Letter 337 Euler to Razumovsky
Berlin, July 7/18, 1756
Synopsis: Schumacher pulls the plug on Euler's students, and back to Mother Russia for Kotelinikoff and Rumoffsky. Euler requests reimbursement for his book as well as the magnetic bars.
I have just received the Chancellery's orders through Mr. Muller to return the two students Kotelnikoff and Rumoffsky, who will be leaving from here as soon as it is possible. However in comparing these orders with all that has happened here in regards to me, I see these orders as providing a monumental disgrace which the Academy has manipulated against me, and which could possibly implicate Your Excellency. Since I may flatter myself that I have accomplished all the requirements which my close attachments to the Imperial Academy have asked of me, may I take the liberty to represent the circumstances which have conspired to throw me into this embarrassing situation where I presently find myself. I placed all of my confidence onto the enlightened decision that Your Excellency will bring to this matter. It was back in 1752 that Mr. Schumacher proposed to send one of the Academy's students and to provide him with all the requisites studies in mathematics with the understanding that Your Excellency would not lack in reimbursing me for the expenses I would incur at his expense. With this in mind, I did everything possible to promote his knowledge of science and I have no doubt that the Academy was very pleased with the progress that he made. I proceeded to do the same for the other students who were entrusted to me and since then and I can assure Your Excellency that Rumoffsky would have become an excellent mathematician if he had been given the time. /221r/. It is perhaps my fault that in anticipation of being reimbursed and because I did not want to take advantage, I only charged each of them 180 ecus a year, providing them with room and board, wood and candles, a price at which my personal finances lost considerably. But they may not have been able to pay any more than this, since clothes and the other items which a man needs requires the outlay of considerable expense, besides which they also require to purchase the necessary books. It has been about a year that Mr. Schumacher told me that I should not expect anything extraordinary on their behalf, which prompted me to respond that it was absolutely impossible for me to support them in the way that they have been accustomed, and that if I were to suffer the losses for the past, I need only to receive the orders to have them return immediately. I cannot imagine that the Academy would not be willing to spend an small amount so as to obtain worthy members while they spare nothing to hire foreigners. I had thought that a small expense to have our own national scientists would be a worthwhile undertaking. However, returning these two students without paying me for any of the expenses that I have incurred for the Academy forces me to see that I will have a considerable loss at my expense, however it appears that it is unlikely that I will recover my other advances. Besides which, I have to see that all of the troubles that I have invested in their education will be lost. I employed so much of my time to their instruction that might have been reasonably paid to me by others which I was forced to decline, since I used all of my available time for their benefit. However, I am prepared to make this sacrifice for the glory of the Academy insofar as I am told what Your Excellency's intentions are.
/222/ However, I find myself in an even more embarrassing situation in relation to the book that the Academy ordered me to have printed here and for which only half of the costs were sent. It has been nearly a year that the book was printed without having the other half of the costs reimbursed. The printer and the paper wholesaler want to be paid, and they have already obtained permission to have the entire edition liquidated publicly which I have forestalled by resolving to provide for their payment from my own purse and take possession of all the copies. I have already advised Mr. Schumacher of this step and even though two months have passed I have yet to have a response. I have even been forced to pay them interest for nearly a year so that the actual amount that I have advanced amounts to 330 roubles. This notwithstanding, one copy of which were printed 500 copies only costs 1 1/4 roubles and each can be sold for 4-5 roubles. However if the copies stay in my possession as I am not able to negotiate with the bookstores, it is obvious that the entire advance will be lost to me. I am also responsible for all correspondence on behalf of the Academy as well as certain instruments that I have sent which incurred considerable expense and still do so. My account payable with the Academy at the beginning of the year was 70 roubles, and has presently reached 75 roubles.. It is uniquely with your generosity that I can liquidate this account.
/222r/ There has also been another misunderstanding between Mr. Schumacher and me. Last year he had instructed me to send a large number magnetic steel bars to the Academy which I had received from Basel with detailed instructions to produce artificial magnets and other magnetic experiments. The manufacturer in Basel was waiting impatiently for his payment and after some time Mr. Schumacher sent a letter of exchange for 109 roubles, which I used to pay the aforementioned bars as well as for the cartographic maps which I had ordered from Paris for the Academy. The price for which was 100 rubles. But soon after Mr. Schumacher brought to my attention that the monies were earmarked for the books which had been purchased at the public sale at the Neaulme bookstore. However wanting to pay for the magnetic bars, Neaulme meanwhile directly approached the Academy from whom he complained that there had been no reply. I humbly beseech Your Excellency, to give instructions either to pay Neaulme or that I be sent monies for the magnetic bars. It is under these trying circumstances that I see myself obliged to seek a resolution to this matter from Your Excellency. Having the honor of the most profound respect[...]
Translated from the French
by J.S.D.Glaus
