THE LATE LORD KELVIN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 122, 15 February 1908, Page 12

THE LATE LORD KELVIN.

PRESS TRIBUTES. UNCHALLENGED SUPREMACY IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. Referring to the death of Lord Kelvin on December. 17, the London "Standard" says: —"By the death of Lord Kolvin tho nation loses a distinguished man of scienco, ,whp by univarsal cpnscnt lias held rank among the greatest geniuses of this and the past century. His career is a • convincing- refutation'of the theory sometimes urged that we have reached a stage in .civilisation and enlightenment when no one stands a head and shoulders abovo his contemporaries.- It may be so in literature, in art," and even in statesmanship, but in the field of scientific research, pursued for tho practical- benefit of humanity, Lord-Kelvin's supremacy has been unchallenged. For some of his inventions the ■ world owes him. a debt of gratitude whicli can never be discharged, even though generations to come may devise ; better ' appliances. In tho course of his long life: forms of natural energy, which, a hundred years ago were scarcely .understood, have been enlisted for the service of man. Ho helped to make this possible, and found meaiis of minimising the jisks, and or employing such agencjes to the best advantage. His life and his succcesses, moreover, have been au example to his ccntemporaries or singleness of purpose and width of outlook, which have been followed by many with conI spicuous success. The story of his life will not soon be forgotten." ■

' , A WONDERFTJL INTELLECT. ■ 'Tho "London Times" says: —It has been said that Velasquez is the painter of, painters, and in the same senso it may be said that Lord Kelvin is tho man of scifnco of men of scienco. Only thoso ■ who had climbed the minor peaks could fully appreciate the height pf the pinnacle on which he ptood. Lord Kelvin's intellect was distm-, guished by rango and flexibility) achievements are iinpressiyo by.their-variety and mass.- After doing something supremely weir in one field, ho would turn to another and do something supremely well, and witli equal ease, in that; Carlylo used to growl that lie did not think much pf intellect that cpuld not turn, itself to anything. . It was, perhaps, an exaggerated way of putting things; but, like most of Carlyle's numerous exaggerations, it expressed 'a truth. There are many intellects powerful in one direction, but apparently, not capable of showing corresponding power in any other. There are great theorists .in science who aro ,quite, incapable of making useful applications, and others who can, make applications,, but have, to be financed by soinp pno else becauso they know nothing, of men and how to deal with them. Lord 'Kelvin! shone ,in all these departments. , Ho was a daring, and subtle tbeoriser; lie was an eminently, practical in-: ' renter; and ho was a 'shrewd, man pf; business. ~'.■.

"FAITH IN THE ETERNAL VERITIES." The "Daily Telegraph" says:—British science has 'lost .one of. its .brightest , ornaments by the death of Lord Kelvin. A few English freethinkers have been, busy of lato hawking up and, down tho dicta of a German sciolist that there is no design'in nature, no moral responsibility in- man, no future state, no God. Kelvin, like Thomas l'oung, Clerk Maxwell, Gabriel Stokes,' Michael Faraday,'and Isaac Newron,; know-

too much of nature! to givo countenance to .these transparent pretentious sophistries.:ln an ago of flippant criticism and., wavering faith let ; the ..ingenuous- youth of Britain bear!in mind on which sido stood, these, the greatest names iii_ the world'of.intellect. The -world-famed , physicist : now, alas, no ;moro, never varied in ascribing • ■ tho and laws of tho universe to a divine intelligence. . So long as natural philosophy engages men's ''attention', the name, of William .Thomson, Lord Kelvin will bo; honoured, not '.mer6ly ; ..for ; :his I grarid additions to scienco, but also for his'noble and constant faith,in tho. eternal verities. •

. The;'' Saturday. Keview" says ono exception, it may be, air tho men of scienco 'at'tlie funeral would have''confessed to Lord Kelvin having in soine way or other made himself free of their fellowship. Only .certain of the biologists wonderpd and disapproved that he should' introduce another element than chemistry and mechanics into the discussion :of tho laws* of; life/- That was -a notable controversy to bo recalled beside' Lord Kelvin's grave. The 'unknown quantity' may: be ■ ignored in the laboratory," oven without .intention-'to deny it;'but at the grave of a genius like Lord Kelvin it; is just;tho one'question -which dwarfs all others into insignificance." • 1 V BENEFACTOR OF HUMANITY. .Sir Oliver; Lodge, F.R.S., Principal of the University of Birmingham, in the course of au appreciation of Lord Kelvin, states: — . "What, is it.'that we j'eally ovjo. to, his genius? Not this or that.ingenious device or'prncticalresult, but new chapters, of knowledge. Whole departments of scienco start from his pioneering : work..' The . modern theory, of electricity, developed so brilliantly I .by. .Clark Maxwell, was begun ,by him. The scienco of, thenrio-dynamics owed much to him.,-

Tho .theoretical laws of therao-oiectricity • wero wholly 1 worked out by him. ; And to him, long ago,..was due the theory of those electric oscillations which wero. elaborated practically by Hertz for. wireless telegraphy. Let any one ask what is tho size of an atom, .and ho is referred to Lord Kelvin. ; Let.him ask what is' tho. ago of. the earth, and, if ho mean anything definito by this, question—if he mean, for instance,- what timo'has elapsed since tho ' earth-.was a

molten mass beginning to. cool—it is again to Lord Kelvin that lie must' go. Ho was' happy in'.tho circumstances. of his education, pertinacious in his- unwearyiug industry, and uridistracted by other interests from a constant devotion to definite dynamical science, narrow, perhaps, in some of its aspects, but all tho more . intense. For that ho stands before us ! now a monument of human power and influence, ono of the benefactors of the human species, and olio on whom posterity, will heap high honours." \ ; WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Lord Kelvin, who was a member of tho Anglican, Church, was buried in Westminster Abbey on December 23, in the presence of a most distinguished gathoring. The spot chosen for the interment was. in .the nave at the foot of the monument to Sir Isaac Nowton. Ou tho same day a simple memorial service was held at..St.* Columba's Church, Largs, which church Lord Kelvin regularly attended. Tho Rev. Canon Low,'a personal friond, officiated. Thoso who assembled in St. Columba's wero the people who knew tho. great scientist.personally, who estimated him not by his attainments in abstract regions of,thought, but by tho simplicity of his ways pnd the purity of his life.