iv "BUNSENIANA" 87 



never witnessed before, nor have I seen the like of it since. 

 If the cheers reached the darkened room in which the dear old 

 man was sitting as indeed they must, for the noise was 

 terrific he must have gathered how strong was the hold he 

 had on the affections of the whole place. 



Working literally side by side with Bunsen, I naturally 

 saw much of him. Although our teacher, he was to all 

 intents and purposes as much a student as the merest tyro. 

 He had no more bench-room than anybody else, and was 

 subject to the same disciplinary rules as the others, paying 

 up his kreutzers with an affectation of dismay when caught 

 wasting the gas, or leaving the balance case open, or com- 

 mitting any other of the one-and-twenty cardinal sins by 

 which, when discovered, we supported the library. 



Of his almost paternal interest and kindness to me I could 

 give many instances, but one must suffice. The day came 

 when I was to be indoctrinated into the art and mystery 

 of gasometric analysis Bunsen's gasometric analysis and 

 by Bunsen himself. It was a red-letter day, and I deter- 

 mined to mark it by purchasing the finest eudiometer Desaga 

 stocked. With his help I picked out the longest, straightest, 

 and widest in the shop, and returned in triumph with it to 

 the laboratory. As I passed through the swing door I 

 came upon Bunsen, who asked me what I had got. I showed 

 him the instrument: it met with his approval, but, taking 

 my hand, he showed me to his own amusement but to my 

 consternation and disgust that my thumb could not possibly 

 close it. He then proved to me with what ease he himself 

 could close it : his right thumb indeed by constant use was 

 like a pad, and to my astonishment much larger and wider 

 than that of the left hand. I am afraid I must have looked, 

 as I felt, rather foolish and chap-fallen as I gazed on my 

 incompetent digit. But he sought to cheer me with the 

 remark : " Sie mussen recht viel arbeiten und es wird grosser 

 werden." I regret to say, however, that I never succeeded 

 in closing that eudiometer as Desaga sold it to me. 



On another occasion I had a rencontre with Bunsen in which 

 I scored a little better. It was at the time of my examina- 

 tion for the doctorate. As was his habit, he led off with 

 some simple easy question. He asked me how many oxides 

 of nitrogen there were. I have a nebulous sort of notion 

 that I fancied at the time such a question was almost an 

 insult to my intelligence. I promptly gave him the number. 

 He demurred to there being five. I felt at a loss what to 

 say until, glancing at Kopp sitting in the rectorial chair 



