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take a practical part in the pursuits which intt-rtsted 

 him. In his fourteenth year William matriculated at 

 Glasf^ow I'niversity, and there commenced his studies. 

 The jjrealest influence was exerted upon him by 

 William Thomson, whose curious and impressive 

 method of teachinK^ has boon j^niphically and amus- 

 ingly described by his great pupil. He gave him as a 

 first problem a large heap of old copper wire in the 

 laboratory, and instructed him to take out the kinks 

 from it, and from the way in which the young student 

 accomplished the task Thomson seems to have de- 

 rived a favourable judgment as to his capacity for 

 solving larger problems. For he soon made him 

 acquainted with the quadrant electrometer, an instru- 

 ment which at that time only existed in Glasgow, and 

 instructed him to determine the potential difference 

 between all kinds of objects found in the laboratory, 

 or imported into it, such as a children's toy balloon. 

 We can imagine that if such an originally constituted 

 spirit could be at all affected by teaching, he must 

 have been profoundly affected by this teacher. For 

 William Thomson belonged to the same type of 

 "romantic " or rapidly producing investigators as did 

 Ramsay himself, and hence he made a particularly 

 strong and permanent impression on that plastic 

 developing genius. 



The regular study of chemistry which followed upon 

 this irregular course was made under Tatlock in Glas- 

 gow, and in this case also Ramsay appears to have 

 distinguished himself so decidedly that his teacher 

 after a short time made him an occasional deputy in 

 the class. 



At eighteen years of age the young student in 

 Glasgow had learned whatever was to be learned 

 there, and he had now to pursue his further study of 

 chemistry. For this only Germany was at that time 

 to be considered. But the Franco-German War had 

 just broken out, and it therefore appeared somewhat 

 risky to follow the original idea of continuing his 

 studies in Heidelberg under Bunsen. However, 

 the scene of war moved away so rapidly 

 from the Franco-German frontier, that the 

 German project could be undertaken. Ramsay 

 passed one term with Bunsen, without, how- 

 ever, seeming to carrj' away a very strong impression, 

 for in the following term he moved on to Tubingen, 

 where he met a number of equally disposed fellow- 

 workers in Fittig's laboratory, and under the guidance 

 of this extremely conscientious teacher and able experi- 

 menter he was introduced to the usual problems and 

 methods of organic chemistry. There Ramsay made 

 one of the usual dissertations (on toluyl acids), which 

 does not enable us to recognise the kind of man we 

 have to deal with. After his return Ramsay was for 

 some years assistant in the Glasgow course of study, and 

 there he acquired a very extensive and profound know- 

 ledge of the whole field, especially of inorganic chem- 

 istry, at the same time laying the foundations of that 

 mastery which he subsequently displayed as teacher 

 in a great laboratory. Nor shall we err in supposing 

 that the method of working a laboratory, as developed 

 NO. 2202, VOL. 88] 



under the inspiring guidance of Liebig in Gen 

 and spread over the lal>oratories of the whole woi 

 common prop<'rl> of chemical science, has exerted 

 very profound influence on Ramsay's talents and ide<'i: 

 as a teacher. In any case, we can state that he h< 

 approached the great example of Liebig as closely .•■. 

 any distinguished teacher of chemistn- since that great 

 time. Particularly in England his extraordinar 

 facility of organising work in a great laboratory, wit 

 a diversity of the most varied talents, must be regarded 

 as very rare, considering that they spread over many 

 different regions of science, and thus make results 

 possible which turn out afterwards to be of funda- 

 mental importance. 



It is very interesting to observe from Ramsay 

 own communications how he gradually found his w;i 

 out of organic chemistry, at that time the object ' 

 chief interest, into that other region which has sini 

 found an independent place as physical, or rath- 

 general chemistry. It was first certain practir 

 problems, such as the determinatk>n of vapour den^ 

 ties, which introduced him to the more physic 

 problems of chemistry. Here we find the first marl 

 of the growing genius, in the extraordinary* indepem 

 ence in the choice of means of solving the problen 

 Thus he used the pitches of pipes of fixed dimensioj 

 for the determination of vapour densities, s 



utilised his own musical talents. 



This process was successful (although it has nev' 

 been published), but he was less fortunate in Iv 

 attempts to measure the electric conductivity of sol 

 tions by means of the telephone. Here we are in- 

 voluntarily brought to a pause and have to ask our- 

 selves how the geographical distribution of discover!' 

 in electrochemistrr, such as have reformed chemist: 

 in the last twenty years, would have arranged its* 

 if the young investigator had at that time been mo; 

 fortunate in the execution of his experimental ideas. 



We also know of physiological investigations co: 

 cerning anaesthetics, dating from this period, execut. 

 in company with some medical colleagues. In the- 

 he himself was the experimental subject, as he suffer* u 

 less under them than his companions. But here aUo 

 no considerable results were obtained. 



The first independent position was obtained by 

 William Ramsay in the year 1880, when the professor- 

 ship at the University College, Bristol, was entrusted 

 to him. The choice fell upon him in preference to a 

 competitor because, as he himself narrates, he under- 

 stood Dutch. For he had to make visits to the 

 various members of the council of the College, and 

 was fortunate enough to be of assistance to one of 

 them, an old minister, in the translation of a Dutch 

 text, so that this member gave him his vote, and the 

 choice was made with a majority of one. But soon 

 it turned out to be an exceptionally happy one. A 

 year after that Ramsay was chosen as the principal of 

 the College. In this short time he had not only 

 proved himself to be an excellent teacher, but also an 

 excellent organiser. 



The problem of vapour densities, which had first 



