Last Night
In 1827, at the age of 76, Chladni came to Breslau, where he attracted a circle of admirers and was a prominent part of the local social life. One of his friends was Henrik Steffens (1773-1845), who was a professor of physics at the University of Breslau from 1811 to 1832 and is the subject of this portrait. Steffens was a philosopher who promoted the Naturphilosophie of Friedrich Schelling. He was influenced by his study of geology, and promoted the doctrine of “Individualization,” according to which organisms become more distinct the higher on an evolutionary scale they appear.
One night in April, Chladni went to tea at Steffens’ house. The group talked about death, and Chladni expressed the hope that he would go quickly. He spoke approvingly of a gourmand who died of a stroke just as he finished off a large and satisfying meal. That evening, Chladni himself suffered a fatal stroke at his boarding house.