242 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



civilised world as one of the greatest scientific men of our 

 age. His researches have added chapters to the history 

 of chemistry, his writings have adorned it, and his teaching 

 has equipped a host of brilliant and useful scientific workers 

 and successful teachers. His uniform courtesy, and the 

 ready help he has afforded to all who sought it, have pro- 

 cured him high esteem among men, and when he was 

 elected to a seat in Parliament all lovers of science 

 rejoiced. 



Shortly after my resignation, my friends desired 

 that my portrait should be placed in the Professors' 

 Common Room at the Owens College, and for this 

 purpose I sat to Burgess. In presenting the portrait, 

 Principal Greenwood, in graceful terms, alluded to my 

 long connection with the College, to the distinctions 

 won by my pupils, to the value of the original 

 investigations made in my laboratories, and also to 

 the work which I had done in obtaining a charter for 

 the University of Manchester. He ended by con- 

 gratulating me on my election to the House of 

 Commons, at the same time regretting the consequent 

 severing of the ties which had bound us so long and 

 so affectionately together. 



If possible, a still more gratifying testimonial was 

 at a later date presented to my wife by my pupils, in 

 the form of another portrait for which I sat to 

 Herkomer. It was accompanied by the following 

 address to myself: 



We the undersigned students of Owens College who 

 have had the privilege of being your pupils, desire at the 

 close of your active work as a teacher to offer you some 

 recognition of the value of the services you have rendered 

 to our College during the time you have laboured as one 

 of its professors. For upwards of thirty years you have 

 had the control and direction of the Chemical Department 

 of Owens College. You leave it in 1887 the best organised 

 and best equipped school of chemistry in the kingdom, 

 numbering its students by hundreds, and the acknowledged 



