Memoii' of the Life of M. Fraunlurfer. 3 



Mr Counsellor Utz Schneider, afterwards his partner in the 

 great optical establishment at Benedictbauern, took him also 

 under his protection, and occasionally saw him. Fraunhofer, 

 full of joy, showed him the king's present, and communicated 

 to him his plans, and the way in which he proposed to spend 

 the money. He ordered a machine to be made for polishing 

 glass, and he employed himself on Sundays in grinding and 

 finishing optical lenses. He was, however, often baffled in 

 his schemes, as he had no theoretical and mathematical know- 

 ledge. In this situation M. Utzschneider gave him the ma- 

 thematical treatises of Klemm and Tenger, and pointed out 

 to him several books on optics. Fraunhofer soon saw, that, 

 without some knowledge of pure mathematics, it was difficult 

 to make great progress in optics, and he therefore made them 

 one of the branches of his studies. 



When his master saw him occupied with books, he pro- 

 hibited him from using them, and other persons whom he con- 

 sulted did not encourage him to undertake the study of ma- 

 thematics and optics without assistance, and at a time when 

 he was scarcely able to write. These obstructions, however, 

 served only to redouble the efforts of our author ; and though 

 he had no window in his sleeping chamber, and was prohibit- 

 ed from using a light, yet he acquired a considerable know- 

 ledge of mathematics and optics, and endeavoured to apply 

 them to his own schemes. 



In order to obtain more leisure, he employed the remainder 

 of the royal present in buying up the last six months of his 

 apprenticeship ; and that he might gain some money for his 

 optical experiments, he engraved visiting cards without ever 

 having been taught the art of engraving. Unfortunately, 

 however, the war which then desolated Europe put an end to 

 the sale of his cards, and left him in greater exigencies than 

 before. 



Noth withstanding the kind assurances of protection which 

 the king had given him, Fraunhofer had not courage to re- 

 quest it, and he was therefore compelled to devote himself to 

 the grinding and polishing of glasses, still continuing to de- 

 vote his Sundays to the study of the mathematics. 



Mr Utzschneider was at this time seldom at Munich, and 



