AND MODERN PHYSICS. 27 



small but most ancient foundation which has of late furnished 

 Scotland with the majority of the professors of mathematics 

 and natural philosophy in her four universities." 



While W. D. Nivon, in his preface to Maxwell's 

 collected works (p. xii.), says : 



" It may readily IHJ supposed that his preparatory training 

 for the Cambridge course was far removed from the ordinary 

 tyjK*. There had indeed for some 1 time been practically no 

 restraint upon his plan of tudy, and his mind had been 

 allowed to follow its natural bent towards science, though not 

 to an extent so absorbing as to withdraw him from other 

 pursuits. Though he was not a sjiortsman indeed, sport so- 

 called was always repugnant to himhe was yet exceedingly 

 oml of a country life. He was a good horseman and a good 

 swimmer. Whence, however, he derived his chief enjoyment 

 may be gathered from the account which Mr. Camplx.*!! gives 

 of the zest with which he quoted on one occasion the lines of 

 Hums which describe the poet finding inspiration while 

 wandering along the banks of a stream in the free indulgence 

 of his fanciest Maxwell was not onlj- a lover of poetry, but 

 himself a poet, as the line pieces gathered together by Mr. 

 Campbell abundantly testify. He saw, however, that his true 

 calling was science, and never regarded these j>oetical efforts 

 as other than mere pastime. Devotion to science, already 

 stimulated by successful endeavour; a tendency to ponder 

 over philosophical problems ; and an attachment to English 

 literature, particularly to English poetrythese tastes, im- 

 planted in a mind of singular strength and purity, may be said 

 to have been the endowments with which young Maxwell 

 began his Cambridge career. l>csides this, his scientific 

 reading, as we may gather from his jKipers to the 1 loyal 

 Society of Edinburgh referred toaUwe, was already extensive 

 and varied. He brought with him, says Professor Tait, a mass 

 of knowledge which was really immense for so young a man, 

 but in a state of disorder appalling to his methodical private 

 tutor." 



