SIR WILLIAM DAWSON'S NOTES.
Fifty Years of Work in Canada: Autobiographical Notes of Sir J. W. Dawson. Edited by Rankine Dawson. (Ballantyne, Hanson, and Co. 6s.)—Sir William Dawson's notes are mostly concerned with his educational work, and not, therefore, of interest to the generality of readers. The success of the schemes he had so much at heart—McGill University, the Royal Society of Canada, and the higher education of women—takes up several chapters, and his visits to England and a few references to his geological work the rest. But nothing could be more charming than the preliminary chapter on his birthplace and parentage. The gratitude he owed his parents, the sorrow he felt at having refused some kindly office to the brother soon after lost by an attack of fever, are touched upon with a beauty and a pathos that reveal the fine character of the man and his ever-reverent attitude towards the manifestation of that great science he developed so much in Canada. It was truly said of him that he was more interested in the history of life than in mere rocks and minerals, and he humanised the scientific results of his labours by the strong interest he possessed in extinct forms of life. He added enormously to their educational value by the strong attitude he took up, and his religious convictions and noble simplicity of character, manifested in his life and numerous writings, enabled his teachings to carry additional weight. We have always thought his style a singularly pleasing one, and an admirable vehicle for the conveyance of sound and broad doctrines of geology. As he never forgot what he owed to the teaching of Le-ell and Logan, we are not likely to forget the brilliant results which he achieved in geological 'science- Neither must we forget the years, the anxious and untiring work, he gave as Principal of a University which owes to him and a few others its very existence. Had his time been his own, how much more could he have added to the long list of his works, though he could scarcely have added to the long list of honours conferred on him. Born in 1820, he died full of years and honour in 1899; adding another name to the great teachers of the nine- teenth century who passed away with its closing years.
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