DAVY 



1714 



DAWSON 



League. His parents had been evicted from 

 their home for non-payment of rent when he 

 was a child. This event embittered his whole 

 life, and aroused in him a hatred of everything 

 English. While working in a cotton mill in 

 Lancashire he lost his right arm. He found 

 work, however, in a printing office and edu- 

 cated himself in his spare time. He visited 

 America several times to obtain assistance in 

 the organization of the Land League, and in 

 1870 was sentenced to fifteen years' imprison- 

 ment for bringing arms into Ireland. Liberated 

 in 1877, he still continued his bitter campaign 

 against landlordism and was again imprisoned. 

 He was elected to Parliament on several occa- 

 sions, but was refused admission. Later he 

 was returned unopposed, but bankruptcy ne- 

 cessitated his resignation. He was a prolific 

 writer, but his bitterness shows clearly in all 

 his works. His writings include Defense of the 

 Land League and Leaves from a Prison Diary. 

 DAVY, da'vi, SIR HUMPHRY (1778-1829), an 

 English chemist whose invention of a safety 

 lamp for use in mines is one of the greatest 

 gifts of science to mankind. At the age of 

 twenty-two he was appointed lecturer to the 

 Royal Institution of London, and a year later 

 was made its professor of chemistry. His re- 

 searches and experiments gained for him a 

 great reputation. At a time when England 

 and France were at war he was invited to visit 

 the latter country, and there he was received 

 with the greatest respect. He was knighted and 

 married a lady of great wealth, and was thus 

 enabled to devote all his energies to scientific 

 research. He decomposed potash, soda and 

 strontia and set free the metals which form the 

 base of this large group of compounds. This 

 achievement placed him above all other chem- 

 ists of his time. After thoroughly investigating 

 fire damp, he produced the Davy lamp, which 

 made miners comparatively safe from explo- 

 sions. 



DAW SON, or DAWSON CITY, the seat of 

 government for Yukon Territory and the com- 

 mercial center of the Klondike region. It is 

 located on the right bank of the Yukon River, 

 at its confluence with the Klondike. It is 

 about fifty miles east of the Alaska boundary, 

 and 360 miles in a straight line northwest of 

 Skagway. A railway is in operation to Bo- 

 nanza, twelve miles distant. During the sum- 

 mer months steamers run from Dawson to 

 White Horse, 4pO miles southeast, the head 

 of navigation on the Yukon River and the 

 terminus of the White Pass and Yukon Rail- 



way, and in winter there is connection over- 

 land by sleighs and stage coaches. 



Dawson owes its existence to the discovery 

 of gold on Bonanza Creek on August 16, 1896. 

 A town sprang up almost over night, and when 

 the gold rush was at its height its population 

 was not far from 20,000. The town is still 

 the receiving and supply center for the Klon- 

 dike, and in many ways is a typical mining cen- 

 ter, though there has never been, even in the 

 feverish days of 1896 and 1897, lawlessness and 

 violence to the extent usually characteristic of 

 such communities. Order is maintained by the 

 Royal Northwest Mounted Police. Dawson 

 was incorporated in 1899, surrendered its char- 

 ter in 1903, and was again incorporated in 1914. 

 It was named for George M. Dawson, a dis- 

 tinguished Canadian geologist (see below). 

 Population, 1911, 3,013; 1916, about 4,000. G.B. 



DAWSON, SIR JOHN WILLIAM (1820-1899), a 

 Canadian geologist and educator, for nearly 

 forty years principal of McGill University, 

 which attained high rank under .his administra- 

 tion. He was born of Scotch parents at Pictou, 

 in Nova Scotia, and went to Scotland to study 

 at the University of Edinburgh, from which 

 he was graduated in 1842. After his return to 

 Canada in that year he accompanied Sir 

 Charles Lyell on several geological expeditions, 

 and made a special study of the fossil forests 

 of the coal measures of Nova Scotia. From 

 1850 to 1853 he was superintendent of educa- 

 tion for that province, and in 1855 became pro- 

 fessor of geology and principal of McGill 

 University, which became, largely through his 

 efforts, one of the leading universities of Amer- 

 ica. Though he did not resign this position 

 until 1893, he found time to write a score of 

 of books and scientific monographs. In the field 

 of Canadian geology he became a recognized 

 authority. Among his published works are 

 Acadian Geology; Air-Breathers of the Coal 

 Period; The Dawn of Life; The Canadian Ice 

 Age, and The Story of the Earth and Man. 

 Dawson was the first president of the Royal 

 Society of Canada. 



His son, GEORGE MERCER DAWSON (1849- 

 1901), was also distinguished as a geologist and 

 explorer. He was born at Pictou, and was 

 educated at McGill University and the Royal 

 School of Mines, London. In 1873 he was 

 appointed geologist and naturalist to the North 

 American Boundary Commission, and in 1875 

 became a member of the staff of the geological 

 survey of the Dominion, later becoming assist- 

 ant director and in 1895 its director. He was 



