146 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. VI. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



UNDERGRADUATE LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE OCTOBER 1850 TO 



JANUARY 1854 JET. 19-22. 



BEFORE placing his son at Cambridge Mr. Clerk 

 Maxwell had, as was usual with him, consulted various 

 persons, including Professor James Forbes and Pro- 

 fessor Kelland of Edinburgh, Professors Thomson and 

 Blackburn of Glasgow, and Charles Mackenzie, after- 

 wards Bishop of Natal, then* a Lecturer of Caius 

 College, Cambridge. 1 Forbes strongly advised Trinity, 

 and offered an introduction to Whewell ; but after 

 various reasons urged for Trinity, Caius, and Peter- 

 house, the decision was in favour of Peterhouse. 



Maxwell's first impression of college life, like that 

 of some other clever freshmen, was not one of un- 

 alloyed satisfaction. He was transplanted from the 

 rural solitudes of Galloway into the midst of a society 

 which was of curious interest to him, but did not 

 make him feel immediately at home. He found him- 

 self amongst the freshmen spelling out Euclid again, 

 and again "monotonously parsing" a Greek play. 

 He had brought with him his scraps of gelatine, gutta- 



1 He was the younger brother of Mr. Mackenzie of Silverknowe, 

 who had married Isabella Wedderburn. 



