PROFESSOR AT KONIGSBERG 143 



has our thought any meaning? this meaning can only be 

 expressed in action (internal or external)/ 



The Bonn appointment had not yet been decided, although 

 Helmholtz's call was rumoured in all the German papers. On 

 March 15, 1855, du Bois-Reymond sends a few lines from a 

 letter of von Humboldt : ' They beg me to bestir myself for 

 Helmholtz, whom I love and esteem as much as you. I cannot 

 say a word until I know your wishes. If you are not in haste, 

 and can wait on, do not quit the capital, where you should 

 have a great future/ adding that he had replied : ' I beg that 

 you will exert yourself for Helmholtz as if there were no 

 question of me/ 



On March 24 Humboldt writes to Helmholtz : 



' Dear Professor, I was agitating on your behalf long before 

 you honoured me with your confidence. The deplorable state 

 of your wife's health makes a move from that raw climate most 

 desirable. When Herr von L. first spoke to me of your fresh 

 request, I ascertained from our mutual friend du Bois-Reymond 

 that he did not wish to leave Berlin ; so that my earlier 

 friendship with du Bois does not prevent my having a free 

 hand. Why should we seek abroad what lies so brilliantly 

 to our hand ? . . . Any one who knows the history of science 

 is aware that no individual, especially in the present state of 

 knowledge, could possibly be equally strong in anatomy and 

 in physiology, and the greater the renown of a man in one 

 of these two branches, the more he is open to charges of 

 weakness and negligence in the other. I have with great effort 

 written a long and enthusiastic letter based on the materials 

 you sent me, as I have only done once in my life before for 

 Dr. Brugsch's Egyptian expedition, refuted the opinion of 



, without mentioning his name, and based my proposal 

 on our friendship, your domestic trouble, your splendid talents, 

 and extraordinary industry. I hope much good will come 

 from this well-deliberated step. I am glad to have found an 

 opportunity of offering you this poor proof of my sincere 

 friendship/ 



Humboldt had no doubt that the gifted investigator would 

 soon rise to be a first-class teacher and authority in the ranks 

 of the anatomists, for he was familiar with his admirable 

 anatomical dissertation, and was interested in many of Helm- 



