554 PROCEEDINGS OP THE WASHINGTON MEETING 



to be revived by him in 1871, and developed into the present faculty of 

 applied science of McGill University, with its numerous departments, 

 its full stall' of instructors, and excellent equipment. Sir William, fur- 

 thermore, never hesitated, if funds were not forthcoming in sufficient 

 amount for these purposes, to subscribe large sums out of his own lim- 

 ited private means, and he was also the continual helper of needy 

 students desiring to avail themselves of the university's teaching. 



Sir William received the degree of M. A. from the University of Edin- 

 burgh in 1856 and the degree of LL. D. from the same university in 1884. 

 His attainments and the value of his contributions to science were widely 

 recognized, and he was elected an honorary or corresponding member of 

 many learned societies on both sides of the Atlantic. He was made a 

 Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1854 and of the Royal 

 Society in 1862. He was the first president of the Royal Society of 

 Canada, and has occupied the same position in the Geological Society 

 of America and in both the American and British Associations for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



In 1883 he attended the meeting of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, at Southport, in the interest of the meeting in 

 Montreal in the following year, and spent the ensuing winter in Egypt 

 and Syria studying the geology of those countries, more especially in 

 its relation to sacred history, and accumulated much information on 

 this subject, which appeared later in his book entitled " Modern Science 

 in Bible Lands," as well as in other books and papers which he pub- 

 lished subsequently. 



He took an active part in the organization and proceedings of the 

 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 

 Montreal in 1884, on the occasion of which he received the honor of 

 knighthood. 



In 1893 Sir William was seized with a very severe attack of pneu- 

 monia, and his health became so seriouslj r impaired that he was obliged 

 to give up his work for a time and spend the winter in the southern 

 United States. His strength, however, was not restored, and he resigned 

 his position as principal of McGill University in June, 1893, and retired 

 from active work. During the later years of his life his strength grad- 

 ually ebbed away, and what little work he could undertake consisted 

 in arranging his collections and working on some unfinished papers. 

 Several of these were published in 1894 and 1895 ; but the years of quiet 

 labor in his favorite pursuits to which he looked forward at this time 

 were cut short by a series of sharp attacks, culminating in partial paral- 

 ysis, which forbade further effort. He passed away on the 19th of 

 November peacefully and without pain. 



