4 The America?! Geologist. July, i9oo 
For eight years Sir William was a member of the board of 
Protestant commissioners of schools for the province of 
Quebec. He was also a member of the council of public in- 
struction for the province of Quebec. In 1862 he was elected 
fellow of the Royal Society of England, and, in 1865 lectured 
before the British Association for the Advancement of Science 
in Birmingham. Five years later, 1870, he also lectured before 
the Royal Institute and Geological Society of London. In 
1875 he was foremost in advocating the union of the several 
bodies forming the Presbyterian church in Canada, which un~ 
ion was effected in that year. 
In 1 881 he received the Lyell medal from the Geo- 
logical Society of London for his important discoveries in 
science, and Her Majesty Queen Victoria created him a com- 
panion of the order of St. Michael and St. George^ (C. M. G.). 
for his brilliant career in the same. In 1882 he was selected 
by the marquis of Lome to be the first president of the Royal 
Society of Canada, which society has since flourished under 
i)oth vice-regal and parliamentary patronage. In 1883 he was 
knighted by Her Most Gracious Majesty, in due recognition 
of his scientific work and his successful promotion of higher 
education. 
With reference to the founding of the Royal Society of 
Canada, in a terse manner Sir William Dawson thus points 
out one of the objects for which this society was formed. "I 
would place here first," he says, in speaking of the ends which 
the society may seek to attain and the means of their attain- 
ment, "the establishment of a bond of union between the scat- 
tered workers, now widely separated in different parts of the 
Dominion. Our men of science are so few, and our country 
so extensive, that it is difficult to find in any one place or with- 
in reasonable distance of each other, half a dozen active 
workers in science. There is thus great lack of sympathy and 
stimulus and of the discussion and interchange of ideas, which 
tend so much to correct as well as to encourage. The lonely 
worker finds his energies flag, and is drawn away by the pres- 
sure of more popular pursuits, while his notions become one- 
sided and inaccurate through want of friendly conflict with 
men of like powers and pursuits. Even if this society can meet 
but once a year, something may be done to remedy the evils 
