JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. 391 



first period of the University of Berlin ; and as such he received its 

 highest honors. He was chosen its Dean and Rector. Tlie govern- 

 ment vied with the University in doing him homage. He was Privy- 

 Councillor, and one of the hoard of examiners for civil and military 

 service. At court his presence was always welcomed, and no gath- 

 ering of learned men took place in the palace from which he was 

 missing. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor, and. at his Jubilee 

 in 1876 he received the star of the Red Eagle Order. In 1860 he was 

 made a member of the Ordre pour le Merite, and in 1867, by the 

 special favor of his high patron, the King, Vice-Chancellor of the Frie- 

 densclasse of that Order. 



Dove, was chosen a member of the Berlin Academy in 1837. 11(3 

 was also an Associate of the Berlin Geographical Society, and con- 

 tributed to its discussions and publications. After the death of Hitter 

 and Barth, he was the most conspicuous member, and at its forty-fifth 

 anniversary he served as its Honorary President. The name of Dove 

 stands upon the rolls of honor of all the brilliant academies of Europe. 

 His merits were early recognized by this Academy, in 1859, when he 

 was elected a Foreign Honorary Member. 



JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. 



James Clerk Maxwell, the only son of John Clerk Maxwell, 

 Esq., was born in 1831 at Middlebie in Scotland. His early educa- 

 tion was obtained at the Edinburgh Academy, where he was given 

 the academical club medal for geometry in 1845, and the silver medal 

 for mathematics in 1847. After leaving the Edinburgh Academy, 

 Maxwell entered the University of Edinburgh, and was under the 

 instruction of Kelland, Forbes, and Gregory. In October, 1850, he 

 entered at Peterhouse in Cambridge, and in 1854 was made Second 

 AY rangier and bracketed as First Smith's Prize-man. In December, 

 1850, he left Peterhouse College and entered his name at Trinity, 

 where, in 1855, he became a Fellow. In 1856, he obtained the Pro- 

 fessorship of Natural Philosophy in Marischal College, Aberdeen. 

 In 1860, he succeeded Goodeve as Professor of Natural Phi- 

 losophy and Astronomy in King's College, London. On the death 

 of his father he retired, in 1865, to his estate in Scotland. In 1871, 

 he accepted the chair of Experimental Physics at Cambridge, 

 and was appointed Director of the Cavendish Physical Laboratory, 

 which was built and equipped under his personal supervision. The 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences of Boston has the honor 



