

RESIDENCE AT BERLIN TO THE REVOLUTION OF JULY. 123 



mention the sensation produced, extending even as far as 

 Konigsberg, by an officer, who in publishing a birthday ode 

 in honour of Prince Frederick Charles in a Berlin newspaper 

 of March 20, inserted in the worst possible taste the words 

 * composed during a lecture by Humboldt.' The following 

 ludicrous anecdote attests with cool irony the incongruity felt 

 by the Berlinese themselves between the scientific teaching 

 presented to them by Humboldt, and the meagre receptive 

 powers of the audience. A lady who attended the course of 

 lectures, in giving orders for a dress, desired that the width of 

 the upper sleeve should be equal to two diameters of Sirius. 1 

 Even Humboldt himself is said to have replied to an inquiry 

 from Prince Augustus as to whether he really thought that 

 the ladies attending his lectures could understand him : * That 

 is of no consequence ; if they only come, that is all that can be 

 expected of them ! ' 2 These incidents suggest a serious inquiry 

 as to the practical results of these lectures, and how far Hum- 

 boldt was conscious of their influence when deciding upon the 

 prosecution of his undertaking. 



We have already pointed out that at this period elegant 

 literature formed the exclusive interest in all cultivated circles 

 throughout Germany, especially 'at Berlin, and that while an 

 appreciation for music and the fine arts was only beginning 

 to be aroused, there was no prevailing tone of intellectual 

 culture. The harsh reproach, though somewhat out of date 

 when recently pronounced by Buckle, was nevertheless at that 

 time perfectly true that in Germany there yawned a mighty 

 chasm between the study of science and the education of the 

 people. The lectures upon the physical structure of the universe 

 were the first efforts of any importance to bridge the gulf, for, 

 in a scientific point of view, the efforts of the philosophers and 

 critics of the Eomantic School can scarcely be taken into 

 account, since they were exclusively confined to aesthetic and 

 ethical culture. That this bold attempt should have been 

 made in the province of physical science at the very place 

 where the gap was widest, could not fail to be productive of 

 beneficial results. It would seem afterwards but an easy task 



1 i Brief wechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter,' vol. v. p. 11. 



2 Varnhagen, 'Blatter/ vol. iv. p. 335. 



