CHAP. XII.] CORRESPONDENCE. 395 



and unity of the world of life may be of service to us in 

 reading Psalm viii. ; Heb. ii. 6, etc. Believe me, yours faith- 

 fully, J. CLERK MAXWELL. 



FROM THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL. 



Palace, Gloucester, 



24th Nov. 1876. 



DEAR PROFESSOR CLERK MAXWELL Allow me not to 

 lose a post in thanking you most warmly for your most 

 kind letter and for the packet of pamphlets, for which I 

 hardly know how enough to express my gratitude. They 

 are exactly what I needed, yet I fear I may be taking from 

 your stock more than I ought to take. I have already read 

 a good deal of the Encyc. Brit, article on atoms ; so pray, if 

 you are short of copies, don't hesitate to drop me a line. 

 The paper on attraction was also most welcome. I am 

 ashamed to own (for bishops should not enter into these 

 pleasures) that I have of late been speculating a good deal 

 on the physical explanation of gravitation. I seem to feel 

 it must be in the Ether, and yet how, I see not. In the 

 case of a body near the earth, I can conceive a vast amount 

 of elastic ether behind it, and possibly urging it on, while a 

 small quantity is under it, being excluded by the earth. 



I seem also to see how this might be applied to the case 

 of the heavy bodies that fell nearer to the steep side of Sche- 

 hallion than they ought to have done by calculation; but 

 then, when I attempt to go farther, I find the theory break 

 down. 



It seems to me that we want for several things, e.g. 

 light, the conception of an ether-beach all round the visible 

 universe from which waves might be reflexively started, and 

 at which the particles might be more closely packed ; but 

 then again I see not what it is that keeps up the beach. 



But I am really ashamed of troubling you, a scientific 

 man, with such wanderings. It will only show that your 

 kindness is thoroughly appreciated. 



I cordially agree with you as to the light question. 

 Theologians are a great deal too fond of using up the last 



