George Mercer Dazusoii. — B. J. H. 71 
logical Survey of Canada and began in that connection the long 
series of explorations of the North West ancl British Colum- 
bia, whicli brought such great credit to himself and his country. 
In 1883 he was made an assistant director of the survey, and 
later, on the retirement of Dr. Sclwyn, in 1895, became head of 
the department, a position which he occupied until the time 
of his death on the 2d of March last. Throughout his con- 
nection with the survey his reports were always of a high order, 
bearing evidence of his striking powers of observation 
and deduction. Though thoroughly scientific they always took 
account of the practical and economic side of geology, and ac- 
cordingly commanded the attention and confidence of mining 
capitalists, mine managers and others interested in the devel- 
opment of the mineral resources of the country. When in the 
field, geology was, of course, the principal object of his in- 
vestigations, but his wide knowledge of collateral sciences en- 
abled him not merely to collect objects of natural history in 
an intelligent and discriminating way, and to discuss the flora 
and faunas of dififerent districts, but also to make important 
observations on the habits and languages of Indian tribes, to 
keep continuous meteorological records and to determine lat- 
itudes and longitudes. We accordingly find that his reports 
generally conclude with a series of most valuable appendices, 
giving special information which could not well be included in 
the body of the document. 
In an elaborate notice of his report on the Queen Charlotte 
islands, published in f^etermann's Alittheilungen (Vol. 27, 
1881), the writer after calling attention to the fact that the 
report dealt not merely with the geology of the islands, but 
also with their topography, natural history, climate and eth- 
nology, says : "One is amazed at the rich results which he 
brought back in all these branches, especially as he had only 
one assistant, Air. Rankine Dawson, and remained in the 
islands only two and a half months, from the 12th of June to 
the end of August, and that in most unfavourably wet weather." 
In addition to his field-books proper he generally kept copi- 
ous journals which contain nnich interesting information. He 
had a habit, too, of jotting down notes and sometimes verses 
on scraps of paper or on the backs of telegraph forms. In the 
wilds of British Columbia, for example, he writes : 
