PROFESSOR AT KONIGSBERG 85 



your sake and that of physiology that Kirchhoff might 

 go to Zurich/ 



After crossing the Gemmi he went to Leukerbad, thence 

 partly on foot, partly on horseback, to Lago Maggiore, and 

 on by Como to Milan, 'a great and splendid town with all 

 the brilliancy of Italian life. In beauty of form the Cathedral, 

 Milan's pride, is far behind the Gothic cathedrals of Germany. 

 Its Gothic forms are mere arbitrary decoration ; but they 

 are tastefully applied, and the innumerable pillars and arches, 

 and well-carved statues, all standing out in white marble 

 against the blue sky, are a sight that cannot be imagined. . . . 

 We went, too, to the ruins of Leonardo da Vinci's master- 

 piece, "The Last Supper," and to the Picture Gallery in the 

 Brera Palace/ 



At length he reached the city that he had so desired to 

 see from boyhood. 



' Venice is the city of wonders, a living fairy-tale. In spite 

 of all one has seen in pictures, or heard described, the reality 

 surpasses everything. The Piazza, of St. Mark, with its rich 

 mosque-like church, enclosed within the rows of palaces, the 

 countless lights above the deep-blue moonlit heavens, and 

 a few paces off the deep-blue sea, with crowds of people as 

 though it were a festa, all make up an indescribable picture. 

 To-day and yesterday we went round with a great crowd to 

 see all the wonders ; but one becomes almost wearied with 

 these impressions. The historical memories, the extraordinary 

 wealth which Venice has harvested from half the earth, the 

 art treasures, for the most part still in their pristine freshness 

 of colour, cannot be overlooked. ... In Germany we can only 

 form a poor idea of Italian Art ; here one can drink it in fully. 

 I went alone to the Accademia, to enjoy the masterpieces to 

 the full, and did not repent me, but found great satisfaction, 

 such as one cannot obtain in Germany. It is a collection of 

 the masterpieces of the Venetian school, including Titian's 

 great " Assumption of the Virgin ", which I knew already from 

 engravings. But engravings are even a worse substitute for 

 this than a piano score for a symphony, since the indescribable 

 beauty of the work consists in its miraculous light and colour. 

 I have never seen the like, nor can one imagine it till one 

 has seen it, because this kind of beauty is of another order 



