"Honour and fame from no condition rise,"

although the fact is every day patent to the most casual observation.

Sir James Campbell belongs to a family who have secured a right to a permanent place in the annals of the West of Scotland. In commerce, in politics, in matters ecclesiastical, they have been alike conspicuous. Born at the Port of Menteith, in Perthshire, Sir James is one of three brothers who went forth into the world and distinguished themselves, not less by their success as merchants, than by the honour and integrity of all their transactions. The father of the family was a farmer, who occupied the small farm of Inchanoch, in Menteith—as his ancestors for three generations before him had done—the produce accruing from which was scarcely sufficient to provide in an adequate degree for the maintenance of a numerous family. While his sons were yet young, he removed with his family to Glasgow, which was even then considered an inviting field for all who possessed energy, industry, and ability to work. Here James became connected in partnership with a tailor named Paterson, the father, we believe, of a well-known tradesman now in Glasgow. For some years they carried on business together in Brunswick Street, but fortune frowned upon their efforts, and the firm was dissolved. Subsequently James entered into partnership with his brother William, who had been engaged for some years in a small drapery shop in High Street, and the brothers established themselves in business in the Saltmarket. Their business was at this time in a very humble way—their operations being confined for the most part to supplying basket-women and hawkers with cotton goods, such as handkerchiefs and pinafores. By dint of unwearied energy and attention to business the brothers were enabled, in course of time, to extend their ramifications so far as to build a large warehouse in Candleriggs, which they continued to occupy for many years, and in which they conducted an extensive wholesale business as well as retail. The eldest brother, John, who had been for some years in America, had charge of the retail department of the concern. There are several features of the business as carried on at this time that deserve to be noticed. In the first place, they were the first to set their face against the objectionable system of "prigging," which up to that time had prevailed to a greater or less extent in every description of retail business. Their goods were all ticketed with a certain figure, the lowest that they could possibly be sold at so as to leave a fair margin of profit, and from this price nothing would induce them to make any abatement. Adopting the Horatian maxim, they "kept one consistent plan from end to end." The result was that goods which in another establishment would be quoted at 2s 6d or 2s 8d, were sold by Messrs. Campbell for 1s 6d or 1s 9d, being less than they could generally be obtained for elsewhere, even after a customer had spent his ingenuity and breath in half-an-hour's "prigging." The advantages to be obtained at Messrs. Campbell's establishment soon became known, and although it required a great effort to induce thrifty housewives to desist from attempting to cheapen and "prig" down their goods, Messrs. Campbell ultimately succeeded in putting a stop to the practice, so far at least as their own establishment was concerned. Since then, their example has been followed by all the other respectable drapers and warehousemen throughout the city, so that a child of tender years can now be entrusted to make a purchase without the slightest risk of being overcharged or imposed upon. In connection with their warehouse in Candleriggs, the firm for many years carried on warping mills in the upper flats, being thus manufacturers as well as merchants. Before leaving Candleriggs, however, and entering upon their present extensive premises in Ingram Street, which they opened in 1856, they had abandoned the manufacturing department of their business, and confined themselves exclusively to buying and selling. Such were the beginnings of a concern which, at the present day, is surpassed by none, and equalled by few in the city of Glasgow, and such were the circumstances under which the two brothers laid the foundations of a reputation for sterling integrity and worth, which has given their family a leading place in the West of Scotland. It may be mentioned that in 1842 they opened an additional retail warehouse in Buchanan Street, under the firm of Campbell & Co.—a business afterwards disposed of to Neilson, Shaw, & M'Gregor; and that the retail business in Candleriggs Street was disposed of to Donald & Sellar.

With reference to Sir James's public career a great deal might be written, and yet the gist of it might be comprised in a few sentences. Both he and his brother William, so well known as Mr. Campbell of Tillichewan, were for a long time members of the Town Council, and Sir James occupied for the statutory period of three years—from 1840 to 1843—the position of Lord Provost. It was while Sir James filled the civic chair that the heir apparent to the Throne was born, and to mark the occurrence of such an important event, as well as in recognition of the active part which he took in connection with the festivities and demonstrations that happened in Glasgow to celebrate the same, he received from her Majesty the honour of knighthood. In 1837, he had come forward as a candidate for the representation of the city, conjointly with Mr. Monteith of Carstairs; but as he stood in the Conservative interest, and as Glasgow, even at that distance of time, was a Radical constituency, he was, despite his great local influence, defeated by a considerable majority. His opponents on this occasion were Lord William Bentinck, Mr. John Dennistoun, and Mr. Robert Monteith; and after a hard struggle the election terminated with the following result:—

Lord William Bentinck, 2767 John Dennistoun, 2743 Robert Monteith, 2121 James Campbell, 2090

Again in 1841, while Lord Provost, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of the city, the poll terminating as follows:—

James Oswald, 2776 John Dennistoun, 2728 James Campbell, 2416 George Mills, 355

In every movement having for its object the promotion of the interests and well-being of Glasgow, Sir James has taken an active and useful part. Politically, his support and influence have had an important bearing upon the fortunes of the Conservative party in the West of Scotland; and to the Established Church, of which he has all along been a steadfast and warm adherent, he has contributed unwearied service.

On the 14th January, 1868, Sir James was entertained at a banquet in the Corporation Galleries in recognition of his private worth and his public services as a citizen of Glasgow. The banquet was so far official that the Lord Provost occupied the chair, and he was supported by most of the leading men of Glasgow. In proposing the health of Sir James, the Lord Provost (Sir James Lumsden) declared that he had "for many years taken an active part, and still takes a deep interest in all municipal affairs;" and added, "he is well known as a warm and attached friend, a judicious counsellor, ever ready not only to lend his name and open his purse in the furtherance of all measures leading to the improvement of his fellow-citizens, but by taking such an active part in their management as shows his earnestness in accomplishing whatever he takes in hand." In the course of his speech, the Lord Provost also mentioned the interesting fact that, entering the Council in 1831, Sir James was one of the four surviving members of that body who presided over municipal affairs prior to the passing of the Borough Reform Bill—Mr. William Smith, Mr. William Brown, and Mr. Thomas Douglas being the other three.

Lady Campbell is a daughter of the late Mr. Henry Bannerman of Manchester, founder of the well-known firm of Henry Bannerman & Sons. It is a coincidence worthy of notice that the progenitors of the Bannerman family, with whom throughout the greater part of his life Sir James has been so closely identified, were also Perthshire farmers, occupying a comparatively humble rank in life.

Of Sir James Campbell's family, the eldest son, Mr. James A. Campbell, younger of Stracathro (who is married to a daughter of Sir Morton Peto, the eminent contractor), now administers his father's interest in the business. His other and younger son, Mr. Henry Campbell, has, since 1868, represented the Stirling Burghs in Parliament, and now occupies a responsible post in the Government of his country as Financial Secretary in the War Office.

In his private capacity, Sir James is genial, accessible, and full of dry, pawky humour. He is in his proper element when entertaining a company of his friends, either at his town residence in Bath Street, or at his more delightful country mansion of Stracathro, near Brechin. Although upwards of eighty years of age, he is in the full possession of all his faculties, his sight alone excepted, and even his sense of vision is sufficiently retained to enable him to find his way in the most crowded thoroughfares of the city.



MR. JAMES YOUNG OF KELLY.

The whole range of industrial biography does not present a more signally successful career than that of Mr. James Young; nor can we find, in all the annals of aspiring genius, a more wonderful example of the ultimate triumph of mind over matter.

The origin of the inventor of paraffin oil was comparatively obscure. He was born in the Drygate of Glasgow—a street on which the operations of the City Improvement Trust have effected a wonderful transformation—where his father was a working cabinetmaker. After receiving what little schooling his parents were able to afford, Mr. Young commenced to assist his father—who had by this time established himself as his own master in the Calton—and while so employed he took to the study of Chemistry. For some time he attended the lectures of Professor Graham, the late Master of the Mint (to whom a monument has been erected by his illustrious pupil in George Square) at the Andersonian University, and he showed such aptitude for science, that in a remarkably short time he became Mr. Graham's class assistant. In this capacity Mr. Young continued for seven years, and, as his subsequent career amply showed, he did not fail to improve his opportunities. After leaving the Andersonian, he followed Mr. Graham to London, when the latter was appointed to the Professorship of Chemistry in London University, and he continued to be associated with his old friend and master until he accepted the position of manager of Muspratt's Chemical Works at Newton, near Liverpool. Here he continued for four-and-a-half years, improving, of course, his acquaintance with the practical bearings of his favourite science, especially in regard to the manufacture of alkali and bleaching powder, the staple products of Muspratt's works. Mr. Young afterwards removed to Manchester, where he undertook a responsible position in Tennant's Chemical Works—a branch of Tennant's of Glasgow. This would be in the year 1843. While employed in Manchester he received from Dr. Lyon Playfair, whose acquaintance he had made while in the Andersonian University, a communication with reference to the existence of a petroleum spring in Derbyshire. This may almost be said to have been the turning point in Mr. Young's career. Dr. Playfair stated that in his brother-in-law's coal mine in Derbyshire there was a large quantity of petroleum, and he proposed that Mr. Young should investigate the mine, and judge if anything could be made out of it. A commission so responsible, and involving the exercise of so much scientific skill, was just suited to Mr. Young's fancy. He went and examined the springs, found petroleum dropping from the roof of the mine over the coal, and the result was that he took a lease of the spring, and worked the petroleum with the view to making it profitable. We may here explain that petroleum is of different kinds, although in all its diverse forms it retains the same qualities. It is an oleagenous substance, naturally evolved from the earth, and may be found in all degrees of thickness, from a very light substance found in some parts of Persia, to a thick viscid substance more indigenous to Britain. Before taking a lease of the petroleum spring, Mr. Young suggested the advisability of Tennant's people taking it up, but they said it was too small a matter for them. Mr. Young, however, in 1848, commenced to work the spring for himself, producing two different oils—one a thick oil for lubricating, and the other a thin oil for lamp burning. In course of time it became evident that the petroleum was almost worked out, and Mr. Young directed his attention to finding an artificial substitute for the natural oil. He had previously held the idea that the petroleum might be produced by the action of heat on the coal and the vapour going up into the sandstone to be condensed. He made a great many experiments in retorts, with the view of testing the practicability of this idea, and the results obtained were very various. He had no fixed data to guide him, and he sometimes got one thing, sometimes another. At last, however, success rewarded his labours, and he was entitled to exclaim—"Eureka!" Out of a cannel that came to be mixed with soda ash he obtained a quantity of liquid that contained paraffin. In the beginning of 1850, Mr. Bartholomew, of the City and Suburban Gas Works, Glasgow, showed Mr. Young some specimens of the Boghead coal, with which he renewed his experiments, distilling the mineral at a low temperature, until he evolved a considerable quantity of crude paraffin. Ultimately, Mr. Young, Mr. Meldrum, and Mr. Binney, to whom the discovery was imparted at the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association, in 1850, resolved on erecting works at Bathgate, in the centre of the Torbanehill coal district, for the manufacture of paraffin. Before setting out on this venture, however, Mr. Young took care to protect his invention by securing a patent. In 1851 the Bathgate works, which originally consisted of only two or three retorts, were set agoing, and from that time until the present hour their success has been uninterrupted. It is worth while mentioning that Mr. Young, during the whole course of his experiments, derived no advice or assistance whatever from the experience or conclusions of others who had preceded him in the same phase of chemical science, and that he had never either heard of or seen Reichenbach's letter to Dumas, upon which the claims of the German chemist to have been the original discoverer of paraffin were based. It is now generally admitted that Reichenbach was the real discoverer of paraffin. He found it as an ingredient in the tar obtained by distilling beechwood, as far back as 1830. What Reichenbach only dreamed about and hoped for, however, Mr. Young practically realised; and to our townsman is due the credit of having been the first to prepare paraffin as a commercial article from mineral sources.

The exact nature and properties of shale was the subject of a remarkable trial in the Court of Session soon after Mr. Young began to work the raw material at Bathgate. The proprietor of the estate of Torbanehill, Mr. Gillespie, disputed with the lessee, Mr. Russell, of Falkirk, affirming that the valuable mineral called shale was not coal, and that the working of it was therefore not included in Mr. Russell's lease. Subsequently, Mr. Young had several lawsuits against parties who had infringed his patent, one being an action against the Clydesdale Chemical Company, in which, the jury gave a unanimous verdict for Mr. Young, the defendants paying large sums as costs and damages. Another was an action against Mr. E. W. Ferney, of Saltney, near Chester, who had established works on Mr. Young's principle, and would not be bound by the decisions pronounced in previous cases. In the spring of 1864, after a trial which lasted nearly forty days, judgment was again given in favour of Mr. Young, who claimed L15,000 of professional expenses alone, in addition to a royalty of 3d. per gallon of oil made in contravention of his patent rights.

The monopoly carried on by Mr. Young and his partners was broken down in October, 1864, by the expiry of the patent rights, and the dissolution of the partnership, and the Bathgate works subsequently passed into the hands of a limited liability company, by whom they are still owned and controlled, Mr. Young continuing to hold a large share, and the position of general manager. The amount paid for the works and plant by the new company was L450,000, and we believe Mr. Young took shares to the extent of one-fourth of that amount; Mr. Pender, of Minard, the next largest shareholder, holding stock to the extent of L70,000 more. The idea of erecting new works on a larger scale, and with more improved and modern appliances, in the West Calder district, was meanwhile conceived by Mr. Young. He selected a site on the estate of Addiewell, a mile west from the village of West Calder, extending to fully fifty acres of ground. Here he erected works that are still unrivalled in point of extent, and of which it may be said that they form an apt commentary on their projector's energy, intelligence, and enterprise. There being no accommodation in West Calder for a large body of workpeople, Mr. Young's first care was to erect suitable dwelling-houses. Very soon a new village of respectable proportions sprang into being, and the chemical works were pushed forward with equal celerity. The arrangement of Addiewell Chemical Works is admirably calculated for their purpose. They cover nearly a half of the entire site, the buildings as well as the mechanical appliances being on a gigantic scale. The retort sheds are upwards of 200 yards in length taken together, and each shed contains a double row of retorts. Altogether, there are no less than 354 retorts, capable of distilling more than 3000 tons of shale per week, and producing 120,000 gallons of crude oil, which yields 50,000 to 60,000 gallons of burning oil, in addition to about 12 tons of refined paraffin oil and a large quantity of lubricating oil. Each of the condensers contains several miles of piping. The main pipe, which collects the vapours from the retorts, is nearly a yard in diameter. One and a quarter million cubic feet of gas are manufactured at the works every day. Upwards of 1000 hands are employed. In the shale-pits adjoining, four hundred miners are regularly at work. The pits are conveniently near to the Addiewell Works, none of them being more than two miles off. A network of railway lines communicate with the various shale-pits, and five locomotives are regularly employed in the transit of minerals. A school, under Government inspection, is attached to the works, and the employes are exceptionably well off for house accommodation.

Within the limits of this article we cannot do full justice to the enormous industry of which Mr. Young is the founder. It is even claimed for Mr. Young's little factory at Alfreton that it was the parent, not only of the Scotch mineral oil trade, but also of that of America; for oil had never been distilled to produce an article of commerce until he commenced to work his patent there. From such a small beginning has arisen, within the short space of twenty-three years, one of the most important and extensive industries in the world. At the present time there are in Scotland altogether 65 oil-works, at 17 of which crude oil is manufactured and refined ready for the market. At 38 other works the crude oil alone is produced, and although most of the crude oil so made is refined at other works in Scotland, a not inconsiderable quantity is sent to the Welsh refiners, while some of it is sent to the Continent. Of the remaining works, 16 refine the crude oil only. There are altogether 3804 retorts in operation, both vertical and horizontal. It is a moot point, which is now engaging the attention of those in the trade, whether vertical or horizontal retorts are the best suited for the purposes in view. At Mr. Young's works, which are the largest and most important in Scotland, nothing but vertical retorts are used, it being considered that they possess an advantage over the horizontal kind in respect of their continuous feeding, but the latter are likewise very largely used. Of the 3404 retorts, however, there are seldom more than 3000 at work together. The remainder are usually standing idle, on account of repairs or some other cause. The average weekly production of crude oil at the Scotch works is nearly 120,000 gallons, and the number of men engaged in the trade in its various departments is estimated at little short of 6500. Assuming, as we may fairly do, that 3000 retorts are regularly at work, they will yield 21,800,000 gallons of crude oil, and distil 730,000 tons of shale annually; or, in other words, they will distil 13,000 to 14,000 tons of shale weekly. From the crude oil thus distilled there will be produced something like 10,000,000 gallons of refined burning oil annually, besides crude solid paraffin, and other products, such as naptha and lubricating oils. It is further calculated that the average wages paid in connection with this industry will reach between L400,000 and L500,000 per annum. The districts in which the manufacture is carried on are situated in Midlothian, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Fifeshire, and Linlithgowshire. The largest works are in the Midlothian and Linlithgowshire districts, the Fifeshire and Ayrshire works being comparatively limited in extent, and chiefly confined to the manufacture of crude oil. Some of the principal works have been considerably extended of late.

Mr. Young is distinguished for his public munificence and private philanthropy. Many a young man who has attained a respectable and influential position is indebted to Mr. Young for his first start in life. As a ready and effectual means towards promoting a thirst for knowledge, and an acquaintance with the practical bearings of the science to which he is himself so much indebted, he founded, about three years ago, a chair of technical chemistry in the Andersonian University. Previously the students attending the chemistry classes under the late Professor Penny had no opportunity of making themselves familiar with the application of the principles of the science to arts and manufactures; a knowledge of the principles themselves was all that they could attain. A man may be the greatest proficient in the knowledge of the principles of chemical science, and yet be utterly ignorant of how bleaching powder, chromate of potash, or soda are made. Thus it was with the Chemical Chair at the Andersonian until Mr. Young, by his munificent bequest of L10,000 for the foundation of a Chair of Technical Chemistry, established a connection between the scientific chemist and the workshop. The first occupant of the chair, Herr Bischof, commenced his duties during last summer, and the number of students attending his class has already exceeded all expectations. The foundation of nine bursaries, each worth L50 per annum, is certainly an inducement to perseverance which is not every day placed within the reach of poor students; and considering the multiform phases of chemical science, and the comparatively limited extent to which they have hitherto been developed, there is no saying to what results Mr. Young's bequest may serve to lead.

Although so far advanced in life, Mr. Young continues to labour with as much zest and enthusiasm as ever in the field of chemistry. It is to him a labour of love. His mind is of that vigorous and active disposition that cannot indulge in the repose to which the successful labours of an arduous life invariably lead. Within the last few months he has given to the world a new process for the manufacture of soda, which will probably introduce an important revolution in the manufacture of alkali, and enable carbonate of soda to be produced at something like one-fourth of its present cost.

It is a fitting recognition and reward of Mr. Young's great discoveries and enterprise that he should have amassed one of the largest fortunes that was ever realized by individual effort within a similarly short period. Some years ago he acquired the beautiful estate of Kelly, at Wemyss Bay, which he has greatly improved and adorned. He owns also one of the most handsome yachts on the Clyde, which has been named the "Nyanza," in honour of Mr. Young's most intimate friend—Dr. Livingstone, the African traveller. Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Young were fellow-students at the Andersonian University, and their friendship has remained unbroken since that time. It is interesting to note that it was Dr. Livingstone who laid the foundation-stone of Mr. Young's new works at West Calder, and it was a brother of Dr. Kirk of Zanzibar who superintended the Addiewell works for some time after they were built.

Mr. Young has never taken any active part in political or municipal affairs, but he is identified with various scientific and literary societies; and for the last four years he has been President of the Andersonian University. In social life he is kindly, warm-hearted, and genial; and these qualities shine most conspicuously in his own family circle, or while he is entertaining a company of his numerous friends.



MR. GEORGE BURNS.

The commercial annals of the West of Scotland are full of interest. They illustrate a prosperity that is almost without parallel. Macaulay's New Zealander is not likely to plant his foot on Glasgow Bridge for many generations to come, or if he does he will witness a scene totally unlike that for which the historian had prepared him. In all our staple industries we are advancing with gigantic strides. Shipping and shipbuilding are especially conspicuous for their steady and rapid development. As a shipping port Glasgow stands second to none in the United Kingdom, Liverpool alone excepted. It was not always so. So late as the beginning of the eighteenth century there were only about a dozen vessels belonging to the port, their aggregate tonnage amounting to no more than 1000 tons. More than any other river in the world, the Clyde has triumphed over natural obstacles and drawbacks. Originally the estuary of the Clyde was so shallow that no vessel of any size could come further up than Port-Glasgow. It was considered a great achievement when, in 1801, craft of 40 tons burden were enabled to touch at the Broomielaw. A story is told of a daring navigator who, towards the close of last century, built a vessel of 30 tons burden for the purpose of exploring "the wee bit burn ca'd the Clyde." As a reward for his enterprise and daring, he was presented with the freedom of the city on reaching the harbour of Glasgow. Thanks to the fostering care and ceaseless exertions of the Clyde Navigation Trustees, vessels of the largest tonnage can now come up to the Broomielaw; and the port of Glasgow can lay claim to some of the largest and most magnificent merchant vessels afloat. A rare conjunction of private and public enterprise brought about these results. From the time that Henry Bell's Comet appeared on the scene in 1812, until the present, the Clyde has occupied a pre-eminent position in the records of the progress of steam navigation. In 1841 the number of vessels belonging to the port of Glasgow was 431, with an aggregate of 95,619 tons. At the present time there are 895 vessels belonging to the port, their total tonnage being 433,016 tons! These figures speak for themselves. They do not indicate a merely natural evolution. Hard work, skilful and energetic application of available resources, and well concerted plans, were necessary to bring about such an era of prosperity; and these conditions of success were supplied by such men as Mr. George Burns, who has been identified most closely for more than half-a-century with this branch of commerce.

Belonging to a family which has long occupied an honourable position in the West of Scotland, Mr. George Burns has reason to be proud of his ancestors. His grandfather, whose name was originally Burn, inherited a small property near Stirling, which he sold and came to reside in Glasgow. Here he distinguished himself as a scholar, and published an English dictionary and grammar which was long used in all the schools and academies throughout the country. He died at the age of eighty-four, and his time carries us back to the beginning of last century. He used to tell of seeing combatants in the battle of "Shirra Muir" pass his father's place in 1715. His son, Dr. Burns, who was an only child, remembered being carried in his nurse's arms to the King's Park at Stirling, where he saw encamped the Hessians who had been employed in the unsuccessful rising in favour of Prince Charles in 1745, and who remained in this country for some time subsequently. Dr. Burns, born in 1714, was minister of the Barony parish, in Glasgow, for the long period of seventy-two years, dying in 1839, in his ninety-sixth year. He preached in the crypt of the Cathedral, which Sir Walter Scott has made famous in the pages of "Rob Roy," and at a time when such qualities were rare in the Church of Scotland, he was distinguished for the evangelical faithfulness of his preaching, and for his conscientious and laborious performance of pastoral work. In the prosecution of his duties he established and conducted Sabbath schools in Calton, which was included in his parish. These, as far as is known, were the first Sunday schools instituted in Scotland, and it is believed were before the time of Mr. Raikes, who began the system in England. At the time above mentioned the population of the Barony parish did not exceed 8000, but long before the death of Dr. Burns it had increased more than tenfold. One of the most unselfish and simple-hearted of men, he brought up a large family upon a small stipend, refusing for a long time to ask an augmentation from the Tiend Court, until his scruples were overborne by the pressing entreaties of his heritors. This venerable patriarch lived to see the blessing of his Covenant-God, and the reward of his own training, in the highly honourable and successful career of his family. He had nine children, of whom four died in early life. The remaining five were—John, born in 1775; Allan, born in 1781; Elizabeth, born in 1786; James, born in 1788; and the youngest, the only one of the family now living, George, born in 1795. The eldest son—Dr. John Burns, F.R.S.—was the first Professor of Surgery in the University of Glasgow. He was a man of extensive erudition and devoted piety. He wrote several standard medical works, which secured for him the high honour of being elected a member of the Institute of France, and also several most excellent religious works, one of which, entitled "Christian Philosophy," is still popular. His sad death, by drowning, in the wreck of the steamer Orion, in 1850, will be well remembered. The second son—Allan—was the intimate friend of Sir Astley Cooper, Bart., the celebrated surgeon. He went to St. Petersburg, where he became physician to the Empress of Russia, from whom he received valuable presents and honourable distinctions. Returning to Glasgow, he lectured on anatomy, and prosecuted his profession with great success. He died at the early age of thirty-two, in consequence of a wound received while dissecting. But short as was his career, he succeeded in acquiring a European reputation by his scientific writings. James and George, both of whom possessed much of the native talent of the family, found ample scope for their abilities in mercantile pursuits, and about the year 1818 they entered into partnership and commenced business in Glasgow. In 1824 they became owners, along with the late Hugh Matthie of Liverpool, of six sailing vessels trading between that port and Glasgow, and in the same year they engaged in steam navigation between Glasgow and Belfast. Shortly thereafter they substituted steam for sailing vessels in the Glasgow and Liverpool trade, and in 1830 they amalgamated this concern with that of the Messrs. MacIver of Liverpool. The various trades thus organised comprised branches between Glasgow and Liverpool, Belfast, Londonderry, and the West Highlands, but the last named business was disposed of in 1852 to Mr. David Hutcheson, who long held a responsible position in Messrs. Burns' office, and who was joined by his brother, Mr. Alexander Hutcheson, and by Mr. David MacBrayne, a nephew of the Messrs Burns. Under the firm of David Hutcheson & Co. the West Highland trade has continued to be conducted with every satisfaction to the public. The other branches are still carried on by Messrs. Burns & MacIver. While James applied himself to the mercantile branch of the business, the direction of the shipping department devolved upon George, whose energy and sagacity rendered him well qualified for the onerous duties, and under whose able management the business gradually developed into a steam shipping concern second to none in the world.

In 1830 the establishment of mail steam communication between Britain and North America was projected by Mr. Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, N.S., who, in prosecution of his undertaking, was introduced to Mr. Robert Napier by Mr. Melvill, secretary in London to the East India Company, and through whom he entered into conferences on the subject in Glasgow with Mr. George Burns and Mr. David MacIver. The consultation resulted in the undertaking since popularly known as the Cunard line, and Mr. George Burns persuaded his brother to join in this, as he had in like manner previously induced him to join in the establishment of steamers between Glasgow and Liverpool. The contract for the conveyance of the North American mails was entered into between the Admiralty on the one part, and Samuel Cunard, George Burns, and David MacIver on the other part; and the first steamer of the line, the Britannia, sailed from Liverpool on 4th July, 1840, for Halifax and Boston. The means of travelling between the mother country and America were previously very inadequate. Although steam had come into pretty general use for coasting purposes, it had been little applied to ocean voyages. The Cunard line commenced with four paddle-wheel steamers, of an aggregate tonnage of 4602 tons. Now the company possess between 40 and 50 vessels afloat, or in course of construction. Many of these are the most magnificent merchant ships afloat. Some of them are over 4000 tons burden, and the aggregate tonnage of the whole is close upon 90,000 tons.

It is not too much to affirm of the Cunard line, that it is the most popular and successful Transatlantic service afloat. For upwards of thirty years a Cunard Transatlantic steamer has sailed—at first once a week, subsequently twice a week, and latterly three times a week—from Liverpool, and another from New York or Boston. During that long period many hundred thousand passengers have been carried by that noble fleet. Yet, despite the dangers of the Atlantic, and the liability to accident in a thousand ways of such a voyage, the Cunard line can thankfully say that they have never lost a life—nay more, although they have had a contract with the British Government since they started for the conveyance of the North American mails, the company have never even lost a letter! Such a claim cannot be made on behalf of any other line afloat. But it would be quite a mistake to infer that this wonderful exemption from misadventure is due to luck or chance. On the contrary, the skilful management of the line has been the chief, if not the sole cause of its matchless reputation. Every consideration of profit has from the very outset been subordinated to a painstaking and anxious regard for the efficiency of the fleet, and for the safety and comfort of the passengers. Without a single exception, all the Cunard Liners are noted for their seaworthy qualities, which have been admirably preserved by the existence of the company's engineering works at Liverpool; and the instructions for the navigation of the fleet are most complete and peremptory. Thus, it will be seen that a combination of rare administrative qualities, together with the intrinsic superiority of their ships, have been the means of realising for the Cunard Company a character which is altogether without a precedent, while the same causes have imparted to the most timid passengers a confidence in the Cunard line which they would not be justified in placing even in a railway company. In short, the Cunard Company have brought about a condition of things which our grandfathers could not have believed possible. They have set at naught the dangers of the mighty deep, and rendered ocean travelling more safe and interesting than travelling on the dry land. Truly, those who have had the management of this gigantic business are entitled to be regarded as the pioneers of a high standard of progress, the highest standard, indeed, that has yet been attained, or is possible of attainment, in the direction of one of the greatest ends of civilisation—that of making the navigation of the ocean compatible with perfect safety to human life. In illustration of the style of management, it may be added that it has been the policy of those conducting the business to keep abreast with the advancement of the age, by constantly selling and replacing vessels as required. From first to last they have sold considerably above 100 steamers.

The business of the Cunard Company, in its various branches, has from its origin been carried on in Glasgow by Messrs. G. & J. Burns; in Liverpool, by the energetic firm of Messrs. D. & C. MacIver; in Halifax, N.S., by Messrs. S. Cunard & Co.; and in New York, by Sir Edward Cunard, Bart. Mr. David MacIver died a few years after the formation of the Cunard line, Sir Samuel Cunard, Bart., and his son Sir Edward, died more recently; and James Burns and George Burns having retired several years before the death of the former, which took place in September last, the business devolved upon the two sons of George Burns—John Burns and James Cleland Burns, of Glasgow; Charles MacIver, of Liverpool; and William Cunard, formerly of Halifax, N.S., now of London, who remain the sole partners of this gigantic concern, which is still further extending its ramifications by the addition of a line of steamers between the Clyde and the West Indies.

The subject of our memoir married, in 1822, the eldest daughter of the late Dr. Cleland of Glasgow, a man who may be said to have been the father of social and vital statistics in this country; for at the time he published his works, "Annals of Glasgow," and "Statistical Tables," we believe that Sweden was the only country that laid claim to the possession of regular statistics. Dr. Cleland was a member of the Institute of France, and other scientific bodies. By his wife, who is still alive, Mr. Burns has had seven children, of whom there only survive the two sons who are now at the head of the business in Glasgow. Mr. George Burns, soon after his retirement from business, purchased the estate of Wemyss Bay, where he now spends the greater part of his time. Mr. John Burns is possessor of the property of Castle Wemyss, where he resides; and Mr. James Cleland Burns lives at his property of Glenlee, near Hamilton.

Neither Mr. Burns, nor any of his family, have ever taken a prominent part in politics, although their immense business experience and conspicuous aptitude for controlling and directing their own unrivalled private concern, would in all probability have qualified them for taking a high place in the councils of the nation had they chosen to enter the domain of politics. In their private capacities each and all of the family have been distinguished for their ready and liberal support of measures calculated to improve the moral, social, and religious condition of their fellow-townsmen, and an appeal for support to a deserving object has never been made to them in vain. Mr. George Burns has always been ready to afford personal service and pecuniary assistance to schemes of a benevolent or philanthropic character. The name of Mr. John Burns is a "tower of strength" where there is a good cause to be promoted. He rendered valuable service in assisting to establish the Cumberland training ship—an institution which, in its proved results, has done more than all the rest of our industrial institutions put together to reform our street Arabs, and to inspire them with higher aims and better motives in life. During the three years that have elapsed since the Cumberland was brought to the Gareloch, Mr. Burns has acted as its president, and in the midst of his own multitudinous and incessant business duties he has not failed to bestow upon its affairs great attention. As an honorary president of the Foundry Boys' Religious Society, which embraces within its pale upwards of 14,000 boys and girls in the humblest ranks of life, he has likewise assisted very materially to promote the welfare of the city. For their own servants the Messrs. Burns have displayed an exemplary solicitude. They have provided a chapel in Glasgow for the sailors employed in their coasting trade; and they defray the expenses connected with the support of a chaplain, who visits the men on board ship, sailing with each vessel in turn, and preaching in the chapel on Sundays. Through the chaplain, who visits the wives and families of the sailors when they are away on duty, the Messrs. Burns are made aware of the circumstances and condition of the sailors in their employment, and they spare no trouble to maintain an efficient and sober body of men in a happy and comfortable position.



MR. JAMES BAIRD OF CAMBUSDOON.

"I cannot," wrote Bacon, "call riches better than the baggage of virtue." Practically the dictum of the philosopher has been endorsed by Mr. James Baird of Cambusdoon, who, along with his brothers who have predeceased him, has set a noble example in regard to both the acquisition and the distribution of wealth. Few men have been so fortunate in laying up treasure on earth; few have been so zealous of those good works which realise treasure on the other side of Time. For nearly half a century the name of Baird has been a household word in the West of Scotland. Ranking as they have done for many years as the largest employers of labour in Scotland, they must ever continue to occupy a foremost place in our commercial annals. But while they have thus been "diligent in business," they have also been "fervent in spirit." Possessing the power that belongs to wealth, they have not been unmindful of its accompanying responsibilities and duties. In the promotion of education, in the support of Church and missionary objects, in aiding the amelioration of their less fortunate fellow-creatures, and in the dispensation of that charity which covers a multitude of sins they have made their vast wealth subordinate to the service of their day and generation—the humble but yet potent means to the most beneficent ends. By every consideration, therefore, the honoured name of Baird is entitled to a place in these sketches.

Mr. James Baird of Cambusdoon is the only survivor of a family of eight sons, whose ancestors for several generations followed the primitive occupation of farming in the parish of Old Monkland. The father of the proprietors of Gartsherrie Ironworks was tenant of Kirkwood, Newmains, and High Cross farms. Of his numerous family, William, who died recently, after having attained the rare distinction of a millionaire, was the eldest, having been born in the year 1796; James, who was six years his junior, was born in 1802. The older members of the family received their education at the parish school of Old Monkland, under the late Mr. Cowan—one of a class of teachers who were qualified to impart something more than the mere rudiments of a solid classical education, and who have assisted so materially to place the parochial school system of Scotland on the high vantage ground from which, unless present appearances are deceptive, it is in danger of being hurled by the operation of the Education Act now under the consideration of Parliament. For the younger members of his family, Mr. Baird was enabled to provide the benefits of a University curriculum. It will not be necessary to refer to the head of the family further than to say that he lived to assist, by his judicious counsel and shrewd penetration, in founding the works at Gartsherrie, from which his family have since derived such a wide-spread fame.

Half a century ago, the inducements to enter upon an industrial career were much more limited than they are at the present day. The industries of the West of Scotland were then few and comparatively uninviting. The iron trade was in its infancy, and those engaged in it lacked the resources for the acquisition of wealth that were evolved from the discovery of blackband mineral deposits by Mushet, the application of the hot blast by Neilson, and the introduction of other more economical modes of working. Mr. James Baird did more than any other ironmaster in Scotland to carry out to its full and perfect development the principle of hot blast, and he greatly aided the success of Mr. Neilson's invention by designing appliances which enabled the air to be heated to a high temperature without destroying the apparatus. Many other important improvements, which rendered iron-making much more easy and simple, were soon afterwards carried out under Mr. Baird's auspices, including the adoption of the modern shape of the blast furnace, which is very much less in bulk and first cost than the furnaces used in the early history of the trade. We believe that Mr. Baird was the very first to introduce the modern shape of the blast furnace. It was a distinguishing feature in Mr. Baird's character that he excelled in suggesting and applying different modes of saving labour in every department, and so thoroughly skilled was he in all the various processes of manufacture, that every workman with whom he came in contact regarded him as a master of his handicraft. More than any other member of his family, Mr. Baird exercised practical authority over all structural and mechanical arrangements as well as over the mineral workings leased by or belonging to the firm. So late as the year 1830, the total number of blast furnaces in Scotland was only seven, and their capacity of production did not exceed 10,000 tons per annum. Last year, the total production of the 154 furnaces in Scotland was 1,164,000 tons, representing an aggregate value of not less than L3,000,000! A single glance at these figures will convey an adequate idea of the progress made in the interval; they require neither note nor comment. The Messrs Baird had little prospect before them other than that afforded by the pursuit of agriculture, in which their forefathers had engaged. But William, with characteristic enterprise, resolved that he would not be tied to the soil. Commencing on a very humble scale, with only a day level and a gin pit, at Rochsolloch, he was favoured by fortune in his development of the little colliery. His brothers joined the venture, and in a short time they were able to extend their operations to Maryston and Gartsherrie. On the 4th May, 1830, they put in blast the first furnace in the latter place, thus laying, perhaps with fear and trembling, the foundations of an establishment which is now one of the largest of its kind in the world. This was the tide in their affairs which, taken at its flood, led on to fortune. Although they have experienced, in common with all others similarly situated, the occasional vicissitudes of bad times, they were not only able from henceforth to keep their heads above water, but they continued to go forth "prospering and to prosper." In 1846 they started the Eglinton Ironworks, at which there are now eight blast furnaces. Six years later they acquired the Blair Ironworks, with five blast furnaces. In 1856, the Lugar and the Muirkirk Ironworks came into the market, and the Messrs. Baird became the purchasers. The latter works embrace a small manufactory of malleable iron, and the two together have seven blast furnaces. In 1864, the firm still further extended their now enormous business by the acquisition of the Portland Ironworks, with five blast furnaces, to which one has since been added. At the present time they own, inclusive of Gartsherrie, at which there are 16 blast furnaces, a grand total of 42 blast furnaces, 30 of which are now (March, 1872) in operation. The total produce of iron from the whole of these works will average 750 tons per day.

Of the Gartsherrie Ironworks—the largest establishment of its kind in Scotland—it may be interesting to state that it gives employment to 3200 men and boys, and turns out 100,000 tons of pig iron per annum. The consumpt of coal at Gartsherrie is upwards of 1000 tons per day. Ever since 1826 Messrs. Baird have been working coal in Gartsherrie estate, so that a considerable part of the coal consumed has been found adjoining the works. Pits are still being worked to some extent there, but it is now found necessary to look elsewhere for coal. We understand the future supply is to be derived mainly from the district of Bothwell, where there is a very large virgin field of coal—indeed, evidently the most important in Scotland—from which the public must ere long begin to draw their principal supplies. The ironstone for the Gartsherrie works is now brought from a considerable distance; formerly it was found within from one to five miles from the furnaces. It is a distinctive peculiarity of the huge establishment that it is divided by the Monkland Canal, the blast furnaces standing in two parallel rows on each side of that highway. Taking the whole of their works together, the Messrs. Baird employ fully 9000 men and boys, and if we multiply this number by three, which is a moderate figure, we get 27,000 souls as the number dependent on the works of the firm. It is quite within the record to declare that the Messrs. Baird, who turn out annually one-fourth of the entire production of Scotland, are the largest pig iron makers in the world.

As landed proprietors, the Messrs. Baird have attained a pre-eminent position in the West of Scotland. Besides his estate of Cambusdoon in Ayrshire, which he purchased in 1853 for the sum of L22,000, Mr. James Baird owns the estate of Knoydart, in Inverness-shire, for which in 1857 he paid L90,000. In 1863 he purchased the estate of Muirkirk, at the price of L135,000, and he owns other properties in Ayrshire of considerable value. On the death of his brother Robert, who died in 1856, he acquired the estate of Auchmedden, Aberdeenshire, which three years previously had been purchased for the sum of L60,000. The other members of the family have found an equally conspicuous place in "Burke's Landed Gentry." William, who died in March, 1864, was proprietor of the estates of Rosemount, in Ayrshire, and Elie, in Fifeshire, the former purchased in 1853 for L47,000, and the latter in the same year for L155,000. John was proprietor of the estates of Lochwood, in Lanarkshire, and Ury, in Kincardineshire, the latter being a gift from his brothers, by arrangement with William, who inherited it from his father, by whom it was purchased in 1826; while Ury was bequeathed by his brother Alexander, who purchased it in 1854 for the sum of L120,000. Douglas, the sixth son, acquired the estate of Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, for the sum of L225,000. George, a still younger member of the family, was proprietor of the estate of Strichen, in Aberdeenshire, and Stichell, in Roxburghshire—the former purchased in 1865 for the sum of L145,000, and the latter inherited from his brother David, who purchased it in 1853 for the sum of L150,000. The family thus own estates representing in round numbers nearly two millions of capital, in addition to what they hold as a company in the shape of mineral fields.

Although it is probably in the annals of commerce that the Messrs. Baird will find their most lasting monument, they have not been unknown in the arena of politics. William sat in Parliament for the Falkirk District of Burghs from 1841 till 1846, when he accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, and Lord Lincoln reigned in his stead. In 1851, however, the seat again became vacant, consequent upon Lincoln succeeding to the title and estates of the Duke of Newcastle. James Baird then took the field in opposition to Mr. Loch, factor to the Duke of Sutherland, and was returned by a majority of 55 votes. In the course of the following year a general election took place, and James again came forward as a candidate. This time he was opposed by Mr. Anderson, of London. The result of the election was a majority of 50 in favour of Mr. Baird. At the general election of 1857, he retired from the representation of Falkirk, and was succeeded by Mr. Hamilton, of Dalzeill, and afterwards by Mr. Merry, who has since continued to retain the seat. The politics of the family have always tended towards Conservatism, and for the support of the "good old cause" Mr. James Baird has exercised all his influence, both moral and material.

The educational interests of the West of Scotland owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Baird family, who have made provision in various ways for the instruction of upwards of 4000 children. In addition to having established schools in almost every locality where their workmen are employed, they have built and supported schools other than those connected with their works. One of the latter is now in progress of erection at Townhead, Glasgow, a poor and populous locality, with but a limited access to the means of education. Another school is just in course of being erected at the east end of Coatbridge, the expenses of which will be entirely defrayed by Mr. James Baird, who has all along taken on active interest in the progress of education. On the 20th December, 1871, he presided at the meeting held in the City Hall, Glasgow, with the view of recommending the continuance of religious instruction in day schools. On that occasion he pleaded eloquently and ably for a programme which contained three leading propositions—(1) the maintenance of the religious instruction that had hitherto been the use and wont of the country; (2) the management of the parochial and other schools of Scotland by the people themselves, instead of by a Board in London, which could know but little respecting the educational wants of the country; and (3) that a proper training in secular and religious knowledge be provided for the teachers, along with a due remuneration for their labours. Mr. Baird then proceeded to show that there was a danger of allowing the education of the country to become secularised, and that the word religion, which only appeared twice in the Education Bill, was inserted in the sense of forbidding it to be taught at all. With reference to the support of education, Mr. Baird expressed a clearly defined opinion, of which we quote the ipsissima verba. "I have," he said, "a strong and conscientious objection that any of my money, whether exacted from me by rates and taxes, should be expended in teaching secular knowledge unless it is permeated by religion, and I believe I shall be joined by an overwhelming majority of the people of Scotland in that objection." ... "Religious and Scriptural education is what we are contending for, and religious education we must have, even should the State withdraw its support, which is a thing not likely to be done." These are the words of one who has evidently "read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested" the whole subject of education, and is prepared, at whatever sacrifice or cost, to stand up for a system of instruction that shall embrace preparation not only for the duties and exigencies of this life but also for that which is to come. And the views of such a man have all the more weight that they accompany and flow from a sincere desire and a tangible readiness to afford practical support to the cause of education.

But if education owes much to the generosity and practical sympathy of the Messrs. Baird, the Church has still more reason to register their names in its roll of attached friends. With reference to Mr. James Baird, it may be fitly said that he is "a pillar in Israel." He is conservative to the extent of maintaining unimpaired all the institutions of the Church; but patronage, and other plague-spots in her bright and noble constitution, he would utterly abolish. Progress has long been his watchword, but it is in the direction of building up and not of pulling down. He is not an iconoclast for the mere sake of change. But he would remove out of the pathway of the Church all that would hinder from the efficient discharge of her mission. Above all, he is averse to a policy of laissez faire. Believing that the Church has failed to meet the increasing wants of the people, he is an eager advocate and a liberal and intelligent supporter of missionary schemes. At an ordination dinner held in Glasgow in 1868, Mr. Baird delivered an address, in the course of which he pointed out that the missions of the Church were in a languid state, and dragged along a dreary and miserable existence. Although there were from 12,000 to 15,000 young men and women arriving in Glasgow every year at an age when they should become members of some church, the Establishment was getting barely sufficient from that multitude to maintain its old numbers. He was afraid, he added, that a great many had not the chance of joining any church, as none of the churches were increasing in proportion to the population of the city; and that, therefore, they would go on to swell the ranks of heathenism and materialism. The results of the investigations recently carried out in this city, amply vindicate Mr. Baird's almost prophetic remarks. Mr. Johnston's pamphlets on the religious wants of Glasgow; pamphlets issued on the same subject by Mr. Alexander Whitelaw, Mr. Baird's hearty coadjutor in every good word and work; and the inquiries made under the auspices of the association established for the purpose of inquiring into the religious destitution of Glasgow, all tend to prove that there are from 100,000 to 160,000 souls living without the means of grace, and in a state of practical heathenism, in a city that can boast of a Knox, a Chalmers, and other apostles of Christianity. Thus, although Mr. Baird's figures appeared startling, and although his forebodings may have seemed unnecessary, they have turned out to be rather under than beyond the mark. But the zeal of Mr. Baird did not stop at merely pointing out the evil. He exerted himself most assiduously to provide a remedy. We believe he was one of the promoters of a society formed for the purpose of extending the church accommodation of Glasgow, and especially for the building of new churches in neglected and necessitous localities. That society has already done the Church some service. It aims at removing from the Establishment the stigma that she has failed to keep pace with the requirements of the population; and, despite the difficult and arduous character of the work which it has assigned itself, the association is likely to succeed in making "rough places plain and crooked paths straight."

We may add that Mr. Baird has been twice married. His first marriage was in 1852, to Charlotte Lockhart of Cambusnethan, who died at Nice, in Italy, in 1857. In 1859 he espoused Isabella Agnew Hay, daughter of the late Admiral Hay. Although he is still the principal of the firm, Mr. Baird takes no very active part in the conduct of the business, the management devolving upon the other partners.



SIR WILLIAM THOMSON.

The world-wide reputation, as a mathematician and physicist, which Sir William Thomson has acquired, is a sufficient plea for giving him the foremost place in our sketches of University professors. Born in Belfast in June, 1824, Sir William has entered upon the forty-eighth year of his age. His father, Dr. James Thomson, was the author of several mathematical text-books, and occupied for some time the position of lecturer on mathematics at the Royal Academical Institute in Belfast, from whence he was transferred to the mathematical professorship of Glasgow University. The subject of our present sketch commenced his University life at the early age of eleven years. Both in the chemistry classes of Dr. Thomas Thomson, and in the astronomical lectures of Dr. Nichol, he showed himself an exceedingly apt student, and gained numerous prizes. In 1845, he graduated as second wrangler and first Smith's prizeman at Cambridge University. On Sir William's career as a Cambridge student we find the following interesting paragraph in an article recently supplied to one of the leading magazines:—"When quite a boy at Cambridge, still in his teens, he was a contributor to mathematical journals both in France and England. It might have been supposed that he was a lonely student, dwelling in a tower, like Erasmus or Roger Bacon, quite cut off from the unsympathetic mob of his brother collegians. On the contrary, Thomson was one of the best oarsmen of his day, and an immense favourite with his brother under-graduates. This taste for the water has always accompanied him. He had made many valuable excursions in his beautiful yacht Lalla Rookh; and his knowledge of the theory and practice of sailing is said to be extraordinary. The occasion of his taking his degree proved an ovation still recollected, and recorded in the annals of Cambridge. There was not the least doubt in the University but that the youthful Peterhouse man was the mathematical genius of the day. 'Eclipse was first and the rest nowhere.' But the rumour arose that there was a 'dark man' at St. John's, who possessed a wonderful power of throwing off paper-work at examinations with the regularity of a machine. One of the examiners subsequently described himself as petrified at the papers thrown off, as if by the velocity of a steam-engine, on the part of the Johnian. At the Cambridge Senate House examinations speed is everything; and when two men are pretty evenly balanced the muscular power of the wrist settles the day. Thomson was Second Wrangler, and a little more time for writing would have made him Senior Wrangler. For the Smith's Prize he of course distanced the Senior Wrangler and all other competitors. The worthy Johnian, who supplanted him for the blue ribbon of the University, was, irrationally enough, very unpopular, and has subsequently been lost sight of in scientific history. Before Sir William Thomson there was a great career. At twenty-one he was a fellow of his college. At twenty-two he was a Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. When little more than out of his teens, Sir William Thomson became editor of the Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal, through which a great impetus was given to the study of pure and applied mechanics; and before the era of the Atlantic Cable he contributed many papers on telegraphy to the Royal Society, in connection with which he made the acquaintance and enjoyed the esteem of such men as Faraday and Brewster. The Natural Philosophy Chair in Glasgow University he has raised to a high rank—perhaps the highest of its kind in the world, and students come from far and near to sit at the feet of this Gamaliel among the physicists of his day and generation."

The Bakerian lecture, entitled "The Electro-Dynamic Properties of Metal," was delivered by Sir William Thomson in 1855, and by that and kindred contributions to scientific literature he was rapidly laying the foundation of his great reputation. In 1854 he published a series of investigations, by which he shows that the capacity of the conducting wire for the electric charge depends on the ratio of its diameter to that of the gutta percha covering; and in the face of much opposition he established what is now known as the "law of squares," which asserts that the rate of transmission is inversely as the square of the length of the cable. These results were of much utility in their bearing on the working of submarine cables, and it is not too much to affirm that it was to Sir William Thomson's counsel that the success of the Atlantic Cable is in great part due. His mirror galvanometer was the first instrument that could be applied with anything like satisfactory results to submarine telegraphy. More recently, however, he has invented and patented another instrument, called the "syphon recorder," which was exhibited publicly for the first time at the opening of the British India Submarine Telegraph. The special feature of the "syphon recorder" is a minute capillary syphon, which, while it continually discharges ink against a moving paper, is by means of a delicate electro-magnetic arrangement caused to move from side to side according to the electric pulses passed through the cable, and from the record thus obtained of these motions the message is deciphered. From trials lately made on the Falmouth, Gibraltar, and Malta lines, it has been ascertained that 25 words per minute can be registered through a cable 800 miles long. It is also a recommendation to the "syphon recorder" that it can be worked by very low battery power, and therefore tends to the preservation of the cable. Among Sir William's other inventions we may specially mention an electrometer, which has now assumed a very complete form. His divided-ring electrometer admitted of accurate measurements, in skilled hands, of fractions of a Daniell's cell; his portable electrometer admits of readings from 10 or 20 cells upwards; but his new reflecting electrometer gives as much as 100 divisions on the scale for one single cell of the battery. In Mr. Varley's patent of 1860, he describes a method which he employed to make the one plate charge itself, and on this principle he constructed a large electrical machine, which he exhibited at a soiree of the Royal Society of 1869-70. This machine has been adopted by Sir William Thomson for maintaining the charge in his electrometer. The new electrometer is really a combination of three inventions—of Sir William Thomson's portable electrometer to indicate whether or no the instrument is sufficiently charged; of the replenisher by Mr. Varley for charging or discharging; and of the quadrant electrometer for reading off the minute tensions measured. The instrument is in its present form so practically useful that it has been largely used in connection with telegraphic cables, and Mr. Varley has calculated tables to enable any electrician at a glance to infer from two readings by this electrometer the insulating power of any telegraphic cable.

Sir William Thomson is no specialist. Many people are accustomed to associate his name with the Atlantic Cable, and with that alone. This, however, is a great mistake, for he has made many important additions to the science of magnetism, respecting which he published a number of valuable papers between the years 1847 and 1851. He has also displayed extraordinary acumen and intelligence in the investigation of the nature of heat. Neither should it be forgotten that Sir William has speculated a great deal on the ultimate constitution of matter—an inquiry which has occupied the attention of all great physicists in modern times. Last year he published in Nature an article which, running from four different lines of argument, seeks to establish proof of the absolute magnitude of the atoms of matter. Of this argument Tyndall says:—"William Thomson tries to place the ultimate particles of matter between his compass points, and to apply to them a scale of millimetres."

In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sir William has published an article describing the instruments—chiefly invented by himself—which were used in laying the Atlantic Cable. In the same contribution he describes the expeditions undertaken in 1857 and 1858 for the purpose of laying the Atlantic Cable, and the difficulties that had to be encountered in that great enterprise. This he was eminently qualified to do from his experience as acting electrician on board the Agamemnon during the progress of the work which resulted in the completion, in August, 1858, of the Atlantic Cable, and the astonishment of the world at finding the two opposite shores of the great ocean placed in instantaneous communication with each other. For some time after the cable was laid he remained at Valentia, endeavouring to bring his galvanometer to still greater perfection. From the subsequent failure of the Atlantic Cable, and until it was finally established as a successful "institution," Sir William was busily employed in seeking to make more perfect and easy the difficult science of submarine telegraphy; and in the expeditions of 1865 and 1866, which he accompanied, his counsel and assistance proved of inestimable value.

From the Royal Society of Edinburgh Sir William received the Keith Prize for the years 1862 and 1863. On the occasion of the award, Sir David Brewster, the Vice-President of the Society, thus referred to the many valuable papers he had communicated to the Society during the seventeen years of his connection with it:—"These papers, and others elsewhere published, relate principally to the theories of Electricity, Magnetism, and Heat, and evince a genius for the mathematical treatment of physical questions which has not been surpassed, if equalled, by that of any living philosopher. In studying the mathematical theory of Electricity, he has greatly extended the general theorems demonstrated by our distinguished countryman, Mr. Green; and was led to the principle of 'electrical images,' by which he was enabled to solve many problems respecting the distribution of electricity on conductors, which had been regarded as insoluble by the most eminent mathematicians in Europe. In his researches on Thermo-dynamics, Professor Thomson has been equally successful. In his papers 'On the Dynamical Theory of Heat,' he has applied the fundamental propositions of the theory to bodies of all kinds, and he has adduced many curious and important results regarding the specific heats of bodies, which have been completely verified by the accurate experiments of M. Joule. No less important are Professor Thomson's researches on Solar Heat, contained in his remarkable papers 'On the Mechanical Energy of the Solar System;' his researches on the Conservation of Energy, as applied to organic as well as inorganic processes; and his fine theory of the dissipation of Energy, as given in his paper 'On a Universal Tendency in Nature to the Dissipation of Mechanical Energy.' To these we may add his complete theory of Diamagnetic Action, his investigations relative to the Secular Cooling of our Globe, and the influence of internal heat upon the temperature of its surface." Sir David Brewster, after referring to other works, added that "the important conclusions which he obtained from 'The Theory of Induction in Submarine Telegraphy,' have found a valuable practical application in the patent instrument for reading and receiving messages, which he so successfully employed in the submarine cable across the Atlantic; and when that great work is completed, his name will be associated with the noblest gift that science ever offered to civilisation. By his delicate electrometer, his electric spark recorder, and his marine and land relation galvanometer, he has provided the world of thought with the finest instruments of observation and research, and the world of action with the means of carrying the messages of commerce and civilisation which have yet to cross the uncabled oceans that separate the families of the earth."

In 1866, after the Atlantic Telegraph Cable had been successfully laid, Sir William Thomson received the honour of knighthood from the Crown. On the same occasion he was presented with the freedom of his adopted city—Glasgow. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him successively by Trinity College, Dublin, by Cambridge and by Edinburgh Universities, and that of D.C.L. by Oxford. He is a Fellow of the London Royal Society, as well as that of Edinburgh; and he is an honorary and corresponding member of several learned societies abroad.

On the loss of H.M.S. Captain, a Commission was appointed to investigate the merits of designs for ships of war. Of that Commission Sir William Thomson is a valuable and valued member, from his intimate acquaintance with dynamical science and the theory of stability. Sir William also conducts the operations of two committees appointed by the British Association to investigate the subject of Tides and Underground Temperature, the results of which are expected to settle many points of physical theory. The circumstances of Sir William Thomson's election to the presidential chair of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and the remarkably able address which he delivered in opening the late Edinburgh meeting, are of such recent occurrence that they need not be recapitulated.

Sir William Thomson married, in 1852, a daughter of the late Walter Crum, Esq., F.R.S., who has predeceased him. He is a Liberal in politics, and no one has taken a more active part than he in forwarding the interests of the Liberal candidates for the representation of the Universities.



PRINCIPAL BARCLAY.

Cities that bear the dual character of seats of learning and marts of commerce are comparatively rare. Who would ever dream of finding a foundry on the Isis, or a factory on the Cam? These streams are sacred to learning. They are not polluted with the vapours that are evolved from industrial life. No sounds of the ponderous hammer, or screeching "buzzer," are to be heard within the range of their pellucid course. They are consecrated to more lofty, if not to more useful purposes. But with the Clyde the case is different. It is almost a puzzle to say whether Glasgow excels more as the seat of a famous University or as the centre of a hundred busy, important, and prosperous industries. Certainly, the decadence of the one has not followed the development of the other. Learning and commerce flourish hand in hand, without the slightest trace of incompatibility. No less an authority than Sir Robert Peel declared, on the occasion of his installation as Lord Rector of the University in 1837, "I do not consider it an exaggerated compliment when I say that I doubt whether, of all cities existing on the face of the earth, there be any one so remarkable for the combination of commercial and active industry, with services rendered to science and literature, as Glasgow." From the watch towers of Gilmorehill a hundred chimneys, some of them rivalling the Pyramids of Gizeh in height, may be seen; the din of a hundred hammers, employed in the service of the world's merchant marine, may be distinctly heard; innumerable masts, denoting our traffic with all parts of the globe, may be counted. And yet in these same halls the budding genius of Scotland's sons is being developed—the qualities that are henceforth to distinguish our statesmen, and orators, and poets, and merchant princes, are being matured. The alumni of Glasgow University have not all blushed unseen, albeit the fame of their Alma Mater has sometimes been over-shadowed by that of Edinburgh. To go no further back than the living members of the Senatus Academicus, it will be admitted that Caird in Divinity, Lushington in Greek, Sir William Thomson in Natural Philosophy, Allen Thomson in Anatomy, Rankine in Mechanics, Grant in Astronomy, and Gairdner in Medicine, are names to conjure with. For the Principal of a seat of learning, that combines with an extraordinary amount of present vitality and prestige the traditions of a glorious past, stretching backwards until it is almost lost sight of amid the mists of the Middle Ages, it is surely essential that he should be a man of piety, of excellent governing and administrative powers, and, above all, of extensive erudition. All these conditions have distinguished more or less the predecessors of Dr. Barclay, the present Principal, and in himself they are very happily combined, although he is "not so young as he used to be," and his energy and usefulness have necessarily been somewhat impaired by the lapse of years.

Principal Barclay is the son of the Rev. James Barclay, minister of Unst, Shetland, and was born in the year 1792. After having been educated at King's College, Aberdeen, which he entered in the year 1808, and where he distinguished himself by carrying off the highest bursary, young Barclay proceeded to London, pending his appointment to a ministerial charge in the Church of Scotland. A spirit of adventure and enterprise induced him to take this step. He could not brook the idea of spending any of his time in a state of comparative idleness. Through the influence of some friends, he succeeded shortly after his arrival in the metropolis in getting an appointment as Parliamentary reporter to the Times, and he continued in the gallery of the House of Commons in that capacity during the four years commencing with 1818. It is not too much to say that these four years embraced one of the most eventful and exciting periods of England's history. The Reform agitation was being carried on with a bitterness that almost eclipsed all subsequent attempts to establish the five points of the Charter as the law of the land. In these years, too, the memorable trial of Queen Caroline took place, and it is one of Principal Barclay's most interesting reminiscences that during his connection with the Times he had occasion to report not only a considerable amount of the evidence taken in the House of Lords during the Queen's trial, but also the memorable speech of Lord Brougham in defence of the unfortunate lady—a speech which has only been eclipsed in point of length by the recent address of the Attorney-General in the Tichborne trial, and by Burke's speech in connection with the trial of Warren Hastings. Among his collaborateurs on the Times, Principal Barclay can recall the names of Collier, so well known for his knowledge and criticism of Shakespeare's works; Barnes, who subsequently distinguished himself as the sub-editor and leader-writer of the leading journal; and Tyas, who afterwards introduced that special feature for which the Times has long been noted—the abridgement of the Parliamentary debates. The routine of a reporter's duties at that time was pretty much the same as it is at the present day, the main difference being that the work was, if anything, more difficult and arduous at a period when shorthand was in its infancy, and when the staff employed on the daily journals was much less numerous than it is in our own day. Another feature that tended to make more difficult the Parliamentary reporters' duties at that period, was the long "takes" which they had to supply—a "take" being the share of the work which each member of the reporting staff has individually alloted to his charge. At that time every reporter who entered the gallery was compelled to write out the proceedings of a whole hour, and he had to do this with so much celerity and amplitude that the report had to be as complete as the Parliamentary reports of the Times have ever been. It has since been found, however, that the labour of an hour is far too much for one man, if he is to do himself or the report anything like justice; and hence the "take" of reporters became very much shortened, until they now seldom exceed a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Another negative phase of Dr. Barclay's journalistic career which may be noticed, is the fact that he never fell foul of the Sergeant-at-Arms, into whose custody many an unlucky reporter, who was accused of having misstated the speeches of legislators, was given. Despite the fact that Collier was at that time the only shorthand writer on the staff of the Times, it was his misfortune to undergo this ordeal. He was summoned to the bar of the House, and, having fully vindicated his report, he was immediately discharged from custody. The fee of the Sergeant-at-Arms (eighty guineas) was paid by Mr. Walter. On another occasion a complaint was made in the House of a report by a Mr. Ross, one of the Times' staff. The occasion was a speech delivered by Canning, and the sentence which he was said to have misreported was to the effect that the subject had never been under the consideration of the Cabinet above five minutes. Ross, however, had the satisfaction of receiving a letter from Canning himself, in which the great statesman vindicated the accuracy of the report. Mr. Barclay was never a shorthand writer. He was accustomed to use abbreviated longhand, and he became so expert in the use of this system, that he could report without difficulty any average speaker. After leaving the Times, which he did at the close of the year 1821, Mr. Barclay received a call to Dunrossness, in Shetland, and he continued to minister in that parish until the year 1827, when he was translated to Lerwick, a parish in the same remote region. Subsequently, in 1843, he was removed to Petercoulter, in Aberdeenshire; and his fourth and last charge was Currie, in Mid Lothian, to which he was translated in 1844. It was while he was in the latter charge that the Principalship of the Glasgow University became vacant, owing to the death of the late Principal Macfarlan, and the office was conferred by the Government, with whom the patronage lay, upon Dr. Barclay. The appointment was a good deal discussed at the time, and it was said in some circles that it was scarcely judicious, the fact being that Mr. Barclay's claims and qualifications for such a high position were not fully known. But he had really earned the honour by his ability and scholarship. It is questionable whether any man in Scotland has a more extensive acquaintance with languages, both modern and ancient. He is particularly conversant with Icelandic literature, which very few people have studied, but which is specially worthy of study, both for its historical interest and its poetry. Indeed, from the Mediterranean to Iceland there is, perhaps, no language spoken that Principal Barclay does not understand. Besides this, however, he has devoted much attention to Biblical criticism, and he was long distinguished as one of the ablest and staunchest of the few advocates of reform and liberalism that during his ministerial career adorned the Church Courts. Hence, although they might be comparatively unknown, Dr. Barclay was not without due qualifications for the office. One of the leading journals, in referring to Principal Barclay's appointment, which was made in December, 1857, declared "that to stand up as he did against a mass of brethren in matters on which the esprit de corps is morbidly strong, requires not only the exercise of some of the higher moral and intellectual powers, but the sacrifice of some of the weaknesses especially incident to the clerical character, and those who in the Established Church Courts perform such a duty in the interests of justice, of progress, and of the public, have much need of the sympathy and encouragement that can be given from without. Hitherto, however, there has been a sort of impression that the support of liberal measures formed rather an obstacle than a recommendation to the good offices of even liberal dispensers of patronage, and there is matter for congratulation in so much being done towards the destruction of this impression by the fact of Dr. Barclay, being a Liberal in Church and State not having been allowed to act as a counterbalance to his other qualifications for the high office to which he is about to be raised." Principal Barclay enjoys in his present capacity an otium cum dignitate to which, after the labours of a long life, he is well entitled. Although verging on his eightieth year, he is still hale, hearty, and vigorous, and able to converse intelligently on the most abstruse and recondite subjects. Principal Barclay was married in 1820 to Mary, the daughter of the late Captain Adamson of Kirkhill. They have had a large family, but only two daughters and one son survive. Both the former are married, and the latter is following the medical profession in China.



PROFESSOR RANKINE.

The Clyde is indissolubly connected with the history and progress of naval architecture. It was on the Clyde that steam navigation was first successfully applied. The Clyde may almost be said to be the cradle of iron shipbuilding; and it is to Clyde engineers and shipbuilders that the compound marine engine, and other improvements that have rendered ocean navigation more easy, safe, and practicable, are mainly due. But while the earlier history of naval architecture is bound up with that of the Clyde, its ultimate development and its present high state of perfection were brought about by the sustained and unflagging energy, enterprise, and ability of men like Professor Rankine, Robert Napier, and John Elder, who exerted themselves to maintain the pre-eminence which, thanks to their discoveries and exertions, the Clyde has never lost. The two latter gentlemen carried out in practice what the former demonstrated in theory. Never having been directly engaged in commercial pursuits, Professor Rankine could not earn the credit of building those leviathans that have directly contributed to our commercial prosperity; but in another, and not less essential way, he has assisted to build up and consolidate our industrial supremacy, and his numerous writings and discoveries in the science of mechanics will ever cause him to be regarded as a pioneer, not less than Henry Bell or Robert Napier, of a trade that has proved a source of untold wealth to the West of Scotland.

Professor William John Macquorn Rankine was born in Edinburgh. His father was an officer in the Rifle Brigade, and afterwards a railway manager and director. After receiving his education at Edinburgh University, he studied engineering under his father, and afterwards under Sir John M'Neill, who subsequently became Professor of Practical Engineering in Trinity College, Dublin, and at the opening of the railway from Dublin to Drogheda, which he constructed in 1844, received the honour of knighthood from Earl de Grey, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. When we remember that Sir John was no less able as a teacher than as an author, and that his knowledge of engineering was not bounded by mere theory alone, we get a clue to the eminently practical turn of mind which characterised his illustrious pupil. In 1844 Mr. Rankine commenced business as a civil engineer in Edinburgh. His residence in Edinburgh was unrelieved by any event worthy of being recorded in his biography, if we except a project, which he brought before the authorities and zealously promoted, for obtaining a more efficient supply of water. After a two or three years' residence in Edinburgh, Mr. Rankine determined to remove to Glasgow, where a more congenial sphere appeared ready to receive him. Entering into partnership with Mr. John Thomson, he took an active part in all great schemes of a scientific or mechanical nature; and it was while here engaged in private practice that he again called attention to the admirable source of water supply afforded by Loch Katrine, thus reviving a project which had been originated in 1845 by Messrs. Gordon and Hill. It was reserved for others to carry to a successful issue the scheme thus earnestly advocated by Rankine; but to him belongs the merit none the less of having urged it upon the authorities of that day. After the lapse of several years, during which he no doubt improved his time and opportunities by laying the foundation of that series of text books which he produced with remarkable fecundity in a marvellously short space of time, Mr. Rankine was appointed in 1855 to the Chair of Civil Engineering and Mechanics in Glasgow University. This Chair, we may explain, was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1840, and is in the gift of the Crown. Its first occupant was Louis D. B. Gordon, C.E., who subsequently devoted his whole time and attention to the practical business of civil engineering and to telegraphy, in connection with which subjects he has made a great reputation. The curriculum of study imparted by Professor Rankine includes the stability of structures; the strength of materials; the principle of the actions of machines; prime movers, whether driven by animal strength, wind, or the mechanical action of heat; the principles of hydraulics; the mathematical principles of surveying and levelling; the engineering of earthwork, masonry, carpentry, structures in iron, roads, railways, bridges, and viaducts, tunnels, canals, works of drainage and water supply, river works, harbour works, and sea coast works. The engineering school of the University of Glasgow was approved by the Secretary of State for India in Council as one in which attendance for two years would qualify a student who had fulfilled the other required conditions to compete for admission to the engineering establishments of India. This recognition, however, came to an end when the Cooper's Hill College was established. It is worth while noticing that although Professor Rankine started on his academic career with only some half-a-dozen pupils, his class now numbers between 40 and 50. This is to be ascribed in a great measure to the establishment by the authorities of the University in 1862 of a systematic course of study and examination in engineering science, embracing the various branches of mathematical and physical science which have a bearing on engineering. While attending to his University duties he still continued to carry on a private practice, and was frequently called in to consult upon engineering schemes of great magnitude, in this and other countries, and upon matters relating to shipbuilding and marine engineering.