364 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. 1., No. 1?. 



was repeated to him. . . . The moral of 

 Wordsworth's Hart-leap well was not so much 

 a principle as an instinct with him. I remem- 

 ber his once speaking to me of the subject of 

 vivisection. He did not condemn its use, sup- 

 posing the method could be shown to be fruit- 

 ful, which at that time he doubted ; but 'couldn't 

 do it, you know,' he added, with a sensitive, 

 wistful look, not easj' to forget." 



In his twenty-lirst year his poetical side and 

 religious side found greater expression than 

 before, and his great strength in mathematics 

 made itself felt. It is related that he often 

 shortened the long train of analysis of the tutor 

 hy giving a shoi't geometrical solution ; and, 

 whenever the subject admitted, he had recourse 

 to diagrams rather than to anal^'sis. At the 

 age of twenty-two. Maxwell was second wran- 

 gler, Eouth being senior ; and Routh and Max- 

 well were declared equal as Smith's prizemen. 

 At this age we find him speculating upon 

 electricity and magnetism, and engaged in 

 researches on color. 



At the age of twenty-fl\'e Maxwell was ap- 

 pointed professor of natural philosophy at 

 Marischal college, Aberdeen. At this period 

 of his life he began his paper on the structure 

 of Saturn's rings. His letters at this period 

 are extremely suggestive. The death of his 

 father, and his engagement to Miss Dewar, 

 daughter of Principal Dewar, gave a charac- 

 teristic coloring to them. These great events 

 in his life had a powerful influence upon his 

 speculations. His devotional side found full 

 expression ; and the study of ethics and meta- 

 physics seemed to be strongly controlled hy 

 that of science. 



He writes after his engagement, — 

 " My lines are so pleasant to me that I think 

 that CA-erybody ought to come to me to catch 

 the infection of happiness. This college-work 

 is what I and my father looked forward to for 

 long ; and I find we were both right, — that it 

 was the thing for me to do." 



In the same letter he remarks, — 

 ' ' I have obser\-ed that the practical culti- 

 vators of science (e.g., Sir J. Ilerschel, Far- 

 aday, Ampt're, Oersted, Newton, Young), 

 although differing excessively in tiu-n of mind, 

 have all a distinctness and a freedom from the 

 tyranny of words, in dealing with questions of 

 order, law, etc., which pure speculators and 

 literary men never attain." 



The period of Maxwell's life extending 

 from twenty-nine to forty was very rich in 

 intellectual work. His calculations upon the 

 character of Saturn's rings led him to specu- 

 late upon the molecular theory of gases. In 



1860 he presented a paper on Bernoulli's theory 

 of gases to the British association ; in 1862 we 

 find him engaged with others in determining 

 the electrical unit of resistance ; he was also 

 occupied upon an investigation of the ratio 

 between the electromagnetic and electrostatic 

 units of electricity ; and his great worlc on elec- 

 tricitj' and magnetism was in progress. He 

 speaks in his letters of wading through the works 

 of German mathematical writers, and of the 

 careful study of the results of Faraday. His 

 intercourse with the latter was of the pleasant- 

 est character. 



On one occasion he was wedged in a crowd 

 attempting to escape from the lecture-theatre 

 of the Royal institution, when he was per- 

 ceived b}' Faraday, who, alluding to Maxwell's 

 work among the molecules, accosted him in 

 this wise : — 



" Ho, Maxwell, cannot you get out? If any 

 man can find his way through a crowd, it should 

 be you." 



The influence of Faradn^-'s intellectual meth- 

 ods of thought can be plainly- traced in Max- 

 well's later writings upon electricity. No one 

 can understand Maxwell's intellectual growth 

 at this time who has not read his great treatise 

 on electricity and magnetism. In this book are 

 embodied the results of long and continued 

 study of the observed phenomena, and of the 

 best methods of interpreting them by mathe- 

 matics. In this treatise one can find his elec- 

 tromagnetic theor}' of light, upon which he 

 spent much thought during this busj' period of 

 his life. 



In 1870 he was appointed director of the 

 Cavendish ph3-sical laboratory at Cambrige by 

 the consensus of eminent men whose advice had 

 been asked in regard to the best man for the 

 position. Lord Rajieigh, who succeeded Max- 

 well as director, wrote to him at this time, — 



Cambridge, Feb. 14, 1871. 

 "When I came )iere last Friday, I found every one 

 talking about the new professorship, and hoping that 

 you would come . . . What is wanted by most who 

 know any thing about it, is not so much a lecturer 

 as a mathematician who has actual experience in 

 experimenting, and who might direct the energies of 

 the younger fellows and bacheloi's into a proper chan- 

 nel . . . I hope you may be induced to come: if not, 

 I don't know who it is to be." 



Maxwell, in a letter to the A-ice-chancellor 

 of Cambridge, expressed the opinion that the 

 " special researches connected with heat, which 

 I think most deserving of our elTorts at the pres- 

 ent time, are those relating to the elasticity 

 of bodies, and, in general, those which throw 

 light on their molecular constitution ; and the 

 most important electrical research is the de- 



