iv 



Magnetism was published in 1873 ; an original and splendid work, 

 destined, it is not rash to predict, to give colour and direction to onr 

 speculations on these subjects for many years to come. 



Nor must we omit another species of work always performed by 

 Maxwell kindly and conscientiously, professorial work, surely, of the 

 very highest kind, that, viz., of reading and reporting on papers 

 contributed to learned societies by young aspirants to scientific fame. 

 This kind of work, of which much fell to Maxwell's share, is but little 

 known to the outside world, but involves when carefully performed a 

 vast expenditure of time and trouble even on the part of the most 

 accomplished specialist. 



Besides performing these various duties, Maxwell took an active 

 part in conducting the general business of the University, serving on 

 the University Council, and otherwise, but especially in effecting 

 those changes in the mathematical studies of Cambridge, which may 

 be said to have amounted at this time almost to a revolution. In 

 accomplishing this, his published treatises already referred to bore in 

 themselves a most important part, but the active share he took in 

 drafting the scheme of the new examination, and the admirable ques- 

 tions he constructed in his capacity of examiner, no less contributed 

 to the desired changes which were thus, thanks in a great measure to 

 his sagacity, gradually and skilfully effected. 



The direct influence of Maxwell on Cambridge studies began to be 

 felt in 1866, when he filled the office of Moderator in the Mathematical 

 Tripos. Maxwell's questions infused fresh life into the Cambridge 

 Tripos, and, therefore, into the University studies, by the number of 

 original ideas and new lines of thought opened up by them, thus pre- 

 paring for the change of system in 1873, when so many interesting 

 subjects were added to the examination. 



From 1871 to 1879, Maxwell's pen was incessantly busy. He 

 wrote numerous more or less important mathematical papers, as well 

 as a great many essays and reviews, to be found in the pages of 

 "Nature." He also contributed several interesting articles to the 

 " Encyclopasdia Britannica." 



Of his papers published during this period, those which probably 

 rank highest in point of importance are the two memoirs connected 

 with the Kinetic Theory of Gases. Another undertaking in which 

 he was long engaged, and which, though, it proved to be exceedingly 

 interesting, entailed a great deal of labour, was the editing of the 

 " Electrical Researches " of the Hon. Henry Cavendish. This work, 

 published in 1879, has had the effect of increasing the reputation of 

 Cavendish, disclosing as it does the unsuspected advances which that 

 acute physicist had made in the theory of Electricity, especially in 

 the measurement of electrical resistance. The work is enriched by a 

 variety of valuable notes, in which the editor has sought to examine 



