Reading the Rocks: The Story of the Geological Survey of Canada, 1842–1972 by Morris Zaslow (review)

REVIEWS 323 ReadingtheRocks: TheStoryof theGeological Surveyof Canada,•842-•972. MORRIS ZASI•OW. Toronto,Macmillan,i975. Pp.599,maps, illus.$25.00. From its foundingin i842 throughthe remainderof the nineteenthcenturythe GeologicalSurveywasthe government's premier departmentof science. It carried the responsibility for discovering Canada'svastmineralwealthand, through its displaysat internationalexhibitions,the taskof attractingthe capitalthat would financetheexploitation of thosenaturalresources. Compilingthegeological mapof Canadarather naturallyled the Surveyinto topographicalmapping.But aspracticallythesolereservoir ofscientific knowledge withinthefederalstructure, thesurvey wasadditionallycalledupon to provideinformationon suchvaried subjects as agriculture andethnology, wildlifeandwaterpower.The survey alsocarriedmuch of theburdenof Canada's scientific reputationabroad,justasit providedthecritical nucleusfor the emergenceof scientific professionalism at home. In short, the Geological Survey istheidealtopicinthehistory ofCanadian science, asubject much in needof study. The dominantthemein Professor Zaslow's bookisthe continualstruggleof the survey tostrikeabalance between thedemands of theminingindustryfor practical results - precisely wheretodig- andthedesireofscientists forananalytical modelof Canada's geology thathadgeneralpredictive power.SirWilliamLogan,directorof thesurveyfrom I842 until i869, couldachieve a satisfactory equilibriumbetween thesecontrarypositions because heenjoyedwealth,social position, politicalpower, and an internationalscientific reputation.While he neverneglectedan opportunity to pointoutthesurvey's economic valuetothecountry,Loganoperatedtheinstitutionon thepremise thatpractical applications flowedbestfrom a soundtheoretical basis.Beyondthe dreamsof mostscience administrators, he wasable to pursue intellectually rewardingresearch and simultaneously controlhisbudget.Not until thetwentiethcenturywasthereanotherto matchhimin politicalskill. AlfredSelwyn, also amanofconsiderable scientific attainments, hadchargeforthe next twenty-six years,during whichtime the surveywasincorporated into the Department of theInterioranditsheadquarters weremovedfromMontrealtothe seatof government. Whatit gainedin permanency, however,wasat thecostof its insulationfrom politicalcriticismand a lossof statusin the Ottawabureaucracy. Indeed,astheauthortellsit, underSelwyn andhisimmediatesuccessors thesurvey's history wascomposed ofcuriously anomalous elements. The exploration of atranscontinentaldomaincreateda galaxyof heroicfigures- GeorgeMercer Dawson, RobertBell,andJ.B.Tyrrell,forinstance - andelevated thesurvey toanewlevelof greatness. Butitsadministrative fortunes felleverdownward. Except,in fact,for the brief periodof R.W.Brock's directorship, theorganization washeadedbymenwho generally lackedpolitical talentor scientific imagination, or both.Furthermore, the pressures from theprivatesector for directlypractical informationonlygrewmore severe in the twentiethcentury,until bythe mid-thirties the survey's capability for long-range planningfelltoitslowest ebb.WorldWar II markeda turningpointfor the survey,however,just as it did for sciencethroughoutCanada.Spectacular post-warmineral findsand the developmentof sophisticated new techniques for 324 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW explorationandanalysis suggested the needfor areturn tolong-rangeprogrammes foundedonbasicscientific research. And asthe survey's budgetswereincreased to meetthesenewdemands,itsadministrative positionwasalsoelevated,backto the departmental status it hadenjoyedwhenLogansoadroitlymanageditsaffairs. Professor Zaslow's bookisimportantfortworeasons, ! think.It isasubstantial and detailedstudyof an importantorganization.He hastroubledhimselfto learnthe science necessary for ajudgment of the survey's activities and takenobvious pains withitsadministrative intricacies. It isnotasubtlework;theauthor'ssympathies are evidentandhisargument isunadorned. Butimplicitly if notexplicitly thebookraises anumberofinteresting issues in alittlestudied aspect ofCanadian history, andthatis itssecond virtue.To suggest onlyoneexample,theprofessionalization of science in Canadaisanimportantsubject thatwillsurelyrepayfurtherinvestigation. Forallhis lackof formal classroom training, Loganwascertainlynot an amateur,any more than CharlesLyell or CharlesDarwin, and one of the centralproblemsfor subsequentsurveyscientists wasthat theywerecaughtbetweenpoliticalpressures and the needfor recognition bytheir professional peers.Yet atthe sametimethereisa relationbetween the amateurscience of the MontrealNatural HistorySociety and political supportfor thesurvey, justasthereisarelationbetween thesurvey andthe later growthof graduatetrainingin science. Thesearethekindsof connections that Zaslow's booksuggests andthat giveit interestbeyondtheinstitutionalstoryhetells socarefully. BRUCE SINCLAIR University qfToronto Language andReligion: A HistoryofEnglish-French Conflict in Ontario.ROBF. R•' C•IOQt •F.•'•'F.. Cahiers d'histoirede l'Universitfid'Ottawa no 5. Ottawa, Universityof OttawaPress,•975. PP.264. Despite itstitle,thismonograph isnotastudyof English-French relations inOntario. Itssubject istheconflict between IrishandFrenchCanadians withinOntarioCatholicism duringthefirstquarterofthetwentieth century, anditsthesis isthatRegulation •7,theprovince's attempttorestricttheuseof Frenchasalanguage of instruction in theschool system, wasinlargemeasure aconsequence ofthatconflict. Thisposition is hardlynew,butbydrawingon a widerangeof ecclesiastical sources aswellasonthe papersof theFrenchCanadianAssociation of Ontario,Mr Choquettemakesamost convincingcase.Maintaining that Irish and French Canadians'fought sobitterly because theyweresomuchalike,'eacha minoritygroup,sensitive, defensive, and suspicious of theother,heattributesmuchof their mutualhostilityto theconservative and authoritariantraditionsthey sharedwithin Catholicism.Irish-Canadian clerics, hepointsout,'became theforemostleaders of theEnglishpartyandthemost militantapostles of repression,' whilethoseIrish Catholics whosympathized withthe Franco-Ontariancausewerealmostall laymen. Mr Choquettehasmanyinterestingthingsto sayaboutintra-Catholicstrife.Of coursehe devotes muchattentionto the fiery Bishopof London,M.F. Fallon,but ...