DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20140#0036
12
METEOROLOGICAL MATERIALS.
theless lie did not object to make re-calculations in a different form for control, when
it was required. Also the counting of any number of objects was executed by him
with equal facility as soon as he could see them separately, not so superposed over
each other as partly to be concealed. When the materials of the thirty-eight volumes had
to be taken to the bookbinder's, he wished, as an object of amusement, to be allowed
to know how many sheets there were; it was sufficient for him to cast a look at every
parcel along the edge where the folds were visible, to tell in a few minutes that
the sum total was 7419, a number perfectly corroborated—additional pages of titles
and registers being kept aside—when later for quotations and control of the progress
of the work of calculation every sheet had got its number put on, and the sum total
of the 38 books could be found.
He died of epilepsy at Berlin in 1860, about 34 years of age.1 For my
meteorological researches he had completed, besides the ordinary process of taking
arithmetical means, two works particularly troublesome; the one was the reduction to
the freezing point of the barometrical observations at the different stations2 (the
degrees of the thermometer being written at the side; as in the Parliamentary Eeports,
the atmospheric pressure at different stations cannot be directly compared): the next,
more complicated still, was to deduce the resulting mean direction of the wind from
the mechanical combination of the various directions observed.3
For putting the questions to him, even for writing down the results, he wanted
assistance, and he himself remained perfectly indifferent4 as to the nature of the object,
1 I had repeatedly occasion to examine his skull, also together with anthropological friends; it showed nothing
particular. He was a Jew, and his features allowed one to recognize the Semitic type. Perhaps the foldings of the
brain might have shown some exceptional modifications, as the researches of Prof. Bischoe have shown in several
instances of unusual mental power.
2 Those from the Parliamentary Reports I wanted (they are given there with "Temperature of the Mercury")
I had reduced after Dahse's death by Mr. Heenee.
3 Concerning the method employed see "Physic. Geogr. of the Alps," vol. I., p. 394. It will be detailed in
volume V.; an arithmetical mean of different winds is in itself impossible.
4 As a curiosity I must mention the report of a drama he made to me. That evening he had not come as
expected; the following day, with his apology, he said, that in the theatre he had amused himself during the first
act by counting the number of words beginning with an "S," but as this was too little work to fix his atten-
tion, he went on counting, but from that moment keeping those w7ords separate where the "S" is followed by "T."
When with me the next day he desired to try whether it agreed with the printed text I had in my library.
The piece performed was Shakspeaee's "Merchant of Venice," in Sciilegel's translation; the subject as well as the
players had remained unobserved by him.
METEOROLOGICAL MATERIALS.
theless lie did not object to make re-calculations in a different form for control, when
it was required. Also the counting of any number of objects was executed by him
with equal facility as soon as he could see them separately, not so superposed over
each other as partly to be concealed. When the materials of the thirty-eight volumes had
to be taken to the bookbinder's, he wished, as an object of amusement, to be allowed
to know how many sheets there were; it was sufficient for him to cast a look at every
parcel along the edge where the folds were visible, to tell in a few minutes that
the sum total was 7419, a number perfectly corroborated—additional pages of titles
and registers being kept aside—when later for quotations and control of the progress
of the work of calculation every sheet had got its number put on, and the sum total
of the 38 books could be found.
He died of epilepsy at Berlin in 1860, about 34 years of age.1 For my
meteorological researches he had completed, besides the ordinary process of taking
arithmetical means, two works particularly troublesome; the one was the reduction to
the freezing point of the barometrical observations at the different stations2 (the
degrees of the thermometer being written at the side; as in the Parliamentary Eeports,
the atmospheric pressure at different stations cannot be directly compared): the next,
more complicated still, was to deduce the resulting mean direction of the wind from
the mechanical combination of the various directions observed.3
For putting the questions to him, even for writing down the results, he wanted
assistance, and he himself remained perfectly indifferent4 as to the nature of the object,
1 I had repeatedly occasion to examine his skull, also together with anthropological friends; it showed nothing
particular. He was a Jew, and his features allowed one to recognize the Semitic type. Perhaps the foldings of the
brain might have shown some exceptional modifications, as the researches of Prof. Bischoe have shown in several
instances of unusual mental power.
2 Those from the Parliamentary Reports I wanted (they are given there with "Temperature of the Mercury")
I had reduced after Dahse's death by Mr. Heenee.
3 Concerning the method employed see "Physic. Geogr. of the Alps," vol. I., p. 394. It will be detailed in
volume V.; an arithmetical mean of different winds is in itself impossible.
4 As a curiosity I must mention the report of a drama he made to me. That evening he had not come as
expected; the following day, with his apology, he said, that in the theatre he had amused himself during the first
act by counting the number of words beginning with an "S," but as this was too little work to fix his atten-
tion, he went on counting, but from that moment keeping those w7ords separate where the "S" is followed by "T."
When with me the next day he desired to try whether it agreed with the printed text I had in my library.
The piece performed was Shakspeaee's "Merchant of Venice," in Sciilegel's translation; the subject as well as the
players had remained unobserved by him.