PROCEEDINGS FOR 1917 V 



gies into the campaign for increased production and thrift. His 

 untimely death at this critical period was little short of a public cala- 

 mity. 



In Dr. James there were combined in a singularly happy manner 

 the clear-eyed vision of the practical man with the tastes and habits 

 of the scholar. His knowledge of Canadian history was both ex- 

 tensive and exact, and in certain of its phases and periods he was an 

 acknowledged authority. His private library along some lines was 

 remarkably complete, in fact, probably unequalled in Canada. His 

 unique collection of Canadian poetry was presented during his life- 

 time to the Library of Victoria College, and his large collection of 

 books on Tennyson was bequeathed to the same institution. 



Dr. James was not without honour in his own country. In 1911 

 his name was included in the list of Coronation Honours, when he 

 was created Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. 

 The following year the University of Toronto conferred upon him the 

 degree of LL.D., Honoris Causa. Various offers of preferment — 

 political, professional, academic and financial came to him from time 

 to time, but all of these he declined, since their acceptance meant 

 more or less of a severance from what he considered his life work. 

 Anticipating the teaching of some of the modern exponents of social 

 reconstruction, he early recognized that "creativeness" rather than 

 "possession" should be the goal of our common endeavour, and, true 

 to this ideal, he spent his life unselfishly for the common good of 

 the people of Canada. 



George Christian Hoffmann. 



George Christian Hoffmann, LL.D., F.I.C., M.M.S., F.R.S.C, 

 formerly assistant Director of, and Chemist and Mineralogist to 

 the Geological Survey of Canada, Curator of the Mineralogical 

 Section of the Museum of that Institution, was born in London, 

 England, on the 7th June, 1837. He received his early education 

 in his home, and in private academies in England, and continued 

 the same in Darmstadt, Germany, under Frederick Haas; and later 

 at the Provinzial-Realschule of that Town. 



In 1853 Dr. Hoffmann entered the Royal School of Mines, Jermyn 

 Street, London, under the Directorship of Sir Henry de la Beche, and 

 received instruction from Prof. A. W. Hoffmann, F.R.S., in Chemistry, 

 from Dr. John Percy, F.R.S., in Metallurgy, from Sir Warington W. 

 Smyth, F.R.S., in Mining and Mineralogy, from Sir George G. Stokes 

 (Baronet), F.R.S., etc. in Physics, from Sir Andrew C. Ramsay, 

 F.R.S., in Geology, from the Right Hon. T. H. Huxley. F.R.S., in 



