104 ACTIVITY ON ENTERING BUSINESS. 



the business which already bore my name, and to obtain 

 personal regard in the world as a man of science as well 

 as technologist. Although my inclinations drew me alto- 

 gether to purely scientific investigation, yet I perceived 

 that I must first of all turn my whole energies to 

 technical work, as its results could alone procure me 

 the means and opportunity for scientific work - - and 

 did in fact procure them. 



My scientific and inventive activity was prescribed 

 to me in this laborious period almost without exception 

 by technical needs. Thus the then very surprising 

 and disturbing phenomena of electrical charges in the 

 underground conductors required thorough study. 

 Further it was necessary to establish a system for the 

 determination of the situation of faults in the conduction 

 and insulation of underground wires by measuring 

 currents at the ends of the wires. The uncertainty 

 of the measurements of currents led to the necessity 

 of replacing them by resistance measurements, and 

 thereby to the setting up of fixed reproducible stan- 

 dards of resistance and scales of resistance. For this 

 purpose the methods and instruments for current and 

 resistance measurements had also to be improved and 

 adapted for technical use - - in short a whole series 

 of scientific problems had cropped up. the solution of 

 which was called for by technical needs. 



I devoted myself to these problems, so far as my 

 responsibility for the technical undertakings of the 

 business allowed, with special predilection, and was 

 therein very effectively supported by the constructive 



