PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 WERNER YON SIEMENS 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
Yerlag von Julius Springer inBerlirxN. 
 
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 WERNER VON SIEMENS 
 
 TRANSLATED 
 BY 
 
 W. C. COUPLAND 
 
 :.SE LIBft4*r>. 
 OF THE X 
 
 :VER-SITT) 
 OF >/ 
 
 LONDON: ASHER & Co 
 
 13 BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN 
 
 1893 
 
TK l 
 SS'A 
 
 Printed by Gustav Schade (Otto Francke) Berlin (Germany). 
 
Harzburg, June 1889. 
 
 "_Lhe clays of our years are threescore years and 
 ten. or even by reason of strength fourscore years*' 
 - that is a serious monition to one who is approach- 
 ing the mean point between these limits, and who 
 has still much to do ! We ma^ indeed, speaking gene- 
 rally, console ourselves with the thought that others 
 will do what we ourselves have riot been able to 
 accomplish, that the world accordingly will be no per- 
 manent loser; but there are certain tasks in regard 
 to which this consolation is of no avail, since the 
 performance of them can devolve upon no other. In 
 this category falls the autobiographical narrative which 
 I have promised my family and my friends. 
 
 I confess that the proposed undertaking has 
 weighed heavily on my mind, being fully conscious of 
 possessing the talent neither of the historian nor of 
 the man of letters, and having had always a more lively 
 interest in the present and the future than in the 
 past. Further I have no good memory for names and 
 dates, and also not a few events of my tolerably 
 changeful existence are utterly beyond recall. On the 
 other hand, however, I am desirous of being my own 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 chronicler, in order to preclude the possibility of 
 future misunderstanding and misinterpretation of my 
 endeavours arid actions, arid I have an idea also, that 
 it will be instructive and stimulating to the coming 
 generation to be shown plainly how a young man. with- 
 out inherited resources and influential supporters, nay 
 even without proper preliminary culture, may solely 
 through his own industry rise, and do something 
 useful in the world. I shall not expend much 
 thought on literary form, but shall jot down my 
 recollections just as they occur to me. being only 
 anxious that my statements may be clear and truth- 
 ful, and my impressions arid feelings faithfully re- 
 produced. I shall, however, at the same time try to 
 indicate those inner and outer forces which have 
 borne me through weal and woe to the desired goals, 
 and which have made my evening of life an easy and 
 sunny one. 
 
 Here in my secluded villa at Harzburg I hope to 
 find the needful calm for such a retrospect, for amid 
 the scenes of my active labours, in Berlin and Char- 
 lottenburg, I am too much claimed by the demands of 
 the hour to be able without interruption to devote 
 any considerable time to reflection on my own past. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 CALIFORNIA- 
 
 My earliest recollection is of an act of juvenile 
 heroism, which perhaps imprinted itself so indelibly 
 on my mind on account of its striking effect on the 
 development of my character. My parents lived till 
 
 \ my eighth year in Lenthe near Hanover, where I was 
 born , and where my father farmed the estate (Ober- 
 
 I gut) of a Herr von Lenthe. I must have been about 
 live years of age when, playing one day in my father's 
 room, sister Matilda, my senior by three years, was 
 led in weeping copiously. She was on her way to 
 the parsonage for her knitting lesson, but a dangerous 
 gander, she complained, kept barring her entrance into 
 the parsonage yard, and had already repeatedly snapped 
 at her. Accordingly she stoutly refused, despite all 
 her mother's coaxing, to repair to her lesson without 
 a companion. My father, too, could not succeed in 
 shaking her determination. At last he gave me his stick, 
 which was considerably bigger than myself, saying: 
 4 'Then Werner shall go with you, who I hope has 
 more courage than you have."' At first that appeared 
 to me somewhat questionable, for my father dismissed 
 me with the injunction: i; If the gander conies, only go 
 towards him bravely and hit him well with the stick, 
 then he will run away!" And so it turned out. When 
 
4 EARLIEST YOUTHFUL REMEMBRANCE. 
 
 we reached the yard-gate, the gander ran towards 
 us with outstretched neck and terrible hissing. My 
 sister turned tail shrieking, and I was strongly tempted 
 to follow suit, but I trusted the paternal counsel and 
 encountered the monster, with eyes shut indeed, but 
 hitting out doughtily with the stick right and left. 
 And lo, fear came upon the gander, and he returned 
 cackling noisily to the flock of geese that had also 
 betaken themselves to flight. 
 
 It is curious what a deep and lasting impression 
 this first victory made on my childish mind. Even 
 now. after well nigh 70 years, all the persons and 
 surroundings, associated with this important event, 
 stand clearly before my eyes. With it too is connected 
 the only remembrance that remains to me of the 
 appearance of my parents in their younger years: and 
 numberless times in difficult situations of life the 
 victory over the gander has unconsciously stimulated 
 me, not to yield to threatening dangers, but to over- 
 come, by boldly confronting, them. 
 
 | My father came of a family settled since the Thirty 
 
 Years War on the northern declivity of the Harz 
 mountains, and engaged for the most part in agri- 
 culture and forestry. An old family legend, which it 
 is true is rejected as unproven by recent historians, 
 runs, that some venerable ancestor came in the Thirty 
 Years War to North Germany with the troops of Tilly, 
 was present at the storming of Magdeburg, then 
 married a citizen's daughter whom he had snatched 
 from the flames, and settled in the Harz region. As 
 
FAMILY. 5 
 
 the existence of a reliable genealogical tree, somewhat 
 | rare in middle - class families, proves, there has always 
 prevailed a certain cohesion in the Siemens family. In 
 recent times the gathering taking place every five 
 years in some spot of the Harz. as well as an insti- 
 tution founded in 1876. have contributed to confirm 
 this cohesion of a family now very widely distributed. 
 As most of the Siemens my father was very 
 proud of his family, and often told us children of 
 members of it who had in some way or other distin- 
 guished themselves. Of these celebrities, save my 
 grandfather with his fifteen children, my father being 
 the youngest. I remember only a military councillor, 
 who held a position of authority in the council of the 
 free town of Goslar at the time when the town lost 
 its direct connection with the empire. My grandfather 
 had rented the estate of the Baron of the Empire von 
 t Grote. consisting of the manors Schauen and Wasserleben 
 
 o 
 
 at the foot of the northern part of the Harz moun- 
 tains. Wasserleben was my father's birthplace. Of the 
 stories which my father loved to recount to us children, 
 two have remained vivid in memory. 
 
 About 120 years ago the petty court (Duodez- 
 hof) of the Baron of the Empire von Grote was 
 startled by the intimation that King Frederick II of 
 Prussia was about to trespass on the imperial-baronial 
 domain in his march from Halberstadt to Goslar. The 
 old baron of the Empire awaited his powerful neigh- 
 bour in befitting manner along with his onlv son, at 
 
 o O f 
 
 the head of his customary contingent to the imperial 
 
6 FAMILY. 
 
 army consisting of two men. arid accompanied by his 
 vassals - - my grandfather and his sons, all on horse- 
 back. 
 
 As old Fritz with his mounted escort approached 
 the boundary, the imperial baron rode a few paces 
 to meet him. and in due form bade him welcome "in 
 his territory". The king, in whose memory perhaps 
 the existence of this neighbouring realm had grown 
 
 O o o 
 
 somewhat dim, appeared surprised at the greeting, 
 returned however the compliment in proper form, and 
 remarked turning to his retinue: "Messieurs, voila deux 
 souverains qui se rencontrentP This caricature of old 
 imperial glory has always remained in my memory, 
 and very early kindled in us children the longing for 
 \ future national unity and greatness. 
 
 There was another event of even greater impor- 
 tance for the miniature state of Grote than the fore- 
 going. My father had four sisters one of whom. 
 Sabina. was very amiable and beautiful: excellencies 
 which the young baron of the Empire was not slow to 
 perceive, who accordingly offered her his heart and 
 hand. It is unknown to me what attitude the old 
 Freiherr assumed at this crisis; but from my grand- 
 father the young gentleman met with a decided rebuff. 
 The latter was unwilling that his daughter should enter 
 a family where she would not be treated as an equal, 
 holding tenaciously to the opinion of his time, that 
 bliss and blessing can only spring from a union of 
 like and like. He forbade his daughter all further 
 
 o 
 
 intercourse with the vouno* nobleman, and resolved 
 
AUNT GROTE. 7 
 
 to facilitate the same by removing her from the 
 parental roof. But the young folk were manifestly 
 possessed by the spirit of the new era. for on the 
 morning of the arranged departure my grandfather 
 received the dire intelligence, that the young baron 
 had carried off his daughter the previous night. Where- 
 upon great excitement and hot pursuit of the flown 
 birds by the grandfather and his five grown-up sons. 
 The trail of the fugitives was followed to Blankenburg 
 
 o o 
 
 and there ended in the church. When entrance had 
 been effected the young couple were found stationed 
 at the altar, where the pastor had just pronounced 
 the nuptial benediction! 
 
 How the family drama immediately thereafter 
 developed itself it is no longer in my ability to say. 
 Unhappily the young husband after a few blissful 
 married years died without leaving any progeny. The 
 barony of Schauen passed therefore to collateral rela- 
 tions, with the annexed burden it is true of the obli- 
 gation to pay aunt Sabina for nearly half a century the 
 statutory imperial -baronial widow's pension. When a 
 * young artillery -officer I often visited the amiable and 
 sprightly old lady at Kolleda in Thuringia, whither she 
 had retired. "Aunt Grote"' was still beautiful even 
 in her old age, and formed at that time the acknow- 
 ledged centre of our family. For us young people she 
 possessed an almost irresistible charm, and it was a 
 real treat to hear her speak of the persons and scenes 
 of her to us dimly remote early life. 
 
 My father was a clever, well-educated man. He 
 
 or THE 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
8 PARENTS. 
 
 had attended the grammar school at Ilfeld in the Harz, 
 and afterwards the University of Gottingen. in order to 
 prepare himself thoroughly for his chosen vocation as 
 agriculturist. He belonged with heart and soul to 
 that section of young Germany, which, growing up 
 amid the storms of the great French Revolution, was 
 enthusiastic for freedom and a united Fatherland. 
 Once in Cassel he had almost fallen into the clutches 
 of Napoleon's myrmidons, when taking part in the 
 weak attempts of certain visionary youths, who still 
 strove to offer resistance after the prostration of Prussia. 
 On his father's death he went to councillor Deich- 
 mann at Poggenhagen near Hanover, for the sake of 
 practical training in agriculture. There he speedily 
 fell in love with the councillor's eldest daughter, mv 
 
 o / 
 
 beloved mother Eleanor Deichmann. and married her 
 his youth notwithstanding - - he had hardly attained 
 the age of 25 - - after obtaining the farming of the 
 Lenthe estate. 
 
 For twelve years my parents passed a happy life 
 in Lenthe. Unfortunately however the political con- 
 dition of Germany and especially of Hanover, then 
 again under English rule, was very depressing to a 
 man like my father. The English princes, who then 
 kept court at the Hanoverian capital, troubled them- 
 selves but little about the welfare of the country, 
 which they chiefly regarded as a hunting-ground. 
 The game-laws were in consequence very strict, so 
 that it was a common remark that in Hanover to 
 kill a stag was more criminal than to kill a man! 
 
LENTHE. 9 
 
 A charge of damaging game, through the use of un- 
 lawful means for protecting his property, was the cause 
 of his leaving Hanover and seeking a new home in 
 Mecklenburg. 
 
 The Lenthe estate (Obergut) is situated on a 
 wooded ridge, the Benthe mountain, which joins on 
 to the extended Deister range. The stags and wild 
 boars, preserved for the royal chase and secure in 
 their inviolability, visited in large herds the Lenthe 
 fields with unmistakeable predilection. Although the 
 entire village exerted itself to protect the crops by a 
 nocturnal chain of guards, yet the game issuing forth 
 in masses often in a few hours annihilated hopes based 
 on the work of a whole year. In a severe winter, 
 when wood and field failed to afford the animals 
 sufficient sustenance, they frequently foraged in com- 
 plete herds in the villages themselves. One morning 
 the bailiff announced to my father that a herd of deer 
 had got within the farm- enclosure: the gate had been 
 
 o o 
 
 shut, and he wanted to know, what should be done with 
 the animals. My father gave orders that they should 
 be driven into a stable, and sent an express messenger 
 to the Royal Supreme Court Hunting Bureau in 
 Hanover with a notice of what had happened and 
 the inquiry, whether it pleased that the deer should 
 be sent to Hanover. That turned out however a 
 most unlucky business for him! After a very short 
 interval there appeared on the scene an imposing 
 commission of investigation, which liberated the stags, 
 and after a criminal inquiry of several days arrived 
 
10 MENZENDORF. 
 
 at the conclusion, that violence had been offered to 
 the creatures, inasmuch as they had been driven 
 into the stall against their will! And my father 
 had to think himself lucky that he got off with a 
 heavy fine. 
 
 This is a picture in little of the then condition 
 of the "Royal Hanoverian Province of Great Britain"', 
 as my dear countrymen were pleased to call their 
 country with a certain pride. But even in the other 
 German lands the state of things was not overmuch 
 better, in spite of French Revolution and the glorious 
 War of Liberation. It were \vell if the relatively 
 fortunate youth of the present day now and again 
 compared their own condition with the woes and often 
 hopeless cares of their fathers, as a prophylactic 
 against pessimistic ideas and fancies. 
 
 The freeer surroundings, which my father sought, 
 he really found in the principality of Ratzeburg 
 appertaining to Mecklenburg-Strelitz. where he obtained 
 a lease of the grand- ducal domain of Menzendorf for 
 
 o 
 
 a long term of years. In this favoured little terri- 
 tory besides domains and peasant villages there was 
 only a single nobleman's estate. The peasants it is 
 true were still bound on the demesnes to services 
 incident to socage tenure, but in the years immediately 
 following our settling there these were abolished, and 
 the possession of the peasant was freed from all bur- 
 dens and even from almost all imposts. 
 
 Those were happy years of childhood which I and 
 my brothers and sisters passed in Menzendorf. growing 
 
MENZENDORF. 1 1 
 
 up with the village youth tolerably free and unrestrained. 
 The first years we older children my sister Ma- 
 
 tilda. I and my younger brothers Hans and Ferdinand 
 - roamed at large and unhindered through wood and 
 wold. Our instruction was undertaken by my grand- 
 mother, who lived with us after her husband's death. 
 She taught us reading and writing and exercised our 
 memories by compelling us to learn by heart innumer- 
 able poems. Father and mother were too occupied 
 with their economic cares, and the latter also with 
 the rapidly increasing flock of my young brothers 
 and sisters, to be able to concern themselves much 
 with our education. My father was a thoroughly good- 
 hearted but likewise hot-tempered man, who punished 
 inexorably, if any of us did not do his duty, was 
 untruthful or guilty of a dishonourable action. Fear of 
 the father s wrath and affection for the mother, whose 
 sorrow we never intentionally occasioned, kept our little 
 band, otherwise somewhat unruly, in good order. 
 The care of the elder for the [younger children was 
 prescribed as primary duty. In fact it reached so far 
 that the seniors were punished with their juniors, if the 
 latter ever rendered themselves liable to punishment. 
 The said burden weighed especially upon me as the 
 eldest, and awakened and confirmed in me at a very 
 early age the feeling of obligation to care for my more 
 youthful brothers and sisters. Accordingly I assumed 
 the right to set the penal law in motion in respect of my 
 juniors, which not unfrequently led to counter-coalitions 
 and violent combats, which however were always fought 
 
12 MENZENDORF. 
 
 out without invoking the parental intervention. I call 
 to mind an incident of that time, which I will relate, 
 as it is characteristic of our youthful life. 
 
 My brother Hans and I were wont to assail, and 
 not in vain, crows and birds of prey with self-fabri- 
 cated cross-bows, in the use of which we attained great 
 precision. One day. a dispute arising in connection 
 with the chase. I took the liberty of putting in prac- 
 tice the right of the stronger. My brother declared 
 this to be base, and demanded that the dispute should 
 be settled by a duel, in which my superior strength 
 would give me no advantage. I found that equitable, 
 and we proceeded to a cross-bow duel correct accor- 
 ding to the rules, which we had learnt from occasional 
 stories of my father of his student life. Ten paces 
 were measured off. and at my word of command 
 "Now" we both discharged our feathered arrows with 
 knitting-needle for head at one another. Brother Hans 
 had aimed well. His arrow hit the tip of my nose and 
 penetrated under the skin to the root. Our joint outcry 
 brought the father on the scene, who pulled out the 
 arrow and thereupon prepared for the chastisement of 
 the delinquent by taking out his pipe -stem. This con- 
 flicted with my sense of right. I stepped with decision 
 between father and brother and said: "Father it isn't 
 Hans' fault, we have been fighting a duel." I see still 
 the puzzled face of my father, who in justice could not 
 punish what he had done himself and considered honour- 
 able. He quietly replaced the pipe-stem in the bowl 
 adding only: "In future leave such nonsense alone." 
 
TUITION. 13 
 
 When my sister and I outgrew the tuition of 
 grandmother Deichmann - - nee vori Scheiter, as she 
 never forgot to sign herself my father himself 
 
 undertook our instruction for half a year. The outline 
 of universal history arid ethnography, which he dictated 
 to us. was spirited and original, and formed the foun- 
 dation of my later knowledge. When I had reached 
 the age of eleven my sister was sent to a boarding- 
 school at Ratzeburg, whilst I attended the grammar- 
 school of the neighbouring market -town Schonberg 
 from Menzendorf. In fine weather I had to do the 
 something like three miles distance on foot. In wet 
 weather the footways were impassable, and I rode to 
 school on a pony. This, and my habit of always 
 being a match for practical jokes, soon led to chronic 
 war with the town -scholars, through whose midst 
 I had generally to force a way, lance, i. e. bean-stick, 
 in rest. This tourney, in which the farmer lads of 
 my village sometimes assisted me, continued a w r hole 
 year. It certainly contributed a good deal to call 
 forth my active powers, yielded however only very 
 indifferent scientific results. 
 
 A decided turning-point of my life occurred at 
 Easter 1828, when my father engaged a private tutor. 
 The choice was an exceedingly fortunate one. Spon- 
 holz. candidate of theology, was still a young man. He 
 was highly cultured, but in bad odour with his spiritual 
 superiors, his theology being too rationalistic, too little 
 positive, as one would say now^-a-days. Over us semi- 
 savage youths he contrived, even in the first weeks, 
 
14 TUTOR SPONHOLZ. 
 
 to obtain a power mysterious! to me to this day. He 
 never punished us. hardly ever uttered a word of 
 blame, shared however frequently in our games, and 
 had the knack even through the medium of play of 
 evoking our good qualities and repressing our bad 
 ones. His teaching was in the highest degree stimu- 
 lating and ericoiira<rino\ He understood how to set 
 
 O DO 
 
 up really attainable goals for our labours, and streng- 
 thened our energies and our ambition by his delight 
 at the attainment of the proposed goal, which he himself 
 frankly shared with us. Thus he succeeded in very 
 few weeks in making out of unruly lazy boys the most 
 eager and industrious scholars, whom he had not to 
 urge to work, but rather to keep from attempting 
 too much. 
 
 In me especially he awakened the inextinguishable 
 feeling of delight in useful work and the ambitious 
 
 o o 
 
 desire actually to perform it. An important expedient 
 employed by him for this purpose was his stories. 
 If late in the evening our eyes began to close over 
 our work, he would beckon us to him on the leather 
 sofa w r here he used to sit beside our work-table, and 
 whilst we clung to him paint us pictures of our own 
 future. These either represented as at the heights of 
 civil life, that we had scaled through industry and 
 moral fitness, and which enabled us to lessen the cares 
 of our parents very considerable in that time of 
 great difficulty for the agriculturist - - or depicted our 
 wretched fate, if we relaxed in our efforts, and were 
 unable to resist temptation to evil. 
 
SPOXHOLZ'S SUCCESSOR. 15 
 
 Unfortunately this happiest period of my boyhood 
 did not last long, not even a full year. Sponholz 
 had often attacks of deep melancholy, which probably 
 in part arose from his mistaken theological calling 
 and career, in part from causes which were unintel- 
 ligible to us children. During one such attack he 
 left the house on a dark winter's night, gun in hand, 
 and after a prolonged search was found in a remote 
 part of the estate with shattered skull. Our grief at 
 the loss of the beloved friend and teacher was 
 boundless. My own love and gratitude to him I have 
 retained to the present day. 
 
 Sponholz's successor was an elderly gentleman, 
 who had for years filled the office of private tutor 
 in noblemen's families. He was in almost all respects 
 the reverse of his predecessor. His educational system 
 was of a wholly formal character. He required that 
 before all things we should be docile and mannerly. 
 Anything boisterous was especially his aversion. We 
 had to be attentive and do our tasks at the prescribed 
 times, accompany him with decorum in our walks, 
 and riot disturb him out of school hours. The poor 
 man was sickly and after two years died of con- 
 sumption in our house. A stimulating and moulding 
 influence he certainly did not exert, and had it not been 
 for the previous training of Sponholz, whose effect was 
 enduring, the two years would have been pretty well 
 thrown away, at least as far as I and my brother 
 Hans were concerned. As for me the desire to do my 
 duty and to learn thoroughly had, thanks to Sponholz, 
 
16 LUBECK GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 
 
 become so engrained, that so far from my ardour 
 being damped I rather urged the tutor to my pace. 
 In subsequent years the thought has often given 
 me a pang, that I so often robbed the poor sick 
 man of his needful rest by remaining after the close 
 of lessons for hours together at my desk, quietly 
 ignoring all the little devices he employed to be 
 rid of me. 
 
 On the death of the second tutor my father 
 determined to send brother Hans and myself to the 
 Lubeck grammar-school, the so-called Catherine 
 School, and carried out the plan after my confir- 
 mation in the parish church at Liibsee. As a result 
 of the entrance examination I was put in the upper, 
 and my brother in the lower fourth form. We were 
 placed in no regular boarding house , but lodged 
 with a Lubeck citizen, who at the same time boarded 
 us. My father had such an unbounded faith in my 
 trustworthiness that he also gave me the entire 
 custody of my somewhat giddy brother, whose law- 
 less nature had again come to the surface, as is evi- 
 dent from the nickname given him by the school 
 "mad Hans". 
 
 St. Catherine's School, Lubeck, consisted of the 
 grammar-school proper and the city school, both 
 under the same head-master and having similar classes 
 as far as the fourth form of the grammar-school. The 
 latter at that time enjoyed considerable scholastic 
 repute. The instruction was mainly confined to the 
 dead languages. The teaching in mathematics was 
 
SCHOOL -STUDIES. 17 
 
 extremely defective and did not satisfy me ; in this 
 subject I was put into a higher class, although up 
 to that time I had only worked at Mathematics by 
 myself, as neither of my tutors knew anything of 
 it. The ancient languages on the other hand gave me 
 a great deal of trouble, through lack of thorough 
 grounding. Much as the study of the Classics interested 
 and excited me, the acquisition of the grammatical 
 rules, which offered no material for thought and 
 
 o 
 
 positive knowledge, was distasteful to me. In the 
 two following years I conscientiously worked myself 
 up to the highest form, perceived however, that I 
 should never find satisfaction in the study of ancient 
 languages, and resolved to devote myself to architecture, * 
 at that time the only technical branch. Accordingly 
 in the fifth form I dropped the study of Greek, and 
 took instead private lessons in Mathematics and land- 
 surveying, in order to prepare myself for entrance 
 into the Academy of Architecture at Berlin. On further 
 inquiry, however, it unhappily appeared that the course 
 at the Academy was too expensive, (at a time of ever- 
 increasing difficulty for the cultivators of the soil, 
 when the selling price of wheat was a florin per bushel) 
 to allow of my imposing so great a sacrifice upon my 
 parents, having regard to the interests of my younger 
 brothers and sisters. 
 
 - In these straits I found relief in the advice of 
 my preceptor in land-surveying, Freiherr von Billzings- 
 lowen, lieutenant in the Li'ibeck contingent, who had 
 formerly served in the Prussian artillery. He advised 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
18 CHOICE OF A VOCATION. 
 
 me to join the corps of Engineers, where I should 
 have the opportunity of acquiring the same know- 
 ledge as a student of the Academy of Architecture. 
 When I confided this plan to my father he at once 
 consented, giving an additional important reason in its 
 favour, the truth of which has been clearly demonstrated 
 by recent German history. He said "The present 
 condition of things in Germany cannot possibly last. 
 A time will come when everything will be turned topsy 
 turvy. The only fixed point in Germany is however 
 the state of Frederick the Great and the Prussian 
 Army, and in such times it is always better to be 
 hammer than anvil." Accordingly at Easter 1834, in 
 my seventeenth year, I quitted the grammar-school, 
 and repaired with a very moderate supply of money 
 in my pocket to Berlin, in order to place myself among 
 the hammers of the future. 
 
 When the painful leave-taking of the old home, 
 of the intensely loved but overburdened and ailing 
 mother, and the numerous brothers and sisters affec- 
 tionately clinging to me, had been gone through. 
 my father took me to Schwerin, and from there 
 I entered on my pilgrimage. After I had crossed the 
 Prussian frontier and found myself on a straight dusty 
 road in the midst of a treeless and barren sandy 
 plain, the feeling of a terrible loneliness overcame me, 
 which was intensified by the melancholy contrast of 
 the landscape with the old familiar scenery. Before my 
 
JOURNEY TO BERLIN. 19 
 
 departure a deputation of the most respected peasants 
 of the place had presented itself to my father with the 
 petition not to send "so good a lad'' to that famine- 
 stricken land Prussia: I should always find plenty to 
 eat at home! The peasants would hardly credit my 
 father, that beyond the desolate sandy borders lay 
 also fertile land in Prussia. Despite my firm resolve 
 to seek my advancement in the world through my 
 own efforts, it did indeed for a moment seem as 
 if the peasants were right and I was wending towards 
 a sorry future. It was therefore a consolation when 
 I met in my journeying a cheery and cultivated 
 young man, who like me was tramping knapsack 
 on back Berlinwards. He was no stranger there, and 
 proposed that I should go w r ith him to his inn, which 
 he greatly praised. 
 
 It was the button-maker's inn in which I took up 
 my quarters for the first night in Berlin. The host 
 soon perceived that I did not belong to his regular 
 patrons, and accorded me his good will. He protected 
 me from the tricks of the young button - makers, 
 and assisted me on the following day to discover the 
 address of a distant relative, Lieutenant von Huet, in 
 the Horse Artillery of the Guards. Cousin Huet 
 received me kindly, was seized by a mortal terror how- 
 ever when he heard I had put up at the button- 
 maker's inn. He at once gave orders to his servant 
 to fetch my knapsack from the inn and to engage a 
 room for me in a small hotel in the new Friedrich- 
 strasse, offered also after the needful improvement of 
 
20 REQUEST FOR ADMISSION INTO THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. 
 
 my toilet to proceed with me to General you Ranch, 
 the chief of the corps of Engineers, and to inform 
 him of my desire. 
 
 The general strongly dissuaded me. as so many 
 cadets were already waiting their call to the artillery 
 and engineering school, so that I could not hope to get 
 in in less than four or five years. He advised me 
 to try the Artillery, whose cadets attended the same 
 school as the engineers and had considerably better 
 prospects*- I accordingly made up my mind to try my 
 luck in the artillery, and as there was no getting into 
 the Guards, I obtained an introduction from lieutenant 
 von Huet's father, colonel on the retired list, to Colonel 
 von Scharnhorst, commander of the 3rd Artillery- 
 Brigade, and proceeded blithe of heart to Magdeburg. 
 
 ' The colonel - - a son of the celebrated organizer 
 of the Prussian army also indeed at first made 
 
 sundry difficulties, remarking that the applications for 
 cadetships were very numerous, and that of the 
 fifteen young men, who had already offered them- 
 selves, he could only take the four \vho should pass 
 the best examination* He finally however acceded 
 to my request, and promised to admit me to the 
 examination, provided his Majesty the King was pleased 
 to allow me, although a foreigner, to enter the army 
 of Prussia. My frank resolute bearing evidently took 
 his fancy; but most influential perhaps was the circum- 
 stance, that he saw from my papers that my mother 
 was a Deichmann of Poggenhageri, which adjoined his 
 father's estate. 
 
 
ENTRANCE EXAMINATION. 21 
 
 As the entrance examination was not to take 
 place till the end of October I had still three months 
 for preparation. I therefore moved to Rhoden on 
 the northern slope of the Harz, where a brother of 
 my father owned some property, and there spent a 
 few weeks in familiar intercourse with my relations, 
 of whom the two pretty and amiable grown-up daughters 
 in particular made a great impression upon me; I 
 willingly allowed them to exercise their refining in- 
 fluence on the young and still somewhat unpolished 
 cousin. Then I went with my cousin Louis Siemens, 
 my junior by a few years, to Halberstadt, where I 
 prepared myself in good earnest for the entrance 
 examination. 
 
 The programme of the examination placed in my 
 hands by Colonel von Scharnhorst caused me however 
 a good deal of uneasiness. In addition to Mathematics, 
 History Geography and French were especially required, 
 and these subjects had been taught at the Ltibeck 
 grammar-school only in a very superficial manner. 
 I could scarcely hope to make good my deficiences in a 
 couple of months. There w r as still wanting my discharge 
 from the Mecklenburg military service, which my father 
 would have to purchase, and the permission of the 
 King to enter the Prussian army. I inarched, therefore, 
 towards the middle of October with a heavy heart to 
 Magdeburg, where I was disappointed in not finding 
 the expected letter from home along with the necessary 
 papers. When nevertheless I was just about to start 
 for the examination at the prescribed hour, to my 
 
22 ENTRANCE EXAMINATION. 
 
 great and joyful surprise I was met by my father, who 
 had himself driven over to Magdeburg in a light con- 
 veyance, in order to deliver into my hands the papers 
 by the right time, as the post in those days was far 
 from expeditious. 
 
 The examination took a favourable course for me 
 from the commencement, and beyond my expectation. 
 In Mathematics I was decidedly ahead of my fourteen 
 competitors. In History I had luck, and got off tolerably 
 well. In modern languages I was certainly weaker 
 than the others, but my better knowledge of the ancient 
 languages made up for it. The outlook was worse in 
 Geography; I soon perceived that most of them knew 
 more of the subject than I did. But here I was 
 favoured by a particularly lucky coincidence. The 
 examiner was a certain Captain Meiriicke, who had 
 the reputation of being a very learned and at the 
 same time original man. He passed for a great con- 
 noisseur of Tokay wine, as I afterwards learnt, and 
 that was perhaps the reason of his curiosity regarding 
 the situation of Tokay. No one knew, whereupon he 
 waxed very wrath. When my turn came last of all by 
 good hap it occurred to me, that Tokay wine had once 
 been prescribed to my invalid mother, and that it had 
 also borne the name of Hungarian wine. At my answer 
 "In Hungary, Captain!" his face brightened up, and 
 with the exclamation "But, gentlemen, you must 
 surely know Tokay wine!" he gave me the highest 
 mark in Geography. 
 
 So I was one of the fortunate four who had passed 
 
AS RECRUIT. 23 
 
 the best examination, but still had to wait four anxious 
 weeks for the royal permission to enter the army, and 
 when at the end of November it arrived, I could not 
 immediately be admitted, because I had only been 
 born on the 13th of December 1816, and so had not 
 yet passed my seventeenth year. I, however, was 
 allowed a special drill-sergeant, who strenuously drilled 
 me in civilian dress in the Cathedral square. 
 
 My performance soon gained the approval of the 
 severe bombardier, although there was one point 
 which almost drove him to despair. I had extremely 
 curly light -brown hair, that absolutely refused to 
 conform to the military regulations , which required 
 that the hair should lie evenly on the temples. On 
 inspection-day the captain had expressed displeasure at 
 the disorderly hair of the recruit, and in consequence, 
 all conceivable experiments were instituted to conceal 
 in a measure this military blemish. The sediment of 
 a favourite Magdeburg beer seemed to be most effective. 
 I was obliged to order many a bottle for the purpose, 
 as unfortunately only the sediment could be of any 
 use to me. After repeated applications I succeeded 
 in rendering my hair tolerably smooth, but after an 
 interval it showed symptoms of revolt, and usually 
 on parade to the horror of the bombardier certain 
 rebellious locks persisted in protruding from the even 
 layer. 
 
 Despite the great exertions exacted, and the rough 
 and apparently harsh treatment at the hand of the drill- 
 sergeant. I still look back with pleasure to my time 
 
24 PROMOTION. 
 
 when a recruit. The roughness is sheer habit arid 
 does not spring from intention to inflict pain. It 
 therefore does not go very deep, on the contrary has 
 something refreshing and stimulating about it. especially 
 if combined with humour, as has almost always been 
 the case with the models of military harshness known 
 to fame. The service over the incivility is forgotten. 
 and the feeling of comradeship is again uppermost. 
 The feeling of comradeship, which pervades the entire 
 Prussian Army from king to recruit, renders the strict 
 discipline, the toils and hardships reaching often to the 
 extreme limit of the capacity to undergo them, endu- 
 rable, and constitutes its cementing bond in woe and 
 weal. It will, accordingly, be often very hard for the 
 military veteran to feel comfortable in civil life: he 
 misses therein the reckless rudeness on a substructure 
 of good fellowship. 
 
 After six months drill came the great event of 
 advancement to the post of bombardier. It was an 
 elevating feeling to be now the superior of hundreds 
 and thousands and to be duly saluted by every private./ 
 Then followed the order to the horse artillery, then 
 the interesting artillery practice, in which for the 
 first time I became aware of my technical abilities, 
 since what most found hard to comprehend appeared 
 to me matter of course. Lastly, in the autumn of 1835, 
 I received the longed-for order to attend the school 
 of the united artillery and engineers in Berlin, and 
 therewith the fulfilment of my ardent desire to have 
 an opportunity to learn something useful. 
 
ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERING SCHOOL. 25 
 
 The three years, which from the autumn of 1835 
 to the summer of 1838 I spent at the Berlin Artillery 
 and Engineering School. I reckon to the happiest of 
 my life. The sociable life with young people of the 
 same age and with the same aims, the common study 
 under the guidance of able teachers, of whom I will 
 only name the mathematician Ohm. the physicist 
 Magnus, and the chemist Erdmann. whose instruction 
 opened to me a world new and full of interest, 
 made this time one of extraordinary enjoyment. In 
 addition to that. I found in one of the comrades 
 of my brigade, William Meyer, a real friend, with 
 whom till his death I was united by the bond of 
 the closest and completest friendship. I had before at 
 the Ltibeck grammar-school entered on the first stage 
 of such an intimate friendly alliance, and imagined 
 I had found in a fellow pupil a genuine friend, but 
 on calling upon him one day he gave orders to say he 
 was not at home, although I was perfectly sure that 
 he was in the house and concealing himself from me. 
 That appeared to me such an unpardonable breach of 
 proper friendship, that I severed the tie with intense 
 pain, and could never again bring myself to treat him 
 as a friend. 
 
 William Meyer I got to know when the horse- 
 artillery was stationed at Burg, whither he had been 
 ordered before me. He had a far from imposing 
 figure, was in no respect distinguished or talented, 
 possessed however a clear understanding, and pleased 
 me from the first by his straightforward unaffected 
 
26 FRIEND MEYER. DUELS. 
 
 nature, and his unimpeachable sincerity and trustworthi- 
 ness. We chummed together at the School, lived and 
 studied together, had the same quarters then and 
 thenceforward, whenever circumstances allowed of 
 it. Our notorious friendship and the circumstance 
 that I revolted against the "tyranny of the ensigns", 
 which led to a duel with the senior of my room, 
 in which Meyer acted as my second, had the curious 
 result, that in almost all the duels which occurred in 
 the first year at the School. Meyer and I were chosen 
 as seconds of the opposing parties. 
 
 These duels were only in a few instances followed 
 by dangerous consequences, had however so far a very 
 useful effect as they tended to preserve a polite tone 
 in social intercourse. 
 
 Our year was the first in which the cadets were 
 admitted in limited numbers after a pretty stiff entrance 
 examination, and were then ordered to the School on 
 the completion of their year of service. Before that 
 no difference was made between the candidates for 
 commissions and others, and it was then often only 
 after the lapse of several years of service, which in 
 part had to be spent in barracks, that the ablest or 
 perhaps the best- recommended were ordered to the 
 School. The somewhat unpolished tone, which had 
 clung to the young fellows through prolonged inter- 
 course with unrefined comrades, was most effectively 
 and quickly corrected by means of the duels. 
 
 My three years at the military school passed 
 without any important events. Although I suffered much 
 
EXAMINATIONS. VISIT TO MENZENDORF. 27 
 
 from attacks of intermittent fever, and once also was 
 obliged to lie several months in hospital on account of 
 injury to the shin, yet I contrived to pass successfully 
 the three examinations - - the ensign, the army -officer 
 and finally the artillery -officer examination, although 
 without special distinction. I had with inflexible industry 
 crammed the required matter into my head in order 
 afterwards to forget it as quickly again, but had de- 
 voted all my spare time to my favourite sciences, 
 Mathematics. Physics and Chemistry. The fondness 
 for these sciences has remained all through my life, 
 and has been at the bottom of my after successes. 
 
 Great was the joy when the school course com- 
 pleted. I received a four weeks furlough to visit my 
 home along with my friend Meyer. My brothers and 
 sisters, whose number had risen to ten. and even my 
 parents hardly recognized me. 
 
 The whole village rejoiced with them on the return 
 of the "Muschu", the traditional title of the sons 
 of "the Manor". There were really touching meetings 
 with the worthy people of our own and the neighbouring 
 villages, who for the rest had great respect for the 
 Prussian officers, in whom certainly they perceived no 
 signs of Prussia's starving condition. 
 
 My elder sister Matilda was just celebrating her 
 wedding with Professor Karl Himly from Gottingen, who 
 remained a dear friend of mine until his death. Hans 
 and Ferdinand had become farmers. My third younger 
 brother, William, was at the school at Liibeck and 
 was destined for commerce. The next two, Frederick 
 
28 BROTHER WILLIAM. 
 
 and Charles, likewise attended the Liibeek School, where 
 they boarded with a younger brother of my mother, 
 Ferdinand Deichmann, merchant. 
 
 That William' was fo be a business -man didn't at 
 all please me. At that time I shared the aversion 
 of Prussian officers to the mercantile class, and also 
 William's somewhat reserved but intelligent nature 
 and his clear understanding particularly attracted me. 
 I accordingly begged my parents to let him accompany 
 me to my future garrison -town Magdeburg, that he 
 might attend the highly esteemed school of Trade and 
 Commerce of that place. The parents consented, and 
 so we took him with us to Magdeburg, where I installed 
 him in a small boarding-house, having myself according 
 to the regulations to reside the first year in barracks. 
 
 At the expiration of this year, which I had to 
 devote entirely to the strict military service, friend 
 Meyer and I took up our quarters in the town, and 
 I brought William, now sixteen years of age, to reside 
 with me. I had a parternal delight in watching his 
 rapid development, and helped him with his school tasks 
 in my leisure hours. I also induced him to give up 
 the unsatisfactory lessons in Mathematics at the school 
 and to learn English instead. This turned out very 
 important for his future career. I myself gave him 
 mathematical instruction every morning from 5 to 7. 
 and was rewarded by the particularly good exami- 
 nation he afterwards passed in that subject. To my- 
 self this tuition was of great utility, and it also made 
 it easier for me to resist the temptations of an officer's 
 
DEATH OF THE PARENTS. 29 
 
 life, as well as stimulated me energetically to continue 
 my scientific studies. 
 
 Unhappily this fraternal intercourse was much 
 troubled by the increasingly ominous communications 
 of my father regarding the health of our beloved 
 mother. On the 8th of July 1839 she succumbed to 
 her malady, leaving my father, himself ailing, weighed 
 down with sorrow and serious material cares, together 
 with the numerous children still to be educated, in a 
 very doleful condition. I forego the description of the 
 poignant grief on the mother's loss. The love for her 
 was the strong tie that held the family together, and 
 the fear of distressing her always formed for us children 
 the most effective guarantee for our good behaviour. 
 
 I received a brief furlough to visit our home and 
 my mother's grave. Unhappily the enfeebled health 
 of my father inspired me with but little confidence in 
 the duration of a regular family life, favourable to the 
 prosperity and development of the younger members. 
 The correctness of my foreboding was only too soon 
 confirmed. In barely half a year, on the 16th January 
 1840. we also lost our father. 
 
 On the death of the parents, guardians were ap- 
 pointed by the court of ward for the younger children, 
 and the management of the domain of Menzendorf 
 was entrusted to my brothers Hans arid Ferdinand. 
 My youngest sister Sophia was adopted by Uncle 
 Deichmann in Ltibeck, whilst the youngest brothers 
 Walter and Otto remained for the present under the 
 grandmother's care in Menzendorf. - 
 
30 DANGEROUS EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 The scientific -technical studies, to which I now 
 devoted myself with increased ardour, nearly had 
 very serious consequences in the following summer. 
 I had heard that my cousin, the Hanoverian artillery 
 officer A. Siemens, had made some successful experi- 
 ments with friction fuses, which were intended to be 
 used for the firing of canon in place of the hand fuses 
 then exclusively employed. The importance of this 
 discovery was evident to me. and I resolved myself 
 to make experiments in this direction. As the inflam- 
 matory materials employed did not act with sufficient 
 certainty, in the absence of better implements I stirred 
 up together an aqueous solution of phosphorus and 
 chlorate of potash in a pomatum bowl with very thick 
 bottom, and placed the bowl, as I had to go to the 
 drill ground, carefully covered, in a cool window corner. 
 
 When I returned and looked with some anxiety 
 for my dangerous preparation I found it to my satis- 
 faction still in the same corner. But on carefully 
 taking it up and barely touching the match standing 
 in the paste, which had served to stir up the mixture, 
 a violent explosion took place, which hurled the shako 
 from my head and shattered all the window-panes 
 together with their frames. The entire upper part of 
 the porcelain bowl was scattered about the room in 
 the form of fine powder, whilst its stout bottom was 
 wedged firmly into the window sill. 
 
 The cause of this altogether unexpected explosion 
 turned out to be this: that my man on cleaning the 
 room had placed the vessel in the oven, and let it 
 
ORDERED TO WITTENBERG. 31 
 
 dry there a few hours before putting it back in its 
 place. Strange to say I was not visibly wounded, only 
 the violent pressure of the air had so contused the 
 skin of my left hand, that the forefinger and thumb 
 were covered by a large haematocystis. Unfortunately, 
 however, the drum of my right ear was fractured, 
 which I immediately perceived from the circumstance 
 that I was able to blow out the air through both 
 ears: the drum of the left ear had been burst the 
 year before during artillery practice. I was in con- 
 sequence for the moment quite deaf and had heard 
 no sound, when suddenly the door of my room opened 
 and I saw the whole anteroom full of horror-stricken 
 people. The report had immediately spread that one 
 of the two officers resident in the lodgings had shot 
 himself. 
 
 In consequence of this mishap I have long suffered 
 of difficulty of hearing and still suffer from time to 
 time, whenever the closed rents in the tympana chance 
 to open. 
 
 In the autumn of 1840 I was transferred to Witten- 
 berg, where I had to enjoy for a year the dubious 
 pleasures of life in a small garrison -town. All the 
 more eagerly did I continue my scientific studies. In 
 that year Jacobi's discovery was made known in Ger- 
 many of precipitating copper in a metallic form by 
 means of the galvanic current from a solution of the 
 sulphate. This process interested me in a high degree, 
 as it evidently was the key to a whole class of hitherto 
 unknown phenomena. As I succeeded well with the 
 
32 CONSEQUENCES OF A DUEL. 
 
 copper precipitates I tried also to precipitate other 
 metals in the same way, but only with moderate success 
 owing to my limited means and apparatus. 
 
 My studies were interrupted by an event, which 
 in its consequences had an important influence on 
 my future career. The frequent squabbles in the 
 smaller garrison towns between the members of different 
 
 o 
 
 branches of the service had led to a duel between an 
 infantry officer and an artillery officer with whom I 
 was on friendly terms. I had to act as the latter" s 
 second. Although the duel terminated with only an 
 
 insignificant wound sustained by the infantry officer, 
 
 o / t/ 
 
 it came for certain reasons to be taken notice of and 
 to be dealt with by a court-martial. The statutory 
 punishments for duelling in Prussia were at that time 
 Draconian in their severity, but precisely on that 
 account were almost always mitigated by an early 
 pardon. In fact by the court-martial held in Magde- 
 burg the principals were condemned to ten and the 
 seconds to five years imprisonment in the fortress. 
 
 I was condemned to confinement in the citadel 
 of Magdeburg and had to report myself there on the 
 confirmation of the sentence. The prospect of being 
 shut up for at least half a year without occupation was 
 not pleasant, but 1 consoled myself with the thought 
 that I should have a good deal of leisure time for 
 my studies. In order to make good use of this time 
 I searched out a chemist's shop on my way to the 
 citadel, and provided myself with the necessary means 
 for pursuing my experiments in electrolysis. A friendly 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN THE CITADEL. 33 
 
 young fellow in the business promised not only to 
 smuggle these articles into the citadel, but also to 
 execute promptly future orders, and conscientiously 
 kept his promise. 
 
 Accordingly I set up a small laboratory in my 
 barred but roomy cell and was quite contented with 
 my situation. Fortune favoured me in my work. 
 I remembered that some time ago I had tried ex- 
 periments with my brother-in-law Himly in Gottingen 
 for the production of pictures according to the process 
 made known a little while before by Daguerre, and 
 that hyposulphite of soda employed in these experiments 
 had dissolved otherwise insoluble salts of gold and silver. 
 I determined therefore to proceed on these lines, and to 
 test the applicability of such solutions for electrolysis. 
 To my unspeakable joy the experiments succeeded in 
 a surprising manner. I believe it was one of the happiest 
 moments of my life \vhen a German silver tea-spoon, 
 which I had dipped into a beaker filled with a solution 
 of hyposulphite of gold and connected with the zinc 
 pole of a Daniell battery, whilst the copper pole was 
 connected with a louis d'or as anode, changed in a 
 few minutes into a golden spoon of the finest and 
 purest lustre. 
 
 Galvanic gilding and plating was then, at least 
 
 c5 c5 i c> 7 
 
 in Germany, still quite new and naturally caused a 
 sensation in the circle of my comrades and acquain- 
 tances. I almost immediately concluded a bargain with 
 a Magdeburg jeweller, who had heard of the marvel and 
 visited me in the citadel, w r hereby I sold him the right 
 
34 RELEASE. 
 
 of making use of my process for forty louis (For. which 
 supplied me with the required means for making further 
 experiments. 
 
 In the meantime a month of my confinement had 
 elapsed, and I imagined I should have at least a few 
 more months quietly to continue my work. I improved 
 my apparatus and lodged a petition for a patent, 
 whereupon with surprising rapidity a Prussian patent 
 for five years was granted me. But the officer of 
 the guard unexpectedly appeared and to my great 
 terror. I must confess, handed me a royal order-in- 
 council announcing my pardon. It was really hard to 
 be so suddenly torn from my successful activity. 
 According to the regulations I was obliged to leave 
 the citadel the same day, and had neither an abode 
 into which I could put my effects and apparatus, nor 
 any idea whither I should be ordered. 
 
 I therefore drew up a petition to the commander 
 of the fortress, in which I begged to be allowed to 
 occupy my cell for a few more days, in order that I 
 might arrange my affairs and finish my experiments. 
 I came off badly by that however! Towards midnight 
 I was awakened by the entrance of the officer of the 
 guard, who communicated to me that he had received 
 orders to turn me at once out of the citadel. The 
 commander had regarded it as a sign of ingratitude 
 for the royal favour extended to me. that I desired a 
 prolongation of my imprisonment. Accordingly about 
 midnight I was conducted out of the citadel with my 
 effects and had to get a lodging in the town. 
 
ORDERED TO THE FIREWORK LABORATORY. 35 
 
 Luckily I was not again sent to Wittenberg, but 
 
 / O- 
 
 received an order to go to the pyrotechnic factory 
 at Spandau. My discovery had in the eyes of my 
 superiors doubtless made me appear less qualified for 
 active service! The firework factory was a relic of 
 the old times when "gunnery*' (Coristablerthum) was 
 still an art. of which the manufacture of fireworks was 
 held to be the crown. My interest in the activity 
 assigned to me was great; in good spirits I repaired 
 to Spandau and took possession of the rooms in the 
 citadel allotted to the pyrotechnic manufacture. 
 
 My new occupation was in fact very interesting, 
 and I devoted myself to it with the greater eagerness 
 as a large order had arrived at the pyrotechnic 
 department for a quantity of fireworks, which it was 
 intended to let off on the birthday of the Russian 
 Empress in the park of Prince Charles at Glienicke 
 near Potsdam. Owing to the progress of chemistry 
 means were afforded at that time for the production 
 of very beautiful coloured flames unknown to the old 
 gunners. My fireworks on the Havel lake at Glienicke 
 brought me therefore much honour and recognition 
 especially by the splendour of their colours. I was 
 asked to the prince's table, and received an invitation 
 to engage the young Prince Frederick Charles in a 
 
 o o / o 
 
 sail ing -match, as the sailing boat in which I had 
 
 c o 
 
 come from Spandau to Glienicke had distinguished 
 itself by its excellent speed. I had the honour of 
 conquering the future victor of famous battles, who 
 even then impressed me in a high degree by his 
 
36 ORDERED TO BERLIN. BROTHER WILLIAM. 
 
 resolute energetic character or his "smartness", as 
 one now expresses it. 
 
 With the letting off of these fireworks my com- 
 mand of the pyrotechnic factory came to an end. and 
 to inv delight I was ordered to Berlin for service in 
 
 t/ O 
 
 the ordnance department. Through this transference 
 my greatest wish was fulfilled, to obtain time and 
 opportunity for further scientific studies and for increa- 
 sing my technical knowledge. 
 
 But there were also other reasons which made 
 this change welcome to me. After my parents" death 
 the duty devolved upon me of providing for my 
 younger brothers and sisters, of whom my youngest 
 brother Otto was at our mother's death only in his 
 third year. The farming of the domains still remained 
 it is true for a term of years in the hands of the 
 family, but the times continued to be extremely bad 
 for agriculture, so that the slight profits, which were 
 made by my brothers Hans and Ferdinand by farming, 
 did not suffice for the education of the children. I was 
 therefore obliged to look out for some way of earning 
 money in order to fulfil my obligations as senior of 
 the family, and that appeared to me to be easier in 
 Berlin than elsewhere. 
 
 My brother William had meanwhile completed 
 his course at the Magdeburg School, and at my sug- 
 gestion had gone for a year to Gottingen. to sister 
 Matilda, in order to prosecute his scientific studies. 
 After that he entered as pupil the Count Stolberg 
 engineering works in Magdeburg. He there devoted 
 
INTRODUCTION OF THE PROCESS OF GILDING & SILVERING. 37 
 
 himself with great energy to practical engineering, 
 which just then was undergoing rapid development 
 in Germany in consequence of the introduction of 
 railways. 
 
 I kept up a frequent correspondence with William, 
 and got him to communicate to me the problems 
 which exercised his constructive faculty. One such 
 problem was the precise regulation of steam engines, 
 which were assisted by wind or water mills. William's 
 plan did not satisfy me. and I proposed to employ 
 as regulative principle a heavy freely swinging circular 
 pendulum, which, connected with the engine to be 
 regulated by a differential mechanism, might effect 
 an absolutely uniform rotation, instead of diminishing 
 the irregularities by the only means then known, the 
 very imperfect regulator of Watt. To this suggestion 
 was due the construction of the differential governor, 
 to which I shall return in the sequel. 
 
 In Berlin my efforts to earn money by my in- 
 ventions were soon attended with success, although I 
 
 o 
 
 was very much hampered by being as military officer 
 considerably restricted in the choice of devices for 
 initiating business undertakings. I succeeded in con- 
 eluding an agreement with the German -silver manu- 
 facturer J. Henniger, by which I agreed to set up 
 an establishment for him for gilding and plating in 
 accordance with my patent in return for a share 
 in the profits. Thus arose the first establishment of 
 the kind in Germany. In England a Mr. Elkington 
 had already started a similar establishment, employing 
 
38 WILLIAM'S FIRST SUCCESS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 another process, now in general use - - viz. depositing 
 from gold arid silver cyanides - - which soon obtained 
 great success. 
 
 In the negoeiations with regard to the Berlin 
 
 o J~ 
 
 plan and the fitting up of the establishment I was 
 materially assisted by my brother William, who had 
 paid me a holiday A r isit, and who succeeded at the 
 same time in inducing a Berlin engineering firm to 
 adopt the differential governor. As he clearly showed 
 talent for such negociations and himself wanted to get 
 to know England, we agreed that he should try to 
 utilize my inventions in that country and for this 
 purpose obtain a longer leave of absence from his 
 factory. Considerable means I could certainly not afford 
 him for his journey, and I have often wondered how 
 in spite of this he attained his end. With excellent 
 judgment he went straight to our competitor Elkington. 
 who at first cut him short with the remark that 
 we had no right to use our process in England . as 
 his patent gave him the exclusive right to employ 
 electric currents, produced by electric batteries or 
 by induction, for depositing gold and silver. William 
 had sufficient presence of mind to reply that we 
 employed thermo-electric currents, therefore did not 
 infringe his patent. 1 did in fact at once succeed in 
 making a thermo-electric battery, consisting of pairs 
 of bars of iron arid German silver, with which we 
 could very well precipitate gold and silver from hypo- 
 sulphite solutions. As a consequence William succeeded 
 in selling our English patent to Elkington for 1 500. 
 
FURTHER INVENTIONS. 39 
 
 This in our then circumstances was a colossal sum, 
 which put for some time an end to our financial 
 difficulties. 
 
 On his return from England William re-entered 
 his Magdeburg factory, but soon found he had lost 
 his relish for such small undertakings, after becoming 
 acquainted with the large scale of English industrial 
 operations and acquiring a taste for English life. He 
 accordingly proposed to settle in England, and as 
 I approved of the project, we took out a patent there 
 for the jointly elaborated differential-governor, in order 
 to facilitate its introduction into England. 
 
 I had meanwhile made two more discoveries 
 which William was likewise to try to turn to account 
 there. The prosecution of my experiments in electro- 
 lysis had led me to attempt to get also good deposits 
 of nickel from a solution of the double salt of sulphate 
 of nickel and sulphate of ammonia. This nickelizing 
 appeared of especial importance for engraved copper- 
 plate which, provided with a coating of nickel, allowed 
 of a far larger number of impressions, without the 
 fineness of the engraving being blunted by the 
 nickelizing. To derive benefit from this process I had 
 made a compact with a Berlin house, from which 
 I expected considerable profit. Unluckily, however, 
 soon afterwards the galvanic depositing of iron from 
 the corresponding iron solution was discovered, which 
 had the great advantage over the nickel coating, that 
 
 O O O' 
 
 it could be easily renewed, when worn out. in that 
 the iron could be again liberated by dilute sulphuric 
 
40 JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 
 
 acid arid the plate then coated afresh with iron. This 
 made my nickelizing worthless for this purpose. A few 
 years later it was again discovered and made known 
 by Professor Bottger. but has only in recent times 
 been much employed in industrial operations. 
 
 The second discovery consisted in the application 
 of the zinc printing to a rotating fly-press, which process 
 had just then come to be known. With the help of a 
 skilful mechanician, the watch-maker Leorihardt. I had 
 prepared a model of such a press, which very satis- 
 factorily executed the necessary operations for producing 
 lithographic impressions from a cylindrical zinc plate. 
 But it subsequently turned out on its employment on 
 the large scale by William in England that zinc printing 
 allowed of no rapid repetition of impressions. After 
 from 150 to 200 impressions the work had to be 
 interrupted for a pretty long time, or else an obliteration 
 of the reprint on the cylinder took place. 
 
 When my brother in England met with these 
 difficulties I obtained a six week's furlough and visited 
 him in London, w r here he had rented a small place 
 for our experiments in a narrow lane of the City near 
 the Mansion House. Despite the most strenuous efforts 
 we could not however succeed in overcoming the diffi- 
 culties. We succeeded indeed in obtaining re-impressions 
 from even century old prints by a regenerating process 
 by continuous heating, if I remember rightly, in a 
 solution of salts of barium arid our process, to 
 which we had given the grand name "anastatic prin- 
 ting", accordingly excited in England much attention 
 
RETURN VIA PARIS. 41 
 
 and contributed to making William known there; but 
 it soon became clear to us that speculative inventions 
 are a very uncertain affair and only in very rare cases 
 lead to good results, unless supported by thorough 
 knowledge and ample means. 
 
 To me personally the journey to England proved 
 very stimulating, and at the same time gave a more 
 earnest and critical direction to my further endeavours, 
 leading me to look rather at the solidity of my foun- 
 dations than at the hoped for result. This was still 
 more confirmed by my return journey through Paris, 
 where in the then flourishing time of the rule of Louis 
 Philippe the first great French Industrial Exhibition 
 was taking place. 
 
 Unfortunately my stay in Paris was disturbed by 
 an unpleasant incident. I had intended to decide in 
 Brussels whether I should return by way of Paris or 
 by direct route, had arranged therefore with William 
 that he should send to Paris the money requisite for 
 the strengthening of my travelling budget, if I should 
 write him to that effect from Brussels. When I deci- 
 ded therefore to take the journey to Paris. I sent 
 with the request for money my Paris address and 
 entrusted the letter to the landlord of my hotel. 
 
 Arriving in Paris . perched on the top of an 
 omnibus of the messageries generates after a two days 
 journey. I found the city in consequence of the Exhi- 
 bition filled to overflowing, and succeeded only with 
 difficulty in obtaining a small garret room on the 
 eighth floor of the hotel des messageries generates, in 
 
42 TRIBULATIONS IN PARIS. 
 
 which it was only possible to stand upright if the 
 window which served also for roof were placed hori- 
 zontally. As my cash had in consequence of the extra 
 travelling been reduced to a minimum I could not 
 think of a change of residence until the expected 
 remittance had arrived. Almost a fortnight passed 
 however. A young Berliner who had come to Paris 
 for the Exhibition found himself in the same plight. 
 We had very thoroughly to study the art of living 
 in Paris without money, and being entirely without 
 acquaintances or other sources of assistance found 
 ourselves at last in a very uncomfortable position. 
 Finally we simultaneously resolved to employ our 
 remaining resources in despatching letters to London 
 and Berlin, as at that time only prepaid letters were 
 accepted. At the post-office it turned out. however, 
 that my ready money was not quite sufficient for the 
 purpose. The young Berliner - - Sehwarzlose was his 
 name - - magnanimously came to my assistance, but was 
 then obliged to forego the dispatch of his own missive. 
 his funds benw now exhausted. 
 
 o 
 
 This magnanimity found its reward, for on the 
 same evening the longed-for money-letter from my 
 brother arrived, instead of after the lapse of a week, 
 as I had feared. The postage of the Brussels letter 
 had been embezzled by the boots of the hotel, the 
 Post-Office authorities had therefore not despatched 
 the letter, had however written to the addressee that 
 if he desired to have it he must remit the postage. 
 Only after my brother had done this, and had received 
 
NEW AIMS. 43 
 
 the letter containing my address, could he let me 
 have the truly "needful". 
 
 Our distress was accordingly relieved, but the 
 Parisian trip was rendered vain, for my furlough was 
 now at an end. As a compensation I got practically 
 to know what want of money really means. Of Paris 
 itself I saw little but the streets in which I tramped 
 away my hunger. 
 
 Returned to Berlin I very seriously reflected on 
 the aims I had lately been pursuing, and saw clearly 
 that the chase of discoveries, by which 1 had allowed 
 myself to be carried away through the facility of a 
 first success, would if continued probably be my own 
 and my brother's ruin. I accordingly got rid of all my > 
 inventions, sold even my share in the manufactory set 
 up in Berlin, and devoted myself again with heart 
 and soul to serious scientific study. 1 attended courses 
 at the Berlin University, soon however perceived to 
 my dismay from the lectures of the celebrated mathe- 
 matician Jacobi. that my previous training was in- 
 sufficient to enable me to follow him to the end. 
 This imperfect schooling in scientific study has always 
 to my great regret kept me back and crippled my 
 efforts. All the more grateful am 1 to some of my 
 earlier teachers, among whom I must specially mention 
 the physicists Magnus. Dove and Riess. for friendly 
 reception into their highly interesting circles. I also 
 owe many thanks to the younger Berlin physicists, 
 who allowed me to take part in founding the 
 Physical Society. That was a wonderfully stimulating 
 
44 SCIENTIFIC STUDIES. POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY. 
 
 association of talented young scientists, who subse- 
 quently almost without exception became celebrated 
 by their achievments. I need mention only the names 
 of clu Bois-Reymond. Briicke, Helmholtz. Clausius, 
 Wiedemann. Ludwig, Beetz and Knoblauch. Intercourse 
 and cooperation with these young men. distinguished 
 by talent and earnest endeavour, strengthened my 
 preference for scientific study and labours, and kindled 
 in me the determination to be in future the votary 
 of strict science alone. 
 
 But circumstances were stronger than my will, 
 and the native impulse never to let acquired know- 
 ledge lie idle, but as far as possible to make some 
 use of it, led me ever and again back to technology. 
 And so it has been my life long. My affection has 
 always been given to pure science as such, but my 
 labours and achievments have been for the most part 
 in the domain of applied science. 
 
 This technical turn was especially favoured and 
 supported by the Polytechnic Society, to which as a 
 young officer I zealously devoted myself. I took an 
 active part in its proceedings, and in the answering 
 of the questions which were deposited in the query- 
 box. The answering and discussing of these soon 
 formed a part of my regular activity and proved a 
 good school for me. My scientific study stood me in 
 good stead, and it became clear to me, that technical 
 progress is only to be attained by the diffusion of 
 scientific knowledge among technologists. 
 
 ''At that time there still existed an unbridged 
 
SCIENCE AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN PRUSSIA. 45 
 
 gulf between pure and applied science. The meri- 
 torious Beuth. who is unquestionably to be regarded 
 as the founder of the technical science of North Ger- 
 many, had indeed in the Berlin Industrial Institute 
 erected an institution, which was especially designed 
 for the diffusion of scientific knowledge among young 
 technologists. The existence of this institute, out of 
 which arose the Industrial Academy and finally the 
 Technical College in Charlottenburg, was howeyer too 
 short for raising the leyel of education of the craftsmen 
 of the period. 
 
 Prussia was at that time still a purely military 
 and bureaucratic state. In its official class alone was 
 culture to be found, and it is doubtless mainly owing 
 to this circumstance that even at the present day 
 the semblance of an official title is regarded and 
 striven for as an external mark of a cultured and 
 respected man. Of the industrial body only agricul- * 
 turists. from whom the military class as well as the 
 bureaucracy was almost without exception recruited, 
 had a respectable status in the eyes of the latter. In this 
 country, wasted and impoverished by a century of wars, 
 there existed no longer a well-to-do bourgeoisie to * 
 counterpoise in culture and property the military and 
 official class. It must however be added, that this state 
 of things was in part attributable to the fact, that the 
 representatives of science always highly respected in * 
 Prussia under the rule of the far-seeing Hohenzollern 
 did not consider it compatible with their dignity to 
 manifest a personal interest in technical progress. The 
 
46 SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL STUDIES. 
 
 same may be said in respect of plastic art. whose 
 representatives regarded and in part, I believe, still 
 regard it beneath their dignity to employ a part of 
 their creative power for the elevation of industrial art. 
 Through my activity in the Polytechnic Society 
 I arrived at the conviction that scientific knowledge 
 and scientific methods of investigation are capable 
 of developing technology to a degree far beyond 
 anything that can be foreseen. It further had the 
 advantage of making me personally acquainted with 
 Berlin manufacturers, and of affording me personally 
 an insight into the achievments and defects of the 
 
 o 
 
 industry of the time. My advice was often sought 
 by manufacturers, and I thereby became acquainted 
 with the contrivances employed and the modes of 
 working. It became clear to me that the industrial 
 arts cannot advance by sudden leaps, as has often 
 been possible to science through the fruitful ideas of 
 a few remarkable men. A technical invention only 
 obtains value and importance if technology itself has 
 so far progressed, that the invention is a practical 
 one and supplies a need. Hence one so often sees 
 the most considerable inventions unutilized for decermia, 
 until all at once their great importance is recognised, 
 their hour having arrived. -~7 
 
 Of the scientific-technical questions which at that 
 time especially occupied me, and at the same time 
 gave occasion to my first literary labours, the first 
 owed its origin to a communication in a letter of 
 my brother William with respect to an interesting 
 
FIRST LITERARY LABOURS. 47 
 
 engine, which he had seen at work in Dundee. From 
 a rather brief account it appeared that this engine 
 was not driven by steam but by heated air. This 
 idea interested me exceedingly, since it appeared to 
 afford a foundation for an advantageous transformation 
 of the whole engine-constructing art. In a paper 
 entitled "On the use of heated air as mechanical 
 power", contributed in 1845 to Dingier' s Polytechnic 
 Journal, I described the theory of such air-eno-ines, 
 
 / ' C? 
 
 and gave also a sketch of the construction of such 
 a one as I conceived to be practicable. 
 
 My theory was based entirely on the principle of 
 the conservation of energy, which had been advanced 
 by Mayer arid mathematically worked out by Helmholtz 
 in his celebrated memoir "On the Conservation of 
 Energy"; originally read before the Physical Society. 
 Later on my brothers William and Frederick occupied 
 themselves a good deal with these engines, and con- 
 structed them in various forms. They too however 
 unfortunately had to undergo the common experience 
 of finding, that engineering had by no means advanced 
 far enough to allow of the discovery being utilised with 
 advantage. Only small engines could be constructed 
 on the basis of the above principle so as to work well 
 for a length of time; for large ones the right material 
 for the heating apparatus was and is still wanting. 
 
 In the same year I printed in Dingier* s Journal 
 ii description of the already mentioned differential 
 governor, to which in collaboration with my brother 
 \\ illiam I had tried to give the most varied forms. 
 
48 FIRST LITERARY LABOURS. 
 
 Another question, which had already occupied 
 me for a long time, was that of an exact measurement 
 of the velocity of projectiles. The watchmaker Leon- 
 hardt. known as a skilled mechanician and in the 
 employ of the Artillery Commission, had constructed 
 a clock, which turned an indicator with great velocity, 
 when the latter was electro -magnetically connected 
 with the clock-work. 
 
 The coupling and uncoupling of the indicator by 
 the flying shot was attended however with great 
 difficulties, which in spite of our efforts could not be 
 quite overcome. 
 
 This led me to the idea of the employement of 
 the electric spark for the measurement of velocity. 
 In a paper, published in Poggendorffs Annalen "On 
 the application of the electric spark to the measure- 
 ment of velocity' 7 . I demonstrated the possibility of 
 accurately measuring the velocity of projectiles at 
 every stage of their progress by means of a rapidly 
 rotating polished steel cylinder, on which incident 
 electric sparks could leave a distinct mark. This 
 paper also contained the plan, only many years sub- 
 sequently executed by me. of ascertaining by the 
 same method the velocity of electricity itself in its 
 conductors. 
 
 My interest in electrical experiments was most 
 vividly stimulated by participating in the labours of 
 Leonhardt. who was at the same time occupied with 
 experiments, which the military staff had caused to 
 be instituted, with regard to the substitution of electric 
 
TELEGRAPHIC SIGNALLING. 49 
 
 for optic telegraphy. In the house of Hofrath Solt- 
 manri. father of an intimate comrade of mine. I had 
 the opportunity of seeing the model of a Wheatstone 
 indicator-telegraph, and had taken part in the attempts 
 to bring it into operation between the dwelling house 
 and the establishment for artificial mineral waters at 
 the end of a large garden. This however never 
 succeeded, and I soon perceived the cause of these 
 failures. It was traceable to the principle on which 
 the apparatus was constructed, which required the 
 turning of a handle with such regularity that the 
 impulses of current produced had always sufficient 
 strength to keep the clock-work of the receiving 
 apparatus in motion. This was not attainable with 
 certainty even if the apparatus worked in the room, 
 and was altogether impossible where an important part 
 of the current was lost through the imperfect insulation 
 of the conductors. 
 
 Leonhardt. trying at the instance of the commission 
 to remedy this defect, caused the impulses to be 
 produced by clock-work, i. e. in quite regular intervals, 
 which was certainly an improvement, but still did 
 not suffice with the varying loss of current. This 
 made it apparent to me that the problem was most 
 completely to be solved by converting the indicator- 
 telegraphs into self-acting machines, each of which 
 would automatically break and make the circuit. If 
 two or more of such electrical machines were connected 
 to a single electrical circuit a fresh impulse could 
 only be given when all the inserted apparatus had 
 
 T^ 
 
 OF THE ^ \ 
 
 UNIVERSITY) 
 
 . y 
 
50 DIAL TELEGRAPH. 
 
 completed their stroke, and this had again closed the 
 circuit. This proved in the sequel a very fruitful 
 principle for innumerable electro-technical applications. 
 All the self-acting alarums or bells employed at the 
 present time are based on the automatic interruption 
 after a completed stroke first introduced as above 
 stated. 
 
 The construction of these self- interrupting dial 
 telegraphs I entrusted to a young mechanician, named 
 Halske. with whom I had become acquainted through 
 the Physical Society, and who at that time managed 
 a small mechanical workshop, the business firm being 
 known as Bottcher & Halske. As Halske at first 
 entertained doubts whether my apparatus would act. 
 I myself set up a couple of automatic telegraphs, 
 composed of cigar boxes, tin-plate, a few pieces of 
 iron, and some insulated copper w r ire, which worked 
 with perfect certainty. This unexpected result filled 
 Halske with so much enthusiasm for a design capable 
 of execution notwithstanding such defective materials, 
 that he gave himself up with the greatest eagerness 
 to the construction of the first apparatus, and even 
 declared himself ready to withdraw from his firm 
 and in conjunction with me to devote himself entirely 
 to telegraphy.' 
 
 This success, as well as the growing care for 
 my younger brothers and sisters, matured my reso- 
 lution to quit the military service and through 
 telegraphy, whose great importance I clearly perceived, 
 create for myself a new vocation, which should also 
 
NEW PLAN OF LIFE. 51 
 
 afford me the means of fulfilling the duties I had 
 undertaken towards my younger brothers. I was 
 therefore intent on the preparation of my new telegraph, 
 which was to form the bridge to the new career, when 
 an event occurred which threatened to throw all my 
 plans to the winds. 
 
 It was a time of great religious and political stir 
 in all Europe. This first found expression in Germany 
 in the free religious movement which ran counter both 
 to Catholicism and to the rigid Protestantism then in 
 the ascendant. Johannes Ronge had come to Berlin, and 
 held public lectures in the Tivoli Gardens, which were 
 attended by all the world and excited great enthusiasm. 
 The younger officers and officials in particular, then 
 almost without exception liberally inclined, raved for 
 Johannes Rorige. 
 
 Just as this Ronge -worship was at its height I 
 along with all the officers of the Artillery workshop - 
 nine in number - happened to take a stroll after 
 working-hours in the Thiergarten. "Under the Tents" 
 we found many people assembled, listening to vivacious 
 speeches, in which all the like-minded were called 
 upon to take part for Johannes Ronge and against the 
 obscurantists. The speeches were good, and were perhaps 
 the more persuasive and captivating as people were not 
 then accustomed in Prussia to public speaking. 
 
 When therefore on going away a sheet was 
 presented for my signature, which was already almost 
 filled with names partly known to me, I did not 
 hesitate to add mine. The other officers, some con- 
 
 4* 
 
52 FATAL PROMENADE. 
 
 siclerably my seniors, followed my example without 
 exception. No one dreamt for a moment of doing 
 anything wrong. Each thought it only common honesty 
 openly to avow his conviction. 
 
 But great was my alarm when at breakfast on 
 the following morning I happened to glance at the 
 Vossische Zeitung, and found a leading article entitled 
 "Protest against Reaction and Religious Cant (Mucker- 
 thum)'\ and at the head of the subscribed names my 
 own followed by those of my comrades. 
 
 When soon after half an hour before the com- 
 mencement of work I appeared in the laboratory 
 yard I found my comrades all assembled in a state of 
 great excitement. We feared we had committed a 
 grave military offence. In this supposition we were 
 soon strengthened by the appearance of the com- 
 mander of the workshops, an excellent and extremely 
 amiable man. who declared to us in great excitement 
 that we had by this action all ruined ourselves and 
 him likewise. 
 
 Some anxious days passed. Then the announce- 
 ment arrived that the inspector of the workshops, 
 General von Jenichen. had to communicate to us an 
 order in council. The order in council reprehended 
 us indeed very severely, but was more gracious than 
 we had ventured to hope. The general addressed 
 us in a long speech, in which he set before us the 
 impropriety and blameworthiness of our conduct. 
 I was awaiting with some curiosity the conclusion 
 of this speech, as I had taken the waters at Kissingen 
 
THREATENED REMOVAL FROM BERLIN. 53 
 
 for M month with the general, who was a highly 
 cultured and very humane man. and as I knew well 
 that his opinions were not altogether different from 
 those subscribed by us. "You know", said the general 
 in conclusion, directing a look towards me, "that I 
 am of the opinion, that every man. and particularly 
 every officer, should always express his opinion openly, 
 you have however not considered that openly and 
 publicly are world-wide different things!" 
 
 We soon learnt that as punishment we were all 
 to be sent back to our brigade - - or our regiment, 
 as it is now again called. For me this was an 
 almost insupportably hard blow, disturbing all my 
 life -plans, and making it impossible for me to go 
 on providing for my younger brothers. The problem 
 was to find a way to prevent this removal. That 
 was only to be attained by an important military dis- 
 covery, which should necessitate my presence in Berlin. 
 Telegraphy, in which I was specially interested, could not 
 perform this service, for only few then believed in its 
 great future, and my projects were still undeveloped. 
 
 By good luck gun-cotton occurred to me, which 
 a little while before had been discovered by Professor 
 Schonbein in Basle, but had not yet been brought 
 into use. It appeared to me indubitable that it could 
 be so improved as to be made available for military 
 purposes. I therefore went immediately to my old 
 teacher Erdmann, professor of chemistry at the Royal 
 Veterinary School, told him of my trouble, and begged 
 permission to institute experiments with gun-cotton in 
 
54 GUN-COTTON. 
 
 his laboratory. He willingly granted it. and I went 
 eagerly to work. 
 
 I had the idea, that by employing stronger nitric 
 acid and by more careful washing and neutralizing a 
 better and less easily decomposable product could be 
 obtained. All the experiments however came to 
 nothing, though I used fuming nitric acid extremely 
 concentrated: a greasy easily destructible product was 
 always the result. My stock of extremely concentrated 
 nitric acid having run short I once tried the effect 
 of adding some concentrated sulphuric acid in order 
 to strengthen it, and to my astonishment got a gun- 
 cotton with altogether different properties. After 
 washing it became white and firm like the unchanged 
 
 o O 
 
 gun-cotton and exploded very energetically. I was 
 overjoyed, made till late in the night a considerable 
 quantity of such gun-cotton and placed it in the 
 drying-stove of the laboratory. 
 
 When after a brief sleep I went again early in 
 the morning to the laboratory I found the professor 
 standing mournfully among ruins in the middle of the 
 room. On heating the drying-stove the gun-cotton 
 had exploded and destroyed the stove. A glance 
 made this clear to me and showed the perfect success 
 of my experiments. The professor, with whom I in 
 my joy tried to waltz round the room, seemed at 
 first to think I had gone wrong in the head. It cost 
 me some trouble to set his mind at rest, and to induce 
 him to resume the experiments at once. About eleven 
 o'clock I had packed a goodly quantity of faultless 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN THE SPANDAU POWDER-MILL. 55 
 
 gnu-cotton, and sent it with a formal explanatory 
 letter to the war-minister. 
 
 The result was glorious. The minister of war 
 instituted a shooting -trial in his large gardens, and 
 as it went off brilliantly immediately induced the 
 heads of the ministry to make a regular trial with 
 pistols. On the very same day I received an official 
 order direct from the minister to repair to the powder 
 manufactory at Spandau, which had already been in- 
 structed to place everything requisite at my disposal, 
 to institute experiments on a larger scale. It is seldom 
 I fancy that a memorial to the war office has been 
 so quickly acted upon! Of my returning to the brigade 
 there was no more talk. I was soon the only one 
 of my brothers in misfortune, who had not been 
 obliged to leave Berlin. 
 
 The experiments on the large scale, which were 
 made under my direction in the powder factory at 
 Spandau. did not lead to the result expected in the 
 first glowing moments, viz. that gun-cotton would 
 generally supersede gunpowder. It is true the trials 
 with small arms as well as with cannon yielded 
 excellent results; it appeared, however, that gun- 
 cotton was not a sufficiently fixed combination, since it 
 gradually decomposed in the dry state, and occasionally 
 also would go off of itself. Moreover its effectiveness 
 depended on the degree of compression of the gun- 
 cotton and on the mode of its ignition. My report 
 therefore ran. that the gun-cotton produced according 
 to my method by means of a mixture of nitric and 
 
56 PRIORITY OF DISCOVERIES. 
 
 sulphuric acid possessed excellent properties as a 
 blasting material, and seemed well suited to take the 
 place of blasting powder for military purposes but that 
 it could not in general be substituted for gunpowder, 
 as it presented no sufficiently stable chemical com- 
 bination, and its action was not constant enough. 
 
 I had already sent in this report when Professor 
 Otto in Brunswick discovered anew and published my 
 method of preparation of serviceable gun-cotton. My 
 earlier action in the matter and my report to the 
 war-office remained of course secret, and Otto there- 
 fore must rightly be held the discoverer of serviceable 
 gun-cotton, since he was the first to make public the 
 method of its production. It has often been so with 
 me. It appears at first sight hard and unjust that 
 any one may by earlier publication appropriate the 
 honour of a discovery or invention, which another, 
 who has worked at it long with ardour and success, 
 would only make known after the most thorough 
 testing. On the other hand it must however be admit- 
 ted that some definite rule must be established in regard 
 to priority, since for science and the world it is not 
 the person, but the thing itself and its publication 
 that is of importance. 
 
 After the danger of removal from Berlin had 
 been in this manner successfully averted I was able 
 to devote myself with a tranquil mind to telegraphy. 
 I sent general Oetzel. the chief of the optical telegraph 
 department under the immediate direction of the 
 staff, a memoir on the condition of telegraphy and the 
 
THE TELEGRAPH COMMISSION. 57 
 
 improvement to be expected therein. In consequence 
 of this I was ordered to place myself at the service of 
 the commission of the staff, which was deliberating on 
 the introduction of electrical instead of optical tele- 
 graphs. I succeeded in gaining the confidence of the 
 general and his son-in-law, professor Dove, in so high 
 a degree, that the commission almost always assented 
 to my proposals and entrusted me with their execution. 
 It was then regarded as altogether out of the 
 question that a telegraph wire easy of access, attached 
 to posts, could be really serviceable, since it was 
 imagined the public would destroy it. Accordingly, 
 wherever on the European continent it was desired 
 to introduce electric telegraphs, experiments were first 
 made with subterranean conductors. The best known 
 were those of Professor Jacobi in St. Petersburg: he 
 had tried resin, glass-tubes, and india-rubber as in- 
 sulators, but had obtained no permanently satisfactory 
 
 results. The Berlin commission likewise had begun 
 
 t? 
 
 such experiments, which however just as little yielded 
 a satisfactory durable insulation. 
 
 By chance my brother William in London had 
 sent me as curiosity a sample of a substance which 
 had recently appeared in the English market, gutta- 
 percha. The remarkable properties of this material 
 of becoming plastic 'in the heated state, and when 
 cooled of being a good insulator of electricity, aroused 
 my attention. I covered some pieces of wire with the 
 heated material, and found that they were thoroughly 
 insulated. At my suggestion the commission gave 
 
58 GUTTA-PERCHA INSULATED WIRES. 
 
 orders for more considerable experiments with such 
 wires insulated by gutta-percha, which were begun 
 in the summer of 1846 and continued in 1847. la 
 samples placed on the track of the Anhalt Railway 
 in 1846 the gutta-percha was rolled round the wire. 
 It turned out however that the coil got loosened in 
 course of time. I accordingly constructed a screw- 
 press, by which the heated gutta-percha was cohesively 
 pressed round the copper wire under the application 
 of a high pressure. The conducting wires, coated by 
 the help of a sampler press constructed by Halske, 
 proved to be well insulated and permanently retained 
 their insulation. 
 
 In the summer of 1847 the first long subterranean 
 
 D 
 
 wire from Berlin to Grossbeeren was laid by me with 
 such insulated wires. As it stood the test perfectly 
 the question of the insulation of subterranean wires by 
 the employment of gutta-percha and my press appeared 
 to be now successfully solved. In fact since that time 
 not only the subterranean land-lines but also the sub- 
 marine cable lines almost without exception have been 
 insulated in this manner. 
 
 The commission had under consideration the em- 
 ployment, both of the wires coated with gutta-percha by 
 pressing and also my dial and printing telegraph, in the 
 telegraph -system about to be introduced into Prussia. 
 
 The resolution to devote myself entirely to the 
 development of telegraphy was now fixed. Accordingly, 
 in the autumn of 1847 I induced the mechanician 
 J. Gr. Halske, with whom our common labours had 
 
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FIRM OF SIEMENS & HA.LSKE. 59 
 
 bound me closely, to hand over his business to his 
 partner and to start a telegraph factory, into which I j 
 reserved to myself the right of entry on my discharge. 
 As Halske just as little as I had available resources 
 we had recourse to my cousin, George Siemens, a 
 barrister residing in Berlin, who lent us 6000 thalers 
 for the erection of a small workshop on condition of 
 a share in the profit for six years. The workshop was 
 opened on the 12 th of October 1847 in the back part 
 of a house in the Schoneberger Strasse where Halske 
 and I also took rooms - and grew rapidly and 
 without the aid of outside capital into the world- 
 known establishment of Siemens and Halske in Berlin, 
 with branches in many of the chief cities of Europe. 
 
 The enticing prospect, in virtue of my dominating 
 position in the telegraph commission, of rising to be 
 the head of the future Prussian State telegraphs I 
 had put aside, as a position of dependence was not < 
 congenial to me, and I had the conviction I should 
 be of more service to myself and the world if I 
 obtained my full independence. But I resolved riot to 
 renounce the military service, and therewith my place 
 on the military commission, before the latter had com- 
 pletely accomplished its task, and a definite settlement 
 of the future telegraph-system had been arrived at. 
 
 I urged in the commission that the public should 
 also be allowed the use of the telegraph lines, which 
 met with considerable opposition in military circles. 
 The great celerity and certainty with which my new 
 patented dial and printing telegraphs worked on the 
 
60 USE OF THE TELEGRAPHS BY THE PUBLIC. 
 
 overhead line between Berlin and Potsdam and on 
 the underground line between Berlin arid Grossbeeren 
 - performances with which those of the old semaphores 
 were not to be compared - contributed however in 
 no small degree to produce an opinion more favourable 
 to the public interest. The report of the astonishingly 
 favourable results of these experiments went the round 
 of the higher circles in Berlin, arid brought me a 
 command from the Princess of Prussia to give a lecture 
 
 o 
 
 in Potsdam on electric telegraphy to her son. after- 
 wards Crown Prince Frederick William and Emperor 
 Frederick. This lecture, accompanied by experiments 
 on the Berlin -Potsdam line, and a memoir connected 
 therewith, in which I enlarged upon the great future 
 in store for telegraphy, supposing it to be made the 
 common property of the people, no doubt considerably 
 assisted in gaining over the higher circles. 
 
 At my instigation the commission instituted a public 
 competition for March 1848, and settled the conditions 
 to be satisfied in regard to the telegraphic communi- 
 cations and apparatus. Prizes were assigned to the 
 conquerors, who were also to have the reversion of 
 consequent orders. I had a pretty safe expectation 
 of obtaining the victory with my own proposals at this 
 competition, which opened on the 15 th of March 1848, 
 when on the 18 th the competition as well as the 
 commission itself came to an abrupt end. 
 
 Plunged in my own interesting labours I had 
 found little time to give heed to the wild commotion, 
 which since the February revolution in Paris was 
 
THE 18 TH OF MARCH 1848. 61 
 
 spreading over all Germany. With elemental force 
 the mighty stream of political excitement rushed onward, 
 tearing down all the feeble dikes which the existing 
 powers aimlessly and planlessly opposed to it. Dis- 
 content with the prevailing state of things, the hopeless 
 feeling that they could not be changed without violent 
 subversion, penetrated the whole German people and 
 extended to the upper strata of the civil and even 
 the military administration of Prussia. The political 
 and national claptrap, the emptiness of which was 
 only revealed by the subsequent events, exerted its 
 full effect upon the masses, and its diffusion was 
 powerfully helped by the unusually fine summer 
 weather, which prevailed throughout Germany at 
 this time. 
 
 The streets of Berlin were continually flooded by 
 excited crowds, discussing the most exaggerated reports 
 of the progress of the movement, and eagerly listening 
 to agitators who spread them further and called for 
 action. The police seemed to have disappeared 
 from the town, and the military, which did its duty 
 with thorough fidelity, hardly made itself noticeable. 
 Then came the overwhelming news of the victory of 
 the revolution in Dresden and Vienna, closely followed 
 by the shooting of the sentry at the Bank, and lastly 
 the misunderstanding at the Castle Square. This drove 
 even the quieter citizens, who had formed themselves 
 into a mediating national guard, to the revolutionary 
 side. I saw from my windows how a division of this 
 citizen-guard came in great excitement from the Castle 
 
62 SCENE IN THE CASTLE SQUARE ON THE 19 TH OP MARCH. 
 
 Square and threw their scarves and staves on the 
 square before the Anhalt Gate with the cry "Treachery! 
 the military have fired upon us!"" In a few hours the 
 streets were covered with barricades, the sentries were 
 attacked and in part overpowered, and the struggle 
 with the garrison, which for the most part confined 
 itself to defence, and without exception remained true 
 to their flag, quickly extended over a large part of 
 the town. 
 
 I myself, owing to my being ordered to a special 
 commission, was out of connection with the active 
 army and awaited with beating heart the issue of the 
 unhappy struggle. Then appeared on the following day 
 the royal proclamation, which restored peace. On 
 the forenoon of the 1 9 th of March the citizens crowded 
 to the Castle Square to thank the King for his procla- 
 mation. I could stay no longer at home and accord- 
 ingly mingled with them in civil dress. I found the 
 whole square filled with a vast throng, which on all 
 sides gave lively expression to its joy at the peace 
 proclamation. But soon the scene changed. Long- 
 processions came, bringing the fallen to the Castle 
 Square, in order, as was said, that the King might see 
 for himself what havoc his soldiers had wrought. Then 
 followed the terrible scene on the balcony of the castle, 
 when the Queen fainted away as her eyes caught 
 sight of the blood-stained dead heaped at her feet. 
 There came fresh processions with corpses, and as 
 the King no longer responded to the shout for his 
 appearance, the excited throng prepared to burst 
 
SCENE IN THE CASTLE SQUARE ON THE 19 TH OF MARCH. 63 
 
 open the castle gates, to make him see these dead 
 likewise. 
 
 It was a critical moment, for to a certainty the 
 struggle would have been renewed in the Castle Yard, 
 where a batallion had been stationed, a struggle 
 whose issue would have been exceedingly doubtful as 
 the rest of the military had quitted the town by the 
 royal order, had not a saviour appeared in the person 
 of young Prince Lichnowsky. From a table placed 
 in the middle of the Castle Square he addressed the 
 crowd in a loud audible voice. He said His Majesty 
 the King had in his great goodness and grace put an 
 end to the struggle, in that he had withdrawn all the 
 military and had entrusted himself entirely to the 
 protection of the citizens. All demands would be 
 granted, and they should now go quietly home. The 
 speech manifestly made an impression. To the question 
 from the people whether everything was really granted 
 he answered "Yes, everything, gentlemen!" "Smoking 
 too?" sounded another voice. "Yes, smoking too" 
 was the answer. "In the Thiergarten also?" was 
 further enquired. "Yes, you may smoke in the Thier- 
 o'arten also, o-eritlemen." That was decisive. "Well 
 
 O ' o 
 
 then we can go home" was the general exclamation, 
 and in a short time the cheered-up multitude left the 
 square. The presence of mind, with which the young 
 prince probably on his own responsibility 
 
 conceded the liberty of smoking in the public streets 
 and the Thiergarten, mayhap averted more serious, 
 mischief. 
 
64 THE BERLIN REVOLUTION. 
 
 On me this scene in the Schlossplatz produced 
 an ineffaceable impression. It showed with such im- 
 mistakeable plainness the perilous fickleness of an 
 excited multitude and the impossibility of predicting its 
 actions. It taught me also that it is not usually the 
 large and weighty questions that agitate the masses but 
 petty grievances long felt by everybody as oppressive. 
 The prohibition of smoking in the streets and parti- 
 cularly in the Thiergarten. with the constant petty 
 warfare with gendarmes and watch -men connected with 
 it. formed in fact about the only hardship really com- 
 prehended by the great mass of the Berlin populace, 
 and for which it in truth contended. 
 
 With the victory of the Revolution all serious 
 activity was put a stop to for a time in Berlin. The 
 w r hole governmental machine seemed out of gear. The 
 
 o o 
 
 telegraph commission had simply ceased to do anything 
 without being abolished or even only suspended. I owe 
 it to the energy of my friend Halske. that our work- 
 shop quietly continued its activity during the hard 
 times ensuing and manufactured telegraphic apparatus, 
 although there was an entire lack of orders. Personally 
 I \vas in a difficult position, as my official activity 
 had ceased without anv other being assigned me. and 
 
 / o o 
 
 on the other hand it did not do to request my 
 discharge at a time when it was generally assumed 
 that a foreign war was imminent. 
 
 Then again, as so often in inv life, an event 
 
 C) v 
 
 occurred, which gave it a new and ultimately favourable 
 
 c? / 
 
 direction. 
 
UNEXPECTED TURN OF AFFAIRS. (35 
 
 Ju Schleswig-Holstein the rising against the Danes 
 had been accomplished with success. A powerful 
 impulse was thereby given to the desire for national 
 unity, and free corps w T ere formed throughout Germany 
 tor ender aid to the brothers contending against foreign 
 oppressors in the extreme north. On the other side 
 the Danes made preparations for reconquering the land, 
 and the Copenhagen newspapers with one accord 
 called upon the government to punish the centre of 
 the revolutionary movement, the town of Kiel, by a 
 bombardment. 
 
 My brother-in-law Himly had in the previous 
 year been called to Kiel as professor of chemistry, 
 and resided close by the harbour. Sister Matilda 
 wrote me in great anxiety and almost saw in spirit 
 her house in ruins, it being especially exposed to the 
 bombs of the Danish men-of-war. The marine battery 
 Friedrichsort. as the small fortress at the entrance of 
 the Kiel harbour was then called, was still in Danish 
 hands: the entrance to the harbour stood therefore 
 perfectly open to the Danish fleet. 
 
 This led me to the then entirely novel idea of 
 defending the harbour by submarine mines fired by 
 electricity. My wires insulated w r ith gutta-percha 
 offered a means of exploding such mines at the 
 right moment in safety from the shore. I com- 
 municated this plan to my brother-in-law, who took 
 it up warmly and immediately submitted it to the 
 provisional government for the defence of the country. 
 The latter approved of it and despatched a special 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TTHIVERSITY 
 
66 To KIEL. 
 
 emissary to the Prussian Government, with the request 
 to grant me permission to execute the plan. My author- 
 ized employment or even mere leave of absence for this 
 warlike purpose was howeA^er opposed on the ground that 
 peace still reigned between Prussia and Denmark. But 
 it was intimated to me that I should receive the desired 
 permission if circumstances changed, as was expected. 
 
 I employed this waiting -time in making prepar- 
 ations. Large and particularly strong canvas - bags 
 rendered watertight by caoutchouc were got ready, each 
 capable of holding about five hundred- weight of powder. 
 Further, wires insulated in all haste and exploding con- 
 trivances were prepared, and the necessary galvanic 
 batteries procured for firing. When the departmental 
 chief in the war-office. General von Reyher, in whose 
 ante-room I daily waited for the decision, at last made 
 the communication, that he had just been appointed 
 minister and. war having been resolved against Den- 
 mark, that he granted mfc the desired furlough as the 
 first act of hostilities against Denmark, my prepar- 
 ations were almost completed, and on the same even- 
 ing I left for Kiel. 
 
 In Altona. where great excitement prevailed, my 
 brother-in-law Himly already awaited me; a special 
 locomotive took us to Kiel. The news of the decla- 
 ration of war by Prussia had already become known, 
 but was still considerably doubted. My appearance 
 in Prussian uniform was rightly taken as evidence of 
 the longed-for fact and excited on the whole way to 
 
 o i/ 
 
 Kiel and in the town itself unbounded joy. 
 
SUBMARINE MINES. 67 
 
 My brother -in -law in Kiel had meanwhile made 
 all the preparations in order to proceed quickly with 
 the laying of the mines, as the appearance of the 
 Danish fleet was daily expected. A ship-load of powder 
 had already arrived from Rendsburg, and a number 
 of large casks stood ready well calked and pitched, 
 in order to be provisionally used instead of the still 
 unfinished caoutchouc-bags. These casks were as quickly 
 as possible filled with powder, provided with fuses, 
 and anchored in the rather narrow channel in front 
 of the bathing-establishment in such a way that they 
 were buoyed twenty feet under the surface of the 
 water. The firing-wires were carried to two covered 
 
 o 
 
 points on the shore, and the course of the current so 
 disposed that a mine must explode if at both points 
 simultaneously contact was made. 
 
 At both places of observation upright rods were 
 set up and the instruction given, that contact must 
 be made, if a hostile ship took up a position in the 
 direct line of the rods, and remain made until the 
 ship had again completely removed from the right 
 line. If contact of both right lines were at any 
 moment simultaneously made the ship would be exactly 
 over the mines. By experiments with small mines and 
 boats it was ascertained that this exploding arrange- 
 ment acted with perfect certainty. 
 
 In the meantime the battle of Bau had been 
 fought, in which the Schleswig-Holstein gymnasts and 
 the German free-lances had been vanquished by the 
 Danes and in part made prisoners. It is remarkable 
 
68 THE FAIR FOE. 
 
 how quickly and potently the national hatred and the 
 bellicose passions of the otherwise peaceful Schleswig- 
 Holsteiners now flamed out. This was strikingly ex- 
 hibited in the temper of the women. A characteristic 
 instance came immediately under my own observation. 
 At a social gathering a beautiful and amiable young 
 girl made me explain to her the construction of the 
 mines laid down for the protection of the town and 
 the method of firing them. When she learnt that in 
 a succesful case the whole ship would be blown into the 
 air and the entire crew destroyed, she excitedly asked 
 me if I believed that there were people who could 
 perpetrate such an atrocity, and with the pressure of 
 a finder annihilate hundreds of human lives. When I 
 
 o 
 
 affirmed this and endeavoured to excuse it by the 
 necessity of war. she turned indignantly away and 
 obviously avoided me from that moment. When shortly 
 after I again met her in society the battle of Bau had 
 meanwhile been fought: Wrangel was on the point of 
 marching into Schleswig-Holstein with the Prussian 
 troops, and the war-fury had vehemently invaded the 
 public mind. To my surprise my fair foe came directly 
 up to me as soon as she caught sight of me. and asked 
 w r h ether my mines were still in order. I said "Yes" 
 and added I cherished the hope of soon being able 
 to show their effectiveness on an enemy's ship, for it 
 was said that a Danish fleet was on the way for the 
 bombardment of Kiel. I intended therewith to again 
 kindle her wrath, which had shown her to such ad- 
 vantage. But to my surprise she said with counte- 
 
THE KIEL GUARD CALLED OUT. 69 
 
 nance charged with hatred: "Oh. it would give me 
 infinite pleasure if a couple of hundred of those monsters 
 were to be seen sprawling in the air!" Her intended 
 had been wounded at Ban and taken prisoner and was 
 according to rumour being badly treated by the Danes 
 along with the other captives on board the war-ship 
 "Droning Maria". Hence this sudden revolution in 
 her humane sentiments! 
 
 It was really said at the time that it had been 
 resolved in Copenhagen to bombard Kiel, even before 
 it was occupied by the German troops. I was indeed 
 somewhat anxious about the town, for the channel 
 proved on exact investigation to be broader for ships 
 of moderate size than was originally supposed. The 
 Danish fleet could also quietly drop anchor at Friedrichs- 
 ort and effect the bombardment at their leisure by 
 means of gun-boats. I considered it therefore of ex- 
 treme importance that the Fried richsort fort should 
 not remain in Danish hands. It was said to be occupied 
 by only a small number of disabled soldiers, its capture 
 accordingly did not appear difficult. 
 
 I expressed my opinion to the newly nominated 
 commander of Kiel, a Hanoverian major. He entirely 
 agreed with me. had also received news that a Danish 
 squadron was in fact on the way to occupy Friedrichs- 
 ort. lamented however that he was without men, and 
 therefore unable to do anything. When I mentioned 
 the Kiel civic guard, who certainly would be willing, 
 he doubted this indeed, but offered to have the drum 
 beat and the civic guard informed of my proposal. 
 
70 CAPTURE OF FRIEDRICHSORT. 
 
 The latter turned out in respectable numbers, and I 
 tried to prove to them that it was absolutely necess- 
 ary for the protection of the life and property of the 
 citizens of Kiel to occupy Friedrichsort, which to-day 
 would be quite easy, but to-morrow perhaps no 
 longer so. 
 
 My speech took effect. After a brief consultation 
 the civic guard declared itself ready to take possession 
 of the fort in the coming night if I would undertake 
 the command, to which I of course willingly con- 
 sented. Accordingly with the help of the commander 
 of the town, who it is true had no men but a tolerably 
 well-filled magazine at his disposal, an expeditionary 
 corps of 150 men was hastily formed from the civic 
 guard, supplemented by a reserve of 50 men. 
 
 Towards midnight we were on the way to Holtenau, 
 whence the storming of the fort was to be attempted. 
 My troops marched noiselessly and bravely on to the 
 draw- bridge, which luckily had been let down, and 
 with loud hurrahs we took possession of the fort. 
 Resistance of any kind whatever unfortunately was not 
 perceptible. I set up my head-quarters in the Com- 
 mander's house, and soon the garrison, consisting of 
 six old gunners and sergeants, altogether forgotten by 
 the Danes as it seemed, was brought captive before 
 us. The fellows were placed temporarily under arrest 
 and on the following day as the first prisoners of war 
 transported to Kiel; they were born Schleswig-Hol- 
 steiners. who manifestly were glad enough to obtain 
 in this manner their discharge from the Danish army. 
 
A SPY. THE NEW GARRISON. 71 
 
 At day -break I received the intelligence that a 
 Danish man-of-war was lying in the roads, and soon 
 after a spy was brought in, who had been signalling 
 to it from the ramparts. It was a trembling old man, 
 who was brought before me pinioned by powerful arms. 
 On hearing the case it appeared that it was the 
 garrison chaplain, who had found it too noisy in the 
 otherwise quiet old fort, and who had therefore been 
 giving the accustomed signal for a boat to the fisher- 
 men of Laboe, a village on the other side of the 
 
 o 
 
 harbour-entrance. 
 
 The Danish war-ship remained quietly at anchor, 
 sent a boat to Laboe and on its return went again to 
 sea. I had hoisted on the fort a huge black red and 
 gold flag and manned the walls, so that the ship might 
 carry the news to Copenhagen that the marine battery 
 Friedrichsort was occupied by German troops, as was 
 soon to be read in the Danish papers. 
 
 There now began a right cheery life in the fort. 
 My citizen-troops did their duty conscientiously. On 
 organising the service I found to my surprise among 
 the men members of well-known noble families of 
 Schleswig-Holstein and respected citizens of the town 
 of Kiel. They all however submitted implicitly to the 
 command of a young Prussian artillery officer of their 
 own selection. I had the ramparts cleared, the embras- 
 ures repaired, and the old cannons placed on such 
 platforms as remained. The powder magazine was 
 put in order and a stove erected by Kiel artisans for 
 making the balls red-hot. I was especially assisted in 
 
72 LIFE IN THE FORT. 
 
 this work by my man Hemp, (who without orders had 
 followed me from Berlin.) an intelligent, able fellow, 
 who subsequently accompanied me in all my telegraphic 
 undertakings and finally became chief engineer of the 
 Indo-European telegraph line, which position he occu- 
 pied till last year. With his help the men serving 
 a gun were hastily trained, so that on the third day 
 after the occupation we could essay a first shot, which 
 announced far and wide the military occupation of 
 Friedrichsort. 
 
 On the following days we had many visits from 
 Kiel. Not only the commander of the town and even 
 a member of the provincial government paid us a visit, 
 but a Iso the wives and relations of the civic guard came 
 
 c 1 
 
 in great numbers, in order to be personally assured of 
 the welfare of their friends. After the lapse of a week 
 however my forces began perceptibly to shrink, as 
 the wives in their visitings convincingly proved to their 
 husbands that they were indespensable at home. I 
 could not shut my eyes to the consideration that it 
 would be impossible to retain in Friedrichsort for any 
 length of time the citizens, who could only with diffi- 
 culty be absent from their private business. On the 
 other hand Holstein was still entirely without regular 
 troops, and the feeble remnants of the Schleswig-Hol- 
 stein force alone opposed the Danes who were again 
 advancing into North-Schleswig. 
 
 I had therefore the choice either of abandoning my 
 conquest or of procuring an equivalent for the civic 
 guard. The peasant youth of the Provostry - - the 
 
RECRUITING IN THE PROVOSTRY. 73 
 
 district over against the fort forming the south shore 
 of the Kiel harbour - - appeared to me particularly 
 adapted for supplying this substitute. Accordingly, 
 accompanied by a small body of the guard. I went 
 with drum and flag first to Schonberg. the chief place 
 of the Provostry. called the elders of the village together, 
 arid represented to them that it was altogether essential 
 for their own safety that they should offer their grown- 
 up sons for the occupation of the fort. Then arose 
 a long and difficult negotiation with the farmers and 
 their wives, who placed themselves behind their lords 
 and took a leading part in the conversation. 
 
 The people were of opinion that if "the gentle- 
 men", viz. the government, considered it necessary 
 that their sons should march, they could give orders 
 to that effect: then one would know what one had 
 to do. If the Danes actually invaded their land, the 
 Provostry. then they would certainly defend it. even 
 without orders, but "in det Butenland up de annere 
 Sid det Waters", in the outland on the other side of 
 the water, they would not voluntarily go. 
 
 As the peasantry with loud approval of the 
 female chorus remained immovable I became angry. 
 I declared to them in the Low-German tongue, which 
 I had not forgotten since my boyhood, that they were 
 stupid asses and craven poltroons, and told them that 
 the women in Germany had more courage than the 
 men here. In proof thereof I read to them from a 
 newspaper the statement that a female company had 
 already been formed in Bavaria to protect the land 
 
74 FORMATION OF A PEASANT VOLUNTEER-CORPS. 
 
 against the Danes, as its own men had not the courage 
 to do it. I would wait till they came, and defend 
 the fort with them! 
 
 That had the desired effect. As I was on the 
 point of departing with my little troop there came a 
 deputation of the elder peasants and begged me to 
 wait a little, they would think the matter over again, 
 for they did'nt like the idea that the women should 
 defend their country. I declared my willingness, but 
 required . that the village should furnish at least 
 50 men. otherwise it would be no good. We were 
 thereupon well fed. and an hour later there stood in 
 fact 50 young men ready to go with us, followed by 
 vehicles laden to the utmost with all sorts of provisions, 
 "that their youngsters might not have to starve in 
 the fort"\ as the mayor's wife explained to me. Thus 
 we proceeded from village to village with like result, 
 and late in the evening I marched back to the fort 
 with 150 stout peasant lads and a whole commissariat 
 caravan. 
 
 I thereupon discharged the civic guard with the 
 exception of a sprinkling of volunteers, who were 
 willing to assist me in the direction and drilling of 
 my peasant corps, and I had the pleasure of seeing 
 a thoroughly serviceable troop turned out in a short 
 space of time. 
 
 Arms, ammunition and military insignia I obtained 
 from the ever helpful commander of the town, whose 
 name unfortunately has escaped my memory. My 
 corps of volunteers was recognised by the provisional 
 
ALARM. LAYING A MINE. 75 
 
 government, and also received the usual pay. In the 
 military training of the folk my before-mentioned man 
 Hemp, whom I named chief of the artillery, again 
 rendered me signal service. The cannons were cer- 
 tainly old and bad. but a short 24 pounder and a 
 howitzer were still serviceable: the Danish blockade 
 ship, which no longer left the harbour -roads, seemed 
 somewhat to respect the red-hot balls, which we 
 always sent her when she came within range. 
 
 One morning we were alarmed by the announce- 
 ment that three large Danish men-of-war were lying 
 in the roads. It seemed indeed as if an attack on 
 the fort were intended which, considering its bad con- 
 dition and equipment, would have had the chances in 
 its favour. The weakest point of the fort was the 
 entry-gate opening on the inner harbour. The draw- 
 bridge was out of repair, the moat was dry. and the 
 ravelin protecting the entry only remained in its out- 
 lines. As meanwhile my brother-in-law Hiinly had 
 partially replaced the casks temporarily employed for 
 the mines by the India-rubber bags that had arrived 
 from Berlin, I ordered one of these now superfluous 
 casks to be towed to Friedrichsort . in order to be 
 there used as fougade for the defence of the fort gate. 
 The day before the alarm I had had a deep pit dug 
 in the middle of the old ravelin and the cask lowered 
 therein. As night had come on before this work was 
 finished, the pit remained open and was guarded by 
 a sentry. When next morning the alarm occurred, 
 I commissioned my brother Frederick who . as 
 
76 PREMATURE EXPLOSION OF THE MINE. 
 
 subsequently my brothers William and Charles, had 
 followed me to Kiel and Friedrichsort to prepare 
 the firing communication, to enable the mine to be 
 exploded in case of an attempted storming of the 
 ramparts. 
 
 The ships had no\v really approached within 
 range. My three serviceable cannons were manned 
 and the oven for heating the balls in full activity, 
 I prohibited firing, however, before the ships forced 
 the entrance. The rest of the men I had collected 
 in the fortress-yard to distribute them and exhort 
 them to bravery, when suddenly before the fort-gate 
 rose a vast fire -sheaf. I felt a violent compression 
 succeeded by a violent expansion of the chest: the 
 first sensation was accompanied by the clatter of 
 broken window-panes, and the second by the elevation 
 of the tiles of all the roofs to the height of a foot 
 and their subsequent fall with a dreadful din. 
 
 Of course it could only be the mine, whose ex- 
 plosion had produced the mischief. I thought at once 
 of my poor brother Fritz. I ran to the gate to look 
 after him, but before I reached it he met me uninjured. 
 He had prepared the mine, set up the battery on the 
 terre-plein. connected the one igniting wire with the 
 one pole of the battery and fastened the other to the 
 branch of a tree to have it ready to hand, and was 
 about to announce this when the explosion occurred, 
 and the atmospheric pressure hurled him down from 
 the rampart into the interior of the fort. The rather 
 violent wind had shaken the second firing-wire from 
 
EFFECTS OF THE EXPLOSION. 77 
 
 the tree, causing it to fall just on the other pole of 
 the battery and so producing the explosion. 
 
 With the sentry, who was standing on the breast- 
 work of the ravelin when the explosion occurred, it 
 had fared worse. I found him on the other side of 
 the pit lying on the ground apparently dead, beside 
 him his gun buried half barrel length in the earth 
 bayonet forward. The powerful draught, caused by 
 the mine exploding in the open pit. had evidently 
 caught the man up and hurled him over the crater 
 of the mine. Fortunately however he had clutched his 
 gun convulsively, and thereby the blow in falling was 
 mitigated. The man came again to his senses after 
 the lapse of an hour: he bled indeed from mouth 
 nose and ears, and then became blue over the whole 
 body, but was otherwise uninjured and after a few 
 days again fit for service. The Kiel military doctor, 
 who had hurried to Friedrichsort on the announcement 
 of the appearance of the Danish squadron, and was 
 crossing the drawbridge at the moment of the explosion, 
 was more seriously injured. He was thrown with his 
 vehicle into the rampart -moat and had received a few 
 contusions. The cook too, who was just carrying 
 up the steps of the ground -floor a bowl of soup and 
 was thrown down by the explosion, was severely 
 scalded. 
 
 Extremely remarkable were the mechanical effects 
 which the explosion produced in a wide circuit. It 
 must be considered as a shot from an open earth- 
 formed tube with a charge of five hundred- weight of 
 
78 EFFECTS OF THE EXPLOSION. 
 
 powder. In the entire fort no space of any extent 
 remained closed. Either the atmospheric pressure had 
 pushed in the doors or walls, or where they resisted 
 the ensuing vacuum had burst them asunder. The 
 window-panes even in the village of Laboe and in 
 Holtenau were broken. The differential pressure must 
 in the interior of the fort have amounted to at least 
 an atmosphere, otherwise it could not have produced 
 such effect at so great a distance. 
 
 When I returned to the place where I had left 
 my troop I found it deserted, and feared that the people 
 in their first terror had dispersed and crept away. 
 I soon however saw to my delight that they had all 
 betaken themselves to their assigned places. They had 
 imagined that a Danish bomb had struck and the 
 attack had begun. 
 
 The Danish ships had however determined to 
 proceed no further, returned to the outer roads, and 
 soon abandoned these also with the exception of the 
 blockade-ship. In the Copenhagen newspapers it was 
 shortly afterwards reported that one of the submarine 
 mines, with which the harbour of Kiel was paved, 
 had accidentally exploded and destroyed the fort. 
 Indeed the view from the ships must have been rather 
 astonishing. The red tiles of all the buildings of the 
 fort protruded over the low ramparts, and rendered 
 them particularly conspicuous. Immediately after the 
 explosion however all the tiles had fallen down, and 
 no houses were any longer visible. 
 
 That the Danes had acquired considerable respect 
 
INVENTION AND EFFICIENCY OF SUBMARINE MINES. 79 
 
 for the mines is proved by the fact that in spite of 
 the notorious weakness of the artillery defence of the 
 Kiel harbour during both Schleswig-Holstein wars no 
 Danish ship ventured into it. Although these first 
 submarine mines never came into action they none 
 the less accordingly played a very important part. 
 I may therefore with justice complain that later 
 military writers have completely ignored this first 
 harbour defence by the help of submarine mines, 
 carried out in view of the whole world and at the 
 time much talked about. Even German military writers 
 have subsequently ascribed the invention to Professor 
 Jacobi in St. Petersburg, although his experiments at 
 Kronstadt were carried out many years later, and he 
 himself never dreamt of disputing my claim to the 
 invention and its first employment in war. 
 
 When after conclusion of peace the mines were 
 fished up and lifted, the powder in the caoutchouc 
 bags was found still dry as dust, despite the two years 
 soaking in sea -water. It is thus not doubtful that, 
 had occasion offered, the mines would have done 
 their duty. 
 
 Soon after the just described explosion in Fried- 
 richsort the main body of the Prussian army under 
 Wrangel entered Schleswig-Holstein. A little later I 
 received a direct despatch from headquarters, in which. 
 I was commended for the harbour defence by submarine 
 mines and for the occupation of the marine battery 
 Friedrichsort. I was therein further apprised that a 
 company of one of the recently formed Schleswig- 
 
80 MARCH TO FLENSBURG. 
 
 Holstein battalions under lieutenant Krolm would under- 
 take the permanent occupation of the fort, and was 
 charged to march at a precisely appointed time with 
 my peasant corps to the mouth of the Schlei. to cross 
 it at a suitable place, and urge the population of the 
 province of Angeln to seize Danish fugitives, who 
 would there show themselves after an intended battle 
 near Schleswig. 
 
 After being relieved by the Schles wig-Hoi stein- 
 company I marched at the appointed time to Missunde. 
 crossed the Schlei at daybreak, and led my briskly 
 marching troop towards Flensburg. At that early 
 hour we already heard the roaring of the cannons 
 near Schleswig. The population comported itself very 
 calmly, and did not seem at all inclined to let itself 
 be disturbed from its repose. Xo Danes were to be 
 seen; we heard however in the evening from villagers 
 that the Danish army had been defeated and was 
 retreating by way of Flensburg pursued by the 
 Prussians. In the neighbourhood of Flensburg this 
 report was confirmed: the Prussian advance guard 
 had already occupied the town. 
 
 As I had no further orders for my free - corps, 
 and did not feel myself warranted in retaining the 
 people longer, after the fort, for whose defence they 
 had been recruited, was occupied by the military, 
 1 dismissed them to their homes , to which they 
 hurried with all speed, and went myself to Flensburg, to 
 deliver my report. That however proved extremely 
 difficult as the greatest confusion still prevailed in 
 
TEMPORARY SERVICE. 81 
 
 Flensburg. The streets were completely barricaded 
 with all soils of vehicles, and no military or civil 
 authority was discoverable. At last I stumbled in the 
 throng upon Captain von Zastrow. well-known to me 
 in Berlin, to whom I imparted my difficulty. He told 
 me that he had received the command of a newly- 
 formed Schleswig-Holstein corps, and had orders to 
 march with it to Tondern on the following day. He 
 was very much in want of officers however, and pro- 
 posed that I should join him. and undertake the 
 command of the battery. He would set everything 
 formally right with the commander-in- chief and also 
 take in charge my report to the same. This proposal 
 particularly pleased me. as it would have been anything 
 but agreeable to me to have been removed just then 
 from the seat of war to peace -quarters in Berlin. I 
 therefore wrote my report detailing the execution of niy 
 orders, and announced that I had discharged the volun- 
 teer peasantry and in the absence of further instructions 
 was about provisionally to undertake the command that 
 had been offered me of a Schleswig-Holstein battery. 
 Accordingly I rode on the following day at the 
 head of the battery assigned me over the sterile ridges 
 of the "sea-girt"' land towards Tondern. The joy 
 however was not to last long. Arrived in marching- 
 quarters, the commander handed me a despatch from 
 head-quarters brought by estafet, according to which 
 I was at once to report myself to the commander- 
 in- chief. In consequence of this I requisitioned a 
 
 vehicle, arrived towards midnight again in Flensburg. 
 
 6 
 
82 AT HEAD-QUARTERS. 
 
 and reported myself at once at head -quarters. I was 
 shown into a large room of the first hotel in Flensburg 
 and there found seated at a long table a number of 
 officers of all ranks and of every arm of the service. 
 On the sofa at the narrow end of the table sat two 
 young princes, whilst General Wrangel occupied the 
 first place next the sofa at the end of one of the long 
 sides. When I had delivered my report the General 
 rose and with him the whole assemblage, as it was 
 contrary to etiquette to be seated while the commander- 
 in-chief stood. 
 
 The General expressed astonishment at my being 
 there, as it was only a few hours since he had 
 made out the order for my attendance. When I ex- 
 plained that I had turned back immediately at the 
 conclusion of the march, he thought I must be very 
 tired and should drink a cup of tea. At his express 
 order I had to seat myself at his place and take a 
 cup of tea. whilst the rest of the company to my great 
 embarrassment remained standing. It gave me the 
 impression that the commander-in-chief wished to use 
 the opportunity, to show that he honoured merit 
 without respect of rank, and to give at the same time 
 a little exercise in etiquette. In the ensuing conver- 
 sation the General expressed his acknowledgments for 
 the protection of the Kiel harbour by submarine mines, 
 as well as for the occupation of the fort of Friedrichs- 
 ort. Further he said, it would now be necessary, to 
 make the protection of Kiel harbour as strong as 
 possible, and also to secure the harbour of Eckernforde 
 
THE ECKERNFORDE BATTERIES. 83 
 
 by submarine mines, as he had the intention of entering 
 
 f o 
 
 Jutland with his whole army. When I replied that 
 the Eckernforde harbour was too open and its channel 
 too broad for resting its defence on mines, and that 
 a few well-placed batteries could do this with greater 
 certainty, a long discussion arose in the company with 
 regard to the supposed superiority of marine artillery 
 to land-batteries, in which I took leave to observe, 
 that a battery of eight 24 pounders well -placed and 
 protected by an earth-wall, using red-hot balls, might 
 engage the largest man-of-war. I added, the assertion 
 that a land -battery might be razed by a few broad- 
 sides from a man-of-war had not been proved, and 
 no wooden ship could long withstand a fire with 
 red-hot balls. 
 
 The final result of this audience was that the 
 defence of the harbours of Kiel and Eckernforde was 
 formally entrusted to me. I was nominated commander 
 of Friedrichsort and received an open order to the 
 commander of the fortress of Rendsburg, in which the 
 latter was directed to comply with my requisitions of 
 guns, ammunition, and men for Friedrichsort and the 
 batteries to be set up at the harbour of Eckernforde. 
 This order was duly complied with in Rendsburg - 
 it is true with some reluctance, as the fortress itself 
 was very inadequately equipped for defence. Friedrichs- 
 ort was now provided with serviceable cannon, and put 
 as far as possible into a state of defence. In Eckern- 
 forde I erected a large battery for heavy 12 and short 
 
 24 pounders on the level shore, somewhat eastward 
 
 6* 
 
84 FORT LIFE. 
 
 of the town, and a howitzer-battery on the hilly laud 
 on the northern shore of the harbour. 
 
 Neither Friedrichsort nor Eckernforde came into 
 serious action in this campaign, but in the following 
 year the batteries set up by me at Eckernforde acquired 
 renown by their victorious struggle with a Danish 
 squadron, in which the line-of-battle ship Christian VIII. 
 was set on fire and the frigate Gefion placed hors 
 de combat and captured. 
 
 After the completion of the fortification of Fried- 
 richsort and the batteries at Eckernforde my activity 
 began to be somewhat monotonous. It was mainly 
 confined to the watching of the enemy's blockade-ship 
 lying before Friedrichsort. and the control of the 
 shipping passing the harbour -entrance. The military 
 commander of Kiel had forbidden the departure of 
 trading- vessels without special permission, and had 
 given the marine battery Friedrichsort orders in case 
 of need to prevent it by force. This led to a small 
 military engagement, which brought a little variety 
 into our monotonous life. 
 
 One evening I crossed in the commander's boat 
 the entrance of the harbour, to visit the Laboe battery 
 which I had erected on the opposite shore, when a 
 Dutch bark in full sail came towards me. with the 
 manifest intention of leaving the harbour without giving 
 the prescribed notification. I called to the captain to 
 lie to and report himself, otherwise he would be fired on 
 by the fort. The Dutchman and his wife, who appeared 
 to compose the whole crew, did not however take my 
 
UNDER FIRE. 85 
 
 warning in earnest, on the contrary declared they were 
 not going to trouble themselves about the prohibition. 
 Whilst this negotiation was taking place there was a 
 flash, however, from the fort-rampart, and a warning 
 shot fell into the water close in front of the ship, as 
 prescribed by the regulations. Nevertheless, the ship 
 continued its course with full sails. Xow followed 
 from the fort, as well as from the Laboe battery shot 
 on shot, to which was soon added a sharp fire from a 
 military sentry, stationed on the shore. But the doughty 
 Dutchman was not to be diverted from his object, and 
 successfully clearing the harbour-mouth disappeared in 
 the darkness of the night, that had meanwhile come on. 
 
 Fishermen who had been sent out found the ship 
 on the following morning anchored outside the harbour 
 entrance, and the crew busily engaged in making good 
 the harm caused in particular by the musket -balls. 
 The bravery of the Dutchman was very simply explained 
 by the fact, that he had lashed the helm when he 
 actually heard the balls whistling, and had prudently 
 retired with his wife below the water-line, where both 
 were completely protected. I myself with my boat's 
 crew w r as entirely at the mercy of the balls, and could 
 afterwards at any rate boast that I had once without 
 flinching stood an artillery fire! For the rest I must 
 confess that the hissing of the balls whizzing past did 
 riot excite in me precisely pleasurable sensations. 
 
 The Danish blockade-ship too brought us finally 
 in the latter part of summer another interesting inter- 
 ruption of the monotonous fort-life. 
 
86 COUP-DE-MAIN OF VON DER TANN ? S VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 I received from head-quarters the communication 
 that the free-corps under the command of the Bavarian 
 Major von der Tann would attempt a night-attack on 
 the blockade-ship, and also the order to support this 
 undertaking with all the resources of the fort. Soon 
 after von der Tann. with his adjutant, a Count Bern- 
 storff, presented himself to me. and took Tip his quarters 
 in Friedrichsort. The free-corps collected at Holtenau, 
 where also the boat -squadron was organized, which 
 was to undertake the night -attack. The day before 
 a parade of the free-company took place in the fort- 
 yard, which did not inspire me with much confidence 
 in the success of the venturesome enterprise. The 
 men were not. perhaps, wanting in courage, but in 
 discipline and calm resolution. Von der Tann and his 
 adjutant endeavoured in vain to convert the wild con- 
 fusion into military order. 
 
 The plan of the surprise proceeded from a man 
 who had formerly held some subordinate post in the 
 Danish marine. He was a Hercules, who had got his 
 huge limbs into a gold -embroidered admiral's uniform 
 of his own fancy, and incited the men with loud- 
 sounding voice to courageous deeds. Thus he asked 
 the fellows standing in rank and file, what they would 
 do when they had got on board and were confronted 
 by the Danes. One declared he would stab the nearest 
 man, another found it more fitting to knock him down, 
 and so on. The "Admiral" listened quietly, then 
 stretched himself to his full height and asked with 
 flashing eyes arid gestures appertaining thereto: "Do 
 
COUP-DE-MAIN OF VON DER TANN'S VOLUNTEERS. 87 
 
 you know what I shall do? I shall take the two 
 
 nearest Danes and grind them on one another to 
 powder!" That sort of thing did not exactly excite 
 confidence in future heroic deeds. 
 
 The boat - squadron was to pass the fort about 
 half past eleven at night in the utmost stillness and 
 without lights, and then proceed to the blockade-ship 
 for the attack, when a signal given from the fort testi- 
 fied that the hostile ship was maintaining its wonted 
 quiet. The signal was duly given: it was. however, 
 about 1 o'clock before the first boats had reached the 
 fort. Then passed nearly two hours without anything 
 happening, and at last the whole party returned without 
 any order and with loud din. The "Admiral" had 
 at first not been able to find the blockade-ship, then 
 he declared he had observed that the ship was alarmed, 
 and was provided with boarding -nettings, so that 
 clearly the planned attack had been betrayed. With 
 cries of treachery the expedition returned to Holtenau, 
 arid soon afterwards disbanded itself. On the follow- 
 ing morning the ship lay in its accustomed place, and 
 with the strongest telescopes no special armature 
 against the threatened attack was to be observed. 
 
 As von der Tann confided to me, the undertaking 
 had collapsed through want of discipline and too free 
 stimulating potations, and he himself had lost the 
 desire to make a further attempt. I was heartily sorry 
 for the able and amiable Bavarian officers in this 
 fiasco. Yon der Tann remained for several days my 
 guest in the fort, and I have in after years often 
 
88 RETURN TO BERLIN. 
 
 remembered that agreeable time with pleasure, when 
 the fame of the deeds of "General von der Tann 1 " has 
 reached me. 
 
 With my official appointment as commander of 
 Friedrichsort, arid the charge to provide for the defence 
 of the harbour of Eckernforde by erection of batteries, 
 my position had lost the somewhat adventurous 
 character that had thus far clung to it. It had how- 
 ever also lost by that a great part of the charm which 
 it had hitherto possessed for me. Particularly when 
 I had fulfilled my tasks, and the commencement of the 
 peace negotiations rendered further war-like activity 
 very improbable, the longing took possession of me 
 with ever growing strength for the resumption of my 
 
 O o o 1 <J 
 
 scientific-technical activity in Berlin. 
 
 In the meantime great changes had taken place 
 there. The military commission for the introduction 
 of electric telegraphs had been formally dissolved and 
 telegraphy placed under the newly created Ministry 
 of Commerce. As head of this department assessor 
 Nottebohm had been appointed . who had already 
 occupied an administrative post in the telegraph com- 
 mission. The resolution was taken to follow the course 
 adopted by the late commission, and first to construct 
 in all haste a subterranean line from Berlin to Frank- 
 fort-on-the-Main. where the German National Assembly 
 was holding its sittings. In consequence of this, an 
 inquiry was addressed to me whether I was disposed 
 to direct the construction of this line according to the 
 proposals made by me to the commission. In the event 
 
BERLIN-FRANKFORT TELEGRAPH LINE. 89 
 
 of my acceptance my command from the war-office 
 would be transferred to the Ministry of Commerce. 
 Although a position under assessor Nottebohm was not 
 particularly agreeable to me. I nevertheless accepted the 
 call, since it set me free from the present monotonous 
 military life in the little fort, and gave me an oppor- 
 tunity of bringing my proposals into practical execution 
 on a large scale. 
 
 In Berlin I found Halske already busily engaged 
 in work for the line about to be constructed. It had 
 been determined to lay the line altogether underground, 
 as it was feared that above-ground wires would be 
 destroyed in that time of great political excitement. 
 The wires, insulated by a coating of gutta-percha, were 
 to be laid without external protection in a trench a 
 foot and a half deep in the railway embankment. 
 My proposed protection of the communications by 
 means of envelopes of iron wires, iron tubes, or clay 
 channels was not approved on account of the great 
 expense. A contract had already been signed with 
 the Berlin india-rubber factory of Fonrobert & Pruckner 
 for the further construction of subterranean wires. 
 This was the same factory to which I had transferred 
 my model for the covering of copper wires with gutta- 
 percha, and which had already manufactured the ex- 
 perimental line from Berlin to Grossbeeren with a 
 press made according to that model. I had to confine 
 myself to providing for the best possible insulation 
 of the wires. Considerable difficulties stood in the 
 way however inasmuch as. owing to the sudden great 
 
90 MANUFACTURE OF GUTTA-PERCHA INSULATORS. 
 
 demand for gutta-percha, the best insulating sort was 
 soon out of the market. 
 
 To cope with this impediment to the rapid pro- 
 gress required of the work it was resolved to make 
 use of the recent English invention of vulcanizing the 
 gutta-percha, i. e. intimately mixing it with sulphur, 
 whereby even with inferior kinds of gutta-percha the 
 insulation of the condiictors as well as their power 
 of resisting external injuries was increased. Unfortuna- 
 tely the vulcanization turned out afterwards a mistake, 
 as the sulphur combined with the copper of the con- 
 ductor and thereby also the adjacent layers of gutta- 
 percha became gradually coppery and capable of con- 
 duction. To this circumstance it was mainly ascribable 
 that the wires, though perfectly insulated at the time 
 of their being laid down, had after a few months 
 already lost a part of their insulation. 
 
 Particular care was taken in testing the wires in 
 the factory. Halske manufactured for this purpose 
 galvanometers which far excelled in sensitiveness all 
 known up to that time. In testings with these sensitive 
 galvanometers I observed for the first time in the 
 year 1847 the surprising phenomenon that, even in a 
 perfectly insulated wire lying in water, on interposing 
 a battery a short current occurred, which was suc- 
 ceeded on removal of the battery by an equally strong 
 current in the opposite direction. This was the first 
 observation of the electrostatic charge by galvanic 
 
 o / o 
 
 chains. I w r as at first inclined to see in this a phe- 
 nomenon of polarisation, since at that time the galvano- 
 
VOLTAIC INDUCTOR. 91 
 
 meter was not considered capable of indicating the 
 passage of static electricity. The phenomena on longer 
 well insulated lines soon however rendered it quite 
 indubitable to me that it was a case of electrostatic 
 charge and not of polarisation. 
 
 The first difficulty, the finding defective insulat- 
 ing points in a long piece of the conducting wire. I 
 was able to overcome in the following manner. The 
 dry wire coated with gutta-percha was drawn through 
 a vessel filled with water and insulated in respect to 
 the earth, whilst the second coil of thin covered 
 wire, which surrounded the electro -magnet of a Neef 
 hammer, was interposed between the insulated copper 
 wire and the earth. If now a workman standing in 
 communication with the earth dipped a finger into the 
 water of the insulated vessel, he felt electrical shocks 
 at the moment at which a defective piece of the wire 
 enveloped by gutta - percha was immersed. In this 
 wav I succeeded in detecting all the small defects of 
 
 V 
 
 insulation discoverable in no other way, and in obtain- 
 ing after their removal conductors with extremely 
 good insulation. 
 
 With regard to the modification just described of 
 the Xeef hammer the following observation may here 
 find a place. I had already made this modification in 
 the year 1844 and given it the name of the voltaic 
 inductor. It even then afforded me the opportunity of 
 observing the therapeutic [effect of the variable currents 
 induced in the second coil of such a voltaic inductor. 
 My brother Frederick at that time was suffering a 
 
92 THERAPEUTIC EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 good deal of rheumatic tooth-ache, which had affected 
 his otherwise perfectly sound teeth and refused to yield 
 to any prescribed remedy. The experiments with my 
 new voltaic inductor led me to hit upon the idea of 
 trying, whether the variable currents produced by it 
 could not remove the intolerable pain or at least dimi- 
 nish it. if conducted through the roots of the teeth. This 
 was actually the case with a particularly painful front 
 tooth. The pain was at the first moment intense, but 
 then suddenly quite ceased. 
 
 With the great force of will which at all times 
 characterized my brother Frederick he at once pro- 
 ceeded to send alternating currents through all the 
 roots, and thereby obtained entire exemption from 
 pain, which he had not experienced for Aveeks. Un- 
 fortunately however on the second day the pains 
 returned. By repeated application of electricity their 
 cessation was again effected, but the ensiling painless 
 
 o o 1 
 
 period became shorter, and at last the remedial agency 
 altogether failed. This first attempt within my know- 
 ledge to employ galvanism for therapeutic purposes 
 inspired me with a certain distrust of this particular 
 application of the electric current. It appeared as if 
 its action were only temporarily, not permanently, 
 curative. 
 
 The ensuing autumn of 1848 was to me an ex- 
 ceedingly interesting and exciting one. The line to 
 Frankfort on the Main, where the German Parliament 
 held its sittings and the vicar-general of the empire had 
 his residence, was to be completed for political reasons 
 
THE LINE TO FRANKFORT. DIFFICULTIES. 93 
 
 as quickly as possible. This was however rendered 
 difficult on the one hand by the disturbed political 
 condition of affairs, on the other by altogether unex- 
 pected phenomena, which manifested themselves in the 
 underground conductors. My friend Halske. to whom 
 had been consigned the fitting of the finished parts 
 of the line with signalling apparatus, was the first to 
 encounter these phenomena whilst I was engaged upon 
 the line between Eisenach and Frankfort . which it 
 had been resolved to carry above-ground, as the rail- 
 way was still in course of construction - the land 
 even having been only in part acquired. 
 
 Halske found first of all that with shorter lines 
 our self -interrupting indicator telegraphs acted with 
 much greater speed than corresponded to the resistance 
 of the line. When communication between Berlin and 
 Cothen had been established, a distance of about 95 
 English miles, the giving apparatus ran with double 
 velocity whilst the receiving apparatus stopped alto- 
 gether. This at the time inexplicable phenomenon 
 occurred the earlier the better the lines were insulated, 
 which induced Halske purposely to impair the insulation 
 of the line by the addition of artificial watery by- 
 passes. 
 
 The above-ground construction likewise encountered 
 unexpected difficulties. Where the land for the future 
 railroad had not yet been purchased, the owners would 
 not permit the erection of the posts. This opposition 
 was encountered especially in the non-Prussian parts, 
 Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, when the antagonism 
 
94 OVERHEAD EISENACH-FRANKFORT LINE. 
 
 between the government of Prussia and the adminis- 
 tration of the empire after the restoration of order 
 in Berlin had become considerably acuter in conse- 
 quence of the entrance of the army returning from 
 Schleswig-Holstein. I only succeeded in executing my 
 task by obtaining an open order from the vicar-general 
 of the empire Archduke John. Technical difficulties 
 also made their appearance. The line was constructed 
 of copper wire, as suitable iron wires were not then to 
 be had in Germany, and moreover were still regarded 
 with a certain mistrust. The unfortunate experiences 
 which we had had the foregoing year in the case of 
 the Berlin-Potsdam line, which despite the application 
 of all sorts of insulating media proved so badly insu- 
 lated in rainy weather that the proper service of the 
 apparatus was constantly disturbed, had led me to 
 make use of bell-shaped insulators of porcelain. These 
 possessed the great advantage that the inner surface 
 of the bell always remained dry even in rainy weather, 
 whereby the insulation was secured under all circum- 
 stances. In fact I succeeded in this way in producing 
 an almost perfect insulation. Unfortunately I did not 
 then think it necessary to solder the copper wire, 
 close coiling seeming to me sufficient. This afterwards 
 turned out to be an error. In calm weather the 
 apparatus acted very well, but with a strong wind the 
 resistance of the conductor was so remarkably variable 
 that the apparatus refused to work. Only subsequent 
 soldering of all the joints put an end to this trouble. 
 The atmospheric electricity proved also very 
 
LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. EARTH CURRENTS. 95 
 
 disturbing. In passing from level to high land currents 
 of varying direction often traversed the communications 
 and impeded the working of the apparatus. A late 
 autumn storm caused widespread destruction, which 
 led me to construct lightning-conductors for the pro- 
 tection of the lines and apparatus. In order to ascertain 
 the most efficient form of lightning-conductors 1 set 
 up between two parallel wires spikes, balls, and plates 
 at equal intervals from one another, and observed the 
 sparks, caused by the discharge of a large battery of 
 Leyderi jars, which passed between these three adjacent 
 lightning - conductors. It appeared that very weak 
 discharges took their course solely through the spikes, 
 whilst stronger ones passed mainly between the balls, 
 and very strong ones were carried off in a large 
 number of sparks almost entirely through the plates. 
 For actual lightning therefore roughened metallic plates 
 placed nearly opposite one another proved particularly 
 effective. The influence of the Northern lights also 
 made itself frequently perceptible, and at times in a very 
 disturbing degree, especially in the underground line 
 running mainly from east to west. Thus during the 
 great aurora in the autumn of 1848 communication 
 was interrupted for days between Berlin and Cothen 
 on account of violent rapidly changing currents. This 
 was the first observation of the connection between 
 earth currents, magnetic disturbance, and the aurora 
 borealis. 
 
 When the underground line had been extended 
 to Erfurt, Halske's watery by-passes were no longer 
 
96 ELECTROSTATIC CHARGE OF UNDERGROUND WIRES. 
 
 sufficient. But meanwhile I had become convinced 
 that the peculiar behaviour of the underground wires 
 could only be ascribed to the electrostatic charge 
 already observed at the testings in the factory, the wire 
 namely forming the inner, the damp soil the outer 
 coating of a Leyden jar. Conclusive was the circum- 
 stance, that the quantity of electricity contained in a 
 perfectly insulated conductor, measured by the deflec- 
 tion of a freely oscillating magnetic needle, was defini- 
 tely related both to the electro -motive force of the 
 interposed galvanic battery and to the length of the 
 wire; further that the electric tension of the charge in 
 a closed conductor corresponded to the electric tension 
 occuring at every point of the circuit according to the 
 law of Ohm. Having perceived this, the impediments 
 to signalling on long underground lines, could, if not 
 be removed entirely, yet be rendered innocuous Im- 
 practical purposes by suitable contrivances. These were 
 the application of by -passes in the form of metallic 
 resistances without self-induction, and automatic trans- 
 lation by which several closed pieces of line were 
 united into a single large line. 
 
 My theory of the electrostatic charge of closed 
 as well as of open circuits found however even in 
 scientific circles at first but little acceptance, since it 
 was opposed to the ideas prevailing at the time. 
 Altogether it is not easy at the present day. when 
 one can hardly conceive how a civilized man can live 
 without railroads arid telegraphs, to carry oneself back 
 in imagination to that time, with the view of under- 
 
LINE TO COLOGNE. 97 
 
 standing the difficulties which we then encountered in 
 things now regarded as a matter of course. Concep- 
 tions and helps, which are to-day familiar to every 
 schoolboy, could at that time often only be obtained 
 by effort and hard work. 
 
 I had the satisfaction of seeing this first long 
 telegraph line not merely of Germany but of 
 
 Europe already at work in the winter of 1849, 
 
 so that the election of an Emperor, which took place 
 in Frankfort, was by its help known the same hour 
 in Berlin. This favourable result led to the determina- 
 tion of the Prussian Government to construct at once 
 a line from Berlin to Cologne and the Prussian frontier 
 at Verviers. and after that others to Hamburg and 
 Breslau. All these lines were for safety's sake to be 
 underground, according to the system of the Berlin- 
 Eisenach line, although in this unmistakable defects 
 had already made themselves manifest. As these 
 defects were mainly owing to the facility with which 
 the wires w r ere injured by workmen, and here and 
 there also by rats mice and moles, through being- 
 deposited only one and a half to two feet below the 
 surface in the mostly loose sand of the railway 
 embankments, it was determined to bury the wires 
 2 1 J 2 to 3 feet deep; but even then there was to be 
 no external protection on account of the cost. 
 
 I had declared myself ready to undertake also 
 the superintendence of the construction of the line to 
 Cologne and Verviers, provided I received further mili- 
 tary fourlough and provided my friend William Meyer. 
 
 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 a* 
 
98 CABLE ACROSS THE RHINE. 
 
 who had always faithfully aided me in my work in 
 his free time, and was therefore thoroughly competent, 
 was ordered to assist me. Both were granted, and 
 accordingly in the spring of 1849 we began the con- 
 struction of the line simultaneously at several points. 
 Meyer had considerable organizing talent, and was par- 
 ticularly adapted for managing works in which many 
 forces had to co-operate harmoniously. 
 
 Difficulties arose at the rivers Elbe and Rhine, 
 where the active navigation caused me to fear injuries 
 to the wires through dragging anchors. This danger 
 was particularly great in crossing the Rhine, as the 
 conducting wires were for almost the whole breadth of 
 
 D 
 
 the river threatened by the anchors and fishing-tackle. 
 
 t/ ~ 
 
 An envelope of iron wire, which was employed in 
 the case of the Elbe and in crossing smaller livers, 
 appeared insufficient for the Rhine, as the tackle of 
 the sailors and fishermen provided with sharp points 
 could penetrate through the wire covering and injure 
 the insulated conductors within, and as a cable could 
 not be made strong enough to resist the dragging 
 anchors of large ships. I had therefore made specially 
 for the Rhine a chain of wrought -iron tubes, in the 
 cavities of which the insulated wires were placed, 
 whilst a strong chain- cable, supported by a series of 
 heavy ships' anchors, was destined to protect the 
 tube-chain from the dragging anchors of ships passing 
 down the river. This first large subaqueous line with 
 its external protection has stood the test very well. 
 When many years later, after the building of the 
 
COLOGNE -VERVIERS LINE. 99 
 
 fixed railway bridge, it was taken up again, a number 
 of ships' anchors were found suspended to the pro- 
 tecting chain, which the sailors had had to cut in 
 order to free their ships. The chain had thus done 
 its duty. 
 
 An extremely difficult and instructive piece of 
 work was the construction of the line from Cologne 
 
 o 
 
 via Aix-la-Chapelle to Venders in Belgium, where the 
 junction with the overhead line from Brussels to Venders, 
 which had meanwhile been taken in hand, was to be 
 made. Here were several tunnels to be passed through, 
 in which the conducting wires had to be protected by 
 iron tubes attached to the tunnel walls. In large por- 
 tions of the railway embankment the trench for bedding 
 the wire had to be made by blasting with powder. 
 
 During the construction of the line I got to know 
 the entrepreneur of the pigeon post between Cologne 
 and Brussels, a Mr. Reuter, whose useful and profitable 
 business appeared to be hopelessly destroyed by the 
 laying of the electric telegraph. When Mrs. Reuter, 
 who accompanied her husband on his journeys, was 
 lamenting over this destruction of their business, I gave 
 the couple the advice to go to London, and there set up 
 a despatch-forwarding bureau, such as had just been 
 etablished in Berlin by a Mr. Wolff, with the co-ope- 
 ration of my cousin the before-mentioned law-counsellor 
 Siemens. The Reuters followed my advice with re- 
 markable success. Renter's telegraph agency in London 
 and its founder, the rich Baron Reuter, have to-day 
 a world- wide reputation. 
 
100 RESOLUTION TO LEAVE THE PUBLIC SERVICE. 
 
 When the junction of the meanwhile completed 
 Belgian telegraph-line with the Prussian had been ef- 
 fected in Verviers, I received an invitation to Brussels, 
 to give a lecture before King Leopold on electric tele- 
 graphy. I found the whole royal family assembled in 
 the Brussels palace, and delivered a long lecture ac- 
 companied by experiments, which they followed with 
 close attention and quick understanding, as was evid- 
 enced by the discussion which followed. 
 
 The final decision of the question what turn I 
 should give to my future life had now to be made. The 
 military authorities had only with reluctance accorded 
 the prolongation of my order for service with the 
 ministry of commerce, and had emphatically declared 
 that an extension of the same would not be granted. 
 I had the choice either of stepping back into active 
 military service, or of going over to government- 
 telegraphy, in which my position as managing engineer 
 was assured, or lastly of renouncing every position of 
 public service, and devoting myself entirely to private 
 scientific and technical activity. 
 
 I decided for the last. To return to the military 
 garrison service, after the exciting and successfully 
 active life which I had behind me, I should have found 
 altogether impossible. The civil service did not at 
 all content me. There was wanting in it the feeling 
 of comradeship, which mitigates arid renders endurable 
 the oppressive differences of rank and power, there 
 was wanting in it also the plain-spoken candour, which 
 reconciles one even with the bluntness, which is tra- 
 
REASONS FOR LEAVING THE PUBLIC SERVICE. 101 
 
 clitional in the army. My brief experience of the 
 civil service gave me sufficient grounds for the form- 
 ation of this opinion. As long as my superiors under- 
 stood nothing of telegraphy, they let me work entirely 
 unchecked, and limited their intervention and instruct- 
 ions to questions of financial importance. That soon 
 changed in the degree in which my immediate superior 
 in office, assessor, afterwards counsellor Nottebohm, 
 acquired knowledge of the subject during the progress 
 of the work. People were assigned to me of whom I could 
 make no use. technical arrangements ordered which I 
 knew to be bad. in short frictions and differences 
 occurred, which marred the pleasure in my work. 
 
 Again, the weakness of the insulated conducting 
 wires, lying unprotected in the loose soil of the rail- 
 way embankments, already began to show itself with 
 increasing distinctness. Faults in the insulation made 
 their appearance, which were only discovered and re- 
 moved with difficulty: breaches of continuity in the 
 wire without loss of insulation occurred, which often 
 only lasted a few hours, and whose position therefore 
 it was difficult to determine. The search for and re- 
 pairing of these defects were commonly entrusted to 
 inexperienced people, who cut the line in numberless 
 places to confine the fault within limits, and by unskilful 
 diggings and joinings paved the way for new defects, 
 which were then again attributed to me and the system. 
 Notwithstanding, with an almost blind confidence, new 
 undertakings of the same description were entered upon. 
 It may perhaps have been the political circumstances 
 
102 REASONS FOR LEAVING THE PUBLIC SERVICE. 
 
 of the time, which called for the rapid construction of 
 a telegraphic network to embrace the whole country, 
 even at the risk of its not being of long duration. 
 The external protection of the conductors by iron 
 tubes proposed by me. as in crossing the Rhine, or 
 by sheathing with iron wires, for the manufacture of 
 which a Cologne firm had at my instigation already 
 made preparations, was declared to be too dear and 
 not readily producible; the provisional character of 
 the first attempts was maintained. 
 
 On the other hand the factory for telegraphic 
 apparatus, which I had founded along with my friend 
 Halske. and into which I had reserved the rio*ht of 
 
 D 
 
 entry, had already under his excellent management 
 obtained considerable recognition by reason of its re- 
 markable achievements. The great importance of 
 electric telegraphy for practical life was perceived, 
 and the managers of railways in particular began to 
 increase the efficiency of the lines and the security of 
 their working by laying down telegraph - wires for 
 intelligence and signals. In connection with this an 
 abundance of interesting scientific and technical problems 
 cropped up, which I felt a vocation to solve. My 
 choice could therefore not be a matter of doubt. In 
 June 1849 I requested my discharge from the military 
 service, and soon afterwards also resigned my office 
 as technical manager of the Prussian state-telegraphs. 
 The latter post was offered at my suggestion to my 
 friend William Meyer, who threw up his commission 
 at the same time as myself. 
 
RETIREMENT FROM THE ARMY. 103 
 
 I had in the fourteen years of my military service 
 with the then bad arrangements for promotion become 
 the senior of rather more than half of the second 
 lieutenants, and received therefore according to custom 
 my discharge as first lieutenant "with the permission 
 to wear officer's uniform with the regulation insignia 
 
 o D 
 
 for those placed on the retired list". I declined the 
 pension due to me for my more than twelve years, 
 service as officer, as I felt in good health and would 
 not hand in the required invalid certificate. 
 
 To the acceptance of my request for dismissal 
 was attached a remark of reprehension on a formal 
 error in my petition. The political reaction had then 
 become so strong that the German sentiments shown 
 by me in the Danish war had become a reproach in 
 governing circles. 
 
 In spite of the small final result of my military 
 service I look back with a certain satisfaction to my 
 military period. My most agreeable youthful recollections 
 are connected with it, it paved my way through life, 
 and gave me through the success I had achieved self- 
 confidence for aiming at higher goals. 
 
 O o O 
 
 Although my activity and aims were not materially 
 changed by withdrawal from all official duties, yet my 
 life acquired in consequence a more settled direction, 
 henceforth dependent entirely on my own exertions. It 
 lay with me now to raise to the utmost by good work 
 
104 ACTIVITY ON ENTERING BUSINESS. 
 
 the business which already bore my name, and to obtain 
 personal regard in the world as a man of science as well 
 as technologist. Although my inclinations drew me alto- 
 gether to purely scientific investigation, yet I perceived 
 that I must first of all turn my whole energies to 
 technical work, as its results could alone procure me 
 the means and opportunity for scientific work - - and 
 did in fact procure them. 
 
 My scientific and inventive activity was prescribed 
 to me in this laborious period almost without exception 
 by technical needs. Thus the then very surprising 
 and disturbing phenomena of electrical charges in the 
 underground conductors required thorough study. 
 Further it was necessary to establish a system for the 
 determination of the situation of faults in the conduction 
 and insulation of underground wires by measuring 
 currents at the ends of the wires. The uncertainty 
 of the measurements of currents led to the necessity 
 of replacing them by resistance measurements, and 
 thereby to the setting up of fixed reproducible stan- 
 dards of resistance and scales of resistance. For this 
 purpose the methods and instruments for current and 
 resistance measurements had also to be improved and 
 adapted for technical use - - in short a whole series 
 of scientific problems had cropped up. the solution of 
 which was called for by technical needs. 
 
 I devoted myself to these problems, so far as my 
 responsibility for the technical undertakings of the 
 business allowed, with special predilection, and was 
 therein very effectively supported by the constructive 
 
LITTLE PUBLISHED AND PATENTED. 105 
 
 art and mechanical talent of my partner Halske. This 
 is especially true of the numerous improvements of the 
 telegraphic contrivances and accessories which date 
 from that time, and which, thanks to their solid and 
 accurate elaboration in our workshop under Halske's 
 guidance, were rapidly adopted in technical telegraphy. 
 The great influence, which the firm of Siemens and 
 Halske has exercised in the development of telegraphy, 
 is mainly to be ascribed to the circumstance, that in 
 their work the executing hand has been that of the 
 accurate mechanician and no longer as formerly of 
 the clock-maker. 
 
 For publication in scientific and technical journals 
 there was then no time: even patents were taken out 
 only in rare cases. There was then no German 
 patent, right, and in Prussia patents, given almost arbi- 
 trarily for from three to five years, were therefore 
 without practical value. The inventions and improve- 
 ments proceeding from us at that time therefore in the 
 majority of cases lack the attestation of their origin by 
 publication or patent. 
 
 A conspicious illustration of this occurred a few 
 years ago. There turned up somebody in the United 
 States, who asserted that he was the inventor of under- 
 ground conductors, especially of those insulated by 
 gutta-percha, and who tried after the lapse of more 
 than a quarter of a century to obtain a patent for 
 the same, which threatened considerable loss to the 
 large American telegraph company. The company 
 sent a special commission headed by their director, 
 
106 CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 ""General" Eckert, to Berlin, to search for verification 
 by printed publications that in 1846 I had already 
 introduced wires with gutta-percha insulation. To 
 their written enquiry I was obliged to reply that 
 nothing was to be found in print on the subject, 
 but that the official records of the Staff Commission 
 and of the subsequent Telegraph Board contained proof 
 complete. 
 
 This however did not suffice for the law - suit. 
 The Americans chose another very practical way to 
 procure printed information on the matter. They 
 advertised in several German papers that they would 
 pay a considerable sum for a description, printed in 
 1847. of the underground telegraph-lines laid on the 
 track of the Anhalt Railway. That succeeded. After 
 a few days there arrived from different places in Ger- 
 many newspaper-cuttings with the desired description. 
 The commission congratulated me as the undoubted 
 inventor of the gutta-percha conductors and travelled 
 home. 
 
 The proposed publication of the results however 
 never came off, because, it is said, in the meantime 
 a compromise with the reputed inventor had brought 
 greater profit to the company. 
 
 In Germany, after the construction of the lines to 
 Frankfort -on -the -Main and Cologne, the system of 
 underground communications had become the fashion. 
 Not only were the government telegraph lines from Berlin 
 to Hamburg, Breslau. Konigsberg and Dresden con- 
 structed underground with unprotected wires, buried at 
 
LEAD LINES. 107 
 
 a depth of two feet, but even the railways preferred 
 to lay such underground lines, although the indications 
 of the speedy destruction of these lines increased 
 daily. In particular the destructive action of rats 
 and mice became more evident - - especially on the 
 first lines , which were laid in the sandy railway 
 embankments one and a half to two feet deep. The 
 wires laid over two feet deep were indeed at first 
 exposed to no such destruction, but subsequently it 
 occurred even in them. 
 
 I then believed that a coating of lead would 
 completely cope with this evil. To coat the wires 
 with lead I proceeded at first in the following manner. 
 Leaden tubes were straightened out, then a hempen 
 band was blown through them by means of a bellows, 
 and with its help the conducting wire insulated by 
 gutta-percha was drawn into the tube. Thereupon 
 the tube was passed through a draw-plate, in order 
 to effect a firm attachment to the insulated layer of 
 the conductor. We afterwards succeeded in pressing 
 the leaden tube directly round the insulated wire, 
 when the lead had exactly acquired a certain tempe- 
 rature and permanently retained it. The difficulty of 
 continually controlling this temperature I overcame by 
 a thermo-electric arrangement. 
 
 o 
 
 Such conductors, surrounded by lead casing, were 
 frequently furnished by Halske and me in the beginning 
 of the fifties. So among others in the telegraphic 
 system, which we set up for the police service and 
 the fire-brigade of Berlin. These lead lines acted quite 
 
108 MORSE TELEGRAPH. 
 
 satisfactorily for a long series of years. They were 
 then gradually replaced by cable conductors, yet lead 
 conductors have remained in excellent condition to the 
 present day. after the lapse of 40 years. Only where 
 the lead has come in contact with decaying matter 
 in the soil, whereby the formation of acetate and 
 carbonate of lead is facilitated, is it liable to rapid 
 destruction. 
 
 The just mentioned police and fire-brigade tele- 
 graph was intended to unite fifty stations in different 
 parts of Berlin with the central office of the police 
 department and the central office of the fire-brigade, 
 so that the report of fire might be simultaneously 
 communicated to all stations, whilst the police reports 
 were only to be received and comprehended at the 
 central police bureau. Our arrangement solved this 
 interesting problem very satisfactorily and worked for 
 over twenty years well and accurately, but then suc- 
 cumbed to the simpler Morse system. 
 
 Morse's writing telegraph first became known in 
 Germany through a Mr. Robinson who, in the year 
 1850, gave exhibitions with it in Hamburg. The 
 simplicity of Morse's apparatus, the relative facility of 
 acquiring the alphabet, and the pride which fills 
 every one, who has learnt to use it, and causes him 
 to become an apostle of the system, have in a 
 short time ousted all dial and older letter -print ing 
 apparatus. 
 
 Halske and I at once perceived this superiority 
 of the Morse telegraph, resting on manual dexterity. 
 
TRANSLATION. 109 
 
 and made it therefore our task to improve and perfect 
 the system mechanically as far as possible. 
 
 We gave the apparatus good wheel -works with 
 automatic regulation of the velocity, a reliable magnetic 
 system, sure contacts and commutators, improved the 
 relays, and introduced a complete system of translation. 
 This consisted in an arrangement, whereby all the 
 currents circulating in a telegraphic circuit were auto- 
 matically transferred to a neighbouring circuit pro- 
 vided with its own battery, so that the whole line 
 was divided into several separate closed circuits, but 
 yet without the assistance of the telegraph clerks of the 
 intermediate stations communication could be directly 
 held between the terminal stations. 
 
 Such a system of translation I had elaborated 
 as early as 1847 for my dial and printing tele- 
 graphs, and had laid before the Staff Commission an 
 apparatus constructed by myself for this purpose, 
 the so-called go-between (relay). Translation however 
 only attained its full importance through the application 
 to the Morse apparatus; it came into use for the first 
 time on the Berlin- Vienna line, which was provided 
 in Breslau and Oderberg with translation stations. It 
 may be here mentioned that the contrivance was sub- 
 sequently very considerably improved by Professor Dr. 
 Steinheil. the then Director of the Austrian telegraphs, 
 by fitting an automatic contact to the wheel-work. 
 
 The railway companies remained longest faithful 
 to the dial telegraphs with automatic interruption. 
 In this system we had however ourselves brought 
 
110 KRAMER'S DIAL TELEGRAPH. 
 
 a competitor into the field, who subsequently got a 
 good deal in our way. Dr. Kramer, school-master 
 in Nordhausen, had on his part submitted to the 
 Telegraph Commission a small Wheatstorie dial tele- 
 graph, which he had had made by a clock- 
 maker. The Kramer apparatus did not by a long 
 way accomplish as much as my self- interrupting 
 dial telegraph, and was therefore rejected by the 
 commission. 
 
 The good-hearted General von Oetzel and I my- 
 self felt compassion for the poor man, since he had 
 employed all his savings on the construction of the 
 apparatus: and as there were no means at the dis- 
 posal of the commission for the indulgence of such 
 feelings I consented to buy his apparatus for five 
 hundred thalers. Half a year later however Kramer 
 reappeared with a new apparatus, in which he had 
 made use of my system, with the modification that 
 he employed a clockwork to keep the pointer in motion 
 mechanically. The patent office of that time saw no 
 objection in the appropriation of automatic interruption 
 to granting him likewise a patent. These Kramer 
 dial telegraphs, running automatically like our own, 
 despite their light clockmaker-construction worked just 
 as well and reliably as ours, and did us therefore 
 great harm. - 
 
 My time on entering the business was entirely 
 claimed by constructive work for the factory, and by 
 the laying down of numerous railway telegraph lines 
 undertaken by my firm. Still in the winter of 1849 50 
 
MEMOIRE SUR LA TELEGRAPHIE ELECTRIQUE. HI 
 
 I found a period of leisure, which I employed in 
 putting together for publication my experiences on 
 telegraphic communication and apparatus. In April 1850 
 I laid my work, with the title "Memoire sur la tele- 
 graphie electriqzie" , before the Paris Academy of Sciences. 
 This had been rendered possible to me through a 
 lucky accident, which enabled me to meet in Paris my 
 friend du Bois-Reymond. who intended to present a 
 work of his own to the Academy, and gave me his 
 friendly assistance for the French remodelling of my 
 essay. I still remember with great satisfaction the 
 stimulating, and to me extremely interesting and in- 
 structive, time of this four weeks sojourn in Paris, the 
 living together with friend du Bois, and the intercourse 
 with the most celebrated Paris savants. To the members 
 of the committee appointed by the Academy for con- 
 sidering my work belonged Pouillet and Regnault. 
 The report on my memoir was read by Regnault at 
 a sitting of the Academy, to which du Bois and I had 
 received formal invitations. Leverrier appeared as 
 opposer. and defended the electro-chemical telegraph 
 of Bain, which had likewise been presented to the 
 Academy. The presiding secretaire perpetttel Arago 
 however cut short Leverrier 1 s opposition by moving 
 the thanks of the Academy for the memoir and its 
 reception in the "savants etr anger s" . 
 
 This public testing of my literary firstling in the 
 telegraphic domain by famous members of the first 
 scientific tribunal in the world produced a deep and 
 very stimulating impression upon me. Many reasons 
 
112 LITERARY JUSTICE. 
 
 can be offered against such an official trial of scientific 
 
 O 
 
 and technical performances, which supplies a kind of 
 hall mark and may easily be very injurious to the free 
 unfolding of science: it is indeed only admissible under 
 full control by the publicity of the seances, can then 
 however be very useful and stimulative. 
 
 Through the admission of my memoir into the 
 "savants Strangers", and another essay published the 
 same year in PoggendorfFs Annalen "On electrical lines 
 and apparatus", which reproduced entire the contents 
 of the memoir so far as they had reference to under- 
 ground electrical lines, my priority in respect of various 
 scientific and technical achievements has been placed 
 beyond dispute. Nevertheless unwarranted claims to 
 certain of them were subsequently raised in divers 
 quarters. This leads me to make here a few remarks 
 on the need of an international literary tribunal, 
 which has in recent times come to be felt with in- 
 creasing acuteness. It must first of all be granted 
 that in the course of the last decennia it has become 
 ever more difficult, nay almost impossible, completely 
 to survey the vast mass of material contained in scienti- 
 fic and technological publications, in many different 
 languages moreover. It is also natural that those who- 
 are entirely absorbed in their own special work, 
 but especially those who actively co-operate in further- 
 ing the development of the technical application of 
 physical science, find but little leisure to make a 
 thorough study of the doings of others working on the 
 same or on related lines, even if masters of the several 
 
LITERARY JUSTICE. 113 
 
 languages, and that they in general have also little 
 inclination to turn their attention to the past. As 
 an example of this I might point to the most highly 
 gifted and copiously inventive physicist of any age, 
 Faraday. He got to know the insulation with pressed 
 gutta-percha only many years after its invention. 
 when it began to be employed in England for sub- 
 marine cables, the external protection of the insulated 
 conductor being secured by surrounding the latter 
 with iron wires. The surprising phenomena of electri- 
 cal charges, which Faraday observed in these cables, 
 induced him to publish an essay on the subject. When 
 du Bois-Reymond. however, sent him without further 
 comment a copy of my memoir presented to the French 
 academy. Faraday did not lose any time in following 
 up his first work with another, in which he cited the 
 relevant sections of my treatise, and made the decla- 
 ration that the priority both of the observation and 
 also of the explanation of the phenomena belonged to 
 me. Other English writers, as Wheatstone, Jerikin 
 and many others, have certainly not troubled them- 
 selves about either this declaration of Faraday's or 
 any of my other publications. 
 
 In Germany the good custom formerly prevailed 
 of always prefacing the description of one's own 
 scientific or technical discoveries and inventions by 
 a description of the achievements of predecessors in 
 the same department, thereby giving the progress about 
 to be described its place in the historic evolution - 
 a custom, which unfortunately has never been observed 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
114 LITERARY JUSTICE. 
 
 in other countries with like conscientiousness. Hence 
 it has hitherto been the peculiar glory of the Germans 
 to recognise more than other nations the services of 
 foreigners, and always to connect their own achieve- 
 ments with those of their precursors. This has been 
 essentially facilitated by the knowledge, more diffused 
 in Germany than in other countries, of foreign lan- 
 guages; but even apart from that German science has 
 always regarded it as a point of honour to practise 
 literary justice equally towards natives and foreigners, 
 and let us hope that this will be so also in future, 
 and that we shall thereby be spared the literary piracy 
 which unhappily threatens to become prevalent even 
 among ourselves. 
 
 As however the practice has recently come into 
 vogue of leaving each individual to settle and defend 
 his own real or supposed claims . this being too 
 laborious for others. I intend to follow it in these 
 pages. At the end of .each period I shall accordingly 
 give a summary of technical developments, important 
 in my judgment, where the priority of discovery, in- 
 vention, or first application demonstrably appertains 
 to me. That in so doing I may here and there re- 
 peat what has been already adduced in another con- 
 nection will certainly be unavoidable. Should I now 
 and then make mistakes and pay insufficient regard 
 to the claims of others. I must hope for the indulgence 
 of the reader. 
 
 I shall be able to review with great brevity the 
 period terminating with the publication of my "Memoire 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1850. 115 
 
 sur la telegraphic electriqtie" and the corresponding 
 paper in PoggendoriFs Annalen, as the most important 
 particulars have been interwoven in the general nar- 
 rative, and have thus already received detailed con- 
 sideration. 
 
 When in the year 1842 I applied for my first 
 Prussian patent no process of galvanic gilding or silver- 
 ing was known in Germany. 
 
 I had experimented with all the gold and silver 
 salts known to me, and besides the hyposulphites had 
 also found the cyanides suitable. The patent however 
 was only granted me for the former, as in the mean- 
 time Elkington's English patent for the employment 
 of the cyanide salts had become known. Notwith- 
 standing the beautiful gold and silver precipitates ob- 
 tainable from hyposulphite salts, the cyanide salts have 
 in the long run kept the field, their solutions being 
 more constant. 
 
 The problem proposed to my brother William to 
 construct a regulator, which should so exactly regulate 
 a steam-engine connected with a water-wheel, that the 
 water-wheel should always perform its full work, but 
 the steam-engine yield the required excess of working 
 power, led me to the idea of the so-called differential 
 regulation. It consisted in employing a freely- oscil- 
 lating circular pendulum for the production of a per- 
 fectly uniform rotation, thereby causing the turning of 
 a screw, whilst the engine to be regulated turned a 
 
 8* 
 
116 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1850. 
 
 moveable nut on the screw in the same direction. 
 The nut must then move right or left on the screw 
 as long as it turns quicker or slower than the screw. 
 and can thus perfectly regulate the pace of the engine, 
 immediately ceasing to move, when the velocity of the 
 engine is precisely equal to that of the circular pen- 
 dulum. The differential regulator (or chronometric 
 governor, as brother William, who practically elabo- 
 rated and mainly perfected it. afterwards called it in 
 England), constructed on this principle, has certainly 
 not been largely introduced into practical engineering. 
 It is neither so simple nor so cheap as the Watt- 
 regulator, which in later years has been considerably 
 improved, but the differential movement, which we 
 carried out in the most varied forms, has proved an 
 exceedingly fertile element of construction. 
 
 My occupation with the problem of the exact 
 measurement of the velocity of projectiles, imperfectly 
 solved by Leonhardt's ingenious clock, caused me to 
 perceive that only a method, in which no masses 
 had to be set in motion and brought to rest, could 
 
 o 
 
 lead to the goal. Thus I came to employ the electric 
 spark for the solution of the problem. My proposal 
 consisted in causing electric sparks to pass on to a 
 rapidly and uniformly rotating polished steel-cylinder 
 from a fine point approximated as far as possible to 
 its periphery, and in calculating, from the interval 
 between the marks produced by these sparks and the 
 known number of revolutions of the cylinder, the 
 velocity of the ball, which at particular stages of its 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1850. 117 
 
 career produced the sparks. This method of measuring 
 velocity by the help of marks, which an electric spark 
 brands on polished steel or sprinkles on sooty steel 
 surfaces, has maintained its ground, and is still to-day 
 employed especially for measuring the velocity of pro- 
 jectiles in large and small gun-barrels. 
 
 The suggestion of storing up the unemployed 
 heat of one operation for use in the succeeding 
 operation, derived from my brother William's descrip- 
 tion of the Stirling hot-air engine, which I received 
 in the year 1845. interested me in a very high 
 degree. It appeared to me to open the way into a 
 yet unknown vast domain of technical science. It 
 occurred at a time when the idea, pervading and 
 governing the physical science of this age , of the 
 causal connection of all natural forces unconsciously 
 swayed men's minds, until it soon after became through 
 Mayer and Helmholtz common scientific property. The 
 principle of the circulation of heat in working engines 
 arid of the heat - equivalent of work already found 
 clear expression in my paper "On the application of 
 heated air as motive power", whose publication was 
 occasioned by Stirling's engine. I consider the chief 
 value of this essay however to have been, that 
 it incited my brothers William and Frederick to 
 their later pioneer efforts in the province of thermal 
 economy. 
 
 In my first- dial telegraph of 1846 I consequen- 
 tially carried out the principle of the automatic inter- 
 ruption of the electric current both for the apparatus 
 
118 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1850. 
 
 itself and also for the alarum. The principle essen- 
 tially consisted in increasing, according to require- 
 ment, the stroke of the well-known Neef hammer by 
 the insertion of a moveable contact, the so - called 
 slide. My dial and type -printing telegraphs, depend- 
 ing on this principle, were distinguished from the 
 then well-known Wheatstone telegraphs by being auto- 
 matic machines, running isochronally with one another, 
 until one apparatus was mechanically stopped by the 
 depression of a key on the particular letter, where- 
 upon all the others likewise stopped at the same letter, 
 and this letter was printed off by the type - printer. 
 The description of these instruments, as of most of 
 my further inventions and improvements of telegraphic 
 conductors and apparatus down to the year 1850. is 
 contained in my "Memoire sur la tele grap hie electrique" 
 communicated to the Paris Academy. I content my- 
 self here with a concise summary of the most important 
 scientific and technical improvements, the priority of 
 which is secured to me by that publication: 
 
 Introduction of the automatic break. of the electric 
 current at the end of every moA r ement of the armature 
 through a predetermined distance. Or one may put it 
 thus: increase of the movement of the Neef hammer 
 by a mechanism answering to the slide of the steam- 
 engine. All automatic electric alarums without clock 
 work and many other constructions rest on this 
 principle. 
 
 Production of the synchronous action of two or 
 more electric machines by allowing a fresh impulse to 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1850. 119 
 
 take place only when all the automatic contact-breakers 
 are again closed, i. e. the armature -movement of all 
 the apparatus inserted in the circuit is completed. 
 
 Manufacture of insulated conductors for subter- 
 ranean or submarine telegraphs by coating wires with 
 gutta-percha. 
 
 Construction of machines, which press the gutta- 
 percha without seam round the wires to be insulated. 
 
 Discovery of the phenomena of the charge in in- 
 sulated subterranean or submarine conductors, and 
 establishment of the law of the charge for open and 
 closed circuits. 
 
 Establishment of the methods, measurements, and 
 formulae for determining the place of faulty conduction 
 and insulation in subterranean circuits. 
 
 The underground wires, both those without external 
 protection and those with an armature of lead, had 
 meanwhile continued to come into use even beyond 
 the confines of Germany; among other states Russia 
 had adopted the system and connected St. Petersburg 
 and Moscow by a subterranean wire. In Prussia how- 
 ever the deterioration, which had occurred in the first 
 lines soon after their construction, continued to make 
 uninterrupted progress. The causes, which contributed 
 to this and finally led to the complete destruction of 
 the lines, have been already mentioned. The almost 
 morbid endeavour, called forth by political exigencies, 
 
120 DESTRUCTION OF THE UNDERGROUND WIRES IN PRUSSIA. 
 
 to set up as quickly as possible and at the least cost 
 a subterranean system of communication embracing the 
 whole country, had prevented the provision of the wires 
 with an armature and a sufficiently deep imbedding, 
 to secure them from injury at the hands of workmen 
 and from the attacks of rodents. The attempt to re- 
 place the wires, thus rendered useless, by others coated 
 with lead proved fruitless, as the rodents gnawed to 
 pieces even the protecting lead-covering. Further there 
 was lacking a properly trained staff to keep the ex- 
 tended network of wire in good order, and to remedy 
 defects without deranging the whole system. In con- 
 sequence of unskilful searches and tinkering of faults 
 numerous soldered joints came into existence, which 
 were insulated in a very primitive fashion by patching 
 with heated gutta-percha, and thus gave rise to new 
 faults. It was therefore to be feared that the sub- 
 terranean lines would, in a short time, become quite 
 unserviceable. 
 
 This sad state of things moved me to write a 
 
 O 
 
 pamphlet entitled <; A short account of experiences in 
 connection with the Prussian subterranean telegraph 
 lines" ? , in which I pointed out the existing risks and 
 made proposals for improvements in dealing with the 
 lines, but at the same time also energetically dis- 
 claimed responsibility, which was then on all sides 
 sought to be fastened upon me, for the collapse of 
 the system which I had suggested. It was only to be 
 expected that the publication of this pamphlet would 
 lead to differences with the directorate of the Prussian 
 
FOREIGN UNDERTAKINGS. 121 
 
 state telegraphs. In fact for several years communi- 
 cation of any kind whatsoever with myself and with my 
 firm entirely ceased. All orders were withdrawn from 
 us, and our special constructions handed over to other 
 manufacturers as models. This constituted a severe 
 crisis for our young establishment, which had rapidly 
 risen to be a factory with some hundred workmen. 
 Luckily railway telegraphy, which as the railways 
 themselves was not then state property, furnished an 
 independent market for our manufactures. The breach 
 with the government telegraph management however 
 had a trood deal to do with turning our attention 
 
 o o 
 
 more abroad, and leading us to seek there a market 
 for our products, as well as opportunities for larger 
 undertakings. 
 
 As in the foreign undertakings of my firm, which 
 I shall now have to report, my younger brothers 
 played a very important part, it will be as well to 
 cast a retrospective glance at the doings of my 
 family and especially of my brothers during the 
 period of my life just described. 
 
 The life of my brother William has been narrated 
 at considerable length, and with the conscientious use 
 of all the sources accessible to him. by a well-known 
 English writer. Dr. William Pole. In what follows I 
 need therefore only touch upon such events of his life 
 as had immediate relation to my own. First I will 
 here remark, that I stood during the whole of his life 
 
 o 
 
122 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 
 
 in active correspondence and lively personal intercourse 
 with William, to our great mutual gain. We com- 
 municated to each other all the more important events 
 of our lives, as well as new plans and aims: discussed 
 our diverging views, and almost always, if not in our 
 letters, yet at our next meeting, which usually happened 
 twice a year, came to a friendly understanding. The 
 circumstance, that I had paid more attention to pure 
 science, and William to technology and practical engi- 
 neering, led to each allowing to the other a certain 
 authority in his own subjects, whereby our collaboration 
 was considerably facilitated. That we were not jealous 
 of one another, but rather rejoiced, when the one could 
 further the recognition of the other in his respective 
 country, strengthened and assured our good under- 
 standing. 
 
 After the dissolution of our commercial partner- 
 ship for carrying out our inventions in the year 1846 
 William had entered an English machine factory of 
 repute as engineer, with the object in the first place 
 of securing a maintenance. But "the cat can't give up 
 mousing'', as a German proverb says: it was not long 
 before he too was again buried in his inventions. The 
 difference between us however was that I confined 
 myself to the solution of the numerous problems, which 
 telegraphy and in general the application of electrical 
 theory to practical life brought me, William on the 
 other hand tried by preference to solve difficult problems 
 of thermo- dynamics. In particular he had set himself 
 the task of overcoming the difficulties, which Stirling 
 
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 123 
 
 had encountered at Dundee in elaborating his hot-air 
 engine . by introducing the heat - regenerator for the 
 
 O i/ O 
 
 steam-engine. The experiments with these regenerating 
 steam-engines, regenerating evaporators, and condensers 
 claimed for years his time and means, without pro- 
 curing for his constructions general introduction into 
 technical practice. On the other hand he succeeded 
 in practically solving a problem on which I had also 
 long worked in Berlin with incomplete success, namely 
 the water-meter question. The patented Siemens- 
 A damson reaction water-meters for many years com- 
 manded the market and brought William good profits. 
 Then they were superseded by the Berlin construction 
 of the stroke or whirlpool meter, which was at once 
 adopted by William himself. 
 
 The excellent progress which the manufacture of 
 telegraphic and other electrical apparatus made in our 
 Berlin factory, and the great recognition which our 
 -constructions on all sides enjoyed, suggested the open- 
 ing of a business connection between William and the 
 firm of Siemens & Halske. He undertook at first to 
 act as an agent for obtaining orders in England, and 
 very cleverly contrived to turn the attention of English 
 technologists to the achievements of the Berlin firm. 
 This was especially furthered by the first Great Exhi- 
 bition, which took place in London in the summer of 
 1851. Siemens & Halske sent specimens in abundance; 
 their exhibits found universal approval and procured for 
 the firm the highest distinction - - the Council medal. 
 
 My brothers Hans and Ferdinand had remained 
 
124 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 
 
 faithful to their agricultural calling. After giving up 
 the farming of the Menzendorf demesne they had come 
 to Berlin, whither all the brothers with the exception 
 of William had betaken themselves, and the two soon 
 succeeded in obtaining suitable positions on East 
 Prussian estates. 
 
 Frederick had at a very early age gone from Ltibeck 
 to sea. and had for some years made a number of 
 long voyages in Liibeck sailing-ships. This had indeed 
 somewhat cooled his originally invincible inclination for 
 seafaring, and he wrote me one day that he would 
 like to learn something. I bade him therefore come 
 to Berlin, to prepare him by private instruction for 
 attending a naval school. He devoted himself to his 
 studies with great eagerness and success, and soon 
 
 O o 
 
 showed great interest in my own aims and experiments. 
 The new mental life finally interested him in such a 
 degree that the inclination for a sailor's life, whose 
 seamy side he had got well to know, was incapable of 
 withstanding the new impressions. Add to this, that the 
 total change in dress, living, and climate, had brought 
 on rheumatic sufferings, which he only slowly got the 
 better of. Henceforth he assisted me in my technical 
 work, and was strenuously bent on filling the great gaps 
 which the seaman's life had made in his knowledge. 
 The next in order, brother Charles, had, like 
 Frederick, spent the first years after the death of the 
 parents with uncle Deichmann in Liibeck, and had then 
 completed his schooling in Berlin. There he early 
 took part in my work, and became my faithful ever 
 
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 125 
 
 reliable assistant in my first technical undertakings, in 
 particular helping me in laying down the first under- 
 ground wires. 
 
 p 
 
 I have already related that my brothers William, 
 Frederick, and Charles, followed me in 1848 to Kiel 
 and Friedrichsort. The powerful national feeling, that 
 had everywhere been aroused in Germany, left them 
 no peace at home. To William I entrusted the con- 
 struction and command of the battery, which I had 
 caused to be erected in Laboe opposite the Friedrichs- 
 ort fort, whilst Frederick and Charles entered the 
 service of the newly formed Schleswig-Holstein army 
 as volunteers, and remained in the service till the con- 
 clusion of the armistice. On this occasion we arranged 
 that Frederick should continue his technical education 
 in England under William's guidance. Charles entered 
 a chemical factory in Berlin, which he however soon 
 quitted in order to assist me in laying down and re- 
 pairing the telegraph lines. In the year 1851 he was 
 together with Frederick the representative of the Berlin 
 factory at the London Universal Exhibition, and carried 
 on with ability the business negotiations which resulted 
 
 / o 
 
 therefrom. A branch in Paris, which we next founded 
 under his management, did not bring indeed the hoped- 
 for fruits, but contributed much to his social arid 
 business training. 
 
 o 
 
 Of the two youngest brothers Walter had come 
 at the same time as Charles from Ltibeck to Berlin 
 and attended school there. Otto I placed in a 
 grammar-school at Halle, as my time was too much 
 
126 BROTHERS AXD SISTERS. 
 
 taken up to allow of my personally superintending his 
 education. 
 
 Of our two sisters the elder Matilda, married 
 to Professor Himly in Kiel, was already the happy 
 mother of a troop of pretty children. She has always 
 honestly shared with me the care of the younger 
 brothers and sister, and sought as far as possible to 
 compensate them for the maternal love so early with- 
 drawn from them. My youngest sister Sophia had 
 been, as already mentioned, adopted on the death of 
 our parents by uncle Deichmann in Lubeck. At the 
 beginning of the fifties Deichmann took the resolution 
 of emigrating with his family to North America. They 
 were chiefly political reasons, which had occasioned this 
 resolution. After the suppression of the revolution in 
 Germany and Austria, after the surrender of Schleswig- 
 Holstein and the deep humiliation of Prussia a feeling 
 of despair rapidly spread in Germany. 
 
 The power of Russia appeared then so gigantic, 
 that the prophecy of Napoleon at St. Helena, in fifty 
 years Europe would become either republican or Cos- 
 sack, seemed already practically fulfilled. Although 
 I myself was also deeply depressed by the turn things 
 were taking in the political world, I could not sub- 
 scribe to so pessimistic a view. I not only therefore 
 rejected the pressing invitation of the uncle to accom- 
 pany him to America, but also tried to prevent any 
 of my brothers and sisters from participating in the 
 emigration. In particular I refused my consent to the 
 departure of my sister Sophia, in which I was strongly 
 
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 127 
 
 supported by her legal guardian Herr Ekengreen. Un- 
 fortunately however we had no power to detain Sophia, 
 as she had been formally adopted by the uncle. 
 
 In these straits Cupid came to our help. A young 
 lawyer in Llibeck. Dr. jur. Crome, had observed with 
 pleasure the young girl growing up near him, and was 
 only awaiting the dawn of womanhood to present him- 
 self as a suitor. The dire news of the intended emi- 
 gration prematurely ripened his resolution. He begged 
 the hand of the maiden of sixteen, and shortly before 
 the departure of the adoptive parents the wedding was 
 celebrated. We older members of the family have 
 not repented having favoured this step. The young 
 husband is said indeed, in his first married days, to 
 have been terribly tormented by jealousy, because the 
 young wife kept carefully locked certain drawers of her 
 cabinet, even eagerly endeavouring on his unlooked- 
 for entrance to conceal certain articles on which her 
 attention was engaged. But then, on his impetuous 
 demand, she tearfully confessed to him, it was the 
 new dress of her favourite doll, for the completion of 
 which the hasty wedding had left her no time! 
 
 It deserves to be remarked that the native charac- 
 teristics of my brothers, as revealed in their earliest 
 youth, have been faithfully preserved to an advanced 
 age, and have given a well-defined direction to their 
 career. This holds good especially of my three brothers, 
 with whom a common life and aims have most united 
 me, of William, Frederick, and Charles. 
 
 William had even as a child an abstracted, perhaps- 
 
128 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM. 
 
 somewhat reserved nature. He clung with great affection 
 to his relatives, but would never let them see it. From 
 earliest youth he was ambitious and a little inclined 
 to jealousy. When the tenderness of mother, grand- 
 mother, brothers and sisters was disputed by his next 
 brother Frederick, a deep resentment against the little 
 rival manifested itself - - a feeling which I fancy was 
 never wholly extinguished in him. in spite of all the 
 fraternal affection and help bestowed so abundantly in 
 later years. He possessed an extremely clear under- 
 standing and a quick power of apprehension, could 
 always follow with great ease the train of thought of 
 others, as well as grasp and give life to the spirit of 
 what he had acquired. The good pupil developed with 
 perfect consistency into the logical, methodical thinker, 
 the able engineer and man of business. His great 
 success in England he owes chiefly to his peculiar power 
 of appropriating easily and quickly from the store- 
 house of German science what was of practical value 
 for the moment, as well as to the further gift of 
 having this scientific knowledge ever ready, and of 
 always immediately discovering in the technical ques- 
 tions he met with the fulcrum, where the scientific lever 
 should be applied for their furtherance or solution. No 
 doubt he was essentially assisted by the circumstance 
 that he came to England at a time when scientific 
 culture was only represented there sporadically, 
 although then in a remarkable degree, and when 
 active co-operation between science and practice was 
 as rare as in Germany. So he succeeded, not only 
 
CHARACTER OF FREDERICK. 129 
 
 in accomplishing good work himself, but also, by taking 
 an active and energetic part in the highly developed life 
 of scientific and technical institutions in England, in 
 deserving well of the world of science, and at the same 
 time in rendering a lasting service to English industry. 
 Almost diametrically opposite were the mental 
 qualities of his successor in the series of surviving 
 members of the family. Frederick was not a good 
 learner. It has always been difficult for him to follow 
 another's train of thought to the end. On the other 
 hand he was from childhood a remarkably good ob- 
 server, and had the gift of stringing his observations 
 well together, and of making himself intelligible. Really 
 to understand arid appropriate the thoughts of others, 
 he had to discover them or think them out for himself 
 afterwards. This characteristic of steady, spontaneous, 
 uninfluenced thinking and self- training gave him a 
 peculiarly meditative air and his performances a pro- 
 nounced originality. Frederick is the born inventor, 
 to whose brooding mind the novel conception first 
 presents itself in obscure nebulous form, and who 
 thereupon with restless energy and untiring industry 
 tests the foundation of the conception, filling up at 
 the same time any gaps in his knowledge, and finally 
 either rejects his idea as false or impracticable, or 
 elaborates it into a serviceable and then almost always 
 original invention. At the same time Frederick was 
 never a diplomatist, arid just as little a man of business 
 carefully weighing his words and actions. He went and 
 is still going everywhere his straight road, biased only 
 
 f OFTHE x. 
 
 (UNIVERSITT) 
 
 \ OF / 
 
130 CHARACTER OF CHARLES. SELF-CHARACTERIZATION. 
 
 by his innate friendly and benevolent disposition, a road 
 which usually leads him to the desired goal, since he 
 always well considers it and follows it with the greatest 
 energy to the end. 
 
 I should call the next brother Charles the most 
 normally constituted of us all. He was always to be 
 depended upon, faithful and conscientious, a good pupil, 
 an affectionate, attached brother. His clear eye and 
 generally cultivated understanding made him an excellent 
 man of business and, with his large technical knowledge 
 and excellent tact, an admirable conductor of business 
 undertakings. Charles was the true connecting link bet- 
 ween us four brothers, who differed indeed radically 
 from one another, but were bound together for life-long 
 common work by all-subduing fraternal love. 
 
 Not to leave myself out in this family characteri- 
 zation I will only remark that I possessed a fair share 
 of the good and bad qualities just described of my 
 three brothers, but that these qualities were much 
 repressed in outward manifestation through my parti- 
 cular line of life. To perform my duty and do good 
 work has always been my strenuous endeavour. To 
 find recognition has been indeed grateful to me. but 
 it has always been repulsive to me to push myself in 
 any way, or be made the subject of an ovation. 
 Perhaps my constant endeavour "to be. rather than 
 to seem'', and to have my merits first discovered by 
 others, was only a peculiar form of vanity. I shall 
 try as far as possible to avoid it in these pages. 
 
BEGINNING OF THE RUSSIAN UNDERTAKINGS. 131 
 
 The year 1852 formed a decided turning -point 
 in my personal as well as in my business life. 
 
 At the beginning of that year I made my first 
 journey to Russia. The business connection of my 
 firm with the Russian government had been opened 
 as early as 1849 through the medium of Captain 
 von Ltklers. who was making a circular tour through 
 Europe, having been entrusted by his government with 
 the task of ascertaining the best system of electric 
 telegraphs. He then proposed our system for the line 
 to be constructed from St. Petersburg to Moscow. 
 Orders were given to Siemens Halske only for 
 apparatus dial telegraphs and measuring instru- 
 
 ments - - as the Russian Government took upon itself 
 the construction of the underground wires. Negotiations 
 having reference to further orders now required my 
 presence in St. Petersburg. 
 
 My journey lay by way of Konigsberg. which 
 I had long ardently desired to visit, without having 
 been able to make up my mind to undertake the 
 journey. It was there that Drumann, the well-known 
 historian, resided, who had married a daughter of my 
 uncle Mehlis in Clausthal, and was accordingly my 
 kinsman by marriage. In the year 1844 Frau Dru- 
 mann had, on a journey to Clausthal, looked me up 
 in Berlin, and spent a few days there with her youngest 
 daughter Matilda. I made myself useful to the ladies 
 during the time as cicerone, and passed some very 
 .agreeable and exhilarating days in their company. 
 The return journey was to have been also by way of 
 
132 THE DRUMANN FAMILY. 
 
 Berlin . and I was looking forward to the renewed 
 meeting with my amiable cousin and her handsome and 
 clever daughter. The pleasure was unfortunately 
 destined to be marred by a very sad event. 
 
 Frau Drumann arrived ill in Berlin, and died in 
 the hotel a few days after, of inflammation of the 
 lungs. I was the only relative, even the only acquain- 
 tance of the family in Berlin, and had therefore to 
 fulfil all the duties of the family head. My compassion 
 was put to a hard test by the intense grief of the 
 poor lonely girl. The speedy arrival of the deceased's 
 brother, councillor Mehlis of Hanover, and of his wife 
 made indeed easier for me the difficult and alto- 
 gether unwonted task which had fallen to my lot, 
 yet the image of the sorrow-laden girl, helplessly 
 clinging to me. would not leave my mind. Eight 
 years had since passed, in which our correspondence 
 lively at first had gradually ceased. My brother Fer- 
 dinand had meanwhile become engaged to Matilda's 
 elder sister, and with the assistance of Professor Dru- 
 mann had purchased the manor of Piontken in East 
 Prussia. But when he was on the point of bringing 
 home his bride, she fell ill of a chronic lung disease, 
 to which, notwithstanding the excellent nursing of her 
 only sister, she succumbed after several years of severe 
 suffering. The time had now come for me to fulfil 
 a long cherished wish, without departing from an early- 
 formed resolution , to -marry only when my own 
 resources permitted it. Halske had managed well. 
 We had bought in Berlin extensive premises, 94 Mark- 
 
BETROTHAL TO MATILDA DRUMANN. 133 
 
 grafenstrasse . at the back of which a fine room} 7 
 workshop had been erected, whilst the front part, 
 recently enlarged, yielded us excellent dwelling accom- 
 modation. For the wedding then there was only lacking 
 the bride, and I was able soon after my arrival in 
 Konigsberg. on my mother's birthday - - the llth of 
 January 1852 - - to put the long deferred question 
 to Matilda Drumann. whose reply made me an accepted 
 and happy lover. 
 
 My business affairs did not allow of a long stay 
 
 J O J 
 
 in Konigsberg, as I was expected on the 20th of 
 January in Riga, where we had to establish telegraphic 
 communication with the port-town Boldera. which was 
 to be effected by means of a steel -wire cable spanning 
 the broad Duna. 
 
 At that time posting was the only mode of 
 travelling in Russia. This was very well organized 
 on the main roads, that is to say considering the 
 
 / o 
 
 circumstances. At a distance on an average of from 
 twenty to thirty versts --a verst is a little more than 
 a kilometer - - substantial houses with stabling were 
 erected on the post-roads, in which shelter and horses 
 were to be had. if not already engaged, and the tra- 
 veller was in possession of a government order to the 
 post-masters, directing them to furnish horses for a 
 prescribed journey on payment of the regulation fare. 
 If possessed of such an order -- called Podaroshna - 
 the traveller, supposing he had no private carriage, 
 obtained a small four-wheeled peasant's cart, without 
 springs covering or other luxury, drawn by three 
 
134 JOURNEY BY POST TO RIGA. 
 
 usually not bad horses, of which the middle one was 
 harnessed in shafts, and the two outside ones yoked 
 so as to face respectively right or left. In a proper 
 i; troika" the stronger middle horse has to trot, whilst 
 the side - horses keep pace with a galop to right or 
 left. The traveller has usually for seat his travelling 
 trunk or a bundle of straw - - and then, good speed, 
 and away at a galop, which only ceases at the next 
 station, if flying report has vaunted the traveller's 
 liberality in the matter of tips. 
 
 Such a post journey requires experience. It is 
 necessary to sit on the trunk quite loosely and bent 
 well forward, so that one's own spine may form a spring 
 to protect the brain from the violent jolts of the w r heels 
 on the usually indifferent roads. If this precaution 
 be omitted, violent headaches are the infallible result. 
 However one pretty quickly accustoms oneself to this 
 mode of travelling, which also has its charms, even 
 soon learns to sleep quite soundly in the rocking po- 
 sition, coping instinctively with all the unevenness of 
 the road by judicious counter-movements. When two 
 travellers make use of such a "telega" they usually 
 lash themselves together by a girdle, in order that their 
 oscillations may be so regulated as to prevent their 
 knocking their heads together. For the rest I have 
 found that "telega" travelling can be very well borne, 
 if it is not overdone. Certainly it is said that these 
 journeys have often been fatal to couriers, who have 
 had to sit day and night for weeks together in their 
 "telegas' 1 . 
 
SLEDGE-DRIVE TO ST. PETERSBURG. 135 
 
 The telega journey was agreeable and interesting 
 e noil o-h as far as Riga. But there regular winter 
 
 O o O 
 
 weather had set in, and the further journey could 
 only be made in sledges. The Russian "kibitkas' are 
 low and rather short sledges, which for longer journeys 
 are completely closed with matting. The inner space 
 is separated from the driver's box by a wall of mat- 
 ting, in which two small windows are fixed, which 
 admit light sparingly to the interior. A mat -flap at 
 each side of the sledge renders possible the rather 
 difficult getting out and in. 
 
 As I travelled for the first time into Russia proper, 
 knowing no Russian, I had to look about in Riga for 
 a travelling companion. In a newspaper advertisement 
 such a person turned up, who possessed a kibitka and 
 spoke German and Russian perfectly. As appeared 
 when we were already on the road, this was an elderly 
 merchant's wife of Riga, who sought in this way to 
 cheapen her annual business trip to St. Petersburg. 
 She had packed the sledge so full of straw and bed- 
 ding that one could only lie down in it, and then had 
 the mat-covering close over one's face. It had become 
 bitterly cold, and the nearer we got to our goal the 
 stronger became the dry keen north-east wind, which 
 with 18 below zero Reaumur mocked at the warmest 
 wrapping. Then I learnt in Russian fashion to drink hot 
 tea in great quantities, as soon as a station was reached, 
 for only in that way could any warmth be obtained. 
 
 When on the third morning we had reached the 
 Narva station we fell victims to a little stratagem, which 
 
136 SLEDGE-DRIVE TO ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 was often and in the most varied forms practised by 
 the post-masters. The post-master declared with the. 
 greatest assurance that it was of no use to travel 
 further, as at the stations before St. Petersburg all the 
 horses had been appropriated for a great imperial bear 
 hunt. Apparently touched by the loud lamentations 
 of my Russian companion he finally offered to give us a 
 pair of particularly powerful horses, which would bring 
 
 us the same evening to St. Petersburg. The bargain was 
 struck, and the crafty Russian imagined that he had 
 by the fiction of the bear hunt secured the whole fare 
 to St. Petersburg. Our subsequent adventures however 
 foiled his scheme. 
 
 Our driver was a young fellow without fur and 
 warm foot -rug. That he often stopped seemed to us 
 intelligible, as he evidently needed a warm drink to 
 avoid being frozen. At last however he never returned 
 at all. I had to struggle out of the kibitka which, 
 owing to my double furs, that yet did not prevent a 
 rather severe numbness, was attended with difficulty. 
 I then found our "Iswoshtchik" in a hut hard by, 
 brandy glass in hand, which the rather suspicious- 
 looking Jewish proprietor of the hut kept eagerly 
 filling. When I drove the man back to the sledge 
 with the necessary sensible admonitions. I observed 
 unmistakable signs of a deeper understanding between 
 him and the tavern-keeper who accompanied us. It 
 came to me therefore by no means as a surprise 
 when, soon after resuming the journey, my travelling 
 companion suddenly uttered a loud cry. and called to 
 
TRAVELLING ADVENTURES. 137 
 
 me that her travelling trunk had just fallen from the 
 sledge. She had immediately noticed the loss, as the 
 trunk was fastened beside the driver on the box in 
 such a way as to block the one small window. It 
 was very difficult in our confined position to make the 
 driver stop. At last I achieved this by breaking the 
 second small window, laid hold of him and threw him 
 down from his seat. The trunk was luckily found 
 again: the rope, which served to fasten it. had undoub- 
 tedly been cut. 
 
 It soon became pretty clear that the driver was 
 dead-drunk, as he repeatedly drove us into the road- 
 side ditches. At last there remained nothing else for 
 me to do but to mount the box. and take the reins 
 from the driver's hands. He very soon after fell soundly 
 asleep, and neither scolding nor cuffing availed to 
 revive him. I for my part soon felt my feet becoming 
 benumbed, and when I tried to change the reins found 
 that both my hands had become quite frozen and 
 immovable. It was still possible for me to drive the 
 sledge again into the ditch, and to pull off my gloves 
 with my teeth. With the sudden stoppage the driver 
 had fallen from the box, and lay like a corpse at my 
 feet. I could therefore quite easily perform two useful 
 actions, viz. wash his head with snow and thereby also 
 thaw my own hands. It lasted a good while before 
 I felt the life return into them. Soon after the driver 
 also began to show signs of life, in that he made 
 grimaces and presently began to wail and implore for- 
 giveness. So in the darkness of the night we were 
 
138 ARRIVAL IN ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 able to continue our way by walking beside the sledge, 
 and finally reached Krasnoye-Selo, where we took up 
 our quarters with the post- master. Our complaint 
 against the post-keeper in Narva and in respect of the 
 Iswoshtchik he settled next morning in a very curt 
 fashion. He required from us the stipulated fare to 
 St. Petersburg, then gave the Iswoshtchik a sound 
 thrashing with his own hands until his strength was 
 
 O " t? 
 
 exhausted, and sent him back with this in lieu of 
 any payment to his master, whilst he drove us him- 
 self with his own horses on to St. Petersburg. 
 
 In St. Petersburg I was received in a very friendly 
 manner by the merchant Heyse. an uncle of the poet 
 Paul Heyse. I had first made the acquaintance of the 
 Heyse family in Magdeburg, where, during my period 
 of service as recruit. I had received much maternal 
 sympathy and kindliness in the house of the widow of 
 school-director Heyse, distinguished as pedagogue and 
 as author of a German grammar. The Petersburg Heyse, 
 a son of the school-director, had in his younger years 
 gone to Russia, and had there raised himself to be a 
 partner in one of the most respected commercial houses. 
 The intercourse with the amiable, and still thoroughly 
 German, family was made easy by Heyse's procuring 
 a lodging for me in a hotel near his own residence on 
 the island Wasili-Ostrow. 
 
 St. Petersburg with its grand site, its broad streets 
 and large squares, and especially with its mighty river, 
 the many -armed Xeva, made a powerful impression 
 on me. This was strengthened by the strangeness of 
 
IMPRESSION OF ST. PETERSBURG. 139 
 
 the life of the people and the peculiar mixture of 
 large palaces with small houses, for the most part 
 entirely built of wood, in the broad interminable 
 streets. Also the active sleighing, which in winter 
 takes up the streets and almost entirely excludes the 
 carriage traffic, produces a peculiar effect on the 
 foreigner seeing St. Petersburg for the first time. The 
 inability to understand the language, and to decipher 
 a single inscription on street corners and shops, gives 
 one also a feeling of forlornness and dependence, 
 which it is difficult to shake off. All the more 
 cheering on the other hand is the intercourse with 
 one's compatriots, the extremely developed hospitable 
 family life in the large foreign colony of St. Peters- 
 burg, especially the German, to which it is no mean 
 advantage that the Baltic provinces of Russia have 
 completely preserved their German nationality in the 
 cultivated classes. The higher government posts were 
 at that time for the most part filled by Germans 
 from the Baltic provinces. This extremely facilitated 
 the getting on both socially and commercially of a 
 German coming to St. Petersburg. It was much in 
 my favour that owing to Berlin introductions the 
 scientific circles were thrown open to me. I received 
 a cordial welcome from the most celebrated represen- 
 tatives of Russo- German science, of whom I will only 
 mention the academicians Kupffer, Lenz, Jacobi and 
 von Baer. 
 
 Unfortunately the agreeable, and for my business 
 undertakings advantageous, intercourse was seriously 
 
140 ILLNESS. THE KRONSTADT LINE. AGAIN TO ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 interrupted. One day I felt extremely unwell. In vain 
 I sought recovery by Russian baths and similar self- 
 prescribed remedies, and finally by an emetic which I 
 w r as able to procure. After the unspeakably painful 
 night which ensued I fortunately received a visit from 
 friend Heyse. who perceived the seriousness of my ill- 
 ness and sent his doctor to me. I had caught the 
 measles, which w^ere then raging in St. Petersburg. 
 Severe inflammation of the kidneys followed, which 
 chained me for some months to a sick bed. and from 
 the consequences of which I had long to suffer. 
 
 Apart from this personal mishap the results of 
 my journey were very favourable for the development 
 of our business relations. We obtained the commission 
 to lay an underground line from St. Petersburg to 
 Oranienbaum with a cable junction to Kronstadt. 
 
 The construction of the Kronstadt line, and the 
 necessity of organizing another representation of our 
 firm in Russia, led me again to St. Petersburg in the 
 summer of 1852. I found there in a German merchant 
 of the first guild. Mr. Kapherr. a very suitable re- 
 presentative, who has contributed much by his activity 
 and adroitness to the favourable results of our Russian 
 undertakings: and I was able to come into closer 
 
 c? 
 
 connection with the department of public ways and 
 communications, to which the construction and manage- 
 ment of telegraph lines appertained. 
 
 My marriage with Matilda Drumann w r as celebrated 
 on the first of October 1852 in Konigsberg. After a 
 short stav in Berlin we travelled to the Rhine and then 
 
MARRIAGE. 141 
 
 to Paris, where my brothers William and Charles also 
 just then happened to be. After the years passed in 
 anxiety and severe work I there enjoyed in full measure 
 my young married happiness, enhanced by the familiar 
 intercourse with the brothers. The sorrowful years 
 by the sick couch of her beloved sister had much 
 tried my wife. All the more delightful was it to me 
 to perceive how the new happiness from day to day 
 restored her earlier youthful freshness. That made me 
 also young again, and obliterated the traces of ex- 
 cessive labour and prolonged sickness. 
 
 Alas this sunshine in my life did not last Ion 
 
 Soon after her second confinement Matilda began to 
 
 o 
 
 ail. The germs of the terrible disease of which her 
 sister had died, and which she had probably received 
 during the long self-sacrificing period of nursing, now 
 began to mature. A year and a half's residence in 
 Ixeichenhall, Me ran, and other spas appeared to have 
 restored her, but it was not for long. After a union 
 of thirteen years, in which she bore me two sons 
 and two daughters, she died after long and painful 
 suffering. 
 
 When in the spring of 1853 the construction of 
 a railway telegraph from Warsaw to the Prussian 
 frontier was entrusted to us, we made my brother 
 Charles, who had returned to London at the beginning 
 of that year after the shipwreck of our Paris plans, 
 the offer to undertake the direction both of this con- 
 struction and also of the further expected works in 
 Russia. Charles declared himself ready, and subse- 
 
142 CHARLES CALLED TO KUSSIA. 
 
 quently executed these in part very difficult tasks so 
 satisfactorily, that we considered our resolution to 
 entrust him. despite his youth, with such important 
 works as a very happy one. We owe it mainly to 
 his energy and ability that the Russian business now 
 grew so rapidly and to such proportions. 
 
 The emperor Nicolas was then on the throne, and 
 under him the most powerful man in the empire was 
 Count Kleinmichel, chief of the ministry of public ways 
 and communications. I had up till then come into no 
 personal contact with this man so feared throughout 
 Russia, as the negotiations had been carried on through 
 the above mentioned Colonel von Luders. with whom I 
 was on personally friendly terms. When however the 
 latter was taken ill and obliged to try the restorative 
 efficacy of German watering-places in the spring of 
 1853, I was summoned by Count Kleinmichel to St. 
 Petersburg for a conference on telegraph matters, just 
 when I was expecting my brother Charles, to accom- 
 pany him to Warsaw. I accordingly applied as usual 
 at the Russian embassy for the visa of my passport. 
 To my astonishment, in spite of repeated reminders. 
 I failed to obtain the visa. When I complained of 
 this to the ambassador himself, he told me that by 
 order of the St. Petersburg secret police the visa 
 could not be given. As no reason was given for the 
 refusal, nothing was left to me but to write to Count 
 Kleinmichel that I could not comply with his request, 
 the visa of my passport having been refused. It then 
 lasted no longer than the exchange of couriers bet- 
 
THIRD JOURNEY. 143 
 
 ween Berlin and St. Petersburg . before an official 
 from the Embassy handed me the vise passport with 
 many excuses, and the explanation that a misunder- 
 standing had occurred. 
 
 o 
 
 When however a few days later on the journey 
 to Warsaw I had reached the Russian frontier station. 
 I soon found that despite the alleged misunderstanding 
 I still belonged to the class of suspects. My effects 
 were searched, after all the other travellers had been 
 passed, with a minuteness which far exceeded all ex- 
 pectation. Every written and unwritten piece of paper 
 was retained, and it was finally declared to me that, 
 in consideration of the excellent result of the search 
 so far. I should be spared an equally thorough per- 
 sonal visitation if I handed up all my letters and gave 
 my word of honour, that I carried nothing else about 
 me printed or written. On my declaring that I should 
 return, as such a treatment did not suit me. it was 
 signified to me. that I must now go on with my luggage 
 to Warsaw and there await a further decision. I was 
 in fact a Russian state prisoner! 
 
 Arrived at Warsaw I complained bitterly of the 
 treatment to which I had been subjected to General 
 Aureggio . who as director of the Warsaw- Vienna 
 Railway had concluded the contract for the construction 
 of the railway telegraphs with my firm. The General 
 promised to lay my case before the then Governor of 
 Poland. Prince Paskewich. To his question whether I 
 had done, written, or said anything, which could have 
 rendered me politically suspected. I could only answer 
 
144 PASSPORT DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 that I had once replied to a Russian state-counsellor, 
 on his repeated offer to procure me a decoration for 
 my services to Russia, that this would afford me less 
 satisfaction than an order to construct further telegraph 
 lines for Russia. The Governor had laughed heartily, 
 when the General communicated to him the confession 
 of my sin, and bade him tell me. he would in my 
 place have thought just the same. I at once received 
 all my things back and a passport to St. Petersburg. 
 After being a short time with my brother Charles, 
 who had meanwhile followed me to Warsaw. I accor- 
 dingly continued my journey. 
 
 Arrived in St. Petersburg after a six days" journey 
 in an extremely uncomfortable stage-coach, I immedi- 
 ately repaired to Count Kleinmichel, who, as I had 
 already heard in Warsaw, had himself issued the order 
 on his own responsibility to give me the passport. The 
 Count listened to my report in a quite friendly manner, 
 and took a look at the testimonials in regard to the 
 works hitherto executed by us which I laid before him. 
 At the treatment which I had suffered he was manifestly 
 very indignant. When, in a very favourable testimonial 
 of the president of the Berlin police Hinkeldey in regard 
 to the police telegraphs laid down by us. he found the 
 concluding remark, that politically I was altogether 
 free from suspicion, he bade me go with this testimonial 
 to the chief of the secret police, General Dubbelt. 
 "Tell the General" were his words, "I command him 
 to read the testimonial, and then bring it back to 
 me immediately, I shall show it to the Emperor!" 
 
REASON FOR REFUSING THE PASSPORT. 145 
 
 This injunction placed me in rather an awkward 
 predicament. Fortunately a Warsaw business - friend 
 had given me an introduction to one of the higher 
 officials of the dreaded department of the St. Petersburg 
 secret police. I therefore went first to this gentleman, 
 and requested to be advised how I should proceed, 
 in order to do the count's bidding, and yet not give 
 offence. From him I learnt . that a report from 
 Copenhagen, in which I was described as a dangerous 
 character, on terms of intimacy with the democratic 
 professors of Kiel, had occasioned the refusal of the 
 passport. Evidently it was Danish gratitude for the 
 torpedoes in the Kiel harbour and the construction 
 of the Eckernforde batteries, which had certainly ren- 
 dered the Danes rather uncomfortable. Both the chief 
 of the police, who in solemn audience received my 
 testimonial and thereupon assured me of his special 
 satisfaction and his constant readiness to help me in 
 my undertakings, and also Count Kleinmichel himself 
 were perfectly satisfied by these explanations. 
 
 I have related this interesting episode of my life 
 in Russia at such length, because it gives a good 
 picture of the state of things and official relations in 
 the realm of the Czar at that time , and because it 
 has been of great service to our business transactions. 
 Count Kleinmichel's power was then so great, that, as 
 long as the Emperor Nicholas lived, no one ventured 
 to resist it. The count had acquired confidence in me, 
 and afterwards bestowed the same in a very marked 
 degree on my brother Charles. To his powerful 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
146 CHARLES'S INTRODUCTION TO COUNT KLEINMICHEL. 
 
 protection alone did we owe it, that we were enabled 
 successfully to execute the great works, which he 
 entrusted to us. 
 
 Count Kleinmichel did not conceal from me, that 
 he would have liked to have retained me altogether 
 in Russia for the execution of his further plans. As 
 I could not accede to that. I announced to him, when 
 at the end of July I took my leave, the approaching 
 arrival of my brother, who had great experience in 
 the construction of lines and would be able to execute 
 his orders better than I could myself. A few days 
 after my departure Charles arrived in St. Petersburg. 
 When he presented himself to the count, the latter 
 was surprised at his youthful appearance. He evinced 
 in consequence much annoyance, gave him however 
 the order to propose an arrangement, whereby the 
 wire of the telegraph in course of construction between 
 Oranienbaum and Kronstadt might be conducted into 
 the turret-room of the imperial winter palace, hitherto 
 the terminal station of the optical telegraph to War- 
 saw, without disturbing the Emperor's dwelling house. 
 
 When brother Charles looked attentively at the 
 proud palace with the turreted projection, wherein the 
 bureau of the optical telegraph was placed, it struck 
 him that in one of the corners of the tower no 
 gutter ran down, as was the case in the others. On 
 perceiving this he immediately returned to the count, 
 who, annoyed at his supposed fussiness, inquired rather 
 roughly what else he wanted. Charles at once commu- 
 nicated the plan of placing in the vacant corner of the 
 
KRONSTADT LINE. 147 
 
 tower a similar tube to that which existed in the others, 
 and of carrying up therein the insulated telegraph wires. 
 That made an impression on the count. He inveighed 
 against his officers, who could suggest nothing better 
 than knocking out grooves in the masonry, "and now", 
 so he expressed himself, "there comes a beardless young 
 man, and sees at the first glance how easily the thing- 
 is to be done." Thus Charles succeeded on his 
 very first appearance in gaining the favour of the 
 count, who from this moment onwards accorded 
 him an authority, in which he placed as implicit 
 a confidence as in my own. In this he was not dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 In the autumn of 1853 Charles completed the 
 Kronstadt cable-line to Count KleinmicheFs perfect 
 satisfaction. This was the first submarine telegraph 
 line in the world which has remained permanently 
 serviceable. The gutta-percha conductors, protected 
 by iron wires, employed for it have stood the test 
 admirably. At the same time as the laying down of 
 the line its maintenance, the so-called remount, was 
 also contracted for by us for a period of six years. 
 During the whole of this time the wire was only once 
 seriously injured by ships' anchors, and after the lapse 
 of the six years was handed over to the government 
 in a faultless condition. It has remained in active use 
 to the present time, and affords therefore a good proof 
 of the durability of well-constructed submarine cables. 
 
 In the spring of 1854 the Crimean war broke 
 
 out. We received in consequence the commission, to 
 
 10* 
 
148 WARSAW- ST. PETERSBURG LINE. 
 
 construct as quickly as possible an overhead telegraph 
 line along the high road from Warsaw to St. Peters- 
 burg or rather to Gatshina. which was already connected 
 with St. Petersburg by an underground wire. Accor- 
 dingly in April 1854 I travelled to Warsaw and there 
 organised a working column , which began the con- 
 struction of the line from Warsaw under the command 
 of captain Beelitz, a former comrade of mine, who 
 had entered the service of our firm. I then went to 
 St. Petersburg and there together with Charles organised 
 
 O o c 1 
 
 a second column, which under his command worked 
 towards that of Beelitz from Gatshina. Thus the line 
 about 1,100 versts long was completed in a few months, 
 to the great astonishment of the Russians, who were 
 unaccustomed to quick and well-organised work. When 
 the two columns met half way at Dunaburg, and the 
 translation-station of that place correctly performed 
 its functions after the surmounting of a few difficulties, 
 Charles was able to announce to Count Kleinmichel 
 the completion of the line at the promised time. The 
 count was much astonished at this intelligence . and 
 would not quite believe in its correctness. He at 
 once repaired to the station in the telegraph -tower of 
 the Winter Palace, and himself addressed a question 
 to the chief of the Warsaw station. His doubts were 
 only removed when he had received an instantaneous 
 reply, and astonished in the highest degree he an- 
 nounced the happy event to the Emperor. 
 
 The success of the Warsaw - Petersburg line 
 strengthened the Russian Government in its resolve to 
 
LlNE -CONSTRUCTIONS DURING THE CRIMEAN WAR. 149 
 
 cover the whole Empire with a network of electric 
 telegraphs. The speedy construction of a line from 
 Moscow to Kiev, between the former of which towns 
 and St. Petersburg an underground line was already in 
 operation as mentioned before, was entrusted to us. 
 Then in quick succession lines from Kiev to Odessa, 
 from St. Petersburg to Reval, from Kowno to the 
 Prussian frontier, from St. Petersburg to Helsingfors, 
 were ordered; which were all completed after over- 
 coming infinite difficulties in the years 1854 and 1855, 
 and were of great utility to the Russian empire in the 
 Crimean war raging at the time. 
 
 o o 
 
 By means of the telegraphs Russia was put in 
 speedy communication with Berlin and the west of 
 Europe; in the interior of the empire the movement 
 of troops and material could be regulated with their 
 help, and the central government could everywhere 
 promptly make and improve its arrangements. 
 
 Of the difficulties which beset the construction of 
 these lines one may form an idea, when it is borne 
 in mind that all the materials, with the sole excep- 
 tion of the wooden telegraph poles which were pro- 
 curable in Russia, had to be obtained from Berlin 
 and western Germany, that there were then no other 
 railways in Russia than those from the Prussian fron- 
 tier to Warsaw and from St. Petersburg to Moscow, 
 and that all the roads and means of transport were 
 occupied in an unusual degree by the war transports. 
 In addition to this the marine transport of heavy 
 materials from German to Russian ports was impeded 
 
150 LINE TO THE SEAT OF WAR. 
 
 by the blockade of the latter. With great difficulty 
 two ships from Ltibeck , loaded with iron wire for 
 Russian ports, escaped capture through English cruisers, 
 by taking refuge in Memel, whence their cargo was 
 forwarded overland. 
 
 The Berlin firm had enough to do with procuring 
 the materials, preparing the apparatus, and organising 
 the transports, and was therefore only in a slight 
 degree enabled directly to assist my brother Charles, 
 on whose shoulders the whole burden of the con- 
 struction of the line rested. Charles's chief assistants 
 in the execution of these works were my former 
 serving-man Hemp, who had rendered such effective 
 aid in Schleswig-Holstein, and the half- pay captain 
 Beelitz alluded to above. I myself was indespensable 
 in Berlin, where meanwhile the construction of rail- 
 way lines uninterruptedly continued, and was obliged 
 to content myself with repeatedly journeying to 
 St. Petersburg, to superintend organizing work and 
 maintain the connection between the centres of our 
 activity. 
 
 In the spring of 1855 I repaired to St. Petersburg 
 for a somewhat longer stay in company with my friend 
 William Meyer -- who meanwhile had resigned his post 
 in the Prussian government telegraph department, and 
 had become chief engineer and confidential clerk of 
 the firm of Siemens & Halske - - in order to introduce 
 in our office there an organization answering the ra- 
 pidly growing requirements. We had already nearly 
 finished our work and were thinking seriously of our 
 
LlNE TO THE SEAT OF WAR. 151 
 
 return, when I was suddenly called up at midnight 
 and taken almost by force to Count Kleinmichers 
 assistant, General von Guerhardt. The latter imparted 
 to me, that the Emperor had ordered the immediate 
 construction of a telegraph line to the Crimea up to 
 the fortress of Sebastopol, and the Count wished to 
 have an estimate and the date of completion by 7 
 o'clock the next morning. My doubts in regard to the 
 difficulty of procuring and transporting the materials on 
 the only open road from Berlin to Perekop and Sebasto- 
 pol, as well as to the impossibility of constructing 
 a line to the seat of war itself, when all the ways 
 and means of transport were required by the military, 
 were overborne by that all -conquering word in Russia 
 4 'The Emperor wills it!" And in fact the magic word 
 held good also in this case. The line was made. 
 
 When after working the whole night I came to 
 the General punctually at 7 o'clock, I learnt that the 
 latter had been already summoned to the count two 
 hours before, and had not yet returned. Soon after 
 8 o'clock he came and communicated to me, that 
 Count Kleinmichel had told the Emperor, who had 
 ordered the report by 6 o'clock, that I would execute 
 the construction from Nikolaiev to Perekop in six 
 weeks, that from Perekop to Sebastopol in ten weeks, 
 and at the same price as the line from Kiev to Odessa. 
 I declared both to be impossible. The transport of 
 the wire and apparatus alone from Berlin to Nikolaiev 
 on roads destroyed by the military transport would 
 take at least two months. The expenses would also 
 
152 LINE TO THE SEAT OF WAR. 
 
 as a matter of course be much higher, and at the 
 seat of war the work would be almost impossible for 
 civilians and especially for foreigners. All that how- 
 ever was of no avail and was hardly listened to. The 
 Emperor had spoken! In the course of the day 
 I received an official letter, communicating that the 
 
 ' O 
 
 Emperor desired to express his thanks to us for the 
 services hitherto performed for Russia in its difficult 
 situation, and for the offer of a rapid construction 
 of the required line to the seat of war, but that he 
 trusted we should, in consideration of the hard war 
 times, construct the new line more cheaply than the 
 previous ones. 
 
 That was an extremely difficult situation for us. 
 The summer was already half gone, and before the 
 end of it new material was in no manner of way to 
 be got to the spot. Moreover without a heavy river- 
 cable it was impossible to cross the broad and swampy 
 Dnieper. And yet the imperial order had to be com- 
 plied with, so far as in any way possible. The only 
 possibility of effecting a telegraphic communication at 
 least to Perekop, situated on the isthmus uniting the 
 Crimea with the continent, consisted in collecting all the 
 materials remaining over from the construction of the 
 hitherto completed lines, sending them to Nikolaiev, and 
 carrying the line in a circuit of about thirty versts by 
 way of Bereslaw, where a bridge crossed the Dnieper, 
 and made the passage practicable without a river- 
 cable. The same night, in which the communication 
 was made to me, we had accordingly corresponded 
 
TO THE SEAT OF WAR. 153 
 
 by telegraph with all the Russian stations and had 
 summoned to the station captain Beelitz, who luckily 
 was just then in Nikolaiev, to settle the possibility 
 of obtaining telegraph posts. Beelitz answered that 
 he must first consult the Jewish timber - merchants, 
 and had sent out messengers to summon them imme- 
 diately to the station. Then arose a peculiar telegraphic 
 negotiation. Beelitz announces a Jew would undertake 
 the delivery of the poles, but must have fifteen roubles 
 per pole. Answer: "Out with him!*' Reply: "Done!'' 
 Another offers to do it for ten roubles. Answer: 
 "Out with him too!" Reply: "Done!'' A set of 
 others ask six roubles; with these, negotiations are 
 carried on and finally an acceptable offer is obtained, 
 securing timely delivery of the poles. 
 
 Further it turned out that there was a reserve 
 of materials in almost sufficient quantity for the line 
 as far as Perekop, and that there was a prospect of 
 obtaining in Odessa thin iron wires for a provisional 
 line. There seemed therefore a possibility of satisfying 
 the imperial will at any rate in essential points. With 
 the request, to lower the price fi in consideration of 
 the present distressed state of Russia", we so far 
 complied, that we offered to execute the necessary 
 circuit by way of Bereslaw at our own expense. In 
 short the omnipotence of the imperial command again 
 prevailed. The line to Perekop was finished by the 
 required time, and the line to Sebastopol was at least 
 completed early enough for a message to St. Peters- 
 burg announcing the probable fall of the fortress. 
 
154 INTERNED. 
 
 This construction of a line of about a hundred and 
 forty miles on a road occupied and rendered impassable 
 by marching troops and transports of war - material 
 and into a beleaguered fortress was a difficult work, 
 which did great credit to my brother Charles, who 
 conducted it, and to his assistants. Financially it 
 certainly ran away with a considerable part of the 
 profits obtained through the construction of the other 
 Russian telegraph lines. 
 
 I myself, after I had as far as possible made all 
 the preparations for the construction of the line to the 
 seat of war as ordered by the Emperor, and had become 
 convinced that it was practicable, desired in July to 
 return to Berlin, where my wife was expecting her 
 second confinement. To my great astonishment I could 
 however not get back my passport from the police, 
 despite repeated applications. When I complained of 
 this to Count Kleinmichel, he declared that I could 
 not be allowed to depart before the lines in course 
 of construction, and particularly that to Sebastopol, 
 were completed. All my remonstrances were in vain. 
 The count would not withdraw the order once given, 
 to withhold the visa of my passport, and I was thus 
 for an indefinite time "interned" - as it is called - 
 in St. Petersburg. 
 
 Then, luckily for me, the prince of Prussia came 
 to St. Petersburg to negotiate, as it was said, con- 
 cerning the neutrality of Prussia in the Crimean war. 
 I determined to use this fortunate circumstance to slip 
 from the semi-imprisonment into which I had fallen. 
 
AUDIENCE WITH THE PRINCE OP PRUSSIA. 155 
 
 I called at Peterhof, where the prince had taken up 
 his residence, on his first adjutant Count Goltz, ex- 
 plained to him my difficult situation, and begged that 
 the prince would when convenient give me an audience, 
 so that the Eussian officials might see that I enjoyed 
 his protection. In his great goodness of heart and 
 affability the prince acceded to my request, and on 
 the very next day I received the official summons of 
 the Prussian embassy to repair to an audience at the 
 Winter Palace. 
 
 I was awaited by the ambassador, and conducted 
 through a series of ante-rooms, filled with generals and 
 officials of high standing, to the prince, who was sur- 
 rounded by several Grand Dukes and highest digni- 
 taries. The prince addressed a few very friendly words 
 to ine^ mainly to the effect that the posts of the tele- 
 graph line we had constructed along the whole way 
 from the Prussian frontier to St. Petersburg had given 
 him the joyful assurance of remaining in constant con- 
 nection with home, and that he desired to express to 
 me his thanks in person. The result of this audience 
 was more brilliant than I had expected. On the very 
 same day a police official came and handed me my 
 passport with excuses for the over- sight that had 
 been committed. - 
 
 The Russian Government had simultaneously with 
 the contracts for the construction of the lines also 
 concluded remount - agreements with us for six to 
 twelve years , which required a large administrative 
 apparatus. We therefore converted our St. Petersburg 
 
156 THE ST. PETERSBURG BUSINESS BECOMES INDEPENDENT. 
 
 office into an independent branch-establishment under 
 the direction of my brother Charles, whom we at the 
 same time took as a partner into the head firm. 
 
 We obtained a large building on the island of 
 Wasili-Ostrow, in which the large offices of the ad- 
 ministration of the remount were established, and at 
 the same time a work- shop was erected for the speedy 
 execution of all repairs. 
 
 Charles took up his residence there towards the 
 end of 1855 after his marriage with the clever and 
 charming daughter of our previous representative in 
 St. Petersburg, the above-mentioned Mr. Kapherr. 
 
 Like his father-in-law, Charles now became a 
 Finnish subject, in order to be able to become a 
 merchant of the first guild, and as such to have the 
 right of carrying on any kind of business in Russia. 
 
 I must mention one other circumstance, which was 
 very important for our new St. Petersburg business 
 and rendered it particularly remunerative. Count Kleiri- 
 michel had in the beginning entrusted the watching of 
 
 ~ o o 
 
 the telegraph lines to the contractors of the turnpike 
 roads, in consideration of a large payment reckoned 
 by the verst. The result however was that no, or 
 only a very lax, watch was kept. Accidental or in- 
 tentional injuries to the lines were generally discovered 
 only after the lapse of several days, and the repairing 
 usually took place only after a long time and often 
 so defectively, that a reliable service of the telegraphs 
 was never to be reckoned upon. At last the count 
 requested us to undertake also the watching of the 
 
SURVEILLANCE OF THE LINES. SYSTEM OF CONTROL. 157 
 
 lines, he would pay us for the service the hundred 
 roubles per verst. which he had hitherto given to the 
 road contractors. In reality a successful watch could 
 not be carried out by us, it could only be done by 
 natives, who would certainly not have kept a better 
 look out on our behalf than for the Government, 
 Nevertheless we accepted the count's offer on the 
 condition, that we might carry out the surveillance and 
 the necessary repairs entirely in our own fashion. 
 
 As this was accorded, we gave up altogether 
 keeping a guard properly so called, contrived instead 
 a mechanical system of control, which was relatively 
 cheap and yet fully answered the purpose. At every 
 fifty versts we erected a guard -hut. into which the 
 wires were conducted. In the hut was placed an 
 alarum and a galvanometer, which were intercalated 
 into the course of the current in such a way, that the 
 watcher of the movement of the galvanometer-needle 
 could always see if an electric current was traversing 
 the wire. If the needle stood still for half an hour, 
 he had with the help of a simple mechanism to tele- 
 graph the number of his hut by repeatedly connecting 
 to earth. The telegraph stations, between which the 
 connection was interrupted, had orders to insert their 
 battery between the conductor and the earth, and 
 received accordingly the reports of all the guard-huts 
 on the hither side of the place of interruption, thus 
 learning its situation. To every telegraph station was 
 assigned a mechanician, whose duty it was, immediately 
 on the report of an interruption, to take post-horses 
 
 OP THE 
 
 tTNlVERSITT 
 OP 
 
158 GROWING IMPORTANCE OF THE ST. PETERSBURG BUSINESS. 
 
 and travel to the fault. As the order was given to 
 supply our mechanicians with post-horses at once and 
 before all other travellers, the fault was nearly always 
 removed in the course of a few hours. 
 
 In consequence of this arrangement the Russian 
 telegraph lines acted with great accuracy during the 
 period of our management, and interruptions of the 
 service rarely occurred for more than a day. in spite 
 of the enormous length of the lines, and in spite of 
 the desert steppes through which they mostly passed. 
 x The contract, almost forced upon us, for the watching 
 of the telegraph lines soon proved very profitable, and 
 amply compensated us for the losses which we had 
 suffered in the construction of many of the lines. 
 
 Through the management of the remounts en- 
 trusted to us and the continued further constructions 
 of lines our St. Petersburg business obtained great im- 
 portance and a unique position in the Russian Empire. 
 We received the official title " Contractors for the con- 
 struction and remount of the Imperial Russian telegraph 
 lines", and obtained for our superior servants the right 
 to wear uniforms with badges of rank. The latter was 
 absolutely necessary for the thorough performance of 
 our tasks, for the Russian public only respects the 
 wearers of uniforms. To obtain this right I had a 
 number of handsome uniforms designed in Berlin. In- 
 stead of the epaulets, which in Russia were reserved for 
 officers, golden chenille of varying thickness, increasing 
 with the rank, was attached to the shoulders. Excellent 
 artists then painted various groups arrayed in such 
 
NO BRIBES. 159 
 
 uniforms. The pictures, enclosed in a handsome port- 
 folio, made the heart of every admirer and connoisseur 
 of uniforms beat quicker. Armed with this portfolio, 
 brother Charles repaired to Count Kleinmichel, explained 
 to him our difficulty, and begged permission for the 
 wearing of a uniform by our officials. The sight of 
 the fine pictures conquered the resistance offered at 
 first by the count; he retained the portfolio to show 
 it to the Emperor, who immediately granted the per- 
 mission for the proposed uniform. 
 
 I consider it my duty to meet in this place the 
 often expressed opinion, that we could only have con- 
 cluded these great and generally speaking profitable 
 undertakings in Russia by the help of bribes. I can 
 asseverate that this was never the case. The expla- 
 nation may perhaps be that the negotiations were 
 always conducted and concluded directly with the 
 supreme government authorities, and that the state 
 of political affairs urgently demanded the speedy con- 
 struction of the needed telegraphic communications. 
 This however does not imply that we have never 
 recompensed the lower officials in the customary 
 fashion of the country for services rendered during 
 the construction the lines. 
 
Harzburg, June 1890. 
 
 J_he successful use of copper wires coated with 
 gutta-percha as underground conductors suggested their 
 employment also for submarine telegraphic communi- 
 cation. That sea -water was not in any way injurious 
 to the gutta-percha had been proved in the case of 
 the insulated wires connected with the torpedoes in 
 Kiel harbour, which were quite unchanged after the 
 lapse of two years. 
 
 The first attempt to connect two sea -coasts by 
 means of gutta-percha conductors had been made as 
 early as 1850 by Mr. Brett, who had obtained a con- 
 cession for a submarine telegraphic communication 
 between Dover and Calais. The unprotected wire 
 laid by him retained its efficiency, as was to be ex- 
 pected, not much longer than the time of the actual 
 laying, if indeed it was ever really serviceable. It- 
 was replaced in the following year through Messrs. 
 Newall & Gordon by a conductor armed with iron 
 wires, which acted well for some time. This was 
 the commencement of submarine telegraphy, destined 
 speedily to become one of the most important media 
 of communication. 
 
FIRST SUBMARINE WIRES. 161 
 
 With the perseverance characteristic of the English 
 in prosecuting their undertakings, the laying of a large 
 number of other cables was, after this first success, at 
 once planned and attempted, before the problem was 
 ripe for a scientific and technical solution. Failures ac- 
 cordingly could not but occur. The laying itself present- 
 ed no difficulty in the shallow water of the North Sea. 
 The preparation of insulated conductors was undertaken 
 in England by a gutta-percha company, which could not 
 be prevented from employing my coating process, since 
 I had not protected my inventions by a patent. As this 
 company could always make use of the best quality of 
 gutta-percha, owing to its command of the English 
 market, it would have been in a position to turn out 
 remarkably well -insulated conductors, if the electrical 
 testing and control of the workmanship had been carried 
 out with as much care as we had taken. Scientific know- 
 ledge and methods were however at that time as little 
 appreciated in English industry as in our own. It was 
 thought enough to make sure that a current traversed 
 the wire, and that the instruments worked satisfactorily. 
 Even much later my methods for a systematic testing 
 of the conducting wires were characterizedby English 
 engineers as "scientific humbug!" Nevertheless the firm 
 of Newall & Co. succeeded in the year 1854 during 
 the Crimean war in laying an unarmed conducting 
 wire, insulated only by a coating of gutta-percha, from 
 Varna to Balaclava in the Crimea, and with the good 
 fortune that it remained serviceable till the capture of 
 
 Sebastopol in September 1855, i. e. for about a year. 
 
 11 
 
162 SARDINIA-BONA DEEP-SEA CABLE. 
 
 In this long line of about 400 miles difficulties in 
 the matter of signalling occurred through the electrical 
 capacity of the line, which in spite of my publications 
 in 1850 remained entirely unknown to the English. 
 When the needle telegraphs employed in England re- 
 fused to do their duty on the line, Newall & Co. 
 ordered signalling apparatus from my firm, with which 
 operations could very well be carried on. It was a 
 singular coincidence that in the two hostile camps of 
 Sebastopol and Balaclava Berlin apparatus with con- 
 secutive numbers of manufactur weere at work. 
 
 Meanwhile in September 1855 Mr. Brett, com- 
 missioned by the Mediterranean Extension Telegraph 
 Company, had made the attempt to lay a heavy cable 
 with four conductors between the island of Sardinia 
 and the town of Bona in Algeria. He employed for 
 the purpose the same contrivances as in the North Sea, 
 but unfortunately his brake apparatus did not suffice 
 on reaching deep water, and in consequence the whole 
 cable rolled to the bottom without the possibility of 
 detaining it. When a second attempt in 1856 also 
 miscarried, he retired from the undertaking, which was 
 then taken up by Newall & Co. The latter contracted 
 with my firm for the delivery of the electric apparatus, 
 and requested me to undertake the electrical testing 
 on and after the laying. 
 
 This first laying of a deep sea cable was both 
 interesting and instructive to me. At the beginning 
 of September 1857 I went at Genoa with an assistant 
 and the necessary electrical apparatus on board a 
 
SARDINIA -BoNA DEEP-SEA CABLE. 163 
 
 Sardinian corvette, which was to accompany the expe- 
 dition and take us to Bona , where the steam - ship 
 laden with the cable awaited us. It was an interesting 
 
 o 
 
 company which met on board the war-ship. Besides 
 the English contractors and cable manufacturers. Mr. 
 Newall and Mr. Liddell, there were on board several 
 Italian savants, telegraph officials, and naval officers, 
 among them the learned admiral Lamarmora, a very 
 amiable and well - instructed officer, brother of the 
 well-known General Lamarmora: further several French 
 telegraph officials, who were commissioned by their 
 government to be present at the laying of the cable, 
 in particular the well-known engineer Delamarche. 
 
 Already on the passage to the island of Sardinia, 
 which was favoured by gloriously calm weather, the 
 party discussed the methods which should be adopted 
 in laying the cable, in order to avoid the failure of 
 previous attempts. Messrs. Newall and Liddell declared 
 that in laying their wire to the Crimea they had 
 found it best to proceed quickly, and let the cable 
 run out without check, when it would sink slowly to 
 the bottom without any strain. They had indeed for 
 precaution's sake provided a powerful brake-wheel, to 
 regulate the speed of the cable, but that would hardly 
 be necessary if the ship was going fast. This theory 
 of Mr. Liddell was strongly opposed by M. Delamarche, 
 who had been present at the unfortunate attempts of 
 Mr. Brett, and had now adopted the theory, that the 
 cable must perforce assume the form of a catenary curve 
 
 in deep water, and under any circumstances break. 
 
 n* 
 
164 THEORY OF CABLE -LAYING. 
 
 I had originally intended to abstain from interfering 
 in the mechanical part of the proceedings, but it 
 appeared to me so utterly impossible to lay a heavy 
 cable, having a weight in water of at least 4 Ibs. per 
 yard, at a depth of more than 1500 fathoms (as was 
 the case between Sardinia and Bona), in the manner 
 intended by Messrs. Newall & Liddell, that I spoke 
 very earnestly against the proposal. On the other 
 hand I could not share the fears of M. Delamarche, 
 and there ensued a warm discussion between Mr. Lid- 
 dell, M. Delamarche, and myself, in which I expounded 
 the theory, which was subsequently universally adopted. 
 It consists in holding back the cable by brake-apparatus 
 with a force which corresponds to the weight of a 
 piece of cable in water reaching perpendicularly to 
 the bottom. With a uniform motion of the ship the 
 cable then sinks in a straight line, the inclination of 
 
 o 
 
 which depends on the ship's speed and the velocity 
 of subsidence of a horizontal piece of cable in the 
 water. If the sinking portion of the cable is not per- 
 fectly balanced by the force of the brake, a sliding 
 down of the cable takes place at the same time on 
 the inclined plane which it itself forms ; it is therefore 
 possible to regulate by the brake the extra amount 
 of cable that is required to lay the cable without strain 
 over the unevenness of the bottom. 
 
 This simple theory met with the universal approval 
 of the company. Mr. Newall too came over at last 
 to my view, and requested me to assist him in the 
 preparations for laying the cable in accordance with 
 
LAYING CARRIED OUT ACCORDING TO THE THEORY. 165 
 
 my theory. It was however difficult to do this on 
 the spur of the moment. The brake, which we found 
 on arriving at Bona on the cable -ship that already 
 awaited us, proved much too weak for balancing the 
 weight of the cable at great depths. Moreover the 
 steam-power of the ship was too small to overcome 
 the great force with which the cable would endeavour 
 to slide down the inclined plane. Finally there was 
 no contrivance for measuring this force, and for deter- 
 mining accordingly the amount of the brake action 
 required. I first had a simple dynamometer constructed 
 by the carpenter, which rendered it possible to ascertain 
 the extent of the actual strain on the cable while it is 
 paid out by the amount of flexion of .a length of the 
 cable stretched over two rollers, between which a third 
 weighted roller rides on the cable. Furthermore I had 
 the brake -wheel strengthened as far as possible, and 
 furnished with strong water- boxes. Lastly I caused 
 the captain of the war- ship to pass a tow-rope from 
 his vessel to the bows of the cable -ship, in order to 
 obtain the requisite force for overcoming the back- 
 ward drag exerted by the cable. 
 
 Thus barely provided, we began in the evening 
 the laying of the cable from Bona. As long as the 
 water was shallow all went well, and my precautions 
 were soon deemed superfluous. After a few hours, when 
 we got into much deeper water, it appeared however 
 that the attainable brake force was not sufficient. We 
 paid out too much cable and, when morning dawned, 
 had already used more than a third of the cable. 
 
166 SUCCESSFUL RESULT AFTER SEVERE EXERTIONS. 
 
 although a fifth of the distance had not been traversed. 
 It was still just possible to reach with the cable -end 
 a shallow spot near the island of Sardinia, if the cable 
 could from now be paid out without any excess what- 
 ever. At the request of Mr. Newall I undertook to 
 try this, on condition that the management was entirely 
 .left to me. I now loaded the brake with all the 
 weights which were to be found on the ship. Even 
 filled water tubs from the galley were requisitioned. 
 At last the load sufficed, without the brake giving way. 
 We now laid according to the statement of the measure- 
 ments without "slack", i. e. without using more cable 
 than exactly answered to the length of the sea-bottom. 
 The cable was always pretty near the breaking point, 
 as was proved by the fact that frequently one of the 
 thick sheathing wires snapped, whereby the cable ran 
 considerable risk. But by the adoption of prompt 
 measures a fracture of the cable was averted , and 
 when the sun set, and the cable -end in the ship was 
 almost reached, my dynamometer luckily indicated 
 shallow water, and w^e were at the goal. 9 
 
 The joy was general and intense, and even Mr. 
 Liddell congratulated me on the success achieved. 
 
 This was the first cable which was successfully 
 laid in deep water, i. e. at a depth of more than 1000 
 fathoms. The laying of such heavy cables with many 
 conductors has since been abandoned for long cable 
 
 o 
 
 lines in deep water, because the difficulty of laying 
 is too great, and because adjacent conducting wires 
 interfere with one another by induction. This cable- 
 
DIFFICULTY AND MENTAL STRAIN OF CABLE -LAYING. 167 
 
 laying was for me therefore all the more instructive, 
 and certainly also the more exciting and straining. 
 
 The cable must pass out of the ship's hold, in 
 which it is carefully coiled round a cone, over the 
 brake-wheel and under the roller of the dynamometer, 
 day and night without any stoppage, which is always 
 dangerous in deep water. Every stoppage is a source 
 of great danger, since the progress of the ship cannot 
 be checked with sufficient celerity. At the same time 
 the brake-force must be carefully regulated in proportion 
 to the depth of water, and to the velocity with which 
 the ship is moving, otherwise the cable is either 
 needlessly wasted, or it is strained at the bottom. 
 Furthermore the electrical quality of the insulated 
 core must be unceasingly tested, in order that the 
 occurrence of a fault in the freshly immerged parts of 
 the cable may be immediately detected. In such a 
 case the laying must be at once suspended, and the 
 last laid portion of the cable taken back again to repair 
 the defect. 
 
 The continuous mental strain, and the conscious- 
 ness that any error committed may occasion the loss of 
 the whole cable, makes the laying of a deep-sea cable 
 a very anxious, and for a length of time thoroughly 
 exhausting affair for all concerned, and especially for 
 the leader of the undertaking. Towards the end of 
 the foregoing work, in which I would not allow myself 
 a moment's rest and refreshment, I could only keep 
 myself up by frequently taking strong black coffee, 
 and required several days for recovering my strength. 
 
168 IMPRESSION OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 This cable-laying took me for the first time into 
 southern regions. During the whole time we had 
 splendid weather , and I enjoyed to the utmost the 
 charms of the Mediterranean, with its deep blue water, 
 its dazzling white wave- crests, and its refreshing air, 
 of which we could never inhale enough, on the beautiful 
 voyage from Genoa to Cagliari , and from there to 
 Bona in Algeria. A surprising sight was afforded by 
 the loftily situated solid castle of Cagliari, which was 
 entirely engirdled by high -grown aloe bushes in full 
 bloom. On the advice of the friendly captain of 
 the corvette we did not remain in the harbour on 
 account of the fever, but passed the night in the 
 court of the castle ruins. This glorious night under 
 the starry sky of Italy, high above the sea breaking 
 upon the rocky coast in the moonshine, has never 
 faded from my memory. 
 
 The electrical testings carried on during the 
 laying showed that the insulation of all the conductors 
 of the cable was imperfect, but on the completion of 
 the line in the following year it satisfied in the case 
 of three of them the conditions of the contract, which 
 only required that the loss of current should not 
 exceed a certain percentage. The fourth conductor 
 contained a more serious fault, and the taking over 
 of the cable was therefore refused. However it was 
 possible by a suitable electrical manipulation - - con- 
 tinuous treatment with an exclusively positive current 
 - so far to lessen the defect, that the cable had to 
 be taken over. 
 
LETTFR TO GORDON. 169 
 
 The theory of cable -laying expounded on the 
 above occasion I only made public in the year 1874 
 through the medium of a paper entitled "Contributions 
 to the theory of laying and testing submarine telegraph 
 cables" submitted to the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 
 I have preserved among my papers the copy of a letter, 
 in which on my return I explained my theory to the 
 before -mentioned Mr. Gordon, partner in the firm of 
 Newall & Co. I shall insert this letter here, as it 
 forms the first detailed communication on my theory 
 of cable -lay ing. 
 
 Berlin, 26 th September 1857. 
 Dear Gordon, 
 
 Returning yesterday from my journey I found your letter 
 of the 17th. 
 
 First I will give you some particulars from the report made 
 by engineer Viechelmann, who has to-day returned from Bona. 
 
 There is no doubt that wire No. 1 is injured, and that 
 the injury lies in the neighbourhood of the African coast, and 
 consists in the wire being in conducting connection with the 
 water. It is not improbable that the defect exists where the 
 shore-end is joined to the thinner cable. It has not been 
 possible to determine the precise place, as it is uncertain how 
 much resistance the connection has between the conductor and 
 the water. The place can however lie no farther than four 
 German miles (19 English) from the land, but is probably much 
 nearer. 
 
 Through the amount of the charge and by determinations 
 of the resistance in the metallic circuit according to the 
 accompanying sketch (Figure 1) the situation of the fault may 
 be more precisely determined, if you will make the attempt 
 to take up the wire again from Bona. m and n are the two 
 coils of a differential galvanometer, and w a rheostat. By its 
 means resistance is interposed, until the currents through the 
 
170 
 
 LETTER TO GORDON. 
 
 two coils m and n are of equal strength and the needle stands 
 at zero. Then the fault / lies midway, and the distance from 
 the coast can be calculated. 
 
 cable 
 
 vmearth 
 
 VMX earth 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 With well -insulated wires this can be done with perfect 
 exactitude, with badly insulated ones, such as the Bona cable, 
 at any rate approximately correctly. - - Mr. Viechelniann has 
 left the apparatus in the custom-house of Marseilles at your 
 disposal. In the telegraph office there lies a letter from Viechel- 
 mann to Newall, in which the authority for its delivery is 
 contained. 
 
 As regards the cable theory the following is my view. 
 
 If A B (Figure 2) represents a flexible piece of cable, 
 which is attached to the sky by a weightless wire B C, the 
 cable will fall to the ground, without being able to deviate 
 from the straight line in the suspended part, as at every point 
 it falls with equal velocity, m n, op are of equal length. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Every point falls with equal velocity, and the new connecting 
 line n p must again be a straight one. The active force 
 pulling upon the wire B C during the fall is K = Q . sin a, 
 
LETTER TO GORDON. 171 
 
 if Q is the weight of the suspended cable in the water, or the 
 weight of a piece of cable B D, hanging vertically downwards, 
 since A B . sin a = B D. 
 
 If the force K is less than is necessary for equilibrium, 
 the cable slides back towards A, and the terminal velocity is 
 reached, when the friction in the water is equal to the lacking- 
 force. If on the contrary K is greater than necessary, the cable 
 acquires a velocity towards B, consequently the loss, i. e. the 
 difference of the lengths A B and A D is picked up again, and 
 the cable places itself in a straight line, thus without loss, on 
 the ground. The angle a is accordingly quite independent of 
 the amount of the force K. It simply indicates the proportion 
 of the velocity of sinking to the progressive motion of the ship. 
 For if the cable end B instead of being attached to the 
 weightless wire B C is carried over a pulley, and the pulley 
 moves with the ship from B to E, whilst the cable falls the 
 distance m T?, and finally if the cable is kept back with the 
 force K, there is no change at all in the conditions of equili- 
 brium. If the brake, which detains the cable, is so applied that 
 equilibrium is just attained, thus K=Q . sin , the cable has 
 no axial velocity whatever; it falls perpendicularly, and there 
 is the loss corresponding to the angle. If K is greater, the 
 cable is laid with little or no loss, if K is smaller, the loss may 
 be very great. The quicker in the latter case the motion of 
 the ship, the longer does A B become, the greater conse- 
 quently the friction in the water and the smaller the loss. If 
 on the other hand the force A' becomes greater than is ne- 
 cessary for equilibrium, the loss can easily be made up, and 
 the cable then forms a catenary curve. If the transitions are 
 rapid, the whole velocity, which the cable has acquired after 
 applying the brake on disturbance of the equilibrium, acts in 
 the direction A B, and tends to strain the cable. When one con- 
 siders the great mass of the suspended cable, it is clear that 
 these axial velocities of the cable may easily cause a fracture. 
 The only safe guide is the proportion of the ship's velocity to 
 the velocity of the cable. Moreover the ocean currents must 
 be taken into account, especially if they flow in various direc- 
 tions. If the current is everywhere equable, and extends to 
 
172 LETTER TO GORDON. 
 
 the bed of the sea, it only produces an additional expenditure 
 of cable. With equilibrium of the force K the cable settles 
 down in the diagonal of the parellelopiped, instead of in the 
 diagonal of the parallelogram, and the cable -length bears the 
 same proportion to the distance traversed as the -diagonal of 
 the parallelepiped, whose sides are the ship's motion, the depth 
 of water, and the simultaneous velocity of current, bears to the 
 ship's motion. Very violent action on a tightly laid cable may 
 however be exerted by variable currents, as the cable has 
 then to resist the pressure of the water in the form of the 
 catenary curve. Lastly the rising and falling, as well as the 
 lateral movements of the ship, form forces of importance, 
 threatening the fracture of the cable, unless the uncoiling 
 apparatus is very light, or a compensation can be effected, 
 whereby the cable may be lengthened or shortened behind 
 the brake, so that no acceleration of the mass takes place. 
 The mechanism which I propose for determining and regulating 
 the tractive force exerted on the cable is easily calculated 
 as under. (Figure 3.) 
 
 A r -sin= ; K=^ -. 
 ? sm 
 
 k 
 
 sin = ; 
 ah 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 I have asked Loffler to calculate a table in accordance 
 with this formula, of which however I am not yet in possession, 
 as L. is still in Cologne, e was, as you state, 25 feet, i. e. 
 842 metres. The weight Q was 160 kilograms, according to 
 the statement of Newall's people, who weighed it. You seem 
 in your approximative formula to have taken pounds instead, 
 your values are therefore only about half those I have in my 
 memory. The apparatus was constructed of wood the evening 
 before the laying. Previously Mr. Liddel seemed not to be in 
 favour of it, and I did not wish to obtrude myself after having 
 
LETTER TO GORDON. 173 
 
 made my proposal. In the first night the frame had become 
 warped through the wet, and the place where the height was 
 measured was about 2 feet lower than the other. A trustworthy 
 measurement with an apparatus so crudely and hurriedly made 
 and calculated is therefore out of the question. 
 
 That soon after the commencement of the laying much 
 cable was wasted was clear. I therefore at once proposed a 
 stronger loading of the brake, but could not have my way. 
 Undoubtedly there were moments when the cable -line was 
 almost straight, although in the ordinary course there was a 
 depression of from 4 to 5 inches, and one such moment might 
 have sufficed to break the cable. The brake was also too 
 weak, and I was always in mortal terror lest, with the load 
 of at least 5 hundredweight, which subsequently, when Newall 
 left the matter in my hands, was applied, it should give 
 way. As the cable would have been irrecoverably lost if 
 the brake had given way, it certainly required a prodigious 
 resolution to justify loading it in this manner. It is certain 
 that we strained the cable too severely on the following day. 
 We certainly laid it without any loss whatever, and perhaps 
 already had some catenary curve force in the cable. This was 
 owing to the circumstance that nobody knew how fast the 
 vessel was going. Newall and Liddell thought we were not 
 making 5 knots an hour, whereas in fact we had made 7 l /. 2 . 
 As the cable ran off with the velocity of 7 y a knots, I could 
 only conclude that the waste was still too great for reaching 
 shallow water, was obliged therefore to continue the loading. 
 Thus there were moments, when the loading reached quite 6 
 tons, and the fluctuations were even greater. 
 
 That there was no regular log in the ship was a serious 
 misfortune, and might easily have had for its consequence the 
 loss of the cable. The greatest danger in cable-laying always 
 consists in the snapping of single wires. That under the 
 circumstances we came off as we did is a real marvel. I 
 should not advise attempting a cable-laying in deep water 
 without having previously subjected the wire in its whole 
 length to a maximum strain, never to be exceeded in the actual 
 laying. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
174 LETTER TO GORDOX. 
 
 I have communicated a plan to Newall how this is very 
 easily to be done. Then faulty weldings will be disclosed by 
 rupture, and one may feel pretty safe afterwards. Furthermore 
 a dynamometer of solid iron must be constructed with an 
 accurate scale, and in such a way that with the maximum 
 loading there still remains a deflection of at least one foot. It 
 is better to make use of a well-made spring than a weight, so 
 that the fluctuations of the apparatus may be as small as pos- 
 sible. It would also be very advisable to carry the wire behind 
 the brake over two fixed and one moveable pulley, the latter 
 being pulled doAvii by a weight or still better by a very 
 strong spiral spring. The up and down movements of the 
 ship are thereby rendered innocuous. 
 
 28th. 
 
 As Loffler has not yet returned, I can communicate to 
 you nothing definite in regard to the calculated forces. You 
 are quite right that the assumed forces are not justified by the 
 depths alone. I believe we may go to half the depth for which 
 a cable can support itself, with tolerable safety and to a third 
 with great safety. Up to a fifth of the depth 5 to 10%, to a third 
 10 to 15% slack may give sufficient safety, if the weather is 
 favourable. At greater depths the loss must be considerably 
 more. Newall's plan of retarding the sinking of the cable 
 by shields is wrong in principle. The cable must sink as 
 quickly as possible on account of the currents. With moderate 
 depths it is more advantageous to take back the slack by 
 somewhat greater loading of the brake. If the depth is greater 
 than y 3 to l / 2 of the minimum strength of the cable, the sliding 
 back of the cable must be slackened as far as possible by 
 disks attached at right angles to the cable. I believe these 
 are best made of sheet-iron. A few large ones are far more 
 effective than many small ones. The attachment can be effect- 
 ed in many ways. One must then proceed as quickly as 
 possible, in order to keep the angle acute. For the measure- 
 ment of velocity I am now having made an electrical apparatus, 
 which turns a large indicator by the side of the brake. The 
 brake-wheel must indicate in the same way, so that at any 
 moment the proportion of the velocity and of the exerted force 
 
LETTER TO GORDON. 175 
 
 may be known. The vessel must be well lighted, and the 
 breaking of the wires must especially be kept in view. That 
 the two wire - fractures did not entail the loss of the cable 
 was a piece of luck such as seldom occurs. -- Altogether I 
 think you have all reason to be satisfied with the result. I 
 do not consider it difficult to recover the cable-end. I like- 
 wise consider the repairing of the fourth injured wire feasible, 
 if it is of importance to you. This granted, you have bought 
 the experience and a right theory of laying cheap enough. If 
 you choose to avail yourself of my proposals, you will in future 
 be able to undertake a laying in perfect peace of mind and 
 soon recoup yourself for past losses. With your new brake 
 you should however make the experiment of severing the cable 
 with a maximum strain. Mr. Newall told me before the arrival 
 of the Elba that he could fracture the cable with his brake, 
 but although on the day of laying we had lengthened the 
 lever of the brake by a half, and had suspended at least twice 
 as many weights as the lever and iron band could reasonably 
 be supposed to stand, yet we had not reached such a force 
 by a long way, apart from the great forces which were exerted 
 during fluctuations and in the first mishap. With my own 
 experiments I have unfortunately not succeeded much better 
 than in England. I see however that one can certainly signal 
 better in a metallic than in a semi-metallic circuit, and that 
 it is impossible with long lines to signal through more than a 
 single wire. The future belongs therefore to the metallic 
 circuit, and the patent will be remunerative. I see further 
 that our present construction of the induction telegraph acts 
 remarkably well and accurately, and that several submarine 
 translation stations may at pleasure be set up with absolute 
 certainty, that thus e. g. there may be direct communication 
 between England and India. Your apparatus for Malta- Corfu 
 are despatched to-day. I am quite sure that they will do their 
 work well. According to my present experience the inductors 
 might have been smaller and therefore cheaper, but it is better 
 to err on the safe side. Such fine and solid apparatus have 
 never before been turned out in our workshops. The contacts 
 have given the greatest trouble. Platinum burns too quickly 
 
176 NECESSITY OF A SYSTEMATIC CABLE -TESTING. 
 
 with strong primary currents, we were therefore obliged to 
 use everywhere an alloy of gold and platinum, which with 
 thick pieces has its difficulties. Perhaps you will get along 
 with half the inductors on the Malta line (one coil). You will 
 thereby effect a considerable saving, as the great quantity of 
 silk -covered wire is expensive. 
 
 I beg you to let me know in good time when and where 
 you wish to have the mechanician, and whether you think 
 one enough. I think you should have plenty of intelligent 
 assistants at your disposal, for any error may be very dangerous 
 even with the best preparation. 
 
 I send this letter direct to Birkenhead, where I imagine 
 you still to be, and where William intended to visit you; may 
 I ask you to let William have a look at it? 
 
 Would it not be better do defer your Malta line to the 
 winter, when you can more certainly reckon on calm weather? 
 October is said to be a very dangerous month there, and 
 the atmosphere does not become quieter before December. 
 
 With sincere regards 
 
 W. Siemens. 
 
 The experience I acquired in the laying of the 
 cable between Cagliari and Bona really convinced me, 
 as expressed in the foregoing letter, that submarine 
 cables of the right construction and carefully made 
 ould be laid at any depth of water, and then also 
 promised long and certain service. I therefore took 
 especial pains to overcome the existing difficulties. 
 For that purpose it was necessary to establish a 
 systematic supervision of the manufacture of the cable, 
 in order to obtain the certainty that no defect existed 
 in the whole cable stored in the ship's hold. This 
 .could only be effected by making the testing instruments 
 
STUDY OF JAR WIRES. 177 
 
 sufficiently sensitive for measuring the insulating quality 
 of the gutta-percha itself employed and indicating the 
 same in figures. 
 
 When the insulation -resistance of the conducting 
 wires coated with this gutta-percha had then in a 
 similar manner been determined numerically they were 
 faultlessly insulated, provided the measured result 
 agreed with the calculated. If the resistance of the 
 conductor of the complete cable was not greater, and 
 the resistance of the insulator of the same not less, 
 than that ascertained by calculation, the cable might 
 be regarded as faultless. 
 
 It was not to be expected that such exact testings 
 could be carried out by measuring currents. For deter- 
 mining the position of faults, for which I had as early 
 as 1850 found and published the necessary formulae, 
 the inexact current-measurements were also insufficient. 
 
 It was necessary therefore to have recourse to 
 measurements of resistance, but for that there were 
 still wanting good practical methods of measurement, 
 and especially a fixed standard of resistance. Finally 
 the knowledge of the physical properties of the jar 
 wires, as I had termed the underground conductors 
 on account of their property of acting as large Leyden 
 jars, was still too undeveloped for planning long sub- 
 marine lines without risk of failure. 
 
 I had been intently occupied with the study of 
 these questions since 1850. My labours belonged to 
 the time when the great investigator Faraday astonished 
 
 the scientific world with his fundamental discoveries. 
 
 12 
 
178 INDUCTION WRITING TELEGRAPH. 
 
 In Germany however many of the views of Faraday, 
 particularly those of electrical distribution by molecular 
 induction, being incompatible with prevailing theories, 
 obtained but little credence. This induced me to study, 
 without regard to existing theories, the question of 
 electro-static induction, which was of extreme impor- 
 tance for telegraphy according to my earlier experience. 
 I finally obtained a complete confirmation of the views 
 of Faraday, for the correctness of which I was fortunate 
 enough to find new proofs. Unhappily being oftentimes 
 interrupted in my labours by my strenuous technical 
 activity I could not conclude my experiments before the 
 spring of 1857, when I summarised their results in a 
 paper published in Poggendorff's Annalen >k '0n electro- 
 static induction and the retardation of the current in 
 jar wires". 
 
 It became clear to me from these experiments, 
 that only by employing short intermittent currents was 
 there any prospect of corresponding quickly on longer 
 cable-lines. In a paper "The induction writing-telegraph 
 of Siemens and Halske'' published in 1857 I described 
 the mechanical expedients for accomplishing this task. 
 They consisted essentially of a magnetically polarized 
 relay, which was so constructed that its armature, when 
 moved by a short impulse of current to the contact, 
 remained attached to this, until a short current in the 
 opposite direction carried it back to the insulated stop. 
 The short intermittent currents were generated in the 
 secondary coil of an inductor by the telegraphic cur- 
 rents being sent through the primary coils of the same. 
 
RED SEA LINE. 179 
 
 When in the same year -- 1857 - - Messrs. Newall 
 & Co. laid a cable -line from Cagliari to Malta and 
 Corfu, I furnished the stations of this line with such 
 induction writing telegraphs. A translation station was 
 erected on the island of Malta, which made it possible 
 to correspond by the thin cable direct between Cagliari 
 and Corfu with satisfactory speed. In order to secure 
 the good insulation of this as well as of other lines, 
 which were to be laid in the eastern part of the Medi- 
 terranean, my firm undertook the electrical testing of 
 the insulated conductors in the cable-works of Messrs. 
 Newall & Co. at Birkenhead. A talented young man, 
 Mr. F. Jenkin, who afterwards made a name as an 
 electrician, was assigned me as assistant. 
 
 The cable-line through the Red Sea and Indian 
 Ocean from Suez to Kurrachee in India, the execution of 
 which had been intrusted to the firm of Newall & Co., 
 brought me a very interesting task. My firm under- 
 took for the latter the electrical supervision of the 
 laying of this cable, as well as the furnishing and 
 setting up of the necessary instruments. The most 
 important of the cable-lines laid up to that time, that 
 from Sardinia to Corfu, about 700 nautical miles long, 
 hardly afforded a standard for the construction and 
 working of a line of 3500 nautical miles in length, 
 such as the proposed cable-line to India. According 
 to previous experience it was possible by intermittent 
 currents to work lines 700 nautical miles in length 
 with safety and sufficient power. 
 
 There were accordingly four or five intermediate 
 
 12* 
 
180 APPARATUS FOR THE KED SEA LINE. 
 
 stations to be set up between Suez and Kurrachee, 
 which had to be provided with automatic translation, 
 so as to be able to work without troublesome and 
 embarrassing manual transferring of signals. The 
 fitting up of these translation stations was however 
 attended with peculiar difficulties in the case of long 
 submarine lines, as the charge left in the cable produced 
 disturbances, when as on the Corfu line it was un- 
 desirable to telegraph with secondary currents. There 
 were practical reasons moreover against the latter 
 mode of operating, which especially consisted in the 
 greater complexity of the whole arrangement. I accor- 
 dingly constructed a new system of signalling apparatus, 
 which was afterwards designated the "Red Sea system". 
 In this, not intermitting currents produced by induction, 
 but battery currents of varying direction, were employed. 
 The effect of this was that after every word an inter- 
 ruption of the second demagnetising battery, and a 
 discharge of the cable, must occur, before the latter 
 was again connected with the relay. For this purpose 
 special simple contrivances were made use of, which 
 were described at length in the account of the system, 
 which I published in 1859 in the German - Austrian 
 Telegraphic Journal, with the title "Apparatus for 
 w r orking long submarine lines". In the first part of 
 the line between Suez and Aden, which was laid in 
 the spring of 1859, such translation stations were 
 established at Cosseir and Suakim. They acted in a 
 very reliable and satisfactory manner, so that it was 
 possible to correspond with the Morse key provided 
 
FIRST EMPLOYMENT OF THE CONDENSER IN CABLE TELEGRAPHY. 181 
 
 with discharging contact as quickly as on land lines, 
 whilst by excluding translation stations it w r as only 
 possible to make oneself understood very slowly on 
 the line of 1400 nautical miles in length. 
 
 During my stay in Aden, however, I succeeded 
 by a peculiar expedient in communicating quickly and 
 certainly by the direct line also, and in rendering the 
 intermediate translation stations superfluous. Through 
 the study of the electric properties of underground 
 conductors it had become clear to me that all the 
 secondary currents, which confuse the telegraph signals, 
 could best be avoided, if definite amounts of positive 
 and negative electricity in proportion to the capacity 
 of the cable were suddenly sent to the delivering end 
 of the cable, and likewise at the receiving station only 
 definite quantities of electricity were allowed to leave 
 the cable. At first I thought to be able to attain 
 this by the intercalation of a polarizing battery, 
 possessing so large a number of elements and so small 
 a surface of electrodes that the quantity of electricity 
 necessary for reversing the battery just siifficed for 
 moving the relay-bar. I had brought with me such a 
 polarizing battery of 150 platinum elements, but found 
 that the resistance of the battery did almost as much 
 harm as the polarizing action did good. The fortunate 
 circumstance however came to my assistance that the 
 remnant of the cable of 150 nautical miles, or so, had 
 been submerged from Aden, to be subsequently utilized 
 for the further extension of the line. This was an 
 electric condenser, which could not but accomplish, 
 
182 FIRST EMPLOYMENT OF THE CONDENSER IN CABLE TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 without the injurious resistance of the polarizing battery, 
 what I had expected of the latter. I therefore had 
 the more remote end of the cable insulated , when 
 the laying was completed, and used the cable as an 
 earth connection. The result was brilliant beyond 
 expectation. The Morse writing could now not only 
 be received direct from Suez without any difficulty, 
 but to my surprise could also be sent there without 
 lessening the speed of the signalling. 
 
 This was the first employment of the condenser 
 in submarine telegraphy, without which it would not 
 have been possible to communicate on the long Atlantic 
 lines with the speed and certainty now permitted by 
 Thomson's mirror galvanometers. Instead of insulated 
 lengths of cable, paper or mica condensers are now 
 made use of, which we did not possess at that time. 
 
 As regards the laying itself, I had introduced a 
 systematic method for the control of the electric 
 properties of the cable, which excluded all uncertainties 
 and misunderstandings. A clock was set up at the 
 starting point, which automatically insulated the end 
 of the cable at definite intervals of time, then connected 
 it with the earth, and finally with the telegraphic 
 apparatus. The ship could therefore carry out all the 
 measurements without the co-operation of the land 
 station, and the like held good of the land station, 
 which continuously telegraphed its measuring results to 
 the vessel, so that the latter possessed the requisite data 
 for calculating according to my formulae the situation 
 of any suddenly occurring fault. This supervising 
 
"SCIENTIFIC HUMBUG" HONOURED AT LAST. 183 
 
 method turned out to be extremely necessary, for the 
 notoriously high temperature of the Red Sea softened 
 the gutta-percha and thereby produced numerous faults. 
 In spite of all the care that had been taken for their 
 removal, it appeared on arriving in Aden that a - 
 fortunately considerable, and therefore easily disco- 
 verable defect existed in the cable, which rendered 
 communication with the preceding station Suakim im- 
 possible. The determination of the fault from Aden 
 yielded the result that the defect was somewhere in 
 the vicinity, i. e. in the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. 
 Although Mr. Newall and his engineers had not much 
 
 o O 
 
 confidence in my determination of the position of the 
 fault, yet the cable was fished up and cut close behind 
 the place I had indicated, whereupon to the general 
 surprise and joy it appeared that the part of the cable 
 connected with Suakim was sound. The fault was situ- 
 ated almost exactly at the calculated place, and was 
 removed after inserting a short piece of new cable. 
 
 Through this successful incident the "scientific 
 humbug" had come all at once to honour. Success 
 was rendered possible by my having entirely substituted 
 resistance measurements for current measurements. A 
 fixed standard of the resistance to electrical conductions 
 did not then exist. Jacobi had tried indeed to introduce 
 a purely empirical standard as general measure of 
 resistance by sending to scientists and mechanicians 
 pieces of copper wire of equal resistance, recommending 
 them to take this resistance generally as unit. But it 
 soon appeared that the resistances varied, and repeated 
 
184 MERCURY UNIT. 
 
 copying magnified the variations by a large percentage. 
 My firm had up to that time taken the resistance of 
 a German mile (4 3 | 4 miles English) of copper wire of 
 1 millimetre diameter as unit, and produced graduated 
 scales of resistance on the basis of this unit. It 
 appeared however that the copper itself with the 
 utmost possible purity had essentially different specific 
 resistance, and changed its resistance in the course of 
 time. To adopt the absolute unit of Weber as funda- 
 mental standard was rendered impossible by the then 
 state of electrical measuring, which at the time made 
 an agreement of the various productions of this unit 
 unattainable. Under these circumstances I resolved 
 to make pure mercury the basis of a reproducible 
 standard of resistance , and proposed to take the 
 resistance of a mercurial prism of 1 square millimetre 
 in cross section and 1 metre in length at the freezing 
 point of water as the unit of resistance. I shall return 
 to this standard of resistance in the description of my 
 papers on this subject , and shall only remark here 
 that the scales of resistance with the mercury unit, 
 regulated according to the weight system, prepared by 
 my firm, proved extremely useful in laying the cable 
 from Suez to Aden, and for the first time made reliable 
 determinations of faults possible. - 
 
 The cable -laying in the Red Sea was also rich 
 in interesting personal experiences for myself. The very 
 day after embarking at Trieste in the beginning of 
 April, I was so fortunate as to witness a splendid 
 zodiacal light in the evening sky. Scientists contended 
 
TRAVELLING EXPERIENCES. 185 
 
 then, and still contend, concerning the cause of this 
 phenomenon. I believe those to be in the right, who 
 see in the zodiacal light a proof, that the air charged 
 with aqueous vapour, rising in the equatorial zone with 
 increased velocity, forms a high ring above this zone, 
 which is further enhanced by the effect of centrifugal 
 force. The appearance answered to the pictures one 
 sees in manuals of physics, and lasted about an hour 
 before it became quite extinct. 
 
 After an agreeable, calm passage we arrived in 
 splendid weather at Corfu, where we stopped several 
 hours, and had time to make acquaintance with the 
 interesting town and its splendid environment. At that 
 time the Ionian islands belonged to England. When 
 after a number of years I again visited Corfu it had 
 meanwhile passed into the hands of the Greeks, and 
 the town appeared to me considerably decayed and 
 poverty-stricken compared with its former appearance. 
 
 In the finest weather we sailed through the Adri- 
 atic and Mediterranean, so rich in historical associa- 
 tions, disembarked at Alexandria and travelled by the 
 just opened railway to Cairo, where we stopped a few 
 days to give the ship Agamemnon, laden with the cable, 
 and which made the journey round the Cape of Good 
 Hope, the necessary time for arriving in Suez. I used 
 this opportunity for an inspection of the town, which 
 interested me and my engineers in the highest degree 
 by its rich historical memorials and as the point of 
 junction of the civilizations of Europe and Asia. When 
 on the 14th of April we visited the pyramid of Cheops 
 
186 VISIT TO THE PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 
 
 we had the good fortune to observe on its apex an 
 interesting physical phenomenon, of which I subse- 
 quently gave an account in PoggendorfF s Annalen 
 under the title, "Description of unusually strong elec- 
 trical phenomena on the Cheops Pyramid near Cairo 
 during the blowing of the Chamsin." 
 
 During our donkey ride from Cairo to the pyramid 
 there arose an unusually cold desert wind, which was 
 accompanied by a peculiar ruddy colour of the horizon. 
 During our ascent or rather our transport by the Arabs, 
 who always encamp by the Gizeh pyramids, and do 
 not allow the office to be taken from them of carry- 
 ing or rather throwing the visitors up the steps, each 
 a yard high, the wind assumed a tempest-like force, 
 so that it was to a certain extent difficult to keep 
 oneself upright on the flattened apex of the pyramid. 
 The raised desert dust had now become so thick that 
 it appeared like a white mist, and altogether obscured 
 the view of the ground. It gradually rose higher and 
 higher, and after some time wrapped even the summit 
 on which I with my ten engineers was standing. Then 
 a remarkable hissing noise was heard, which could not 
 have been caused by the wind itself. One of the 
 Arabs called my attention to the fact that by raising 
 his outstretched finger above his head a sharp singing 
 sound arose, which ceased as soon as he lowered his 
 hand. I found this confirmed when I myself raised a 
 finger above my head; at the same time I noticed a 
 prickling sensation in my finger. That we had to do 
 with an electrical phenomenon appeared from the 
 
VISIT TO THE PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 187 
 
 circumstance that a slight electrical shock was felt 
 when one tried to drink out of a wine bottle. By 
 wrapping a piece of damp paper round it. I trans- 
 formed such a filled bottle, having a metallically coated 
 neck, into a Leyden jar. which was strongly charged 
 when one held it high above one's head. It was then 
 possible to obtain loud cracking sparks, of about 
 1 centimetre range. This established in an unequivocal 
 manner the electrical properties of the desert wind 
 which had been already before observed by travellers. 
 
 In the further course of our experiments I had 
 occasion to prove that electricity can also be service- 
 able as an effective defensive weapon. The Arabs 
 had at once observed with manifest distrust the flashes 
 darting from our wine bottles. They then held a brief 
 council, and at a signal every one of my companions 
 was laid hold of, to be forcibly transported down again, 
 by the three men who had brought him there. I was 
 standing just on the highest point of the pyramid, a 
 large stone cube in the centre of the flattened summit, 
 when the sheik of the tribe approached, and communi- 
 cated to me through our interpreter that the tribe had 
 resolved we should immediately leave the pyramid. On 
 being asked the reason, he replied that we manifestly 
 practised magic, and that might injure the source of 
 their livelihood, the pyramid. 
 
 When I refused to comply with his request, he 
 made a dash at my left hand, whilst I held the right 
 with the well -coated bottle in a manifestly conjur- 
 ing attitude - high above my head. I had waited 
 
188 ADVENTURES AT SEA. 
 
 for this moment and now lowered the neck of the 
 bottle slowly towards his nose. When I touched it I 
 myself felt a strong concussion, to judge from which 
 the sheik must have received a violent shock. He fell 
 speechless to the ground, and several seconds elapsed, 
 making me somewhat anxious, before with a sudden 
 cry he raised himself, and sprang howling down the 
 steps of the pyramid with giant leaps. When the Arabs 
 perceived this, and heard the sheik's continuous cry 
 of "magic", they one and all abandoned their prey and 
 plunged after him. In a few minutes the battle was 
 over, and we were absolute masters of the pyramid. 
 Anyhow Napoleon had not such an easy "victory at 
 the foot of the pyramids" as I had at their summit! 
 
 As the blowing of the Chamsin soon ceased, and 
 the sun again brightly illuminated the imperilled pyra- 
 mid, the Arabs recovered from their terror, and 
 clambered up again so as not to lose the expected 
 "backsheesh". Even at our peaceful leave-taking 
 however they evidently still regarded us with sus- 
 picion on account of our magical powers. 
 
 Nor were there wanting some small adventures 
 by sea during this cable - laying. The weather was 
 thoroughly calm and fine, as is always the case in the 
 Red Sea, where a rain-fall is a great rarity; only the 
 enervating heat was inconvenient. My travelling thermo- 
 meter indicated by day nearly always 100 and by 
 night 102 Fahr. , a temperature, which with our nor- 
 thern strength is indeed borne tolerably long without 
 difficulty, but which in the long run becomes extremely 
 
ADVENTURES AT SEA. 189 
 
 troublesome. By day one lives in a perpetual conflict 
 with the sun, from whose rays head and back must 
 be carefully protected. By night the hoped for cool- 
 ing is entirely wanting. The splendour of the starry 
 southern heavens with the truly Egyptian darkness of 
 the nights is indeed imposing, but it does not make 
 up for the desired refreshing breeze. 
 
 One night, as I was in my test -room supervising 
 the insulation of the cable between Cosseir and Suakim, 
 I suddenly heard loud shouting and violent commotion 
 on board. The man at the ship's head, entrusted with 
 the continuous soundings, had fallen overboard. As 
 the whole deck was well lighted with gas, many 
 of the people busy there could see the man calling 
 lustily for help in the water and throw him life -belts, 
 kept ready everywhere on board. The vessel was 
 stopped and boats put out, which disappeared for an 
 uncomfortably long time in the darkness of the night. 
 At last they returned triumphant. The man had kept 
 himself afloat by swimming, and had been lucky enough 
 not to be seized by any of the numerous sharks, which 
 disport themselves in the Red Sea, and are said to 
 have an especial appetite for white people, whilst they 
 rarely molest the black. He was trembling violently 
 when brought on board, and had his knife still open 
 in his hand. Questioned as to what had befallen him, 
 he related that he had been surrounded by a number 
 of sharks, but luckily had been able to draw his knife, 
 and defend himself till the boats arrived. We all felt 
 a cold shiver at the vivid description of his perils 
 
190 ADVENTURES AT SEA. 
 
 and combats. The boatswain just then stepped into 
 the ring, which had been formed round the man, and 
 announced to the captain that some of the life -belts, 
 which had been thrown to the unfortunate man. had 
 been recovered, and that several of them curiously 
 showed signs of having been pierced with a knife. 
 The man in his terror had taken the white rings for 
 sharks' bellies - - the shark, as is well known, turning 
 on his back when preparing to snap. 
 
 The shark plays an important part in the sailor's 
 life in the torrid zone, as he spoils the mariner's re- 
 freshing bath. The sailor therefore passionately hates 
 him and tortures the animal with glee, if he succeeds 
 in getting hold of one. I was witness when two 
 powerful sharks, at least twelve feet long, were 
 caught on a small flesh -baited anchor, and brought 
 on board. It was rather dangerous to approach them. 
 They had immense strength and so tough a life, that 
 even after having been disembowelled they still lashed 
 about with their tails. 
 
 When we lay at anchor in the harbour of Suakim 
 it was strictly forbidden to bathe, as very many sharks 
 were disporting themselves in the neighbourhood. One 
 evening after sunset, which is there quickly succeeded 
 by perfect darkness, we were sitting as usual at dinner 
 on deck, when suddenly "shark" was called by several 
 voices, and at the same time the cry of a man for 
 help resounded. The boats were lowered, and in the 
 light streaming from the ship something could be 
 clearly discerned moving in the water, which was taken 
 
THE GOVERNOR OF SUAKIM. 191 
 
 for a shark. Several ran for their revolvers, which 
 lay always ready, as it was a common sport to shoot 
 at empty soda water bottles thrown into the water 
 during the progress of the vessel. Luckily before the 
 commencement of the cannonade it became apparent 
 that the supposed shark was a sailor who, contrary 
 to the prohibition, was taking a bath, and had been 
 alarmed by his comrades' cry of "shark!" 
 
 Arrived at Suakim we soon received a visit from 
 the highest officials , the Turkish pasha and the 
 governor of the place. They were both extremely 
 dignified figures, who moved with oriental gravity, and 
 carefully avoided all appearance of being astonished at 
 anything. A carpet was spread for them, and tchi- 
 bouk and coffee served. They smoked and drank 
 with dignity, without regarding us, who were standing- 
 round them. My friend William Meyer, who accom- 
 panied the expedition, said "Look Werner, what a 
 splendid fellow that is with the fine white beard; he 
 might be exhibited in Berlin for money!" To our 
 astonishment the individual in question turned slowly 
 towards us and said in the purest Berlin dialect: "Oh, 
 you speak German?" On our replying that we were 
 Germans, but were surprised that he could speak 
 German, he answered: "I 'm also from Berlin. Call 
 upon me!" Then he turned his head back in a digni- 
 fied manner, and took no further notice of us. Meyer 
 called upon him next day, and made the acquaintance 
 of a thoroughly sociable man when not in Turkish 
 company. He had left Berlin as journeyman tailor and 
 
192 RETURN TO EUROPE. 
 
 gone out into the world fifty years ago, was making 
 for India when he was wrecked in the Red Sea off 
 Suakim, stayed there, became a Mohammedan and finally 
 chief of the town. At the same time he had become 
 a rich man. He showed my friend all his possessions, 
 he was only unwilling in spite of all requests to show 
 him his harem, and at last earnestly forbade him to 
 speak about his wives. 
 
 When we had finished our business in Aden I 
 wished to return with Meyer to Europe as quickly as 
 possible by the next steamer of the Peninsular and 
 Oriental Company, the Alma. Messrs. Newall and Gordon 
 contemplated doing the same. When the steamer ar- 
 rived it was however quite full, and they refused 
 to take us. Only through an order of the Governor 
 of Aden, procured by Mr. Newall, were we able to 
 carry out our purpose, though but as deck passengers, 
 no cabins being vacant. We had no objection to this, 
 as during our several months' stay on the Red Sea 
 we had always slept in our clothes on deck, as the 
 heat below was insufferable. 
 
 On board we found arrangements of a really 
 luxurious character, and an elegant social life almost 
 to be styled epicurean, which contrasted strongly with 
 our recent existence. Ladies and gentlemen changed 
 often in the day their elegant toilets, and two bands 
 of music took it in turns to lessen the tedium of 
 the voyage. We appeared very much out of place 
 in our ragged garments in this fine circle, and the 
 glances of the ladies that fell upon us betrayed indeed 
 
WRECK OF THE ALMA. 193 
 
 intense astonishment at such an unseemly addition to 
 the ship's company. Nevertheless we were presented 
 by the first lieutenant to the highest in rank of the 
 company, the English Ambassador to China, who had 
 just happily succeeded in bringing on the Anglo-French 
 war with China. He graciously gave us an audience, 
 and exchanged a few words with each of us in his 
 mother tongue, being rather proud of his own extensive 
 linguistic acquirements and delighting to display them. 
 At the approach of night each sought his camping 
 place on deck, but our rest was long disturbed by 
 the ladies, who could not make up their minds to 
 return to the stifling cabins. 
 
 We had slept only a few hours, when we were 
 rudely awakened from our dreams. A violent shock 
 caused the ship to tremble, two others followed still 
 more violent, and when we had sprung up in alarm 
 we felt the ship heeling over. I had luckily not taken 
 off my boots, only laid aside hat and spectacles. When 
 I looked round for these, I perceived my hat already 
 on the way to the sinking ship's side, and involun- 
 tarily followed it in the same direction. Wild, terri- 
 fied, ear-piercing shrieks resounded on all sides, then 
 a general clatter, as everything on deck was taking its 
 course to the deep. Everybody instinctively made for the 
 higher part of the ship, most were able to reach it. I came 
 off worse, having lost time in my search for hat and 
 spectacles. Already the water streamed over the ship's 
 side, and warned me to think of my own safety. The 
 
 deck had in a few seconds assumed so oblique a po- 
 
 13 
 
194 WRECK OF THE ALMA. 
 
 sition that it was no longer possible to clamber up it. 
 But necessity gives giant strength. Piling up chairs 
 and tables I managed to reach a rope, visible in 
 the bright moonshine, which hung down from the 
 elevated part of the ship, and climb up by its assi- 
 stance. 
 
 Above I found almost the whole ship's company 
 already assembled, and awaiting with admirable com- 
 posure the development of the drama. Then faint 
 cries of women for help broke the stillness of the 
 night, and some one called out that there were 
 still many ladies in the already half -flooded cabins. 
 Everybody was ready to assist in rescuing them, 
 but this was very difficult to accomplish, as the 
 smooth deck, lying already at an angle of more 
 than 30, offered no longer a foot-hold. My rope 
 now did good service. A seaman, familiar with the 
 ship's structure, let himself down to the entrance of 
 the cabin, and fastened a lady to it, whom we then 
 pulled up. That proceeded however too slowly, for a 
 large number still waited to be rescued. Accordingly 
 with the help of further ropes a living chain was 
 soon formed, by which the poor trembling ladies, for 
 the most part surprised in their beds by the water 
 streaming through the opened cabin windows, were 
 lifted up from hand to hand. If an impediment occurred 
 anywhere the word "stop!" was given, and then every- 
 body had to sustain his burden until the furthering 
 process could be continued. At one of these pauses I 
 beheld by the moonshine in the dripping lady, anxiously 
 
WRECK OF THE ALMA. 195 
 
 clinging to me, the proud young Creole, whom we 
 had admired at a modest distance, a few hours be- 
 fore, surrounded by a crowd of adorers which her 
 beauty had attracted. 
 
 The rapid sinking of the ship, after striking upon 
 a concealed coral rock, was explained by the circum- 
 stance already mentioned that the cabin windows had 
 all been open, and the water therefore found unimpeded 
 access into the hold. The vessel soon lay entirely on 
 her side, and the great question, on which now the 
 life or death of every living being on it depended, was 
 whether it would assume a position of rest, or cap- 
 size, and hurl us one and all into the deep. 
 
 I erected for myself a little observatory, with the 
 help of which I could note the further inclination of 
 the ship by the position of a particularly brilliant 
 star, and proclaimed from minute to minute the result 
 of my observations. These communications were awaited 
 with great anxiety. The cry "stand -still!" was greeted 
 with short joyful murmurs, that of "sunk further!" 
 answered by various doleful exclamations. At last no 
 further sinking was observable, and the paralysing fear 
 of death gave place to energetic efforts for effecting 
 our safety. 
 
 By the light of the moon and the glittering starry 
 sky we could distinctly perceive that we had run 
 upon a large rock, rising at one point tolerably high 
 above the water, and now only a few hundred yards 
 from us. The life -boats fastened on the lee -side 
 
 could be lowered without much difficulty, and then in 
 
 13* 
 
196 WRECK OF THE ALMA. 
 
 conformity with traditional English sea-faring practice 
 the women and children were first put on shore. That 
 was in truth extremely unpractical, as on the land the 
 poor creatures were in a desperately helpless condition, 
 but the principle had to be rigorously observed. 
 
 When at day -break the turn of William Meyer 
 and myself came, we found the ladies almost without 
 exception in an extremely lamentable plight, as they 
 were very sparingly clad, and for the most part 
 shoeless. The rock, perhaps never before trodden by 
 human foot, was everywhere covered by jagged coral, 
 which drew blood from the unprotected feet. Here 
 help was most needed. I belonged to the lucky ones 
 who possessed boots, and had also saved my pocket 
 knife. I accordingly returned with the next boat to 
 the wreck, and fished out a thick mat of linoleum and 
 another of finer material, with which I then opened a 
 sandal workshop on shore. My friend, who had not 
 been so fortunate as to have saved his boots, was the 
 first to receive a pair of sandals, and then in gratitude 
 undertook to fit the ladies crouching motionless on the 
 ground with similar articles. He still remembered years 
 after with delight the grateful glances from beautiful 
 eyes, which this Samaritan service procured him. 
 
 But what next? On Whitsunday morning about 
 five hundred persons were sitting on a bare coral rock 
 a couple of acres or so in extent, and about eight 
 leagues out of the usual ships' course. We had in 
 the fine calm night, in which probably helmsman and 
 look-out had fallen quietly to sleep, run on the notorious 
 
WRECK OF THE ALMA. 197 
 
 coral bank lying to the south of the Harnish islands, 
 and which is given a wide berth by all ships. We 
 could the less depend on a chance rescue, as the total 
 absence of drinking water rendered long waiting for 
 help impossible. The vessel indeed had not sunk 
 entirely, and we could save provisions of all kinds in 
 sufficient quantity , but the water -tank had become 
 filled with sea-water, and the distilling apparatus, which 
 was used for producing the needful fresh water, could 
 not be lifted out of its place. The water still found 
 in the cabins formed therefore our sole supply, on 
 whose sparing use it depended how long we should 
 be able to continue the struggle for existence. 
 
 But yet another serious danger threatened us. 
 The crews of the fine large steamers of the Peninsular 
 and Oriental Company, which then worked the service 
 between Suez and India, consisted almost wholly of 
 natives, as Europeans are not able to stand the climate 
 of the Red Sea for any length of time. Among the 
 150 persons or thereabouts, who formed the Alma's 
 crew, there w r ere thus, with the exception of the 
 ship's officers, only three or four Europeans. The 
 captain was ill, and is said to have died from the effects 
 of the excitement soon after the shipwreck. The 
 officers had by their bad management of the vessel 
 lost the men's respect, and could no longer maintain 
 discipline among them. The latter began therefore to 
 mutiny, refused obedience, broke open the travellers' 
 trunks, and behaved rudely to the ladies. In these 
 straits a sort of government came spontaneously into 
 
198 WRECK OF THE ALMA. 
 
 existence. The most active of the younger men, in- 
 cluding a number of English officers on their way 
 home from India, took possession of the old muskets with 
 bayonets, which were rather for ornament than for real 
 use in the vessel, and proclaimed martial law. A recal- 
 citrant drunken sailor was knocked down, and on the 
 summit of the rocky eminence a gallows was erected as 
 a sign of our authority. Thither, too, all the recovered 
 provisions were taken, and a guard-tent was set up, 
 before which a sentinel patrolled. This had a calming 
 effect and reduced the crew to submission. 
 
 It was above all things necessary to obtain 
 protection from the sun, which at this time of year 
 shone vertically down on the island at mid-day. 
 Accordingly a certain number began busily to occupy 
 themselves in erecting tents with the help of sails and 
 yards. Further a kitchen was contrived, and the pro- 
 visions , especially the water and the stock of beer 
 and wine, were stored safely. In these operations 
 Mr. Gisborne, the leading engineer of the cable-laying, 
 was especially prominent, and exercised a sort of 
 dictatorship on the island. Mr. Newall had at break 
 of day immediately gone with one of the three boats, 
 which were at our disposal, to Mokka, the nearest 
 place on the Arabian coast, to seek assistance. He 
 did not find any there however - perhaps because 
 the recent bombardment of Djedda by the English had 
 caused a very unfavourable feeling towards Europeans 
 - and therefore proceeded further towards the Straits 
 of Bab-el-Mandeb in the hope of falling in with a vessel. 
 
WRECK OF THE ALMA. 199 
 
 This voyage in a frail open boat was a bold enterprise, 
 but our only hope depended on it. And in reality it 
 succeeded, thanks to a splendid telescope, which I had 
 had made for my journey by Steinheil in Munich. 
 
 For when the English man-of-war, which had left 
 Aden a few days after us to visit the intermediate 
 stations, and take off our engineers, had passed in 
 the early morning the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb , our 
 engineer Dr. Esselbach was standing on deck, searching 
 with my telescope the vast unbroken expanse. He 
 descried a white point, which he took to be the 
 sail of a European boat, as the natives only use 
 brown sails. He called the attention of the ship's 
 officers, and lastly of the captain himself, to it, 
 who with my telescope convinced himself of the 
 correctness of the observation, and at once directed 
 his course to the white point. To the great surprise 
 of everybody this soon developed into the boat of the 
 passenger steamer well known to the seamen, and al- 
 ready in the far distance Mr. Newall was recognised 
 by his striking long white beard. 
 
 Meanwhile the life on the coral rock had rolled 
 on as might have been expected. From 9 o'clock in 
 the morning to 4 o'clock in the afternoon we were 
 obliged to lie quietly under the roofs of our tents, to 
 enable us the better to resist the glare of the sun and 
 not to excite too great a craving for drink. Then 
 
 O O 
 
 the cooking began, and we dined as well as we could, 
 each of us getting on the first days a . small bottle of 
 pale ale, as the water was reserved for the women and 
 
200 WRECK OF THE ALMA,. 
 
 children. Wine, which was also to be had, no one could 
 stand; it heated the blood to such a degree that those 
 who tried to drink it got ill. The first two days all went 
 passably well, but then great lassitude and despondency 
 began to set in. Faithful old servants refused to 
 perform small services, even though gold pieces were 
 offered them. Even the sheep and dogs, which had 
 been brought to land, lost all vitality. They pushed 
 with resistless force under the tent-covers, and chose 
 rather to be killed than subjected to the pitiless rays 
 of the sun. The pigs alone excelled even the human 
 beings in endurance; they kept incessantly exploring 
 the island, until they dropt dead in their struggle for 
 existence. 
 
 On the third day a small number of us , who 
 still possessed sufficient force and self-control to per- 
 form work when the sun was low, succeeded in 
 breaking through the outer wall of the ship and 
 obtaining access to the ice-room. Certainly there was 
 no longer any ice to be found there, but a moderate 
 quantity still of cold water. This was likewise reserved 
 for the numerous women and children, but every one 
 who had assisted in the work received as reward a 
 glass of cold fresh water. Many years after I have 
 often gratefully remembered that refreshing draught 
 when tormented and parched with thirst. 
 
 When the fourth day passed without prospect of 
 release , dull despair took possession of even the 
 stoutest hearted. A steamship , whose smoke we 
 descried in the far distance had gone its way without 
 
RESCUE BY THE CABLE WARSHIP. 201 
 
 discovering us. On the following morning the cry 
 was again raised "steamer in sight!" but the cry this 
 time only awakened feeble hope. Still the smoke came 
 nearer, and the already slumbering vital spirits awoke 
 anew. The ship now approached, now moved off 
 again; hope began to spring up that it was seeking us. 
 Then at last it seemed to perceive our signals, it steered 
 its course straight for the island. No more doubting! 
 Rescue was at hand, and its certainty made the almost 
 dead alive again. We recognised our companion ship 
 in the cable-laying and Newall, our saviour, on board. 
 The scenes, that were now enacted, are never to be 
 forgotten. On the ship all was astir for effecting the 
 landing. Nobody appeared to notice the many-hundred- 
 voiced jubilation that greeted the ship's crew. The 
 anchor rattled down, and the boats shot into the water. 
 They brought casks full of water, and flat wooden 
 vessels, which were then placed on land and filled 
 by stout sailors hands. Mr. Newall had informed 
 them that we were in want of water, and their 
 first thought was' to quench our thirst. Every 
 one made a rush for the large wooden vessels and 
 tried with hollow hand to scoop up the water. 
 But that was a slow affair, and others kept pres- 
 sing forward. Accordingly the head was simply lowered 
 and the delicious fluid swallowed in greedy draughts. 
 The beasts too had scented the water and pressed 
 forward with irresistible energy, although they had 
 been lying for whole days as dead under the tent- 
 covers. A huge wether pushed everybody aside, and 
 
202 EETURN VIA MARSEILLES. 
 
 plunged its own head into the vessel between that of 
 a fair blonde and a negro, without the latter being 
 at all disturbed. Pictures, assuredly never to be for- 
 gotten by those who gazed upon them. 
 
 As the number of about five hundred passengers 
 and ship -folk was too large to be transported by the 
 small man-of-war, the captain determined to leave the 
 crew on the island under a guard of sailors from the 
 war-ship, to be kept under strict discipline on account 
 of their mutinous behaviour , but to take all the 
 passengers on board and convey them to Aden. So 
 we arrived, packed in fearfully close quarters on the 
 deck of the little ship, again in Aden, where the 
 telegraphic news of our arrival in Suez had already 
 been anxiously awaited. By order of the governor of 
 Aden the next homeward-bound passenger steamer had 
 to take up almost the entire number of the shipwrecked, 
 in spite of its being already overcrowded. But we 
 gladly bore the inconveniences of this passage, and of 
 the further one from Alexandria to Marseilles , and 
 thanked God that we had not met with a tragic end 
 on the lone coral rocks of the Harnish Islands. 
 
 Neither in Cairo nor in Alexandria had we leisure 
 to improve our very defective external appearance. 
 Nearly all had lost their whole baggage in the ship- 
 wreck, and most of us were without funds. Not be- 
 fore Paris, whither we travelled without stopping, was 
 an opportunity afforded for a fresh outfit. We were 
 all obliged to travel by way of Marseilles, as the har- 
 bour of Trieste was blockaded by the French, and the 
 
RETURN VIA MARSEILLES. 203 
 
 journey through Italy was impossible on account of 
 the war in Lombardy. The news of the declaration 
 of war by France and of the death of Alexander 
 von Humboldt I had received in the Red Sea during 
 the cable -laying. The subsequent great political events 
 had also been communicated to us through the cable, 
 so that we had remained well-informed of the events 
 of the world. 
 
 For the rest Meyer and I narrowly escaped being- 
 left behind in Malta. The captain of the French 
 passenger steamer emphatically declared that he could 
 take no passengers to Marseilles without passports, that 
 we must therefore provide ourselves with passports in 
 Malta, if we had lost our own in the shipwreck. When 
 the captain presented us to the respective consuls as 
 shipwrecked persons handed over to him in Alexandria, 
 all the rest received consular passports without any 
 difficulty; the Prussian consul alone, a commercial man 
 who had settled there and been entrusted with this 
 office, declared that he possessed no authorization, 
 as we could produce no regular evidence of identity. 
 Only after some stormy scenes did he give in, and 
 we were able to reach the ship just before its de- 
 parture. 
 
 The Indian line was extended in the following 
 year from Aden to Kurrachee, William Meyer super- 
 intending the electrical arrangements. Unfortunately 
 the line did not long remain in a serviceable con- 
 dition. Defects of insulation, which impeded corre- 
 spondence, showed themselves already in the Ked Sea 
 
204 DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIAN LINE, REASONS. 
 
 cable in the course of the extension of the line to 
 India. Our electricians attempted repairs indeed, where- 
 by all the more serious faults were removed, but new 
 ones constantly made their appearance, which already 
 in the following year rendered the whole line unservi- 
 ceable, since the cable in the Red Sea was held fast 
 at the bottom by coral formations and therefore could 
 not be raised and repaired. The reason of this un- 
 fortunate failure was mainly owing to the circumstance 
 that the contractors had laid the cable, not in deep 
 water in the middle of the sea, but near the Nubian 
 coast, in the proximity of the intermediate stations, 
 in shallow water, where the formation of coral pro- 
 ceeds very rapidly at the sea -bottom. People had 
 not yet come to see that with submarine cables not 
 cheapness but excellence is in the first place to be 
 aimed at. It was apt to be forgotten that a single 
 defect, if it cannot be repaired, spoils the whole cable, 
 and that from any defect of insulation, however small 
 a greater one is sure to arise in course of time. Al- 
 most all the submarine cables laid in early days by 
 the English both those in the Channel, in the 
 
 Mediterranean and Red Sea, and also the first Atlantic 
 cable, which was laid in the summer of 1858 by the 
 engineer Whitehouse after an unsuccessful attempt in 
 the preceding year - - came to grief, because in the 
 construction and fittings, as well as in the testings and 
 laying, correct principles had not been followed. 
 
 It was the perception of this fact that led the 
 English Government in the year 1859 to entrust the 
 
CABLE-TESTINGS FOR THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. 205 
 
 control of the preparation and the testing of cables, 
 which it contemplated laying, to our London firm. In 
 these testings for the first time a consistent rational 
 system was adopted, which afforded assurance that 
 the completed cable was faultless, if the conductivity 
 of the copper conductor and the resistance of the in- 
 sulating covering entirely corresponded to the specific 
 resistances of the materials employed. The result was 
 that the insulation of these new cables was more than 
 ten times as great as had been the case in previous 
 submarine cables. 
 
 My brother William and I communicated in July 
 1860 to the British Association the substance of the 
 report delivered to the English Government on the 
 performance of these testings and the methods and 
 formulae employed in a paper read by William, entitled 
 "Outline of the principles and practice involved in 
 testing the electrical conditions of submarine cables", 
 and in this way we made our experiences public 
 property. 
 
 Since then no cables with defective insulation 
 have been laid, and their durability has proved satis- 
 factory wherever mischief has not been wrought by 
 local causes or external violence. In cables laid in 
 shallow water - - both in the Mediterranean and also 
 in the Black Sea - - such a destructive agency presented 
 itself in the shape of a small beetle belonging to a 
 group particularly dangerous to wooden ships (Xylo- 
 phaga). In the cables without iron sheathing laid by the 
 firm of Newall & Co. in the eastern part of the Medi- 
 
206 CARTAGENA-GRAN COPPER-ARMED CABLE. 
 
 terranean a large part of the hemp covering the con- 
 ductor insulated by gutta-percha was eaten away 
 before the end of the year. Moreover the little 
 animals had frequently attacked the gutta-percha itself, 
 and there were numerous places where they had bored 
 right through to the copper, and thereby entirely 
 destroyed the insulation. Even an iron sheathing does 
 not completely prevent destruction by the wood-worm 
 of a cable laid in shallow water, as places at which 
 an outer wire has been fractured afford it access, and 
 as the young brood can make their way through the 
 interstices of the protecting wires and then grow to a 
 dangerous size within the protecting covering. To 
 obviate this danger brother William had constructed 
 a special cable for shallow water, in which strands 
 of the best hemp twisted round the conductors, insu- 
 lated by gutta-percha or caoutchouc, gave the cable 
 the necessary support, whilst a layer of strips of 
 copper - sheathing placed over one another in the 
 manner of scales was destined to protect the core of 
 the cable from the wood -worm. Our London firm, 
 which meanwhile had set up a good-sized mechanical 
 workshop and a cable factory of its own at Charlton 
 near Woolwich, received an order for such a cable 
 from the French government for a line between Car- 
 tagena and Oran. The then director-general of the 
 French telegraphs, M. de Vougie, had already expended 
 much money in attempts to lay a cable from the French 
 to the Algerian coast, without having obtained a satis- 
 factory telegraphic communication. He now wished to 
 
JOURNEY VIA MADRID TO ORAN. 207 
 
 effect this in the cheapest way by a very light cable 
 via Spain, and entrusted us with the preparation and 
 laying of a copper -sheathed cable between Cartagena 
 and Oran. 
 
 The French Government had stipulated for the 
 procuring of the steamer as well as for its manning and 
 officering by members of the imperial marine. The 
 director-general, who was well known to me, as we had 
 both served on the jury of the Paris Exhibition of 
 1855, intended to be present at the laying. William 
 and I desired jointly to supervise the proceedings, and 
 we accordingly met in December 1863 in Madrid. 
 I travelled from Moscow, where I had happened to be 
 detained, via St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Paris, almost 
 without break of journey in five days. 
 
 My brother had meanwhile --in 1859 -- married 
 the sister of the before -mentioned Mr. Gordon, a clever 
 and charming lady. He brought his wife with him to 
 Madrid, as she insisted on sharing the toils and the 
 possible dangers of the enterprise. In Madrid it was 
 unpleasantly cold and windy, so that I could not per- 
 ceive that the climate had much improved since my 
 leaving Moscow. We soon continued our journey to Aran- 
 juez, Valencia, and Alicante, without even there finding 
 a more genial temperature. The winter was unusually 
 cold for Spain, and it was a curious sight to see on 
 the whole way from Alicante to Cartagena date-palms 
 and orange -trees abundantly laden with golden fruit 
 covered with snow. Even in Cartagena, where we 
 had to wait some days for the cable -ship, it was so 
 
208 STATE OF THE CABLE. 
 
 bitterly cold in the houses destitute of fireplaces or 
 stoves, that my sister-in-law often afterwards declared, 
 that my fur brought from Russia had prevented her 
 from freezing in Spain. It was not before Oran that 
 we thawed again. The necessary preparations were 
 soon made, and we rejoiced in the hope that the 
 whole laying would be over in a few days. But "there's 
 many a slip between the cup and the lip'' - after four 
 weeks' toil and undergoing of grave dangers we had 
 lost the cable, and had to congratulate ourselves that 
 we had not also sustained loss of health or life. 
 
 Judged from the cool standpoint of advanced age 
 this cable-laying was an egregious piece of folly, since 
 cable, ship, and mode of laying were utterly inade- 
 quate. As an excuse for our nevertheless undertaking 
 it only the following reasons can be offered. We 
 desired under any circumstances to lay a cable of our 
 own, because we saw that our inventions and expe- 
 riences were being turned to account by English con- 
 tractors without any regard for us, and even without 
 our undoubted services in the development of sub- 
 marine telegraphy being so much as mentioned: and 
 further, and perhaps mainly, because the cable- construc- 
 tion and paying-out arrangements devised by brother 
 William were so well conceived and interesting, that 
 we had not the heart to leave them unused. 
 
 The cable would have been excellent in every 
 respect if it had remained in the condition in which 
 it left the factory. We were however unfortunately 
 soon convinced that its proper breaking strain had been 
 
STATE OF THE CABLE. MODE OF LAYING. 209 
 
 much impaired, although the hempen strands were 
 supposed to be prevented from "dry rot" by being 
 impregnated with a solution of tannin. In spite of its 
 light weight it was hardly strong enough any longer 
 to be laid with safety in the considerable depths be- 
 tween the Algerian and Spanish coasts. Still worse 
 almost was it that my brother had invented for the 
 laying a new mechanism, which was now to be tried 
 for the first time. It consisted in the cable being coiled 
 round a large drum with stationary axis, which was to 
 be turned for the winding and unwinding of the cable 
 by a specially constructed small steam-engine. This con- 
 trivance, though carried out in a very ingenious manner 
 by my brother, yet appeared to me very dubious, for 
 the uniform rotation of so heavy a drum, especially 
 in a rough sea, was connected with difficulties, whose 
 extent could not be foreseen, and the portion of cable 
 unrolled by the revolving drum could only be properly 
 estimated when the ship's velocity, the ocean- depth, 
 and the currents were at all times exactly known. 
 But as the weather was calm and fair, and I had 
 moreover constructed an electrically worked velocity- 
 meter, which I desired to test, and which, as I hoped, 
 would always accurately indicate the ship's speed, we 
 resolved to make the attempt in spite of the decreased 
 strength of the cable. 
 
 Unfortunately my fears proved to be justified. 
 After the heavy shore -cable had been laid, and the 
 laying of the light copper cable , connected with it, 
 had proceeded for perhaps an hour without disturbance, 
 
 OF THE \ 
 
 :VERSITT 
 AUFORNlA^-'" 
 
210 THE CABLE BREAKS. TRIP TO ALMERIA. 
 
 so that my hope of success already noticeably rose. 
 the cable suddenly broke and sank in the rather deep 
 water, without any apparent reason. It was impossible 
 to pick up again the cable already laid, as it was 
 held fast at the sea -bottom by huge boulders. We 
 had in consequence not sufficient cable left to under- 
 take a laying to Cartagena, determined therefore to 
 take the shorter course to Almeria, and in the first 
 place to run across, with the object of searching for 
 a suitable landing place. 
 
 The trip to Almeria with glorious weather and 
 mirror-like sea was enchanting. The town is masked 
 by a hilly neck of land, which stretches far into the 
 sea. For our purpose this fine situation was certainly 
 rather unfavourable, for it compelled us to make so 
 wide a circuit round the promontory that the smaller 
 linear distance from Oran was thereby almost neutralised. 
 We landed however in order to take in stores, and 
 enjoyed the hospitality of the inhabitants, who would 
 not be denied giving us a festive reception and im- 
 provising in our honour an entertainment in the theatre. 
 What most surprised us at this entertainment was the 
 classical beauty of the women, whose features were 
 undoubtedly of Moorish type. One young girl in par- 
 ticular struck us, who by the unanimous vote of our 
 ship's company, composed of all nationalities of western 
 Europe, was pronounced the ideal of female beauty. 
 
 We did not dream on that enjoyable evening that 
 the next day would bring us dangers, the surmounting 
 of which still appears to me little short of miraculous. 
 
OBSERVATION OF A WATER -SPOUT. 211 
 
 Rightly to understand what followed it must be 
 borne in mind that our ship had not been built for 
 cable-laying, but had only been procured in the 
 English market ad hoc by the French government. 
 It was an English coasting-vessel, whose former function 
 had been to tow colliers to London. These ships 
 are not built for the open sea; they have a flat bottom, 
 no keel, and no high prow for breaking the waves. 
 The hold of this unfavourably constructed ship was 
 for the most part occupied by a huge wooden drum, 
 with fixed iron axis, on which the whole cable was 
 wound ; the load was therefore very unfavourably 
 distributed for the open sea. But the weather was 
 uninterruptedly fine, and the sea calm. This changed 
 somewhat when, after leaving Almeria, we had rounded 
 the promontory, and saw the open sea before us. 
 A moderate breeze was blowing from the south-west, 
 and masses of black clouds hung behind the neck of 
 land along the coast. Then it struck us that the 
 nearest of these dark lowering clouds was continued 
 to the sea -level by a long prolongation, and that the 
 sea beneath was in wild commotion, so that it appeared 
 in the unbroken sunshine as a dazzling and jagged ice- 
 field. Our vessel passed, according to our reckoning, 
 about two leagues off this high foaming field, which 
 was perhaps half a league broad, whilst the length 
 could not be estimated. It was surprising that the 
 prolongation, coalescing bluntly with the cloud above 
 and then tapering quickly, did not come quite in 
 
 contact with the heaving surface of the water, but 
 
 14* 
 
212 OBSERVATION OF A WATER -SPOUT. 
 
 remained separated from it by a clearly discernible 
 interval. There was also no special elevation to be 
 perceived of the foaming surface beneath , but the 
 whole surface appeared to be raised uniformly as high 
 as a house above the level of the sea. The end of 
 the protuberance at the same time executed an un- 
 doubted circular movement above the white part of 
 the sea, so that it returned about every ten or twenty 
 minutes to the same point. 
 
 Unfortunately we could not long continue the 
 observation of this interesting spectacle , a so - called 
 water-spout, as it rather quickly drew off along the 
 coast in an easterly direction, and we were also diverted 
 from it by another remarkable phenomenon. For the 
 ship began of a sudden to rock with such violence 
 that we could only with difficulty maintain an upright 
 position. They were short high waves , so - called 
 dead sea, over which we were being borne. Clearly 
 we were following in the wake of the water -spout. 
 The violent rockings of the ship made the captain, 
 who was well acquainted with its construction, very 
 anxious indeed ; he kept however his course in the 
 direction of the troughs of the waves, in the hope of 
 soon coming again into calmer water. Then dull short 
 blows struck upon my ears, which made the ship 
 tremble at every oscillation. The thought flashed 
 through me like lightning, "the drum has got loose 
 and will soon with irresistible blows knock the ship 
 to pieces." I rushed into the cabin to my brother, who 
 was already contending with sea-sickness; no one else 
 
THE DRUM ENDANGERS THE SHIP. 213 
 
 knew precisely the construction of the drum and the 
 mode of its attachment, he alone therefore could per- 
 haps still save us. I found him already on his feet - 
 deadly pale, but composed. He too had immediately 
 understood the cause of the threatening blows, and that 
 had sufficed to dispel every trace of sea-sickness. In 
 the hold he in fact saw that the axis of the drum had 
 got loosened from its upper frame, and that the blocks 
 of especially hard wood, which had been carefully 
 prepared and fitted for the protection of the frame, 
 were wanting. The French ship's carpenters at first 
 pretended not to know what had become of them, but 
 when the blows increased in strength, and my brother 
 called out that we should all be lost, if the wood 
 was not immediately brought, their memory returned, 
 and the blocks were produced. The fellows had ad- 
 mired the unfamiliar solid wood and had regarded the 
 pieces as superfluous. 
 
 With the violent rocking, we could not however 
 
 o" 
 
 succeed in placing the blocks in their proper places. 
 Meanwhile the blows had increased to such a degree 
 that everybody was seized with fear lest the vessel 
 should no longer resist them. Then my brother called 
 to us through the open hatch- way, "The oscillation is 
 too great, steer against the wind!" The captain at 
 once gave the necessary order, and the ship turned 
 to meet the waves. A moment after to my astonish- 
 ment I beheld the prow plunged under water, and the 
 waves already washing over the fore-part of the deck. 
 I perceived at once the cause of the phenomenon. 
 
214 CONSEQUENCES OF TURNING THE SHIP TOO SUDDENLY. 
 
 The ship with its full velocity had turned too suddenly 
 against the wind, and when a wave had once washed 
 over and depressed the prow, it retained the inclined 
 position and was driven down by its velocity on the 
 incline. At this critical moment I involuntarily assumed 
 the command, and called loudly into the engine room 
 hard by "Stop!", as the captain was wont to do. 
 Luckily the engine-men instantly obeyed. But the 
 ship's velocity could only be slowly reduced. We all 
 stood on the raised poop, and saw the fore -deck 
 becoming continually shorter and the sea more and 
 more approaching our standing place. Then the sea 
 broke over the after -deck, and a mighty whirlpool 
 was formed, the water pouring through the open 
 hatch into the ship's hold. Our end seemed at hand. 
 Then the swirl became weaker, and after some further 
 anxious moments the prow once more appeared above 
 the water, and we breathed fresh hope, for the violent 
 rocking and the ominous blows had now ceased. 
 
 My brother, who in the hold had not been able 
 to observe the approach of danger, was completely 
 surprised by the sea-water suddenly deluging himself 
 and the drum. All the greater was his delight when 
 the rush of sea-water ceased, and it soon after became 
 possible for him to adjust the wooden supports, and 
 thereby prevent the dangerous blows of the axis of 
 the drum. The captain now cautiously resumed the 
 course to Oran. The vessel continued indeed still to 
 rock disagreeably, but we got accustomed to it, and 
 rejoiced that the drum did not stir again. The great 
 
THE WATER -SPOUT FLOODS THE SHIP. 215 
 
 excitement had dispelled all sea-sickness, and when it 
 became dark every one sought his berth, and soon 
 all was tranquil. 
 
 I had not been long asleep when loud orders and 
 cries of alarm on deck awoke me suddenly. Imme- 
 diately afterwards the ship laid itself on its side in a 
 manner I have never since experienced, and can even 
 now scarcely consider possible. People were thrown 
 from their beds and rolled on the steeply inclined 
 floor of the large cabin into the opposite cabins. 
 They were followed by everything moveable on the 
 ship, and at the same time all the lights were ex- 
 tinguished, as the hanging lamps were hurled against 
 the cabin deck and shattered. Then followed after a 
 brief anxious pause a recoil, and a few repetitions of 
 nearly the same intensity. Immediately after the first 
 shocks I succeeded in gaining the deck. I descried 
 in the half-light the captain, who in answer to my call 
 only pointed to the stern, exclaiming "voila la terre!". 
 Indeed a high rocky wall, feebly shining in the dark- 
 ness, seemed to be standing behind the ship. On 
 seeing it, the captain had suddenly brought the ship 
 round, and thereby caused the violent oscillations. 
 He thought we must have drifted, and were close on 
 the rocks of Cap des lions. Suddenly a voice called 
 in the darkness "La terre avance!", and actually the 
 high uncanny gleaming wall now rose close behind 
 the ship, and was advancing with a strange roaring 
 voice. Then came a moment so awful and overpowering 
 that it baffles description. Tremendous floods, which 
 
216 THE WATER -SPOUT FLOODS THE SHIP. 
 
 seemed to burst in on all sides, poured over the ship 
 with a force which I could only withstand by con- 
 vulsively grasping the iron rail of the upper deck. 
 I felt how the whole ship was tossed hither and 
 thither with tremendous force by violent short blows 
 of the waves. Whether we were above or under 
 water was hardly to be distinguished. It seemed to 
 be foam, which we breathed with difficulty. How long 
 this state of things lasted no one was afterwards able 
 to say. Those also who had remained in the cabin 
 had to contend with the violent shocks, which threw 
 them hither and thither, and were terrified to death 
 by the roaring noise of the mass of water falling down 
 on the deck. The statements of time varied between 
 two and five minutes. Then all was over as suddenly 
 as it had begun, but the gleaming wall now stood 
 before the ship, and slowly moved away from it. 
 
 When after a short time the whole ship's company 
 collected with revived spirits on the deck, and talked 
 over all the terrors and wonders, the French officers 
 were of opinion that the most incredible wonder of 
 all had been that our lady had not once screamed. 
 The thoroughly English composure of my sister-in-law, 
 growing with the rising danger, appeared altogether 
 incomprehensible to the lively Frenchmen. 
 
 As we heard afterwards, the water-spout, which 
 we had observed at Almeria, had moved eastwards 
 down the Spanish coast, had then passed over to the 
 African side, and we had manifestly crossed its path. 
 That with our craft, so little sea-worthy, and so in- 
 
PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 217 
 
 judiciously loaded , we had fortunately stood the 
 dangerous experiment, is perfectly incomprehensible to 
 me. When the water- spout had passed over us the sea 
 still remained for some time in wild commotion, and, 
 so far as we could observe, was covered with foaming 
 crests. Then we beheld a natural phenomenon of a 
 splendour and grandeur such as the most daring fancy 
 could hardly paint. As far as the eye could reach 
 the whole sea glowed with a dark red light. It 
 looked as if it were composed of molten red-hot metal, 
 and the foam- crests in particular of the procession 
 of waves radiated so bright a light that all objects 
 could be distinctly seen, and even the smallest writing 
 could be read. It was a beautiful eerie sight, which 
 stands even to-day, although more than a quarter of 
 a century has passed, with perfect distinctness before 
 my mental vision! We were at a point of the sea, 
 which was densely peopled by phosphorescent animal- 
 culae. A tumbler , which I filled with sea - water, 
 shone brightly in the dark when the water was 
 violently shaken. The wild swirling motion produced 
 by the water -spout had excited the whole mass of 
 phosphorescent animalculae, visible even to the naked 
 eye, and to their universal simultaneous phosphorescence 
 we owe the marvellous sight of the glowing sea. 
 
 In Oran, where a few hours later we landed 
 without our journey being further disturbed, we had 
 to consider what was next to be done. According to 
 an accurate estimate we had still cable enough to reach- 
 Cartagena, if it were paid out with the least slack 
 
218 MISCARRIAGE OF A SECOND LAYING. 
 
 that was necessary for laying it without strain on the 
 not quite level sea -bottom. My brother had become 
 bolder through the luckily surmounted dangers and 
 wanted once more to attempt the laying without more 
 ado with the present contrivances. I opposed this, 
 however, since I had lost all confidence in the drum, 
 and the ship freighted with it. Finally we came to the 
 determination to coil the cable over, and carry out the 
 laying in the usual way with cone and dynamometer. 
 When the troublesome and tedious coiling of the 
 cable was finished and the fatal drum laid aside, we 
 proceeded to our second attempt. The weather was 
 again splendid, and the laying went forward without 
 any difficulty. The depth of the sea however proved 
 to be greater than was given in the French charts, 
 and we w r ere obliged to load the dynamometer to a 
 hazardous degree, in order not to pay out too much 
 cable. I controlled the expenditure of cable by my 
 electric log. which hitherto had always done good 
 service. Thus things went without disturbance, until 
 we had already clearly in sight the high coast near 
 Cartagena. Suddenly my log refused to act - - as it 
 subsequently appeared because its screw had got 
 entangled in sea-weed. As my last reckoning had 
 shown that we had cable to spare, and should arrive 
 in Cartagena with a surplus. I went to my brother 
 and requested him to unload the dynamometer some- 
 what, in order to be secured against the fracture 
 of the cable. He was greatly delighted, and was 
 about to show me first how beautifully and equably 
 
POLITICAL EVENTS. 219 
 
 the cable was running out with the present loading, 
 when all at once we saw the cable quite gently come 
 asunder. The brake -wheel stood instantly still, the 
 torn-off end disappeared in the deep, and therewith, 
 for our then circumstances , a considerable sum of 
 money, as we had undertaken the laying at our own 
 risk. But what for the moment aggravated us still 
 more than the money loss was the technical fiasco. 
 The labour of months, all the toils and dangers, which 
 not we alone, but also all our companions had under- 
 gone on account of this cable, were in a moment 
 irrecoverably lost on account of a few rotten strands 
 of hemp. In addition there was the unpleasant feeling 
 of being the object of commiseration of the whole 
 ship's company. It was a severe punishment for our 
 temerity. 
 
 When a few hours after the breaking of the cable 
 we landed in Cartagena, we had been over a month 
 without news from Europe. In Almeria we had also 
 not heard much in our flying visit, except that war 
 had broken out with Denmark on account of the 
 Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. In the hotel at 
 Cartagena we found French and English newspapers, 
 and all the great political news of the last month 
 from the Fatherland poured in upon us. An altogether 
 remarkable revolution had taken place in the news- 
 paper articles on Germany since the declaration of 
 war and the defeat of Denmark, which enjoyed the 
 favour of England. We had hitherto been accustomed 
 to read in English and French newspapers much well- 
 
220 POLITICAL EVENTS. 
 
 meant praise of German science, German music, and 
 German song, as well as compassionate utterances on 
 the good-natured, dreamy and unpractical Germans. 
 Now there were furious articles on the conquest- 
 seeking, the war-loving, nay, the blood-thirsty Germans ! 
 I must confess that all this gave me no annoyance, 
 but considerable pleasure. My self-respect as a German 
 rose higher with each of these expressions. The 
 Germans had for so long been only passive material 
 for the world's history. Now one might read for the 
 first time in black and white in the Times, that they 
 had of their own accord entered into its course, and 
 thereby excited the wrath of those who hitherto had 
 considered themselves alone entitled to the honour. In 
 my intercourse with Englishmen and Frenchmen during 
 the cable -layings I had often had painful occasion to be 
 convinced in what slight esteem the Germans were held 
 as a nation by other peoples. I had long political de- 
 bates, which always came to this, that the Germans had 
 neither the right nor the ability to form an independent 
 and united state of their own. "Well, what then do 
 the Germans exactly want?'' asked the highly respected 
 director- general of the French telegraphs, and former 
 companion in exile of the Emperor Napoleon, M. de 
 Vougie, after a long conversation on the reviving na- 
 tional aspirations in Germany at the close of the Franco- 
 Austrian war. - - "A united German Empire"', was my 
 answer. "And do you think," he replied, "that France 
 would suffer a state united and superior in numbers 
 to itself as next-door neighbour?'' - "No."' was my 
 
POLITICAL CONVERSATIONS WITH M. DE VOUGIE. 221 
 
 answer, "we are convinced that we shall have to defend 
 our unity against France." "What an idea," he said, 
 "that a united Germany would fight us. Bavaria, 
 Wurtemberg, all South Germany will fight with us 
 against Prussia." "Not this time," I answered, "the 
 first French cannon-shot will make Germany one; we 
 have no fear therefore of a French attack, but await 
 it cheerfully." M. de Vougie shook his head; yet 
 the idea seemed to dawn upon him that the Pandora 
 box of the nationality question, which his ruler had 
 opened in the war with Austria on behalf of Italy, 
 might finally be turned against France. Three years 
 later, when the question of the annexation of Lauen- 
 burg by Prussia was occupying people's minds, I paid 
 a visit to the director -general in Paris. Remembering 
 
 o ~ 
 
 our political conversations he called out to me on 
 entering the room: "Eh bien, Monsieur, vous voulez 
 manger le Lauenbourg?" "Oui, Monsieur," I returned 
 in answer, "et j'espere que Fappetit viendra en man- 
 geant!" It has truly grown, this appetite, and been 
 also appeased, and M. de Vougie will have thought 
 of my prophecy when with his Emperor he had to 
 retire before German troops entering France in triumph. 
 The first French cannon-shot had in fact made all 
 Germany one. 
 
 The Cartagena -Oran cable was an unlucky one 
 for us. When the lost cable had been replaced by 
 a new and somewhat stronger one, my brother repaired 
 again in the same year to Oran. All the arrangements 
 were excellently made, the experience gained in former 
 
222 FAILURE OF THE THIRD CABLE -LAYING. 
 
 expeditions being fully utilized. The cable was new 
 and strong , the employes practised , the weather 
 favourable in short, a failure was this time not to 
 be thought of. I received indeed at the expected time 
 the hoped-for despatch from Cartagena, announcing 
 that the cable had been successfully laid and mes- 
 sages already exchanged between Oran and Paris. 
 Unhappily this despatch was followed only a few hours 
 later by another, stating that the cable for unknown 
 reasons had snapped near the Spanish coast. Closer 
 enquiry showed that the fracture had occurred at a 
 point where the Spanish coast slopes down abruptly 
 to an unusual depth of water. The crossing of such 
 submerged ravines, as in general of extremely uneven 
 sea-bottoms, is always very dangerous. If the cable 
 is laid in such a way that it rests on two rocks, 
 which are so far elevated above the sea- bottom that 
 it remains suspended on them without touching ground, 
 it assumes the form of a catenary curve, whose tension 
 may become so great that it snaps. Such a catenary 
 curve the cable must at all events have formed at 
 the foot of the abrupt declivity just mentioned, for 
 the fracture occurred only a few hours after the 
 cable firmly settled itself there. 
 
 The picking up of the cable was attempted, 
 without success however , as the ground was rocky, 
 the sea deep , and the cable not strong enough for 
 such a depth. In short, we had also lost the second 
 cable for good and all, and had no other satisfaction 
 than the feeling of relief at being dispensed from the 
 
THE LONDON AND BERLIN BUSINESS DISCONNECTED. 223 
 
 obligation of making another attempt by the circum- 
 stance that official despatches were actually exchanged 
 between Oran and Paris. 
 
 The great losses, which these cable-layings brought 
 us. caused a small crisis in our business relations. My 
 partner Halske did not relish such undertakings attended 
 with risks and serious losses, and feared also that the 
 venturesome spirit of my brother William might entangle 
 us in enterprises suited to the large scale of English 
 commercial life, but to which our resources were 
 unequal. He therefore proposed the giving up of our 
 English house. William Meyer as business manager of 
 the firm ranged himself on Halske's side. Although 
 I could not but admit the weightiness of the reasons 
 adduced, I still could not bring myself to leave my 
 brother William in the lurch at so critical a juncture. 
 We accordingly agreed that the London business 
 should be entirely dissociated from the Berlin house, 
 it being taken over by me (at my private risk) and 
 William. This was carried out, and the London business 
 now became the firm of Siemens Brothers. Brother 
 Charles in St. Petersburg likewise entered as partner. 
 Between the three now independent firms in Berlin, 
 St. Petersburg, and London, agreements were drawn 
 up to govern the mutual relations. 
 
 I may as well remark here that the copper-armed 
 cable laid by the London firm in the Black Sea in 1869, 
 of similar construction to the Cartagena - Oran cable, 
 likewise did not prove durable. It was laid by my 
 brother William with complete success as part of the 
 
224 KERTCH-POTI CABLE. 
 
 Indo-European line, which I shall speak of later on, 
 between Kertch and Poti parallel to the shore, but 
 the very next year was destroyed by an earthquake 
 simultaneously at many points. On attempting to take 
 it up again it appeared that this was not possible, as it 
 was covered for the most part with rubble and earth. 
 This, and the circumstance that the interruption of 
 the telegraph service took place just at the moment, 
 when a severe shock was felt at the coast station. 
 Suchum-Kale, proved that the breaking of the cable 
 had actually been caused by the earthquake. This is 
 moreover quite intelligible, since soil and rubble, de- 
 posited on the shelving shore, are carried down to the 
 sea by numerous water-courses. From time to time 
 these masses must slip further, when a cable imbedded 
 in them will of necessity be torn. The movement 
 alluded to could not but be initiated by an earthquake 
 simultaneously at all places where the equilibrium had 
 been rendered unstable by recent deposits. 
 
 Through these and similar occurrences we have 
 learnt the lesson that submarine cables should never 
 be laid on the slope of steep declivities, and especially 
 not where soil and rubble are carried to a deep or 
 inland sea by rivers discharging into them. 
 
 We may regard the period of the cable -layings 
 described in the foregoing as our proper apprentice- 
 ship for such undertakings. Instead of the anticipated 
 profit they brought us many anxieties, personal dangers, 
 and serious losses, but they paved the way for the 
 successes, which subsequently fell to the lot of our 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 225 
 
 London firm in its important and well-executed cable 
 undertakings. I shall hereafter return to this second 
 period of our cable - layings , but only briefly review 
 it, as I personally had less share in the labours con- 
 nected with them. 
 
 I now turn to continue the short summary of my 
 scientific and technical labours already brought down 
 to the year 1850. 
 
 In the years 1850 to 1856 I was busily en- 
 gaged with Halske in improving telegraphic apparatus, 
 electrical appliances, and measuring instruments for 
 scientific and technical purposes. It was still a 
 tolerably unploughed field which we worked over, 
 and our activity was accordingly extremely fertile. 
 Our constructions, which were rapidly made known, 
 especially through the Universal Exhibitions in London 
 and Paris, have almost everywhere formed the basis 
 of later contrivances. As already remarked, only a 
 few of these innovations were patented, the majority 
 of them were either not at all, or only in later years, 
 described in journals. This facilitated indeed their 
 general introduction and brought us many orders, but 
 at the same time we lost in many ways the universal 
 acknowledgement of their origination. I shall here 
 only instance a few of the directions which our con- 
 structive activity took. 
 
 Besides the practical development of the Morse 
 
 telegraph for hand use, we were occupied in this 
 
 15 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
226 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 period with the elaboration of that apparatus into an 
 express -writer for our automatic telegraph system, 
 which was originally destined for the great Russian 
 lines, and came first into operation on the Warsaw- 
 St. Petersburg line in 1854. In this system the 
 messages were prepared by the so-called three -key- 
 puncher, whose object was to impress the Morse signs 
 on a paper ribbon, in which ./ by depressing the first 
 key a single round hole, by depressing the second 
 key a double hole, was cut out in the ribbon. The 
 necessary pushing forward of the ribbon took place 
 automatically, whilst the greater interval required for 
 the separation of the words was produced by the 
 depression of the third key. When in this manner 
 a message had been punched into the paper slip, the 
 latter was drawn along in the so - called express- 
 writing-transmitter by help of wheel -work between a 
 roller coated with platinum and a contact -spring or 
 brush. By this means the single holes produced a 
 dot, the double holes a dash at the receiving station. 
 As it turned out that ordinary magnets with iron 
 armature did not work quickly enough, we employed 
 for the relays as well as for the inkers light cores, 
 capable of turning in the stationary coils of the magnets, 
 which were formed of bundles of wires or of thin split 
 iron tubes, whereby the desired velocity could be 
 attained with certainty. 
 
 Bain had as early as 1850 employed a perforated 
 slip of paper for his electro -chemical telegraph, but 
 he had no suitable mechanism for rapid punching of 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 227 
 
 the slips. Wheatstone made good use of my three- 
 key-puncher in 1858 for his electro-magnetic express- 
 writer, without however naming the source whence 
 he derived it. 
 
 The signalling service of the railways, with which 
 our firm had from the first been particularly occupied, 
 brought further problems. On all the German railway- 
 lines ringing -apparatus had to be set up, which on 
 the departure of a train from a station should give 
 audible bell - signals for the whole distance. The 
 mechanician Leonhardt had already provided such 
 gong -apparatus for the Thuringian line, but they acted 
 imperfectly, as it was difficult to maintain in good 
 condition the large galvanic batteries, which were 
 required at the stations for setting the apparatus to 
 work. It was an obvious idea to employ magnetic 
 inductors instead of batteries, but the magneto-induction 
 machines, known up to that time, of Saxton and Stohrer 
 were not suited for the purpose. We now constructed 
 a new kind of such inductors, which worked admi- 
 rably, and afterwards entirely superseded all other 
 constructions. The essential feature of our inductor 
 was the employment as a rotating bar of an iron cylin- 
 der, which was provided with deep opposite grooves, 
 forming a channel for the reception of the coil of 
 copper wire. From the form of its iron cross -section 
 this bar received the name of the double T arma- 
 ture; in England it is known as the Siemens' arma- 
 ture. The steel magnets, hollowed out at the end, 
 which surrounded the rotating cylinder, could be set 
 
 15* 
 
228 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 up along it apart from one another, accordingly exert 
 a more powerful magnetizing effect and less impair 
 each other's action. Inductors of this kind are to-day 
 exclusively employed wherever it is desired to procure 
 powerful currents by permanent magnetism. 
 
 My cylindrical bars with transverse coil possessed 
 the great advantage over the older constructions that 
 they had with powerful action less mass, and especially 
 with quick rotation little inertia. I employed them 
 therefore also for the construction of a very simple 
 and surely acting magneto -electric dial -telegraph, in 
 which the cylindrical inductor was quickly turned by 
 a handle with wheel-translation, whilst each semi-revo- 
 lution sent an alternating positive and negative current 
 through the line, each causing the pointer of the re- 
 ceiving apparatus to advance by one letter on the dial- 
 plate. It was enough to place the handle successively 
 on the letters to be telegraphed, to make them visible 
 in like order at the receiving station. The electro- 
 magnet of the receiving apparatus consisted of an iron 
 cylinder with polar extensions revolving on its axis, 
 which oscillated between the poles of two powerful 
 horse-shoe steel magnets. Therefore, according as a 
 positive or negative current traversed the fixed coils 
 of the electro-magnet, one or the other magnet attracted 
 the rotating armature, and thereby kept in motion the 
 hands of the receiving apparatus. This quickly and 
 surely acting magneto -electric dial -apparatus was in 
 great requisition especially for the railway service, and 
 is even now frequently used. 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 229 
 
 The arrangement just described of polarized 
 magnets - - i. e. those in which the oscillating bar or 
 magnet has two resting places, according as a positive 
 or negative current has last traversed the electro- 
 magnetic coils - - has obtained more considerable and 
 general importance through their being used for relays. 
 On the employment of polarized relays depends the 
 possibility of telegraphing the Morse alphabet with 
 short induced currents, the one direction of the current 
 initiating a dash on the paper strip, while the other 
 completes it. The length of the produced dash ac- 
 cordingly does not depend on the duration of the 
 current, but on the duration of the interval between 
 two short successive currents of alternate direction. 
 
 On this principle depend several of our telegraphic 
 constructions, of which only the induction writing-tele- 
 graph need be mentioned here. In this the short 
 currents of alternate direction required for its working 
 were produced by a well-closed electro-magnet, round 
 which was wound a primary coil of short thick 
 wire and a secondary of long thin wire. In the 
 primary coil the currents required for telegraphing 
 the Morse alphabet were produced in the usual way. 
 In the secondary coils connected with line and earth 
 there then occurred, at the beginning and close of 
 the currents circulating in the primary conductor, 
 powerful induced currents of alternate direction, which 
 produced the required Morse signs in the telegraphic 
 apparatus at the receiving station. For the magnetic 
 inductors magnetically closed electro - magnets with 
 
230 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 massive iron cores were employed , to* make the 
 tension of the closing and opening currents equal as 
 far as possible. 
 
 With siich inductive writing - telegraphs it was 
 possible by means of a single Daniell battery to tele- 
 graph with certainty at the greatest distance on over- 
 head lines. For underground and submarine lines also 
 the induced electric currents proved highly advantageous, 
 for they made it possible to signal to greater distances 
 and with greater speed. As already mentioned the 
 Sardinia-Malta-Corfu line was fitted in 1857 with our 
 induction writing-telegraphs. For the working also of 
 the first Atlantic cable laid in the following year by 
 the managing electrician, Mr. Whitehouse. induced 
 
 O c? 
 
 currents were made use of, until the destruction of 
 the insulation, which unfortunately occurred soon after 
 the laying, prevented their further employment. Sub- 
 sequently recourse was again generally had on long 
 submarine lines to Thomson's mirror -galvanometer with 
 battery currents. 
 
 For land lines also there was this drawback to 
 the use of short induced currents, that they had to 
 be very powerful to be able to produce the necessary 
 mechanical movements at the end of the line. But 
 since the keeping in condition of very large batteries, 
 such as the working of long lines with uniform current 
 or intermitting battery current requires, was trouble- 
 some and costly, Halske and I tried to transform 
 mechanically battery currents of low tension into uni- 
 form currents of higher tension. We exhibited, at the 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 231 
 
 Universal Exhibitions of London and Paris, several 
 mechanical arrangements constructed by us for this 
 purpose, but they had at first the drawback that the 
 currents of high tension obtained were not of uniform 
 
 o 
 
 intensity. It was only through the construction of my 
 so-called "plate" machine that the problem of the pro- 
 duction of uniform currents of nearly constant tension 
 by voltaic induction was actually solved. 
 
 This "'plate " machine consists essentially of a 
 large number of electro -magnets, which are grouped 
 in a circle, and the so-called "plate", a conical piece 
 of iron, whose apex lies in the centre of the circle 
 of magnets, is set rotating above their poles. The 
 magnets are furnished with double coils, of which one 
 half of the inner ones are always inserted in the circuit 
 of a battery composed of a few large elements and 
 by a suitable contact arrangement the contact being 
 always a fourth of a revolution in advance of the rolling 
 "plate" - cause the rotation of the plate, whilst the 
 outer ones are collectively united into a closed con- 
 ducting circuit. The iron cone by rolling over the 
 magnetic poles produces in the secondary coils of the 
 magnets inserted in the battery circuit an induced 
 current in one direction, but on the other hand in 
 those of the magnets outside the battery circuit an 
 induced current in the opposite direction. The two 
 induction currents would neutralise one another, and 
 no current could at all arise in the secondary circuit, 
 unless at two oppositely situated points of this circuit 
 there was a continuous contact, by which the opposed 
 
232 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 currents of both halves were taken up and united into 
 a continuous current. This contact is effected by means 
 of brushes, which are moved round by the prolonged 
 axis of the iron cone. 
 
 The i 'plate" machine was constructed by me in 
 1854 and shown at several Universal Exhibitions, first 
 at the one held in Paris in the year 1855. One of 
 them together with other apparatus of our construc- 
 tion is preserved in the museum of the Berlin Post 
 Office, which probably possesses the most complete 
 collection of old telegraphic apparatus anywhere to be 
 found. The <; plate"' machine is interesting, because it 
 represents the first solution of the problem, how to 
 generate by induction continuous currents in one 
 direction, and follows precisely the same course as 
 that taken by Professor Pacinotti ten years later in 
 constructing his famous magneto-inductor: the principle 
 of current ramification, which is carried out in the 
 ring of Pacinotti, being already contained in it. My 
 machine is thus the precursor of the modern dynamo 
 machine with continuous current and at the same 
 time of the transformer. Had the self-motion of the 
 plate not been made a point of, and had it been 
 effected by mechanical revolution of the axis together 
 with the brushes, an effective dynamo-electric machine 
 would even then have been obtained, and the inter- 
 vening period of the employment of the Siemens" 
 armature would have been skipped. This may serve 
 as an instance of the difficulty which is often ex- 
 perienced in first apprehending the most obvious 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 233 
 
 truths. Indeed I can only think with a certain sense 
 of shame of the circumstance that, after establishing 
 the principle of the dynamo machine. I did not at 
 once hit upon the parallel connection of the two 
 halves of the coils with opposed induction, employed 
 in the "plate" machine, but was only led to it several 
 years later by Pacinotti's example. 
 
 In the year 1854 telegraph engineers were greatly 
 excited by a statement which appeared in the Leipzig 
 Polytechnic Centralblatt. The statement was to the 
 effect that the Austrian telegraph official Dr. Gintl had 
 succeeded in telegraphing between Prague and Vienna 
 by means of the Morse apparatus simultaneously in 
 opposite directions through the same conducting wire. 
 This was said to have been accomplished by providing 
 the relays with two coils, through one of which the 
 main current passed, while at the same time an equally 
 strong local current passed through in the opposite 
 direction. This second circuit had to be closed by a 
 separate contact at the same moment as the main 
 current. Dr. Grintl however soon found that this path 
 did not lead to the desired end. because it was im- 
 possible to let two contacts actually occur at the same 
 moment, and because the interruption of the main cur- 
 rent taking place at the end of each signal could not 
 but disturb the current coming from the other side. 
 
 o 
 
 Gintl therefore abandoned this method and tried to 
 solve the problem by making use of Bain's electro- 
 chemical telegraph. His experiments then yielded a 
 better result, and betrayed him into the belief that two 
 
234 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 currents with opposite directions could traverse the 
 same conductor without mutual interference. In an 
 article "On the forwarding of simultaneous messages 
 through one telegraphic conductor"', which I contributed 
 to PoggendorfFs Annalen, I demonstrated the inadmis- 
 sibility of this view, and expounded the theory of 
 electro -chemical duplex telegraphy, but also showed 
 that this method was not capable of practical appli- 
 cation. At the same time I described a method of 
 duplex telegraphy with electro - magnetic apparatus, 
 which completely accomplished the desired result. The 
 same method was also independently discovered by 
 the subsequent chief engineer of our firm . Herr 
 C. Frischen in Hanover. It is known at the present 
 day by the name of i 'Duplex signalling method of 
 Frischen and Siemens" and is still frequently employed. 
 At the close of the above-mentioned article I dealt 
 with the theory of signalling with two apparatus in 
 the same direction along the same wire and with that 
 of simultaneous transmission in the same and in oppo- 
 site direction, described also the current ramifications 
 whereby these problems can be solved. 
 
 In the year 1857 I published in Poggendorff's 
 Annalen a longer article "On electro -static induction 
 and the retardation .of the current in jar- wires", which 
 gives the final result of several years' experiments on 
 the physical properties of underground conductors. 
 In this I took up again and developed further the 
 theory of the electro-static charge of underground con- 
 ductors broached by me as early as 1850. This theory 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 235 
 
 obtained at first but little credit in scientific circles; 
 even William Weber trying to explain the disturbances 
 occurring in the Prussian underground conductors by 
 self-induction. Faraday's ingenious theory likewise, 
 according to which the electro -static induction is not 
 effected by direct electric action at a distance, but by 
 the induction proceeding from molecule to molecule of 
 the dielectric, was unable to obtain acceptance with 
 most physicists of the old school. The actual influence 
 of the matter between two conductors on the extent 
 of the electric charge was explained by a more or 
 less profound penetration of the electricity into the 
 insulator and the diminution of the distance thereby 
 caused between the effective quantities of electricity 
 in the two conductors. I determined therefore to 
 carry out an experimental investigation, in order to 
 establish the actual state of things without connecting 
 it with any of the existing theories. My investigation, 
 which was made considerably more difficult by the 
 then very imperfect development of the means and 
 methods of investigation, led to a complete confirma- 
 tion of Faraday's molecular distribution theory. The 
 result arrived at was, that the laws of the motion of 
 heat and electricity in conductors also applied to elec- 
 tro-static induction, and that consequently the form of 
 Ohm's law for the electric current is applicable to it 
 likewise. I obtained in this way with the help of 
 Faraday's theory Poisson's formulae for the density 
 of electricity at the surface of bodies, and was able 
 to furnish an experimental proof that in all cases the 
 
236 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 theory of Faraday suffices for the explanation of the 
 phenomena. I then carried this theory further in 
 several directions and solved problems by the help 
 of it. as e. g. the calculation of the capacity of a 
 battery formed of any number of Leyden jars of diffe- 
 rent capacity placed one behind another, a problem 
 which up to that time had not been solved. Unfor- 
 tunately I did not find the necessary leisure before 
 the spring of 1857 to prepare my work for the press. 
 Meanwhile eminent English physicists, like Sir William 
 Thomson and Maxwell, had anticipated sundry of my 
 scientific results; in particular the formulae, given by 
 Thomson, for the capacity of jar wires and the retar- 
 dation of the current were the same as those which I 
 had arrived at in a quite different and more elemen- 
 tary way. Maxwell has in his masterly works ela- 
 borated Faraday's theory in strict mathematical fashion, 
 and proved that it is everywhere in complete harmony 
 with the theory of potentials. We are therefore com- 
 pletely warranted in regarding with Faraday electric 
 distribution as an action propagated from molecule to 
 molecule, but not combined with a direct action at a 
 distance, for only one of these processes can actually 
 take place. 
 
 At the close of the above-mentioned paper I de- 
 scribed the apparatus known by the name of the Siemens' 
 ozone tube, and explained the theory of its action. I 
 succeeded with its help in converting oxygen into ozone 
 by electrolysis. There is still a great future in store for 
 this apparatus, as it enables us to subject gases to 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 237 
 
 electrolysis. They are put by it into the so-called 
 active state, rendering them capable of forming directly 
 with other gases chemical compounds, which could 
 otherwise only be obtained in a very roundabout way. 
 
 I have already mentioned that even in the middle 
 of this century one of the greatest obstacles in the 
 way of the development of the physical sciences, and 
 especially of physical technology, was the want of fixed 
 standards. In scientific writings pretty generally metre 
 and gramme were used as measures of length and 
 weight, but notwithstanding technology suffered from 
 an insupportable looseness and inaccuracy. Metre and 
 gramme at any rate always formed fixed points of 
 comparison, to which all estimates of measure could 
 be referred. Such a fixed point was entirely wanting, 
 however, for electric standards. William Weber indeed 
 had already, in conjunction with Gauss, theoretically 
 developed the admirable system of absolute magnetic 
 and electric units, and had also perfected to an ex- 
 traordinary degree the methods of exact measurement 
 and the requisite instruments, but standard tallies, 
 representing the absolute units and accessible to every- 
 body, were wanting. It was in consequence usual for 
 every physicist to set up his own standard of resistance, 
 which was attended by the serious inconvenience that 
 the results of his labours w r ere not then comparable 
 with those of others. 
 
 Jacobi in St. Petersburg then made the proposal 
 to take as general unit of resistance an arbitrarily 
 chosen copper wire, which he deposited with a Leipzig 
 
238 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 mechanician. This attempt, however, fell through, 
 because the resistance of the wire changed in course 
 
 o 
 
 of time and the copies supplied showed values varying 
 as much as ten per cent from one another. The 
 resistance of a German mile of copper wire of one 
 millimetre diameter at first employed as unit by Halske 
 and myself, and pretty generally adopted in Germany 
 and other countries for practical telegraphy, proved 
 also to be only a makeshift. I soon became convinced 
 that it is quite impracticable to set up an empirical 
 standard in the manner of Jacobi, as the electrical 
 resistance is not such a fixed and controllable property 
 of bodies as (say) the dimension and mass of solid 
 bodies. There was also no prospect of inducing the 
 whole world to accept a standard of resistance de- 
 posited in any particular place. 
 
 On these grounds the choice remained between 
 the absolute unit of resistance of Weber and an 
 empirical unit everywhere reproducible with the greatest 
 exactitude. Unfortunately the adoption of the absolute 
 unit was not then to be thought of, its reproduction 
 being too difficult, so that William Weber himself de- 
 clared to me that errors amounting to a considerable 
 percentage were unavoidable. I decided therefore to 
 take, as the basis of a reproducible standard of re- 
 sistance, the only metal fluid at ordinary temperatures, 
 mercury, whose resistance cannot be affected by mole- 
 cular variations and is influenced less by changes of 
 temperature than that of the solid metals available 
 for the gauging of resistances. In the year 1860 my 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 239 
 
 labours had so far progressed that I was able to come 
 before the public with the proposal to adopt as unit 
 the resistance of a column of mercury of 1 metre in 
 length and 1 square millimetre in cross section at 
 C. . and to publish my method of producing this 
 mercury unit. The paper, which appeared in Poggen- 
 dorff s Annalen, was entitled: "Proposal for a repro- 
 ducible standard of resistance." 
 
 Although Mr. Mathiessen in London violently 
 opposed the adoption of my unit and recommended 
 instead as empirical unit a wire of gold and silver 
 alloy with about the same resistance as Weber's unit, 
 my proposal was soon generally adopted , and the 
 Vienna International Telegraph Conference of the year 
 1868 made the mercury unit the legal unit of tele- 
 graphy. Nevertheless the English physicists continued 
 their efforts to introduce as international standard the 
 centimetre-gramme-second-system of resistance proposed 
 by Sir William Thomson and adopted by the British 
 Association -- the so-called c. g. s. unit a resistance 
 ten times as great as that of Weber's absolute unit. 
 The British Association appointed a special committee, 
 to which Sir William Thomson and also my brother 
 William belonged, which carried on a lively agitation 
 for the general adoption of the British Association 
 unit, although there had as yet been no really exact 
 representation of the same. Reliance was placed, 
 however, on the expected progress in electrical methods 
 of measurements, and it was justly urged that the 
 adoption of a theoretically fixed standard of resistance, 
 
240 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 based on a fundamental dynamic standard, would con- 
 siderably facilitate calculations with electrical forces. 
 Although on the other hand it could be contended 
 that the great majority of calculations with electrical 
 resistances belonged to the geometrical and not to the 
 dynamical domain, and that the reproducible unit with 
 a geometrical foundation proposed by me might just 
 as well be called an absolute one as the unit of Weber 
 resting on a dynamical basis, or the modification of 
 the same which was proposed as unit on the English 
 side, yet the c. g. s. unit of resistance has been sub- 
 sequently adopted in principle as the international stan- 
 dard. I shall once again return to this in the sequel. 
 The duty, entrusted to my brother William and 
 myself by the English Government, of controlling the 
 manufacture of cables subsidized by it, caused us to 
 make very exhaustive experiments with regard to the 
 properties of submarine lines, and especially to elabo- 
 rate a rational method for the testing of their electrical 
 condition. The Malta-Alexandria cable was the very 
 first which was subjected to a systematic testing and 
 controlling during its entire preparation, and which in 
 consequence proved also perfectly faultless after being 
 laid and has remained so. Such a rational testing- 
 was rendered possible by the exact standard of re- 
 sistance above described, and by our arrangement 
 of resistance coils, which allowed the combination of 
 any desired resistances in mercury units in the same 
 manner as weights are used in scales, furthermore 
 by essential improvements, which the methods of in- 
 
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 241 
 
 vestigation and the measuring instruments underwent 
 
 O o 
 
 at our hands. For investigating the influence, which 
 the high pressure prevailing at great depths exerts 
 on the cable, steel tanks that could be closed were 
 constructed, and the insulation of the cables measured, 
 whilst they were subjected therein to a strong pressure. 
 The fact already observed by us during the laying of 
 the Red Sea cable was hereby confirmed, that the in- 
 sulating capacity of the gutta-percha is increased by 
 the pressure of the water, whereby the possibility was 
 established of laying submarine lines even at the 
 greatest depths. We further drew up tables for cal- 
 culating the extent of the diminution, which the insu- 
 lating capacity of gutta-percha, india-rubber and other 
 insulating materials undergoes through increasing tern- 
 
 O O O C> 
 
 perature, as well as for the diffusive capacity 
 specific induction - - of these insulators. Our experi- 
 ments showed that in these points india-rubber and 
 its compounds are far superior to gutta-percha, a 
 circumstance, which caused us to institute extensive 
 experiments, to obtain a good insulation of conductors 
 by coating with india-rubber, but which did not quite 
 lead to the sought-for practical results. 
 
 A paper communicated by us in the year 1860 
 to the British Association - - entitled "Outline of the 
 principles and practice involved in dealing with the 
 electrical conditions of submarine electric telegraphs' 1 
 - summarized the main results of our inquiries, and 
 forms the foundation of the system of testing cables and 
 
 detecting their faults which was afterwards generally 
 
 16 
 
242 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LABOURS TO 1860. 
 
 adopted. But although this paper was published in 
 English and my communication to the Paris Academy 
 of 1850, in which my methods of detecting faults 
 were likewise in principle contained, in French, yet 
 later writers and inventors have only in a few cases 
 taken note of them, and have with slight variations 
 published as new discoveries the methods therein given. 
 I merely call attention to the point here, in order 
 that the history of the development of electrical 
 technology may not be permanently falsified. A recent 
 book, compiled with much industry, bearing the title 
 "Traite de telegraphic sousmarine' 7 by E. Wunschen- 
 dorff gives occasion for this remark. At the very 
 beginning of this work the original inventor of the 
 electric telegraph , the German Dr. Soemmering , is 
 designated as "Professeur russe", who is said to have 
 laid conducting wires under water near St. Petersburg 
 and in 1845 near Paris, and to have thereby become 
 the inventor of submarine telegraphy. While, for an 
 historical work, this is certainly a surprising confusion 
 of the German Dr. Soemmering with the German 
 Professor Jacobi living much later at St. Petersburg. 
 it is to be remarked that this and other projects of 
 submarine communication before the year 1847 are 
 only to be regarded as freaks of fancy, which could 
 not possibly lead to practicable underground communi- 
 cation. It was my conductors with a seamless gutta- 
 percha coating that first solved the problem of the 
 construction of underground and submarine lines, and 
 the wires laid by me for the mines in Kiel harbour, 
 
ALDERMAN AND HONORARY DOCTOR. 243 
 
 and the iron -armoured cable -wire across the Rhine at 
 Cologne in the spring of 1850, formed the first actual 
 basis of submarine telegraphy. The German name of 
 the Frenchman Wiinschendorff may perhaps have con- 
 tributed to the ignoring of German achievements 
 running through the whole work! 
 
 To the last described section of my activity be- 
 long two more events, which were of great importance 
 to me. 
 
 In the year 1859 I was elected a member of 
 the Council of the Berlin Merchants' Company, which 
 forms at the same time the Chamber of Commerce 
 of the March of Brandenburg. The election takes 
 place by a poll of all the trading and commercial firms, 
 and is accordingly regarded as a special distinction. 
 Through this I gained the advantage of coming into 
 closer personal contact with the heads of the Berlin 
 industrial world. - When in the year 1860 the Uni- 
 versity of Berlin celebrated its jubilee I received the 
 degree of Doctor honoris caztsa in the philosophical 
 faculty. The granting of this honorary title in my 
 chosen home Berlin gave me especial pleasure, because 
 I saw in it an acknowledgement of my scientific labours 
 and was brought by it into a sort of academic relation 
 to my scientific friends. 
 
 I come now to speak somewhat in detail of my 
 political activity, to which I devoted myself with much 
 
 ardour in the following years. 
 
 16* 
 
244 POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
 
 From my earliest youth I had felt keenly the 
 want of union and the impotence of the German nation. 
 This feeling had been awakened in me and the brothers 
 nearest to me in age through our living in the petty 
 and middle states of Germany, where a patriotism 
 arising from a sense of political unity found no fruit- 
 ful soil, as was the case in Prussia, thanks to its 
 glorious history. Moreover in our family national and 
 liberal views had always prevailed, and my father in 
 particular was devoted to them. In spite of the me- 
 lancholy political condition into which Prussia and all 
 Germany had again sunk after the glorious War of 
 Liberation, yet the hope remained that the state of 
 Frederick the Great, who by his deeds had awakened 
 self-confidence in the Germans, must prove our future 
 saviour. It was this hope which had caused my father 
 to advise me to enter the Prussian service, and in 
 myself also this trust in a future raising of Germany 
 through Prussia had always been strong. Hence I was 
 carried away by the national movement of 1848 with 
 such irresistible force and in spite of opposing private 
 interests drawn to Kiel, to fight with Prussia for Ger- 
 many's unity and greatness. 
 
 When this movement of youthful enthusiasm, al- 
 together overshooting the mark, had collapsed through 
 the unfavourable circumstances of the time, when 
 Germany again had relapsed into impotent disunion 
 and Prussia had been deeply humiliated, a profound 
 dejection crept over all German patriots. Our hope 
 indeed was still fixed on Prussia, yet no one any longer 
 
POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 245 
 
 believed that Prussia as a state would secure the union 
 of Germany, but our hope rested entirely on the ulti- 
 mate victory of liberal sentiments in the German and 
 particularly the Prussian people. This revulsion of 
 feeling explains the events of the period of conflict, 
 which would be scarcely intelligible without it. 
 
 Up to the year 1860 I was so fully occupied 
 with scientific and technical labours that I kept entirely 
 aloof from politics. Only when under the Regency of 
 the Prince of Prussia the political stagnation and the 
 pessimism, which had till then almost exclusively pre- 
 vailed, had diminished, and freeer political views had 
 again ventured to come forth, did I join the National * 
 Association formed under the lead of Bennigsen, and 
 patronized by Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. 
 I was present at the meeting which constituted it at 
 Coburg, and continued to take part in its aims as 
 faithful ally. Through this and my lively activity at 
 the elections for the Diet I became more intimately 
 acquainted with the leading politicians of the liberal 
 party. I attended the meetings of the new liberal 
 party then in process of formation, and assisted at 
 the deliberations concerning its programme and name. 
 The majority was inclined to vote for the name of 
 "Democratic Party*', whilst Schulze-Delitzsch wished 
 to call it the "German Party*'. I proposed the name 
 of ' 'Progressive Party*', as it seemed to me more*: 
 proper to designate the direction of activity rather 
 than the principles by the party name. It was re- 
 solved to combine my proposal with that of Schulze- 
 
246 POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
 
 Delitzsch and to call the new party "German Pro- 
 gressive Party". 
 
 The invitation to allow myself to be elected deputy 
 I had repeatedly declined, considered it however my 
 duty in the year 1864 to accept the election, which 
 had taken place without my intervention, as deputy 
 for the district of Solingen-Remscheid. The reorgani- 
 sation of the army proposed by the Government formed 
 at that time the great question determining party lines. 
 The essence of this question consisted in the doubling 
 of the Prussian army, already being carried out in 
 accordance with the Government plan, and the corre- 
 sponding increase of the military budget. The voice 
 of the country declared that this increase of the mili- 
 tary burdens could not be borne without leading to a 
 thorough impoverishment of the people. In fact the 
 prosperity of Prussia was considerably behind that of 
 the other German states, as the burden of the German 
 defences had even after the War of Liberation rested 
 chiefly on her shoulders. If this burden was to be 
 still further increased in so great a degree without 
 the enforcing of a corresponding participation of the 
 rest of the German states, it was thought the pro- 
 sperity of the country could not but retrograde more 
 and more, and the burden would finally become in- 
 supportable. It was known indeed that King William 
 had already as Prince of Prussia and as Prince Regent 
 been convinced of the necessity of raising again the 
 state of Frederick the Great to the height consistent 
 with its historical position at the head of Germany, 
 
POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 247 
 
 and no one questioned the sincerity of the personally 
 popular and highly esteemed monarch, whose efforts 
 were directed to that end, but there was much doubt 
 in regard to the practicability of his plan. Faith in the 
 historical mission of Prussia for effecting the unification 
 of Germany and in Prussia's star had sunk too low. 
 Even the most eager enthusiasts for Germany's unity 
 and future greatness, nay even preeminently Prussian 
 patriots, deemed it therefore incompatible with their 
 duty to load Prussia with this new, and as it seemed 
 exorbitant, military burden. The representatives of the 
 people rejected, in large part certainly with heavy 
 heart, the reorganisation plan of the government, and 
 after repeated dissolutions the people confirmed this 
 vote at the new elections. 
 
 It was especially hard for me personally to vote 
 against the proposition of the Government, as in my 
 innermost heart I still maintained my old faith in the 
 vocation of Prussia, and it might also look like in- 
 gratitude if I opposed the desire of a monarch, who 
 had once personally shown his good will to me. 
 Moreover, from the attitude of the ministers von Bis- 
 marck and Roon in the chambers and from their de- 
 meanour and utterances in the bitter war of words 
 that often took place, I had gained the conviction that 
 serious action was before us, for which an increased 
 army would be required. But my political friends 
 quieted me by saying, that an active movement on 
 the part of Prussia for creating a united Germany 
 under the guidance of Prussia would necessarily lead 
 
248 POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
 
 to a war with Austria, and against this there stood 
 as insuperable obstacle the testamentary admonition 
 of Frederick William III. to his son: "Hold fast by 
 Austria!" 
 
 This inward conflict led me, in an anonymous 
 pamphlet, published by Julius Springer with the title 
 "On the Military Question", to discuss the question, 
 whether the doubling of the army in the event of war 
 might not be obtained in another way than that pro- 
 posed by the government, without the country being 
 burdened with the serious expenditure, which the 
 government plan rendered necessary. 
 
 Meanwhile the reorganization itself was carried 
 through by the minister of war von Roon without any 
 regard to parliamentary contests, and fortunately already 
 completed when in the spring of 1866 the differences 
 in regard to Schleswig-Holstein led to a breach with 
 Austria. That this breach would actually occur and 
 entail war few believed, despite the warlike prepara- 
 tions and threats. All the greater was the universal 
 astonishment when early in the morning of the 14th of 
 June the news spread, that war had been declared 
 against Austria and the German Confederation, and 
 that the declaration of war was already posted up on 
 the advertising-pillars. In fact after a hasty walk from 
 Charlottenburg to Berlin I found the nearest of these 
 pillars surrounded by a dense crowd. I was struck 
 by the calm earnest demeanour with which the often 
 changing crowd received the mighty event. No 
 criticizing remark of anv sort was heard when the 
 
POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 249 
 
 serious and dignified announcement was repeatedly 
 read at the request of the bystanders. Everyone, 
 workman and privileged citizen alike , felt the im- 
 mense gravity of the fact "It is war!", but nobody 
 appeared to be depressed by it , everywhere it was 
 received with self-conscious calm. It was brought 
 strongly home to me. what a power lies in the glorious 
 past of a people. In perilous times it enhances self- 
 confidence, allows no pusillanimity to spring up, and 
 awakens in everybody the resolve to contribute his 
 part to overcoming the danger, as his fathers had 
 done before him. As in front of this advertising-pillar 
 at the Potsdam Gate so did it look in all Berlin, nay 
 in the w r hole country, at any rate in the old territories 
 of Prussia. All political disputes were forgotten or 
 at least postponed. Every man had but one thought: 
 to do his duty. That this feeling dominated all 
 classes of the people was clearly manifested in a 
 meeting, which was called on the very day of the 
 declaration of war by some private persons, with 
 the object of forming a society for the care of the 
 wounded. When a politician began the proceedings 
 with complaints against the government, which had 
 brought on the war, a brief remark of mine sufficed 
 for reply that war was now a fact, and the only 
 rjuestion before us was, how to pave the way for 
 victory, and assuage as far as possible the sufferings 
 of the wounded. This was received with such un- 
 animous applause that all further discussion was cut 
 short, and the formation of the aid society for the 
 
250 POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
 
 army in the field, which afterwards worked with great 
 success, was unanimously resolved. 
 
 When after a few weeks the war was ended with 
 the prostration of Austria and its allied German states, 
 the world looked quite different. The insignificant, 
 deeply humbled Prussia now stood in fact as proud 
 conqueror without a rival at the head of Germany. 
 With a wise understanding of the national mind, which 
 
 O " 
 
 regarded the unavoidable civil war only as a means 
 to the attainment of the yearned for German unity, 
 King William and his chief minister had imposed only 
 extremely mild conditions of peace on the conquered 
 states, where they were not entirely incorporated in 
 the Prussian state for its necessary security. The 
 victorious King and Captain also gave the world a 
 probably unique example of self-conquering justice, by 
 requesting from the Diet an indemnity for the trans- 
 gression of its constitutional rights necessitated by 
 state difficulties, and thus restored the country's internal 
 peace. It required certainly many more struggles in 
 the Chamber of Deputies, before the wisdom and 
 magnanimity of this kingly act received full recognition 
 and approbation. 
 
 Through the struggles continued for several years 
 with the government and the repeated dissolutions a 
 sort of fighting organization had been formed in the 
 Diet, which gave the leaders a decisive influence on 
 the divisions. Waldeck in particular , the leader of 
 the extreme democrats, had obtained great power. 
 His friends rejected all compromise, and held it to be 
 
POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 251 
 
 requisite for attaining their ends, as well as befitting 
 the dignity of the House, to grant the desired indemnity 
 only on very far-reaching conditions. This in the then 
 political situation was an extremely dangerous pro- 
 ceeding, which seriously threatened the internal peace, 
 and might again imperil all the achievements of the 
 glorious victories of the Prussian army. I had, soon 
 after the conclusion of peace and before the convocation 
 of the Diet, stopped some time in Paris, and had 
 opportunity to become acquainted with the feeling of 
 the masses, as well as of the leading circles. It was 
 
 ' O 
 
 there considered as altogether beyond question that 
 France could not suffer without very considerable 
 compensation the powerful position acquired by Prussia 
 at the head of North Germany and as leader of all 
 Germany, and must break it down, if necessary, by 
 force. From a thoroughly reliable source I learnt 
 that the reason, why France had hitherto put a good 
 face on a bad business, was merely because the Mexican 
 war had disorganized the army and in particular 
 exhausted the stores . but that warlike preparations 
 were proceeding at a great pace, and in the meantime 
 a prolongation of the internal conflict in Prussia was 
 being reckoned upon. 
 
 ^/ On my return to Berlin I found the Chamber of 
 Deputies already assembled and the indemnity question 
 being hotly debated within the parties. Unfortunately 
 a large number of the parliamentary leaders not be- 
 longing to the Waldeck party, in the fixed expectation 
 that this group would carry the day at any rate in the 
 
252 POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
 
 Progressive party, had announced their secession from 
 the latter and declared for the formation of a new 
 party, the "National Liberal"'. I myself had on principle 
 never delivered long speeches in the House, as I re- 
 garded my political activity as only transient, and had 
 resolved not again to serve in Parliament. On the 
 other hand I had always taken an active share in the 
 party meetings and knew the leanings of most of the 
 deputies perhaps better than the parliamentary leaders. 
 It was my conviction that the great majority of the 
 Progressive party were disposed for peace with the 
 throne, and that it only required a powerful impulse 
 to give expression to this peaceful sentiment. In fact 
 my vivid description of the many-sided dangers, which 
 were connected with the refusal of the indemnity, fell 
 in the party meeting on fruitful ground , and after 
 Lasker. who at my request had put off his declaration 
 of withdrawal till after the sitting of the party, had 
 confirmed my arguments in an eloquent speech, the 
 Progressive party by a considerable majority declared 
 for the unconditional granting of the indemnity, although 
 Waldeck himself pronounced most decidedly for un- 
 flinching insistence on the point of right and the 
 refusal of the indemnity. When thereupon the granting 
 of the indemnity was also resolved by the House it- 
 self and thereby internal peace was restored in the 
 country, I retired from the political scene and hence- 
 forth devoted the leisure time, which the management 
 of my firm left me, to my scientific pursuits. 
 
 In the three years of my parliamentary activity 
 
POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 253 
 
 I took an active part in the sittings of the committee 
 and party meetings on the three only bills which ob- 
 tained legal force by arrangement with the Government 
 and the Upper House. I was special reporter of the 
 division "Metals and metal goods" of the Franco- 
 German commercial treaty, and believe that I materially 
 contributed to its final adoption by a minute report 
 which I drew up on this most hotly disputed part of 
 the treaty. Unfortunately this report brought me 
 into conflict with my constituents. The latter sent a 
 special deputation to the Chamber, to protest against 
 the article which forbade the marking of manufactures 
 with the names of firms and trade-marks of the manu- 
 facturers of another country. The Solingen and Rem- 
 scheid manufacturers declared that it was a customary 
 practice to label the better class of goods, principally 
 ordered by English manufacturers and dealers, with 
 an English trade-mark, and that their business would 
 be seriously injured if this were disallowed; the con- 
 sequence of such a prohibition would be that they 
 would not only lose the English, but also the German 
 market for their superior goods, as even in Germany 
 English goods were preferred. 
 
 In spite of long discussions we could not arrive 
 at an understanding. The deputation admitted that 
 German industry was acting suicidally in representing 
 its good wares as foreign and only its inferior wares 
 as its own manufacture, it threw the blame, however, 
 on the purchasing public which demanded it. We 
 accordingly parted in disagreement, and I believe I 
 
254 POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
 
 should not have been re-elected if I had', stood again. 
 For the rest the prohibition has worked well, although 
 unfortunately it has not been carried out in all its 
 strictness. Since then in that old and famous seat of 
 industry, as in general throughout Germany a manu- 
 facturing pride has grown up, which only permits 
 the supply of articles of good quality, and it has 
 also come to be seen in many ways, that a more 
 effective protection is afforded by the good name 
 of the manufacturers of a country than by high pro- 
 tective duties. 
 
 An effective system of protection , securing the 
 consumption of the produce of native industry, can in 
 fact only be consistently carried out, if the country, 
 as e. g. the Uniteds States of North America, includes 
 all climates, and itself produces all the raw materials 
 which its industry needs. Such a country can exclude 
 all imports, but thereby at the same time diminishes 
 its own exports. It must be regarded as a fortunate 
 circumstance for Europe that America by its prohibi- 
 tively protective system has checked the rapid, and for 
 us dangerous, development of its industrial resources, 
 and restricted its own exporting power. Europe, 
 divided by high tariff barriers, thereby gains time to 
 perceive the danger of its situation, which will make 
 competition with a free -trading America in the world's 
 market impossible, if it does not in good time present 
 a united front by a thorough mercantile organization. 
 The contest of the old with the new world in all 
 departments of life will in all likelihood be the 
 
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS. 255 
 
 great overwhelming question of the coming century, 
 and if Europe wishes to maintain its dominant position 
 in the world or at least its footing of equality with 
 America, it will have to prepare itself betimes for this 
 struggle. This can only be attained by the utmost 
 possible removal of all inter -European fiscal barriers, 
 which limit the market, enhance the expenses of pro- 
 duction, and diminish the power of competing in the 
 world -emporium. Further, the feeling of the solidarity 
 of Europe as against the rest of the world must be 
 developed, when the internal European questions of 
 political power and class interest cannot fail to be 
 turned towards higher ends. 
 
 During the period of my political activity I earnestly 
 continued my efforts to develop the large business 
 I had called into existence. A change had meanwhile 
 occurred in the management of the Prussian government- 
 telegraphs, which had brought me and my firm again 
 into closer connection with it. In the room of Coun- 
 cillor Nottebohm who could never forgive me for 
 having in my previously mentioned pamphlet traced 
 the entire failure of the Prussian system of underground 
 communications to its real cause, the defective organi- 
 zation of the technical administration an extremely 
 intelligent officer of engineers, Colonel von Chauvin, 
 had been named director of the Prussian state tele- 
 graphs. The latter renewed the relations with my 
 
256 INDO-EUROPEAN LINE. 
 
 firm, which had been altogether broken off for many 
 years, and made use of its great experience in the 
 telegraphic department to improve the working arrange- 
 ments of the government -telegraph system, which had 
 remained almost stationary. As at the same time in 
 Russia my old friend and patron. Colonel von Lliders, 
 was again after long illness managing director of the 
 government telegraphs. I conceived the bold plan of 
 calling into existence a special telegraph line between 
 England and India by way of Prussia, Russia, and 
 Persia the Indo-European line. 
 
 The way had already been paved for this plan 
 by the attempts of England to construct a line through 
 the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and Persia, in the 
 execution of which my brother William had taken an 
 active part. The English Government had in 1862 
 laid a cable from Bushire in Persia to Kurrachee in 
 India, in the laying of which our electrician Dr. Essel- 
 bach had unfortunately met his death. The land line 
 through Asia Minor and Persia joining the cable had 
 also been constructed under English direction by the 
 Turkish and Persian governments, and thus an overland 
 telegraph line to India had actually been called into 
 existence. But the impossibility of really solving the 
 problem in this way soon appeared. The line was 
 usually interrupted, and if it was actually in perfect 
 order, yet the messages often took weeks in trans- 
 mission, and at last reached their destination in an 
 altogether unintelligible, mutilated state. Theoretically 
 there also existed a second overland connection by 
 
INDO-EUROPEAN LINE. 257 
 
 means of the Prussian and Russian government lines, 
 yet for the transmission of government and commercial 
 messages in the English language this proved almost 
 as unserviceable as the special line through Turkey. 
 From these experiences it was certain that the 
 great need of a quick and reliable telegraphic communi- 
 cation between England and India could only be satis- 
 fied by a line through Prussia, Russia, and Persia 
 planned as a connected whole, and under an un- 
 divided management. After I had thoroughly weighed 
 the practicability of such a line with my brothers 
 William and Charles, after moreover William had 
 through his friend. Colonel Bateman-Champain. the 
 constructor of the land line through Asia Minor, se- 
 cured the benevolent support of the English govern- 
 ment and Colonel von Chauvin had given the like 
 assurance on behalf of the Prussian government, our 
 
 o 
 
 three firms in Berlin, London, and St. Petersburg took 
 the execution of the plan in hand. 
 
 The greatest difficulty lay in inducing the Russian 
 government to give permission to a foreign company 
 to construct and work a telegraph line through Russia. 
 This succeeded only after lengthy negotiations, in 
 which our previous achievements both as engineers 
 and as reliable contractors stood us in good stead. 
 The concession finally granted gave us the right of 
 laying and working a double line from the Prussian 
 frontier by way of Kiev, Odessa, Kertch, thence 
 partly under water to Suchum-Kale on the Caucasian 
 coast, and further via Tiflis to the Persian frontier. 
 
 17 
 
258 INDO-EUROPEAN LINE. 
 
 Prussia herself undertook to construct a double line 
 from the Polish frontier via Berlin to Emden, and 
 to allow this line to be worked by the company we 
 proposed to form. Persia, whither we sent to con- 
 clude an agreement our brother Walter and a young 
 relative, George Siemens, then assessor, now first di- 
 rector of the German Bank in Berlin, gave us a 
 concession like Russia for constructing a line of our 
 own from the Russian frontier to Teheran. The com- 
 pletion of the line, already partially constructed from 
 Teheran to India, was undertaken by the English 
 o'overnment. 
 
 o 
 
 We obtained permission to transfer the concessions 
 granted us to a company domiciled in England, with 
 the condition that the construction and maintenance 
 of the whole line should be entrusted to our firms, 
 and the further proviso that a fifth of the company's 
 shares should always remain in our hands. We there- 
 upon formed an Anglo -German company, with its 
 offices in London, and cannot but regard it as a 
 significant indication of the standing our firm had 
 already attained, that the considerable capital required 
 was subscribed in London and Berlin at our direct 
 invitation without the intervention of a banker. I may 
 here mention that the Indo-European line still exists 
 as originally constructed and in spite of dangerous 
 competition, caused by a new submarine line laid 
 down by English companies through the Mediterranean 
 and Red Seas, regularly pays a considerable dividend 
 to its shareholders. 
 
INDO-EUROPEAN LINE. 259 
 
 The construction of the line was assigned to our 
 firms in the following manner. The Berlin undertook 
 in conjunction with the St. Petersburg business the 
 management of the construction of the land lines, whilst 
 the London concern was entrusted with the laying of 
 the submarine line in the Black Sea and the delivery 
 of the materials for the construction of the lines. To 
 the Berlin firm moreover was left the design and 
 construction of the necessary telegraphic apparatus. 
 In spite of great and unexpected obstacles the line 
 was completed by the end of 1869, although un- 
 fortunately the already mentioned destruction of the 
 cable along the Caucasian coast resulting from an 
 
 O o 
 
 earthquake, and the inevitably slow replacement of 
 the same by a land line, rendered a regular telegraph 
 service impossible before the following year. 
 
 According to the working programme drawn up 
 by us, the messages from London to Calcutta were 
 to be forwarded without any manipulation at the inter- 
 mediate stations, i. e. by purely mechanical means, in 
 order to preclude loss of time and mutilation by 
 telegraphists in forwarding. For this purpose I con- 
 structed for the Indo-European line a special system 
 of apparatus, which completely solved this problem. 
 It naturally excited great astonishment in England, 
 when at the first official experiments London and 
 Calcutta conversed with one another along a line of 
 nearly seven thousand miles as quickly and surely as 
 two neighbouring English telegraph stations. 
 
 An unexpected difficulty was caused by the 
 
 17* 
 
260 INDO-EUROPEAN LINE. 
 
 circumstance that the two wires, especially in dry 
 weather, interfered with one another. This showed 
 itself first in Persia, where the chief engineer of the 
 Berlin firm, Herr Frischen. was occupied in arranging 
 the telegraph service. With the very dry weather 
 prevailing there the two wires were entirely insulated 
 from one another and from the earth, and nevertheless 
 correct Morse writing was received on both receiving 
 instruments of the distant station, when a message was 
 sent on one of the two lines. As the receiving apparatus 
 of the second line at the sending station showed 
 reversed writing, the cause of the disturbances could 
 not but be in the electrostatic charge of the side 
 line, for the currents dynamically induced in it should 
 have given reversed writing at both ends of the second 
 line. This was proved by a series of experiments, 
 which Herr Frischen made in Teheran on my wired 
 instruction. After the cause of the disturbance was 
 ascertained, it could be rendered innocuous by suitable 
 precautions. 
 
 This leads me to observe that this double cause 
 of the induced currents arising in neighbouring wires 
 
 O o O 
 
 occasions in the working of telephones many dis- 
 turbances hitherto not altogether intelligible, and still 
 needs thorough investigation. I have subsequently 
 had an opportunity, when my firm laid a seven- 
 cored land cable, to institute an instructive experi- 
 ment in reference to this phenomenon. With the 
 permission of the imperial telegraph administration 
 one of the seven conductors of the cable from Darm- 
 
PURCHASE OP THE COPPER MINE OP KEDABEG. 261 
 
 stadt to Strassburg, insulated by gutta-percha, was 
 coated with tin-foil, whilst the other six conductors 
 were uncoated. It appeared from the experiments 
 carried out after the laying, that the tin-foil entirely 
 obviated the electrostatic charge between the coated and 
 the other wires, whilst the electro-dynamic induction 
 between them remained quite unchanged. Unfortunately 
 the experiment could not be made with perfectly 
 insulated tin-foil, as such an insulation was not to be 
 attained. 
 
 Even before the completion of the Indo-European 
 line our St. Petersburg firm had been entrusted by 
 the Russian government with the construction and the 
 remount of several telegraph lines in the Russian 
 Caucasus, and had for this purpose established a branch 
 in Tiflis. the management of which was committed to 
 my brother Walter. When after the completion of 
 the government works no sufficient occupation could 
 be found for the latter, he proposed to us the pur- 
 chase of a rich copper mine in the Caucasus at Kedabeg 
 near Elisabethpol. As mining did not fit into the 
 frame of the business activity of our firms , brother 
 Charles and I gave him privately the not very con- 
 siderable capital required for the purchase and the 
 working of the mine. 
 
 The copper mine of Kedabeg is very old: it is 
 even asserted that it is one of the oldest mines, from 
 which copper was actually extracted in pre- historic 
 
262 THE KEDABEG MINE. 
 
 times. This is rendered probable by its position in 
 the neighbourhood of the large Goktcha lake and of 
 Mount Ararat rising on its western shore, a region. 
 
 o e 
 
 which has indeed often been regarded as the cradle 
 
 o 
 
 of the human race. A legend even runs that the 
 beautiful valley of the Shamkhor river, which belongs 
 to the forest district of the mine, was the site of 
 the biblical Paradise. At any rate the number of old 
 works, which crown the summit of the metalliferous 
 mountain, testifies to the antiquity of the working of 
 the mine , as does also the occurrence of native 
 copper, and finally the circumstance that extensive 
 pre- historic burial-grounds exist in the vicinity of 
 Kedabeg , in the investigation of which Rudolph 
 Virchow has shown such great interest. 
 
 The mine has a beautiful, really paradisiacal en- 
 vironment, with a temperate climate. It lies about 
 2400 feet above the great Caucasian steppes, which 
 extend from the foot of the spur of the little Cau- 
 casus - - termed the Goktcha chain - - to the Caspian 
 Sea. The working of it, when the primitive pit- 
 sinking, subservient to operations on the exposed ore, 
 could no longer be continued, came into the hands 
 of the Greeks, whose slantingly sunk stair- case like 
 shafts, by which they carried up ore and water on 
 their backs, were still in use at the time of brother 
 Walter's taking possession. Operations in accordance 
 with modern principles were commenced by us with 
 very sanguine expectations - - as is usually the case 
 with such undertakings under the direction of a 
 
DIFFICULTY OF WORKING. JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 263 
 
 young Prussian miner and metallurgist, Dr. Bernoulli. 
 It soon however became apparent that considerable 
 difficulties would have to be overcome and large 
 sums of money spent, before the working could be 
 remunerative. This is intelligible when one considers 
 that the mine is situated about 400 miles distant 
 from the Black Sea and at that time was connected 
 with it neither by railways nor regular roads, that 
 all the material required for the mine and the pro- 
 jected copper smeltery, even to the fire -proof bricks, 
 of which there were then none in the Caucasus, had 
 to be brought from Europe, and that for the life of 
 a European colony in this paradisiacal waste, in which 
 earth -caves served for human habitations, all the 
 conditions of civilization had first to be created. 
 
 No wonder that the amount of money which the 
 mine swallowed up was great beyond all expectation, 
 so that the question soon became urgent for us brothers, 
 whether we should continue or give up the under- 
 taking. To decide the matter I resolved in the autumn 
 of 1865 to journey myself to the Caucasus, and learn 
 the state of affairs by actual observation. I count 
 this Caucasian journey among the most agreeable 
 memories of my life. 1 had always felt a secret 
 yearning towards the primitive seats of human cul- 
 ture, and Bodenstedt's glowing descriptions of the 
 luxuriant Caucasian nature had directed this yearning 
 towards the Caucasus and long ago had excited in me 
 the wish to know it. There was the further reason for 
 the journey that I was mentally and bodily very much 
 
264 JOURNEY TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 worn by the death of my beloved wife after severe 
 sufferings, and seriously needed a renovating change. 
 Accordingly at the beginning of October 1865 
 I journeyed by way of Pesth to Basiash. where I 
 embarked on one of the fine Danube steamers for 
 Tchernawoda, in order to go from there via Kustendji 
 to Constantinople. On the ship it was very interesting 
 to me to meet the famous Omer Pacha, then com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Turkish army. As he exhibited 
 a desire for conversation we soon got acquainted; my 
 Havannah cigars were to his liking and his chibouk. 
 
 o o 
 
 which he ordered his slave repeatedly to fill for me. 
 to mine. Omer Pacha had at one time been a ser- 
 geant in the Austrian army, had then gone over to the 
 Turks, had adopted their faith and rapidly risen during 
 the war with Russia. The conquest of Montenegro, 
 which had up to that time been considered impossible, 
 finally carried him to the head of the Turkish army. 
 He was just returning from a prolonged visit to Vienna 
 and Paris. My attempts to get him to relate his war- 
 like exploits he unfortunately always evaded. The re- 
 collections of the victories, which he had achieved in 
 Vienna and Paris over the ladies of the ballet and the 
 opera, seemed to him to be more agreeable than those 
 of his warlike deeds. Only with regard to the ex- 
 pected future war of the East against the West of 
 Europe did he express himself, and that in a very 
 sanguine manner. A powerful troop of Turkish horse 
 would, so he thought, overwhelm the West as in former 
 times, and ride down all resistance. For a Turkish 
 
OMER PACHA. 265 
 
 generalissimo this opinion appeared to me as some- 
 what childish. He seemed to feel very dependent on 
 public opinion in Turkey, as was manifested on the 
 occasion of a small travelling mishap which befel us. 
 The engine of our vessel had suffered damage in 
 passing the Iron Gate, and we were forced to spend 
 the night in Orsova, that it might be repaired. In 
 consequence we arrived somewhat late at Kustendji, 
 and learnt to our dismay that the steamer, which went 
 from there to Constantinople only twice a week, had 
 not awaited the arrival of our train. The prospect 
 of remaining several days in that dreary place was 
 extremely disagreeable to all of us, especially to the 
 seraskier. A deputation of the passengers headed by 
 me therefore went to him, and begged him to induce 
 the steam-ship company to send a small steamer with 
 us after the one that had already departed. He 
 however declined this for not very intelligible reasons. 
 But afterwards he told me privately, he could not do 
 it on account of his position, for if the steam-ship 
 company had not complied with his request, all the 
 Pachas in the whole empire of Turkey would have 
 said "Haha! Omer Pacha has given an order, but has 
 not been obeyed, haha!'' - to which banter he dared 
 not expose himself. 
 
 The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora, the Fresh Waters, 
 the incomparably beautiful site of Constantinople 
 all this has been so well described and is so familiar 
 to the reader, that I had better be silent about it. 
 In spite of the splendour and grandeur of its situation, 
 
 ! 
 OF THE 
 ;VERSIT 
 ! 
 
266 CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 which betrays at the first glance that Nature meant 
 it for the seat of a world-empire, Constantinople with 
 the opposite Pera, looked at from the sea, makes no 
 cheerful or elevating impression. Nobody would say 
 "I have seen Constantinople and can now die!" Pro- 
 bably the dark cypresses, with which the Turk adorns 
 his bury ing -places, rising everywhere in large groups 
 between the houses, give an air of gloom to the 
 aspect of the city in spite of its glorious environment. 
 It may also be the mental reflex of the melancholy 
 history of the place, or the presentiment that the 
 struggle for Constantinople will one day set Europe 
 in flames - - in short, the sight of Constantinople excites 
 our admiration indeed, but it does not delight us 
 like that of Naples or many another finely situated 
 city. The prominent architectural structures also, such 
 as the building of the ancient Seraglio at the Golden 
 Horn and even St. Sophia, have nothing stimulating 
 or cheering about them, although they are imposing 
 by reason of their size. The dome of the ancient 
 church of St. Sophia rises mightily indeed above the 
 sea of houses, but one perceives only the dome with 
 its unornamental pillars, looking ungainly at a distance. 
 The external appearance of St. Sophia has been 
 sacrificed to the beauty of the interior, which is indeed 
 grand and sublime beyond all conception. Never has 
 an architectural structure or any work of art, nay 
 hardly one of the grandest of Nature's beauties, made 
 so overpowering an impression upon me as the dome 
 of St. Sophia seen from within. One altogether forgets 
 
ST. SOPHIA. 267 
 
 in looking at it the heavy weight of the roof, which 
 spans the wide square below, and receives an im- 
 pression as if the dome, floating weightless over the 
 large open space, were a gently curved lace veil, which 
 only touches the rounding with the fine points of the 
 edging. This illusion is produced by the dome resting 
 on a number of short and narrow pillars, between which 
 the dazzling light enters, causing the base of the pillars 
 to appear like lace. I could only with difficulty free 
 myself from the magic, which this floating roof exerted 
 on me. and must confess that thereafter the high vaulted 
 dome of St. Peter's with its heavy superstructure and 
 massive symmetry made no particular impression on me. 
 In St. Peter's one wonders that it is so much greater 
 than it seems, whilst St. Sophia on the contrary appears 
 greater than it is in reality, and thus carries the be- 
 holder himself away with admiration of this sublime 
 and by no means oppressive grandeur. 
 
 I was pleased during my stay in Constantinople 
 to meet several of the officers, who had already been 
 sent there by Frederick William III. to re -organise 
 the Turkish army, and to find among them some 
 with whom I was acquainted in my military period. 
 These officers had without exception remained Christians 
 and true Germans, whilst the non-commissioned officers 
 who had gone with them to Constantinople had in 
 part become Mohammedans, and in consequence had 
 already risen to higher grades in the army. One such 
 renegade I met in Trebizond, whither I proceeded in 
 the steamer goino 1 to Poti, after tarrying a few days 
 
 O O J O i/ 
 
268 VISIT TO A PACHA IN TREBIZOND. 
 
 in Constantinople. I there visited the Prussian consul, 
 Herr von Herford, who was well known to me in Berlin. 
 He considered it proper that I should pay a visit to 
 the pacha of the place, who was entrusted with the 
 special commission of constructing a high road to 
 Persia. To my question, whether the pacha was in- 
 clined to receive us, the answer came, that he w r as 
 occupied at the moment in his harem inspecting female 
 slaves, who were offered for sale, he would however, 
 after the lapse of an hour, receive us in his riding- 
 ground. When the consul presented me to him there, 
 the slender fair-haired man, who was still in his prime 
 of life, seemed somewhat familiar to me. The pacha 
 must have had the like feeling: he scrutinized my 
 face for some time and then asked, if I had been 
 formerly a Prussian officer and in garrison in Magde- 
 burg. When I answered in the affirmative, he asked 
 if I remembered about twenty years ago having had 
 the order to inspect the lightning conductor of a powder 
 magazine placed in the fortifications: he had been the 
 pioneer-sergeant who conducted me there. I had only 
 a dim recollection of this, but could not help wondering 
 at the pacha's excellent memory for faces. When the 
 consul thereupon made mention of the great engineering 
 task, which the pacha had in hand, the latter proposed 
 our taking a ride w 7 ith him along the new road on some 
 Arab horses he had just purchased, a proposal to which 
 I assented with pleasure. It was a splendid ride that 
 we had on the noble animals at a rapid pace, first on 
 the sea-shore, then in a charming valley with luxuriant 
 
VISIT TO A PACHA IN TREBIZOND. 269 
 
 vegetation on the really beautifully made road. When 
 about an hour had passed the valley narrowed, and the 
 road appeared to make a sharp bend. Then the pacha 
 moderated the pace of his steed, and remarked that 
 the evening was already far advanced and he must 
 return, as he had still some business to attend to. 
 Perhaps the purchase of the slaves was not yet com- 
 pleted, as the consul whispered to me. I was seized 
 however with a great curiosity to see how the country 
 would open out beyond the bend of the valley, and 
 called to the pacha that I should like to take just 
 one glance round the corner, as the beautiful landscape 
 took my fancy exceedingly. But when at full gallop 
 I reached this corner, I found to my great astonishment 
 that the road came to a sudden end. Of course I 
 immediately turned back and in a few minutes caught 
 up my companions. The pacha evidently regarded me 
 with some suspicion, but I was so full of the beautiful 
 view, which I had enjoyed round the turning, that he 
 was soon at his ease again, and took leave of me in 
 very friendly fashion as an old acquaintance. The 
 consul however asked me afterwards, if I had also 
 seen where the road ended - - the pacha had pocketed 
 the continuation! 
 
 Trebizond is magnificently situated at the foot of 
 the Armenian table-land, with a rather abrupt and 
 broken descent along the entire coast. The beauty 
 of its situation is very considerably enhanced by the 
 exceeding luxuriance of the trees and shrubs, which 
 characterizes the whole region. Perhaps I should 
 
270 JOURNEY TO BATOUM AND POTI. 
 
 have been still more enraptured with the town, had 
 not Bodenstedt's "enthusiastic descriptions raised my 
 expectations to somewhat too high a pitch. My journey 
 from Trebizond on the following day, favored by the 
 finest weather, lay along the steep beautifully shaped 
 shore. We steamed past Kerasoun, the celebrated 
 cherry city, from whose heights Xenophon's Ten 
 Thousand had beheld the heaving sea and cried 
 ; 'ThalattaP At Batoum our vessel reached its desti- 
 nation; then we were ferried across in a small coast- 
 ing steamer to harbourless Poti. 
 
 Batoum has indeed only a small but thoroughly 
 safe harbour, easily accessible even in bad weather, 
 and a very fine situation, with wooded mountainous 
 country in the rear; whereas Poti lies at the mouth 
 of the Rion, the Phasis of the ancients, in a wide 
 marshy plain, and possesses no harbour at all, but 
 only a roadstead, which on account of the shallow 
 water must be avoided by vessels in windy weather. 
 Thrice has the Russian government made the costly 
 attempt to construct a break-water, to afford some 
 protection to vessels, but all these attempts have been 
 fruitless. The wicked world asserts that the first mole 
 made of wood was eaten by the bore-worm, the 
 second of cement by the sea-water, and the third built 
 of granite by the generals! Although the last assertion 
 must be regarded as a bad joke, for in reality the 
 immense cost of the stone dike arrested further pro- 
 gress, yet these repeated failures illustrate the necessity 
 felt by Russia to obtain possession of the only available 
 
HARBOUR -WORKS AT POTI. JOURNEY TO ORPIRI AND KUTAIS. 271 
 
 harbour of the coast, Batoum, because thereon depended 
 the further development of the whole Caucasian terri- 
 tory. The acquisition of Batoum alone would have 
 been a sufficient equivalent for the cost of the last 
 Turkish war. 
 
 I was met at Poti by my brother Walter, in 
 whose company I now continued the journey to Tiflis, 
 which both then and also three years later, when I 
 made a second journey to Kedabeg, was attended with 
 serious inconveniences. One had to go first in a 
 
 o 
 
 river-steamer up the Rion, as far as Orpiri, a place 
 which was exclusively inhabited by a Russian sect, 
 consisting of beardless men, who had been brought 
 
 O ' O 
 
 thither from all parts of the Russian empire. Apart 
 from the interesting omnium-gatherum of the most 
 varied nationalities and tongues on board the vessel, 
 the only noticeable thing, which presented itself on the 
 voyage up the Rion, was the sight of a really impene- 
 trable, swampy, primeval forest on both banks of the 
 river. 
 
 From Orpiri we drove to Kutais, the ancient 
 Kolchis, which is situated on the slope of a mountain 
 range, connecting the great with the little Caucasus, 
 on the border of the Rion valley, in surroundings 
 pleasing and beautiful. 
 
 High above Kutais towers a famous monastery 
 named Gelati, which is considered to be one of the 
 oldest in Christendom, and is said to be built on a 
 site regarded as sacred since the grey dawn of time. 
 I visited it on my second journey, and found myself 
 
272 MONASTERY OF GELATI. OVER THE SURAM MOUNTAINS. 
 
 richly rewarded for the toil of a fatiguing ride, which 
 brought me to the monastery situated some thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea. The monastery, now 
 for the most part fallen into ruin, commanding a splen- 
 did prospect, is especially celebrated through a small 
 temple, resting on four granite columns, each of which 
 belongs to a peculiar architectural style. This temple 
 is said to date from an extremely remote period, as 
 altogether the age of many architectural remains in 
 the Caucasus is not to be reckoned as in Europe by 
 centuries, but by thousands of years. Although a certain 
 allowance must be made for exaggeration, yet all one 
 sees and hears indicates that the Caucasus is one of 
 the primeval seats of human civilization. 
 
 Kutais has now a railway station, and Tin 1 is is 
 easily reached in a single day from Poti or Batoum. 
 At that time one thought oneself lucky to have at 
 least a new road over the Suram mountains, by which 
 the former very troublesome journey was considerably 
 facilitated. As compensation the Suram pass was 
 extremely picturesque, and afforded the most enchanting 
 views. The underwood of fhe forest and of the more 
 open parts consists here entirely of rhododendrons 
 and of the arborescent yellow -flowering azaleas of the 
 Caucasus, both plants, which present a most charming 
 spectacle in the flowering season, and fill the air with 
 overpowering perfume. If in addition one imagines 
 bluff walls of rock, rising often almost perpendicularly 
 to the height of several hundred yards, frequently 
 covered from top to bottom with rank old ivy, an 
 
TIFLIS. 273 
 
 idea may be formed of the charms of this region. 
 On the other hand the Georgian table -land, upon 
 which one enters after crossing the Suram mountains 
 the high road to Tiflis following closely the course 
 of the Kur - - has no particular beauty; it is stony, 
 often rent by chasms, and poor in vegetation. Still 
 one is reconciled to the sterile environment through 
 
 o 
 
 the ever -recurring view of the snowy peaks of the 
 great Caucasus, which already from the sea afford a 
 glorious spectacle. 
 
 Tiflis, traversed by the river Kur in its deep-cut 
 bed, leans to the north against a precipitous mountain- 
 wall, which is doubtless the main cause of the in- 
 supportable heat felt in the town during summer. 
 Hence every inhabitant of Tiflis, who can at all afford 
 it, possesses for the hot season a second dwelling placed 
 some thousand feet higher , which he only quits to 
 attend to business affairs in the town. Properly 
 speaking Tiflis is composed of two entirely distinct 
 towns, the upper European, and the lower Asiatic, 
 town, divided from each other by well-defined boun- 
 daries. The European Tiflis delights to style itself 
 proudly "The Paris of Asia", or at least claims this 
 title of honour immediately after Calcutta. It has in- 
 deed a thoroughly European appearance, being mainly 
 inhabited by Russians and western Europeans. In this 
 part are situated the imperial residence, the theatre, 
 and all the government buildings. The adjoining town 
 
 O O J O 
 
 on the other hand is in appearance and population 
 purely Asiatic. The reason why Tiflis in very early times 
 
 18 
 
274 BRIGANDAGE IN THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 became a seat of civilization is doubtless to be found in 
 the famous hot springs, which possess an even higher im- 
 portance for Orientals than for dwellers in the Occident. 
 From Tiflis our course lay along a tolerably good 
 high -way to Axtapha , where the road to Baku via 
 Elizabethpol branches off from that to the Goktcha 
 Lake and to Persia, and the vast steppes extending 
 to the Caspian Sea begin. On account of the high 
 temperature we chose to continue our journey in the 
 early morning , and ordered the horses for 3 a. m. 
 The postmaster however energetically opposed this, as 
 a band of robbers was rendering the country unsafe. 
 The Russian government even to the present day has 
 not succeeded in entirely suppressing brigandage in 
 the Caucasus. The Tartars of the steppes and of the 
 neighbouring mountain regions , in spite of severe 
 punishments, cannot be weaned from it. Just now, in 
 the summer of 1890, when on the point of making 
 a third journey with my wife and youngest daughter 
 to Kedabeg, I get the news that a band of robbers 
 is carrying on its nefarious practices in the neighbour- 
 hood of our mining works and has given occasion for 
 extreme measures against them. 
 
 o 
 
 The predatory propensity of the Caucasian tribes, 
 ever manifesting itself afresh, has its root in the habits 
 and sentiments of the population of a country, in which 
 the bearing of arms still forms the man's pride. 
 Plundering is there considered more as a prohibited 
 sport than a crime. As knights in the Middle Ages 
 deemed it compatible with their dignity to snatch 
 
ACROSS THE STEPPES. A SUPPOSED ROBBER. 275 
 
 his wares from the pedlar on the high-road, and to 
 fleece the citizens, so the Caucasian Tartar yearns to 
 roam on his steed as a free man through forests and 
 over steppes, and to take by violence whatever conies 
 in his way. It often occurred at Kedabeg, where the 
 Tartars belong to the best and most reliable work- 
 men, that pitmen, who had laboured industriously 
 for years, and almost without interruption the 
 
 Moslem sect of the Shiites to which they belong having 
 only one feast day in the year and no Sunday - , 
 suddenly disappeared, when they had saved enough 
 money to buy a horse and weapons. Sometimes they 
 returned after a length of time. It was known that in 
 the interval they had been practising brigandage, yet 
 this did not prevent them from becoming excellent 
 workmen again, if they had been unlucky in their 
 predatory occupation, or had lost the taste for it. 
 
 The warnings of the postmaster at Axtapha were 
 not strong enough to detain us, but we continued our 
 
 O O " 
 
 journey in the cool starry night with fleet horses, and 
 trusted to our good revolvers, which for precaution's 
 sake we held cocked in our hands. My brother Walter 
 however, whom the novelty of the situation did not 
 keep awake like myself, was not able to resist fatigue 
 very long, and soon slept the sleep of the just. Suddenly 
 there rang from the box of our low springiess open 
 w r aggon, on which my brother's servant was seated beside 
 the driver, a loud cry of "Robbers"! At the same time 
 I saw in the gloom a white figure galloping straight 
 
 towards us. My brother awoke in consequence of 
 
 18* 
 
276 ASCENT OF VENUS. 
 
 the shout, and without reflection discharged his revolver 
 at the figure, now close in front of our horses and 
 himself shouting loudly, fortunately without hitting 
 him. As it soon appeared, it was no robber but an 
 Armenian, who imagined himself pursued by robbers, 
 and had dashed towards us in search of protection. 
 The Armenians generally pass in the Caucasus for 
 very shrewd and smart men of business, who possess 
 little courage . and perhaps for this reason like to 
 equip themselves in as martial a fashion as possible 
 on their journeyings. As it seemed, the gang of robbers, 
 which had terrified our Armenian, existed only in his 
 imagination. His incautiousness however might easily 
 have cost him dear, and the fault would have been 
 entirely his own, as according to the custom of the 
 country it is an understood rule, that one must never 
 approach chance travellers on a journey at a rapid pace. 
 Shortly after this exciting incident we were de- 
 lighted by a remarkable natural phenomenon. A brilliant 
 luminous apparition suddenly arose right before us on 
 the horizon of the boundless steppe. It gleamed with 
 a magnificent many-coloured light, was distinguishable 
 from a meteor however by its remaining immovable 
 at the same point of the heavens. We racked our 
 brains as to the cause of the phenomenon, which we 
 could only compare to a parachute rocket with coloured 
 fire. It soon however became weaker, and after a 
 short time shrank to the dimensions of a bright star. 
 It was the rising Venus, which appeared so remarkably 
 magnified and coloured through the mist of the steppes 
 
SUABIAN COLONIES IN THE CAUCASUS. 277 
 
 and the darkness in which the earth is still veiled in 
 those Southern regions even shortly before sunrise. 
 
 We passed the night in the Suabian colony of 
 Annenfeld. which lies or rather lay at the foot of a 
 steep declivity leading to the Kedabeg mine near the 
 Kur. in a very fertile but not salubrious region, for 
 the colonists afterwards abandoned the place, and 
 built for themselves a new village about five hundred 
 feet higher up the slope of the mountain. There exists 
 in the Caucasus a certain number of such Suabian 
 colonies. I believe six or seven, Tiflis also beino; one 
 
 " o 
 
 of them. They owe their origin to some rigid Luther- 
 ans from Suabia , who quitted their fatherland in 
 divers groups in the first decennium of our century, 
 and were desirous of migrating through Austria and 
 Russia to the promised land, where according to the 
 belief of their leaders earthly and heavenly joys awaited 
 them. The Russian government of the time however 
 set great store by the immigration of good German 
 husbandmen into the Caucasus, it therefore stopped 
 the columns, and induced them to send a delegation 
 under escort to Jerusalem, to make previous inquiry 
 whether land really suitable for them was to be had 
 there. When after a rather long interval the delega- 
 tion returned, it could only advise to discontinue the 
 march to the promised land , and as the Russian 
 government granted the people large and fine tracts 
 of land gratuitously, the Suabians settled there, and 
 always remained the true Suabians they were at the 
 time of the emigration. It comes upon a traveller as 
 
278 RUSSIAN SECTS. 
 
 a great surprise to find in these Suabian settlements 
 the pure and unadulterated old Suabian customs and 
 language. One fancies oneself suddenly transplanted 
 into a village of the Black Forest, such is the appea- 
 rance of the houses, the streets, and inhabitants of 
 these colonies. It is true I found it difficult to under- 
 stand their dialect, as I had not then studied it, as 
 is now the case in a measure after twenty years 
 marriage with a Suabian lady, but I learnt from a 
 genuine Suabian that he too only understood it with 
 difficulty, as it was the dialect spoken at the begin- 
 ning of the century, and not the present one. essentially 
 changed through the influence of time. With the 
 language the people have also retained all their customs 
 and usages, just as they were at the time of the emi- 
 gration. They are as it were fossilized and inflexibly 
 resist all changes. 
 
 It looks however as if this immutability of national 
 custom and language were a general characteristic of 
 
 Oo O 
 
 the Caucasus, which presents a real mosaic of nations. 
 Besides the larger sharply separated tribes there are 
 a number of quite small ones, which inhabit secluded 
 and almost inaccessible mountain valleys, and have 
 faithfully preserved both language and customs, which 
 from time immemorial have been altogether different 
 from those of all the neighbouring peoples. Further 
 there exist in the Caucasus numerous Russian colonies, 
 composed of sects which have been transported there 
 from all parts of Russia in the endeavour to preserve 
 the uniformity of the State religion, and are united in 
 
DESTRUCTION OF THE FORESTS. 279 
 
 separate settlements. These too have after more than 
 half a century still retained quite unchanged their 
 language, creed, and customs. The most wide-spread 
 of these sects are those of the Dukhobortsi and Molokani, 
 which like those of the Suabians take their stand on 
 definite and peculiar interpretation of biblical passages. 
 They are excellent workmen, and orderly people when 
 not carried away by fanaticism. 
 
 The Molokani are almost without exception artisans, 
 especially cabinet-makers, the Dukhobortsi on the other 
 hand good husbandmen and drivers. The vicinity of 
 a colony of Dukhobortsi has always been of inesti- 
 mable value to Kedabeg. Once only in the year do 
 the people refuse to work. viz. when their queen 
 proceeds from one colony to another and celebrates 
 religious festivals with them, which however seem to 
 lay great stress on earthly bliss, perhaps only to give 
 the faithful a faint idea of the anticipated and infinitely 
 greater joys hereafter. 
 
 From Annenfeld a steep, and not very well-made 
 road leads up to Kedabeg. At the height of about 
 3000 feet an undulating fertile plain is reached, broken 
 by small mountain ranges, formerly covered by fine 
 forests of oaks, limes, beeches, and other leaf-bearing 
 
 ' " " O 
 
 trees. Since the cessation of the Persian rule, the 
 traces of which are especially recognisable in the 
 frequent ruins of works of irrigation, the woods here, 
 as in most of the elevated plains of the country, have 
 been entirely extirpated; the reason being that, in the 
 hot season when the grass dries up, and likewise in the 
 
280 SITUATION OF KEDABEG. 
 
 winter when the steppes are covered with snow, the 
 shepherds drive their herds up the mountains to let 
 them browse on the young shoots. For this pur- 
 pose they simply fell the trees, and let the cattle 
 eat the buds and twigs. In this manner a single herd 
 often annihilates square versts of luxuriant forest. The 
 managers of our foundry have accordingly always 
 experienced the greatest difficulty in preventing these 
 devastating herds from destroying our woods, on the 
 preservation of which smelting is wholly dependent in 
 the absence of coal or other combustible material. 
 
 The smelting -works stand by a small mountain 
 brook, which below Kedabeg forces its way abruptly 
 through the ridge separating Kedabeg from the para- 
 disiacally beautiful Shamkhor valley. In the valley 
 where it emerges lie the ruins of a small Armenian 
 fortress, whilst the Shamkhor valley at about the level 
 of Kedabeg conceals an old Armenian monastery, which 
 was then still inhabited by a few monks. At present 
 the aspect of Kedabeg, seen by anyone ascending from 
 the valley, after crossing the last mountain slope and 
 passing an old cemetery on the way, is most surprising. 
 It is the throughly European spectacle of a small pic- 
 turesquely situated manufacturing town, which presents 
 itself to view, with huge furnaces and large buildings, 
 among them a Christian chapel, a school, and an inn 
 fitted up in European fashion. There is also a rail- 
 way carried over a lofty viaduct, connecting the branch 
 smelting establishment of Kalakent, some twenty miles 
 off, with Kedabeg and the neighbouring metalliferous 
 
ITS ASPECT THEN AND NOW. 281 
 
 mountain. This remarkable spectacle of a modern 
 civilized centre in the midst of the wilderness has 
 made Kedabeg a regular place of pilgrimage for the 
 inhabitants of the country as far as the interior of 
 Persia. When I visited it for the first time, the ap- 
 pearance of Kedabeg was certainly a very different 
 one. Except the wooden dwelling-house of the managers, 
 which struck the eye through its position on a com- 
 manding height, onlv a few smelting furnaces and 
 
 o o <; O 
 
 administration buildings were visible. The workmen's 
 dwellings were only distinguishable by wreaths of 
 smoke on the mountain slopes, for they all consisted 
 of caves. 
 
 Caves serve in eastern Caucasia almost exclusively 
 for dwellings. They are properly speaking wooden 
 houses, which are built in a pit, and covered over 
 with a layer of earth a yard in thickness, so that the 
 whole looks like a mole-hill. In the middle of the 
 roof a chimney peeps out, which affords an exit for 
 the smoke from the one room, and is at the same 
 time the only admitter of light beside the entrance. 
 For the rest such caves are sometimes quite elegantly 
 made. In a visit, which, in company with my brother 
 and the smelting director, I paid to a neighbouring 
 "prince" so the larger landed proprietors of the 
 
 district are called we were introduced into a 
 
 tolerably spacious saloon-like room, the floor of which 
 was covered, with handsome carpets, whilst the in- 
 terior partitions were formed of Persian carpets sus- 
 pended after the manner of side-scenes. Opposite 
 
282 THE EARTH -CAVE OF A PRINCE. 
 
 the divan was the fire-place, above it the aperture in 
 the roof. Behind the carpets there was a stir of life, 
 and every now and then we heard the voices of 
 women and children. The prince received us with 
 great ceremony and made us sit on the divan, whilst 
 he himself settled in front of it. After a short con- 
 versation through the medium of an interpreter, carried 
 on with all the forms of Oriental politeness, we were 
 desirous of departing, but our intention met with very 
 serious resistance. Soon after our entry we had heard 
 the bleating of a sheep, and at once surmised that it 
 was being slaughtered in our honour. In fact the 
 prince signified to us with a very grave countenance, 
 that he hoped we should not so offend him as to quit 
 his abode without having partaken of his hospitality. 
 We were therefore obliged to wait patiently till the 
 "skishlik" was ready, which was prepared before our 
 very eyes. This preparation took place in the usual 
 very primitive fashion. The flesh of the freshly 
 slaughtered sheep was cut into cubes of about the 
 size of a walnut, which were then arranged on an 
 
 j O 
 
 iron ramrod with disks of fat from the fatty tail of 
 the animal interlarded. Meanwhile a wood-fire was 
 made between two stones, and when onlv the glowing; 
 
 / O 
 
 embers remained of it, the prepared ramrods were 
 laid across the stones and frequently turned. A few 
 minutes after, the meal was ready, and each guest 
 took according to his fancy cubes from the garnished 
 ramrod presented to him. Such a "shishlik" ', if the 
 sheep is not too old and especially is quite recently 
 
ACCUSTOMING THE WORKMEN TO STONE HOUSES. 283 
 
 killed, is very tender and savoury; it always forms 
 the basis of Tartar and Georgian meals, or what we 
 should call in our dinners the "piece de resistance" . 
 
 Precisely in the same way as the underground 
 abodes of princes the large underground stables are 
 constructed in the Caucasus. I had already made 
 their acquaintance during the journey at one of the 
 post -stations, where I was reminded by the neighing 
 and trampling of horses that I was walking over a 
 stable. The coolness of the underground habitations 
 in summer and their warmth in winter is extolled, 
 and it has cost the directors of the smelting-works in 
 Kedabeg much trouble to accustom the Asiatic workmen 
 to stone houses. When this at last succeeded with 
 the help of the women, the difficult workman's question 
 was therewith solved. For as the people there have 
 only very few wants there is no reason for their doing 
 much work. When they have earned sufficient money 
 to secure their maintenance for a few weeks they 
 cease to work and take their ease. To cope with 
 this there was only one resource, viz. to accustom the 
 people to needs, the satisfaction of which could only 
 be attained by continuous labour. The handle was 
 afforded by the natural inclination of the female sex 
 for a pleasant family-life and their easily awakened 
 vanity and love of dress. When a few simple workmen's 
 houses had been built, and we had succeeded in 
 quartering therein a few couples, the women soon 
 found pleasure in the greater convenience and comfort 
 of the dwellings. The men also found it an advantage 
 
284 RESULT OF CIVILIZING EFFORTS. 
 
 not to have incessantly to take measures for securing 
 their roofs from the rain. Further care was taken 
 that the women should be able to procure all sorts 
 of small appliances, which made their life in the house 
 more comfortable, and themselves more attractive to 
 their husbands. They had soon acquired a taste for 
 carpets and mirrors, improved their toilet, in short 
 they experienced wants, for the satisfaction of which 
 the men were now compelled to provide, who in so 
 doing were very well pleased with the change. This 
 excited the envy of the women still dwelling in their 
 caves, and before long there was a general rush for 
 the workmen's dwellings, which of course necessitated 
 the building of houses for all the permanent workmen. 
 
 I can only urgently advise proceeding on the 
 same lines in our present colonial efforts. The man 
 without wants is hostile to all improvements of civilized 
 life. Only when wants are awakened in him, and he 
 is accustomed to work for their satisfaction, does he 
 form a promising object for social and religious civilizing 
 efforts. To begin with the latter will always only 
 yield illusory results. 
 
 When three years later I again visited Kedabeg, 
 I found a quite considerable place of European aspect 
 already arisen out of the Troglodyte settlement. The 
 bulk of the workmen was certainly still nomadic, but this 
 has remained the case even to the present day. These 
 are people who principally come from Persia after the 
 end of the harvest, work industriously in the mine or 
 in the smelting-house, but go further when they have 
 
DEFICIENCY OF WOOD. 285 
 
 earned the necessary money, or when they are wanted 
 at home. There is however now a regular labouring 
 class, which ensures the continuation of the necessary 
 work at all times. The officials of the mine were 
 nearly almost without exception Germans, among them 
 a sprinkling from the Baltic provinces of Russia. The 
 business language has therefore always been German. 
 It is comical to hear Tartars, Persians, and Russians 
 murder the somewhat corrupted German names of 
 implements and operations and even the terms of 
 abuse common among the miners of the Harz. 
 
 The mountain, rich in sulphurated copper-ore, is 
 situated in the neighbourhood of Kedabeg, and is 
 connected with it by a so-called haulage-line. More- 
 over, as has been already mentioned, a narrow-gauge 
 line has been constructed by us, which runs in the 
 river valley of the wild Kalakent brook far into the 
 forests yielding wood and charcoal to the beautifully 
 situated branch smeltery Kalakent, and from there to 
 the wood wharves on the Shamkhor. For many years 
 this mountain railway ensured a supply of combustible 
 material, but carefully as the cleared spaces were 
 replanted in accordance with the principles of forest 
 management, yet at last want of wood threatened to 
 bring the smelting- works to a standstill. However 
 necessity itself is usually the best helper in emergencies; 
 which also held good in this case. We have recently 
 succeeded, I believe for the first time in the world, 
 in replacing coals for smelting by the raw material 
 of petroleum, naphtha, and by masut, the residuum in 
 
286 A SUBSTITUTE FOUND IN MASUT AND NAPHTHA. 
 
 the distillation of petroleum. These combustibles are 
 brought from Baku by the Tiflis line, which has been 
 in existence for some years, to the Shamkhor station 
 at the foot of the mountain. With their help the 
 roasted ore is smelted in large round furnaces, 20 feet 
 in diameter, and worked up into copper. An electric 
 refining establishment at Kalakent transforms the raw 
 copper thus obtained into chemically pure copper, 
 whereby the silver contained in it is obtained as a 
 secondary product. As however it is difficult in winter 
 and during the rainy season to bring masut and naphtha 
 up the mountain from the railway - station to Kedabeg 
 on the impassable roads, a conduit has been constructed 
 of Mannesmann's weldless steel tubes, through which the 
 
 " O 
 
 masut is pumped up the slope about three thousand 
 feet from the plain. I hope personally to see this 
 contrivance in action this very autumn. Furthermore 
 the necessary arrangements have now been completed 
 for transforming the poorer ores, hitherto not paying 
 for the working up into refined copper, according to 
 a new process of my own, by a purely electrical method 
 without the employment of combustible materials. 
 For this purpose large turbines of over a thousand 
 horse-power have to be set up in the neighbouring 
 Shamkhor valley for working the dynamos , which 
 generate the necessary electric current. This current 
 has to be conveyed over the ridge, about 2500 feet 
 high, dividing Kedabeg from Shamkhor, in order to 
 extract and precipitate by the electric current the 
 copper from the powdered ore, at the very foot of 
 
OFFER OF METALLIC BEDS. 287 
 
 the metalliferous mountain. When this arrangement, 
 already elaborated in detail theoretically and practi- 
 cally, is ready, there will exist in the distant Caucasus 
 a smeltery, preeminent in a scientific point of view, 
 and able to cope successfully with the disadvantages 
 of its site. 
 
 It may easily be imagined that the results obtained 
 by us in Kedabeg would bring us offers of metalliferous 
 property from all sides. Although my brother Charles 
 was as little inclined for further undertakings as I 
 myself, Kedabeg having already given us cares enough, 
 yet we could not always reject the invitation of people 
 of influence to take a look at the preferred beds. 
 When, after the death of my brother Walter, who 
 lost his life very suddenly by a severe fall from his 
 horse, I travelled in the autumn of 1868 for the second 
 time to Kedabeg, I was in this way induced to make 
 two tours in the great Caucasus. One of these from 
 Sukhum-Kale to Cibelda in particular was of uncommon 
 interest to me. 
 
 The Elbrus, 18000 feet high, the loftiest mountain 
 of Europe, if the crest of the high Caucasus range be 
 taken as the natural limit of this part of the globe, 
 is visible in its full height from a few points only, 
 being surrounded by a circle of lofty mountains. The 
 interval, which separates it from this circle, is accessible 
 at a few places only, and is again cut up into different 
 parts by several radial ridges, which render all human 
 intercourse impossible. Among these Cibelda is a na- 
 tural impregnable fortress, which can be defended by 
 
288 TOUR TO CIBELDA. 
 
 a handful of men against whole armies. Long after 
 the rest of the Caucasus had fallen into Russian hands, 
 and the Circassians who would not bend beneath the 
 Russian yoke had emigrated to Turkey, Cibelda re- 
 mained still unconquered in the possession of its scanty 
 population, forming a tribe by themselves. The Russians 
 had conquered all apparently impregnable fortresses 
 of the Western Caucasus by the construction of roads, 
 which afforded them convenient access into the parts 
 to be subjugated. Cibelda however withstood also 
 the attack by the military road, but hunger and the 
 tempting proposals of the Russian government finally 
 induced them to voluntarily evacuate their fortress, 
 whereupon they likewise resolved to emigrate to Asia 
 Minor. 
 
 About a year had elapsed since this emigration, 
 when General Heymann, governor of Sukhum - Kale, 
 invited my brother Otto, who had stepped into 
 Walter's place in the business and also been appointed 
 German consul in his room, to make an examination 
 of same deposits of copper and silver ore in Cibelda. 
 When with brother Otto and my expert, the recently 
 engaged director Dannenberg, whose introduction to 
 his new office was the main purpose of my journey. 
 I came in September 1868 to Sukhum -Kale, the 
 general renewed his request, and promised to make 
 our journey to Cibelda as easy and safe as possible. 
 I could not resist the temptation to get in this way 
 to the very centre of the high Caucasus, which, as 
 was said, had never been trodden by the foot of a 
 
TOUR TO CIBELDA. 289 
 
 native of Western Europe. A small military expedition 
 for the purpose of taking us to the metallic beds was 
 therefore equipped, under the command of a young 
 Russian captain, who had superintended the exodus 
 of the population of Cibelda. 
 
 Sukhum-Kale, i. e. the "Sukhum fortress", lies 
 very picturesquely on a small rocky bay at the foot 
 of the lofty ring of mountains girding Elbrus. Its 
 environment is entrancingly beautiful, above all by its 
 vegetation, whose luxuriance defies all description. 
 In the place itself my admiration was excited by a 
 long avenue of weeping willows, the height of which 
 vied with that of our loftiest forest-trees, their massy 
 branches hanging down from the dome -like tops to 
 the ground. Unfortunately this splendid avenue fell 
 in the year 1877 a sacrifice to the Russo -Turkish war. 
 The way taken by our well-mounted expedition led 
 immediately behind the town up the valley of a small 
 mountain stream studded throughout with magnificent 
 trees. It struck me that the mighty oaks and chestnuts 
 frequently, especially in sunny places, had a perfectly 
 brown envelope, which shut out all sight of green leaves. 
 This was owing to the wild hops, which covered them 
 to the very summits, and gave them this hue through 
 their large ripe umbels. As I knew the great value 
 of the hop, I proposed to General Heymann on our 
 return to have these hops gathered by his soldiers, 
 and sent as samples for examination to Germany. The 
 general did so, but the trial, as I may as well state 
 
 at once, unfortunately proved unfavourable. It was 
 
 19 
 
290 TOUR TO CIBELDA. 
 
 not then known to me that wild hops possess no 
 bitter principle; this is only obtained from the fruit 
 of the female plants when all the male plants are 
 carefully kept apart, which of course is never the case 
 with wild hops. 
 
 Our bridle-path took us upwards the whole day 
 through equally beautiful scenery, untouched by human 
 culture. At the same time we were often refreshed 
 by enchanting distant views of the lofty snow-covered 
 mountain - chain . rising gradually before us, and the 
 glittering mirror of the sea, lying at our feet. Towards 
 evening we reached one of the small fortified Russian 
 encampments , whose continual advance on the newly 
 made military roads was the means whereby the 
 Russian forces finally broke the resistance of the brave 
 Circassians. 
 
 Next morning we continued our ride at sunrise, 
 and now approached the lofty chain. We had fre- 
 quently occasion to admire the bold construction of 
 the roads by the Russians; obstacles were there over- 
 come which appeared altogether insurmountable at the 
 first glance. We reached without much difficulty the 
 border of the district already designated by the name 
 of Cibelda, which forms the foreland of the high 
 stronghold of that name. To this there was only a 
 single entrance along a deep cleft in the mountains, 
 at the bottom of which a wild mountain -river took 
 its raging course. The cleft was bordered on the 
 side whence we came by a rocky wall, certainly more 
 than a thousand feet high, almost perpendicular and 
 
TOUR TO CIBELDA. 291 
 
 probably over a verst in length. About half way up 
 a horizontal shelf had been formed, which was just 
 broad enough to serve at need as a bridle-path. This 
 path was the only approach to Cibelda; we were 
 therefore obliged to pass it. The officer rode forward 
 after giving us the advice not to look into the chasm, 
 but always at the head of the horse, and let it go 
 quite by itself. In profound silence we successfully 
 reached about the middle of the defile: at the edge 
 of the path some vegetation had settled, whereby the 
 view of the yawning gulf was diverted. Then I suddenly 
 observed that the forepart of the horse of my front 
 man, the officer, was quite low down, and at the same 
 time saw the latter swing himself gently from the 
 saddle to the side of the rocky wall. The horse too 
 did not lose its steadiness, but raised itself again, and 
 continued its way by the side of the officer. I in- 
 voluntarily considered it advisable to do just as my 
 front man, and also glided from my horse to the side 
 of the rocky wall. When I had successfully passed 
 the dangerous spot, where the officer's horse, misled 
 by the vegetation, had made the false step, I looked 
 with anxiety after my brother who followed me, but 
 perceived to my relief that not only he, but the whole 
 column of riders, had already followed our example. 
 In this manner we all reached in safety the end of 
 the narrow pass, and soon recovered from our toils 
 and alarms by the enjoyment of a good meal, partaken 
 in an enchantingly beautiful moss-covered grotto, open 
 
 towards the deep and tolerably broad river-valley. 
 
 19* 
 
292 TOUR TO CIBELDA. 
 
 From this point the path altogether ceased, and 
 it was utterly incomprehensible to me how our guide 
 could find his way in the splendid primeval forest 
 through which we had now to wend. The formation 
 of the ground in the next part of the way was very 
 peculiar. There were imposing undulating elevations 
 with a bend from east to west, perhaps seven hundred 
 feet high, which we had repeatedly to cross. Their 
 southern 'slopes were adorned with splendid trees, 
 mostly oak, chestnut, and walnut, whose summits formed 
 so perfect a roof that the plague of lianas and other 
 creeping plants was precluded. The trees were of 
 enormous dimensions. It is probable that human hand 
 had never influenced the natural course of their growth ; 
 and accordingly old withered giants stood beside the 
 verdant and flourishing, whilst trees of a younger 
 generation overshadowed the mighty trunks lying on 
 the ground, doubtless felled by storms. It often cost 
 a good deal of trouble to evade such a dead tree 
 barring the way, for summit and root formed at their 
 ends effective abatis. Many of these prostrate trees 
 were so thick that a mounted rider was only just 
 able to see beyond them. Now and again they were 
 luckily lying in such a position, that we could pass 
 under them. 
 
 An altogether different picture w r as presented to 
 us, when we had crossed the summit of such a ridge, 
 and had to come down again on its northern slope. 
 Here the sun had not had the power to dry the ground. 
 The whole slope was marshy in spite of its steepness, 
 
TOUR TO CIBELDA. 293 
 
 so that the horses' hoofs stuck fast in the tenacious 
 soil, and we were frequently obliged to dismount and 
 assist our horses. Numberless creeping plants also 
 throve here, forcing us to make wide circuits; and 
 the places sought out by us, which on account of too 
 great moisture were free from creepers, bore a vege- 
 tation of reed -like plants of such a height that they 
 overtopped horse and rider. Once the ground became 
 so steep that the horses could not proceed. I could 
 then not help admiring the cleverness of our Russians. 
 They sought out a particularly steep and slippery 
 spot, and cautiously let down the horses one by one 
 with ropes attached to their tails, whilst we ourselves 
 slid down without any such check. 
 
 At the next ascent I made the discovery that 
 the tail of the Caucasian mountain-horse plays a further 
 important part in difficult mountain -tours. We were 
 obliged to climb up on foot the particularly steep 
 height, to spare the already much fatigued animals, 
 which had necessarily to bring us to our goal before 
 sunset, and I soon found myself at the end of my 
 strength. In my distress it occurred to me to grasp 
 the tail of the horse clambering quite cheerfully be- 
 side me up the stony path. That seemed to be a 
 well-known procedure to it; it redoubled its efforts, 
 and I attained without difficulty the crest of the hill, 
 where the officer received me with the applauding ex- 
 clamation ''Caucasian fashion!" When I looked back 
 at my hinder-men, I found them all, to my surprise, 
 also clinging to the tails of their steeds. 
 
294 TOUR TO CIBELDA. 
 
 As the sun was going down we reached at last 
 a narrow rocky gate, which forms the entrance into 
 the proper natural fortress of Cibelda. When we had 
 passed it, there spread before us a spectacle of 
 such grandeur and beauty, that it almost over- 
 whelmed me at the first moment. Before us in the clear 
 evening glow lay the mighty Elbrus, covered far down 
 with snow. Right and left beside it a number of 
 further snow -mountains was visible, which developed 
 into a long chain especially on the right. Far below 
 us, partly still illuminated by the sun, lay a rocky 
 river-valley, which bordered the foot of Elbrus, whose 
 steep treeless slope descended towards it in a broad 
 expanse without any visible break. It reminded me 
 somewhat of the view one obtains from Grindelwald 
 over the sun-illumined Alpine chain; only the mighty 
 Elbrus was enthroned in the centre of the picture, as 
 if two Jungfraus were piled on one another. 
 
 After we had refreshed ourselves with this asto- 
 nishing and incomparably beautiful view, we traversed 
 the rather extensive plain, which spread out before us 
 and contained the village of the tribe of the Cibeldians, 
 who had emigrated the year before. It was not easy 
 to advance on the plain, densely overgrown with 
 burdock of more than a man's height, and to find 
 the way to the village. A w r ay broken by bears 
 through the shrubs stood us in good stead. That it 
 had been so made could be inferred from the kernels 
 of the fruit of the cherry -laurels lying about, which 
 form a favourite food for the bears of the region. The 
 
TOUR TO CIBELDA. 295 
 
 wooden houses of the large village still stood entire, 
 just as their inhabitants had left them a year ago; 
 only here and there some destruction had been caused 
 by the bears in their search for food. 
 
 When we had quartered ourselves, we had first 
 to try to recover a human aspect, for in breaking 
 through the dense vegetation, which had made the 
 former gardens of the village almost impenetrable, every 
 inch of our clothing as of our beards had become 
 fringed with a layer of burs, so that we ourselves 
 looked more like brown bears than human beings. 
 The removal of the burs was an extremely trouble- 
 some and in part painful operation. 
 
 After a refreshing night's rest in the abandoned 
 dwellings our miner investigated the old copper -pit, 
 which he declared not to be worth working: but even 
 had it been so in the highest degree, its situation 
 would have made any mining operation impossible. 
 My brother Otto and I had meanwhile fully enjoyed 
 the overpowering grandeur and sublime beauty of the 
 environment. By the morning light one perceived still 
 better than in the evening the wild ruggedness of the 
 exposed surface of Elbrus , with its ice - fields and 
 glaciers, to which the lines of the water-courses, rushing 
 down the slopes and glittering in the sunshine, lent a 
 quite peculiar charm. The plateau, on which we stood, 
 descends abruptly to the river-valley, which separates 
 it from Elbrus; on the other sides it is surrounded 
 by high mountains, which, in contrast with Elbrus, 
 presented the most luxuriant green of Caucasian vege- 
 
296 TOUR TO CIBELDA. 
 
 tation. A walk round the edge of the plain turned 
 towards the river afforded always new views, entirely 
 different from all the preceding, and of a sublimity 
 and beauty baffling all description. 
 
 The return-journey to Sukhum-Kale we made by 
 the same way as the journey to Cibelda, but in con- 
 sequence of the previous experience with less difficulty. 
 Unfortunately, I had now to pay my tribute to the 
 dangerous climate of this incomparably beautiful 
 country. Already in the Russian fort, where we again 
 passed the night, I felt ill. The young military doctor, 
 who accompanied us, at once perceived that I had 
 caught the dangerous fever of that region, and applied 
 without delay the usual remedy. Before the fever 
 had fully developed I received a powerful dose of 
 quinine, which caused severe singing in the ears and 
 other unpleasant sensations, but brought down the 
 fever to a mild form, so that I was able to complete 
 the journey. The fever in the district of Sukhum- 
 Kale is a tertian ague: on the third day I therefore 
 had to take a second, some\vhat weaker dose, with 
 the direction to take after further three days a third, 
 still weaker one. The fever was thus cut short; I 
 often suffered however in aftertimes of intolerable 
 pains in the side, as the doctor had prognosticated. 
 
 In former years I had repeatedly suffered of in- 
 termittent fever, which obliged me to take small doses 
 
 o 
 
 of quinine for several months, thereby seriously im- 
 pairing my health. In the Caucasus . where climatic 
 fevers occur often and in the most varied forms, the 
 
FEVER. 297 
 
 treatment described is always applied with the best 
 results. Certainly there are also fevers in this district 
 so malignant that they end in death on a first attack. 
 The fever - producing regions are indeed as a rule 
 marshy and covered with luxuriant vegetation, but 
 also highly situated dry grass -land often passes for 
 unhealthy. I have in my journeys made the obser- 
 vation, that such regions mostly bear the traces of 
 an old, highly developed civilization, as is indeed 
 also the case in the environment of Rome and in the 
 Dobrudja, which in old times was styled the granary 
 of Rome. Fever breaks out in those regions with 
 special severity, when the soil is stirred up. The 
 fever- germs must have been gradually formed in the 
 fertile well-manured soil, which was subsequently left 
 unworked for centuries, and excluded from the air 
 by a covering of grass. Malaria accordingly represents 
 nature's penalty for interrupted cultivation of the soil. 
 This, in conjunction with the Caucasian treatment of 
 fever, led me even then to the opinion that climatic 
 fever depends on microscopic organisms, which live in 
 the blood, and whose term of life would coincide with 
 the interval between the attacks of the fever. By the 
 strong dose of quinine shortly before the attack the 
 young emerging brood of these organisms is poisoned. 
 The remarkable fact also, that people, who have 
 long lived in a fever region, are for the most part 
 secure from fever, but lose this immunity when they 
 have passed several years in regions free from it, 
 could. I thought, be explained by the assumption 
 
298 SECOND TOUR IN THE GREAT CAUCASUS. 
 
 that in regions, where the fever-germs are continually 
 being introduced into the body, living beings are 
 formed therein, which feed on these germs, and there- 
 fore perish when the source of nutriment is dried up 
 for a long time. - This, of course, was only an un- 
 proved hypothesis, which was justly only so regarded 
 by my medically trained friends, to whom I communi- 
 cated it at the time, such as du Bois-Reymond. I have 
 nevertheless been gratified to see the bacteriological 
 researches of eminent scientists taking of late the direc- 
 tion indicated by me a quarter of a century ago. - 
 
 Our second tour in the great Caucasus had like- 
 wise reference to the investigation of a metalliferous 
 property, situated in a very inaccessible region, be- 
 longing to a princely family of Georgia. We travelled 
 from Tiflis to Tsarskie-Kolodzy, where our Tiflis branch 
 had petroleum-works, which were again given up after 
 the completion of the railway from Tiflis to Baku. 
 From there our way lay to the wine country Kakhetia, 
 celebrated for the fiery Kakhetian wine. This district 
 lies in the valley of the Alasan. and is separated from 
 the Kur valley by a ridge stretching far into the steppes. 
 From the summit of this ridge we had magnificent 
 views of the Caucasus, which from there presents it- 
 self as an unbroken chain of white peaks, reaching 
 from the Black to the Caspian sea. 
 
 Kakhetia passes for the primitive land of the vine- 
 cultivation, and in the chief place of the country pri- 
 mitive thanksgiving festivals take place, which recall 
 the Roman Saturnalia. High and low then flock to- 
 
SECOND TOUR IN THE GREAT CAUCASUS. 299 
 
 gether from all Georgia to the festive place and offer 
 god Bacchus copious libations of Kakhetian wine, 
 when universal brotherliness is said to be the order 
 of the day. It is also vaunted of Kakhetian wine 
 that it exceedingly gladdens the heart of its persistent 
 drinkers, and those who know the country profess to 
 recognise the inhabitants of Tiflis everywhere by their 
 hilarity. 
 
 We accomplished the pleasant and interesting ride 
 through Kakhetia under the guidance of two sons of 
 the princely family, which had invited us to make an 
 inspection of the beds. At the foot of the lofty chain 
 the old prince with other sons joined us. The an- 
 cestral seat of the family, in which we passed the 
 ni flit, was remarkable. It consisted of a large wooden 
 
 O " o 
 
 house at the foot of the mountains, but yet situated 
 in the plain, which was built on posts some thirteen 
 feet high. A convenient ladder, which was lowered, 
 offered the only possibility of getting into the house. 
 It was a regular pre -historic pile dwelling, the style 
 having survived to our own day in the preservative 
 Caucasian air. In the interior of the house we found 
 a large hall, occupying the whole breadth of the 
 building, in which, along the only wall provided with 
 many windows, a table, over two yards in width, 
 stretched from end to end. This table formed the 
 sole furniture visible in the room, and had to fulfil 
 the most varied purposes. For dinner a carpet of 
 about half the width of the table was laid along its 
 edge, on which the viands and flat cakes were placed. 
 
300 SECOND TOUR IN THE GREAT CAUCASUS. 
 
 The large thin flat cakes served not only for food. 
 but also for table-covers and napkins, as well as for 
 cleaning the table -utensils. For us strangers chairs 
 were brought in. When we had seated ourselves upon 
 them, the old prince and his sons after him sprang 
 upon the table, and crouched opposite us with their 
 bread - cloths. Only we guests were provided with 
 knives and forks, the princes ate in true oriental 
 fashion with their fingers. The meal itself was ex- 
 tremely savoury, especially the fillet of shishlik would 
 have created a sensation in the finest Berlin restau- 
 rant. During the meal Kakhetian wine circulated 
 freely in buffalo -horns: it was only rather embar- 
 rassing, that custom required the draining of the 
 horn in honour of every person, whose health was 
 proposed. We Europeans, unaccustomed to such copious 
 drinking, could not long stand that. A second 
 
 destination of the large table in the hall we got to 
 know at night-time; all the beds, both for us and 
 for the princes, were prepared upon it. 
 
 Early in the morning of the following day we set 
 out. and ascended the slope of the great Caucasian 
 chain. Our horses carried us quickly and indefatigably 
 up the rocky way. When it was beginning to get 
 dark, we were almost at our destination and bivouacked 
 on a splendid ridge, at the junction of two mountain- 
 streams. Under the protecting roof of gigantic trees 
 we encamped at a spot, which afforded a wide view 
 over Kakhetia extended at our feet and the mountain- 
 district lying beyond. With surprising skill the prince's 
 
SECOND TOUR IN THE GREAT CAUCASUS. 301 
 
 satellites erected a hut of twigs over our camping- 
 place, leaving the view over the plain free, and made 
 it so comfortable that it would not have been possible 
 to have rested more agreeably. Then the meal was 
 rapidly prepared, which we consumed in a recumbent 
 position. After that the princes and their attendants 
 reclined in front of us. and began a national drinking- 
 bout with a kind of mulled wine of generous Kakhetian 
 growth. In the course of this each of the princes 
 drank my own and my brother's health with some 
 doubtless very flattering words, expecting that there- 
 upon we should also empty our horns. The princes 
 spoke Georgian only, an interpreter translated for us 
 into Russian what they said. No one of those present 
 understood our German answers, a circumstance of 
 which my frolicsome brother Otto took a somewhat 
 dangerous advantage by delivering the replies, which 
 I left to him, in extremely polite fashion indeed as 
 regards voice, tone, and gesture, but with a verbal 
 parody of the whole scene, which assuredly would 
 have been cut short by dagger-stabs, if his words had 
 been understood, and if we had not taken pains to 
 give a good colour to them by grave and respectful 
 countenances. 
 
 When, on the following morning, we had happily 
 slept off our little debauch in the refreshing mountain- 
 air, without any unpleasant after-effects, we inspected 
 the lode, which was certainly a rich one, but not yet 
 opened up, and owing to the troublesome access to 
 it offered insuperable obstacles to profitable working. 
 
302 SECOND TOUR IN THE GREAT CAUCASUS. 
 
 After we had arrived at this conclusion, the return- 
 journey was immediately commenced. 
 
 At sunset we again arrived at the pile-built palace 
 and spent another night under its hospitable roof. 
 The next morning we took leave of our princes, and 
 rode back through the valley of Kakhetia. with the 
 intention of travelling across the steppe direct to 
 Kedabeg. As robbers were infesting the neighbourhood, 
 the chief of the district gave us a body-guard com- 
 posed of men. who themselves were not free from 
 suspicion of the robbers' trade. Placed under their 
 friendly protection, we travelled with perfect safety 
 according to the custom of the country. 
 
 The crossing of the broad and rapidly flowing 
 Kur. whose left bank we reached at noon, was attended 
 with some difficulty. We found a single small boat 
 there, which could only carry a few persons, but 
 discovered no oars, which moreover with the rapid 
 current would not have been of much use. The mode 
 of crossing employed by our guides was very inter- 
 esting, and I commend it to the Postmaster General for 
 
 O 7 
 
 his description of the postal service in primitive times. 
 The two best horses were driven into the water until 
 their feet no longer touched the bottom. Then two 
 
 o 
 
 Tartars in the boat laid hold of their tails and had 
 themselves together with the boat and a few passengers 
 carried over the stream by the swimming horses. 
 When after depositing the passengers the boat had 
 been brought back in the same manner, they carried 
 over a second batch with other horses, and thus it 
 
SECOND TOUR IN THE GREAT CAUCASUS. 303 
 
 went on. till only the Tartars remained. Finally these 
 took their horses into the water and let themselves 
 be carried over clinging to their tails. 
 
 O c? 
 
 I and my brother had remained to the last with 
 our somewhat dubious escort on the left bank of the 
 river. Our protectors squatted suspiciously together, 
 and kept throwing glances at us, which we did not 
 altogether like. Cigars, which we offered them, they 
 proudly refused because, as we found out after- 
 wards, being bigoted Shiites they were not allowed to 
 take anything from the hands of unbelieving dogs. It 
 appeared therefore advisable to show to the fellows 
 that we were sufficiently armed for defence. We set 
 up a board, that had floated down stream, as mark, 
 and shot at it with our revolvers, in the use of which 
 we were well practised. Every shot hit the board at 
 long range without much aiming. That interested our 
 companions very much, who themselves tried with their 
 long beautifully polished flintlock guns to hit our mark, 
 but did not always succeed. Then came their sheik 
 and gave me to understand by signs, that I should 
 show him my revolver, and lay it on the ground, as 
 he dared not take anything from my own hand. This 
 was a critical moment, but on Otto's advice I deter- 
 mined to comply with his request and put down the 
 revolver. The sheik took it up, looked at it on all 
 sides, and showed it with a shake of his head to his 
 companions. After that he gave it me back with 
 gestures of thanks, and henceforward our friendship 
 was sealed. Distrust of the fulfilment of the sacred 
 
304 THE CAUCASIAN MOUNTAIN -HORSES. 
 
 law of hospitality may become very dangerous with 
 these people, on the other hand the case is extremely 
 rare that the confidence of the guest is betrayed. It 
 has certainly occurred that a guest has been hospitably 
 entertained and safely escorted to the boundary of the 
 district, and then shot down on alien ground, but that 
 is not considered to be proper. After crossing the 
 Kur we reached Kedabeg without further adventures. 
 In all our tours in the mountains we had had 
 occasion to admire the cleverness and endurance of the 
 small Caucasian mountain - horses. Indefatigably and 
 without tripping they clamber with their riders up 
 and down the steepest mountain-paths; without them 
 the broken and often fissured mountainous country 
 could hardly be traversed. It is regarded in the 
 Caucasus as safer to make difficult mountain-journeys 
 on horseback than on foot. That there are also 
 exceptions to this rule I experienced personally on my 
 second visit to Kedabeg. The autumn weather, always 
 bright and beautiful even up to December, changed 
 with unexpected suddenness to rainy weather with a 
 slight fall of snow. We were just then proceeding 
 to visit the Shamkhor valley, and made use of the 
 somewhat troublesome bridle-path thither, which runs 
 by the side of the wild Kalakent brook as far as 
 Shamkhor. When however it began to snow more 
 heavily, we found it advisable to turn back before 
 the path had been quite snowed over. It was 
 astonishing with what accuracy our horses were able 
 to find the mountain-path, already considerably covered 
 
RETURN FROM THE FIRST JOURNEY. 305 
 
 with snow, which was close beside the deeply cut 
 river-bed, and always selected the particular parts 
 where there was a sure footing. I was riding imme- 
 diately behind my brother Otto, when I noticed, that 
 just at a dangerous spot hard by the edge of the 
 bank, here descending perpendicularly several yards, 
 a stone became loose under the weight of his horse. 
 A moment afterwards my horse trod upon the same 
 stone, which thereby was entirely loosened and caused 
 my fall. I only remember having heard the cry of 
 the succeeding riders, and that I was then standing 
 upright in the river-bed, my horse beside me. According 
 to the statement of my companions the horse fell 
 over sideways with me and then came on its feet. 
 It was at any rate a marvellously lucky escape. 
 
 Of the homeward journeys, for which both times 
 I chose the route via Constantinople, the first in par- 
 ticular was rich in singular experiences. The fine 
 weather lasted till the middle of December; only after 
 we had left Kedabeg did it change, and on the Rion 
 we encountered a fearful storm. With great difficulty 
 we reached Poti, but there we learnt that the steamship, 
 which was to convey us further, had already passed, 
 as an embarkation in such weather was impossible. 
 We, namely the whole company that had arrived in 
 the river -steamer, were thus forced to take refuge 
 for a full week in the only so-called hotel of 
 the place, a most dreary abode. This, I may 
 say, was the most unpleasant week of my whole life. 
 A violent storm raged the whole night, not only outside 
 
 20 
 
306 KETURN FROM THE FIRST JOURNEY. 
 
 but also in my room. I repeatedly got up to examine 
 the windows and doors, but found them all closed. 
 The next morning however I saw my room full of 
 snow-flakes, and discovered that they had penetrated 
 through rifts in the floor. On account of the marshy 
 ground the houses in Poti are built on piles, which 
 explains the marvel of a snow-fall in a closed room. 
 The stormy weather lasted without intermission several 
 days, and what rendered my stay particularly dis- 
 agreeable was, that I had caught a severe inflammation 
 of the connective tissue of one of my eyes. This 
 painful inflammation, alleviated by no medical aid, the 
 confined inn-parlour filled with people of all classes 
 and nationalities, moreover bad provisions and a total 
 absence of any kind of attendance, made my life there 
 simply intolerable. 
 
 At last the eagerly longed-for steamer came in 
 sight, and in spite of the heavy sea succeeded in 
 taking aboard myself and three other travelling com- 
 panions. The passage was very stormy as far as the 
 entrance to the Bosphorus, and put our seaworthiness 
 to a severe test. All four of us however stood it to 
 the great astonishment of the captain. Among the 
 party was a Russian general, consul in Messina, and, 
 as I discovered later, father of a very charming 
 daughter, now the wife of my friend Professor Dohrn 
 in Naples; further a young Russian diplomatist, who 
 subsequently filled important posts, and finally an 
 extremely original Austrian foundry proprietor, who 
 never allowed his pipe to go out, except when eating 
 
RETURN FROM THE FIRST JOURNEY. 307 
 
 or sleeping. As also the captain was a well-instructed 
 clever man, the unusually long voyage passed never- 
 theless quickly and agreeably for us, in spite of wind 
 and waves. 
 
 In Trebizond , where we anchored for a few 
 hours, I again met with one of my many small mis- 
 haps. I had taken a walk on the plateau above the 
 town, to enjoy once again the splendid prospect, and 
 was returning by the fine new road, which on the 
 side descending abruptly to the sea was entirely un- 
 secured by railings , when I met a large drove of 
 donkeys laden with sacks of corn. I inconsiderately 
 stepped to the unrailed side towards the sea, to let 
 the drove pass. That was all right at first, but gra- 
 dually the drove became denser, and finally occupied 
 the whole width of the road. No pushing and no 
 beating availed, the beasts could not, if they had tried, 
 make room for me. The attempt to jump on to one 
 of the donkeys failed, I was compelled to make way 
 for them, and fell down the steep stone-work into 
 mud and among bushes, whereby luckily the force 
 of the considerable fall was somewhat lessened. After 
 I had found that I had got off without serious in- 
 juries , I worked myself laboriously out of the thorns 
 and nettles, and only after long and many vain endea- 
 vours was able to scramble up again to the road. For- 
 tunately I found a small pond at the top, in which 
 I could wash myself and clothes. The still powerful 
 sun effected the drying with tolerable rapidity, and 
 
 thus I could manage to go through the town without 
 
 20* 
 
308 RETURN FROM THE FIRST JOURNEY. 
 
 exciting attention and reach the steamer, which fortu- 
 nately had awaited my return. 
 
 On the further journey the strong wind grew into 
 a storm, so that the captain began to fear for his old 
 ship, and sought refuge in the harbour of Sinope. 
 Twice on the following days he attempted to continue 
 the voyage, but was each time driven back into the 
 safe port. Thus I had the opportunity of experiencing 
 by personal observation the correctness of the designation 
 of the Black Sea as the "inhospitable" , which the 
 ancient Greeks had given it. 
 
 In the harbour of Pera I found an Austrian Lloyd 
 steamer just ready to start for Trieste , where we 
 landed on New Year's eve safely and without let and 
 hindrance. On the way, in Syra and Corfu, we had 
 been suspected of being plague - stricken and com- 
 pelled to hoist the notorious yellow flag, because the 
 cholera was raging in Egypt. 
 
 With these two Caucasian journeys I regard my 
 travelling period proper as closed, for the European 
 journeys of to-day in comfortable railway-carriages or 
 post-chaises are only to be called pleasure trips. Also 
 the third journey to Kedabeg, for which I am now 
 preparing , to take my final leave of the Caucasus, 
 will hardly be anything else. 
 
Harzburg, June 1891. 
 
 Otill full of the fresh impressions and pleasant 
 reminiscences of my third Caucasian journey, which 
 I made, as proposed, last autumn with my wife and 
 daughter, I shall resume my narrative by giving an 
 account of it. This tour, undertaken with all imaginable 
 comfort as a pleasure trip, will thus stand out in strong 
 relief to my first two journeys to Kedabeg. 
 
 We travelled in the middle of September from 
 Berlin to Odessa. There of course I did not omit to 
 visit the station of the Indo-European line, and held 
 a telegraphic conversation with the manager of the 
 company in London, Mr. Andrews. Such a direct 
 telegraphic intercommunication after a long journey 
 has always something uncommonly interesting, I might 
 almost say elevating , about it. The victory of the 
 human mind over inert matter is thereby brought 
 immediately and forcibly home to us. 
 
 From Odessa we proceeded to the Crimea, my 
 acquaintance with which had been hitherto confined 
 to the places of call of the steamers running between 
 Odessa and Poti. We decided to leave the vessel at 
 Sebastopol, and travel by road to Yalta. The drive 
 
310 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 was favoured by splendid weather, and permitted us to 
 admire at leisure the magnificent coast-scenery, which 
 stretches from the steep slopes of the southern table- 
 land of the Crimea to the sea. Much reminded us 
 here of the Riviera, indeed there were many points of 
 the Crimean coast, whose superiority we were obliged 
 to allow. The situation of the country -palaces Livadia 
 and Alupka, belonging to the Imperial family, as well 
 as that of many another residence of Russian notables, 
 is beautiful in the extreme. There was wanting, how- 
 ever, the fresh pulsating life of the Riviera, which so 
 considerably heightens the charms of its scenery and 
 climate. The climate of the southern Crimean coast 
 is pleasant and free from fever , and the means of 
 communication, becoming continually more rapid and 
 convenient, will doubtless therefore soon bring it a 
 great accession of tourists. On the other hand it is 
 impossible to speak as favourably of the climate of 
 the incomparably more beautiful and grander eastern 
 side of the high Caucasus, for there almost everywhere 
 malignant intermittent fevers prevail, and the prospect 
 of medical science overcoming this great plague of 
 
 O o I o 
 
 humanity appears as yet to be very slight. 
 
 It was an interesting coincidence, that the glad 
 tidings of the conquest of one of the greatest scourges 
 of mankind, consumption, by the discoveries of Koch, 
 reached me in this third journey to the Caucasus, in 
 the very regions where so many years before the 
 theory had obtruded itself upon me of the excitation 
 of climatic fever by microscopic life in the blood. 
 
THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 311 
 
 The cure was said to be effected by introducing 
 into the patient's system a poison, produced by the 
 phthisis-producing bacteria themselves, in the shape of 
 their vital products. The reported results left no 
 doubt as to the correctness of the fact, and we 
 Germans heard with pride on all sides our countryman 
 lauded as a benefactor of humanity. But the assumption 
 of Koch, that the vital products of the disease-causing 
 bacilli constitute the powerful deadly poison, even 
 then excited my doubts. One could well imagine that 
 this self-induced poisoning might check the development 
 of the bacilli in the parts of the body occupied by them 
 - thus affording an explanation of the remarkable 
 phenomenon, that not every infectious disease leads to 
 the death of the person assailed by it - - but it appeared 
 inconceivable to me that an infinitesimal quantity of 
 such poisonous vital products of a limited number of 
 bacilli should produce in another body the powerful 
 effects observed. A vital process alone could accomplish 
 this, in which not the substance of the germs intro- 
 duced, but the vital conditions maintaining them, and 
 the time required for their increase, are the chief 
 factors in the case. The question as to the origin of 
 these germs, which develop a life hostile to the 
 bacilli whence they arise, appears to me only to admit 
 of a plausible answer, if one supposes the living beings 
 producing the disease to be themselves subject to 
 infectious diseases , whereby they on their part are 
 checked in their vitality and finally killed. It would 
 of course follow that life, animal as well as vegetable^ 
 
312 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 is not restricted to the objects revealed by our mi- 
 croscopes, but that there are living beings related as 
 regards size to the microbes and bacteria , as these 
 are to us. No scientific objection can be raised to 
 this hypothesis, for the dimensions of molecules are 
 iii any case immeasurably less than living structures 
 of even so low an order. The mysterious process of 
 spontaneous fission , the succeeding immunity , the 
 otherwise inexplicable effect of the introduction of 
 vital products of the disease-causing bacilli into the 
 circulation of a body affected by the same disease, 
 would on this assumption be the obvious consequences 
 of the infection of the disease-generators themselves, 
 and the problem of the future would be, how to pro- 
 duce such an infection, and bring it to the speediest 
 issue, since indeed these secondary disease -generators 
 themselves might also be subject to rapidly developing 
 infectious diseases through microbes of a still lower 
 order. If however not the vital products, but the 
 secondary disease-carriers, of the bacilli are the curative 
 means, the bacilli must first become diseased, before 
 their substance can act remedially. Perhaps herein 
 lies the reason of the unsatisfactory action of Koch's 
 tuberculine , and the present suggestion may be of 
 service in the further investigation of this subject, 
 which is of such vast importance to all mankind. 
 
 In Tiflis we met my brother Charles, who ac- 
 companied us on our further journey to Kedabeg and 
 Baku and back to St. Petersburg. Dr. Hammacher, 
 member of the Imperial Diet, who had formed one 
 
THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 313 
 
 of our party from the first, also remained our faithful 
 travelling companion as far as St. Petersburg. Tiflis 
 appeared to me not to be much altered externally in 
 the 23 years, which had expired since my last visit, but 
 it had lost its former aristocratic air, and can no longer 
 boast to-day of being the Asiatic Paris. The town was 
 formerly not only a grand-ducal residence, but also the 
 seat of the native Georgian nobility, which especially 
 in winter took the lead in the social gatherings of 
 Tiflis. All that is now changed. No Grand-Duke resides 
 any longer in Tiflis, and even the Georgian aristocracy 
 has almost entirely disappeared. A quarter of a cen- 
 tury ago the town was still Georgian, and the best 
 houses as well as the administration of the town were 
 in Georgian hands. But even then the Armenian 
 nationality began to spread, and gradually the land 
 and landed property passed into Armenian hands. In 
 earlier, warlike times, the brave and vigorous Georgians 
 maintained their possessions and their social position 
 against the crafty and pushing Armenians. That ceased 
 however, when under Russian rule permanent peace 
 and an orderly state of affairs were established. From 
 that time the Armenian element came to the front, and 
 the Georgian was compelled to make way for it. Now 
 well-nigh the whole property of the town is in Ar- 
 menian hands. The proud figures of the Georgians 
 in their dazzling accoutrements have disappeared from* 
 the streets of Tiflis, the Armenian dwells in their 
 palaces and is master of the situation. 
 
 The intermixture of nationalities in the Cauca- 
 
314 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 sus offers excellent material for studying the influence 
 of the intercourse of specifically different races of men 
 in warlike as in peaceful times. It is surprising that 
 in the Caucasus the Jewish element has not proved 
 capable of coping with the Armenian. It is true Jews 
 are to be found there in tolerable numbers, but they 
 are all drivers, and have the reputation of being rough 
 fellows, always on the look-out for an opportunity of 
 displaying their superior physical strength. Trading 
 they have altogether renounced. The Russians are 
 mostly clever and shrewd men of business, can how- 
 ever, as they themselves admit, not hold their own 
 against Armenians and Greeks. The reputation for 
 greatest longheadedness in all business-relations in the 
 Caucasus as in the whole East is enjoyed by the Greek, 
 yet the Armenians, when they are banded together, 
 carry off the palm from the Greek, who always traf- 
 ficks on his own account. 
 
 When after a few days we continued our journey 
 by railway, we found at the foot of the Kedabeg table- 
 land a new railway-station, Dalliar, from which the road 
 to Kedabeg runs by way of the new Suabian colony 
 Annenfeld. Here we found in course of construction 
 the already mentioned conduit, through which the 
 naphtha brought by rail from Baku to Dalliar was to be 
 pumped up to Kedabeg about three thousand feet. The 
 operations, as regards both the laying the tubes and the 
 arrangements of the pumping station, were proceeding 
 well, but we had to abandon the hope of seeing the 
 completed work in action before the beginning of winter. 
 
THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS., 315 
 
 Our drive from Dalliar to Kedabeg formed a 
 genuine Oriental spectacle to the great delight of the 
 ladies. The Beys of the neighbourhood had heard of 
 the arrival of the owners of the wonderful mine, and 
 did not omit to greet us festively with their dependants, 
 and escort us to Kedabeg. This party was continually 
 renewed and increased on the road nearly twenty- 
 five English miles long. They swarmed round our 
 carriage on their fleet Caucasian mountain - horses, 
 mostly at a wild gallop, up hill and down dale, and 
 afforded, in their Caucasian costume and accoutre- 
 ments, an extremely attractive spectacle. In chasing- 
 past the men performed the most daring, break-neck 
 feats of horsemanship, at the same time firing off their 
 guns, so that our approach produced the impression 
 rather of a warlike encounter than of a peaceful 
 reception. Near Kedabeg the entire population of the 
 place, together with the miners and smelters, joined 
 the procession. In the house of our head manager, 
 Mr. Bolton, we were received by the ladies of his 
 household, and lodged most comfortably. During our 
 stay we derived some benefit from the visit, which 
 had taken place a few weeks before, of the young 
 Crown Prince of Italy, who, attended by the Russian 
 grandees of the Caucasus, had visited our mine and 
 smeltery. For the reception and entertainment of these 
 guests unusual arrangements had of course been made, 
 which had especially included provision for a comfor- 
 table descent into the mine and the procuring of an 
 improvised saloon -carriage for our railway. We re- 
 
316 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 peatedly made use of the latter in our visits to the 
 outwork Kalakent and the Shamkhor on the picturesque 
 line, carried often over perilous abysses. 
 
 Despite the often rather annoying fumes from the 
 works we fully enjoyed in glorious autumn weather 
 the charms of the beautiful environs of Kedabeg. 
 
 o 
 
 Among the special delights must be reckoned a bear- 
 hunt, which we attended in the so-called paradise. 
 This name is borne by a small table-land, bordered 
 by the rivers Shamkhor and Kalakent, which is splen- 
 didly situated and adorned with many wild fruit-trees. 
 The great abundance of fruit in the autumn attracts 
 the bears of the neighbourhood, and the officials of 
 our mine had often instituted successful bear-hunts in 
 this season. 
 
 We passed the night in the branch smelting house 
 Kalakent, and at sunrise repaired for the chase to the 
 neighbouring mountains, which during the night had 
 been surrounded by our forest -keeper with a chain 
 of beaters. It was a wonderfully fine morning, and 
 the noiseless march on the lonely hunting paths in 
 constant expectation of the bears was not without a 
 charm. After a rather long time, passed in intense 
 expectation, we heard in the far distance the call of 
 the beaters resounding from the summit of the slope, 
 the base of which we held. Nothing else was heard in 
 
 o 
 
 the general stillness except the falling of the autumn 
 leaves, a sound, with which hitherto I had only made 
 acquaintance in novels. I was posted on a narrow moun- 
 tain-path between brother Charles and Dr. Hammacher. 
 
THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 317 
 
 My weapon was a rifle with two barrels, one charged with 
 ball, the other with small shot. Similarly defective 
 was the equipment of my companions in the chase. 
 Gradually the clamour of the beaters came nearer, but 
 of bears nothing was to be seen or heard. Suddenly 
 the forest -keeper called our attention by signs to a 
 slight rustle in front of us, and immediately delivered 
 a shot in the direction indicated. The bear slunk 
 away to the left without being hit. A shot delivered 
 by Dr. Hammacher took just as little effect. Then on 
 the other side of me cracked a shot by my brother 
 and immediately after a second. I thought my chance 
 was gone of getting a shot, when all at once close 
 beside me a large brown female bear, accompanied by 
 a cub. crossed the clearing. I delivered my ball-charge 
 at the bear, when the cub fell on its knees with terror, 
 which made me believe I had hit the latter. The 
 mother and her young however ran quietly down the 
 mountain. Every one of us of course thought he had 
 shot his bear, and the district was eagerly searched 
 for the wounded. Traces of blood were indeed dis- 
 covered, but neither then nor afterwards was anything 
 to be seen of our wounded bears. In the further 
 beating up too no bear was slain, only one more in 
 fact came to view and that close to the beaters. 
 These and the bear seem to have been equally ter- 
 rified and fled in opposite directions, the beaters cal- 
 ling out as if in their death-agony. 
 
 One of the finest tours in the further environs 
 of Kedabeg embraces the valley of the Kalakent brook 
 
318 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 above Kalakent itself to the summit of the mountain 
 enclosing the large Goktsha lake. From the summit of the 
 pass the immense lake is seen in the foreground, whilst the 
 chains of the Armenian highlands form the background 
 of the splendid panorama. My travelling companions, 
 who had not shrunk from the severe ride necessary 
 to reach this commanding eminence, had the good 
 fortune to enjoy a perfectly clear prospect, the snow- 
 caps of the great and little Ararat standing out with 
 perfect distinctness. 
 
 After brother Charles and I had had our full 
 delight in the great progress which our remote pos- 
 session had made in the last years, and our com- 
 panions had exhausted the charms of the surrounding 
 forest-clad hills in extensive rides, we continued our 
 journey to Baku, to pay a visit to the ancient sacred 
 perpetual fires, and to make acquaintance with the 
 sources of the modern fire-bringer, donor at any rate 
 of far greater blessings, petroleum. We had quite 
 special reasons for so doing, since it was owing to 
 naphtha, the mother of petroleum, that we found 
 Kedabeg in brisk and hopeful activity. 
 
 The route lay by way of Elisabethpol, the govern- 
 ment town of Kedabeg, in the neighbourhood of which 
 is situated Helenendorf, the largest of the Suabian 
 settlements. When the worthy Suabians heard of our 
 presence in Kedabeg, they sent their mayor with an 
 invitation to us, to visit Helenendorf likewise. We of 
 course accepted it, and on our arrival in Elisabethpol 
 were received by a deputation of the peasants, and 
 
THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 319 
 
 were quickly driven to the village a few miles off. 
 There the whole community took pains to show attention 
 to their German countrymen and especially to their 
 Suabian countrywoman. We had to inspect the church, 
 the school, and the waterworks, and took genuine 
 delight in the old thoroughly German orderliness, which 
 has defied all opposing influences of the country and 
 climate. Helenendorf is the most flourishing and 
 prosperous of all the Suabian settlements in the 
 Caucasus, and owes this in part, no doubt, to the 
 healthy climate and the favourable situation in a fine, 
 mountainous, and well-watered region. To its inhabitants 
 the merit is due of having introduced German con- 
 veyances into the Caucasus. Eecently the colony has 
 taken to the cultivation of the vine, and turns out 
 excellent products of the native grapes by the appli- 
 cation of modern methods. 
 
 The railroad - journey through the monotonous 
 steppe of Elisabethpol to Baku does not offer much that 
 is noticeable. The vegetation is very scanty, with the 
 exception of places which lie by water-courses or have 
 artificial irrigation, of which certainly for the most 
 part only a few traces have remained. It is not the 
 land which has value in such regions, but the water 
 which can be conveyed to it. Progressive culture 
 will in this respect be still able to do much, but even 
 if the rivers were deprived of all their water to 
 fertilize the fields, this would benefit only a small 
 part of the great steppes of Russia. The needful 
 amount of rain is wanting. Whether this has ab- 
 
320 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 solutely diminished within historic times, which might 
 be concluded from many phenomena, or whether only 
 its distribution has become different, cannot as yet be 
 decided. 
 
 The astonishingly large number of wooden prospect- 
 towers thirty to fifty feet high in the wholly flat region, 
 which afforded but the smallest prospect, is explained 
 by the circumstance, that the inhabitants in the worst 
 fever- season pass the nights in these towers to escape 
 the fever. 
 
 A peculiar spectacle was afforded towards the 
 end of the journey by a whole town of similar wooden 
 towers, standing much higher still, apparently close 
 to one another, which crowned the summit of a near 
 mountain -range. More exact observation through a 
 telescope revealed that they were high boring-towers, 
 such as are wont to be erected for deep borings. This 
 was the district of the famous naphtha wells. Thence 
 the oil is conveyed for refining through numerous 
 conduits to the neighbouring "black town" of Baku 
 or rather to its newer part, which contains the 
 numerous petroleum distilleries. It is remarkable that 
 borings in the closest proximity, sometimes more than 
 a thousand feet deep, often yield altogether different 
 results. Frequently, on reaching the petroleum stratum, 
 a fountain arises, from which the naphtha spurts up to 
 a height exceeding a hundred feet. A hollow is then 
 quickly made in the neighbouring soil, to collect the 
 gushing naphtha. The yield of the well however soon 
 diminishes. After a few weeks it is wont no longer 
 
THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 321 
 
 to "strike"', as they say in Baku, and the naphtha 
 must now be pumped up from the bottom of the 
 boring. The boring -towers are accordingly left stan- 
 ding, in order to be used subsequently as pumping- 
 towers. It is hard to explain, how it happens, that 
 at a very slight distance from a boring, where the 
 elasticity of the gases, which at first pressed up the 
 petroleum, is already quite absorbed, a new and strong 
 fountain can arise, as it must be assumed, that all the 
 wells spring from a single stratum of naphtha. Alto- 
 gether the origin of petroleum is still veiled in darkness, 
 and therefore one cannot say whether it will maintain 
 a permanent place in the field of human civilization. 
 How large an influence the naphtha wells of Baku 
 already exercise on the life and industry of Russia is 
 obvious from the long rows of reservoir waggons for 
 the transport of petroleum and masut, which are met 
 with on all the Russian railway-lines. As the forests 
 of Russia have almost everywhere been largely cleared, 
 and coal is only found in quantities on the Don, 
 masut and raw petroleum have quickly attained great 
 importance as cheap and easily transportable fuel. 
 A large part of the Russian locomotives and river- 
 steamers are even now heated by petroleum, and for 
 many branches of Russian industry this has proved 
 a great help in need, as was the case in the working 
 of our Kedabeg copper-mine. 
 
 The old town of Baku is beautifully situated on 
 the abruptly rising shore of the Caspian Sea. Besides 
 
 the district of the naphtha wells with the very 
 
 21 
 
322 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 modernized everlasting fires, the "black town", and 
 a number of interesting architectural remains of the 
 time when it was the residence of the Persian Khans, 
 the town offers few attractions for the stranger. But 
 with favourable weather he may procure himself the 
 pleasure of setting the Caspian Sea on fire, if he 
 makes an excursion in an iron" steamer to a place not 
 far from the coast, where inflammable gases rise from 
 the sea-bottom. In calm weather these may be ignited 
 and then. form a sea of flame around the ship, often 
 lasting a considerable time. 
 
 We made the return-journey by land via Moscow 
 and St. Petersburg. In crossing the great Caucasus 
 we traversed grandly beautiful wild mountain -valleys 
 in the depression at the foot of Kasbek. But if one 
 wishes thoroughly to enjoy their beauty it is better 
 to travel in the reverse direction, for the wild Terek 
 valley, which forms the northern slope of the mountains, 
 is so quickly traversed in descending, that one has 
 hardly time to enjoy the charms of the surrounding 
 country; a further drawback being the disagreeably 
 abrupt bendings of the otherwise marvellous road, when 
 passed over at full speed. From Vladi-Kavkas, the com- 
 mencement of the Russian railway-network, we travelled 
 to Moscow in three days without break of journey. Un- 
 fortunately, owing to the cloudy weather of the first 
 day, the fine views of the great Caucasus, especially the 
 towering Elbrus, escaped us. The numerous cairns on 
 both sides of the road were highly interesting. They 
 prove that for long periods of time a relatively high 
 
THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 323 
 
 civilization prevailed on the northern slopes of the 
 Caucasus, and it is here perhaps that we must look 
 for the centre of origin and rallying point of the tribes, 
 which have at different times deluged Europe. 
 
 I resist the temptation to describe Moscow, and 
 will only refer to the feeling experienced there of 
 being thoroughly in Russia, i. e. on the border-land of 
 European and Asiatic culture. One has this sensation 
 more keenly if, like ourselves on this occasion, one 
 comes from Asia and therefore brings a vivid feeling 
 for Asiatic life and doings. This is hardly to be put 
 into definite words. "In Asia", said one of my fair 
 travelling companions, "dirt and rags are not repulsive, 
 here they certainly are". This is in fact quite charac- 
 teristic of the transition from Asiatic to European 
 civilization. The Asiatic in spite of dirt and rags 
 always exhibits a certain degree of manly dignity, 
 which the European in rags invariably lacks. 
 
 The Russian proper, i. e. the native of Great 
 Russia, forms a true transition between Asiatics and 
 Europeans, and is therefore the proper and successful 
 carrier of European civilization eastward. The con- 
 verse way, of which the Panslavist Russians now often 
 dream, the renewal of the "rotten West" by the native 
 energy of Asia, has certainly no great likelihood of 
 being ever realized. It can indeed not be denied that 
 there lies a danger for the development of Europeo- 
 American civilization in the fact, that Europe has be- 
 come the voluntary teacher of Asia in procuring and 
 
 utilizing the instruments of power, which the former 
 
 21* 
 
324 THIRD JOURNEY TO THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 owes to its technical progress. With the great capacity 
 of the Asiatics for imitation and for utilizing their 
 acquirements, and with the ever advancing art of 
 depriving distance of its dividing power by improving 
 the means of communication, undoubtedly our little 
 Europe might be exposed to a new invasion from 
 Asia subversive of culture, but the first annihilating 
 blow would then light on the intervening countries, 
 
 D o 
 
 especially Russia, as history has indeed already re- 
 peatedly shown. For the rest this danger can only 
 arise, when the scientific and technical progress of 
 Europe comes to a standstill, so that it loses the great 
 start in its technical development, which most surely 
 protects its civilization from every inroad of barbarian 
 nations. Only internal suicidal conflicts could lead to 
 that, for in mental power and inventive faculties the 
 peoples of Europe are far superior to the Asiatics and 
 will doubtless remain so in the future. 
 
 .. In Moscow it was already intensely cold, in St. 
 Petersburg sledging had actually begun and the Neva 
 was covered with drifting ice, so that after a short 
 stay we continued our journey and could still enjoy 
 for a while the milder climate of home. 
 
 As in the two past years I have come here to 
 Harzburg at the end of June, in order to devote a 
 few weeks to recording these reminiscences, and do 
 not intend to leave before I have come to the end 
 of them. I have repeatedly tried in Gharlottenburg 
 
INVENTOR'S JOYS AND SORROWS. 325 
 
 to continue my task, but I have not succeeded there, 
 where everything is pressing forward, in persistently 
 looking backward. For it is habit which puts the 
 strongest snackles on us. I have never been able 
 entirely to put aside the thoughts and plans, which 
 were just then occupying my mind, and this has 
 frequently spoiled my enjoyment of the present, to 
 which I could never wholly devote myself except in 
 passing moments. But on the other hand such a 
 thought-life, partly spent in dreamy speculations, partly 
 in strenuous aspirations, also affords great enjoyment. 
 It sometimes even perhaps brings us the purest and 
 sublimest joys of which man is capable. When a law 
 of nature, hitherto hovering darkly before the mind, 
 all at once clearly emerges from the enveloping mist, 
 when the key to a long vainly sought mechanical 
 combination is found, when the missing link of a chain 
 of thought is happily inserted, this affords the dis- 
 coverer the elevating feeling of an achieved mental 
 victory, which alone richly compensates him for all 
 the pains of the struggle and exalts him for the moment 
 to a higher stage of existence. Certainly the ecstacy 
 does not generally last long. Self-criticism usually soon 
 discovers a dark spot in the discovery, which renders 
 its truth dubious or at least narrowly restricts it. 
 It exposes a fallacy in which one has been entangled 
 or, as is unfortunately almost the rule, it leads to the 
 perception that only an old friend has been met with 
 in a new dress. Only when strict examination has 
 left a sound kernel does the regular hard labour 
 
 cD 
 
326 INFATUATION OF MANY INVENTORS. 
 
 begin of elaborating and completing the invention, and 
 then the struggle for its introduction into scientific 
 and mechanical life, in which most men are ultimately 
 ruined. Discovering and inventing brings therefore 
 hours of supreme delight, but also hours of the greatest 
 disappointment, and of hard fruitless work. The 
 public commonly notices only the few cases in which 
 successful inventors have hit, almost accidentally, upon 
 a useful idea, and by making the most of it, have 
 attained without much labour to fame and affluence, 
 or the class of acquisitive invention-hunters, who make 
 it their life -task to seek for technical applications of 
 well-known things and to secure the benefit of them 
 by patents. But these are not the inventors who 
 open for the development of mankind new paths, which 
 will presumably conduct it to more perfect and happier 
 conditions of life, but those who either in the 
 quiet of scholarly seclusion, or in the bustle of tech- 
 nical activity -- devote their whole being and thought 
 to this development for its own sake. Whether, by 
 correct judgment and use of the opportunities of 
 practical life, inventions lead to the accumulation of 
 wealth or not, frequently depends on chance. Unfor- 
 tunately however the instances of success possess great 
 attraction and have called forth a host of inventors, 
 who plunge into discovery and invention without the 
 necessary knowledge and without self-criticism and 
 thus are mostly ruined. I have ever regarded it as 
 a duty to turn such deluded inventors from the 
 dangerous path which they had entered upon, and this 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION. 327 
 
 has always cost me much time and trouble. Unhappily 
 my efforts have rarely been attended with success, 
 and only complete failure and the bitterest self-inflicted 
 distress occasionally brings these inventors to a per- 
 ception of their errors. 
 
 There are specially two inventive ideas, which 
 have misled and frequently also ruined innumerable 
 people, otherwise fairly gifted and even remarkably 
 clever in their own sphere of activity. These are 
 the inventions of so-called perpetual motion i. e. of 
 a self-acting work -performing machine, and that of 
 the flying -machine and the manageable balloon. One 
 might have thought, that the knowledge of the law 
 of the conservation of energy had already so far 
 penetrated the popular mind, that creating force out 
 of nothing would have come to be considered as con- 
 trary to nature as the production of matter, but it 
 seems that generations must always pass away before 
 a new fundamental truth is universally regarded as 
 such. If a man is once possessed by the unhappy 
 delusion, that he has found the way to construct 
 working machines by mechanical combinations alone, 
 he has become the victim of a generally incurable 
 mental ailment, which defies all teaching, and even 
 the most painful experience. Almost the like holds 
 good of the endeavours to construct flying-machines and 
 manageable air-balloons. The problem itself is indeed 
 for every mind possessing a slight mechanical training 
 a very simple one. It is indubitable that we can con- 
 struct flying-machines according to the pattern of flying 
 
328 MANAGEABLE AIR -SHIPS. 
 
 animals, if only the fundamental condition be fulfilled, 
 which consists in this, that we have machines as light 
 and powerful as the motor muscles of flying animals 
 and which do not require a much larger supply of 
 combustible material. When such a machine is invented, 
 every skilled mechanician can make a fly ing -machine. 
 The inventors however always begin at the wrong end, 
 and invent flying mechanisms without having the power 
 for moving them. Still worse is it with the manageable 
 air-ships. The problem of their construction has been 
 long ago solved in principle, for every air-balloon may, 
 in perfectly calm weather, be slowly propelled in any 
 direction by a suitable mechanism applied in the car. 
 Progress however can only be slow, because in the 
 first place power -machines of sufficient lightness are 
 still wanting to drive the voluminous balloon at greater 
 speed through the air or against the wind, and secondly 
 because the material of the balloon would not stand a 
 strong counter -pressure of the atmosphere, even if we 
 possessed such machines. The oblong form, which the 
 inventors give the balloon, in order that it may better 
 cleave the air, increases its weight with equal volume 
 and is therefore worthless. The like holds good of the 
 application of inclined planes, which are intended to 
 facilitate the supporting of the weight. 
 
 Besides these two problems there are a number 
 of others on which inventors squander time and money 
 by failing to perceive that the means for carrying 
 them out are not yet at the disposal of applied science. 
 
ACTIVITY AFTER THE WAR OF 1866. 329 
 
 After these digressions I resume the thread of 
 my narrative with my retirement from political activity. 
 
 The war of 1866 had removed the obstacles 
 which opposed the longed-for unity of Germany, and 
 had at the same time restored internal peace in Prussia. A 
 new support was thereby given to the national idea, and 
 the hitherto vague tentative efforts, as it were, of German 
 patriots now obtained a firm foundation and definite 
 direction. It is true, the Main boundary still divided 
 Germany into a Northern and a Southern half, but 
 no one doubted that its removal was only a question 
 of time, if it was not rigidly fixed by external force. 
 That France would make that attempt appeared certain, 
 but there was a growing confidence, that Germany 
 would successfully stand this trial also. As a conse- 
 quence of this great revolution of popular sentiment 
 there resulted the general endeavour to consolidate 
 quickly what had been attained, to strengthen the 
 feeling of solidarity of North and South despite the 
 Main boundary and to prepare for the coming struggle. 
 
 This buoyant feeling was evidenced by increased 
 activity in all departments of life, nor did it fail to 
 react on our business affairs. Magneto-electric mine- 
 exploders, electric range-finders, electric apparatus for 
 steering unmanned boats, furnished with explosives, 
 against hostile ships, as well as numerous improve- 
 ments of military telegraphy, were the off-spring of 
 this stirring time. 
 
 I will here only give a detailed account of a 
 non-military invention of this time, as it has become 
 
330 DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINE. 
 
 the foundation of a new and important branch of 
 industry, and has exerted and still continues to exert 
 a stimulating and transforming influence in all depart- 
 ments of technology, I mean the invention of the 
 dynamo-electric machine. 
 
 As early as the autumn of 1866, when I was 
 intent on perfecting electric exploding apparatus with 
 the help of my cylindrical inductor, the question 
 occupied my mind, whether it would not be possible 
 by suitable employment of the so-called extra- current, 
 to considerably intensify the induction - current. It 
 became clear to me, that an electro-magnetic machine, 
 whose working power is very much enfeebled by the 
 induced currents arising in its coils, because these 
 induced currents considerably diminish the efficiency 
 of the source of electricity, might conversely strengthen 
 the force of the latter, if it were forcibly turned in 
 the opposite direction by an external force. This 
 could not fail to be the case, because the direction 
 of the induced currents was at the same time reversed 
 by the reversed movement. In fact, experiments 
 confirmed this theory, and it appeared that there 
 always remains sufficient magnetism in the fixed 
 electro-magnets of a suitably contrived electro-magnetic 
 machine to produce the most surprising effects by 
 gradually strengthening the current generated by the 
 reversed rotation. 
 
 This was the discovery and first application of 
 the dynamo-electric principle underlying all dynamo- 
 electric machines. The first problem, which was 
 
DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINE. 331 
 
 thereby practically solved, was the construction of an 
 effective electric exploding apparatus without steel 
 magnets, and such exploding apparatus is still in general 
 use at the present day. The Berlin physicists, among 
 them Magnus, Dove, Riess, du Bois-Reymond , were 
 extremely surprised, when I laid before them in 
 December 1866 such an exploding inductor, and 
 showed, that a small electro-magnetic machine without 
 battery and permanent magnets, which could be turned 
 in one direction without effort and with any velocity, 
 offered an almost insuperable resistance when turned 
 in the opposite direction, and at the same time produced 
 an electric current of such strength, that its wire -coils 
 became quickly heated. Professor Magnus immediately 
 offered to lay a description of my invention before 
 the Berlin Academy of Sciences, but, on account of 
 the Christmas holidays, this could only be done in the 
 following year, on the 17 th of January 1867. 
 
 The priority of my application of the dynamo- 
 electric principle was afterwards impugned in various 
 quarters, when its enormous importance came to be 
 seen in its further development. At first, Professor 
 Wheatstone was almost universally recognised in Eng- 
 land as simultaneous inventor, because at a sitting of 
 the Royal Society on the 15 th of February 1867, at 
 which my brother William produced my apparatus, he 
 immediately exhibited a similar apparatus, which was 
 only distinguishable from mine by the wire -coils of 
 the fixed electro-magnet being differently disposed in 
 their relation to those of the rotating cylindrical magnet. 
 
332 DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINE. 
 
 Next, Mr. Varley came forward with the assertion, 
 that already in the early part of the autumn of 1866 
 he had given orders to a mechanician for just such 
 an apparatus, and also subsequently handed in a 
 "provisional specification" of the same. My first 
 complete theoretical establishment of the principle in 
 the printed Transactions of the Berlin Academy, and 
 its previous practical elucidation, have however finally 
 been taken to be decisive in my favour. The name 
 given by me to the apparatus "dynamo-electric machine"' 
 has also become general, although frequently corrupted 
 in practice into "the dynamo". 
 
 Already in my communication to the Berlin 
 Academy, I had pointed out that technical science was 
 now in possession of appliances capable of producing 
 electric currents of any desired tension and strength 
 by the expenditure of energy, and that this would 
 prove of great importance for many of its branches. 
 In fact large machines of the kind were immediately 
 constructed by my firm, one of which was exhibited 
 at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, whilst a 
 second was employed in the summer of the same year 
 by the military authorities for electric lighting experi- 
 ments in Berlin. These experiments proved indeed 
 quite satisfactory, with the drawback, however, of the 
 wire-coils of the armatures rapidly becoming so hot, 
 that the electric light produced could only be allowed 
 for a short time without interruption. The machine 
 exhibited in Paris was never actually put to the test, 
 as there were no appliances for the transmission of 
 
DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINE. 333 
 
 force in the space allotted to my firm, and the jury, 
 to which I myself belonged, did not subject the exhibits 
 of their members, which were "hors concours", to any 
 trial. All the greater was the sensation caused by 
 an imitation of my machine exhibited by an English 
 mechanician, which produced from time to time a small 
 electric light. It was considered a sufficient recognition 
 that the order of the Legion of Honour was awarded 
 to me at the close of the exhibition. 
 
 When at a later time the dynamo-machine, after 
 considerable improvement, especially by the introduction 
 of Pacinottrs ring and Hefner's coiling system, had 
 received the most extensive application in practice, 
 and both mathematicians and engineers had developed its 
 theory, it seemed almost self-evident and hardly to be 
 called an invention, that one should arrive by merely 
 reversing the rotation of an electro-magnetic machine 
 at the dynamo -electric machine. Against this it may 
 be said, that the most obvious inventions, of primary 
 importance, are commonly made very late, and in the 
 most round-about way. For the rest it would not 
 have been easy to have arrived by accident at the 
 discovery of the dynamo-electric principle, because 
 electro-magnetic machines only "excite", i. e. spon- 
 taneously strengthen their electro-magnetism on re- 
 versing the rotation, when their dimensions and the 
 disposition of the coils are perfectly correct. 
 
 To this period also belongs my invention of 
 the alcoholmeter, which very successfully solved an 
 extremely difficult problem, and accordingly excited 
 
334 ALCOHOLMETER. BERLIN FIRM. 
 
 much attention at the time. The problem consisted 
 in constructing an apparatus to register continuously 
 and automatically the quantity of absolute alcohol 
 contained in the spirit flowing through it. My apparatus 
 solved this problem so completely, that it indicated 
 the quantity of alcohol, reduced to the customary 
 normal temperature, as accurately as could be determined 
 by the most exact scientific measurements. The Russian 
 government has employed this apparatus for almost 
 a quarter of a century in levying the high tax, which 
 is imposed on the production of spirit, and many other 
 European states have also subsequently adopted it for 
 the same purpose. Apart from a few important 
 practical improvements due to my cousin Louis Siemens, 
 the apparatus is still supplied in the original form as 
 a regular article of manufacture by a factory specially 
 erected for the purpose in Charlottenburg. No imitation 
 has hitherto been successful anywhere, although the 
 apparatus is unprotected by a patent. 
 
 The dimensions, which the firm of Siemens and 
 Halske gradually attained, of course required a correspon- 
 ding organization of the management and the help 
 of able technical and administrative assistants. The 
 friend of my youth, William Meyer, who filled the 
 post of chief engineer and confidential clerk from the 
 year 1855, had, by his considerable organizing talent, 
 not only rendered valuable service to the Berlin firm, 
 but also to its branches in London, St. Petersburg, 
 
HALSKE RETIRES FROM THE FIRM. 335 
 
 and Vienna, Unfortunately he fell ill of a serious 
 disorder after eleven years activity in the business, 
 and died after prolonged sickness, deeply lamented by 
 me as a personal friend and faithful co-worker. 
 
 Not long afterwards, in the year 1868, my old 
 friend and partner Halske retired from the firm. The 
 favourable development of the business this will 
 hardly appear credible to many at first sight was 
 the determining reason for his taking this step. The 
 explanation lies in Halske's singularly constituted nature. 
 He took great pleasure in the faultless productions 
 of his clever hand, as well as in everything that he 
 could entirely overlook and control. Our common 
 activity was thoroughly satisfactory for both parties. 
 Halske always gladly adopted my constructive plans 
 and designs, which with remarkable mechanical tact 
 he at once most distinctly apprehended, and to which 
 he often first gave their full value by his practical 
 skill. At the same time Halske was a clear-headed 
 cautious man of business, and him alone have I to 
 thank for the good business results of the first years. 
 The case altered however, when the business increased 
 and could no longer be managed by us two alone. 
 Halske regarded it as a desecration of his cherished 
 establishment that strangers should have rank and rule 
 in it. Even the installation of a book-keeper gave 
 him pain. He could never get over it that the well- 
 organized concern should exist and work without him. 
 Finally, when the designs and undertakings of the firm 
 became so large that he could no more overlook 
 
336 FELLOW-WORKERS. 
 
 them, he felt no longer satisfied, and resolved to retire, 
 in order to devote his whole activity to the ad- 
 ministration of the city of Berlin, which afforded him 
 personal satisfaction. Halske remained a dear and 
 faithful friend to me -till his death, which occurred 
 last year, and always, even to the last, retained a 
 lively interest in the establishment of which he was 
 joint -founder. His only son takes to-day an active 
 part in the management of the present business as 
 confidential clerk. 
 
 As Meyer's successor we appointed the former 
 director of the Hanoverian telegraph system, Herr 
 Karl Frischen, who after the annexation of Hanover 
 passed over into the service of the North German 
 Confederation, and had for several years filled the 
 office formerly held by Meyer as chief telegraph 
 engineer of the Government telegraphs. The business 
 gained in Herr Frischen an eminent technical worker, 
 who had already distinguished himself by many original 
 inventions. Further it was now of great advantage 
 to the firm, that excellent departmental managers and 
 constructors had been formed among its junior assistants, 
 who had received their training in the firm. I shall 
 only mention Herr von Hefner-Alteneck, whose achieve- 
 ments as head of our construction-office have earned 
 for him a world-wide reputation. 
 
 Supported by such able coadjutors I was able more 
 and more to confine myself to the general management 
 of the business, and to leave with full confidence the 
 details to our assistants. In this way I obtained greater 
 
REMARRIAGE. 337 
 
 leisure to occupy myself with scientific and such social 
 problems as I had particularly at heart. 
 
 My domestic life underwent a complete trans- 
 formation through my second marriage, which took 
 place on the 13 th of July 1869, with Antonie Siemens, 
 a distant relative, the only child of the meritorious, 
 and in agricultural technology well-known, professor 
 Carl Siemens in Hohenheim near Stuttgart. I have 
 often jokingly said in after-dinner speeches and the 
 like, that this marriage with a Suabian lady should 
 be looked upon as a political act, as the Main line 
 was bound to be bridged, and this could best be 
 done by as many alliances of affection as possible 
 being concluded between North and South, which must 
 then of themselves soon be followed by political ones. 
 Whether my patriotism was not considerably influenced 
 by the amiable qualities of the fair Suabian herself, 
 who has again brought warm sunshine into my some- 
 what gloomy and laborious life, I shall not here more 
 closely enquire. 
 
 When on the 30 th of July 1870 the news arrived 
 by telegraph in Charlottenburg that the Emperor 
 Napoleon had crossed the German frontier at Saarbrtick 
 and the fateful war between Germany and France had 
 actually begun, my wife presented me with a little 
 daughter, to be followed two years later by a son. 
 I gave our daughter the name Hertha, in pursuance 
 of a vow to give her this name, if the German war- 
 ship so called, which the French fleet were chasing 
 in all waters, escaped capture. My four elder children 
 
 22 
 
338 THE WAR OF 
 
 were in Heligoland at the time of the declaration of 
 war, and had to flee as speedily as possible with the 
 whole troop of visitors, in order not to be prevented 
 from returning by the blockade. The telegram of my 
 eldest son, then sixteen, from Cuxhaven may pass as 
 a sample of the deep emotion and courage that had 
 taken possession of all Germany - - "I must join too'', 
 words that happily could not be translated into action, 
 as before the completed seventeenth year no one is 
 accepted in the Prussian army. 
 
 The war with France, like that of 1866, was 
 speedily carried to a victorious issue for Germany, 
 after a struggle of tremendous proportions. The joyful 
 consciousness, that Germans from all parts for the first 
 time in the course of their history fought and con- 
 quered side by side under the same flag, made the 
 heavy sacrifices, with which the gloriously achieved 
 victories had to be purchased, appear more endurable, 
 and lightened the profound mourning and misery, which 
 the war entailed. It was a glorious and elevating 
 time, which has left impressions never to be effaced 
 on all who lived through it; and coming generations 
 will assuredly never suffer the feeling of devout grati- 
 tude to die out, which the nation owes to the great 
 leaders who put an end to its ignominious discords, 
 and made it united and powerful. 
 
 Although I had entirely renounced political acti- 
 vity after the year 1866, I still continued to take the 
 
THE PATENT QUESTION. 339 
 
 greatest interest in public affairs. One question, to 
 which I had long before paid particular attention, was 
 that of patent - right. It had long become clear to 
 me that one of the greatest obstacles to the free 
 and independent development of German industry lay 
 in the lack of protection for inventions. It is true 
 that in Prussia, as also in the other large states of 
 
 7 O 
 
 Germany, patents were granted for inventions, but the 
 grant entirely depended on the good pleasure of the 
 authorities and lasted at the most only for three years. 
 Even for this short time they afforded only a very 
 unsatisfactory protection against imitation, for it rarely 
 paid to take out patents in all the states belonging to 
 the Zollverein, since every state applied its own test 
 of originality, and indeed strictly speaking it was im- 
 possible, as many of the smaller states did not grant 
 patents at all. The consequence was that inventors, as 
 a matter of course, sought in the first instance to turn 
 their inventions to account in foreign countries, espe- 
 cially England, France, and the United States. The 
 youthful German industry was therefore altogether 
 thrown upon the imitation of foreign productions, and 
 thereby indirectly still more strengthened the preference 
 of the German public for foreign manufactures by 
 only dealing in imitations, and these for the most part 
 also under a foreign flag. 
 
 As to the worthlessness of the old Prussian patents 
 there could not be two opinions. Indeed they were 
 as a rule only applied for in order to obtain a certifi- 
 cate that an invention had actually been made. Further- 
 
 22* 
 
340 ACTION ON THE PATENT QUESTION. 
 
 more , the then dominant thoroughgoing Free Trade 
 party regarded the patenting of inventions as a relic 
 of the old monopoly rights, and incompatible with the 
 principles of Free Trade. In this sense a circular 
 letter was sent in the summer of 1863 by the Prussian 
 Minister of Commerce to all the chambers of commerce 
 of the state, in which the uselessness, nay even inju- 
 riousness of the patent system was set forth and finally 
 the question propounded, whether the time had not 
 come to abolish it entirely. This led me to draw up 
 a memorial to the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, the 
 council of Berlin merchants, which adopted the dia- 
 metrically opposite point of view, to set forth the 
 necessity and utility of a patent -law for the promotion 
 of the industry of the country, and to sketch the out- 
 lines of a rational patent -law. 
 
 My detailed statement was approved by the 
 Council, although the latter consisted of very pro- 
 nounced free traders. It was unanimously adopted 
 as the opinion of the Chamber of Commerce , and at 
 the same time communicated to the other chambers 
 of commerce of the state. Of the latter those, which 
 had not yet sent in a reply assenting to the abolition 
 of patents, expressed their sympathy w r ith the Berlin 
 decision, and as a consequence the proposal for abo- 
 lition was abandoned. 
 
 This favourable result afterwards encouraged me 
 to initiate a serious agitation for the introduction of an 
 imperial patent -law, on the basis proposed by me. 
 I sent a circular to a considerable number of men, 
 
ACTION ON THE PATENT QUESTION. 341 
 
 who I supposed would have a special interest in the 
 matter, and asked them to form a "Patent Protection 
 Union", with the object of procuring a rational Ger- 
 man patent -law. The call was generally responded 
 to, and a short time after the Union was called into 
 existence under my presidency. I remember with 
 pleasure the stimulating debates of this Union, to 
 which eminent legal authorities such as Professor 
 Klostermann, Mayor Andre, and Dr. Rosenthal be- 
 longed. The final result of the discussions was the 
 draft of a patent -law, which essentially rested on 
 the foundation laid by me in my statement of 1863. 
 This consisted of a preliminary inquiry in regard to 
 the novelty of the invention and subsequent public 
 exhibition of the specification, thereby affording an 
 opportunity for objections to the grant; further the 
 grant of the patent for the term of fifteen years, with 
 yearly increasing impost and complete publication of 
 the patent granted; finally establishment of a patent- 
 tribunal , which on application could always declare 
 the nullity of the patent, if the originality of the in- 
 vention was afterwards successfully disputed. 
 
 These principles gradually gained approval with 
 the public also, and even the Free Trade party of the 
 most rigid principles was quieted by the economic 
 basis of the proposal, which consisted in the protection 
 appearing as a reward for the immediate and complete 
 publication of the invention, whereby the new ideas 
 underlying the patented invention became themselves 
 industrial common property, and might even bear 
 
342 ACTION ON THE PATENT QUESTION. 
 
 fruit in other fields. It took however a long time 
 before the imperial government resolved to take legis- 
 lative action in the matter. I fancy that a memorial, 
 which as president of the Patent Protection Union I 
 addressed to the imperial Chancellor, had a consider- 
 able influence on the decision for the promulgation 
 of an imperial patent -law. In this memorial I laid 
 stress on the inferior condition and the slight esti- 
 mation of German industry, its productions being every- 
 where styled "cheap and nasty"; and at the same 
 time I pointed out that a new firm bond for the young 
 German empire would be created, if thousands of manu- 
 facturers and engineers from all parts of the country 
 could find in the institutions of the empire the long 
 desired protection for their intellectual property. 
 
 In the year 1876 a meeting of manufacturers as 
 well as of administrative officials and judges was called 
 together from all Germany, which made the draft of 
 the Patent Protection Union the definite basis of their 
 deliberations. The bill resulting from these deliberations 
 was adopted by the Reichstag with a few modifications, 
 and has very materially contributed to strengthen Ger- 
 man industry, and procure respect for its productions 
 both at home and abroad. Our industry has since 
 been on the best way to lose in almost all its branches 
 the stigma of "cheap and nasty", which Professor 
 Reuleaux rightly gave to its productions at the Phila- 
 delphia Exhibition in 1876. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE LONDON FIRM SINCE 1864. 343 
 
 I will now take up my account of the develop- 
 ment of the businesses established by us from the 
 point where I described the changes, which our London 
 house had to go through after the unsuccessful cable 
 undertakings between Spain and Algeria in the year 
 1864. The firm of Siemens Brothers, from that time 
 separated from the Berlin business, had quickly and 
 regularly developed under brother William's direction, 
 both as manufacturing and contracting concern. As 
 William had also at the same time great success in 
 the engineering business carried on by him privately, 
 and his time and energies were thereby very much 
 taken up, the desire arose at the end of the sixties 
 that brother Charles should undertake the special 
 management of the London telegraph business. Charles 
 consented, as since the expiration of the Russian 
 maintenance contracts he no longer found any consider- 
 able sphere of activity in Russia, 
 
 Halske's resolution to retire from the Berlin firm 
 was taken about the same time, and we three brothers 
 decided accordingly upon an entire reform of the 
 business - connection of our different firms. A joint 
 business was formed which embraced them all. Each 
 firm retained its independence as regards administration 
 and financial methods, its profit and loss account however 
 was carried over to the joint business, of which we 
 three brothers were the sole proprietors and partners. 
 The St. Petersburg concern was placed under an able 
 manager, whilst Charles went to England to undertake 
 the special management of the London firm. 
 
344 PROGRESS OP THE LONDON FIRM SINCE 1864. 
 
 How splendidly the London house, now named 
 "Siemens Brothers", prospered in the immediately 
 following period has been described at length in the 
 above-mentioned book of Dr. Pole on my brother 
 William. I therefore confine myself here to some 
 remarks on my own and my brother Charles's personal 
 cooperation. 
 
 When in the year 1869 Charles transferred his 
 residence to London, the factory at Charlton was 
 already in full work as a mechanical workshop for the 
 construction of electric apparatus of every kind; a cable- 
 sheathing shop was also combined with it, in which 
 important cables had already been manufactured. The 
 principle employed by me in the testings of the English 
 Government cables, that the permanence of a cable 
 could only be assured, if it were tested at all stages 
 of its manufacture with scientific thoroughness and 
 accuracy, had borne good fruit , and the system of 
 cable testings, then elaborated, has answered admirably 
 well in the sequel. 
 
 The remarkable success of the Malta -Alexandria 
 line, which we tested according to this system for the 
 English Government, had considerably raised our tech- 
 nical reputation in England, and perhaps for this reason 
 the only factory in England, which then turned out 
 wires coated with seamless gutta-percha according to my 
 method, threw difficulties in the way of supplying the 
 purified gutta-percha which we ordered from it. We 
 accordingly resolved to establish our own gutta-percha 
 factory, and accomplished this with complete success. 
 
DIRECT ATLANTIC CABLE. 345 
 
 In this manner we were enabled ourselves to under- 
 take great cable -lay ings, and thereby to break down 
 the monopoly of the great cable-ring which had mean- 
 while been formed, and whose purpose was to monopo- 
 lize the whole submarine telegraphy. In reality my 
 brothers succeeded in calling a Company into existence, 
 which entrusted to us the production and the laying of 
 an independent direct cable between Ireland and the 
 United States. The requisite capital was subscribed 
 on the Continent, as the English market was closed 
 to us by the overwhelming competition. 
 
 Brother William shewed his great constructive 
 ingenuity by designing a large steam -ship expressly 
 destined for the laying of cables, which was christened 
 by us "Faraday". Brother Charles undertook the 
 command of it on laying the cable. I considered 
 Charles specially fitted for this task, as he was cool 
 and deliberate, besides being a good observer and 
 resolute in action. I myself was not to be deterred 
 from sailing in the Faraday, freighted with the deep- 
 sea cable, to the starting point of the laying, Ballins- 
 kellig Bay, on the west coast of Ireland, and there 
 undertaking the direction of the operations of the land- 
 station during the laying. 
 
 It was tolerably favourable weather, and every- 
 thing went well. The difficult abrupt descent of the Irish 
 coast into deep water was successfully got over, and 
 according to the electrical testings the state of the cable 
 was faultless. Then suddenly there occurred a small 
 defect in the insulation, so small that only extremely 
 
346 DIRECT ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 sensitive instruments, such as we were employing, could 
 have detected it. -According to previous cable-laying 
 practice, this defect would have been allowed to pass, 
 as it was without any influence on the signalling. But 
 we wished to lay down a perfectly faultless cable, and 
 determined therefore to take the cable up again to 
 the point of the fault, which must be immediately 
 behind the ship. This indeed went off well in spite 
 of the great depth of 18,000 feet, as was continuously 
 telegraphed to us from the ship. Suddenly however 
 the scale of our galvanometer flew out of the field of 
 sight, - - the cable was broken! Broken at a depth, 
 from which to fish up the end again appeared quite 
 impossible. 
 
 It was a hard blow, which threatened our personal 
 reputation as well as our business credit. The intel- 
 ligence spread through all England in the same hour, 
 and was received with very different feelings. Nobody 
 believed in the possibility of recovering a detached 
 piece of cable from so great a depth, and even brother 
 William advised by telegraph to abandon the paid-out 
 cable, and to recommence the laying. I was how- 
 ever convinced that Charles would not return without 
 having made the attempt to pick the cable up, and 
 calmly watched the continual fluctuations of the scale 
 of the galvanometer to detect any signs pointing to 
 the movement of the cable-end by the search- anchor. 
 Such indications indeed frequently occurred, without 
 having further consequences, and two anxious days 
 passed without any news from the ship. All at once 
 
DIRECT ATLANTIC CABLE. 347 
 
 a violent mirror- vibration! The end of the copper- 
 wire must be in metallic contact. Then for several 
 hours feeble regular twitching of the reflected image 
 of the scale, from which I inferred a jerky lifting of 
 the cable -end by the grapnel. However succeeding 
 quiet for hours together caused hope to sink again. 
 Then once more strong mirror - vibration produced 
 by a current from the ship, w r hich was greeted with 
 reiterated hurrahs by the workers at the "station. 
 The incredible had been realised. From a depth ex- 
 ceeding the height of Mont Blanc the cable had been 
 found by a single operation, and what is more, had 
 been brought up to the surface unbroken. Many favou- 
 rable circumstances must have combined to make this 
 possible. Good sandy sea-bottom, fine weather, suitable 
 appliances for seeking and lifting the cable, and a good 
 manageable ship with a skilful captain, happily con- 
 curred, and made the apparently impossible possible 
 with the help of much luck and self-confidence. Brother 
 Charles, however, confessed to me afterwards that 
 during the uninterrupted lowering of the grapnel, 
 which took seven hours, to reach the sea - bottom, 
 giving him for the first time a clear idea of the known 
 depth, he had lost all hope of success and was him- 
 self astounded when it came. 
 
 After successful removal of the fault and re-esta- 
 blishment of connection with the land the laying was 
 continued for some days without disturbance. Then 
 the ship reported rough weather, and soon after a 
 small fault again occurred in the cable, which was 
 
348 DIRECT ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 left however till reaching shallow water off Newfound- 
 land, in order to seek and remove it when the weather 
 was more favourable. The picking up proved how- 
 ever to be very difficult, as the sea-bottom was rocky 
 and the weather persistently bad. Much cable was 
 thereby lost, and the Faraday was obliged to return 
 to England without finishing her task, to ship fresh 
 cable and coals. Yet even the following expedition 
 led only to the more accurate localization, but not to 
 the removal of the fault, and a third attempt was 
 necessary, in order to render the cable communication 
 perfectly faultless. 
 
 This first transatlantic cable-laying of ours was 
 not only exceedingly instructive for us, but in point 
 of fact led for the first time to the complete clear 
 apprehension and mastery of cable - layings in deep 
 water. We had shown, that even in unfavourable 
 weather and at a bad time of year cables can be laid 
 and repaired, and that too in very deep seas and with 
 a single, but well -constructed and sufficiently large 
 ship. The loss of cable, which we had had in the 
 repairings, was attributed by brother Charles to the 
 unsuitableness of the construction of the cable, which 
 was identical with that adopted for the first successful 
 transatlantic cable. For diminishing the specific gravity 
 of the cable steel wires had been used for the cover- 
 ing and protection of the conductor, surrounded with 
 hemp or jute. On a strong pull these twisted the 
 cable and produced kinks in the cable on the bottom 
 of the ocean, which very much impeded or altogether 
 
DIRECT ATLANTIC CABLE. 349 
 
 prevented the taking up again. In accordance with 
 Charles's suggestion we afterwards used only a closed 
 steel -wire sheathing and thereby removed all the diffi- 
 culties, which so considerably hampered our first deep 
 sea laying. 
 
 On the further technical improvements in the 
 method of laying cables in deep water, to which the 
 preceding enterprise led us, I cannot here enlarge. I 
 will only mention that my theory, propounded on laying 
 the Cagliari-Bona cable in 1857, has held its ground 
 very well. As already mentioned, I have further 
 developed and mathematically treated this theory in 
 an essay laid before the Berlin Academy of Sciences 
 and the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians 
 in London, and believe that it may now be regarded 
 as fairly settled. 
 
 The laying of this our first transatlantic cable 
 brought us brothers many exciting incidents, one of 
 which occurred at a very unfavourable moment and 
 profoundly agitated me. 
 
 I had been elected in the year 1874 by the Royal 
 Academy of Sciences in Berlin one of its ordinary 
 members, an honour which hitherto had only fallen 
 to the lot of professed savans, and on the day fixed 
 for the purpose I was about to give my prescribed 
 inaugural address at a special meeting of the Academy, 
 when on leaving the house I received a telegraphic 
 message from London to the effect, that according 
 to a cablegram the Faraday had been crushed by 
 icebergs and had gone down with all hands on board. 
 
350 FURTHER ATLANTIC CABLES. 
 
 It required no slight self-control on my part, oppressed 
 as I was by this terrible intelligence, still to deliver 
 my address, which did not admit of postponement. 
 Only a few intimate friends had perceived my violent 
 emotion. Certainly I had hopes from the first moment, 
 that it was only a "love-token" of our opponents, to 
 cause this dread intelligence to be concocted in America, 
 whence it was telegraphed. And indeed it soon turned 
 out to be a baseless fiction. How the story originated 
 could never be found out, and after the lapse of 
 several anxious days the Faraday was reported safe 
 and sound from Halifax. It had for a considerable 
 time been detained at sea by a thick fog. 
 
 The successful completion of the American cable 
 raised the London firm at a stroke to a far higher 
 level of English business - life than it had occupied 
 hitherto. The testing of the electric properties of the 
 cable by the highest authority in this department, Sir 
 William Thomson, had proved that it was entirely 
 faultless and possessed a very high signalling capacity. 
 It was of great importance that the cable ring, which 
 had been formed under Sir John Fender's auspices, 
 was now broken through. It is true the attempt was 
 made to restore it by subsequently admitting to the 
 ring the cable laid by us. This however was to our 
 advantage, for there was soon formed another, and 
 this time a French, company, which gave orders to our 
 firm to lay an independent cable. After a short time 
 this also was purchased by the Globe, as the cable 
 ring was called, but this led to American capital being 
 
FURTHER ATLANTIC CABLES. 351 
 
 attracted to cable telegraphy. Brother William received 
 in the year 1881 a cablegram, in which the well-known 
 railway - king Mr. Gould ordered a double cable to 
 America, which was to be constructed entirely like 
 the last laid by us - - the French so-called Pouyer- 
 Quertier cable. It is a sign of the credit, which our 
 firm enjoyed also on the other side of the ocean, that 
 Mr. Gould declined to receive a representative to con- 
 clude the contract, "as he had perfect confidence in 
 us," and confirmed this by the remittance of a large 
 instalment. This was the more noteworthy, as Mr. Gould 
 is well known in America as a very cautious and keen 
 man of business, and it was a matter of some millions. 
 At any rate, however, he had correctly speculated, for 
 his unlimited confidence constrained my brothers to 
 propose the most favourable conditions possible and 
 to execute the work in the very best fashion. The 
 Gould cables after some competitive contests were also 
 united with the Globe, but it was America that again 
 broke through the monopoly. In the year 1884 the 
 well-known Americans, Mackay and Bennett, gave orders 
 to Siemens Brothers for two cables between the English 
 coast and New York, which were faultlessly manufac- 
 tured and laid within a year, and have up till now 
 maintained their independence of the cable ring. 
 
 These six transatlantic cables have all been laid 
 by the "Faraday", which proved a most satisfactory 
 ship for cable -laying, and as such has served as a 
 model for the competing firms. The double screw 
 with axes inclined to one another, which was first 
 
352 DEATH OF WILLIAM. 
 
 employed in it, gave to the great ship of 5000 tons 
 a degree of mobility hitherto unattained, which made 
 it possible to carry out cable -laying and repairing 
 work in every season and even in unfavourable weather. 
 Brother Charles had already returned in the year 
 1880 to St. Petersburg, after the London firm had 
 at his instigation been transformed into a private 
 limited liability company. In the year 1883 brother 
 William was, alas, torn from us and his untiring ac- 
 tivity by a quite unexpected and sudden death. Herr 
 Loffler, an official of many years standing, was in- 
 stalled as managing director of the London firm, and 
 has been recently succeeded by a younger member 
 of the family, Mr. Alexander Siemens. 
 
 My appointment as ordinary member of the Berlin 
 Academy of Sciences was not only very honourable in 
 itself for the favoured individual, who did not belong 
 to the class of professional savans, it also had a pro- 
 found influence on my later life. As my friend du Bois- 
 Reymond, who acknowledged my inaugural address as 
 presiding secretary of the Academy, rightly pointed out, 
 I belonged by natural endowment and inclination in 
 a far higher degree to science than to practice. 
 Scientific research was my first, my early love, and 
 it has retained my affection to the advanced age, 
 which I now - - I can hardly say - - enjoy. At the 
 same time I have certainly always felt the impulse to 
 make scientific attainments useful for practical life. 
 
APPOINTED MEMBER OF THE BERLIN ACADEMY. 353 
 
 I expressed that in my inaugural address , when I 
 enlarged on the theme that science does not exist 
 for its own sake, merely to satisfy the thirst for 
 knowledge of the limited number of its votaries, but 
 that its office is to increase the treasures of know- 
 ledge and power of the human race, and thereby to 
 raise mankind to a higher level of civilization. It was 
 noteworthy that friend du Bois in his reply to my 
 address bade me at the end welcome "into the circle 
 of the Academy, which only pursues science for its own 
 sake". In very truth scientific investigation must not 
 be means to an end. The German savant has always 
 been justly distinguished by this , that he pursues 
 science on its own account, for the satisfaction of his 
 thirst for knowledge, and in this sense I have always 
 been able to reckon myself more to the savans than 
 to the engineers, since the prospective profit has either 
 not at all, or only in special cases, guided me in the 
 choice of my scientific work. The entrance into the 
 narrow circle of distinguished men of science could 
 not therefore but elevate me in a high degree and 
 spur me to scientific activity. Moreover the statutes 
 of the Academy exerted a beneficial constraint upon 
 me. Every member must in rotation give a lecture, 
 which is then printed in its Transactions. As it was 
 very disagreeable to evade this obligation, it compelled 
 me to complete and publish researches, which under 
 other circumstances I should perhaps have postponed 
 in favour of others seemingly more interesting, or have 
 
 left altogether unfinished. Whilst therefore before my 
 
 23 
 
354 ACADEMIC LABOURS. 
 
 reception into the Academy I seldom got so far as 
 the publication of a piece of scientific work, and 
 usually contented myself with the enlargement of my 
 own knowledge not without subsequent vexation, 
 
 if my results were discovered and then made public 
 by others - - I was now obliged every year to finish 
 and publish one or two contributions. To this state 
 of things is also to be ascribed the circumstance that 
 in my academical lectures I dealt less with matters 
 of my special department, electrical technology, than 
 with subjects of general scientific interest. They were 
 partly detached thoughts and reflections, jotted down 
 in the course of my life, which were now brought 
 together and scientifically worked up, partly novel 
 phenomena, which aroused my particular interest and 
 called for special investigation. I shall once more 
 return to these purely scientific publications at the 
 close of these reminiscences. 
 
 Although since my reception into the Academy 
 I had been far more occupied than heretofore with 
 purely scientific problems, which stood in no relation 
 to my business calling, I did not omit to continue 
 to devote the needful time to the latter also. The 
 superior management of the Berlin firm, and the 
 technical work connected with it, usually claimed 
 my whole working time during the day. The diffi- 
 culty of my task was much augmented by the in- 
 creasingly multifarious character of the firm's opera- 
 tions, and the great dimensions they had assumed; 
 and although able coadjutors relieved me of a con- 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BERLIN FIRM. 355 
 
 siderable portion of the burden, yet there still remained 
 for me much arduous and unceasing work. 
 
 ^/Jt had very early become clear to me that a 
 satisfactory development of the continually growing 
 firm must depend on securing the hearty spontaneous 
 co-operation of all the workers for the furtherance 
 of its interests. To attain this it seemed to me es- 
 sential that all who belonged to the firm should 
 share in the profits according to their performances. 
 As my brothers acceded to my view this principle 
 came to be adopted in all our establishments. Ar- 
 rangements to that end were settled at the cele- 
 bration of the twenty -fifth anniversary of the original 
 Berlin firm in the autumn of 1872. We then 
 determined that a considerable portion of the yearly 
 profits should regularly be set aside for allowing a 
 percentage to officials proportionate to their salaries 
 and bonuses to workmen, and as a reserve fund for 
 necessitous cases. Moreover we presented the col- 
 lective body of workers with a capital-stock of 9000 
 for an old age and invalid fund, the firm agreeing to 
 pay every year to the account of the managers of 
 the fund, chosen directly by those interested, fifteen 
 shillings for each workman and thirty shillings for 
 each official, who had served in the business uninter- 
 ruptedly for a twelvemonth. 
 
 These arrangements have worked remarkably well 
 during the nearly twenty years of their existence. 
 Officials and workmen regard themselves as a per- 
 manent part of the firm and identify its interests with 
 
 23* 
 
356 PENSION FUND. 
 
 their own. It is seldom that officials give up their 
 position, since they see their future assured in the 
 service of the firm. The workmen also remain per- 
 manently attached to the firm, as the amount of the 
 pension rises with the uninterrupted period of service. 
 After thirty years continuous service the full old 
 age pension commences with two thirds of the wages; 
 and that this is of practical importance is proved by 
 the respectable number of old age pensioners who are 
 still strong and hearty, and beside their pension con- 
 tinue to receive their full wages. But almost more 
 than the prospect of a pension the endowment fund 
 for widows and orphans connected with the pension 
 fund binds the workmen to the firm. It has been 
 proved to be the case that this endowment is still more 
 urgent than the invalid pension, as the uncertainty of 
 the future of those dependent on him commonly 
 weighs more heavily on the workman than his own. 
 The ageing workman nearly always loves his work, 
 and does not willingly lay it down without actual and 
 serious need of rest. Accordingly the superannuation 
 fund of the firm, in spite of a liberal use of the pensions 
 by the workmen themselves, has only consumed the 
 smaller part of the incomings from the interest of the 
 funded capital and the contributions of the firm to- 
 wards pensions; the larger part could be applied for 
 the support of widows and orphans as well as for in- 
 creasing the capital stock of the fund, which is destined 
 to secure the workman's claim for pensions in the 
 event of the possible liquidation of the business. 
 
VALUE OF PRIVATE PENSION FUNDS. 357 
 
 The reproach has been made to this arrangement 
 that it binds the workman too much to the particular 
 workshop, because by his leaving it he loses the 
 advantages gained. This is quite true, although the 
 hardship is considerably mitigated by the circumstance 
 that with dismissal for want of work every dismissed, 
 workman receives a paper, giving him a preferential 
 claim to re-admission over other workmen. Certainly the 
 workman's freedom to strike is considerably restricted 
 by the conditions regarding pensions, for on his vo- 
 luntarily leaving his old age claims lapse by the rules. 
 It is however to the interest of both parties that a 
 permanent working staff should be formed, for only 
 thereby is the firm enabled to maintain the workmen 
 even in unfavourable times and to pay them wages 
 affording subsistence. Every large factory ought to 
 form such a pension -fund, to which the workmen 
 contribute nothing, but which they themselves manage, 
 of course under the control of the firm. In this 
 manner the strike mania, which seriously injures in- 
 dustry and especially the workmen themselves, is best 
 coped with. 
 
 It is certainly somewhat hard that the provisions 
 of the Workmen's Old Age Insurance. Law of Ger- 
 many have no regard to the already existing or 
 prospective private pension funds, and thus oblige 
 the particular factories to pay double for pensioning 
 their workmen. However the peaceful relations between 
 employers and employees, which are secured by the 
 private pension fund, as well as a permanent staff of 
 
358 LARGE COMMERCIAL HOUSES IN THE MODERN STATE. 
 
 workmen, are so important, that such an excess of 
 expenditure is amply justified. 
 
 The esprit de corps produced by the arrangements 
 described, which binds together all the fellow labourers 
 of the firm of Siemens & Halske, and gives them an 
 interest in its welfare, explains in great part the com- 
 mercial success which we achieved. 
 
 This leads me to the question, whether altogether 
 it is to the general interest that large commercial 
 houses should be established, which permanently remain 
 in the possession of the family of the founder. It 
 might be said that such large firms are hindrances to 
 the rise of many smaller undertakings and therefore 
 act injuriously. That is certainly pertinent in many 
 cases. Wherever it is possible to maintain an export 
 trade by the productions of handicraftsmen, large 
 competing factories have a prejudicial effect. Wherever, 
 on the contrary, the development of new branches of 
 industry or the opening of the markets of the world 
 for those already in existence comes into question, 
 large centralised business undertakings with abundant 
 
 o o 
 
 capital are indispensable. Such capitals can certainly 
 at the present day be most easily brought together 
 in the form of joint stock companies, but these can 
 nearly always be only pure gain-seeking companies 
 which, by their own regulations, are only allowed to 
 have in view the attainment of the largest possible 
 amount of profit. They are therefore only adapted 
 for reaping advantage from already existing well- 
 tried methods of working and organizations. The 
 
LARGE COMMERCIAL HOUSES IN THE MODERN STATE. 359 
 
 opening of new paths is on the contrary nearly always 
 troublesome and attended with great risk, requires 
 also a larger store of special knowledge and ex- 
 perience than is to be found in joint stock com- 
 panies, for the most part short-lived and often 
 changing their management. Such an aggregation of 
 capital, knowledge, and experience can only be formed 
 and maintained in long established commercial houses, 
 remaining by inheritance in the same family. Just 
 as the great commercial houses of the Middle Ages 
 were not only money -making institutions, but con- 
 sidered themselves called upon and bound to serve 
 their fellow- citizens and the state by seeking out new 
 commodities and new highways of commerce - - the 
 obligation being transmitted as a family tradition through 
 many generations so at the present day in this 
 awakened scientific age the large technical business- 
 houses are called upon to put forth their whole 
 strength, that the national industry may take the lead 
 in the great contest of the civilized world, or at 
 least the place assigned to it by the nature and 
 situation of the country itself. Our political institutions 
 still rest almost everywhere on the feudal system, 
 according to which the landed proprietor was almost 
 exclusively regarded and honoured as the supporter 
 and maintainer of the power of the State. Our time 
 can no longer recognize the validity of this privilege. 
 Not on possessions, be they what they may, will the 
 conservative force of society henceforth depend, but 
 on the spirit which animates and fertilizes them. Al- 
 
360 SOCIAL POSITION. 
 
 though it is conceded that inherited possession of the 
 soil binds by tradition and education the owner more 
 firmly to the state, and is therefore more conservative 
 than land easily transferable and capital altogether 
 moveable, it yet no longer suffices to protect the state 
 from impoverishment and decay. This protection can 
 only be secured to-day by the conscious co-operation 
 of all the spiritual forces of the nation, the mainte- 
 nance and further development of which is one of 
 the most important problems of the modern state. 
 
 Although the fact, that I owe my position in 
 life to my own efforts, has always afforded me a 
 certain satisfaction , yet I have always gratefully 
 acknowledged that my path was smoothed by my ad- 
 mission into the Prussian army and therewith into the 
 State of the great Frederick. I regard the cabinet 
 order of Frederick William III., which accorded me 
 the entry into the Prussian army, as the opening of 
 the only path then possible, in which my energies 
 could be developed. I have often, in my later life, 
 had opportunity to perceive how true had been the 
 utterance of my father that, in spite of all discontent 
 with the Prussian policy of the Holy Alliance, Prussia 
 was yet the only firm point in Germany and the only 
 anchorage for the hearts of German patriots. I have 
 therefore always bestowed my, I may well say, inborn 
 affection to the German fatherland first and foremost 
 on Prussia, and have always been faithfully and grate- 
 
SOCIAL POSITION. 361 
 
 fully devoted to it and its five kings, under whose 
 rule I lived. It was not only the knowledge to be 
 acquired at the Prussian military schools and the 
 mental culture there attained, which facilitated my 
 later progress in life, it was also the position of 
 military officer held in such esteem in Prussia, which 
 was of the greatest assistance to me. 
 
 Prussia was, as I have already mentioned in 
 another place, down to the middle of the present 
 century essentially a military and bureaucratic state, 
 only to the nobility and landed gentry certain honorary 
 privileges appertained. An industrial class proper was 
 entirely wanting, in spite of all the effort which 
 enlightened officials, such as Beuth, made in order 
 to form one from the insufficiently developed artisan 
 class. Moreover, as the trade of the country was 
 very limited, there was also wanting a prosperous 
 cultured middle class as counterpoise to the army, the 
 officials, and the landed nobility. Under these circum- 
 stances it was in Prussia of great value, to belong as 
 officer to the court-retinue and to have the entree to 
 all social circles. 
 
 It is customary at the Prussian court for this 
 privilege, possessed by every, even the civil officer, 
 of belonging to the court - circle to be continually 
 exercised. Thus as early as the winter of 1838, when 
 a young officer in the artillery and engineering school, 
 I was commanded to attend great entertainments at 
 the royal palace, and since that time, accordingly for 
 more than half a century, I have frequently been per- 
 
362 SOCIAL POSITION. 
 
 mitted to be present at these great court gatherings, 
 which faithfully reflect Berlin society and clearly illus- 
 trate the immense revolution which Prussia, and all 
 Germany with it, has undergone during that time. 
 At these assemblies I have frequently had the oppor- 
 tunity of becoming personally acquainted with the 
 members of the Royal Family. 
 
 As previously mentioned, I had already had 
 occasion at an earlier period of my life to be grateful 
 to the Prince of Prussia for his kindness in liberating 
 me at St. Petersburg from a painful position. I have 
 ever retained this feeling of gratitude, but unfortunately 
 in consequence of my political views was constrained 
 to incur the anger of the monarch by voting in the 
 Diet according to my convictions against the reorgani- 
 zation of the army. When the declaration of war 
 against Austria had actually taken place, and the 
 brilliant victories of the reorganized Prussian army had 
 clearly proved the wisdom of the strengthening of the 
 army by this reorganization, I took indeed pains to 
 help to remove the injurious consequences of the 
 parliamentary resistance to the reorganization, and 
 successfully struggled for the grant of the indemnity 
 so magnanimously asked for by the victorious ruler, 
 but hardly thought I could ever hope to regain the 
 former favour of the sovereign. I was therefore all 
 the more agreeably surprised when at the close of the 
 Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, at the same time 
 as the French croix d'honneur, the Prussian Order of 
 the Crown was conferred upon me. 
 
SOCIAL POSITION. 363 
 
 A few years later the Emperor gave a still more 
 decided expression to this renewal of favour with a 
 kindliness, which could hardly be surpassed. I had 
 already for a number of years been a member of the 
 Council of the Berlin Merchants' Company, and accor- 
 ding to the prevailing practice had been proposed by 
 the president of the Company for nomination as Coun- 
 cillor of Commerce, without my knowing anything 
 about it. The Emperor had already approved of the 
 nomination, and the president of police was kind enough 
 to call upon me and personally to bring me the grati- 
 fying intelligence of this impressive mark of favour. 
 The title of Councillor of Commerce however was not 
 quite to my taste, for I considered and felt myself more 
 a savant and engineer than a merchant. The president 
 of police, who soon perceived my uneasiness, tried to 
 combat my objection and asked, what he should say 
 to the Emperor, who had desired to do me a favour. 
 Whereupon the remark slipped off my tongue, that 
 first lieutenant, honorary doctor of philosophy, and 
 Commercial Councillor did not agree, such a mixture 
 
 O ' 
 
 would produce a stomach-ache! The police -president 
 finally promised to convey my petition to the Emperor 
 that my appointment as Councillor of Commerce should 
 not be published, and we agreed to meet at a particular 
 spot at the court ball to be given the same evening. 
 He there came up to me with a cheerful countenance, 
 and reported that he had communicated to the Emperor 
 my scruples regarding the stomach-ache; that the 
 Emperor had laughed heartily at it, and remarked he 
 
364 SOCIAL POSITION. 
 
 himself felt something of the same sort, I should there- 
 fore ask for some other favour when he addressed me. 
 This unfortunately I could not do. A title more in 
 accordance with my position did not exist in Prussia 
 for non-officials and I could not possibly follow the 
 advice of the president to request a higher order, 
 since, as I said to him, one gratefully accepts such 
 when offered, but does not solicit it. This refusal 
 gave offence to the president, and as the Emperor 
 soon after passed without addressing me, I imagined 
 I had again incurred his displeasure. All the more 
 delighted, nay almost abashed was I, when the presi- 
 dent of police communicated to me, he had told the 
 Emperor that I knew of nothing to ask from him, and 
 that he had thereupon replied "well then, present 
 him to my wife". 
 
 In consequence of a mistake in persons this pre- 
 sentation did not take place then, and I also after- 
 wards omitted to be presented to the Empress in the 
 usual way, as it was repugnant to me to force myself 
 into the presence of royalty, as is so often done. 
 That this did not pass unnoticed I afterwards learnt 
 from the Empress herself. During the Vienna Ex- 
 hibition of 1873 the latter requested the German 
 jurors to be presented to her, I being one of them. 
 After the presentation was over, she sent for me 
 specially and said : "I have a bone to pick with you, 
 Herr Siemens, you try to give us the slip, but in 
 future you will not find that so easy". Indeed the 
 august lady often afterwards gave me proofs of her 
 
SOCIAL POSITION. 365 
 
 esteem and graciousness in visiting our factories or 
 inviting me to give lectures on electrical subjects. 
 
 One of these lectures, which I had to give in the 
 Imperial palace, had special significance through the 
 Grand Duke of Baden on the day before the delivery 
 of the lecture having sent me a programme, precise 
 both in extent and subject, which the Emperor himself 
 had dictated to him. The theme ran "Nature and 
 cause of electricity and its application in practical 
 life". It was not easy to satisfy the theoretical part 
 of the programme, as our knowledge of the nature 
 of electricity is still very slight, but even the drawing 
 up of such a programme shows how profound was 
 the interest taken by the Emperor in the physical 
 sciences, the great importance of which for the further 
 development of human civilization he fully perceived. 
 
 The Crown Prince and his family have also in- 
 variably displayed the liveliest interest in the gradual 
 development and the scientific achievements of our 
 establishment, and have frequently honoured our fac- 
 tories with their presence. To this gracious and kindly 
 recognition of my efforts I, in fact, owe my place in 
 the list of recipients of honours, which the Emperor 
 Frederick announced on ascending the throne. Without 
 the usual preliminary inquiry I was included in the 
 list, and to my great astonishment first heard through 
 the newspapers of my admission into the ranks of 
 the nobility. 
 
366 ACTIVITY AT THE PATENT OFFICE AND IN SOCIETIES. 
 
 Although my time was very much taken up with 
 my scientific work and my business, I yet never lost 
 my interest in the questions of public life. I was an 
 active member of several scientific and technical socie- 
 ties, took part both commercially and privately in the 
 great exhibitions, and was frequently appointed by the 
 government on special commissions for scientific and 
 technical questions. Of this multifarious activity I shall 
 here only cite a few instances, which appear to me 
 worthy of mention. 
 
 When the Imperial patent law came into being, 
 substantially in accordance with my proposals, an 
 invitation was issued to me to assist the newly con- 
 stituted Patent Office at least for a number of years. 
 I willingly complied, in order to be enabled to secure 
 that the practical application should be in harmony 
 with the adopted principles of the patent law. In 
 this manner I obtained the rank of an official of the 
 Empire and as such was proposed by Prince Bismarck 
 for the title of "Privy Councillor". I gratefully ac- 
 cepted the same, as the bearing of a title in Prussia 
 is very general and my colleagues, the members of the 
 Academy of Sciences, for the most part bore it. 
 
 I was an active member and for a number of 
 years deputy-chairman of the Association for the Pro- 
 motion of Industry, which was called into existence 
 by Beuth, the father of Prussian industry, and ren- 
 dered great service to the industrial development of 
 Germany under the many years' presidency of the 
 State Minister Delbrtick. 
 
ELECTRO -TECHNICAL SOCIETY. 367 
 
 I had a large share in the establishment of the 
 Electro-Technical Society through the mediation of the 
 Secretary of State Dr. von Stephan,/! was" the first 
 active president of the Society and made many of my 
 technical labours for the first time public through 
 lectures in this Society. Similar societies were founded 
 in several places after the pattern of the Berlin Electro- 
 Technical Society; at the same time the meritorious 
 older Society of Telegraph Engineers in London, called 
 into existence by my brother William, expanded their 
 name and programme by adopting electric engineering 
 as the aim of the Society. The formation of the 
 Berlin Society is to be regarded as the commencement 
 of electro -technical science as a special branch of 
 civil engineering, the term "electro -technical" itself 
 occurring for the first time in the designation of the 
 Society. By the adoption of the resolution subsequently 
 brought forward by me, "to request governments to 
 establish professorships of electric engineering at all 
 technical academies, in order that young engineers may 
 have the opportunity of getting to know the assistance 
 which electrical technology might afford them in their 
 special work", the Society has rendered good service 
 as regards the rapid development of electric engi- 
 neering in all its branches, as the resolution was almost 
 everywhere complied with. Also by its endeavours 
 to obtain an international system of electric standards, 
 the Society has done great service. The initiative was 
 taken by the Congress, which was connected with the 
 Industrial Electric Exhibition in Paris of 1881, - a 
 
368 PARIS CONFERENCES. 
 
 request being preferred to the French government to 
 bring about diplomatically the assembling of an inter- 
 national conference of delegates, whose task should be 
 the establishment of a scientific system of standards 
 for electro-technology. 
 
 Such a conference, to which Helmholtz, Wiede- 
 mann, Clausius, Kirchhoff and myself were deputed 
 by the German Empire, met in Paris in the following 
 year, and decided in principle for the absolute standard 
 system of William Weber, with the modification that 
 the c. g. s. standard, for which England had already 
 pronounced, was adopted as the standard of resistance. 
 Owing to the little accuracy however, with which 
 hitherto the absolute resistance unit of Weber could 
 be reproduced in practice, it was resolved to take as 
 a practical basis the mercury unit, which I had pro- 
 posed, and to invite the scientists of every country, 
 to ^settle experimentally the relation of the modified 
 c. g. s. unit to the then widely adopted Siemens unit. 
 As the mean of all the determinations in consequence 
 arrived at there resulted for this relation the value 
 1-06; and accordingly a column of mercury of 1 square 
 millimetre in cross section and 106 centimetres long 
 at C. named "Ohm" was established at the final 
 conference in the year 1884 as the international 
 legal unit of resistance. In like manner the names 
 of meritorious physicists were selected for the re- 
 maining units of the system; it is however to be 
 regretted that the name of William Weber, the creator 
 of this absolute standard system, was passed over, 
 
PARIS CONFERENCES. 
 
 although this honour ought to have been specially 
 paid him, when his own system was adopted. For 
 myself it was a little triumph that a reproduction of 
 my mercury unit, which Lord Rayleigh made ac- 
 cording to a method somewhat different from my 
 own, should yet agree to a ten thousandth part with 
 the standard tallies delivered by our firm. 
 
 It was certainly somewhat hard for me, that my 
 resistance unit, arrived at with so much trouble and 
 labour, which had speaking generally made the first 
 comparable electric measurements possible, then was 
 employed for more than a decennium throughout 
 the world and adopted as legal international standard 
 of resistance for telegraphy by the International Tele- 
 graph Congress, should have now suddenly to be set 
 aside with my own co-operation. But the great 
 advantage of a theoretically established system of 
 standards, consistently carried out and universally 
 adopted, necessitated this sacrifice offered up to 
 science and the public interest. 
 
 My literary activity was in general limited to 
 the presentation of my scientific and technical labours 
 and the description of the mechanical contrivances 
 which I had constructed. I was however often obliged 
 to repel attacks, which were levelled directly or in- 
 directly at my firm or at myself personally. This 
 
 was the more necessary as my firm never advertised, 
 
 24 
 
370 LITERARY ACTIVITY. 
 
 and only let good workmanship proclaim its merits. 
 Unfounded attacks on its achievements could therefore 
 not pass unchallenged, which frequently had to take 
 the form of an appeal to the law of libel, as the 
 newspapers usually had more sympathy for their 
 regular profitable advertisers. 
 
 Of such rectifications I will only here instance 
 one sent in April 1877 to the Elberf elder Zeitungj 
 since it is of a more general interest. The anonymous 
 writer, who gave occasion to this rectification, had 
 praised the dynamo-electric machines of M. Gramme 
 in Paris, whom he styled the meritorious inventor 
 of the dynamo -electric machine and electric lighting, 
 and for whose recognition he claimed the German 
 love of justice in high-sounding phrases, without 
 even making mention at all of the German share in 
 these inventions. In my reply I emphasized the un- 
 doubted merit of Gramme in the development of 
 the dynamo - electric machine , which consisted in 
 the combination of the ring of Pacinotti with nay 
 dynamo -electric principle, I could however not omit 
 to reverse the appeal to German love of justice in 
 favour of foreign services by pointing to the fact 
 that the German is always inclined rather to recog- 
 nise foreign and exotic than home growths. This 
 was, I added, a great obstacle to the development 
 of German industry, since the latter was often com- 
 pelled by the preference for foreign manufactures 
 to send its better products to the markets of the 
 world under a foreign flag, whence it came to pass 
 
LITERARY ACTIVITY. 371 
 
 that German manufactures were everywhere wrong- 
 fully characterized as inferior cheap wares. 
 
 I have had occasion before to refer to this, and 
 in particular have characterized as unpatriotic and 
 despicable the suicidal practice of bringing the better 
 German manufactures to market as English, French, 
 or even American. It is difficult to decide whether 
 the blame rests mainly with the German public or 
 the German manufacturers, in any case it is the out- 
 come of a reciprocal action between the prejudice of 
 the former and the short-sightedness of the latter, who 
 have only their momentary advantage in view. Since 
 the establishment of the new German Empire and the 
 national advance connected with it there has un- 
 doubtedly been an improvement in this respect, but 
 the eradication of the evil is still far from complete. 
 Our manufacturers still too much lack the pride to 
 supply only good articles, and our public the per- 
 ception that such commodities even at a higher price 
 are the cheapest. Only from the reciprocal action of 
 both is the national pride in the products of one's 
 own industry developed, which affords the best pro- 
 tection for the latter. How strongly the feeling of 
 the superiority of native to all foreign products is 
 developed in England was vividly brought home to 
 me, when I was once watching, with brother William, 
 the unloading of a vessel, which for the first time 
 brought ice to London from a Norwegian port. The 
 ice was deposited in handsome cubical blocks on 
 
 the landing place, and was regarded with manifest 
 
 24* 
 
372 LITERARY ACTIVITY. 
 
 interest by the purchasers. My brother began a con- 
 versation with one of them by praising the fine 
 appearance of the blocks. "Oh yes" was the reply 
 of the person addressed, a herculean butcher, "it 
 looks very well but it has not the English nature". 
 Even English ice must necessarily be colder than 
 foreign ice. This prepossession of every Englishman 
 in favour of native products, which always influences 
 his choice, strengthens the pride of the English artisan 
 and manufacturer in the excellence of their work 
 and thereby often causes the preconceived opinion to 
 become truth. 
 
 Of my other popular publications I will here 
 only cite my lectures "Electricity in the service of 
 life" of the year 1879 and "The Age of Science" of 
 the year 1886. 
 
 In the former lecture I descanted on the state 
 of electrical engineering and added some reflections 
 on the further progress, confidently to be expected, 
 which would result from the circumstance that elec- 
 tricity could now with the help of the dynamo-elec- 
 tric machine also perform heavy work, whereas hitherto 
 it had only been useful through the rapidity of its 
 action in mediating, directing and controlling intelli- 
 
 O 7 o" o 
 
 gence and signals, leaving the execution of the heavy 
 work itself to other natural forces. 
 
 The lecture "On the Age of Science", which I 
 gave at Berlin at the opening meeting of the Society 
 of Naturalists and Physicians in the autumn of 1886, 
 dealt with the change of social conditions through the 
 
LITERARY ACTIVITY. 373 
 
 rapidly growing command of man over the forces of 
 Nature. I set forth that engineering, resting on the 
 basis of physical science, was more and more relieving 
 man of the previous severe bodily labour, which Nature 
 had imposed on him for the maintenance of his life, 
 that the wants of life and means of enjoyment would 
 be satisfied by ever diminishing bodily exertion, and 
 thus become cheaper and accordingly more accessible 
 to all; further that through the distribution of force 
 and the inevitable fall of the rate of interest the 
 superiority of large factories to individual labour would 
 more and more be neutralized and consequently the 
 practical ends of Social Democracy would be attained 
 without a violent overthrow of the existing order solely 
 by the undisturbed progress of the Age of Science. 
 I also tried in my lecture to show that the study of 
 the physical sciences in its further progress and general 
 diffusion would not brutalize men and divert them 
 from ideal aspirations, but on the contrary would lead 
 them to humble admiration of the incomprehensible 
 wisdom pervading the whole creation, and must there- 
 fore ennoble and improve them. The occasion appeared 
 to me opportune for publicly asserting my convictions, 
 since the unshakable belief in the beneficial conse- 
 quences of the undisturbed development of the Age 
 of Science is alone competent to repel with success 
 all the fanatical attacks which threaten human civili- 
 zation on all sides. 
 
 It is not sufficient however to leave scientific 
 engineering to its own undisturbed development, it is 
 
374 PROPOSAL OF AN INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 
 
 rather necessary to assist its progress as far as possible. 
 For this certainly already much has been done in 
 Germany through the highly developed system of 
 scientific technical instruction, for which the best con- 
 ceivable arrangements have been made at the numerous 
 universities and polytechnic schools. There was a total 
 absence however of any organization for the furtherance 
 of scientific investigation, i. e. for the extension of the 
 area of our physical knowledge, on which technical 
 progress is also dependent. In Prussia years ago the 
 necessity of an institute had been perceived, which 
 should have for its object the scientific support 
 of engineering and especially of applied mechanics, 
 and a commission, to which I was summoned, had 
 elaborated a plan for such an institute, which was 
 to be added to the new polytechnic institution in 
 course of erection at Charlottenburg. This was how- 
 ever no solution of the problem of furthering scientific 
 investigation itself. 
 
 The necessity of an institute, not subserving in- 
 struction but scientific research exclusively, had very 
 strikingly appeared at the conferences on the establish- 
 ment of international electric standards in Paris. There 
 was found no suitable place in all Germany for carry- 
 ing out the difficult work of exactly producing the 
 absolute resistance unit of Weber. The laboratories 
 of the universities are, in conformity with their desti- 
 nation, arranged for the purpose of instruction and 
 indeed as a rule entirely claimed for that object, 
 German scientists have nevertheless in the leisure-hours, 
 
ERECTION OF A PHYSICO- TECHNICAL IMPERIAL INSTITUTE. 375 
 
 which their teaching vocation left them, used these for 
 carrying on their researches, and have accomplished 
 much, but for extensive thorough research neither the 
 rooms and their fittings nor the leisure -time of the 
 scientists were sufficient. My proposal to add to the 
 planned institute for the scientific support of engineer- 
 ing a second, which should be exclusively at the 
 service of scientific research, met indeed with much 
 sympathy, but the execution of the plan was re- 
 garded as impossible under the existing circumstances. 
 Suitable premises were wanting, sufficiently large and 
 not liable to vibration from vehicular traffic, and it 
 also appeared difficult to obtain the consent of the 
 Prussian Diet to the considerable expenditure required 
 for the erection and subsequent maintenance of such 
 an institution. 
 
 I had already bequeathed in my will a conside- 
 rable sum of money to be applied to the furtherance 
 of scientific research, but precious time would perhaps 
 have been lost before my possibly still remote death, 
 and particularly the favourable opportunity would then 
 have gone by for calling into life a large undertaking, 
 answering to the needs of the time, by the combina- 
 tion of the planned institute destined for scientific re- 
 search with the scientific-technical one already agreed 
 to in principle. I therefore resolved not to wait till 
 my death, but to make the Imperial Government the 
 offer, to place at its disposal a large piece of ground 
 perfectly suited to the purpose or the equivalent 
 capital for an Imperial institute devoted to scientific 
 
376 ERECTION OF A PHYSICO- TECHNICAL IMPERIAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 research, if the Empire would undertake the cost of 
 building and the future maintenance of the institute. 
 My proposal was accepted by the Government, con- 
 firmed by Parliament, and on this foundation the 
 physico- technical Imperial institute at Charlottenburg 
 has grown up, which now forms a German home for 
 scientific research under the guidance of the first 
 physicist of our time, Privy Councillor von Helmholtz. 
 
Charlottenburg, June 1892. 
 
 1 hoped last year to bring these recollections to 
 a close in Harzburg, but was prevented by my wife's 
 illness and many other troubles. In the autumn I had 
 myself a severe attack of influenza, which compelled 
 me to winter in the south. Accompanied by my wife 
 and youngest daughter I resorted to Corfu in December. 
 It is true that there is not much provision in the place 
 for sick persons, and the climate in January and Fe- 
 bruary is about the same as that of a rainy North 
 German summer, but the glorious situation and the 
 beautiful surroundings of the town afford great plea- 
 sure even at that season of the year. 
 
 Corfu still lives on the benefits, which the Eng- 
 lish protectorate formerly brought the island. The fine 
 roads made by the English, although already in part 
 thoroughly out of repair, still continue to afford fair 
 communication between the most important parts of 
 the island. The English waterworks also, which have 
 made the city of Corfu a healthy place, are luckily 
 still kept up. Till a short time ago the Corfiote lived 
 in ancient Phaeacian ease on the profits, which the 
 
378 IN CORFU. 
 
 numerous old olive-trees of the island brought him; 
 he never took the trouble properly to gather the fruit, 
 but waited till it fell to the 'ground of itself, and then 
 collected what was in good condition. Recently how- 
 ever petroleum has sent down the price of oil, and 
 anxiety for daily bread is beginning to be felt even 
 in Phaeacia. Greater attention is therefore now paid 
 to the cultivation of the vine, which indeed costs 
 much more labour, but is also far more remunerative 
 than the cultivation of the olive. One sees with re- 
 gret in many parts of the island the old picturesque 
 olive-trees cut down to make room for the more pro- 
 fitable vine - cultivation. Almost the only foreigners, 
 who permanently reside in Corfu, are French traders, 
 who buy up all the wine. The large amount of red 
 colouring matter, which the wine of Corfu contains, 
 doubtless makes it very suitable for the manufacture 
 of "genuine" claret. In former times no wine could 
 be exported from the island, as the Corfiotes preferred 
 to drink their wine themselves. Thus the most ancient 
 habits change in an age that does not suffer the un- 
 changeable ! 
 
 At the end of February, when the fruit-trees 
 began to bloom, we left Corfu and went to Naples, 
 where we hoped to find better weather and more 
 amusement. But the Apennines were still thickly 
 covered with snow, even dear Vesuvius wore a light 
 snowy mantle, and in Naples it rained still more persis- 
 tently and severely than in Corfu. As a compensation 
 we there enjoyed the pleasant intercourse with friend 
 
IN NAPLES. 379 
 
 Dohrn and his amiable family. A month later we 
 went to Amalfi, but not before Sorrento did the long 
 ardently desired blue Italian sky at last smile upon us. 
 There I first began to feel my strength returning when, 
 taking a walk with my wife, we were attracted by 
 the prospect of a fine view and reached the highest 
 point of the neighbourhood, the monastery of Deserto. 
 My hope of being able to pay another visit to Vesuvius, 
 and perhaps of taking another look into the sources 
 of its changing activity, unfortunately remained unful- 
 filled, on account of the unfavourable weather. It gave 
 me however much pleasure to see it again, for one 
 clings to persons and things, which have earned our 
 gratitude. For during an ascent in the year 1878 
 Vesuvius had given me such unmistakable indications 
 of the cause of its activity by its regularly recurring 
 explosion-like eruptions, that the sphere of my ideas 
 concerning the formation of the earth's crust and the 
 underlying forces was considerably enlarged. 
 
 At the beginning of May we returned home, but 
 unfortunately I had yet to sustain two violent attacks 
 of fever. Having now luckily got the better of these 
 likewise, I hope that the sick period of my old age 
 is passed and that a calm and cheery evening of life 
 will be granted me in the midst of my beloved ones. 
 
 I have already in the foregoing pages frequently 
 spoken of my brothers and sisters, but considering the 
 great influence, which they had on my career, I feel 
 
380 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 
 
 constrained to append a condensed and connected sum- 
 mary of their lives. 
 
 I will first mention my brother William, snatched, 
 alas! so early from us. How in a foreign land, which 
 he set foot upon without any acquaintances and in- 
 troductions and with very limited means, he worked 
 himself up to a position of great distinction, has been 
 admirably recorded by the pen of so competent a writer 
 as Dr. Pole. Many foreigners, Germans among the rest, 
 have made their fortunes in England, but that has 
 usually depended on certain lucky hits, among which 
 a single invention of great material importance is com- 
 monly to be reckoned. William achieved more, he 
 forced the public opinion of England to honour him in 
 his life-time, and in a still more striking manner after 
 his death, as one of the leading spirits, to whom the 
 country owes the great development of its technical 
 industry by the diffusion and application of scientific 
 knowledge. By participating indefatigably in the work 
 of the numerous associations, which made good in Eng- 
 land the previous want of sound preliminary technical 
 education, William contributed much to bringing English 
 engineering up to the level of advanced physical science, 
 and it redounds to England's honour to have impartially 
 acknowledged this service on the part of a foreigner. 
 William's exertions were considerably assisted by the 
 uninterrupted and close connection with his brothers, 
 and by his marriage with the amiable Miss Gordon of 
 an honourable Scottish family, which made it easier for 
 him to obtain a firm footing in English society. 
 
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 381 
 
 William died on the 19 th of November 1883, in 
 his sixtieth year, of a slowly developed and scarcely 
 noticed disease of the heart. His almost sudden death 
 overtook him at the height of his activity. Already 
 all the honours had been heaped upon William, which 
 a savant and engineer can obtain in England. He 
 was repeatedly president of the foremost scientific and 
 technical societies, amongst others first president of 
 the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians 
 founded by himself. The highest recognitions and 
 
 / o 
 
 prizes accorded by these societies were awarded 
 him. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge made 
 him honorary doctor; and he received the honour of 
 knighthood at the hands of the Queen. His death 
 was felt throughout England as a national calamity, 
 and was as such lamented in all the newspapers. The 
 funeral service took place with befitting solemnity in 
 Westminster Abbey. A year after his death a window 
 was dedicated to his memory in the Abbey, presented 
 by the scientific and technical associations of England, 
 the leading English men of science and representatives 
 of technical industry taking part in the proceedings. 
 His deeply afflicted wife retired to her beautiful 
 country house, which the forethought of her husband 
 had bequeathed her, at Sherwood, near Tunbridge 
 Wells, there to mourn her lost happiness. We brothers, 
 and I in particular for William was to me more 
 than a brother felt his unexpected death as a 
 severe blow, which the lapse of now nearly ten years 
 can soften but not expel from memory. 
 
382 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 
 
 Of my brothers Hans and Ferdinand, who became 
 agriculturists, Hans afterwards devoted himself to agri- 
 cultural engineering, and undertook a spirit distillery 
 in Mecklenburg. That certainly did not bring much 
 grist to his mill, but gave him the opportunity of 
 falling in love and getting engaged. After his marriage 
 he acquired with my assistance a bottle manufactory 
 near Dresden, which he managed till his death in the 
 year 1867. Ferdinand still lives on his manor of 
 Piontken in East Prussia. He was again betrothed in 
 1856 and then married; one of his two daughters is 
 the wife of my son William, and some years ago 
 presented me with the first grandson. 
 
 My brother Frederick had in the fifties actively 
 participated in William's efforts to improve his re- 
 generative steam-engine and evaporating apparatus. 
 In the year 1856 he hit on the happy idea of employing 
 the regenerative system, hitherto but little successful, 
 for metallurgical purposes, and in particular for rever- 
 beratory furnaces. A number of patents, which he 
 took out in different countries, partly alone, partly 
 in conjunction with William, for a perfected form of 
 regenerative gas-furnaces, formed the basis of a furnace- 
 building business established by William and himself. 
 To work this in Germany and Austria, he transferred 
 his residence to Berlin, shortly after his marriage in 
 1864. In 1867, after the death of our brother Hans, 
 he took over the glass-works near Dresden, and by his 
 technical gifts and energy soon raised the same into 
 a model factory for glass manufacture. Through the 
 
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 383 
 
 introduction of the regenerative system, and afterwards 
 of the heating by radiation, he gave the impulse 
 to an epoch-making improvement in metallurgy and 
 especially of the glass industry. Recently he has made 
 over the Dresden glass-works and the works apper- 
 taining thereto in Bohemia to a joint- stock company, 
 since they no longer afforded him material enough 
 for his inventive activity. He is now busily engaged 
 in perfecting his regenerative heating process and steel 
 manufacture. In a widely different department also, 
 that of gas-lighting, he has introduced great improve- 
 ments, bringing into use in gas-burners the regenerative 
 principle of heating, and in this manner has considerably 
 increased the illuminating power of the gas. He has 
 thereby not a little retarded the victory of the electric 
 light over gas, which however has not produced a jar 
 in our fraternal harmony. After William's death he 
 undertook the latter' s furnace business in England, 
 and has continued it with the best success. An amiable 
 wife and a charming troop of children will, we may 
 hope, give him still many years of happiness and 
 stimulate him for further untiring endeavours. 
 
 Charles had found in Russia a sphere of action 
 extremely congenial to his faculties, and very con- 
 siderably contributed, by the successful execution of 
 our large undertakings, to the firm establishment and 
 financially sound development of our business. But 
 when in the year 1867 our Russian maintenance 
 contracts expired, and the Russian government took 
 all further telegraphic affairs into its own hands, the 
 
384 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 
 
 St. Petersburg firm seemed condemned to lose its po- 
 sition of importance. As about the same time Charles's 
 wife began to ail, and a change of climate appeared 
 urgently necessary for her, Charles transferred his 
 abode to Tiflis, and undertook the management of the 
 branch founded there, as well as of our Kedabeg 
 mine, which had already grown to considerable propor- 
 tions. Unhappily however the condition of his wife 
 grew continually worse, a prolonged residence in 
 Vienna and Berlin equally failing to restore her health. 
 She died in Berlin in the year 1869, leaving Charles 
 with one son and two daughters. I now proposed to 
 Charles to stay in Berlin for good, and to take part 
 in the management of the Berlin firm. We were even 
 planning, as we were both widowers, building a house 
 for joint occupation, when William came forward with 
 the wish that Charles should settle in London. Charles 
 accepted this proposal and till the year 1880 managed 
 the business of Siemens Brothers & Co. in conjunction 
 with William. He showed himself in London, just as 
 in St. Petersburg, a far-seeing man of business, an 
 able organizer and manager of large undertakings. 
 
 O o O O 
 
 The factory at Charlton near Woolwich was con- 
 siderably extended at his suggestion, the cable works 
 especially much enlarged, and a gutta-percha factory 
 set up. But after several years residence in England 
 Charles's health, formerly always very good, began to 
 show signs of decline ; he could not bear for long the 
 damp English climate. Moreover an irresistible longing 
 manifested itself in his children for their native country 
 
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 385 
 
 Russia. For these reasons in 1880 Charles returned 
 with them to St. Petersburg and once more undertook 
 the management of the business there, which he soon 
 raised again into a flourishing condition. His two 
 daughters have married in Russia; his son assists him 
 in the management of the business, so far as a disease 
 of the eyes, with which he is unfortunately afflicted, 
 allows. Charles's own health has been quite restored 
 since quitting England. He himself, as well as the 
 firm under his management, which is now chiefly 
 occupied with arrangements for electric lighting and 
 transmission of force, hold a highly esteemed position 
 in Russia. 
 
 The youngest brothers Walter and Otto both died 
 in Tiflis, and rest in the same grave. Walter died, 
 as I have already stated, in consequence of a fall 
 from his horse. He was a fine stately man, with 
 pleasing ways, which quickly made him popular in the 
 Caucasus; to us brothers he always showed the greatest 
 attachment. Otto succumbed some years later to his 
 feeble health, of which he had not always been suf- 
 ficiently mindful. He was a highly gifted man of sterling 
 worth, but did not always possess the requisite self- 
 control and strength of character, and has therefore 
 often been a cause of anxiety to us older brothers. 
 When he had contracted a serious lung disease in 
 London, where he was to be prepared under William's 
 guidance for a technical career, we sent him for a 
 voyage round the world in a sailing ship, in the hope 
 that this would effect a cure. He arrived in apparently 
 
 25 
 
386 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 
 
 good health in Australia, could not however resist the 
 temptation to join an expedition, which was about to 
 cross the continent, to seek for traces of the lost 
 traveller Leichhardt. But the fatigue was too much 
 for him, and he nearly perished in the desert interior 
 from the effects of a haemorrhage. When after a series 
 of further adventures he returned to England, we sent 
 him to the Caucasus, which had often proved bene- 
 ficial to consumptives. In truth a rather long stay in 
 Kedabeg seemed to have perfectly restored him. At 
 Walter's sudden death he entered upon the latter' s 
 functions. In the house of Prince Mirsky, governor of 
 the Caucasus, he made the acquaintance and became 
 enamoured of the widow of General Prince Mirsky 
 - a brother of the governor - - who had fallen in 
 the Crimean war. Unhappily his death after a few 
 years severed the union of the happy pair. 
 
 Our sister Matilda, the wife of Professor Himly, 
 died at Kiel in the summer of 1878, mourned by us 
 as an affectionate and faithful sister. Sister Sophia 
 unhappily lost many years ago her husband, who at 
 the time filled the office of advocate to the Supreme 
 Court at Leipzig. 
 
 With regard to my own life in the last few years 
 it only remains for me to mention that since the be- 
 ginning of 1890 I have left the business management 
 of the firm of Siemens & Halske at Berlin, Charlotten- 
 burg, St. Petersburg, and Vienna to the former active 
 partners, my brother Charles and my sons Arnold and 
 William, and am now only a sleeping partner in the 
 
CONCLUSION. 387 
 
 firm. It is a great joy to me to be able to testify 
 that my sons have shown themselves fully equal to 
 their grave and responsible position, nay that my 
 retirement has manifestly given to the firm a fresh 
 impulse. This is the more deserving of recognition 
 as my old assistants in the technical management, 
 Messrs. Frischen, von Hefner, and Lent, are also no 
 longer in the firm, the first named being unhappily 
 taken from his labours by death. It is with com- 
 mercial houses as with states, they need from time 
 to time regeneration in their administration, in order 
 themselves to remain young. The London business 
 and my private undertakings were not affected by my 
 retirement from the firm of Siemens & Halske, and 
 thus continue to give me sufficient technical occupation. 
 My children by the first union are all happily 
 married. My first-born, Arnold, married the daughter 
 of my friend von Helmholtz, and has already, as well 
 as his brother, provided for a continuation of the 
 lineage by two grandsons. 
 
 When at its close I survey my life, and search 
 for the determining causes and impelling forces, which 
 carried me over all hindrances and dangers to a po- 
 sition which brought me outward recognition and 
 inward satisfaction, and superabundantly provided me 
 with the material blessings of life, I am bound to admit 
 that many fortunate circumstances have co-operated 
 
 and that altogether I owe a large debt to fortune. 
 
 25* 
 
388 CONCLUSION. 
 
 It was a lucky coincidence that my early "years were 
 passed in a time of rapid progress of physical science, 
 and that I devoted myself especially to electrical en- 
 gineering, when it was still quite undeveloped and 
 therefore formed a very fertile ground for inventions 
 and improvements. On the other hand however I have 
 also frequently had to contend with very unusual mis- 
 fortune. This continual struggle with altogether un- 
 expected difficulties and unlucky accidents, which in the 
 commencement usually hampered my undertakings, but 
 which I mostly by good hap succeeded in overcoming, 
 William Meyer, the dear friend of my youth and faithful 
 companion, very forcibly described in students' slang 
 as: Sau beim Peck" (bad luck coupled with astonishing 
 flukes).>j^-i must admit the correctness of this view, 
 but still do not believe that it was only blind fate, 
 when the wave of happiness and unhappiness, on 
 which our life is tossed, carried me so frequently to 
 the desired goals. Success and failure, victory and 
 defeat, often depend in human life entirely on the 
 timely and right use of the opportunities offered. The 
 quality of quickly making up one's mind in critical 
 moments, and of doing the right thing without long 
 reflection, has remained tolerably faithful to me during 
 my whole existence, in spite of the somewhat dreamy 
 life in which I frequently, I might almost say usually, 
 was plunged. In innumerable cases this quality has 
 preserved me from harm and rightly guided me in 
 difficult situations. Undoubtedly a certain stimulus 
 was always necessary to give me full control of my 
 
CONCLUSION. 389 
 
 mental qualities. I needed it, not only to be snatched 
 from my own meditative life, but also as a protection 
 against my own weaknesses. Among these I especially 
 reckon an excessive benignity, which made it uncom- 
 monly hard for me to refuse a request, not to fulfil 
 a known wish, nay in general to say or do anything 
 to anybody that would be unpleasant or painful to 
 him. Luckily this quality, very inconvenient especially 
 for a business -man and master over many people, was 
 neutralized by another, that of being easily provoked 
 and excited to anger. This anger, which was always 
 easily aroused, when my good intentions were mis- 
 understood or abused, was ever a relief and outlet 
 for my feelings, and I have often declared that any- 
 body, with whom I had unpleasant dealings, could 
 never do me a greater service than by giving me 
 cause to be angry. For the rest this irascibility was 
 usually only a form of mental excitement, which never 
 got beyond my control. Although in younger years I 
 was often nicknamed by my friends "curly head", 
 wherewith they would hint at a certain connection 
 between my curly hair and "curly" mind, yet my 
 easily roused anger has never led me to actions which 
 I had afterwards to regret. For a manager of great 
 undertakings I was also in other respects but indif- 
 ferently suited. I lacked the good memory, the 
 orderly sense, and consistent, unbending strictness. 
 If notwithstanding I have founded large business con- 
 cerns and managed them with unusual success, this is 
 a proof, that industry coupled with energy often over- 
 
390 CONCLUSION. 
 
 comes our weaknesses or renders them less harmful. 
 At the same time I can say on my own behalf that 
 it was not desire of gain, which impelled me to devote 
 my working power and my mind in so great a degree 
 to technical undertakings. In the first place it was 
 usually the interest for technical science which led me 
 to my task. A business friend quizzed me once with 
 the assertion, I let myself always be guided in my 
 undertakings by the public benefit they would bring, 
 but that ultimately I always found my account thereby. 
 I admit this remark to be correct within certain limits, 
 for such undertakings as further the general weal com- 
 mand a wide interest, and thereby present greater 
 prospects of being successfully carried through. How- 
 ever I will not undervalue the powerful influence, which 
 success and the consciousness arising from it of doing 
 something useful, and at the same time of giving their 
 bread to thousands of industrious workers, exerts on 
 man. This gratifying consciousness has a stimulating 
 effect on our mental qualities and is doubtless the 
 foundation of the otherwise somewhat paradoxical 
 German proverb: "To whom God gives an office, He 
 also gives understanding". 
 
 A main reason of the rapid growth of our fac- 
 tories is, in my opinion, that the products of our 
 manufacture were in large part results of our own 
 inventions. Though these were in most cases not 
 
 o 
 
 protected by patents, they yet always gave us the 
 start of our competitors, which usually lasted until we 
 gained a fresh start by new improvements. This could 
 
CONCLUSION. 391 
 
 certainly only have lasting effect in consequence of 
 the reputation for great solidity and excellence, which 
 our productions enjoyed throughout the world. 
 
 Besides this public recognition of my technical 
 achievements marks of honour have been so abundantly 
 conferred upon me personally both by the rulers of 
 the larger states of Europe and by universities , aca- 
 demies, scientific and technical institutes and societies, 
 that hardly anything remains for me to desire. 
 
 I began the writing of my recollections with the 
 biblical aphorism "The days of our years are three- 
 score years and ten, or even by reason of strength 
 fourscore years", and I think I have shown that also 
 the close of the sentence, "yet is their pride but 
 labour and sorrow", has held good in my case. For 
 my life was beautiful, because it essentially consisted 
 of successful labour and useful work, and if I finally 
 give expression to the regret that it is approaching 
 its end, I am only urged thereto by the pain that I 
 must be parted from my dear ones , and that it is 
 not permitted me to continue to labour for the full 
 development of the Age of Science. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
1 have in the foregoing reminiscences frequently 
 had occasion to make some explanatory observations on 
 my technical papers, which are described in the second 
 volume of the collection of my ' 'Scientific and technical 
 papers" published in the years 1889 and 1891 by 
 Julius Springer*). I have called attention to most of 
 my earliest scientific writings, as they have had great 
 influence on my career, and as they have probably 
 remained unknown to the younger generation of physi- 
 cists. I feel however the need of making also some 
 critical remarks, accompanied by an estimate of results, 
 on my later scientific work, which in many points 
 diverges from the accustomed paths of the prevalent 
 physical theories and has therefore found no general 
 
 recognition. 
 
 In several papers written in the years 1860 to 
 1866, and published in Poggendorff 's Annalen, I in- 
 vestigated the question of the electric conductivity of 
 metals, and proposed the first and up till now only 
 method of obtaining an empirical reproducible standard 
 of resistance. I showed that my method made it 
 possible to determine exactly the resistance of an 
 
 *) English edition published by John Murray. 
 
396 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 approximately prismatic space filled with pure mercury 
 to within a ten thousandth of its value , and thus 
 solved the question of an absolute unit of resistance, 
 i. e. one resting on a definition , with an exactness 
 corresponding to the fineness of our measuring instru- 
 ments. By these means exact and comparable electric 
 measurements were first rendered possible. 
 
 In the course of this investigation I confirmed the 
 proposition, already laid down by others, that solid 
 alloys always exhibit a greater resistance than corre- 
 sponds to the resistances of the several component 
 metals; I showed however that this does not hold good 
 for fluid metallic combinations, which retain in the 
 fluid state the resistance of the single metals unchanged. 
 This behaviour of the metals I showed could be 
 utililized for the determination of the specific resistance 
 in the fluid state of metals not readily fusible. Further 
 I discovered that the resistance of metals is considerably 
 enhanced by fusion, and that at the same time the 
 latent heat effusion increases the resistance in a higher 
 degree than the sensible heat of a solid or liquid con- 
 ductor. I found too that the increase of resistance by 
 fusion does not occur discontinuously, but that the 
 resistance rises continuously within a certain range 
 of temperature and joins without break the resistance 
 curve of the fused metal. Hence I concluded that 
 the physical processes of fusion and solidification 
 essentially consist in the absorption and liberation of 
 latent heat, which take place within a definite range 
 of temperature during liquefaction. 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 397 
 
 In a later essay on the dependence of the electric 
 conductivity of carbon on temperature I have confirmed 
 Matthiessen's assertion, that the conductivity of carbon 
 increases with rising temperature, and have shown the 
 objections of Beetz and Auerbach to be erroneous. 
 In explanation of this surprising behaviour of carbon 
 I advanced the hypothesis that the different states of 
 carbon charcoal, graphite, diamond - - are allotropic 
 states of "carbon devoid of latent heat" not occurring 
 in Nature, and are essentially distinguished from one 
 another by the qitantity of absorbed latent heat. 
 
 This hypothesis was further confirmed and deve- 
 loped by an investigation of the property of selenium, 
 discovered by Willoughby Smith, of being a better 
 conductor of electricity in the light than in the dark. 
 I found that besides the selenium, which is changed 
 by a slight enhancement of temperature from the 
 amorphous non-conducting into the crystalline con- 
 ducting condition, there is still a third modification, 
 which is produced by heating amorphous selenium a 
 long time till near its melting point, i. e. to about 
 400 F. Both these modifications of the electricity- 
 conducting selenium are essentially distinguished from 
 one another by this, that the former conducts electro- 
 lylically, i. e. like the electrolytic fluid conductors, 
 better at a higher temperature, the second, long and 
 highly heated, on the other hand metallically, i. e. 
 like the metals worse at a higher temperature. In 
 this behaviour of amorphous selenium, rapidly cooled 
 from the fused condition viz. when heated to over 
 
398 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 180 F. of losing indeed a great part of its latent 
 heat of fusion, retained in rapid solidification, and of 
 becoming electrolytically conductive, but with longer 
 continued and higher heating in the vicinity of its 
 melting point, of giving off more latent heat, and 
 then of becoming still better conductive and that 
 metallically - - I found a confirmation of my previously 
 suggested hypothesis, that the electrical resistance of 
 a body is an equivalent for the quantity of heat stored 
 up in it in the sensible as well as in the latent state. 
 Further it seemed to prove that latent heat has a 
 greater power than sensible heat of causing resistance, 
 and that bodies without allotropically latent heat con- 
 duct metallically, and moreover in such a way that 
 the resistance increases uniformly with the temperature 
 reckoning from zero, whilst the resistance - causing 
 influence of allotropically latent heat decreases with 
 rising temperature. 
 
 According to this theory all simple bodies, which 
 are not an allotropic modification of their original 
 metallic primitive state, in which heat has become 
 latent, must conduct metallically, and it is probable 
 that the so-called active state of bodies is nothing else 
 than this state devoid of latent heat, termed by me the 
 metallic, which in semi- and non-metals can only occur 
 in chemical combinations without passing immediately 
 into an allotropic modification, heat becoming latent. 
 According to this hypothesis we have therefore to 
 imagine, that the molecules of all non-metallic solid 
 bodies can assume different positions of stability, corre- 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 399 
 
 spending to definite quantities of work, which have 
 been used up for constituting them. Only metallically 
 constituted bodies can enter into chemical combinations. 
 Latent heat therefore forms an obstacle to chemical 
 combination, and if such nevertheless occurs heat must 
 at the same time become sensible. Conversely a body 
 becoming chemically free must be constituted metalli- 
 cally, is therefore in the active state at the moment of 
 becoming free. Left to itself heat becomes latent by 
 absorption of sensible heat, if it is a semi- or non-metal, 
 whereby its electric conductivity is then partially or 
 wholly destroyed. Heightened temperature makes the 
 molecular arrangement, which corresponds to the heat 
 absorbed, less stable, enhances therefore the electrical 
 conductivity and at the same time the chemical affinity. 
 Since heat becomes latent when metals form alloys, the 
 conductive resistance of such alloys does not increase in 
 proportion to the absolute temperature, as with the 
 simple pure metals, but the latent heat of combination 
 of the alloy forms a disturbing element, which further 
 increases the resistance and thereby nullifies the pro- 
 portionality of the same to the absolute temperature. 
 
 I succeeded in employing also technically the 
 metallically conductive modification II of crystalline 
 selenium, discovered by me, for the construction of 
 a selenium photometer. 
 
 In an older paper I furnished the proof, that the 
 dielectric becomes heated by repeated charge and dis- 
 charge, and thereby found an experimental confirmation 
 of Faraday's molecular induction theory. 
 
400 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 In the year 1875 an opportunity occurred of 
 bringing into use my modified method, proposed in 
 1845, of measuring the velocity of propagation of 
 electricity in suspended wires. The experiments, which 
 were instituted with a double iron wire, 7 '8 7 miles 
 long, yielded a velocity of propagation of 150,300 
 miles, a result which satisfactorily agrees with Kirch- 
 hoff 's calculated result, regard being had to retardation 
 by the condenser action of the wires and to the self- 
 induction. Before the performance of these experiments, 
 very carefully carried out by Dr. Frolich, I inclined 
 to the opinion that the actual velocity of electricity 
 in conductors would be immeasurably large, as an 
 experiment, which I made with a caoutchouc tube 
 more than a hundred feet long filled with water, did 
 not show any perceptible difference in position of the 
 spark marks. The velocity of propagation of electricity 
 could accordingly not depend mainly on the specific 
 resistance of the traversed conductor, and I regarded 
 it therefore as probable that the very different values 
 found by Wheatstone, Fizeau, Gounelle, and others, 
 had only been expressions for the retardation by the 
 charge of the conductors employed. This doubt was 
 removed by the experiments described, for the further 
 prosecution of which I have unfortunately never found 
 time and opportunity. 
 
 I was led into a sphere of inquiry entirely new 
 for me by an observation of the activity of Vesuvius 
 in May 1878. It struck me that from the brightly 
 glowing opening, at the apex of the lava cone, which 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 401 
 
 had risen in the interior of the large dark crater, 
 explosion-like eruptions occurred with great regularity 
 at intervals of several seconds. More exact observation 
 showed that each explosion was followed by an ab- 
 sorption of air, so powerful, that the opening often 
 sucked in at the same time even ejected scoriae or 
 stones, which were again precipitated in its vicinity. 
 Inflammable gases, evolved continually from the earth's 
 interior, must have become mixed in the upper vent 
 of the crater with atmospheric air, which had been 
 absorbed by the rarefaction of the air caused by the 
 preceding explosion, and thereupon exploded, to pro- 
 duce anew a rarefied space. This observation led me 
 to a consideration of the process of the formation of 
 the earth and its present condition from a physico- 
 mechanical standpoint, the results of which differed 
 considerably from the prevailing opinions. 
 
 Two diametrically opposed views have hitherto 
 been advanced in geology, that of the pure geologists 
 and that of the mathematicians. The former mostly 
 adhere to the old view, already to be called historical, 
 that the earth was once in a molten state, whilst air 
 and water formed the likewise still glowing atmosphere, 
 that then with progressive refrigeration and after forma- 
 tion of a solid crust the seas were disengaged, and with 
 the help of frequent partial elevations and depressions 
 of the crust deposited the vast sedimentary strata, which 
 now cover almost the whole surface. These elevations 
 and depressions were said to be produced by internal 
 volcanic forces, which still to this day give evidence of 
 
 26 
 
402 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 themselves in volcanoes. English physicists, among 
 them Sir William Thomson, now Lord Kelvin, have 
 opposed this basis of the theory of the earth's formation 
 with weighty arguments. Lord Kelvin has declared 
 that the whole terrestrial body must be more solid than 
 glass -hard steel, as calculation proves that its surface 
 would otherwise participate in the tidal movement 
 produced by the attraction of sun and moon, conse- 
 quently an independent ocean-tide could not then occur. 
 J. Thomson has supported this calculation by a physical 
 consideration, which o*oes to show that the fusing tern- 
 
 ' O o 
 
 perature of bodies, which expand on solidification, is 
 lowered by pressure, but of bodies, which contract 
 on solidification, is heightened by pressure. Now since 
 the silicates, as he infers, contract on solidification 
 about 20| , the pressure increasing with the depth 
 would not allow the rock masses to fuse in spite 
 of the heightened temperature, but make them still 
 more solid. 
 
 It is remarkable that these diametrically opposed 
 views on the nature of the earth's crust should have 
 been before the world for years without giving rise 
 to violent controversies, although the question at issue 
 affects the very basis of practical geology. The 
 geologists, as already mentioned, for the most part 
 maintain the theory of a crust floating on a fluid or 
 gaseous nucleus, and the mathematicians cling to Lord 
 Kelvin's theory of a solid nucleus, without troubling 
 themselves much about the difficulties in the way of 
 explaining the actual formation of the surface! 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 403 
 
 I have tried to solve this contradiction by showing 
 that considerations having reference to actual facts op- 
 posed the physical foundations of Thomson's calculation. 
 The chief of these is that Bischof s statement, that sili- 
 cates become about 20 heavier in passing from the 
 fluid to the solid state, is incorrect as follows at once 
 from the well-kown fact, that solid silicates always 
 float on the fused ones, when they have nearly assumed 
 the temperature of the latter. Further I called attention 
 to the point, that Lord Kelvin's calculation takes no 
 notice of the time required by the viscous terrestrial 
 mass to assume the form, which is every moment pre- 
 scribed to it by the deforming tendencies of the at- 
 traction of the sun and moon. As in these changes of 
 form we have to do with dislocations of masses, which 
 stretch continuously over the whole body of the earth 
 from molecule to molecule, and therefore require a con- 
 siderable time to take place, no universal tidal wave 
 could be produced, advancing uniformly with the earth's 
 rotation, and altogether such an one could only arise 
 to a very slight degree. A refutation of these objec- 
 tions to the mathematical necessity of a solid core is 
 still wanting, and we are therefore entitled, in dis- 
 cussing the formation of the earth's surface to assume 
 a viscous or gaseous state of the interior. 
 
 o 
 
 As regards the formation of the earth's surface 
 the local elevations, the formation of the stratified 
 diluvium covering almost the whole surface, earth- 
 quakes and volcanoes, have also a special interest for 
 the non- geologist. I have tried to give an explana- 
 
 f OF THE ^ 
 
 (UNIVERSITY) 
 F '^ 
 
404 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 tion of these facts resting on a physico - mechanical 
 basis, which satisfies my own desire to get at the 
 cause of things, but which frequently runs counter to 
 the traditional geological views, and therefore has re- 
 mained almost unnoticed. Of these traditional views I 
 am compelled to declare untenable the one underlying 
 all the rest, that there has been a period, when the 
 earth was in a molten state and surrounded by an 
 atmosphere, which contained the permanent gases and 
 all the water in the form of glowing vapour. The 
 reasons which influence me will become clear, if we 
 go a step further back to the period, when the ter- 
 restrial mass assumed the globular form. Its elements 
 must then have been uniformily commingled, and thus 
 been condensed into a magma by mutual attraction in 
 the gaseous state. A segregation of the more volatile 
 bodies could only occur at the point of solidification, 
 when the gaseous state passed into the fluid and 
 solid. A separation of the more volatile bodies in 
 the gaseous state could then take place according to 
 the progress of this solidifying zone. This separation 
 from the molten interior could however only proceed 
 very slowly, as inferior specific gravity was the only 
 existing force, which could drive to the periphery 
 conglomerations of specifically lighter masses. How 
 great such a difference of density is in the earth's 
 interior cannot be determined, since our knowledge of 
 the behaviour of bodies subjected to such high tempe- 
 ratures and pressures, as prevail in the interior of the 
 earth, is still too slight. It appears however clear 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 405 
 
 that the segregation of our atmosphere and our seas 
 from the terrestrial mass was the work of many geo- 
 logical periods and is not yet completed, as the still 
 active geysers and hot springs testify. We shall be 
 compelled to assume a "Geyser period" as a special 
 geological period, which followed the formation of the 
 solid crust, and in which volcanoes and geysers ejected 
 at innumerable places of the solidified surface the 
 specifically lighter masses, especially water and air, 
 and with the help of the varying currents of the sea 
 formed by them deposited the stratified sediments. The 
 assumption too of the upheaval of mountains by internal 
 pressure does not agree with the assumption of a molten 
 or gaseous interior, on which the solid crust floats. 
 
 o 7 
 
 They can only be tangential forces, which have elevated 
 mountains and are still elevating parts of the earth's 
 surface. These tangential forces are supplied by pro- 
 gressive cooling of the interior, since the vault, formed 
 by the solid covering of the earth, would collapse 
 through gravitation, if the vanished fluid interior no 
 longer sufficiently supported it. The phenomenon of 
 volcanic eruptions does not necessitate the hypothesis 
 of an internal pressure, which is stronger than corre- 
 sponds to the weight of the solid crust. When we con- 
 sider that the more recently cooled layers of solid rock 
 must, with progressive refrigeration, be liable to rents, 
 which we feel at the surface as earthquakes, it is clear 
 that such rents may affect also the contiguous cooler 
 crust, already frequently ruptured in former geological 
 periods, and thereby bring about direct communications 
 
406 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 between the fluid interior and the surface. The still 
 fluid terrestrial mass must then penetrate into these 
 cracks, and as it is hot and therefore lighter than the 
 superincumbent rock, it must burst forth and form a 
 mountain, with a height corresponding to the difference 
 of the specific gravity. As with the diminution of the 
 pressure, exerted on the hot fluid ascending in the 
 fissures, the gases and vapours contained in the magma 
 must be set free, the bubbles of gas in the column 
 of fluid rock will still further considerably diminish 
 its specific gravity, and the height to which the fluid 
 interior is raised in volcanoes is thereby explained, 
 without the necessity of assuming a mysterious pressure 
 in the interior overbalancing the hydraulic force. 
 
 It is surprising that professional geologists have 
 left these views, modifying in such essential points the 
 foundations of their traditional doctrines, unnoticed and 
 unrefuted for now more than a decennium. 
 
 In an essay "On the luminosity of flame" I de- 
 scribed a series of experiments on the problem of the 
 radiation of light of gaseous bodies, which I partly 
 instituted in the large glass furnaces, provided with 
 regenerative heating, of my brother Frederick in Dresden 
 and in conjunction with him. It appeared from these 
 experiments that permanent gases, if entirely free of 
 dust, are not luminous even at a very high temperature. 
 As they at the same time possess a remarkable power 
 of radiating heat, it is doubtless to be assumed, that 
 with further increase of heat they must nevertheless 
 at last begin to be luminous, because rays of light and 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 407 
 
 heat are only distinguished from one another by the 
 greater number of vibrations of the former, and be- 
 cause the radiating power in general seems to decrease 
 with the number of vibrations. At any rate the power 
 of radiating light appertaining to dust-free pure gases 
 is so exceedingly small, that the luminosity of flame 
 must be specifically different from the luminosity of 
 the gases heated by the process of combustion. Apart 
 from the luminosity of the solid particles separated by 
 combustion or suspended as impurities in the gas, the 
 luminosity of flame can only be an electrical process, 
 which is connected with the chemically shifted position 
 of the molecules of the burnt gases. The light of flame 
 would according to that be just as much electric light 
 as the light of the ozone tube or of the Geissler tube. 
 The interesting controversy, in which my deceased 
 brother William became involved with the astronomers 
 through his work "On the conservation of the solar 
 energy"', led me also to the sun and occasioned my 
 paper "On the admissibility of the assumption of an 
 electrical solar potential and its importance for the ex- 
 planation of terrestrial phenomena". As the known 
 ways of producing electrical phenomena always depend 
 on a separation of positive and negative electricity, we 
 must assume that this holds good for the sun also, that 
 therefore an electrical solar potential can only exist, if 
 the one electricity is carried away from the sun. The 
 theory set up by my brother, that solar matter is 
 flung off and diffused in the universe in consequence of 
 the sun's rotation, makes therefore the supposition of a 
 
408 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 solar potential admissible. The objection of the astro- 
 nomers that interplanetary space cannot contain the 
 smallest quantity of matter, because then the period 
 of the planets would be increased, I sought to refute 
 by the consideration that the matter itself, expelled 
 from the sun, must rotate round the sun with plane- 
 tary velocity, that it could not therefore impede the 
 course of the planets. I also supported my brother's 
 view that the solar light arises from the burning solar 
 
 o e> 
 
 mass in its ascension, although I could only to a cer- 
 tain extent assent to his view that the combustible 
 atmosphere resting on a fluid or solid solar surface, 
 which is flung off in the burnt state and then again 
 dissociated by the sunlight in space, and in this state 
 again attracted by the sun, was the cause of the solar 
 rays. I could only assent to it so far as the participation 
 of the whole gaseous mass of the sun in the combustion 
 was concerned, and could assign to the flung-off mass 
 only a secondary importance in the thermal economy 
 of the sun, but on the other hand considered it decisive 
 as regards the question of its electrical charge. 
 
 Ritter's admirable and still insufficiently appreciated 
 works remove all doubts as to the sun's gaseous state, 
 with which the existence of a special solar atmosphere 
 is incompatible. We must therefore assume that the 
 whole solar mass is undergoing a continuous process 
 of combustion, but which can only actually take place 
 in the outermost layer of the body of the sun, where 
 the solar gas is already so far cooled by expansion 
 that chemical combinations can be formed. These 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 409 
 
 then occur with formation of flame and enhanced tem- 
 perature at the whole solar surface, whilst a flinging 
 off, such as my brother assumes, can only be possible 
 in the equatorial zone in a very limited degree. A 
 general descent of the burnt mass cooled by radiation 
 must follow the general ascent of the uppermost layers 
 of the sun, in consequence of their combustion and 
 heating beyond the diabatic temperature corresponding 
 to their expansion. This takes place in innumerable 
 descending streams, which give to the solar surface 
 its scaly appearance, or in the mean solar latitudes 
 also assumes the form of colossal descending vortices, 
 which are darker than the rest of the solar surface, 
 since the descending products of combustion indeed 
 nearly recover, by their compression, the temperature, 
 which they possessed at the beginning of the ascent, 
 but are thereby also dissociated and correspondingly 
 cooled. For this reason and on account of the absence 
 of flame these descending vortices appear as dark sun- 
 spots. Certainly this combustion -theory is still op- 
 posed by the circumstance that the existence of 
 oxygen in the sun has hitherto been spectroscopically 
 proved only at the bottom of the sun-spot funnel - - but 
 the greatest argument for it is, that the sun possesses 
 a composition essentially the same as the earth, that 
 therefore oxygen cannot be wanting. 
 
 I have tried to support this solar theory, which 
 admits the origin and preservation of an electrical solar 
 potential, by the proof that the latter would explain 
 many hitherto unexplained terrestrial phenomena. With 
 
410 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 the colossal dimensions of the sun in comparison with 
 those of the earth the sun's potential will call forth 
 by electric distribution a terrestrial potential of nearly 
 half the amount, if we assume, that the electricity, 
 becoming free at the earth's surface, and similar to 
 the solar electricity, is absorbed through radiation 
 and neutralization by the electricity of the oppositely 
 electrified matter, proceeding according to brother 
 William's theory from the sun in the direction of the 
 sun's equator. That this high electric tension is not 
 observed at the earth's surface is a consequence of 
 the size of the earth's radius. Now by the rotation 
 of the earth the electricity bound to the earth's surface 
 by the solar electricity is carried round the earth, and 
 thus produces the effect of an electric current circling 
 round it. which makes it magnetic. Just as the earth's 
 
 o 
 
 magnetism, so also the terrestrial currents and polar 
 lights find their explanation by the electrical solar 
 potential, and similarly the reaction of phenomena in 
 the sun, such as the occurrence of sun-spots and 
 coronae, on terrestrial phenomena becomes explicable, 
 if we conceive them intimately connected with changes 
 of the sun's potential. Atmospheric and lightning elec- 
 tricity likewise find their explanation through the 
 electrical solar potential. 
 
 Under the title "Contributions to the theory of 
 electro -magnetism" I communicated two dissertations 
 to the Berlin Academy in the years 1881 and 1884, 
 in which the theory of magnetism was considerably 
 extended, and parts of it, that had hitherto remained 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 411 
 
 obscure, were cleared up. I arrived thereat by ex- 
 periments with tubular e]ectro- magnets, which gave 
 the looked-for result that iron exerts no, or at any 
 rate no appreciable, protection against magnetic action 
 at a distance, and that the magnetic maximum of iron 
 is independent of the direction of the magnetism. From 
 this it follows that the magnetism called forth in iron 
 
 D 
 
 by a magnetizing force is diminished by a simultaneous 
 magnetization in another direction. The maximum 
 magnetization occurring in ring -magnets even with 
 feeble magnetizing power shows that the strengthening 
 magnetizing effect, which magnetized iron molecules 
 exert on their neighbours, considerably outweighs direct 
 magnetization. This led me to the modification al- 
 ready previously adopted by Stefan, as I afterwards 
 found - - of Weber's electro-magnetic theory, according 
 to which the assumed elementary solenoids must be 
 double solenoids, which as such move about freely in 
 space, and are directed by a magnetizing force acting 
 upon them, and then rotate round one another in a 
 scissor-like fashion. If we suppose the whole universe 
 to be filled with such double solenoids, which after 
 the theory of Father Secchi and Edltmd might be con- 
 ceived as ether -vortices, and that iron and the other 
 magnetic bodies were distinguished from the non- 
 magnetic by the ether -vortices pre-existing in a unit 
 of volume being more numerous in the former than 
 the latter and in empty space, magnetic action at a 
 distance might also be regarded according to Faraday's 
 suggestion as an action proceeding from molecule to 
 
412 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 molecule or from space-element to space-element, and 
 we should then be warranted in applying the laws for 
 the molecular transference of heat, electricity, and elec- 
 trostatic distribution to magnetism also. 
 
 This theory on its side compels us to assume, 
 that magnetism, like the electric current and electric 
 distribution, can only exist in closed circuits, in which 
 the magnetic i "moment" is inversely proportional to 
 the resistance of the circuit. This consideration leads 
 therefore to the introduction of the notions "resistance 
 to magnetic distribution" and "magnetic conductivity" 
 of space and magnetic bodies. According to this, only 
 so much magnetism can be produced in an iron rod 
 by an electric current circling round it as can be 
 conveyed from one to the other pole, or absorbed by 
 the space surrounding the iron rod. My experiments 
 have confirmed this view, and their result shows that 
 the magnetic conductivity of soft iron is approximately 
 500 times as great as that of non- magnetic matter 
 and empty space. 
 
 Accordingly in the construction of electro-magnetic 
 machines Ohm's law may be applied for ascertaining 
 the most suitable dimensions, which will in many cases 
 be useful to the electrical engineer. The notion first 
 introduced by me, so far as I know, of magnetic con- 
 ductivity has meanwhile often been employed and 
 further developed in technical works - - without any 
 reference however to my priority. 
 
 The attempt described in my work on the sun's 
 potential, to refer certain meteorological phenomena to 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 413 
 
 disturbance of the indifferent equilibrium of the at- 
 mosphere, had convinced me, that in meteorology the 
 requirements of mechanical equilibrium and the prin- 
 ciple of the conservation of energy had not hitherto 
 received proper attention. Recent meteorology, in its 
 endeavour to deduce all the phenomena of atmospheric 
 motion from its extensive material of observation, has 
 too much lost sight of the causes of these movements. 
 Scientists were generally content to be able to refer 
 the aerial movements to the observed maxima and 
 minima of the pressure of the air and its movements, 
 and were satisfied with pointing to local influences of 
 temperature and the earth's rotation in explanation of 
 the causes of theses maxima and minima. In my paper 
 "On the conservation of energy in the earth's aerial 
 ocean" I have set up and defended the principle, that 
 every motion of the air is exclusively to be ascribed 
 to the unequal heating of the air by the sun's rays, 
 and that the earth's rotation can produce no new 
 motion of the air, but only change the direction of 
 the motion produced by solar influence. One direct 
 consequence of this principle is, that the sum of the 
 vis viva stored up in the rotation of the aerial ocean 
 on the earth's axis must unalterably be that, which 
 this ocean would have, if no meridional motion of air 
 were produced by solar influence, and the air every- 
 where had the rotatory velocity of that part of the 
 surface, on which it rests. In consequence of the 
 accelerating equatorial ascent of the overheated air, 
 streaming to the equator in the trade -winds, a back 
 
414 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 current takes place in the upper regions of the at- 
 mosphere towards the poles, which however only in 
 a small part can reach polar latitudes. The reason 
 of this is that, owing to the narrowing of the upper 
 and simultaneous expanding of the lower stratum - 
 in consequence of the decrease of the latitudinal circles 
 on approaching the poles - - a partial passage of the 
 upper poleward moving current must continually take 
 place into the lower current towards the equator. It 
 is the inertia of the upper poleward travelling current, 
 which carries back the air in the lower one to the 
 equator. By this circulating current, continued for 
 untold thousands of years, the air of the higher lati- 
 tudes is intimately mixed with that of the lower ones, 
 and the whole aerial ocean must therefore rotate with 
 the mean easterly velocity of the earth's surface. The 
 westerly course of the trade -winds is thereby ex- 
 plained, as well as the mean easterly direction of the 
 aerial currents in the intermediate and polar latitudes. 
 The maxima and minima are essentially concomitant 
 phenomena of the alternation of temperature and of 
 the velocity of motion of the upper equatorial air- 
 current, and always depend on disturbances of the 
 indifferent equilibrium of the overlying air - strata. 
 When an aerial current, which has a higher or lower 
 temperature than corresponds to its altitude in the 
 adiabatic curve of temperature, breaks into the highest 
 regions of the aerial ocean, the indifferent equilibrium 
 of the whole aerial column is thereby disturbed, and 
 neutralization must take place by ascending or descend- 
 
SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 415 
 
 ing motion of air, according as the invading higher 
 currents of air are too warm or too cold, thus also 
 too light or too heavy for the indifferent equilibrium. 
 This ascending or descending aerial motion must last 
 until the indifferent equilibrium of the column of air 
 is again restored, and the consequence then is, that 
 the pressure of the atmosphere at the surface of the 
 earth becomes as great as it would be, if the tempe- 
 rature of the whole column of air had changed as 
 much as the equatorial current, causing the disturbance, 
 deviates from the adiabatic temperature corresponding 
 to its place and its height. As the consumption of 
 heat during the active expansion of a quantity of air 
 is independent of its commencing temperature, the air 
 ascending at different places in the torrid zone must 
 retain the differences of temperature, which it possessed 
 before the rise. Hence it follows , that relatively 
 warm and cold currents of air flow polewards with 
 different velocity in the higher and highest strata of 
 air, and thereby disturb the indifferent equilibrium of 
 the atmosphere in its whole course. Slowly flowing, 
 too cold currents will give off their surplus pressure 
 to the lower aerial strata on which they are resting, 
 without ; causing important disturbances, by compressing 
 them, and thereby causing a rising barometric pressure 
 in a calm atmosphere. Air -currents, which are rela- 
 tively light, hot, and therefore strongly accelerated 
 during their ascent, will on the other hand cause to 
 undulate and carry with them the surface, insufficiently 
 weighted by them, of the aerial strata over which 
 
416 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 
 
 they pass, and will thus, with a falling barometer, cause 
 upward aerial movements, lasting until the indifferent 
 equilibrium is again restored in the whole column of 
 air. According to this, variations of temperature of 
 20 to 40 F. in the highest strata of air suffice to 
 produce the barometric fluctuations observed at the 
 earth's surface, thus also the maxima and minima of 
 the atmospheric pressure. 
 
 This theory has met with considerable approval, 
 it however received the assent of the adherents of 
 the prevailing views only in certain points, or is even 
 entirely ignored by them. I have had occasion re- 
 peatedly to defend and further develop it. The 
 papers relating thereto are entitled "On the question 
 of air currents" (1887), "On the general system of 
 terrestrial winds" (1890) and "On the question of 
 the causes of atmospheric currents" (1891). I am 
 convinced that my theory will gradually meet with 
 universal acceptance , as it rests on a basis of facts. 
 It is a necessary consequence of our system of in- 
 struction however, that new fundamental views, which 
 contradict previous doctrines, should only slowly gain 
 ascendency. They must first be embodied in text 
 books, and that can only take place, when the new 
 theory is worked out on all sides and the ruins of 
 the hitherto dominant ones are cleared away. 
 
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