Sir John William Dazvson. — Ami. 13 
regained his accustomed strength, and one day, while he was 
busily engaged in the Peter Redpath museum, he suddenly 
fell, a victim of a slight attack of apoplexy. Nevertheless, he 
gradually recovered, and whilst his bodily vigour was sen- 
sibly diminishing, his mental grasp of the various problems to 
be solved in Canadian geology was very marked. As late as 
July, 1899, in the course of a conversation that the writer had 
with Sir William, regarding difficult points in Nova Scotian 
geology, as well as the result of recent investigations carried 
on by a committee of the British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, on the pleistocene fauna and flora of Canada 
(of which he was chairman), he evinced remarkable strength 
of mind and clearness of judgment. This interview was fol- 
lowed by a long letter, in which Sir William pointed out in a 
masterly manner the various phases of the question at issue, 
showing the full comprehension of the situation his mind still 
possessed. For the best part of two years Sir William was 
practically an invalid, and had to be carried or lifted from place 
to place, in all of which he evinced a calm resignation and 
faithful hope, which accompanied him and seemed to add even 
joy to those otherwise sad momeiits, until the final crisis and 
end came. The gold of Ophir and problems relating to it from 
recent discoveries made in South Africa, were occupying his 
attention only ten days previous to his demise. 
On Alarch 19, 1847, Sir William, then Dr. Dawson, was 
united in marriage with Miss ^Margaret A. Y. Mercer, Edin- 
burgh, daughter of D. i\Iercer, Esq., of Edinburgh. There are 
five surviving children, the eldest of whom. Dr. George ^I. 
Dawson, C. M. G., F. R. S., &c., has followed the footsteps 
of his father, and given his life entirely to geological pursuits. 
He is now director of the Geological Survey of Canada, and 
is a Fellow or member of all the leading geological societies of 
North America and Europe. Mr. William Bell Dawson, a 
civil engineer, has charge of the tidal surveys of Canada in 
connection with the department of marine at Ottawa. Dr. 
Rankin Dawson, the youngest of the three sons, is now prac- 
ticing medicine in London, England. The two daughters are 
Mrs. J. B. Harrington, wife of the professor of chemistrv at 
iMcGill University, and Mrs. Pope T. Atkin of Rock Ferry, 
near Birkenhead, England. Lady Dawson, who survives her 
