ii EARLY LIFE IN LONDON 35 



under the direction of the Chief Chemist and some of 

 his assistants. After the appointment in 1894 of my 

 friend and former pupil Dr. T. E. Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S., 

 to the office of Government Chemist in succession to 

 Dr. James Bell, C.B., the laboratories were rebuilt on a 

 most complete scale by Dr. Thorpe, on a site provided 

 in Clements Inn and the whole system and service 

 reorganised. Since that time the instruction of the 

 young men destined for appointments in the Scientific 

 Departments of Inland Revenue and Customs has been 

 transferred to the Royal College of Science at South 

 Kensington, where they spend two years in attendance 

 on lectures and in laboratory work. 



At the end of the session of laboratory work at 

 University College the professor permitted us to have 

 what may be termed "a chemical saturnalia," by the 

 administration of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to such 

 of the laboratory inhabitants as desired to take it. I 

 did not inhale the gas, but I remember very well some 

 ludicrous incidents, interesting as showing what varied 

 effects the ' nitrous oxide intoxication produces upon 

 different individuals. Of course for this purpose the 

 gas must be mixed with air so that it shall not act as an 

 anaesthetic but as an intoxicant. The famulus of the 

 laboratory was a Quilp-like creature, Williams by name. 

 When under the influence of the gas he simply sat 

 upon the coal-box and made the most horrible series of 

 grimaces that one could possibly imagine. Watts, on 

 the other hand, when under its influence danced about 

 in a high state of exhilaration, clicking his thumbs 

 in great delight. A student of the name of Fox, a 

 Quaker, and of course a man of peace, became terribly 

 pugnacious and chased us all round the laboratory. 

 I remember fortunately hiding behind one of the 

 doors in the furnace-room, but he caught one of the 



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