176 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



the opening lecture of a similar series which a com- 

 mittee in Glasgow had established. My lecture on 

 "The Chemical Action of Light" was given in 1878, in 

 the large St. Andrew's Hall, before a crowded audience. 

 After it was over Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), 

 who had presided at the lecture, remarked to me, 

 " Why do not you make Owens College into a Uni- 

 versity ? " I said that we had often talked about it, 

 but that we thought the time had not yet arrived for 

 so momentous a proposal. He replied: "You are 

 quite mistaken. The time has arrived ; you have 

 quite attained a University position, and you ought 

 to make it the University of Manchester." Thinking 

 the matter over, I came to the conclusion that he was 

 right, and on returning home consulted my friend Dr. 

 Ward, now Master of Peterhouse, who was then our 

 Professor of History, on the subject. He at once fell 

 in with the suggestion, and after some time we con- 

 vinced our Principal, Dr. Greenwood, who was oi 

 a cautious disposition, that we ought to make the 

 attempt to found a new English University. 



The official beginning of the movement was, how- 

 ever, the drafting of a statement which Dr. Ward 

 laid before the Senate, and which was also largely 

 circulated among a number of eminent men, contain- 

 ing the arguments in favour of the foundation of a 

 University for Manchester. 



To place, in a clear light, before the Lancashire 

 public the value of the possession of a University in 

 its midst was a task which we set ourselves to accom- 

 plish, for without the support of public opinion nothing 

 could be done. For this purpose I drew up a state- 

 ment which appeared in the local Press, the arguments 

 from which I append. 



The proposal to found a new University in the North 



