2 HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



side from a family of French refugees named Sauvage. This 

 happy union lasted till 1854, Frau Helmholtz doing much by 

 her faithful fulfilment of her domestic duties to lighten the 

 heavy calling of her husband, who was weighed down by his 

 sense of duty and scrupulous conscientiousness. 



Caroline Helmholtz is described as being excessively simple 

 in appearance, and was profoundly emotional and of quick 

 intellect. Everything she said was incisive, and her homely 

 judgements were clear and luminous. She seemed to pene- 

 trate obscure points by intuition, ' without any deep reflection/ 

 expressing her conclusions in simple language. 'A refined 

 officers daughter/ says her younger son, Otto, ' she was 

 compelled by the straitened circumstances which were all my 

 father could provide for her, to consecrate her whole life to 

 the maintenance of the household, and the education of 

 her children, particularly of the two daughters, since my 

 father was physically much enfeebled by the effects of his 

 campaigns/ His profession, moreover, was onerous, for the 

 strictest discipline prevailed at that time among Prussian 

 officials, greatly to the advantage of the country, and to the 

 ultimate weal of the whole of Germany, 



Thus when the young teacher expressed his desire to be 

 associated with the general insurance fund for widows of 

 officials, the Consistory made the following characteristic reply, 

 which is illustrative of the rigid discipline then maintained in 

 Prussian offices, and of the temper in which the rising genera- 

 tion were brought up : 



' Your memorial is incomplete in its contents and most repre- 

 hensible in its form. It was your duty definitely to explain 

 that you could, and to engage that you would, provide a pension 

 of at least 100 thaler at the General Institute for the Relief 

 of Widows on behalf of your future wife, so that the declaration 

 that you had decided to provide for your wife is obviously not 

 sufficiently definite. We shall expect to receive the amended 

 statement within eight days. . . . With regard to the form, you 

 ought to know, or your sense of propriety should have informed 

 you, that an official statement or memorial to the Board should 

 not be drawn up upon a single page, but should occupy an entire 

 sheet. The leaf you have handed in testifies to the greatest 

 inattention and neglect of the respect due to the Board, and 



