364 MISCELLANEOUS LETTEES, 1886-1897 



I am a Glasgow M.D., my father and Thomson's father 

 were fellow Professors, and I sat in Thomson's father's class 

 (Mathematics) with himself some sixty-five years ago ! 1 He 

 was the youngest and cleverest in the class ; and [we] have 

 been friends ever since. 



On June 25, he continues : 



(We were) invited to stay with Dr. Story, Professor of 

 Church History, at the College, where we greatly enjoyed 

 our thirty-six hours' visit. Kelvin's speech was admirable, 

 but amusing in respect of his description of his delightful 

 conference with his Students ; for he is a very bad teacher, 

 and the Students are only puzzled by applying to him after 

 Lecture. Nevertheless they are devoted to him as a man 

 he puzzles them with so much kindness, believing that he is 

 making night day to them ! The Exhibition of his inventions 

 was marvellous. 



His eightieth birthday was an anniversary happily kept. 

 It was not forgotten by Mrs. Lyell, who had just celebrated 

 hers, and to whom he replied : 



July 2, 1897. 



MY DEAR MRS. LYELL, I thank you most sincerely for 

 your kind thoughts of me, your congratulations, and the 

 useful birthday present which you so kindly sent, and which 

 is already installed on my writing table for insertion of notes 

 and observations on my daily work. 



I quite enjoy the description of your birthday's jubilee, 

 and am truly glad that you could have so many around you. 

 Indeed mine was a very happy day, too happy I fear to 

 expect a repetition of it. For I had Willy, Charlie and 

 his wife, Grace, Reggie, Joe, Dick, and Charlie's little boy 

 arrived. 



Hyacinth has I think told you of what we saw of the 

 jubilee sights ; of them the illuminated Fleet far surpassed 

 all others in striking character, in fact I never saw but two 

 that beat it for over-powering effects. One was the view of 

 the glacier-clothed and Berg-imprisoned mountain chain of 



1 As he told Mrs. Paisley, December 18, 1907, 'he at the top of prizemen, 

 I at the bottom.' 



