8 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. I. 



wards his brother-in-law, in a series of attempts to 

 make a bellows that should have a continuous even 

 blast. We can readily imagine, therefore, how closely 

 he must have followed every step in the gradual 

 application of steam to industry, and the various 

 mechanical improvements which took place in his 

 youth and early manhood. 1 



His practical thoroughness was combined with a 

 striking absence of conventionality and contempt for 

 ornament. In matters however seemingly trivial- 

 nothing that had to be done was trivial to him he 

 considered not what was usual, but what was best for 

 his purpose. In the humorous language which he loved 

 to use, he declared in favour of doing things with 

 judiciosity. One who knew him well describes him 

 as always balancing one thing with another exercis- 

 ing his reason about every matter, great or small. 

 He was fond of remarking, for example, on the folly 

 of coachmen in urging a horse to speed as soon as 

 they saw the top of a hill, when, by waiting half a 

 minute until the summit was really attained, they 

 might save the animal. " A sad waste of work," he 

 would say. Long before the days of " anatomical " 

 bootmaking, he insisted on having ample room for his 

 feet. His square-toed shoes were made by a country 

 shoemaker under his direction on a last of his own 

 and out of a piece of leather chosen by himself. This 



1 In 1831 he contributed to the Edinburgh Medical and Philo- 

 sophical Journal (vol. x.) a paper entitled, " Outlines of a Plan for 

 combining Machinery with the Manual Printing Press." His acme of 

 festivity was to go with his friend John Cay (the " partner in his revels "), 

 to a meeting of the Edinburgh Royal Society. 



