Note 132 — Chapter V · OPENING MANHOOD—1847 TO 1850—Æt. 16-19.

On the other hand it should be mentioned (though the statements are not contradictory) that Hopkins used to say he had never known Maxwell “make a mistake,” i.e. he never misapprehended the conditions of any problem. Of this fact, which was communicated to me by my brother, I have since received the following confirmation from Mr. W. N. Lawson, of the Equity Bar:—Mr. Lawson quotes from a diary kept by himself at the time-“July 15, 1853.—He (Hopkins) was talking to me this evening about Maxwell. He says he is unquestionably the most extraordinary man he has met with in the whole range of his experience; he says it appears impossible for Maxwell to think incorrectly on physical subjects; that in his analysis, however, he is far more deficient; he looks upon him as a great genius, with all its eccentricities, and prophesies that one day he will shine as a light in physical science, a prophecy in which all his fellow-students strenuously unite.”