Lord Kelvin. (H,J. Drane. ls.)—This is the ninth volume of
the " Bijou Biographies." Lord Kelvin, better known to some of us as Sir William Thomson. is an admirable subject for what. were it not all strictly true, might be described as a philosophical romance. While still a schoolboy, he was conversant with physical problems of no small complexity. He was Second, not Senior, Wrangler—this race is often to the swift—but he was First Smith's Prizeman. And he won the Colquhoun Sculls. His achievements in after-life in diverse fields of applied science are beyond any possible epitomising here. His career has been a succession of marvels. In our view, the only weak thing that he ever said was his theory of the origin of life on the earth (pro- pounded in his Presidential Address to the British Association in 1871). It was brought to the earth on a meteorite. Brought whence ? From some other earth that possessed it before. That does not help us much. This is a good little book, and the picture of the great man more than usually vivid.
Previous page
