SKETCH OF HEINRICH HERTZ. 725 



his satisfaction, when he foimd it in accordance with his duty, to confer 

 a benefit or fav'or. And when it was incumbent upon him to refuse or 

 displease, he became the director who performed his duty and the 

 friend who regretted what had to be done. He was always ready to 

 show hospitahty to scientific men who came to Bonn from other parts 

 of Germany or from foreign countries. Even under the restraint of a 

 foreign tongue (he spolve English and French with consideral)le fluency) 

 his conversation was charming. Kot what he had achieved gave liim 

 his ascendency in scientific discourse, but what he, beyond a thousand 

 learned men, could achieve at anytime — original and sagacious thoughts, 

 springing nj) on the spur of the moment, and losing none of their force 

 by being expressed in the most unpretending, simple form. When 

 entertaining friends or conversing with his dear ones he perfectly for- 

 got the learned professor in himself; he was so uuich at his ease, so full 

 of fun, that none around him could he]p sharing his gayety. Many of 

 his guests, prominent men of science as well as students, will always 

 remember with pleasure and gratitude delightful trips made with Pro- 

 fessor Hertz to the Siebengebirge or evenings of genial intercourse at 

 his house in the Quantiusstrasse at Bonn. Absolutely devoid of any 

 desire to pose before the public, the professor sometimes astonished 

 students newly entered for his lectures by ])utting in a bit of humor 

 where they had expected abstract instruction ; but they soon found them- 

 selves none the worse for it. Some simple word, a casual remark made 

 as if it were a self-understood thing, from his lips did more toward 

 improving the mind of his audience than a long lecture from another. 

 He was not a scientist inculcating one special branch of knowledge; 

 he was a thinker. To be considered an authority, even by the youngest 

 beginner, was an idea that never entered his mind. In the congenial 

 atmosphere of advanced classes new ideas and conceptions seemed to 

 rise in him and flow from his lips as though there could be no easier 

 thing in the world. He was at his very best when propounding a 

 problem to this small circle, showing how he would attack it. iSTone, 

 however capable, but could profit by his teaching; genius itself seemed 

 to ijrompt it. 



With i)enetratiug perspicacity he took hold of his problems. As a 

 veritable disci])le of natural science he strove to accomplish his ideal 

 ends, although by means of theory, which he completely mastered, yet 

 not merely by theory and not for her sake only; what he aimed at first 

 and last was the most accurate establishment of facts. Pervaded as 

 his strong personality was by an absorbing love of his science, the rare 

 harmony of his nature kept him equally from an exaggerated enthusiasm 

 and from prosaic dullness. An uncommonly great number of valuable 

 researches made at the Physical Institute at Bonn during the short 

 time of his leadership j)rove his rare capacity and untiring eagerness 

 to incite young talents to the best possible application of their faculties 

 and so pave the way for their success in research. But in a wider 



