The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1909-01-30
WHAT is A CAST
Well, Here Is Lord KeIvin's Quantity
Eccentric Definition.

Eccentric Definition.
One of the late Lord Kelvin's stu.
dents at the University of Glasgow
writes of some of the Old scientists
peculiarttes, TO those who attended
the natural philosophy class at Glas,
gov university Lord Kelvin or. rather,
Sir Billy Gor to that length on" ir.
reverent love Of the genial Old man
would gol. is Il cherished memory-a
memory Of a great man who gave ar
ticulate shape to the thoughts that
wander through eternity His appeal
TO our humorous faculties was due
partly to some personal peculiarities,
partly to the sublimely unconscious
use of very familiar objects and ex
tremely colloquial phrases to illustrate
his great thoughts on great things.
Never blessed with powers of clear
enunciatlon, he had a way of wrestling
with certain words and giving them
prolonged rolling iutonation that added
point to those unintentiOnally humor-
Gus obscry atoms which he was ever
making and for which, thoughtless yet
not wholly unloyable crew that we
were, we were ever looking. Let me
cite some examples Lecturing on the
nature of a gas one day. Lord Kelvin
thus delivered himself: Imagine d
thousand million students rushing with
incredible velocity in one direction and
a thousand million students rushing
with the same velocity In the opposite
direction and meeting. That IS gas
Doubtless. but the homely smile com
PEELED laughter and at the same time
left us both mystifed and enlightened.
"Rut his greatest feat was the play
| ing of u simple tune on a huge from
! bone. Conceive, if you can, learned
| professor of silvered locks and beard,
dressed in the black robes of his office
and surrounded by scientific instru-
ments, slowly squeezing from a giant
trombone some familiar air and you
will understand why | have said that
Lord Kelvin often made too strong
appeal to our sense of the humorous
For himself he was sublimely uncon-
scious of the humorous picture which
he presented. He was too intent upon
his scientific triumph for the laughter
and it was laughter that literally
held both It's sides-to reach his ears.
Lord Kelvin was once in his usual
delightfully."- inconsequent way rambling
along and letting his great mind slow
ly unfold it's great thoughts. One of
the many subjects on which he touch
ed was the transmission of light from
distant worlds. Here he said, 1 have
a calf's foot jelly made by Lady Thorn
SON. Observe the wabbly motion OF
the jelly there suiting the word by &C
; toni. Gentlemen, for aught we know
to the contrary, interstellar space may
be one vast calf's foot jelly
} "He was, as | have said, singularlJ
simple in many of his ways. 70 sue
cessive generations of students he illus
i trated uniform motion in a straigh
e line in a singularly characteristic fash
y ion. Lame in one leg. he always walk
e ed with a most marked limp, yet b
: Illustrated uniform motion in a straigh
n line by hobblfng round his rostrum i
: circle | do not believe that he eve
It knew why his pathetically humorou
s way of illustrating a simple fact /
r kinetics made his successive classe
J, smile confoundedly loud. = Chicag
s News.