22 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL 



curious problems, among which I rcmenilier particularly the 

 various plane sections of a ring or tore, and the form of a 

 .cylindrical mirror which should show one his own image 

 unperverted. I still iH>ssess some of .the MSS. we exchanged 

 in 1840 and early in 1847. Those by Maxwell are on 'The 

 Conical Pendulum/ * Descartes' Ovals,' 4 Meloid anil Apioid,' 

 and 'Trifocal Curves.' All are drawn up in strict geometrical 

 form and divided into consecutive propositions. The three 

 latter are connected with his first published paper, communi- 

 cated by Forties to this society and printed in our 4 Proceed- 

 ings,* vol. ii., under the title, *On the Description of Oval 

 Curves and those having a Plurality of Foci 1 Itnic;). At the 

 time when these ]ni]ers were written he had received no 

 instruction in mathematics Ijcyond a few books of Euclid and 

 the merest elements of algebra." 



In November, 1847, Clerk Maxwell entered the 

 University of Edinburgh, learning mathematics from 

 Kelland, natural philosophy from J. 1). Forbes, and 

 logic from Sir \V. It. Hamilton. At this time, accord- 

 ing to Professor Campbell* 



"he still occasioned some concern to the more conven- 

 tional amongst his friends by the originality and simplicity of 

 his ways. His replies in ordinary conversation were indirect 

 and enigmatical, often uttered with hesitation and in a 

 monotonous key. While extremely neat in his ]>erson, he had 

 a rooted objection to the vanities of starch and gloves, ife 

 had a pious horror of destroying anything, even a scrap of 

 writing-iuijier. He preferred travelling by the third class in 

 railway journeys, saying he liked a hard seat. When at table 

 he often seemed abstracted from what was going on, l>eing 

 absorlnxl in observing the effects of refracted light in the 

 finger-glasses, or in trying some experiment with his eyes 

 'seeing round a corner, making invisible stereoscopes, and the 

 like. Miss Cay used to call his attention by crying, Mamsie, 

 you're in a prop.' He never tasted wine; and lie spoke to 

 * Life of J. C. Maxwell," p. !0.'. 



