JAMES CLERK MAXWELL 333 



this hypothesis attractive; but it plays no essential part in the theory 

 of Maxwell, which is quite independent of it. 



In the same way, I have made comparisons with divers mechan- 

 isms. But they are only similes, and pretty rough ones. A complete 

 mechanical explanation of electrical phenomena is not to be sought in 

 the volumes of Maxwell, but only a statement of the conditions which 

 any such explanation has to satisfy. Precisely what will confer long 

 life on the work of Maxwell is its being unentangled with any special 

 mechanical hypothesis. 



