372 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. XII. 



erected and supported at his own expense upon his 

 estate, but failing health prevented the accomplish- 

 ment of his purpose. 



The last few years of Maxwell's life were saddened 

 by the serious and protracted illness of Mrs. Maxwell. 

 Notwithstanding the inexhaustible freshness of his 

 spirit, his work could not but be somewhat modified 

 by a cause so grave. He was an excellent sick-nurse, 

 and we have already seen how he attended upon 

 Pomeroy when attacked with fever in college, how he 

 devoted himself to his father during his illness, and 

 how he cared for his brother-in-law when in London. 

 On one occasion during Mrs. Maxwell's illness he did 

 not sleep in a bed for three weeks, but conducted his 

 lectures and other work at the Laboratory as usual. 

 While attending on his wife he would continue working 

 at his manuscripts, or would arrange a series of experi- 

 ments to be carried out by one of the workers at the 

 Cavendish Laboratory ; but the time which he could 

 personally devote to his own experiments was very 

 limited. The same cause prevented his attendance at 

 meetings in London and at the British Association, 

 for which, however, he retained his affection. His 

 wonderful devotion to his wife, and the almost 

 mystical manner in which he regarded the marriage 

 tie, are sufficiently apparent from his letters. 



The meeting of the British Association, held at 

 Belfast in 1874 when Professor Tyndall was President, 

 was the last which Maxwell attended. Before Sec- 

 tion A he read a note " On the Application of Kirch- 

 hoff's Eules for Electric Circuits to the Solution of 



