2 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. I. 



blended influences which formed the cradle of his 

 young imagination, the channels through which ideas 

 reached him from the past, the objects which most 

 challenged his observation and provoked his inven- 

 tion, his first acquaintance with what permanently 

 interested him in contemporary speculation and 

 discovery, and the chief moments of his own in- 

 tellectual progress in earlier years, such record 

 should have a right to live. And it may be that 

 a congenial spirit here and there may look with 

 me into the depths of this unique personality, 

 and feel the value of the impulses, often seem- 

 ingly wayward, and strange even to himself, with 

 which the young eagle " imped his wings " for flight, 

 or taught his eyes to bear the unclouded light. And 

 many to whom modern Science is a sealed book may 

 find an interest in observing the combination of 

 extraordinary gifts with a no less remarkable simpli- 

 city and strength of character. 



James Clerk Maxwell was born at No. 14 India 

 Street, Edinburgh, on the 13th of June 1831. His 

 parents were John Clerk Maxwell, one of the Clerks 

 of Penicuik, in Midlothian, and Frances, daughter of 

 R. H. Cay, Esq. of N. Charlton, Northumberland. 

 Excepting a daughter, Elizabeth, who had died in 

 infancy, James was their only child. 



Edinburgh was at this time the natural meeting- 

 place for the best spirits of the North. How much of 

 intellect and individuality, of genuine though often 

 eccentric worth, of high thinking and plain living, 

 then forgathered in Auld Reekie, and found ample 



