Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/21

* DAWSON. 9 DAY. he received the appointment of geologist and botanist to the North American Boundary Com- mission, and subsequently lie was on the stall' of the Geological Survey of Canada. He was a member of the Bering Sea Commission in 1891. From 1895 until his death he tilled the othee of director of the tieological Survej- of Canada, in which connection he rendered important services to his country. His numerous scientilic papers were published mostlj' in the reports of the sur- vey. He was the author of Ucscriptiie Sketch of the Physical Oeography and (Icofogi/ of ('ana- da (1884), and of The Physical and Geological Features of Part of the Rocky Jlountains ( 188o). DAWSON, Jkmmy. A youthful follower of the Young Pretender, hanged, drawn, and quar- tered before the ej'es of his sweetheart, July 30, 1746. Shenstone wrote a poem called after him. DAWSON, Sir John WILLI.4M (1820-99). A Canadian geologist and educator, born in Pic- tou, Nova Scotia. He entered the University of Edinburgh, where for some time he pursued the study of science, and, upon returning to Nova Scotia, began active work in geologj'. In 1841 he assisted Sir Charles Lvell in exploring the geological formations of Nova Scotia, as a re- sult of which he collected much new and valu- able material in paleontology. The results of his early investigations were published in Aca- dian Geology (3d ed. 1880), and in American and foreign periodicals. In 18.50 he became Superintendent of Education in Nova Scotia, and in 185.5 he was called to JIcGill University as professor of natural history, afterwards becom- ing vice-chancellor. Dawson was recognized as an authority on Canadian geology, a subject to which he gave much study and contributed many valuable works. His name has been associated particularly with the controversy over the sup- posed fossil 'Eozoijn,' which was found among the earliest rocks in the North American conti- nent. He was also known as one of the ablest opponents of the application of the Darwinian theory to the origin of life forms. Among his important works are the following: Acadia (1851); The Ston/ of the Earth and Man (1872) ; The Dawn of Life (1875) ; The Origin of the yVorld (1877); The Change of Life in Geological Time (1880); Egypt and Syria (1885); Modern Ideas of Evolution (ISO'O); Some Salient Points in the Science of the Earth (1894) ; and The Meeting Place of Geology and History (1894). In 1882 he received the Lyell medal of the Geological Society of London, and the same year he was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1884 he was knighted. In 1886 he was president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also an hon- orary member of many American and foreign societies, including the Roj'al Society and the Geological Society of London. DAWSON, William .J.mes (1854—). An English clergyman and author. He was born at Towchester, Northamptonshire. November 21, 1854; was educated at Didsbury College. Man- chester, and entered the Wesleyan ininistiy in 1875. He visited the United States as delegate to the Metliodist Ecumenical Council in 1891; resigned from the Wesleyan ministry and entered the Congregational in 1892. Dawson is well known as a lecturer, essayist, and poet. Among his publications are: A I'ision of Souls (1884) ; Quest and 'ision. Essays on Life and Literature (1886; enlarged 1892) ; The Threshold of Man- liood (1889); The Makers of Modern Poetry (1890); The Redemption of Edward Strahan, A Social Story (1891); Poems and Lyrics (1893); London Idyls (1895); The Story of Hannah (1896) ; The House of Dreams (1897) ; Judith Uoldero, A Tragic Romance (1898); Makers of Modern Prose (1899); Savonarola, A Drama (1900) ; The Man Christ Jesus (1901). DAX. The capital of an arrondissement in the Department of Landes, France, on the Adour, 32 miles northeast of Bayonne by r&il. The prin- cipal building is the former cathedral, rebuilt by Louis XIV. in the Seventeenth century. The site of the ancient Roman walls and moat is now occupied by the Promenade des Ramparts. Dax is famous as a health resort, owing to its ther- mal springs and baths of every description. It has a considerable trade in agricultural produce, wine, and tindjer, and manufactures liqueurs and potter}'. The ancient capital of the Tarbelli, Dax was known to the Romans as Aqua; Tarbel- lic£e, afterwards as Civitas Aquensium. It passed through the hands of several conquering races, being last held by the English from the twelfth 'to the fifteenth centuiy. Population, in 1901, 10,329. DAY (AS. (/(£•(/, Icel. dagr, Goth, dags, OHG. tac, Ger. Tag; probably connected with Skt. dah, Lith. degti, to burn, OPruss. dagas, summer). Originally the space of time during which it is light, in contrast to the space of darkness or night. It now more usually denotes a complete alternation of light and darkness. It is the earth's rotation that causes these changes of light and darkness. The earth being a globe, only one-half of it can be in the sun's light at once; that half enjoys daylight, while the other half is in its own shadow, or in night; and by the earth's rotation the several portions of the svirface have each their turn of light and of darkness. Astronomers recognize more than one kind of day. If the time is noted when a particular fixed star is exactly south or on the meridian, when the same star comes again to the meridian the next day, the earth has made exactly one rotation, and the time that has elapsed is called a sidereal day. This portion of time is always of the same length ; for the motion of the earth on its axis is strictly uniform, and is perhaps the only strictly imiform motion .that nature presents to us. Sidereal time, or star time, from its unvarying uniformity, is much used by astronomers. But the passage of a star across the meridian is not a conspicuous enough event for regulating the movements of men in general. It is not a complete rotation of the earth, but a complete alternation of light and darkness, that constitutes their day. This, which is called the eiril or the solar day, is measured between two meridian passages of the sun, and is about four minutes longer than the sidereal day. The cause of the greater length is this: When the earth has made one complete turn, so as to bring the meridian of the place to the same position among the fixed stars as when it was noon the day before, the sun has in the mean- time (apparently) moved eastward nearly one degree among the stars, and it takes the earth