LABORATORY OF HBIDBLBGRG AND BONN 7

THE CHEMICAL LABORATORIES OF HEIDELBERG AND BONN.

BY NICHOLAS KNIGHT,Cornell College.

It was a privilege to visit the great chemical laboratories of Hei-delberg and Bonn on a vacation trip during the past summer.The semester had not closed, but the weather was unusually warmand only a few students were at their desks in the laboratory;besides many were behind in their duels, and were busy makingup back work in this important adjunct of Heidelberg Universitylife. It may be remarked in parenthesis that the system of duel-ing as practiced in all the German universities shows far fewerfatalities than the American football.

Heidelberg University has grown in recent years, and nowthere are about two thousand five hundred students in all depart-ments. We were surprised to learn that there had been only onehundred and fifty in the chemical department during the year,including, of course, the students in pharmacy and medicine, whoare obliged to take the first part of their chemical work in theuniversities. This is a small number as compared with the twelvehundred to fifteen hundred students in the chemical departmentsof some of the large American universities.The Heidelberg laboratory is not an imposing building, and

in this respect does not compare favorably with some of thegreat American laboratories. But the important thing, after all,is not the building and its equipment, but the teacher and the stu-dents. Readers of this magazine well understand that many ofthe world’s greatest and most valuable scientific achievements havebeen wrought out in an humble and unpretentious place; whilesome of the most costly and imposing laboratories have not been’conspicuous for the quality of the work they have turned out.

The German educational authorities always consider the man inmaking up their faculties, and their scientific and educational re-sults seem to justify their methods. The aim is to secure a manwho has accomplished something, who is a great authority, orbetter ,yet the greatest authority in some line of endeavor, whois still actively engaged in investigation, and in making contribu-tions to the world^s advancing knowledge. It has been learnedby experience that such men are able to inspire students to dotheir best, and to bring out the best that is in them.

Is it not possible that in some sections of our country too muchemphasis has been placed on buildings and material equipmentand not enough on the man behind the gun�the professor? Yet

8 SCHOOL SCIBNCB AND MATHEMATICS

there are signs of change in these directions and better resultsmay be expected.The oldest part of the present Heidelberg laboratory was built

by Bunsen in 1853 and ’54. Another part was added by VictorMeyer, whose premature death the scientific world has not yetceased to mourn, and now Professor Theodore Curtius, the pres-ent able head, has been obliged to build a second addition. Thework has expanded, especially in the direction of physical chem-istry, and more room is constantly required. The director livesin commodious rooms in the second story, the first being occupiedas a part of the laboratory. A plate on the house informs thepasser-by that hier Wohnte Professor Robert Wilhelm Bunsen.Professor Curtius is a genial man, in the prime of life, and heseems to take pleasure in showing an oil portrait of Bunsen, withthe proverbial cigar between his lips, which Curtius says is con-sidered a very excellent likeness of the great master of science.The University of Heidelberg is beginning the five hundred

and twenty-sixth year of its history. It is still young, active, andvigorous, and seems to be doing its full share toward promotingthe high educational standards and ideals that have made theGerman university cities the Mecca of scholars from all parts ofthe civilized world.We had many times visited the Heidelberg laboratory, but this

was our first stop at Bonn. It is a larger and newer universitythan Heidelberg and has an -interesting collection of buildings.It, too, is growing rapidly and claims an enrollment of four thou-sand five hundred students. The members of the royal familyattend this university, which may help to account for its rapiddevelopment. Its chemical department also seems small as onlyone hundred and eighty students took the work last year. Thelaboratory is quite new, modern, well arranged, and convenient inevery detail. Professor Richard Anschiitz has been the head anddirector for a number of years, succeeding Kekule, if our memoryis not at fault. Kekule was very highly regarded, as indeed heshould be. His work on the benzene ring brought fame and rec-ognition to the institution. A well-executed statue of Kekuleis near the main entrance to the laboratory. Anschiitz attends tothe revision of Richter’s organic chemistry, and is one of theleading organic chemists of the present day.

Possibly science and art blend harmoniously. At any rate thename of Beethoven, the great musical composer, is intimatelyassociated with Bonn on the Rhine, the seat of this famed uni-versity.