HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



all its changes and movements can be deduced from 

 the laws of electrodynamics, and the principle of 

 least action. 



4. On Meteorological Physics. 



Like all brain workers, Helmholtz found it 

 necessary to spend part of the year, mostly during 

 the interval between the summer and winter sessions 

 of academic work, in the country, and he was in the 

 habit of going to the Alps, to the south of France, 

 and occasionally to England. One can readily under- 

 stand that a mind like his was always receptive, and 

 that the sights and sounds of nature in the magni- 

 ficent aspect of mountain and valley, in the green 

 woodland and on the rocky coast by the sea, were a 

 source of the purest enjoyment. But the intellect 

 never slumbered. Accordingly, we find that he 

 endeavoured, now and again, to explain natural 

 phenomena, such as the formation of clouds, the 

 mechanical conditions of the whirlpool or whirlwind, 

 and the formation of glaciers. It would be wrong to 

 suppose that this habit of the scientific analysis of 

 one's impressions of natural effects diminishes the 

 aesthetic enjoyment ; we should rather conclude that 

 aesthetic enjoyment may be of different kinds. The 

 poet simply opens his mind to nature, receiving all 

 her impressions, he has his imagination fired, and his 

 heart touched by the feelings of beauty, while he 

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