148 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL 



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CHAPTER IX. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK. ELECTRICAL THEORIES. 



CLERK MAXWELL'S first electrical paper- that oil 

 Faraday's " Lines of Force " was read to tho Cam- 

 bridge Philosophical Society oil December 10th, 1855, 

 and Part II. on February llth, 1S5G. The author 

 was then a Bachelor of Arts, only twenty-three years 

 in aye, and of less than one year's standing from tho 

 time of taking his degree. 



Tho opening words of tho paper are as follows 

 (Scientific Papers, voL i., p. 155) : 



44 The present state of electrical science wems peculiarly 

 unfavourable to speculation. The laws of the distribution of 

 electricity on the surface of conductor* have been analytically 

 deduced from experiment ; some parts of tho mathematical 

 theory of magnetism are established, while in other parts the 

 experimental ilata are wanting; the theory of the conduction 

 of galvanism, and that of the mutual attraction of conductors, 

 have been reduced to mathematical formulas but have not 

 fallen into relation with the other parts of the .science. No 

 electrical theory tun now be put forth, unless it .shows the 

 connection, not only between electricity at rest and current 

 electricity, but l>et\veen the attractions and inductive effects of 

 electricity in both states. Such a theory must accurately 

 satisfy those laws, the mathematical form of which is known, 

 and must afford the means of calculating the effects in tho 

 limiting cases where the known formula? are inapplicable. In 

 order, therefore, to appreciate the retirements of the science, 

 the student must make himself familiar with a consider- 

 able body of most intricate mathematics, the mere retention 

 of which in the meuury materially interferes with further 



