EDINBURGH ACADEMY 5 



was a mental and moral discipline. How keenly Gloag enjoyed exposing 

 the superficial knowledge of a boy who thought he knew ! A very 

 characteristic story is told in the Chronicles of the way in which, in the 

 presence of the Rector, Gloag demanded a proof from one of the Rector's 

 classical pets. After the Rector in a foolish assumption of knowledge had 

 for some time encouraged the boy with such remarks as "Why, my boy, 

 don't you see it? Think a moment! It's quite easy, don't you know 

 perfectly simple ! " Gloag in a moment of supreme triumph exclaimed 



" Naw, Mr Ractor, Sir, it's nott easy the thing's imp5ssible, Sir it's gross non- 

 sense, Sir!" 



Such was the teacher who first led Tait's mind in the paths in which 

 ere long he was to gain the highest distinction. 



Lewis Campbell and James Clerk Maxwell were also Edinburgh 

 Academy boys ; and in Campbell's Life of Maxwell an interesting account 

 is given of the school. They were a year ahead of Tait and were not 

 therefore members of the Gumming Club. Fleeming Jenkin, the first 

 Professor of Engineering in Edinburgh University, was a classmate of Tait, 

 as were also Sir Patrick Heron Watson the eminent surgeon, Sir Edward 

 Harland of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, A. D. Stewart, C.E., who selected 

 he plans for the Forth Bridge, Andrew Wilson, traveller and author of The 

 Abode of Snow, General Cockburn, General Sherriff, Frederick Pitman, W.S., 

 one of the early Secretaries of the Gumming Club, Dr Thomas Wright 

 Hall, a well-known physician for many years resident in Brazil, and many 

 others whose careers are sketched in the Roll Call of the Chronicles of the 

 Gumming Club. 



Tait himself preserved in printed form the result of the examination held 

 in 1846 to determine the winner of the Edinburgh Academical Club Prize. 

 The competition was open to all the Rector's classes, namely, the Fifth to the 

 Seventh. Lewis Campbell came out first over all and gained the prize. 

 Tait was third, being the only Fifth Class boy who was named in the list, 

 and Maxwell was sixth. In the department of mathematics, however, the 

 order of merit was Tait, Campbell, Maxwell, the others named being far 

 behind. On the classical and linguistic side Tait naturally fell behind the 

 more widely read scholars of the higher classes. 



In the competition for the Academical Club Prize in 1847, Tait was 

 again third, but Maxwell, now in the Seventh Class, was second on the 

 whole. In mathematics, Maxwell was first and Tait was second. 



