ENGLISH
MEN OF SCIENCE
EDITED BY
J. REYNOLDS GREEN, Sc.D.
LORD KELVIN
ENGLISH MEN
OF SCIENCE
Edited by
Dr. J. REYNOLDS GREEN.
With Photogravure Frontispiece.
Small Cr. 8vo, 2s. 6d. net per vol.
SPENCER. By J. ArthurThompson.
PRIESTLEY. By Dr. Thorpe,C.B., F.R.S.
FLOWER. By Prof. R. Lydekker,F.R.S.
HUXLEY. By Prof. AinsworthDavis.
BENTHAM. By B. DaydonJackson, F.L.S.
DALTON. By J. P. Millington,M.A.
J. M. DENT & CO.
All Rights Reserved
LORD KELVIN
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS SCIENTIFIC
LIFE AND WORK
BY
ANDREW GRAY
LL.D., F.R.S., V.-P.R.S.E.
PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
PUBLISHED IN LONDON BY
J. M. DENT & CO., AND IN NEW
YORK BY E. P. DUTTON & CO.
1908
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
PREFACE
This book makes no claim to be a biography of LordKelvin in the usual sense. It is an extension of anarticle which appeared in the Glasgow Herald forDecember 19, 1907, and has been written at thesuggestion of various friends of Lord Kelvin, in theUniversity of Glasgow and elsewhere, who had readthat article. The aim of the volume is to give anaccount of Lord Kelvin's life of scientific activity, andto explain to the student, and to the general readerwho takes an interest in physical science and its applications,the nature of his discoveries. Only such astatement of biographical facts as seems in harmonywith this purpose is attempted. But I have ventured,as an o