AND MODEIIX PHYSICS. 21 



and tho water-colour drawings, in one of the show- 

 cases at the Cavendish Laboratory. 



About this time, Professor P. G. Tait and he were 

 schoolfellows at tho Academy, acknowledged as the 

 two best mathematicians in the school It was 

 thought desirable, says Professor Campbell, that " we 

 should have lessons in physical science, so one of the 

 classical masters gave them out of a text-book. . . . 

 Tho only thing I distinctly remember about these 

 hours is that Maxwell and P. G. Tait seemed to know 

 much more about the subject than our teacher did." 



An interesting account of these days is given by 

 Professor Tait in an obituary notice on Maxwell 

 printed in the " Proceedings of the lloyal Society of 

 Edinburgh, 1879-80," from which the following Is 

 taken : 



" When I first made Clerk Maxwell's acquaintance, about 

 thirty-five years ago, at the Edinburgh Academy, he was a 

 year ljufore me, being in the fifth class, while I was in the 

 fourth. 



44 At school he was at first regarded as shy and rather dull, 

 lie made no friendships, and he sjxjnt his occasional holidays 

 in reading old ballads, drawing curious diagrams, and making 

 rude mechanical models. This absorption in such pursuits, 

 totally unintelligible to* his schoolfellows (who were then quite 

 innocent of mat hematics), of course procured him a not very 

 complimentary nickname, which I know is still remcmlered 

 by many Fellows of this Society. About the middle of his 

 school career, however, he surprised his companions by 

 suddenly becoming one of the most brilliant among them, 

 gaining high, and sometimes the highest, prizes for scholar- 

 ships, mathematics, and English verse com]K>sition. From 

 this time forward I lccame very intimate with him, and we 

 discussed together, with schoolboy enthusiasm, numerous 



