LAWSON, George, Canadian educator, born in Maryton, Forfarshire, Scotland, in 1827. He studied law for some time in Dundee, but devoted most of his time to natural history and zoology. After removing to Edinburgh he was elected, in the spring of 1849, assistant secretary and curator to the Botanical society, and was also chosen a fellow and subsequently assistant secretary of the Royal physical society. He aided in establishing the Scottish arboricultural society in 1854, in 1855 began a class in practical histology, and in 1851 gave a course of lectures on botany in Church college. In 1858 he was elected professor of chemistry and natural history in Queen's college, Kingston, Ont., and subsequently became a professor in Dalhousic college, Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he now is (1887). Besides numerous other writings he has published a volume on "Water Lilies" (Edinburgh, 1850).