344 



NATURE 



[June 22, 1916 



powers of locution, he was also exceedingly suc- 

 cessful with his experiments. His speeches, 

 whether prepared or extempore, were always 

 models of lucidity, and when moved he was capable 

 of attaining to real eloquence. From a combined 

 scientific and literary point of view he possessed 

 not a few points of resemblance with Tyndall, 

 thougfh very different himself in other ways from 

 Tyndall as a man. 



The late Sir William White, himself a very 

 fluent and effective speaker, and himself a no mean 

 judge of oratory, once told the present writer that 

 he had heard Prof. Thompson deliver an address 

 at a religious meeting in the Friends' Meeting 

 House at York, and that it was the best sermon 

 he had ever heard in his life. Nor were Prof. 

 Thompson's powers of speech limited to his own 

 language, as he was equally at home both in con- 

 versation, and w^hen speaking in public, in the 

 French, German, and Italian languages. In his 

 writings also he showed himself to be a master of 

 English. If the subject was scientific his language 

 was always extraordinarily clear and to the point, 

 which explains the remarkable success of some of 

 his books. His treatise on "Dynamo Electric 

 Machinery," for example, which was first published 

 in 1884, has run to seven English editions and has 

 further been translated both into French and 

 German. Again, his " Elementary Lessons in 

 Electricity and Magnetism " has been translated 

 into French, German, Italian, Polish, and 

 Japanese, and, in addition, has had a circulation 

 of more than one hundred and fifty thousand 

 copies in this country ; while other of his technical 

 books, such as his "Electro-Magnet," his "Poly- 

 phase Electric Currents and Motors," and his 

 "Light, Visible and Invisible," together with 

 many of his other scientific writings and lectures, 

 have met with world-wide success. 



To turn to Prof. Thompson's efforts of a more 

 purely personal character, his fine literary style 

 was turned to good use in his life of Faraday, his 

 biographical notice of Philip Reis and his tele- 

 phone, and his recent two-volume " Life of Lord 

 Kelvin." Then, again, he was always keenly alive 

 to the historical side of science, particularly from 

 a romantic point of view, as is seen from the large 

 amount of time and labour that he devoted to old 

 books, such as the " De Magnete " of William 

 Gilbert of Colchester, physician to Queen Elizabeth, 

 which book he assisted to translate. He also devoted 

 attention to, and reprinted, some of the seven- 

 teenth-century W'Orks on magnetism of Robert 

 Boyle. Mention should also be made of the trans- 

 lation he made from the original Latin of the 

 epistle on magnetism of Peter Peregrinus, written 

 in the year 1269 by a soldier in the trenches 

 during a siege, which translation he caused to be 

 privately printed, ornamenting the coloured initial 

 letters with his own hand. For, in addition to 

 being a man of science and a man of letters. Prof. 

 Thompson was also an artist who was able him- 

 self to draw the portrait of Faraday that illustrates 

 his life of that great man, and whose water-colours 

 of Alpine scenery have appeared on the walls of 

 the Royal Academy. 



NO. 2434, VOL. 97] 



As a man Prof. Thompson was a genial and 

 interesting companion of wide general interests 

 and sympathies. He lived up to the high standard 

 of the Society of Friends, of which he was a life- 

 long member, and was, indeed, a very good and 

 true friend to many, to whom he tendered a helping 

 hand in his quiet unostentatious way. Perhaps 

 his chief characteristic was his amazing industry, 

 and it is to this that is due the vast amount of 

 work that he accomplished, though, passing away 

 as he did at less than sixty-five, he has not attained 

 even to the three score years and ten of the 

 Psalmist, much less to the four score years which 

 are now so commonly surpassed by many of our 

 grand old men of science. 



Few of the many who attended the service " For 

 Worship," in memory of Prof. Thompson, on 

 Friday last, in the Friends' Meeting House, St. 

 Martin's Lane, will readily forget that remarkable 

 and moving occasion. Many of the veterans of 

 British science were there assembled, and the com- 

 plete absence of any approach to form or ceremony, 

 and the austere simplicity of the proceedings, were 

 very impressive and carried one back to the days 

 of the Puritans. Such was a fitting finale to a 

 strenuous and distinguished career, by the close 

 of which science has lost an enthusiastic leader 

 and an illuminating exponent. Amongst those who 

 knew Prof. Thompson personally all will deplore 

 the departure of a trusted and very sincere friend 

 — one who will not readily be forgotten. 



A. A. Campbell Swinton. 



WHAT SCIENCE SAYS TO TRUTH. 

 A S is the mainland to the sea, 

 Thou art to me : 

 Thou standest stable, while against thy feet 

 I beat, I beat ! 



Yet from thy cliffs so sheer, so tall, 



Sands crumble and fall ; 



And golden grains of thee my tides each day 



Carry away. 



William Watson. 



NOTES. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death 

 on June 18 of Dr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., superintendent 

 of the Meteorological Office from 1867 to 1900. 



The longevity of men of science has often been 

 brought under notice. On Saturday next, June 24, 

 the Rt. Hon. Henry John Moreton, Earl of Ducie, 

 F.R.S., enters on his ninetieth year, having been born 

 in 1827. His lordship is the senior fellow of the 

 Royal Society in point of election to that body, this 

 dating from 1855. When Lord Moreton, he obtained 

 from the Jurassic limestone of Burford the fossil species 

 of star-fish named by Prof. Edward Forbes Solaster 

 nioretoni, in honour of the finder. In connection it 

 may be mentioned that Sir Robert Palgrave, F.R.S.*, 

 entered on his ninetieth year in the early part of this 

 month, while Sir William Crookes attainecj the age of 

 eighty-four on Saturday last, June 17. 



