NA TURE 



217 



THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1883 



WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE 



ENGLISH science is still staggering under the blow 

 it received last week in the death of the universally 

 respected President of its leading scientific society. The 

 world is always the poorer for the sudden withdrawal 

 from its many activities of a man sans peur et sans 

 reproche, but there is always an inner world where the 

 loss is more keenly felt, and in this case it is the turn of 

 the world of science to mourn one who has made her 

 name so honoured while he has made his own so loved. 

 It is not too much to say that the death of William 

 Spottiswoode is felt as a personal loss by every real 

 student of any department of natural knowledge who ever 

 came within his influence or had the opportunity of 

 knowing anything of the pure and earnest nature of the 

 man. As is but natural, those who have been working 

 along those lines of thought— and they are many — which 

 he had made or almost made his own, will feel the loss 

 most keenly, not merely because the so precious sympathy 

 is gone, but because of the swift insight, valuable criti- 

 cisms, and happy suggestions as to future work always so 

 freely at the disposal of any one who would consult him 

 either in difficulties or success. 



We should however entirely fail in our duty and in our 

 estimate of what he has done for science did we lay too 

 great stress either upon the special work which he did 

 himself or that which he in a greater or less degree in- 

 fluenced in the manner we have just indicated. How 

 much he has personally done we stated some little time 

 ago, little thinking, alas ! that what we gave as the 

 results he had achieved and the honours which had fol- 

 lowed upon them was anything more than an earnest of 

 what was to follow. It has proved to be the full tale, but 

 it is still one which places him high in the ranks of 

 scientific workers. But, as we have said, high as his 

 place in science would be from this point of view, we 

 doubt whether it is on that that the greatest stress must 

 be laid. 



Some men of science of first class working power are 

 so constituted that the less interest they take in the 

 general conduct of affairs connected with science or 

 scientific bodies the better. A man of this kind helps the 

 affairs on very little and he loses his own time. Spottis- 

 woode was exactly the opposite of such a man. In 

 council every word he uttered was pure gold, and when 

 we remember that it is now twenty-two years since he 

 began his council work as Treasurer of the British Asso- 

 ciation, and that it has never been interrupted till the 

 time of his death, we get an idea of his influence on our 

 national scientific activity. No effort was too great for 

 him, no time spent too long, no margin of time too 

 short, if anything worth doing had to be done; the per- 

 sonal force and the personal example were both there ; 

 dullards became enthusiasts if doing was in question, 

 while enthusiasts were checked at times when action was 

 impolitic or premature. 



It can easily be imagined that so cultured a man with 

 such qualities as those to which we have referred was 

 a large figure in other than scientific activities ; and that 

 Vol. xxviii.— No. 714 



both on the ground of his own personal merit, and as 

 representing the Royal Society as its President, he was a 

 marked figure in our English society. 



Hence it is that the movement in consequence of which 

 his remains are being buried in Westminster Abbey to- 

 day was one not at all confined to the scientific world, 

 nor was the claim embodied in the memorial to the Dean 

 of Westminster made simply on scientific grounds. As 

 remarked in the Times, " no more distinguished body of 

 men, none more thoroughly representative of the commu- 

 nity, ever united for a similar object." When we consider 

 that their names were obtained within two days, the quick- 

 ness of the sympathy and the unanimity of the feeling 

 indicated among the most prominent and gifted sections 

 of our society were certainly remarkable. 



The Dean's letter granting the prayer of the me- 

 morialists is one again which does such honour to 

 Spottiswoode that we give it in this place : — 



" I am deeply sensible of the loss which the country 

 has sustained in the death of the President of the Royal 

 Society. The names appended to the weighty memorial 

 which you have just laid before me are sufficient evidence 

 of the widespread desire that the highest public honours 

 should be paid to the memory of one whose peculiar 

 claims have been urged so forcibly. In addition to that 

 memorial, I have this morning received one expressing 

 the same desire, and bearing the signatures of many 

 hundreds of working men, with whom he was brought in 

 daily intercourse. Although in consideration of the 

 limited space yet remaining for interment within the 

 Abbey I should have myself suggested a monument rather 

 than a grave, yet I cannot but assent, after much anxious 

 consideration, to the wish that your memorial expresses. 

 I recognise in the late Mr. Spottiswoode, not merely a 

 man of special scientific attainments, but one who from 

 his interest in and sympathy with all the many branches 

 and departments of scientific knowledge was peculiarly 

 fitted to represent English science in its widest aspect, 

 and who was at the moment of his death the chosen and 

 the honoured President of the Royal Society. I recognise 

 in him also a man of the very highest and most stainless 

 character — one whose great gifts were only equalled by 

 the purity and attractiveness, and, I may be allowed to 

 add, the devoutness and humility, of his daily life. And, 

 not least of all, I feel that in honouring him we are not 

 only honouring one whose name is dear to men of science 

 and of literature, and of eminence in every sphere of 

 public and of social life, but one whose memory will long 

 be treasured by the working classes, to whose highest 

 interests and welfare he was so deeply devoted." 



William Spottiswoode then is buried in Westminster 

 Abbey to-day, by the side of his ancestor, an Archbishop 

 of St. Andrews' ; and his remains will be followed to the 

 grave by representatives of the scientific bodies and other 

 interests with which he was connected ; nor will sym- 

 pathy for the widow be wanting to fill up the cup of 

 sadness. English science sorrows, and will long 

 sorrow for the heavy loss, but still she is the richer 

 for Spottiswoode' s life and work, not least because his 

 life was so good and so pure, and because, as President 

 of the Royal Society, he has set an example which who- 

 ever succeeds him will be proud to follow. 



It must not be forgotten that the Presidency of the 

 Royal Society is the highest honour which it is in the 

 power of the Fellows of that Society to bestow. How 

 worthily and how well it was bestowed in the case of 

 Spottiswoode is patent to' all. A great responsibility, 



