| Description | Bumstead thanks Larmor for his letter and lecture, which he would not otherwise have seen. He discusses this: 'the people who are mainly concerned with the little details of experimental knowledge are very much in danger of not seeing the wood for the trees'. He compliments the lecture and those that Larmor gave in Columbia. On the Germans, 'their superior attitude with regard to atoms and dynamics in general makes one wonder where physics would have been if it had not been for British common sense...'. He notes Larmor's theory of chemical radicals. Bumstead gives news of events following Commencement Day and the boat race, including class reunions. Mr. Taft was there for his 30-year reunion. If he is elected he will be the first Yale man to reach the Presidency. He discusses his work in getting the Sloane Laborarory started, saying that it is moving in a respectable fashion, with five or six advanced students next year. He has to lecture to them on electrodynamics and light, since there is no-one else: Larmor, Lorentz, Abraham and Planck have given him lots of trouble, therefore. The Bumstead family will be there until August, then go to the shore. Nichols and his family are now in California. He hopes to see Larmor next summer, when the British Association meets at Winnipeg. |