Letter 50
Euler to Razumovsky
Berlin, 7/18 November 1747
Synopsis: Administrative chores of appointing and re-appointing,
interviewing and strong-arming. Mention of Euler's "Navigation and Construction of Ships." Italian medical experiments applying to electricity. Euler as the business broker in porcelain manufacturing.
[...]After the news of your Excellency's illness which caused us great distress, the joy on regaining it is all the greater. A very humble congratulations to Your Excellency on the recovery of His precious health. I implore God that He should preserve Your Excellency's person and illustrious family. May His blessings be for the glory of the Empire, the happiness of the Academy and the proliferation of the sciences.
I am entirely overwhelmed by the particular goodness that your grace has bestowed on me by having my entire salary paid by the Imperial Academy. I will proceed with all of my efforts to make myself more worthy by fulfilling with all possible exactness Your Excellency's wishes, while working with all of my resources for the glory of the Academy and the enrichment of the Sciences.
I began reading some papers of which Your Excellency has asked for the honor of my opinion. What I have read inspires a very good opinion of Mr. Richman, who appears to have made considerable progress in Physics and Mathematics. I hope to draw the reading of these papers to a close by the next post. I will not miss the opportunity to return them to Your Excellency and hopefully give sign of my increasing confidence in the papers I am reading. I have already spoken to Your Excellency about the decision concerning Mr. Bernoulli, he has suggested filling the position with a certain Mr. Koenig who is very able in mathematics and brother of professor Franecker in Holland. As for myself, I have not read anything by him. There are, however two persons in Dresden, one a very able fellow by the name of Oechliz who in my view is the most competent mathematician in all of Germany. He is still young and will not surprise us if he shortly becomes one of the great geometers.
Professor Braun wishes to thank Your Excellency in this enclosure concerning his position. Not only is it advantageous to him, but also one to which he will not hesitate to set his nose to the grindstone. Concerning that which Messrs. Schumacher and Teplov have written to me , I wrote to Mr. Kruger and Mr. Kratzenstein in Halle and soon I hope to be able to prepare my report on that correspondence.
I have conducted the necessary arrangements pertaining to Your Excellency's orders concerning the publication of my treatise on the "Navigation and Construction of Ships." As the printer demands cash, I am obliged to request 500 rubles from Your Excellency, which will supply me with the requisite force to push through the publication with greater success. In that which remains , I will fulfill all the other particular conditions of this printing, of which Your Majesty asked about with such kindness.
Electricity has continued to occupy the minds of the physical scientists. I have just received letters from Italy, which tell me of a doctor in Venice, who having wrapped an electric pipe with gauze, of balms and certain medical extracts, has cured a person of gout and performed other prodigies. The Academy of Bologna is presently conducting similar experiments.
Our chemist, Mr. Margraaf has just made an announcement to us concerning an important discovery by which he is prepared to extract real sugar from various plants of our native land with great profit.
I understand that a person has come to Petersburg who claims possess the secret of the manufacture of porcelain and who has made great expenditures without providing the desired results. He is probably an impostor. I feel it necessary to bring to Your Excellency's attention that there is no doubt that our own Mr. Pott possesses the real stuff for making porcelain. His abilities show, that his porcelain is better than Dresden's. His material has the proper characteristics to make all types of pottery, and there is no one who doubts his abilities to establish a successful factory. It will require a considerable advance from three persons who could possibly get involved. Mr. Pott would be prepared to disclose his secret, and would be satisfied to receive a percentage of the future earnings that a factory would bring as part of a suitable reward for the its disclosure. Everyone is in agreement that Mr. Pott is a very solid individual and in a different league from all impostors. Therefore, if his Imperial Majesty would wish to invest in a porcelain factory, it always makes better sense to confide in a respectable individual who has displayed real talents. I apologize to Your Grace for having extended myself on this issue. But I find myself compelled by my zeal for interests to his Imperial Majesty. The fact is that my duties demand that I provide the Academy with previews of discoveries that come to my knowledge[...]
Translated from the French
by J.S.D.Glaus
