164 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. VI. 



fashionable among shallow scientific men. As my main 

 object in coming to Cambridge was to prepare for holy 

 orders, I had more interest in theological subjects than any 

 others. He knew this, and would refer to me points of 

 difficulty for our mutual consideration till we next met. 

 The result was useful to us both. On one occasion an 

 attack on the Mosaic history having perplexed him, he was 

 glad of an idea that occurred to me, that the account of 

 God's driving out the heathen by " sending the hornet " 

 before the Israelites, was not an idea likely to occur in a 

 book of human origin, where a leader would rather be apt 

 to magnify than to diminish his own and his people's 

 prowess. This exactly suited the sceptical state of some 

 friend he had been conversing with. On another occasion 

 he hit on a very beautiful mathematical illustration of St. 

 Paul's closing view of his career, in 2 Tim. iv. 6-8 ; " St. 

 Paul was looking backward, forward, and downwards so 

 the resultant was upwards" 



As an original experimenter he was most ingenious in 

 contriving out of simple means apparatus for delicate ex- 

 periments. I have to this day some crystals for showing- 

 polarised light, which he gave me, cut and polished by most 

 simple rubbing, mounted with cardboard and sealing-wax. 



His Essay on the, Rings of Saturn, showing how 

 mechanical principles required that these bodies were not 

 solid, but formed by multitudes of small bodies revolving 

 round Saturn, in bands of orbits, has received abundant 

 confirmation from recent observation with large telescopes. 

 His own simple experiments with corks and rings suggested 

 the idea. 



But while so ingenious himself, he had great difficulty 

 in imparting his ideas to others ; consequently was not so 

 clear a lecturer or writer as might have been expected. It 

 was probably this that prevented his being senior wrangler 

 of his year. 



I may mention that though not joining in the ordinary 

 games of young fellows, such as cricket and rowing, he was 

 very active; and I have seen him in bathing take a 



