HELMHOLTZ AS A LECTURER 



shown in his speculations on the morphology of the 

 skull and of the flower. Other great lectures are on 

 sensory perceptions, on the eye and vision, on the 

 relation of the natural sciences to knowledge, and on 

 geometrical axioms. 



Worthy of notice also are his speech in memory 

 of his great teacher Magnus, and a rectorial address 

 on the academic freedom of the German universities. 

 In the latter lecture there are several admirable 

 examples of his way of thinking that are well worth 

 quotation : 



I. German Student Life. 'The German student 

 is the only one who tastes an unmingled joy at the 

 time when, in the first delight of his young independ- 

 ence, yet free from the anxieties of mercenary work, 

 he may consecrate his hours exclusively to all that is 

 noblest and best in science and in the conceptions 

 of humanity. United by a friendly rivalry with 

 numerous comrades devoted to the same efforts, he 

 finds himself daily in intellectual communication with 

 masters from whom he learns what is the movement 

 of thought among independent spirits. I appreciate 

 at its full value this last advantage, when, looking 

 back, I recall my student days and the impression 

 made upon us by a man like Johannes Miiller, the 

 physiologist. When one feels himself in contact with 

 a man of the first order, the entire scale of his intel- 

 lectual conception is modified for life ; contact with 

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