Sir William Thomson is no specialist. Many people are accustomed to associate his name with the Atlantic Cable, and with that alone. This, however, is a great mistake, for he has made many important additions to the science of magnetism, respecting which he published a number of valuable papers between the years 1847 and 1851. He has also displayed extraordinary acumen and intelligence in the investigation of the nature of heat. Neither should it be forgotten that Sir William has speculated a great deal on the ultimate constitution of matter—an inquiry which has occupied the attention of all great physicists in modern times. Last year he published in Nature an article which, running from four different lines of argument, seeks to establish proof of the absolute magnitude of the atoms of matter. Of this argument Tyndall says:—"William Thomson tries to place the ultimate particles of matter between his compass points, and to apply to them a scale of millimetres."
In the Encyclopædia Britannica, Sir William has published an article describing the instruments—chiefly invented by himself—which were used in laying the Atlantic Cable. In the same contribution he describes the expeditions undertaken in 1857 and 1858 for the purpose of laying the Atlantic Cable, and the difficulties that had to be encountered in that great enterprise. This he was eminently qualified to do from his experience as acting electrician on board the Agamemnon during the progress of the work which resulted in the completion, in August, 1858, of the Atlantic Cable, and the astonishment of the world at finding the two opposite shores of the great ocean placed in instantaneous communication with each other. For some time after the cable was laid he remained at Valentia, endeavouring to bring his galvanometer to still greater perfection. From the subsequent failure of the Atlantic Cable, and until it was finally established as a successful "institution," Sir William was busily employed in seeking to make more perfect and easy the difficult science of submarine telegraphy; and in the expeditions of 1865 and 1866, which he accompanied, his counsel and assistance proved of inestimable value.
From the Royal Society of Edinburgh Sir William received the Keith Prize for the years 1862 and 1863. On the occasion of the award, Sir David Brewster, the Vice-President of the Society, thus referred to the many valuable papers he had communicated to the Society during the seventeen years of his connection with it:—"These papers, and others elsewhere published, relate principally to the theories of Electricity, Magnetism, and Heat, and evince a genius for the mathematical treatment of physical questions which has not been surpassed, if equalled, by that of any living philosopher. In studying the mathematical theory of Electricity, he has greatly extended the general theorems demonstrated by our distinguished countryman, Mr. Green; and was led to the principle of 'electrical images,' by which he was enabled to solve many problems respecting the distribution of electricity on conductors, which had been regarded as insoluble by the most eminent mathematicians in Europe. In his researches on Thermo-dynamics, Professor Thomson has been equally successful. In his papers 'On the Dynamical Theory of Heat,' he has applied the fundamental propositions of the theory to bodies of all kinds, and he has adduced many curious and important results regarding the specific heats of bodies, which have been completely verified by the accurate experiments of M. Joule. No less important are Professor Thomson's researches on Solar Heat, contained in his remarkable papers 'On the Mechanical Energy of the Solar System;' his researches on the Conservation of Energy, as applied to organic as well as inorganic processes; and his fine theory of the dissipation of Energy, as given in his paper 'On a Universal Tendency in Nature to the Dissipation of Mechanical Energy.' To these we may add his complete theory of Diamagnetic Action, his investigations relative to the Secular Cooling of our Globe, and the influence of internal heat upon the temperature of its surface." Sir David Brewster, after referring to other works, added that "the important conclusions which he obtained from 'The Theory of Induction in Submarine Telegraphy,' have found a valuable practical application in the patent instrument for reading and receiving messages, which he so successfully employed in the submarine cable across the Atlantic; and when that great work is completed, his name will be associated with the noblest gift that science ever offered to civilisation. By his delicate electrometer, his electric spark recorder, and his marine and land relation galvanometer, he has provided the world of thought with the finest instruments of observation and research, and the world of action with the means of carrying the messages of commerce and civilisation which have yet to cross the uncabled oceans that separate the families of the earth."
In 1866, after the Atlantic Telegraph Cable had been successfully laid, Sir William Thomson received the honour of knighthood from the Crown. On the same occasion he was presented with the freedom of his adopted city—Glasgow. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him successively by Trinity College, Dublin, by Cambridge and by Edinburgh Universities, and that of D.C.L. by Oxford. He is a Fellow of the London Royal Society, as well as that of Edinburgh; and he is an honorary and corresponding member of several learned societies abroad.
On the loss of H.M.S. Captain, a Commission was appointed to investigate the merits of designs for ships of war. Of that Commission Sir William Thomson is a valuable and valued member, from his intimate acquaintance with dynamical science and the theory of stability. Sir William also conducts the operations of two committees appointed by the British Association to investigate the subject of Tides and Underground Temperature, the results of which are expected to settle many points of physical theory. The circumstances of Sir William Thomson's election to the presidential chair of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and the remarkably able address which he delivered in opening the late Edinburgh meeting, are of such recent occurrence that they need not be recapitulated.
Sir William Thomson married, in 1852, a daughter of the late Walter Crum, Esq., F.R.S., who has predeceased him. He is a Liberal in politics, and no one has taken a more active part than he in forwarding the interests of the Liberal candidates for the representation of the Universities.
PRINCIPAL BARCLAY.
Cities that bear the dual character of seats of learning and marts of commerce are comparatively rare. Who would ever dream of finding a foundry on the Isis, or a factory on the Cam? These streams are sacred to learning. They are not polluted with the vapours that are evolved from industrial life. No sounds of the ponderous hammer, or screeching "buzzer," are to be heard within the range of their pellucid course. They are consecrated to more lofty, if not to more useful purposes. But with the Clyde the case is different. It is almost a puzzle to say whether Glasgow excels more as the seat of a famous University or as the centre of a hundred busy, important, and prosperous industries. Certainly, the decadence of the one has not followed the development of the other. Learning and commerce flourish hand in hand, without the slightest trace of incompatibility. No less an authority than Sir Robert Peel declared, on the occasion of his installation as Lord Rector of the University in 1837, "I do not consider it an exaggerated compliment when I say that I doubt whether, of all cities existing on the face of the earth, there be any one so remarkable for the combination of commercial and active industry, with services rendered to science and literature, as Glasgow." From the watch towers of Gilmorehill a hundred chimneys, some of them rivalling the Pyramids of Gizeh in height, may be seen; the din of a hundred hammers, employed in the service of the world's merchant marine, may be distinctly heard; innumerable masts, denoting our traffic with all parts of the globe, may be counted. And yet in these same halls the budding genius of Scotland's sons is being developed—the qualities that are henceforth to distinguish our statesmen, and orators, and poets, and merchant princes, are being matured. The alumni of Glasgow University have not all blushed unseen, albeit the fame of their Alma Mater has sometimes been over-shadowed by that of Edinburgh. To go no further back than the living members of the Senatus Academicus, it will be admitted that Caird in Divinity, Lushington in Greek, Sir William Thomson in Natural Philosophy, Allen Thomson in Anatomy, Rankine in Mechanics, Grant in Astronomy, and Gairdner in Medicine, are names to conjure with. For the Principal of a seat of learning, that combines with an extraordinary amount of present vitality and prestige the traditions of a glorious past, stretching backwards until it is almost lost sight of amid the mists of the Middle Ages, it is surely essential that he should be a man of piety, of excellent governing and administrative powers, and, above all, of extensive erudition. All these conditions have distinguished more or less the predecessors of Dr. Barclay, the present Principal, and in himself they are very happily combined, although he is "not so young as he used to be," and his energy and usefulness have necessarily been somewhat impaired by the lapse of years.
Principal Barclay is the son of the Rev. James Barclay, minister of Unst, Shetland, and was born in the year 1792. After having been educated at King's College, Aberdeen, which he entered in the year 1808, and where he distinguished himself by carrying off the highest bursary, young Barclay proceeded to London, pending his appointment to a ministerial charge in the Church of Scotland. A spirit of adventure and enterprise induced him to take this step. He could not brook the idea of spending any of his time in a state of comparative idleness. Through the influence of some friends, he succeeded shortly after his arrival in the metropolis in getting an appointment as Parliamentary reporter to the Times, and he continued in the gallery of the House of Commons in that capacity during the four years commencing with 1818. It is not too much to say that these four years embraced one of the most eventful and exciting periods of England's history. The Reform agitation was being carried on with a bitterness that almost eclipsed all subsequent attempts to establish the five points of the Charter as the law of the land. In these years, too, the memorable trial of Queen Caroline took place, and it is one of Principal Barclay's most interesting reminiscences that during his connection with the Times he had occasion to report not only a considerable amount of the evidence taken in the House of Lords during the Queen's trial, but also the memorable speech of Lord Brougham in defence of the unfortunate lady—a speech which has only been eclipsed in point of length by the recent address of the Attorney-General in the Tichborne trial, and by Burke's speech in connection with the trial of Warren Hastings. Among his collaborateurs on the Times, Principal Barclay can recall the names of Collier, so well known for his knowledge and criticism of Shakespeare's works; Barnes, who subsequently distinguished himself as the sub-editor and leader-writer of the leading journal; and Tyas, who afterwards introduced that special feature for which the Times has long been noted—the abridgement of the Parliamentary debates. The routine of a reporter's duties at that time was pretty much the same as it is at the present day, the main difference being that the work was, if anything, more difficult and arduous at a period when shorthand was in its infancy, and when the staff employed on the daily journals was much less numerous than it is in our own day. Another feature that tended to make more difficult the Parliamentary reporters' duties at that period, was the long "takes" which they had to supply—a "take" being the share of the work which each member of the reporting staff has individually alloted to his charge. At that time every reporter who entered the gallery was compelled to write out the proceedings of a whole hour, and he had to do this with so much celerity and amplitude that the report had to be as complete as the Parliamentary reports of the Times have ever been. It has since been found, however, that the labour of an hour is far too much for one man, if he is to do himself or the report anything like justice; and hence the "take" of reporters became very much shortened, until they now seldom exceed a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Another negative phase of Dr. Barclay's journalistic career which may be noticed, is the fact that he never fell foul of the Sergeant-at-Arms, into whose custody many an unlucky reporter, who was accused of having misstated the speeches of legislators, was given. Despite the fact that Collier was at that time the only shorthand writer on the staff of the Times, it was his misfortune to undergo this ordeal. He was summoned to the bar of the House, and, having fully vindicated his report, he was immediately discharged from custody. The fee of the Sergeant-at-Arms (eighty guineas) was paid by Mr. Walter. On another occasion a complaint was made in the House of a report by a Mr. Ross, one of the Times' staff. The occasion was a speech delivered by Canning, and the sentence which he was said to have misreported was to the effect that the subject had never been under the consideration of the Cabinet above five minutes. Ross, however, had the satisfaction of receiving a letter from Canning himself, in which the great statesman vindicated the accuracy of the report. Mr. Barclay was never a shorthand writer. He was accustomed to use abbreviated longhand, and he became so expert in the use of this system, that he could report without difficulty any average speaker. After leaving the Times, which he did at the close of the year 1821, Mr. Barclay received a call to Dunrossness, in Shetland, and he continued to minister in that parish until the year 1827, when he was translated to Lerwick, a parish in the same remote region. Subsequently, in 1843, he was removed to Petercoulter, in Aberdeenshire; and his fourth and last charge was Currie, in Mid Lothian, to which he was translated in 1844. It was while he was in the latter charge that the Principalship of the Glasgow University became vacant, owing to the death of the late Principal Macfarlan, and the office was conferred by the Government, with whom the patronage lay, upon Dr. Barclay. The appointment was a good deal discussed at the time, and it was said in some circles that it was scarcely judicious, the fact being that Mr. Barclay's claims and qualifications for such a high position were not fully known. But he had really earned the honour by his ability and scholarship. It is questionable whether any man in Scotland has a more extensive acquaintance with languages, both modern and ancient. He is particularly conversant with Icelandic literature, which very few people have studied, but which is specially worthy of study, both for its historical interest and its poetry. Indeed, from the Mediterranean to Iceland there is, perhaps, no language spoken that Principal Barclay does not understand. Besides this, however, he has devoted much attention to Biblical criticism, and he was long distinguished as one of the ablest and staunchest of the few advocates of reform and liberalism that during his ministerial career adorned the Church Courts. Hence, although they might be comparatively unknown, Dr. Barclay was not without due qualifications for the office. One of the leading journals, in referring to Principal Barclay's appointment, which was made in December, 1857, declared "that to stand up as he did against a mass of brethren in matters on which the esprit de corps is morbidly strong, requires not only the exercise of some of the higher moral and intellectual powers, but the sacrifice of some of the weaknesses especially incident to the clerical character, and those who in the Established Church Courts perform such a duty in the interests of justice, of progress, and of the public, have much need of the sympathy and encouragement that can be given from without. Hitherto, however, there has been a sort of impression that the support of liberal measures formed rather an obstacle than a recommendation to the good offices of even liberal dispensers of patronage, and there is matter for congratulation in so much being done towards the destruction of this impression by the fact of Dr. Barclay, being a Liberal in Church and State not having been allowed to act as a counterbalance to his other qualifications for the high office to which he is about to be raised." Principal Barclay enjoys in his present capacity an otium cum dignitate to which, after the labours of a long life, he is well entitled. Although verging on his eightieth year, he is still hale, hearty, and vigorous, and able to converse intelligently on the most abstruse and recondite subjects. Principal Barclay was married in 1820 to Mary, the daughter of the late Captain Adamson of Kirkhill. They have had a large family, but only two daughters and one son survive. Both the former are married, and the latter is following the medical profession in China.