4lG Canadian Record of Science. 



class, obtaining tlie EdAvard Forbes medal and prize 

 in Palaeontology and Xatnral History, and the Mnrch- 

 ison medal in Geology. "While at the School of ]\Iines, 

 he paid special attention to the stndy of geology 

 under Ramsay, Huxley, and Etheridge, but also 

 devoted much time to chemistry and metallurgy, under 

 Erankland and Percy respectively, and to mining, 

 under Warrington Smith. Even in his holidays, he 

 was never altogether idle, and during most of the 

 summer of 1871 he was attached to the British Geo- 

 logical Survey, and worked with the late J. Clifton 

 Ward in the Cumberland Lake district. While in 

 England, he made many warm friends, with some of 

 whom he corresponded regularly for years afterwards. 

 On returning to Canada in 1872, he was engaged for 

 some months examining and reporting upon mineral 

 properties in Xova Scotia, and subsequently went to 

 Quebec, where he delivered a course of lectures on 

 chemistry at Morrin College, which was attended by 

 a large and appreciative class. In 1873, he was 

 appointed geologist and botanist to Her Majesty's 

 jSTorth American Boundary Commission, which had 

 been constituted to fix the boundary line between 

 British jSTorth America and the United States, from 

 the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky mountains, and 

 which had been carrying on its labours for about a 

 year. From early boyhood, Dawson had been keenly 

 interested in travel and exploration, and in the 

 Canadian jS[orth-West he saw a region ready to yield 

 up a rich harvest of discovery. There was the charm 

 of novelty afforded by a well-nigh untrodden field, and 

 the many hardships to be encountered only seemed to 

 lend attractions to the expedition. In those days, no 

 Canadian trains rolled across the continent. Fort 



