The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-22

splendor of his genius fell with as little
effect as grand opera on deaf man. He
made his living out of ii, but the raw
youths did NOT interest him except as
familiar biological groWths. But as his
contract with the university did not call
for his furnishing brains 10 the students
the work was easy and gave him plenty
OF leisure His leisure ne spent in discov-
ering the laws of underlined scientific diff
eulties, inventing methods for overcoming
obstacles in scientific research and giving
forth to the world new and important
truths.
His work was not of the popular
sort, however. He dealt with principles
rather than with details. True he did
not invent a telephone or a kaleidoscope,
but he got at the remote causes of cleo
trical action and its laws, which is a
great deal more. Most people who know
much about Edison and Tesla have new
er even heard of Thomson yet the
Scotch professor is greater as a "scien-
list than are these men as inventors.
His noisiest work was that done in con-
nection with the Atlantic cable. He in
vented instruments for receiving and auto
malcally recording an electric message
which were of extreme delicacy and
which could be worked with very low
pressure. These instruments served to
correct certain errors that were the result
egraph line, and that saved much in the
way of weai and tear on the cable itself.
These instruments are known as the mir
ror instrument and the siphon recorder He
discovered the cause of the principal diff
hculties connected with the laying of ca
bles and devised means of overcoming
them. His share in the successful laying
of the great cable in 1866 was an import
ant one When the Great Eastern re-
turned from its epoch making voyage
Prof. Thomson was rewarded for his
work with a knighthood.
Another invention of Prof. Thomson's
that appealed to the unscientific world was
a device whereby the depth of the ocean
could be sounded to the depth of 100 ia tn
oms without slackening the speed of the
snip. This was the simplest sort of an in
vention. 1t consists of the use of piano
wire instead Of the ordinary line The wire
cuts through the water with the speed of
the ship and measures 100 fathoms almost
mstantaneously. Another invention of the
Glasgow professor was an improved COM
pass which corrected errors caused by the
magnetism of the ship itself. Some of Prof.
Thomson discoveries were of an order
that transcribed even the foremost scien-a
titic men of the time, and were denied
credit until they forced themselves upon
the skeptics. This was especially true of
the compass When he first submitted it to
Sir George Airey the royal astronomer at
the observatory of Greenwich, Sir George
pronounced that 'it would not do" Its in
ventor knew that it would do" and il has
done to such an extent that the shipping
of the world is now done by the Thomson
compass, as the cables of the world are
ruled by "Thomson's law" These results
are not of kind that appeal to public Gu
riosity, for they are based upon scientific
knowledge that is deep down in the ma
ture of things and far beyond the ken of
commonplace and even highly cultured"
people. Among other inventions of Prof
Thomson-not talked about in public places
or discussed in daily newspapers-are a
machine for predicting the level of the tides
in any part of the world, a mirror gal
vanometer." being a perfect instrument
for measuring the force of an electric cur
rent; a set of tables for ascertaining a
ships place at sea, and several new vol
taic batteries.
Prof. Thomson lives two lives. During
six months of the year he lectures to the
students in Glasgow University. These lee
lures are over the heads of all but those
who have an earnest desire to understand
science. So generalized are his terms that
it is probable that better educational re-
suits would be reached by less compre-
hensive man. The other six months he
gives to the world at large. He has been
scientific expert upon ali sorts OF com
missions and at all sorts of expositions.
His honors have been as numerous as his
offices. He is doctor of four universities,
a fellow of some dozen learned societies.
a Knight of the Legion of Honor and a
knight Of several German and Belgian or
ders.
Not content with his performances in
practical and mathematical science, Lord
Kelvin has gone about some speculation
that has worried the master of sciences
other than his own. For example, he has
seriously interfered with the geological
theory that the earth has had a crust for
hundreds of millions of years. His con-
globe was a liquid ball set the biologists
to correcting their notions, and he further
startled scientific men with a theory that
the interior of the earth is not hot. He
originated his Theory OF Atoms" on his
observations of smoke rings. These are
but a few of the works of the king of
sciences"
Lord Kelvin is a most companionable
man, Notwithstanding all his knowledge.
He finds time to take an interest in current
topics--an accomplishment that is general
~ despised by the average student of ma
ture He can interest himself intensely
in such trivial and totally useless thing
as a yacht race and his arguments with
the Prince of Wales on that subject have
not always been to the honor of the
princes knowledge of yachting He is
one of the very few warm friends Of AL
bert Edward, whom he is quite fond of. in
spite Of the mutual disparity of their po-
sitiOns; for the professor in his way ranks
as highly over the prince as the prince, in
his way. ranks above the professor.
s-o-s
HOW CAVIARE Is OBTAINED