The relatively well educated was Schleyer's target group. As he indicated in the subtitle of his first handbook, Volapuk was not invented for the com- mon people, but for the Gebildete (the educated). Like Latin in the Republic of Letters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Volapuk was meant to be a written language catering to the needs of "scholars, travelers, and merchants" (Studierenden, Reisenden und Kaufleuten).4 Schleyer had these people in mind when he revealed his invention to the world, but it is not possible to say anything definitive about the intentions and visions of rank-and-file Volapukists. Still, the biographies of some of the movement's characters give us clues.
Among the most important Volapukists in Germany was Alfred Kirch- hoff. Although born in the predominately Lutheran city of Erfurt, Kirchhoff was a raised as a Catholic. (His mother was French and Catholic.) A mem- ber of the German Academy of Sciences, and a scientist with international reputation, Kirchhoff was probably the most learned Volapukist. Initially in- terested in philology and history, he began his scholarly career by publish- ing manuscripts on the ancient history of his hometown. But Kirchhoff really excelled and obtained an international reputation in the field of geog- raphy, and the discipline of Landes- und Volkskunde (cultural and ethnic stud- ies). His popular Mensch und Erde (Man and Land) was published in multiple editions in Germany and was translated into English. From 1887 to 1904, he was editor of Forschungen zur deutschen Landes- und Volkskunde, the most influential journal of his discipline, which at that time was striving for aca- demic recognition as a separate scientific field. Toward this end, Kirchhoff and his disciples introduced the basic tenets of evolutionary theory into their discipline by studying the interaction between humans and nature. Whereas linguists were trying to establish the connection between national language and national Geist, Kirchhoff and his disciples studied the mechanisms by which the adaptation of men to their natural surroundings produced different national characters. For example, inhabitants of the more fertile northern Spain were, according to Kirchoff, hardworking (arbeitsam) and serviceable (dienstwillig), whereas people living in the poor soil of Castille were proud (stolz) and direct (freimutig), although less industrious. Lazi- ness (Faulheit) and dirtiness (Schmutz) were more common in Extremadura, a little farther south.5
Initially skeptical about Volapuk, Kirchhoff became its most committed propagandist in central Germany (Halle, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Weimar, and Kassel) after 1886, when he was captivated by the language's simplicity.6 He was a regular contributor to the Rund um die Welt, the most popular Volapuk journal, and his handbook Volapuk. Hilfsbuch zum schnellen und leichten Er- lernen der Anfangsgrunde dieser Weltsprache was translated into English. As a scientist and university professor, Kirchhoff took the leading role in Volapuks defense against its detractors. He also persuaded other scientists to join the movement and learn the language. Among them was the small network of Volap ukist mathematicians led by the renowned Rudolf Menke in Darmstadt, and including Friedrich Pietzker in Nordhausen, Hermann Schubert and Ru- dolf B5ger in Hamburg, and Ritter von Rylski in Vienna.7
As his former student and biographer recounts, Kirchhoff could not en- dure criticism. A vehement character, he was often too quick to draw wrong conclusions about people and ideas. This inclination was the source of his life's two bitterest disappointments: his marriage and Volapuk. But while he was quick to realize the collapse of his marriage, he could not anticipate the fail- ure of Volapuk.8
The growth of scientific research demanded that a common, scientific language be used, and Kirchhoff thought that Volapuk could satisfy this de- mand. Knowledge of the three main scientific languages, German, French, and English, was insufficient. The scientific reports he received from the geographical society of Budapest, for example, were published in Hungarian, and those from Bucharest were written in Romanian. He had tried to learn Russian, but because of his many other commitments, he had to interrupt his studies on different occasions and never succeeded. Kirchhoff thought that the already bad confusion of languages in science was only going to get worse: "How can one learn all these languages [when] in the next centuries many other nations will, quite understandably, come forward and use their national languages for scientific purposes?"9
Other Volapukists believed that the language was suited for other pur- poses aside from scientific communication. Given its extraordinary capacity to host all nuances of human language—the German stenographer and first certified Volapuk teacher, Karl Lenze, had calculated that there were 505,440 ways of using the language's verbal modes—some were convinced that it was not only useful to translate literary works, but also to create its own literary body. This was the position of Theddaus Devide, a journalist and relatively successful Austrian writer, and Siegfried Lederer (1861-1911), the editor of Rund um die Welt. Born in Prague, Lederer studied classical languages at the German university there, the Karl Ferdinand Universitat, obtained a Ph.D., and worked as a language teacher in different gymnasiums in Prague, Vienna, and Radautz (Bukovina, currently in Romania). To prove the liter- ary precision of Volapuk, and, at the same time, to bait an important public figure, Lederer translated Eine Orientereise by Koprinz Rudolf, the only son of the Austrian kaiser.10
Still other Volapukists thought that Schleyer's international language could be valuable for the promotion of international peace. They noticed that in the introduction to his first handbook, Schleyer had referenced the cosmopolitan spirit inspired by new technological inventions. Volapuk could work like the linguistic equivalent of the railroad, steamboat, telegram, or telephone to bring people of all corners of the world closer together. The Swiss Konrad Meisterhans and the Dutch Simon Buisman suggested that Volapuk could serve international peace. As the former saw it, pacifists were "the natural allies of the Volapukists," and since international peace organizations were already receptive to the idea of an international language, Volapuk could ful- fill this task easily enough once it was brought "to flawless perfection and com- pletion." Buisman conceded that Volapuk was useful to merchants, scientists, and men of letters, but thought that its "most elevated function" lay in the promotion of "mutual understanding and the unity of nations."11