Quotationsare not referenced here if their origin is clear from the text. In particular, extracts from Kelvin’s scientific papers can be found by consulting his collected works, and remarks by scientists at British Association meetings are taken from the single-volume (but eccentrically paginated) BA Reports for that year. Likewise, extracts from newspapers are not cited here if the source and date are identified in the text.

Correspondence indicated as B128, etc., comes from the Kelvin collection at Cambridge University Library (CUL), with the exception of the correspondence between Kelvin and Stokes, where reference is to Wilson (1990). In these references WT is William Thomson, and JT is his father, James Thomson. Siblings are referred to by their first names only, for brevity.

Abbreviations

SPT I and II: Life of Kelvin, Thompson (1910)

MPP I-VI: Mathematical and Physical Papers, Thomson (1882-1911)

PLA I-III: Popular Lectures and Addresses, Thomson (1889-1894)

E&M: Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism, Thomson (1872)

AGK: Kelvin the Man, King (1925)

ETK: Lord Kelvin’s Early Home, King (1910)

p. 1, “not … in robust health”: This, the reception at Columbia University, and later interview extracts are from the New York Times, April 20, 1902.

p. 2, “broke forth such a cheer …”: This and subsequent remarks by Rhees are from Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, May 2, 1902.

p. 2, In Washington D.C.: Washington Post, April 23, and Washington Star, April 24, 1902.

p. 3, “ … eminent electrician”: Toronto Globe, August 19, 1897.

p. 9, “I wish I could have made it more clear …”: from the Q&A following Kelvin’s lecture “Electrical Units of Measurement,” in Practical Applications of Electricity (1884). PLA I includes the text of the lecture but not the remarks.

p. 12, “Since he has left …”: This and following remarks to Anna are from B128, October 23, 1841.

p. 12, “I had no idea …”: WT to Elizabeth, n.d.; ETK 196.

p. 12, “I have got no time to be dull …”: WT to Elizabeth, n.d.; ETK 201.

p. 13, “asked your age …”: T180, JT to WT, October 28, 1841.

p. 14, “It was certainly a great honour …”: T185, WT to JT, November 21, 1841.

p. 14, “delightful young man”: ETK 162.

p. 15, “ … we accordingly determined to wait …”: from Notebook 7 at CUL.

p. 16, “The mathematics is very difficult …” and “in the first half of the month of May …”: Lord Kelvin and his first teacher in natural philosophy, Nature, 68(1903):623-624.

p. 17, “On the 1st of May …”: SPT I 14.

p. 17, “Primary causes are unknown to us …”: Preliminary Discourse, Fourier (1955).

p. 18, “shocked to be told …”: SPT I 17.

p. 18, “Papa! Fourier is right, and Kelland is wrong!”: ETK 183.

p. 19, “As to the insertion of the paper …”: K4, Kelland to JT, March 4, 1841.

p. 20, “sole object is to establish what is true …”: K5, JT to Kelland, March 6, 1841.

p. 20, “the flippant manner …”: G182, Gregory to JT, March 6, 1841.

p. 20, “I am very much pleased …”: K6, Kelland to JT, March 8, 1841.

p. 20, The paper appeared … May 1841: On Fourier’s Expansions of Functions in Trigonometric Series, MPP I.

p. 22, “You know my views …”: T180, JT to WT, October 28, 1841, SPT I 29.

p. 22, “Recollect my maxim …”: T186, JT to WT, December 6, 1841, SPT I 32.

p. 22, “Never forget to take every care …”: T234, JT to WT, April 9, 1843, SPT I 53.

p. 22, “Healthful and innocent exercise …”: T197, JT to WT, February 21, 1842.

p. 22, “farther, that it will not lead …”: T186, JT to WT, December 6, 1841.

p. 23, “With regard to wine parties …” and “I always row by myself …”: T187, WT to JT, December 12, 1841.

p. 23, “an idle and extravagant set”: T181, WT to JT, October 30, 1841.

p. 23, “built of oak, and as good as new”: T196, WT to JT, February 19, 1842.

p. 23, “You are quite right in anticipating …”: T197, JT to WT, February 21, 1842.

p. 23, “I hope [the boat] is to your liking …”: T496, John to WT, March 1, 1842.

p. 24, “so favourably and so kindly”: T203, JT to WT, March 27, 1842.

p. 24, “Good-hearted …”: Knight (1896) 20.

p. 24, “the fine old stock of Scottish Covenanters”: AGK 3.

p. 26, “frightened to see my beautiful father …” and following extract: ETK 71.

p. 27, “both father and mother to us …”: ETK 87.

p. 27, “There was something in the very disamenities …”: G. G. Ramsay, quoted by Gray (1908) 11.

p. 28, “dingy old place”: Knight (1896) 18.

p. 28, “both clever, good talkers and sketchers”: Knight (1896) 19.

p. 28, “Do, papa, let me answer!”: ETK 101.

p. 29, “P’itty b’ue eyes …”: ETK 27.

p. 29, “William was a great pet with him …”: ETK 87.

p. 29, “A most engaging boy …”: recollection by Canon Grenside, reported by AGK 11.

p. 29, “I have been reading moderately …”: T206, WT to JT, April 1842.

p. 30, “ … I can read with much greater vigour …”: T209, WT to JT, April 14, 1842.

p. 30, recorded his weight: CUL notebook NB29, entry for February 13, 1843.

p. 30, “I am sure you will perfectly approve …”: T213, WT to JT, May 6, 1842.

p. 30, “to relieve my head from the seediness …”: NB29, March 31, 1843.

p. 32, Hopkins charged £72 per student: Rothblatt (1981) 68n, 200.

p. 32, “College Tutors and Lecturers take but small part …”: Tait (1866).

p. 33, “at an appointed time …”: Fleming (1934) 57.

p. 34, Hopkins … coached 17 Senior Wranglers: Rothblatt (1981) 202.

p. 36, “Fourier made Thomson”: Knott (1911) 191.

p. 36, One of William’s fellow undergraduates: Canon Grenside, reported by SPT I 25.

p. 37, William noted on February 15: These and subsequent extracts are from NB29.

p. 37, “Fischer does not get on quite so well …”: T230, WT to JT, March 12, 1843.

p. 40, “What mortal in the world …”: From the 1824 translation of Wilhelm Meister by Thomas Carlyle.

p. 40, “I hope most intensely …”: T250, WT to JT, May 5, 1843.

p. 40, “ … I have been much gratified …”: T243, JT to WT, May 23, 1843.

p. 41, “I am practising now everyday …”: B204, WT to Anna, November 30, 1843.

p. 41, “containing all your reasons …”: Anna to WT, October 1843, SPT I 63.

p. 41, “better than winning in an examination.”: AGK 9.

p. 43, “This is a very pleasant place …”: T265, WT to JT, June 13, 1844.

p. 43, “Your lodgings are surely unnecessarily fine …”: T266, JT to WT, June 21, 1844.

p. 43, “I think you might write a little oftener …”: T553, Robert to WT, June 3, 1844.

p. 43, “ … he has given me entire satisfaction …”: H122, Hopkins to JT, August 7, 1844.

p. 44, “Your son is going on extremely well …”: C135, Cookson to JT, December 19, 1844.

p. 44, “I do not feel at all confident …”: G11, WT to Aunt Gall, December 11, 1844.

p. 44, “The prospect is of course rather terrible …”: T278, WT to JT, December 29, 1844.

p. 46, “ … Dr Meikleham has a second attack …”: T228, JT to WT, December 7, 1843.

p. 46, “I felt … I ought to mention …”: T236, JT to WT, April 1843.

p. 47, “What you have to do, therefore …”: T239, JT to WT, May 4, 1843.

p. 47, “Dr. Meikleham has had another attack …”: T246, JT to WT, August 1843.

p. 47, “seems to be getting on very well …”: T255, WT to JT, April 4, 1844.

p. 48, “three years of Cambridge drilling …”: T253, WT to JT, March 6, 1844.

p. 48, “For the project we have …”: T257, WT to JT, April 22, 1844.

p. 48, “greatly changed …”: T262, JT to WT, May 13, 1844.

p. 48, “A Cambridge education did not always give …”: T271, JT to WT, September 22, 1844.

p. 48, William dashed off a brief note: T279, WT to JT, January 1, 1845.

p. 49, “ … with vigour and cheerfulness …”: H123, Hopkins to JT, January 5, 1845.

p. 49, “I think that he cannot fail …”: C138, Cookson to JT, January 6, 1845.

p. 49, “I have been getting on very well …”: T281, WT to JT, January 5, 1845.

p. 49, “the Johnians are talking confidently …”: T286, WT to JT, January 14, 1845.

p. 49, “This present year, however …”: extracts from Charles A. Bristed (1852), Five Years in an English University (New York: Putnam), from Watson (1939).

p. 50, “You see I was right …”: T287, WT to JT, January 17, 1845.

p. 50, “I hope by this time …”: T288, WT to JT, January 18, 1845.

p. 50, “The place you have got …”: T289, JT to WT, January 19, 1845.

p. 51, “I must confess …”: K74, Elizabeth to WT, January 22, 1845.

p. 51, “ … your son’s not being senior wrangler …”: H124, Hopkins to JT, January 18, 1845.

p. 51, “Hopkins’s letter has done you great good …”: T290, JT to WT, January 22, 1845.

p. 52, The exam took place at Stokes’s house: Larmor (1907) 11.

p. 52, “I have seen your son …”: C140, Cookson to JT, January 24, 1845.

p. 54, “Since the days of Newton, however …”: Belfast Magazine and Literary Journal, 1(1825):270-271.

p. 55, “despotic Whewell”: T319, WT to JT, October 10, 1845.

p. 56, “he asked me to write a short paper …”: T303, WT to JT, March 30, 1845.

p. 57, “ … the Alma Mater of my scientific youth …”: Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, 121(1895):582 (my translation).

p. 58, “Dr W Thomson [the medical man] and Dr Nichol …”: T296, JT to WT, February 12, 1845.

p. 58, “Dr W.T. is much pleased …”: T305, JT to WT, April 8, 1845.

p. 58, “very much contrary to my expectations”: T314, WT to JT, June 28, 1845.

p. 58, “ … about fit to mend his pens”: SPT I 98; said to be the words of R. L. Ellis.

p. 58, “forward so far at so early an age!”: T315, JT to WT, July 1, 1845.

p. 59, “important matters in consideration at present”: T317, WT to JT, August 17, 1845.

p. 59, “as many pupils as I would wish”: T326, WT to JT, November 1, 1845.

p. 59, “I am afraid I should have to give up …”: T329, WT to JT, February 11, 1846.

p. 59, “said not to bring down your instructions …”: T333, JT to WT, May 2, 1846.

p. 60, “The idea, if there is such an idea …”: E62A, Ellis to JT, May 11, 1846.

p. 60, “timidity and want of effective locution”: T341, JT to WT, May 16, 1846.

p. 60, “took me quite by surprise …”: T336, WT to JT, May 10, 1846.

p. 61, “Could you ‘get at them’? …”: T334, JT to WT, May 7, 1846.

p. 61, “double your efforts to procure testimonials …”: T342, JT to WT, May 17, 1846.

p. 61, “I am afraid you are resting too quietly …”: T349, JT to WT, June 13, 1846.

p. 61, “get a beard fast …”: T558, Robert (relaying Anna’s words) to WT, July 8, 1845.

p. 61, “Cookson &c are right in their views …”: T355, JT to WT, June 21, 1846.

p. 62, “hoped I do not intend …”: T357, WT to JT, June 29, 1846.

p. 62, “He is already blessed …”: Cookson’s testimonial in CUL item PA34.

p. 63, “I believe M. William Thomson …”: Liouville, PA35 (my translation).

p. 63, “a countenance more expressive of delight …”: David King to Elizabeth, September 12, 1846; ETK 232.

p. 63, “every now and then …”: David King to Elizabeth, September 14, 1846; ETK 232.

p. 63, “William does not look in the slightest degree elated.”: Elizabeth to Agnes Gall, September 1846; ETK 233.

p. 66, “Caino?”: On the dissipation of energy, PLA II; also SPT I 133.

p. 67, “the production of motive power …” and other subsequent remarks from Carnot’s Réflexions: Mendoza (1960).

p. 70, “The preliminary part …”: T415, James to WT, February 22, 1846.

p. 70, “Of the sons I liked James …”: Knight (1896) 20.

p. 70, “a level-headed fellow …”: Königsberger (1906) 222.

p. 70, “It was also, sometimes, difficult …”: Ewing (1933) 171.

p. 71, “I have a good many warnings …”: T382, James to WT, 1842.

p. 71, “I wish my apprenticeship was as nearly done …”: T404, James to WT, December 23, 1844.

p. 72, “blister over my heart …”: T297, James to WT, February 15, 1845.

p. 72, “really a most painful and distressing thing”: T425, James to WT, May 30, 1847.

p. 73, “had the courage to say …”: Cardwell (1989) 6.

p. 74, “I could imagine …”: Schuster (1932) 201.

p. 75, “felt strongly impelled at first …”: WT quoted in Bottomley (1882).

p. 75, “I gained ideas …”: Address delivered on the unveiling of Joule’s statue in Manchester, December 7, 1893, PLA II.

p. 75, “Joule is I am sure wrong …”: T367, WT to JT, July 1, 1847.

p. 75, “I enclose Joule’s papers …”: T429, WT to James, July 12, 1847.

p. 75, “I certainly think [Joule] has fallen into blunders …”: T433, James to WT, July 24, 1847.

p. 76, “Whom should I meet walking up but Joule …”: Bottomley (1882).

p. 76, “Before leaving the St Martin road …”: T373, WT to JT, September 5, 1847.

p. 77, “I must say I am not at all satisfied …”: F95, Fischer to WT, October 26, 1847.

p. 77, “Your most grave & sober counsel …”: D124, Dykes to WT, June 1847.

p. 77, “Mind you don’t get married …”: F295, Frederick Fuller to WT, September 14, 1846.

p. 77, “There is a tremendous report …”: F297, Fuller to WT, November 14, 1846.

p. 77, “I was asked to go to balls …”: Jemima Blackburn’s recollection in Fairley (1988) 33.

p. 77, “professed utter scorn”: ETK 141.

p. 78, “regular drudgery”: T505, John to WT, May 10, 1844.

p. 78, “He burst out rather faintly …”: WT to David King, January 12, 1849; ETK 241.

p. 78, “Elizabeth! Elizabeth Thomson! …”: Agnes Gall to Elizabeth, January 30, 1849; ETK 243.

p. 79, starting on £20 a year: T560, Robert to WT, May 9, 1846.

p. 79, William bought stock: T366, Robert to WT, June 20, 1847; T563, WT to JT, July 6, 1847.

p. 80, Going to Hopkins’ rooms: SPT I 113.

p. 80, “Ah! Voilà mon affaire!”: T298, WT to JT, February 23, 1845; also SPT I 119.

p. 81, “My education was of the most ordinary description …”: Williams (1965) 7, quoting directly from the 1870 biography of Faraday by Bence-Jones.

p. 83, “I do not think I could work in company …”: Williams (1965) 99.

p. 84, “In all kinds of knowledge …”: Williams (1965) 105.

p. 86, “inoculated with Faraday fire”: SPT I 19.

p. 86, “in w^h Faraday and Daniell … got (abused)²”: CUL notebook NB 29, entry for March 16, 1843.

p. 87, “merely as actual truths …”: On the Mathematical Theory of Electricity in Equilibrium, E&M.

p. 87, “What I have written is merely a sketch …”: WT to Faraday, June 11, 1847, James (1996); also quoted in SPT I 203.

p. 89, “straightforward course is, to decline …”: S35, Stokes to WT, February 12, 1845.

p. 89, “once or twice or three times …”: S36, WT to Stokes, February 24, 1845.

p. 90, “Ye’ll no lach when ye’re in hell!”: ETK 120.

p. 91, “no case can prove the noxiousness …”: S39, WT to Stokes, February 20, 1845.

p. 91, “When I consider thy heavens …”: from Psalm 20; SPT I 251.

p. 91, “According to his own account …”: Elizabeth to David King, November 3, 1846; ETK 233.

p. 91, “the lecturer was greatly downhearted at its conclusion”: SPT I 191.

p. 92, “an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher …”: Murray (1924).

p. 92, “Explanation … was never his forte”: Wilson (1910).

p. 92, “ … Thomson soared to heights …”: Russell (1938) 35.

p. 92, “Now, Mr. Macintosh …”: Murray (1924).

p. 92, “will not answer when questioned …” and further remarks about his lab at Glasgow: From the Bangor Laboratories, PLA II.

p. 94, “had none of the air or manner of a superior”: Murray (1924).

p. 94, “What I liked best …”: Wilson (1910).

p. 94, “I suppose it is out of the question …”: F99, Fischer to WT, February 18, 1850.

p. 95, “I think will please you …”: WT to Elizabeth, July 13, 1852, SPT I 232.

p. 95, “sometime, probably early in September …”: S96, WT to Stokes, July 31, 1852.

p. 95, “We have one interest in common …”: Margaret Crum to Elizabeth, n.d., SPT I 233.

p. 96, “The day is somewhat dark and cold …”: WT to Elizabeth, September 19, 1852; SPT I 234.

p. 96, “a rather pretty woman …”: letter 39, August 7, 1855, Kremer (1990) (my translation).

p. 96, “give my best regards to … Thomson …”: Fairley (1988) 43.

p. 96, “They have sung to thee, O grave!”: all poetical selections are from Verses by MT (1874).

p. 97, “surgical nursing”: SPT I 238.

p. 97, “in a wretched state …”: letter 39, Kremer (1990).

p. 98, “she looks much better …”: WT to Elizabeth, August 1854; SPT I 305.

p. 99, the Frenchman Guillaume Amontons: For the early history of these temperature-scale calibrations, see Truesdell (1980), ch. 1.

p. 101, “As you have taken so much trouble …”: F194, Forbes to WT, April 20, 1848.

p. 101, “I write to remind you …”: F198, Forbes to WT, November 27, 1848.

p. 102, “ … without the expenditure of mechanical effect”: F199, WT to Forbes, December 7, 1848.

p. 104: “I believe we should not be daunted …”: Clausius (1850), in Mendoza (1960).

p. 105, “wherever motive power is destroyed …”: Carnot’s later notes, in Mendoza (1960).

p. 112, “she suffers much …”: T445, WT to James, March 17, 1855.

p. 112, “From Edinburgh I traveled for a couple of hours ….”: letter 34, September 22, 1853, Kremer (1990) (my translation).

p. 113, “ … one of the leading mathematical physicists in Europe …”: letter 39, Kremer (1990).

p. 114, “expressed their great astonishment …”: Brett (1858) x.

p. 114, “What a mad scheme!”: W. Smith (1891) 5.

p. 115, “from one continent to another”: Brett (1858) x.

p. 115, Faraday … sent a short note: Philosophical Magazine, 32(1848):165-167.

p. 115, “some few, more or less incoherent, letters …”: Bright (1898), ch. 1.

p. 115, “the jest or scheme of yesterday …”: London Times, August 24, 1850.

p. 115, “a man in London might sign a bill …”: Spectator, August 21, 1850, quoted by Brett (1858) 34.

p. 116, “oceanic and subterranean inland electric telegraphs”: Brett (1858) includes a facsimile of the original telegraph.

p. 119, “the simplicity of Morse’s apparatus …”: Siemens (1966) 82.

p. 120, “not ten minutes after …”: Brett (1858) xiii.

p. 122, Faraday published his analysis: Philosophical Magazine, 7(1854):297-208.

p. 122, The problem finally came to Thomson’s attention: WT recounts the story in Ether, Electricity, and Ponderable Matter, MPP III.

p. 122, “devoting myself as much as possible …”: S115, WT to Stokes, October 28, 1854.

p. 123, “the remedy for the anticipated difficulty …”: S119, WT to Stokes, December 1, 1854.

p. 123, “suggested the plan …”: T442, WT to James, January 13, 1855 (incorrectly dated 1854).

p. 124, “distinctness of the utterance”: S116, WT to Stokes, October 30, 1854.

p. 125, Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse: A few details about him are in a short obituary notice, The Electrician, 24(1890):319.

p. 125, “has been able to show most convincingly …”: Athenaeum, August 30, 1856.

p. 126, “coiled in a large tank …”: Whitehouse’s contribution in BA Reports, 1856.

p. 126, “depends on the nature of the electric operation …”: Athenaeum, November 8, 1856.

p. 127, “like every theory …”: Athenaeum, October 4, 1856; also MPP III.

p. 131, “was surprised to find differences …”: On Electric Conductivity of Commercial Copper of Various Kinds, MPP III.

p. 132, “It was not until practical testing …”: footnote added June 27, 1883, to Analytical and Synthetical Attempts to Ascertain the Cause of the Differences of Electrical Conductivity Discovered in Wires of Nearly Pure Copper, MPP II. (Despite the title WT never did satisfactorily ascertain the cause.)

p. 133, a hair plucked from his dog: AGK 55.

p. 133, “the frantic fooleries of the Americans …”: Carter (1968) 147.

p. 134, “experienced mariners gazed in apprehension …”: Russell (1866) 22.

p. 136, “in a fearful state of excitement …”: From an eyewitness account in the Sydney Morning Herald; quoted in SPT I 360-364.

p. 136, “The electrical signals sent and received …”: New York Post, August 5, 1858.

p. 138, “True, the Queen’s message …”: New York Post, August 17, 1858.

p. 138, “Glorious Recognition …”: New York Herald, September 2, 1858.

p. 138, “It is the harbinger of an age …”: New York Post, September 2, 1858.

p. 139, “near the shore, and remediable”: New York Post, September 21, 1858.

p. 139, at least in some accounts: SPT I 369, but his account is only partly corroborated by others.

p. 140, “Instead of telegraphic work …”: WT to Joule, September 25, 1858, SPT I 378.

p. 140, “I should like much to know …”: A111, Field to WT, June 29, 1859.

p. 141, “the interior of the jar lit up …”: Bright (1898) 52.

p. 141, “I must not hide from you …”: L9, C. M. Lampson to WT, October 22, 1858.

p. 141, thought about proposing Whitehouse: see S163, WT to Stokes, November 7, 1857.

p. 142, “The foundation of a real and lasting success …”: SPT I 390.

p. 145, “the gentlemen who constitute the Committee …”: quoted in Lynch (1985).

p. 147, “At the least sign of unrest …” and following extracts: Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin, Colvin and Ewing (1887).

p. 150, “I have had the opportunity …”: Feldenkirchen (1994) 35.

p. 150, Debate over the resistance standard came to a stalemate: Account is from Tunbridge (1992), ch. 4, who takes it from La Vie et les oeuvres de E. Mascart (Paris: P. Janet, 1910):32-39.

p. 151, Names for the units: Tunbridge (1992), ch. 5; also SPT I 418.

p. 151, “I object to Galvad …”: Tunbridge (1992), ch. 5; the letter is at Glasgow University.

p. 153, “I was not mathematical enough …”: C91, Clark to WT, May 3, 1883.

p. 153, “ … an aged and severe philosopher …” and following extract: Ewing (1933) 172; letter to him from Annie Jenkin.

p. 156, “Cyrus Field, from the other side of the Atlantic …”: On the Early History of Submarine Cable Enterprise, MPP V.

p. 156, “With the perseverance characteristic of the English …”: Siemens (1966) 119.

p. 157, “A line of two thousand miles …”: The North Atlantic Telegraph (1861).

p. 158, “a submarine telegraph cable would be designed …”: WT’s remark is from a discussion following presentations by H. C. Forde and C. W. Siemens on the Malta and Alexandria Telegraph Submarine Telegraph Cable, Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers, 1861-1862 session (London: Wm Clowes and Sons, 1863).

p. 158, “There is your ship”: Rolt (1989) 396n.

p. 159, “ … the appearance of a dead forest …”: From a magazine article A summer trip across the Atlantic: A reminiscence ‘by one who helped to lay the cable’ above the nom de plume (well, I presume!) Henry Plantagenet Dynamometer, from a collection of pamphlets bound together at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, BOD 247931 e.22. I have been unable to find where this was originally published.

p. 159, “was ordered by his board …”: Cornhill Magazine, September 1865.

p. 160, “What we had taken for assassination …”: Russell (1866) 75.

p. 160, “steady as a Thames steamer”: Russell (1866) 61.

p. 161, “I will never forget this hour …”: Gooch (1972) 100.

p. 161, “sad and dreadful discouragement …”: On the Early History of Submarine Cable Enterprise, MPP V.

p. 161, “I remember well a night …”: WT interviewed in Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, April 28, 1902.

p. 161, “I am very pleased to learn …”: WT to Field, January 1, 1866, in Cyrus Field collection at the Library of Congress.

p. 163, “in no other branch of engineering …”: Presidential Address to the Society of Telegraph Engineers, January 14, 1874, PLA II.

p. 165, “undoubtedly meteoric”: On the Mechanical Energies of the Solar System, MPP II.

p. 168, “For eighteen years it has pressed on my mind …”: On the Secular Cooling of the Earth, MPP III.

p. 170, “guess at the half …”: F. Jenkin (although anonymously published) in North British Review, June 1867, 277-318.

p. 171, Thomson accosted the geologist Andrew Ramsay: anecdote and remarks from Age of Earth as an Abode Fitted for Life, MPP V.

p. 172, Beautiful Round! Superbly played: Knott (1911) 55.

p. 172, “The small twinkling eyes …”: Barrie (1889).

p. 173, “A great reform in geological speculation …”: On Geological Time, PLA II.

p. 174, “Thomson’s views …” and “then comes Sir W. Thomson … ”: Darwin to A. R. Wallace, April 14, 1869; Darwin to St. G. Mivart, July 12, 1871; both quoted by E. B. Poulton, BA Reports (1896).

p. 174, “The rotation of the earth may be diminishing …”: Huxley, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 25 (1869):xxxviii-liii.

p. 175, “so many geologists are contented …”: Of Geological Dynamics, PLA II.

p. 175, a lengthy review: Tait, North British Review, July 1869, 406-439.

p. 177, “We cannot give more scope …”: Tait (1885).

p. 177, Darwin thought his views “monstrous”: Burchfield (1990) 110.

p. 178, “a German of the name of Mayer …”: J64, Joule to WT, December 9, 1848.

p. 178, “I have not the slightest wish …”: J66, Joule to WT, March 8, 1849.

p. 178, “I have not pursued the controversy further …”: J77, Joule to WT, March 17, 1851.

p. 179, “I suffer in a righteous cause …”: Eve and Creasey (1945) 10.

p. 179, “I am not stubborn …”: Eve and Creasey (1945) 11.

p. 180, “Thomson completely backed out …”: Eve and Creasey (1945) 55.

p. 181, “most absolutely honest man …”: Sharlin (1979), ch. 11. The remarks are from Tait’s notebook, shown to Sharlin by Tait’s granddaughter.

p. 181, “peremptory, abrupt and dogmatic …”: Eve and Creasey (1945) 71.

p. 182, “astonished at the multitude of …”: Eve and Creasey (1945) 94.

p. 182, “To whom, then, are we indebted …”: Tyndall, Philosophical Magazine, 24(1862):57.

p. 183, “We were certainly amazed …” and other extracts: Energy, Good Words, September 1862; not included in the collected papers.

p. 186, “to give to Mayer …”: Joule, Philosophical Magazine, 24(1862):121.

p. 186, “Water Babies, Sunken Rocks, and Women of Italy”: Tait, Philosophical Magazine, 25(1862):263.

p. 186, “were so discordant …” and “What you have the hardihood to affirm …”: Tyndall, Philosophical Magazine, 25(1862):368-378.

p. 187, “Allow me to say …”: Thomson, Philosophical Magazine, 25(1862):429.

p. 188, the first incontrovertible … statement of a true conservation law: see Truesdell (1980), ch. 9.

p. 189, “I have commenced trying …”: WT to Elizabeth, July 3, 1868, SPT I 26.

p. 190, “my wife has been feeling much better …”: WT to Helmholtz, July 24, 1868, SPT I 527.

p. 191, “the days of signalling by the ‘spot of light’ …”: WT to Jessie Crum, July 21, 1870, SPT I 577.

p. 192, “The signals are, comparitively …” and “I am sorry to say however …”: Items E2A at CUL: from George Stacey at Aden, September 28, 1872; from C. H. Reynell in Bombay, September 20, 1872.

p. 192, “At Malta, the Mirror is a thing of the past …”: E10, from R. Portelli in Malta, November 21, 1873.

p. 193, “You quite take away my breath …”: S201, Smith to WT, September 12, 1870.

p. 193, “It is the Lalla Rookh …”: T480, WT to James, September 21, 1870.

p. 194, “Full of impatience and excitement …”: Knott (1911) 32.

p. 195, As long ago as 1845: T324, JT to WT, October 21, 1845.

p. 196, “the great advantages I have here …”: WT to Cookson, December 1, 1870, SPT I 563.

p. 197, “I am very glad Maxwell is standing …”: S273, WT to Stokes, March 3, 1871.

p. 198, “The lady was neither pretty, nor healthy, nor agreeable …”: Fairley (1988) 107.

p. 198, “ … terrible wife”: Whittaker (1989) vol. 1, 246n.

p. 198, “James, it’s time you went home …” and “Mrs. Maxwell, although …”: McDonald (1964) 20, 21. Second recollection is by G. P. Thomson, son of J. J. Thomson.

p. 198, should not call on him at home: Strutt (1968) 407 (footnote to p. 44).

p. 199, “Suppose a man …”: Maxwell to WT, February 20, 1854; Larmor (1936).

p. 199, “been rewarded of late …”: Maxwell to WT, November 30, 1854, Larmor (1936).

p. 199, “I would be much assisted …”: Maxwell to WT, September 13, 1855; Larmor (1936).

p. 201, “How few understand the physical lines of force!”: from diary of Faraday’s niece, November 7, 1855; Williams (1965) 507.

p. 201, “one of the most valuable …”: from Maxwell’s review of E&M, Nature, 7(1873):218-221.

p. 202, “as far as I know you are the first person …”: Maxwell to Faraday, November 9, 1857, Williams (1965) 511.

p. 202, “I have been most happy in your kindness …”: Williams (1965) 494.

p. 202, “I am, I hope, very thankful …”: Faraday to Auguste de la Rive, 1861, Williams (1965) 500.

p. 203, “Do you know of any elementary work …”: F101, Fischer to WT, October 20, 1855.

p. 203, “I fancy that we might easily give …”: T6B, Tait to WT, December 12, 1861.

p. 204, “Let us apportion our work …”: T6C, Tait to WT, December 25, 1861.

p. 204, “the expense to the students …”: T6D, Tait to WT December 28, 1861.

p. 204, “I will shortly send you …”: T6G, Tait to WT, January 15, 1862.

p. 205, “I wish you would send back …”: T6L, Tait to WT, January 30, 1862.

p. 205, “at all events act speedily”: T6M, Tait to WT, January 31, 1862.

p. 205, “D^r T, Do look alive …”: T6W, Tait to WT, May 5, 1864.

p. 205, “I wish you would go ahead …”: T6X, Tait to WT, June 20, 1864.

p. 205, “You are a terrible fellow …”: S159, Stokes to WT, January 20, 1857.

p. 206, “the making of the first part …”: Obituary of Tait, MPP VI.

p. 206, “better known in my year …”: Barrie (1889).

p. 206, “The credit of breaking up the monopoly …”: Maxwell’s review of Thomson and Tait, Nature, 10(1879).

p. 207, “Three pages of formulae can easily …”: Tait to Cayley, October 22, 1888, Knott (1911) 159.

p. 207, “remarkable condensation not to say coagulation …”: Knott (1911) 153.

p. 207, “We have had a thirty-eight year …”: C87, Kelvin to G. Chrystal, July 13, 1901; also in Knott (1911) 185.

p. 207, “Oh! That the Cayleys …”: WT to Helmholtz, July 31, 1864, SPT I 432.

p. 208, “the art of reading mathematical books …”: Gray (1908) 294.

p. 209, “ … no proof at all …”: Tait to WT, January 18, 1868, Knott (1911) 220.

p. 209, “Is it fair to ask you …”: Tait to Helmholtz, March 27, 1867; Knott (1911) 217.

p. 209, “I enclose a letter just rec’d …”: Quoted by J. T. Lloyd (1970), who does not identify the author of the letter.

p. 209, “For my part I must say …”: Helmholtz to Tait, April 30, 1867, Knott (1911) 217.

p. 209, “in all its individuality”: Knott (1911) 217.

p. 210, a supposedly personal letter: Philosophical Magazine, 7(1879):344-346; also Art. 85 in MPP V.

p. 215, “has, after anxious consideration …”: WT to Mrs. Tait, March 29, 1871, SPT II 586.

p. 216, “married one of the sisters …”: Knott (1911) 14.

p. 216, “Thomson met me in the Kinnaird Hall …”: Eve and Creasey (1945) 124.

p. 216, “There will be a splendid row …”: Tait to Tyndall, March 18, 1872, and Tyndall’s reply; Eve and Creasey (1945) 162.

p. 217, “the flow of word-painting and righteous indignation …”: This and the following remarks are from Nature, 8(1873):381, 399, 431.

p. 217, “especially inappropriate”: Undated remark to David King, SPT II 649.

p. 218, In the very beginnings of science …: Campbell and Garnett (1884) 415.

p. 218, “for surely [they] did not hold council …”: Book 1 of De Rerum Natura, in the translation by A. M. Esolen (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).

p. 219, assured Mrs. Tait: WT to Mrs. Tait, May 8, 1871, SPT II 592.

p. 219, “You will not rest …”: SPT II 595.

p. 219, he amusingly recounted to a friend: WT to G. Darwin, July 25, 1882, SPT II 784.

p. 220, “It was a strange reunion …”: WT to Jessie Crum, undated, SPT II 597.

p. 220, “learn (at its headquarters) …”: Tait to Helmholtz, May 20, 1871, Knott (1911) 196.

p. 220, “Mr. Tait knows nothing here besides golf.”: Helmholtz to his wife, August 29, 1871; German original in Knott (1911) 197n (my translation). SPT II 612-624 has a longer English version.

p. 220, “an indescribably sad impression …” and subsequent extracts: Helmholtz to his wife, August/September 1871; given in English by SPT II 613-614. Königsberger (1906), ch. 10, includes many of the same letters, in slightly different translations.

p. 221, “a husband who is no longer in his first youth …”: Königsberger (1906), ch. 10; not included by SPT.

p. 222, “Now, mind, Helmholtz …”: SPT II 614.

p. 222, “… immense intellectual strength …”: Crowther (1935) 201.

p. 223, “much ashamed”: On Deep-Sea Sounding by Pianoforte Wire, PLA III.

p. 225, “No harm was done”: Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin, ch. 3, Colvin and Ewing (1887).

p. 225, “Goodbye, goodbye, Sir William Thomson”: SPT II 639; also AGK 33.

p. 226, His new wife was in her mid-30s: Smith and Wise (1989), ch. 21, give Fanny’s year of birth as ca. 1838; provenance unstated.

p. 226, “When I came to Madeira …”: WT to Elizabeth, May 12, 1874, SPT II 645.

p. 227, “as I have so many engagements …”: WT to Charles A. Smith, April 28, 1874, SPT II 643.

p. 228, “Oh, I’ll tell you what you should do.”: Knott (1911) 31.

p. 229, “utterly surprised”: S356, Stokes to WT, June 5, 1879.

p. 229, “That is the very thing for me”: S362, Stokes to WT, July 9, 1979; see also S361, an unsent draft of 362.

p. 233, “evil so pregnant with mischief”: Fanning (1986), introduction.

p. 235, “to see ‘the Retribution’ swing …”: S70, WT to Stokes, July 19, 1850.

p. 236, “When I tried to write on the mariner’s compass …”: Terrestrial Magnetism and the Mariner’s Compass, PLA III.

p. 237, “By a happy coincidence”: Obituary of Archibald Smith, MPP VI.

p. 239, “ … so dangerous a tool as a moveable magnet …”: Fanning (1986) 69.

p. 239, “a process of ‘Artificial Selection’ …”: Terrestrial Magnetism and the Mariner’s Compass, PLA III.

p. 239, “between 1850 and 1880 …”: Hitchins and May (1952) 79.

p. 240, “innovation is very distasteful to sailors …”: Sounding by Pianoforte wire, PLA III.

p. 241, Some naval historians: Cotter (1976, 1977) disparages WT’s work and (in my estimation) overstates Airy’s contributions.

p. 241, “enunciated no new principles …”: Hitchins and May (1952) 82.

p. 241, “It won’t do”: SPT II 710.

p. 242, thlipsinomic, platythliptic …: Kargon and Achinstein (1987) 131.

p. 243, “marvellously distinct”: SPT II 671, from WT’s report at the exhibition.

p. 244, “the originality, the inventiveness …”: WT in BA Reports (1876); also New York Times, October 4, 1876.

p. 244, “To see such men is a privilege …”: Montreal Gazette, September 4, 1876.

p. 244, “ … England’s great mathematician and electrician”: Philadelphia Inquirer, September 4, 1876.

p. 244, “the great event in the year’s work …”: Baltimore Sun, September 20, 1884.

p. 245, “would give a strong impulse …”: Gilman to WT, August 13, 1882, SPT II 811.

p. 245, “the very best and most effective …”: G75, Gilman to WT, January 8, 1884; enclosure from W. Gibbs.

p. 247, “the lecturer is a man tall …”: Baltimore Sun, October 2, 1881.

p. 247, “What an extraordinary performance that was! …”: Strutt (1968) 145.

p. 248, “ … the usual Thomsonian style …”: Rayleigh to his mother, October 19, 1884, Strutt (1968) 147.

p. 248, “he has been known to lecture for an hour …”: J. J. Thomson (1936) 424.

p. 248, the “wiggler”: SPT II 832.

p. 251, “ … cinematics instead of kinematics …”: Kargon and Achinstein (1987) 129, 148.

p. 251, “I never satisfy myself until I can make a mechanical model …”: WT reported in Nature, 31(1885):508.

p. 252, “stripped of the scaffolding …”: Whittaker (1989) vol. 1, 255.

p. 252, “writing out the Lord’s Prayer …”: Bacon (1929) 6.

p. 253, “We still have ancient Admirals …”: Fisher (1919), Memories, 99.

p. 253, “the most suitable number Captain Fisher could think of”: Bacon (1929) 50.

p. 253, “No, thank you, I am quite warm.”: Fisher (1919), Memories, 251.

p. 254, “ … the Incarnation of Revolution”: Fisher (1919), Records, 20.

p. 254, “He diagnosed the matter …”: Bacon 77.

p. 254, “Well,” Fisher asked …: Fisher (1919), Memories, 142.

p. 255, “We fight God …”: Fisher (1919), Records, 71.

p. 255, “It was an immense difficulty …”: Fisher (1919), Records, 63.

p. 255, “pig-headed and self-opinionated …”: May (1979).

p. 256, “I can state from long experience …”: F105, Fisher to WT, October 16, 1885.

p. 257, “‘My Lord, what has this to do with the case? …”: J. J. Thomson (1936) 386.

p. 258, “much mean and underhand work …”: Elizabeth to her daughters, November 23, 1889, AGK 89.

p. 258, Fanning tells a different story: Fanning (1986), ch. 4.

p. 258, “I may single out …”: C168, Creak to WT, December 3, 1883.

p. 258, “When the Thomson compass was first introduced …”: Fanning (1986) 154.

p. 261, Lord Cable! Lord Compass!: AGK 106.

p. 262, “I am afraid it cannot be …”: WT to G. Darwin, November 20, 1884, SPT II 840.

p. 262, “Some day you will be proud …”: J. J. Thomson (1936) 10.

p. 262, “to my great surprise …”: J. J. Thomson (1936) 98.

p. 262, “pre-eminent service in promoting arts …”: SPT II 968-973.

p. 262, “friends and comrades …”: SPT II 984.

p. 263, “seemed to ring through the hall …”: SPT II 988; AGK 116.

p. 264, “Naturalist. A person well versed …”: On the Rigidity of the Earth, MPP III.

p. 264, “magnificent display of smoke-rings …”, “the clash of atoms” and other extracts: On Vortex Atoms, MPP IV.

p. 265, “pungent and disagreeable”: WT to Helmholtz, January 22, 1867, SPT I 514.

p. 268, The following story is true …: Waves from moving sources, Heaviside (1951), vol. 3, 1.

p. 268, “What would Edison say … ”: Gossick (1976).

p. 269, his address as inaugural president of the IEE: Ether, Electricity and Ponderable Matter, MPP III.

p. 270, “ … the cart-men shouted abuse …”: Searle (1987) 10.

p. 270, “I have to give you my best thanks …”: H53, Heaviside to WT, February 27, 1889.

p. 270, “You may judge of the intensity …”: Searle (1987) 77.

p. 272, “save[s] letters, and eases the memory …” H53, supra.

p. 272, Faraday “did the most”: Kargon and Achinstein (1987) 148.

p. 273, “if we put aside practical application to Physics …”: Heaviside (1951), vol. 1, 301.

p. 273, “Passing to Prof. Tait’s letter …”: Heaviside (1951), vol. 3, 509.

p. 274, “Heaviside’s nihilism”: Kelvin to FitzGerald, April 29, 1896, SPT II 1070n.

p. 274, “Lord Kelvin used to call me a nihilist …”: Heaviside (1951), vol. 3, 479.

p. 275, “Sir Wm. Thomson’s speaking of the ether …”: Nature, 32(1885):4.

p. 275, “a certain amount of opposition …”: Strutt (1968) 252.

p. 275, “Sir William Thomson in one paper …”: London Times, September 14, 1888.

p. 276, “You say … ‘The luminiferous ether …’”: F127, FitzGerald to Kelvin, April 17, 1896.

p. 279, “never hesitated to embark on …”: E. W. Brown in Darwin (1916).

p. 279, “ … mere conjuring tricks with symbols …”: Darwin’s Inaugural Plumian Lecture, Darwin (1916).

p. 279, “My dear old George …”: From the biographical sketch by F. Darwin, Darwin (1916).

p. 280, “Under these circumstances …”: G. Darwin, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 170(1879):529.

p. 281, “I was Lord Kelvin’s pupil …”: This and subsequent extracts, including the letters to Perry from Tait and Kelvin, Nature, 51(1895):224-227.

p. 283, “I do not wish to combat …”: D35, G. Darwin to WT, June 4, 1886.

p. 284, “latest blast of the anti-geological trumpet …”: G48, Geikie to Kelvin, February 25, 1898.

p. 284, “worbles”: Maxwell to Tait, November 13, 1867, Knott (1911) 106.

p. 284, “It would puzzle …” and “But why does no one …”: Maxwell’s review of E&M, Nature, 7(1873):218-221.

p. 285, “Like most problems in vortex motion …”: J. J. Thomson (1936) 95.

p. 285, “After many years of failure …”: SPT II 1047; footnote to a paper of 1904, but referring to work done sometime after 1887.

p. 286, “Sir W. is full of a froth theory of the ether!”: Rayleigh to A. Schuster, October 4, 1888; Strutt (1968) 243.

p. 286, “ … I have been considering the subject for forty-two years …”: Ether, Electricity and Ponderable Matter, MPP III.

p. 286, “It is mere nihilism …”: Kelvin to Fitzgerald, April 9, 1896, SPT II 1064.

p. 286, “It has occurred to me …”: Nineteenth-Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light, Philosophical Magazine, 2(1901):1-40; not in the collected works but appears as Appendix B to the 1904 Baltimore Lectures.

p. 287, “ … unlike that awful Chicago”: Königsberger (1906), ch. 11.

p. 288, “Helmholtz and Uncle William were inseparable …”: SPT II 926.

p. 288, a tale recounted by Lord Rayleigh’s son: Strutt (1968) 240.

p. 289, “The first line would send him off …”: Strutt (1968) 243.

p. 289, “I always consulted my great authority …”: Kargon and Achinstein (1987) 129.

p. 289, “Stokes would remain silent …”: J. J. Thomson (1936) 50.

p. 290, “believed the Falls of Niagara …”: Nature, 20(1879):110.

p. 291, “when the whole water from Lake Erie …”: A statement to the press reprinted by SPT II 1002.

p. 291, “As the demand goes on increasing …”: Toronto Daily Mail and Empire, August 19, 1897.

p. 292, “most economical size …”: On the Economy of Metal in Conductors of Electricity, MPP V.

p. 292, “I would not advise manufacturers …”: Buffalo Express, August 18, 1897.

p. 292, “A gentleman of exceedingly pleasant manners …”: Toronto Daily Mail and Empire, August 19, 1897.

p. 292, “a plain American citizen …”:Buffalo Express, August 16, 1897.

p. 293, “westinghoused”: Baldwin (2001) 202.

p. 294, “I often say …”: Electrical Units of Measurement, PLA I.

p. 294, “ … the etherealisation of common sense”: The Six Gateways to Knowledge, PLA I.

p. 294, “There is one thing I feel strongly …”: The Bangor Laboratories, PLA II.

p. 295, “ … the eggs were always boiled …”: Larmor (1907) 36.

p. 295, “the utter scientific absurdity …”: SPT II 870.

p. 296, Aepinus Atomized: Philosophical Magazine, 3(1902):257-283; not in the collected works but appears as Appendix E to the 1904 Baltimore Lectures.

p. 298, Propped up in bed, wearing a bright red jacket: letter from ETK, March 29, 1896, AGK 130.

p. 298, “A horrid demon of the No. 5 nerve”: Kelvin to SPT, October 14, 1899, SPT II 1149.

p. 298, “looking very venerable, limping …”: New York Times, April 20, 1902.

p. 299, “Oh, there is nothing practical in that” and following extracts: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 30, 1902.

p. 300, “Both as a student and as a professor …”: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 2, 1902.

p. 301, “greatest of living scientists …”: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 3, 1902.

p. 301, “one gentleman, who is …”: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 5, 1902.

p. 302, “can barely be distinguished …”: Nature, 68(1903):447; remark is by C. V. Boys.

p. 302, “knowing, as we now do …”: Nature, 68(1903):496.

p. 303, “the hundred million years …”: Nature, 68(1903):526.

p. 303, “from without the atoms …”: Kelvin reported in Nature, 68(1903):611.

p. 304, “the Professor seemed very depressed …”: Knott (1911) 63.

p. 304, “rough gaiety …”: Obituary of Tait, MPP VI.

p. 305, “exceedingly cautious …”: J. J. Thomson (1936) 50.

p. 305, “My principal intelligence …”: S153, Stokes to WT, September 24, 1856.

p. 305, “it is curious how these things …”: S371, Stokes to WT, September 23, 1879.

p. 305, “I shall always remember …”: Schuster (1932) 242.

p. 306, “expression of distrust …”: Nature, 70(1904) supplement, iii-v.

p. 307, “Whatever opinion may be formed …”: Nature, 74(1906):516-518.

p. 307, “Lord Kelvin has talked radium …”: Rutherford to his wife, May 22, 1904, Eve (1939) 108.

p. 308, “to my relief, Kelvin fell fast asleep …”: Eve (1939) 107.

p. 309, “Lord Kelvin preferred …”: Nature, 76(1907):457.

p. 310, “In proposing a vote of thanks …”: E. Ray Lankester, quoted by Wilson (1910).

p. 311, “one of the greatest scientists …”: New York Times, December 18, 1907.

p. 311, “the foremost scientist …”: Washington Star, December 18, 1907.

p. 311, “the most distinguished …”: London Times, December 18, 1907.

p. 312, “it is less easy to speak …”: Nature, 77(1907):175-177.

p. 312, “a main pioneer and creator …”: Nature, 77(1908):199-200.

p. 312, “What a happy strenuous career …”: Proceedings of the Royal Society A 81(1908):iii-lxxvi (appendix).

p. 313, “Lord Kelvin is rather a clever man.”: AGK 80.

p. 313, “Sir Wm might do better …”: Helmholtz to his wife, 1884, SPT II 805.