78 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL 



determination of Ycrdet's constant, and Niven had 

 various electrical experiments on hand ; while Fleming 

 was at work on the Ix A. resistance coils. 



My own tastes lay in the direction of optics. 

 Maxwell was anxious that I should investigate the 

 -^properties of certain crystals. I think they were tho 

 "/chlorate of potash crystals, about which Stokes and 

 Rayleigh have since written ; but these crystals were,, 

 to be grown, a slow process which would, he supposed, 

 take years ; and as 1 wished to produce a dissertation 

 for the Trinity Fellowship examination in 1877, that 

 work had to bo laid aside. 



Eventually I selected as a subject the form of tho 

 wave surface in a biaxial crystal, and set to work in 

 a room assigned to me. The Professor used to como 

 in on most days to sec how I was getting on. Generally 

 he brought his dog, which sometimes was shut up in 

 the next room while he went to college. Dogs were 

 not allowed in college, and Maxwell had an amusing 

 way of describing how Toby once wandered into 

 Trinity, and by some doggish instinct discovered 

 immediately, to his intense amaxcmcnt, that ho was 

 in a place where no dogs had been since the college 

 was. Toby was not always <[iiiet in his master's 

 absence, and his presence in the next room was some- 

 what disturbing. 



When difficulties occurred Maxwell was always 

 ready to listen. Often the answer did not come at 

 once, but it always did come after a little time. I 

 remember one day, when I was in a serious dilemma, 

 I told him my long tale, and he said : , 



" Well, Chrystal has been talking to me, and 



