Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] THURSDAY. DECEMBER 30, 1909. THE CAVENDISH LABORATORY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXII, Issue 9565, 30 December 1909, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] THURSDAY. DECEMBER 30, 1909. THE CAVENDISH LABORATORY.

Some of our readers will have heard of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, and may be desirous of learning something of its history and associations. It may be truthfully'said of it that in its, comparatively speaking, short existence it has acquired traditions of which all who are connected with it aro pfoud. The Laboratory was giveu to tha University and equipped by che seventh Dtiko of Devonshire, grandfather of the present Duke. It was named after the Hou. Henry Cavendish, an ancestor of the donor, and a pioneer in the chemistry of the atmosphere aud of water. His most important work was contained in his electrical researches. He was au eccentric genius, and had a magnificent library some little distance from his house. This, his friends were allowed to use without auy restriction, but he himself never took a book out without making out a careful receipt for it. He led a very lonely life, and had a horror of publicity and public functions. He died at the ripe age of eighty, and is supposed to have spoken fewer words iv his lifetime thau auy other man of the same age—the Trappist monKS not excepted. Tiie editing of his papers was entrusted to Clerk Maxwell, formerly Professor of Experimental Physics in Cambridge University, which was not completed till within a few mouths of his death, the compilation having been characterised by extreme conscientiousness. One of Professor Clerk Maxwell's inventions was the colour top, iv which the colours blended so as to give a continuous impression while the top was in rotation. Lord Rayleigh succeeded Professor Olerlc Maxwell, and when, iv 1884, Lord Rayleigh left Cambridge to become Professor of Physics at the Royal Institution in London, Professor Sir J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., was appointed to the position. Students have come to the Cavendish from all quarters, absorbed its spirit aud its traditions, aud weut forth again to Professorships and other scientific posts all

over the world. Some of them were" Professors of standing before they came, but few havo gone away without acknowledging their indebtedness to the institution aud its head. Science possesses few personalities more striking aud attractive thau that of Professor Thomson. His enthusiasm is infectious, aud his unbounded energy impresses all who come into personal coutact with Him. Ho lectures to his advanced class and to his elementary class, aud does the thinking for his own researches, besides some for the twenty or thirty men whose work he supervises. In spite of all this, lie has more time for other interests thau most men. How he does it is a mystery. In recent fiction, in the drama, iv sport and in politics he keeps abreast of the times. When he received the Nobel prize, nowhere was the rejoicing more Keen thau among his own students. The new wing of the Cavendish Laboratory was opened by Lord Rayleigh a little over a year ago.