52 JAMES CLEHK MAXWELL 



44 Professor Thomson, though not comparable to Maxwell 

 as a physicist, was nevertheless A remarkable man. He was 

 distinguished by singular force of character and great ad- 

 ministrative faculty, and he had been prominent in bringing 

 about the fusion of the Colleges. He was also an admirable 

 lecturer and teacher, and had done much to raise the standard 

 of scientific education in the north of Scotland. Thus the 

 choice made by the Commissioners, though almost inevitable, 

 had the effect of making it appear that .Maxwell failed as a 

 teacher. Thero seems, however, to be no evidence to support 

 such an inference. On the contrary, if we may judge from the 

 number of voluntary students attending his classes in his last 

 College session, he would seem to have been ns iopiil:ir as a 

 professor as he was personally estimable." 



The question whether Maxwell was a great teacher 

 has sometimes been discussed. I trust that the 

 following pages will give an answer to it. He was 

 not a prominent lecturer. As Professor Campbell 

 says,* "Between his students' ignorance and his vast 

 knowledge it was ditlicult to find a common measure. 

 The advice which he once gave to a friend whoso 

 duty it was to preach to a country congregation, 

 4 Why don't you give it them thinner i ' must often 

 have been applicable to himself. , . . Illustra- 

 tions of iynotum per iynotitw, or of the abstruse 

 by some unobserved property of the familiar, 

 were multiplied with da/.xling rapidity. Then tho 

 spirit of indirectness and paradox, "though ho was 

 aware of its dangers, would- often take possession of 

 him against his will, and, either from shyness or 

 momentary excitement, or the despair of making 

 himself understood, would land him in ' chaotic 



* " Lifo of J. C. Maxwell," j. 2o9. 



