4 i6 HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



that is no wonder, in view of our " fodder " here, for one cannot 

 call it anything else.' 



Helmholtz writes to his daughter from St. Louis, September 

 12, 1893 : ' Our journey was interesting to a degree, more 

 interesting than beautiful or pleasant. The beautiful parts 

 are separated by endless dreary deserts, and are dearly paid 

 for by an infinite amount of ennui, heat, and dust, notwith- 

 standing all the extraordinary conveniences of the Pullman 

 Cars. As a whole, America astonishes one by its vast dimen- 

 sions, and the tremendous enterprises that have already been 

 carried out there. And yet this is little in comparison with 

 what yet remains to be done, and doubtless will be done in the 

 next century. At present everything is unfinished, even in 

 many respects unreasonable and paradoxical . . . [Continuation 

 at Niagara] which is not to be wondered at in a civilization 

 that begins with electric light and steam engines, while the 

 elements of cookery and other simple domestic arts, and the 

 organization of all the mutual good offices of society, are 

 extraordinarily imperfect, and the newspapers are daily filled 

 with fresh reports of the most outrageous brigandage. We 

 travelled last night from St. Louis to the Niagara Falls. On 

 the previous evening the night express on the same line 

 between Chicago and St. Louis was held up by a band of 

 twenty robbers, as it was known that there were large sums of 

 money on board. Besides these tales of murder the news- 

 papers only contain excited declamations about the gold or 

 silver currency question, over which they have gone quite mad, 

 and about which I was interviewed in St. Louis by a nocturnal 

 reporter, although I assured the man that I had never studied 

 questions of political economy. While I was getting ready for 

 bed your mother sent away two other gentlemen of the same 

 sort. It had got known through a letter from Dr. Knapp to an 

 oculist there that we were coming. Niagara is the first thing 

 in America that has really given us a deep impression both of 

 grandeur and of beauty. 



' We must, however, admit that we have been received with 

 the utmost courtesy, both in private and in public, wherever we 

 were known. From the point of view of geography and 

 political economy the journey has been most interesting. I am 

 afraid your mother has suffered more from its annoyances. 



