May 19, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



699 



book, examiaed him in the knowledge of 

 French, and then said that he knew that 

 language well enough and need not study it 

 any further. Another time Gauss took the 

 boy from Gottingen to a little town called 

 Celle, to place him at a school. While 

 stopping at an inn Eugene stated to his 

 father his delight in having solved some 

 little problem in grammar. His father, 

 w'ith eyes brightened with pleasure, replied : 

 " Yes my son, the pleasure one gets from 

 the solution of such problems is very great, 

 but it is not to be compared with the sim- 

 ilar pleasure one derives from the solution 

 of mathematical problems." 



But the high hopes were followed by bitter 

 disappointment. In a letter to Bessel 

 (Dec. 31, 1831) Gauss says of himself: 

 " Aber Ihr armer Freund ist seit andert- 

 halb Jahren das Opfer der schwersten haus- 

 lichen Leiden gewesen : den Ausgang des 

 einen ahnen Sie leicht aus der seit vier 

 Monaten gebrauchten Farbe des Siegels ; 

 von einem andern, wo moglich noch hartern 

 sehe ich kaum ein Ende ab als meines. 

 Lassen Sie mich davonschweigen. Lahmend 

 haben solche Verhiiltnisse auf alle meine 

 wissenschaftlichen Beschaftigungen, fast 

 ganz aufhebend auf meine Correspondenz 

 eingewirkt." The first sorrow alluded to 

 was clearly the death of his second wife ; 

 the cause of the second sorrow he leaves un- 

 explained, but the facts which we have been 

 able to gather concerning the relation 

 between him and his son Eugene throw 

 light on this point. At this time, when 

 Eugene reached adolescence, it seems that 

 Gauss did not want him or his brothers to 

 attempt mathematics, for the father did not 

 think any of them would surpass him, and 

 he did not wish the name lowered. Ap- 

 parently he felt the same way about any 

 other line of scientific work, for, while 

 Eugene, after completing the gymnasium, 

 desired to make the study of philology his 

 life-work, the father wanted him to take up 



law. At this time Eugene was disposed to 

 indulge in the wild life of a Gottingen stu- 

 dent. A scar on his face bore witness of 

 his participation in a duel. What that life 

 was we may judge also from the accounts 

 of Bismarck's stormy career at Gottingen, 

 which began about a year after Eugene left 

 the University. An incident happened which 

 resulted in a serious disagreement between 

 father and son. Eugene gave an elaborate 

 supper to his fellow-students and sent the 

 bill to his father. When the latter re- 

 proached his son for this, Eugene suddenly 

 concluded that he would leave Germany 

 and come to America. He started off with- 

 out bidding the family good-bye or making 

 any preparation for his journey. When 

 Gauss learned of his son's intention he fol- 

 lowed and urged him to return, at the same 

 time telling him that he had brought his 

 trunk and if he was determined to seek his 

 fortune in America he would furnish funds 

 for the journey. The son refused to return 

 home, and the two parted. The young man 

 of nineteen left the land of learning and 

 cultuz'e, to expose himself to the dangers 

 and temptations of a new world. Need we 

 marvel if, in sori'ow and humiliation, Gauss 

 wrote to Bessel : ' Lassen Sie mich davon 

 schweigen.' 



Eugene landed in New York and, after 

 spending what money he had, enlisted as a 

 private in the U. S. army. He was taken 

 to Fort Snelling, near St. Paul, Minn. The 

 post was in charge of General Taylor, and 

 Jefferson Davis was a young officer there. 

 By accident the officers found out that Eu- 

 gene Gauss was an educated man, and he 

 was put in charge of the post library. 

 About the close of his term of enlistment 

 (five years) his brother Joseph came to 

 this country, as we have seen, to study rail- 

 way construction. Joseph brought letters 

 to General Winfield Scott and thought he 

 could obtain for Eugene a commission in 

 the regular army, if he desired it. But 



