20 HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



lectures on Natural History he is still at the philosophical 

 introduction (good heavens !) '. And along with all this, 

 Helmholtz was taking fencing and swimming lessons, so as 

 to come up to the standard required from a student, hoping 

 thereby to be rid of his savings, ' since otherwise the confounded 

 spring will strew them to the winds/ 



In December Helmholtz passed his tentamen philosophicum. 

 He writes : 



1 1 got through the examination for the philosophicum all 

 right yesterday, and received a good certificate. The report 

 in chemistry was excellent, in physics, psychology, zoology, 

 and botany very good, in mineralogy pretty good. This last 

 is the best Weiss gives as a rule ; at least I have been told that 

 he said no more for examinees who knew a great deal of 

 mineralogy. Of us four I had the best certificate, and Kunth 

 congratulated me on it as he handed it to me. Even if the 

 examination requires not so much special knowledge as a 

 bird's-eye view of the whole, it has its uses as an incentive 

 for going deeper into the sciences, and becoming interested 

 in them/ 



Directly after this, on December 12, he demonstrated one 

 of his own anatomical preparations of the peritoneum at 

 a students' meeting. It was neatly done, and explained in a 

 capital lecture, which was highly commended by Dr. Frost, 

 a London botanist who happened to be present. 



The end of the year brought anxiety for the health of his 

 dearly-loved mother, but she was able to join in the family 

 festivities at Christmas, and he utilized the rest of the winter 

 term and the Easter holidays in preparation for the clinical 

 lectures given during the summer. 



The hospital work again tried his health severely, and on 

 August 25, 1840, he received ten weeks' leave for a journey to 

 Silesia, Prague, and Dresden. 



At the beginning of the winter term of 1840 Helmholtz took 

 his anatomical examination, the prospect of which was alarming, 

 though he was well prepared for it. On October 30, however, 

 he announces the successful issue of the two days' examination 

 to his anxious parents, with the news that both his tests had 

 been got through without comment from the professors : 



' I still have to make an anatomical preparation, but this can 



