PROFESSOR IN BERLIN 369 



my own convictions, and lay most stress on these, rejoicing if 

 the progress of science should tend in the same direction. Then 

 again I am beset with doubts as to whether my own ideals are 

 not too narrow, and my own principles in individual points too 

 incomplete, to satisfy the cravings of Humanity for all time. . . . 

 One banner only do I uphold, that it is the aim of science to 

 comprehend reality, and to grasp the transitory as the pheno- 

 menal manifestation of the intransitory that is, of Law/ 



It had become absolutely necessary for Helmholtz either to 

 give up his teaching altogether, or to limit it materially, in order 

 that he might devote the greater portion of his working time 

 and energy to the investigations which occupied him almost 

 exclusively henceforward to the end of his life, and a fortunate 

 turn of the wheel soon enabled him to satisfy his inclinations. 



' The moment arrived/ says du Bois-Reymond, ' at which our 

 distinguished friend Werner von Siemens prepared to found 

 a Physico-technical Institute at Charlottenburg, partly at im- 

 mense personal expense, which only he could afford. We 

 knew that Siemens always deplored the amount of time and 

 energy that Helmholtz was obliged to devote to his duties as 

 a teacher, instead of to the prosecution of his incomparable 

 researches, and it was no secret to us that he designed the post 

 of Principal of the Institute for him, as one that would relieve 

 him of all but his scientific occupations a post such as an 

 academic could only regard as the ideal of his dreams.' 



The first proposals for the erection of a State Institute to 

 be devoted to the advancement of exact science and technical 

 instruction had been mooted as early as July 30, 1872, by 

 Schellbach, supported by Helmholtz, du Bois-Reymond, 

 Paalzow, Bertram, and Forster, and were warmly welcomed by 

 the Crown Prince, afterwards the Emperor Frederick. In 

 consequence of this movement, General Field-Marshal von 

 Moltke, as President of the Central Directory of Survey in the 

 Prussian State, appointed a special Commission towards the 

 end of the year 1873, which in January, 1874, made ' Proposals 

 for the Improvement of Scientific Mechanics and the Instru- 

 mental Sciences'. Herein it was urged as the first duty of the 

 State, that it should in future, along with provision for imme- 

 diate needs, devote its attention to the supervision of technical 

 instruction systematically, and not merely on occasion. 



