I meant to say that the comment title is because I was reading along and got to the part where they were talking about chemistry, and I genuinely thought they were going to fight over scientific theories! A duel for science! Then I got to the next part and realized I didn't know *what* they were dueling (if you can call it that) for.
But if it did happen happen anything like Poyntz describes, it's funny, because I've seen numerous descriptions of Karl as interested in science, including one that said that after he withdrew from society, he spent his last decades living for science and the arts.
Living for science! Assaulting for science!
if he choose to stay quietly at home
Also, at first I thought: this should be easy for him, since he's been staying home by preference since he returned from university in his early 20s!
Then I thought about his near total withdrawal from society, sometimes even refusing to see family and only agreeing to see his paintings and some painters he had over...if there *was* an element of fits of temporary insanity (whether poor anger management or some more neurological disorder), and I'm not saying there was, but maybe he was worried about this happening again?
Wow! All glory to the Royal Detective! What a find!
As the duel not being about science, this reminds me, didn't Maupertuis at some point contemplate duelling Voltaire in non-writerly fashion? (I mean, not that Fritz would have allowed that; even at his most pissed off at Voltaire, I don't see him sanctioning anything that was likely to get Voltaire killed, considering the physical state of fitness of either gentleman.)
But back to Karl: mentally ill or misunderstood? Well, if he truly kicked and hit the guy when said guy was already down, then that's definitely not covered by the duel code and one should hope he had temporarily taken leave of his senses. However...
...there are of course Prussian precedents of the highest status. FW certainly qualifies for well testified "poor anger management", to put it mildly, from early childhood onwards. Not helped by very painful physical ailments in later life and him self medicating with a lot of alcohol. Leaving aside SD at one point wanting to have him declared insane when Fritz was 15 or thereabouts in order to have her boy come to power, with or without herself as Regent for a few years, and didn't get far even with the envoys being anti FW - do we think FW was genuinely mentally ill, or was he simply a bad combination of temper plus absolute power with no higher authority checks once his father was dead?
And then there's Our Antihero, who was physically abusive to his servants now and then in his later years, definitely hitting and kicking them in addition to the verbal lashing out which he had already done for decades. Now, both FW and Fritz and of course Karl Keith are living in a society where violence towards servants from a person in a higher position is seen as okay and/or necessariy discipline for those lazy servants, and it's only when the violence is turned against someone of the same social position (or nearly so) that it's commented on and disapproved. (They're also coming from a society where physical violence gainst kids by teachers is expected, even with aristocratic children, in both genders, lest we forget Wilhelmine and her governess. What I'm getting at here is that it's very trickly to establish what qualifies as mentally ill and what as simply being an ill-mannered jerk in such a society.
Of course, Karl becoming so very hermit like does look like he might have considered himself as unsafe in society and that this was his way of dealing with it, certainly a better one for him and others than being locked up. (Though of course we don't know what he was doing to his servants.)
Wow! All glory to the Royal Detective! What a find!
You should have seen me exclaiming out loud yesterday morning as I was reading it! I may be addicted to ordering scans from archives. :D
As the duel not being about science, this reminds me, didn't Maupertuis at some point contemplate duelling Voltaire in non-writerly fashion?
I had forgotten this, but yes, he did!
(I mean, not that Fritz would have allowed that;
I doubt they would have waited for his approval. Dueling had been illegal in France for over a hundred years at that point, so Frenchmen were accustomed to doing their dueling in secret.
FW certainly qualifies for well testified "poor anger management", to put it mildly, from early childhood onwards.
Me when I first read this: You mean the guy whose outbursts have been attributed to porphyria by some scholars? ;)
do we think FW was genuinely mentally ill, or was he simply a bad combination of temper plus absolute power with no higher authority checks once his father was dead?
The problem with the framing of this question is that there's no clear, agreed-upon distinction between "mentally ill" and "personality," nor what constitutes free will. Neuroscientists and philosophers are *still* debating it. I think we can all agree Fritz had PTSD. According to the DSM and whatever the German equivalent is, that means he was mentally ill. Does that mean that he didn't have a bad combination of temper plus absolute power with no higher authority checks once his father was dead? Obviously not. Would he have been less likely to assault his servants without the PTSD? Probably. Do we generally consider that to mean that he had completely taken leave of his senses, in the sense that, for example, we attribute to a psychotic break? We do not.
Very few mental illnesses strip you of free will in the way that epilepsy does. How accountable was FW for his actions? He always seemed to know where he was and what was going on, and to act according to some kind of internally consistent logic. So I would say he had a set of values, and one of his values was that he should be able to enforce his values with his fists and his cane.
Karl: Well, one reading of the evidence we have is that he had some kind of seizure out of the blue that manifested as aggression, similar to Springer Rage in dogs. Another reading is that he was acting according to the dictates of honor, and he believed he was justified in his actions. Maybe he had a really bad temper, and he invoked insanity as a defense to avoid a worse punishment.
Of course, a major possibility is that we're hearing gossip passed on largely by Italians about how an Italian was totally the defenseless and innocent victim of some crazy Prussian. We are *in* Italy, after all, and I bet the game of telephone is dominated by people who would see the Chevalier Fresia as one of them and Karl as an outsider.
Of course, Karl becoming so very hermit like does look like he might have considered himself as unsafe in society and that this was his way of dealing with it, certainly a better one for him and others than being locked up. (Though of course we don't know what he was doing to his servants.)
Entirely possible! Of course, he had hermit-like tendencies as early as 1764, and maybe he was clinically depressed!
I really wish we had his side of the story. But we do have him saying that honor required him to act as he did. Which makes me think he didn't have random attacks of pure psychosis, but overreacted to some provocation.
In any case, after all the bills and invoices and contracts and loans and interest I've had to decipher, this is a breath of fresh air! (And not just because I didn't have to decipher it. ;)
Very few mental illnesses strip you of free will in the way that epilepsy does. How accountable was FW for his actions? He always seemed to know where he was and what was going on, and to act according to some kind of internally consistent logic. So I would say he had a set of values, and one of his values was that he should be able to enforce his values with his fists and his cane.
Mostly yes, with the caveat that there is the occasional "I am a bad man" in conversation with Pastors, meaning not that he didn't feel himself entitled to physical violence as punishment but that he was on some level aware he went above and beyond and that this conflicted with his idea of himself as a good Christian monarch anad father. Also, the fact that on two famous occasions, he could be talked out of the violence - after having applied some of it already to Wilhelmine, granted - (the "don't be a Peter the Great or Philip of Spain!" homecoming scene from August 15th 1730), and if it happened the earlier time where General Mosel stopped him from attacking Fritz with a sword directly which I used as the springboard for my AU Fiat Justitia) - would indicate he had enough self control and self awareness during those rage times to stop IF he wanted to.
(Whereas, say, G3 during his mental breakdowns - both the earlier ones he recovered from and the final one he never did - was not able to stop out of his own free will.)
Of course, a major possibility is that we're hearing gossip passed on largely by Italians about how an Italian was totally the defenseless and innocent victim of some crazy Prussian. We are *in* Italy, after all, and I bet the game of telephone is dominated by people who would see the Chevalier Fresia as one of them and Karl as an outsider.
That is very true, and leaving aside the example of the Guy-Dickens reports of prisoner!Fritz growing a long beard and being chained to the wall when no such thing happened or the "Wilhelmine gets thrown out of a window" story from Voltaire which grew out of FW slapping and dragging her, but certainly not attempting murder, there is another FW era example I can now think of, i.e. the quarrel he had with Denmark where we have the conflicting reports about the abduction and counter abduction/liberation of a tall guy, where the Prussian report has the Prussian recruiters being entirely peaceful and just hanging their wet socks up to dry at the fire in the inn when these violent peasants storm in and beat them up and leave with their voluntarily recruited soldier and the Danish report is full of abusive Prussians and a heroically saved shephard.
Now, here is how fiction ought to present what set Karl off, and why he couldn't get into specifics other than "honor required...":
Turin person: "Say, is it true you got the job just because your father was your King's boytoy for a brief time?"
would indicate he had enough self control and self awareness during those rage times to stop IF he wanted to.
(Whereas, say, G3 during his mental breakdowns - both the earlier ones he recovered from and the final one he never did - was not able to stop out of his own free will.)
Totally agree, there's a big difference between the two. And I suspect, mentally ill or not, Karl falls into the FW category.
Now, here is how fiction ought to present what set Karl off, and why he couldn't get into specifics other than "honor required...":
Turin person: "Say, is it true you got the job just because your father was your King's boytoy for a brief time?"
ROFL! I was actually trying to think of ideas for how one might handle this in fiction, but I didn't come up with this one! You are truly the best.
(I think, though, that Karl *did* get into specifics, just not in the document we have, since he mentions writing and submitting a full account. However, if it *did* involve his father, I can see why Hertzberg would disappear that document real fast! :D)
Also, the fact that on two famous occasions, he could be talked out of the violence - after having applied some of it already to Wilhelmine, granted - (the "don't be a Peter the Great or Philip of Spain!" homecoming scene from August 15th 1730), and if it happened the earlier time where General Mosel stopped him from attacking Fritz with a sword directly which I used as the springboard for my AU Fiat Justitia) - would indicate he had enough self control and self awareness during those rage times to stop IF he wanted to.
(Whereas, say, G3 during his mental breakdowns - both the earlier ones he recovered from and the final one he never did - was not able to stop out of his own free will.)
*nods* Yeah, the thing one sees with many abusive people is that they don't act abusively, or at least less obviously so, when it would have bad consequences for them. They break other people's stuff, not their own :P It's not absolutely clear to me from this description which Karl falls into, since obviously this did have bad consequences, but maybe he didn't fully understand that it would? On the other hand...
Now, here is how fiction ought to present what set Karl off, and why he couldn't get into specifics other than "honor required...":
Turin person: "Say, is it true you got the job just because your father was your King's boytoy for a brief time?"
LOL forever!! Okay, yeah, that would explain why he couldn't get into specifics, for sure!!
Also, Selena, thank you for reading us all those envoy reports over the years. If not for you, O Royal Reader, this detective wouldn't have known envoy reports were a gold mine, and then wouldn't have known where to look when I wanted to know more about this duel! (Or at least rumors about it, which is all we have.)
Heh. I am now envisioning Voltaire saying something like, "But of course, Maupertuis, I will duel you... with words!" and challenging him to, idk, publicly make up a sonnet sequence from scratch or something :D
I was reminded of Virchow and Bismarck and was going to link you to the sausage story, but then Wikipedia told me it was apocryphal (well, it was too good to be true):
He was opposed to Bismarck's excessive military budget, which angered Bismarck sufficiently that he challenged Virchow to a duel in 1865. Virchow declined because he considered dueling an uncivilized way to solve a conflict. Various English-language sources purport a different version of events, the so-called "Sausage Duel". It has Virchow, being the one challenged and therefore entitled to choose the weapons, selecting two pork sausages, one loaded with Trichinella larvae, the other safe; Bismarck declined. However, there are no German-language documents confirming this version.
(Though of course we don't know what he was doing to his servants.)
We don't, but while looking for something else, I ran into a document that was easy enough Kurrent to sight-read, and I found a letter from someone complaining that Karl didn't even mention him in his will despite the fact that he served half his life as Karl's chamberlain, then before that worked for one of Karl's uncles as Haus Officiant, and before that, one of Karl's aunts and uncles-in-law, for a total of 50 years in the service of this family. He's now in his 70th year, not fit in age or health for further service, and it was with "shock, horror, and distress" that he learned that Karl's last will didn't mention someone who served him faithfully for over 30 years.
Of course, this is the servant's perspective trying to get money out of the Knyphausen heir, and not necessarily immediately an indictment of Karl, but in an age without much of a safety net, I can understand the shock, horror, and distress. He seems to have a wife and three grown children (it's not clear to me what they're doing for a living), and he doesn't want to become a "source of mockery or a burden" to other people in his old age.
I wish either my deciphering skills were slightly better, or else everyone had handwriting like this guy, because there's got to be tons of interesting tidbits like this out there, if only I could sight-read more of these documents. (I think it might be a generational thing; the early 19th century generation seems to form their letters in a way that I'm not used to, but this 70-year-old guy was trivial to read, as Kurrent goes.)
I meant to say that the comment title is because I was reading along and got to the part where they were talking about chemistry, and I genuinely thought they were going to fight over scientific theories!
HAHAHAHA because this is exactly what I thought for the chemistry part! Until yeah, I was like, "wait, but... they might not be?? What ARE they fighting about??"
if there *was* an element of fits of temporary insanity (whether poor anger management or some more neurological disorder), and I'm not saying there was, but maybe he was worried about this happening again?
HAHAHAHA because this is exactly what I thought for the chemistry part! Until yeah, I was like, "wait, but... they might not be?? What ARE they fighting about??"
Exactly!
When I was brainstorming what I would do if I were writing fiction, it was absolutely going to be a duel over the properties of fixed air! But then Selena had an even better idea. :D
Also, I had to look up what "fixed air" was, and wiktionary tells me it's carbon dioxide.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-05-29 02:57 am (UTC)I meant to say that the comment title is because I was reading along and got to the part where they were talking about chemistry, and I genuinely thought they were going to fight over scientific theories! A duel for science! Then I got to the next part and realized I didn't know *what* they were dueling (if you can call it that) for.
But if it did happen happen anything like Poyntz describes, it's funny, because I've seen numerous descriptions of Karl as interested in science, including one that said that after he withdrew from society, he spent his last decades living for science and the arts.
Living for science! Assaulting for science!
if he choose to stay quietly at home
Also, at first I thought: this should be easy for him, since he's been staying home by preference since he returned from university in his early 20s!
Then I thought about his near total withdrawal from society, sometimes even refusing to see family and only agreeing to see his paintings and some painters he had over...if there *was* an element of fits of temporary insanity (whether poor anger management or some more neurological disorder), and I'm not saying there was, but maybe he was worried about this happening again?
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-05-29 10:21 am (UTC)As the duel not being about science, this reminds me, didn't Maupertuis at some point contemplate duelling Voltaire in non-writerly fashion? (I mean, not that Fritz would have allowed that; even at his most pissed off at Voltaire, I don't see him sanctioning anything that was likely to get Voltaire killed, considering the physical state of fitness of either gentleman.)
But back to Karl: mentally ill or misunderstood? Well, if he truly kicked and hit the guy when said guy was already down, then that's definitely not covered by the duel code and one should hope he had temporarily taken leave of his senses. However...
...there are of course Prussian precedents of the highest status. FW certainly qualifies for well testified "poor anger management", to put it mildly, from early childhood onwards. Not helped by very painful physical ailments in later life and him self medicating with a lot of alcohol. Leaving aside SD at one point wanting to have him declared insane when Fritz was 15 or thereabouts in order to have her boy come to power, with or without herself as Regent for a few years, and didn't get far even with the envoys being anti FW - do we think FW was genuinely mentally ill, or was he simply a bad combination of temper plus absolute power with no higher authority checks once his father was dead?
And then there's Our Antihero, who was physically abusive to his servants now and then in his later years, definitely hitting and kicking them in addition to the verbal lashing out which he had already done for decades. Now, both FW and Fritz and of course Karl Keith are living in a society where violence towards servants from a person in a higher position is seen as okay and/or necessariy discipline for those lazy servants, and it's only when the violence is turned against someone of the same social position (or nearly so) that it's commented on and disapproved. (They're also coming from a society where physical violence gainst kids by teachers is expected, even with aristocratic children, in both genders, lest we forget Wilhelmine and her governess. What I'm getting at here is that it's very trickly to establish what qualifies as mentally ill and what as simply being an ill-mannered jerk in such a society.
Of course, Karl becoming so very hermit like does look like he might have considered himself as unsafe in society and that this was his way of dealing with it, certainly a better one for him and others than being locked up. (Though of course we don't know what he was doing to his servants.)
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-05-29 11:23 pm (UTC)You should have seen me exclaiming out loud yesterday morning as I was reading it! I may be addicted to ordering scans from archives. :D
As the duel not being about science, this reminds me, didn't Maupertuis at some point contemplate duelling Voltaire in non-writerly fashion?
I had forgotten this, but yes, he did!
(I mean, not that Fritz would have allowed that;
I doubt they would have waited for his approval. Dueling had been illegal in France for over a hundred years at that point, so Frenchmen were accustomed to doing their dueling in secret.
FW certainly qualifies for well testified "poor anger management", to put it mildly, from early childhood onwards.
Me when I first read this: You mean the guy whose outbursts have been attributed to porphyria by some scholars? ;)
do we think FW was genuinely mentally ill, or was he simply a bad combination of temper plus absolute power with no higher authority checks once his father was dead?
The problem with the framing of this question is that there's no clear, agreed-upon distinction between "mentally ill" and "personality," nor what constitutes free will. Neuroscientists and philosophers are *still* debating it. I think we can all agree Fritz had PTSD. According to the DSM and whatever the German equivalent is, that means he was mentally ill. Does that mean that he didn't have a bad combination of temper plus absolute power with no higher authority checks once his father was dead? Obviously not. Would he have been less likely to assault his servants without the PTSD? Probably. Do we generally consider that to mean that he had completely taken leave of his senses, in the sense that, for example, we attribute to a psychotic break? We do not.
Very few mental illnesses strip you of free will in the way that epilepsy does. How accountable was FW for his actions? He always seemed to know where he was and what was going on, and to act according to some kind of internally consistent logic. So I would say he had a set of values, and one of his values was that he should be able to enforce his values with his fists and his cane.
Karl: Well, one reading of the evidence we have is that he had some kind of seizure out of the blue that manifested as aggression, similar to Springer Rage in dogs. Another reading is that he was acting according to the dictates of honor, and he believed he was justified in his actions. Maybe he had a really bad temper, and he invoked insanity as a defense to avoid a worse punishment.
Of course, a major possibility is that we're hearing gossip passed on largely by Italians about how an Italian was totally the defenseless and innocent victim of some crazy Prussian. We are *in* Italy, after all, and I bet the game of telephone is dominated by people who would see the Chevalier Fresia as one of them and Karl as an outsider.
Of course, Karl becoming so very hermit like does look like he might have considered himself as unsafe in society and that this was his way of dealing with it, certainly a better one for him and others than being locked up. (Though of course we don't know what he was doing to his servants.)
Entirely possible! Of course, he had hermit-like tendencies as early as 1764, and maybe he was clinically depressed!
I really wish we had his side of the story. But we do have him saying that honor required him to act as he did. Which makes me think he didn't have random attacks of pure psychosis, but overreacted to some provocation.
In any case, after all the bills and invoices and contracts and loans and interest I've had to decipher, this is a breath of fresh air! (And not just because I didn't have to decipher it. ;)
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-05-30 07:02 am (UTC)Very few mental illnesses strip you of free will in the way that epilepsy does. How accountable was FW for his actions? He always seemed to know where he was and what was going on, and to act according to some kind of internally consistent logic. So I would say he had a set of values, and one of his values was that he should be able to enforce his values with his fists and his cane.
Mostly yes, with the caveat that there is the occasional "I am a bad man" in conversation with Pastors, meaning not that he didn't feel himself entitled to physical violence as punishment but that he was on some level aware he went above and beyond and that this conflicted with his idea of himself as a good Christian monarch anad father. Also, the fact that on two famous occasions, he could be talked out of the violence - after having applied some of it already to Wilhelmine, granted - (the "don't be a Peter the Great or Philip of Spain!" homecoming scene from August 15th 1730), and if it happened the earlier time where General Mosel stopped him from attacking Fritz with a sword directly which I used as the springboard for my AU Fiat Justitia) - would indicate he had enough self control and self awareness during those rage times to stop IF he wanted to.
(Whereas, say, G3 during his mental breakdowns - both the earlier ones he recovered from and the final one he never did - was not able to stop out of his own free will.)
Of course, a major possibility is that we're hearing gossip passed on largely by Italians about how an Italian was totally the defenseless and innocent victim of some crazy Prussian. We are *in* Italy, after all, and I bet the game of telephone is dominated by people who would see the Chevalier Fresia as one of them and Karl as an outsider.
That is very true, and leaving aside the example of the Guy-Dickens reports of prisoner!Fritz growing a long beard and being chained to the wall when no such thing happened or the "Wilhelmine gets thrown out of a window" story from Voltaire which grew out of FW slapping and dragging her, but certainly not attempting murder, there is another FW era example I can now think of, i.e. the quarrel he had with Denmark where we have the conflicting reports about the abduction and counter abduction/liberation of a tall guy, where the Prussian report has the Prussian recruiters being entirely peaceful and just hanging their wet socks up to dry at the fire in the inn when these violent peasants storm in and beat them up and leave with their voluntarily recruited soldier and the Danish report is full of abusive Prussians and a heroically saved shephard.
Now, here is how fiction ought to present what set Karl off, and why he couldn't get into specifics other than "honor required...":
Turin person: "Say, is it true you got the job just because your father was your King's boytoy for a brief time?"
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-05-31 07:27 pm (UTC)(Whereas, say, G3 during his mental breakdowns - both the earlier ones he recovered from and the final one he never did - was not able to stop out of his own free will.)
Totally agree, there's a big difference between the two. And I suspect, mentally ill or not, Karl falls into the FW category.
Now, here is how fiction ought to present what set Karl off, and why he couldn't get into specifics other than "honor required...":
Turin person: "Say, is it true you got the job just because your father was your King's boytoy for a brief time?"
ROFL! I was actually trying to think of ideas for how one might handle this in fiction, but I didn't come up with this one! You are truly the best.
(I think, though, that Karl *did* get into specifics, just not in the document we have, since he mentions writing and submitting a full account. However, if it *did* involve his father, I can see why Hertzberg would disappear that document real fast! :D)
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-01 03:06 am (UTC)(Whereas, say, G3 during his mental breakdowns - both the earlier ones he recovered from and the final one he never did - was not able to stop out of his own free will.)
*nods* Yeah, the thing one sees with many abusive people is that they don't act abusively, or at least less obviously so, when it would have bad consequences for them. They break other people's stuff, not their own :P It's not absolutely clear to me from this description which Karl falls into, since obviously this did have bad consequences, but maybe he didn't fully understand that it would? On the other hand...
Now, here is how fiction ought to present what set Karl off, and why he couldn't get into specifics other than "honor required...":
Turin person: "Say, is it true you got the job just because your father was your King's boytoy for a brief time?"
LOL forever!! Okay, yeah, that would explain why he couldn't get into specifics, for sure!!
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-05-30 03:25 am (UTC)Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-01 03:01 am (UTC)Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-01 03:05 am (UTC)He was opposed to Bismarck's excessive military budget, which angered Bismarck sufficiently that he challenged Virchow to a duel in 1865. Virchow declined because he considered dueling an uncivilized way to solve a conflict. Various English-language sources purport a different version of events, the so-called "Sausage Duel". It has Virchow, being the one challenged and therefore entitled to choose the weapons, selecting two pork sausages, one loaded with Trichinella larvae, the other safe; Bismarck declined. However, there are no German-language documents confirming this version.
Awww. :P
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-01 07:32 am (UTC)Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-01 01:15 pm (UTC)Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-02 10:50 pm (UTC)We don't, but while looking for something else, I ran into a document that was easy enough Kurrent to sight-read, and I found a letter from someone complaining that Karl didn't even mention him in his will despite the fact that he served half his life as Karl's chamberlain, then before that worked for one of Karl's uncles as Haus Officiant, and before that, one of Karl's aunts and uncles-in-law, for a total of 50 years in the service of this family. He's now in his 70th year, not fit in age or health for further service, and it was with "shock, horror, and distress" that he learned that Karl's last will didn't mention someone who served him faithfully for over 30 years.
Of course, this is the servant's perspective trying to get money out of the Knyphausen heir, and not necessarily immediately an indictment of Karl, but in an age without much of a safety net, I can understand the shock, horror, and distress. He seems to have a wife and three grown children (it's not clear to me what they're doing for a living), and he doesn't want to become a "source of mockery or a burden" to other people in his old age.
I wish either my deciphering skills were slightly better, or else everyone had handwriting like this guy, because there's got to be tons of interesting tidbits like this out there, if only I could sight-read more of these documents. (I think it might be a generational thing; the early 19th century generation seems to form their letters in a way that I'm not used to, but this 70-year-old guy was trivial to read, as Kurrent goes.)
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-01 02:43 am (UTC)HAHAHAHA because this is exactly what I thought for the chemistry part! Until yeah, I was like, "wait, but... they might not be?? What ARE they fighting about??"
if there *was* an element of fits of temporary insanity (whether poor anger management or some more neurological disorder), and I'm not saying there was, but maybe he was worried about this happening again?
:/ Seems plausible to me.
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-01 03:02 am (UTC)Exactly!
When I was brainstorming what I would do if I were writing fiction, it was absolutely going to be a duel over the properties of fixed air! But then Selena had an even better idea. :D
Also, I had to look up what "fixed air" was, and wiktionary tells me it's carbon dioxide.
Re: A duel for science...or insanity??
Date: 2025-06-08 10:11 pm (UTC)