The forgotten non-materialist side of James Clerk Maxwell

British physicist David Tyler, who posts here, has a comment in Nature on “Laird of physics” James Clerk Maxwell, particularly the Laird’s disquiet with materialism, a fact not noted in the article on maxwell:

As the Victorian age matured, science leaders became increasingly materialistic. At a meeting of the British Association in 1874, President John Tyndall took the opportunity to advance his worldview (of materialism). In the audience was James Clerk Maxwell, who crafted this poem to express his disquiet:

For poem, go here.