24 SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 



connected with religion and the Church, and I think she looked 

 with considerable suspicion on scientific enquiries. She did not 

 oppose or argue about such enquiries, but she certainly did not 

 encourage talk about such subjects as Darwinism, and was 

 immediately up in arms if anything was said that seemed to 

 question orthodox religious views. I think it must have been 

 owing to her that so much of Ramsay's education was devoted to 

 such subjects as Latin and Greek and Philosophy, in which he 

 never took any particular interest. She had splendidly calm 

 nerves and a clear logical head, both of which qualities she 

 passed on to her son. 



It has been said that he was a dreamy lad in school. 1 He 

 certainly was not attentive, but I do not think he was dreamy 

 in the ordinary sense at all. He certainly was not given to 

 reverie. His own explanation was that he could not bring 

 himself to take an interest in the subjects that were taught, 

 particularly Latin and Greek and more particularly the way 

 in which they were taught, and he professed to be thinking about 

 other things when we were worrying over Latin syntax. I 

 remember his telling me that during the sermons in Saint Mat- 

 thew's, he thought he had worked out a good many of the pro- 

 positions of Euclid by putting together the lozenge panes in the 

 windows and seeing how they could work out into different 

 models. He certainly was not attentive in Church either, but 

 anyone who heard his imitations of Davidson of Arran must 

 have been convinced that he could attend to some purpose when 

 he had a mind to. 



When he came back from Germany he was splendidly equipped 

 both mentally and physically for a successful career. He had 

 perfect health. He could walk 40 miles in a day without any 

 difficulty. He was a very strong and graceful swimmer and 

 could dive further than any amateur I have seen. When we 



1 He describes himself in his autobiography as "to a certain extent 

 precocious, though idle and dreamy youngster " (p. 5). 



