222 HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



On March 14 he writes to his wife : ' We went to a smoking- 

 concert, i. e. to the rehearsal for the great orchestral concerts, 

 where they give certain soli that are left out in the concert 

 proper, and which the gentlemen of Utrecht listen to over their 

 wine and cigars. I heard the Symphonic Preludes of Lizst, 

 which are effective and extraordinary enough, but hardly beau- 

 tiful ; the Oberon Overture was very good, and as a piano solo 

 in between we had the Variations Serieuses of Mendelssohn, 

 in the style of church music, which were very fine, and which 

 I recommend you to study. Bonders had been giving public 

 lectures here on Acoustics, so that my book on the Sensations 

 of Tone is known to every one, even to the musicians. O. Jahn 

 could not understand it, but hoped to study it with G., and told 

 me he had had an enthusiastic letter about it from Claus 

 Groth.' 



He went on through Brussels to London, and received a 

 warm welcome from his friend Bence Jones. He sent a full 

 report of his doings to his wife, some of which are interesting 

 enough to transcribe. 



' I have cast myself into the whirlpool of the great Babylon, 

 and so far am swimming merrily. After writing to you at the 

 Royal Institution, where I waited in vain for Tyndall, I went 

 up to see Faraday, who lives there. He was as charming as 

 ever, but has given up his lectures, as his memory is failing 

 him ; and the general impression that he makes on one is less 

 acute than it was formerly. . . . Then I went on to the meeting 

 of the Royal Society, where Tyndall was giving an address on 

 some new and very ingenious experiments he had made, the 

 interpretation of which, however, gave rise to much discussion. 

 After arranging with Prof. Stokes to be in Cambridge the 

 Friday after Easter I went at eleven o'clock to a party at 

 Mr. Gladstone's, the Minister. . . . 



' Yesterday I did more work ; in the morning I wrote part 

 of my Croonian Lecture ; at twelve o'clock I met Prof. Tyndall 

 at the Royal Institution, to get things together for my first two 

 lectures ; for the second of these I have made an original draw- 

 ing in water colours, which represents a sunbeam seen from the 

 side, and vies with Turner in its clouds and the boldness of 

 the colour. . . . On Wednesday I worked in the morning, and 

 then went to the College of Surgeons, to see Mr. Huxley, 



