RENDU AND HIS EDITORS. 457 



the introduction of two articles, and the substitution of the word 

 " mutual " for " natural " in the statement of the viscous theory. 

 Such mistakes readily escape me in the reading of proofs with the 

 meaning of which I am very familiar ; and some similar errors in my 

 other works, discovered mainly by my own pupils, await correction in 

 subsequent editions. In the *' Glaciers of the Alps," my critic will 

 find " mutual " all right, and one of the indefinite articles supplied. 

 But the shifting of the vowel to a consonant was overlooked, and the 

 second article was therefore omitted. 



From the level of the irascible, Prof. Tait on one occasion rises to 

 that of exultation. " While we write," he exclaims, " another actor 

 has appeared on the scene — and with tremendous efiect. The terrible 

 words of Mr. Ruskin (Fors Clavigera, Letter xxxiv.), with regard to Dr. 

 Tyndall and his ' Forms of Water,' will reach myriads of intelligent 

 readers besides those who could otherwise be expected to interest 

 themselves in a question involving scientific issues. Mr. Ruskin's ad- 

 mirable command of language, his clearness, impartiality, acuteness, 

 and his exemplary firmness in declaring truth, and doing justice, leave 

 nothing to be desired." 



These are strong words. What is their value ? Let a very able 

 sample of Mr. Tait's countrymen reply. " He " (Prof. Tait), says the 

 Scotsman of April 24th, "may be occasionally shy in his substantives, 

 but he has no timidity in his adjectives. * Contemptible,' ' unutterably 

 contemptible,' ' miserable,' ' disgusting,' ' shabby,' ' pernicious,' ' pesti- 

 lent,' ' hideous,' are among the projectiles, more natural perhaps than 

 philosophical, which the Professor of Natural Philosophy distributes 

 round him." But whence, it may be asked, this exorbitant jubilation ? 

 What on earth can the opinion of Mr. Ruskin have to do with the 

 solution of a question which has stood in the fierce light of scientific 

 discussion for fourteen years ? Is it to be imagined that he has found 

 something which has escaped Helmholtz or Sedgwick ? Surely, if 

 Prof. Tait will only give his clouds of anger time to disappear, he will 

 see the absurdity of introducing such loose rhetoric among grave stu- 

 dents of science. 



Further on we have Principal Forbes's pure and disinterested love 

 of knowledge for its own sake, contrasted with that of others who 

 seek it for the sake of notoriety. Let me examine this notion in the 

 light of a crucial instance. 



In walking up the glacier of the Aar with Agassiz, Prof. Forbes 

 observed blue veins running through the ice. Agassiz had noticed 

 the grooves answering to them on the surface, but he had not studied 

 them, and in all likelihood he blundered in his conversation about them 

 with his acute and physically-cultured guest. They followed these 

 veins subsequently together for several days, and, after the departure 

 of Forbes, i^gassiz traced them to a depth of a hundred and twenty 

 feet. Humboldt, I am informed, had been instrumental in getting 



