90 ESSAYS BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHEMICAL 



It was" his habit to cross-examine his students, at the 

 beginning of each lecture, on the subject of the preceding 

 day's work ; and it was customary in his junior class to 

 begin with very elementary questions. One day he asked 

 a certain Highlander : ' Mr. M'Tavish, what do you under- 

 stand by a " point " ? ' The answer was, ' It 's just a dab ! ' 

 Again, Mr. M'Tavish was asked, in the course of the con- 

 struction of some diagram : ' What should I do, Mr. 

 M'Tavish ? ' ' Tak a chalk in your hand/ ' And next ? ' 

 ' Draw a line.' Professor Thomson complied, and pausing, 

 said : ' How far shall I produce the line, Mr. M'Tavish ? ' 

 ' Ad infinitum ! ' was the astounding reply. 



At the mature age of ten William entered the university. 

 His training had been wholly in his father's hands ; Pro- 

 fessor Thomson was clear-sighted enough to recognise that 

 he had two very remarkable sons. They were brought up 

 on Classics and Mathematics, Logic and Philosophy. 



In May 1907, at the annual dinner of the London 

 ' Glasgow University Club,' I had the good fortune to hear 

 Lord Kelvin express his views on education. His theme 

 was the ' University of Glasgow ' ; and he commended the 

 universality of the training which it used to give. By the 

 age of twelve, said he, a boy should have learned to write 

 his own language with accuracy and some elegance; he 

 should have a reading knowledge of French, should be 

 able to translate Latin and easy Greek authors, and should 

 have some acquaintance with German. ' Having learned 

 thus the meaning of words/ continued Lord Kelvin, ' a boy 

 should study Logic/ In his charming discursive style, he 

 went on to descant on the advantages of a knowledge of 

 Greek. ' I never found,' he said, ' that the small amount 

 of Greek I learned was a hindrance to my acquiring some 

 knowledge of Natural Philosophy/ It certainly was not 

 in his case. And it may here be remarked that it is surely 

 a mistake to lay down a hard and fast rule that no youth 



