point, but Helmholtz could not see it, although he
understood English, which Siemens could speak. Still the explanations
were made in German. I always wished I could have understood Siemens's
explanations of the points of those stories. At Heidelberg, my
assistant, Mr. Wangemann, an accomplished German-American, showed the
phonograph before the Association."

Then came the trip from the Continent to England, of which this will
certainly pass as a graphic picture: "When I crossed over to England
I had heard a good deal about the terrors of the English Channel as
regards seasickness. I had been over the ocean three times and did not
know what seasickness was, so far as I was concerned myself. I was told
that while a man might not get seasick on the ocean, if he met a good
storm on the Channel it would do for him. When we arrived at Calais
to cross over, everybody made for the restaurant. I did not care about
eating, and did not go to the restaurant, but my family did. I walked
out and tried to find the boat. Going along the dock I saw two small
smokestacks sticking up, and looking down saw a little boat. 'Where is
the steamer that goes across the Channel?' 'This is the boat.' There had
been a storm in the North Sea that had carried away some of the boats on
the German steamer, and it certainly looked awful tough outside. I said
to the man: 'Will that boat live in that sea?' 'Oh yes,' he said, 'but
we've had a bad storm.' So I made up my mind that perhaps I would get
sick this time. The managing director of the English railroad owning
this line was Forbes, who heard I was coming over, and placed the
private saloon at my disposal. The moment my family got in the room with
the French lady's maid and the rest, they commenced to get sick, so I
felt pretty sure I was in for it. We started out of the little inlet
and got into the Channel, and that boat went in seventeen directions
simultaneously. I waited awhile to see what was going to occur, and then
went into the smoking-compartment. Nobody was there. By-and-by the fun
began. Sounds of all kinds and varieties were heard in every direction.
They were all sick. There must have been 100 people aboard. I didn't
see a single exception except the waiters and myself. I asked one of the
waiters concerning the boat itself, and was taken to see the engineer,
and went down to look at the engines, and saw the captain. But I kept
mostly in the smoking-room. I was smoking a big cigar, and