the left lung was
also relieved; and Sir William had so far recovered that he could leave
his room. On Saturday, the 17th, he was to have gone for a change of air
to his country seat at Sherwood; but on Wednesday, the 14th, he appears
to have caught a chill which affected his lungs, for that night he was
seized with a shortness of breath and a difficulty in breathing. Though
not actually confined to bed, he never left his room again. On the last
day, and within four hours of his death, we are told, his two medical
attendants, after consultation, spoke so hopefully of the future, that
no one was prepared for the sudden end which was then so near. 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. In the afternoon and evenings he was generally
engaged at council meetings of the learned societies, or directory
meetings of the companies in which he was interested. He was a man who
took little or no leisure, and though he never appeared to over-exert
himself, few men could have withstood the strain so long.

Siemens was buried on Monday, November 26, in Kensal Green Cemetery. The
interment was preceded by a funeral service held in Westminster Abbey,
and attended by representatives of the numerous learned societies of
which he had been a conspicuous member,