AT THE PHYSICO-TECHNICAL INSTITUTE 417 



I myself have held out very well so far, and hope that I have 

 got over the most fatiguing part/ 



From Boston, Frau von Helmholtz writes : 



1 Vendome Hotel, September 17, 1893. We got here the day 

 before yesterday at midnight, after twenty-eight hours' journey 

 from that wonderful Niagara ; we were alone, and did not leave 

 our luggage behind. At any rate I have learned this much, that 

 in this country one must always stand by it, and cannot rely on any 

 organization, least of all on the potency of the " baggage-check". 



' Boston is wonderfully fine, quite English in its correctness 

 and self-respect : nice clean streets, fine houses overgrown 

 with ivy, wonderful churches, a big river, the Charles River, 

 and on the other side the University suburb of Cambridge, with 

 Harvard University. 



' The Falls of Niagara are simply wonderful, and grow on one 

 from hour to hour. We had to put up at the Cataract House, 

 but still it was beautiful, although our view of the river was 

 obstructed by wash-houses and an incredible amount of lumber, 

 and the front of the house with a fine portico opened on to the 

 grimy street. 



' We saw the Falls from above, looking down ; from below, 

 looking up; went round both sides on foot and also travelled 

 by a fascinating electric railway over hanging bridges, and then 

 by a cog-railway sheer down to a tiny steamer, while the trans- 

 parent grey mass of water poured silently over all the while, 

 not with such a tremendous roar, but so magnificent! The 

 spray, and the seething and heaving of it all, was so unspeak- 

 ably beautiful and poetical, that the impression it made on us 

 will never be wiped out. The surrounding scenery is much 

 prettier than we expected. The Falls are so wide that they 

 seem low at first, till one realizes the whole thing. We had 

 very good weather, though it poured before and after. Here 

 we are rejoicing in beds and a bath-room, and congratulating 

 ourselves on our escape from the squalid West. We are towed 

 about from morning till night by learned gentlemen, who show 

 us laboratories, gymnasiums, dormitories, buildings for eating 

 and sleeping (all admirable), memorial halls, &c. : sometimes 

 it is like Edinburgh, sometimes like London, sometimes quite 

 different, and it is really refreshing to read the date 1657 on a 

 church. Some intellectual interest attaches to this city, unlike 



