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Fortunately for James and his brother Alexander, who had become a student at Edinburgh University and with whom, when he followed to the university, James shared lodgings as paying guests in the home of two elderly ladies, with whom James continued to stay until his marriage in 1871, their father had left sufficient money to provide for their education. In his Will, made on 21st May 1857, Mr Dewar's assets in cash exceeded £1,657, quite a substantial sum in these days. To this there fell to be added the value of The Unicorn Inn, several house properties in Kincardine, some shares in The Kincardine Light and Gas Company along with the grain crops in several fields. By the terms of his Will, his six sons shared equally in their father's estate. Those who had reached their majority were paid their shares outright. Those who were still in their minority were to receive their portion as soon as they became twenty-one, with the proviso that in the meantime the trustees were empowered "to use what they deemed requisite towards their maintenance and education, so long as they were minors". The three trustees were Rev. Andrew Gardiner, minister of the United Presbyterian Church in Kincardine; Alexander Dewar, brother of the deceased, wine and spirit merchant in Leith and Ebenezer Mill, S.S.C.
On the completion of his course at the university James Dewar became assistant, with special responsibility for practical demonstrations to the medical students to Professor Crum Brown who had succeeded Playfair in the Chair of Chemistry. Once again the senior discerned the outstanding ability of his junior. Dr Crum Brown believed that chemistry would eventually become as exact a science as mathematics and he was very interested in the application of mathematics to chemistry. He suggested a more convenient scheme for the representation of the structure of compounds than the one invented by the Belgian chemist Kekulé. In 1867 James Dewar invented a mechanical device to represent Crum Brown's new graphic notation for organic compounds and this, having fallen into Playfair's hands, was transmitted by him to Kekulé, who in turn invited Dewar to spend a summer semester at his laboratory in Ghent. So it became the young scientist's great good fortune to make the acquaintance of one o the most brilliant chemists in Europe. Many years later James Dewar was one of the signatories to a letter to his fellow scientists soliciting contributions for the erection of a memorial to Kekulé which resulted in the fine statue in bronze at the Chemical Institute where he had lived and worked for thirty years.
In 1820 William Dick, by delivering a course of lectures on veterinary science in the Freemason's Hall, Niddry Street, planted the seed which in later years has become The Royal Dick Veterinary College. Moving in 1833 into new purpose built premises, for whose erection he himself provided almost the entire £2,500 which they cost. Dick was able to provide not only more comfortable accommodation for the increasing number of students from home and overseas but also better facilities for teaching and especially for practical demonstrations. Situated in Clyde Street and built around a rectangular courtyard the new college had a dissecting room, accommodation for sick animals, a lecture room towards whose furnishing The Highland Society donated £50, and a chemical laboratory to which was added, over the archway entrance, living quarters for himself and his sister, Mary, who kept the college accounts and supervised the behaviour of the students. William Dick died in 1866 and by his Will bequeathed the college, along with a considerable endowment, in trust to the Lord Provost and the magistrates of Edinburgh, who now became responsible for the management of its affairs (note 9). That there should be teething troubles was to be anticipated. A new office of Principal of the College was introduced and in the short space of two years there were two holders of the office - Professors Hallen and Williams. In the autumn of 1869 two new professors joined the staff, Branford to teach anatomy and Dewar to teach chemistry. Before taking up his duties, James Dewar had several improvements made to the chemistry laboratory which he described as "being deficient in many respects". The account was £44 14s. 10d. and when it was queried by some of the trustees he wrote in reply that he was absolutely convinced that what had been done would be to the benefit of the students, adding in his forthright manner, "It seems ridiculous for anyone possessed of average knowledge to imagine that getting a table along with gas and water could have nothing to do with analysis or investigation". The twenty-seven-year-old professor knew his mind and was not going to be trifled with. The appointment of Branford to the chair of anatomy was an unmitigated disaster. Quite early in the session the senior students detected how deficient was his knowledge... NEXT PAGE
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