At this College, then under the directorship of Johannes Gurlitt (1754-1827), who enjoyed a high reputation for classical learning, the boy-student rapidly advanced, and in addition to considerable ability in Latin composition, his knowledge of Greek was sufficient to enable him to translate and enjoy the Lyrics of Pindar.

[The Nautical Almanac should], rising, like a phoenix, from its ashes, be as much superior to Encke's [Astronomisches Jahrbuch] as Encke's is now superior to it.

By astronomers of the present day it is possible that Encke may be most highly estimated for the vast improvements which he introduced into the Berlin Ephemeris. The history of astronomical ephemerides is not a little varied and curious; a concise account of it will be found in the fourth volume of the 'Memoirs' of the Royal Astronomical Society, on the occasion of the council of the Society presenting Encke, through their President, with a gold medal, for the part which he had taken in the improvement of the Berlin Ephemeris. Our own 'Nautical Almanac', at that day, viz. in 1830, had fallen or had remained greatly behind the requirements of astronomers; but in speaking of the merits of the foreign Ephemeris, the report of the Council runs as follows: ''A gold medal has been voted to Professor Encke for the superb 'Ephemeris of Berlin'. It would be superfluous to dwell upon the merits of this well-known work, which, far outstripping all rivalry, must be considered as the only Ephemeris on a level with the present wants of the sciences." On presenting the medal, Sir James South, the President, adds, "With the 'Berlin Ephemeris', an observatory scarcely wants a single book; without it, every one." It would, however, be disloyal, though in any other aspect it may be needless, not to add that what has just been said of the Berlin Ephemeris of 1830, may with equal truth be predicated of the 'Nautical Almanacs' from 1834 to the present date; nevertheless the first impulse came from Encke and Berlin.

Encke, during the forty years of his professorship at Berlin, impressed the form and bent of his mind upon many pupils, who have ably contributed their share in the progress of astronomical knowledge. There is no greater proof of the real worth of a teacher, than when his pupils speak well and lovingly of him. They see the man in his weakness and in his strength. So it fared with Encke. They bear strong and uniform testimony to his eminent frankness and truthfulness; his labours, they say, were incessant, his recreations few; he was simple in his manners, and in all his habits temperate. Towards his coadjutors and assistants he showed a severe judgment, but he set them a severer example. A man such as this, absorbed in his work, and shutting himself away from the outer world, was likely to be sometimes abrupt, or laconic, or even incautious, in his utterances; these utterances, from their bluntness or their truthfulness, occasionally gave offence, and involved Encke in trouble. As age, however, grew upon him he became more gentle in his manners, and softer in his address; and in the presence of those whom he knew and trusted, the old man would sometimes review his own life, and urge his favourite pupils to draw from his own experience lessons of moderation and self-restraint, both in passing their judgments on the labours of others, and in the amount of labour which they felt it their duty to exact from themselves.