SIR JOHN MURRAY 181 



height of his reputation as a teacher and investi- 

 gator, working in close association with Sir 

 William Thomson ; and at that time W. Robert- 

 son Smith, later the celebrated theologian and 

 oriental scholar, was acting as assistant in his 

 Physical Laboratory. Amongst the many pupils 

 who afterwards achieved distinction in varying 

 walks of life, who were studying in the laboratory 

 under the Professor and Smith, were Sir John 

 Jackson and the late Mr. Meik, builders of many 

 of the world's ports and bridges. Murray and 

 Robert Louis Stevenson, the latter then making 

 his first and wholly unsuccessful effort towards 

 a scientific career, were also among the small 

 band. But " natural philosophy " bored Steven- 

 son, and he used to manifest the greatest adroit- 

 ness in drawing Robertson Smith from the arid 

 deserts of physical science into the tangled thicket 

 of theological discussion, and he always succeeded 

 in keeping him there as long as he liked. 



A little later the Edinburgh Evening Club 

 was founded, and here, after the return of the 

 " Challenger/' Murray met a variety of friends, 

 some of whom were about his own standing and 

 others his seniors. The Club, the object of which 

 was to have every conceivable subject repre- 



