i8o STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



the Edinburgh University at a time when Edin- 

 burgh University had many students of very 

 striking ability. He was always a great indi- 

 vidualist, and he worked at the University at 

 what interested him, and was quite happy in 

 satisfying that interest without any thought of 

 examinations or of a degree, although it was 

 obvious he could have taken a degree in more 

 than one subject. As an old examinatorial hand 

 I feel grateful that I never had to examine Sir 

 John, at any rate in a viva, which is still one of 

 the glories of Edinburgh University. He would 

 have been too much for any examiner. 



He worked at literature with Masson, at ana- 

 tomy with Goodsir and Turner, at chemistry 

 with Crum Brown, at natural history with All- 

 man, and was at least occasionally to be seen at 

 lectures in law and in theology ; but the teacher 

 who most powerfully influenced him was un- 

 doubtedly Professor Tait, in whose laboratory 

 he worked for more than one session under the 

 direction of William Robertson Smith and under 

 the more or less direct inspiration of Clerk Max- 

 well and Sir William Thomson, afterwards Lord 

 Kelvin. 



In the late sixties, Professor Tait was at the 



