104 SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 



as a teacher was considerable, but his activity in con- 

 nection with the establishment of science degrees in the 

 University, and in administrative work both within and 

 without the College during the later years of his tenure 

 of the chair, led to the practical abandonment of 

 experimental research and the personal supervision of 

 the laboratory instruction. 



One other name must be mentioned, that of Charles 

 Graham, who, after working for a time as assistant 

 under Williamson, was in 1878 appointed Professor of 

 Chemical Technology in University College. He 

 achieved a considerable reputation in connection with 

 the science and technology of brewing and malting. 

 He retired in 1889, and subsequently carried on for 

 about ten years a private consulting practice chiefly in 

 connection with fermentation industries. 



The chair to which Ramsay succeeded was therefore 

 furnished with traditions. The successive occupants 

 had always been among the leaders of scientific pro- 

 gress, and the responsibilities connected with the post 

 might have been ground for anxiety. But the new 

 professor had already won his spurs, and was confident 

 in his own powers. Almost immediately after entering 

 on his new duties (in 1888) he was chosen one of the 

 fifteen for the F.R.S. We shall see later how the 

 anticipations of his friends were fulfilled, though no one 

 could have expected the discoveries which followed so 

 rapidly a few years later. 



Work at University College was begun under peculiar 



