Canadian amateur geologist from New Brunswick who had merely a grammar school education but became one of the first to find a major type locality for a very important Precambrian fossils-the masterstrokes. He went by George Frederic Matthew and he lived from 1837-1923. The theme of the biography could be that, at the time he lived, during the latter part of the Industrial Revolution, it was common for men to have wide interests and in fact his work was as a customs agent but he became a very good amateur paleontologist by applying himself to that subject especially in the field. In the account I read it says, "Employed as a customs agent, and not as a paleontologist, he was never able to pursue any single field of paleontology with the resources available to his colleagues" As well as describing the Archaeology acadiense masterstrokes he also found many Cambrian fossils. this showed how it is not necessarily formal training and being from a prosperous family that determines how good a natural scientist is, But really how passionate they are about their job.
It is full of his peculiar verisimilitude and has all the interest of Anson's or Dampier's voyages, with a charm of style superior to even that of the latter.
