AM'AKV 2Ci, 



I9IOJ 



NA TURI-: 



is the frequent shocks to which the family in j;enoral 

 were subjected, and the coUectinjjf of eleclrieily in 

 their larj;e l.eydcn jars. Hut tlu'ir work was reaUv 

 serious, and was eonliiuially expaiulini;. They went 

 on to ni.ike voh.iie piles and j^alvanie balleries, oxi)eri- 

 menlint;- willi niotals and lluids, and on lij^lit and 

 heat, and ni.ij4:iietie eleclrieily. .Soon William's atten- 

 tion was turned lo the polaris.ition of lij^ht, and lie 

 pursued experiments in this field of inquiry with 

 extraordinary eagerness and delig^lit. The brothers 

 contrived and lliemselves made most if not all of the 

 apparatus ihey used in their experiments." 



"Their happy winter workdays were pleasan(l\ 

 varied with summer rambU's. Dr. Niehol, the famous 

 professor of aslronomy, had lau,L;hl these classes in 

 natural i)hilosophy duiiufi' Ihe illness of the professor, 

 and in sunnner he took James and William ;i two or 

 three days' ramble over the volcanic re,t;ion of the 

 .Sie!)eni;el)ir,ye, clindiiuL; the DiachenfeN on their last 

 inoinini;." 



.\ll science was their pioxince. l.onl Kehin .ilu.ns 

 claimed that naturnl philosoplu coinprehencled .ill the 

 sciences. 



" Hefort- setlint; i>ut on oui- Ir.ivels in iS|,i," 

 his sister writes that ' W illiam had );ot h'oui ier's 

 'Th6orie analytique de la C'haleur ' from the 

 colle),'e lihr.iry, and when studyiiijj: the book 

 one day he sudilenly spranj;' from Ihe stool on which 

 ho was siltinj4 .and excitedly exd.iimed, 'Papa, 

 Fourier is rij;ht and Kelland is wron^;.' (.)ur fatlier 

 was rather iitcreihilous, but on examination he found 

 tfiat in the points in which Kelland had dechtred 

 I'ourier mistaken it was Kelland l\in\s(-lf who w.as 

 mistaken and not I'lmiiii. lie made the boy write 

 an .article for Ihe Camhridi;!' Mathematical Journal, 

 ;md .sent it to (irejjjory, Ihe editor. It w;is shown to 

 Kelland before it w.is published. At first he was 

 very much annoyed, but after some expressions had 

 been altered he w.is satisfied lo let it appear. T may 

 add that Kell.and beciine veiT fiiendly with William, 

 and ;is lont; ,is he lived the fiiiMulship continued." 



\n iS.(i William went (o ( ".unbi id^;e, and the slory 

 of his life there is well known. 



" ;\ brilliant university career was before him. lie 

 was .also distinj.;iiishinf; himself as ;m oarsm.in. .\ 

 nice second-hand ' fumiy ' came in his way, which he 

 did not losi' Ihe opportunity of securinjj. It was 

 27 ft. loni;, painted blue, .and bordered with .1 b.ind 

 of fiildiiif;-. It was deck<(.l or covered all over except a 

 hole in the middle, wlii'ie the idwei- s.it. ,ind it was 

 so li.uhl that William e.nilcl e.irrv it himself if need 

 were. He c.illetl it the ' N.iutilus.' He bi'canu' as 

 tnthusiaslic in bo.itini;' as he w;is in everything' he 

 set about, and he won many prizes in the races. Like 

 a jockey, he used lo regulate his food so as to form 

 good strong muscle without increasing his weight. 

 . . . When he won the .Silver .Sculls, it was better, he 

 declared, th;m winning ;in ex.imin.tlion." 



The slory of his second wr.inglership .and subse- 

 quent first .Smith's prizcmanship has often been told. 

 When the first list came out he writes to his sister 

 (b.it Ihe principal thing he cared about in the result 

 w.as Ihe disappointment he was afraid papa must feel, 

 ■'as I am afraid he had rather r.iised his hopes .about 

 it, though I tried to kec]) him from expecting too 

 much before the examination, as 1 knew the uncer- 

 t.iinty." 



Next year came welcome compensation. .'\l Ihe age 



of twenty-lwd Willi.im was elected professor of n.itur.il 



philosophy in (Jl.isgow, to the ch.air which he niad<- 



so f.amous during the half-century of his occup.ition. 



NO. 2099, VOL. 82] 



It was delightful. lor his r.iiher, now his 

 colleague, was becoming fr.ul. lie died ol cholera 

 in Glasgow two years and a half later. Mul he 

 had seen in his declining years Ihe splendid outconte 

 of his long life-work. James Thomson's numeious 

 text-books were excellent in their ila\. I he\ h.id an 

 enormous circulation, and were of the utmost service 

 in the educalion of Ihe time. Hut his gre.itest wcirk 

 was his teaching of his own famih . While his inosi 

 enduring monument is the splendiil laitie ol l.oid 

 Ki-lvin and his elder biother, James Thomson, he did 

 work not less memorable in shaping and developing 

 the beautiful lives of all the six chiUlren, lo 

 whom he was father and ntother in one. It was in 

 th.it warm and loving home that l.onl Kehin and his 

 brolheis and sisters found the inlellietu.d and mor.al 

 nouiisbment tliat m.ide llieni wli.U tlu'\ cami- to be 

 in Ih.ii- d.iy and geneialion. W. J. 



VHOlOV\.\s\\ W IIMiNKSS. 



I.cs /,!,>, eV/./iV.v ,/e,s rimitrs ./ ■/•./(r.i/).' ft ilit }}tnsiil 



./.■ /,! Mv^liUrniiu'c. Hy Dr. C. Ilouard. Two 



vols. (I. uio,S, 11. i(|,u)). Pp. xvihij.f.S. (Paris: 



.\. Hermann I't Tils.) I'jice, two Vols., 45 francs. 



G.M.I.S on plants, in at le.isi llie morc conspicuous 

 lornis, inusl have been known to man from ;i 

 very early period in his history, and the presence in 

 them of living animals might h.ave been expected lo 

 suggest ini.|uiries as to theii- source and lel.uion to 

 plants, yet even .after iMalpighi h.id published the 

 results of his sluily of various g.ills, and had been 

 followed by Reaumur in his admirable " Memoires," 

 Ihe ititerest in those curious growths long rem.iined 

 limited to a veiy few. Vo botanisis they were little 

 more than excrescences ^tn, or defects of, plants, 

 lessening their \alue as specimens, while zoologists 

 were ran-ly allr.uled to the stud\ ol the makers, which 

 belonged for the most p.iil lo miles, nematode worms, 

 midges, .ind otlu'C groups diHieidl lo stud\, and litlli: 

 .itlracti\e in themsehcs. 



HiU the l.illei hair ol the nii\eleenlh cenUiry w.as 

 [U.uked by .m ,ilmost sudden oulbursl of activity, 

 about 1S70, led by Drs. I''. Thomas, I), von .Schlech- 

 tend.al, I'". Low, (I. M.ayr, .and others, resulting in 

 mnnerous papers filled with descriptions of previously 

 unktiown galls, and g.dl-makers, and with lile- 

 hislories disclosing new relations between plants .and 

 .animals, as well as new cycles of development of 

 the .animals. Such discoveries as th(! surprising 

 dimorphism so general among the Cyni|)id;e that gall 

 the oaks attracted keen interest, which showed itself 

 in an increase of workers, and in a morc and moic 

 rapid advance in the study of g.alls, especially in 

 faunistic researches, and in morc accurate deter- 

 minations of the g.all-m.akers and of the inlluenc<' on 

 one .another of host and p.ar.isite. 



'The diversities in structuie .among galls (the .iller- 

 ations induced by the g.ill-producers in some cases 

 amounting only to slight enlargement ol tlu' parts in- 

 volved, while in others they result in bodies of com- 

 plex n.ature and definite spi'cilic forms), .and Ihe 

 system.itic rel.ilions among the numerous g.ill-be.aring 

 pl.nils, .and .also ,nnong the g.all-produeers, suppoit the 



