6 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
have his special sphere of activity. Mine has been the study of nature, 
more especially in those by-gone aspects which it is the province of 
geology to investigate. My only other special qualification for my 
present position depends on the circumstance that the wants of my 
native province have induced me to devote much time to inquiries and 
pursuits relating to popular education. I come to you, therefore, as 
a naturalist and an educationalist, trusting that | may be enabled in 
these capacities to render myself useful, and asking for my youth and 
present inexperience in the affairs of this Institution your kind indul- 
gence, and for the work in which I shall be engaged your zealous 
co-operation.” 
The University as he found it had three faculties and but sixteen 
professors, a number of whom gave only a portion of their time to 
university work, while the buildings and equipment were wretched. 
When it is stated that the University has now one hundred and thirty 
professors and instructors of various grades, and an equipment which 
is in all departments fairly good and in some of them unsurpassed, some 
idea may be gained of the progress which the institution made under 
Sir William Dawson’s care and guidance. The Peter Redpath Museum 
is in itself a monument to his untiring energy, for its collections were 
brought together almost entirely by his unaided effort. 
As Professor of Natural Science, Sir William at this time delivered 
courses in Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Geology. Natural Science 
became a very favourite study among the students, for he was an excel- 
lent lecturer, and his enthusiasm for these studies was communicated 
to all who heard him. As years went on the instruction in the first 
three of these subjects was undertaken by others, and a special Chair 
of Geology and Paleontology was endowed by his life-long friend and 
co-worker, Sir William Logan; a chair which he held until his final 
retirement. His teaching work, however, onerous as it might seem to 
a man of ordinary strength, represented but a small part of his daily 
labours. In addition to administering the affairs of the University 
he was first and foremost in every movement to further education in 
the province of Quebec and no educational board was complete without 
him. He was the Honorary President of the Natural History Society, 
and never missed a meeting or a field day, and also identified himself 
closely with many other societies in Montreal, sparing neither time nor 
labour on their behalf. 
Over and above all this he found time to carry out original work 
along several lines, achieving most valuable results—as well as to write 
many popular works on science, more especially in its relation to 
religion. Original investigation he always considered to be one of the 
