94 LORD RUTHERFORD

been widely accepted, but a new situation was created
by an action of Lord Kelvin. At 79—and four years
retired from his Glasgow professorship—Kelvin was
almost a legendary, but still a very influential, figure
in British science. Any lead from him, therefore, was
bound to command serious attention, whatever the
subject. On this occasion he had arranged for the
printing and circulation to members of the association,
before the meeting, of a communication on the subjects
covered by Rutherford's address, but decidedly critical
of the views that Rutherford was known to hold. No
doubt the communication was hardly more than the
act of rebellion of an old man against the new ideas—
and its terms were in no sense dogmatic ("I shall look
forward with eagerness to the earliest published reports
of the discussion," the statement maintained, for Kelvin
was unable to be present in person), but the very exist-
tence of the pamphlet was itself unsettling for the lec-
turer. Rutherford, though he had been acclaimed and
feted, was still young; at the age of thirty-two he was
somewhat apprehensive of the outcome of this en-
counter with the doyen of physicists. He appealed to
his scientific friends to support him in the discussion,
if need arose. In the actual event, however, his worst
fears proved groundless, and this support of mere
numbers was never required.

Rutherford returned to Canada immediately the
meeting at Southport came to an end, and was soon
plunged into experimental work again. But now he
began to be bombarded—and it is true to say that the
bombardment hardly ceased throughout the rest of
his life, whether in North America or hi England—
with requests for lectures: to the public, to university
audiences^ and at seemingly innumerable congresses.