THE 



ca:^adia.n eecoed 



OF SCIE]^CE. 



VOL. VIII. 



JANUARY, 1902. 



No. 



George Mercer DAWsoiNT. 

 By Berxard J. Harrixgtox, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D. 



The widespread expressions of deep regret and per- 

 sonal loss following the death of Dr. G. M. Dawson 

 show that his was no ordinary life. Called away while 

 in his prime, and with a past which gave promise of 

 great achievements yet to come, he has left a blank 

 which will not soon be filled. 



Dr. Dawson was the second son of the late Sir J. 

 W. Dawson, and was born on the 1st of Angust, 1849, 

 in Pictou, jSTova Scotia. In 1855 his father, who had 

 for some years been acting as Superintendent of 

 Education for ^ova Scotia, received the appointment 

 of principal of McGill University, Montreal, and with 

 his family took up his residence there. Instead of the 

 magnificent structures of to-day, there were then on the 

 college grounds only two "" unfinished and partly ruin- 

 ous buildings, standing amid a wilderness of excavat- 

 ors' and masons' rubbish, overgrown with weeds and 

 bushes. The grounds were unfenced and pastured at 

 will by herds of cattle, which not only cropped the 



* Fifty years of work in Canada — Autobiographical notes bv Sir 

 William Dawson, p. 98. 

 31 



UBRAR\ 



NEW Yor-- 



BOtANIC 

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