UNIVEESITY COLLEGE, LONDON 107 



the following year by Dr. James Walker and Mr. Alex- 

 ander Kellas, B.Sc. In 1894 Mr. Morris Travers became 

 assistant in place of Dr. Walker. 



In the early days Ramsay was perpetually in the 

 general laboratory and knew all about every student 

 there. Often while talking to a student he would 

 suggest to him to make experiments for himself in order 

 to solve difficulties. This was not always acceptable 

 to the assistants who, with the fear of the examinations 

 before their eyes, were anxious for the students to stick 

 to their systematic work. Ramsay always encouraged 

 students to practice glass-blowing as much as possible. 

 One learned professor, coming into the laboratory, 

 remarked to Ramsay, " Do you allow your students 

 to waste their time over that sort of thing ? It can be 

 done far better by the professional glass-blower." 



Ramsay was very popular with the students. Every 

 year, at the end of the first term, a dinner was arranged 

 by the laboratory students and the practice has been 

 kept up ever since. At these dinners Ramsay was the 

 moving spirit, making speeches, singing songs, whistling 

 and joking with everyone. Students, after leaving, 

 often came back to these gatherings whenever they had 

 a chance, and at the last dinner before the war there 

 were present men who had left University College as 

 much as twenty-five years previously. 



As soon as laboratories for instruction in practical 

 chemistry were erected, the methods of instruction to 

 be employed had to be considered and reduced to some 



