Specimen Collections from Abraham Gesner's Geological Survey of New Brunswick (1838 to 1842)

摘要

Abraham Gesner (1797-1864), the first government-appointed geologist in a British colony, developed a collection of rocks, minerals and fossils organized for scientific study that was more than simply a collector's curiosity cabinet. While his public museum was meant to show a variety of specimens representing the geological sciences, his New Brunswick collection was built largely for reference and documentation to support the geological survey of the Province that he conducted from 1838 to 1842. The collection of Gesner's specimens at the New Brunswick Museum can be matched to the localities that he visited and described in his five reports, published from 1839 to 1843. Gesner's collection of New Brunswick specimens likely represents the second oldest government geological survey collection in the British Empire.