28 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. II. 



said it would do to toss about; he heard me, and acts 

 accordingly. His great delight is to help Sandy Frazer 

 with the water barrel. I sent the fine hat to Mrs. Crosbie 1 

 for her babe, which is well bestowed. . . . You would 

 get letters and violets by a woman that was going back to 

 her place ; the latter would perhaps be rotten, but they were 

 gathered by James for Aunt Jane. 



Not much dragging was needed, either then or 

 afterwards, to get Mr. Clerk to explain any mechanism 

 to " boy," and " show him how it doos." Hencefor- 

 ward this was the chief pleasure of his life, until the 

 order was reversed, and the son took hardly less 

 delight in explaining Nature's Mechanics to the father. 



Before seeing this letter, I had been told by his 

 cousin, Mrs. Blackburn, that throughout his childhood 

 his constant question was, " What's the go o' that ? 

 What does it do ?" Nor was he content with a vague 

 answer, but would reiterate, " But what's the particu- 

 lar go of it ?" And, supported by such evidence, I 

 may hope to win belief for a reminiscence which I 

 might else have shrunk from mentioning. I distinctly 

 remember his telling me, during his early manhood, 

 that his first recollection was that of lying on the grass 

 before his father's house, and looking at the sun, and 

 wondering. To which may be added the following 

 anecdote, which has been communicated to me by 

 Mrs. Murdoch, 2 the "Meg" of the preceding letter. 

 " When James was a little boy of two years and a half 

 old, I had given him a new tin plate to play with. 



1 Wife of the minister at Parton. 

 2 She was distantly connected with the Liddells (above, p. 13). 



