Presentation of Bust of Lord Kelvin

Abstract

AT the general statutory meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, held on October 27, a marble bust of the late Lord Kelvin, by Mr. A. M'Farlane Shannan, which had been given by Lady Kelvin to the society, was formally presented and received. Sir William Turner, the retiring president, occupied the chair, and there was a large and representative gathering of the fellows and the general public. Prof. Crum Brown made the presentation in the name of Lady Kelvin. After referring to Lady Kelvin's thoughtful kindness in giving this beautiful bust as a permanent possession of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and to his own lifelong friendship with Lord Kelvin, Prof. Crum Brown referred especially to Lord Kelvin's “supreme love of truth and of his intense interest in everything, however apparently trivial, connected with the constitution or with the working of the physical universe. These were the prime motives to his work, and he carried it out in the same spirit. Having formulated a problem, he followed the straightest course to its solution. Of course, he encountered difficulties; these he did not evade, he surmounted them. To do so he had often to invent and construct special instruments of wholly novel type. . . Lord Kelvin was a great mathematician. He was never at a loss to find the mathematical key. . . Lord Kelvin was no intellectual miser. When in the course of his scientific work he came across something which could be so applied as to be of practical use, he developed this application, and thus became the inventor of instruments, truly scientific instruments, differing in character from those he made for purely scientific purposes only in this, that they were also used and very highly prized by those who were not necessarily scientific, who perhaps did not care about the dissipation of energy or vortex motion. These practical men, by using Lord Kelvin's inventions, came to see that pure science was not vain; they came to know something of the tree from its fruit. Lord Kelvin was quite free from selfishness or jealousy. He rejoiced in his own work and discoveries; he also rejoiced in the discoveries of others. In questions of first importance to man, where science gave no help, Lord Kelvin was a humble and devout disciple. In Lady Kelvin's name I hand over to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, through you, sir, as president, this beautiful work of art and striking likeness of Lord Kelvin, one of the greatest discoverers in pure science, a true benefactor of mankind, our honoured president and dear friend.”