ten benches of eager and merry students, which filled the auditorium; all these combined to form a scene which every student fondly recalls, and which cannot be adequately described. A similar scene, with some differences of arrangement and having its own particular associations, will occur to every student who attended in the Old College. The writer will never forget the lecture-room when he first beheld it, from his place on Bench VIII, a few days after the beginning of session 1874-5. Sir William Thomson, with activity emphasised rather than otherwise by his lameness, came in with the students, passed behind the table, and, putting up his eye-glass, surveyed the apparatus set out. Then, as the students poured in, an increasing stream, the alarm weight was released by the bell-ringer, and fell slowly some four or five feet, from the top of the clock to a platform below. By the time the weight had descended the students were in their places, and then, as Thomson advanced to the table, all rose to their feet, and he recited the third Collect from the Morning Service of the Church of England. It was the custom then, and it is still one better honoured in the observance than in the breach (which has become rather common) to open all the first and second classes of the day with prayer; and the selection of the prayers was left to the discretion of the professors. Next came the roll-call by the assistant; each name was called in its English, or Scottish (for the clans were always well represented) form, and the answer "adsum" was returned.