The subject was the wave-theory of light, and the object of the lecturer was to show how far the phenomena of light, such as its transmission, refraction and dispersion, could be explained within the limits of the elastic solid theory of the ether, which makes that hypothetical medium rigid, highly elastic and non-gravitational. From the very first lecture, Sir William assumed a cold and diffident attitude toward the rival theory of Clerk Maxwell, which makes light an electromagnetic phenomenon; and though his own presented formidable difficulties, and its rival was universally accepted, the veteran Professor assured his hearers that the elastic solid theory is the "only tenable foundation for the wave-theory of light in the present (1884) state of our knowledge." Despite the energy which he displayed, his luminous argumentation and close logic, Kelvin made no converts among his "twenty-one coefficients"; and it soon became evident that he was championing a lost cause. Newton did the same when he held tenaciously to the corpuscular theory of light; and in doing so, let it be said, that he retarded the acceptance of the wave-theory and the advance of science by a hundred years. A few years after the Baltimore lectures, official recognition of his distinguished services and of his eminence in science came to Sir William Thomson when, in 1892, he was raised to the peerage, with the title of Baron Kelvin of Netherhall, Kelvin being the name of a stream which passes near the buildings of the University of Glasgow and flows into the Clyde, while Netherhall is that of his country-seat at Largs, in Ayrshire, 40 miles from Glasgow. As to the structure of matter, Kelvin lived to see the "atom" of his youth and mature years shattered into fragments, and the atomic theory of matter rapidly yielding to the electronic. Though he maintained an open mind toward the new school of physics, he was reserved and conservative toward the revolutionary doctrine of extreme radio-activists. He did not believe in the transformation of one elementary form of matter into another; and he strenuously combated the theory of the spontaneous disintegration of the atom.