272 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. IX. 



Two daughters to d. , healthy, physical force girls, brains 

 more developed owing to their not having escaped in the 

 form of nose. 



Now, conceive the Voice set down beside one of the 

 physical forces, and trying to interest her in the capacities 

 of different rooms for singing in, she being more benevolent 

 and horsefleshy than technically musical, the Chaplain 

 entertaining the other with an account of his solitary life 

 in his rooms, old Greenlaw hospitably entreating the 

 mannerly widow, and trying to get the Nose to talk. 



The young widow fixed on Colin, and informed him that 

 if Solomon were to reappear with all his wisdom, as well as 

 his glory, he would yet have to learn the polka ; and that 

 the mode of feasting adopted by the Incas of Peru reminded 

 her strongly of a custom prevalent among the Merovingian 

 race of kings of France. 



Living in the Pampas she regarded as an enviable lot, 

 and she was at a loss to know the best mode of studying 

 Euclid for the advantage of being able to teach a young 

 brother of six (years old). 



So we did not get home till near 11, and I had to be 

 up at Glenlair at 5 this morning, the result of which is that 

 at 12 to-night I am a little sleepy. Johnnie 1 can swim 

 across the big pool at the Chapel, all by himself. His taste 

 of water through the nose did him great good. ... I have 

 had some races after stones down the water in Loch Roan. 

 I have kept the stone in sight a good way, but it has always 

 beaten me. I'll try some broken crockery to begin with. 



I have succeeded in establishing the existence of an error 

 in my Saturnian mazes, but I have not detected it yet. I 

 have finished the first part of the Religion Naturelle. 2 I 

 am not a follower of those who believe they know what per- 

 fection must imply, and then make a deity to that pattern ; 

 but it is very well put, and carries one through, though if 

 the book belongs to this age at all, it is eminently unlike 

 most books of this century in England. But I only know 



1 His cousin John Cay, younger brother of William and Charles. 

 2 By M. Jules Simon. 



