5i8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Enteance of Cavendish Laboeatoby, showing Extension in the Distance. 



not so the accomplishment of the men 

 who have directed it and worked in it. 

 J. Clerk-Maxwell was Cavendish pro- 

 fessor of experimental physics from 

 1871 until his untimely death in 1879. 

 Professor Fleming writes that one of 

 his great courses of lectures on electro- 

 dynamics was attended by only one 

 other student, but Hicks, Schuster, 

 Chrystal, Poynting and Glazebrook were 

 among those who worked in the labora- 

 tory. Maxwell's investigations on elec- 

 tricity, magnetism and light were in 

 the main theoretical, and their epoch- 

 making importance was fully recog- 

 nised only after his death; but he 



exerted great influence on teaching and 

 research in experimental physics. 



Lord Eayleigh succeeded Clerk-Max- 

 well in 1879 and retained the chair 

 until 1884, when he retired to his pri- 

 vate Terling Place estate and labora- 

 tory. During the period of his pro- 

 fessorship he completed his exact meas- 

 urements of electrical units and other 

 researches of fundamental importance. 

 Regular courses for students were es- 

 i tablished and women were admitted to 

 the laboratory. 



J. J. Thomson, then in his twenty- 

 seventh year, was elected to succeed 

 Lord Eayleigh. He had come to Cam- 





