240 MEMORIES OF MY LIFE 



Smith (1826- 1 883) of Oxford, to whose memory the 

 highest tributes have been paid, notably by Sir 

 Mountstuart E. Grant Duff. It was delightful to 

 watch his facility in dealing with difficulties, whether 

 of administration or expression. The Chairman usually 

 has to remain in the Office after the meetings are 



o 



closed to write letters connected with what has just 

 been transacted. The Secretary, Mr. Robert Scott, 

 was of course present at those times, and he told me 

 of a peculiarity of Henry Smith that I should never 

 have guessed, namely, that when an important letter 

 had to be written, it was his habit to begin by filling 

 a half-sheet and then tearing it up to begin afresh. 

 I myself am very familiar with the way in which the 

 mind settles itself while writing the address and date 

 and the " Dear Sir," but should have thought from 

 the exceptional rapidity of the ordinary working of 

 Henry Smith's mind that he would have been the 

 last person to need a long pause to give his ideas 

 time to crystallise. 



Notwithstanding his multifarious duties and 

 interests, he worked hard at the inquiries of the 

 moment. In one of these I was closely associated 

 with him, namely, in an attempt to analyse the 

 extremely complex system of ocean currents round 

 the Cape and up the West Coast of South Africa. 

 They admit of being identified and distinguished 

 partly by their direction and partly by their tempera- 

 ture. Volumes of cold water coming from the 

 direction of the South Pole sometimes plunge far 

 below the surface and reappear in the midst of an 

 otherwise unbroken surface current. 



It was a great shock and grief to us all when, 



