642 bun8p:n mpjmokial lp:ctuke. 



yity>o aber iiiiiner hintor dom Pfeiler." "Ach da sitzon so violo." was the 

 only remark vouchsafed by the Geheimerath, who at once tilled in the 

 schedule, ''Mit ausgezeichnetem Fleiss." 



In conclusion. I may remark that Bunsen's constitution was a vigor- 

 ous one, and it carried him fairly well through a long life; still, con- 

 tinuous exposure to the fumes and vitiated air of the laboratory 

 induced bronchial troul)les. fi'om which in later life he suffered con- 

 siderably. Beyond one sharp attack of peritonitis when traveling 

 with Pagenstecher in the Baliniric Islands. I do not thuik he ever had 

 a serious illness. His habits were frugal, the oidy extravagance in 

 which he indulged being his cigars. Of these he consumed a fairly 

 large number, always having one or a ])art of one in his mouth; ])ut as 

 he generally allowed it to go out many times before he finished smok- 

 ing it, the time it lasted was nuich above that of the average smoker. 



Although taking no active part in (xiM-man politics. Bunsen was a 

 stanch Liberal; and no one rejoiced more than he on the consunmiation 

 of thi' unification of the German people under the headship of the 

 Em])eror William. He was, however, no admirer of Bismarck's 

 regime. On Mitscherliclfs death Bunsen received a very i)ressing 

 invitation to become Mitscherlich's successor in Berlin. On this sub- 

 ject, he writes to me: 



" Very liberal offers with regard to ]SIitscherlich's ])rofessorshiphavc 

 been made to me. but 1 have declined them, as 1 did not wish to belong 

 to the regiment of Herr von Bismarck, or to start again from the 

 beginning with chemistry, the position of which had there fallen so 

 low. In addition to that, the}' have here complied with the wishes 

 which I had before expressed, and have oti'ered Kopp a professorship 

 here, besides raising the fund of my institute b}' a thousand gulden." 



In 1889 Bunsen retired from active university life, resigning his 

 professorship, and therefore his official resid(>flce. and retiring to a 

 pretty little villa in Bunsenstrasse, which he had purchased, where 

 he spent the remainder of his days in quiet repose. His chief relaxa- 

 tion and enjoyment throughout his life in Ileidcdberg Avas to wander 

 with Kirchhofi' or Helmholtz or some other of his intimate friends 

 through the chestnut woods which cover the hills at the foot of which 

 the .town lies. As the infirmities of age increased and his walking 

 powers diminished, he was obliged to take to driving through the 

 woods along the charming roads which intersect the hills in all direc- 

 tions. Writing became a difficulty, and in his latter days the news of 

 him came to me through our mutual friends Quincke and Konigsberger. 

 One of the last letters I received from him is dated June 4, 1890: 



it* * * J have been suffering for weeks from the after effects of 

 influenza, and I am still so weak that I have to spend nn^ days on the 

 sofa, and have scarcely strength to walk the few jards to dinner at 



