The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-09-11
Destruction of Prof. MOmmsen's Lii
-. brary and Manuscripts.

THE sad tidings of the terrible loss
sustained by Prof. Mommsen have
caused such genuine regret throughout
the whole of Germany as has seldom
been witnessed on like occasion. All
party feelings have been laid aside, and
even the Professors political antago-
nists, however dissatisfied with his out
spoken Liberalism, could not help join
ing in the universal commiseration. The
eminent scholar, residing with his large
family in small villa situated in one of
the fashionable suburbs, had been study
ing until an advanced hour of the night
over copy of some important Roman
inscriptions, when sleep overpowered
him. He awoke at about three in the
morning, put out the gas and was going
to retire, when he, by some inadvert-
ence, dropped a burning match, with
which he had lit the candle, on thick
carpet. The fire thus produced must
have been smoldering for some time be-
fore it was discovered by some work
men employed in a neighboring manu-
factory. An alarm was Immediately
given, but too late to save the treasured
library from the ravages of the de-
structive element.
Prof. Mommsen, almost beside him.
self, could with the utmost difficulty be
withheld from rushing into the flames in
the vain hope of rescuing some of the
precious documents boarded on his
shelves. He was particularly anxious
to get hold of those invaluable parch-
mentS handed down from remote an
tiquity, and lent to him as special IA
vor by the Papal authorities, or the
libraries at Paris, Vienna or Berlin, for
the purpose of being included in his
grand work on /" Roman Inscriptions"
nearly finished when the awful confla-
grafton put such sudden stop to the
Iabors OF many years. An eyewitness,
who saw the Professor just after the dis
covery of the fire, relates that he never
beheld any thing more touching than
his agonizing grief. The poor old man
seemed to have lost all self-control.
When the endeavors of his family to re-
move him from the scene of the disas-
ter failed, the police had to insist upon
his retiring. Notwithstanding all eff
forts to keep him out of danger, he re.
ceived several severe wounds which it
will take long to heal.
Besides the above mentioned work on
g Roman Inscriptions" all the materials
for continuation of his famous "History
OF Rome," designed to describe the time
OF the first Emperors, have been utterly
lost. BY singular coincidence Profess
sor Mommsen has undergone the same
trial as Niebuhr, his great prede-
cessor in the ProfeSsorship of History in
Of
In his old age also fell prey to the de-
Vouring element. Unlike Niebuhr, who
could never quite recover the shock of
that fatal night, Professor Mommsen,
with a really wonderful elasticity of
mind, has already in great measure re-
gained his composure, and speaks with
confidence of repairing speedily the de-
struction of the fruits of his long re-
searches. The Emperor, as well as the
Crown Prince, the latter of whom was
one OF the Professors pupils, sympa-
thetically inquired about his condition.
should not be surprised if royal apart
ments were placed at his disposal to en-
able him to pursue his studies in quiet.
Thousands and thousands have hocked
to Charlottenburg to look at Mommsen's
half-burnt house and gardens, strewn
with the ashes of so many valuable re-
cords of the past. The burning of
Mummsen's library will doubtless give
rise to active discussions of the question
as to whether such irreparable docu-
ments, if intrusted by the Vatican and
other governments to private indi-
vidual, be he ever so renowned, should
not be infinitely copied by some chemi-
cal or other process, so that the originals
need never leave their safe deposito-
ries.-Berlin Cor London Globe.