88 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



of the household, and to the end the beloved of his 

 youth. 



Profes- I wish in this chapter to chronicle small beer ; 



cuities. taking a hasty glance at some ten years of married 

 life and of professional struggle ; and reserving till 

 the next all the more interesting matter of his cruises. 

 Of his achievements and their worth, it is not for 

 me to speak : his friend and partner, Sir William 

 Thomson, has contributed a note on the subject, 

 which will be found in the Appendix, and to which 

 I must refer the reader. He is to conceive in the 

 meanwhile for himself Fleeming's manifold engage- 

 ments : his service on the Committee on Electrical 

 Standards, his lectures on electricity at Chatham, 

 his chair at the London University, his partnership 

 with Sir William Thomson and Mr. Varley in many 

 ingenious patents, his growing credit with engineers 

 and men of science ; and he is to bear in mind 

 that of all this activity and acquist of reputation, 

 the immediate profit was scanty. Soon after his 

 marriage, Fleeming had left the service of Messrs. 

 Liddell & Gordon, and entered into a general 

 engineering partnership with Mr. Forde, a gentle- 

 man in a good way of business. It was a fortunate 

 partnership in this, that the parties retained their 

 mutual respect unlessened, and separated with 

 regret ; but men's affairs, like men, have their 

 times of sickness, and by one of these unaccountable 

 variations, for hard upon ten years the business 



