MEMOIR OF SIR J. WILLIAM DAWSON 553 



assumed the principalship of McGill University, stipulating at the same 

 time that the chair of natural history should be assigned to him. 



The university as he found it had three faculties and but sixteen pro- 

 fessors, a number of whom gave only a portion of their time to univer- 

 sity work, while the buildings and equipment were wretched. When it 

 is stated that the university has now one hundred and twenty pro- 

 fessors and instructors of various grades and an equipment which is in 

 all departments fairly good and in some of them unsurpassed, some 

 idea may be gained of the progress which the institution made under 

 Sir William Dawson's care and guidance. 



As professor of natural science Sir William at this time delivered 

 courses in chemistry, botany, zoology, and geology, and natural science 

 became a very favorite study among the students, for he was an excellent 

 lecturer, and his enthusiasm for these subjects was communicated to all 

 who heard him. As years went on the instruction in the first three of 

 these subjects was undertaken by others, and a special chair of geology 

 and paleontology was endowed by his old friend and co-worker, Sir 

 William Logan, a chair which he held until his final retirement. His 

 teaching work, however, formed but a small part of his daily labors. 

 In addition to administering the affairs of the university, he was first 

 and foremost in every movement to further education in the province, 

 and no educational board was complete without him. He was the 

 honorary president of the Natural History Society and never missed a 

 meeting or a field day, and also identified himself closely with many 

 other societies in Montreal, and spared neither time nor labor in their 

 behalf. 



Over and above all this he found time to carry out original work along 

 several lines, achieving most valuable results, as well as to write many 

 popular works on science, more especially in its relation to religion. 

 Original investigation he always considered to be one of the chief duties 

 and pleasures of a man of science. Most of his work along these lines 

 was done during his summer vacations ; in fact, he was led to accept 

 the position of principal in McGill chiefly by the fact that the vacations 

 gave him leisure and opportunity for work of this kind. 



He was always very progressive in his ideas relative to the scope and 

 development of university teaching, and was continually urging the 

 endowment of new chairs and the broadening of university work, so 

 that all young men wishing to train themselves for the higher walks of 

 life might in the university find their needs supplied. As an instance 

 of this it may be mentioned that so far back as 1858 he succeeded in 

 establishing a school of civil engineering, which, after a severe struggle 

 of five years, succumbed to some unfriendly legislation, only, however 



