THE BIRKBECK INSTITUTION. 243 



of trichlnce encysted in the muscles of the pig, which 

 when eaten had the power of reproducing themselves 

 in multitudes in human muscle, and of destroying life, 

 has interfered with the luxury of rohe Schinken. 

 Daring the Semester we had our excursions abroad 

 and our social gatherings at home. Kranzchen means 

 a small chaplet or crown of leaves ; but it also means a 

 little circle or club, and we had our English Kranzchen, 

 the members of which used to meet at each other's 

 houses once a week, for the reading of Shakespeare and 

 Tennyson. 



Eumours of the great men of Berlin reached Mar- 

 burg from time to time. Their names and labours 

 were frequently mentioned in the lectures. Hewing 

 previously learned that I should have the privilege of 

 working there in the laboratory of Professor Magnus, 

 to Berlin I went in the beginning of 1851. Magnus 

 had made his name famous by physical researches of the 

 highest importance. The finish and completeness of 

 his experiments were characteristic. He was a wealthy 

 man, and spared neither pains nor expense to render 

 his apparatus not only effective but beautiful. His ex- 

 periments on the deviation of projectiles may be noted 

 as special illustrations here. But on everything he 

 touched he sought to confer completeness. The last 

 years of his life were, for the most part, occupied in a 

 discussion with myself on one of the most difficult sub- 

 jects of experimental physics — the interaction of radiant 

 heat and matter in the gaseous state of aggregation. 

 It was also my privilege to meet Dove, who was re- 

 nowned in various ways as a physicist. He had won 

 fame in optics, acoustics, and electricity, but his greatest 

 labours were in the field of scientific meteorology. 

 The two Eoses were there, Heinrich and Gustav, genial 

 and admirable men, the one a great chemist, the other 



