Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G.

Fair Play, Volume I, Issue 26, 1 October 1894, Page 12

Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G.

Dr. James Hector, M.D., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., was born in Edinburgh, 16th March, 1834. His father, a lawyer and writer to the Signet, and of great repute as a conveyancer and reader of black letter deeds, used to translate and read old M.S. to Sir Walter Scott, on which wore 'founded some of the Waverley romances. Dr. Hector was trained at Edinburgh Academy and High School until he reached his fourteenth year. He then entered his father’s office for a short time, and afterwards was articled to Mr. James Watson, the eminent actuary, for three years; during which time he attended classes at the University and School of Arts. Having, at a very early age, shown a decided bent for chemical and natural history studies, of November, 1852, he matriculated at Edinburgh University as a student of medicine, which, at that time, afforded the only avenue to scientific study. Throughout his course he gave the largest share of his work to Natural Science, and particularly to Geology ; and he acquired the personal friendship of many eminent men, and particularly of Professors Edward Forbes, Goodsii, Balfour, and Gregory, under all of whom, at various times, he served as a private assistant. From the age of thirteen every successive holiday had been occupied in long walking excursions in the Highlands of Scotland, and also in England and Ireland, so that he very early acquired the spirit and endurance of an explorer, and the habits of a quick, accurate observer and careful collector. This led to his being always selected by Professor Balfour, although then only a student of the class, to give an account to the Botanical Society of the geological and physical features of the ground gone over in the course of the Saturday botanical excursions, for which the Balfour class was so famous. He thus acquired the position of a leader and

authority on geological matters among tfce students. There being at that date no separate Chair of Geology in the University, he attended the extra academic lectures on' Mineralogy, Geology, and Palaeontology of Macadam, Rose, and Page. After completing his medical studies and hospital attendance, he took his Degree of M.D. in 1856, passing both his examinations in one year, as his devotion to Natural History had prevented his spreading them over several years according to the usual practice. His graduation thesis was “ The Antiquity of Man,” being the same title as the well-known book written'by Sir Ch. Lyell in 1863. For a short time after attaining his degree, Dr. Hector acted as one of Sir James Simpson’s assistants; but in March, 1857, he was selected, on the recommendation of his University, by Sir Roderick Murchison, then Director-General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, as Surgeon and Geologist, to accompany d, Government expedition, to explore and report on that part of British North America lying west of Lake Superior. On this- work he was engaged for four years, including a few months employed in preparing the vpluminous reports which form a Parliamentary Blue. Book, illustrated with maps and sections. The leader of the expedition .was Captain Palliser, but the chief share of the scientific yvork; fell on Dr. Hector. Besides the regular, summer work, Dr, Hector made arduous winter journeys on foot with snow shoes and dogs, so as to thoroughly master the features of the country. at all seasons of the year. On these journeys he was accompanied only by two of the men, and for months they slept every night in the snow, with the temperature sometimes 50deg. Farh. below zero. Each winter season during the expedition Dr. Hector -walked over 1200 miles in this fashion, living on pemmican and any chance game that might be caught or shot. During the early summer months the expedition traversed the open, prairies, and autumn was devoted to the exploration of the Rocky Mountains. Dr. Hector discovered five different passes, ascertaining the altitudes, and surveying the features. One of these passes, named after an accident that nearly cost him his life, “Kicking Horse Pass,’’ is that which has been chosen for the great transcontinental Canadian Railway, now almost completed. The extent of country traversed by the expedition was mapped by Dr. Hector, both topographically and geologically, and described in a Parliamentary Blue Book. A great part of that region, which was then untrodden, except by Indians, is now settled, and traversed by roads and railways. The difficulties which beset its exploration have all disappeared, and elaborate surveys, made in comparative ease and comfort, and testify to the accuracy of the early work done by Dr. Hector, and to the justness of his deductions respecting the structure of the country and its availability for settlement. At the close of the expedition, before returning to England, he examined and reported on the coal mines of Vancouver Island, and made extensive journeys in order to acquaint himself with the goldfields of British Columbia and California, and with some of the mines of Northern Mexico. He returned by Panama and the West Indies; and on reaching England, besides giving official reports, he laid the results of his work in the various branches of research before the different Scientific Societies to which they were of interest. For the geographical discoveries effected by the expedition the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society was awarded in 1861. He then obtained two offers of employment from Sir Roderick Murchison : one to undertake a mission as Political Agent and Geologist to Cashmere, with large emoluments in prospect; and the other as Geologist to the Provincial Government of Otago, in New Zealand. Guided by Sir Roderick’s experience, he chose the latter as likely to afford the best field for making substantial advance in geological science. In three years he examined the whole of the Province, exploring the mountain regions and sounds of the West Coast under much exposure and privation. His work, as recorded in the reports and maps he submitted, embraced every branch of scientific research. In 1864, he was selected as commissioner to make a rapid tour of the Colony, and to report how its resources could best be displayed at an exhibition proposed to be held in Dunedin in the following year. Much of the brilliant success of that first New Zealand exhibition was admittedly due to the enfergy

and genius of Dr. Hector. At this time the Colonial Government (the Weld Ministry being in power) secured his services from, the beginning of 1865 as Director of the Geological Survey for the whole Colony, and soon the country was rapidly traversed by himself and his small staff of assistants. His attention was not confined to geology, but to everything that bore on the development of the natural resources of the Colony. The annual reports, which have appeared regularly since 1866, teem with exact information oil questions of practical utility. In 1868 he was instrumental in forming the New Zealand Institute, and for twenty-six years has performed, as a labour of love, the onerous work of its management, and the editing of the copious volumes of transactions which appear each year with unfailing regularity. His practical knowledge of tho resources of the Colony may be judged of by a perusal of his evidence, given in 1870 before the Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament on Colonial Industries, and by his voluminious’ reports and documents scattered through every volume of Parliamentary journals. In 1875 he visited England and the Continent; and in 1876 represented the Colony of New Zealand at the Centenary Exhibition at Philadelphia. He was also the Executive Commissioner at the Sydney and Melbourne Exhibitions in 1879-80, and again in-1888. One of the most condensed, but at the same time complete works, on the Colony, is the hand-book which he originally prepared for distribution at the Sydney Exhibition, but wbtcb has since passed through several editions as a * separate publication. Dr. Hector’s successes in educational matters, 'and 'especially'ln; the organisation of higher education in the Colony, require mention, as they led to his being unanimously, elected to the high'position of Chancellor of the University, m 1885, which he still holds. In 1857, Dr. Hector was elected a'Fellow of the Royal Physical Society; in 1860, Fellow of/the 'Royal,Society of Edinburgh, of. the Geological Society of London, and of the lioyal Geographical Society; in 1866, a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, Fellow of the Lin mean Society,’ of the Zoological Society, and of the Statistical and Mineralogical Societies of London. He is also a member of many learned Societies-on. the'-Continent, in America, and in Australia. In 1874, by permission, he received the Order of the Golden Cross from the Emperor of Germany. In 1875, while

in Lqndon, the. for the Colonies procured him the Order :6fC,MiG; in'recognition of his services in America; and the Geological Society elected him Lyell Medallist for that year for his distinguished position as a geologist. In 1886, he was created Knight Commander by Her Majesty; in 1892, was awarded the Founder’s Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London.