XII THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



He was attached to several expeditions into Hudson Bay, and 

 was able through his knowledge of conditions in Hudson straits to 

 furnish the government with a great deal of valuable information 

 when the question arose of a railway to Hudson Bay and the naviga- 

 tion of the straits. He was medical officer and geologist to the 

 "Neptune" expedition in 1884 and the "Alert" expedition of 1885. 

 Again when on the "Diana" expedition in 1897, he surveyed the 

 south shore of Baffinland and penetrated that island to the great 

 lakes of its interior. 



During his numerous explorations he naturally came in contact 

 with many tribes of Indians and was deeply interested in their cus- 

 toms, folk lore and archaeology. This was one of his chief recreations, 

 and his collection of native legends numbers several hundreds. He 

 thoroughly understood the mind of the Indians, and by his intelligent 

 treatment of them was able to gain their confidence so that at Grand 

 Lake, Quebec, he was made an honorary chief of the Algonquin 

 Indians of that district. 



Dr. Bell was deeply interested in forestry, and during his long 

 journeys had an excellent opportunity to study the geographical 

 distribution of Canadian forest trees. As early as 1873, he prepared 

 a large map showing the northern limits of the principal trees in the 

 four original provinces of the Dominion. Later he published a map 

 to accompany the report of the Geological Survey for 1879-80 which 

 showed the northern range of the trees east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 This was supplemented in 1897 by another map, giving much addi- 

 tional information compiled from observations of his own and data 

 furnished by his colleagues and other travellers. 



In recognition of his contributions to our knowledge of the geog- 

 raphy of Canada Dr. Bell was awarded the King's or "Patron's Gold 

 Medal" of the Royal Geographical Society in 1906. In the same 

 year he was the recipient of the "Cullum Gold Medal" from the 

 American Geographical Society and was the first Canadian to receive 

 that honour. He was the Canadian correspondent to the "Royal 

 Scottish Geographical Society" and to "la Société de Géographie" 

 of France. 



Besides the degrees received in course at McGill University, 

 B.A.Sc, 1861; M.D., CM., 1878; D.Sc, 1901; Dr. Bell was the 

 recipient of many honorary degrees from other universities. Queen's 

 University bestowed on him her LL.D. degree in 1883, and Cambridge 

 University honoured him with the degree of D.Sc. in 1903. 



The scientific societies with which he was associated included the 

 Chemical Society, 1865; American Institute of Mining Engineers, 

 1881 ; Royal Society of Canada, 1882; Geological Society of America, 



