44 Britain's Heritage of Science 



unwilling to follow other men's lines of reasoning, and 

 thereby loses much of its power of fructifying contemporary 

 thought. But in Maxwell it was not only his originality, 

 but also his receptivity that was exceptional. No one was 

 less imitative, either in the manner of expression or in the 

 direction of his thoughts ; but he always knew how his own 

 way of looking at things was related to that of others. 



We possess a good account of Maxwell's life, 1 rendered 

 specially valuable by the number of his letters which are 

 reproduced; these allow us to get a glimpse of the 

 attractive quaintness with which he could illuminate every 

 subject, but the barest outline of his career must here 

 suffice. 



His powers of observation showed themselves at a very 

 early age. In a letter, written when he was not yet three 

 years old, his mother relates that " Show me how it does " 

 was never out of his mouth, and that he investigated the 

 hidden courses of streams and bell wires. At school, he did 

 not at first take a very high place, and his schoolfellows 

 so much misunderstood the character of the reserved, 

 dreamy boy, that they gave him the nickname of " Dafty." 

 He soon, however, grew interested in his work, and ah 1 his 

 letters home breathe a healthy playful spirit. When fourteen 

 years old he was taken by his father to attend some of the 

 meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a year 

 later wrote a paper " On the Description of Oval Curves," 

 which, on the recommendation of Professors Kelland and 

 Forbes, was published by that Society. At that time he 

 was already repeating for his own instruction experiments 

 on light and magnetism. He entered the University of Edin- 

 burgh in 1847 at the age of sixteen, and after remaining three 

 years entered Peterhouse at Cambridge, from which college, 

 however, he soon migrated to Trinity, graduating as second 

 wrangler in 1854. While still an undergraduate he pub- 

 lished a number of papers in the Cambridge and Dublin 

 Mathematical Journal ; from that time onwards his scientific 

 activity never ceased and gradually spread over a wider 

 and wider range of subjects. 



1 "Life of James Clerk Maxwell,' 5 by Lewis Campbell and William 

 Garnett (Macmillan, 1882), 



