Based upon a comparison of the viscosity experiments of James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) and Oskar Emil Meyer (1834–1909) in
the 1860s, I argue that mathematical theory plays a significant role in both aspects of experimental practice, the design
and construction of an experimental apparatus and the transformation of the observed experimental data into the value of a
physical quantity. I argue further that Maxwell’s and Meyer’s evaluation of each other’s theoretical and experimental work
depended significantly on the mathematical tools they employed in their theories.