J UNI 



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AM rURE 



present next week at the banquet at which you are to preside, or 

 at any of the other functions in connection with Lord Kelvin's 

 jubilee. It would have been a great gratification to me to take 

 part in the universal tribute of admiration and respect that is to 

 be paid to the great man of science, and to give public expression 

 to the esteem and affection which for many a long year I have 

 felt for him as my colleague and friend. Acting under medical 

 advice, however, I am reluctantly constrained, owing to a recent 

 illness, from which I have not )et completely recovered, to 

 refrain from taking part in the approaching ceremonials. — 

 \'ery truly yours, (Signed) J. Caird. 



The Lord Provost then proceeded, and, after a very 

 interesting, but necessarily brief, sketch of Lord Kelvin's 

 career, he concluded with the following graceful words : — 



This life of unwearied industry, of universal honour, has left 

 Lord Kelvin with a lovable nature that charms all with whom 

 he comes in contact. Unaffected, ever wishful to get the 

 opinions of others, courteous and kind, well might Prof. 

 Huxley, after a memorable controversy, introduce Lord Kelvin 

 as his successor in the presidency of the British Association with 

 these words: — "Gentler knight never broke lance." Lord 

 Kelvin, indeed, inspires love and reverence in all. His home 

 life is love and melody. His helpmate is worthy of him, and 

 greater cannot be said. Those who have the great privilege of 

 their friendship, will in their hearts with fervent prayer add to 

 the toast the wish that Lord and Lady Kelvin may long be 

 spared to one another. I give you " Lord Kelvin, and hearty 

 congratulations on the attainment of his jubilee." 



The toast was pledged with great enthusiasm, and, on 

 the call of the Lord Provost, cheers were raised for Lady 

 Kelvin, the entire company rising and waving hand- 

 kerchiefs. The cheering was again renewed when the 

 organist played " See the Conquering Hero," followed 

 by " For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," in which the 

 company joined con aiiiorc. 



On rising to respond. Lord Kehin was greeted with 

 enthusiastic applause. He said — 



My Lord I'rovost, your Excellency, n\y Lords, and gentle- 

 men, — First of all, I desire to express the deep and heartfelt 

 gratitude with which I have heard the most kind and gracious 

 message from Her Majesty the ijueen, which has been read to 

 us by the Lord Provost. But I cannot find words for thanks. I 

 can only, on the part of Lady Kelvin and myself, tender an ex- 

 pression of our loving loyalty to the (Jueen. My Lord Provost, 

 my Lords, and gentlemen, I thank you with my w'hole heart for 

 your kindness to me this evening. Vou have come here to com- 

 memorate the jubilee of my University professorship, and I am 

 deeply sensible of the warm sympathy with which you have re- 

 ceived the kind expressions of the Lord Provost regarding my- 

 self in his review of my fifty years' service, and his most friendly 

 appreciation of practical results which have come from my 

 scientific work. I might perhaps rightly feel pride in knowing 

 that the University and City of Glasgow have joined in con- 

 ferring on me the great honour of holding this jubilee, and that 

 so many friends and so many distinguished men, friends and 

 comrades — day-labourers in science, have come from near and 

 far to assist in its celebration, and that congratulations and good 

 wiiihes have poured in on me by letter and telegram from all 

 parts of the world. I do feel profoundly grateful. But when I 

 think how infinitely little is all that I have done, I cannot feel 

 pride ; I only see the great kindness of my scientific comrades, 

 and of all my friends, in crediting me for so much. One word 

 characterises the most strenuous of the eflbrts for the advance- 

 ment of science that I have made perseveringly during fifty-five 

 years ; that word is failure. I know no more of electric and 

 magnetic force or of the relation bet« cen ether, electricity, and 

 ponderable matter, or of chemical affinity, than I knew and 

 tried to teach to my students of natural philosophy fifty years 

 ago in my first session as Professor. .Something of sadness must 

 come of failure ; but in the pursuit of science, inborn necessity 

 to make the effort brings with it much nf the certaminis gandia — 

 and saves the naturalist from being wholl; miserable, perhaps even 

 allows him to be fairly happy, in his daily work. And what 

 splendid compensations for philosophical failures we have had 

 in the admirable discoveries by observation and experiment 

 on the properties of matter, and in the exquisitely beneficent 

 applications of science to the use of mankind with which these 



NO. 1 39 1, VOL. 54] 



fifty years have so abounded ! Vou, my Lord Provost, have' 

 remarked that I have had the good fortune to remain for fifty 

 years in one post. I cordially reply that for me they have been 

 happy years. I cannot forget that the happiness of Glasgow 

 University both for students and professors is largely due to the 

 friendly and genial City of Glasgow in the midst of which it 

 lives. To live among friends is the primary essential of happi- 

 ne.ss ; and that, my memory tells me, we inhabitants of the 

 University have enjoyed since I first came to live in it in 1832, 

 sixty-four years ago ! And when friendly neighbours confer 

 material benefits, such as the citizens of Glasgosv have conferred 

 on their University in so largely helping to give it its present 

 beautiful site and buildings, the debt of happiness due to 

 them is notably increased. I do not forget the charms of the 

 old college in the High Street and Vennel, not very far from the 

 comforts of the Saltmarket, which was my home from 1832 till 

 1870. Indeed, I remember well when, in 1839, the old Natural 

 Philosophy class-room and apparatus-room (no physical labora- 

 tory then) was almost an earthly paradise to my youthful mind. 

 And the old College Green, with the ideal memories of Osbaldi- 

 stone and Rashleigh and their duel, and Rob Roy intervening to 

 prevent bloodshed, created for it by Sir Walter Scott, was attrac- 

 tive and refreshing to the end. But density of smoke and of 

 crowded population in the adjoining lanes increased, and pleasant- 

 ness, healthiness, and convenience of the old College both for 

 students and professors diminished year by year, if, my Lord 

 Provost, your predecessors of the Town Council, and the citizens 

 of Glasgow, and wellwishers to the city and its university all 

 over the world, and the Government, and the great railway com- 

 pany that has taken the old college for a passenger and goods 

 station, had left us undisturbed on our ancient site, and had not 

 given us our new college, I do not believe that attractions else- 

 where would have taken me away from the old college — but I do 

 say that the fifty years of professorship which I have enjoyed 

 would have been less bright and happy, and I believe also less 

 effective in respect to scientific work, than they have been with 

 the great advantages with which the University of Glasgow has 

 been endowed since its migration from the High Street. My 

 Lord Provost, I ask you to communicate to your colleagues of 

 the Town Council my warmest thanks for their great kindness 

 to me in joining with the University to celebrate this jubilee. 

 Vour Excellency, my Lords, and gentlemen, I thank you all 

 for the kind manner in which you have received the toast of my 

 health proposed by the Lord Provost, and for your presence 

 this evening to express your good wishes for myself. 



Prof. \V. T. Gairdner, F.R.S., in an interesting 

 speech, proposed the representatives present from other 

 Universities and learned bodies, coupling it with the 

 names of His Excellency General Annibale Ferrero, 

 Ambassador for Italy, Sir Joseph Lister, President of the 

 Royal Society, and Prof. Simon Newcomb, Washington. 

 These gentlemen replied as follows. 



His Excellency General Annibale Ferrero, Ambassador for 

 Italy, who, in acknowdedging the compliment, spoke in French, 

 said — My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, when the honour 

 was done me of asking me to speak in the name of so many 

 illustrious men, I thought that it would be great hardihood on 

 my part to accept a duty which would have better suited men 

 whose name had already a place in the history of science. 

 However, I thought that I had the honour of representing a country 

 from which there have come great predecessors of Lord Kelvin, 

 such as Galileo, Volta, and Galvani. In coming here to represent 

 the scientific bodies of our respective countries we have merely 

 the desire to render homage to the man of genius whose jubilee 

 is being celebrated by the University of (llasgow, which has the 

 honour of possessing him. But our presence is also intended to 

 show that the whole scientific world desires to take part in recog- 

 nising the services which Lord Kelvin has rendered to the human 

 race. The light which shines to-day upon the University of 

 Glasgow is like that of the sun. It does not belong to one 

 country but extends to all nations. We owe special thanks to 

 Prof. Gairdner for the way in which he has proposed the toast 

 of the representatives of other institutions and learned bodies. 

 We also owe a tribute of gratitude to the Corporation of Glasgow 

 for the cordial and dignified welcome which has been accorded 

 us. We have taken part in this jubilee celebration with the 

 most lively feeling of admiration for the great man who is its 

 object. The noble ceremony which we witnessed to-day in the 

 University raised our spirits and touched our hearts. I cannot 



