1914-15. J 
Obituary Notice. 
305 
OBITUARY NOTICE. 
Sir John Murray, K.C.B., LL.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., Knight of the 
Royal Prussian Order Pour le Merite, Grand Cross of the Royal 
Norwegian Order of St Olav. By J. Graham Kerr. 
(Read July 5, 1915.) 
John Murray was born on March 3, 1841, in the town of Coburg, Ontario, 
the second son of Robert Murray, accountant, an immigrant from Scotland, 
and his wife Elizabeth Macfarlane of Coney Hill, Stirlingshire. After 
spending his boyhood on the plains of Ontario, Murray came at the age 
of seventeen to relatives in Scotland to complete his education. It was 
at the period of this first transatlantic voyage that there occurred what 
were perhaps the first recognisable steps in the scientific career of the great 
oceanographer, for Murray has told us of the indelible impression produced 
upon his mind by the great salt rolling sea, so different from the fresh- 
water lakes which he had hitherto known, and of the fascination which 
he felt in watching the navigational duties of the officers of the ship as 
they picked their way across the trackless ocean. And he has told us 
again how the impressions received during the voyage were deepened when 
on the west coast of Scotland he watched the rhythmic rising and falling 
of the tide, like the movements of some great living thing. 
After some time spent at the Stirling High School,^ Murray proceeded 
to the University of Edinburgh, where, without working through the 
regular curriculum for any degree, he received invaluable scientific train- 
ing under Allman, Goodsir, Turner, Lyon-Playfair, and, above all, Tait, in 
whose laboratory he spent much time researching in association with a 
number of men who later became distinguished in very various spheres 
of activity. Murray’s researches were particularly directed towards 
thermal conductivity and thermo-electricity, and he was esj^ecially inter- 
ested in the construction of an electrical thermometer for use in deep-sea 
work. Apart from his more systematic training in laboratories, Murray 
gained experience of value for his future work by making a voyage to the 
* For delightful reminiscences by Murray of his school-days, see “ OM Boys” and 
dheir Stories of the High School of Stirlmq, collected and edited by J. Lascelles Graham. 
Stirling, 1900. 
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