16 JAMES cr.EHK MAXWKLf. 



not merely realised the nature of the five regular solid* 

 sufficiently to construct them out of pastel>oard with ap- 

 proximate accuracy, hut had further contrived other sym- 

 metrical polyhedra derived from them, s|eciniens of which 

 (as improved in 1848) may le still seen at the Cavendish 

 Laboratory. 



"Who first called his attention to the pyramid, cule, etc., I 

 do not know. He may have seen an account of them ly 

 chance in a !>ook. Hut the fact remains that at this early time 

 his fancy, like that of the old Ureek geometers, was arrested 

 hy these ty|es of complete symmetry ; and his imagination so 

 thoroughly mastered- them that he proceeded to make them 

 with his own hand. That he himself attached more importance 

 to this moment than the letter indicates is proved ly the care 

 with which he has preserved these perishable things, so that 

 they (or those which replaced them in 1848) are still in 

 existence after thirty- seven years." 



The summer holidays were spent at (llenlair. 

 His cousin, Miss Jemima \Vedderburn, was with him, 

 and shared his play. Her skilled pencil has left us 

 many amusing pictures of the time, some of which 

 are reproduced by Professor Campl>cll. TIuTe were 

 expeditions and picnics of all sorts, and a new toy 

 known as " the devil on two sticks " afforded infinite 

 amusement. The winter holidays usually found him 

 at Penicuik,or occasionally at (llasgow, with Professor 

 Blackburne or Professor W. Thomson (now Lord 

 Kelvin). In October, 1S44, Maxwell was promoted 

 to the rector's class-room. John Williams, afterwards 

 Archdeacon of Cardigan, a distinguished Jialiol man, 

 was rector, and the change was in many ways an 

 important one for Maxwell. He writes to his father: 



" I like P better than 1J . We have lots of 



jokes, and he speaks a great deal, and we have not 



