CHAP. V.] OPENING MANHOOD 1847 TO 1850. 131 



ing itself. The fact that in going to Cambridge he 

 decided against the profession which his friends had 

 destined for him made the step a more serious one 

 than it might have otherwise been. The close and 

 constant intercourse between father and son made the 

 parting more difficult. James's delicate health 1 would 

 count heavily amongst the reasons contra, and certain 

 floating prejudices about the " dangers of the English 

 universities," Puseyism, infidelity, etc., had then con- 

 siderable hold, especially on the Presbyterian mind. 

 James himself was patient, and had hitherto decided 

 nothing for himself. Only when Tait and Allan 

 Stewart were already at Cambridge, my brother 

 Robert destined for it, and myself at Oxford, his own 

 voice was added to those which had long been urging 

 the claims of Cambridge, 2 and then they prevailed. 

 There had been searchings of heart on the subject as 

 early as April 1849, when the following entries occur- 

 in the Diary : 



1 On this subject the following entry from Mrs. Morrieson's Diary is. 

 of some interest : " 5th Deer. 1846. L. and R. dined with Miss Cay. 

 James Maxwell has been under her care during his father's absence 

 and has been suffering very much from toothache and earache, in con- 

 sequence of cutting his eye-teeth an extraordinary thing at 15." To 

 which may be added the following from his father's Diary : " 1846, 

 Sa., Dec. 12. Jas. still affected by the tooth. . . . Took a short walk,, 

 and came back by Mr. Nasmith (dentist), and went in, and on consulta- 

 tion, got the tooth drawn at once it was nicely and quickly done, and 

 Jas. never winced." 



2 Amongst these may be specially mentioned Mr. Hugh Blackburn 

 and Dean Ramsay. Professor Forbes and Charles Mackenzie were 

 also interested in the question. Professor Blackburn, in particular,, 

 insisted that the mathematical discipline of Cambridge would enable 

 him to exercise his genius more effectively. 



