XXII
HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ
(From the Supplement to the Münchener Allgemeine Zeitung, August 31, 1891.)
IN Germany the men who now stand upon the threshold of
old age have inaugurated and lived through a period of rare
felicity and success. They have seen aims attained and
desires realised, and this not only in matters political: they
have seen mighty developments in the arts of peace; they
have seen our Fatherland take its place in the front rank of
nations, not only in our own estimation but in that of others.
Even in the beginning of this century the natural sciences
were far from being neglected in Germany: the labours of a
Humboldt, the undying fame of a Gauss, were sufficient to
keep alive respect for German research. But side by side
with the wheat of true effort there sprang up the tares of a
false philosophy which flourished so luxuriantly as to hinder
the full growth of the crop. Up to the middle of the century
sober progress along the path of experimental investigation
lacked the glory which accompanies international success; and
the successes of a fictitious natural philosophy were very pro-
perly not greeted with the same exultation abroad as in Ger-
many. Germans followed eagerly and diligently the discoveries
made in other lands; but they always expected the great dis-
coveries and successes to come from Paris and London. Thither
young investigators travelled to see famous scientific men and
to learn how great investigations were carried on: thence they
obtained the materials for their own researches; there alone
could new discoveries be properly and authentically published.
They found it hard to believe that things could ever be other-