634 BUNSEN MEMORIAL LECTURE. 



value such things had for mo was that they pleased my mother, and 

 she is now dead!" 



It may here be well to mention that, in the year 1881, a congratula- 

 tory address, accompanying a bronze statuette of Berzelius, from his 

 old pupils, was presented to Bunsen on the occasion of the celebration 

 of the jubilee of his doctorate, 



A letter written to me on Noveml)er 3 in that j'^ear indicates the feel- 

 ings of r(»gard and affection which ])ound together the professor and 

 his students. 



"My Very Dear Friend: Please accept my most hearty thanks for 

 all the kindness you have shown toward me on this occasion, which has 

 been so exciting for me. Of all the friendly interest tlmt has been 

 shown, what gave me the greatest and most heartfelt pleasure w'ere the 

 congratulations to which your signature ])ore witness, amongst those 

 of so many old friends, and of the donors of the beautiful and artistic 

 gift which J received from th«^ hands of Baeyer on the lifticth anni- 

 versary of my graduation. 



"1 and all friends will be glad to see you. I was a))sent from here 

 on my anniversary day, hoping in that way to escape all olHcial notice, 

 but on my return 1 found so many tokens of kind interest that I 

 scarcely see how it will be possible for me to answer each one sepa- 

 rately * * * ^ and so I am beginning to feel very much exhausted 

 after all T have ])een through; 1 long most heartily for your friendly 

 visit, which will be the best of medicine for me." 



This flight of the principal actor in the scene is very characteristic 

 of the man, and a propos of this, Kopp writes to me in January, 1882: 



" We had expected you to be present at the jubilee. Bunsen had 

 secreted himself with a few intimate friends in Gugenheim on the 

 BtM'gstrasse; he had noted the locality of his retirement on a card, 

 which, in case of your arrival, my wife was privately to hand to you. 

 Bunsen took the unavoidable in good pai't. and not wholly without 

 pleasure. He is very fresh and well, apart from his nearly permanent 

 bronchial catarrh; he grumbles much, and is therefore perfectly 

 normal.'" 



In 1887 the seventh centurv of the foundation of Heidelberg Uni- 

 versity was auspiciously celebrated. Bunsen invited me to be his 

 guest during the ceremony. During the inaugural discourse by Kuno 

 Fischer, which lasted more than three hours, Bunsen fell asleep, as 

 well he might do, but a more than usually eloquent passage disturbed 

 his rest, and he woke up with a start, and whispered to me, "I thought 

 I had dropped a test tube full of rubidium onto the floor!'' 



Nothing was more distasteful to him than the etiquette of the court. 

 Nevertheless, during these festivities at which the Grand Duke of 

 Baden, the Prince of Prussia, and other magniflcos were, of course, 

 present, Bunsen became the cynosure of neighboring eyes. The 

 recipient of heaps of orders of all kinds, from all quarters, he never 

 exhibited them except when he went to court, or was invited to meet 



