868 
a voluntary organization to maintain order 
in the laboratory ; they elected at the be- 
ginning of each semester an officer known as 
‘ Rolizei-Diener,’ who was authorized to 
impose small fines for petty offenses, the 
money thus secured being devoted at the 
end of the term to the purchase of books 
for the small library placed on shelves in 
the balance-room. This custom I under- 
stand still obtains. At the opening of my 
third term I was elected ‘ Polizei,’ and 
duly instructed in my duties; being watch- 
ful and courageous I collected more money 
during my term of office than had been 
added to the library fund for many years. 
The misdemeanors for which fines were im- 
posed were leaving an unused gasburner 
lighted, failure to resort to the ‘ Stink- 
Zimmer’ when noxious gases were gen- 
erated, failure to replace bottles or appa- 
ratus used in common, and leaving a 
balance door open or weights on the pans, 
which latter was accounted a very heinous 
offense ; the fines ranged from six. kreutzers 
(Baden) to half a gulden. My official life 
was marked by two events that greatly ex- 
cited and amused the whole laboratory ; 
one of the events was regarded as an ex- 
hibition of unparalleled audacity, of which 
only an American was capable—I fined 
Hofrath Bunsen! The Professor, after 
lighting his cigar at the flame of a Bunsen 
burner left the gas burning and went out of 
the room ; according to custom, and to the 
consternation of the students, I chalked on 
the desk that Bunsen had used, the words 
‘6 Kr.’ over my initials, a notice that 
could not:be erased until the fine was paid. 
Next day when Bunsen approached the 
desk, he glanced at the inscription, smiled 
broadly, and to the amusement of the 
crowd of students that had gathered to see 
the result of my daring, opened his purse 
and handed me the six kreutzers with a 
pleasant commendation of the fidelity of 
the ‘ Polizet.’ 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. X. No. 259. 
The other event concerned a very close- 
fisted American whose numerous fines I 
was unable to collect ; when they reached 
the enormous sum of oneanda half gulden, 
(about 60 cents), I consulted some of the 
older German students stating the facts and 
asking for advice. They declared they 
had never heard of such a case, and they 
authorized me to confiscate some chemical 
apparatus belonging to the American and 
to sell it at auction. I secured a fine 
beaker-glass, the outside one of a large nest, 
and after due notice, amid the shouts of 
the 59 students gathered in the lecture-room 
the beaker was sold at auction ; the compe- 
tition to secure it was so keen that it 
brought a very high price, the sum cover- 
ing the fine plus the value of the glass. 
The excess had to be paid back to the lucky 
American, so that the fine did not come 
out of his pockets, after all. 
Several times in the course of his life 
Bunsen was injured by explosions; he was 
popularly believed to be minus one eye, one 
ear, and one lung, and there is some foun- 
dation for this, for he lost an eye when 
working at cacodyle, and he was slightly 
deaf. It was related of him that on one oc- 
casion a violent explosion threw him to 
the ground and made him unconscious, on 
coming to, his first words were: “ Has any 
of the substance been saved ?” 
In 1865 Bunsen was invited to fill a chair 
in the University of Berlin, and after due 
consideration he declined the flattering call 
to the delight of all educational Heidelberg. 
In his honor the students organized a torch- 
light parade; the chemists marched in a 
a body, and carried away by enthusiasm I 
imprudently joined them, carrying a torch 
with the crowd. The procession paraded the 
principal streets and then assembled in the 
open square before the Aula, or central Hall 
of the University ; there the students sing- 
ing the Studenten Lieder and formed aring, 
gradually closed in towards the center, mak- 
