publication in Poggendorff's Annalen, but the manuscript was not published nor was it returned to the author.[1] Thirty-six years later it was found among the papers of Poggendorff. In 1842 Mayer prepared a second short paper of seven pages and had the satisfaction of seeing it printed in Liebig's Annalen der Chemie. This was a happy time in his life, for at the very hour when he learned of the acceptance of his manuscript, he was bringing home his bride and presenting her to his aged parents.[2] But it is one thing to secure the publication of a manuscript and quite another thing to get scientific men to read and study it. A new discovery necessitates a new language. A new language is not generally understood. The curse of Babel fell upon Mayer's paper: "Confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." Other papers were printed by Mayer as pamphlets in 1845 and 1848.
Something of the personality of Mayer may be gained from the following stories.[3] During a hurried meeting with Mayer in Heidelberg once, Jolly remarked, with a rather dubious implication, that if Mayer's theory were correct water could be warmed by shaking. Mayer went away without a word of reply. Several weeks later. . . he rushed into the latter's presence, exclaiming, "Es ischt so!" (It is so, it is so). It was only after considerable explanation that Jolly found out what Mayer wanted to say. Of metaphysics Mayer had no appreciation. Rümelin narrates that in 1841 Mayer borrowed from him a copy of Hegel's "Logik" and Hegel's "Naturphilosophie," but returned the books a few days later with the remark that he did not understand a word, and that he could not understand any part of it, were he to study it a hundred years.[4]
For years Mayer was unable to bring his great discovery to the serious attention of scientific men. Later there followed controversies on his rights of priority. A gloom fell upon him through the death of two of his children. His mind became seriously affected, and on May 26, 1850, he unsuccessfully attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window. In 1851 he was placed in an insane asylum, where he was cruelly treated. Two years later he was set free, but he never again regained complete mental equilibrium. Such is the pathetic story of the first discoverer of the conservation of energy.[5]
- ↑ "Mechanik der Wärme," von R. Mayer (ed. J. J. Weyrauch), Stuttgart, 1893, p. 16; "Kleinere Schriften u. Briefe," von Robert Mayer (ed. J. J. Weyrauch), Stuttgart, 1893, V., p. 99.
- ↑ "Kleinere Schriften," p. 379.
- ↑ Mach in the Monist, Vol. 6, 1896, p. 171, copied in Cajori's "History of Physics," New York, 1899, p. 210. Several passages in this address are taken from this "History of Physics."
- ↑ G. Rümelin, "Reden und Aufsätze," Freiburg i. B., 1881, p. 380.
- ↑ For a statement, by Clausius, explaining the manner in which Mayer's
