86 HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



from our German pictures. Moreover this one work is 

 unparalleled among the rest of the Italian paintings that I 

 have seen here, although many give this feast of colour 

 in an extraordinary degree, and one sees the greatest 

 number of inspired and ideal heads that you could possibly 

 imagine. 



'When I had seen the Accademia, I wanted no more, but 

 prepared for departure, strolled a little in the streets, heard 

 the band in the evening on the Piazza, of St. Mark, and then 

 at 10 p.m. went off in a gondola to the steamboat. As we 

 sailed away the moon had risen ; we left the lights and palaces 

 of beautiful Venice, and fared out through the openings of the 

 canals in the Lagoon, to the still blue Adriatic/ 



From Venice, Helmholtz went by Trieste to Vienna, attracted 

 thither by his old friendship with Briicke, to whom he wished 

 to bring the ophthalmoscope in person. 'We arrived so early 

 that I went first with Herr R. to his hotel, washed, breakfasted, 

 and then, about nine o'clock, went on to Brttcke. He was 

 much pleased to see me, and I at once took up my abode with 

 him. Then directly after appeared Professor Wagner from 

 Gottingen, and the next day Professor Bunsen from Breslau, 

 one of our most gifted chemists, so that we are quite a learned 

 society. Briicke is just the same : he looks rather better, and 

 is as cheerful, calm, and friendly as usual ; his wife is pretty, 

 and has the same pleasing, cheerful manner. ... As for Vienna, 

 I have so far seen only scientific things because it is generally 

 raining. On Friday, Briicke showed us his Physiological Insti- 

 tute first of all, and we admired living chameleons, strange 

 creatures with strikingly Egyptian characteristics. In the 

 afternoon we were able to take a short walk, and discussed 

 how it would be possible to help du Bois, but could not hit 

 off anything. In the evening, the ophthalmoscope for Brucke's 

 benefit. On Saturday morning I went to the mortuary in 

 the Hospital to see the celebrated pathological anatomist, 

 Rokitansky. Briicke and Wagner had a competition 

 with their splendid microscopes, and both won. Afterwards 

 I demonstrated the ophthalmoscope to Wagner and his 

 friends, and to Bunsen, and in the afternoon showed Briicke 

 my induction work. In the evening there was company 

 at the philosopher Lett's, where I found Wagner and 



