, 1880-08-01
The Destruction of Prof. 1ommsen's
Library.

Bostu44 Adsftitsr-
The loss Of Prof. Mommsena Nbfary. HR1ca
was destroyed By tire on the morning Of July U
is irrepar,blc. His cottage is at Chariot oubur.s
a suburb Of Berlip. and u occupied By his sfuuy
nearly twenty children. The lower stury il de-
voted to rcccption-roo the two upper STORIES s
are occupied BY the family, while tho top % hoos
Momn,sen was engaged upon the history Of thn
Roman Empero,s, and the entire world ct lotters
was looking forward to its publication VIA
ston1 that Prof M0,nusen had discovered much
new materttu, and that he hnd arrived at many
new conclusions. It was only necessary to m ko
work. PROF. Mom1nsen had beon at work till
o'clock in tho morning Ut the 18th tnst., Wneo
he retired. Toward o'clock sono workmen
noticed volumes Of smoke coming OUT OF the
roof Of the cottage, woke Up the fa nny. and
ca lied for the trc-engines. When fr!1: Aotntn-
son went on tho upper hoor be found tho SnNe
Thrnry ar, ire, a1id TINT the mnuuaaripts, both
uncicIt and his own, had already been destroyed,
owing to the fact that he bud left them Iy.n1&
aDou1 the room. Knowing that oo<ks Is. properly % y
boldly entered the room and slyod 89w etxtY
Volumes belonging to public libraries. nut hls
fncc and left ha1ld wcra burned 30 baal{ tnat ne
wns not allowed to repeat his attempt; nc ~ nfoxe
dnw.r. and servants had to curry him Of. TEole
beiug no steam-cngiues, the fire extended 70 tas
lower purt Of the house, destroyed tha rso1, ana
left the iibrnry u slnoldering hsap OF roans'
damaged By tire and water alike
The library included about 40,ooo To3une9, re"
1atinv mostly to the history OF Home. FrtA.
Mo1nmsen's manuscripts, and con1toef4pte
n,,1nbtr OF rare parchm0nts borrowed Ire1n En-
ronoan libraries. The works borrowed from tne
Viennn Library wore lout completely; 70 ~eEo
the Invaluable manuscriPts Of the Pauatlho CO..
lection at Heidelberg The heeVnt Ioss VIZ ~
sustained. nert TO Prof Momu1scn hlmaetf. ~
fhts 1oyal Ljbraty OF Berlin. Aud. ktr21Ko 70 say
es wall rs sad to relate, By the Vatican Library.
~ - intter mover issues any OF ts t-assn7es 70
nn.- onc:. but out 0f respect Tor Aofn1ason
scholarship the Pope had permitted hln TO IaRe
srvernl valuable manuscr1pts "ito EAU; iaeJ
1ynre destroyed. together win astno Laeken
cotiices. Nor wns any ono compete Wof1 a34*o,
and the principal manuscript OF oo n1tdaaan
himself III part rtndy for press, IS prooahJ loS1
havnnd the hope Of repair
Ibrnf. Mofntn3en Is said to be Weil-ntxh Roafs-
hr,tnn. Its standing as the historian ut ancient
i3.,nn was so 1rcat that hardly anything VILE ro-
+,,so.i him and in many cn4cs he avatbod hin1znf
~ his privileges for the purpose CT the taking
~ todiccs to .Chnrlottenburg. They arc all do
cch';1nrstip can ever restore rhem- The edsct ttf
70 ,,,n,lrnfui experience will bo that public
nnrnries viii now refuse to issue what cannot be
ra,,i1ced Prof, MoMuSen Is 60 Ill that he Eaa
hna1, unable to Indicate the precise nature of
lis losses ard 1t is feared that he may be an-
1xiiinq to resume his researches. In regard to
hta hi3tory OF Imperial Komo, he Is aatd 70 hava
rararkad 70 intimate friends that his tlmo waS
briof and tGat he must hurry The cottage can
- raatored. The origin OF the tirc is not quito
oionr Prof Molum5en used both gas and petru-
ta,In and there can be NO doubt that the fire
hnn1n in his library soou after he left it, prob
rffv from match thrown away ~ him when he
had lInhted his night candle.