BUNSEN MEMORIAL LECTURE. 633 



distant cousin, "the Chevalier" Bunsen. -Did v„u ,.v(m- coniplcto, 

 sir, your g-reat work on God in History ? " asked the lady. • • Alas, no,'' 

 replied Bunsen, "my untimely death prevented me from accomph'sh- 

 ino- my design/' One of his assistants, engaged in rearranging the 

 collection of specimens, came to him with a bottle containingMiurnine, 

 and, wishing to tind out whether the Geheimerath remembered the 

 formula for the alkaloid, asked him for it: Bunsen. who was, however 

 not to be caught by chaff, replied. '■ Wozn dcim. Ilcrr Doctor, sind die 

 Handbiicherr' Like many men who are engrossed in their special 

 calling, Bunsen was often absent-minded, and many good stories were 

 current about the mistakes which he thus uiiwittingly made. He had 

 a well-known difficulty in remembering names. One day a visitor 

 called who he knew quite well was either Strecker or Kekule. During 

 the conversation he was endeavoring without success to make up his 

 mind which of these two gentlemen was his caller. First he thought 

 it was Kekule, then he convinced himself that he was talking to 

 Strecker. At last, however, he decided that it was really Kekule. 

 So when his visitor rose to take leave, Bunsen. feeling contidence in 

 his latest conclusion, could not refrain from remarking, "Do you 

 know that for a moment I took you for Strecker!" "So I am," 

 replied his visitor in amazement. 



His, too, was a most affectionate nature, and one may regret that 

 this side of his character was never freely called forth )>y family life. 

 For Bunsen, like Dalton, tried to explain this failing by suying thai he 

 could never lind time to get married. And this loneliness, especially 

 in later life, oppressed him, and he often felt his isolated position 

 keenly. When bidding him good-by after my sununcM- visits to him, 

 he would smile sadly and remark, " Jetz verlassen Sie mich wieder in 

 meiner Einsamkeit." The following extract, from a letter to mvself, 

 referring to a notice of his life and labors, which appeared with a por- 

 trait, in 1881, in the columns of Nature, indicates more clearly than 

 any words of mine can do, this side of Bunsen's character: 



"The kind things you say of me in Nature touch me the more, as I 

 see in them the faithful expression of your old tvw friendship for me, 

 which is one of the great joys of my old age. ^^ hen one arrives, as I 

 shall do in a fewdavs. at one's seventieth birthday, one hasoidy to live 

 through a short span of bodilv and mental decay. Sjanding as I do at 

 that period of mv life. I feel as kiMMily as ever how mod.'st and con- 

 temptiblv small is the amount which I have added to the building <.f 

 science. ^ In the vears which I am rapidly approacliiiig. <.ne lives more 

 in the recollection of past hai)pv days than m the present: and t<. the 

 most pleasure giving of them belong those which for many yea.-s we 

 spent in true friendship together." 



As another touching illustration of his affectionate (li.po>it ion i may 

 mention that when congratulated one day by a frn-nd on his having 

 received some high mark of distinction, he remarked, "Ah. the only 



