NATURE 
597 
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1883 
SCIENTIFIC WORTHIES 
XXI.—WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE 
ILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, President of the 
Royal Society, was born in London, Jan. 11, 1825. 
He belongs to an ancient Scottish family, many members 
of which haverisen to distinction in Scotland and also in 
the New World.’ He was first sent to a private (we believe) 
school at Laleham under Mr. Buckland, brother of Dean 
Buckland. Here, we read, ‘‘the discipline was of a 
severity unknown at the present day.” Thence he was 
removed to Eton, where however his stay was short. 
The poet writes, “the child is father of the man’’; but 
science in those days did not hold the place it does 
now in the scholastic curriculum, and so the future 
President, venturing to make some researches into the 
effects produced by the combination of various detonants, 
came into collision with the “powers that be”;° the 
upshot of this contretemps was that the brothers Spottis- 
woode were transferred to Harrow, then under the rule of 
the present Bishop of Lincoln. His house tutor was Mr. 
Harris, of the Park. On entrance he was placed in the 
upper shell, a high form in those days for a newcomer: 
here he was avery studious, quiet, and thoughtful boy, not 
much given to athletic games. He remained at Harrow 
three years, and in 1842 obtained a Lyon Scholarship.* In 
this same year he entered Balliol College, Oxford, and had 
the present Bishop of Exeter for his mathematical tutor, 
subsequently, in 1845, the last year of his residence as an 
undergraduate, he read with the Rev. Bartholomew Price, 
of Pembroke College. This gentleman writes: “He 
showed extraordinary liking for, and great skill in, what 
I may call the morphology of mathematics, such as the 
theory of simultaneous equations and the results deducible 
from the form of these equations, a department in which 
he has since shown great ability. He had, I think, 
greater taste for these branches in their algebraical and 
geometrical developments than for any other. His power 
of work was very great and his industry equally so; he 
read a great deal outside the usual range.” In 1845 he 
took a first class in mathematics, and he afterwards won 
the Junior (1846) and Senior (1847) University Mathe- 
matical Scholarships. He returned to Oxford for a term 
or two, and gave a course of lectures in Balliol College 
on Geometry of Three Dimensions—a favourite subject 
of his. He was Examiner in the Mathematical Schools 
in 1857-58." On leaving Oxford, he immediately, we 
1 John Spottiswoode, born 1565, Archbishop of St. Andrews, “had few 
equals, and was excelled by none’’ ; another John (1616) was “a youth of 
extraordinary parts”; and Sir Robert Spottiswoode, second son of the 
Archbishop, was “‘a man of extraordinary parts, learning, and merit.” 
(‘Genealogy of the Spotswood Family in Scotland and Virginia,’’ by C. 
Campbell. Albany, 1268.) 
2 * The feeling and opinion”’ at Harrow ‘‘were that no blame whatever 
attached to them.”” 
3 One who knew Mr. Spottiswoode in his earliest days says: ‘‘Our 
numbers at the school were comparatively very small, but I remember well the 
great ease with which he did all hisschool work. I knew him well at Oxford, 
and he several times lent me his horse—a sturdy, Roman-nosed animal of 
great courage and strength—fora day’s hunting. He rode but little himself, 
and did not read much in an orderly way.”” He also gives other particulars 
-of interest, which we forbear to give here. 
4 A son of Bishop Colenso also obtained a scholarship in the same year. 
The mathematical prizes of the present day were not then founded, so that 
the name of Spottiswoode does not occur among the prizemen of that time. 
5 He also acted as an Examiner in the Civil Service Commission in its first 
year of operation, and subsequently for the Society of Arts, and also for the 
Cowper Street Middle-Class Schools. 
VoL. XXv1I.—NO. 704 
believe, took an active part in the working management 
of the business of the Queen’s printers, about this time 
resigned to him by his father, Andrew Spottiswoode, 
brother of the Laird of Spottiswoode. The business has 
largely developed under his hands. 
Other subjects than mathematics have occupied his 
attention: at an early age he studied languages, as well 
Oriental as European; of his acquaintance with these 
ample evidence is furnished by his contributions more 
particularly referred to below. 
In 1856 Mr. Spottiswoode made a journey through 
Eastern Russia ; of this he has published a graphic and, 
in parts, very lively account in his book entitled “A 
Tarantasse Journey through Eastern Russia in the 
Autumn of 1856” (Longmans, 1857). ‘‘I neither made 
the journey, nor do I now write, with any political object, 
but simply as a traveller to whom every square mile of 
the earth’s surface is interesting, and the more so in pro- 
portion as it is less known.” * 
In 1860 the brothers Spottiswoode, accompanied by a 
sister, went through Croatia and Hungary.” In 1861 Mr. 
Spottiswoode married the eldest daughter of the late 
William Urquhart Arbuthnot, a distinguished member of 
the Indian Council. His exceptional qualifications as an 
organiser have not only served to advance his business 
in the way we have mentioned above, but these same 
qualifications, together with the broad and liberal edu- 
cation on which they were based, have combined to 
raise him to his present high position in science. As 
Treasurer and President he has been continuously on 
the Council of the Royal Society for a great many years, 
and through his exceptional gifts as an administrator he 
has rendered it invaluable services. He has rendered 
similar services to the British Association, to the London 
Mathematical Society, and to the Royal Institution.’ 
We have permission to make the following extract from 
a letter written by a friend of many years standing: “‘In 
the councils (of the various societies) he has always been 
distinguished by his sound judgment and his deep 
sympathy with their purest and highest aims. There 
never was a trace of partisanship in his action, or of 
narrowness in his sympathies. On the contrary, every 
one engaged in thoroughly scientific work has felt that he 
had a warm supporter in Spottiswoode, on whose oppor- 
tune aid he might surely count. The same breadth of 
sympathy and generosity of sentiment has marked also 
his relations to those more entirely dependent upon him. 
The workmen in his large establishment all feel that they 
have in him a true and trustworthy friend. He has 
always identified himself with their educational and 
social well-being-’* We give here a list of some of 
the offices Mr. Spottiswoode has held, and of the honours 
that have been bestowed upon him: Treasurer of the 
British Association from 1861 to 1874, of the Royal 
Institution from 1865 to 1873, and of the Royal Society 
from 1871 to 1878. In 1871 he succeeded Dr. Bence 
The hotel accommodation was of the scautiest (p. 23); the description of 
| the vehiclesis pleasanter to read than to realise. The only peculiarly personal 
statement is that the writer was a non-smoker. There are several illustrations 
by the author, and a route map of Russia, 3 : 
2 Fora description, see a paper by Mr. G. A. Spottiswoode in Galton’s 
€Vacation Tourist in 1860.” 3 
3 He has, we believe, also rendered valuable services to the Astronomical 
t and Geographical Societies. 
4 This last statement we have corroborated from other sources. ‘‘ Spottis- 
woode’s people” have “ many institutions for healthful recreation as well as 
mental improvement, such as library, rowing and cricket clubs, a choral 
society, and a volunteer corps.”” 
DD 
