94 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



stances, but who, despite these economic discoveries, died in poverty j 

 Mr. Justice Dodd, who tilled for many years an important place in Nova 

 Scotia politics on the Tory side, a ^rcat lover of out-door sports, a loyal 

 supporter of lîritish connection and a firm believer in the federal union 

 and a conscientious occupant of the judicial bench to which his family 

 have given three members, including himself; Reverend George Hill, so 

 conscientious in the utterance of his evangelical views, so well versed in 

 the masterpieces of English literature ; Judge Murshall, a veteran of 

 strict temperance views when frequent drinking was too much in vogue, 

 a religious essaj'ist deeply versed in biblical lore, and also a Jurist and 

 legal writer of ability in times when such a book as Marshall's "Justice 

 of the Peace" was simply invaluable to illiterate communities, entirely 

 destitute of libraries ; Beamish Murdoch, whose stiff antiquated figure in 

 rust}' black was long familiar to the residents of Halifax, and illustrative 

 of the indifférence to personal appearance of an old student ever poring 

 over musty archives, from which he compiled three octavo volumes, 

 which cannot be dignified by the name of a History of Nova Scotia but, 

 like Prince's Chronology or Holmes's Annals of America, offers abundant 

 materials for the writing of an interesting historical narrative. 



And as I revise in print these closing words, another eminent Nova 

 Scotian, Sir William Dawson, whose name is intimately associated with 

 the educational progress and the scientific lore of Canada, must also be 

 placed among those Builders of the Past, whose memories I have feebly 

 attempted to recall in these page^. Sir William Dawson occupied for 

 several years the position of superintendent oi education of his native pro- 

 vince, and was subsequently chosen ])rincipal of Mc(îill University which 

 largely owes its success as a leading scientific institution of this continent 

 to his great energy, administrative ability, and thorough knowledge. He 

 was a voluminous writer on science, but his fame will chiefly rest on his 

 Acadian Geology, which, for lucidity of style and thoroughness of inves- 

 tigation, occupies a high place among the scientific writings of this 

 century.* 



1 Judge Marshall, who was the first judjjje appointed to Cape Breton after its 

 annexation to Nova Scotia in 1820, has left Itehind him a short monograph giving 

 his personal reminiscences of the hardships and dilliculties that attended a judicial 

 circuit in those days, "when large portions of my journeys were performed in 

 Indian canoes, in which I have sometimes i)asscd the greater part or the whole of 

 the night, occasionally paddling to lessen chilliness and to aflFord the poor, tired 

 squaw a partial relief." The old judge -he died in his ninety-fourth year— describes 

 the lawless elements that existed for years during his judicial term in this then 

 sparsely settled island, which is now the resort of tourists attracted by its pictur- 

 esque .scenery and historic associations, and is al)oi)t to become the headcjuarters of 

 great iron works in connection with its collieries, whose annual product is very 

 large and steadily on the increase. See "The late Judge Marshall, or the record of 

 an earnest life," by J. G. Bourinot (a grandson on his mother's side), in "Canadian 

 Monthly," 188() ; al.so "Personal Narratives, witii Uellections and Remarks," l)y J 

 G. Marshall, Halifax, N.S., imi. 



" His able son, Dr. George M. Daw.son, C.M.G., F.R.S., who is also a native of 

 Pictou, is the Director of the Geological Survey of Canada. 



