in HEIDELBERG DU FEINE " 57 



was something extraordinary. But, not satisfied with 

 setting all these men to work on different subjects,. 

 Bunsen was always engaged on one or two researches, 

 of his own, so that the list of memoirs published 

 during those years by Bunsen and his pupils is a long 

 one, and their valuable matter would fill many volumes.. 

 The stories of Bunsen's absent-mindedness, to which 

 I have already alluded, are numerous. One of the best 

 is the following. He was very fond of playing ombre, 

 and one morning, as he was lying in bed, he said to his 

 " Stiefelfuchs " a man who comes in the morning to 

 black your boots and brush your clothes " Put out 

 my dress suit, for Frau Geheimrathin Schultz has 

 invited me to an ombre party this evening." Next 

 morning, when Oelhauser came again, he found the 

 Hofrath's evening clothes exactly where he had placed 

 them. Said he to the professor, " I see, sir, that you 

 have never had your evening clothes on." " Good 

 gracious," said he, "I forgot all about it. Well, never 

 mind," and turning round he lit his cigar, as was his 

 habit, and ruminated on his pillow. And then he 

 remarked to himself, " I know what I'll do." That 

 evening he put on his dress clothes, and went to the 

 lady's house at the appointed time, and walked in as if 

 it were the day upon which he had been invited. The 

 Frau Geheimrathin, much too polite to tell him that he 

 had mistaken the evening, and that the party had taken 

 place on the previous night, sent out to her friends to 

 say Professor Bunsen had arrived unexpectedly, and 

 would they come in to play a rubber again ? And so 

 the party was made up. In the course of the evening 

 the conversation turned on absent-mindedness, and 

 Bunsen began to tell them what had happened to 

 him a long time ago how that he had forgotten an 

 invitation, and how he had made-up his mind to go 



