G. A. F. Van Rhyn

“ He went to Berlin, and on the three years which he spent there Helmholtz still looks back as the most pleasant of his life. There were strict rules to be obeyed, and there was hard study to be done; but there were also short furloughs to be obtained for rambles through the city, and some even long enough for a journey to the old home at Potsdam. The constant feeling of being on duty developed in him that noble manliness which so deeply marks every feature of his face. ”

“ Helmholtz's new doctrines of sight and sound have been universally received, and his fame will last as long as they continue to be among the main pillars of physical science. His name is also inseparably connected with the doctrine of the conservation of force, which subsequent investigation at the hands of others has shown to be the key-note of every law of Nature. Its bearing on the doctrine of evolution is, however, so strong and favorable that, like that doctrine, it will need much time before it receives an unreserved acceptance. ”

“ The discovery of this principle of Nature has been of the greatest moment to the progress of the whole range of physical sciences. This law is, in fact, indispensable to a sound understanding of any and every phenomenon in the animate and inanimate world. And Helmholtz opened his scientific career with a production that would have worthily closed a long life of study and fame.
After the publication of "The Conservation of Force," he was appointed prosector at the Anatomical Institute in Berlin, where he remained about a year. ”