Darmstädter Hof
Tuesday
Heidelberg
My Dear Black,
I don’t know if you shall be able to read this: for the ink, produced by adding water to a hard black deposit in the inkstand in my room is an experiment designed to save me from going downstairs which I cannot but view as questionable.
I did wait at Cassel[3] for the cheaper train & am sorry that I did so. For firstly the carriages were full of reapers going to their “hearst”[4] and the crush & smell were very bad.
Nextly we got to Frankfurt so late as to miss the Heidelberg train & I didn’t get here till some time after 7.
The Hotel is comfortable & looks like being pretty cheap — I saw Helmholtz & Kirchoff [sic] this forenoon.[5] I am much delighted with the appearance of the Former tho I have seen less of him as he sent me off at once to Kirchoff’s lecture which was just beginning. After that I went with Kirchoff thro his Cabinets &c. I am going back to Helmholtz tomorrow. He speaks English. Kirchoff did not speak English. He took the other alternative open to a civil German viz: complimented me for speaking “so ausgezeichnet Deutsch!”[6]
I have also seen Nöther’s[7] friend Horstmann[8] and am going to walk with him at 6.[9] He is very nice. After writing this note I mean to call for the Lanneaus.
I find that Forbes & Hastie[10] are here. I saw their names in the University list & called on Forbes — walked with them to a Restauration & had beer & a theological discussion with Hastie who has fully taken up the Tübingen position as to John, Acts &c. He of course does not believe in miracles but he does in Schenkel.[11] Forbes is orthodox.
This is all my news I think. If anything else occurs I shall add a PS.
Your affect. Friend
Wm R Smith
What Ink !!!
[1] CUL ADD 7449 A007 MS
[2] The letter is undated and has several editorial guesses scribbled at the head: “Aug 67?” is followed by “68” which in turn is altered to “69”. Finally, “July 1869” seems to indicate Black’s decision. However, from the other July letters it is evident that WRS wrote to Black on Tuesday, July 27, after arriving at Heidelberg the previous day.
[3] Kassel.
[4] Harvest (Scot.): although normally spelled “hairst”, Smith’s rendering is a better reflection of the local Aberdeenshire pronunciation.
[5] Cf. B&C, p.114 , which refers to Tait’s insistence that he should visit Heidelberg.
[6] “such excellent English”.
[7] Nöther, Max (1844–1921): a pioneer of modern algebraic geometry, was assistant professor of Mathematics at Heidelberg from 1865–1888 and then full professor at Erlangen University.
[8] Horstmann: a German chemist.
[9] It is not obvious why WRS doubly emphasises the hour here; perhaps he means 6 a.m.
[10] Neither Forbes nor Hastie may be securely identified but are conceivably Archibald Forbes (1838–1900) and William Hastie (1842–1903). The former, a son of the manse, was captivated by the reporting of W. H. Russell during the Crimean War and subsequently became another pioneering war correspondent, using telegraphic communication extensively for the first time. His dispatches on the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 were the prelude to “a life of perilous adventure” (DNB). William Hastie (1842–1903) had a highly distinguished undergraduate career in philosophy and divinity at both Edinburgh and Glasgow University before becoming “for some years a wandering student among continental universities” (DNB). In 1878 he was appointed principal of the Church of Scotland College at Calcutta and ultimately, in 1895, professor of Divinity at Glasgow University.
[11] Schenkel, Daniel (1813–1885): was professor of Theology at Heidelberg University, a follower of Schleiermacher and a strong proponent of science as the ally of Christianity. His best-known work was translated into English in 1869 as A Sketch of the Character of Jesus (London: Longmans, Green & Co.).