In the evening, while he was sitting
in an arm-chair, very quiet and calm, a change suddenly came over his
face, and he died like one who falls asleep. Heart disease of long
standing, aggravated by the fall, was the immediate cause; but the
opinion has been expressed by one who knew him well, that Siemens
'literally immolated himself on the shrine of labour.' At any rate he
did not spare himself, and his intense devotion to his work proved
fatal.
Every day was a busy one with Siemens. His secretary was with him in
his residence by nine o'clock nearly every morning, except on Sundays,
assisting him in work for one society or another, the correction of
proofs, or the dictation of letters giving official or scientific
advice, and the preparation of lectures or patent specifications. Later
on, he hurried across the Park 'almost at racing speed,' to his offices
at Westminster, where the business of the Landore-Siemens Steel Company
and the Electrical Works of Messrs. Siemens Brothers and Company was
transacted. As chairman of these large undertakings, and principal
inventor of the processes and systems carried out by them, he had a
hundred things to attend to in connection with them, visitors to see,
and inquiries to answer.
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