The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1261: Chapter 156: Studious Outsiders (Part 3)

And his roommate Schleiden also belongs to the same type of good student. Blumenbach, who was in the operating room performing surgery, once invited these two students and other favorite disciples to his home for free tutoring in biological knowledge.

Although this kind of cross-disciplinary tutoring sounds quite nonsensical, it actually belongs to common phenomena in Gottingen and the entire Deutsch University circle. So much so that many students enrolled in theology, philosophy, but midway developed interests in other disciplines, and ended up graduating with degrees in medicine, mathematics, and other fields.

For instance, Heine, this philosophy doctorate, once paid to take an elective course at the medical school to study the feet of women in Gottingen, and crammed anatomy knowledge for several months in the library.

The phenomenon of switching from arts to science is quite common, and likewise, there are many switching from science to arts.

The typical figure in this respect is Gauss. Although Gauss did not switch majors, according to him, his interest in literature far exceeds his interest in mathematics, and one of his life’s regrets is not pursuing a doctorate in classical literature.

The borrowing records of the Gottingen University Library also confirm Gauss’s words. As a globally leading library with nearly three hundred thousand volumes, Gauss rarely borrowed books on natural philosophy from here; what he borrowed most were novels, plays, and poetry collections.

If arranged according to the borrowing list, Gauss’s literary taste is easy to discern: he is a reader who favors classical romanticism; he is devoted to Shakespeare, Goethe, and Voltaire. However, this does not mean Gauss holds any prejudice against contemporary writers because at the beginning of this month, when the Gottingen University Library purchased the works of “British,” Gauss was the first reader to rush to borrow these trendy British novels.

The librarians, the Brothers Grimm, said that Gauss really enjoyed reading Walter Scott’s historical novels, and thus he has always been interested in London’s ‘new Walter Scott,’ Mr. Eld Carter. During this borrowing session, Gauss unceremoniously took both of Carter’s novels “St. George’s Flag Still Rises” and “Robin Hood,” and conveniently picked up “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “Hastings Case Files.”

Arthur, taking advantage of Schleiden reporting his itinerary over the past few days, casually chatted about these campus anecdotes he stumbled upon, quickly making the atmosphere quite congenial.

Dosna’s various side probes could not extract any suspicious information from Mottle’s mouth, so he helplessly shook his head, stood up, and said to Arthur, “Sir, regarding the doubts surrounding Schleiden, Schaefer and I will investigate as soon as possible. There is still a lot of work ahead, I won’t linger here much longer.”

“Then I’ll trouble you and Mr. Schaefer.”

“Duty-bound.”

Dosna got up and left the hospital. Mottle, seeing him walk away, winked at Arthur and said, “Sir, did you know the brave citizen who saved Mr. Schleiden is Italian?”

“Italian?” Arthur asked indifferently, “How do you know?”

“Of course, it’s because I understand a bit of Italian.” Mottle laughed and patted Bismarck on the shoulder beside him, “The biggest thing Otto and I have in common is that both of us know multiple languages. I speak French, English, German, Latin, Greek, and Italian, but Otto is a bit stronger than me, he even speaks some Russian and Polish.”

As soon as Arthur heard Polish, he reflexively remembered a certain matter and joked to Bismarck, “You actually know Polish; it seems you could not only become a judge but even run for parliament.”

Unable to make sense of London’s Polish teaching process, Bismarck simply thought Arthur was complimenting him and proudly puffed out his chest, “Thank you for the recognition, besides the art of fencing, it’s the first time I’ve thought we actually share a common view.”

But in a moment, Bismarck proudly coughed and claimed credit to Arthur, “Regarding the matter of the brave citizen saving Mr. Schleiden being Italian, I have not mentioned it to anyone else at all.”

“Well done.”

Arthur saw through Bismarck’s little scheme at a glance; not only is this claiming credit but it also carries a hint of ‘I have leverage.’ Although Bismarck has verbally conceded, anyone can see that this lad harbors a pent-up force inside and once he gets hold of that school recommendation letter, this self-proclaimed most loyal and reliable student in Gottingen will immediately switch sides.

Arthur has never dealt with educational work, but he knows how to handle police informants.

Of course, handling students cannot be as straightforward as police work, so in this respect, he needs to employ more flexible means.

“Otto, I heard you’re interested in electromagnetism lately? You even enrolled in Mr. Ohm’s course?”

When Bismarck heard this, he muttered and complained inwardly. Because that elective course in electromagnetism was clearly Arthur’s suggestion for him to enroll in, rather than his own choice.

But since Arthur insists it was his voluntary choice, for the sake of the recommendation letter, all he can do is verbally agree first, “Yes, I am indeed very interested in natural philosophy, especially electromagnetism; it’s a trendy new field, who doesn’t like these trendy concepts?”

Seeing this lad speaking so insincerely, it’s as if Arthur hears the sound of a big fish biting the line. He laughed and patted Bismarck’s shoulder, “Very good, you are so forward-looking and studious, I am very pleased. Come to my house tonight, 76 Weinberg Street, I have a fine French chef at home, I will first treat you to a genuine French meal, and then I will give you a good tutoring.”

Bismarck’s smile immediately froze upon hearing this, he already sensed something amiss, “Tutoring? You mean in electromagnetism?”

“Electromagnetism is certainly an essential part, although I am an electromagnetism professor, what I specialize in is not just electromagnetism.”

Arthur winked and said, “Just like Professor Gauss, he is a math professor, but also proficient in astronomy and physics. As for me, besides electromagnetism, what I am more adept at is policing… Oh, no, in Gestapo management.”