36 ORDERED TO BERLIN. BROTHER WILLIAM. 



resolute energetic character or his "smartness", as 

 one now expresses it. 



With the letting off of these fireworks my com- 

 mand of the pyrotechnic factory came to an end. and 

 to inv delight I was ordered to Berlin for service in 



t/ O 



the ordnance department. Through this transference 

 my greatest wish was fulfilled, to obtain time and 

 opportunity for further scientific studies and for increa- 

 sing my technical knowledge. 



But there were also other reasons which made 

 this change welcome to me. After my parents" death 

 the duty devolved upon me of providing for my 

 younger brothers and sisters, of whom my youngest 

 brother Otto was at our mother's death only in his 

 third year. The farming of the domains still remained 

 it is true for a term of years in the hands of the 

 family, but the times continued to be extremely bad 

 for agriculture, so that the slight profits, which were 

 made by my brothers Hans and Ferdinand by farming, 

 did not suffice for the education of the children. I was 

 therefore obliged to look out for some way of earning 

 money in order to fulfil my obligations as senior of 

 the family, and that appeared to me to be easier in 

 Berlin than elsewhere. 



My brother William had meanwhile completed 

 his course at the Magdeburg School, and at my sug- 

 gestion had gone for a year to Gottingen. to sister 

 Matilda, in order to prosecute his scientific studies. 

 After that he entered as pupil the Count Stolberg 

 engineering works in Magdeburg. He there devoted 



