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professional interviewer, forgetting how easy it is for 

 the newspaper man eager for " copy " to exaggerate 

 and distort words uttered in conversation as freely as 

 if spoken to a friend. He was always optimistic in his 

 view of what was possible in the application of science 

 to practice, as, for example, in his proposal to submit 

 coal to distillation in situ. And he was sometimes too 

 eager to get things done and was impatient of the 

 cautious and apparently dilatory attitude of the majority 

 of men of business. This led him on more than one 

 occasion to embark on schemes into which he did not 

 hesitate to fling money of his own, but which were in 

 some cases predestined to disappointment. 



Notwithstanding the extraordinary fame of his long 

 series of brilliant discoveries, Ramsay never showed 

 that the height to which he had risen in the eyes of the 

 world lifted him beyond the range of old friendships. 

 Although he left Glasgow in 1880, he kept in close touch 

 all through life with many of the friends of his youth 

 there and was never happier than when in their company, 

 recalling memories of the trials, humours and triumphs 

 of the old days when he was assistant to Professor 

 Ferguson. To his students he was the same sympathetic 

 and kindly teacher at the end as at the beginning of his 

 career, while to his contemporaries he was always 

 friendly and courteous. His spirit and his enthusiasm 

 for scientific research have left their deep impress on 

 students young and old, and through them will pass on 

 to future generations. 



