352 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. XII. 



To THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, CAMBRIDGE. 



(Draft of a Letter?) 



Glenlair, 5th July 1873. 



I enclose a provisional list of fixtures and apparatus 

 required for the Laboratory. 



At present I am not able to estimate the prices of many 

 of the articles. 



Some of them are in the market, and have simply to be 

 ordered ; others require to be constructed specially for the 

 Laboratory. 



I have begun with a list arranged according to the 

 places and rooms in the Laboratory, but, of course, all small 

 things must be kept in cases, either in the apparatus room, 

 or in the special rooms. 



The special duty of the professor of experimental 

 physics is to teach the sciences of heat and electricity, and 

 also to encourage physical research. The Laboratory must 

 therefore contain apparatus for the illustration of heat and 

 electricity, and also for whatever physical research seems 

 most important or most promising. 



The special researches connected with heat which I 

 think most deserving of our efforts at the present time are 

 those relating to the elasticity of bodies, and in general 

 those which throw light on their molecular constitution ; 

 and the most important electrical research is the determina- 

 tion of the magnitude of certain electric quantities, and their 

 relations to each other. 



These are the principles on which I have been planning 

 the arrangement of the Laboratory. But if in the course of 

 years the course of scientific research should be deflected, the 

 plans of work must vary too, and the rooms must be allotted 

 differently. 



I agree with you that the income of the Museums must 

 be largely increased in order to meet the demands of this 

 and other new buildings, and I am glad that the University 

 is able to increase it. 



It is impossible to procure many of the instruments, as 



