44 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



his strong intellect had of all problems relating- to the economic 

 and natural resources of our vast Dominion, made him master of 

 his Department and a centre of distribution of the most valuable 

 information. With a diminished staflF at his disposal, he guided 

 the Department under his care with unsparing as well as inspiring 

 efforts, and was thus producing more results and giving out more 

 information than ever before in any period of the history of the 

 Survey in all its different branches. 



With the ever increasing demands for exact information con- 

 cerning the mineral and other economic resources of Canada, with 

 the increase of labour and attention to oflficial matters, he was kept 

 more than usually busy for the past six years. Through his 

 personal efforts and that of his staff, he did much to disseminate 

 such information 'regarding Canada's mineral resources, that the 

 mining interests of the Dominion may now be said to be fairly well 

 established upon a firm and non-speculative basis. 



Dr. George Mercer Dawson was the eldest son of the late Sir 

 William Dawson who was the honoured Principal of McGill 

 University for upwards of forty-four years, and who preceded the 

 subject of this sketch by a few months only, having died in Mont- 

 real, his home, on the 19th day of November, 1899, at the advan- 

 ced age of 79. 



" Doctor George," as he was wont to be called, was born in 

 the town of Pictou, Nova Scotia, Aug. ist, 1849. His early training 

 was at the Montreal High School, then subsequently, at home 

 under tutors, and in McGill University, where however, he did not 

 graduate, but went to Edinburgh and London. There he carried on 

 studies and researches in Mining and Geology, especially at the 

 Royal School of Mines, London, from 1869 to 1872, carrying off 

 the highest honours of his class and the Duke of Cornwall's prize 

 in his year, also the Edward Forbes gold medal for paleontology, 

 ranking first, and subsequently became an "Associate of the Royal 

 School of Mines," a much coveted title. 



On his return to Canada he spent some time investigating the 

 copper and iron deposits of Nova Scotia, his native province, and 

 later lectured in Morrin Col'ege. In 1873, he was appointed 

 geologist and botanist to Her Majesty's British North American 

 boundary commission, of which Major D. R. Cameron, R.A., was 



