Telescopes—Life of Fraunhofer. — BOS 
he was apprenticed to M. Weichselberger, manufacturer 
= polisher of glass at Munich. Being too poor to pay any 
thing to his master, he was taken on the condition that he 
should work for him six years without any wages 
At Munich Fraunhofer frequented the Sunday school, but 
as his attendance was irregular, it _ a long time before 
learned to write or to count. In 1801, in the second year of 
his apprenticeship, an accidental icsiune gave a new 
turn to his fortune. ‘Two houses having tumbled down sud- 
denly, Fraunhofer, who lived in one of them, was buried un- 
der its ruins; but while others perished, he fortunately occu- 
pied a position to which it was considered practicable to 
open a passage. While this excav ce was going on, the 
King Maximilian often came to the spot to encourage the 
workmen and the young prisoner ; and it was not till after a 
labor of four hours that they were able to extricate him from 
his perilous situation. His majesty gave directions that his 
wounds should be carefully attended to, and as soon as he 
had recovered, he was sent for to the palace to give an ac- 
count of the peculiarities of his situation during the accident, 
and of the feelings with which he was actuated. On this 
occasion his sovereign presented him with b spies ducats, 
and promised to befriend him in case of n 
r. Counsellor Utzschneider, ahexwards t his partner in the 
great ‘optical establishment at ph np took him also 
under his protection, and occasionally saw him. eine 2g 
fer, full of joy, showed him the king’s rein t, and c 
nicated to him = plans, and the way in which he aroncaa 
to spend the money. He ordered a tikehiee to be made for 
‘polishing glass, a: he employed himself on Sundays in grind- 
and finishing optical lenses. He was, however, often 
baffled i in his schemes, as he had no theoretical and mathe- 
matical knowledge. In this situation M, Utzschneider gave 
him the mathematical treatises of Klemm sha Tenger, and 
pointed out to him several books on optics. Fraunhofer 
soon saw, that, without some knowledge of pure mathemat- 
ics, 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 ook: he peehie> 
ited him from using them, and other persons whom he con- 
sulted did not encourage him to undertake the study of aie 
ematics and optics without assistance, and at a time when 
“Was scarcely re to write. These agora how- 
Vou. XVI.—No. 2 12 
