[2] As a pupil there, Adams received a classical education, and his knowledge of Latin was valuable later in life in his historical studies.

"[4] He graduated with first class honors in Applied Science in 1878, then spent a year at the Yale Scientific School, where he studied German, French, and mineralogy.

[5] He received a leave of absence to spend at least part of two years in Heidelberg, studying with Harry Rosenbusch, who by that time was the acknowledged master of microscopic petrography of igneous rocks.

Diller, both of whom later became leading American petrologists, as well as Victor Goldschmidt and (Carl) Alfred Osann (1859–1923), who became famous geochemists in Europe.

At the same time, Adams was also studying the peculiar petrological characteristics of a group of alkaline intrusions of much later geological age (now known to be Early Cretaceous), called by him the "Monteregian Hills."

This work would be continued by his students, notably Joseph Austin Bancroft (1882-1957),[8] who succeeded Adams as Logan Professor at McGill.

[9] Inspired by his observations on the flow of metamorphosed limestones in the Grenville, Adams began a series of pioneer experimental studies of the physical properties of rocks at high pressures and temperatures, carried out in collaboration with John Thomas Nicholson, Professor of Engineering at McGill.