ALDERMAN AND HONORARY DOCTOR. 243 



and the iron -armoured cable -wire across the Rhine at 

 Cologne in the spring of 1850, formed the first actual 

 basis of submarine telegraphy. The German name of 

 the Frenchman Wiinschendorff may perhaps have con- 

 tributed to the ignoring of German achievements 

 running through the whole work! 



To the last described section of my activity be- 

 long two more events, which were of great importance 

 to me. 



In the year 1859 I was elected a member of 

 the Council of the Berlin Merchants' Company, which 

 forms at the same time the Chamber of Commerce 

 of the March of Brandenburg. The election takes 

 place by a poll of all the trading and commercial firms, 

 and is accordingly regarded as a special distinction. 

 Through this I gained the advantage of coming into 

 closer personal contact with the heads of the Berlin 

 industrial world. - When in the year 1860 the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin celebrated its jubilee I received the 

 degree of Doctor honoris caztsa in the philosophical 

 faculty. The granting of this honorary title in my 

 chosen home Berlin gave me especial pleasure, because 

 I saw in it an acknowledgement of my scientific labours 

 and was brought by it into a sort of academic relation 

 to my scientific friends. 



I come now to speak somewhat in detail of my 

 political activity, to which I devoted myself with much 



ardour in the following years. 



16* 



