LORD KELVIN'S CENTENARY.
[To the Editor of The SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—In view of the celebration of my uncle, Lord Kelvin's centenary on the 26th of this month, the following anecdote may be entertaining :—
When, in 1871, Lord Kelvin was President of the British Association in Edinburgh, it never occurred to him to get himself a ticket ; but when he arrived at the barrier on his way to deliver his presidential address, the porter stopped him. Lord Kelvin offered his card, but that had no effect ; he said he was President and must get in. "I have no orders about Presidents," was the retort, and the cautious Scotchman remained in obdurate possession of the barrier. A crowd had gathered behind, Lord Kelvin was exasperated, and it was getting late when, at last, Sir Norman Lockyer appeared and managed to put matters right.
Lord Kelvin's presidential address, which the over-con- scientious porter had delayed, set the religious and scientific world on fire through his suggested hypothesis that life might, to use his own words, "have originated on the earth through moss-grown fragments from the ruins of another world." The religious need have had no fear of Lord Kelvin, who in the same address said : "Science is bound by the everlasting law of honour to face fearlessly every problem which can fairly be presented to it." And further : " Over- poweringly strong proofs of intelligence and benevolent design lie all around us, . . . teaching us that all living beings depend on one ever-acting Creator and Ruler."
The hypothesis also .gave much food for merriment and doggerel verse. I remember one popular fragment :—
"From world to world
The seeds were whirled, Whence sprang the British Ass."
Hartwell, Wroxharn, Norfolk.
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