[London,] 22 August 1865 

Dear Frep, 

Best THANKS For THE £20, First HALF Of which received. I most 
certainly would not sorner you, but the end of the quarter, whose 
bills have been put off, is a very difficult time. 

Regarding Kirkwood’s law, there is no doubt that it explains the 
difference in the rotatory Movements, e.g., between those of Jupiter 
and those of Venus, which hitherto appeared entirely fortuitous.’ 
But how he finds out and proves the law itself, I do not know, but 
on my next visit to the British Museum I will try to get to the 
bottom of the original work and will tell you more about it then. 
The only ‘problem’ attached to the matter, as far as I can see, 
consists in mathematically determining the sphere of attraction of 
each planet. The only hypothetical thing about it is probably the 
assumption of Laplace’s theory as a premise. 

My influenza has invaded my nose to such an extent that the 
Texan Boys? ‘nozzle’ has reproduced itself in me, accompanied by 
a frightful cold and a muzziness in the head such as must have 
filled the whole of Laplace’s universe of incandescent gas. 

The fellows and friends of the ‘Internationa’? have now 
discovered after all that I am not away, and I have therefore 

a See this volume, pp. 184, 186. - > Edgar von Westphalen’s 

received a summons To ATTEND a Meeting of the subcommittee today. 
The 4 weeks of my disappearance have been totally sponr for me 
by the doctor’s prescriptions. 

Amongst the books from Lupus’ legacy I have in my possession 
there is a copy of Egli’s Neue Handelsgeographie. This Swiss says in 
the preface that into the ‘biographies of commercial geography’ he 
has now and again 

‘woven a view from life, a view in contemplation of which the soul may lose 

itself for a moment, in comfortable repose ... genre miniatures woven in ... a piece of 
life shall here unfold before our eyes. Life evolves from life alone’. 

The following shows you what this naive Swiss means by ‘views 
from life’: 

‘Markgrafler wine grows on the sunny hills of Mühlheim and Badenweiler. It 
was not for nothing that our dearly beloved Hebel sang: 

“At t’Mill by t'Post 

Tallyho, mine host! 

Drink up lads: a grand wine flows, 
Smooth as olive oil it goes! 

At t'Mill by t'Post.”’# 

To prove ‘that I have not taken the easy path’, this same naive 
Swiss refers to the list of works he has used. This list numbers 
precisely 20 items, where along with naive ‘children’s literature’ as 
the Buch der Erfindungen, etc., there are two works by the self-same 
Mr Egli.° 

Kindest regards from the whole Family. 

Your 
K. M.