George Mercer Daivson. — B. J. H. 69 
observations on the surface life of the ocean, and the phenomena 
of phosphorescence. He also studied navigation, under the di- 
rection of the captain, and the knowledge then acquired after- 
wards stood him in good stead when he had to navigate a 
schooner along the dangerous coast of British Columbia and 
the Queen Charlotte Islands. 
At the School of Mines he took the full course of study, ex- 
tending over three years, and passed as an associate. At the 
end of his second year he carried off the Duke of Cornwall's 
scholarship, given by the Prince of Wales, and on graduation 
stood first in his class, obtaining the Edward Forbes medal and 
prize in Palaeontology and Natural History, and the* ^iNIurch- 
ison medal in Geolog}^ While at the School of Alines he paid 
special attention to the study of geology under Ramsay, Hux- 
ley, and Etheridge, but also devoted much time to chemistry 
and metallurgy, under Frankland and Percy respectively, and 
to mining, under Warrington Smyth. Even in his holidays 
he was never altogether idle, and during most of the summer 
of 1 87 1 he was attached to the British Geological Survey, and 
worked with the late J. Clifton Ward in the Cumberland Lake 
district. While in England he made many warm friends, with 
some of whom he corresponded regularly for years afterwards. 
On returning to Canada in 1872 he was engaged for some 
months examining and reporting upon mineral properties in 
Nova Scotia, and subsequently went to Quebec, where he de- 
livered a course of lectures on chemistry at Morrin College, 
which was attended by a large and appreciative class. In 
1873 he was appointed geologist and botanist to Her Majesty's 
North American Boundary Commission, which had been con- 
stituted to fix the boundary line between British North Amer- 
ica and the United States, from the Lake of the Woods to the 
Rocky mountains, and which had been carrying on its labours 
for about a year. From early boyhood Dawson had been keen- 
ly interested in travel and exploration, and in the Canadian 
North West he saw a region ready to yield up a rich harvest of 
discovery. There was the charm of novelty afforded l)y a 
well-nigh untrodden field, and the many hardships to be en- 
countered only seemed to lend attractions to the expedition. 
In those days no Canadian Pacific trains rolled across the con- 
tinent. Fort Garry, now the fast-growing city of \\'innipeg, 
