Page:Lectures on Ten British Physicists of the Nineteenth Century.djvu/19

 Dublin Mathematical Journal; he was also elected into the Apostles' Club; so-called from the number of the members; their object was the discussion of philosophical questions.

After passing the Little-go, that is the examination in the preliminary studies, he went into training for the mathematical tripos, placing himself in the care of the great trainer of the day, William Hopkins. Notwithstanding that he turned aside often to his favorite pursuits, he succeeded by sheer strength of intellect in gaining the place of second wrangler; and in the more severe competition for the Smith's prizes he was bracketed equal with the senior wrangler. His rival was Routh, who subsequently became the leading tutor for the mathematical tripos, and in the mathematical world is known as the author of a treatise on Rigid Dynamics. Released from a course of prescribed study and the tyranny of a mathematical trainer, Maxwell rebounded at once to his much-loved researches. The spirit in which he now entered upon his independent career as an investigator may be gathered from an aphorism which he wrote for his own conduct: "He that would enjoy life and act with freedom must have the work of the day continually before his eyes. Not yesterday's work, lest he fall into despair, not to-morrow's, lest he become a visionary not that which ends with the day, which is a worldly work, nor yet that only which remains to eternity, for by it he cannot shape his action. Happy is the man who can recognize in the work of to-day a connected portion of the work of life, and an embodiment of the work of eternity. The foundations of his confidence are unchangeable, for he has been made a partaker of Infinity. He strenuously works out his daily enterprises, because the present is given him for a possession."

His activity took two principal directions optical and electrical. For the former line of investigation he inquired on all sides for color-blind persons, devised an instrument for examining the living retina, which he was specially successful in applying to the dog; read Berkeley's Theory of Vision and that part of Mill's Logic which treats of the relation of sensation to knowledge; perfected his color top and made an