370 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. XII. 



its apparatus. He always betrayed signs of uneasiness 

 when he heard electric sparks, but when summoned 

 to his post he would sit down between his master's 

 feet and allow the electrophorus to be excited upon 

 his back, growling all the time in a peculiar manner, 

 as though to relieve his mind, but not evidencing any 

 signs of real discomfort. On one occasion Toby sat 

 quietly on an insulating support, and allowed himself 

 to be rubbed with a cat's skin, when it was found that 

 the dog became positively electrified, contrary to the 

 general belief that a cat's skin is positive to every- 

 thing; whereupon Professor Maxwell remarked that 

 " a live dog is better than a dead lion." It remains 

 for a future physicist to determine the electric rela- 

 tions of a live cat and dog. 



One great charm of Maxwell's society was his 

 readiness to converse on almost any topic with those 

 whom he was accustomed to meet, although he always 

 showed a certain degree of shyness when introduced 

 to strangers. He would never tire of talking with 



boyish glee about the d 1 on two sticks and similar 



topics, and no one ever conversed with him for five 

 minutes without having some perfectly new ideas set 

 before him ; sometimes so startling as to utterly 

 confound the listener, but always such as to well 

 repay a thoughtful examination. Men have often 

 asked, after listening to a conversation on some 

 scientific question, whether Maxwell were in earnest 

 or joking. 1 The charm of his conversation rendered it 



1 For an instance of humorous mystification, see the letter to Mr. 

 Garnett of 4th January 1877. 



