*70 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. IV. 



matical medal, of which he writes to his aunt in a 

 tone of undisguised though generous triumph. The 

 following letters were written in June and July 

 1845:- 



To Miss CAY. 



June 1845. 



I have drawn a picture of Diana, 1 and made an octohed- 

 ron on a new principle, and found out a great many things 

 in geometry. If you make two circles equal, and make three 

 steps with the compasses (of any size), and cut them out in 

 card, and also three equal strips, with holes at each end, and 

 joint them with thread to the upper side of one circle and 

 the lower side of the other ; then if you put a pin through 

 the centre of one and turn the other, the one will turn, and 

 if you draw the same thing on both in the same position, 

 if you turn them ever so, they will always be in the same 

 position. 



July 1845. 



The subjects for prizes are as follows: English Verses 

 The gude Schyr James Dowglas ; Latin Hexameters and Pen- 

 tameters The Isles of Greece; Latin Sapphics The Bhine. 

 I have been getting information in many books for Douglas, 

 but I found it so difficult not to Marmionise, that is, to 

 speak in imitation of Marmion, that I am making it in eight 

 syllable lines. I have got Barbour's Bruce, Buke 20, which 

 is a help in a different language, which is all fair ; my motto 

 is: 



" Men . may . weill . wyte . thouch . nane . them . tell . 

 How . angry . for . sorrow . and . how . fell . 

 Is . to . tyne . sic . a . lord . as . he . 

 To . them . that . war . of . hys . mengye . " 2 



Pa and I went to your house on Saturday and watered 

 the plants. I have got the lend of the whole of Home's 



1 i.e. A sketch from the antique. 



2 Barbour's Bruce, B. xx., 11. 507-10. 



