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science; in Germany; he had been called 〃the Nestor of lighthouse 

illumination〃; even in France; where his claims were long denied; 

he was at last; on the occasion of the late Exposition; recognised 

and medalled。  And to show by one instance the inverted nature of 

his reputation; comparatively small at home; yet filling the world; 

a friend of mine was this winter on a visit to the Spanish main; 

and was asked by a Peruvian if he 〃knew Mr。 Stevenson the author; 

because his works were much esteemed in Peru?〃  My friend supposed 

the reference was to the writer of tales; but the Peruvian had 

never heard of DR。 JEKYLL; what he had in his eye; what was 

esteemed in Peru; where the volumes of the engineer。



Thomas Stevenson was born at Edinburgh in the year 1818; the 

grandson of Thomas Smith; first engineer to the Board of Northern 

Lights; son of Robert Stevenson; brother of Alan and David; so that 

his nephew; David Alan Stevenson; joined with him at the time of 

his death in the engineership; is the sixth of the family who has 

held; successively or conjointly; that office。  The Bell Rock; his 

father's great triumph; was finished before he was born; but he 

served under his brother Alan in the building of Skerryvore; the 

noblest of all extant deep…sea lights; and; in conjunction with his 

brother David; he added two … the Chickens and Dhu Heartach … to 

that small number of man's extreme outposts in the ocean。  Of shore 

lights; the two brothers last named erected no fewer than twenty…

seven; of beacons; (4) about twenty…five。  Many harbours were 

successfully carried out: one; the harbour of Wick; the chief 

disaster of my father's life; was a failure; the sea proved too 

strong for man's arts; and after expedients hitherto unthought of; 

and on a scale hyper…cyclopean; the work must be deserted; and now 

stands a ruin in that bleak; God…forsaken bay; ten miles from John…

o'…Groat's。  In the improvement of rivers the brothers were 

likewise in a large way of practice over both England and Scotland; 

nor had any British engineer anything approaching their experience。



It was about this nucleus of his professional labours that all my 

father's scientific inquiries and inventions centred; these 

proceeded from; and acted back upon; his daily business。  Thus it 

was as a harbour engineer that he became interested in the 

propagation and reduction of waves; a difficult subject in regard 

to which he has left behind him much suggestive matter and some 

valuable approximate results。  Storms were his sworn adversaries; 

and it was through the study of storms that he approached that of 

meteorology at large。  Many who knew him not otherwise; knew … 

perhaps have in their gardens … his louvre…boarded screen for 

instruments。  But the great achievement of his life was; of course; 

in optics as applied to lighthouse illumination。  Fresnel had done 

much; Fresnel had settled the fixed light apparatus on a principle 

that still seems unimprovable; and when Thomas Stevenson stepped in 

and brought to a comparable perfection the revolving light; a not 

unnatural jealousy and much painful controversy rose in France。  It 

had its hour; and; as I have told already; even in France it has 

blown by。  Had it not; it would have mattered the less; since all 

through his life my father continued to justify his claim by fresh 

advances。  New apparatus for lights in new situations was 

continually being designed with the same unwearied search after 

perfection; the same nice ingenuity of means; and though the 

holophotal revolving light perhaps still remains his most elegant 

contrivance; it is difficult to give it the palm over the much 

later condensing system; with its thousand possible modifications。  

The number and the value of these improvements entitle their author 

to the name of one of mankind's benefactors。  In all parts of the 

world a safer landfall awaits the mariner。  Two things must be 

said: and; first; that Thomas Stevenson was no mathematician。  

Natural shrewdness; a sentiment of optical laws; and a great 

intensity of consideration led him to just conclusions; but to 

calculate the necessary formulae for the instruments he had 

conceived was often beyond him; and he must fall back on the help 

of others; notably on that of his cousin and lifelong intimate 

friend; EMERITUS Professor Swan; of St。 Andrews; and his later 

friend; Professor P。 G。 Tait。  It is a curious enough circumstance; 

and a great encouragement to others; that a man so ill equipped 

should have succeeded in one of the most abstract and arduous walks 

of applied science。  The second remark is one that applies to the 

whole family; and only particularly to Thomas Stevenson from the 

great number and importance of his inventions: holding as the 

Stevensons did a Government appointment they regarded their 

original work as something due already to the nation; and none of 

them has ever taken out a patent。  It is another cause of the 

comparative obscurity of the name: for a patent not only brings in 

money; it infallibly spreads reputation; and my father's 

instruments enter anonymously into a hundred light…rooms; and are 

passed anonymously over in a hundred reports; where the least 

considerable patent would stand out and tell its author's story。



But the life…work of Thomas Stevenson remains; what we have lost; 

what we now rather try to recall; is the friend and companion。  He 

was a man of a somewhat antique strain: with a blended sternness 

and softness that was wholly Scottish and at first somewhat 

bewildering; with a profound essential melancholy of disposition 

and (what often accompanies it) the most humorous geniality in 

company; shrewd and childish; passionately attached; passionately 

prejudiced; a man of many extremes; many faults of temper; and no 

very stable foothold for himself among life's troubles。  Yet he was 

a wise adviser; many men; and these not inconsiderable; took 

counsel with him habitually。  〃I sat at his feet;〃 writes one of 

these; 〃when I asked his advice; and when the broad brow was set in 

thought and the firm mouth said his say; I always knew that no man 

could add to the worth of the conclusion。〃  He had excellent taste; 

though whimsical and partial; collected old furniture and delighted 

specially in sunflowers long before the days of Mr。 Wilde; took a 

lasting pleasure in prints and pictures; was a devout admirer of 

Thomson of Duddingston at a time when few shared the taste; and 

though he read little; was constant to his favourite books。  He had 

never any Greek; Latin he happily re…taught himself after he had 

left school; where he was a mere consistent idler: happily; I say; 

for Lactantius; Vossius; and Cardinal Bona were his chief authors。  

The first he must have read for twenty years uninterruptedly; 

keeping it near him in his study; and carrying it in his bag on 

journeys。  Another old theologian; Brown of Wamphray; was often in 

his hands。  When he was indisposed; he had two books; GUY MANNERING 

and THE PARENT'S ASSISTANT; of which he never wearied。  He was a 

strong Conservative; or; as he preferred to call himself; a Tory; 

except in so far as his views were modified by a hot…headed 

chivalrous sentiment for women。  He was actually in favour of a 

marriage law under which any woman might have a divorce for the 

asking; and no man on any ground whatever; and the same sentiment 

found another expression in a Magdalen Mission in Edinburgh; 

founded and largely supported by himself。  This was but one of the 

many channels of his public generosity; his private was equally 

unstrained。  The Church of Scotland; of which he held the doctrines 

(though in a sense of his own) and to which he bore a clansman's 

loyalty; profited often by his time and money; and though; from a 

morbid sense of his own unworthiness; he would never consent to be 

an office…bearer; his advice was often sought; and he served the 

Church on many committees。  What he perhaps valued highest in his 

work were his contributions to the defence of Christianity; one of 

which; in particular; was praised by Hutchinson Stirling and 

reprinted at the request of Professor Crawford。



His sense of his own unworthiness I have called morbid; morbid; 

too; were his sense of the fleetingness of life and his concern for 

death。  He had never accepted the conditions of man's life or his 

own character; and his inmost thoughts were ever tinged with the 

Celtic melancholy。  Cases of conscience were sometimes grievous to 

him; and that delicate employment of a scientific witness cost him 

many qualms。  But he found respite from these troublesome humours 

in his work; in his lifelong study of natural science; in the 

society of those he loved; and in his daily walks; which now would 

carry him far into the country with some congenial friend; and now 

keep him dan

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