378 SKETCH OF PALEOBOTANY. 



His reports upon "The Fossil Plants of the Pevonian and Upper Silu- 

 rian Formations of Canada," upon "The Fossil Plants of the Lower 

 Carboniferous and Millstone Grit Formations of Canada," and upon 

 "The Fossil Plants of the Brian (Devonian) and Upper Silurian Forma- 

 tions of Canada" are monographs of especial value. A geologist rather 

 than a botanist, he has done excellent service, not only in elucidating 

 the important problems of Acadian geology, but also in demonstrating 

 the value and legitimacy of the evidence furnished by vegetable remains. 



Dawson was born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, in the year 1820, and though 

 educated at Edinburgh, he returned to his native country and has de- 

 voted his whole life to the study of its geology and paleontology. He is 

 a fellow of the Eoyal Society of London and of the Geological Society, 

 And has long honored the well-known post of Principal of McGill Uni- 

 versity, Montreal. We learn with great satisfaction, though almost too 

 late to be fittingly mentioned here, that the order of knighthood has 

 just been conferred upon him on the occasion of the meeting of the Brit- 

 ish Association in his adopted city. 



15. Reer. — The numerous obituary notices that have so recently ap- 

 peared in all the scientific journals render it unnecessary to give in this 

 place any extended biographical sketch of this eminent savant. He was 

 born atGlarus, Switzerland, in 1809, and died at Lausanne in 1883, after 

 having long filled the chair of botany in the University of Ziirich. Vege- 

 table paleontologists note with some surprise that he is mentioned by 

 his biographers chiefly as an entomologist,^^ and naturally wonder how 

 great must have been his eminence in that department to overshadow 

 his vast and invaluable labors in the domain of fossil plants. 



He commenced writing upon this latter subject in 1846." The first 

 volume of his great work, "Flora tertiaria Helvetise," appeared in 1855, 

 the second in 1856, and the third in 1859. The exceedingly great care, 

 accuracy, and thoroughness with which this chef d^ceuvre of science was 

 executed, especially in the matter of illustration, is a marvel to com- 

 template. Nothing comparable to it had appeared before, and nothing 

 equal to it has appeared since. He became interested in the fossil floras 

 of remote parts of the globe, and among the first of his memoirs on such 

 subjects was one that may be found in the Proceedings of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for 1858 (pp. 265-266), on the " Fos- 

 sil plants of the Lower Cretaceous beds of Kansas and Nebraska." He 

 also figured the "Phyllites Cr^tac^es du Nebraska," collected by Marcou 

 and Capellini." In 1866 his memoirs upon the fossil floras of the Arc- 

 tic regions commenced to appear, and to this fertile subject he devoted 

 the greater part of the rest of his life. The firtt volume of his " Flora 



'^''Science," Vol. 11, p. 583, 1883; "Nature," Vol. XXVIII, Oct. 25, 1883. 



"The first paper of which there is a record is the one " Ueber die vou ihm an der 

 hohen Ehone entdekten fossilen Pflanzeu," which appeared in the Verhandlungen 

 der Schweizerisohen Uesellschaft for 1846, pp. 35-38. 



"Neue Denkschriften der Sohweizerischen Gesellsohaft der Naturforsoher Ziirich 

 1866. McSm. I. ' 



