378b. Johann Wilhelm Ritter to Hans Christian Örsted in Paris: Jena, 22 May 1803 [*]
22 May 1803
. . . Schelling left this morning at 3:00, traveling by way of Bamberg, Nürnberg, Swabia, where he will be staying a while, through Switzerland, where he will similarly be spending some time, and then on to Italy, then, as it turns out, returning here again by way of France and perhaps Spain, though not for 2 years. [1] . . .
Notes
[*] Source: Correspondance de H. C. Örsted avec divers savants publiée par M. C. Harding, 2 vols., ed. M. C. Harding (Copenhagen 1920), 2:37.
Örsted visited Ritter in Jena between 13 August and 3 September 1802. He then spent the winter 1802–3 in Paris, lecturing on, among other things, Ritter’s theories, returning then to Copenhagen in the autumn of 1803. Back.
[1] Caroline and Schelling’s nine-day journey (altogether ca. 365 km) from Jena to Murrhardt proceeded by way of Bamberg, Würzburg (rather than Nürnberg), and Swabian Halle (contemporary Hall) ([1] Schauplatz der Natur und der Künste, vol. 8 [Vienna 1782], plate 532); [2] Post Karte Durch ganz Deutschland, ed. J. Walch [Augsburg 1795]; Murrhardt [not on a postal route, hence not on this map; see below] is situated 25 km just southwest of Hall):
See Schelling’s father’s letter to Schelling on 30 May 1803 (letter 378c) and Caroline’s letter to Luise Wiedemann on 5 June 1803 (letter 379).
Murrhardt is located ca. 50 km northeast of Stuttgart and ca. 365 km from Jena (Karte des deutschen Reichs, ed. C. Vogel [Gotha 1907], no. 23; second map: Neueste Post. Karte von Deutschland und den angroenzenden Laendern [Vienna 1805]; Bibliothèque nationale de France):
Concerning the route from Swabian Halle (as Schelling’s father spells it) to Murrhardt itself, see Schelling’s father’s letter to Schelling on 30 May 1803 (letter 378c). Concerning the specific route at the time between Jena and Bamberg, see Schelling’s letter to Adalbert Friedrich Marcus on 3 May 1800 (letter 259o), note 7. Back.
Translation © 2016 Doug Stott