AND MODERN PHYSICS. 18 



toy known as a magic disc, which afterwards de- 

 veloped into the zoetropo or wheel of life, and in 

 which, by means of an ingenious contrivance of 

 mirrors, the impression of a continuous movement 

 was produced. 



This happy life went on until his mother's death 

 in December, 1839 ; she died, at the age of forty-eight, 

 of the painful disease to which her son afterwards 

 succumbed. When James, being then eight years old, 

 was told that she was now in heaven, he said : " Oh, 

 I'm so glad ! Now she'll have no more pain." 



After this his aunt, Miss Jane Cay, took a mother's 

 place. The problem of his education had to bo faced, 

 and the first attempts were not successful A tutor 

 had been engaged during Mrs. Maxwell's last illness, 

 and ho, it seems, tried to coerce Clerk Maxwell into 

 learning; but such treatment failed, and in 1841, 

 when ten years old, ho began his school-life at the 

 Kdinburgh Academy. 



School-life at first had its hardships. Maxwell's 

 appearance, his first day at school, in Galloway home- 

 spun and square-toed shoes with buckles, was more 

 than his fellows could stand. " Who made those 

 shoes?" they asked*; and the reply they received 

 was 



44 Div ye ken 'twas a man, 

 And ho lived in a house, 

 In wit ilk was a mouse." 



Ho returned to Heriot Row that afternoon, says 

 Professor Campbell, "with his tunic in rags and 



* Life of J. C. Maxwell, " p. 49. 



