CHAP. XII.] CAVENDISH LABORATORY. 353 



they are not kept in stock, and have to be made to order. 

 Some of the most important will require a considerable 

 amount of supervision during their construction, for their 

 whole value depends on their fulfilling conditions which can 

 as yet be determined only by trial, so that it may be some 

 time before everything is in working order. 



Even in 1874, however, there were still manifold 

 desiderata, and the Duke expressed his wish to furnish 

 the Laboratory completely with the necessary appara- 

 tus. To carry out this wish was again a work of 

 time, for the Professor would never order an important 

 instrument until he was satisfied that its design and 

 construction were the best that could be obtained. In 

 his annual report to the University in 1877 Professor 

 Maxwell announced that the Chancellor had now 

 " completed his gift to the University, by furnishing 

 the Cavendish Laboratory with apparatus suited to 

 the present state of science ; " but at the same time 

 he wrote to the Vice-Chancellor stating that he should 

 reserve to himself the privilege of presenting to the 

 Laboratory such apparatus as the advancement of 

 science might render it desirable for the University to 

 possess. And during the short remainder of his 

 tenure of the professorship he expended many hun- 

 dreds of pounds in this manner. And already, in the 

 spring of 1874, he had presented to the Laboratory 

 all the apparatus in his own possession. The apparatus 

 provided by the British Association for their Com- 

 mittee on Electrical Standards (see p. 316), was also 

 deposited in the Laboratory, in accordance with a 



resolution passed at the Edinburgh Meeting of 1871 



2 A 



