RESIDENCE AT BERLIN TO THE KE VOLUTION OF JULY. 143 



take an active part in the management of the Academy, he 

 replied that ' his presence would not prove of any remarkable 

 value, but that he could point to one capable of investing the 

 Academy with fresh glory, and that was Karl Friedrich Grauss.' 

 But ' indecision is a characteristic of Grerman ministers,' he 

 sadly remarks, in reference to the want of success that attended 

 his efforts on that occasion. The history of the subsequent \ 

 fruitless endeavours during the four years between 1821 and * 

 1825 to secure an appointment for Grauss at Berlin is described 

 by Humboldt as 'disgusting and truly Grerman.' 'When I 

 left Paris in 1827,' he adds, ' and took up my residence here, 

 Gauss began to experience some regret, since he would have 

 been very glad to have found himself in my vicinity.' This 

 feeling was no doubt considerably strengthened by his sojourn 

 with Humboldt in 1828. Caring little for the heterogeneous 

 proceedings of the meeting, and by no means fitted for such 

 scientific fairs, his chief pleasure was derived from the 

 ' sagacity and penetration ' of Wilhelm Weber and the society 

 of Humboldt, with whom he felt ' happy.' These two men, 

 gifted with a genius so diverse that a comparison between 

 them, though frequently attempted, has never seemed possible, 

 were able, notwithstanding, fully to appreciate each other. 

 It is touching to notice how the great mathematician expressed, 

 in a manner altogether his own, his affectionate regard for his- 

 highly-gifted friend. 



'We Grermans,' he wrote to Humboldt on December 7, 1853, 

 ' take greater pleasure perhaps than any other nation in cele- 

 brating certain days, such as birthdays, jubilees, &c., which 

 stand related to persons or events which have become endeared 

 to us. To the geometrician, in whose eyes indefiniteness and 

 caprice must always be repugnant, as opposed to that which is- 

 definite and absolute, there seems a slight impropriety in the 

 fact that the reason why one day is fixed upon in preference 

 to another, is somewhat dependent upon chance, upon the 

 arrangement of our almanac, the institution of leap-year, 

 and, as far as a jubilee is concerned, in the existence of 

 our decimal system; in other words, therefore, in this par- 

 ticular instance, upon the circumstance of our having five 

 fingers upon each hand. Do you inquire why I trouble you 



