59 



i^ 



CHAPTER V 



LECTURER TO THE ACADEMY OF ARTS, AND 



ASSISTANT IN THE ANATOMICAL MUSEUM 



IN BERLIN : 1848-1849 



ALTHOUGH Helmholtz was now set free from his duties as 

 army surgeon, the preparing of his winter's lectures to the 

 Academy, and still more the task of making preparations in 

 comparative anatomy at the Anatomical Museum during the 

 summer, took up so much time that, save for a short report 

 'to the Fortschritte der Physik on the theory of physiological 

 heat, he was unable to bring any fresh work to completion. 



By the beginning of the winter session, in which, besides 

 his lectures on osteology and myology (given to an audience 

 of five), he had to make preparations of the human subject 

 for the lectures and for the Museum, his work grew a little 

 oppressive, since his brain was teeming with scientific ideas, 

 and urged him on to original research. Accordingly he wrote 

 to his friend Brucke, to ask if he were taking the duties of 

 his new post too seriously. Brucke advised him to abate his 

 pedagogic ardour, and in the following January he writes to 

 his brother Otto, ' Tell the parents that all goes well ; I have 

 less to do with my artists now, because I let them draw a good 

 deal from specimens, and can generally leave them after a 

 short lecture.' 



Helmholtz was, moreover, eager to justify the expectations 

 of Brucke and his other friends. On March 16, 1849, he read 

 J a paper to the Physical Society, entitled ' Principles of Con- 

 struction of a Tangent Galvanometer', in which he suggested 

 precisely the same construction of galvanometer as was sub- 

 sequently communicated to the Academic in Paris by Gaugain 

 in 1853. Helmholtz was unable to claim priority for it, 

 since the minutes of the meeting of the Physical Society had 



