Ill 



obtained the Professorship of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy 

 in King's College, London. 



While holding this office he produced some of his most valuable 

 electrical papers, as well as two others on Elasticity. During 

 the same period he took a very prominent part in the experiments 

 organised by a Committee of the British Association for the determi- 

 nation of electrical resistance in absolute measure, and for placing the 

 units of electrical measurements on a satisfactory basis. The experi- 

 ments were conducted in the Laboratory of King's College upon a 

 plan due to Sir W. Thomson. On this occasion Maxwell worked in 

 conjunction with Professors Balfour Stewart and Fleeming Jenkin, 

 and the results were contained in a report to the British Association 

 in 1863. 



Maxwell continued in London until his father's death in 1865, when 

 he determined to reside on the Scotch estates to which he had suc- 

 ceeded, and resigned his professorship. 



For some years after this he led a quiet life at Glenlair, devoting 

 himself chiefly, we may conjecture, to the composition of his Treatises 

 on Heat and on Electricity and Magnetism. The most important 

 memoirs from his pen about this period were on the Dynamical Theory 

 of Gases, read to the Royal Society in 1866. 



In 1871 he was elected to the newly-created chair of Experimental 

 Physics in the University of Cambridge. His first duties were to 

 plan and superintend the building of the Cavendish Laboratory, which, 

 with appropriate apparatus, was a gift to the University from the 

 Chancellor, the Duke of Devonshire. The admirable arrangements of 

 this building were designed and carried out by Maxwell. In October, 

 1871, he delivered an introductory lecture, in which he made some 

 very valuable observations on scientific education and the advantages 

 afforded by the study of experimental physics, especially to that class 

 of students in Cambridge which has produced so many distinguished 

 mathematicians. Addressing such students in particular, he warned 

 them of the preliminary difficulties they would have to face in 

 attempting to combine experimental practice with theory, but suggested 

 at the same time motives which should encourage them to persevere 

 in their efforts. 



Besides the duties directly incumbent on a Professor of Physics, the 

 preparation of treatises on the subjects of his chair now engaged 

 Maxwell's attention. "The Theory of Heat," the first edition of 

 which appeared in 1871, was at once hailed as a beautiful exposition 

 of a comparatively new and interesting subject. This work is indeed 

 a model of scientific style, almost unique in the freshness and 

 simplicity of its expositions, and possessing altogether a charm for 

 the student of physical science, such as few other works of the 

 kind are capable of imparting. The Treatise on Electricity and 



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