UNEXPECTED TURN OF AFFAIRS. (35 



Ju Schleswig-Holstein the rising against the Danes 

 had been accomplished with success. A powerful 

 impulse was thereby given to the desire for national 

 unity, and free corps w T ere formed throughout Germany 

 tor ender aid to the brothers contending against foreign 

 oppressors in the extreme north. On the other side 

 the Danes made preparations for reconquering the land, 

 and the Copenhagen newspapers with one accord 

 called upon the government to punish the centre of 

 the revolutionary movement, the town of Kiel, by a 

 bombardment. 



My brother-in-law Himly had in the previous 

 year been called to Kiel as professor of chemistry, 

 and resided close by the harbour. Sister Matilda 

 wrote me in great anxiety and almost saw in spirit 

 her house in ruins, it being especially exposed to the 

 bombs of the Danish men-of-war. The marine battery 

 Friedrichsort. as the small fortress at the entrance of 

 the Kiel harbour was then called, was still in Danish 

 hands: the entrance to the harbour stood therefore 

 perfectly open to the Danish fleet. 



This led me to the then entirely novel idea of 

 defending the harbour by submarine mines fired by 

 electricity. My wires insulated w r ith gutta-percha 

 offered a means of exploding such mines at the 

 right moment in safety from the shore. I com- 

 municated this plan to my brother-in-law, who took 

 it up warmly and immediately submitted it to the 

 provisional government for the defence of the country. 

 The latter approved of it and despatched a special 



OF THE 



TTHIVERSITY 



