Ernst Becker to Faraday   12 September 1860

Heidelberg (im Waldhorn) | Sept. 12, 1860

My dear Mr Faraday,

Before I left England, you have allowed me to write to you from time to time, and to tell you what I am doing. Six months have passed since that time, so rapidly indeed, that I can hardly believe it. My life has been rather monotonous, & in such cases time seems to fly very fast, and if one stops then occasionally & looks back upon that portion of one’s life, old friends, not seen since, recur first to the mind & one cannot conceive that it is really so long since we last met them, or heard of them.

The month of March I spent in visits to relations and friends in different parts of Germany & in the beginning of April, I took my abode at Bonn for 3 months and began the work which I had set me for the next twelvemonth, viz: to make myself acquainted with the present state of physical science in all its branches which includes the recovery of what I knew, but had forgotten,- and the reading up of what has been added during the last ten years. By changing my place of residence during that year, I intended to become acquainted with the different professors of physical science at several of our Universities[.] Accordingly, in the beginning of July I came to Heidelberg, where I am still, & I have had the pleasure of seeing more or less of Plücker & Beer¹ at Bonn, of Kirchhoff², Bunsen and Helmholtz³ here, & last week I went to Carlsruhe to the Congress of Chemists where I expected to find & did find many old acquaintances from Germany & England. However, my principal work is done in my own room & consists in nothing but reading - and rather hard and dry work it is. Not that after two years’ abstinence I did not feel the pleasure of being able to devote all my time to science again; but in experimental science, to become acquainted with new facts or to form a clear notion of phenomena, without either making an experiment, or seeing it made,- is difficult & appears dry, if compared with what it would be, if I had the assistance of experiment and observation. I feel, that without this, I shall require much longer time before I find myself sufficiently prepared, & yet, that my notions will not be so clear. To procure all the apparatus and instruments necessary for an experimental study of physical science, would be equivalent to the purchase of a whole physical laboratory, which exceeds the means of any private individual; on the other hand the existing physical laboratories of our Universities are not accessible to me, before I have attached myself to one of them as a lecturer in physics (and then only by permission of the Professor) and yet this is the very position for which my present studies are to form the preparation.- When at Giessen, the other day, on a visit to my old friend and master Buff⁴, I mentioned to him the difficulties I laboured under, & he expressed his opinion, that my present mode of study was not the right one, that I ought not to go on reading up the whole of the science, but begin at once a special experimental investigation of my own, purchase the necessary apparatus, which need not be very expensive, & that I would find that I profit a great deal more in that way, not only in that branch to which such investigation belongs, but also in other branches of physics.- This is the precise course which, according to my idea, I would have followed after the intended general preparation. Buff thinks, that the latter is useless, that the first will to a great extent fulfil the same purpose better, & that, if there are other branches in which I should feel the necessity of reading, that might be done bye and bye, while the principal work ought to consist in an experimental investigation, and not in reading.

I have since considered the subject on all sides & I think, I shall follow Buff’s advice; that the course he proposes is an infinitely more interesting & agreeable one, but his consideration alone would not have induced me to follow it.

I had intended to spend several months next winter at Berlin; but under the circumstances, I just mentioned, when I am obliged to purchase apparatus &c, I shall not select so expensive a place as Berlin for my residence, but rather choose one of our small Universities, perhaps Giessen itself, where I have old friends, and particularly the kind advise of Buff, while anywhere else my acquaintance with the professors is new & I cannot expect their taking any interest in me.- It remains yet for me to choose a subject for the special investigation I am about to begin.-

Now I have given you a short sketch of my life & of what has occupied my mind. I may add, that since I came to Heidelberg, I have taken my mother⁵ to me, & so given her a new home, while I have formed one for myself; should I go to Giessen in November, she would come with me again.

At Carlsruhe, I heard from Gladstone that you are well and vigorous and that you often meet on the lighthouse Committee. I hope you have not entirely discontinued the subject of the connection of gravitation with the other forces. Dear Mrs Faraday, I am afraid, will not have much enjoyed the retreat at Hampton Court, bad as the weather has been; I trust, however, that she is well. With my kindest regards to her & Miss Barnard

I remain | Yours very truly | E. Becker