargeant dans l'océan archéen ou silurien. Qui 


46 L'ABBÉ J.-C. LAFLAMME — NOTE SUR LE CONTACT 


sait si on ne trouverait même pas au fond de ces cavités, empâtées dans une gangue cal- 
caire, les galets qui ont servi à les creuser. Ces cavités sont en général peu profondes, 
Elles ne dépassent guère cinq ou six pouces. Plusieurs ont à peine trois pouces. 

Sur ces mêmes rivages siluriens on trouve des amas de sable très remarquables qui 
sont intercalés entre le laurentien et le Trenton. Sir W. Logan rapporte ces lits sableux 
à la formation de Potsdam. Jl me semble plus simple et plus naturel de les regarder 
comme des dépôts accidentels sur les rivages de l’océan trentonien. En effet on s’explique 
difficilement la persistance de ces minces assises friables, durant les longues années qui 
se sont écoulées entre le Potsdam et le Trenton. Exposés à l’air ou cachés sous les eaux, 
on conçoit difficilement qu'ils auraient résisté aux nombreux agents tendant à les enlever. 

Vous trouverez ces sables accumulés dans les cavités superficielles du laurentien, 
lités avec une merveilleuse régularité et absolument privés de fossiles. Leur stratification 
n’est pas rigoureusement concordante avec celle du Trenton. 

Cette dernière formation est bien plus puissante sur la côte de Beaupré qu’elle ne l’est 
nulle part au Saguenay. A ce dernier endroit, je n’ai jamais constaté qu’elle dépassät 200 
pieds d'épaisseur. Tandis que sur la rivière Larose elle dépasse certainement 500 pieds. 
Là, on peut en voir et la base reposant sur le laurentien et le sommet recouvert des lits 
d'Utica ; et, comme les lits n’ont pas été bouleversés, la section générale peut en être faite 
d’une manière assez précise. 

Au reste les caractères minéralogiques généraux sont les mêmes qu’au Saguenay. Il 
n’y a que l'épaisseur qui soit plus grande. C’est toujours le même amas de lits calcaires, 
régulièrement superposés et rarement séparés les uns des autres par de minces feuillets 
schisteux. Aucune assise ne tranche nettement sur ses voisines, et l’ensemble de la for- 
mation est, comme au Saguenay, d'une homogénéité frappante. 

Aussi me parait-il tout à fait impossible de placer dans la formation trentonnienne, 
telle qu’ellle est désignée jusqu’à présent, le massif du rocher de Québec, comme quelques- 
uns semblent le vouloir. 

En constatant la persistance du caractère minéralogique général de cette formation, 
dans deux régions aussi distantes l’une de l’autre que le Saguenay et la côte de Beaupré, il 
est difficile de concevoir que ce caractère se modifie si rapidement, et surtout si complètce- 
ment, dans l’espace qui sépare la côte de Beaupré de Québec, quelques milles à peine. 
D'autant plus que ce ne serait la qu’une modification purement locale, qui ne se rencon- 
trerait nulle part ailleurs. Le rocher de Québec renferme des masses de lits dolomitiques, 
des schistes rouges et bruns, des conglomérats de toute nature, que vous chercheriez vaine- 
ment à n'importe quel endroit des assises de Trenton. 

Evidemment il n’y aurait que des découvertes paléontologiques absolument di 
tables qui pourraient prouver cette thèse. Existent-elles ? Ont-elles bien du moins la 
portée qu'il faudrait leur attribuer? Nous ne sommes pas en mesure de répondre d’une 
manière compétente à cette double question. 

Si vraiment les fossiles découverts dernièrement dans le rocher de Québec rendaient 
impossible son classement dans le groupe dit de Québec, il me semble que la place qu’on 
pourrait lui assigner devrait être intermédiaire entre le groupe de Québec proprement dit 
et le Trenton, au-dessus du premier et au-dessous du dernier. Si je ne me trompe, cette 
idée est de nature à résoudre une partie des nombreuses difficultés qu’a toujours présentées 
le classement définitif des différentes sections de ce groupe. 


DES FORMATIONS PALÉOZOIQUE ET ARCHÉENNES 47 


Ces roches inférieures au Trenton auraient été amenées à la surface par le renverse- 
ment des lits, le long de la grande ligne de rupture qui traverse en diagonale la province 
de Québec. Cette hypothèse ferait éviter du coup la nécessité de croire à ces failles à 
courbures étranges et compliquées, qu'il faut supposer pour arriver à placer ces lits dans 
la formation de Trenton. 

Toutefois il faut admettre que des failles existent près de la ligne de cette énorme 
rupture dont nous parlions plus haut, mais elles ont une disposition très simple et une 
direction très régulière. Il est facile de le constater en particulier sur tout le parcours 
de la côte de Beaupré. On rencontre, depuis le cap Tourmente jusqu’à Montmorency, trois 
de ces failles secondaires, ou mieux de ces lézardes accidentelles, causées par la cassure 
gigantesque qui court sur la côte nord de Vile d'Orléans. Elles sont toutes rectilignes ou 
à peu près, et coupent obliquement le rivage du fleuve. Leur effet stratigraphique est 
d'amener, à diverses reprises, le Trenton et même l’Utica à buter sur un escarpement lau- 
rentien sous un angle très fort. De plus les différents aflluents du Saint-Laurent qui 
arrosent cette partie du pays ont tous une chute plus ou moins haute, qui est toujours 
causée par l'intersection de l’une de ces failles. La lèvre sud, constituée par les lits moins 
résistants de l’Utica et du Trenton, a disparu plus vite que la lèvre nord, et la chute s’est 
ainsi produite. 

Il est bien probable que le grand renversement dont nous parlions plus haut a pro- 
duit encore d’autres ruptures secondaires, le long de la ligne d’escarpement que Logan 
supposait dans la mer silurienne, ligne dont la direction est donnée approximativement 
par le tracé de ce renversement lui-même. La petite faille qui coupe le rivage à la Pointe- 
aux-Trembles, et qui fait buter sous un angle très fort les argillites d’Utica sur les lits 
horizontaux de Trenton et sur le gneiss, n’a vraisemblablement pas d'autre origine. 

Voilà en peu de mots les quelques réflexions qui me sont venues à l'esprit durant les 
études stratigraphiques assez détaillées que j'ai été obligé de faire dans cette partie du 
pays. Sans doute il n’y a en tout cela aucun fait saillant qui se détache avec éclat et 
qui puisse servir de point de départ a des théories complètement neuves. Mais j'ai cru 
que la géologie de notre pays, à peu près terminée dans ces grandes lignes, du moins dans 
les anciennes provinces du Dominion, profiterait un tant soit peu de recherches plus 
détaillées, plus minutieuses, faites en différents endroits. Il m’a semblé que ces travaux 
restreints étaient précisément destinés à contribuer, au moins pour une petite part, à rem- 
plir le cadre de notre géologie canadienne, si magistralement tracée depuis de longues 
années déjà par notre commission géologique. 





SECTION IV. 1886. [ 49 ] TRANS. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


VI.— Mechanism of Movement in Cucurbita, Vitis and Robinia. 


By D. P. PENHALLOW, B. Se. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


The valuable contributions of Darwin ! to our knowledge of the movements of plants, 
about ten years since, led to an examination of this most interesting question, and event- 
ually, to the particular form of it to be discussed in the present paper. At that time, the 
idea of the individuality of the cell prevailed, although Sachs had already demonstrated 
the continuity of protoplasm through the sieve plates of Cucurbita’ and had formulated 
an expression in which he indicated a strong belief in the continuity of all living cells. 
It is only within very recent years, however, that sufficient reason has been given for a 
general change of opinion on this question. The additional light which has of late been 
thrown upon our knowledge of the cell, in its mutual relations, has presented many new 
and important subjects for consideration with reference to the physiology of movement 
in plants. 

In the motile organs of plants—as represented by those now under consideration— 
we have to deal with organs which on the one hand are modified as a whole, with refer- 
ence to their external form, and are thus adapted to a particular purpose, as in Cucurbita 
and Vitis; or which, on the other hand, show these modifications to be strictly localized, 
as in the pulvinus of Robinia. In each case, moreover, the internal structure is usually 
modified in an important way, and to a striking degree. In the tendrils of Cucurbita and 
Vitis, this occurs in the excessive thickening of the hypodermal tissue, which becomes 
almost entirely collenchymatous ; in the localized development of active fundamental 
tissue lying in the outer hypodermis; and in the excessive formation of some vascular 
element—usually bast—which thereby produces a more or less continuous zone or vas- 
cular cylinder, internal to the softer parts of more active growth. In the pulvinus of the 
Robinia, the modification is chiefly found in the excessive hypertrophy of the hypodermal 
tissues, either at the base of the petiole, or throughout the entire length of the petiolule. 
In all of these cases, the true relative positions of the tissues, as found in the unmodified 
organ, e.g. stem or petiole, are fully maintained, but the special change developed in 
each of the component tissues causes an unusual relation to be established between them, 
so far as their mutual tension is concerned. This at once introduces an important factor 
in the conditions of equilibrium which would otherwise be maintained, with the result 
that some disturbance of this condition must sooner or later occur, and this disturbance 
then becomes outwardly manifest in the form of motion. 

Since variations of this character can occur in living tissues only, they must be 





! Journal Linnean Soc., Vol. ix, 1865, 2 Text-book, p. 89. 
Sec, IV. 1886. 7. 


50 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


referred primarily and in general terms to conditions of growth, of which they are the 
result. They may arise, however, as already pointed out, either from unequal growth 
and nutrition of parts, or from special conditions of turgescence, one or both combined. 
Or, as Sachs * states, “in those movements which occur during growth, the tension of the 
tissues is concerned only so far as any change in it reacts on growth and modifies it. 
Periodic movements, and those due to irritation, on the contrary, depend entirely on 
changes in the the tension of the tissues, which, in this case, are fully developed only 
when the organ has attained maturity.” 

These general principles apply to all the subjects now under consideration, and 
accepting them as tenable, we shall not in the present paper concern ourselves more 
particularly as to the special physiological changes involved, and whatever references are 
made to growth are to be accepted in the general meaning of that term, unless otherwise 
specified. Two general considerations are of importance in this connection, viz., the 
mechanical value of the tissues, and the continuity of protoplasm. 

Of the various tissues which enter into the composition of motile organs, parenchyma, 
collenchyma, bast and wood, are of chief value. Of these, the parenchyma probably 
stands first as capable of the most rapid growth and the most extreme variations of 
tension from turgescence or other cause. The collenchyma undoubtedly stands next 
in both of these respects ; while the bast, from its more permanent character, as well as 
from the results obtained by both Schwendener* and Haberlandt,* in which the great 
elasticity of this tissue appears, is in all probability the most important mechanical 
element, by reason of the retarding influence it exerts upon the growth of the more 
rapidly extending and external parts. 

The inference which naturally follows from this is, that the principal conditions of 
tension with reference to elongation, are established and maintained primarily between 
the parenchyma and collenchyma on the one hand, and the bast and other vascular 
elements on the other ; and secondarily, between the parenchyma and the collenchyma. 
It will also follow that, whenever one of these last-named tissues is in excess, it must 
exert a preponderating influence in changes of tension, without special reference to its 
particular capacity for such variations. 

One of the most important factors in the physiology of motion, particularly that due 
to irritation, is the continuity of protoplasm. This fact has now been observed in so many 
widely different cases, and involves so little difficulty in its determination in almost any 
living tissue, that we can no longer regard its application as a general law, with reason- 
able doubt ®. This law is of so recent origin, however, that at present but little is known 
as to its precise relation to motion; but that it is connected with it in those cases where 
there is distinct transmission of impulse to parts somewhat remote from the centre of 





? Darwin, Movements of Plants, p. 2. Sachs, Vorlesungen über Pflanzen-Phys. p. 775. 

? Text-book, 2nd Ed. p. 878, ete. Morren, La Sensibilité et la Motilité des Veg. Bruxelles, 1885, p. 52, etc. 

* Das Mechanische Princip. im Anatomischen Bau der Monocotylen. Leipsig, 1874. 

* Physiologische Pflanzen Anatomie. 

5 Bot. Centralbl. xiv. 89—121. Proc. Royal Soc., xxxv. 163. Zbid, xxxiv. 272. Jahrb. Wiss. Bot., xii. 170. 
Vorlesungen über Pflanzen-Physiologie, Sachs., 102. Nature, xxx. 182. xxxi. 337, 290, 390. Quart. Jour. Mic. 
Sci., Oct. 1882. Phil. Trans. Royal Soc., 1883, 817. Flora, 1863, 68. Hanstein, Die Milchsaftgefässe, 1864. Wil- 
helm, Zur Kenntniss des Siebrohrengefiisse Dicotyler. Pflanzen, 1880. 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS 51 


irritation, can hardly be doubted in the light of observed facts” It remains to determine 
in what way these transmissions occur through the protoplasmic medium. At present, 
therefore, we must confine our considerations to continuity of protoplasm, in its structural 
relations to the tissues of the motile organs. 

In both the grape and the squash, the continuity appears most prominently in the 
collenchyma tissue of the rather thick hypodermis. It may also be observed without 
difficulty in the active parenchyma of all parts external to the xylem portions of the vascu- 
lar bundles. The same treatment, however, does not answer equally well for its detection 
in each case, owing to the different character of the tissues involved. In the pulvinus of 
Robinia, Gardiner” has already pointed out the clearly defined continuity which may be 
observed both in the parenchyma and in the bast. In the latter tissue we have found it 
to be most strikingly prominent, its exhibition being much less difficult than in the softer 
tissues, probably owing to the presence of numerous channels in the cell walls, which 
serve to localize and more sharply define the connecting filaments. 

The method employed for the exhibition of continuity must depend upon the charac- 
ter of the particular tissue involved. Any one of these methods, all of which have been 
employed by Gardiner and others, may be used according to circumstances. The first we 
may distinguish as the salt method. For the purpose there should be prepared a 10 p. c. 
solution of common salt. This has been recommended by Gardiner * as giving the best 
results in most cases, an opinion fully confirmed by our own experience. Perfectly fresh 
and thin sections are immersed in a suitable quantity of the solution and allowed to lie 
until wanted for the final staining. The action of the salt is to contract the protoplasm 
gradually into a compact, rounded mass, towards the centre of the cell, and thereby 
preserve intact the original connecting filaments, which then become drawn out into long, 
slender threads. There is, however, no appreciable change in the cell wall. A distinct 
development of continuity will generally be formed within a period of ten minutes, but, 
for good results, at least half an hour should be given; and since, with continued action, 
the salt consolidates all the contracted parts and thus renders all the filaments more 
distinct, an immersion of the sections for twenty-four or thirty-six hours may often prove 
desirable. If the solution be stronger than 10 p. c., the action is too rapid and many of 
the more delicate filaments snap during development, so that we then observe only their 
contracted remains upon the cell wall, with corresponding processes from the main 
protoplasmic mass. Treatment of this description answers admirably for all unmodified 
parenchyma tissue, such as that in the squash fruit, the flesh of the apple and pear, and in 
the pulvinus of the Robinia. It does not answer so well, however, in the case of thick- 
walled cells, whether collenchyma or bast. Then one of the following methods is to be 
preferred. 

The second method may be distinguished as the sulphuric acid process *. Very thin 
sections, freshly cut—one or two at a time, according to size—are placed upon the end of 
a glass slide or platinum foil. Surplus moisture is now removed in order to secure uni- 
form action of the acid. A drop of concentrated sulphuric acid is then placed on the slide 








1 Janczewski, Etudes Comparées sur la tubes Cribreux, 1881. Russow, Sitzberg. Dorpater Naturf. Ges., 1882, 
23, 257—327. Tangl, Pring’s Jahrb., xii. Strasburger, Bau und Wachsthum, 23. 
* Proc. Royal Soc., xxxv. 163—166. 3 [bid., xxiv. 272-—274. 
Bot. Centralb., xiv. 89—121. 


52 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


or foil, immediately above the sections, and allowed to flow down over them quickly. 
Very careful attention is now needed to control the action at the proper moment. In the 
course of three or four seconds the sections acquire a faint brownish color, which rapidly 
deepens as the dehydrating action of the acid proceeds. Its first appearance indicates, in 
most cases, that the action has been continued long enough. The slide is, therefore, 
quickly plunged in a dish of water which must be ready for that purpose, and the sections 
thoroughly washed. They are then ready for staining. 

The action of the acid, dependent upon its dehydrating properties, is first to contract 
the protoplasm. It next causes the cell wall to swell strongly and partly dissolve, thus 
rendering it so transparent as to permit the threads of protoplasm which traverse it to be 
seen distinctly when stained. The swelling of the wall also tends to aid in the contrac- 
tion of the protoplasm, while the channels become longer, and further aid in defining 
the filaments. If great care be not used in this process, the section will be quickly and 
wholly dissolved. This process is of special advantage as a quick method, while it gives 
most gratifying results, and it has been chiefly relied upon by us. It may be employed 
in ordinary parenchyma tissue, and also with great advantage in collenchyma and bast, to 
the treatment of which latter two, it is best adapted. This is one of the oldest of all the 
methods now in use. | 

The third method, and that which Gardiner seems to regard with the greatest favor 
is the chloriodide of zinc process. This admits of two variations ; in the first, the sections 
are immersed for a short time in an ordinary aqueous preparation of iodine, until the 
characteristie reaction is developed. They are then transferred to the chloriodide, when 
they quickly turn dark brown, owing to the intensity of the iodine reaction. After about 
ten to thirty minutes in this latter reagent, they are washed out in distilled water until 
the brown color disappears. This method is said by Gardiner to have the special advan- 
tage of causing the protoplasm in all its parts, to take a much deeper stain when finally 
colored with aniline. The second variation simply omits the preliminary treatment with 
iodine. Preparations by this method, show the filaments very distinctly, and the walls 
of the cells so strongly swollen as to render them quite transparent. It may therefore 
be used instead of the last process by sulphuric acid. | 

Sections treated by any one of these methods, require subsequent staining, in order to 
differentiate the delicate filaments from the surrounding cell wall. The method originally 
employed by Tangl', in the case of endosperm cells, was to stain with iodine. Our present 
methods, however, permit of much more accurate results. The stain recommended by 
Gardiner’ as used by us, gives most satisfactory results. It is prepared as follows:—To a 
50 p. c. solution of alcohol, add picric acid to saturation. To this add aniline blue (we 
used BB with good results) until the residual color imparted to a section, is deep blue. To 
facilitate solution, one or two drops of acetic acid may be added to the stain with advantage. 
Sections previously treated and well washed, are immersed in the stain fora few moments 
and then washed out in fresh alcohol until the yellow is all discharged and the color of 
the section changes from green to clear blue. It will then be found that the picric acid, in 
passing out from the section, has withdrawn all the aniline from the cell walls, but that 
it has left it in the protoplasm, for which it has a special affinity. The colorless cell walls 





1 Pringh’s, Jahrb., 1880, 170. ? Phil. Trans., clxxiy. 817. 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 53 


and the colored filaments are thus brought into sharp contrast, and the latter may easily 
be recognized under a sufficiently high power. Sections so prepared may be placed in 
25 p. c. glycerine for future examination. For permanent mounts, glycerine jelly should 
be used: Balsam will answer for exhibition of continuity in the bast tissue, and will 
even preserve it for several months in the softer tissues, but in the latter case, the proto- 
plasmic filaments gradually break up, and ultimately disappear. 


I.—CucURBITA MAXIMA AND PEPO. 


Histotocy.—The tendrils of the squash externally present the form of long, slender 
filaments, well rounded, but with a somewhat greater transverse than vertical diameter, 
and on the upper side flattened and slightly grooved for almost their entire length. The 
surface is generally smooth, though soft scattering hairs usually appear towards the upper 
side. The prevailing color is a very pale or whitish green, due to the deeply seated 
chlorophyll-bearing layer, which is internal to the collenchyma. This pale hue, however, 
is found to be interrupted along three lines, extending from base to tip of the tendril, in 
which the color is a strongly marked green, thus bringing these bands into strong 
prominence by contrast with the surrounding and lighter parts. These three lines or 
bands of tissue, always occupy the same positions, which are found to be, one on each side, 
just at the horizon of the major axis of transverse section, and the third in the position of 
the channel along the upper side of the arm, at the upper extremity of the minor axis. 
Aside from their more special value in circumnutation, these bands serve as most valu- 
able means of noting certain changes incident to movement, e.g. those of torsion. The 
tip of the tendril is invariably turned slightly backward, or towards the lower side of 
the tendril arm, though during certain phases of the circumnutation, changes due to 
torsion often cause it to point upward. 

Internally, the tendril presents several important features. Transverse sections 
disclose the form and relation of parts shown in Plate IV, Fig. 1. From this, the following 
details may be gathered :— 

The epidermis consists of a single row of cells, which are either of the same size in 
both directions, or somewhat elongated in a direction perpendicular to the general surface. 
The epidermal hairs, so far as they may be present, are confined almost wholly to the 
upper and lateral surfaces at b, being absent from the surface below the horizon of the 
major axis b. The hypodermal tissue consists of a rather thick layer of collenchyma (6 0’), 
which is almost continuous throughout the entire circumference of the tendril, its con- 
tinuity being interrupted in the three regions a,a’, and an opposite to a’. These areas of 
interruption correspond to the three green bands already referred to. The collenchyma 
itself is thus separated into three distinct bands, which traverse the tendril throughout 
its entire length, one being larger and inferior in position at 6’, and two smaller and 
superior as at b and its corresponding part on the other side. The first is usually distin- 
guished by being somewhat thicker, and also of much greater lateral extent than the 
other two combined. The detailed structure of this tissue is shown in Fig. 3, from which 
it appears that the collenchymatous thickening is somewhat general over the entire 
surface of each cell. 


54 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


At the three points a, a’, a”, the continuity of the collenchyma is interrupted by 
groups of parenchyma tissue, which extend as longitudinal bands throughout the entire 
length of the arm. This tissue has certain important distinguishing characteristics. The 


cells are usually large, well rounded, and thin walled (Fig. 1, aa’, and Fig. 5). They-contain. 


an abundance of protoplasm and chlorophyll, and possess all the features of cells in an 
active condition of growth. Indeed, the activity of this tissue is conspicuous from the 
earliest period of circumnutation until long after the surrounding parts have become 
hard and woody, and all motion has ceased. Within the area of this tissue are to be 
found intercellular spaces (not shown, however, in the figure) together with their corres- 
ponding stomata, which latter are confined to the epidermis of these bands. The very 
large amount of chlorophyll here present, is the means of that outward distinction to 
which we have already referred. Inwardly, each of these groups of cells connects directly 
with the pith region of the tendril, thus causing a further break in the continuity of the 
interior tissues. From the very prominent part which this tissue evidently takes in the 
circumnutations of the tendril, and the frequency with which pointed reference must be 
made to it, we have deemed a descriptive term essential. We have, therefore, applied to 
it the name of “ Vibrogen” or “ Vibrogenic tissue,” as signifying that the origin of the 
ordinary cireumnutation is to be found there. 

Immediately internal to the collenchyma is a zone of rather large, thin-walled paren- 
chyma tissue, c, usually disposed in three or four rows, of which the innermost cells are 
the smallest. This tissue, which is essentially the mesophleum of the stem, forms a 
continuous zone through each of the vibrogen bands. The cells are filled with proto- 
plasm, and contain some granular, matter and a small amount of chlorophyll, which 
imparts the subdued green color to the tendril as a whole. The tissue presents all the 
characteristics of active growth, but it in all probability is inferior in this respect to the 
energy of the vibrogen bands—as will appear later—though it undoubtedly contributes 
its part as a factor in the general circumnutation. Directly interior to this tissue is the 
bast zone of the liber. At a very early period in the growth of the tendril, the bast 
portions of the vascular bundles establish conjunctive growth, and thereby form a zone (d), 
the continuity of which is interrupted only at those three regions where the vibrogen 
establishes its connection with the pith. In its earlier period of growth, the bast cells 
are all thin walled (Fig. 2 4). They are then in a condition of active growth, and are 
capable of conforming to the general and rapid elongation of the organ as a whole. It is 
this condition which essentially characterizes these cells during the greater portion of the 
tendril’s active period, but most conspicuously so during the earlier portions of it, since 
we find that, with the growth of the organ, the bast cells gradually increase in thickness 
and assume more and more completely their true character as permanent structure. And 
this becomes more conspicuous towards the end of the active period, when the motion of 
the tendril is gradually retarded, and becomes continually more spasmodic, until finally 
it ceases altogether. We then find that from thin-walled cells the bast has changed to 
thick-walled, permanent tissue, as shown in Fig. 28. This, then, defines the hard and 
woody character of the tendril, which is so conspicuous a feature after coiling. 

It is important to point out in this connection that as soon as this woody character 
in the tendril is fully developed, all motion must cease; and since the lignification is a 
gradual process, and will be completed within a definite period—assuming constant 


eel 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 55 


conditions of nutrition,—we must recognize the probability of a gradual modification in 
uniformity, as also of a gradual cessation of motion, and the impossibility of the activity 
being prolonged or even shortened ; unless conditions of permanent contact and irritation 
are established, when maturity is accelerated. As will appear later, the motion resolves 
itself into an expression of the resultant of activity in two tissues, one of which is con- 
tinually growing, while the other is as continually becoming less active, and the cessation 
of motion must then be determined when the latter gains complete ascendancy over the 
former, and thus permanently destroys the equilibrium of growth. 

Internal to all the histological elements thus far discussed, lie the xylem portions of 
the vascular bundles. These, however, are widely separated. They are seven in number, 
the three largest traversing the lower region of the tendril arm. As elements of perma- 
nent structure, they must undoubtedly serve in a degree to supplement the mechanical 
value of the bast, but to this they are obviously very subordinate. Within the vascular 
zone is the somewhat large pith which, especially at the base of the tendril arm, early 
develops what De Bary ' designates as a “lysigenetic intercellular cavity,” to the extent 
that the organ becomes hollow for a considerable distance from its base. This also charac- 
terizes the petiole of both tendril and leaf, in each of which the same structural elements 
appear, and in much the same relative positions. 

Of the elements thus considered, we must regard the vibrogen, collenchyma and bast 
as of primary importance, and that they bear a definite relation to the circumnutation of 
the tendril, and to its behaviour under the influence of irritation, can hardly be doubted 
in the light of the facts to be presented in the following pages. 


GROWTH IN LENGTH.—In vigorous vines, the largest tendril arm often exceeds 30 cm. 
in length. The extreme lengths of the tendril arm, during the entire period of circum- 
nutation, may generally be taken as ranging from 8 em.to 35 cm. As this great elonga- 
tion must occur within the very limited period of two days, it Indicates a most rapid 
organizing process, as the following determinations will show. Moreover, it must be 
borne in mind that the cessation of growth in length and of circumnutation is simul- 
taneous. The following determinations have been obtained. An arm just uncoiled from 
the bud measured 12 cm. in length. One day later it had increased to 14.8 cm., and on 
the following day to 18.3 cm., thus giving a total increase in length of 6.3 cm., or one- 
half the original. August 8th, five tendril arms, but a short time in action, were measured 
and marked. The Monday following (10th) all except one were found to have coiled 
about themselves or other objects. The coils were drawn out and measured with the 
following results :— 























1 2 3. 4 5 
August Sth...... . 12.0 | 12.4 d7 7 NUTO 4 bem: 
| | 
| | 
GB, Hier cane | 24.5 | 19.0*| 25.0*! 20.5*| 33.0 * 
| | — 
GAIN ce cise ates eas | 12.5 |. 6.6 ok | 10.1 1529 
| | 





* Indicates those which could not be fully straightened. 





* Comparative Anatomy of Phenogams and Ferns, Eng. Ed. 200. 


56 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


Coils 2, 3, 4, 5 could not be fully straightened for measurement, allowance for which 
had to be made. Thus if we add to the above numbers as follows : 1.0, 3.0, 5.0 and 1.0 em. 
respectively, we then get as the total lengths of all the tendrils, 12.5, 7.6, 10.3, 15.1 and 
16.5 em. We thus get as the extreme range in elongation, from 50 per cent. to 100 per 
cent. of the original length, and the mean ratio of increase would be as 1 : 1.14, showing 
that the tendril at least doubles in length after the uncoiling from the bud, and during 
the period of circumnutation. 


Co1LInG.—When brought in contact with an object near the tip, the tendril, at once 
affected by the irritation, coils about the support with a firm grasp. The effect of irrita- 
tion does not immediately extend along the remainder of the tendril, as is shown by the 
fact that, when the tip is brought in contact, the basal portion of the tendril continues its 
movement and passes by as a curve, the sensitive surface thereby becoming convex instead 
of concave, as would occur if it felt the influence of contact. After a time, however, the 
effect of contact extends to all the cells of the basal portion, which then draws itself into a 
closer and closer spiral. When brought in contact with an object, the tendril does not 
immediately lose its power of nutation, but often retains it for a very considerable period, 
this being dependent upon the age of the tendril, and especially upon the particular 
state of lignification in the bast. It becomes evident, therefore, that when the tip is 
arrested, the bands of vibrogen, still continuing to act in the basal portions, tend to bow 
the tendril in all directions as before. Their power to do so being modified by fixation of 
the tip, the natural result would be for the centre to pass by the point of support as a curve 
having the sensitive side outermost. Continued circumnutation of the free central portion 
between two fixed extremities must result in torsion, which will be right or left hand as 
the case may be, from both ends towards the centre, and when such torsion becomes exces- 
sive, its compensation is of necessity found in a double spiral ', which always characterizes 
the fixed tendril. If coiling in the free central portion were primarily due to the irrita- 
tion of contact, we should expect to find the coiling first developed as the direct result of 
simple contraction along one side, and this would not immediately give rise to torsion. 
Tendrils which have not suffered contact, always coil upon themselves at the completion 
of their period of circumnutations. Such coils, however, are always somewhat loose and 
quite irregular, and are the direct result of excessive inequality of tension between the 
bast and vibrogen, therefore of unequal maturity in the tissues. 


CIRCUMNUTATION.—The circumnutations of the tendrils commence as soon as each 
arm uncoils from the bud condition. The central and largest arm generally uncoils first, 
and later, the laterals. The whole period of circumnutation in a rapidly growing vine, 
under favorable circumstances, is usually about two days—rarely three days. During 
this period, the motion is at first by grand and regular sweeps, but it gradually becomes 
slower as the end is reached ; and in the later periods, the movement is spasmodic, often 
exhibiting rest periods alternating with those of great activity. Ultimately the end is 
reached in the formation of a spiral, which is more or less loose and irregular if free, or 





' Darwin, Climbing Plants, 163, etc. 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 57 


compact and well formed if developed after contact. In each case the structural modi- 
fications are the same, i.e. the parts become hard, dry and woody.’ 

The figure described by the nutating tip is approximately ellipsoidal (Plate III), the 
major axis being transverse. This axis not infrequently reaches a length of 24 to 27 cm.; 
that of the minor axis being from 13 to 22 em. in length. In Æchinocystis lobota, the 
diameter of the figure, according to Darwin’, is even larger than this, measuring from 38 
to 41 em. While the tendril thus describes a figure, the vertical plane of which is 
parallel with the axis of the plant, the space through which the tip moves is greatly 
augmented by a supplementary movement in the growing end of the vine on which the 
tendril is found. This secondary movement causes the tendril to describe a double 
motion, which increases the possibility of its contact with surrounding objects.’ It is of 
short duration, however, since the movement of the vine is confined to the few internodes 
at the end, and at any one node continues for two days only after the tendrils are in 
motion ; so that, by the time the first arm of the latter has grasped a support, the move- 
ment of the vine at that particular node may have ceased entirely. So long as there is no 
contact the tendril continues to revolye, until a gradual increase of permanent tissue 
arrests its activity. 

Circumnutations do not belong to the tendril arms alone. Not only does the petiole 
of each tendril perform a definite circumnutation, but the leaves exhibit a similar movement 
in a marked degree, as demonstrated by G. E. Cooley during the past summer. The 
motion of the tendril petiole is best observed by Darwin’s method of a fine glass filament 
with a small black bead at its extremity, inserted into the end of the petiole where the 
arms separate. The circumnutation of the leaf is to be determined from its tip, as in 
tendril motion. In this manner, we have obtained, from a leaf of medium size, a figure 
of twenty different changes of direction, within the space of three hours. The movement 
was found to be much slower, and the figure much smaller than in the case of the tendrils. 
This, however, would appear to be the case from theoretical considerations, when we 
compare the structural features of the two and have due regard for the difference in size. 
The figure described by the leaf, so far as formed, was quite regularly ellipsoidal, though 
the curve was retraced before the ellipse was fully completed, in all of these respects 
showing striking similarity to the movement of the tendril. 

During a series of observations extending over a period of nearly one week and 
embracing both day and night, almost the entire circumnutations of each tendril observed 
were secured. Temperature and other conditions were noted at each of the observations, 
which were taken at intervals of from two minutes to one hour, according to the 
condition of activity. The following are the results :— 


Tendril No. 1.—Aug. 12th, at 9.30 a.m., one of the longest arms was selected after it 





! My observations confirm those of Darwin with regard to other members of the Cucurbitaceæ, that when 
a spiral develops freely, it is always simple; that it only reverses when the tip is attached to a support. 

* Climbing Plants, 128, ete. 

’ The fact that there is this double motion as a result of tendril vine action, shows that the true figure is to 
be obtained only when the tendrils revolve about the inner surface of a glass globe and the changes of direction 
are recorded from the outside. This, however, was not practicable in our case, nor was it essential to the accuracy 
of the conclusions to be obtained, For our purpose, the plane recording surface was amply sufficient. 


Sec, IV., 1886. 8, 


58 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


had been sometime uncoiled, and its movements were noted until there was no further 
motion. The entire period of observation was ten hours and thirty minutes. During 
that time, the tendril tip traversed a distance of 343.15 cm., giving an average rate of 
0.54 cm. per minute. 

The greatest rate of movement, at any one time, was 2.06 cm. per minute, and occurred 
two and one-half hours after the wave of maximum temperature had passed. The waves 
of most rapid movement extended from 2.30 to 4.30 p.m., closely following the greatest 
heat wave. The waves of slowest movement covered the time from 10 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., 
coincident with a rising temperature. The absolute minimum of motion occurred just 
before the maximum of temperatttre, at the rate of 0.21 cm. per minute. At four o’clock 
in the morning, a heavy rain ceased. The air was surcharged with moisture, and the 
sky was entirely overcast with heavy clouds. It was while this condition lasted, that 
the waves of slowest motion occurred, the absolute minimum being found during the 
period from 12.15 to 1 p.m. At the latter hour, the clouds broke and the sun came out 
brightly and so continued until6 p.m., when the sky again became overcast and rain set 
in at 7 o’clock. While the sun was out, the tendril was most active—the absolute 
maximum of motion taking place within the five minutes from 3.25 to 3.30 p.m., the 
distance travelled in that time being 16.30 cm. 

The first direction of movement was to the right. This, however, was obviously 
accidental, since the direction first recorded must depend upon the time of first observation 
with relation to the entire movement—dextrorse alternating with sinistrorse movement 
during the whole period of activity. The total motion to the right was 190.8 cm.; that 
to the left, 152.35 cm. ; and the ratio therefore, as 1: 0.79. 


Tendril No. 2.—Selected for observation, August 13th, at 8 o’clock. It was a shorter 
arm than No. 1, and somewhat nearer the end of activity. The time of observed 
movement was six hours and fifteen minutes, and the whole distance travelled 136.00 cm., 
thus giving an average rate of 0.36, cm. per minute. 

The absolute maximum of motion was 1.76 cm. per minute and occurred from 10.15 
to 10.20 a.m., forty-five minutes before the maximum temperature for the day was reached. 
The waves of most rapid motion covered the period from 8 to 10.50 a.m., coincident with 
increasing temperature. The waves of least motion occurred between 10.50 a.m., and 
2 p.m., during a slight depression of temperature. The absolute minimum was reached 
between 10.50 a.m. and 12.25, and amounted to 0.179 cm. per minute. It directly succeeded 
the maximum of temperature. During the entire time of observation, the weather was 
very pleasant, though somewhat cloudy. At 12 o'clock, the leaves began to droop from 
the effects of excessive heat and transpiration. This continued until after the close of 
observations. It was during this time of depressed activity, that the minimum motion 
occurred. During the entire morning, all the leaves and flowers showed great vigor, and 
it was while in this condition that most active movement took place. The first motion 
observed, was to the left, and was not replaced by dextrorse for some time. The entire 
sinistrorse action was 94.2 cm.; the dextrorse, 41.8 cm.; and the ratio of the latter to the 
former was therefore, as 1 : 2.25. 


Tendril No. 3.—The time of observation was ten hours and thirty minutes, commenc- 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 59 


ing at 10 o’clock, a.m., on August 13th. The whole length of movement was 329.30 cm., 
and the rate per minute, 0.52 cm. The times of greatest movement were from 1 to 3.15 
p.m., and again from 5.15 to 8 p.m., the former occurring at the time of the maximum tem- 
perature, the latter on a diminishing temperature. The absolute maximum of motion was 
3.55 em. per minute, and occurred from 1.50 to 1.52 p.m. succeeding the wave of maximum 
temperature by two hours and fifty minutes, at a time when there was a slight tempo- 
rary depression of heat. The distance travelled in that short interval was 7.10 cm. The 
time of least movement was from 12.15 to 1 p.m., during the time of greatest heat, and 
again from 3.15 to 5.15 p.m., following a diminution of temperature. The absolute 
minimum of motion was 0.013 cm. per minute, and occurred from 12.15 to 1 p.m. ona 
decreasing temperature, following the maximum wave by one hour and fifteen minutes. 
During that time, the weather was pleasant but somewhat cloudy. From 11 a.m. until 
5 p.m., all the leaves and flowers were drooping, indicating a weak vital action through 
excessive transpiration. The first movement recorded was to the right, soon succeeded 
by a reverse to the left. The entire amount of the former was 261.5 cm. ; of the latter, 
67.8 cm. ; and the ratio as 1 : 0.25. 


Tendril No. 4.—This tendril was taken August 14th at 8 o’clock a.m., but so late in 
its growth that only twelve movements were obtained, covering seven hours and fifty 
minutes in all. The whole length of movement was 66.20 cm., and the average rate per 
minute, 0.14cm. At no time was there any exhibition of very great activity, the tendril 
appearing to move asif in the last stages of growth, which it really was. The most rapid 
movement appeared from 9.41 to 9.50 a.m., the extremity passing through 7.7 cm. in nine 
minutes—an average rate of 0.85 cm. This coincided with the highest temperature, and 
was just prior to a fall of two degrees. The time of least activity was from 9.50 a.m. to 
3.50 pm. The absolute minimum of motion .was from 2.10.0 3.50 p.m., amounting to 
0.031 cm. per minute. It occurred on a decreasing temperature, five hours and fifty 
minutes after the maximum temperature had passed. During that time the sun was 
shining brightly, though its effects were somewhat modified by numerous clouds. From 
12 o’clock to the close of observations, during the time of least activity, the leaves and 
flowers were all depressed from the effects of the heat. | 

The movements first recorded were to the left, but after two courses changed to the 
right. The total dextrorse movement was 18.4 cm; the sinistrorse 47.80 cm., and the 
ratio 1 : 2.6. 


Tendril No. 5 a—This was taken Aug. 14th, at 4 o’clock p.m.,as soon as it had emerged 
from the bud condition ; thus very nearly the first nutations were secured. Observations 
were interrupted after a few hours, and not resumed until the next morning. The entire 
length of movement was 107.60 cm., occupying four hours and thirty minutes, thus 
giving an average rate per minute of 0.39 em. The greatest movement was at the rate of 
1.44 cm. per minute, and occurred from 4 to 4.05 p.m., at the very commencement of action 
and observation. The times of greatest movement occurred from 4 to 4.35 p.m., and again 
from 5.30 to 7 p.m., coincident with decreasing temperature. 

Least activity was noticed at 7.55 to 8.10, when the tip moved at the rate of 0.13 cm. 
per minute. This occurred at the time of lowest observed temperature, the mercury 


60 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


standing at 21°C. The times of least movement were found to extend from 4.35 to 5.30, 
and again from 7 to 8.30 p.m., when the observations ceased. 

At the commencement of observations, the sun was shining brightly, and the effects 
were sufficiently strong to cause a depression of all the leaves and flowers. Shortly after 
observations ceased, the sky became cloudy, and at 9 o’clock there was a heavy shower 
which revived the whole plant, and once more brought all the parts into active condition. 

The first movement recorded, was to the left, action in that direction predominating 
during the entire period of observation. The total movement to the right was 18.80 c.m.; 
to the left 88.8 cm.; and the ratio, therefore, as 1: 4.72. 


Tendril No. 5 b, c.—This represents the same as the preceding tendril, observations 
upon which were interrupted Aug. 13th at 8 p.m., and resumed the next morning (14th) 
at 8 o'clock, being continued through the 14th and 15th. During the night, the arm was 
quite active, and in the morning showed no tendency whatever to discontinue its nuta- 
tions. From the time indicated, observations were continued for twenty-four consecutive 
hours. The entire distance travelled during that time was 511-7 cm., thus giving an 
average rate of 0.37 cm. each minute. 5 b-c. indicates a change of paper, which occurred at 
6.20 p.m., at a time when the tip had dropped to the ground, where it remained without 
change of position until 8.35 p.m., when its nutations were resumed. 

The time of most rapid movement, was during the two minutes from 4.55 to 4.57 
p-m., on a decreasing temperature, and five hours after the maximum wave had passed. 
The rate of movement was 4.55 cm. per minute, the times of most rapid movement 
occurring from 8 to 10.20 a.m.; 1.30 to 2 p.m.; 4 to 5.30 p.m., and 10.53 to 11.05 p.m.; the 
maximum of these being from 4 to 5.30 pm. The absolute minimum of motion occurred 
from 4 to 5.04 a.m., when the tip traveled at the rate of 0.043 cm. per minute, this being 
at a time of low temperature. The times of least activity were from 10.20 am. to 1.30 
p.m.; 2 to 4 p.m.; 5.30 to 10.53 p.m.; and from 11.05 during the remainder of the night, 
and until the end of the experiment at 7 o’clock in the morning. In these observa- 
tions, there appears a very sharp division at 5.30 p.m., between the waves of more rapid 
diurnal, and those of slower nocturnal movement. 

The experiment commenced with very pleasant weather and all parts of the plant in 
vigorous condition—the leaves being erect and the flowers open. From 12 m. to 4 p.m., 
the leaves were drooping and the activity of the plant small. This, with the exception 
of one-half hour from 1.30 io 2 p.m., was a time of slow movement. At 4 o’clock p.m., 
the leaves began to resume their normal, fresh appearance and so continued until the 
close of observations. Towards morning, a very heavy fog gathered and reached its 
maximum at four o'clock, the time of minimum motion. 

Sinistrorse movement was first noticed. The entire dextrorse motion was 282.1 cm.; 
the sinistrorse 229.6, and the ratio 1:0.81, thus showing a greater tendency to equality 
than previously observed. 

The figure described during the movement of this tendril—reduced to one-half the 
actual size—is shown in Plate III, the position of the observer corresponding to the base of 
the tendril. The following table relating to these movements will convey a fairly accu- 
rate idea of the general features of circumnutation with reference to time and distance :— 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 61 





















































do ne Time | gone Number | Tene? | time |" UE 
alt .0 8.00 A.m. | 24.4 29 9.1 EME ei ||RRcodobue 
2 11.6 RNA cine 30 10.0 OMC EEE 
3 8.7 GO GE ESseLe 31 5.7 bAO2 LE 3.05 
4 20.6 9.15 “ 35.5 32 3.2 EE PETER 
5 14.8 OWA ips canal LAS 33 1.9 5 OMe alleen cae 
6 29.6 10.00 « 35.5 34 20.8 Rag. Gin] ee 
7 10.1 Mb AMIE SAS ce 35 6.0 SRP e tae cl RATE 
8 7.0 10 20e ER 36 8.1 AOC AMIE 
9 18.2 11.00 “ 36.6 37 14.1 6.20 “ 27.2 
10 7.0 TPE NAS PTE 38 6.3 8.35 “ 22.2 
11 7.2 12.00 m 36.6 39 4.6 See U RC M RATER 
12 7.8 1.00 p.m. | 33.3 40 14.7 9.00 “ 22.2 
13 8.0 EB en ll selene het 41 6.8 9.50 “ 21-1 
14 Tok 1230 See 42 18.8 10260 Mere 
15 18.8 15 lee 43 7.5 11.05 “ Pleat 
16 5.7 ABE dl Net 44 9.0 12.00 “ 20.0 
17 5.3 TR ER 2e | 45 | 151 | 12854 |... 
18 8 2.00 “ 32.2 | 46 722 1:00). © 20.0 
19 7.4 ON UPS We 7 25.9 2.00 “ 19.0 
20 5.7 2.45 « : 48 8.2 Des MS toens 
21 4.1 3.00 “ 32.2 49 9.7 4.00 “ 18.0 
BEN A] 6.4 ODA eesee 50 | 2.8 5.04 “ 19.0 
2 | 17.5 4.00 “ 32.2 51 9.4 BBD PCA perch 
24 3.5 7s (Nees Pepe 52 6.0 edd NO" 0 
25 9.9 42306 Peters [3 6.6 7.00 “ | 20.0 
26h. T0 AA SIS |. ere | = 
27. | 6.8 AAI GT Al EE | Totals. .| 511.5 23 h. 577.8 
Bs | 1620 Bebo A Eten | 

| Means.. 9.8 | 26.5 m. | 26.3 














Tendril No. 6.—Selected Aug. 1, at 1.45 p.m., when but a short time from the bud. 
Observations were continued consecutively for eighteen hours and fifteen minutes. The 
distance through which the tip moved during that time, was 327.8 cm., an average rate 
per minute of 0.29 cm. 

Most rapid movement occurred from 6.50 to 6.52 pm., at the rate of 6.5 cm. per minute. 
This was on a decreasing temperature, and six hours and forty minutes after the wave of 


62 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


maximum temperature had passed. The time of the greatest movement was from 3.50 to 
7.10 p.m. on a decreasing temperature, and within three degrees of the lowest phase of the 
thermal wave. The times of least movement were from 1.45 to 3.50 p.m., and from 7 p.m. 
to the close of observations. As in the preceding case, there was, in this, a marked distinc- 
tion between the waves of more rapid diurnal, and those of slower nocturnal movement— 
the time of division being 7 p.m. 

The tendril commenced its nutations with a dextrorse movement, and in its entire 
activity manifested a greater equality between right and. left motion, than in even the last 
case. The dextrorse movement was 166.10 cm.; the sinistrorse 161.7 cm., and the ratio, 
therefore, 1: 0.97. At the commencement of observations, the sun was bright, and the 
temperature high. The vitality of the plant was much depressed, and the action slow— 
all the parts drooping from excessive transpiration. This continued until 4 p.m., during 
which time there were slow waves. At 4 o’clock, the plant revived, the leaves became 
erect, and the normal condition and activity were once more restored. From that time 
until sunset, the waves of greatest movement occurred. The sky was clear until after 
midnight, but slow waves continued throughout the remainder of the night, with a 
slight acceleration just after sunrise. : 


Tendril No. 7 a.—Observations commenced Aug. 16th, at 9 o’clock, a.m, and were con- 
tinued for ten consecutive hours. The total distance covered, during that time, was 227.1 
cm., or at the rate of 0.88 cm. per minute. The time of most rapid movement was from 
5 to 5.20 p.m., when the tip moved at the rate of 0.92 cm., per minute. This occurred 
just at the outset of a rapid decline in temperature, and six hours after the maximum of 
temperature had passed. The time of greatest movement was from 3.15 p.m. to the close 
of the observations at seven o’clock, co-incident with a rapid decline in temperature. 

The time of least movement was from 1.42 to 2.25 p.m.; the tip moving at the rate 
of 0.53 em. per minute. “This was during high temperature, but one hour and forty-two 
minutes after the maximum had passed. The waves of least motion were found to extend 
from 9 a.m. until 3.15 p.m., with a marked retardation towards the latter hour. These 
waves were coincident with the greatest heat wave, the greatest retardation of motion 
occurring just after the maximum temperature had passed. 

The experiment commenced with the sky clear and the plant in active condition. As 
the heat increased, however, its effect upon the plant was noticed, and at 12 o’clock, with 
the mercury at 34.4° C., the leaves drooped, and the whole plant was in a very flaccid 
condition. During this time, the waves of slowest motion occurred. This condition 
continued until, with considerable fall in temperature during the afternoon, the normal 
tension and activity of the plant were restored, when the waves of greatest activity 
were noted. The entire dextrorse movement was 92.90 em.; the sinistrorse 134.20 cm. 
and the ratio as 1: 1.44. 


Tendril No. 7b, c.—This was the same as the preceding, observations upon which 
were discontinued during the night, but resumed on the morning of the 17th at 8 o’clock, 
and carried over a period of seven hours and fifty minutes. The entire movement during 
this time was 94.40 cm., giving an average rate per minute of 0.205 cm. Most rapid 
movement was at the rate of 0.555 cm. per minute, and occurred from 8 to 8.15 a.m., at 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 63 


the very commencement of observation, and on a rising temperature, six hours before the 
maximum was reached. The waves of most rapid motion were found from 8 to 11.30 a.m. 
Least motion took place at 1.30 to 2 p.m., at the rate of 0.08 cm. per minute. This was 
just at the time of maximum temperature. The waves of least motion were found from 
11.30 a.m. to the close of observations at 3.40 p.m., coincident with a rising and maximum 
temperature. 

Observations commenced with a moderate temperature, clear sky and an active 
condition of the plant, continuing thus during the time of greatest movement, until, at 11 
o'clock, the leaves became depressed from the effects of the heat, and from 11.30 on, the 
waves of slow motion were found. At 12 m., the sky was overcast and the air loaded 
with moisture. At 1p.m., the leaves were restored to their normal condition and erect 
position. At the same hour, rain commenced and continued during the remainder of the 
experiment. The total movement to the right was 25.10 cm.; to the left, 69.30 cm., and 
the ratio as 1: 2.76. 


Tendril No. 8a—Selected Aug. 16th, at 9 a.m.—The time of observation covered a 
period of nine hours and fifty minutes, or until 6.50 p.m. The entire movement during 





that time was 314.50 cm., giving an average rate per minute of 0.516 cm The time of 
greatest movement was from 3 to 3.15 p.m., and the rate per minute 1.20 cm. This was 
on a decreasing temperature, four hours and fifteen minutes after the maximum. The 
waves of greatest movement were found from 2 p.m. until the end of observations, and 
during a diminishing temperature. 

The time of least movement was from 11.25 to 11.40 a.m., and the rate per minute 
0.166 cm. This was at the time of maximum temperature. The waves of slowest 
motion extended from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., with slight acceleration of movement towards 
the latter hour. Observations commenced with a bright sun and the plant in active 
condition. At 12 o’clock, the leaves drooped, with the thermometer at 34.4° C, and this 
condition continued until early in the afternoon, when they revived with decrease of 
heat. It was during the passive condition of the plant that the slowest motions were 
observed, the more rapid waves occurring with renewed vigour and greater tension of 
parts. The entire dextrorse motion was 143.10 cm.; the sinistrorse 161.40 cm., and the 
ratio, therefore, as 1 : 1.12. 


Tendril No. 8 b.— Observations were resumed at 8 o’clock a.m., August 17th, and 
were continued for seven hours and forty-five minutes. The distance which the tip 
travelled during that time was 225.0 cm., or at the average rate of 0.483 cm. per minute. 
The greatest movement was at the rate of 2.60 cm. per minute, occurring from 3.40 to 
3.45 p.m., at the very close of observations and one hour and forty-five minutes after 
the maximum of temperature. The waves of most rapid movement were from 8.15 
to 3.45 p.m. Least movement occurred at 10.15 to 10.30 a.m., at the rate of 0.10 cm. per 
minute. The waves of least motion extended from 8 a.m. until 3.15 p.m., coincident with 
a rising and maximum temperature. Observations commenced with a bright sun and 
the plant active. At 11 o’clock am., just thirty minutes after the minimum of motion 
occurred, the leaves were all drooping as a result of excessive transpiration. At 1 o’clock 
_ p.m., it was raining, and the normal activity of the plant was restored. This continued 


64 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


until the close of observations. The entire dextrorse action was 103.50 cm.; the 
sinistrorse 121.50 cm., and the ratio, therefore, as 1 : 1.17. 


Tendril No. 8 c.—Observations upon the tendril were resumed on the 17th of August, 
at 5 o’clock p.m., and extended over fifteen hours. Apparently, on account of its age, 
and the time of observation, the entire movements were slow, amounting in the whole 
period to only 159.0 cm., thus giving an average rate per minute of 0.176 cm. 

The greatest movement was from 7.12 to 7.28 pm., at the rate of 0.65 cm. per 
minute. The waves of most rapid movement were from 5 to 7.30 p.m., with a slight 
acceleration in the morning. Least movement was found from 2.30 to 3 p.m., at 
the rate of 0.023 cm. per minute, occurring at the time of minimum temperature. The 
extreme variation of temperature during the time of observation was only 2 C. A light 
rain fell during the greater part of the time, and heavy clouds obscured the sky the 
remainder. The dextrorse movement was 117.6 cm.; the sinistrorse 41.40 cm., and the 
ratio as 1: 0.35. 


Tendril No. 9.—The last tendril experimented upon was taken August 17th, at 6 
o'clock p.m. It was in the last stages of movement, and exhibited the least horizontal 
range. The whole length of movement was 191.30 cm.; the time sixteen hours and 
forty minutes, and the consequent average rate per minute was 0.191 cm. | 

The greatest movement was from 7 to 7.06 a.m., at the rate of 2.17 cm. per minute. 
This occurred from 9.30 to 10.00 p.m., at the rate of 0.02 cm. per minute. The waves of 
slowest motion were found from 6 p.m. until 5 am. The temperature varied only three 
degrees during the entire time of observation. From the commencement until 10 o’clock 
pm. light rain fell and the sky was entirely overcast until the close of observations. At 
5 a.m., there was a cool east wind, with a very large amount of moisture in the air, and 
the plant was in a very active condition. At the close of observations, heavy rain com- 
menced to fall. The total dextrorse motion was 160.40 cm.; the sinistrorse 30.90 cm. ; 
and the ratio as 1: 0.181. 


GENERAL SUMMARY. 


AVERAGE RATE OF MOVEMENT.—From a total of 436 distinct observations upon the 
motion of the tendril under all conditions of temperature and humidity, it is reasonably 
safe to assume that the average rate of movement deduced from them, will represent with 
approximate accuracy, the true normal rate of movement under all the ordinary conditions 
of growth. This rate we find to be 0.316 cm. per minute. 


Maximum RATE OF MOVEMENT.—By reference to the accompanying table, it will be 
seen that the maximum rates vary very widely, and also. in the same tendril, that they 
usually occur in waves, as in 5a, 56, ¢, etc. 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 65 


RELATION OF TEMPERATURE TO Rarp or Movement. 


(Deg. C. Distances in cm.) 





Means. 


U6 2: 3 A Das 050, c 1160, D. |) dae, | abs 8a. 8b. Sc. GE 





Average rate per | | 
minute.. .... 0.54 | 0.36 | 0.520} 0.140) 0.39 | 0.870; 0.290) 0.380! 0.205) 0.516) 0.483) 0.176) 0.191, 0.304 
Max. rate of | | 
movement. ..| 2.06 | 1.76 | 3.550) 0.850) 1.44 | 4.550) 6.500) 0.920) 0.555) 1.200! 2.600) 0.650! 2.170) 2.216 
Temp. for max. | | | | 
Hope one 28.30 [26.10 |27.800/35.500/27.20 |30.900/24.400/29. 00020. 00031. 700/22 .200/20.500/21. 10026 .500 
Minute rate of| | | 
movement. ..| 0.21 | 0.18 | 0.013] 0.031) 0.13 | 0.043) 0.047) 0.053) 0.080) 0.166) 0.100) 0.023) 0.020 0.084 
Temp. for min. | | | 
ratO ere 31.10 |31.70 |29.500/32.20021.70 |16.700/21.100/31 .100/22.800 34 .0024.000/19.500/20.000/27 .300 


















































If we examine these results in their relation to the external conditions of growth, 
then we find that, of the thirteen observations given, only four show waves of rapid 
movement during the morning, these occurring between the hours of 7 and 10.20, and in 
no case—unless we except No. 9—representing the absolute maximum of motion for the whole 
life of the tendril. The remaining nine show the waves to occur in the afternoon, from 1.50 
to 7.12 o’clock. If, moreover, we select those figures which represent the true maximum 
of motion for the entire period of activity in each tendril, we shall find that only one such 
occurred in the morning, all the others taking place in the afternoon, between the hours 
of 1.50 and 6.50. 

Equalizing the hours of day and night, making the time of division 7 a.m. and 7 
p-m., we find the total length of diurnal movement to be 1359.90 cm.; and of nocturnal 
movement to be 536.90 em.; thus making the latter in the ratio of 1 : 2,53 to the former, 
a difference which clearly indicates that temperature exerts an influence which far 
outweighs any retarding effect due to the greater influence of sunlight. 

This naturally raises a question relative to the temperature under which these 
maxima were obtained. The values for tendrils 1, 3,5 b, c, 6a, 6, 86, and 9, the six highest 
rates observed, were obtained when the temperature ranged from 21.1° C. to 30.9°. Of 
these, the highest rates, viz., 6.50, 4.55, and 3.55, were obtained when the thermometer 
ranged from 24.4° C. to 30.9°; the other three giving values of 2.17, 2.60 and 2.06, were 
obtained between 21.1° C. and 28.3°. We thus find that the more active of these waves 
were formed under the influence of a temperature 3.8° C. higher than that under which 
the less active were produced. Again, taking the highest rate of each tendril movement 
—including those just given—we find them obtained under an average temperature of 
27.2° C.: while the waves of rapid movement in the same tendrils, but of less amplitude, 
were propagated under an average temperature of 24.8° C. Of the thirteen maxima of 
movement obtained, one was found to be coincident with the absolute maximum of 
temperature. This, however, was a movement at the low rate of 0.85 cm. per minute. 
Three were found to occur on an increasing temperature, usually several hours before the 
maximum was reached; and nine were observed on a descending temperature, from two 
to six hours after the maximum for the day had passed. 

Passing to the condition of the atmosphere in other respects, we find that the 
maximum movements in tendrils 1, 8b, 8c and 9 were reached under conditions of great 


Sec. IV., 1886. 9. 


66 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


humidity; of all the remainder, when the sky was clear and the sun bright. The rates 
of movement in the four tendrils just mentioned were respectively 2.06, 0.65, 2.6 and 2.17 
em., and were attained when, owing to the humidity of the air, transpiration was not 
very active. Tendrils 2, 5, 4, 5 a, Ta, b and 8a gave respectively 1.76, 3.55, 0.85, 1.44, 
0.92, 0.555 and 1.2 as the maximum of motion. These rates were all reached while 
transpiration was excessive, and the effect of this upon the plants so great that all the 
leaves, flowers and buds were drooping. Tendrils 5 b,e and 6 a,b, in which the highest 
maxima were reached, gave respectively 4.55 and 6.50. em., but these rates were reached 
under conditions of active, though not excessive, transpiration, clear sky and bright sun, 
and while the plant was in a normally active condition, as shown by the erect leaves and 
fine healthy color of all the parts. 


Minimum RATE oF MoyeMENT.—Of the thirteen minimum movements recorded, we 
find that five occurred between sunset and midnight, two between midnight and sunrise, 
three between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and three between 1 and 4 pm. We further find that 
four occurred during a minimum temperature ; four just before the maximum; two just 
after, and three at the very time of maximum. 

As in our previous division, taking the figures obtained for 6 a, b, 3, 5b,c, 1, 8c and 9 
as representing the true minima for the entire movement of each tendril, we find 
the average temperature at which these movements occurred to be 22.9° C., while the 
average temperature for the whole thirteen is found to be 25.8° C. The remaining seven 
movements of greater rapidity were found under the influence of an average temperature 
of 28.2° C. The following table will show the connection between temperature and rate 
of movement, as just explained :— 








Maximum movements............. 13 | 26.5° Mean Temperature. 
Minimum res e cesse 13 25 BRIE # 
Maximum fe (a) rapid..... 6 | PAG ES ce 
a si (B) Slow TRANS ts se 
Minimum 3 (a) slow. .... 6 | 22-95 eS 
: a (b) rapid..... 7 | BoP “ 
| 





From this it will appear that a higher temperature is favorable to the more rapid 
movements, to a greater activity of the whole plant. 

Referring to the atmospheric conditions, it is found that tendrils 6 a, b and 1 gave 
their minima of movement during pleasant weather, while the plant was apparently in 
an active condition. The rates per minute were .047 and 0.21 cm. respectively. Ten- 
drils 7b, 9,5b,c and 8 gave 0.08, 0.02, 0.043 and 0.013 cm. respectively, during a time 
of great moisture and even rain; 8¢ gave 0.025 em., during the time of a heavy fog and 
cold east wind. The remainder, 4, 7a, 2, 8b,8 a and 5a, gave respectively 0.031, 0.058, 
0.18, 0.10, 0.166 and 0.13 cm., at a time when transpiration was excessive, as shown by 
shown by the drooping leaves and terminals, and always during a very bright sun. 


DEXTRORSE AND SINISTRORSE MovemeEnts.—The circumnutations of the tendril tip 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 67 


may commence in a direction with the sun, or the reverse. Movement in either direction 
is by no means continued during the entire period of activity. Motion in one direction 
may soon be succeeded by movement in the other direction, one alternating with the 
other constantly. The dextrorse motion, for all the observations taken, aggregated 1622.10 
em., the sinistrorse amounted to 1400.95 cm., and the ratio of one to the other was, 
therefore, as 1 to 0.86. ; 

While this shows a tendency to equality of movement in the two directions—a ten- 
dency which might have been more pronounced had the observations embraced all the 
movements—an important relation bearing upon this point is to be observed between the 
latitudes and departures of movements. Also, the relation which these two directions of 
motion bear to one another must obviously be directly related to the location of the bands 
of more active tissue which induce the motion. The following table will exhibit the total 
latitudes and departures for all the tendrils :— 

















Tendrils. Latitudes. Departures. Ratios. 
None ul 1244806 Ne dies | 249.70 | 1:2.01 
Cie eared aa ees HI Ca SEE 59251 | 116 60 | 1: 2.19 
rie APE) UMM sto San lfe se aaee | 269.40 | 1:2.10 
RARE men Rene etre 2100 RES 60.83 | 1 : 2.89 
RE Gares 3.37 ) 91.10 
285.17 489.65 | 1 :1.71 
CNE bec 241 80 J 398.55 J | 
CAPE RE heen TO ne | 266.55 | 1: 1.88 
| | | 
Te er 87 75 ) | 192.80 | 
| 135.50 } 262.10 | 1 : 1.93 
Et 47.75 | 69.30 | 
Wee Riie sed one 106.30] | 264.70 
| | 
Se ete 67.65 L| 227.15 | 203.03 || 612.93 | 1 : 2.69 
| | | | 
SE Ce 53.20 J | 144.50 J | 
| 
CT OU es tase ped See 2AM || osdoss 118.15 | 1: 0.95 
BALE = "| L 
Motals eee Ih gee. IGIGRERYA || Saeaaue 2445 21 
| | 1 : 2.04 
Means-:-c lle: | (LAS CENT 188 .09 
| 

















An inspection of this table at once exhibits a most striking relation between latitudes 
and departures of motion. While in some cases there is a marked variation in the results, 
e.g., Nos. 4 and 9, yet these, as already seen, were tendrils which were only partially 
observed, and if we consider the mean result, which agrees with specific cases in which 
the entire action of the tendril was noted, we find the departures of motion to be just 
twice the latitudes. This indicates most conclusively, therefore, that the principal energy 
of circumnutation must be developed along the two sides of the tendril arm, and reference 
to our figures, as also the description of the histological elements, will at once show that 
it bears a most important relation to the three bands of vibrogen tissue. 


68 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 
CONCLUSION. 


We may now proceed to sum up the conclusions which the foregoing facts appear to 
justify. 


TEMPERATURE.—The observations here recorded are in harmony with the views 
generally held, that within certain limits and conditions, otherwise favorable, higher 
temperatures induce more rapid growth. According tothe experiments of Sachs upon the 
germinating seeds of Cucurbita, the most rapid growth occurred under the influence of a 
temperature of 33.7° C.; the condition, doubtless, being such that the normal tension of 
parts was fully maintained throughout, or subject to but slight variations. In our own 
observations, the greatest growth, as represented in tendril movement, occurred under a 
temperature of 24.4°C.; while the most rapid growth of the vine occurred when the 
temperature ranged from 29° C. to 36.6°. It is important, however, not to lose sight of the 
fact that in these cases, there were important modifying influences which would affect 
growth through the normal tension of the tissues,—a disturbance of which frequently 
occurs as a result of high temperatures. The general effect of temperature becomes 
conspicuous at once, if we compare the growth for an even number of hours when the 
temperature is above 30° C., with growth for the same period when the thermal range is 
from 25° C. to 30°. We shall then find the growth in the latter case to be greater, as the 
following table will show :— 











Number of Average ae Average Growth = ve 
Observations. Temperature. | Total Growth. | per hour. Relative Humidity. 
6 27.0° C. 2.0 in. 0.333 in. Relatively great. 
6 34.9° 1.6 in. | 0.266 in. Relatively small. 




















The relative humidity of the atmosphere, or the degree of saturation dependent upon 
temperature, exerts a direct influence upon conditions of tension in growing parts, and 
consequently upon growth itself, by inducing more or less rapid transpiration. Excessive 
humidity is consistent with more rapid growth. We may, therefore, reaffirm the already 
accepted principle that increasing temperature promotes growth, so long as it does not 
disturb the normal conditions of tension. 


Licur.—Alternations of day and night cause a marked influence upon and variations 
in the phenomena of growth. Light is generally accepted as exerting a retarding influ- 
fluence upon growth,' and other conditions being equal, we should naturally expect to find 
the greatest elongation of the axis and most rapid movement of motile parts during the 
hours between sunset and sunrise. 

From the experiments now under consideration, we find that the growth during 
hours of darkness was in reality less than that during an equal number of hours of 








1 Sachs’ Text-book, 755. 





| 
* 
| 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 69 


daylight, since, in the case of the tendrils, we obtained a movement of 1359.90 cm., for 
the day, against 536.90 for the night, and in the growth of the vine, 44.447 cm., for the 
day, against 34.287 for the night. 

Rauwenhoff found that the growth in Cucurbita pepo, for twelve hours of day, was 
56.9 p. c. of the whole, and only 43 p.c. for the same number of hours of night, thus 
giving a ratio 1: 1.32 in favor of the former. Our results in the growth of the vine 
are in somewhat striking confirmation of this, since, as seen, our ratio is as 1: 1.29 in 
favor of day light. In the case of the tendrils, the superior influence of conditions 
which obtain during the day becomes even more apparent. The one conclusion to be 
derived from these facts appears to be, that the superior influence of temperature in 
promoting growth overcomes the lesser and retarding influence which may be exerted 
by light. 

From our previous considerations, it is clear that the movement of the tendril is but 
a normal manifestation of growth, and therefore subject to the same influences as other 
vital phenomena. These movements have been found to occur in well defined waves of 
greater and less activity, which, usually longer and of slower movement at the outset, 
are of decreasing length and greater activity with advancing age up to a certain period. 
This, however, is soon reached, and beyond this point the movements become somewhat 
longer, but more especially slower, with greater maturity. So long as all the tissues 
remain soft and in an actively growing condition, these waves will succeed one another 
in accordance with the controlling influence already spoken of. But as there is an 
advance in age with general hardening of the tissues and large formation of bast, a 
noticeable and general lengthening of the waves ensues. The tip may even drop toward 
the ground, as if exhausted, and not resume its nutations for one or even two hours. 
When it does, it is generally with a more sluggish action. 


GROWTH IN LENGTH.—From previous considerations, it is clear that most rapid 
elongation and most active movement in the tendril, are simultaneous and directly cor- 
related throughout the entire period of movement. It is, therefore, to this very rapid 
elongation in the first instance that we must look for a true explanation of the circum- 
nutation. On the other hand, the structure of the tendril, presenting, as it does, a 
diversity of tissues, at once points to the fact that this rapid extension cannot be partaken 
of by all the tissues in equal degree. The vascular elements are those in which the least 
extension can occur of all the tissues present. With reference to all the other tissues, 
therefore, they must be brought into a state of positive tension which continually 
increases in strength as age advances and the constituent cells become more strongly 
modified. In the collenchyma also, while capable of greater extension and variation of 
tension than the wood and bast cells, yet with reference to the unmodified fundamental 
structure in active growth, there must be a well-pronounced positive tension. This fact 
is at once demonstrated by the changes which follow the cutting of sections. Transverse 
sections quickly bulge out in the centre with a strong marginal contraction. Longitudinal 
sections show a strong curvature with the concavity on the side along which the collen- 
chyma lies. We may also, doubtless, ascribe a certain amount of this contraction to the 
effect of irritation, which causes a loss of water within the affected area, and thus, through 
condensation, a further increase of tension. This is essentially the view held by Sachs 


70 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


(p. 869) and it certainly appears justified. We must, therefore, regard the collenchyma not 
only as influencing all the movements dependent upon growth, but also as that particular 
tissue which chiefly determines all movement caused by mechanical irritation, a view 
which is well supported by its presence in the tendrils of Vitis, Ampelopsis, Cucurbita, 
Sicyos and other vines, and the relations which it there bears to the movements of those 
tendrils. ; 

The unmodified fundamental tissue, consisting of large, rounded, thin-walled cells 
filled with protoplasm and chlorophyll, is that in which the most rapid, general and 
continuous increase occurs. As the central or pith region early loses its power of 
growth and shrinks away radially, it may be regarded as having no special value in the 
movements, and we must look in this respect entirely to that parenchyma which lies 
without the wood zone. In all of the parenchyma tissue (Plate IV. Fig. 1) at ¢ and a, there 
is found to be the greatest activity ; and this power of extension is so strongly developed, 
that even after the vascular elements have assumed their most lignified condition, and the 
tendril has permanently coiled up, the vibrogen tissue at a a’ will be found to retain its 
activity for some days. We must, therefore, infer, from this that the negative tension, as 
a whole, is developed most strongly in the parenchyma tissue, and particularly in the 
three bands of vibrogen which lie at aa’ a.” 


TorsIon.—Sachs' distinctly states that no torsions occur in Cucurbitaceæ. This is not 
confirmed by our own observations, however, since it has been observed to be a common 
feature of the circumnutations, that distinct torsions constantly occur. This is readily 
determined, not only by the vibrogen bands, but by the changes in the direction of the 
recurved tip. Similar torsion is also readily detected in the petioles of both tendril and 
leaf, and that it bears a most important relation to the circumnutation itself can hardly 
be doubted. So strongly are these torsions developed in the tendril arm, that the tip 
frequently rotates through 180° or 200°. The explanation of this torsion is not difficult, and 
has been given on many previous occasions by various observers. From what has already 
appeared with reference to the various tissues in their mutual relations of position and 
tension, it is clear that torsion must follow as a natural result of excessive elongation in 
the external layers, thereby exerting a positive tension upon those which are internal. 


IRRITATION.—Of the two sides of the tendril arm, that which is uppermost and 
slightly channeled is the least sensitive to contact. This bears a direct relation to the 
distribution of the collenchyma tissue, which we find to be more continuous and strongly 
developed on the lower and sensitive side. That the vibrogen tissue is not concerned in 
changes due to irritation, appears evident from the fact that the flexure never coincides 
with these bands, but is always toward the lower side of the tendril arm, conforming to 
the position of the collenchyma. The conclusion is justifiable, therefore, that the collen- 
chyma tissue is that which is directly concerned in such movements, through its capacity 
for strong variations in the contained water. ° 

A tendril subjected to local irritation for about thirty seconds, develops an abrupt 
curvature at that point within one or two minutes, and the bending continues so Jong as 








‘Text-book, 866. 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. TA 


the foreign body is in contact; and even for a few seconds after its removal. Puncture 
with a pin, or the action of a loop of thread, produces similar effects. Irritation over a more 
extended area causes a correspondingly larger curvature. There is no special evidence in 
such cases that the impulse has been conveyed beyond the limits of the area irritated, 
and soon after the irritant body is removed—the growth in the various tissues having 
become gradually restored to its normal condition—the tendril straightens out and once 
more resumes its circumnutations. 

More violent mechanical stimuli produce a different effect, however. A sharp blow, 
such as would be given by a pencil, falling upon any part of the arm, produces an effect 
which throws the latter into a series of long undulations for its entire length. Prolonged 
irritation at the tip will usually produce the same effect. These facts at once and directly 
point to the inference that, while the effect is slowly produced, there is, nevertheless, a 
distinct transmission of impulse to very remote parts. Were concussion alone concerned, 
it might be possible to refer the whole change to it alone, as directly affecting the turgidity 
of the collenchyma tissue; but the fact that prolonged irritation will produce a similar 
result, should raise a question on this point. From what we now know concerning the 
sensitive nature of protoplasm, the relation which this substance bears to growth and 
turgidity, and its now well established continuity through living tissues, are we not 
justified in the belief that such transmissions as above noted are primarily propagated 
through this means ? 


CIRCUMNUTATION.—Our attention is first of all called to the fact pointed out by 
Darwin, and confirmed by our own observations, that the “tendrils revolve by the 
curvature of their whole length, excepting the sensitive extremity and the base, which 
parts do not move, or move but little.” This clearly shows that whatever force is in 
operation, acts uniformly through the entire length of the motile organ, and that the 
movement has not a local origin at or near the base. We must, therefore, conceive, 
as both Darwin’ and Sachs’ explain, that there is a longitudinal band of more actively 
growing tissue which extends from base to tip, and thus the arm is bent over toward the 
side of less active growth. So far, our own observations are in strict harmony with these 
views, but they do not accord with the opinion that these bands “travel round the tendril 
and successively bow each part to the opposite side.” As already shown, the figure 
described is not one of regular progression through successive points of an ellipse or other 
figure. (See Plate III.) In fact, the tip may change its direction very abruptly, often 
retracing the path just passed over (Nos. 36, 37 and 38), or the change may be less abrupt. 
While, therefore, it appears from the general equality of dextrorse and sinistrorse movement, 
that the totality of motion in one direction must be compensated by an equal movement 
in the opposite direction, the facts cited show quite conclusively that the band of growth 
does not pass regularly through successive points in the circumference, but that it arises 
irregularly. Again, the relations of the tissues in their mutual tension, and the position 
which the vibrogen tissue occupies, more especially the relation which this latter bears 
to the latitudes and departures of movement as already pointed out in a preceding 
paragraph, serve as a most important indication of the true position occupied by the bands 








2 Thid, * Text-book, 


1 Climbing Plants, 170. 


12 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


of growth; and the conviction becomes more firmly impressed upon us that this position 
is not only fixed, but that it coincides with the vibrogen bands. 

According to this view, all movement would be primarily due to these three bands, 
supplemented by less vigorous growth in the intermediate tissues. Therefore, all depar- 
tures of motion would arise primarily from the two vibrogen bands traversing the sides 
of the tendril, and all latitudes of motion would be due to that vibrogen traversing the 
upper side of the tendril arm. Any deviation from strictly lateral or vertical oscillations 
must then arise as resultants of activity, either between two vibrogen bands, or between 
one vibrogen band and intermediate tissue of slower growth. Finally, the torsion already 
shown is to be regarded as having its origin in, and as compensating excessive growth in, 
one or all of the vibrogen bands of tissue. 


SPASMODIC MOVEMENT.—It has been noted that towards the end of the circumnuta- 
tions, periods of rest alternate with periods of activity; that the whole action lacks vigor, 
and that there is a failure to accomplish those grand sweeps which are so conspicuous in 
the earlier period of activity. 

These features are undoubtedly to be referred to gradually increasing lignification in 
the wood and bast cells, and the modified conditions of tension which necessarily result 
from this. As the bast cells, particularly, increase in thickness, their degree of resistance 
or of positive tension correspondingly increases, while at the same time the growth of the 
parenchyma tissues continues at a nearly uniform rate. So long as the bast remains thin- 
walled and capable of its maximum extension or response to conditions of external 
tension, for such period is the normal relation between it and the more actively growing 
tissue preserved, and this is marked by regularity and rapidity of motion in the whole 
organ. With excessive disturbance of the normal relations, the equilibrium is disturbed 
in the direction of the more resisting structure, and this finds expression, first of all in 
slow and spasmodic movement, and finally in the completion of the spiral, which is 
always developed freely, without contact, at the end of the period of cireumnutation. 


CoILING ABOUT A SupporT.—Coiling about an object with which the tendril comes in 
contact, has already been discussed indirectly, though it may be well to refer to one or 
two facts more particularly. The coiling of the tendril tip about the point of contact, is 
the direct result of irritation, as both Sachs and Darwin have already shown, and as the 
latter’ explains, it is developed by a shortening of the side in contact with the object, the 
same change, 1.e., condensation of structure and release of tension, operating here as in 
previous cases; and with Darwin, we can hardly agree with Sachs,* that the coiling is in 
any way due to accelerated growth in the unirritated side. 

When once growth in length is arrested, as it appears to be soon after coiling is 
effected, the rapid hardening of all the parts appears to be the prevailing change. In this, 
however, it is difficult to conceive that the mechanical irritation has produced more than 
a very limited effect in advancing maturity. On the other hand, it rather appears that 
each tendril arm has a normal period of growth, which is completed only when the wood 
and bast cells have reached their full degree of maturity. If at the end of this period the 





! Climbing Plants, 181. ? Text-book, 869. 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 73 


tendril fails to secure contact with a suitable object, it coils up freely, as already shown, 
and this is the necessary consequence of the normal changes in the tissues. If, however, 
it comes in contact with an object of support, the tendril coils about it and accomplishes 
its double spiral within the normal period of its growth. This period cannot be 
prolonged for the purpose of finding a suitable support or completing imperfect changes. 
These must all be accomplished before the wood and bast tissue—the latter in particular— 
reach a certain stage in the development of their permanent character. This is well 
shown in the fact that old tendrils, which have failed to grasp a support until very near 
the end of their activity, manifest a striking loss of sensitiveness, and often catch hold but 
imperfectly, or if they gain a firm hold, fail to perfect their double spiral. 


IJ.—Vitis CORDIFOLIA, Michz. 


In the tendril of Vitis, not only with reference to its sensitiveness and general cir- 
cumnutations, but more especially in its histological aspects, we have to deal with an 
organ which presents many features distinct from those of Cucurbita, the common ground 
of resemblance being found in functional similarity and in the way in which the circum- 
nutations arise. 

The tendril of the grape is a modified branch, bearing two smaller branches which 
serve a similar purpose. These branches, however, unlike those of the Cucurbita tendril, 
do not proceed from a common point of insertion, but arise successively on the elongating 
primary axis of the tendril as a whole. In their external aspects, they are well rounded, 
but somewhat flattened on the inner face toward the extremity, where the tip is strongly 
recurved. Throughout their length, the prevailing red color (V. cordifolia) is broken by 
ten narrow green lines, which are developed at approximately equal distances through 
the circumference. These are the bands of vibrogen corresponding to the three bands in 
the tendril of Cucurbita. Internally, the structure presents the features exhibited in 
Plate V. Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 a—during the earliest period of circumnutation—from which 
the following details may be gathered. The epidermis consists of a single row of thin 
walled cells with a strongly corrugated cuticle. Directly beneath this, lies a single row 
of pigment cells containing the red coloring matter. The hypodermal tissue consists 
chiefly of collenchyma, in which the angles are but slightly thickened (Fig. 3). As a 
whole, the tissue is quite continuous in most cases (Fig. 1, c/). Within the region of the 
hypoderma lie the ten vibrogen bundles, », v, v, etc., which are well defined from the 
surrounding tissue, but somewhat variable in size. These bands, although they fre- 
quently penetrate the collenchyma deeply, do not always break its continuity. Next 
within the collenchyma is a thin layer of very active fundamental tissue, the cells of 
which are large and regular (Fig. 1, pr). It is within this tissue that, at a somewhat 
later period, the cambium arises as a well defined layer. Directly internal to this is the 
wood zone, or xylem portion of the vascular bundles. This, in the earliest periods of 
circumnutation, is composed of somewhat isolated and nascent vascular bundles, the 
elements of which are all very thin walled and rapidly increasing (Fig. 44). The only 
structural element remaining is the pith, which, as in Cucurbita, bears no special relations 
to the circumnutations. 

Sec. IV., 1886. 10. 


74 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


As the tendril advances in age, several important structural changes occur. The 
whole hypodermal tissue increases slightly in thickness, and simultaneously the tissue in 
the region of each vibrogen band, and for the full depth of the zone, cl, becomes so modified . 
that the component cells enlarge strongly—chiefly in a tangential direction—while they 
also become much more thin walled, and all traces of collenchymatous thickening dis- 
appear. This causes a strong localization of the collenchyma to the regions between the 
vibrogen bands, where it retains its original character (Fig. 3) without much change 
beyond an increase in the size of the cells. Within the region, pr (Fig. 1), there arises a 
layer of cambium which forms a continuous zone. From this arise bast bundles, one for 
each of the vascular bundles already noted. The former remain quite distinct to the end 
of their growth, and are usually widely separated. From the inner face of the cambium 
tissue, there arise new wood cells, which now become develcped so generally as to render 
the original bundles conjunctive, thus giving rise to a continuous zone of wood which 
continually increases in thickness. 

At a very early period in its growth, each vascular bundle develops from two to three 
vessels and ducts. Ultimately, all the fibrous elements became highly lignified (Fig. 4 8). 
That this condition may be hastened in time, and possibly increased by contact, can 
hardly be doubted; but it is equally true that such changes occur normally where there 
is no contact, e.g., the sections here exhibited were taken from a freely coiled tendril. 

In comparing the tendrils of Vitis with those of Cucurbita, several important struc- 
tural differences become apparent. The much greater number of vibrogen bands in the 
former, and their somewhat regular distribution, at once suggest greater regularity in the 
figure described, as well as a general equality of motion in all directions. Also in Vitis, 
the inferior development of the collenchyma is consistent with, and may serve as a proper 
explanation of, the much lower degree of sensitiveness there manifested. While the 
general changes incident to maturity of parts are the same in any case, it is noteworthy 
that in Vitis there is no distinct zone of bast which fulfills the function of that tissue in 
Cucurbita, and upon the xylem portion of the vascular bundles must depend that resist- 
ance to general elongation which is so essential a factor in circumnutations ; though 
undoubtedly, in this case, unequal growth of opposite sides is of far greater importance 
than unequal tension of component tissues, so that torsion would here be of less value as a 
factor, than in Cucurbita where it is generally more marked. 

During the circumnutations, distinct torsions occur. These are readily determined by 
tracing the course of the vibrogen bands, from which it becomes apparent that the tendril 
is frequently twisted to the extent of one-half revolution upon its own axis. If no object 
is grasped during the active period, the tendril ultimately coils upon itself; but having 
grasped an object, it perfects a double spiral similar to that in Cucurbita. It is also noted 
that tendrils which have coiled freely, do not become so hard and dry as those which have 
secured attachment, from which it would appear probable that contact produces a more or 
less marked effect in accelerating, or, at least, in increasing the maturity and strength of 
parts, a view which gains strong confirmation also from the very marked differences in 
these respects to be found in Ampelopsis.' 

It would thus appear that the general features of cireumnutation in Vitis and Cucur- 





! Darwin, Climbing Plants, 148, 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 75 


bita are the same, and that they may be regarded as representing a particular class of 
movements, so far as their mode of production, as well as their general external features, 
are concerned. It is not as yet possible to say how far each of these may represent the 
type for the family ; but from the similarity of the structure and circumnutation presented 
by Sicyos and} other Cucurbitaceous vines, it is perhaps safe to infer that, in that case, 
Cucurbita is the type of the family. 

The deductions which the preceding facts justify are as follows :— 

1. Movements of circumnutation arise through unequal growth of the tissues, which 
is chiefly represented by the vibrogen bands. 

2. The bands of more active growth are strictly localized. 

3. Movements due to irritation depend upon continued elongation of the opposite 
side, together with cessation of growth and contraction in the irritated parts. 

4. The collenchyma tissue is that which is chiefly concerned in variations of tension 
under mechanical stimuli. 


III—ROBINIA PSEUDACACIA, L. 


In the Robinia, there is not only an entirely distinct variety of motion, but also a 
motile organ which differs widely in many respects from the plants that we have 
previously considered. In this case, the special organ endowed with motion, is the leaf, 
which, instead of serving as a prehensile organ, is invested with the power of movement, 
for reasons directly connected with its own preservation against sudden and extreme 
atmospheric changes. Unlike tendrils, therefore, such motile leaves are found to present 
certain periodic changes of a most conspicuous character. They are, moreover, in most 
cases, supplied with æspecial cushion or pulvinus, through which the motion is primarily 
determined. As a whole, such movements present a certain relation to those already 
discussed, in that they may be regarded as modified circumnutations.' 





PULVINUS OF THE LEAF.—Each pulvinus surrounds the base of its corresponding 
petiole as a cushion, conspicuously larger below than above. It extends upward from 
the point of insertion of the petiole, for a distance of 4.5 mm. to 7.0 mm. Its diameter is 
variable, increasing with age of the leaf, but apparently much more dependent upon the 
rankness of growth in the plant as a whole, since the largest pulvini are invariably found 
upon rank growing suckers. Under these circumstances, the diameter has been found 
to vary from 3.0 mm. to 5.0 mm., the mean size being not far from 4.0 mm. Externally, 
with a smooth and shining surface and very firm throughout, it possesses all the features of 
hightension. Of uniform size throughout, its strongest development is on the lower side 
of the petiole, while above it often but slightly exceeds the petiole itself. At the base on 
the lower side, just at the point of insertion, there are two triangular depressions in the 
pulvinus, formed by three ridges, one of which is central and strongly developed, while 
two are lateral and less strongly defined. All these ridges extend downward from the 
base of the pulvinus for some distance on the stem, and serve an important mechanical 
purpose, as braces or supports to the leaf. Directly interior and corresponding to the 





1 Darwin, Movement of Plants, 280, etc. 


76 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


depressions noted, and thus occupying the extreme base of the pulvinus, is a large inter- 
cellular space, into which project numerous coarse, straight, sharp-pointed and thick-walled 
intercellular hairs. As seen in transverse section, this space lies within the lower half of 
the pulvinus, while the vascular structure is divided into three bundles, which traverse 
the projecting ridges referred to above, and thus it passes by the intercellular space on its 
lower side, in the extreme peripheral portion of the pulvinus. That portion of the 
pulvinus which lies on the upper side of the intercellular space, is quite uniform both 
externally and internally, and presents only those internal modifications of the normal 
tissues which are essential to its character as a pulvinus. In its structural details, other 
than these, the pulvinus may be characterized as follows :— 

The epidermis is simple, the cells of equal diameter or slightly elongated tangentially ; 
the cuticle is thin. The hypodermal tissue, which constitutes the pulvinus proper, and 
extends, without modification, to the bast zone, is of the same kind throughout, and 
consists of simple, round-celled parenchyma, with moderately thin cell walls. The cells 
show no essential variation in form, though in size they are usually much the largest in 
the central region. Throughout this tissue, continuity of protoplasm may be readily 
determined by the methods already stated. In the centre of the pulvinus and completely 
surrounded by it, is the fibro-vascular structure which forms the base of the petiole. In 
this vascular axis, the various tissues of the stem—pith, wood, cambium and bast— 
may be readily distinguished. .The pith has the outline of an equilateral triangle with 
its base facing the upper side of the pulvinus, thus conforming to the external configura- 
tion of the pulvinus as a whole, as well as to the general outline of the other tissues. 
The cells of the pith are small and usually with medium-thick cell walls, though in some 
cases, especially toward the base of the pulvinus, they become very thick. The wood 
zone is well defined, and completely encloses the pith. The medullary rays are very 
prominent, but the most striking feature is the presence of numerous pitted ducts and 
vessels, which, from their long diameter, conspicuously thick walls and regular radial 
arrangement, at once attract notice. Among them, there appear, in much less conspicuous 
manner, the wood cells, which are small both in length and breadth. Surrounding the 
wood is a somewhat narrow zone, which, in its earlier periods of growth, is meristematic, 
and provides for radial extension of the wood zone. It possesses the usual characteristics 
of such tissue. The bast zone forms a continuous tissue. The cells are of small diameter, 
but very long and fusiform. The walls are of medium thickness and traversed by 
numerous pits, which terminate at the intercellular substance. During the activity of the 
pulvinus these cells are all filled with protoplasm, avd from the facility with which the 
walls swell under the influence of strong sulphuric acid, the tissue presents one of the 
best opportunities for observing the continuity of protoplasm. The bast, as a whole, is 
probably to be regarded as one of the most important mechanical elements present. 

From what has previously been stated with reference to the sectional outline of the 
pulvinus and its included vascular structure, it will be seen that the latter is not concen- 
tric with the former, and that the minor axis, which passes transversely through the true 
structural centre, lies considerably above the centre of the section, and since this is a 
constant feature of the pulvinus, it will be seen that the lower half of the transverse 
section and the lower side of the pulvinus always exceed the upper half or side. The 
relations of parts in these respects were determined by making an outline drawing of all 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. GL 


the parts by means of the camera, under an amplification of 20 diameters. A line 
representing the minor axis was then passed transversely through the true centre, and all 
tissues lying above and below measured by means of a planimeter. The results were as 
follows :— 


UPPER Sipe. Lower Sie. 
JES) popage Looneo CCDponec 1.50 Sq. em. 1.50 Sq. cm. 
WoodandiBastien-reeerec-cc rte 16:50) 5 a 28 00 
Parenchyma of Pulvinus........... 80.65 “ “ 11725 le GG 


From this it appears that, leaving the pith altogether out of consideration, as of no 
mechanical importance, whatever tension is produced in the vascular bundles, as opposed 
to the tension in the surrounding pulvinus, must be developed above and below the true 
centre in the proportion of 1 : 1.39. Since the vascular elements are of the nature of per- 
manent structure, their tension in relation to surrounding parts must be positive, and any 
general release of tension must result in a contraction of the organ through the vascular 
region. It therefore follows that this contraction must be stronger along the lower side 
of the pulvinus in the ratio given, and hence a tendency to curvature of the pulvinus 
downward. This, though slight, may often be noticed. 

The tension in the tissue of the pulvinus, as opposed to that of the vascular structure, 
is developed above and below the true centre in the proportion of 1: 2.12. The paren- 
chyma tissue of the pulvinus is that capable of the greatest and most continued growth, 
as also that in which the greatest variations of tension must occur through variable turges- 
cence. Its tension, with relation to the vascular structure, must be negative; hence any 
release of tension must permit contraction of the whole organ, while increase of tension 
must tend to elongate the pulvinus, and this action will be developed above and below 
in the ratio given. From this it is obvious that elevation and depression of the leaf, as a 
whole, depend respectively upon the pulvinus proper and the enclosed vascular structure. 

From what has thus far appeared, we are doubtless prepared to gain a true explana- 
tion of the large intercellular cavity and its external braces, which occur at the base of 
the pulvinus. The three braces, of which the central has been seen to be the largest, must 
doubtless be regarded, first of all, as means of mechanical support through the firmness of 
their structure ; while the pulvinus proper, which still surrounds each, seems to control 
changes of position to a certain extent, by its variable tension. The depression of the leaf, 
under any circumstances, however, must cause a much stronger compression of the 
structure on the under side of the pulvinus, where the flexure occurs, than elsewhere ; 
and this is at once compensated for by the large intercellular cavity, which permits the 
central brace to bend into it, the leaf thereby hinging chiefly upon the upper side of the 
pulvinus. This view gains additional weight from the fact that, while very slight 
curvature may arise through the whole length of the pulvinus, the depression of the leaf 
is chiefly accomplished by sharp bending at the extreme base of the pulyinus, which thus 


becomes the true joint or hinge. 


PULVINUS OF THE LEAFLET.—The pulvinus of the leaflet bears but little external 
resemblance to the main pulvinus. It is of uniform width, and extends the entire length 
of the petiolule, being but slightly flattened along the upper side. The length varies— 
between leaves just unfolding and in their mature state—from 5.0 mm. to 6.0 mm., 


78 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


while for the same period the diameter varies from 1.0 mm. to 1.5 mm. These dimen- 
sions are subject to much less variation, as dependent upon conditions of growth, than in 
the main pulvinus. Externally, each little pulvinus is minutely and somewhat densely 
pubescent, a character which at once distinguishes it from the large pulvinus. Both the 
superior and inferior terminations are devoid of lateral ridges or depressions, nor is there 
any intercellular cavity. In these facts, there appears a very strong argument in support 
of the supposed mechanical importance of these structural features. The structure, in 
all its parts is continuous throughout, so that in most respects relating to their grosser 
anatomy, the larger and smaller pulvini are quite distinct. 

In its internal structural features, the epidermis is simple and the cuticle thin. The 
tissue of the pulvinus is the same as that in the large pulvinus, though not so strongly 
developed as a whole. (Plate V. Fig. 5.) The important feature of the organ, as a whole, 
is the peculiar form of aggregation of the tissues and their mutual relations. The 
transverse section is nearly round, its vertical diameter exceeding its transverse in the 
ratio of 1: 1.06. The wood and bast, instead of forming closed zones, are open along the 
upper side, where the pith blends with the tissue of the surrounding pulvinus. This 
peculiar arrangement bears an important relation to the flexibility of the petiolule as a 
whole, and corresponds with the fact that curvatures of this organ are downward and 
not upward. Determining the distribution of similar tissues, as in the previous case, with 
reference to the true centre, we find the following :— 


UrPPer Sipe. Lower Sins. 
MWoodhand iBast-------- "rec 1.9 Sq. cm. 6.6 Sq. em. 
Parenchyma of Pulvinus ........... Ges) r pairs}, | 


Assigning the same function to these tissues in their relations of mutual tension, as 
in the case of the main pulvinus, it would appear that the influence of the special tissues 
concerned, in promoting elevation or depression of the leaflet, must be exerted between 
the upper and the lower side of the pulvinus in the following ratios :— 


Urrrr. Lower. 
Woodtand Bastercmataseticeetireistelsiensielsisrelorratterers ih RB" 87 
Parenchyma------c---h-e-e----..--re-béeert-e LC TE? 


Comparing these values for those obtained in the previous case, it appears that in the 
lower side of the pulvinus the vascular elements exert a much stronger influence asa © 
contractile tissue, while the parenchyma exerts a much weaker influence as an erectile 
tissue. Inharmonious with our previously expressed views as this at first sight appears 
to be, it really offers no ground of conflict if we bear in mind the relative size of leaf 
and leaflet, and thus realize the very inferior influence of gravitation upon the latter. 
The intercellular cavity which appeared in the large pulvinus is, in the smaller organ, 
replaced by the peculiar development of the vascular structure. The open pith which 
appears along the upper side permits a greater extension of parts in that region, as the 
pulvinus curves downward. 

During the period when the leaflets are folded, just as they emerge from the bud 
and for a short time afterward, they manifest no nyctitropic movement. During that 


OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. 79 


period, all the vascular elements are in a nascent state (Plate V. Fig. 6 a). As soon, 
however, as the leaflets unfold and movement begins, the various vascular elements are 
found to have become strongly developed (Fig. 6 B), and from that time onward they 
continue to increase in their character as permanent structure. It thus appears true that 
no movement can occur until the woody tissue reaches a certain stage of maturity. 


SENSITIVENESS.—The leaves of Robinia are not sensitive in any marked degree. Inei- 
sions and other strong irritations of the pulvinus have, with us, produced no effect. 
Simple irritations, such as would produce an immediate effect in the tendril of Cucurbita 
unless very much prolonged, are also without effect, and response appears to be gained 
from nothing less violent than percussion. Several determinations of the effect of percus- 
sion were made. In each case the base of the leaf just above the pulvinus was given a 
short, sharp blow with a pencil. The following results were obtained (in each case the 
degrees given represent the depression of the leaflets two minutes after percussion) :— 


(a) 10.05 a.m.—No. 1=87°. No. 2=87°. No. 3=60°.—Recuperation complete at 10.25.—Time required=20 m.— 
Plant in shade. 

(b) 10.12 a.m.—No. 1=87°. No. 2=50°.—Recuperation complete at 10.30.—Time required=18 m.—Plant in shade. 

(e) 10.17 a.m.—No. 1=50°. No. 2=45°.—Recuperation complete at 10.30.—Time required=13 m.—Plant in sun. 

(d) 10.20 a.mw.—No. 145°. No. 2=45°-80°.—Recuperation complete at 10.31.—Time required=11 m.—Plant in 
the sun. 

(e) 10.32 a.m—No 1=0°. No. 2=0°. No. 3—50.—Recuperation complete at 10.42.—Time required=10 m.—Plant 
in the sun. 

(f) 10.388 a.m.—No. 1=50°. No. 2=45°. No. 3—45°.—Recuperation complete at 10.53—Time required—15 m.— 
Plant in the shade. 

(g) 10.42 a.m,—No. 1=55°. No. 2=45°-50°. No. 3—45°-60°.—Recuperation complete at 10.59.—Time required=17 m. 
—Plant in the shade. 

(h) 10.47 a.m.—No. 1=0°. No. 2=0°. No, 3=2°-3°.—Plant in the sun. 


In all these observations it was noticed that the basal leaflets, hence those nearest 
the percussion, responded first and most strongly; also, that the effect of percussion did 
not appear until fifteen or twenty seconds had elapsed, after which the motion became 
an accelerating one until the maximum of change was reached ; the time for recuperation, 
as indicated above, thus embraces both depression and subsequent elevation to normal 
position. In all these cases one fact is conspicuous, viz., the relation of recuperation to 
direct action of the sunlight. Whenever the plant was in the sun the leaves were much 
less depressed from percussion, and their recuperation was much more rapid as compared 
with leaves in the shade. 


NyctTITROPISM.—The nyctitropic, or true sleep movement, is that which essentially 
characterizes the leaves of Robinia. They may also manifest during the day, under the 
influence of bright sunshine, a paraheliotropic movement, during which the general 
tendency is for the edges to be turned upward to the sun, as if to check its influence. As 
Darwin has already pointed out,’ the object of this movement is totally different from 
that of sleep movement, and is doubtless designed to lessen the destructive influence of 
too intense sunlight upon the chlorophyll. 





' Movements of Plants, 355, 445. 


80 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


Our observations have been almost wholly confined to the true nyctitropic movement, 
the principal data of which we have collected in connection with M. Chapman and G. E. 
Cooley. 

Sleep-movement usually begins within half an hour after sunset, though this period 
appears to become longer as the season advances. In all cases, it has been most 
conspicuous that leaves at an elevation, e.g. those on the tops of trees, assume the 
sleep position much sooner than those at a lower level. No general rate of change, 
however, can be stated for all the leaves, since it is found that the leaflets fall into the 
nocturnal position at very irregular intervals, some assuming this position very early in 
the evening, while others remain in their diurnal position until quite late. The sleep- 
movement is generally completed by 10.30 p.m. From that time on there is no change 
in position, until the actual awakening occurs, which begins just before dawn. With 
reference to this, the following extract from our notes will give the general features of 
the change :— 

“ At 2 o’clock am. the maximum darkness and minimum temperature have just 
passed, and the older leaves show the first signs of awakening, many of the leaflets being 
expanded 5° or 10° from their former sleep position. At 3.30 the leaflets have opened to 
to an angle of 45°, and at 4 o’clock they are well expanded, the most marked change 
occurring within the latter hour. From an examination of the accompanying table the 
general conditions throughout the night may be obtained. The temperature was taken 
from an exposed thermometer, hung at the height of, and among, the plants observed. 
This will account for the variations of temperature noted in one or two instances :— 











Hour. Tee. REMARKS. 
7.30 p.m. 16.00° C. |Leaves closing. 
8.00 “ 16.50 Sky clear all night. 
SoD 16.25 
9.00 “ 15.25 
9:30 15.50 
10.00 “ 16.00 
10:30 16.25 Leaves all closed. 
0059 16.75 
IUT 15.00 
12:00) 14.30 | 
12.30 a.m. 12.75 | 
100 11.25 | 
HES (ame 11.20 Max. darkness. 
200m os 12.75 Leaves begin to open. 
2.30 “ 13.00 
GHOD), | 13.50 | 
20 13.50 | 
ASI) « & 13.25 Leaves all open. 














The leading features of the awakening are, that the process begins at or immediately 
following the periods of maximum darkness and minimum temperature, and that it is 
completed before the sun rises above the horizon. As in going to sleep, the first change is 


OF MOVEMENTS IN PLANTS. 81 


noted in those leaves which are highest, so in the awakening the same fact is conspicuous. 
Important as these facts are to the general question of nyctitropie movement, we can 
only introduce them incidentally at this time, since it is not our present purpose to 
determine the precise influence of external causes upon the processes of growth whereby 
these changes are effected, but simply to determine the mechanism of movement through 
the various tissues involved. Weare, therefore, more intimately concerned in considering 
the various changes which occur in the leaf and leaflet during the process of sleeping and 
waking. 

As the period of sleep approaches, the most conspicuous indication is to be found in 
the change of position which the leaflets assume. From a horizontal or slightly elevated 
position, they gradually droop, until they assume a position at right angles to their 
normal diurnal position ; thus, assuming the leaf as a whole to be horizontal, each leaflet 
becomes vertical. Two important facts are here to be noted, viz., the relation of these 
changes to gravitation, and the indications they give of the operation of an active force. 
Whatever the position of the leaf as a whole may be, the leaflets are found to be 
influenced in certain directions by the action of gravitation upon their mass. Thus, if the 
leaf as a whole be horizontal, the drooping leaflets will finally assume a position perpen- 
dicular toits length. If it be raised or depressed above or below the horizontal, the leaf- 
lets no longer hang perpendicular to the leaf—with reference to its length—but fall 
vertically. Thus each leaflet is seen to turn laterally upon its petiolule as an axis, in 
direct response to the influence of gravitation upon its mass, and in this respect it is inde- 
pendent of the position of the leaf as a whole. In harmony with this, it will always be 
found that, in petiolules of a depressed leaf, there is a distinct torsion conforming to the 
relation which the leaflet bears to its main rachis. In leaves which hang almost vertically 
from drooping limbs, the leaflets thus often come to lie nearly parallel with the rachis. 

When the leaflets fall into the sleep position, there is always a strong tendency for 
them to pass by the vertical plane passing longitudinally through the leaf; or in other 
words, the movement of the leaflets, with respect to the width of the leaf, is mdependent of 
gravitation. As the sleep movement progresses, the leaflets of each pair hang quite parallel, 
being separated throughout by a distance of 5 or 8 mm., representing the combined 
width of the rachis and length of the two petiolules. Soon, however, each leaflet bends 
in at the tip toward the other, so that they finally touch. This is effected in part by 
a curvature throughout the entire length of each leaflet, but much more by a continued 
curvature of the pulvinus of the petiolule, the result being that each tip is carried several 
millimetres beyond that point which would be determined by gravitation alone. Remov- 
ing the opposite leaflet of each pair, does not seem to affect the movement of that remain- 
ing. In the terminal leaflet, the sleep position is assumed precisely as if it were a lateral 
leaflet, with the difference that its change of position is much greater, and it is carried 
much farther past the vertical. Without any regard to the position of the leaf as a whole, 
the terminal leaflet drops until it forms an acute angle with the rachis on its lower side. 
If the leaf be horizontal, the terminal leaflet bends several degrees past the vertical. If, 
however, the leaf be drooping, then the leaflet still establishes the same relation to the 
rachis, and thus often becomes horizontal or even turns up past the horizontal. In the case 
of leaves which were hanging vertically, this reflex position of the terminal leaflet was 
often found to be 10° above the horizontal, or about 100° from the position which would 


Sec. IV., 1886. 11. 


82 PENHALLOW ON MECHANISM 


be established by gravitation alone. These facts, therefore, show that the true sleep move- 
ment is not passive, similarly to that previously discussed, but that it is due to an active 
force, the measure of which is partly expressed in the degree to which it overcomes 
gravitation. 

In assuming the sleep position, each leaflet droops: first, by curvature of the petiolule 
through its whole length ; secondly, by a sharper bending at the junction of petiolule and 
leaflet ; thirdly, by a slight curvature through the entire length of the leaflet itself. In 
this connection it is important to note that, when leaflets are removed by cutting away 
at the extreme base of the petiolules, the latter almost immediately curve, the curvature 
conforming to that which is produced during the normal sleep movement. There is, in 
all this, a strong indication that the change is due to release of tension in the tissue of the 
pulvinus. 

In the leaf as a whole, there is comparatively little movement. Darwin’ has shown 
that there may be an actual elevation during sleep, to the extent of 3° or 4. Our own 
observations show, and probably with greater frequency, a depression of the whole leaf to 
the extent of 35° or 50°. The same change may sometimes be induced by irritation, 
occasionally in a more marked degree. In all such changes of position, they appear to be 
accomplished at the extreme base of the pulvinus which thus acts asahinge. As the leaf 
drops, the central ridge on the lower side of the pulvinus recedes slightly, the cushion 
around it becomes somewhat wrinkled, but on the upper side the pulvinus is drawn 
quite tense and smooth. It is important here, to note the difference between the pulvinus 
of the leaf and of the leaflet during the sleep movement, as it will be found to be 
correlated in a most significant manner, to the internal structure in each case. 


CONCLUSION. 


The deductions which can reasonably be based upon the foregoing facts, may be briefly 
stated. 

By comparison with Cucurbita and Vitis, the absence of any marked sensitiveness in 
Robinia, would imply the absence of a tissue in which variation of tension under external 
irritation is a special function. This we find quite in accord with the presence of 
collenchyma in the former, its absence in the latter, and the relation which it bears to the 
sensitiveness of the organ itself. Whatever transmission of impulse there may be, can be 
readily determined as in the previous cases through the continuity of protoplasm. 

In the leaf, the soft tissue of the pulvinus proper is that in which the variations of 
tension under external influences is determined. Moreover, the fact that this tissue is 
greater below than above the centre, points to its serving as the true erectile tissue 
wherever its internal tension is augmented sufficiently—becoming simply passive when its 
tension is reduced below a certain point. This is a more important factor in the pulvinus 
of the leaflet than in the large pulvinus, since the changes in the leaflet are greater, 
and require a relatively greater erectile force. As the pulvinus determines the upward 
movement, the included fibrous elements determine the downward and reflex movements. 





2 Movements of Plants, 355, 


OF MOVEMENTS IN PLANTS. 83 


Being in a state of positive tension, any release of tension in the surrounding pulvinus at 
once permits contraction in the bast. Under irritation, and possibly other influences, this 
may also be increased by loss of water, as occurs in a more marked degree in the collenchyma 
of Cucurbita. The direction of bending, as determined by this contraction, depends upon 
the distribution of the bast in the organ. In the case of the leaflets, we have seen the bast 
to be so disposed below the axis of the petiolule, that the latter can only curve downward, 
this being facilitated, moreover, by the vascular structure being open along the upper side. 
In the main pulvinus, the closed cylinder of vascular structure preserves a condition of 
rigidity in all parts except at the extreme base, where we find the vascular structure to 
become branched in such a way as to produce a true joint in connection with an intercel- 
lular cavity. 


EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 


Puate III. 


Figure, half natural size, showing movement of tendril tip. The figure is seen as if the observer were at 
at the base of the tendril looking toward the tip. 


Prare IV. 
Fig. 1.—Half section of tendril arm of Cucurbita pepo x 66. 
(a) Vibrogen. 
(b) Collenchyma. 
(c) Active parenchyma. 
(d) Bast. 
(e) Vascular bundles. 
(f) Central pith parenchyma. 
“ 2.—Bast cells x 266. 
A. During active period. 
B. After coiling of tendril. 
3.—Collenchyma x 266. 
4.—Continuity of Protoplasm in collenchyma x 266. 
“ 5.—Vibrogen x 133. 
PLATE V. 
Fig. 1—Half cross-section of tendril of Vitis cordifolia, Michx., x 66. 
cl. collenchyma. 
pr. parenchyma. 
w. wood. 
p. pith. 
2.—v. vibrogen tissue x 266. 
3.—cl. collenchyma x 266. 
“ 4,—wood tissue x 266. 
A. During activity of the tendril. 
B. After cessation of motion. 
5.—Cross section of smaller pulvinus of leaflet, Robinia pseudacacia x 66, showing relation of central 
vascular structure to the pulvinus tissue. 
6.—Structure of vascular zone x 266. 
A. Before nyctitropic activity. 
B. During nyctitropic activity. 


w 





SECTION IV., 1886. INS SM Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


VIL.— On Certain Borings in Manitoba and the Northwest Territory. 


By GEorGE M. Dawson. 


(Read May 26, 1886.) 


In Manitoba and in the Northwest generally, boring operations are likely each year, 
as settlement advances, to be undertaken with increasing frequency. The generally 
uniform character of the surface, coupled with the covering of drift deposits over large 
areas, due to the Glacial Period, renders boring necessary, whenever it is desired to 
ascertain the character of the underlying rocks. Most of the borings so far carried out 
have been for the purpose of obtaining water in localities where the surface supply is 
insufficient or unfit for use on account of dissolved salts. In a number of cases, the 
object in view has been attained, and it may be specially mentioned that a good supply 
of water for the City of Winnipeg has been secured, by wells sunk through the alluvium 
of the valley, at a comparatively moderate depth. 

In too many instances, however, the strata passed through in these borings have not 
been noted with sufficient care to enable satisfactory sections to be given. The great 
importance attaching to such records, whether for the guidance of future sinkings for 
coal and lignite, natural gas or brine, and in explorations which may be attempted in 
search of petroleum, is my excuse for collecting in this paper such facts as I have been 
able to obtain and for discussing their bearings. Some of the results already arrived at 
are interesting from an economic point of view, as indicating the development in the near 
future of important industries ; while, as will have been gathered from the remarks already 
made, all borings effected in Manitoba and the Northwest, the results of which are 
carefully recorded, possess a special value from a purely geological standpoint. 

In addition to the borings now first reported on, and chiefly made by the Canadian 
Pacific Railway Company, several experimental borings, conducted under the auspices of 
the Geological Survey, are referred to in this paper. Details of these will be found in 
the Reports of Progress, as follows :— 

Report of Progress, 1873-74, pp. 3, 12; 1874-75, p. 2, boring at Rat Creek, subse- 
quently referred to; 1875-76, p. 281, boring at Carleton. This experimental boring 
was executed under the supervision of Mr. R. W. Ells, and was carried to a depth of 175 
feet without passing through the drift deposits. 1875-76, p. 292, boring at Fort Pelly on 
the Assiniboine River. After passing through the drift, this boring penetrated the lower 
portion of the Pierre shales and ended at a depth of 500 feet in marly beds, evidently repre- 
senting the Niobrara division of the Cretaceous (cf. Report of Progress, 1879-80, p. 14.) 


86 G. M. DAWSON ON BORINGS IN 
[.—BorING AT ROSENFELD STATION. 


This station is situated on the South-Western Branch of the Canadian Pacific 
Railway, about fifteen miles north of the 49th parallel and ten miles west of the Red 
River, in the alluvial plain of the Red River valley. The boring was conducted 
by Mr. W. E. Swan, under instructions from the Canadian Pacific Railway Com- 
pany. Through the kindness of Mr. W. C. Van Horne and Mr. J. M. Egan, I have 
been enabled to obtain from Mr. Swan, the logs of-this and other borings made 
by him in the Northwest. Samples of the strata passed through in this well had been 
given by Mr. Swan to Mr. Acton Burrows, of Winnipeg, who was so obliging as to 
transmit them to Ottawa for my examination. The section given is, therefore, not 
precisely in the form of Mr. Swan’s log, but is based also on my own examination 
of the materials obtained. The boring was made by means of an ordinary percussion 
drill, and was carried to a depth of 1,037 feet from the surface. The strong flow of brine 
met with in this well (a point subsequently referred to) is the most remarkable feature in 
connection with it. 

In the subjoined section, the formations supposed to be represented are indicated in 
the column to the right :— 


Feer 
NERO 15008 e0acaod0 2 0000 TODO To be vono000 4 
Py Jari SE ODICIA YA eee eee eee ceeaecer-ccre 111 
S.-Sandianderavel:-eteeleerrheeseemeeemereel 10 
4. Boulder-clay (“hard-pan.”}.................... 12 
Ds PDOULGETS eee rte erreneenepeerebecce-r- tree 6 
MEL SeklissocodtngocounoD dood og e00es 005000 69 ] 
7. himestonessouce fesse nb steel ee 15 | 
S'MRedishale = reset er cde steltisiat stelarsieletaleisuricisialciersiciers 5 
Gh (nh oe 56650n bobo hotooonoondooucogage Jotana 10 | 
10 Haw etS ron SrioonsoL daoGoo HB OooRaSuunn nee eee 30 f Maquoketa shales. 
11 Eine rreyisandstone test rce-rpes cree 40 | 
12AChalk YA MESONE- eee -ereeeke eee een 30 | 
13: Red'shale Re done aan ommen es eme 160 J 
14. Cream-coloured limestone.........,...:.,........ 305 ) Galena limestone passing 
15 AREISHAIE RE dada daopioocn 5 poodooUdouINUdO Bande 75 } below into Trenton. 
ROUE Ko GUda Bodoaddb'sadcod op Gadmaddass 50 St. Peter sandstone. 
Lae Erk-re des hale svete seimishsteitetsletelaisteleiaisieiteeiereisieials 50 | 
18. Reddish and greenish shale..................... 25 | Lower Magnesian 
19-2Blusbhand'ereyishale cr teislalscle-ie\elollolieis stelelsielereieieys 20 [ limestone (?) 
2OMPRed shale iereremtstoleleterele/-(clujoielerel ofajoie eieicleleiars\aieisierersieinre 15) 
AE ES HossobbanD00 ob ODA Lo 0T 06006 2  Laurentian. 
MOTATE RE re eee eee Lee 1,037 


The soil, forming the first member of the above section, has the usual characters of 
that of the region, consisting of the underlying silts mingled with vegetable matter. The 
silts (described in the log as “blue clay”) are those of the ancient lake which, about the 
close of the Glacial Period, occupied Red River valley, and which has been called “ Lake 
Agassiz” by Mr. Upham. The coarser layers are composed of fine angular and subangular 
grains with formless argillaceous material; the finer become a blackish-grey plastic clay. 
The specimens secured of the sand and gravel deposit contained no fragments over three- 


MANITOBA. AND THE NORTHWEST. 87 


fourths of an inch in diameter. The gravel is well rounded, and consists of Laurentian 
and limestone pebbles not dissimilar from those usually found in a corresponding posi- 
tion in other parts of this district. The “hard pan,” while evidently representing the 
boulder-clay, is unusually pale in colour, being apparently largely composed of limestone 
debris. The thickness of the boulder-clay is also much less than usual. Its microscopic 
character has already been described, in connection with that of other similar materials of 
the same age, in a paper presented to the Chicago Academy of Sciences.’ The predominent 
mineral constituents which remain, after the finer clayey matter has been washed 
away, are rather coarse quartz grains, of which nearly one-half are perfectly rounded. 
Bottle-green fragments of hornblende are moderately abundant, as are also grains of fel- 
spar and limestone, but comminuted shaly materials are almost altogether wanting. It 
also contains a few specimens of foraminifera, which have been derived from some not 
far distant Cretaceous beds. These include a Textularia of the type of T. globulosa, with 
fragments of Rotalidæ and other forms. 

Of the deposit described as “ boulders” no specimens were obtained. 

The beds underlying these superficial deposits, from No. 6 to No. 13 inclusive, are 
supposed to represent the Maquoketa shales. Their character is as follows :— 

No. 6. This is a moderately firm greyish-green shale, with minute reddish laminæ 
and some thin films of pyrites parallei to the bedding. It is not calcareous, and under the 
microscope is found to contain a considerable proportion of partially rounded quartz 
grains, but no fragments were observed of hornblende or other green or dark minerals 
usually found in the boulder-clays and other drift deposits. 

No. 7. This limestone is cream or buff coloured, and rather coarse. It effervesces 
freely in cold dilute acid. It is, apparently, easily friable, as the sample received was in 
the form of coarse sand. 

No. 8. A soft shale of general reddish colour, but holding also purplish and greenish 
layers, and showing under the microscope much subangular grit. 

No. 9. Resembles No. 6, and is a rather firm yellowish-grey shale, showing under the 
microscope a considerable proportion of partly-rounded, somewhat coarse quartz sand in a 
brownish argillaceous matrix. 

No. 10. The specimen of this rock consisted largely of cream-coloured limestone in 
small fragments, but more than half of it is of coarse quartz sand. This might have 
been derived from the friction of the boring rods against the upper portion of the 
sides of the hole, but is unlike any met with in the overlying deposits. It is probably 
interbedded with the limestone, but no calcareous cement was observed to adhere to the 
grains. The sample included one small piece (about half an inch long) of coarsely granular 
whitish gypsum. 

No. 11. This is a fine-grained calcareous sandstone or sandy shale, rather hard, and 
noticeably finer and more siliceous than No. 6. The only organic traces met with in these 
rocks were found in this layer. They consist of thin, dark-coloured corneous-looking 
laminæ seen on the surfaces of small fragments. Portions which were removed, and 
microscopically examined, showed occasional regularly disposed systems of bifurcating 
canals, closely resembling some of those figured and described by Bowerbank as occur- 





? Bulletin, Chic. Acad. Sci., No. 8, Vol. i, 1885. 


88 G. M. DAWSON ON BORINGS IN 


ring in the epidermis (periostracum) of Solen vagina. (Trans. Micro. Soc., London, 1844, 
Vol. I. p.123) They probably represent either the epidermis of some mollusc or por- 
tions of the test of a small crustacean. 

No. 12. This material (described as “chalk” in the original log) consisted chiefly of 
coarse and fine calcareous granules, the latter under the microscope appearing rounded, 
and being probably concretionary in character. Small selenite crystals are rather 
abundant. The colour of the mass varies from white to pale greenish and reddish grey. 

No. 13 is a soft, reddish shale, slightly calcareous, with small white spots of gypsum. 
The matrix also contains much subangular quartz, in grains which are very irregular in 
size, some being quite coarse. 

Layer No. 14 (over 300 feet in thickness), which is supposed to be equivalent to the 
Galena limestone, and possibly at the base to include a portion of the Trenton, was repre- 
sented by several specimens. It is cream or buff coloured, apparently uniform in charac- 
ter, generally free from detrital matter, and effervesces freely in cold dilute acid. It is 
rather coarsely granular in texture. 

No. 15 is a reddish shale, scarcely calcareous, and with much quartz in subangular 
grains. It resembles No. 13, and contains small crystals of selenite. 

No. 16 was represented by four specimens, of which those from the upper part of the 
bed were pale reddish in tint; these from the lower part nearly colorless transparent 
quartz sand. The reddish coloration is very probably due to admixture of small 
portions of the overlying red shale. The sand is coarse, clean, uncemented, with grains 
all beautifully rounded and polished by attrition, in a manner suggesting the action of 
wind rather than of water, and precisely resembling that of the St. Peter sandstone as 
seen near St. Paul, Minnesota. 

No. 17 is a soft, non-calcareous, dark brownish-red shale with, in some places, very 
thin greenish-grey interlaminations. Under the microscope, it is found to include much 
fine and pretty well rounded quartz sand. 

No. 18. A non-calcareous shale similar to last, but about one third of the fragments 
greenish, while portions of the remainder are a very dark purplish-red. 

No. 19 is a bluish-grey, fine-grained shale or argillite, scarcely laminated and very 
slightly calcareous. A smal] concretionary pellet of gypsum was included with the 
sample, and was probably derived from the shale. 

No. 20. This is a soft, dark reddish material, rather like a clay than a shale. It does 
not effervesce with acid, and, in addition to much fine and some coarse quartz sand, it 
contains half-rounded quartzose fragments as large as grains of wheat. 

No. 21. The rock met with at the bottom of the boring, and said to have been pene- 
trated for two feet, is described as granite. The specimens received, however, consisted 
almost entirely of “cavings” from the upper parts of the hole, mingled with which were 
some small angular flakes of granite or gneiss, chiefly composed of quartz and red felspar 
in rather small crystals. 

While in the complete absence of paleontological evidence and of neighbouring 
outcrops to which reference may be made, the stratigraphical position of the beds passed 
through in this boring may be considered somewhat doubtful. I ain, on careful consider- 
ation, disposed to believe that they represent that portion of the Cambro-Silurian between 
the Maquoketa shales (Cincinnati or Hudson Rivers) and the Lower Magnesian limestone 


MANITOBA AND THE NORTHWEST. 89 


(Calciferous). The following are the grounds on which this correlation of the beds is 
made :— 

Beds 6 to 13 inclusive are, as already stated, supposed to represent those named the 
“Maquoketa shales” by Dr. White in lowa. In Iowa, the beds so named are about 75 feet 
in thickness, and consist of bluish and brownish shales with calcareous layers, which 
sometimes form a considerable part of the whole. In Wisconsin, the Maquoketa beds 
average about 200 feet in thickness and are composed of grey, green, blue, red, purple, 
buff and brown shales with thin limestones. These beds are also known in Minnesota, 
which, being much nearer to the locality now in question, would afford a better term of 
comparison, but there appears tc be, unfortunately, an absence of complete sections. At 
Stony Mountain, however, fifty-eight miles north, in Manitoba, rocks determined by Mr. 
Whiteaves, on the evidence of fossils, to be of Hudson River age, occur, and so far as the 
section is there apparent, it corresponds pretty closely in general character with that in 
the Rosenfeld well. The beds at this place are as follows, in descending order : '— 


Fegr 

1. Brownish-grey dolomitic limestone.............................., 40 
2. Reddish-grey limestones, clayey partings......................... 10 
(Small gap in section.) — 

SréimestoneplikeNo Jl coocan peguodesAbDdNs cGadoa SUnEmoOpUD GeaonD oC 20 
4, iM NN Rbonadcobocaceco Gobo ‘oataca noo eS couDomoDNOdE 4 
5. Ge.” Géagdtenoson onoocooacondonscaubioon condo oo osent 2 
GMLimestonenthiniandibrokens-- esse eee ec 6 
vellowishirockeseserrm-a Ce rececemhireese restantes Cet 8 
Seed disheshialle strc ctevelelrar cts eure te ctatetcla/aterstelereuetemreraterctateronraleltetereteitele 10 
9MVellowandhredshales tenter ressens ee 60 
TOTALE re see de raies danralese eee rs vai lentes e/a 160 


These evidently nearly resemble those numbered 10 to 13 in the Rosenfeld boring. 

The limestone numbered 14 in the section at Rosenfeld is supposed to represent the 
Galena limestone of the west, which it resembles in character. It probably, however, as 
already stated, may include layers at the base equivalent to the Trenton, to which latter 
formation the red shale, 75 feet in thickness, next underlying in the section, must be 
assigned. The Galena limestone of the west, which is nearly equivalent to the Utica of 
the New York series, is about 180 feet thick in Minnesota; 250 feet thick in Wisconsin ; 
and from 100 to 250 feet thick in Iowa. The Trenton, in Minnesota, consists of flagg 
limestones, with interbedded greenish shales, and is nearly 160 feet in thickness. In 
Iowa it consists of clayey shales and shaly and compact limestone, 200 feet in thickness. 
The reddish colours of the Rosenfeld shales and their apparently more complete separation 
from the limestone and want of interlamination with it, constitute the chief point of 
dissimilarity. The massive buff limestones of Selkirk and Stone Fort in Manitoba, 
resemble the Rosenfeld bed in character, and are known by the evidence of fossils to 
represent the Galena. 

The sandstone, or rather unconsolidated sand-bed, which is the next underlying 
member of the section, has already been described as precisely resembling the typical St. 





' From paper by J. H. Panton, Manitoba Hist. and Lit. Soc., Trans. 15, Session 1884-85. 
Sec. IV., 1886. 12. 


90 G. M. DAWSON ON BORINGS IN 


Peter sandstones. Its thickness (50 feet) is somewhat less than that assigned to the same 
bed to the south. This in Minnesota is stated as 125 feet; in Iowa, 80 feet, and in 
Wisconsin, from 80 to 100 feet. The St. Peter sandstone has not elsewhere been recognized 
in Manitoba, and there is, therefore, no local term of comparison for this and the 
underlying Cambro-Silurian beds. 

If the stratigraphical positions assigned to the foregoing beds are correct, beds 17 to 
20 both inclusive, with an aggregate thickness of 110 feet, must occupy the position of the 
Lower Magnesian limestone, equivalent in age to the Calciferous of the New York section. 
This limestone in Iowa and Wisconsin, has a thickness of 65 to 250 feet. In Minnesota it 
is described as a cream-colored magnesian rock, but toward the top it is frequently sandy, 
and with beds of greenish shale. At Rosenfeld no limestone occurs, and we, apparently, 
have instead a littoral formation directly overlying the subjacent Laurentian, and 
marking the limit at this place of the Lower Magnesian Sea. 

No sufficient supply of fresh water was met with in this well, but instead, a flow of 
brine was encountered. A small flow of brine was found below the limestone numbered 
10 (30 feet in thickness), a second flow beneath the heavy limestone bed (No. 14) and 
when the St. Peter sandstone (No. 16) was reached, the supply increased four-fold, and 
formed a flowing well, which has, I believe, continued to give issue to large quantities of 
salt water ever since. Mr. Swan states that it rose in a pipe to a height of 18 feet above 
the surface of the ground, which is three feet below the level of the railway grade. 

The most interesting feature in this connection is the great geological age of the rocks 
from which this brine comes. It appears not improbable that the shoaling of the Cambro- 
Silurian sea evidenced by the widespread littoral deposit known as the St. Peter sandstone 
resulted in the enclosure of salt lagoons in this portion of the interior basin, while it 
merely produced an increased land area further south in Iowa and Wisconsin. 

The brine is of a quality well adapted for the manufacture of salt, and might be 
concentrated by solar evaporation and finally evaporated in pans. It has been examined 
and is reported on by Mr. G.C. Hoffmann, in the Annual Report of the Geological Survey 
for 1885 (p. 13 mM). Mr. Hoffmann states that it contains but a small amount of deleterious 
salts, and gives the following as its composition for 1,000 parts by weight :— 


Chloride of BOtASSIUME 2217 eee eee dora RC 0.4179 
1 Sis hibbnissatiosanbe Oéba0un os dadonudohoghdomoocds oono- ehersk Al 
cs Calcium: nm immune corcenestesceeepanclens 0.3982 
i Magnesiume--- crc eee badd 0000 1.7225 
Sulphate offliimet--:".-cereeere-ce-checeec-s--cte-ce--cene 4.1511 
Borate: OL SOUS s,sicleto:ccszsvarctetaleleleletopereteteteteiave Soccer Suis ee eters ee traces. 
Carbonate Of Lime’ «saci ss west iect 4) ooeevedect en mess eee ce 0.0777 
we TrON scierie acereesrcLem ee re NET TEE Re traces. 
Bromide of Magnesium-:-2".-""-2er-e-.e- re: cree undt. 
Todide of Magnesium........................... voce cece voce cers undt. 


Another point of interest brought out by this boring is the comparatively thin 
covering of Paleozoic rocks which here overlaps the Archæan, and the very gradually 
shelving character of the surface of the latter westward. The slope of this surface, in a 
westward direction, from the last low Archzean exposures on the Lake of the Woods being 


MANITOBA AND THE NORTHWEST. 91 


(on the supposition that it is uniform) not more than 115 feet to the mile. The Archean 
surface at Rosenfeld is 265 feet below the present sea-level, that in the southern part of the 
Lake of the Woods is 1,060 feet above the same datum. A further remarkable fact in this 
connection is afforded by the boring conducted at Rat Creek in 1874, by the Geological 
Survey, details of which will be found in the Report for 1874-75 (p. 3). This place is about 
seventy miles north-west of Rosenfeld. Here, after penetrating the superficial deposits, 
the surface of a buff Silurian or Devonian limestone was reached at about 103 feet below 
the prairie-level. This limestone proved to be only forty-two feet in thickness, and 
beneath it a fine-grained grey crystalline rock (apparently a quartzite) was bored into 
for a depth of about eighty feet. This rock evidently belongs to the Archean, and is 
either Laurentian or Huronian. The Archæan surface at this place must be nearly 700 
feet above the present sea-level. The relative elevation of the Archæan surface at these 
three points (Rosenfeld, Lake of the Woods and Rat Creek) would indicate a direction 
of about W.N.W. by E.S.E., as that of a level line drawn upon it in this part of its 
extent. 


II.—BorING AT SOLSGIRTH. 


This is a station on the Manitoba and Northwestern Railway, in the north half of 
section 30, township 17, range 25, west of 1st principal meridian, elevation 1,757 feet. I am 
indebted for particulars concerning it to Mr. Reginald Baker, General Superintendant of 
the railway. The information was obtained partly from an excavated well and partly 
from a boring. The notes were accompanied by a suite of specimens, which has been 
carefully examined. The section is as follows :— 


Feer 

1H iDGENouccomdbesttosonivudoo eos ouboodeTentsocorenc boue co vauo0c 2 
2ÉEardibiuerclaviandieraveleecre--cp-cs--rpecersc-esee cer 42 
SMÉardibIUeClay an distOneS PER eee -tstaton cleiwlsiitsieielelsiens oieicicis icicles 10 
4. Hard yellow “ hard pan..." uen. see seirieesie ocsiss> sevice 12 
EMBoftembluBhiClA Eee recense cet 16 
6. iS sf TN phonodcoot soupe tocDe db sacle Hood acercte lel oiersvorts 74 
(ep AyOL On Sarid. [awit WA TET tstejatelelerieratertetstsbalelots\oie els\/eloiere ole clenelsteleretele cists — 
re GENT Ayautlel sraVelsisGoho. bh opobo, WapsoowoDed donbeD peda ca todour bace a + 136 
9: Grey, clay: (SHAlC?)\scwielee che... SoudeD BHbODO Gatinds démon oo 68 

MODAT See asin sleheiat aster oletel, stelsleletel eleiaiensiierstaietcveisiaete 360 


The specimens received show the material to have been a hard grey boulder-clay in 
which small rounded fragments of fine grey Cretaceous shale, and of the white limestones 
of the Manitoba lake-region, are abundant. No.9, of which one small specimen only was 
received, appears to be a grey, gritty, Cretaceous shale, resembling some parts of the Pierre 
shales, but it is not absolutely certain that it may not represent a laminated clay belong- 
ing to the drift. Excluding this lowest layer, however, the thickness of the glacial 
deposits is here rather remarkable, being no less than 292 feet. 

From 76 feet below the surface, in the boulder-clay, a broken fragment, 14 inches in 
diameter, of pale-grey, fine-grained, Cretaceous argillite, was brought up. Fragments of 
wood, for the most part soft and decayed, but not otherwise much changed, except from 


92 G. M. DAWSON ON BORINGS IN 


the considerable compression they have suffered, were obtained from depths of 95, 107, 
120 and 135 feet from the surface. They would appear to have been imbedded in the 
boulder-clay, and not to have occurred in any well marked interglacial deposit. Part of 
aspecimen of wood from a depth of 135 feet was so well preserved as to admit of its 
identification under the microscope as a Taxus It is indistinguishable in structure from 
the wood of Taxus baccata. The supply of water met with in bed No. 7 rose to within 56 
feet of the surface, in the hole, but was not copious. 


II] —Borine AT GRENFEL STATION. 


This station is 279 miles west of Winnipeg, on the line of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way, and lies between the Weed Hills on the south, and Qu’Appelle River on the north, 
at an elevation of 1,933 feet above sea-level. The boring is 200 feet in depth, and is evi- 
dently entirely in the drift deposits. It is not stated whether a sufficient supply of water 
was obtained. The section is as follows :— 


Fper. 

TMEnincodsdiodontoosedosondsodén made dacodusd dood peuionn out Foot 2 
Dour Ends 195000 adage bobo noonopoononmonnn anndupes pognon 18 
Bh ISG) Clay seche eee. 00000000 9040 Cond adnade 450550 75 
ANGravelland eande sc retenir reel inlelelohcterelelsroleieteleretstarteterere sels 5 
EMA MEME pengannonsonods np 000 200 ap 20 dodbio Jo oc 00 Loos 00 90 
6. 4Gravel'and sand: 2-0. 0e checehieeste teneurs ses reltee 10 

TOTALE 0 eme rence wists isis Tales Meier ereles ete RU 200 


IV.—BorING AT McLEAN STATION. 


This boring is on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, McLean being the next 
station west of Qu’Appelle Station, and twenty-four miles east of Regina. The well was 
begun at the same level with the adjoining track, or 2,248 feet above the sea-level. It was 
carried to a depth of 495 feet and then abandoned. The section, as given by Mr. W. E. 
Swan, is as follows :— 


Fer 

AP MB ack omrmictecistetere eieiave (alecelotelelietelele leis ietsteleivemolewsietetalelolotaleisiols ielslorelalaMerst=l-Tois 1 
2. Yellow Clay... see veecen ccccenscceveer veces sonese coven seen 25 
8 Blue OE hyn doodsoopeoeons bUeRInodD O00d00 5000 005.00000040,000000 900005 65 
AtGraveliamGisand steric cite talsteleteleleretletereletatsistetteletsteleleteleleteteieterttiet ieee 12 
5. Blue clay and sand... ..ceenccws sc cscece vececese seer ere 85 
6Gravel andsandieacien 2..." recette recentrer 10 
7. Blue clay and gravel...... .....................e cons soso soso 98 
8 Sand'andigravel.-.-:....-"."-.".---"----e---chher-eec-c-e-rsee 52 
OMBOUIASTS. - 2e see 200 5 0100 Le ss e eee se er eiaepieenlesnieccnn-ss 6 
10. Blue clay and gravel......-.......................... ses. 96 
liMGravelandsand.::..".-"-c.eccccbe.---ceLe-rC-e-e-eneee---"-- 39 
192MBOUIAELR Oa dO - sheet e eee ess GOD Shon O00 c00002 0000 Sa5peoasgs6 5 
13. Clay and'sande..-..-:.. 4..." eme ceeme nee wo nresterennee 5 
MOTAL een CE TT pere Creer eee 495 


MANITOBA AND THE NORTHWEST. 93 

No specimens from this boring were received, but it is pretty evident that it did not 
penetrate to the bottom of the boulder-clay and other drift deposits. The upper layers, 1 
to 3 inclusive, aggregating 91 feet in thickness, are apparently the fine silty deposits, 
which form a mantle over an extensive region on both sides of Regina, and represent the 
sediments of a large later glacial lake. The remaining beds are referable, with little doubt, 
to the boulder-clay and associated deposits. These are here remarkably thick and must fill 
a deep pre-glacial hollow. It is instructive to compare this boring with two of those 
executed by Dr. Selwyn, in 1880, in the vicinity of the Souris River, and about 120 and 140 
miles respectively south-east of McLean. The material passed through in the borings is 
very similar, consisting of alternating clays, gravels and sands. These borings are described 
in the Report of Progress of the Geological Survey for 1879-80, (pp. 84 to 104). The first 
was on the Souris Plain, at a point west 10° south, from the mouth of Moose Mountain 
Creek, the surface being about 1,590 feet above sea-level, and the depth 155 feet. The 
second, 700 yards east of where the old Boundary Commission trail crosses North Antler 
Creek, at an estimated elevation of 1,595 feet, and was also 155 feet in depth. Neither 
penetrated to the bottom of the drift deposits, and though not nearly so deep as the well 
at McLean, the contrast between the depth of drift met with in them, and the shallow 
covering of superficial deposits found a short distance further west in the Souris region is 
sufficiently marked, and similar to that existing between the boring at McLean and 
that at Belle Plaine Station. This, with the trend of the water-courses in this region of 
the plains and that of the escarpment of the Missouri Coteau, would appear to indicate a 
wide and deep pre-glacial hollow, with a north-west and south-east direction which, 
though partly filled with drift deposits, has not been entirely obliterated by them, and 
still makes its influence apparent in the ruling surface features. It may probably have 
been occupied by a river or system of streams in pre-glacial times, though the probability 
of subsequent changes in relative level in the Northwest, leaves it uncertain in which 
direction the waters discharged. 

Neither of the borings made by Dr. Selwyn, yielded much water, and the probable 
inference is, that the permeable layers included in the drift deposits, are not continuous, 
but rather lenticular in character, and that no important source of water is to be found in 
these deposits in this belt of country. It would appear, however, by no means improbable, 
that a more abundant supply of water and, possibly, flowing wells might be obtained by 
sinking to the bottom of the glacial deposits. The pre-glacial depression is likely to have 
gravelly or sandy layers still flooring it, which might be expected in such a position, to 
be charged with water. 


V.—WELLS AT REGINA. 


In the vicinity of Regina, several borings have been made for water. The only one 
of these of which I have been able to obtain a description is one sunk by the Northwest 
Mounted Police, near their barracks, and for this I am indebted to Mr. A. L. Perry. It 
attained a depth of about 100 feet only, and is evidently entirely in alluvial and drift 
deposits. Water in limited quantities was obtained in layers 5 and 9, amounting, at the 
date at which Mr. Perry wrote (the spring of 1883) to about one barrel in three minutes. 
The water rose to within twenty feet of the surface. 


94 G. M. DAWSON ON BORINGS IN 


The section is as follows :— 


Fer. 

I lbw LE RIT TUE: da Goes B5a008 Feoced Goan onde abonoonsogosoo cased 3 
BNC se Hine sy EEE ago cocoa acdb oad donnnacvocccasced code PA 
SSandiviiniemallipebples--er--c-c---reeceeec- CCE EE e 10 
ME dE E a Or obonddeo noue deobooinono no hooote coco oodo cube 3 
51Sand, redtolblacke: 2:68 eeecrccecc-merecetee cr soanasdae 18 
Gh THE DER 0000000 0 Mobokccondedo osbnco pécouonbnnonnece 2n0e 10 
Sand dark 81Mm1lartoNO Dee eee c-e--c-cr--e-Er hr recrerCe 4 
8, Reddish clay, with small pebbles... 2.5 "MR eee ere. 15 
OMSand'darcandifiner----".-"c-rhrsr-cccete-c---r 2e Ce -Cece — 
AR Ni aoason Dao) 068 ecpnodwpenodronvbdqobon + DOBD 0 98 


VI.—Borine AT BELLE PLAINE STATION. 


Belle Plaine Station is twenty-four miles west of Regina and forty-eight west of 
McLean, at an elevation of 1,877 feet. The boring was begun at a point three feet below 
the railway grade, and carried to a depth of 1,551 feet. Two specimens of the material 
from the lower part of the hole were sent to me by Mr. Swan, but not having had a suite 
of specimens from the various levels, I am able to give only the actual log, as follows :— 


Feer 
sepals Ob yg lly Imonomadsoosmodrcaoesondantondoodoc ous our. ou 3 ) 
2b MEM EE cancod too. geogddOSMO GR abnN OaBOOGOd OnE 11 94 
2NBlie ER SosmouanoBooDUOdCE Hooodacgep acca cogotn Oooo ee 80 i 
ch BahiGiiseeityocbo bounpo ndoooD Gado cdoD Ladd as o0o0n eee 150 
H: PBlack Shiallessis.cas oy ste eretere lee lar eu hes otsternveieeis te eros lon clel stoners nc 75 | 
GAGrev Sal EEE CT ECC Hot ge Ce Lee ce 125 !: 800 
FABrownilimestoncsc sec ie cinee cite ieee ce 6 | 
CHAR EE bcasonas pons odopncapsbunooodcOscoGunD dsacace ec 444 J 
OmReddishisand mocks ere sree caeeer ete eet tates eteirrs 20 ] 
NE SA El sogoccecoocobedeomacooctooddotooonooodsndiccéde 190 | 
lHardiwhitesanderock----"---- "cer ecrire 2 657 
12. Grey shale, with thin layers of sand rock.. ................ 200 
TBE Grey softs pales -2- eee ciete/ula ie sec LP ECC EEE 175 | 
IZ ISVs) arIGY coo qoodiacoonaonigobD0gbn dod bacG.agno00C0GbG0 on 70 J 
Torar eee 1,551 


In this boring, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are doubtless referable to the superficial deposits, but 
appear rather to represent the fine lake sediment before alluded to as covering the surface 
in this region than the boulder-clay, though part of layer 3 may be boulder-clay. Layers 
4 and 5, with little doubt, represent the Pierre shales, which might, on other grounds, be 
expected to underlie this part of the country. It appears to me, indeed, highly probable 
that all the beds down to and including No.8 are referable to the Pierre shales, and that 
No. 7, which Mr. Swan believed to be a boulder, may have been one of the large 
calcareous nodules frequently found in that formation. If this be so the Pierre would 
here have been passed through for a depth of 800 feet, which elsewhere in the Northwest 
is about its full thickness. 

Numbers 9 to 13, inclusive, with a total thickness of 657 feet, evidently on either 





— —_— bé 


MANITOBA AND THE NORTHWEST. 95 - 


hypothesis, represent beds below the Pierre, referable to the Belly River series or to the 
Niobrara. Not having at present any accurate knowledge of the character of the forma- 
tion underlying the Pierre in this district, and in the unfortunate absence of specimens, 
we are are unable exactly to correlate it. A small specimen from layer 13 consists of buff 
or pale-grey shale, with small calcareous veins or intercalations. The lowest bed, of 
which also a specimen is to hand, was penetrated for a thickness of 70 feet, and is a dark, 
soft shale, or shaly clay, nearly black in colour, and quite plastic when wet. Under the 
microscope this material is found, besides flocculent argillaceous matter, to contain a 
considerable proportion of very fine, rather angular, quartz sand of uniform grain. It is 
not improbable that this represents the highest part of the Benton shales. Mr. Swan 
notes that no loose sand or gravel was met with in this well. In the sandstone No. 9, 
a flow of salt water was encountered. This is not described as being a brine, and may 
probably have been contaminated with sulphates, like most of the waters flowing from 
the Cretaceous rocks of the West. A small quantity of gas was met with under layer 
No. 11, but its nature is not stated. 


VII.—Borine at LANGEVIN STATION. 


This place is on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, thirty-five miles west of 
Medicine Hat, at an elevation of 2,471 feet above sea-level. No natural exposures occur in 
the immediate vicinity or nearer than those on the Bow River, but from a consideration of 
these, the relative elevations and other circumstances, the rocks underlying the drift at 
this place have been mapped ' as those of the Belly River series, and are probably near the 
summit of the lower or yellowish and banded portion of this series. The boring would 
appear in fact to be near the summit of a wide, diffuse anticlinal which, with a general 
north-east and south-west direction, is here crossed by the line of railway. A depth 
of 1,400 feet was reached, and, as the lower rocks penetrated must belong to an horizon 
below that of any seen at the surface in the entire district, a good section would be of excep- 
tional interest. Unfortunately, specimens of the rocks passed through were not preserved. 
Two borings were actually made, the first having been put down 1,155 feet in 1883, when 
it was abandoned in consequence of the ignition of a heavy flow of combustible gas, 
which resulted in the destruction of the derrick, etc., at the surface. In boring the second 
hole, the gas from the first was used to fire the boiler of the engine. The two wells were sunk 
by different men, and perhaps partly on account of carelessness in keeping the log, but 
largely, no doubt, from difference of nomenclature used in describing the materials, the 
records do not agree as closely as might be expected. It is often very difficult, even in natural 
exposures of the Belly River rocks, to decide, in measuring a section, where to draw the 
line between different layers—a circumstance arising from their close resemblance in texture 
and the blending in colours of one bed with another. Itis therefore not remarkable that those 
in charge of the borings have differed so much in their nomenclature and the thickness 
assigned to the various strata. The section here given is that met with in the first hole, 
as obtained by Mr. R. G. McConnell of the Geological Survey, who visited Langevin spe- 





' See geological map accompanying Report C, Report of Progress Geol. Survey, 1882-84. 


96 G. M. DAWSON ON BORINGS IN 


cially in December, 1883, a short time before the accident above alluded to occurred. The 
terms employed are chiefly those of the borers’ log, though in a few cases, where Mr. 
McConnell was able to ascertain accurately the nature of the material, it is described. 
The section is further supplemented by notes which I was so fortunate as to obtain from 
Mr. W. A. Simpson, who was foreman in charge of the second boring. He was able to 
give me a description of the general colours of the beds passed through, which affords an 
important clue in endeayouring to correlate them with the known Cretaceous deposits of 
the Northwest. : 

Taking all the facts into consideration, I am inclined to think that we have, first, 88 
feet of drift deposits, with, underlying them, about 223 feet of the lower part of the Belly 
River series, the remaining 1,099 feet consisting of the “‘ Lower Dark shales” of my Report, 
but passing (as already stated) at the bottom into beds probably lower than any naturally 
exposed in the region, with the possible exception of those seen in the upturned strata 
surrounding the Sweet Grass Hills. I am uncertain whether to regard the upper part of 
the “ Lower Dark shales” as constituting a basal portion of the Pierre separated by the 
Belly River series from the upper part of the Pierre, or as representing the lower part of 
the Niobrara, and passing below into the Benton. In either case, the lower beds met with 
in the boring are probably equivalent to the Benton, and some of those found in the 
last 400 feet of the boring closely resemble, in several characters, beds seen south of the 
Rocky Spring Ridge in northern Montana, while the beds above these, up to about the 
900 feet level, compare closely with those in the escarpment of the same ridge, though 
they do not include the heavy sandstone bed there met with.” 

The wells at this place did not yield any sufficient quantity of good water, though 
small flows were met with at several levels. They have, however, demonstrated the very 
important fact that a large supply of natural combustible gas exists in this district, 
at depths of 900 feet and over, in the sandy layers of the “Lower Dark shales.” In 
consequence of the generally horizontal position and widespread uniformity in character 
of the rocks, it is probable that a similar supply will be met with over a great area of 
this part of the Northwest, and that it may become in the near future a factor of economic 
importance. The gas is doubtless derived from the decomposition of the organic matter 
of the dark carbonaceous shales occurring in the section. Mr. J. M. Egan, in a letter of 
late date (June 11, 1886), informs me that the flow of gas from this well has continued 
since without noticeable decrease. 

It is unfortunate, for several reasons, that the boring at Langevin was not carried 
still deeper. Reasoning from analogy with other parts of the Western Territory, one 
would expect to meet with the Dakota sandstones or basal formation of the Cretaceous 
of the region at no great depth below that actually attained, and in these it is not 
improbable that a good supply of water might be found. There is, also, probably on the 
line of the railway no better place in which, by penetrating the Cretaceous series, to 
ascertain whether it is underlain by Devonian rocks like those of the Athabasca region, 
and whether these maintain their petroleum-bearing character so far south. The anticlinal 
structure already alluded to must, in the absence of contrary evidence, be assumed to 





1 Report of Progress Geological Survey, 1882-84. 
? See Report of Progress Geological Survey, 1882-84, p. 42 o. 





MANITOBA AND THE NORTHWEST. Qi 


indicate that the covering of Cretaceous rocks is here thinner than in other parts of the 
region traversed by the railway line. The purely scientific interest attaching to the 
section, which a continuation of the boring of the lowest beds of the Cretaceous should 
yield, has already been adverted to. The section in this well, as ascertained in the manner 
above described, is as follows :— 





Depth from eae Thickness 
Surface. Description of Beds. of Bed. 
Freer. Fret. 
Clay loam. «0... ce ic ee ene cece uns 30 
|, asobgobess, “codec eos acpo rene (Ante Eble chans.ocoo gonobe Go) cac.00c0 7 
dB) -seondudano gues scan nobonoon side Clan annee he date eater 12 
RON US Sn EE DEP 00S oBo on @nicksandeeerian Pere caer 10 Probably drift 
(ic, WN ac M M PE Em en ne see series hood Clay Chats lise nals earthen ono Barns ciodad 9 deposits. 
WS. Sooner edscaong oocecooppugecse Ouicksand incase ona ce Gare 7 
88 eee oe eee ele cece ee en seine CE nosocces nna 250080 sonne 2508 8 
(ie! Se foto done DUTOTD OU DUO NC DOC Quickeand eee en cree 5 
104 ) ( Sandstone .......................... 16 | 
1138 Soapstone (grey, fine-grained clay) ... 9 
118 Lime rock (fine caleareous sandstone) | 
[small supply of water].......... 5 
126 Hard pan (dark shale)............... 8 
133 Coarsb sand eme etre er crc 7 
193 | General grey and pale tints, | Soapstone (greyish clay).-.......... 60 Probably lower part 
200 according to Mr. W. A, 4 Lime rock (fine calcareous to) a t of Belly ieee? 
209 Simpson. IS ndatone nr octet Sn tins 9 Fee 
Smalllcoaliseam.-..-.---.-."-1Le.Lte. == ; 
221 | Soapstone -...--...........-.... "te 18 | 
232 amd Stone 2er ceeches -ecreetrele 5 
271 | | Mile la unes Suit 0 | 
322 Soapstone .......... ............... 50 
627 J | Ibe) ORoocandcgop sndabu sdcdad agar 5 J 
464 f Loose shaly soapstone............... 137 | 
469 Brownish ferruginous clay........... 5 
474 | Darklimeñrocke "tee ccrrecre 5 
463 SMAINICOARORM er oaaneanose0 coGosC = 
524 Soapstone ..... . Andee 50 
531 Beds generally shales of dark | Gravel [small ee ae Ww ater sais 7 
537 to black tints. Sand stoneicnts casein elle cie Cine 6 
541 | AMIE ANOC Le er ces cale ele ee cesser 4 
548 SANAStOn ONE ne rm oo ae Dec 7 
58 | Hard pan (dark shale). .............. 10 Probably “ Lower 
593 | (CEE MES Re Canne conne 35 Dark Shales” of 
943 { Loose shaly soapstone (fine grey clay). 350 | Report 1882-84 
951 | Generally grey tints. One { Lime rock (fine calcareous sandstone) 8 passing down into 
1,041 . bedof very black shale | Eland! Soapstone:- "ccm 90 Benton (?) 
1,061 f about 30 thick at 1,000 Sand and soapstone, with bands of 
| Fragment of a Baculite | hard-pan and supply of gas...... 20 
1,111 | from about here. Sandstone, with streaks of hard gravel 50 | 
Gravel andiclayrerararsyetetteictelietetsrelelleln «11> 40 
1,151 ( Hard lime. Great flow of gas........ 5 
1,155 Generally dark to black tints. | Shales and “lime rock,” (probably 
1,426 1 calcareous limestone) with layers 
| | of very dark, soft shale in second 
J holes to\bottomeeeetree--t- «1-1 271 
MOTAT ES piatelatecrsiels iiss eis sus 1,426 


Sec, IV., 1886. 13. 


98 G. M. DAWSON ON BORINGS IN 
VIII.—Borine AT CASSILL'S (8TH SIDING) 


This station on the Canadian Pacific Railway is thirty-eight miles west of Langevin, at 
an elevation of 2,493 feet, or only 22 feet above Langevin, and here, as at that place, two 


holes were bored. Mr. R. G. McConnell obtained a section of the first to a depth of 700 


feet in 1883. The second, put down under the superintendence of Mr. W. E. Swan, was 
carried to a depth of 1,000 feet. No specimens from either were examined, and as the 
names used to denote the strata, as obtained from the workmen, are very perplexing, and, 
moreover, as this section agrees very poorly with that furnished by Mr. Swan, I have 
adopted the latter, which is as follows (the boring was begun one foot below the level of 
the railway grade) :— 


FEET. 
1. Dark clay lon." "" elec FOOD Rosa do opoboliqo se 2 
V5 NEM ER cons con pooh voter s2000 0douat dos 000 050808 RADE, OSC 10 
DAPI CLA ibesosodaoco Dodo 0000000 0000a0bT oeuvre 40 
ABlue-shalel-stenheteenelneiNese dent come TE I Ne Te 110 
Bb: Grey:shales #2 sic cove cr ereenerendeesmnee Meme esce 38 
Chabot Se Gono: Hood cd dooccoe do cod dendbonponc a 
7 Blueshales eee tenant me nine enininen eee e 85 
SABTOWILISNAlIE SEE es cnemeeetesees sertie elec temps ess 6 
Qi COA EE Sr en rnoussslams se moele e else selle veseti eee ces diese 2 
NOS Corey EMI oo out ondudobondidionoo lv Soo Ndad Doooc ob 134 
11-#Brown'sandirocks re -cieeremcecsars ceeenurecccerriteehtetes 
ALD. BLACK: SHALE cernes semer he cree cc 257 
13: (Greyishales ts creer pement eee cvesdetocqonan 155 
14 #Broywn sandiroeke-"-cerssceste ceherrene ee eee echec 5 
1E#Blue SH alates arcrayscisss feielorcseyeistece'« epeversinie rec eee Rec 85 
16: ‘(Grey tsamdy shale ie.orec-rfovcisielol ete reiereis cerveau 40 
17 Greyashale:- creer A OO Er 0 lo one 45 
DOTA tereicistertroroheresersialeretal ere meet nceCi REC 1,000 


Feeling that some uncertainty may attach to the above section, I do not propose to 
discuss it in detail. It may be sufficient to state that the first three beds are supposed to 
represent the drift deposits with a total thickness of 52 feet. Layers 4 to 8 inclusive, with 
a thickness of 142 feet, appear to represent the lower part of the Pierre, and correspond 
very well with its known character on the adjacent portion of the Bow River. The coal 
(No. 9) stated to be 2 feet in thickness, is given as 3 feet in the first-mentioned section and 
placed about 50 feet nearer the surface. It represents, with little doubt, the Grassy Island 
seam which. fourteen miles distant on the Bow River, is 4 feet 6 inches in thickness. The 
underlying beds, with a thickness of 706 feet, are supposed to represent the Belly River 
series though the great development of “black shale” represented by No. 12 is anomalous. 

In layer 6, a small supply of water was met with, and in layer 14 a rather copious 
flow of combustible gas, which has since continued without perceptible diminution. 


IX.—BORING AT GLEICHEN STATION (14TH SIDING). 


This station is fifty-two miles west of the last, at an elevation of 2,926 feet above sea- 
level. It is known to be in the centre of a large area of Laramie rocks, which has a 


MANITOBA AND THE NORTHWEST. 99 


general synclinal form. The section given was obtained by Mr. McConnell from the 
record kept during the work; but, as no specimens were examined, the precise meaning of 
some of the terms employed is rather doubtful. It is as follows :— 





Fret 

il SER EG LOENioao oodasoc0 gun ueoccn soUa DoD dondodhcsooonOOaCdOnOS 8 
74 (Aust oasoogopooce BDDADO NOGA GOUCOO aSddOS Schone dope onu 20 
3. Blue clay, with gravel and boulders................ HoSahe concord 39 
AMBIAC IR andhes serment pedodo CooDeodsadnpodadu soca GeSuanDAo 11 
5. Blue clays....... Dodo spacer cabsoeec, cébotodedsoontocote000ese 22 
6ACementieravel = eee ee dope coades Hos odAneoEo oUbUscmbaooe ce. 15 
Th SCANS onddo0d. ag bodeou ond00ns9 PO UOCONEC TO Sao TOME D 000 40 
8. White sand (small flow of water)......................... RASE 5 
Gh Éintiagssoeounoutaaneasonteso tonopomactecenchouonodo Done 94 
MORE Ian Et era un syelelsie: arrete alese:cie tele (etes mic cie ise1alele!. Sisle 31e 7 
TU EOGSENSOa PSLOME rester Hesse cecclsashse: ce 74 
TAMWVIRTTE MIIME Te Creer ee nee eee ete ces dose sc 3 
SMES eae kes halo Ce en a lever ore inves pers: d'onisleleiete ete enceinte sieste le cire 40 
JAMPUTIVÉTOC RE See deeslaehieneseree cest episseesssoee see cece. 12 
TH MIME rock andiIcose Shale nes esse sens nee ossi ein es ee 10 
1EMSOApatOnER eee eee eee -p--------e-ce ARR E Sea 35 
MSA AETOCR serres chou incl Ee OO ones Re ee de ses nel 9 
USB acks sh alle Amen reset ciel ie selne eee s een se bte nie ce eee 20 
19. Gravel soapstone (with sand and water).....................,,,... 38 
MOTAD see core iherisliseteleleteleler sonores panels ess 502 


Layers 1 to 5 inclusive evidently belong to the drift deposits, and include a consider- 
able thickness of boulder-clay. No. 6 is probably referable to the widespread pre-glacial 
gravel deposit, which is fully described in the report already several times referred to 
(Report of Progress Geological Survey, 1882-84). 





SECTION IV., 1886. RON] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


VIII.—Zllustrations of the Fossil Fishes of the Devonian Rocks of Canada. Part I. 


By J. F. WHITEAVES. 


(Read May 27, and revised July 26, 1886.) 


Descriptions of species from the Upper Devonian Rocks at Scaumenac Bay, P.Q. 


PTERICHTHYS (BOTHRIOLEPIS) CANADENSIS, Whiteaves. 


Pterichthys (Bothriolepis) Canadensis, Whiteaves, 1880. American Journal of Science and 
Arts, Third Series, Vol. XX. p. 132. Reprinted in the Canadian 
Naturalist, New Series, Vol. X. p. 23. 

Bothriolepis Canadensis (Whiteaves), Cope, 1885. American Naturalist, Vol. XIX. p. 290, 
with woodcut. 

Cranial and dorsal shields very slightly elevated ; cranial shield moderately arched, 
most prominent immediately behind the superior opening (the orbital opening of Pander), 
where it rises into a low, rounded prominence, or broad and obtuse ridge, which is con- 
tinued with more distinctness and acuteness, but at a slightly lower elevation, along the 
median line of the dorsal shield. 

Outline of the united cranial and dorsal shields broadly elliptical as seen from above, 
their total length as compared with the maximum breadth being about as five to three. 

Cranial shield somewhat semicircular in contour, but much broader than long. 
The shape and relative position of the various plates of which it and the body shield and 
dorsal side of the pectorals are composed, are illustrated by an outline diagram on Plate 
VI (Fig. 1) which represents the whole of the upper surface of the species, as far as 
known, of the natural size and as viewed from above, with the numbers on the plates 
corresponding as far as practicable to those in Pander’s original restoration of “ Pterichthys ” 
under the name Asferolepis! Exclusive of the two side plates (A and B) on each of 
its strongly decurved lateral margins and of those included in the superior or orbital 
opening (Nos. 6 and 6a), the number of plates in the cranial shield appears to be sixteen. 
Of these, the premedian (No. 4), postmedian (No. 8), nuchal (No. 10), prelaterals (No. 5), 
marginals (No. 3), and postmarginals (No. 7), to use Prof. Owen’s terminology, for the sake 
of simplicity, are essentially similar to the corresponding plates in Pander’s well known 
restoration of Pterichthys. 

On the front margin of the cranial shield, however, three narrow and transversely 
elongated plates (Nos. 2 and 2a) take the place of the single “front terminal or rostral ” 





‘In Plate vi. fig. 1 of the monograph entitled “ Ueber die Placodermen des Deyonischen Systems,” published 


at St. Petersburg in 1857, in which the lateral plates of the cranial, dorsal and ventral shieids are numbered on one 
side only. 


102 WHITEAVES ON FOSSIL FISHES FROM 


plate, shewn in Pander’s restoration, which is copied in Prof. Owen’s “ Palæontology.” 
On each side, too, between the postlateral (No. 9) and the marginal (No. 7, the “os angu- 
lare” of Pander) a small and longitudinally narrow plate (No. 9a) seems to be intercalated, 
though this may possibly be part of the postlateral. 

Superior or “orbital” opening situated nearly in the centre of the cranial shield, 
transversely elongated, about twice as broad as long, rounded and a little expanded at 
both ends and concavely and shallowly constricted in the middle, both above and below. 
In the centre of this opening, but on a lower level than-that of the plates which surround 
it, there is a plate (No. 6) which is evidently homologous with the “median” plate of 
Owen and the “os dubium” of Pander. It is somewhat quadrangular in outline, broader 
than long and broadest behind ; its front and side margins are concavely emarginate and 
its posterior angles appear to be produced into narrow and pointed processes which 
curve outward. But the space on each side of this median plate is nearly filled up by 
what appears to be a small, broadly oval plate (No. 6a), whose larger axis is nearly at a 
right angle to that of the whole “orbital” opening. Between the median plate (No 6) 
and the premedian (No. 4), there is a small and transversely elongated plate (No. 60) of 
the shape indicated in the diagram. A specimen, in which the front of the head happens 
to be broken off in a line with the upper margin of the “orbital ” opening, shews that the 
central portion of the front of the little plate, 6b (of which an enlarged outline is given 
on the right hand side of the diagram of the upper surface in Plate VI), is continued 
downward, at nearly a right angle, as a narrow linear process (d) less than a millimetre 
in breadth and about four mm. in length; after which it widens, at a right angle to the 
longer axis of the body, into a small and narrowly pentangular expansion about two mm. 
broad and three in length, which reaches nearly as far as the inner surface of the anterior 
ventral plates, though these are very much crushed upwards. The deflected portion of 
this little plate (d) is somewhat similar to part of the hyoid apparatus of Clarias as figured 
by Prof. Huxley,! but its outer surface appears to be enamelled and sculptured like that 
of the dermal plates of the head and trunk, which would hardly be the case if the bones 
of which it is composed were exclusively internal. 

On each of the abruptly deflected lateral margins of the cranium, outside of the 
postmarginals (No. 7), the marginals (No. 3), and the lateral terminals (No. 2a), and in a line 
with the shoulders of the pectorals, there are two side plates, one in front of the other 
the anterior of which (A) is very small, and the posterior (B) comparatively large, though 
rather narrow. The smaller one (A) is distinctly articulated to plate 2a as well as to 
plate B, while the larger one (B) is as distinctly articulated to plates 3 and 7 of the 
cranial shield and to the upturned and recurved edge of the ventrolateral (No. 19), as well 
as to plate A. The small and more darkly shaded area marked C, at the cuter and poster- 
ior angle of side-plate B, on each of the lateral margins, in each case represents that 
portion of the ventrolateral which is bent up from below. 

The posterior margin of the cranial shield is reflected inward in such a way as to 
form an articulating surface of attachment to the dorsal body shield. The exact contour 
and other details of this articulating surface, which is exposed only in a rear view of a 
single specimen of a detached cranial shield, are represented by Fig. 3 of Plate VI. 








1 Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom. Figures and Descriptions illustrative of British 
Organic Remains. Decade x. p. 35. fig. 21. 





THE DEVONIAN ROCKS OF CANADA. 103 


The median angulation of the dorsal body shield is usually most pronounced at or a 
little in advance of the middle of the dorsomedian plate (No. 12), and, in some specimens, 
in the posterior part of the post-dorsomedian (No. 14). The shield itself is composed of 
six large plates, as represented in the diagram. The dorsomedian (No. 12) is hexagonal 
in outline, and its length and breadth are about equal. The sutures of the two anterior 
sides of this plate seem to be invariably symmetrical, but those of its posterior sides are 
frequently not. On its posterior margin, the post-dorsomedian plate (No 14) is obtusely 
pointed in the centre and truncated somewhat obliquely at each side. 

The ventral body shield is nearly flat, but is bent upward and outward at an obtuse 
angle at the sides, immediately behind and in a line with the insertion of the pectoral 
spines. The plates of which the ventral surface is composed are represented in outline 
in the principal figure (Fig. 1) of Plate VII, and they are also numbered to correspond 
with the numbers in Pander’s original restoration of the under surface of Pterichthys. 
The principal plates of the ventral shield, to quote the words of Hugh Miller, which 
are strictly applicable to the Canadian species, “are divided by two lines of suture, 
which run, the one longitudinally down the centre of the body, the other transversely, 
also through the centre ; and they would cut one another at right angles, were there not 
a lozenge-shaped plate” (No. 16) “inserted at the point where they would otherwise 
meet.”’ At the posterior end of the ventral shield, the outer margins of the post-ventrolat- 
erals (No. 21) are obliquely and concavely emarginate, while their central portions 
together form a rather narrowly rounded lobe which projects beyond the terminal end 
of the post-dorsomedian (No. 14) of the dorsal body shield. The tail opening is not much 
narrower than the maximum breadth of the united dorsal and ventral body shields; its 
outline is transversely and narrowly elliptical, but with the ends faintly angulated in the 
middle. The breadth of the tail-opening is rather more than twice its length along the 
median line. At the anterior termination of the median suture, a small supplementary 
plate (No. 17), which corresponds to the “ os semilunare ” of Pander, is intercalated between 
the front inner margins of the two ventrolaterals (Nos. 19). This little plate, which is 
inversely triangular, and rather broader than long, with its front margin straight, is entire 
and not divided longitudinally down the middle by a suture, as one might be led to infer 
from Pander’s figures. The six plates of the ventral surface which have been described so 
far are nearly always well preserved and clearly defined ; but, in advance of these, there 
seem to be three others which are very rarely preserved at all, and whose outlines are 
very difficult to trace. Immediately in front of the central accessory plate (No. 17), there 
is a small and very thin plate (No. 18) in the median line. It appears to have been 
somewhat semicircular in outline, though its margins are imperfect in the only specimen 
in which it can be seen, and it is distinctly strengthened in the middle by a prominent 
ridge which widens and becomes more prominent anteriorly. Judging by analogies with 
the Asterolepis of Hugh Miller (but not of Pander) this may have been the hyoid plate. 
On the under surface of the front margin of the head, there are two terminal lateral 
plates (No. 15) which, no doubt, correspond to the plates which Pander calls the “lower 
maxille.” The outer portions of these plates are bounded by the inner surface of the 
anterior cranial plates, and their inner margins, which meet above, diverge obliquely and 








! The Old Red Sandstone, Edinburgh, 1861, 7th ed., p. 74. 


104 WHITEAVES ON FOSSIL FISHES FROM 


convexly outward and backward in such a way as to leave a broadly triangular opening 
with concave sides, though the posterior and larger part of the opening and a very small 
portions of the plates themselves are apparently overlapped by the supposed hyoid plate 
(No. 18), as represented in the diagram on Plate VII. The posterior edge of each of 
these plates (No. 15) is smooth and rather broad, but the larger and anterior portion is 
sculptured like the rest of the dermal plates. 

The pectoral spines extend a little beyond the centre of the posterior margin of the 
dorsal shield, but not beyond that of the ventral. They are thin and flattened vertically, 
so that the outline of a transverse section of one of them above the middle would be very 
narrowly wedge-shaped, with the thickest end of the wedge inward. They are divided 
nearly transversely, below the middle, into two segments of very unequal size, by a ball 
and socket joint, the ball being in the anterior, and the socket in the posterior or terminal 
segment. "he anterior end of each pectoral is also furnished with a ball and socket joint, 
there being a strongly inflected or excavated cavity in the ventrolateral plate (No. 19) of 
the ventral shield, to which the anterior end of the spine, which terminates in a rounded 
protuberance, is articulated The anterior segment, which is much broader and longer 
than the posterior, is of nearly equal breadth throughout, but the posterior segment is much 
more slender and narrows somewhat rapidly to an acute point. The outer edge of the 
whole of the pectorals bears two or more rows of close-set, short and conical, hollow spines, 
and there is a similar but apparently single row of spines, on their inner edges also. Both 
segments of the pectorals are divided into numerous plates, of the shapes and numbers 
indicated in the diagrams on Plates VI and VII, the plates of the anterior segment being 
large and comparatively few in number, while those of the posterior are smaller and 
much more numerous. 

The whole of the outer surface of the cranial, dorsals and ventral shields, and that of 
the pectorals, is sculptured in a very complicated way that is difficult to describe, but of 
which Plates VIII and IX, which are taken from photographs, give a very good idea. 
This ornamentation consists essentially of closely aggregated and minute shallow pits, 
surrounded, or partially surrounded, by raised ridges, composed of confluent tubereles, or 
by rows of tubercles which bend, curve, or divide in almost every direction, and anastomose 
with or cross each other in such a way as to form a very irregular and minute areolation, 
or more or less incomplete network. Each of these little pits (which Agassiz has compared 
to the marks that might be made by pressing the head of a round-headed pin lightly into 
fresh plaster) is perforated by from one to three minute, vertical and circular canals, which 
pass through the entire thickness of the test, and which are easiby seen by the aid of an 
ordinary simple lens. 

In some large and presumably adult if not aged individuals, in addition to the sutural 
lines and the ordinary areolation, a widely divaricating impressed line runs forward and 
outward from the centre of the posterior margin of the cranial shield to a point on each 
side of the head, a little in advance of the orbital opening. A similar, but rather longer, 
divaricating impressed line, also runs outward and backward from the centre of the 
dorsomedian plate to the upper and outer limits of the tail opening. 

In a cast of the interior of the head and body shields of a single specimen, there are 
obscure indications of a pair of flattened, sigmoid, and outwardly directed processes on the 
anterior margin of the cranial shield, which the writer once thought might be analagous to 





THE DEVONIAN ROCKS OF CANADA. 105 


the labial appendages indicated by dotted lines on Agassiz’s ideal restoration of the genus 
Pterichthys, on Plate VI. Fig. 1, of the Atlas to the “ Monographie des Poissons du Vieux 
Grès Rouge.” This explanation of these appearances, however, seems to be no longer 
tenable, and it is, perhaps, more likely that these supposed labial appendages are merely 
worn and badly preserved casts of the lateral terminal plates. On each side of the orbital 
opening, also, in two or three similar casts of the same species, there isa slightly prominent 
but flattened conical elevation or protuberance, which diverges obliquely forward and 
outward. These, the writer was at one time disposed to consider, might represent a pair 
of dermal processes on the outside of the cranial shield, but a more attentive study has led 
to the conclusion that they are merely depressions of corresponding shape on the interior 
of the test, which leave little or no traces on its exterior. 

No vestiges of the tail or of any of the fins, other than the two pectoral spines, have 
yet been detected, and no traces of any true bony jaw have yet been recognized. Professor 
E. D. Cope, who has examined numerous specimens of this species, distinctly states that 
it has no lower jaw, and the writer is of the same opinion. 

An average and apparently adult example is of the following dimensions: length 
of the united cranial and dorsal shields along the median line, about six inches; 
maximum breadth of the same, three inches and three quarters; length of pectoral spines, 
not quite five inches. A detached pectoral spine, however, has been collected, which 
is six inches and three-quarters long, and more or less isolated plates show that the 
species may have occasionally attained to slightly larger size than that indicated by this 
pectoral. 

A single mould or impression of the ventral surface of a specimen of this species, 
with one of the pectoral spines in place, was discovered by Mr. R. W. Ells (of the Geo- 
logical Survey of Canada) in the summer of 1879. The much better specimens upon which 
the description in the “ American Journal of Science and Arts,” was based, were collected 
by Messrs. Ells and T. C. Weston, inthe months of June and July of the following year. 
Since then, including fragments, which are very instructive, between two and three 
hundred examples of the same species were collected by Mr. A. H. Foord, which, with 
those already in the Survey collection, have formed the material from which the present 
description was made. 

To quote the words of Prof. Owen :—‘“ The fossil remains of the singular fishes of the 
extinct order Placoganoidei were first discovered about 1813, in formations of the ‘ old red’ 
or Devonian age in Russia, and are preserved in museums at St. Petersburg and Dorpat. 
The relations of these specimens to the class of fishes was first announced by Professor 
Asmuss,” in 1840, “and, shortly after, the generic names As/erolepis and Bothriolepis were 
invented by Professor Eichwald to express certain modifications of the external surface of 
portions of the ganoid plates, subsequently recognized as constituting the buckler of the 
fore-part of these extinct fishes. In September, 1840, Hugh Miller submitted to the Geo- 
logical section of the British Association at Glasgow the first discovered specimens which 
afforded a recognizable idea of the form of one of these ‘old red’ fishes, and for this form 
Professor Agassiz assigned the generic name Plerichthys (pteron, a wing, ichthus, a fish). 
Although, therefore, the term Asferolepis had been attached to a fragment of the cuirass of 
this fish a few months previously, yet, as no recognizable generic characters were associated 
with such name, and as Asferolepis has been applied also to other genera—e. g., Homostius 


Sec. IV., 1886. 14. 


106 WHITEAVES ON FOSSIL FISHES FROM 


and Heterostius of Asmuss—the example of British palæontologists will be followed, in 
retaining the name Prerichthys.” ' 

In 1857 Dr. Pander published an able and elaborate illustrated monograph on the 
Placoderms, to which reference has already been made, and his restorations of the dorsal 
and ventral aspects of “ Pterichthys,” as it is now generally called, have since been copied 
in several manuals of geology and paleontology. In this monograph Dr. Pander main- 
tains that Prerichthys (Agassiz) and Bothriolepis (Eichwald) are both synonyms of Asterolepis 
(Eichwald). As far as the names Asferolepis and Pterichthys are concerned, the latter has 
been very generally adopted by paleontologists, for the reasons already stated in Prof. 
Owen's words. It is still open to question, however, whether the genus Bothriolepis 
is or is not a valid one, and sufficiently distinct from Plerichthys. If it is a valid genus, 
which there are good reasons for supposing it to be, then it has not yet been properly 
defined. The Canadian species, now under consideration, certainly has the pitted 
sculpture of Bothriolepis (as pointed out by the writer in 1880), and, if Pander’s restora- 
tion of Pterichthys be correct, then Bothriolepis would seem to differ from it in several 
particulars, but more especially in the structure of the mouth organs. Thus, Pander 
represents Pterichthys as having a lower jaw, beneath which there are maxillary plates 
which are separated from the cranial shield by a deep cleft. No indications of a true 
lower jaw have yet been detected in the Canadian species, and the only plates (A and B) 
in it which might be supposed to represent the inferior maxillæ of Pterichthys are not 
separated from the cranial shield by a deep cleft, but, on the contrary, are firmly articu- 
lated to it. Moreover, the two small oval plates (No. 6 a) on each side of the median 
plate (No. 6) in the orbital cavity (whatever may have been their function) and the 
singularly deflected little plate (No. 6 6) between the median (No. 6) and the premedian 
(No. 4), in the Canadian species, are not represented at all in any of Pander’s restorations 
of Pterichthys, though they may not have been preserved in any of the specimens to 
which he had access. 

Again, the tails of Scotch examples of Pterichthys are distinctly stated to be covered 
with small ganoid scales; but not a trace of any such scales has yet been discovered in 
the many specimens that have been collected of the present species. Prof. Huxley has 
suggested that Pterichthys may have been a teleostean fish allied to the Siluroids; but if 
that were the case, we should expect to find some remains of its vertebral column or of 
other parts of its endoskeleton. 

It seems, therefore, highly probable that Bothriolepis will prove to be distinct from 
Plerichthys proper, and, if so, then the Canadian species will have to be referred to the 
former of these two genera. 

The Pterichthys (or Bothriolepis) of Scaumenac Bay is so closely allied to the Bothrio- 
lepis ornata of Eichwald, that it is by no means certain whether the two are specifically 
distinct or not. Apart from its peculiar sculpture, the specific characters of B. ornata are 
very imperfectly ascertained, the species having been founded exclusively on a few large 
isolated plates which have been collected from the Devonian rocks of Russia and 
Scotland. Until more perfect examples of B. ornata shall have been described and figured, 
it will be impossible to institute an accurate comparison between its specific characters 








* Paleontology, 2nd ed., Edinburgh, 1861, p. 140. 


THE DEVONIAN ROCKS OF CANADA. 107 


and those of the nearly related Canadian form. The European species seems, however, to 
have attained to a much larger size than the Canadian, for Agassiz says that some of the 
plates of B. ornata are as much as six inches in length, whereas the largest of the 
P. Canadensis yet found are little more than three inches and a quarter in their maximum 
diameter. 


ACANTHODES MITCHELLI ? Egerton. 


Acanthodes Mitchelli, Egerton, 1860. Memoirs of the Géological Survey of the United 
Kingdom. Figures and Descriptions of British Organic Remains, 
Decade X. p. 57, Plate VI. Figs. 1 and 2. 

Maximum length about an inch and three-quarters ; outline subfusiform, but much 
deeper on the ventral than on the dorsal aspect, the back being apparently almost straight. 
The deepest part of the body is midway between the pectoral and ventral fins, where the 
largest specimen (which, however, seems to be abnormally compressed and spread out in 
the ventral region) measures five lines. Head about one-fifth of the entire length of the 
body, including the caudal fin. Lateral line distinct. Scales minute, rhomboidal, imbri- 
cating and smooth when examined with a lens. Fin spines very lightly recurved, with 
two deep, longitudinal grooves, the anal being placed slightly in advance of the single 
dorsal. 

Twelve specimens of this little fish were collected by Mr. A. H. Foord in 1881, the 
smallest of which is half an inch in length and the largest an inch and three-quarters. 
These seem to agree with Sir Philip Egertou’s description and figures of A. Mitchelli in so 
many particulars that they are here referred to that species, though not without much 
doubt. In the figures which accompany the original description of A. Mitchelli, the outer 
surface of the scales is indeed represented as densely granulose or minutely tuberculated, 
but Mr. J. Powrie asserts that this representation is erroneous, and that “ better speci- 
mens prove them to have been perfectly smooth.” The largest specimen collected by 
Mr. Foord is about one-third less in its greatest length than the types of A. Mitchelli, 
though this slight difference in size alone can scarcely be considered as affording a means 
of specific distinction. Still, the Canadian specimens may prove to be quite distinct from 
A. Mitchelli, and in that case, the writer would venture to suggest for them the name 
A. affinis. 


ACANTHODES CONCINNUS, N. Sp. 
(Plate X. Figs. 1 and 1a.) 


Length of the largest specimen collected about six inches, greatest height of the same 
about one inch; outline narrowly fusiform (though all the specimens are so much crushed 
and distorted that the exact shape is somewhat uncertain), head about one-sixth the total 
length. Fin spines ornamented with about four longitudinal grooves, rather short and 
slender in proportion to the size of the body; anal spine situated below and slightly in 
advance of the dorsal; pectoral spines stout, longer than any of the rest; ventral spines 
small. Scales rhomboidal, scarcely imbricating, and so minute as to be quite invisible to 


108 WHITEAVES ON FOSSIL FISHES FROM 


. the naked eye. When viewed under the microscope, they are seen to be marked with 
from seven to eight acute and for the most part simple, longitudinal striæ, which, how- 
ever, occasionally bifurcate. In some specimens, the striæ upon the scales seem to be 
nearly parallel, but in others they radiate from the posterior angle of the scale. Tail 
distinctly heterocercal, the upper lobe projecting considerably beyond the lower. 

About a dozen specimens of this species and a few fragments were collected by Mr. 
Foord in 1881. These are all very much distorted, as so often happens to Acanthodians, 
and the fin spines are in no case all preserved in their-normal position, so that it is quite 
impossible to be sure whether there was originally one dorsal fin or two. In the most 
perfect examples there seems to be only six fin spines, and if there were two dorsals there 
ought to be seven. The scales are often very well preserved, but the head is nearly 
always broken off. The species appears to differ from A. Mitchelli, and from all the other 
Scotch or European forms of the genus, by its much greater size and by the peculiar 
sculpture of its scales. It was at one time supposed by the writer to be a Diplacanthus 
allied to the D. longispinosus of Agassiz, whose scales are similarly sculptured, but it appears 
to have had only one dorsal fin. 


PHANEROPLEURON CURTUM, Whiteaves. 
Plate X. Figs. 2, 2a, b, c, d, e. 


Phaneropleuron curtum, Whiteaves, 1880. Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, New Series, 
Vol. X. p. 29! 

Maximum length about fifteen inches; greatest height or depth of the same specimen, 
six inches and a half. All the specimens known to the writer, however, are crushed quite 
flat laterally, and this, of course, makes the proportionate height or depth look greater than 
it originally was. General outline, exclusive of the fin rays, varying in different indivi- 
duals from rather broadly ovate to fusiform, but at the tail end the body always narrowed 
to a slender and acute point. Head rather small in proportion to the size of the body, 
about one-fourth or one-fifth the entire length. Cranial plates not very thick, polygonal 
and more or less elongated longitudinally ; very similar in outline to those of Dipterus, 
as figured by Hugh Miller in the “ Footprints of the Creator.” ’ Outer surface of the 
cranial plates apparently smooth to the naked eye, though when examined with a lens, it 
seems to be minutely pitted and irregularly grooved ; inner surface of, at least, some of the 
cranial plates marked with radiating grooves and ridges, which are plainly visible to the 
naked eye. Scales thin, cycloid, imbricating, their exposed surfaces concentrically striated 
and marked also with exceedingly minute radiating lines, which latter are only visible 
under a somewhat powerful lens. In a single specimen of a small fragment of the body, 
the lateral line is very distinctly shown. 

Dorsal fin apparently single, very long and large, commencing anteriorly in a line 
with the posterior termination of the head, but little raised as far as the midlength, after 
which it suddenly becomes strongly elevated and continues so for the rest of its length, 
and is finally confluent with the upper lobe of the caudal. Height of the posterior por- 





1 8rd ed., London, 1850, p. 61. 


THE DEVONIAN ROCKS OF CANADA. 109 


tion of the dorsal not much less than the length of the head. In one specimen there are 
indications of what looks like a short break or separation between the anterior and poste- 
rior portions of the dorsal (or between the two dorsals, if there were two, which is 
scarcely probable) but this break may be owing to an accidental and abnormal fracture 
of the fin rays at this point, for in other specimens the two portions appear to be 
continuous. Anal and caudal fins both extending as far outward from the body as the 
posterior half of the dorsal does (assuming that there was but one dorsal), and separated 
at their bases by a very narrow interval. Anal fin narrow and elongated, ventrals acutely 
lobate and separated from the anal by a space considerably wider than that which inter- 
venes between the anal and caudal. Pectorals broader and longer than the ventrals, the 
former consisting of a long and acutely pointed scaly lobe, with the fin rays fringing it 
up to the base. 

Both the upper and under jaw are armed with smooth, conical and somewhat com- 
pressed teeth. The dental plates of the palate are each furnished with rows of erect, 
conical teeth, which seem to be arranged in the form of a rectangular patch or quadrature 
of a circle, very much as they are represented to be in Dipterus. As in the typical and 
previously only known species of the genus (the P. Andersoni of Huxley), the “ notochord 
was persistent throughout the entire length of the vertebral column, while the superior 
and inferior arches were well developed and thoroughly ossified.” The ribs are long, 
slender and well developed, and, like those of P. Andersoni, “stare through the integu- 
mentary scales of the fish” in the conspicuous way which suggested the generic name. 
The neural spines are elongated and slender, narrow in the middle and moderately 
expanded at each end. The interspinous bones, which support the fin rays of the dorsal 
surface are shaped very much like the neural spines to which they are adapted, but are 
a little shorter and straighter, their extremities being truncated at nearly a right angle 
to their longer axes. 

The specimens upon which the original description of this species was based were all 
collected by Mr. Foord in 1880. Although crushed flat laterally and considerably distorted, 
four of these specimens are very nearly perfect, but the pectoral and ventral fins are want- 
ing. The rest are mere fragments, but one of them shews the shape and position of one 
of the ventrals. The largest individual collected in that year is a little more than six 
inches long and three inches and a quarter in height or depth, while the smallest is about 
thirty-four lines long and ten high. The variation in the outline of different specimens, 
and in the proportions which their length bears to their height, is obviously due to the 
abnormal flattening to which they have been subjected. The smallest examples seem to 
be the least altered by this lateral pressure, and in these the length is much greater in 
proportion to the height than it is in the larger ones. 

In 1881 Mr. Foord collected a few additional specimens of this species, including one 
very large individual in which one of the pectorals and both of the ventral fins are pre- 
served in place. These shewed that the species attained to more than twice the size of 
the largest specimen previously collected, and exhibited very clearly also the character of 
the teeth in the jaws and palate. 

As compared with the P. Andersoni of Huxley, from the Old Red Sandstone of Dura 
Den in Fifeshire (which, as already stated, was the type and only known species of the 
genus, prior to the year 1880) the P. curtum, as its name was intended to imply, appears 


110 WHITEAVES ON FOSSIL DEVONIAN FISHES. 


to differ principally in its much greater height or depth in proportion to its length. The 
Canadian fish, in other words, is short and broad in the direction of its height, while the 
Scotch species is long and narrow. Judging by the figures on Plate III of Decade X of 
British Fossils, published as one of the ‘‘ Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United 
Kingdom,” the length of P. Andersoni is equal to about five and a half times its height, 
whereas, in the larger specimens of P. curtum, the length does not much exceed twice the 
height, and even in the very smallest, the length is not quite three and a half times the 
height. : 

On a cursory examination, the dorsal, caudal and anal fins of the present species 
appear to be continuous, but a closer scrutiny shows that the bases of the caudal and anal 
fins are separated by a short space. 

The many points of resemblance between Phaneropleuron and the living Ceratodus 
Forsteri of Queensland, both in their internal and external structure, have long ago been 
pointed out by Prof. Cope and Dr. Gunther. The notochordal skeleton, lobate paired fins, 
cycloidal scales, triangular patches of palatal teeth, and the peculiar cranial plates of 
Dipterus shew that it too must have been very nearly related to Phaneropleuron. 


SECTION IV., 1886. ettit” |] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


IX.—On some Marine Invertebrata dredged or otherwise collected by Dr. G. M. Dawson, 
in 1885, in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia, in Discovery Passage, 
Johnstone Strait, and Queen Charlotte and Quatsino Sounds, British Columbia ; 
with a Supplementary List of a few land and fresh water shells, fishes, birds, 
etc., from the same region. By J. F. WHITEAVES. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


As stated in his preliminary report,’ Dr. Dawson’s geological explorations of certain 
parts of the coast of British Columbia, in the summer of 1885, in which he was assisted 
by Mr. D. B. Dowling, were prosecuted by means of a schooner. In the intervals of 
the more purely geological work, this mode of locomotion afforded many opportunities, 
which were utilized to their fullest extent, for collecting marine invertebrata, on the 
shore, by the towing net or by the dredge. The title of the present paper sufficiently 
indicates the area examined, at many points within which collections were made at low 
tide. The material collected by the towing net, being to a large extent microscopical in 
its character, has not yet been examined. The dredge was used successfully at depths of 
of from seven to fifty fathoms, at the following localities :— 


STATIONS. STRAIT or GEORGIA. 


No, 1.—Ballinac Channel, opposite Lasqueti Island, in forty fathoms. 
2.—False Bay, Lasqueti Island, in ten to twenty fathoms, sand and gravel. 
3.—Off the mouth of Qualicum River, Vancouver Island, in forty fathoms, sand and gravel. 
4.—Off the north end of Texada Island, in fifty fathoms, sandy mud, 
5.—Between Hernando and Cortez Islands, in eight to twenty fathoms, sand. 
6.—Between Mary and Cortez Islands, in fifteen to twenty fathoms, sand. 


Discovery PASSAGE. 


7.—Dunean Bay, Vancouver Island, in ten to twenty fathoms, sand and gravel. 
8.—EIk Bay, Vancouver Island, in twenty to twenty-five fathoms, sand and gravel. 


JOHNSTONE STRAIT. 


9.—Blinkinsop Bay, on the mainland of British Columbia, in ten fathoms, sand and mud. 
10.—Forward Bay, Cracroft Island, in fifteen to twenty-five fathoms. 


Queen CHARLOTTE SOUND. 
(Including Blackfish and Fife Sounds and Broughton Strait.) 


11.—Farewell Harbour, between Swanson, Lewis and Berry Islands, in nine fathoms, gravel. 
12.—Fresh Water Bay, Swanson Island, Blackfish Sound, in ten fathoms, gravel and coarse sand. 





‘Summary Report of the Operations of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada to December 
o J v 
dist, 1885. Ottawa, 1886, pp. 4, 8, 


112 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC, 


STATIONS. Quepx CHARLOTTE Sound. (Continued.) 


No. 13.—Cullen Harbour, Broughton Island, Fife Sound, in four to eight fathoms, sand and mud. 

14.—Alert Bay, on the west coast of Cormorant Island, and nearly opposite the mouth of the Nimpkish 
River, Vancouver Island, in Broughton Strait, in ten fathoms, sand and mud. 

15.—Between Alert Bay and the mouth of the Nimpkish River, Vancouyer Island, in ten to twenty fathoms, 
gravel. 

16.—Near Suquash, off Pulteney Point, Malcolm Island, Broughton Strait, in twenty-five fathoms, sand, 
gravel and dead shells. 

17.—Off False Head, Vancouver Island, in thirty fathoms, sand, gravel and dead shells. 

18.—Off Blunden Harbour, mainland of British Columbia, in six to ten fathoms, sand. 


QUATSINO SOUND, NORTH-WEST COAST OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. 


19.—Quatsino Sound, off Entrance Island, in from thirty to fifty fathoms, mud and sand. 
20.—Forward Inlet, Quatsino Sound, in ten to twenty fathoms, mud. 


Owing to the systematic way in which the collections were made, the series of 
marine invertebrata now reported upon is by far the most extensive and important that 
has yet been made by any of the exploring parties of the Survey. The crustacea, with the 
exception of the minute and for the most part larval forms collected in the towing net, 
have been kindly examined by Prof. 8. J. Smith, of Yale College, who will report on them 
separately. The sponges, hydroids (with one exception), polyzoa, and worms, have not 
yet been studied. Including the foraminifera, the number of species that have been iden- 
tified so far is approximately as follows :— 


No. or SPECIES. 


ROrAMINIHOra seren- COON AS DSbmagpo ob Ube Wudos6.cocnc.co0Ru000 19 
Ish {obo sl:touogopcpaboDEObocD.code rence 5000008 nova 1 
IAMIEDOZOR Re ene ares nine modes eee rec 2 
Hchinodernmataimemmecie Deccste bien eee miser 1055 
“Parc es teas ses teens succession eee lerofe benatestavalte 1 
Brachiopod =... .sse+r cece veseuece se cniease eseces cose e 4 
amellibranchiatas 2.0... aoe oon nc ocodn SombaAde meosse 54 
Gasteropodas creer eee Crete ECC CC 88 
Cephalopoda...... ....... serene Meme 1 
TO TAT = M ee des seleeetelsislses senc CL LE Tee 185 . 


At station No. 7, the sand which came up in the dredge, when washed and examined 
under the microscope, was found to be unusually rich in diatomaceæ. Among these, 
connected frustules of Himantidium, Tabellaria and Grammatophora marina are frequent, 
associated with separate frustules of Arachnoidiscus Ehrenbergii (rare), Amphitetras antedilu- 
viana, and of species belonging to the genera Amphora, Campylodiscus, Coscinodiscus, Frag'ilaria, 
Gyrosigma, Licmophora, Navicula, Podosphenia, Surirella and Triceratium. 

Samples of the sand, mud, etc., dredged from the bottom at ten of these stations were 
saved to be examined for foraminifera. The species from the Vancouver district do not 
appear to have previously been studied by any naturalist, and the present list of the, 
foraminifera of that region, though making no pretence to completeness, 1s believed to be 
the first that has yet been published. The largest and most conspicuous form is the 
Rhabdammina abyssorum of M. Sars, which was taken abundantly at three of the stations. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 113 


It had been dredged by the writer before, in 1873, at a depth of 200 fathoms in the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. Other remarkable forms are double examples of Discorbina larisiensis, 
which are far from uncommon in Dr. Dawson’s dredgings; large varieties of Cristellaria 
cultrata, and a Frondicularia which, although common as a fossil in the Chalk of Europe 
and England, was previously unknown as a living species. 

Among the echinodermata, the most interesting species collected is the Astrogonium 
granulare, which is new to the fauna of the Pacific. 

Of the lamellibranchiate bivalves, two, viz., Pecten Alaskensis and Yoldia thracieformis, 
are arctic or subarctic shells which had not previously been taken so far to the south as 
the Vancouver region, while, on the other hand, Limatula subauriculata and Leda acuta are 
species which have not hitherto been recorded as occurring so far to the north, on the 
west coast of North America. 

The number of species of gasteropoda collected is unusually large, and among these, 
Leptochiton cancellatus, Bela violacea, Cancellaria circumcincta, Admete viridula, and Sipho 
Verkruzeni are northern forms new to the Vancouver district; while Solariella peramabilis 
and Barleeia subtenuis are Californian shells now for the first time placed upon record as 
living within it. Astarte undata and Eulima incurva (—distorta auct.) if correctly identified, 
seem to be new to the fauna of the west coast of North America ; Margarita cidaris, of which 
a fine series was obtained, was previously known only from a single specimen; and 
Cadulus aberrans and Leptochiton punctatus are here described for the first time. 

It would appear that the outer and exposed western coast of Vancouver Island is 
tenanted by a somewhat different assemblage of marine invertebrata from that which lives 
in its eastern, south-eastern and more land-locked waters. So far, Tellina Bodegensis, 
Cadulus aberrans, Pachypoma gibberosum, Chlorostoma funebrale and Olivella biplicata have been 
found by the Survey collectors on the west and north coast of the Island only, while 
Acmeæa instabilis, Cryptobranchia concentrica, Haliotis Kamtschatkana and Phorcus pulligo, though 
not exclusively confined to the outer coast, appear to be rare in its eastern and south- 
eastern waters. The exact geographical distribution of the different species around the 
coast of Vancouver Island, however, has yet to be ascertained, and the preceding remarks 
have only been written with the view of directing attention to the subject. 

For critical and valuable suggestions in regard to some of the mollusca collected, and 
for the identification of eight species of gasteropoda, the writer is indebted to Mr. W. H. 
Dall of the United States National Museum at Washington. 

The following is alist of the species that have been identified so far. 


FORAMINIFERA. 


MILIOLINA SEMINULUM, L. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, Discovery Passage at station 
No. 7, and Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17,—one specimen at each. 


Minioniwa FERUSSAON, d’Orbigny. With the preceding at station No. 17, one specimen. 


RHABDAMMINA ABYSSORUM, M. Sars. Strait of Georgia at stations Nos. 4 and 5, Queen 
Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, and Quatsino Sound at station No. 20,—abundant 


at each, 





Sec, IV., 1886. 15. 


114 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


HAPLOPHRAGMIUM CANARIENSE, d’Orbigny. Strait of Georgia at station No. 3, Discovery 
Passage at station No. 7, Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, and Quatsino 
Sound at station No. 20,—not rare. 


TROCHAMMINA SQUAMATA, Jones and Parker. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, and 
Quatsino Sound at station No. 19,—not common. 


BULIMINA PYRULA, d'Orbigny. Johnstone Strait at station No. 9, five specimens. 
LAGENA SULCATA, Walker and Jacob. Discovery Passage’at station No. 7, a few specimens. 


NODOSARIA (DENTALINA) PAUPERATA, d'Orbigny. Strait of Georgia at stations Nos. 2 and 4, 
but in very small numbers. 


FRONDICULARIA CANALICULATA, Reuss. 


à 


>> 


ee 


Fic. 1.—Frondicularia canaliculata, Reuss. Drawn from a living specimen dredged in 
the Strait of Georgia, and enlarged six diameters. 


Verstein Bohm. Kreid, 1845, Pt. I. p. 31. Pl. VIII. Figs. 20, 21. 

Strait of Georgia, at station No. 8, one perfect living specimen and a fragment 
of another, and at station No. 4, eight perfect and living specimens. This species, . 
for the identification of which the writer is indebted to Mr. H. B. Brady, has long 
been known as a fossil of the Chalk Formation of Bohemia and England, but the 
specimens dredged by Dr. Dawson are the first that have been discovered in a 
living state. 


CRISTELLARIA CULTRATA, Montfort. Strait of Georgia at station No. 4, four specimens of a 
large variety in which the sutures are prominently overlaid by raised lines of 
shelly deposit. 

CRISTELLARIA CULTRATA, var. With the terminal end straightened and the shape like 


that of C. reniformis and C. compressa, but the sutures are strongly arched. A single 
specimen from the same station as the preceding. 


POLYMORPHINA LACTEA, Walker and Jacob. Discovery Passage at station No. 1, one 
specimen. 


POLYMORPHINA COMPRESSA, d'Orbigny. Strait of Georgia at station No. 4, Queen Charlotte 
Sound at stations Nos. 13 and 17, and Quatsino Sound at station No. 20,—not 
uncommon. Some of the specimens have as many as twelye segments, and the 
sutures are not excavated. | 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 115 


DISCORBINA PARISIENSIS, d’Orbigny. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, and Queen 
Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 14 and 17,—not uncommon. Double specimens, in 
which the bases of two shells have grown together, or specimens which have been 
double, but which have been broken apart by some cause unknown, are more 
frequent than normal and single examples. In the ninth volume of the Zoology 
of the “ Challenger” Expedition (p. 649) Mr. Brady says “it is probable that the 
phenomenon is to be accounted for in the same way in all cases, that it is brought 
about by the extension of a lobe of sarcode from the mouth of the parent test, the 
subsequent division of the nucleus, and the continued growth of the new 
individual without separation from the parent, a very similar process to that 
minutely watched by Gruber in a species of Euglypha.” 


TRUNCATALINA LOBATULA, Walker and Jacob. Abundant, living and attached to shells, 
stones, etc., at most of the stations at which the dredge was used. Dead and 
detached specimens are frequent also in sand, etc., from stations Nos. 2, 7 and 17. 


PULVINULINA KARSTENI, Reuss. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, four specimens, and 
Johnstone Strait at station No. 9, one specimen. 


Rorania Beccari, L. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, Queen Charlotte Sound at 
station No. 14 and Quatsino Sound at station No. 20,—a few examples at each. 


NONIONINA SCAPHA, Fichtel and Moll. Johnstone Strait at station No. 9, and Queen 
Charlotte Sound at station No. 17,—apparently not very common. 


POLYSTOMELLA CRISPA, L. Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 14 and 17, and 
Quatsino Sound at station No. 9,—not uncommon. 


POLYSTOMELLA STRIATOPUNCTATA, Fichtel and Moll. Johnstone Strait at station No. 9, nine 
specimens. Two specimens were also noted in sand dredged at a depth of two 
fathoms in Comox Harbour, Vancouver Island. 


HYDROZOA. 


ALLOPORA VENUSTA, Verrill. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 15, several specimens. 


ANTHOZOA. 


PARACYATHUS CALTHA, Verrill. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, one specimen, and 
station No. 6, four specimens. 


BALANOPHYLLIA ELEGANS, Verrill. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, one specimen, and 
station No. 6, two specimens. Discovery passage at station No. 7, four specimens. 


OPHIUROIDEA. 


OPHIOGLYPHA LUTKENI, Lyman. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, a few specimens, 
and Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, abundant. 


116 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


ASTEROIDEA. 


ASTERIAS OCHRACEA, Brandt. Low water, Malaspina Inlet, one small specimen. 


ASTERIAS CONFERTA, Stimpson. Low water, Malapina Inlet, five fine specimens. Discovery 
Passage, at low water, one specimen. 


ASTERIAS TROSCHELI, Stimpson. Several specimens of an Asterias with five long slender 
rays and a very small disk, which are probably referable to this species, were 
collected by Dr. Dawson at low water at the northern end of the Strait of Georgia, 
at the entrance to Malaspina Inlet, at Redonda Island (to the north-east of Cortez 
Island) and in Discovery Passage. The smaller specimens from these localities 
agree very well with Stimpson’s description of A. Troscheli; but the larger ones, 
which attain to a maximum diameter of rather more than a foot, and which are not 
very well preserved, do not shew very clearly the peculiar pentagon formed by 
clusters of spines in the centre of the upper surface of the disk, nor the marked 
disparity in size between the larger and smaller dorsal spines, that are said to be 
characteristic of the species. These larger specimens are precisely similar to a star- 
fish collected by Mr. James Richardson in 1874, at low water, near Victoria, 
Vancouver Island, which was doubtfully and perhaps incorrectly referred to the 
A. epichlora of Brandt in the “Canadian Naturalist ” of December, 1878, but both 
they and it are quite different to the specimens from the Queen Charlotte Islands 
which were called A. epichlora, but with a query, by the writer, on Prof. Verrill’s 
authority, in an appendix to Dr. Dawson’s report on those islands.’ Since that 
appendix was written, however, two very typical and well preserved examples of 
A. Troscheli have been detected among Dr. Dawson’s collections from the Queen 
Charlotte Islands. 


ASTERIAS HEXACTIS, Stimpson. Taken rather sparingly, living, at low tide in Seymour 
Narrows, Discovery Passage, Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound. A few 
badly preserved and small specimens of a six-rayed star-fish, which is also 
probably A. hexactis, were dredged at station No. 14. 


PYCNOPODIA HELIANTHOIDEA, Brandt. (Sp.) Hernando Island, Strait of Georgia, at low 
water, one specimen. 


SOLASTER Stimpsoni, Verrill. Low water at Port Neville, on the mainland of British 
Columbia and on the north side of Johnstone Strait,—several. Twelve specimens of 
a Solaster, which seems to be only a variety of this species, were dredged in Queen 
Charlotte Sound at station No. 14. These differ from the type of S. Stimpsoni prin- 
cipally in the unusually large size of the disc and in the shortness of the rays, 
which latter are uniformly ten in number. The spines at the angles near the 
mouth, also, are apparently more numerous. 


NOLASTER Dawsonl, Verrill. Beach at Powell Island, Strait of Georgia ; one adult example. 
Entrance to Malaspina Inlet, at low water; one small specimen. Low water at 
Johnstone Strait and in the Goletas Channel; abundant. 





1 Report of Progress of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1878-79, p. 192 B. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 117 


CRIBRELLA LÆVIUSCULA, Stimpson. Low water at the entrance to Malaspina Inlet, in the 
Goletas Channel, and on the coast between Nahwitti village and Quatsino Sound, 
—several from each of these localities. 


DERMASTER IMBRICATUS, Perrier. (—Asteropsis imbricata, Grube.) Beach at Hernando Island, 
two large specimens; low water at the entrance to Malaspina Inlet, one specimen ; 
and Johnstone Strait, one specimen. 


MED'ASTER ÆQUALIS, Stimpson. Low water at the north end of Malcolm Island, Queen 
Charlotte Sound, one fine specimen. 


ASTROGONIUM GRANULARE, O. F. Muller. One beautiful living example of this rare spe- 
cies, which is now for the first time recorded as occurring in the North Pacific, was 
dredged in forty fathoms in the Strait of Georgia, off the mouth of the Qualicum 
River. It is almost precisely similar to a specimen of the same species taken some 
years ago off Halifax, Nova Scotia, and now in the Redpath Museum in Montreal. 
For the loan of the latter, for comparison, the writer is indebted to Sir William 
Dawson. 


ECHINOIDEA. 


DENDRASTER EXCENTRICUS, Valenciennes. (Sp.) Beach at Mary Island, Strait of Georgia, 
several dead and bleached specimens denuded of their spines. Low water at 
Savary Island, in the same strait, alive and numerous. 


LOXECHINUS PURPURATUS, Stimpson. (Sp.) Common almost everywhere along the coast. 


STRONGYLOCENTROTUS DROBACHIENSIS, Mull. With the preceding, and equally common. 


HOLOTHUROIDEA. 


PENTACTA FRONDOSA, Gunner. Two specimens of a very large Holothurian which appear 
to belong to this species, though they have not been examined microscopically, 
were dredged in Queen Charlotte Sound ; one at station No. 11 and one at station 
No. 12. 


A number of small Holothurians, which have yet to be studied, were dredged in 


Queen Charlotte Sound, at station No. 14. 


TUNICATA. 


CYNTHIA (HALOCYNTHIA) PYRIFORMIS, Rathke. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 18, 
two living specimens. 


BRACHIOPODA. 


RHYNCHONELLA PSITTACEA, L. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, one fresh ventral valve. 
Low tide, Johnstone Strait, a few small but living specimens. 


118 


WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


TEREBRATULINA UNGUICULA, Carpenter. Strait of Georgia, near Comox, in forty fathoms ; 


one small living specimen. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, a large ventral 
valve. Low tide, Johnstone Strait, one small living specimen; and Johnstone 
Strait at station No. 10, two small living specimens. 

The Terebratula unguicula of the late Dr. P. P. Carpenter was regarded as merely 
a local variety of the European T! caput-serpentis by the late Dr. Thomas Davidson. 
A series of adult and perfect examples of 7! unguicula, dredged by Mr. James Rich- 
ardson in 1876 in the Strait of Georgia, was sent by the writer to Dr. Davidson, for 
examination, in the fall of 1884. In a letter dated November 29, 1884, Dr. Davidson 
writes :—‘ The specimens named Terebratulina unguicula are only a variety of T°: caput- 
serpentis. 1 will describe it in my monograph” (one on recent brachiopoda, then in 
course of preparation) “as Terebratulina caput-serpentis, var. unguicula, Carpenter. I 
compared al] your Vancouver examples very minutely with a number of European 
specimens of Linne’s species, and feel confident that 7. wnguicula is not a distinct 
species.” 


LaquEeus CALIFORNICUS. Koch. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, one dead but perfect 
J 8 P 


shell and a large dorsal valve. Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, five living 
adult specimens and several young. Race Passage, Johnstone Strait, two small 
but living specimens. 


TEREBRATELLA TRANSVERSA, Sowerby. (—T! caurina, Gould.) Low tide, Strait of Georgia, 


many small but living and strongly ribbed specimens. Entrance to Malaspina 
Inlet, at low water, one living specimen. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, 
three small living specimens and one dead shell. Johnstone Strait at station 
No. 10, two adult living shells and one small one. Queen Charlotte Sound 
at station No. 12, one small living shell, and at station No. 18, five small, living 
specimens. 

At these localities, some of the specimens have strong, radiating ribs, while 
others are almost entirely smooth, but there are intermediate gradations between 
the ribbed and the smooth forms, which latter is the one represented by Sowerby 
in the “Thesaurus Conchyliorum,” as the type of T! transversa. 


LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. 
& 


PLACUNANOMIA MACROSCHISMA, Deshayes. Entrance to Malaspina Inlet, at low water; 


three small, living specimens attached to Ostrea lurida. Strait of Georgia at station 
No. 2, two rather small, living specimens. Quatsino Sound, Vancouver Island, one 
large and two small living shells. 


OSTREA LURIDA, Carpenter. Entrance to Malaspina Inlet, at low tide, two living speci- 


mens. A number of good specimens of this species, which were said to have been 
taken near Comox, were purchased in Victoria, Vancouver Island. Bradley Lagoon, 
Blunden Harbour, Queen Charlotte Sound, on the mainland side, abundant. This 
last is the most northerly locality yet recorded for oysters on the coast of British 
Columbia. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 119 


HINNITES GIGANTEUS, Gray. Entrance to Malaspina Inlet, associated with the two pre- 
ceding species, one rather small and dead specimen. Low water at Fort Rupert, 
on the north-east coast of Vancouver Island, one adult living shell, and a similar 
one from the entrance to Quatsino Sound, also at low water. 


PECTEN ALASKENSIS, Dall. Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, one small but living 
specimen. This species, which has hitherto been recorded as occurring only at 
North Harbor, Unga Island,” and “ Port Etches, Chugach Gulf,” is new to the 


Vancouver region. 


PECTEN HASTATUS, Sowerby. (=P. hericeus,Gld.) Strait of Georgia at station No. 6, one 
living, adult shell, with the exterior of both valves nearly covered by an encrusting 
sponge. Goletas Channel, one small but living shell. Quatsino Sound at station 
No. 19, five adult, living and brightly coloured specimens of the typical form of 
the species, in which the principal ribs are few, distant, and ornamented with erect 
vaulted scales. 


PECTEN HASTATUS, var. HINDSI1, Carpenter. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, two rather 
small, living shells and a few fragments. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, two 
small, living shells and three single valves. Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, 
four medium sized, living specimens (one passing distinctly into the var. rubidus) 
and a few very small ones. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 14, one living 
specimen ; at station No. 17, three small living shells; and at station No. 18, one 
small, living shell. Quatsino Sound at stations No. 19 and 20, a few living speci- 
mens of various sizes. 


LIMATULA SUBAURICULATA, Montagu. Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, and Queen 
Charlotte Sound at station No. 14, a single living specimen from each of these 
localities. Not included in the Vancouver fauna in Dr. Carpenter’s “ Guide to the 
Diagnosis of the Vancouver and Californian Shells,” on pages 122-150 of his last 
report on “The Mollusks of Western North America,” published in 1872 by the 
Smithsonian Institution. 


YOLDIA LANCEOLATA, J. Sowerby. Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, a few living specimens. 


VOLDIA (PORTLANDIA) THRACIÆFORMIS, Storer. From the same station as the last, two 
small but living specimens. This species also is new to the Vancouver district. 


LEDA Fossa ? Baird. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, one single and worn valve. 
LEDA MINUTA, O. Fabricius. Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, two living specimens. 


LEDA ACUTA, Conrad. (—L. cuneata, Sowerby.) Same locality and station as the preceding ; 
ten perfect specimens (most of which were living) and three single valves. 
A single valve of a Leda from Houston Stewart Channel, Queen Charlotte 
Islands, which was referred by the writer to the Leda celaia of Hinds (on p. 200 B 
of the Report of Progress of the Geological Survey for 1878-79) is almost certainly 
referable to ZL. acuta, Conrad, of which, according to Dall, L. cuneata, Sowerby, is a 
synonym. On the other hand, in the sixth volume of the “ American Journal of 
Conchology,” (p. 55) Dr. J. G. Cooper sug ggests that Leda cuneata may be only a 
variety of L. cælata. 


120 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


NucuLa (AcILA) LYALII, Baird. Strait of Georgia at station No 9, Johnstone Strait at 
stations Nos. 9 and 10, and Queen Charlotte and Quatsino Sounds at stations Nos. 
12, 14, 17 and 20. Taken more or less plentifully and living at each of these 
localities, in from ten to thirty fathoms. 


NUCULA TENUIS (Montagu), var. LUCIDA, Gould. Johnstone Strait at station No. 9, several 
living specimens. Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, abundant, living but small. 


PECTUNCULUS SUBOBSOLETUS. (—Axinæa subobsoleta, Carpenter.) Discovery Passage at 
station No. 7, two living specimens. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 14, three 
living shells, and at station No. 15, ten living specimens. North or north-west coast 
of Vancouver Island, between Nahwitti Bar and Quatsino Sound, at low water, 
one living shell. 


CRENELLA DECUSSATA, Montagu. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, two living examples of 
an unusually large form of the species. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, 
three living specimens, of the same size; and station No. 14, four specimens of the 
usual size and one (living) which measures, length, twelve mm., height, eleven 
mm., and maximum thickness, seven mm and a half. 


MODIOLARIA LAVIGATA, Gray. Port Neville, on the mainland of British Columbia, near 
Johnstone Strait, at low water, one living specimen associated with Saxicava rugosa. 


MoDIOLARIA NIGRA, Gray. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, Discovery Passage at sta- 
tion No. 7, and Queen Charlotte Sound, at stations Nos. 14 and 16,—a few immature 
living specimens at each of these localities. 


MopioLA MoDIOLUS, LZ. Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, six half-grown, living shells, 
with a simply bearded epidermis. Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 11, 12, 
14, 16 and 18,—a few living, but for the most part, very young specimens at each. 
The species usually lives in the crevices of rocks, or between or on stones. 





MyriLus EDULIS, L. A few specimens of the fry of this very common and ubiquitous 
species occur in dredgings in the Ntrait of Georgia, at station No. 5. 


Mytinus CALIFORNIANUS, Conrad. Low water at Galiano Island, in the Strait of Georgia, 
and dredged at station No. 11, in Queen Charlotte Sound. 


KELLIA LAPEROUSEI, Deshayes. Low tide, entrance to Malaspina Inlet; one fine and adult 
living specimen, which measures twenty-five mm. (or just one inch) in length by 
twenty mm. in height, and a few smaller ones. 


KELLIA LAPEROUSEI, var. CHTRONI, Carpenter. Strait of Georgia, at low water, one living 
shell; and Johnstone Strait, also at low water, seven living specimens. 


DIPLODONTA ORBELLA, Gould. Entrance to Malaspina Inlet at low water, three adult 
living specimens; also north or north-west coast of Vancouver Island, between 
Nahwitti Bar and Quatsino Sound, at low water, one adult and living shell. 


CRYPTODON FLEXUOSUS, L. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, four large and perfect 
specimens ; and Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, two equally perfect specimens. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 121 


CRYPTODON SERICATUS, Carpenter. (Not “serricatus.”) Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, 
several small but living specimens. In a letter to the writer, Mr. Dall says “the 
specific name of this shell is misspelled in Dr. Carpenter's last report, but the 
mistake was corrected by him in MS.” 


LUCINA FILOSA, Stimpson. Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, one small but living shell; 
and at station No. 20, a large and perfectly fresh single valve. 


LUCINA TENUISCULPTA, Carpenter. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, one living speci- 
men ; and Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, abundant, living. 


VENERICARDIA BOREALIS, Conrad. Living, but usually of small size, at the following 
localities :—Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, 
Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12, 14, 15, 17 and 18; and Quatsino Sound 
at station No. 19. A few dead valves of this shell were dredged at station No. 7, 
in Discovery Passage. 

ASTARTE UNDATA ? Gould, var. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, two living and full- 
grown specimens ; Discovery Passage at station No. 7, two living specimens and 
several single valves, and Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, one living and 
unusually large specimen. 

The shells from station No. 5 can scarcely be separated from examples of a 
variety of A. undata dredged by the writer, in 1873, between Pictou Island and Cape 
Bear, P.E.I.; while those from stations No. 7 and 10 are more transversely elon- 
gated and more like A. elliptica in shape, but their ribs are fewer (some fourteen or 
fifteen in number) and more prominent, and shew little if any tendency to become 
obsolete near the ventral margin. A single dead and immature valve of an Astarte, 
dredged by Dr. G. M. Dawson off Metlakatla in 1878, and identified by the writer, 
with doubt, as possibly the A. semisulcata of Leach, in the Report of Progress of the 
Geological Survey of 1878-79 (p. 197 B) is certainly identical with the shells here 
provisionally referred to A. wndata. 

ASTARTE ESQUIMALTI, Baird. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, two living specimens ; 

7, abundant, alive; Johnstone Strait at station 

No. 10, two living specimens ; and Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, four 


Discovery Passage at station No. 


living shells, and at station No. 14, abundant and alive. In the specimens from 
these localities the irregularity of the concentric ribs is very slight and scarcely 
appreciable without the aid of a lens. 


CARDIUM BLANDUM, Gould. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, Discovery Passage at 
station No. 7, Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, and Queen Charlotte Sound at 
stations Nos. 12, 13, 16 and 17. A few living specimens of all sizes from each of 
these localities. 


CarpiuM NUTTALII, Conrad. Common at or near low water mark throughout the district. 


SAXIDOMUS SQUALIDUS, Deshayes. Abundant at low tide round the whole coast. A few 
small specimens of the present species were dredged in Discovery Passage at station 
No. 7, and in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12 and 16. 


Sec. IV., 1886. 16. 


122% WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC, 


TAPES STAMINEA, Conrad. Common almost everywhere on mud flats atlow water. This 
and the two preceding species are eaten by the Indians, who call this the “small 
round clam.” 


VENUS KENNERLYI, Reeve. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, one full-grown living 
specimen and a very small one; also in Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, 
one very small living shell. 


Psepxis Lorpt, Baird. Living, and more or less abundant, in the Strait of Georgia at 
station No. 5; in Discovery Passage, at station No. 7; in Johnstone Strait at 
stations Nos. 9 and 10; and in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12, 13, 14 


and 17. 


CLEMENTIA SUBDIAPHANA, Carpenter. Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, three large, dead, 
single valves. 


TELLINA BODEGENSIS, Hinds. North and north-west coast of Vancouver Island, between 
Nahwitti Bar and Quatsino Inlet, at low water, six living specimens. 


MRA SALMONEA, Carpenter. Low water at the entrance to Quatsino Sound, and Queen 
Charlotte Sound at station No. 16,—one living specimen at each of these localities. 
By inadvertence, the name of this species was printed M. variegata in the list of 
shells from the Queen Charlotte Islands already referred to in this paper. 


ANGULUS VARIEGATUS, Carpenter. Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, a fully grown living 
specimen. 


ANGULUS MODESTUS, Carpenter. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, five living specimens. 
Probably only a pale local variety of the species last mentioned. 

MAcomMA oBTUSA, Carpenter. (Sp.) Discovery Passage at station No. 7, one adult and 

perfect shell; Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 15 and 16, one specimen 

from each, and Quatsino Sound at station No. 19,.two living specimens. 


Macoma CARLOTTENSIS, Whiteaves. Johnstone Strait at station No. 9, abundant, alive: 
Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, seven adult living specimens. 


MACOMA CALCAREA, Chemnitz. (=M. sabulosa, Spengler.) Quatsino Sound at stations Nos. 
19 and 20, one perfect, living specimen from each. 


MACOMA INCONSPICUA, Broderip and Sowerby. Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 16 
and 17, three living specimens at each. A single shell also, which appears to be 
an unusually large form of this species, was dredged at station No. 17. 


Macoma NASUTA, Conrad. Abundant at low water in Johnstone Strait. One small, living 
specimen also was dredged in Discovery Passage at station No. 7. 


Lyonsta (ENTODESMA) SAXICOLA, Baird. Abundant, of large size and living, at low water, 
in crevices of rock among kelp and other seaweed, at Port Neville, on the mainland 
of British Columbia, near the east end of Johnstone Strait. Low tide: at Beaver 
Harbour, Vancouver Island, one living specimen. Queen Charlotte Sound at 
station No. 11, one living adult shell. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 128 


LYONSIA CALIFORNICA, Conrad. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, one living shell; and 
station No. 5, abundant and alive. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, several; and 
at station No. 8, one, alive. Queen Charlotte Sound, a few living specimens at 
stations Nos. 12, 14 and 16. As is usual in this genus, the shell, when freshly 
taken, is often nearly covered with a fine, sandy envelopment. 


THRACIA CURTA, Conrad. Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, a large left valve, which 
measures a little over two inches in length by one inch and five-eighths in height. 


Panpora (KENNERLIA) GRANDIS, Dali. Discovery Passage at station No.7, two nearly adult 
living shells and one adult and perfect but dead specimen. Johnstone Strait at 
station No. 10, one adult, living shell. 


PANDORA (KENNERLIA) FILOSA, Carpenter Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, three living 
specimens—one adult and two small. Discovery Passage at station No. 8, three 
young and living specimens and one full grown but dead shell. Quatsino Sound 
at station No. 19, six adult, living specimens; and at station No. 20, one living 
specimen. 


NERA PECTINATA, Carpenter. One or two living specimens from each of the following 
localities :—Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, Discovery Passage at station No. 8, 
Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, and 
Quatsino Sound at station No. 19. The largest specimen, which measures twenty 
one mm. in length and thirteen mm. in height, is from the locality last mentioned. 


SCHIZOTHÆRUS NUTTALLI, Conrad. Common at low tide at many places along the coast 
and used for food. The only localities from which specimens were brought are 
Galiano Island in the Strait of Georgia, and Fort Rupert, Beaver Harbour, on the 
north coast of Vancouver Island. 


Mya TRUNCATA, L. A few young specimens of this species were dredged in Discovery 
Passage at station No. 8, in Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, in Queen Charlotte 
Sound at station No. 12, and in Quatsino Sound at station No. 20. 


SAXICAVA PHOLADIS, L. (—S. rugosa, Lamarck.) A few specimens of this common littoral 
species were collected at low water at the entrance to Malaspina Inlet, at Port 
Neville, B. C., and Quatsino Sound. A living but immature specimen, also, was 
dredged at station No. 20 in Quatsino Sound. 


GASTEROPODA. 


TORNATINA EXIMIA, Baird. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, Discovery Passage at 
stations Nos. 7 and 8, Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, and Quatsino Sound 
at station No. 20. A few living specimens from each of these localities. 


CYLICHNA ALBA, Brown. Associated with the above at stations Nos. 5 and 20, one 
specimen at the first locality and five at the last. 


MELIBE (CHIORH 4A) LEONINA, Gould. On seaweed in Cullen Harbour, several. 


124 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


DENDRONOTUS PURPUREUS? Bergh. Elk Harbour, one large and two small living 
specimens. 


SIPHONARIA THERSITES, Carpenter. Living and apparently not uncommon, at low tide, in 
Johnstone Strait, on the east side of Queen Charlotte Sound; on the north and 
north-west coast of Vancouver Island, from Nahwitti Bar to Quatsino Sound, and 
in Quatsino Sound. 


CADULUS ABERRANS. N. Sp. 





Fic. 2.—Cadulus aberrans. Side view of an average specimen, enlarged three diameters. 


Shell slender, moderately but distinctly curved, large and much elongated for 
the genus, increasing very slowly but regularly in diameter, not distinctly (if at all) 
swollen in advance of the middle, and very slightly and scarcely perceptibly con- 
stricted immediately behind the aperture. Test extremely thin, surface polished, 
very glossy and shining, smooth to the naked eye, but under a lens it is seen to be 
marked with minute and transverse but somewhat oblique lines of growth. 

Length of an average, full-sized example, 13.5 mm.; greatest breadth of the 
same near the anterior end, 1.3 mm. 

Very abundant in Quatsino Sound at station No. 20. 

This little shell, which is nevertheless of large size for the genus, looks not 
unlike an immature Dentalium, and, at first sight, specimens of it might be easily 
mistaken for half-grown examples of D. pretiosum, Nuttall, which the Indians say 
occurs at the same locality. It may, however, be distinguished from any Denta- 
lium by its thin test and highly polished outer surface, though the swelling of the 
shell in advance of the middle and the constriction behind the aperture, which are 
usually marked characters in the genus Cadulus, are reduced to a minimum in this 
species, and in most specimens are quite imperceptible. 

The writer has been informed by Mr. Dall that there are specimens of this shell 
in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, which were collected 
by Dr. J. G. Cooper at Catalina Island, California. 


MOPALIA CILIATA, Sowerby. (Sp.) More or less abundant, living, at low tide, in Discovery 
Passage, Johnstone Strait, the Goletas Channel, and Quatsino Sound. One living 
specimen was dredged in Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 13. 


MOPALIA LIGNOSA, Gould. Living, at low tide, on the north side of the Strait of Georgia, 
in the Goletas Channel, and in Queen Charlotte and Quatsino Sounds. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 125 


MopariA WOSSNESSENSKYI, Middendorf. Associated with the two preceding species, but 
apparently very much rarer than either. 


PLACIPHORELLA IMPORCATA, Carpenter. (Sp.) Johnstone Strait at station No. 19, one 
small, living specimen, with the girdle partly overgrown by a hydroid. 


CRYPTOCHITON STELLERI, Middendorf. Discovery Passage, between Vancouver and Cortez 
Islands, in about one fathom of water, one living specimen. Low tide, Johnstone 
Strait, two living specimens; and on Thurlow Island, east end of Johnstone Strait, 
four living shells. Low tide, Beaver Harbour, Vancouver Island, one living 
specimen. One living specimen, also, was dredged in Queen Charlotte Sound at 
station No. 15. 

Dr. Dawson states that this species is generally distributed on rocky ground 
at and below low tide mark, but that it is nowhere very abundant. This and the 
next-named species are cooked and eaten by Indians. 


KATHERINA TUNICATA, Sowerby. On rocks at low water all over the coast, and in some 
places very abundant. 


LEPTOCHITON CANCELLATUS, Sowerby. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, eleven 
small but living specimens, four of which have been identified with this species 
by Mr. W.H. Dall. Three specimens of a small, white Chiton, from station No. 14, 
appear also to belong to this species. 


LEPTOCHITON PUNCTATUS. N. Sp. 





Figs. 8 and 4.—Leptochiton punctatus. The figure on the left hand side represents the type 
specimen enlarged three diameters, and that on the right one of the central 
valves, enlarged eight diameters to shew the sculpture. 


Shell small, elongated, rather strongly elevated, back distinctly angulated ; 
colour, pale cream or nearly white, but with a few small patches of reddish-brown 
on the girdle, and a narrow and non-continuous series of variously interrupted 
and broken up yellowish-brown spots upon the median line of all the valves but 
the anterior one. Girdle squamose, the scales closely imbricating, much broader 
than high, and distinctly striated when viewed under an achromatic microscope 
with a half-inch objective. Mucro central and tolerably distinct where not worn 
off; anterior valve marked with faint but rather numerous radiating striæ and 


126 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC., 


concentric lines of growth. Central areas of all the valves but the anterior one 
regularly pitted, as viewed by an ordinary simple lens of moderate power, the 
pitting being most distinct near the suture. These pits are the interstices between 
longitudinal, lightly curved and convergent raised lines, and the curved raised 
lines of growth. Lateral areas of the valves (exclusive of the anterior one) not so 
distinctly pitted, but more or less marked with faint radiating striae, especially 
those of the anterior portion of the shell; those of the third to the seventh, both 
inclusive, each bearing from four to six distant, isolated, prominent and rounded 
tubercles on each side, three being usually placed on each of the lines which 
separate the lateral from the central areas. 

Length of the only specimen collected, about fourteen millimetres ; maximum 
breadth of the same, six and a half. 

Discovery Passage at station No. 7, one living specimen. 

An interesting and beautiful little species, apparently well characterized by 
the peculiarly punctate surface of the central area of the valves. 


TONICELLA LINEATA, Wood. (Sp.) Frequent, living, at low water, on the north shore of 
the Strait of Georgia, in Malaspina Inlet, Discovery Passage, Race Passage in 
Johnstone Strait, Queen Charlotte Sound, and on the north and north-west coast 
of Vancouver Island, from Nahwitti Bar to Quatsino Sound. Taken abundantly 
from the stomach of a harlequin duck -(Histrionicus torquatus) shot at Mittlenatch 
Island, in the Strait of Georgia. Dredged also in Queen Charlotte Sound at station 
No. 12. 


ISCHNOCHITON INTERSTINCTUS, Gould. (Sp.) Low tide in Race Passage Johnstone Strait, 
and in Queen Charlotte Sound, but apparently not common. More abundant in 
Discovery Passage at station No. 7, in Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, in Queen 
Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12, 14, 15 and 16, and in Quatsino Sound at 
station No. 20. 


ISCHNORADSIA TRIFIDA, Carpenter. (Sp.) Queen Charlotte Sound, one large, living 
specimen. 


LEPIDOPLEURUS MERTENSII, Middendorf. (Sp.) Discovery Passage at station No. 7, two 
living specimens; and Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 15, one living 
example. 


Acm@a (COLLISELLA) PATINA, Eschscholtz. Abundant, living at low tide in Johnstone 
Strait. 


ACMÆA (CoLLISELLA) PELTA, Eschscholtz. Common and alive at low tide at the north end 
of Texada Island, Strait of Georgia; in Discovery Passage, between Seymour Nar- 
rows and Elk Harbour; in Johnstone Strait; on the east side of Queen Charlotte 
Sound ; and along the north and north-west coast of Vancouver Island, from Nah- 
witti Bar to Quatsino Sound. Numerous but dead specimens were dredged in 
Discovery Passage at station No. 7. 


ACMÆA (COLLISELLA) PERSONA, Eschscholtz. Low tide in Discovery Passage, between 
Seymour Narrows and Elk Harbour, four adult, living specimens. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 127 


ACMÆA MITRA, Eschscholtz. Low tide at Malaspina Inlet in the Strait of Georgia, and 
Queen Charlotte and Quatsino Sounds. Dredged also in Queen Charlotte Sound at 
stations Nos. 12, 15 and 18, and at the entrance to Quatsino Inlet at station No. 19. 
Moderately abundant near low water mark almost everywhere. 


ACMA INSTABILIS, Gould. Low tide on the north and north-west coast of Vancouver 
Island, between Nahwitti Bar and Quatsino Sound ; three adult, but dead shells. 


CRYPTOBRANCHIA CONCENTRICA, Middendorf.  (—Lepeta cæcoides, Carpenter.) Queen 
Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, one living specimen; and Quatsino Sound at 
station No. 20, several. 


GLYPHIS ASPERA, Eschscholtz. Common, living at low tide in Malaspina Inlet, Strait of 
Georgia ; in Johnstone and Broughton Straits ; in the Goletas Channel, and on the 
west coast of Vancouver Island, north of Quatsino Sound. 


PUNCTURELLA CUCULLATA, Gould. Low water at Race Passage, Johnstone Strait, one 
large, living specimen. Dredged also alive, but sparingly, in Discovery Passage 
at station No. 7, in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12 and 17, and in 
Quatsino Sound at station No. 20. 


PUNCTURELLA GALEATA, Gould. Dredged living, but in very small numbers, in Discovery 
Passage at station No. 7, in Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, in Queen Charlotte 
Sound at stations Nos. 12,15 and 18, and in Quatsino Sound at station No. 20. 
Specimens sometimes occur which seem to be intermediate in their sculpture 
between this and the preceding species. 


Haniotis KAMTSCHATKANA, Jonas. Living at a little below low tide at Port Neville, on 
the mainland of British Columbia, north of Johnstone Strait; at Beaver Harbour, 
on the north-east coast of Vancouver Island; in the Goletas Channel; and at the 
entrance to Quatsino Inlet. Dr. Dawson says that this species is most abundant in 
exposed situations on the northern and outer coast of Vancouver Island, but that 
it is rarely met with in the Strait of Georgia or other land-sheltered waters. 

The animal, or foot of the animal, is eaten by the Indians, and dried for sale 
to the Chinese, while the nacreous interior of its shell is largely used by the 
Indians for inlaying and other ornamental or decorative purposes. 


PACHYPOMA GIBBEROSUM, Chemnitz. On rocks and kelp at a little below low-water mark 
in Quatsino Sound; abundant at some localities. 
The thick, calcareous operculum of this shell is used for ornamental inlaying, 
in wooden ware, by the Indians of the coast. 


LEPTOTHYRA SANGUINEA, Z. (Sp) Living, at low tide, in Johnstone and Broughton 
Straits, in the Goletas Channel, and on the east side of Queen Charlotte Sound. 
Dredged, also, in Queen Charlotte Sound at station No 15, and in Quatsino Sound 
at station No. 20. 

Mr. Tryon appears to be mistaken in supposing that the Californian shells 
which Dr. Carpenter referred to this species, have a “corneous” operculum and 


128 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


are different from the Turbo sanguineus of Linnæus.! In a letter to the writer, 
Mr. Dall says:—“The west coast shell is the sanguinea, L.; is not the type of 
Collonia, Gray, which is African and umbilicated, and has a calcareous operculum. 
It inhabits Japan, California, and the Ægean Sea.” The specimens collected by 
Dr. Dawson certainly have a calcareous operculum. 


CHLOROSTOMA FUNEBRALE, A. Adams. Collected abundantly, living, at or a little below 
low tide level on the north and north-west coast of Vancouver Island, between 
Nahwitti Bar and Quatsino Sound. Apparently’confined to the north and west 
coast of the island. 


CALLIOSTOMA CosTATUM, Martyn. Low tide in Johnstone and Broughton Straits, in the 
Goletas Channel, and on the east side of Queen Charlotte Sound,—common and 
living. Dredged also, abundantly and alive, in Queen Charlotte Sound at station 
Noms: 


CALLIOSTOMA ANNULATUM, Martyn. Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, one small, living 
specimen. A much scarcer species than the preceding one on the coasts of 
Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands. 


GIBBULA (PHORCUS) PULLIGO, Marlyn. Abundant at and a little below low water mark, 
in Johnstone and Broughton Straits, in the Goletas Channel, on the east side of 
Queen Charlotte Sound, and on the northern and western coasts of Vancouver 
Island; often on fronds and stems of Macrocystis. 

The specimens from Carpenter Bay, which were referred by the writer to the 
Chlorostoma brunneum of Philippi, in a list of shells from the Queen Charlotte Islands, 
published in the Report of Progress of the Geological Survey of Canada fer 1878-79 
(p. 201 B), are forms of this species. The true Chlorostoma brunneum has not yet been 
found north of California. 


SOLARIELLA PERAMABILIS, Carpenter. Six fine living specimens of this rare shell were 
dredged in Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17. The species had not pre- 
viously been recorded as occurring north of California. Mr. W. H. Dall, who has 
examined three of the specimens collected by Dr. Dawson, says that they are “ruder 
and larger than those from the Santa Barbara Channel,” and that the former “ might 
perhaps be regarded as a local variety of the species.” Dr. Paul Fischer (“ Manuel de 
Conchyliologie,” Paris, p. 826) says that Machæroplax of Friele (1877) is synonymous 
with Solariella of Searles Wood (1842). 


MARGARITA CIDARIS, A. Adams. Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, two very young but 
living shells. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, a fine series of eighteen 
living specimens of all ages, several being adult, and the largest measuring forty 
six millimetres in height (or length) by about thirty-two in maximum breadth. 
Entrance to Quatsino Inlet at station No. 19, two half-grown and dead shells. 

The only previously known specimen of “this very remarkable and unique 
shell,” as Dr. P. P. Carpenter calls it, was found at Neeah Bay, Washington Territory, 
by Mr. J. G. Swan. 





1See Structural and Systematic Conchology, ii. 306, 312. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 129 


In one of the specimens collected by Dr. Dawson the columella has a greenish 
iridescence not unlike that of some varieties of labradorite. 


MARGARITA PUPILLA, Gould. Collected sparingly, alive, at low water mark in Beaver 
Harbour (on the north-east coast of Vancouver Island), in the Goletas Channel, on 
the east side of Queen Charlotte Sound, and at the entrance to Quatsino Sound. 
Dredged also, in small numbers but living, in the Strait of Georgia at stations 
Nos. 2, 5 and 6, in Discovery Bay at station No. 7, in Johnstone Strait at station 
No. 10, in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12, 14, 16, 17 and 18, and in 
Quatsino Sound, at station No. 20. 


MARGARITA LIRULATA, Carpenter Discovery Passage at station No. 17, one very small 
living specimen ; Queen Charlotte Sound, at station No. 12, about twenty adult 
living specimens; and Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, one living and full- 
grown shell. 

In the seventh volume of the “ American Journal of Conchology,” (pp. 128, 
129) Mr. Dall expresses the opinion that Gibbula optabilis, Cpr., G. parcipicta, Cpr., 
G. funiculata, Cpr., G. succincta, Cpr., and perhaps G. lacunata, Cpr., as well as 
Margarita tenuisculpta, Cpr., are all forms of the present “ protean species.” 


MARGARITA HELICINA, Fabricius. Low tide in Johnstone Strait, three immature, living 
specimens. Dredged also in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12 and 16, 
one living, adult shell at each. 


CREPIDULA DORSATA (Broderip), var. LINGULATA, Gould. (—C. bilobata, Reeve.) Low tide 
at the entrance to Malaspina Inlet, in the Strait of Georgia, and in Quatsino 
Sound; three or four living specimens at each locality. Dredged also very 
sparingly, but alive, in the Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, and in Johnstone 
Strait at station No. 10. 


CREPIDULA ADUNCA, Sowerby. Entrance to Quatsino Sound at low water, and on the west 
coast of Vancouver Island, north of Quatsino Sound, also at low water,—a single 
specimen at each of these localities. 


CREPIDULA NAVICELLOIDES, Nuttall. Dredged in very small numbers, but alive, in Queen 
Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12, 14 and 16. Mr. Tryon thinks that this shell is 
only a local variety of C. Lessoni, Broderip. 


GALERUS FASTIGIATUS, Gould. Not uncommon and living, in Discovery Passage at station 
No. 7, in Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, and in Queen Charlotte Sound at 
stations Nos. 12, 14 and 16. The Galerus from the Queen Charlotte Islands, which 
was named G. contortus, Gould, b the writer, in the paper already referred to, is 
almost certainly G. fastigiatus, but this latter name, Mr. Tryon says, is a synonym 
of G. mamillaris, Broderip. 


BIVONIA COMPACTA, Carpenter. Discovery Passage at station No. 7, a living specimen on 
Trophon tenuisculptus, Carpenter; and in Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, one 
specimen, also living, attached to the under valve of a typical example of Pecten 

. hastatus, 

Sec. IV., 1886. 17. 


180 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


MESALIA RETICULATA, Mighels. (—Turritella lactea, Moller, and Mesalia lacteola, Carpenter.) 
Dredged rather abundantly, living, in the Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, in 
Discovery Passage at station No. 8, in Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, in 
Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12, 13, 14 and 17, and in Quatsino Sound 
at station No. 20. 


BITTIUM FILOSUM, Gould. Common, living, at low tide, in Malaspina Inlet, Strait of 
Georgia; in Discovery Passage, between Seymour Narrows and Elk Harbour; in 
Johnstone Strait, the Goletas Channel, and Queen Charlotte and Quatsino Sounds. 


BITTIUM MUNITUM. (—Cerithiopsis munita, Carpenter.) Queen Charlotte Sound at station 
No. 12, ten fine and mostly living specimens. The writer is indebted to Mr. W. 
H. Dall for the suggestion that this shell is probably a Bittium rather than a 
Cerithiopsis, and that the Cerithiopsis columna of Dr. Carpenter is only an abnormal 
form of it. ‘ 


LITTORINA SITCHANA, Philippi. A common littoral species throughout the district. A few 
specimens of it were dredged in Discovery Passage, at station No. 7. The late Dr. 
Jeffreys regarded this shell as only a local variety of the European L. rudis. 


LITTORINA SCUTULATA, Gould. With the preceding species, but apparently not quite so 
common. 


LACUNA SOLIDULA, Loven. (—L. carinata, Gould.) A few living specimens were taken at 
or near low water in Alert Bay, B. C., and it was dredged living, but in very small 
numbers, in Discovery Passage at station No. 8, and in Queen Charlotte Sound at 
stations Nos. 12 and 15. Dr. Jeffreys was of the opinion that this shell is a variety 
of L. divaricata, Fabricius (—L. vincta, Montagu), of northern Europe. 


BARLEEIA SUBTENUIS, Carpenter. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, one living 
specimen. 


SURCULA PERVERSA, Gabb. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 16, one large, living 
specimen, an inch and three-quarters in length, and another smal] but living shell ; 
and station No. 17, an immature but living specimen. 

This large and remarkable species, which is invariably sinistral, was previously 
dredged alive by Mr. James Richardson in from thirty to seventy fathoms in the 
Strait of Georgia. In the young state the test is nearly smooth and covered by a 
very pale, greenish-grey epidermis, and the body whorl is encircled by two spiral 
bands of a faint reddish-brown tint, one next to the suture and the other a little 
below the middle. 


BELA FIDICULA, Gould. Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, four specimens; Queen 
Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 14 and 16,—one living specimen at the first, and 
two full-grown, living shells at the second. 


BELA TABULATA. (—Mangelia tabulata, Carpenter.) Queen Charlotte Sound at station 
No. 16, two specimens. Perhaps only a variety of the last named species. 


BELA VIOLACEA, Mighels, var. (Teste Dall.) Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 14, one 
living specimen. : 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 131 


TURBONILLA VANCOUVERENSIS. ( Chemnitzia Vancouverensis, Baird.) Discovery Passage 
at station No. 7, one living shell; Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, one living 
shell; Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 13, eight living examples of a white- 
shelled variety of this species. 


OposToMIA SITKENSIS, Dall. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, one living and full-grown 
specimen. 


Eurima pouira, Z. Living and frequent in the Strait of Georgia at stations Nos. 5 and 
6, in Discovery Passage at stations No. 7 and 8, in Johnstone Strait at station No. 
10, in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 14, 15 and 17, and in Quatsino 
Sound at station No. 20. 

About fifty living specimens of this shell were dredged by Dr. Dawson, and 
the only observable difference between them and authentic English examples of 
E. polita is one of size, the former attaining frequently to a length of thirteen milli- 
metres, while the latter are sometimes as much as sixteen mm. long. Smaller 
specimens of the same shell were dredged by Mr. Richardson in the Strait of 
Georgia in 1875, and these were referred by the writer to the Æ. micans of Car- 
penter, in “Canadian Naturalist,’ Vol. VIII, N. 8.; but Dr. Carpenter himself 
regarded E. micans as “perhaps a smaller variety of the European Æ. polita.” 


EULIMA INCURVA, Renieri (—E. distorta, auct.) With the above, but not nearly so common, 
at stations Nos. 6, 10 and 14. Two living specimens were also taken at low tide in 
Discovery Passage, between Seymour Narrows and Elk Harbour, and one at low 
tide in the Goletas Channel. 


ScaLARIA INDIANORUM, Carpenter. One fine, living adult specimen of this species, measur- 
ing nearly an inch and a half in length, was dredged in Discovery Passage at 
station No. 7. 


CANCELLARIA CIRCUMCINCTA, Dall. Johnstone Strait at station No, 10, one living and 
adult specimen; Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, a series of about twenty 
living specimens, and at station No. 13, one full-grown living shell. 


ADMETE VIRIDULA, Fabricius. Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12 (three living 
specimens), 17 (two living specimens), and 18 (one living specimen). Most of 
these belong to the short-spired variety of the species, to which Verkruzen has 
given the name wndatocostata. 


TRICHOTROPIS CANCELLATA, Hinds. Dredged more or less abundantly, alive, in the Strait 
of Georgia at station No. 5, in Discovery Passage at station No.7, in Johnstone 
Strait at station No. 10, and in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12, 18, 
15, 16, 17 and 18. Taken living also, in some numbers, at low water in Johnstone 
Strait and the Goletas Channel. 


VELUTINA LÆVIGATA, L. Discovery Passage at station No. 8, one living specimen. 


NATICA CLAUSA, Broderip and Sowerby. Taken sparingly, but alive and in some cases of 
considerable size, at low water, on the north shore of the Strait of Georgia; in 


182 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


Johnstone Strait ; at Beaver Harbour, Vancouver Island; on the east side of Queen 
Charlotte Sound, and on the north and north-west coast of Vancouver Island 
between Nahwitti Bar and Quatsino Sound. Dredged also, alive, but in small 
numbers, in the Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, in Discovery Bay at station No. 
7, and in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations Nos. 12 and 17. 


LunaTIA Lewis, Gld. Low tide, entrance to Malaspina Inlet, one specimen. 


LUNATIA PALLIDA ? Broderip and Sowerby. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, two 
dead and imperfect shells. 


TRITON (PRIENE) OREGONENSIS, Redfield. Low tide in Johnstone and Broughton Straits, 
in the Goletas Channel, and on the east side of Queen Charlotte Sound, but appar- 
ently not very common. Dredged, living and adult, but in very small numbers, 
in Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, and in Queen Charlotte Sound at stations 
Nos. 11 and 12. This shell is possibly only a local variety of the Triton cancellatus 
of Lamarck, from South America. 


MARGINELLA (VOLUTELLA) PYRIFORMIS, Carpenter. Low tide in the Goletas Channel; 
dredged also in Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, and in Quatsino Sound 
at station No. 20. One adult, living shell of this diminutive species at each of 
these stations. 


OLIVELLA BIPLICATA, Sowerby. Abundant, living, on the west or outer coast of Vancouver 
Island. 


OLIVELLA Batica, Carpenter. Strait of Georgia at stations Nos. 2 (frequent) and 5 (very 
abundant), also in Discovery Passage at station No. 7, and in Queen Charlotte 
Sound at station No. 16. Living, and apparently not uncommon, at each. 


CHRYSODOMUS LIRATUS, Martyn. Queen Charlotte Sound, at station No. 12, two living 
but very young specimens, with the mammillated apex beautifully preserved ; at 
station No. 16, one half-grown and dead specimen ; and at station No. 17, two fine 
adult specimens (one living), with a short spire to the shell and an unusually 
inflated or globose body whorl. 


CHRYSODOMUS DIRUS, Reeve. (Sp.) Abundant, living, at low water at the entrance to 
Malaspina Inlet and on the north shore of the Strait of Georgia; in Discovery Pas- 
sage, between Seymour Narrows and Elk Harbour; in Johnstone and Broughton 
Straits ; in the Goletas Channel, and on the east side of Queen Charlotte Sound. 
Dredged, but in small numbers, in Discovery Passage, at station No.7. The generic 
position of this species is uncertain, as the animal has not yet been described. 
The shell does not look like that of a Chrysodomus or Sipho. Tryon places it in 
the genus Euthria, but that course is not free from objections. 


SIPHON VERKRUZENI, Aobelt. Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 17, associated with 
Neptunea lirata and other rare species; one large, dead shell, but in excellent condi- 
tion. Mr. Dall, to whom the writer is indebted for the identification of this 
specimen, writes that it had previously been found in Norway and in Behring 
Sea and Strait, but that the present is the most southerly locality yet reported for it. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 133 


BUCCINUM POLARE (Gray), var. COMPACTUM, Dall. At the same station as the species last 
mentioned ; one adult but dead shell, in good condition. This species was collected 
by Mr. James Richardson, at low water, near Victoria, Vancouver Island, in 1875. 


Nassa (TRITIA) MENDICA, Gould. Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, alive and plentiful; 
Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, one living specimen; Queen Charlotte Sound 
at station No. 12, several living shells; and Quatsino Sound at station No. 20, ten 
living specimens. 


ASTYRIS CARINATA (Hinds), var. Hinpstt. (—Columbella Hindsii, Reeve.) Low tide in the 
Goletas Channel, one living specimen. In this species the nucleus of the oper- 
culum is said to be subcentral, or “somewhat more within the margin ” than it is 
in that of Mitidella Gouldii. 


NITIDELLA GOULDI, Carpenter. Strait of Georgia at station No. 2, two living specimens, 
and at station No. 5, abundant and living; Quatsino Sound at station No. 19, three 
living specimens. 

This shell has been separated from the preceding species, both generically 
and specifically, mainly upon minute differences in the opercula, the nucleus of the 
operculum of N. Gouldii being stated to be nearly marginal. Moérch, Dall and 
Fischer, however, assert that in the Columbellidæ the operculum is so variable 
that it does not afford a good character for the discrimination of genera or species, 
and Tryon, in his “ Manual of Conchology,” places N. Gouldii among the synonyms 
of Columbella carinata. 


AMPHISSA CORRUGATA, Reeve. Common, living, at low tide, at the entrance to Malaspina 
Inlet; in Race Passage and other localities in Johnstone Strait; in the Goletas 
Channel, and in Queen Charlotte and Quatsino Sounds. Dredged also, alive and in 
some numbers, in the Strait of Georgia at station No. 5, and in Queen Charlotte 
Sound at stations Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18. 


PURPURA CRISPATA, Chemnitz. (=P. lactuca, Eschscholtz.) Extremely abundant and very 
variable in size, shape, sculpture and colour, living at or near low water mark, on 
the north shore of the Strait of Georgia, in Discovery Passage, in Johnstone and 
Broughton Straits, in the Goletas Channel, on the east side of Queen Charlotte 
Sound, and at the entrance to Quatsino Sound. Dredged also abundantly, alive, 
in Discovery Passage at station No. 7, and in very small numbers in Johnstone 
Strait at station No. 10, and in Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 16. 


PuRPURA LIMA, Maityn. (=P. canalicutata, Duclos.) At low water throughout the district, 
associated with the preceding, of which Von Martens and others regard it as only 
a local variety. It did not, however, occur at any of the stations where the dredge 
was used. 


PURPURA SAXICOLA, Valenciennes. Queen Charlotte Sound, at low tide, five adult, living 
shells of a variety in which the interior of the aperture and part of the columella 
is stained dark brown, while the former is margined exteriorly by a band of pale 
straw colour. Von Martens and other writers regard this shell as a mere variety 
of P. lima, Martyn. 


184 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC. 


OCINEBRA LURIDA, Middendorf. Low tide in Johnstone Strait, one living, adult specimen ; 
Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 13, an immature and dead shell. 


OCINEBRA INTERFOSSA, Carpenter. Living, at low tide, but by no means common, in 
Johnstone Strait and the Goletas Channel; on the east and north west coast of 
Vancouver Island, from Nahwitti Bar to Quatsino Sound, and at the entrance to 
Quatsino Sound. One adult, living specimen was dredged at station No. 20. 


CEROSTOMA FOLIATUM, Gmelin. Fine and frequent, living, at low tide, at Twin Island and 
the entrance to Malaspina Inlet, in the Strait of Georgia; in Johnstone and Brough- 
ton Straits ; in the Goletas Channel, and on the east side of Queen Charlotte Sound. 
Dredged also, living and adult, in Discovery Passage at station No. 7. 


TROPHON ORPHEUS, Gould. (=T. Stuarti, E. A. Smith.) Queen Charlotte Sound, at station 
No. 14, an immature, living shell, nearly an inch and a half long, with the varices 
prolonged behind into semitubular or deeply grooved, long, spiny frills, which 
curve lightly backward; at station No. 16, a living, adult shell, fully two inches 
long ; and at station No. 18, a beautifully preserved living specimen, an inch and 
a quarter in length, with the spinose frills prolonged to an unusual length behind. 


TROPHON CLATHRATUS, L. (=T. multicostatus, Eschscholtz.) Low water in Johnstone 
Strait, one adult, living specimen. A similar, but slightly larger one was dredged 
in Queen Charlotte Sound at station No. 12, and another at station No. 16. 


TROPHON TENUISCULPTUS, Carpenter. (=T. subserratus, Sowerby.) Not uncommon, alive, 
at low tide, on the north side of the Strait of Georgia, in Seymour Narrows, and in 
the Goletas Channel. A few living specimens, also, were dredged in Discovery 
Passage at station No. 7, in Johnstone Strait at station No. 10, in Queen Charlotte 
Sound at stations Nos. 12, 16, 17 and 18, and in Quatsino Sound at station No. 19. 

The largest specimens collected are a little more than an inch and a half in 
length. When examined with an ordinary simple lens, the whole surface of the 
shell of this species is seen to be almost covered by densely-crowded, minute, 
crenate and squamose raised lines of growth, which cross the spiral grooves and 
ridges and are superimposed upon the varices. The types of T. tenuisculptus are 
from the Pleistocene deposits at San Diego, but the shell is by no means uncommon 
in a living state on the coasts of Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands. 


CEPHALOPODA. 


OMMASTREPHES SAGITTATUS, Lamarck. (Sp.) Three specimens of a squid, which corre- 
spond very well with Tryon’s description and figures of this species in the first 
volume of his “ Manual of Conchology,” were collected at low water in Victoria 
Harbour, Vancouver Island. 


The following is a supplementary list of fresh-water and land shells, fishes (marine), 
batrachians, ophidia, birds and mammals collected by Dr. Dawson and Mr. Dowling in the 
same district and season :— 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 185 


FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 


MARGARITANA MARGARITIFERA, LZ. Small streams entering Malaspina Strait, on the 
mainland side, four small specimens. 


LAND SHELLS. 


SELENITES VANCOUVERENSIS. (—Helix Vancouverensis, Lea.) Harbledown and Pender 
Islands, in Johnstone Strait; and Malcolm Island, in Broughton Strait; a few 
living examples at each of these localities. Quatsino Sound, one dead and bleached 
shell. 


ARIOLIMAX COLUMBIANUS? Gould. Malcolm Island, Broughton Strait, three specimens 
in alcohol. These have not been dissected, and therefore may possibly be 
A. Californicus, Cooper. 


MESODON COLUMBIANUS, Lea. Taken sparingly on Harbledown and Pender Islands, with 
Selenites Vancouverensis. 


AGLAIA FIDELIS, Gray. North point of Texada Island, three living and six dead ; entrance 
to Malaspina Inlet, one alive; and False Bay, Lasqueti Island, one alive; Growler 
Cove, Broughton Strait, one alive and one dead. 


FISHES. 


MERLUCIUS PRODUCTUS, Ayres. Merluccio. Off Gabriola Island, in the Strait of Georgia. 
In this fish the scales on the sides of the body, which have been described as very 
small, are really comparatively large and measure six millimetres by four. They 
are, however, very easily rubbed off. 


GADUS PROXIMUS, Ayres. Pacific Tom Cod. Caught in Alert Bay, Cormorant Island, at 
station No. 14. 


LIPARIS PULCHELLA, Ayres. Taken by the dredge at a depth of thirty fathoms in Queen 
Charlotte Sound. 


SEBASTODES MYSTINUS, Jordan and Gilbert. Black Rock-Fish. Caught in Queen Charlotte 
Sound at station No. 12. 


ANOPLOMA FIMBRIA, Pallas. Coal Fish. Taken at Broughton Strait, near Helmken 
Island. 


AMMODYTES PERSONATUS, Girard. Pacific Sand Launce. Alive near shore at Beaver 
Harbour, Vancouver Island. 


SIPHOSTOMA CAIFORNIENSE, Storer. Big Pipe-fish. Two rather small specimens of this 
species were collected in the Strait of Georgia. 


136 WHITEAVES ON MARINE INVERTEBRATA, ETC., 


CHIM&RA Conia, Bennett. “‘ Rat-fish” or “ Elephant Fish” of American icthyologists, 
but according to Dr Dawson known locally as the “Silver Dog Fish.” Queen 
Charlotte Sound at station No. 14, one adult male. A similar specimen was 
collected by Dr. Dawson in 1878, in deep water off the Queen Charlotte Islands. 


BATRACHIA. 


DIEMYCTYLUS ToRosus. (=Triton torosus, Eschscholtz, and Taricha torosa, Gray.) The 
Warty Salamander. Texada Island, in the Strait of Georgia, and Coal Harbour, 
Quatsino Sound,—one specimen at each of these localities. 


OPHIDIA. 


EUTAINIA PICKERINGII, Baird and Girard. Pickering’s Garter Snake. Oyster Bay, near 
Comox, one specimen two feet and three-quarters of an inch in length; and 
Georgina Point, Malaspina Inlet, one specimen not quite two feet long. 


Brrps. 


BRACHYRHAMPHUS MARMORATUS, Gmelin. (Sp.) Marbled Guillemot. Northern end of 
Vancouver Island, two specimens. 


PODICEPS CORNUTUS (Gmelin) Latham. Horned Grebe. Two young specimens of this 
species were shot at Growler Cove, Johnstone Strait, and one equally young at 
Farewell Harbour, Queen Charlotte Sound. 


PODICEPS GRISEIGENA ? Boddaert. Red-necked Grebe. A young grebe which may be 
referable to this species was shot in Broughton Strait. 


CHROICOCEPHALUS PHILADELPHIA (Ord) Lawrence. Bonaparte’s Gull. False Bay, Lasqueti 
Island, one immature specimen. 


Larus (BLASIPUS) HEERMANNI, Cassin. White-headed Gull. Malcolm Island, Broughton 
Strait, one not quite adult specimen. 


LARUS GLAUCESCENS, Lichtenstein. Glaucous-Winged Gull. Cullen Harbour, Queen 
Charlotte Sound, one nearly adult specimen. 


OCEANODROMA FURCATA, Gmelin. (Sp.) Fork-tailed Petrel. Goletas Channel, north end 
of Vancouver Island, one specimen. 


GRACULUS DILOPHUS, (Swainson) Gray. Double-crested Cormorant. Blunden Harbour, 
Queen Charlotte Sound; two specimens, both devoid of crests but with twelve 
feathers in the tail. 


OIDEMIA PERSPICILLATA (L) Fleming. Surf Scoter. Comox Harbour or Port Augusta, 
Vancouver Island, one adult male. 


FROM THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 137 


OIDEMIA AMERICANA, Swainson. American Black Scoter. False Bay, Lasqueti Island, 
Strait of Georgia, one adult male. 


HISTRIONICUS TORQUATUS (L.) Bonaparte. Harlequin Duck. One adult male of this 
species, in fine plumage, was shot on Lasqueti Island, at False Bay ; and a young 
male at Mittlenach Island, in the Strait of Georgia. 


MARECA AMERICANA (Gmelin) Stephens. American Widgeon. Beaver Cove, Broughton 
Strait, a young male. 


NETTION CAROLINENSIS (Gmelin) Kaup. Green-winged Teal. Blunden Harbour, Queen 
Charlotte Sound, one young male. 


ARDEA Heropras, LZ. Great Blue Heron. A young bird of this species was shot in 
Cullen Harbour, and a similar one in Blunden Harbour—both in Queen Charlotte 
Sound. 


LOBIPES HYPERBOREUS (L.) Cuvier. Northern Phalarope. Fresh Water Bay, Queen 
Charlotte Sound, one specimen. 


STREPSILAS MELANOCEPHALUS, Vigors. Black Turnstone.  Forsters Island, Queen 
Charlotte Souud, three specimens. 


HALIAETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS (L.) Savigny. Bald Eagle. Johnstone Strait, one young 
specimen. 


COLAPTES MEXICANUS, Swainson. Red-shafted Flicker, Comox, Vancouver Island, one 
specimen. 


CERYLE ALCYON (L.) Bote. Belted Kingfisher. Cullen Harbour, Queen Charlotte Sound, 
two males and one female. 


CYANURA STELLERI (Gmelin) Baird. Steller’s Jay. Comox, Vancouver Island, two speci- 
mens. 


MAMMALIA. 


Sciurus HUDSONIUS, Pallas, var. Red Squirrel. Comox, Vancouver Island ; one specimen, 
which differs only from the eastern form of the species in being a little smaller and 
not so distinctly rufous on the back. 


PHOCA VITULINA, L. Harbour, Hair, or Leopard Seal. One specimen of the North Pacific 
variety of the Harbour Seal was shot in Broughton Strait. The species may be 
readily distinguished from all the other earless seals of both coasts of North 
America by the oblique implantation of its molars. 


MuUSTELA AMERICANA, Turton. Sable. Pine Marten. Johnstone Strait, one specimen. 
CANIS Lupus, (L) Wolf. A large red wolf was shot near Cullen Harbour; and a small 
grey and black variety at Knox Bay, in Johnstone Strait. 


Sec. IV., 1886, 18. 


= 


+ oo 
ne 7 Lo eee 





SECTION IV., 1886. [ 189 ] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


X.—On the Glaciation and Pleistocene Subsidence of Northern New Brunswick and 
South-Eastern Quebec.’ By R. CHALMERS. 


(Communicated by Dr. George M. Dawson, May 27, 1886.) 


The surface geology of Eastern Canada presents a number of interesting problems 
for investigation, some of which have given rise to considerable discussion. The two 
most important of these, perhaps, are the glaciation, whether by land ice or icebergs, or 
both, and the oscillations of level the region underwent during the Post-Tertiary period. 
This paper is intended as a brief contribution towards the elucidation of these questions. 

Among a large number of geologists in America the glacier theory, with, perhaps, 
some modifications, is accepted. This theory explains the glacial phenomena of Eastern 
Canada and the New England States by supposing a thick sheet of ice of early Post- 
Tertiary age to have accumulated on the surface of the country, which, slowly moving 
southward from the Laurentide Mountains, crossed the St. Lawrence valley, over-riding 
the Notre Dame Range, passing thence down the Atlantic slope towards the ocean, striat- 
ing the rocks and transporting masses of debris in its course, such as boulder-clay, erratic 
blocks, etc. Its general adoption is, perhaps, due principally to the fact that most of the 
striæ on both sides of the mountain range referred to, as well as on the south-east slope of 
the Laurentides, have approximately the same course, that is, they trend nearly south-east 
and north-west, or about at right angles to the axis of the Notre Dame Range. But the 
theory has other features to recommend it, being comprehensive and grand, and apparently 
at once solving all the problems pertaining to the glaciation of the region. Observations 
made by Sir W. Dawson in the St. Lawrence valley for many years, however (see his “ Notes 
on the Post-Pliocene Geology of Canada,” contributed to the “ Canadian Naturalist,” in 1872, 
and also “ Acadian Geology,” 3rd edition, 1878), led him to adopt a different conclusion, and 
he has long contended against the above view. In the course of his investigations, he 
ascertained that drift-ice (icebergs, coast ice, etc.) had been transported up, and probably 
down, the St. Lawrence valley during the ice age, the chief abrasion and denudation having 
been apparently caused by a south-westward flow of these. He also found evidences of 
local glaciers having debouched into this valley from the north, following the courses of the 
Saguenay and Murray Bay Rivers, etc.; and that the Pleistocene subsidence of the region 
had been as much as 470 feet below the present sea level in some places, especially in the 
vicinity of Montreal. Boulders of Laurentian rocks, it was also observed, had been drifted 
up and down the valley. These facts seemed conclusive against the theory of a glacier 
having moved across the St. Lawrence valley south-eastwardly from the Laurentides, pur- 





1The term “Pleistocene ” is here employed in the sense in which it is used in Dr. Archibald Geikie’s Text 
Book of Geology, 2nd edition; and as equivalent to the term “ Post-Pliocene” of Sir W. Dawson’s Acadian 
Geology, 3rd edition, to distinguish the subsidence under consideration from that which took place in the Recent 
or Prehistoric period. 


140 R. CHALMERS ON GLACIATION 


suing a course over the eastern part of the Appalachians. But the correspondence in the 
courses of the striæ along the Notre Dame Range referred to above (see “Geology of 
Canada,” 1863, list of glacial grooves, p. 890, Nos. 123 to 131, and 138), with those on the 
higher levels on the north side of the St. Lawrence, lent countenance to the view of Sir 
William Dawson’s opponents, on the generally accepted supposition that all ice-move- 
ments were from north to south. Moreover, it was also contended by the advocates of 
extreme land glaciation that the supposed ice-mass which, occupied the St. Lawrence 
valley was of sufficient thickness to cause the bottom to move up the valley, while the 
upper portion pursued the course indicated by the striæ just quoted, thus at once 
producing all the phenomena observed. But evidence which I shall adduce in this 
paper, regarding the glaciation of the northern slope of the Notre Dame Mountains, and 
which can probably be applied to the explanation of all glacial phenomena along the 
north-west side of the Green Mountain Range as well, renders 1t now apparent that local 
glaciers moved northward from their summits, or rather from the adjacent watershed, 
into the hydrographical basin of the St. Lawrence. And further, this mountain range 
shed the ice, or snow and ice, which gathered upon it, in both directions; and thus the 
approximate parallelism of the courses of the striæ on the north and south sides, is due 
to the fact that the ice gravitated down the slopes at about right angles to the main axis 
of the chain. This evidence, together with the proofs of a north-west and south-east 
striation on the lower levels, first noted by Sir W. Dawson and already referred to, seems to 
leave little doubt that the mode of glaciation, in the drainage basin of the St. Lawrence 
at least, was by local glaciers descending into it from the north and south, and by drift-ice. 

Before presenting a statement of investigations made on the south side of the Lower 
St. Lawrence during a brief visit to that interesting region in the summer of 1885, I shall 
give a summary of the facts respecting the glaciation of New Brunswick, and more 
especially of the Baie des Chaleurs district. 

From preliminary observations made in that province, it appears that there have been 
two principal ice-movements there during the early Post-Tertiary period. A low water- 
shed traverses it from the extreme north-west, in a south-easterly direction, to the Isthmus 
of Chiegnecto. This watershed has shed the ice which accumulated on the surface of 
the country during the ice age northward and southward, or, speaking more correctly, 
north-eastward and south-eastward, somewhat as it now does the drainage waters, the ice 
on the south side moving towards the depression ovcupied by the Bay of Fundy, while on 
the north it flowed towards the bays and straits connected with the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

The courses of the striæ met with in northern New Brunswick, particularly in the 
Restigouche valley and along the south side of the Baie des Chaleurs, are given in the 
Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1885 (Report GG.) They show 
the general trend of the ice-movement to have been about south-eastward in the Upper 
St. John valley, and eastward and north-eastward, in the Baie des Chaleurs basin and 
along the Gulf shore. On the north side of the Baie des Chaleurs, however, the striæ 
have a more southerly bearing, as will be seen from the following sets discovered during 
the summer of 1885:—(1) Near Maguasha Point, course 8. 68° E.' (2) On the east side of 
Nouvelle River, at the upper slope of the valley, in two or more places, viz., (a) at Parker 





' All the bearings in this paper are referred to the true meridian. 


AND PLEISTOCENE SUBSIDENCE. 141 


Settlement, course 8. 24° E., (b) on road to St. Louis Mountain settlement, course $. 44° E. ; 
(3) at Black Cape, in several places, striæ and roches moutonnées, course S. 42° E. to S. 
45° E.; (4) at Port Daniel, roches moutonnées and grooves, course 8. 44 E.; and (5) between 
Port Daniel and Point Maquereau in numerous places, 8. 44° E. The absence of striæ in 
the coast district between Black Cape and Port Daniel is, perhaps, chiefly owing to the 
crumbling nature of the Lower Carboniferous sandstones which skirt it. These have not 
retained ice-marks, but boulder-clay is abundant, occurring in thick masses between Le 
Blanc and Little Bonaventure Rivers and elsewhere. It is here composed of the debris 
of the underlying rocks, with boulders from the Silurian and other formations in the 
interior interspersed through it. 

Coordinating all the facts relating to striæ in the Baie des Chaleurs basin, it appears 
that the local glacier, which occupied its western end, drew tributary glaciers from the 
valleys of the Restigouche, Scaumenar, Nouvelle, Cascapedia, ete. Those from the north 
side, coalescing with the main glacier of the Restigouche Valley pushed it over on the 
low-lying slopes on the south side of the bay, causing it to pursue a course diagonally 
across the coast area, or in some places nearly parallel to the shore line, as far east as 
Belledune Point. To the east of this, however, the glaciers seem to have slid down more 
directly into the bay, both from the north and from the south. 

The evidence which I have to present, showing a northward movement of ice on the 
southern slope of the St. Lawrence valley, is chiefly the result of observations made in 
the district between Rivière du Loup and Metis. As already intimated, it is important 
in its bearing on the general question of the glaciation of eastern Canada, and therefore I 
shall give the facts in some detail and in the order in which they came under notice, 
together with the data respecting the Pleistocene subsidence of the same region. 

(1) At Riviere du Loup, no striæ were observed. Terraces occur at different eleva- 
tions up to 350 feet or more, the Intercolonial Railway Station being ?221 feet high. In 
the valley lying between the railway station and Riviére du Loup village, in a terrace 
212 feet high, a well was being sunk, in which the following deposits were seen in 
descending order :—(1) Twelve to fifteen feet of coarse, stony gravel, somewhat like 
boulder-clay in the bottom, owing to the fact that the materials have been partly washed 
down from an adjacent, crumbling, rocky slope; and (2) dark, sandy clay, of unknown 
depth, containing, in the upper part, shells of Saxicava rugosa, Macoma Groenlandica, Mytilus 
edulis, and a species of Leda or Yoldia. 

(2) Along the road from Riviere du Loup to Cacouna village, a low ridge near the 
shore is seen to be highly glaciated, the agent producing the striæ having moved either 
up or down the valley, i.e., in a direction nearly parallel to the coast. Cacouna Station 
(263 feet high) stands on an extensive terrace, behind which others rise to a height of 345 
feet. Fine blown sand occurs in the upper terrace, and great numbers of eneissic and 
eranitic boulders, all well rounded, were seen along what must have formed an old shore 
line. 

(3) At St. Arsène Station (277 feet high), an extensive terrace, continuous with that 





! The heights given are above high tide level; those of the Intercolonial Railway stations were obtained from 
profiles in the office of the Railway Department, Ottawa, through the kindness of Mr. Collingwood Schreiber, Chief 
Engineer of Government Railways. 


142 R. CHALMERS ON GLACIATION 


on which Cacouna Station (three miles distant) stands, extends back half a mile or more, 
and is bordered by narrow terraces rising to a height of 340 to 345 feet. In new openings 
made for telegraph poles near the station, marine fossils of the common species were 
found. Above the 345 feet contour line here, as at Cacouna, the surface appears to be more 
uneven; terraces were not observed; rolled, water-worn boulders are not so numerous ; 
and the debris, generally speaking, is more angular. 

(4) About half a mile west of Trois Pistoles Station (100 feet high), following the 
Intercolonial Railway ; planed, grooved and striated rocks were seen in the bed of a 
stream, the direction of the striæ being N. 2° W. The grooves, some of which are one to 
two feet wide, and the finer striæ, are all parallel. The rounded faces look to the south. 
On the northward-sloping face of one of the larger bosses, however, other striæ were seen, 
having a course of 8. 35° W., or N. 35° E. Whether the ice which produced the latter 
moved up or down the St. Lawrence valley, or was earlier, or contemporaneous, or later in 
date than that causing the south-to-north striation, could not be determined. No planing 
of surfaces was noticed, and these striæ have, to all appearance, been made by icebergs. 

(5) A few rods to the east of Trois Pistoles Station, another small stream flows down 
the hill side. Just above the main road it falls over a ledge, forming a cascade. This 
ledge is also planed and striated in the direction of N. 10° W., the northern face descending 
abruptly, causing the cascade mentioned. Till rests on the surface of these planed rocks, 
containing boulders which appear to be derived chiefly from local rocks, but a few of 
granite and crystalline schist were also noted. On the road leading from Trois Pistoles 
Station to the back settlements, about a mile from the shore, rock bosses, 450 feet high, 
were seen, planed and grooved in a north-and-south direction, stoss-side distinctly to the 
south, and the nortr side broken off. Glacial striæ were observed in several places in the 
rear settlements up to an elevation of 800 feet. All the rock bosses and east-and-west 
ridges show the rounded faces invariably to the south. On a ridge in the third range of 
lots, striæ were found bearing N. 45° W. to N. 50° W., the difference between these and 
the courses near the shore being due to local inequalities of the surface. No evidence of 
a submergence beneath the sea was sven above the level of 345 to 375 feet. The terraces, 
up to that height, face the St. Lawrence, and an old shore line is traceable here. Below 
this level, well-rounded blocks of gneiss, syenite, granite, ete. evidently Laurentian, 
strew the surface in great profusion. Above it the boulders appear to be more angular, 
with fewer gneissic and granitoid ones, but a larger number belonging to local rocks. 
The general surface is also more uneven, and without those wide, flat expanses charac- 
teristic of sea bottoms. 

(6) On the road leading from Trois Pistoles to St. Simon, glaciated surfaces were 
observed in several places, especially on the sides of the low ridges and bosses. Distinct 
striz could not be found, but planing and grooving denote that the ice-movement was in 
nearly a northerly direction. At St. Simon Station (292 feet high) the upper margin of the 
marine beds was seen to the south, along the face of an escarpment at a height of about 
345 feet. A clear distinction is here discernible between the deposits above and below 
that level, the former containing angular boulders and debris. At the height of 375 feet, 
however, there are indications of an old shore line here, as well as at Trois Pistoles, but 
the angular debris and steep face were seen for about thirty feet below that level in some 
places. The chief terrace at St. Simon is that on which the railway station stands. 


AND PLEISTOCENE SUBSIDENCE, 143 


(7) Along the road leading to the back settlements from Rimouski Station (67 feet 
high), terraces facing the St. Lawrence occur at elevations of 260, 330 and 367 feet. The 
330 feet terrace is a wide one, in which marine fossils were found, while that at the 367 
feet level is narrow and somewhat uneven. An old shore line is traceable at its upper 
margin, along which numerous boulders of gneiss, granite, etc., are seen; while above it 
the deposits have the usual subangular character, as far back as examined, up to an 
elevation of 625 feet. Glaciated rocks and roches moutonnées occur in several places, but no 
well defined striæ. The ice-worn sides were in all cases presented to the 8. or 8. W. 

(8) At Bic, polished rocks occur half a mile west of the Intercolonial Railway Station 
(75 feet high), but without distinct striæ. The ice producing these, however, evidently 
moved up or down the St. Lawrence valley nearly in the direction of S. 50° W. or N. 50° E. 

(9) St. Flavie Station (246 feet high) stands on an extensive terrace. The upper limit 
of the marine beds could not be distinctly traced here, although there appear to be high- 
water marks at the contour lines of 290 or 300 feet and of 340 or 350 feet. On the 340 
feet terrace, numerous water-worn boulders of the usual kind occur. Behind St. Flavie 
Station, a ridge extending east and west is glaciated on the south side, but no distinct 
striæ were visible. 

(10) No traces of marine beds were observed at St. Octave Station (561 feet high) nor 
at Little Metis Station (675 feet high), the ground being uneven and rolling. Looking 
down from the Intercolonial Railway track, between these two stations, however, the 
great marine plain, 200 to 300 feet below, can be seen skirting the St. Lawrence and 
extending up and down the valley. 

In the list of glacial grooves, in the “Geology of Canada,” 1863 (p. 890), already 
quoted, the following sets are recorded, which may be correlated with those just described 
Their courses are all referred to the true meridian. 


1. On Kempt road, near Metapedia Lake..................,..........,...... $. 80° E. 
2. At Temiscouata Lake, west shore.........,......,........... ss 8. 54° E. 
3. os ROMO HaVie\o000 nooUcobond GoD uno ot 00 bobbbb oc §. 52° E. 
(1) S. 66° E. 
4. se in three places near the last...... 2 o00 00000 (2) §. 48° E. 
(3) “S 277: 
HAAIDrOIRNPIStO lens eee eercerieeeereeden.-s.-rtescrvee 8. 32° E. 
[but the true course is probably the reverse................. .....,.... N. 32° W.] 
6. On Temiscouata road, in five places, with courses varying 
AOI atoretohalelalerelo/oletetaivakere)efolistereselsiatelsisiatelslsisietatelleistolelels 8. 44 E. to §. 64° E. 
[but true courses probably.........,..................... N. 44° W. to N. 64° W.] 
7. In the Eastern Townships, at St. Armand, Sutton, Orford and 
Sherbrooke, striæ with courses varying from...... S. 36° E. to S. 61° E. 
[but the true course of these may also be................. N. 36° W. to N. 61° W.] 


The striæ numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 are on the south side of the watershed of the Notre 
Dame Range, and were doubtless, caused by ice moving southward ; but those included 
under numbers 5, 6 and 7 may have been produced by northward-moving ice, similarly 
to the striæ met with between Rivière du Loup and Metis.’ If such is really the case, 





1 During the summer of 1886, Prof. L. W. Bailey discovered striæ and transported boulders in the northern 
part of the Lake Temiscouata basin showing a northward ice-movement (see Science, viii. 412.) 


144 R. CHALMERS ON GLACIATION 


the facts would indicate that, as already stated, the watershed here was occupied by ice 
which moved down the slopes, mainly following the drainage channels. It is probable, 
however, that the watershed was nothing more than a gathering ground for the snow and 
névé which, after motion began, became converted into local glaciers. My investigations 
in New Brunswick have shown that certain portions of the interior were either covered 
by snow only during the ice age, or if by ice, that it was motionless, or nearly so, as the 
rock-surface in places has escaped abrasion. It is only reasonable to infer that a similar 
condition of things prevailed in South-Hastern Quebec; and hence it appears to have 
been chiefly along the valleys, and on the slopes and marginal areas that the principal 
work of glaciation was effected. 

In regard to the Pleistocene subsidence, it will be seen that the facts point to a down- 
ward movement of the land in the Lower St. Lawrence of 345 to 375 feet below the 
present high tide level. Above the 375 feet contour line, the uneven character of the 
surface, the general absence of foreign boulders and the more angular forms of such as are 
met with, support the conclusion that the submergence did not exceed that limit. 

In the Baie des Chaleurs basin, however, a careful examination failed to detect any 
evidence of a subsidence greater than 180 to 200 feet below the existing sea level. The 
data on which this conclusion is based will be found in my report to the Director of the 
Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report, Vol. I, 1885, and in that about to be 
published in Vol. II, 1886. 

All the evidence at hand goes to show that the downward movement of the land in 
the Pleistocene period was greater, with reference to the present sea level, north of the 
Appalachian Mountains than south of them. The facts, it must be admitted, are 
extremely fragmentary, but it would appear that the upper limit of the subsidence does not 
present the form of a regular curve from south to north, nor perhaps in any other direc- 
tion. Each of the great Palæozoic basins seems to have been unequally affected by the 
oscillatory movement, and, moreoyer, it is probable that the changes of level have been 
unequal also in different parts of these areas. 

The results of observations thus far made, as regards the subjects under discussion in 
this paper, may therefore be summarized as follows :— 

(1) The glaciation of South-Hastern Quebec and Northern New Brunswick in the 
Post-Tertiary age was effected largely by local glaciers, which moved northward and 
southward from the highest land or watershed adjacent to the Notre Dame Mountains, 
this watershed forming a gathering ground for the snow and mnévé which sent local 
glaciers down the valleys and along the lines of drainage into the St. Lawrence valley on 
the one hand, and the Baie des Chaleurs, Gulf of St. Lawrence, and St. John valley, on the 
other. 

(2) The Baie des Chaleurs and St. Lawrence estuary must have been, at least, partially 
open during the period of extreme glaciation, the former east of Belledune and Bonaven- 
ture Points; but how far westward the St. Lawrence basin was open, has not yet been 
determined. 

(3) The surface of the rocks along the south side of the St. Lawrence below the 345 
feet contour line has been, in many places, striated by bodies of ice, which moved up or 
down the valley, or perhaps both ways, and which appear certainly to have been floating 
ice or icebergs, as shown by Sir William Dawson. 


AND PLEISTOCENE SUBSIDENCE, 145 


(4) The Post-Tertiary oscillations of the land were greater in the St. Lawrence than 
in the Baie des Chaleurs basin, the Pleistocene subsidence having been 345 to 375 feet 
below the existing high tide level in the former, while in Northern New Brunswick it did 
not exceed 200 feet. 


Sec, IV., 1886. 19. 





SECTION IV., 1886. ene ey ae Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


XI.—On the Cambrian Faunas of Cape Breton and Newfoundland. 


By G. F. MATTHEW, M.A. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


In connection with his work on the St. John group, the writer has examined material 
from the Cambrian Rocks of Cape Breton and Newfoundland. This material has proved 
to be of much interest in further extending, our knowledge of the distribution of the 
organisms of this early period, and a short notice of the species observed may therefore 
be acceptable. The chief points of interest in the remains from these more eastern local- 
ities are, the very full representation of the older or Paradoxides fauna in Newfoundland, 
and the presence of the later forms of the Olenus fauna in Cape Breton. 


Cape BRETON.—Through the kindness of Mr. J. F. Whiteaves of the Canadian Geo- 
logical Survey, I have had an opportunity of examining the collection of Cambrian fossils 
made in Cape Breton, by the Survey officers. Some of the fossils in these collections are 
too imperfect to be determinable, and others are of a kind that do not indicate any special 
horizon in the Cambrian, but there are several lots from Mira River which are of greater 
value in this respect. The fossils found here belong to the upper part of the Olenus 
division of the Cambrian system; and the species observed were the following :— 


Peltura scarabeoides, Wahl. 
Sphærophthalmus alatus, Boeck. 
Agnostus pisiformis, Linn. 


There is also a small Lingulella, similar to one which characterizes the upper meas- 
ures of the St. John group, and is allied to Lingulella ferruginea, Salt.; and also an Orthis, 
too imperfect for determination, but which appears to be similar to O. lenticularis, Dalm. 


NEWFOUNDLAND.—Mr. J. P. Howley of the Geological Survey of Newfoundland sent 
to the writer, in 1885, a small collection of Cambrian fossils from several localities in the 
peninsula of Avalon. With the aid of these and the description of a number of species 
from Newfoundland, made some years ago by the late Mr. E. Billings and by Mr. J. F. 
Whiteaves, the writer has been able to classify imperfectly the Cambrian horizons existing 
in that island. 

There are beds of Cambrian age on the Straits of Belleisle at the northern extremity of 
Newfoundland, but these are separated from those of the peninsula of Avalon by a wide 
interval of Pre-Cambrian rocks; and their fauna resembles that of the interior continental 
areas of Cambrian rocks: it is therefore not thought necessary to refer to them further in 
this paper. 


148 G. F. MATTHEW ON CAMBRIAN FAUNAS 


The Faunas. 


J.—FAUNAS OF THE PARADOXIDES DIVISION. 


Cambrian fossils are stated to occur in the slates near the city of St. John’s, but the 
proof that these slates are older than those to be hereafter described, does not appear to 
be altogether satisfactory. The fossils contained in these slates are worm burrows, and 
a gasteropod, but these are not of such a kind as would establish an older horizon. In 
almost every country, the Cambrian system is found to begin with coarse sediments, con- 
taining a few, and these obscure, fossils ; and the more characteristically fossiliferous beds 
which follow, may range any where from the Solva group to the equivalent of the highest 
Cambrian measures. No confidence, therefore, can be placed in these coarse or foliated 
beds with obscure fossils, as indicating any special horizon in the Cambrian system ; and 
we are compelled to look upon the strata in Conception Bay as those which give us the 
first sure indication of measures which can be parallelled with known Cambrian horizons 
in other lands. 


A.—Horizon of AGRAULOS STRENUUS.—The oldest fossils of this nature appear to be 
those of Topsail Head and Brigus, in Conception Bay, but these do not yet give sufficiently 
firm indications to make it clear that they are older than some other horizons mentioned 
hereafter. 

Mr. Billings describes from these places the following species :— 

Agraulos strenuus, Bill. 


Iphidea (allied to Zphidea bella, Bill.) 
Stenotheca paupera, Bill. 


To these I may add the following :— 


Paradoxides, Sp ? 

Selenopleura bombifrons, N. Sp. (see p. 156.) 
Ptychoparia, Sp. 

Straparollina, Sp ? 

Hyolithes Micmac, Matt. 


The position of these fossils (1. e. the horizon) is still open to question, as the material 
is too meagre to give satisfactory results, and the range of the species elsewhere is not 
sufficiently known. Agraulos strenuus appears to correspond to a species which is present 
in Band ¢ of Division 1, of the St. John group; but as one fossil is preserved in shale and 
the other in limestone, it is not quite certain that they are identical, since the conditions 
of preservation are not the same in the two localities. The first trilobite in the second 
list is also of uncertain value: it is a primitive form of the Paradoxides family, which has 
points of resemblance to P. Ajerulfi but differs in the form of the free-cheek and in other 
respects. Selenopleura is a genus which ranges through Bands c and d and has a still 
more extended range in Scandinavia. Hyolithes Micmac, in the St. John basin, is also 
found throughout Band ¢, and enters Band d. This species by its longitudinal striation 
appears to be related to H. tenuistriatus, Linnrs., of the Scandinavian measures, with a 


OF CAPE BRETON AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 149 


similar stratigraphical position in the Cambrian system of Europe. We are therefore 
without sufficiently definite knowledge to fix absolutely the horizon of these limestone 
beds, by the contained fossils. 


B.— Horizon of the CONOCORYPHIN &.—In entering upon the discussion of this horizon, 
we stand upon more stable ground. The range of the genera, Conocoryphe and Ctenocephalus, 
in Scandinavia as in Acadia is well understood, and therefore, in the presence of these 
forms at Manuel River, near Topsail Head, we have, by their known vertical distribution, 
which is limited, a means of deciding, within certain fixed bounds, the age of the shales 
which contain them. 

Mr. Whiteaves records from Manuel River the following species :— 


Microdiscus punctatus, Salt. 

M. Dawsoni, Hartt. 

Agnostus Acadicus, Hartt. 
Conocephalites (Liostracus ?) tener, Hartt. 
C. (Conocoryphe) Baileyi, Hartt. 

C. (Ptychoparia) Orestes, Hartt. 


Of these species, the second, fourth and fifth do not range as high in the Cambrian 
rocks of the St. John basin (in New Brunswick) as the others; the assemblage may be 
regarded as corresponding to Band ¢ of Division 1, of the St. John group. In the material 
sent to me by Mr. Howley from this locality, the following additional forms were found : 


Paradoxides, Sp. 

Agnostus gibbus (?), Linrs. 
Agraulos socialis, Bill. 
Hyolithes, Sp. 


From the examples in this collection, it appears that Agraulos socialis, Bill., was much 
like Arionellus difformis, Ang., and had similar spines on the occipital ring and on certain 
segments of the thorax; but it differed from that species in the form of the glabella, which 
is conical. It appears to combine characters found in A. difformis and A. ceticephalus, Barr. 


C.—Horizon of PARADOXIDES SPINOSUS (?)—I quote this species on account of the 
occurrence of Paradoxides Bennettii, Salt., at Branch, on the promontory between St. Mary’s 
Bay and Placentia Bay. This species (P. Bennettii), discovered many years ago, was the 
first which drew attention to the interesting Primordial fauna of Newfoundland. The 
resemblance of this species to P. Harlani, Green, from Braintree, Massachusetts, has been 
pointed out by Prof. C. D. Walcott and others. I do not know what species are associated 
with this Newfoundland trilobite, but Mr. Billings has described, from the locality referred 
to above, Agraulos affinis. An Agraulos and a Ptychoparia have also been described from 
the Braintree locality, but as the species have not been recognized elsewhere, and the 
genera have a considerable range, we do not get much help from them towards fixing 

_ the exact horizon of P. Bennettit.' 





1 Since writing the above, a very large Paradoxides has been found in Band ¢ of Division 1 of the St. Jobn 
group, which is related to this species by the great width of the body, short genal spines, foliaceous pleuræ, etc. ; it 
also has points of resemblance to P. Harlani and P. Forchammeri, If P. Bennettii holds the same stratigraphical 
position as the large species of the Acadian Cambrian rocks, it will be in close relation to the horizon of the 
Conocoryphinæ. 


150 G. F. MATTHEW ON CAMBRIAN FAUNAS 


D.—Horizon of PARADOXIDES TESSINI.—A different and probably somewhat higher 
horizon appears to be indicated by the species found at Chapel Arm in Trinity Bay. Mr. 
Billings described from this place— 


Paradoxides tenellus, Bill. 

P. decorus, Bill. 

Anopolinus venustus, Bill. 

Obolella (Linnarssonia) misera, Bill. 
Selenopleura communis, Bill. 
Agraulos socialis, Bill. 


In the pieces of limestone sent to me from this locality by Mr. Howley, I find in 
addition the following forms :— 
Eocystites, Sp. 
Agnostus lævigatus, Dalm. 
A. punctuosus, Ang., var. 


Agnosti of three other species. 
Microdiscus punctatus, Salt. 


There are fragments of a Paradoxides, which, by its hypostome, suture, pleuræ, and 
pygidium is very like P. Tessini, Brong. This is probably the P. decorus of Billings. 

The organisms from this locality are evidently a Menevian assemblage and equivalent 
to those of Band d in Division 1 of the St. John group. 


E.—Horizon of PARADOXIDES DAVIDIS.—In a black, silico-calcareous rock from High- 
land Cove in Trinity Bay, sent me by Mr. Howley, there were abundant remains of a 
large Paradoxides. The most important characters of the species are represented by the 
posterior half of the centre-piece of the head shield, by the free cheeks, by the long 
cylindrical genal spines, and by the peculiar hypostome ; the outlines and aspect of the 
parts preserved agree exactly with those of examples from the Swedish Primordial beds, 
figured by G. Linnarsson. ' 

Associated with this species, at this locality, are the following :— 


Centropleura Loveni, Ang. ? (Pygidium only.) 
Agnostus punctuosus, Ang., var. 

A. brevifrons, Ang. 

A, lævigatus, Dalm. 

A. Acadicus (Hartt), var. declivis, Matt. 


From the above lists of species, it will be seen that there is a fuller representation of 
the forms of Paradoxides in Newfoundland than is yet known from any other part of 
America, and a greater affinity also in the species of the faunas of the Paradoxides 
division to those of Europe. 


I] —Faunas OF THE OLENUS DIVISION. 


The species of the middle Cambrian appear to be inadequately represented in the 
Cambrian strata of Newfoundland. The measures are chiefly sandstones and flag-stones, 





1 De Undre Paradoxides lagren, Stockholm, 1883, Plate ii. 


OF CAPE BRETON AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 151 


similar to the Lingula flags of Great Britain. Species found in these measures have 
been described by Mr. Billings. At Great Bell Island, in Conception Bay, the following 
were found :— 

Eophyton Linnæanum, Torell. 

E. Jukesi, Bill. 

Arthraria antiquata, Bill. 

Lingula Murrayi, Bill. 

Lingullella (?) affinis, Bill. 

L. (?) spissa, Bill. 

Cruziana similis, Bill. 


From Kelly’s Island, near Great Bell Island, Mr. Whiteaves has described a pretty 
little Lingula under the name of Lingula Billingsiana. 

No deep-water species has been reported from this portion of the Cambrian system in 
Newfoundland. 


Descriptions of Species. 


I.—AGRAULOS, Hawle and Corda. 


Under Agraulos, Mr. Billings has described three species from the Paradoxides beds 
of Newfoundland ; two of these differ considerably from the type of the genus as described 
by Corda and Barrande, and one of the two is so unlike the type, that it should be 
separated, as a subgenus, if indeed it is not worthy of more distinct recognition; the 
aberrant form Mr. Billings has named A. strenuus. 

The two species which come nearer to the type of Agraulos are the following :— 


1.—AGRAULOS SOCIALIS, Billings. 


HÉROS, AEs 
ere erent 5 
1.4. 7 é. 





Fia. 1.—Agraulos socialis, Bill.—Narrow form.—Centre piece of the head shield and twelve 
segments of the thorax; the glabella is decorticated, and shows, on the mould, 
the furrows, which are only faintly marked on the outer surface of the test. 
Natural size. 1 a. Same seen in profile. 16. Same seen in front. 


The following is Mr. Billings’ description of this species :—‘ Head (without the 
moveable cheeks) semielliptical or conical, width at the base a little greater than the 
length, gently convex. Glabella conical and (including the triangular projection back- 
ward from the neck segment) about two-thirds the whole length of the head; neck 
furrows all across, but obscurely compressed ; neck segment with a triangular projection 
backwards, terminating in a short, sharp spine. Fixed cheeks gently convex; front 
margin, sometimes with a portion in front of the glabella thickened. Eyes of moderate 


152 G. F. MATTHEW ON CAMBRIAN FAUNAS 


size ; are situated on a line drawn across the head at about the mid-length, distant from 
each other about the length of the head. Surface nearly smooth. In small, perfect speci- 
mens no trace of glabellar furrows can be seen, but in some of the large ones four or five 
obscure furrows are exhibited. The largest specimen seen is six lines in length and 
seven in width. It occurs at Chapel Arm, Trinity Bay.” 

In my examples, which are from Manuel River, the centre piece of the head shield 
is more broadly rounded in form than that represented in the woodcut in “ Palæozoic 
Fossils” (Vol. II. Pt. 1, p. 71. f. 40), especially at the posterior angles. The proportions 
given by Mr. Billings agree with those of the examples from Manuel River, but the eyes 
are narrower and less prominent than shown in his figure. The following additional 
characteristics of this species may be given :— 

The head is flat and the glabella outlined by only a faint dorsal furrow. The 
glabellar furrows are scarcely distinguishable on the outside of the test, but on the inner 
surface are more clearly seen ; there are three principal furrows, of which the posterior is 
the longest, and is strongly arched backward as it approaches the axial line, and the ante- 
rior furrow is very short; but behind the main furrow of the three, there is a faint and 
shorter furrow whose course is more directly towards the axis of the glabella. The spine 
on the occipital ring projects backward far enough to cross the third ring of the thorax. 

The thorax has twelve or more segments ; the second, third and fo rth rings of the 
rachis are narrow, the fifth and sixth are wider, and bear spines similar to that on the 
occipital ring; the rings behind those which carry the spines are broader and flatter than 
the anterior rings. The posterior margins of the pleuræ, especially of the anterior ones, 
have a sigmoid curve corresponding to the posterior margin of the head, and curve 
forward at their extremities ; and each is grooved by a shallow sulcus extending from the 
anterior inner angle about two-thirds, or three-quarters, for a short distance diagonally 
toward the extremity of the pleuræ, and for the remainder nearly parallel to and near the 
anterior margin; but in the pleura behind the spined rings of the rachis, these sulci are 
very faint, and tend at their extremities to run toward the anterior margin of the pleuræ. 

The surface of the test appears smooth, but under the lens is seen to be punctate 
with minute punctures of unequal size; the inner surface of the test is minutely pitted, 
and also has scattered pits of larger size. 

There is a broad and a narrow form in this species. In the narrow form, represented 
in the figure, the glabella is nearly cylindrical, and as broad as long; and the rachis of 
the thorax at the spined rings is about one-quarter narrower than the lobes ; in the broad 
form the glabella is considerably broader than long, and the rachis of the thorax at the 
spined rings is of the same width as the side lobes. 

The length of the centre piece of the head shield from the apex to the point of the 
occipital spine, in the narrow form, is 11 millimetres, the width is 12 mm., and the height 
21 mm. The length of the twelve segments of the thorax is 10 mm. and the width 12mm. 
The whole length of the parts preserved is 18 mm. 

Locality —In the Cambrian gray shales at Manuel River, Conception Bay, Newfound- 
land. 

This species is to be compared with A. ceticephalus rather than with A. difformis of the 
European Cambrian rocks, for, although it has a thickened and protruding anterior limb 
to the fixed checks, in its general form, its eyelobes and its posterior margin, it is akin to 


OF CAPE BRETON AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 153 


the former; nevertheless, it bears slender spines on certain rings of the thorax after the 
manner of the latter species. 


2.—AGRAULOS AFFINIS, Billings. 


24, 





Fic. 2.—Agraulos afinis, Bill—Centre piece of the head shield. Mould of the interior of 
the test, showing the glabellar furrows more distinctly, and the occipital spine 
more acuminate than they appear on the outer surface of the test. 
Natural size. 2a. Same seen in profile. 2 b. Same seen in front. 


This species is too near the last to be readily distinguished, except by comparison of 
examples of the two species. Mr. Billings gives the following description of the species, 
but no figure :— 

“ This species is closely allied to A. socialis, and is of the same size, but differs in the 
following respects: the glabella is broader and, with the sides, gently convex. The 
eyes are somewhat nearer the sides of the glabella. The whole of the anterior portion 
in front of the glabella is convex. The dorsal furrows are more distinctly impressed all 
around the glabella. It occurs at Branch, St. Mary’s Bay.” 

Besides the points of difference named by Mr. Billings, there are others which separ- 
ate this species from the preceding. This has a shorter and more obtuse occipital spine, 
and the front of the shield is more strongly arched vertically; the course of the facial 
suture is more sinuous, and the eyelobe more prominent; the facial suture also is more 
broadly rounded, and curves in toward the posterior margin. 

The length of the centre piece of the head shield is 11 millimetres, the width 15 mm., 
and the height about 4 mm. 

The above notes are made on the type specimens of this species, now in the collections 
of the Geological Survey at Ottawa. 


3.—AGRAULOS STRENUUS, Billings. 


Sv 


3.a. 





FiG. 3.—Agraulos strenuus, Bill—Narrow form. Centre piece of the head shield. Inner 
surface. The glabellar furrows are not so sharply cut on the outside of the test, nor 
are the dorsal furrows. 3 a. Head shield seen in profile. 3 b. Same seen in front. 


Mr. Billings described in the following terms a trilobite from the limestone of Brigus, 
in Conception Bay, under the above name :— 

“ Head (without the moveable cheeks) irregularly quadrangular; broadly rounded in 
front. Glabella rather strongly convex, conical, variable in its proportional length and 
width, either smooth or with several obscure impressions on each side, representing the 


Sec. IV., 1886. 20. 


154 G. F. MATTHEW ON CAMBRIAN FAUNAS 


glabellar furrows; neck segment with a strong triangular projection backwards; neck 
furrow all across, but usually obscurely impressed. Jn some specimens the front of the 
head has a thick, convex, marginal rim, separated from the front of the glabella by a narrow 
groove ; in others this rim is scarcely at all developed. The eyes, shown by the form of the 
lobe, appear to have been semiannular, and about one-third the length of the head. The 
surface appears to be smooth. The following are the dimensions of the best preserved 
specimen :—Length of the head, including the large posterior projection, six lines; width 
of the convex, marginal rim, one line; width of grooye between the rim and the front of 
the glabella, one-third of a line; length of the glabella including the projection, five and 
two-thirds lines; width of the glabella at the posterior margin, three lines; width of the 
fixed cheek from the centre of the edge of the eyelobe to the side of the glabella, two 
lines. A line drawn across the head, at two and a quarter lines from the front margin, 
would pass through the anterior angles of the eyes. The length of the eye appears to be 
nearly two lines. As above remarked, this species varies somewhat in its proportional 
length and width, and hence, the dimensions above given would not be found to be 
exactly parallel in all the specimens. Occurs in the grey limestone of Topsail Head, and 
also in the pinkish limestone of Brigus, Conception Bay.” 

The woodcut in “ Palaeozoic Fossils” does not give an accurate representation of this 
species ; the centre piece of the head is rather longer than wide, and has a long spine 
projecting backward from the occipital ring; there is a peculiar sharp angulation at the 
posterior margin ; this has the appearance of a tubercle, and projects upward and back- 
ward. The eyelobes are long, heavy and much depressed at the extremities. The surface 
of the test appears smooth to the naked eye, but when viewed with a lens is seen to be 
minutely punctate. 

There is a variety (or it may be another species) in the limestone at Brigus and 
Topsail Head, Conception Bay, which is a third larger than the dimensions given for this 
species by Mr. Billings; in this the glabella is longer and more cylindrical; and in the 
young of the variety the furrows of the glabella are more distinct and the cheeks are not 
so gibbous. 

Both length and width of the centre piece of the head shield, in the examples received 
from Mr. Howley, are 13 millimetres, and the height 6 mm.; they are from the same 
localities as those studied by Mr. Billings. 

This species departs considerably from the type of Agraulos, and should be the type 
of a subgenus; in the marked elevation of the parts of the head shield, the long eyelobes 
and the depressed anterior limb of the cheeks, it resembles Ellipsocephalus ; in the short and 
direct posterior extension of the facial suture, it also resembles this genus ; the prominent 
glabella, with depressed area behind the anterior margin of the head-shield, are points of 
resemblance to Liostracus.’ If it is compared to Agraulos proper, it may be said to be 
more nearly allied to A. difformis than to A. ceticephalus, more especially to certain varieties 
of the former species found, by Prof. W. C. Brégger, in the Cambrian rocks of Norway.’ 
I would suggest, for this Newfoundland species and the allied species in the St. John 
basin, the subgeneric name of Strenueila. 





1 Liostracus proper as described by Angelin, not as in Linnarsson’s and Brégger’s modifications of the genus. 


2 


* See Plate iv. figs. 3 and 4, “Om Paradoxides skifrene ved Krekling,” 


OF CAPE BRETON AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 155 
II—SELENOPLEURA, Ang. 


1.—SELENOPLEURA COMMUNIS, Bill. 





Fic. 4.—Selenopleura communis, Bill—Centre piece of the head shield. Natural size. 
4 a. Same seen in profile. 4 b. Same seen in front. 


In “ Paleozoic Fossils” (Vol. IL. p. 72), Mr. Billings describes the above species, but 
without any figure. I reproduce his description here, with figures in illustration of the 
species, drawn from the type specimen in the museum of the Geological Survey at 
Ottawa :— 

“Glabella conical, convex, about two-thirds of the whole length of the head, about 
one-third wider at the neck furrow than at the front, on a side view considerably elevated 
above the fixed cheeks ; neck furrow well defined all across; neck segment thickened in 
the middle and bearing a small tubercle. The fixed cheeks are strongly convex, but not so 
prominent as the glabella. The dorsal furrows are deeply defined all around the glabella. 
The front margin has a strong rounded rim, separated from the front part of the cheeks 
by a narrow, but distinct groove; between the groove and the front of the glabella there 
is a gentle depression, which separates the anterior angles of the fixed cheeks. The eyes 
are small, situated a little in advance of the mid-length of the head, distant from the side 
of the glabella a little less than half the length of the head, and are connected with the 
front of the glabella by an obscure ocular fillet. Surface with a few scattered tubercles, 
just visible to the naked eye, and between these numerous minute tubercles, only seen 
when magnified. The glabella exhibits traces of two or three obscure furrows on each 
side. Length of the largest head collected, five lines. Occurs at Chapel Arm, Trinity 
Bay, Newfoundland.” 

On comparison of the above figure and description with that of Selenopleura Acadica, 
Whiteaves, it will be seen that the two forms are closely allied, and it is not improbable 
that the latter may be a variety of Billings’ species. The form of Selenoplewra Acadica 
figured in my former paper is the broad form, but in the narrow form the resemblance is 
closer. The broad form (as preserved in the shales of the St. John Basin of Cambrian 
rocks) is easily distinguished from Mr. Billings’ species by the complete separation of the 
anterior part of the fixed cheeks, and by the sharply upturned and narrow anterior 
marginal fold, and from both broad and narrow forms of the Acadian species, S. communis 
is distinguished by a difference in the granulation of the test. 

This species of Billings may be compared with Selenopleura brachymetopa, Ang., from 
which, however, it differs in the form of the glabella and in other respects; it comes 
nearer to the S. cristata of Linnarsson; it differs, however, in the eyes being nearer to the 
glabella, as well as in having a test which is granulated only (not tuberculated). 8. parva 
of the same author is also very near, but differs in the more sinuous anterior extension of 
the facial suture, the more gibbous cheeks, and the smoothness of the glabella; it is also 
a smaller species. 


156 G. F. MATTHEW ON CAMBRIAN FAUNAS 


2.—SELENOPLEURA BOMBIFRONS, N. Sp. 





Fic. 5.—Selenopleura bombifrons, N. Sp.—Centre piece of the head shield. Magnified 
four times. 5 a. Same seen in profile. 5 b. Same seen in front. 


Under this name I propose to describe a small trilobite from Topsail Head, which 
seems nearer to this genus than to any other, though it combines characters which recall 
several other genera. Some of the features are such as might be looked for in the young 
of species of Selenopleura, but the shield, on which the following description is founded, 
seems to have attained its permanent features. In the long, cylindrical glabella, some- 
what wider in front than behind, and overhanging the anterior margin, it recalls the 
genus Dolichometopus, Ang., Linrs.; in its dorsal suture comparatively straight, and near 
the outer margin of the shield it approaches Agraulos and Conocoryphe. The general form, 
however, the granulated surface, projecting eyelobes, etc., seem to bring it nearer to 
Selenopleura than to any other genus. 

Only the centre piece of the head shield is known. This is small, and of a trapezoidal, 
semicircular form ; it is strongly elevated along the axis, and depressed at the sides and 
in front. The dorsal furrow is strongly impressed. The anterior margin is depressed, 
and is strongly arched backward near the suture, so as to narrow considerably the outer 
end of the anterior limb of the fixed cheek. There is a narrow, rounded fold to the 
anterior margin, and a distinct and moderately wide furrow behind it. 

The glabella is cylindrical, somewhat wider in front than behind, narrowest between 
the first and second furrows, prominently elevated for most of its length, and has flattened 
slopes ; it is depressed at both extremities, and is indented on the sides by three pairs of 
furrows, which are progressively longer from the posterior to the anterior; the former 
extends scarcely half-way to the axis of the glabella, but the latter, which is strongly 
directed forward, two-thirds ; the glabellar furrows are broad and shallow. The occipital 
ring is rather narrow, and is sharply divided off from the glabella by a narrow, deep 
furrow; it is somewhat pointed behind, and bears an indistinct tubercle on the middle. 

The fixed cheek, behind the ocular fillet, is subtriangular, moderately elevated 
toward the glabella, but depressed at the outer sides. The eyelobe is short, prominent 
and distinctly elevated ; the ocular fillet is broad, but not conspicuous. The posterior : 
margin is somewhat angulated upward in the middle, and is rounded forward at the 
outer angle: the marginal fold is narrow, and slopes forward to the furrow ; the furrow 
widens and turns forward as it goes toward the genal angle. 

The whole surface is covered with minute granulations, which are coarser and more 
conspicuous on the elevated parts of the shield than elsewhere: on the higher part of the 
glabella these granulations pass into imperfect ridgelets, which are concentric to the 
elevated portion of the glabella where they are most conspicuous; they are most distinct 
on the posterior third of the glabella. The backward flexure of the anterior margin of 
the centre piece of the head-shield indicates that this species had a narrow free cheek. - 

Length of the cephalic shield, 3 millimetres; width of the centre piece, 5 mm.; 
height, 2 mm. 


OF CAPE BRETON AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 157 


Locality—Topsail Head, Conception Bay, Newfoundland. 

This species may be distinguished from Selenopleura parva, Linrs., by its more gibbous 
form, long glabella, and distinct glabellar furrows and ocular fillet; from S. cristata, 
Lins., by its long, overhanging glabella and the narrow anterior limb of the shield; from 
S.? stenometopa, Ang., by its narrow, unangulated anterior margin; from S. holometopa, 
Ang., by the short and narrow anterior margin, and more advanced position of the 
eyelobe ; from S. comn unis, Bill., and S. Acadica, Whiteaves, by the same feature and the 
longer glabella. 


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4 


SECTION IV. 1886. [itso] Trans. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


XII.—WNotes on the Limestones of East River, Pictou, NS. 


By Epwin Gizrin, Jun., A.M., F.G:S. 


(Read May 27, 1886.) 


The following analyses of limestones, from the Lower Carboniferous Marine Limestone 
series of Pictou County were made some years ago by the writer, when engaged in an 
investigation into the subject of fluxes for the extensive deposits of iron ore which 
characterize this district, and they may be appropriately prefaced by a few remarks on 
the extent and distribution of the Lower Carboniferous measures of East River. 

The general arrangement of the subdivisions of the Carboniferous system in this 
county can be readily recognized, and is given in sufficient detail in Sir W. Dawson’s 
“ Acadian Geology.” It may be remarked that, in the district more particularly referred to 
in these notes, viz., that extending from Glengarry, on the Intercolonial Railway, to 
McLellan’s Mountain, the Lower Coal formation does not appear, and may be represented 
on the eastern edge of the district by the conglomerate beds of Irish Mountain and 
McLellan’s Brook. 

On Big Brook, a tributary of West Branch, about four miles above Hopewell, are met 
limestones and gypsum with red shale and flaggy sandstones, resting on Siluro-Cambrian 
measures, and dipping to the north. These limestones are exposed on the West Branch 
and can be traced south of Grant’s Lake to the valley of East River. They are associated 
with red shales, and red and gray sandstones, and the measures are broken through by 
several masses of the dioritic trap, probably contemporaneous. Exposures of gypsum are 
not met until near the mouth of Archibald’s Brook. Here a compact, blue limestone, about 
thirty feet thick, is overlaid by marl, and by an immense mass of gypsum, about 100 feet 
in thickness. 

It is impure in quality, and contains layers of marl and siliceous matter. In the 
upper part, are layers of granular and fibrous, red gipsum. Above this come beds of hard, 
red, shale, having a general dip to the west. The course of the gypsum, as marked by 
funnel-shaped pits, is southerly or parallel to that of the river. Its final exposure in this 
direction is distant about three miles, at the Black Rock, where a small outcrop is visible 
on the east bank of the river, on the farm of Mr. J. McDonald. At this point, it is associated 
with a pyritous, greenish, compact marble, and a compact, blue limestone, carrying limonite, 
and the section rests on a great mass of an indurated breccia, connected with the Cambro- 
Silurian measures of the opposite bank of the river. 

Underlying the strike of the gypsum, on the west side of the river, are frequent 
exposures of hard, shaly, red sandstone, of soft marl, and of red and green argillaceous 
shales, interrupted at several points by dykes of black and dark-green dioritie trap. These 
measures rest on the Cambro-Silurian slates, carrying specular and limonite iron ores, and 


160 EDWIN GILPIN ON LIMESTONES 


near the line of contact, at a point opposite the Black Rock, are met limestones carrying 
limonite. The bed of the river, and the narrow valley from this point for some distance 
south of Sunny Brae, are occupied by limestone beds (No. 1),' the principal exposures 
of which show a hard, compact rock, of grey and bluish colors, in places arenaceous or 
marly. Returning along the east bank of the river, on C. MacDonald’s farm, is a compact, 
bluish limestone, holding rounded pebbles of the slaty breccia. 

Still further north, at Bridgeville, opposite the large exposure of gypsum, already 
alluded to, trial pits showed limonite, filling the junction between Upper Silurian shales, 
and limestone and gypsum. In all probability this gypsum is connected with that 
exposed on the opposite bank of the river. Between this point and Springville, limonite 
and limestone mark the contact of the two systems. In the hank of the river, at McPhee’s, 
is met a large bed of dark-blue, compact limestone (No. 2), weathering to an ochre, and 
holding nodules of hard, blackish, arenaceous limestone. The thickness of this bed is 
about 90 feet. At the point where the section is visible, the limestone folds over a spur of 
the Silurian slates, and its lower part holds fragments of it. The limestone strikes to the 
north-east, along the side of the hill, and is exposed again in the Cross Valley Brook in an 
interesting section. The gray and brown Upper Silurian slates, stained with patches of 
peroxide of iron, and filled with seams holding red and white quartz and calespar, strike 
S. 75° E., and dip heavily to the north. Resting on them is a breccia of fragments of the 
slates. On the side next the older rock, the calcareous cement can hardly be distin- 
euished, but at a distance of six inches, the slate fragments grow scattered and are united 
by dark-grey limestone, which quickly predominates to the exclasion of the slate. The 
limestone (No. 3), as exposed, is about fifty feet thick, but its normal dimensions are much 
greater. 

Immediately overlying the limestone is a wide outcrop of gypsum and marl, imper- 
fectly exposed, and extending to the road from Springville to New Glasgow. The line of 
junction then turns to the north, and passes over Irish Mountain, at the north end of which 
it is marked by conglomerates. The gypsum may be traced by surface pits, on the same 
course, but it is not exposed until A. Cameron’s farm, south of Forbes Lake, is reached. 
Here it forms a large outcrop, resting on soft, grey marl and shale. The lower beds of the 
gypsum are laminated and impure in quality. In the middle of the deposit which appears 
to be about 60 feet in thickness, is a bed twelve feet thick, white and of good quality. A 
few tons are quarried annually and “boiled” for local use. The overlying beds are coarser, 
in quality, with layers of soft, white gypsum. Above the gypsum and marls are exposures 
of red and gray shales with limestones, giving in all a section of about 450 feet. The beds 
dip a little to the west of north, with an inclination which is heavy near the older rocks, 
but gradually diminishes toward the upper part of the section. 

Returning toward Springville, at L. McLean’s are met several thick beds of limestone 
(No. 4) dipping to the west of north, and overlying the gypsum, probably about 200 feet, 
the interval being occupied by red shales and marls. At the East River Bridge, near 
Springville, about on the line of McLean’s limestone beds, are numerous exposures of 
compact, gray and blue limestone, sometimes argillaceous, succeeded by red and gray 
sandstones, with soft argillaceous shales and marls. 





1 The numbers given in the text correspond to those of the analyses, and to those marked on the sketch map, 


OF EAST RIVER, PICTOU, NS. 161 


The general relations of these strata may be gathered from the following section, from 
a survey of the East River, below Springville, made by me some years ago :— 


Frer. In. 

Black, bituminous, arenaceous shale........ annmougsHenosome Jamo mob blonde 13° 0 
Black, bituminous limestone............... TS n cours Tarte fale duos 24 6 
Hard-blue limestone, with arenaceous bands...................,.... Sentier Bie IO) 
Weryehard) compact lie limestones jereiste ererel= \eislelelnite ofeiele/eliclelclele\eris’eicle/=tels!e) n1s/ri- ig 10) 
Soft, laminated, calcareous shale......... oadun asc adoncoodoonthboo ados c 2 3 
Blue TIMEstOne.-e cs. eieieteretetetelelere Aieuse Dotnet in (a eter acute oreinserete écouter jf) 
Soft, laminated, drab shale.... ..... sisletetsiohcfeieletete(otererstat Dasodusonooc écoutes Œ@) 4 
Blue, argillaceons limestone..................,.......... d cowoon06 bobedecho : 0 4 
Calcareous, argillaceous shaie, joints filled with calespar and fluorspar........ PH 50) 
Gray, argillaceous limestone, in places passing into shale.....,...........,.., (0) 
Hardabluenlimestonee-r---te eee tree Cheers ogaoado 2 10 
Compact, white, calcareous sandstone............. RS AO optus cid Rec ee stay eee Sad 0? 
Shaly, drab marl, holding sandstone concretions, and veins of calespar........ 13 9 
Grayscompactihmestone -+ene-rerrce-r nb00 eee Cobn.G000 boos Sao CCE 0 6 
Bluish-gray compact limestone...................... combo nonboadode oéoc il 2 
IDRAlS); GIES TM NQascaa oaudsouoN pooooGRooD GoDADD 5000 0000 0ocovaaae A @ © 
Soft, grey argillaceous limestone. 2.2.4... cese cece veces sea i 
Hard, blue, impure limestone...... God SSD 000 HaAdun ee BOT body eodaomasasen i 9) 
Gray, concretionary, argillaceous shale, with bands of arenaceous shale. ...... 10 0 
Soft, gray limestone..........- pon oooaaC AOC ben DEAN E DUO DO ‘ 0 11 
Grayisandstones CAlCATCOUS- eee see sts(ora)elo) visio} sl vlallstels/e) «velere! siele.<\ers 1 3 
Bluish, arenaceous limestone............,.........,..,, bo DST sBonno 2000 20808 5 4 
Hardhbluelimestone--hrir-rc-r---rer--recrcce ee 000000 00 Dabobo 0010 Se AE 
Gray, impure arenaceous and argillaceous limestone............ core epris-ce DO 
Hard, blue, arenaceous limestone ......,..........,..... DATA AU ACC LOEX Dur 
Sottidrabisbale recenser ces elements 5 4 0 
Impure, argillaceous limestone................ Gao dbnopo oo bboIucooD das 2 4 
Softaredieandsionece cerner pecteser-belece-riee cree Leur 1 6 
Measures obscured (soft shale ?) ...,........... 40 Bouge + sr aee cree ess 250 
Rough compact ibluelimestone:er-"---rt---e re -cLe-r-eerccriecrctee eo 3 10 
Soft, grey, concretionary sandstone......... 5 oon pong doon05 00500090 00000 2 6 
Coarse, blue, argillaceous limestone. .......,,,,..,..... oooCd sr DoDéune 3 9 
Mesures tconcealedéeeere-t ces merecmemcecmecerc-ceree én oonna re 39 O0 
Iiméstonereeree eee eceeealeesessersscreseereeieee she Tehenesse- ose 

TODA pire ole Geooud Goo monvanaaaKNe 186 11 


Other sections show alternations of red and gray compact sandstones and red arenaceous 
shales, to the exclusion of limestones and marls, and, generally speaking, the limestones are 
not connected with extensive sections of sandstones. 

About three-quarters of a mile below the Springville Bridge, is an exposure of lime- 
stone (No. 5) quarried for building purposes. Here there are several thick beds of argilla- 
ceous and calcareous shales, gray and breaking into thin splinters, and enclosing beds of 
pale blue or gray argillaceous limestone. These beds are very hard and compact and, 
owing to the presence of thin layers of calcareous fireclay or shale, split readily into blocks 
six to twelve inches thick. Similar limestones of a darker blue color, occur on the West 
Branch, and have been used successfully for construction purposes. 

The measures referred to above are exposed in varying sequence in the river banks, 
as far as the forks, and preserve a general dip to the north and north-west, with frequent 


Sec. IV., 1886. 21. 


162 EDWIN GILPIN ON LIMESTONES 


faults and undulations. The Grant limestones (No. 6.) are apparently, about the middle 
of this formation, and may be paralleled with the Forbes, McLellan and Robertson 
limestones (7, 8, 9). 

On the West Branch, a short distance above the forks, is a limited exposure of gypsum, 
which is associated with gray arenaceous limestone, and a series of thick bedded sand- 
stones, holding Calcopyrite casts of plant remains. Similar limestones are met on the 
extension of the strike of these measures to the East Branch, and a bed of limestone (No. 
10) several feet thick, composed of minute fragments of fossils, which give a rough pumice- 
like surface on weathering. This is, probably, the limestone referred to in “Acadian 
Geology” (p. 318), as showing in slices under the microscope, that it is made up of small 
fragments of shells, with entire specimens of very minute species. 

Some of the limestones are well defined and persistent. At other points they are 
quite local. It sometimes appears as if there had been a local accumulation of calcareous 
matter (of shells or of a coral growth) which rapidly thinned from a central point, until 
lost in argillaceous or arenaceous matter. ; 

The gypsum at the Forks may be considered as marking an horizon very near the 
summit of the Marine Limestone formation. It is difficult to arrive at any exact estimate 
of the total thickness of this formation in the district under consideration, starting from 
the basal limestone of McPhee’s, and ending at the Forks. The longest continuous section 
that I have been able to measure, did not exceed 1,040 feet, but from all available data, the 
total thickness may be estimated at about 2,750 feet. 

Below the forks of the river, measures referred by the officers of the Geological Survey 
to the Millstone Grit, are met as far as the base of the Productive Coal Formation, a short 
distance north of McKay’s Brook, As yet, no fixed line can be drawn dividing these sub- 
divisions. These millstone grit measures, it may be remarked, are distinguished from the 
corresponding horizon in other parts of the province by their highly caleaceous nature— 
there being numerous beds of limestone, not usually equal in purity to those already noted, 
and the cementing material of the sandstones being often calcareous. 

The Marine Limestones and their associated strata, become obscured as they approach 
the south side of the Coal Field on the east side of the East River, probably by east and 
west faults of great magnitude, similar to those which have on all sides limited the pro- 
ductive Coal Measures by an unconformable frame of Millstone Grit. Approaching 
Sutherland’s River, they reappear and are noted for holding important deposits of 
spathic ore. 

In this district I am not aware of any exposures of the peculiar ‘shell ” limestone of 
Windsor, Shubenacadie, and Brookfield, referred by Sir J. W. Dawson, to Subdivision E 
of the Marine Limestone series, and parallelled by him with limestones belonging to the 
upper part of this section. This limestone is a mass of shells, principally casts, the delicate 
spirals of Spirifer and Athyris being frequently preserved intact. This characteristic lime- 
stone is largely quarried at Brookfield, as a flux for the Londonderry furnaces, and I am 
indebted to Mr. J. Sutcliffe, of the Londonderry mines, for the analysis of it, given further 
on, placed for comparison with one of the same rock from Windsor. 

The analyses which I submit of East River limestones, were made by me sometime 
ago, when engaged in an enquiry into the question of fluxes for the extensive iron ore 
deposits of the district, some of which have been incidentally alluded to in my remarks. 


OF EAST RIVER, PICTOU, N.S. 163 


They are of samples selected principally from beds considered important from their extent 
or convenience to transportation facilities. Their value is merely that of their being the 
first attempt at representing the composition of this mineral over a considerable tract of 
ground in Nova Scotia; and the point which is brought out, is of their comparatively non- 
magnesian character, except in the case of some of the lowest beds. They are arranged in 
ascending order, and their numbers correspond with those marked on the accompanying 
sketch map :— 


(1.) Sunny Braz Limestone.—Color bluish, with seams of white and brownish 
calcspar, and occasional coarse grains of siliceous matter. Some parts of the deposit show 
obscure fossil marks. 


WGHieEoboude Uandad ange oo oo no no URI To lpou Laon 056 
Mime Carbonalersss serre met. foe Guboo Guadunacoo adnuogoddnoe 85° 767 
MémnesialCarbonatercseertecnesmccccesprelre-ec-cceecrcececcesversmecre 3°155 
Tron carbonate...... SAGGOO.cOdUUS. aun dom ont a amntonmdodt-ConS Dodo ÉD UT Coos 1:167 
IGN SW} Jow500005 Hagoga NoUONO. eagade Nad000, padaKdo UNDOTOWO0OSS Bebo OOONOG0A 905 
PHOS PMONICEA Cid leretefeletelotovela vale elelolatare sicieleleleiolehelstele) einisTsisielisicter=feleiais(alslelete(ahelai\efeieleleie\s “376 
Urs Oli lelsrererenetersvetorveretsiovelalersieith ctererers SEG DOD UDOHOD SO OCR ee le in eee ele els ele istetele» 8-440 

INQMAT poet fetctataieiaivieyotelele cessent 99-866 


(2) McPHers LIMESTONE.— Sample A.—Smooth, compact, bluish gray with crystals 
of silica, and no visible fossils, weathers yellow. 

Sample B—From overlying bed of same exposure. Hard, black, laminated limestone, 
giving drab powder, and bituminous smell, fossiliferous. 























CoMpPosiTIoN. SAMPLE A. SAMPLE B. 
IMMONE{ bh) Cobo Gdoode cond Goon bedabo0d0O0DDO Sagbondoeden| | tonton 2°356? 
imeNcarbonate- sacre sms terres ces 84-220 58-112 
Masnesia carbonates--2-r-r--t-esreesrecrtece-cccseeee 11:250 6-571 
Tron peroxide..... 6 sodade dagoud cunood Donoba noes pod 282 1-850 
Manganese peroxide..:........."...0..e0 see ee» ce Ua |Ecoobcouocoopo 
SLitlomonnabocnocnbon ou cannon ood0DgOq000 à DeoOo0 08 “025 
IAG VoKae Cenel casa voso.socHodee pooudD oDdDUESdCOB UCL trace “351 
AVIAN) si ele)e 2s «= = LOoooepaodobbd nono Po oOuceeuo 000 "OLT  freonsssesssee 
Insolubleresidue re ieteleres css ses cree e-eemeree 2-650 30°760 
Carbonaceous matter. .................,...... een ..lessssressee small 
Montraug copoon oovons co0boe 100-150 100°025 





(3.) Cross Brook LIMESTONE.—Sample A.—From limestone near point of junction, 
compact, brittle, drab-colored limestone, with calespar crystals, no visible pyrites or fossil 
markings. 


164 EDWIN GILPIN ON LIMESTONES 


Sample B.—From overlying part of same bed. White and gray, not very compact, 
crystalline limestone, weathering red, with a few crystals of galena and iron pyrites, and 
obscure fossil markings. 




















Composition. SAMPLE À. SAMPLE B. 

MOISTUrE. Eee et meemeese esse seen 1-250 115 
Mimelcarbonate eet laleleleletelerallctetelalieresiel cieieleleie ete ec 91-500 58-766 
Masnesia carbonate certe etc meressaesecsete eile 465 9-890 
TMOMMCANDONALE eeiefetialtete ace eiselcteiewlsinsicisieiecicle eloneesteete 2-278 26-812 
Manpaneso etes ere eme ee eee trace 1:255 
J Abbe eee ee ces eee ee GM) Nopdpannedooboe 
1 és hogoonnocdodonncocs “000000000000 00 0 DÉCO 737 168 
Phosphoric acid......... Door v--sccscserccte PIG OE | Dooaccoc vus 
Insoluble residue.................................... 1-856 3°082 

AKON 6500 0000 Sy dondag duo 98-794 100°088 








(4.) McLean LIMESTONE.—Compact gray limestone, with abundant fossil coral 
markings. 

















Composition. SAMPLE A, SAMPLE B. 

= Moisture,...... +++ aoboode oo CoOUDDIOdaS Here -18 ail? 
Timecarbonate -ceec-checre-rceers Job on 0660 93:90 96: 26 
Magnesia carbonate........ nano Too Ado To Tabou 2°45 2°33 
TOMB PETOXAG Grays oistarsaarerelclellclereievela)ieieleleliele/ermieinedeteleisiaieimterals “59 67 
Manganese) WperOxidos esters eee---2 0: scene: 56 -55 
SAMUI ANA TE ee ess secs do 000 OON LORS NNO To nc 12 10 
SUIDRUT sreteceletutetavelalale\ sta slovelelsie) ciereicie ele cleree eetelateiceite 55000 “03 02 
Phosphoric acid .......... Odoconraqauvo: davulomotoneac 03 03 
WUTC een rence mec con eseercscecesesscec ses ececes 2-10 1.99 
MOTAT wre ele cesse etre 99°96 102-02 











Analyst, Durham College of Science. 


OF EAST RIVER, PICTOU, NS. 165 


(5.) QUARRY LIMESTONE.— Flagey, argillaceous limestone, drab colour, with few 
crystals of iron pyrites, and abundant fossils. 





MOTOS ce onco0o. GoO0NDe.qo0009 ddoptucectet coop oo 000 HHUnUDHOGdOO 0005 +56 
ITE) GEN ON) 500 GO56 DODDb0 Conodo odondo GOnoeD dugcoD.cq0009 0000 OO0 DDC ao 43-12 
Magnesia carbonate.................,......,...,....... ee... cosesoso sise 2°56 
Mar CAT DOM ALE clei siayellolerera’sieletel ekelerieietolelereleinlejoleio/elalerel efelelelielolstelisfayel=)fetalel)\=iie/ eo cce 4°10 
Manganese peroxide................... Dao 0000 2006000 ING 000beo nanURedo0u adesa, 205) 
SUIphur Eee nee eee --eere-eeeect--LCe-eerree ecrire 
Phosphoric acid............, ....., ess sens eee cece sovove cssosesessensesre OR ac 
Insoluble residue, silicate of alumina, and a little sand................. boaacooas 47:00 
Goi tscomoond 09 coevononboctuiionou 99-89 


(6.) GRANT LIMESTONE.—Compact, grayish-blue, rough, red-weathering limestone, 
with veinlets of white iron and calespar, and a few crystals of iron pyrites ; abundant, 
obscure, fossil markings. 





Moisturene-reesnensesreeceervhesshere = se fevelele ae ses eme 0O00OT OP CUon A ac 1.110 
Mimescarbonatersrmrcereceenrenerrentee-rerenr---ecre--Cecrrcnre nier 90-660 
Magnesia carbonate.........,..... hands S605d8-Ab0 uD renal encore 2°360 
Hrone CATDONATE Heisteiolsterel<leleletetofetetet-tetalolet srelalereleterciratoleicelaleletetsiictiel ererelerefieteretat=t=Vieteche)=te/ata 2-280 
MANgaANESE Peine eee esse res eleseeleieole-elo-s else) Donseégo ad do0 
Alumina........ Dicleladulets seis helen iayaisdeleteratereetelisreis oie ereiovelaTesersisitts eiare/o (sla erevel stare evostajefoNeyere 15 
Ibo Sulholatveloo gona Gocoos nogUEdD ECO ee OoOboC Dhbocopomobéasorocéneonce 600 
Phosphoric acid..-.. 34.6507 Adadno'd dno dooDDDOOUGaEeadaad bho bods oo 125 
NTISOLITPLOMTESIC Ue clercleisrereieteeietel ererecie crerslrsusrereraicieie aioverate sient lelsted siololelovelavelstsielsts)eteiaieinte 2-090 

INonrreso0s canoososaedocpb volaviecleterete 99-740 


(7.) FOoRBES LIMESTONE.—Dark, earthy blue, rough limestone, with veinlets of white 
and brown ferruginous spar, and crystals of dogtooth spar, and grains of siliceous matter; 
no visible fossils. 





INGVISEINe) Annee ere GaCGdd bode Haodda Oo00S ContoTIgREo UodoNS acnaDD A000 oOnd 124 
TGTIMEY CAT DHONALE nt eee ses emremsleessseee sas ess cesse crie 89-600 
Magnesia (carbonatetecesermeccctscccece-eus-ccsseleeseee-sseeseheesete cie 1:560 
Iron peroxide......... : 
Apne de } eh BAe By ee See Ra tas NE A Me are RARE 589 
Iron carbonatenen-nnercerese cerner creer ceci: certe eco 1:550 
TOM SUIDhIlE -E-----------en----ecrereepeer 105000 enbaocuo0e dantods a 0000 °225 
Phosphoric acid... ...... ee eee tane rene ecceneles Cercle ° ‘055 
Insolublo/roesidue cer e--2-2 ee. Men ee eee sercleseeoe cree 5°743 
IMOrA TI e2e rer eecete enr ccvnce 99-446 


(8) MCLELLAN LIMESTONE.— Compact, dark blue limestone, with numerous broken 
fossils ; little visible pyrites. 


MOIStUTER ss senc memes ces re es dose nie see es eee es e — 

imelcarbonater-crer terra cr-rermececrieeeRel nes c-ccceceeec--.ee 87437 
Magnesia carbonate................ 4... conc secesses sonses soneeseoee 1417 
Manganese peroxides- --- select cen siclele smile supoemese e-eesesc-eseseessee ‘301 
Iron peroxide........-....,.. Sn. GO06 optiooo dapoda soon bot OOO CooDED 0e 000 2°330 
Iron AU phi de wierelcterel scsiehelersteerisreisietlerorereleretinie orerete 00863600 cic DinigdOODMGODUUC MOS UDO 2159 
Phosphoric acid............. a 2000060004 0h00 000 6060060 6008 0b0IDENbPO CoCoBU acu trace. 
Carbonaceonsematten---2r- Goo gnn CdannD.0000 000b0D Doan GonDoaeSso0DG00 So0000 NON 110 
Insoluble residue......,,....,.... swalsjefeisle crosses nn e een ane eeeeeest 4120 





166 EDWIN GILPIN ON LIMESTONES 


(9.) ROBERTSON LIMESTONE.—Dark, earthy blue, compact, argillaceous limestone, with 
numerous fossils and a few small crystals of silica and iron pyrites. 





Moisture 7252 ne nn mien sisi’ niecelaie) nas ee de AE TO OU DO 1:156 
Timo carDOnAte Rene mener le enese actes see semer ere 5900 78-344 
Magnesia carbonate... ..4.,., ...,,,...,...2 races cavece soon sesecn nee trace. 
Iron CMO oos 000 aaodoo adonomodoD Odo00N DOGO Gdo0G deacon aondDs Eee 2:224 
ManvaneseNCarbonato eee eee e--c re -LC eee 4245 
Jon Eritimblocoudecoseondeosdondonoobnoncondeo0 dote nova onda6oco boceon ‘482 
Phosphoric acid......... Dubé Too 850000 danoodIodo0 ngUOoN 5000 done vovt ba doc 0bo “064 
Imsolubleresidue ere nee teisielsiclsteveors eisleleucreeivetsWolereletelelisteisicle Meleter ete teleneiete sets 11:600 

HoNrpoond cooosnoocooobuoncoondoc 96-115 


(10.) Forks LIMESTONE.—Compact, bluish-black limestone, with crystals of calcspar 
and spots of arenaceous matter. 





Moisture ses svst waive eis sata mn nee, alererereiecciavere ae ee tale ee ele daccod. CE) 
Hmercarbonale=erccrcCereree-cPrecccrcte-ecrerectc-ctece-cceececcreeree 791130 | 
NI aAEEY CEN SWANK Goo coad dan Cobos DAAbOG Hoands OBY0O.LdOgdN SéouODdKdOO0EC 2185 | 
IbROyNY (CNA SLE 6000000000 000000 iooorn dite doboon ana one 20000 dec 00000 5619 . 
Manganese oxide................... odd 0000 ANA T00.0A0 000 100000 DOUDOO PIVOT trace. 
Jr poo ASH ands bn Soo ao. cHod0b HONDOD NOUN 100000 2000000009 000000 DDR 495 
on [Spa svK)500 avons ovonnso CoG000 590000. 450NEG 00008 2000181000 000000 adb00e ‘754 
Phosphoric acides eee Ce Ce don PO mation dos Done Jo û 00 couv ‘403 
NAN METEL cocceo odoodo poosvoo deco ob oouaudoonopo gogo 00006 onraac 11-392 

Ron Non decagbonsos c00padoaduddoo 100-308 


(11) SHezr LIMESTONE.—The following are analyses of the “shell” limestone from 
Brookfield and Windsor, referred to in these notes :— 




















ComrosiTION. BROOKFIELD. WINDSsOR. 
16 Il. 
TEI MOEUCAT DONA LE slelelstiereretelelelcicletsuelaielslsie tele relelateratsUrialfelele 97°39 98-844 97°64 
Magnesia carbonate...... s.+ere ceenes socers cavers “94 396 1:10 
> (Oratl)o minis one oniononnne 0010 50000 2:70* 2-000 * 07 
Phosphoriciacideeeeesrce-c----ec-r-rcP-eerceere trace. 
Imsoluble residence esse cereecrerreerpl trace. trace. 68 
MOTAL esse csistarsteiatrefsisfeleratteleretstels ei 101-083 101-240 99.49 














* Containing alumina. i 
These limestones, which can be compared most aptly to a heap of recently opened 
and cleaned shells thrown together, are notable for their freedom from phosphorus, 
sulphur, etc., and are apparently little beyond pure carbonate of lime, the iron oxide and 
alumina being carried in mechanically by water from the overlying clays. 


SECTION IV., 1886. [elie 7] TRANS. Roy. Soc. CANADA. 


XIIL.— Preliminary Report on some Graptolites from the Lower Palceozoic Rocks on 
the South Side of the St. Lawrence from Cape Rosier to Tartigo River, from 
the North Shore of the Island of Orleans, one mile above Cap Rouge, and from 
the Cove Fields, Quebec. By Pror. Cuas. Lapwortu, LL.D., F.GS. 


(Communicated by J. F. Whiteaves, and read May 27, 1886). 


The collection of Graptolites from Gaspé, Gros Maule, Orleans Island and Cove 
Fields, etc., made by various members of the staff of the Geological Survey of Canada, and 
forwarded to me at the request of Dr. Selwyn, has been examined by myself, and the 
majority of the species identified. Several of the forms, however, require further study. 
Some are new to science; while others present characteristics which render their identi- 
fication with described types a matter of very grave doubt. These dubious forms must 
stand over until I have a little more leisure; but I do not believe that the additional 
facts they may afford, after further study, will greatly affect the main points laid down 
in this preliminary report. 

I find that the Graptolites forwarded in this collection belong to several very distinct 
zones, each of which corresponds very closely with a distinct Graptolite zone in Great 
Britain and western Europe; so that, while (as all American geologists are aware) the 
equivalency of these Graptolitic beds of the St. Lawrence with the calcareous strata of 
New York and western Canada is as yet incapable of exact settlement, the relative 
geological antiquity of the recognizable zones can be fixed, with a close approximation 
to certainty, by comparison with their European representatives. The zones represented 
in this collection range from the British Tremadoe Slates to the middle of the Bala or 
Caradoc Formation of Wales and the West of England. But while some of the European 
zones Within this stratigraphical range are fully represented in the collection, the fossils 
of others are strangely missing, even of some zones already known as certainly existing 
within the limits of the ground covered by the collection. 

The several species I have already identified either with certainty or provisionally, 
together with their localities, as shewn by the specimens in the collection, are given in the 
appended table. (See Table B.) Those to which an asterisk is prefixed will need further 
examination. The fossil-bearing localities are arranged generally in order of geological 
age in the table, simply as a matter of convenience in reference. The same rule will be 
observed with respect to the recognizable Graptolitic zones in the order of description. 





! The specimens from the south shore of the St. Lawrence below Quebec and from the Island of Orleans were 
collected in 1878, those from the Cove Fields, Quebec, in 1884, and those from near St. John’s market at Quebec, in 
1885, by Mr. T. C. Weston. The species from one mile above Cap Rouge, were collected by E. Billings many 
years ago (prior to 1862), and the fragments of a Dictyonema, from Cape Breton, by Mr. Hugh Fletcher, in 1876. 
The whole have been recently submitted to Prof. Lapworth, at the request of Dr. Selwyn.—J. F. W, 


168 C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 


ZONE I.—Cape Rosier Zone: Zone of DICTYONEMA SOCIALE and BRYOGRAPTUS. 


The oldest Graptolitic zone represented (as will be seen from the accompanying tables) 
is the Dictyonema sociale zone of Barrasois River (Cape Breton Island) and of Cape Rosier, 
Gaspé. There are very few specific forms occurring in this zone, but they consti- 
tute together a very peculiar and distinct group, totally different from those of the 
remaining zones. The genera include Dictyonema, Bryograptus and Clonograptus, together 
with the dubious genus Staurograptus of Emmons. The Dictyonema appears to me to be 
absolutely identical with one of the forms referred by European (Scandinavian) geologists 
to Dictyonema flabelliforme, Eichwald, which is also, so far as our present evidences enable 
us to judge, identical with Dictyonema sociale, Salter, from the Tremadoc of North Wales. 

To this zone belong the Barrasois River beds, those of Cape Rosier, of Little White 
River, of Grand Méchin Point, of half a mile west of Long Point, Matane, Little Capucin 
River, ete. : 

In Europe, this zone (or zones) occurs in the Tremadoc of Wales and the Tremadoc 
and Ceratopyge beds of Norway (Brégger) and Sweden (Tullberg). It is Upper Cambrian 
(as British geologists receive the term), and is probably represented in the west by a part 
of the Calciferous series of New York and western Canada. It is distinctly older than 
the Graptolitic mass of the Point Levis beds. Not one of its forms has hitherto been 
figured from the Quebec group. It may occur at Point Levis, if the Calciferous is repre- 
sented there. This is a point for future discovery to settle. In the meantime, however, it 
will be better to refer to the zone as the “ Cape Rosier Zone.” Like the Levis Calciferous 
Conglomerate beds, its fauna is made up of genera, partly Cambrian and partly Ordovician 
(i.e. partly Primordial and partly Cambro-Silurian.) 

The Cambrian age of the Dictyonema-bearing Barrasois River beds of Cape Breton 
Island is demonstrated by their included Olenidæ. The Dictyonema beds of Gaspé and 
Méchin cannot be far above this Cape Breton zone. It is exceedingly probable, there- 
fore, that, as in Cape Breton, the Dictyonema beds lie not far removed from the uncon- 
formable base of the fossil-bearing rocks of the district. If so, then the Shickshock meta- 
morphic rocks would come exactly into the place of the Cape Breton “ Pre-Cambrian,” 
while the Acadian, St. John, or Paradoxides-bearing beds of the Lower Cambrian would 
be missing from Gaspé to Quebec, along the south of the St. Lawrence, as they are along 
the north of the St. Lawrence, from Quebec to Lake Superior. 


ZONE II.—Ste. Anne Zone: Zone of PHYLLOGRAPTUS ANNA; Graptolites from Rocks 
three miles above Ste Anne. 


This is clearly the second zone in order of geological antiquity. It is newer than the 
Cape Rosier beds by a well-marked interval, and much older than the Marsouin River 
zone, next to be described. None of its species are common to the other zones, so far as 
known, nor are they known in European equivalents of these zones. The only specimens 
from this special zone in the present collection are from Ste. Anne des Monts (three miles 
above.) The species fairly identifiable include :— 


Tetragraptus bryonides, Hall. Phyllograptus Anna, Hall. 
Πfruticosus, Hall. Didymograptus extensus, Hall. 


FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. 169 


These are all well-known Point Levis species, according to the classical monograph of 
Prof. Hall, and they also occur together upon the corresponding Arenig-Skiddaw horizon 
in Europe, in the Shelve Arenigs, in the Skiddaw Slates, and in the Phyllograptus beds 
of Norway and Sweden. 

If, as I believe, there are several zones in the Point Levis beds, this zone is probably 
about the middle of the series as there represented. Some of the Point Levis forms figured 
by Hall are apparently older and a few newer; that is to say, if we may rely upon the 
European evidences at our command. 

It is somewhat remarkable that there is no other trace whatever of this Ste. Anne 
Phyllograptus zone in the present collection, among the fossils from the east of River Ste. - 
Anne. The lithological characters of these Phyllograptus-bearing strata are, according 
to my experience of Graptolitic rocks, those of a zone likely to be persistent for great 
distances. 

It would be interesting to know whether the form of this zone are met with 
associated with the Phyllograptus said to occur in the shales among the sandy rocks near 
Cape Chatte (Geol. Rep., 1880-1-2, p. 26 pp.) On one point we may, I think, assure 
ourselves, with our present knowledge of the Graptolites of Europe, viz., that the 
Phyllograptus beds of Ste. Anne are newer than the Bryograptus beds of Cape Rosier, 
and older than all the other zones in this collection. This zone answers precisely to the 
typical Arenig (Phyllograptus) beds of Wales, Skiddaw, Norway and Sweden, as well as 
to the typical zones of Phyllograptus, ete., at Point Levis. 

This Phyllograptic zone ought to be sought for among the green and purple rocks 
between Cape Rosier and Griffin Cove, and among the sandy and conglomeratic rocks 
along the coast where the Pillar Sandstones come out in force far to the east of the 
Ste. Anne. The Dictyonema bed again should be sought for at Point Levis and elsewhere, 
and its relation to the so-called “limestone conglomerates” demonstrated. The line 
between the Cambrian and Ordovician (Cambro-Silurian) must, in time, be drawn very 
near this zone of Dictyonema and Bryograptus. 


Zone IIL—Grifin Point or Marsouin River Zone: Zone of CŒNOGRAPTUS GRACILIS. 


This zone is by far the most fully represented in the collection. The chief localities 
which have yielded its fossils are:—Marsouin River (a little above), one mile east of 
Griffin Cove, one mile above Tartigo River, north-west point of Griffin Cove, half a mile 
below Little Méchin River, near Fox River; one mile above Cap Rouge, near Quebec, and 
the Little Falls, Magdalene River. 

In all these localities the fossils are essentially the same, the same species recurring 
again and again, in some cases in about the same relative proportion. It will be seen from 
the table, that the list of fossils is more complete from some localities than from others. 
It may be that it will be possible, in time, to subdivide this zone, which has probably 
quite as great a vertical extent in Canada as it appears to have in England, but as yet it 
is decidedly safest to refer all the rocks named above to this single zone, 


Sec. IV., 1886. 22. 


170 C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 


The most characteristic forms from the zone are :— 


Didymograptus sagittarius, (Hall non Hisinger.) 
Cœnograptus gracilis, Hall. 

Dicellograptus sextans, Hall. 

Lasiograptus mucronatus, Hall. 

Climacograptus antiquus, Lapworth. 
Diplograptus Whitfieldi, Hall. 


So far as known, these are peculiar to this zone, and the presence of a single one 
of these species is sufficient to settle the age of the rock in Great Britain, and in all 
likelihood in America. With these peculiar forms, however, are associated others, which 
have amuch longer vertical range, and unite this zone to the one which follows it in 
order of time. These species of long range are :— 


Dicranograptus ramosus, Hall. 
Glossograptus ciliatus, Emmons. 
Diplograptus putillus, Hall. 
Climacograptus Scharenbergi, Lapworth. 


They all pass up into the British zone next above the Coenograptus zone, together 
with the following species, which range up through at least three complete zones :— 


Diplograptus foliaceus, Murchison. 
Climacograptus bicornis, Hall. 


This special Marsouin zone, now under consideration, has long been recognized by 
geologists upon the continent of America. Its fossils were described many years ago by 
Professor J. Hall, in his “ Paleeontology of New York,” from the dark shales of Norman’s 
Kill, near Albany, in the valley of the Hudson River. Hall also referred to the detection 
of the Norman’s Kill fossils on Marsouin River by Sir William Logan and the Canadian 
Survey; but the discovery of the existence of rocks containing the Norman’s Kill fossils 
as far down as Griffin Cove and between the Marsouin and Quebec, as demonstrated by 
the present collection, is wholly due to those officers of the Geological Survey of Canada, 
who have studied the district since the retirement of Sir W. Logan. There can be no 
question of the general identity of this Griffin Cove rock and the Marsouin Cœnograptus 
zone with that of the Norman’s Kill of the Hudson River valley. The New York 
geologists have always adhered to the opinion that the Norman’s Kill beds are of the age 
of the Hudson River group (Lorraine) or of that of the Utica Slate. The best advocacy for 
the last named view will be found in a letter from Mr. R. P. Whitfield, addressed to Dr. 
White, and published in the Report of the Geological Survey of the 100th meridian (Vol. 
IV. p. 101) ; in which it is asserted that G. serratulus, Hall, D. pristis, C. bicornis and D. ramosus 
occur in the Utica Slate of the valley of the Mohawk. I have myself referred to the 
Norman’s Kill beds in my paper on the Moffat Series (Quaterly Journal of the Geological 
Society, 1878, p. 335) as probably rising out unconformably from below the Trenton Lime- 
stone, and forming the highest portion of the convoluted rocks of the so-called Quebec 
Group,—a view also held by Dr. Sterry Hunt. At a later date (see “Distribution of 
Rhabdophora,” 1880, pp. 30, 28, etc.), while I refused to allow their equivalency with the 
Lorraine Shale (Hudson River Group), I reluctantly admitted that it was very probable 


FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. 171 


they might in part be Utica and in part of true Trenton age. But here we have to 
recollect that with the exception of Whitfield’s distinct assertion that G. serratulus, Hall, 
occurs in the Utica Slate of Oxtungo Creek—which may be easily accounted for on the 
supposition that what Whitfield calls a Didymograptus may possibly be a Leptograptus—not 
a shadow of paleontological evidence has yet been adduced to shew that these Norman’s 
Kill or Marsouin rocks are newer than the Trenton. 

I will not discuss the evidences further in this place, but will merely say that in 
Great Britain the fossils of the Cænograptus (Norman’s Kill) zones occur in the beds 
immediately succeeding the typical Llandeilo Limestone of Wales, with Ogygia Buchii and 
Asaphus tyrannus, and in association with the Craighead (Stinchar) Limestone of Scotland, 
with Maclurea Logani and Ophileta compacta, i.e. in beds apparently homotaxeous with the 
Chazy or Lowest Trenton (Bird’s Eye and Black River). 

If, therefore, we provisionally regard this Norman’s Kill (Marsouin and Griffin 
Cove) zone as coming between the Chazy (Maclurea) and the Trenton Limestone in 
America, it will answer roughly to its equivalent, the Coenograptus gracilis Zone in Great 
Britain, in age as well as in fossils. It may even lie in some localities conformably at the 
summit of the Quebec series of the Eastern Townships, and then, as suggested above, 
come out unconformably below the New York Trenton along the line of the St. Lawrence 
and Hudson Rivers; while, where there is no unconformity, it may shade off into the 
Chazy below and the Trenton Group above, as possibly in the Bird’s Hye and Black River 
localities in eastern Canada. The Chazy is usually associated by Canadian authorities 
with the Calciferous below—the great break supposed to be between the latter and the 
Black River. The fossils of these Norman’s Kill rocks should be sought for in the top of 
the Chazy and bottom of the Trenton, as well as in the Utica; the discovery of a few 
characteristic forms would soon settle the difficulty. 

There is not a doubt that these Cœnograptus or Norman’s Kill (Cap Rouge, etc.) 
beds belong to the second fauna of the Ordovician (Cambro-Nilurian), i.e. they are newer 
than the Graptolitic strata of the Point Levis beds of the Quebec group; in other words, 
they belong to the Trenton-Utica fauna and not to the Calciferous-Chazy fauna. But, 
while this is true, we must remember that they appertain, possibly, almost to the very 
lowest beds of that second fauna, i.e. their place is practically Trenton-Utica, and not 
Utica-Hudson. 

I should expect, therefore, that while the calcareous rocks associated with this 
Marsouin fauna hold many Trenton forms, yet there might occur, associated with them, 
survivors of the Chazy type, and perhaps a number of Black River forms. 

As a first contribution towards a solution of the difficulty, I shall be glad to know if 
it is possible yet to answer the following questions by evidence at the command of the 
Canadian Geological Survey :— 

(a) What are the trilobita and brachiopoda of the Calciferous beds of Griffin Cove, 
and from Griffin Cove to Gros Maule ? 

(6) Have any Graptolites been afforded either by the Black River or Trenton of the 
north of the St. Lawrence, and, if so, what are they ? 

(c) Has a single example of one of the peculiar species (see list before) of the Mar- 
souin beds been detected in any Utica or Hudson River bed on the north and west sides 
of the St. Lawrence, from Lake St. John to St. Mary’s Strait, and, if so, what, and where ? 


172 C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 


À detailed reply to each of these questions would be of especial service at this stage 
of our enquiry. At present, the evidence is not fully complete. In our British Ordovi- 
cian rocks, the Cœnograptus (Norman’s Kill) zone is about half way up the total succes- 
sion, i.e. in the middle of the Llandeilo formation, which has the Arenig below, and the 
Caradoc above. On a priori grounds, this also must be its. place in the Canadian succes- 
sion. The difficulty lies in finding the true base of the Ordovician in Canada. If the 
Chazy answers broadly to our Arenig, the Trenton to our Llandeilo, and the Utica and 
Hudson River Group to our Caradoc, then the place of this Cœnograptus zone is in the 
middle of the Trenton. If the Chazy overlies the Quebec Group, then the Cœnograptus 
zone lies below the Trenton. If the Trenton is of the age of our Middle Llandeilo, then 
the Cenograptus zone answers to the lowest Utica beds; but this, as I have here said, I 
hold to be not yet demonstrated. In any case, the place of the Cœnograptus zone is about 
midway between the base of the Point Levis (Phyllograptus beds) and the summit of the 
Lorraine (Hudson River Group.) 


SUBZONE III A.—Rocks of the Cove Fields and St. John’s Market, Quebec, and of the North 
Side of the Island of Orleans. 


The fossils from these localities are few in number, and somewhat difficult of identi- 
fication. The species are all of Llandeilo-Bala age (see Comparative Table), and the general 
facies indicates an horizon about the summit of the Caenograptus or Marsouin beds zone, 
last described. The association of forms reminds me of that of the highest Glenkiln and 
lowest Hartfell beds of the south of Scotland. I should imagine that they follow on at 
once upon the Cœnograptus beds without a break—indeed, it is possible that Ceenograptus 
may be detected among them; but, judging from the British phenomena, this is doubtful. 
It is not unlikely that these Cove Field beds mark the transition from the Marsouin beds 
into the lowest zones of the Black River or Trenton Limestones. The presence of a form 
identical with, or closely allied to, the G. amplexicaulis of Hall, points in this direction. 

The main point is perfectly clear. There is nothing in the Cove Fields and St. John’s 
Market fauna that reminds us, in the slightest degree, of the fauna of Point Levis. The 
fossils are the fossils of the Marsouin River fauna, or second Ordovician fauna, and have 
not a species in common with the first Ordovician fauna—the typical fauna of the rocks 
of Point Levis. 


SUMMARY. 


(1)—The Graptolites of the collection examined are all derived from rocks of greater 
antiquity than the so-called Utica and Hudson River rocks, if we regard these as typified 
by the fauna hitherto described from the Graptolitic rocks of Lake St. John, Canada, and 
those of the valley of the Mohawk, in the State of New York. 

(2.)—There are two grand faunas represented in the collection :—(A) The so-called 
Quebec fauna of the Calciferous-Chazy formations of Cape Breton, Cape Rosier, Point 
Levis and Ste. Anne, which answers to the fauna of the British Upper Tremadoe and 
Arenig rocks and their European equivalents; and (B) the Griffin Cove, Marsouin River 


FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. 173 


and Norman’s Kill fauna, which answers to the fauna of the middle zones of the European 
Ordovician or Cambro-Silurian rocks. 

(8.)—In each of these grand faunas are found two subfaunas, those of the lower 
faunas being the more distinctly separable :— 


A.—QUEBEC OR CALCIFEROUS-CHAZY FAUNA. 


Subfauna 1.—Cape Rosier and Barrasois River Zone, of Calciferous age—Tre- 
madoc Rocks of Great Britain and Ceratopyge and Dictyonema Beds of Norway. 

Subfauna 2.— Ste. Anne River Zone, of Point Levis age=typical Arenig of Great 
Britain ; Phyllograptus Beds of Scandinavia, etc. 


B.—TRENTONIAN, MARSOUIN RIVER, oR NoRMAN’s KILL FAUNA. 


Subfauna A.—The Coenograptus Zone of Griffin Cove and the Marsouin River 
answering to the Middle Llandeilo Beds of Great Britain, to the Glenkiln Beds of 
Scotland, ete. 

Subfauna B.—The Cove Fields and Orleans subfauna; apparently destitute of 
Cenograplus gracilis, and answering to the highest Llandeilo or Lowest Caradoc 
Beds of England. 

(4)—The last of these subfaunas shews evidence of a transition into the Utica- 
Lorraine Graptolitic fauna of the Mohawk valley, New York, and of Lake St. John, 
Canada. 

(5.)—From a comparison of the foregoing facts, it follows that :— 

First.—If the strata associated with the Pillar Sandstones near Cape Chatte and else- 
where actually contain Phyllograptus (see Report Geological Survey Canada 1880-1-2, 
p. 26 pp.) then, as these strata always appear to come between the Levis conglomerates and 
the Marsouin rocks, there may be no necessity for presuming any general fault or overlap 
between the so-called Levis beds of the Gaspé-Marsouin area and the more recent so-called 
Utica beds of the same district. There may be, on the other hand, in some localities an 
uninterrupted succession from the base of the Cape Rosier rocks into the very highest 
beds along the south shore of the St. Lawrence. 

Secondly—If there be no break in the great succession, then the sequence in the 
Gaspé peninsula must be simply regarded as generally inverted, faults and folds being 
probably present in abundance; but the succession from the St. Lawrence southward 
must be regarded as a generally descending one. On this supposition, if we may judge 
from the local sequence of the rocks and fossils as laid down in Mr. Ells’s “ Report on the 
Geology of the Gaspé Peninsula” (Report of Progress 1880-1-2, Dp viii.) the ascending 
succession may perhaps be somewhat as follows :— 


Possible Ascending Succession of Strata, on the South Side of the St. Lawrence, from Cape Gaspé 
to Tartigo River. 


PRE-CAMBRIAN. 


(4) —MeTamMorPHiIc Rocks OF THE SHICKSHOCK RANGES. 


174 C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 


CAMBRIAN. 


(B.)—CAMBRIAN FORMATIONS. 


B.'—Fine conglomerates, with white quartz pebbles; red, brown, grey and black 
slates. (Localities: Grande Carrière, etc., and flanks of the Shickshock Range). 

B’—Grey, red, brown and black shales, with beds and bands of dolomite. (Localities: 
Les Islets, coast south of Cape Rosier, ete.) Fossils: Dictyonema, Bryograptus, etc. 

[B' and B° may, perhaps, represent both the Upper Potsdam and the Calciferous rocks 
of the western district of New York and central and Upper Canada.] 


ORDOVICIAN. 
(c.)—ORDOVICIAN OR CAMBRO-SILURIAN FORMATIONS. 


(1.) Lower Division or Quebec Group of Logan. 


C'—Hard grey quartzite, quartzose sandstone, limestone, conglomerates, etc, with 
seams of black shale (Ste. Anne, Cape Rosier, Tartigo River, etc., with Levis Trilobites) 
and grey shales with seams of dolomitic rocks. Fossils: Phyllograptus, Tetragraptus, 
Didymograptus. 

C?—Grey, green, purple and clouded shales, interstratified with grey and black 
slates, and passing into 

C2—Hard green and grey sandstones of great thickness, interstratified with red, 
green and grey shales. Localities: Ste. Anne des Monts, Cape Chatte, etc., ete. (Pillar 
Sandstones.) 

The limestone conglomerates, etc., at base of C' may answer to the asserted break 
between the Calciferous and Chazy in New York and elsewhere; and the Pillar Sand- 
stones may come into the place of the Chazy Sandstones of Grenville. In this event, the 
Quebec of this area would answer generally to the Chazy of the west; the Calciferous 
fossils of the conglomerates may be derived from fragments of Calciferous rocks. C', C” 
and C° would answer precisely to Logan’s Levis, Lauzon, and Sillery divisions. 

On the other hand as it appears by no means unlikely, from the fact that westward 
from the mouth of Marsouin River, the beds with Dictyonema sociale seem to lie always 
between the Pillar Sandstones and the local Levis conglomerates and shales, it is possible 
that these Pillar Sandstones are actually below the Dictyonema beds; and thus come 
broadly speaking, into the place of the Potsdam formation. If this be the case, then the 
zones C * of the foregoing sequence would answer to B', and C* to B*; the typical Levis 
strata C' would be the highest formation of the older series, yet recognized in the district. 
In this case also it follows of necessity, that the Griffin Cove and Marsouin River strata of 
the district under consideration must be separated from the so-called Levis strata by a 
gigantic fault or dislocation, as in the neighbourhood of Quebec. 


FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. 175 


(2.) Middle Division, or Trenton Black River Rocks of Hall and Logan. 


C‘ (a). Hard, cherty, felspathic slates, with hard, grey sandstones. 

C°(b). Black, bituminous shales and limestones, with beds of buff weathering 
dolomite beds, very fossiliferous ; Cenograplus gracilis, etc., etc. (Localities: Griffin Cove, 
Marsouin River, Gros Maule, etc.) 

C5 (c). Hard, grey sandstones, with knobbed surfaces (D. pristis abundant.) Locali- 
ties: Cape Chatte, Cape Magdalene, ete. Fossils: Leptena sericea, Orthis testudinaria, etc. 

These beds can hardly be much newer than the Trenton Limestone of the eastern 
districts; such brachiopoda as occur in these rocks occur also in the Trenton, as well as 
the Utica and Lorraine. The sequences given above are merely suggested, and are 
deduced from the general geographical arrangement of the beds. They are valueless, 
except as starting points from which to commence a detailed study of the strata upon it. 


(8.) Upper Division, or Hudson River and Lorraine Rocks of Hall and Logan (apparently wanting.) 


Thirdly.—Thus it appears at present that we are destitute of any clear evidence that 
true Utica and Hudson River strata occur anywhere along the south side of the St. 
Lawrence, from Gaspé to Quebec; all the strata seeming to be older in point of time 
than the Utica proper, as typified by the rocks of Ottawa and Lake St. John. As to the 
two formations of the Trenton and Utica, being mapped in New York and western Canada 
essentially on lithological grounds, it is exceedingly probable that the line between them 
differs greatly in true geological age when followed from Quebec to Ottawa and New 
York ; so that in some localities, where the Trenton Limestone series is poorly developed, 
the Utica of that locality actually descends to and includes the Norman’s Kill and 
Marsouin zone. But this is a point for future investigation. The facts, as they stand, 
relate the Marsouin and Graptolitic shales to the Trenton rather than to the Utica Slate, 
as at present understood. 

Fourthly.—The so-called Quebec rocks, of the town of Quebec, as typified by the 
fossils forwarded from the localities of the Cove Fields and St. John’s Market, are not of 
Quebec age at all. They are probably the newest rocks represented in the eollection, and 
possibly shade upwards from the Marsouin Graptolitic shales of Orleans Island and Cap 
Rouge. They appear, however, to be of greater antiquity than the Utica Slates of Lake 
St. John, answering to the basement zone of the British Bala, instead of to the middle 
zone, which seems to be the place of the Lake St. John shales. 

Fifthly.—These conclusions enable us to afford fairly satisfactory replies to the questions 
propounded in your note:—Are the two distinct Graptolitic zones of the Gaspé area 
rightly entered upon the maps of the Survey as of Levis and Utica, and are they 
separated from each other by any stratigraphical break (unconformity or profound disloca- 
tion)? We see that Levis rocks are certainly present, but none that we can actually 
demonstrate to be of true Utica age, as we understand the term at present. The higher 
series of Graptolite-bearing rocks have, however, their exact equivalent in the Norman’s 
Kall strata of the valley of the Hudson, referred by New York geologists to the Utica Slate, 
and they undoubtedly contain some well-known Utica forms. Hence these highest strata 


176 C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 


were most properly referred to the period of the Utica formation, but it is imposssible to 
demonstrate the correctness of this reference in the present state of our knowledge. The 
zones represented range from the Calciferous to the Trenton-Utica, and their sequence 
appears identical with that of their representatives in Great Britain and northern Europe. 
But while we cannot yet actually prove the existence of any general unconformity or 
extraordinary dislocation, the normal sequence of the strata has been generally-inverted, 
and appears to be locally interrupted by overturned folds and inverted faults. 

Sixthly.—In western America, precisely as in some parts of the British Isles, the Lower 
Paleozoic rocks shew great variations in their lithological and petrographical character- 
istics in different geographical areas. In Great Britain (compare my papers on the Moffat 
Series and the Girvan Succession), this variation appears to be more or less related to the 
varying distance from the ancient Palæozoic shore-line —each formation graduating from 
a massive assemblage of coarse materials to a thin sheet of very fine silt, when followed 
in certain special directions. In the same way, the thick shore-derived mechanical 
deposits of much later formations have long been recognized as graduating into, and 
becoming represented by, their organically derived deposits (limestone and chalk, etc). 
I have for years held the opinion that the entire, more or less Calcareous series of the 
Lower Paleozoic rocks of New York State, and of the region west and north of the St. 
Lawrence, from the Potsdam below, to the Lorraine (Hudson River Group) above, was 
originally represented, formation above formation, in the vastly thicker, sandy, flaggy and 
shaly strata lying to the east and south of the great St. Lawrence and Hudson River Valley, 
from Gaspé to New York (i.e. in the strata to the east of “Logan’s Line,” generally 
lumped together by American geologists, as Quebec and Hudson River Groups). In 
the western Toronto-Ottawa calcareous formations, the usual Lower Paleozoic fossils 
(Brachiopoda, Crustacea, etc.) are present in abundance; the original sequence is undis- 
turbed by folding or dislocation; and as a consequence, our knowledge of the chrono- 
logical relationship of the various recognizable rock formations is fairly complete. In the 
eastern Quebec-Gaspé series, on the contrary, Brachiopoda and Crustacea are almost 
wholly wanting; the original sequence is almost hopelessly obscured by faults, folds, 
overfaults and inversions, while suggestions of possible unconformabilities and overlaps 
add to the bewildering confusion. But these eastern non-calcareous rocks contain an 
abundance of Graptolites fairly easy of identification, and quite as valuable chronologic- 
ally as the species of Brachiopoda and Crustacea. Many of these Graptolithina have their 
geological dates fixed by their known horizons among the Calcareous rocks of New York 
and Canada; others by their known systematic places in the equivalent European suc- 
cession. Le. 

In the careful study of the geographical and geological distribution of the several 
horizons of these Graptolites in the extensive convoluted rock series of the Eastern 
Townships, lies the solution of the great geological enigma of the Quebec Group and its 
puzzling associates. We shall not be able to parallel the eastern and western series, 
formation for formation, until we know more of the Graptolitic faunas of the Chazy, 
Black River, Trenton, Utica and Lorraine formations themselves, where they lie flat and 
undisturbed, and can compare them with those of their European equivalents. This is a 
work that ought to be at once taken up in serious earnest by American geologists, and 
carried on, stage by stage, with the study of the equivalent rocks of the convoluted 


FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. HTL 


eastern areas. Till this is done, all our correlations of these eastern deposits must be 
regarded simply as provisional approximations, liable to inevitable modification and 
improvement in the light of future discovery. The Geological Survey of Canada -possesses 
unequalled facilities for carrying on this work, in having both the eastern and western 
formations within easy reach, and both within the areas covered by the National Survey ; 
and I sincerely trust that it is reserved for that Survey to solve the great Canadian 
problem of the Quebec Group in the area in which it was first propounded. It is 
that part of Canadian geology which is of more than national importance, and that 
part of American palæozoic geology which is of world-wide interest ; and I shall be 
gratified if anything I can do or suggest will aid in advancing this great and necessary 
work." 


PROVISIONAL LIST OF FOSSILS, WITH LOCALITIES. 
Slabs from Cove Fields, near Quebec City. 


* Diplograptus foliaceus (Murch.), vars. 1. basilicus, 2. confertus, 3. platydens. 

eo gs amplexicaulis? Hall (= Dipl. rugosus, [H#mm.] confr. D. teretiusculus, His.) 
“ truncatus (?) Lapw. 
fe euglyphus, Lapw. (?) 

Corynoides calycularis, Wich. 

Dicellograptus, sp. 

Climacograptus, two sp. 
G tricornis, Hall. 

Cryptograptus tricornis, Carr. (= G. marcidus, Hall.) 

Dicranograptus tardiusculus (?) Lapw. 


Slabs from near St. John’s Market, Quebec City. 


Diplograptus rugosus, Hmm. 


Half a mile above Tartigo River. 


Dictyonema sociale, Salter (= D. flabelliforme, Hichwald.) 








1 While this Preliminary Report was passing through the press, Sir W. Dawson kindly forwarded to me a copy 
of his Report on the Redpath Museum, McGill University, for 1883, containing an article by himself on the 
“ Graptolites of the Quebec Group” (pp. 15-17). In this article reference is made to Mr. Weston’s discovery of the 
Dictyonema-bearing shales at Little White River, and to Mr. Richardson’s subsequent discovery of similar beds 
at Matane. The Dictyonema is correctly identified as the Dictyonema sociale, Salter, of the Upper Tremadoc (D. 
flabelliforme, Eichwald); and the inference is drawn that the containing beds are older than the typical, Point 
Levis rocks, and are of Upper Cambrian age. It is also pointed out that certain beds associated with the Dicty- 
onema shale contain fragments of Trilobites apparently most nearly related to those of the fauna of the Potsdam 
of Newfoundland. Finally, the author suggests that Graptolitic zones reaching from Lower Tremadoc to the 
Upper Llandeilo may ultimately be discriminated in the great mass of sediments known_as the Quebec Group. 
It is highly gratifying to find that the original views advanced by Sir W. Dawson in 1883 are practically identical 
with those laid down in the present Preliminary Report. 

* Same as Marsouin River, as regards species and rock. 


Sec. IV., 1886. 23. 


178 C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 


One mile below Tartigo River. 


Dicellograptus sextans, Hall, var. 
Cœnograptus gracilis, Hall. 
Diplograptus Whitfieldi, Hall. 

ge putillus, Hall. (?) 
Climacograptus perexcavatus, Lapw. 
Clathrograptus cuneiformis, Lapw. 


Near Fox River. 


Dicranograptus ramosus, Hall. 
Dicellograptus confr. tenuis, Hall. 

es sextans, Hall (intortus, DLapw.) 
Diplograptus foliaceus, Murch. 
Climacograptus confr. Scharenbergi, Lapw. 

sf antiquus, Lapw. 


Between Little Fox River and Gros Maule. 


Coenograptus gracilis, Hall. 

Diplograptus foliaceus, Murch. 
Thamnograptus Barrandei, Hail. 
Dicranograptus ramosus Hall (larger form.) 


Cape Rosier. 
Clonograptus, sp. 
Dictyonema sociale, Salter. 
Dichograptus, sp. 


One mile below Little Michaud River. 


Dicellograptus sextans, Hall. 

Climacograptus antiquus, Lapw. 

Lasiograptus bimucronatus, Mich. (mucronatus, Hall.) 

Dicranograptus ramosus (Hall), var. spinosus, Lapw. 

Diplograptus foliaceus, Murch. (= D. pristis, Hall.) 
Us euglyphus, Lapw. 

Cœnograptus gracilis, Hall. 


North-we:t Point, Griffin Cove. 


Clematograptus multifasciatus, Hall. 
Dicellograptus sextans, Hall. 


a divaricatus, Hall. 
Diplograptus Whitfieldi, Hadi. 
fe (?) putillus, Hall. 


Climacograptus bicornis, Hall. 
Cenograptus gracilis, Hall. 


FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. NES, 


A little above the Marsouin River. 





Dicranograptus ramosus (Hall), var. rectus, Hopk. 
Dicellograptus sextans, Hall (slender variety.) 
Lasiograptus mucronatus, Hall (bimucronatus, Wich.) 


One mile east of Little Capuchin River. 


Dictyonema (sociale, Salter.) 


One mile below Little White River. 
Dichograptus, sp. 
Clonograptus, sp. 


One mile east of Griffin Cove. 


Dicranograptus ramosus, Hall (spinosus, Lapw.) 
Climacograptus Scharenbergi, Lapw. 

Lasiograptus mucronatus, Hall (bimucronatus, Wich.) 
Dicellograptus sextans, Hall. 


cs sextans (Hall), var. tenuibrachiatus. 
Diplograptus euglyphus, Lapw. 

ge perexcavatus (?) Lapw. 

af foliaceus, Murch. (acutus.) 


One mile west of Grand Méchin Point. 
Bryograptus, sp. 
Callograptus, sp. 
Clonograptus, sp. 


Three miles above Ste. Anne. 
Phyllograptus Anna, Hall. 
Tetragraptus fruticosus, Hall. 
Didymograptus extensus, Hall. 


Gros Maule. 


Diplograptus rugosus, Hmm. 


One mile west of Long Point. 


Bryograptus. sp. 
Clonograptus, sp. 
Didymograptus, sp. 
Dictyonema, sp. 





1 The backs of many of the specimens are marked “half a mile below Little Méchin River.” One specimen, 
locality not known, affords the Bala form of Dicranograptus ramosus, Hall. 


180 C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 


A little above Marsouin River. 


Dicranograptus ramosus (Hall), var. rectus, Hopk. 
os tardiusculus, Lapw. (ramosus.) 
Dicellograptus sextans. (Slender variety.) 
Gh intortus, Lapw. 
Lasiograptus mucronatus, Hall, (bimucronatus, Nich.) 
fs bimucronatus, Wich. (mucronatus, Hall.) 
Didymograptus sagittarius, Hall. 
= confr. superstes, Lapw. 
Ceenograptus gracilis, Hall. 
Diplograptus foliaceus, Murch. (acutus, Lapw.) 
Climacograptus perexcavatus, Lapw. 


Near Little Falls, Magdalene River. 
Didymograptus sagittarius, Hall. 
Dicranograptus ramosus, Hall. 
Y confr. sextans, Hall. 


Clinacograptus confr. Scharenbergi, Lapw. 
Diplograptus (foliaceus, Murch. ? var.) acutus, Lapw. 


Long Point, Ste. Anne River. 


Glossograptus ciliatus, Emmons. 


Grande Coupe and Magdalene River. 
Diplograptus euglyphus, Zapw. 
ef foliaceus, Murch. 
Island of Orleans, near Quebec City. 
Dicranograptus ramosus (Hall), var. spinosus, Lapw. 
Climacograptus Scharenbergi, Lapw, 


fe bicornis, Hall. 
Diplograptus foliaceus, Murch. 


Half mile up from Anse de l'Etang. 


Dicranograptus ramosus, Hall (Nicholsoni, Hopk.) 


Farnham, Lot 33? Range III. 


Oldhamia radiata, or Dictyonema impression. 





FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. 


Half a mile above Cap Rouge. 


Climacograptus antiquus, Lapw. 
ce 


sp. 
a bicornis, Hall. 
Diplograptus rugosus, Hmm. 
ue confr. putillus, Hall. 
a foliaceus, Murch. (pristis, Hall.) 


Dicranograptus ramosus, Hall (destitute of spines.) 
Dicellograptus divaricatus, Hall. 
Πintortus, Lapw. 
os sextans, Hall. 
Cenograptus gracilis, Hall. 
Lasiograptus bimucronatus, Wich. 
mucronatus, Hall. 
Didymograptus sagittarius, Hall. 


Barrasois Brook, Cape Breton Island. 


Dictyonema sociale, Salter (= D. flabelliforme, Hichwald.) 


181 


182 


C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES 7 


TABLE A. 


Showing the various Horizons, approximate Geological Age, and American and European Equivalents of the 





Geological Survey of Canada to Professor 








EUROPEAN FORMATIONS AND GRAPTOLITIC ZONES. 





Formations in Great Britain. 





Graptolitie Zones already recognised in the foregoing formations in 
reat Britain and Europe. 





CAMBRIAN (UPPER) 


SYSTEM. 


CAMBRO-SILURIAN 


ORDOVICIAN OR 


OR 
PRIMORDIAL SYSTEM. 


Bawa or Carapoc FORMATION. 
E*.—Upper Division. 


E*.—Middle Division. 


E1.—Lower Division (Bala Lime- 
stones of Wales). 








LLANDEILO FORMATION. 
D*.—Upper Llandeilo. 


D*.—Middle Llandeilo (Llandeilo 
Limestones of 8. Wales, 


Craighead Limestone of 


Scotland.) 


D'—Lower Llandeilo. 


E%.—Zone of DicEzLoGRApTus anceps, Lapworth, (Hartfell, Scot- 
land, Sweden, Bohemia, ete.) with Dipl. truncatus. 


(UPPER HARTFELL.) 


E°,—7Zone of PLEUROGRAPTUS LINEARIS (Scotland, Seandinavia), with 
Amphigraptus radiatus, H., Lept. flaccidus, H., Orth. quadri- 


mucronatus, H. 
(MIDDLE HARTFELL.) 


E1.—Zone of DicranoGraptus CLINGANI, Carr. (Scotland, Sweden), 
with D. ramosus, Climac. caudatus, C. bicornis, Dicell. For- 
chammeri, ete. 


(LOWER HARTFELL.) 








D*.| Zone of Cœxograprus Graciuis, Hall. With Dicranograptus 
ramosus, var. spinosus, Dicran. Nicholsoni, Didym. sagit- 
tarius, Hall, Lasiograptus mucronatus, Hall, Didym. super- 

[ stes, Climac. antiquus, C. Scharenbergi, Dicellograptus 


D°.] sextans, Dipl. Whitfieldi, Leptograptus sp., etc. 
(GLENKILN SHALES, etc.) 


D1.—Zone of Dinymocraprus Murcuisont, Beck, with Glossograptus 
ciliatus, Emmons, Climac. perexcavatus, Lapw. 


(LLANDEILO SHALES, etc.) 





ARENIG FORMATION. 
C*%—Upper Arenig. 


*—Middle Arenig (Orthoceras 
Limestones of Sweden). 


C!.—Lower Arenig. 


C5,—Zones of Ashes and Lavas of Arenig, Shelve, and Borrow- 

dale, Cumberland. (BORROWDALE SERIES.) 

C*.—Zone of Dipymograprus Biripus, Hall. With Didym. exten- 
sus, D. Nicholsoni, Phyll. angustifolius, ete. 

2 (UPPER SKIDDAW.) 


Cl.—Zone of TETRAGRAPTUS BRYONOIDES, Hall, with Zoganograptus 


Logani, Didym. patulus, D. nitidus, Tetra. Bigsbyi, T. 


fruticosus, ete. 
(LOWER SKIDDAW.) 

















B. Tremavoc FORMATION. 
?—Upper Tremadoc. 2—Zone of Bryocrarrus K3EruLrI, Lapworth, with Clonograptus, 
Dictyonema, ete. 
(UPPER TREMADOC SLATES.) 
— Lower Tremadoc. Bl.—Zone of DicryoNEMA SOCIALE, Salter, (= D. flabelliforme, 
Eichwald) and Clonograptus. 
(LOWER TREMADOC SLATES.) 
A. Lrecura FLaGs. (UPPER.) Zones of OLENUS SPINULOSUS and O. SCARABEOIDES. 





| 


Leon das 


FROM LOWER PALÆOZOIC ROCKS. 


TABLE A.—Continued. 


188 


several Graptolitic Zones illustrated in a collection of Graptolites forwarded March, 1886, by the Director of the 
Lapworth for identification and study. 








AMERICAN FORMATIONS AND GRAPTOLITIC ZONES. 


GRAPTOLITIC ZONES, 


Illustrated by recent Geological Survey collections 


rom Quebee, Ste. Anne, Gaspé, ete. 





Graptolitie Zones, New York 
Stat 


e. 


Graptolitie Zones, Canada. 


Graptolitie Zones recognised in Strata 
of Quebec, Orleans I-land, Marsouin 
River, and down to Cape Rosier, 
Gaspé. 














E1.—Graprozimo SHALES of Citadel 
Hill, Quebec, St. John’s, Nfld., 
and N. end of Orleans Island, 
with Diplograptus foliaceus, 
Murch. (var. 1), Climae. bieornis, 
H., Dicran., sp., and Corynoides 
calycularis . 





D*) Canocrartus Zones. Shales of 
Griffin Cove, Marsouin River, 
Little Méchin River, Cap Rouge 
(Quebec), Fox and Magdalene 
Rivers, etc., with Didymograp- 
tus sagittarius, H., Lept. tenuis, 
H., Can. gracilis, H., Dicell. 
sextans, H., D. intortus, Lapw., 
Dieranogr. ramosus, H. (vars.), 
Lasiogr. mucronatus, H., Dipl. 
Whittieldi, H., Dipl. foliaceus, 

D2) Murch. (vars.) 








oe o 
= 5 
Q S 
Fa = 
longs io) 
RME ea 
NE a 
Sa > Z 
= ae E°.—Lorraine Slates of New 2—Utica Slate of Jlake St. ee 
mS York, with Amphigr. John, with Leptograptus z & 
eo A radiatus, H., D. foli- flaccidus, Orth. quadrimu- = & 
a aceus, Murch. cronatus, ete. AA 
q E*.—Utica Slate of neighbour- = 
E1.—Utica Slates of Oxtungo hood of Ottawa, with a 
4 Creek, INES, with D. Lept. flaceidus, L. annec- 2 
iS pristis, H., C. bicornis, tans, Dipl. pristis, Climac. 
al H., Dicran. ramosus, bicornis, ete. BS = 
= Didym. serratulus (?) ra S 
= © 
A 
A 
D 
El 
7 iS! 
< Æ 
ka 38 D*.—Graptolitic Shales of Nor- D*.—Graptolitice Shales of Mar- a er. 
HO manskill, near Albany souin River, with Dicran. al is 
ej = Valley of Hudson River, ramosus, H., Didym. ser- Ê iS] 
[=i] with Dicran. ramosus, ratulus, H., Dicell. sex- < A 
td = Dicell. furcatus, Didym. tans, H , ete. | 3 
iS} serratulus, H., Dipl. mu- aes 
= ; Bae 
= eronatus, Dicell.  sex- RQ 
= tans, D. divaricatus, H., = 
Climac. bicornis, Crypt. a 
mareidus, H. 
C2, /Graptolitie Shales of = 
. Pt. Levis, with Zogan- N oH 
> ograptus Logani, Clon. < = 
> rigidus, Phyll. Anna, = = 
= Z P. tupus, Tetra. bryo- © 
D <q nowles, T. fruticosus, 
(a) ete. 
© 
= A 
< A 
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aa E 
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= © = H 
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C1).—Peyitiocrartus Zone. Shales 
of Ste. Anne River (three miles 
above) with Phyll. Anna, H., 
Tetragr. fruticosus, H., Didym. 
extensus, H., etc. 





Bl.—DicTYONEMA SOCIALE Zone (A). 
Shales of Cape Rosier, Little 
Whale River, Grand Méchin 
Point, with Bryograptus, sp., 
Staurograptus, Clonograptus, 
Dictyonema sociale, Salt. 


Drorxonema Zone (B). Shales of 
Barrasois River, Cape Breton 
Island, with Dietyonema sociale, 
Salter, and Olenideæ. 


OtpHAmIA Zone. Purple Shales 
of Farnham, with Oldhamia, 
sp., like O. radiata. 








C. LAPWORTH ON GRAPTOLITES. 


184 











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= Fa |) eee NE) Se = 
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rin icin ee : : balls ane E To on LPC EE EG AE 2 En ES tayo foe ae ‘I o6 db dUU DB Dans YDIAT ‘SHE[NO TO SOplOU AIO) 
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+ NE Ole dos|l 0 : De : 9 : 6 Wo é oll) sore is à tft fesses 77 ‘symvorxordue : a 
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A : * + | oe 5 Nono Ê . .… th oftres eres ter fsuyeroseyqquu snyder8oqewel 
0 . Do : + : : * |. .… - : | te fans many à seysiedns 
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aA E |) ee Poet Ser SNS EN EN EN MN OS a NE Tae RSA 
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‘(oaaaad) aon0y 


dv) GNV (44SVL)) WAISOY FAV NGTMIAA SHOOY Wow SHLTTOLA VAL) zo 


q@ tay I 


HONVA IVOILUTA DNIMGHY 


Trans.R.5.C., 1886. LARAMIE PLANTS. .- Sec. IV. Platel. 



























































LM. Lamte, del. THE BURLAND LITHO GRAPHIC. CO. MONTREAL 
Fig. 1. Davallia tenuifolia. Fig. 2. Equisetum (root.) Fig. 3. Thuja interrupta. 
Fig. 4. Fruitef the same. Fig. 5. Taxites Olriki. Fig. 6. Lemna scutata. Fig. 7: Platanus nobilis (reduced). 
Fig. 8. Castanea. Fig. 9. Populus arctica, var. Fig. 10. Salix Laramiana. 





ie 


Mrans R-S-C:,1866. LARAMIE RLANEFS ET Y »  Sec,lV. Platell. 























LM. Lamte, de/. ‘ THE BURLAND LITHOCRAPHIC,CO. MONTREAL. 


Fig. 11. Ulmus preecursor. Fig. 12. Sassafras Burpeana. Fig. 13. Sassafras Selwynii. 
Fig. 14 Viburnum Calgarianum. Fig. 15. V.oxycoccoides. Fig. 16. Aesculus antiqua. 
Fig. 17. Symphorocarpophyllum Albertum. Fig. 18. S. Linnæiforme. 

Fig. 19. Trapa borealis. Fig. 20. Phyllites. 

Note.—Fig. 14. This species is near to W. Nordenskiold?, Heer. Figs. 15 and 19 (b.) are partially restored. 





Trans. R. S. C., 1886. 








# 
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en 1892: 





a) 





To illustrate Prof. Penhallow’s paper on the Mechanism of Movement. 


Sec. IV. Plate III. 


=e À ru 


UN 
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a 71 EN v4 4 4 . a 
; NS \ wa 
ne Pare ge ae NO st eee 


NEWPORT ON 
ye \ fo \ 
\ 


Ps. { Natugay History | he ree 
rans. R. S. C., : À “a ec. IV. : 
| +: SOCIETY. # : 


— 
soe 














ny 





(} 
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ae 











To illustrate Prof. Penhallow’s paper on the Mechanism of Movement. 





DES 
rares. 
=. 


È NEW P CA ve 


Natura History | 
ig SOCLEALY. Bec. IV. Plate V. 





oe 
SR 





a 


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mue 


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ms To illustrate Prof. Penhallow’s paper on the Mechanism of Movement. 






re 


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Trans. K.S. C., 1886. DEVONIAN FISHES. Sec. IV. Plate VI. 





awa / 
6b. _ 6b, 


L. M. LAMBE, DEL. 





FTERICHTHYS (BUTHRIOLEPIS) CANADENSIS, Whiteaves. 


Fic. 1.— Upper surface, to show the shape and arrangement of the plates, the sculpture being purposely omitted. The numbers 
on the plates correspond as far as practicable to those of Pander’s restoration of Pterichthys. 


Fic. 2.—Enlarged representation of Plate 64, the shaded portion being intended to show its downward deflection. 
F iG. 3.—Posterior articulating or semi-articulating surface of the cranial shield as viewed from below. 





ha. 


Trans. KR. S. C., 1886. DEVONIAN FISHES, 


R L. M. LAMBE, DEL. 
fs 





Sec. IV. Plate VII. 





PTERICHTHYS (BOUTHRIOLEFIS) CANADENSIS, Whitsavas. 


Fic. 1.—Under surface to show the shape and arrangement of the plates. 


Fic. 2,—-End view of the combined dorsal and ventral body shields in outline as seen from behind. 
represents the tail opening. 


The inner continuous line 





rans. RSC: 1880: DEVONIAN FISHES. Secs Nem late Walle 























PERT eee) (SER e ie eis); ANA: 











ENSIS, Whiteaves, 





Upper surface of a specimen in which the pectoral spines are not preserved. Natural size. 


ARTOTYPE, PATENTED, CANADA BANK NOTE CO., LIMITED, MONTREAL 


Mrans RSC 886! DEVONIAN FISHES. \ 2 ‘() Gea. EV--Riate IX. 
DAN jeu ay 





PIERIERTHYS (SET RRIDLE Es) PANADEN 





Lower surface of a specimen in which the pectoral spines are preserved, Natural size. 


ARTOTYPE, PATENTED; CANADA BANK NOTE CO., LIMITED, MONTREAL 


3 ° 


yaaa 


( Natugdt M: ae : 
| AL KLISTORY | 


\ * SOCIETY. « 


Trans. R. S. C., 1886. DEVONIAN FISHES. Ne a EC 


ORR Ans Teh 1003: 





/ Plate X. 







VA 
ON) 4; ( 
l y ) 


\ ER 
AT G iy 
es > ur 
DST 
NL AT 


A 
RE ine An A 







DC ER 
hp yo NON 
Ay Ds aS \ 

Se WA 
WY ae Fe ! 


DEN, 
SSAÈEZZN IS a 
N ZI ( A 









SS Se Diy) ed : 
== 4 4 as à ihe \y 
ZEN IN 


L. M. LAMBE, DEL. 

Fig. 1.—ACANTHODES CONCINNUS.—Specimen in which the head is not preserved, nat. size. (1a). Scales from body of 
same, highly magnified. 

Fig. 2.—PHANEROPLEURON cuRTUM.—One of the original types of the species, nat. size. (2a). The largest individual known, 
one third nat. size, and shewing the lobate ventrals and one pectoral. (24). Cranial plates. (2c). Palatal teeth. (24). Scales, all 
nat. size. (2e). An isolated scale, enlarged, of the same. 


a « 


Ve RE rase" a i. 
ed LT ANNE TOP PA RAT 





qu: 
de 3 
2 


- à ee Trans RS. C. 1886. GEOLOGICAL MAP Sec. IV. Plate XI. 







MPOR 
(arr \ 
NATURAL Hist STORY 

\ \ # SOCIETY . | mee Il 
S pan ee A Cypsum ES 


(KE 
1 = 





Alon RR, 


SN 
= 
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Glengarry 
e 


CARBONIFEROUS MARINE LIMESTONE FORMATION AT EAST RIVER, PICTOU CO., N.S 
TO ILLUSTRATE MR. E. GILPIN, Jun.'s PAPER. 





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