XXXvi PROCEEDINGS. 



thanks of the Institute for calling attention to the spread of consumption 

 by contagion and its prevention by means of properly constructed 

 sanitaria, of which he exhibited a model. In the phenological observa- 

 tions of the school children, collected by Dr. MacKay, and in the 

 experiments in physics and chemistry conducted by Messrs. Barnes. and 

 Lindsay promising young students of Dalhousie College we see 

 hopeful signs of a reviving interest for science in iS r ova Scotia. Mr. 

 Piers has favored us with " No. 5 of Notes on Nova Scotia Zoology." 

 Dr. Mackay, who is our only authority on the Diatomaceae of Nova 

 Scotia, has awakened a fresh interest in one of his favorite studies by 

 another paper reporting progress, and by exhibiting excellent micro- 

 scopic slides of our principal diatoms. 



Upon the whole, then, the work of the year has been of very 

 considerable interest and of some scientific importance. 



We have added to our numbers two ordinary members, one corres- 

 ponding member and three associate members. We record with sorrow 

 the death in September of one. of our oldest and most faithful members, 

 Mr. J. J. Fox. He was born in Salisbury, England, in 1818. He 

 studied medicine, but preferred a seafaring life, and spent many years 

 full of adventure in Egypt, Greece, the West Indies and South 

 America. In 1852 he was appointed by the Imperial Government 

 comptroller of customs and navigation laws at Magdalen Islands. 



A faithful performance of duties soon led to advancement, and for 

 many years he was familiarly known as " governor." He was charac- 

 terized by modesty, bravery and humanity. For valuable services to 

 shipwrecked mariners he was presented by the President of the United 

 States with a magnificent gold watch valued at $1,000. His intimate 

 knowledge of the fisheries made him a most valuable witness before the 

 Halifax fishery commission in 1877. After retiring from the civil 

 service he lived in Halifax, joined the Institute, and seldom missed a 

 meeting. 



To-;lay brings us sad tidings of the death yesterday of Sir William 

 Dawson, the most distinguished member of our Institute and the most 

 eminent scientific man in Canada. He was born in Pictou in 1820. 

 At a very early age he began his studies in natural history, thereby 

 cultivating his powers of observation, and thus laying the foundation 

 for his remarkable achievements in geology subsequently. His success 

 in this respect is a good argument in favor of the early introduction into 

 our course of study of science teaching. 



