The commencement of the fifth year at the Academy was, for many of us boys, a time of cheerfulness and hope. The long period of mere drill and task-work was supposed to be over. We had learned the 800 irregular Greek Verbs, either by our own efforts, or by hearing others say them, and had acquired some moderate skill in Latin verse composition. On entering the rector's class-room, our less mechanical faculties were at once called into play. We found our lessons less burdensome when we had not merely to repeat them, but were continually learning something also in school. And the repetition of Virgil and Horace was a very different thing from the repetition of the rules of gender and quantity. Some foretaste of this more genial method had been afforded us in the previous year, when we had been encouraged to turn some bits of Virgil into English verse. But the change was, notwithstanding, considerable, and it was accompanied with another advance, which for Maxwell was at least equally important, for it was now that we began the serious study of geometry.

In October 1844 Mr. Clerk Maxwell and his sister, Mrs. Wedderburn, were both far from well, and James was received in Edinburgh by his aunt, Miss Cay. He writes to his father, October 14, 1844:—