1921-22.] Obituary Notices. 383 
for him, although he had no difficulty in mastering such parts of a 
scientific subject as formed the subject of a litigation in which he was 
engaged. Such knowledge, however, being quickly acquired and for a 
special purpose only, is as quickly forgotten. 
Although endowed with a splendid constitution, he was one of the 
^ least athletic of the Faculty of Advocates. He indulged in no outdoor 
recreations, and found his sole recreation in the companionship of his 
friends, with whom he loved to exchange his views. For many years before 
his death he never even took a “ constitutional,” and seemed to require 
no physical exercise outside of his work. When he became a judge and 
ceased to make the same vigorous use of his lungs as when conducting a 
lawsuit or addressing political gatherings, which stood him in good stead 
as a substitute for the exercise of his limbs, his bodily health gradually 
declined and his gait became feebler and slower on his short walk from 
the Parliament House to his club or home. It is not improbable that this 
want of attention to the physical side of his nature may have contributed 
to his premature death. I say premature, for, although he reached the 
age of seventy-two, so far as one could judge from his intellectual powers 
he appeared to have years of usefulness as a judge before him. 
The enormous practice which he enjoyed for so many years is the 
most conclusive proof of his capacity as a counsel. Even the best 
backing will not enable an advocate to maintain a practice for long 
unless he possesses the qualities which satisfy those who instruct him as 
well as the clients for whom they act. A pleader in the law courts has 
the most competent and discriminating critics in those able men of the 
other branch of the profession who sit behind him and listen day after 
day to his conduct of a great case. They have been responsible for its 
preparation, and if he fails to make the most of every point of which the 
facts are capable, or displays any lack of mastery of the law applicable, 
or does not come up to the standard of some brilliant opponent, a mental 
note is made which may affect future employment. The special gifts 
which an advocate displays come under the same keen scrutiny. Some 
who are admittedly in the front line in conducting proofs are voted useless 
for jury trials. Others shine more in the region of debate than in cross- 
examination, and their practice becomes restricted accordingly. Others, 
again, are admitted to be experts in one branch of the law and in no other. 
No such limitations applied to Dickson. He was a first-rate all-round 
counsel, to whom the intricacies of feudal conveyancing or of patent law 
presented no special difficulties. He was just as much at home in 
addressing juries as Courts of Appeal, and his cross-examination of 
