MAXWELL. 211 MAY. born iu Edinburgh, the only son of John Clerk- Maxwell of ^Miildlebie, Scuthiud, receiving liis early education at the Kdiiiljurgli Academy, and his tirst published scientitic paper. On the Uc- sciiptiun of Ucitl Curces, was read for him by Professor Forbes before the Royal Society of Kdinburgh before he was fifteen. He spent three vears at the University of Edinburgh, where he pursued most zealously the study of mathematics, piiysics, chemistry, and philosophy, devoting con- siderable time to experimental research. During this period he wrote two valuable papers. On the Thcari/ of Itollijii; Ciincs and On the Equilihriani of Elastic Solids. He went to Cambridge Uni- versity in the autumn of 18.50 and there made a brilliant record as a student, graduating in 1854 with the position of second wrangler, and being equal with the senior wrangler in the competition for Smith's prize. In 1850 he became professor of natural philosophy in ilarischal College. Aber- deen: in 1800 professor of natural pliilosophy in King's College, London. He Avas successively scholar and fellow of Trinity, and became, in 1871, the first professor of experimental physics in the University of Cambridge, a post for which he was in every way preeminently qualified. The Cavendish laboratory was erected and furnished under his supervision. The great work of his life is his treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (2 vols., 1873). He had previously, from 1850 onward, published various papers on these sub- jects, following very closely the experimental pro- cedure of Faraday, t sing the discoveries of this great experimenter, ilaxwell so connected and ar- ranged them as to make the material available for mathematical discussion and treatment. He early advanced the view that electric or magnetic forces result from changes in the distribution of the energy which is stored up in the ether and are not produced by the attractions of electric or magnetic matter which is distributed over the surfaces of conductors or magnetic substances. Ho then demonstrated that electromagnetic ac- tion traveled through space in the form of trans- verse waves similar to those of liglit and having the same velocity. Jlaxwell's theory was cor- roborated by Hertz, who not only produced these waves, but showed that they are propagated just as waves of light are, and experience reflection, refraction, and polarization, and he also meas- ured their velocity. Subsequent experiments amply confirmed ilaxwell's hypothesis that elec- tricity and light are the same in their tiltimate nature. After ilaxwell's researches on electricity and magnetism conies his work on color, the well-known Maxwell disks and color-box being his inventions. He showed that any given color could be produced by the combination of three colors selected from different parts of the spectrum. These three fundamental colors would correspond to three different sets of nerves or sensations in the eye, each excited proportion- ately to the amount of its appropriate color in the compound color, The absence of any one set of sensations would occasion color-blindness. A paper on the f^tnbilitt/ of Motion of finturn's Rings gained for Maxwell the .^darn's prize from the University of Cambridge. 1857. and led to the conclusion that the rings must either be lluid or else consist of a large number of small par- ticles. The kinetic theory of gases was also in- vestigated by Maxwell, and the results of his study are given in a number of papers in the Philosophical Transact io-ns, Philosophical Maga* zinc, and the reports of the British Association. Maxwell was a member r)f the electrical stand- ards coinmillee appointed by the British Asso- ciation in 1802, and served on a subcommittee to construct the standard of resistance, which was produced from experiments made in liis labora- tory at King's College. Among his many papers and works, a small treatise on dynamics. Matter and Motion, will be found of great interest to the general reader, as it contains a clear and com- prehensive statement of the principles underlying this science. A memorial edition of Maxwell's scientific papers published by the Cambridge Uni- versity Press was published in 1800. Consult: Campbell and CJarnett, Life of .fames Clerk Max- well (London, 18S'2) ; Glazebrook, .fames Clerk Miixirell and Modern Physics (ib., 1890). MAXWELL, WiLLi.M H.Mii:,TON (1792- 1850). An Irish novelist, born at Newry. Couiitv Down, H-eland, in 1792; graduated B.A. at Trin- ity College, Dublin, in 1812; served in the Pe- ninsular campaigns and at Waterloo; took orders in the Church of England and was appointed to the rectory of Ballagh, in Connemara. in the ex- treme west of Ireland. As there was no other Protestant in the parish, he devoted liimself to sport and to novel-writing. He retired from liis living in 1844 and settled near Edinburgh, where he died December 29, 1850. Maxwell has a place in tlie development of English fiction as the founder of the military novel. From him Charles Lever learned his art. His best work is represented by W lid Sports of the 'est,ii:ith Legendari/ Tales and Loral Sketches (1832) : Stories of Waterloo (1834); My Life, afterwards called Advent nres of Captain Blake (1835) : and The liirouae, or Stories of the Peninsular War (1837). He wrote an autobiography under the title Ramhling Recol- lections of a Soldier of Fortune (1842). and a popular life of Wellington (1839-41). MAXWELL, William Hexrt ( 1852— ) . An American educator, born in the north of Ireland and educated at Queen's College, Galway. He came to America in 1874, was a teacher in the Brooklyn night schools, became assistant super- intendent of the Brooklyn public schools in 1882, and superintendent in 1887, and in 1898 was appointed to a like position in Greater New York. He was especially interested in the teaching of English, and wrote English grammars. He urged a State requirement of college education for pub- lic school teachers, and raised the requirements of teachers' examinations. MAXWELL, Sir William Stirling-. See Stikli.no-M.xwell. MAY. See May-Day; Mois'Th. MAY, Cape. See Cape May. MAY. Edward Harrison (1824-87). An American painter, born in London. He was brought to .merica when a child, and first studied under Daniel Huntington. Afterwards he studied with Couture in Paris and made his home there. His pictures include : "The Dying Brigand" (1855), in the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts ; and "Mary ]Iagdalen at the Sepulchre" (1873). in the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, New York City. His portraits in- clude those of Laboulaye (1860) and of . son Biirlingame (1869).
