MAXWELL'S TYNDALLIC ODE 171 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV 



Maxwell's "Tyndallic Ode" was dedicated to Tait as the chief musician upon 

 Nabla. As with several of Maxwell's clever rhymes, it was no doubt suggested by 

 some of Tait's own utterances. It is at any rate certain that there would have been 

 no Ode if there had been no Tait. Maxwell could not indeed write to his old school 

 mate without indulging in some quaint fancy or hidden joke; and Tait was wont to 

 respond in similar fashion. In this appendix I reproduce the original Ode as it was 

 handed to Tait in the first instance ; and then give a later letter, in which a new 

 verse is added to the Ode, and in which other matters are touched on in Maxwell's 

 inimitable way. 



The Ode is a humorous imitation of the style of the popular scientific lecturer. 

 Two copies were preserved by Tait. The first rough draft, consisting of four verses, 

 was written in pencil on paper which bears the printed inscription " British Association, 

 Edinburgh." It was evidently dashed off by Maxwell in the B. A. Reception Room 

 during the Edinburgh meeting of 1871. The heading is 



"To the Chief Musician upon Nabla 



A Tyndallic Ode 



Tune The Brook." 



This was the version which appeared at the time in Nature (Vol. IV, p. 261), where 

 it is spoken of as a paper read before the " Red Lions " ! 



The other copy, also in Maxwell's hand-writing, is in ink, and seems to have 

 been written the same evening. It must be regarded as the true complete original 

 with its seven verses, the first four of which show several well-marked textual 

 improvements upon the earlier pencilled draft. 



The peculiar interest of this copy lies in the heading which is elaborately written 

 in Hebrew, in all probability by W. Robertson Smith, to whom the name of Nabla 

 for the inverted Delta was due. This Hebrew title is after the manner of the Hebrew 

 Psalter and is a literal translation of the title given in the first draft. The evidence 

 for the personality of the Hebrew scribe is complete. It is recorded that T. M. Lindsay 

 and W. R. Smith read a paper before Section A On Democritus and Lucretius, A 

 Question of Priority in the Kinetical Theory of Matter (B. A. Reports 1871, Transactions 

 of the Sections p. 30) ; and Principal Lindsay tells me that Robertson Smith was 

 continually in the company of Tait and Maxwell during the Meeting of the British 

 Association, that V was the source of many jokes, and that there is little doubt the 

 Hebrew inscription is from the " reed " of Robertson Smith. 



The order of the verses is that indicated by pencil in the original, and differs 

 from the order given in Lewis Campbell's Life of Maxwell. There are also some 

 textual variants. 



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