Obituary Notices of Felloivs deceased. 



xxvii 



worked along the coast-line when acting as Geologist and Naturalist to the 

 "Neptune" Expedition in 1884, and to the " Alert " Expedition- in 1885, 

 both of which carried out explorations in Hudson Bay and Hudson 

 Straits ; also on the " Diana " Expedition in 1897, when he surveyed the 

 coast of Bafifin Land, and was one of the first white men who penetrated to 

 the great lakes in the interior of that immense island. Probably no man has 

 ever traversed this great pre-Cambrian area so completely as did Dr. Bell. 



The results of his work were published chiefly in the ' Annual Reports of 

 the Geological Survey of Canada,' but he also contributed papers — some 200 

 in number — to leading scientific and technical journals in Great Britain, 

 Canada, and the United States. 



Dr. Bell's work on the Geological Survey of Canada was interrupted from 

 1863 to 1867. During these years he occupied the Chair of Chemistry and 

 Natural Science in Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, which Chair he 

 resigned at the end of this period to resume his work on the staff of the 

 Geological Survey. He was not only a geologist, but had also a good general 

 knowledge of natural history, and his reports contain much information con- 

 cerning the flora and fauna of the remote regions in which he worked. His 

 travels in these wild northern lands also brought him into intimate relations 

 and association with the Indians, who, with the exception of the employees 

 of the Hudson Bay Company, were at that time their only inhabitants. 

 His expeditions were carried out almost entirely in birch-bark canoes, with 

 Indians or half-breeds as his guides and voyageurs. He thus acquired an 

 extensive knowledge of Indian folk-lore and legendary story, and was so 

 honoured and esteemed by the red-men that he was elected as a chief by the 

 Algonquin Indians of Grand Lake. 



In two papers read before the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science in 1881 and 1909 respectively, and also in a pamphlet entitled ' A 

 New Eoute to Europe from the Interior of British North America,' published 

 in Montreal in 1881, he advocated strongly the development of the Hudson 

 Bay route, to which since that time so much attention has been directed. 



Dr. Bell was the recipient of many academic degrees, and many honours 

 were conferred upon him by learned societies. He received the degrees of 

 D.Sc. (Cantab, and McGill), M.D., CM. (McGill), LL.D. (Queen's). He was 

 elected into the Eoyal Society in 1897. He received the [inperial Service 

 Order in 1903. He was one of the Foundation Members of the Royal 

 Society of Canada, and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and of 

 the sister Society in America, as well as of many other learned bodies. He 

 was a member of the Geographical Board of the Dominion of Canada. 



Dr. Bell was awarded the King's or Patron's Gold Medal of the Eoyal 

 Geographical Society in 1906, and the Cullum Gold Medal of the American 

 Geographical Society in the same year. His name will always be associated 

 with the early exploration and the development of the Dominion of Canada. 



F. D. A. 



VOL. XC. — B. 



