“Memory peters out like the infinite series of a ζ-function.”
"The Mathematical Theory of the Top" (April 8, 1898)
Context: Turning to Klein's little book, one is astonished in finding the most general aspects of the subject treated almost without computation and in so little space.... It would have cost little to give the expanded form of the σ-function.... Weierstrass's original notation was in terms of Abelian functions. The tremendous development of s is out of proportion with their application to natural phenomena. Meeting them rarely one forgets them. Memory peters out like the infinite series of a ζ-function.