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See also: Canadian geologist, was See also: born at See also: Pictou, Nova Scotia, on the 30th of See also: October 182o
.
• Of Scottish descent, he went to See also: Edinburgh to See also: complete his See also: education, and graduated at the university in 1842, having gained a knowledge of geology and natural See also: history from Robert See also: Jameson
.
On his return to Nova Scotia in 1842 he accompanied See also: Sir See also: Charles
See also: Lyell on his first visit to that territory
.
Subsequently he was appointed to the See also: post of See also: superintendent of education (1850-1853); at the same See also: time he entered zealously into the geology of thl' country, making a See also: special study of the . fossil forests of the See also: coal-See also: measures
.
From these strata, in See also: company with Lyell (during his second visit) in 1852, he obtained the first remains of an "air-breathing reptile" named Dendrerpeton
.
He also described the fossil See also: plants of the See also: Silurian,
Devonian and Carboniferous rocks of See also: Canada for the See also: Geological Survey of that country (1871-1873)
.
From 1855 to 1893 he was professor of geology and See also: principal of M'Gill University, See also: Montreal, an institution which under his influence attained a high reputation
.
He was elected F.R.S. in 1862
.
When the Royal Society of Canada was constituted he was the first to occupy the presidential chair, and he also acted as president of the See also: British Association at its meeting at See also: Birmingham in 1886, and of the See also: American Association for the See also: Advancement of Science
.
Sir - See also: William Dawson's name is especially associated with the Eozoon canadense, which in 1864 he described as an organism having the structure of a foraminifer
.
It was found in the Laurentian rocks, regarded as the
See also: oldest known geological See also: system
.
His views on the subject were contested at the time, and have since been disproved, the so-called organism being now regarded as a See also: mineral structure
.
He was created C.M.G. in 1881, and was knighted in 1884 . In his books on geological subjects he maintained a distinctly theological attitude, declining to admit the descent or See also: evolution of See also: man from brute ancestors, and holding that the human See also: species only made its appearance on this See also: earth within quite See also: recent times
.
Besides many See also: memoirs in the Transactions of learned See also: societies, he published See also: Acadian Geology: The geological structure, organic remains and mineral resources of Nova Scotia, New See also: Brunswick, and See also: Prince See also: Edward See also: Island (1855; ed
.
3, 1878); Air-breathers of the Coal See also: Period (1863); The See also: Story of the Earth and Man (1873; ed
.
6, 188o) ; The Dawn of See also: Life (1875) ; Fossil Men and their See also: Modern Representatives (188o) ; Geological History of Plants (1888); The Canadian Ice Age (1894)
.
He died on the loth of See also: November 1899
.
His son, See also: GEORGE See also: MERCER DAWSON (1849-1901), was born at Pictou on the 1st of See also: August 1849, and received his education at M'Gill University and the Royal School of Mines, See also: London, where he had a brilliant career
.
In 1873 he was appointed geologist and naturalist to the See also: North American boundary commission, and two years later he joined the staff of the geological survey of Canada, of which he became assistant director in 1883, and director in 1895
.
He was in See also: charge of the Canadian See also: government's See also: Yukon expedition in 1887, and his name is permanently written in Dawson City, of gold-bearing fame
.
As one of the See also: Bering See also: Sea Commissioners he spent the summer of 1891 investigating the facts of the See also: seal See also: fisheries on the See also: northern coasts of See also: Asia and See also: America
.
For his services there, and at the subsequent arbitration in See also: Paris, he was made a C.M.G
.
He was elected F.R.S. in 1891, and in the same See also: year was awarded the See also: Bigsby medal by the Geological Society of London
.
He was president of the Royal Society of Canada in 1893 . He died on the 2nd of See also: March 1901
.
He was the author of many scientific papers and reports, especially on the
See also: surface geology and glacial phenomena of the northern and western parts of Canada
.
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