PEEFACE. 



/^ILERK MAXWELL'S biography has been written by Professors Lewis Campbell and 

 Wm. Garnett with so much skill and appreciation of their subject that nothing further 

 remains to be told. It would therefore be presumption on the part of the editor of his 

 papers to attempt any lengthened narrative of a biographical character. At the same time 

 a memorial edition of an author's collected writings would hardly be complete without 

 some account however slight of his life and works. Accordingly the principal events of 

 Clerk Maxwell's career will be recounted in the following brief sketch, and the reader 

 who wishes to obtain further and more detailed information or to study his character in 

 its social relations may consult the interesting work to which reference has been made. 



James Clerk Maxwell was descended from the Clerks of Penicuick in Midlothian, 

 a well-known Scottish family whose history can be traced back to the ICth century. The 

 first baronet served in the parliament of Scotland. His eldest son, a man of learning, 

 was a Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland. In later times John Clerk of Eldin a 

 member of the family claimed the credit of having invented a new method of breaking 

 the enemy's line in naval warfare, an invention said to have been adopted by Lord 

 Rodney in the battle which he gained over the French in 1782. Another John Clerk, 

 son of the naval tactitian, was a lawyer of much acumen and became a Lord of the 

 Court of Session. He was distinguished among his Edinburgh contemporaries by his ready 

 and sarcastic wit. 



The father of the subject of this memoir was John, brother to Sir George Clerk of 

 Penicuick. He adopted the surname of Maxwell on succeeding to an estate in Kirkcud- 

 brightshire which came into the Clerk family through marriage with a Miss Maxwell. It 

 cannot be said that he was possessed of the energy and activity of mind which lead 

 to distinction. He was in truth a somewhat easy-going but shrewd and intelligent 

 man, whose most notable characteiistics were his perfect sincerity and extreme benevolence. 

 He took an enlightened interest in mechanical and scientific pursuits and was of an 

 essentially practical turn of mind. On leaving the University he had devoted himself 

 to law and was called to the Scottish Bar. It does not appear however that he met 

 with any great success in that profession. At all events, a quiet life in the country 

 VOL. I. b 



