238 The Scimtlffc WorJc of Lord Kelvin. [May 1, 



attitude has always been to show how much he had learned from his 

 colleagues, and how much he expected to derive from them in the 

 future. In this regard it is fitting to interpolate an extract from the 

 fine appreciation by Lord Rosebery, his successor in the Chancellor- 

 ship of the University of Glasgow, delivered in his installation 

 address* : "In my personal intercourse with Lord Kelvin, what 

 most struck me was his tenacity, his laboriousness, his indefatigable 

 humility. In him was visible none of the superciliousness or scorn 

 which sometimes embarrass the strongest intellects. Without con- 

 descension, he placed himself at once on a level with his companion. 

 That has seemed to me a characteristic of such great men of science as 

 I have chanced to meet. They are always face to face with the trans- 

 cendent mysteries of nature. . . . Such labours produce a sublime 

 calm, and it was that which seemed always to pervade Lord Kelvin. 

 Surely, in an age fertile in distinction, but not lavish of greatness, he 

 was truly great. Individualism is out of fashion. . . . But great 

 individualities, such as Lord Kelvin's, are independent of the pressure 

 of circumstance and the wayward course of civilisation." 



^l It is unnecessary to attempt any list of the distinctions and awards 

 which came to him in the course of years : it suffices to say that there 

 was probably no honour open to a man of science that was not at his 

 disposal. Abundant personal record is and will be available in 

 appreciations by his colleagues, who were all his friends ; for example, 

 in the masterly estimate by G. F. FitzGerald, contained in the 

 memorial volume reporting the proceedings in celebration of the 

 Jubilee of his Professorship at Glasgow in lrS99. In deference to the 

 strikingly unanimous desire of his countrymen of all classes, and 

 amid touching tributes from his colleagues in other nations, he was 

 laid finally to rest in historic ground, on December 23, 1907, along- 

 side his great exemplar. Sir Isaac Newton, in AVestminster Abbey. 



[J. L.] 



The Times/June 13, 1908. 



