Aurora borealis academica : Aberdeen University appreciations, 1860-1889.

Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aurora borealis academica : Aberdeen University appreciations, 1860-1889. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    116/514 (page 78)
    mind was somewhat mixed. He had been dis- appointed of a fight, but at least he had the spoils of victory—he had his certificate. On the way home it occurred to him to wonder what “Davie” had said, and unfolding the certificate, he read : “ Mr. attended the natural philosophy class during sessions and with regularity, and sometimes behaved himself with propriety”. His feelings may be imagined : they were not triumphant. We are tempted to select a few stories to illus- trate what has been said above of his dealing with disturbers and triflers ; but space forbids, and it must suffice to say that many of them have been collected and recorded elsewhere.^ From the very first. Professor Thomson took an active part in the work of the Senatus Academicus. Very soon after coming to Aberdeen, he was chosen its secretary, and his influence immediately began to be felt. To quote the words of Principal Sir William Geddes : “ Coming while still young into a body of then elderly professors, he was soon ap- pointed secretary, and the qualifications which he showed in the conduct of business made him for a long time the directing pilot in the somewhat troub- lous period of transition, when the colleges had to 1 In a memorial volume by the present writer, published by Messrs. Wyllie & Son, Aberdeen.