New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-28
named McAeer was srresred and taken Yonkers. but
was discharged.
PRoE MoMMsEys GRIEVoUs Loss.

Berlin COrresp 0ndencs London Globe
The sad tdngs Of the terrible loss suStaine 4 by
Professor M0mmsen have cause such genuine re-
gret throughout the whole Of GERMANY as has
seldom been witnessed on n like occasion. All
party feelings have been laid aside. and even the
Professors political antagonists, however dlssat-
ished with his outspOken Liberalism. could not
help joining in the universal COMMUNICATION. The
eminent scholar. residing with hs large family IN
n small villa situated IN one OF the fasnlonable
suburbs, had been studying until an advanced hour
OF the night a copy Of some Important Roman
Inscriptions, when sleep oyerpowered hlin. lie
awOke at about in the morning. put out the gas,
and going to retire. when he, by some mai
veTtence dropped a burning match. with which
he had lit the candle, on a thick carpet The Ire
thus produced must have been smOuldering for
some time before il was discovered by some work
men employed in neighhOring mandatory An
alarm was immediately given. but too late "a save
the treasured library from the ravsges of the de-
structVe element.
Professor Mommsen. almost beside himself. could
with the utmost difficulty be withheld from rush
ing into the flames in the vain hope of rescuing
some of the precious documents boarded on MS
shelves. lie was particularly anxious to ct hold
of those invaluable parchmenJs IA landed down from
remote antiquity, and lent 10 HIM az q special
favor by the Papal authorities. or the libraries at
Vienna, Paris and Berlin. for the purpose OF being
included in his grand work on Roman lnscrp-
tionsD nearly finished when the awful cOnfagra-
tion put such sudden stop to the labors OF many
years An eyewitness. who saw the Professor
lust after the discovery of the ire relates that he
never beheld anything more touching than his
agOnzing grief. The poor old man seemed to have
Lost all self-contrOl. When the endeayOrs OF MS
family TO remove him from the of the disaster
failed the police had To insist upon his retiring
Notwithstanding all efforts to Keep HIM out or
danger he received several severe wounds which
it viii take long to heal.
Besides the aforementioned work on Roman
Inscriptions" all the materials Tor continuation
of his famous History Of Rome" destined 10 de-
scribe the time of the first EmperOrs, have bee
utterly lost. BY n singular coincidence Professor
MOmmsen has undergone the same trial as Medium,
his great predecessor in the ProessOrshlp OF Ills
tory ut the University of Berlin, whose library IN
his old age also fell prey to the devourlng ee-
ment. Unlike Niebuhr VINO could never quite
recover the shock of that fatal night, Professor
M0mmsen. with really wonderful elasticity or
mind has already in great measure regained his
composure and speaks with confidence OF repairing
speedily the destruction CT the fruits of his long
researches The Emperor, as well as the Crown
Prince the latter of whom was one Of the Pro
fessor's pupils sympathetcally inquired about
lis condition. | should not he surprised If royal
apartments we're placed at his disposal TO enable
him 10 pursue his studies in quiet
Thousands and thousands have hOcked 10 Char
lOttenburg TO look at MOmmsen's half-burnt house
and gardens strewn " it'll the ashes of so many
valuable records of the past. The burning of
MOmmsen's library will doubtless give rise to
active discussions of the question as to whether
such irreparabe documents, If entrusted by the
Vatican and other Governments TO a private IN
diyldual. be he ever renowned, should not he
infinitely copied By some chemical other pro-
cess so that the originals need never leave their
safe repositories.