104 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



then to suggest the best mode of applying its endowment for the 

 educational needs of the province. This amendment was carried, 

 and being concurred in by the Legislative Council, it received the 

 assent of the Governor at the close of the session. 



The Commissioners appointed were Hon. John H. Gray, Hon. 

 John Simcoe Saunders, Hon. James Brown, Dr. Egerton Ryerson and 

 Prof. J. William Dawson. The two gentlemen last named were at 

 that time the Superintendents of Education of Upper Canada and of 

 Nova Scotia respectively, and were evidently recommended by Sir 

 Edmund Head as members of the commission. We are told by Dr. 

 Dawson that when on a geological excursion with his friend Sir Charles 

 Lyell in the year 1852, he was introduced to Sir Edmund Head, the 

 Governor of New Brunswick, who was much occupied at the time 

 with the state of education in that province, and in particular with 

 that of its provincial university and in 1854, he says: — 



"He invited me, along with the late Dr. Ryerson, to be a member of a commission 

 which had been appointed to suggest means for the improvement of the provincial 

 University. This work was scarcely finished when Sir Edmund was promoted 

 Governor-General of Canada, where, under the new charter granted to McGill 

 College in 1852, he became Visitor of that University. As he was known to be 

 a man of pronounced literary and scientific tastes, and an active worker in the 

 reforms then recently carried out in the English Universities, the Governors of 

 McGill naturally counted on his aid in the arduous struggle upon which they had 

 entered. Accordingly soon after Sir Edmund's arrival, a deputation of the Board 

 waited upon him, and one of the subjects on which they asked his advice was the 

 filling of the office of Principal of McGill, which was still vacant. Sir Edmund 

 mentioned my name as that of a suitable person. At first, as one of them afterwards 

 admitted to me, they were somewhat disconcerted. They were desirous to follow 

 Sir Edmund's counsel, but with his knowledge of the available men in England, 

 of some of whom they had already heard, they were somewhat surprised that he 

 should name a comparatively unknown colonist." 



The circumstance here recorded by Sir William Dawson,^ links 

 in a very interesting way the new era at McGill and that at the Uni- 

 versity of New Brunswick. 



Doctor Brydone-Jack speaks very appreciatively of the work of 

 the Commissioners of 1854. He specially mentions "the eminent 

 educationists. Dr. Dawson and Dr. Ryerson" and quotes from their 

 report to the legislature the following notable paragraph : — 



"New Brunswick would be retrograding, and would stand out in unenviable 

 contrast with every civilized country in both Europe and America did she not 

 continue to provide an institution in which her own youth could acquire a collegiate 

 education, such as would enable them to meet on equal terms, and hold intercourse 

 with the liberally educated men of other countries. New Brunswick would cease 

 to be regarded with affection and pride by her offspring should any of them be com- 



' Sir William Dawson was the first president of the Royal Society of Canada. 



