DECEMBER 15, 1899. ] 
Bunsen showed extraordinary callousness 
to heat, being able to hold in his fingers 
metal nearly red hot; on one occasion 
when stirring a glowing ¢rucible with a 
very short spatula, his skin fairly sizzled 
and for relief he took hold of the lobe of his 
ear with his smoking thumb and fore-finger, 
explaining that the ear was the coolest part 
of the body. 
The celebrated Dr. Fresenius, of Wies- 
baden, having appropriated some discovery 
or method of Bunsen, without giving credit, 
was cordially disliked by him, and he once 
showed it by a significant act. A student 
accosted the Hofrath as he passed by and 
put to him some simple question in analy- 
tical chemistry ; on the desk lay open a 
copy of Fresenius’s ‘ Anleitung,’ whereupon 
Bunsen closed the book with a deprecatory 
gesture, pulled out the drawer of the stu- 
dent’s desk to its extreme limit, and thrust 
into it as far back as possible the objection- 
able volume, saying: ‘‘ Nun, mein Herr, we 
will proceed.”’ 
Bunsen was rather sensitive to criticism ; 
one of my American colleagues tells me of 
an incident illustrating this. The professor 
proposed to the student the joint prepara- 
tion of certain Cesium and Rubidium salts, 
saying he would secure several barrels of 
the mineral water rich in the chlorides and 
would have the water boiled down to a 
small volume ready for the separation of the 
rare elements. The American felt highly 
pleased at the flattering proposal and to 
show his interest in the matter meutioned 
that he had studied under Professor O. D. 
Allen, of New Haven, who had done work 
on Cesium and Rubidium. This was an 
unfortunate remark, however, for Allen had 
corrected Bunsen’s figures for the Atomic 
Weight of Cs., and the Hofrath remember- 
ing this never again mentioned the subject 
to my friend. 
In those days students were obliged to 
prepare some substances now commonly 
_ SCLENCE, 
867 
provided, and to construct some apparatus 
with their own hands. Every student had 
to etch and calibrate his own eudiometer, 
and some of them wasted much time over 
the hydrofluoric acid process before getting 
good results. I remember, too, purifying 
potassium hydroxid by solution in alcohol 
(an extra charge), and evaporation in a 
large silver basin loaned by an assistant. 
One green, Russian student bought at 
Desaga’s potassium cyanid instead of the 
hydroxid and was vainly trying to dissolve 
it, walking about the laboratory shaking 
the bottle for hours, when Bunsen noted its 
singular appearance, he caused the opera- 
tion to be suspended, and on ascertaining 
the nature of the substance cautioned the 
student against it. 
Speaking of Russians reminds me of an 
amusing occurrence; one of them was in- 
structed to precipitate a substance ‘ mit tiber- 
schiissigem Kali,’ and not finding any bottle 
labelled ‘ iberschiissiges Kali,’ he inquired for 
it of a neighbor, who mischievously sent him 
to Dr. Bender, telling him the article was 
kept under lock and key with other costly 
substances, such as silver nitrate and plati- 
num chlorid. The astonished assistant ex- 
plained to the Russian that an excess of potash 
did not require a special bottle; the student 
was nicknamed ‘ Uberschiissiges Kali’ for 
the rest of the semester. 
Many nationalities were represented in 
Heidelberg laboratory, besides Russians 
there were Bessarabians, Hollanders, Bohe- 
mians, Germans from North and from South, 
Austrians, one Chilian, one Englishman (the 
late Dr. Walter Flight), one Scotchman, 
one Irishman and several Americans, fifty- 
nine students in all, of which fifty-eight 
were incessantly smoking; the fumes of 
tobacco mingled with vapors of H,S, SO,, 
HNO,, and NH,, making an atmosphere so 
thick that I regret not having cut off a 
slice as a souvenir. 
The students, from time immemorial, had 
