THE PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



421 



one else. He found time to compose papers on the silk manufacture 

 of Berlin, on insects and parasites, which were illustrated with his own 

 drawings, and to begin an extensive work on birds. He was a student 

 of the Slavic languages, and through his Latin dictionary, which one 

 of the Grimms said would not grow old, contributed ver}' much to 

 German lexicography. As a student of chemistry he greatly improved 

 the famous Berlin blues. In 1703 there were 22 members of the 

 academy residing in Berlin, 19 in 1707, 20 in 1711, and at this time 

 there were 32 foreign members. During the sixteen years which he 

 led the academy, Leibniz wrote between five and six hundred letters on 

 its behalf. This was in addition to the papers he contribiited to its 

 sessions and to the work he did on the two or three volumes it published. 



The death of the queen, on Feb- 

 ruary 10, 1705, was a serious loss 

 to the academy as well as to Leib- 

 niz, Work on the building to be 

 used as an observatory proceeded 

 so slowly that the astronomer 

 labored at a great disadvantage. 

 Still he discovered a comet and 

 made some valuable observations. 

 He died after ten years' service 

 and was succeeded by his assistant, 

 John Henry Hoffmann, who was 

 followed by the younger Kirch, 

 who endeavored to carry forward 

 and greatly extend his father's 

 work. But the academy was 

 cramped through lack of means. 

 These were so small that it could 

 only publish a brief report of an 

 eclipse of the sun, and of a few 



meteorological observations made in Belgrade by Schutze. Fifty 

 thalers ($37.50) were sent Christian Sturm, of Frankfurt a. 0., for 

 scientific observations which proved of little value, and seventy-five dol- 

 lars were set aside for the purchase of a Hebrew Bible found in China. 



As early as 1705-6 it looked as if the academy could not survive. 

 Its condition was desperate. Leibniz came to Berlin on its behalf and 

 was more successful than usual in securing the favor of the king, who 

 at this time gave it twenty-one hundred thalers ($1,575) for the pur- 

 chase of ground on Dorotheen Street which it still owns. Volume L 

 of the Berlin Miscellanies, edited by Leibniz and Cuneau, appeared in 

 1707. Yet in 1709 La Croze, the royal librarian, said the academy 

 was 'a society of obscure men,' but its fame was soon increased by the 



