k with him both
his brother Christian's sons, Ferdinand and Wilhelm, to Griesheim; there
to educate them together with the three orphans of his brother
Christoph, who had died in 1813, of hospital fever, whilst nursing the
French soldiers. Of the sons of Christian, Ferdinand studied philosophy,
and at his death was director of the Orphanage founded by Froebel in
Burgdorf; Wilhelm, who showed great talent, and was his uncle's
favourite nephew, died early through the consequences of an accident,
just after receiving his "leaving certificate" from the gymnasium of
Rudolstadt.

As regards the sons of Christoph, they were the immediate cause of
Froebel's going to Griesheim, for their widowed mother sent for her
brother-in-law to consult him as to their education. Julius, the eldest,
was well prepared in Keilhau for the active life he was afterwards
destined to live. He went from school to Munich, first, to study the
natural sciences; and while yet at the university several publications
from his pen were issued by Cotta. Later on he took an official post in
Weimar, and continued to write from time to time. Meanwhile he completed
his studies in Jena and Berlin under Karl von Ritter, the great
authority on cosmography, and under the distinguished naturalist,
Alexander von Humboldt. In 1833 he became Professor at the Polytechnic
School in Zurich; but his literary avocations eventually drew him to
Dresden. Here he was chosen Deputy to the National Assembly at Frankfurt
in 1848. After the dissolution of that Assembly, Julius Froebel, in
common with many others of the more advanced party, was condemned to
death. He escaped to Switzerland before arrest, and fled to New York. In
after life he was permitted to return to Germany, and eventually he was
appointed Consul at Smyrna.

Karl Froebel, the next son, went to Jena also. He then took a tutorship
in England, and it was at this time (1831) that his pamphlet, "A
Preparation for Euclid," appeared. He returned to the Continent to
become Director of the Public Schools at Zuerich. He left Zuerich in 1848
for Hamburg, where he founded a Lyceum for Young Ladies. Some years
later, when this had ceased to exist, he went again to England, and
eventually founded an excellent school at Edinburgh with the aid of his
wife; which, indeed, his wife and he still conduct. His daughters show
great talent for music, and one of them was a pupil of the distinguished
pianist, Madame Schumann (widow of t