Dawson: Geologist and Educator Dawson’S Interest in Natural History Began Early
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
INTRODUCTION Bernard of Chartres, an 11th–12th century philosopher and teacher, said that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they and for a greater distance, not by any virtue of our own but because we are carried high and raised aloft by their stature. All of us have our geological heroes, those giants on whose shoulders we stand. To encourage recognition of these luminaries and to provide inspiration for students and young professionals, the GSA History of Geology Division presents Rock Stars, brief pro- files of our geological giants. If you have any comments on profiles, please contact Robert N. Ginsburg, University of Miami, RSMAS/MGG, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149-1098, e-mail: [email protected]. —Robert N. Ginsburg, History of Geology Division John William (Sir William) Dawson: Geologist and Educator Dawson’s interest in natural history began early. Cephalopods were readily available in his coastal village. Susan Sheets-Pyenson, Department of Philosophy, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec INTRODUCTION For the first 30 years of his life, his parents HIGHER EDUCATION were preoccupied with repaying debts During the early 1970s, staff and In 1840, at the age of 20, Dawson incurred in maritime trade, a responsiblity patrons at the McGill University Archives matriculated at the University of Edin- that they steadfastly discharged. Perhaps were abuzz about a huge new bequest: the burgh in Scotland. Edinburgh was one of Dawson’s intense earnestness and self- papers of John William Dawson. Dawson the few universities in the English-speak- reliance were honed in this environment. had been called from the tiny maritime ing world that offered a systematic natural Frugality was as important as piety in the village of Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1855 to history curriculum. There, Dawson learned Dawson household, giving William an serve as McGill’s principal. He presided geology, physical geography, and mineral- inescapable and omnipresent seriousness over the university for nearly half a ogy from Robert Jameson; botany from of purpose. century. John Hutton Balfour; and chemistry from Whatever young William lacked in Dawson was not only the major William Gregory. Although Dawson material wealth during his formative years scientific player in 19th-century Canada, remained fiercely proud of his birthplace was overshadowed by his parents’ deep but he also commanded a leading position and sensitive to any charges of hailing affection and by the rich resources of Pic- internationally. Dawson is one of those from the “backwoods,” Nova Scotia must tou. An academy in the town provided individuals whose diverse activities defy have seemed impoverished compared to Dawson and other youths with a remark- neat categorization. He was as much a the rich tapestry of life in Edinburgh. able grounding in a range of subjects, paleontologist as a geologist, an adminis- Financial difficulties took him back to especially in the natural sciences. Pictou trator as well as an educator, and a popular Pictou to help with the family bookselling Academy had been established in 1817 writer on scientific and religious topics as business, but in 1841 he returned to Edin- by the secessionist Presbyterian minister well as the author of about 200 papers. burgh to continue his studies and court Thomas McCulloch as a school for train- his future wife, Margaret Ann Young Mer- ing dissenting ministers and for teaching EARLY YEARS cer, a distant cousin and daughter of a lace the liberal arts to youths of all religious merchant. On the transatlantic voyage, John William Dawson, who always persuasions. The academy housed an Dawson met William Logan, who was preferred to be addressed as “William,” extensive collection of scientific appara- about to become director of the Geological was born October 13, 1820, in the seaside tus, a small natural history museum, and Survey of Canada. A few years later, Daw- town of Pictou, Nova Scotia. He was the a library with a remarkable assortment of son guided Logan on a geological tour of elder of two sons of Scottish immigrants. treatises in natural philosophy and natural the countryside, as he did Charles Lyell, history. showing both distinguished geologists Pictou was surrounded by sandstone the coalfields near Pictou, the cliffs of the and shale formations, which contained Shubenacadie River, deposits at the Bay of More History Carboniferous plant fossils. These pro- Fundy, and the shores of the Minas Basin. vided fertile ground for Dawson’s first sci- The GSA History of Geology Division will Dawson maintained a cordial relationship entific explorations, and allowed him to sponsor Symposium 14, Hutton, Lyell, with Logan, but he became the life-long put together a respectable collection of Logan—and their Influence in North protégé, confidant, and disciple of Lyell. geological and paleontological specimens. America, at the 1998 GSA Annual Meet- Lyell assisted in publishing Dawson’s work At age 16, Dawson delivered a paper on ing in Toronto. The symposium is sched- on the geology and paleontology of Nova “The Structure and History of the Earth” uled for Monday afternoon, October 26. Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward to the Pictou Literary and Scientific Susan Sheets-Pyenson was scheduled to Island with the Geological Society of Society. speak in that session. London. 14 GSA TODAY, September 1998 STARTING A CAREER Upon his return to Nova Scotia in 1847, after the completion of a second academic session at the University of Edinburgh, Dawson sought to enlarge the sphere of his interests beyond the bookselling business. He was hired by Pictou, Nova the General Mining Association of London Scotia, ca. 1845, to conduct a geological survey of Cape as sketched by Breton, and he investigated coal and other William Dawson. mineral deposits for the provincial govern- ment and for small mining companies. Dawson also turned his talents to educational matters. He lectured on natu- ral history to the Pictou Academy, the Hal- ifax Mechanics’ Institute, and Dalhousie College. From 1850 to 1853, he traveled the length and breadth of Nova Scotia as its first superintendent of education. slices using a microscope, a technique that ety of organisms, ranging from the lowest His devotion to the task was so complete allowed him to describe 125 new species forms of life to prehistoric man (in Fossil that he is credited with single-handedly of Paleozoic plants. His own collection of Men, 1880). Finally, his work on Devonian reforming the public-education system of Canadian rocks and fossils formed the plants, featured in his controversial Baker- the province. At the same time, he man- nucleus of the holdings of the Peter Red- ian lecture to the Royal Society of London aged to continue his scientific investiga- path Museum, which in 1882 was donated in 1870, never won universal respect by tions on the side, leading to some of his to McGill in Dawson’s honor. his contemporaries. Three-quarters of a most important paleontological discover- Dawson’s scientific reputation rests century later, discovery of plant remains ies. These include unearthing a fragment upon his work in paleobotany. He investi- in the Rhymie Chest of Scotland sup- of a skeleton of the earliest North Ameri- gated Canadian formations stretching ported his great discovery. can Carboniferous reptile or batracian from the maritimes to the west (culminat- (Dendrerpeton acadianum), ing in his Geological History REWARDS the oldest land snail (Pupa of Plants, 1888), and he Dawson accumulated many scientific vetusta), and the oldest published several papers honors and awards. He became a fellow of millipede (Xylobius sigillar- on the subject every year. the Geological Society of London in 1854, iae), and to the first report Dawson has been called and of the Royal Society of London in of Devonian plants. the grandfather of Paleo- 1862. He successfully lobbied for the Dawson’s investiga- zoic paleobotany in North formation of a national scientific organ- tions into the geology and America. His scientific ization, thereby leading to the creation mineral deposits of Nova legacy also includes pio- of the Royal Society of Canada in 1882, Scotia provided data for neering work in Canadian for which he served as the first president. his magnum opus, Aca- geology, particularly for He brought both the American and British dian Geology, in 1855 (2nd the eastern provinces and Association for the Advancement of Sci- ed., 1868; 3rd ed., 1880; the St. Lawrence River val- ence to meet in Montreal. His firm guid- 4th ed., 1891). This work, ley. ance was felt in the affairs of the Geologi- the most complete treat- cal Survey of Canada and in those of ment of the geology of the CONTROVERSIES myriad scientific societies, especially the maritime provinces, was Despite Dawson’s Natural History Society of Montreal. He but slightly modified by claim to follow “a quiet presided over the American Association the findings of the Geo- middle course” in his sci- for the Advancement of Science meeting logical Survey years later. entific work, he loved to at Montreal in 1882 and over the British Acadian Geology made plunge into the heat of association’s meeting in Birmingham, Eng- Dawson’s reputation as a scientific controversy. He land, in 1886. He was knighted in 1884, geologist of the first rank. attracted both vehement becoming Sir William Dawson. In 1893, critics and adoring acolytes he became the fifth president of the Geo- LATER GEOLOGIC for his outspoken denunci- logical Society of America. His eldest son, STUDIES ation of Darwinian evolu- George Mercer Dawson, became Canada’s Despite the extraordi- tion. He had discovered leading field geologist and director of the nary demands on Daw- and named the puzzling Geological Survey of Canada; he also son’s time from his Eozoön canadense in 1864, served as 12th president of the Geological administrative responsibil- a fragment that appeared Society of America.