Never translated into english, Kammerer recounts about 100 anecdotes of coincidences that had led him to formulate his theory of Seriality. He claimed through these coincidences, lies the key to the way the world is structured. These are not just coincidences, but evidence of "The Law of the Series." Kammerer wanted to prove that a universal law of nature that acts independently of known physical principles of consequence manifests itself in what are perceived as "coincidences"
The book contains slightly uncanny anecdotes such as:
"Two soldiers, both 19 years old, both born in Silesia, both volunteers in the transport corps, both admitted to the same hospital in 1915, both victims of pneumonia, and both named Franz Richter
And others not so uncanny such as:
"I went to the theater and was placed in the 8th row of the stalls, the next day I went to the music hall and was placed on the 8th row of the stalls" ( Badly Translated, truncated )
"On 17 May 1917 we were invited to the Preview a new opera. Along the way to the Schreker's house, in the front of the Train station, I bought chocolate candy for me and my wife. Later Schreker himself played us an excerpt from his new opera, the main female role is CARLOTTA. Eventually when we came home I emptied my pockets and realised that the bag of candy had carried the inscription CARLOTTA"
Midwife Toad
In august 1926 Kammerer was accused by a british science journal of fraudulently doctoring lab results by injecting ink into the skin of toads. Even before this point his work was controversial and divisive amongst biologists leading some to suggest he may of been framed. There is an account of all this in 'The Case of The Midwife Toad' by Arthur Koestler which has a very nice cover
In September 1926 Kammerer walked up a Austrian mountain and shot himself in the head. One of his pockets contained a letter addressed "to the person who finds my body'. It read:
He added a postscript requesting that his wife not wear black or show any other signs of mourning
