In spite of his unfortunate circumstances, which would ordinarily be thought quite enough to keep him from serious work until he was settled in a position more suited to his tastes, he devoted himself to the writing of his first book during this time, and it was published by Enke, in Erlangen, in the spring of 1817. Its title was, "Outlines of the Study of Geometry as a Means of Intellectual Culture." It comprised nearly two hundred pages, and gives the best possible insight into the ability and intelligence of the author, then a young man of only twenty-eight. As a sort of appendix, he gives a short sketch of his father, evidently introduced, not quite so much for the purpose of filially confessing his obligations to the old locksmith mathematician, nor with the idea of repaying some of his immeasurable debt for all the opportunities which the sacrifices of paternal affection had brought into the life of his sons, as to emphasize the excellent educational influence which his father's mathematical training had had upon his boys, and thus prove his thesis as to the value of mathematical studies in education. Few filial tributes were ever more deserved or given more convincingly or with less suggestion of the conventional attitude of son to father. Now that mathematics has come to occupy probably even a less prominent place in education than it did in Ohm's time, though the burden of his complaint with regard to educational methods was that geometry was not used as a daily developmental subject as much as it should be, it may be interesting to recall some of the reasons which he advanced for urging its greater employment as an instrument for mental training. He thought that rational geometry should occupy a place of honor among our means of education. Its quality as a mode of pure reasoning, though so closely related to the senses, made easy the transition from sensation to thought, which is such an important element in education; while its eminently simple character, though combined with definite demands upon the constructive faculties, made it appropriate in a high degree for the education of the young out of the field of merely imitative use of the intellect, into that of independent thinking and following out of ideas. "Geometry," says Ohm, "when properly taught, not with the fruitless drilling usually employed in teaching it, but in such ways as to secure deep personal attention, must take rank above all other branches of education, in enabling the student to break down the barrier which separates mere understanding from personal investigation. It forces a man whose thoughts were, up to this time, only the repetition of others' thoughts, to think for himself and to light for himself in his own mind the torches which enable him to see things clearly for himself, and not merely in the dimness of the half light that is thrown on them by the explanations of others."