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THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1918. 



SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY. 

 Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B.,' F.R.S. Memorials 

 of his Life and Work. By Sir W. A. Tilden. 

 Pp. xvi + 311. (London: Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd., 1918.) Price los. net. 



IT has been said that every man has in his own 

 history the making of at least one romance. 

 If by romance is implied not merely a work of 

 fiction, but also a story which is both true and 

 marvellous, this may certainly be asserted of the 

 life-histories of many men of science. A score of 

 illustrations might be cited, if necessary, in proof 

 of it. But it needs no proof to those who are in 

 the least degree familiar with the personal history 

 of science. The life-story of the subject of this 

 memoir, as dev^oped by Sir William Tilden, is 

 further evidence of it. His biography of his 

 eminent friend is one more addition to the already 

 extensive literature of the romance of science. 



Ramsay's relation to his epoch and his position 

 in the chronicles of science are established for all 

 time by his share in the discovery of the inert 

 ^ases of the atmosphere, and by his recognition of 

 helium as a terrestrial element. Most discoveries 

 are based, in greater or less degree, upon cmte- 

 cedent knowledge, and the discoveries upon which 

 Ramsay's fame chiefly rests are no exception to 

 this general rule. Their wonderful succession may 

 be said to take rise from Lord Rayleigh's memor- 

 able letter of September 29, 1892, in these columns, 

 in which he first directed public attention to the 

 difference in density between atmospheric and 

 factitious nitrogen, and invited chemists to offer 

 suggestions as to the cause. Ramsay's alert mind 

 was soon at work on the mystery. . How he came 

 to associate himself with Lord Rayleigh in attempt- 

 ing to solve it, and how, by independent steps, 

 the two investigators succeeded in completely 

 elucidating it, constitute not the least interesting, 

 and certainly the most historically valuable, chap- 

 ter in Sir William Tilden 's book. Although 

 nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed since 

 the British Association meeting at Oxford at 

 which the epoch-making announcement of the 

 discovery of argon was made, to be followed, a 

 few months later, by the remarkable gathering in 

 the theatre of the University of London in Bur- 

 lington Gardens, at which a detailed account of 

 the investigation was presented to the Royal 

 Society, the memory of it all is still fresh to those 

 now living who were fortunate enough to be pre- 

 sent on those historic occasions. The story is 

 again told in this book, simply and directly, and 

 > a great extent by excerpts from Ramsay's 



' respondence w^ith his wife and with his co- 

 worker. Indeed, it tells itself by its intrinsic 

 interest and power, and the author, like a true 

 artist, shows a wise restraint in not over- 

 elaborating it. 



The formal announcement of the isolation of 

 argon was followed, with an almost dramatic 

 NO. 2541, VOL. lOl] 



quickness, by Ramsay's detection of helium 

 among the gases which Hillebrand had found to 

 . be evolved from the mineral cleveite, and to which 

 i Ramsay's attention had been directed by Sir Henry 

 ] Miers, at that time keeper of the Mineral Depart- 

 I ment of the British Museum. The identity of the 

 I new gas with the solar helium of Lockyer, who 

 i first discovered it spectroscopically, was estab- 

 lished by Sir William Crookes, to whom Ramsay 

 had sent a sample of the gas. 



In June, 1898, Ramsay and Travers announced 

 the existence of krypton in the least volatile por- 

 tions of liquid air, and a fortnight later they 

 detected the presence of another new gas, neon, 

 followed some little time afterwards by the 

 ' recognition of a third hitherto unknown substance, 

 j xenon— all of them companions of argon and 

 i resembling it in chemical inertness. They are, in- 

 deed, as an American chemist wittily termed them, 

 the "tramps" among the chemical elements — 

 "useless things which never did an honest day's 

 work in their lives." An examination of the 

 I lighter portions and of the residues obtained from 

 j the less volatile fractions of about 120 tons of 

 j liquid air revealed no other new constituent of 

 j the atmosphere. 



i It is the detection, in such rapid succession, of 

 these extraordinary substances which constitutes 

 the element of romance in Ramsay's career. The 

 gases are not only remarkable in themselves : they 

 open up an entirely new and wholly unlooked-for 

 development in the philosophy of chemistry. 

 Although a score of years have passed since their 

 existence was made known, the mystery of their 

 I origin, past history, and functions still remains 

 one of the unsolved riddles of the universe. This 

 efxjch-making work was all compressed within less 

 than half a dozen strenuous years. There has 

 been nothing like it in the history of science since 

 Davy's time, now more than a century ago. 



On Ramsay's earlier and subsequent scientific 

 work — mainly in inorganic and physical chemistry, 

 for the most part done in collaboration with his 

 demonstrators and students, to whom, like the 

 I born leader he was, he sought to impart some of his 

 own unselfish and eager enthusiasm for investiga- 

 ' tion — there is the less necessity to dilate since it is 

 ' all admirably summarised in the book under review. 

 In the space thalk remains we may indicate some 

 I of Ramsay's more obvious personal attributes. 

 ; He was certainly a very complex character, and 

 i probably few outsiJde the family circle could justly 

 I claim to know him thoroughly. Not that he was 

 I in the least degree unapproachable or retiring. 

 [ On the contrary, a man of many social gifts and 

 I accomplishments, he was invariably at ease and 

 i happy in the society of his fellows and capable of 

 strong and enduring friendships, as his biographer 

 i abundantly proves from the many letters which 

 i have been placed at his disposal. He was, more- 

 I over, an excellent conversationalist, with more of 

 I the saving grace of humour than we envious 

 ; Southrons commonly attribute to the generality of 

 i his countrymen. An admirable racotitevr, he had 

 I almost as big a fund of good stories as his name- 

 ly 



