It is related
that, after his lecture on the telephone at Geissen, in 1854, Professor
Poggendorff, who was present, invited him to send a description of his
instrument to the ANNALEN. Reis answered him,'Ich danke Ihnen recht
Sehr, Herr Professor ; es ist zu spaty. Jetzt will ICH nicht ihn
schickeny. Mein Apparat wird ohne Beschreibung in den ANNALEN bekannt
werden.' ('Thank you very much, Professor, but it is too late. I shall
not send it now. My apparatus will become known without any writing in
the ANNALEN.')
Latterly Reis had confined his teaching and study to matters of science;
but his bad health was a serious impediment. For several years it was
only by the exercise of a strong will that he was able to carry on his
duties. His voice began to fail as the disease gained upon his lungs,
and in the summer of 1873 he was obliged to forsake tuition during
several weeks. The autumn vacation strengthened his hopes of recovery,
and he resumed his teaching with his wonted energy. But this was the
last flicker of the expiring flame. It was announced that he would show
his new gravity-machine at a meeting of the Deutscher Naturforscher of
Wiesbaden in September, but he was too ill to appear. In December he
lay down, and, after a long and painful illness, breathed his last at
five o'clock in the afternoon of January 14, 1874
In his CURRICULUM VITAE he wrote these words: 'As I look back upon my
life I call indeed say with the Holy Scriptures that it has been "labour
and sorrow.
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