6i 





CHAPTER VI 



PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY AT KONIGSBERG: 



1849-1855 



THE fact that Helmholtz should, at such an early age, be 

 appointed Extraordinary Professor and Director of the Physio- 

 logical Institute, with a salary of 120 (which his father had 

 only obtained after years of painstaking activity), completely 

 revolutionized the old man's views as to the value of his 

 son's achievements, and he often remarked that his Hermann 

 had advanced much farther than he, who was only Professor 

 at a Gymnasium. For the last two years the relations between 

 father and son had rarely permitted any exchange of ideas, 

 owing to the wide divergence of their scientific views, but from 

 this time the elder Helmholtz was keenly desirous of becoming 

 acquainted with all his son's work, and, whenever possible, of 

 taking part in it. With Hermann's call to Konigsberg, accord- 

 ingly, begins a most interesting correspondence between father 

 and son, which extended over a period of ten years, and affords 

 us many glimpses into the development of the great thinker's 

 projects. 



Now that Helmholtz had a settled position he was able to 

 put an end to his long engagement, and bring home his 

 beloved bride. The marriage took place on August 26, 1849, 

 at Dahlem, near Berlin, in the house of the bride's sister. 

 1 The ceremony was performed in the little, old village church, 

 which was filled with a festive procession of friends, parents, 

 and relatives on either side/ The young couple set out for 

 Konigsberg directly after the ceremony. Helmholtz's parents 

 were overjoyed, and looked forward hopefully to the future. 

 * Dear children/ writes the father on September 16, ' I wish 

 I knew what and how to write, to give you as much satisfaction 



