24 JAMES Cr.EHK MAXWELL 



and two chairs, of which one is sale, ami a skylight aliove 

 which will slide up and down. 



44 On the door (or table) there is a lot of lowls, juga, 

 plates, jam pi#s etc., containing water, salt, soda, sulphuric 

 acid, blue vitriol, plumbago ore; also broken glass, iron, and 

 cop|er wire, copjer and zinc plate, l>ees' wax, sealing wax, 

 clay, rosin, charcoal, a lens, a Smee's galvanic apparatus, and 

 a countless variety of little Wetles, spiders, ami wood lice, 

 which fall into the different liquids and poison themselves. I 

 intend to get up some more galvanism in jam pigs; but I 

 must tirst copper the interiors of the pigs, M I am experiment- 

 ing on the lnst methods of elect rotyjiiiitf. So I am making 

 copjH'r seals with the device of ;i bivth*. First, I thought a 

 lcftle was a good conductor, so I embedded one in wax (not 

 at all cruel, IKV-IUSO I slew him in boiling water, in which In 1 

 never kicked), leaving his bark <>ut ; but he would not do. 

 Then I tok a cast of him in soul ing wax, and pressed wax 

 into the hollow, and blackleaded it with i bru*h ; but neither 

 would that do. So at last I took my fingers and rubbed it, 

 which I find the l>est way to use the black lead. Then it 

 copjHired famously. I melt out the wax with the lens, that 

 l*eing the cleanest way of getting a strong heat, so I do most 

 things with it that need heat. To-day I astonished the 

 natives as follows. I took a crystal of blue vitriol and put 

 the lens to it, and so drove off the water, leaving a white 

 powder. Then I did the same to some washing soda, and 

 mixed the two white jowd<Ts together, and made a small 

 native spit on them, which turned them green by a mutual 

 exchange, thus : 1. Sulphate of ropper and carUuiate of soda. 

 :. Sulphate of soda and carbonate of copper (blue or green)." 



Of his reading he says : " I am reading Herodotus 1 

 Euterpe/ having taken the turn that is to say that 

 sometimes I can do props., read DifV. and Int. Calc., 

 Poisson, Hamilton's dissertation, etc. 1 ' 



In September he was busy with polarised light. 

 "We were at Castle Douglas yesterday, and got 



