SIR JAMES DEWAR 51 



found in the Edinburgh University Calendar ; but as indicative of Sir John 

 Jackson's personal feelings towards Tail the following quotation is of interest : 



" LASTLY. I desire to place upon record that I have been induced to 

 act in the premises as hereinbefore appearing from a deep sense of the 

 advantages I as a student in the said University have derived from having 

 been a pupil of the late Professor Tait and from a desire to assist 

 instruction on similar lines to those followed by him for the benefit of 

 future students in the said University." 



In this closing sentence Sir John Jackson expresses the feelings of all 

 who were serious students of Physical Science under Tait's guidance. One 

 of the earliest of these was (Sir) James Dewar. There was then no 

 Physical Laboratory, and I have heard Tait lament that he was unable 

 to make use of Dewar's ability in those very early days. He was also in the 

 habit of saying that one of the greatest services he did to experimental science 

 was recommending him to Lyon Playfair as demonstrator and assistant. 

 While still Professor of Chemistry in the Veterinary College in Edinburgh, 

 Dewar frequently came to discuss physical problems with Tait at the 

 laboratory ; and in later years he never failed when he passed through 

 Edinburgh to call on his old master and renew their fruitful intercourse. 

 Shortly after Tait's death, Sir James was awarded the Gunning Victoria 

 Jubilee Prize by the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the 

 sum received by him on this account he at once passed on to the Tait 

 Memorial Fund as an expression of his regard for one to whom he owed 

 so much. 



Another frequent visitor at the Physical Laboratory was Dr Alexander 

 Buchan, the well-known meteorologist, who could never rest satisfied with 

 his own conclusions until he had sounded Tait on the physics of the 

 problem. I have often heard Buchan express his great indebtedness to 

 Tait for his valuable hints and criticisms. 



But this feeling of indebtedness was not confined to those only who 

 walked the pleasant paths of science. Many of his old pupils, who are 

 now clergymen, physicians, teachers, lawyers, engineers, merchants, etc., 

 retain not only a lively memory of the clear lecturer but a great deal of the 

 principles of Natural Philosophy which he taught them. Some have even 

 found his experimental illustrations useful in driving home spiritual and 

 religious truths. Others, from their experience, have declared that what 

 Tait taught them of the physical basis of things has been of more 



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