The arrival of so many persons of similar pursuit, (for 464 members were present,) rendered it convenient to have some ordinary, at which those who chose might dine, and introduce their friends or families. This had been foreseen, and his Majesty had condescended to allow the immense building used for the exercise of his troops, to be employed for this purpose. One-third of it was floored on the occasion, and tables were arranged, at which, on one occasion, 850 persons sat down to dinner. On the evening of the first day, M. de Humboldt gave a large SOIREE in the concert rooms attached to the theatre. About 1200 persons assembled on this occasion, and his Majesty the King of Prussia honoured with his presence the fete of his illustrious chamberlain. The nobility of the country, foreign princes, and foreign ambassadors, were present. It was gratifying to observe the princes of the blood mingling with the cultivators of science, and to see the heir-apparent to the throne, during the course of the evening, engaged in conversation with those most celebrated for their talents, of his own, or of other countries.
Nor were the minor arrangements of the evening beneath the consideration of the President. The words of the music selected for the concert, were printed and distributed to the visitors. The names of the most illustrious philosophers which Germany had produced, were inscribed in letters of gold at the end of the great concert room.
In the first rank amongst these stood a name which, England, too, enrolls amongst the brightest in her scientific annals; and proud, as well she may be, of having fostered and brought to maturity the genius of the first Herschel, she has reaped an ample reward in being able to claim as entirely her own, the inheritor of his talents and his name.
The six succeeding days were occupied, in the morning, by a meeting of the academy, at which papers of general interest were read. In the afternoon, through the arrangement of M. de Humboldt and M. Lichtenstein, various rooms were appropriated for different sections of the academy. In one, the chemical philosophers attended to some chemical memoir, whilst the botanists assembled in another room, the physiologists in a third, and the natural philosophers in a fourth. Each attended to the reading of papers connected with their several sciences. Thus every member was at liberty to choose that section in which he felt most interest at the moment, and he had at all times power of access to the others. The evenings were generally spent at some of the SOIREES of the savans, resident at Berlin, whose hospitality and attentions to their learned brethren of other countries were unbounded. During the unoccupied hours of the morning, the collections of natural history, which are rapidly rising into importance, were open to examination; and the various professors and directors who assisted the stranger in his inquiries, left him equally gratified by the knowledge and urbanity of those who so kindly aided him.
A map of Europe was printed, on which those towns only appeared which had sent representatives to this scientific congress; and the numbers sent by different kingdoms appeared by the following table, which was attached to it;—
Russia......... 1
Austria........ 0
England........ 1
Holland........ 2
Denmark........ 7
France ........ 1
Sardinia ....... 0
Prussia........ 95
Bavaria........ 12
Hanover........ 5
Saxony ........ 21
Wirtemburg ...... 2
Sweden ........ 13
Naples ........ 1
Poland ........ 3
German States..... 43
—- 206
Berlin ....... 172
—- 378
The proportion in which the cultivators of different sciences appeared, was not easy to ascertain, because there were few amongst the more eminent who had not added to more than one branch of human knowledge. The following table, though not professing to be very accurate, will afford, perhaps, a tolerably fair view:—
Geometers............. 11
Astronomers........... 5
Natural Philosophers . 23
— 39
Mines............ 5
Mineralogy ...... 16
Geology.......... 9
— 30
Chemistry........... 18
Geography........... 8
Anatomy............. 12
Zoology............ 14
Natural History.... 8
Botany.............. 35
— 57
Physicians....... 175
Amateurs ....... 9
Various ......... 35
—-381
A medal was struck in commemoration of this meeting, and it was proposed that it should form the first of a series, which should comprise all those persons most celebrated for their scientific discoveries in the past and present age.