THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, 



NEW SERIES. DECADE V. VOL. VI. 



No. XIL — DECEMBER, 1909. 



I. — Eminent Living Geologists. 



William Boyd Dawkins, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. 



(WITH A PORTRAIT, PLATE XXX.) 



WILLIAM BOYD DAWKINS, who has recently resigned the 

 Professorsliip of Geology and Palaeontology at the Manchester 

 University, belongs to the comparatively rare, and now dwindling, 

 group of naturalists who have extended their energies across the 

 borderlands of their main subjects, and have become recognized as 

 authorities also in neighbouring territories. If Boyd Dawkins had 

 not been famous in the realm of Geology, he would still have been 

 a prominent figure among anthropologists and archaeologists ; and if 

 he had not established for himself a name among those whose researches 

 have enriched the data and philosophy of science, he would still have 

 been prominent as a teacher, an organizer, and a public-spirited citizen. 

 Forty years ago, when there were two small collections of natural- 

 history objects in Manchester, the late Professor Huxley nominated 

 young Dawkins as the man with the requisite amount of energy, 

 business capacity, and scientific knowledge to organize a central 

 institution, which now, under the control of the new University of 

 Manchester, is an institution of importance as much to the student 

 who requires reference materials as to the general public. Although 

 the Manchester Museum has now attained dimensions requiring the 

 superintendence by specialists in the three main branches of Natural 

 History, the organization is the direct outcome of its first Curator, 

 through whose influence mainly the money required for buildings has 

 been obtained, and through whose attraction unique collections of 

 materials have been secured. 



In 1874 Dawkins was elected to the Chair of Geology in the then 

 young College founded by the munificence of John Owens. Here he 

 soon proved an attractive and inspiring teacher, supplementing the 

 college lectures by practical demonstrations in the field. He imbued 

 a long series of students with enthusiasm for geological work, and 

 among them are many who have subsequently advanced the science 

 by original research. His summer courses of field-excursions were 

 open to others besides his ordinary students, and thus drew to 

 Geology many amateurs who were members of the local societies. 

 Although he resigned the Professorship last year, Dawkins still 

 remains an active member of the controlling Committee of the 



DECADE V. — VOL. VI. — NO. XII. 34 



