20 
NATURE 
[Vov. 4, 1869 
head-masters who have themselves no knowledge of 
science. That all head-masters should have such know- 
ledge is a fact which, if science is to be taught at all, 
trustees and governing bodies must come to recognise 
before long: meanwhile every school which teaches science 
thoroughly is training skilled teachers for a not distant 
generation. Institutions which can give so high a salary 
as to command a London bachelor of science or a first class 
Oxford or Cambridge man, will find no more difficulty than 
attends the choice of all masters: where this is not the 
case it is sometimes possible by combining mathematics 
with physical science to tempt a superior man with a 
sufficient income; and, if only a small salary can be 
given, the ordinary pass B.A. of the London University 
will sometimes make a fairly good teacher. But one point 
has struck me forcibly in my own experience; namely, 
the unexpected value of general culture in teaching special 
subjects. The man who knows science admirably, but 
knows nothing else, prepares boys well for an examina- 
tion; but his teaching does not stick. The man of wide 
culture and refinement brings fewer pupils up to a given 
mark within a given time : but what he has taught remains 
with them ; they never-forget or fall back. I am not sure 
that I understand the phenomenon, but I have noted it 
repeatedly. 
I cannot end this paper without a word as to the educa- 
tional results which our five years’ experience has revealed. 
The system has brought about this result first of all, that 
there are no dunces in the school. In a purely classical 
school, for every promising scholar there are probably two 
who make indifferent progress, and one who makes no 
progress at all; and a certain proportion of the school, 
habitually disheartened, loses the greatest boon which 
school can give, namely, the habit and the desire of intel- 
lectual improvement. By giving importance to abstract 
and physical science, we at once redress the balance. 
Every boy progresses in his own subject ; some progress 
in all; no one is depressed, no one thinks learning hateful. 
Secondly, the teaching of science makes school-work 
pleasant. The boy’s evident enjoyment of the scientific 
lesson rouses the emulation of other masters. They dis- 
cover that the teaching of languages may become as 
interesting as the teaching of science. They realise—a 
point not often realised—the maxim of Socrates, that no 
real, instruction can be bestowed on learners “apa rod py 
apeoxovros, by a teacher who does not give them pleasure.” 
Lastly, the effect on the boy’s character is beyond all 
dispute. It kindles some minds which nothing else could 
reach at all. It awakes in all minds faculties which would 
otherwise have continued dormant. It changes, to an 
extent which we cannot over-estimate, the whole force and 
character of school-life both to the learner and the teacher. 
It establishes, as matter of experience, what has long been 
urged in theory, that the widest culture is the noblest 
culture ; that universality and thoroughness may go 
together ; that the system which confines itself to a single 
branch of knowledge, does not gain, but loses incom- 
parably, by its exclusiveness: that observation, imagina- 
tion, and reasoning mav all be trained alike; that we 
may, and so we must, teach many things, and teach 
them well. 
W. TUCKWELL 
THE LATE PROFESSOR GRAHAM 
T 9 o'clock in the evening of Thursday, the 16th 
September, 1869, died at his house, No. 4, Gordon 
Square, a man whose name will be honoured as long as 
true greatness is appreciated. 
Thomas Graham spent his life in reading the book of 
Nature, and giving to mankind a knowledge of the truths 
which he found there. His greatness is to be measured 
not merely by the amount and importance of the know- 
ledge which he thus gave, but even more by the singleness 
and strength of purpose with which he devoted his whole 
life to labours of experimental philosophy. 
Some men have made important discoveries by occasion- 
ally‘applying to experimental investigation, powers of mind 
which they exerted usually in the pursuit of their own 
worldly advancement. 
But from an early age Graham’s one great object of life 
was the discovery of new truths, and he appreciated so 
fully the value of such work that he resolved to make any 
personal sacrifices which might be needed for its sake. 
And nobly he kept his resolution ; for at an early stage of 
his career he endured, for the sake of pursuing chemistry, 
privations and sufferings so severe, that they are believed 
to have permanently injured his constitution ; and at its 
very end, long after he had attained a world-wide repu- 
tation, when his delicate frame sorely needed the repose 
which was at his command, he continued to labour even 
more effectively than before, and to enrich science with 
new discoveries. 
It might be difficult to find in history a character so 
perfect in its noble simplicity and elevation. 
Graham was born at Glasgow, on the 21st December, 
1805, the eldest of a family of seven, of whom only one 
survives. 
He went to the English preparatory school at Glasgow, 
in 1811, and was there under the care of Dr. Angus. In 
the year 1814 he was removed to the High School, where 
for four years his studies (which included the Latin 
language) were directed by Dr. Dymock, and subsequently 
for one year by the Rector, Dr. Chrystal, under whom he 
studied Greek. It is said that during these five years he 
was not once absent at school-time. In 1819 he com- 
menced attendance in the University classes in Glasgow. 
Thomas Thomson then occupied the Chair of Chemistry, 
and young Graham benefited by his instruction, as also by 
that of Dr. Meikleham, the Professor of Natural Philosophy. 
By this time he had already acquired a strong taste for 
experimental science, and formed a wish to devote him- 
self to chemistry. His father, an able and successful 
manufacturer, had formed different views for his future 
career, and wished him to become a minister of the Scotch 
Church. It is hardly to be wondered at that the father 
should not have seen in the prosecution of science much 
scope for an honourable or advantageous career; but 
young Graham had already seen something of the means 
afforded by experimental science of getting knowledge 
from the fountain head—from Nature herself. He felt the 
need of more such knowledge to mankind, and his scheme 
of life was formed accordingly. 
After taking the degree of M.A. at Glasgow, he con- 
tinued his studies for two years at Edinburgh, and there 
studied under Dr. Hope, and enjoyed the friendship of 
Prof. Leslie. On his return to Glasgow, he taught mathe- 
matics for some time at the suggestion and under the 
patronage of Dr. Meikleham, and subsequently opened a 
laboratory in Portland Street, Glasgow, where he taught 
chemistry. It is probable that some of the severest trials 
of his life occurred at about this period. 
While absent from Glasgow he was in the habit of 
writing regularly and at great length to his mother, and 
from the tenor of these letters it is easy to see what that 
mother must have been to him. A writer on the social 
position of women has described the feelings of boys 
towards their mothers as scarcely amounting to respect ! 
Young Graham’s mother seems to have been his guardian 
angel, sympathising with his hopes and his sorrows ; and 
certainly his feelings towards her would have been very 
inadequately described by that frigid word. While studying 
at Edinburgh he earned, for the first time in his life, some 
money by literary work, and the whole sum (6/.) was ex- 
pended in presents to his mother and sisters. 
In 1829 he was appointed lecturer on Chemistry at the 
Mechanics’ Institution, Glasgow, in place of Dr. Clark; 
but the. decisive step of his life was in the subsequent 
