The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-14
A PICTURESQUE OLD CITY
DIR. GRAHAM WRITES OF HEIDEI-
BERG AND ITS ENYIRONS.


bers's Markets and Its Water sup
pIy-Other matters of Interest.
Few places in Germany and, indeed, in
Europe, can vie with Heidelberg for the
beauties of its location and surroundings
and for the historical interest and legen-
Diary lore that is connected with it.
Ancient towers. rOadways and walls, in
their fallen, ruined condition, point back
ward to the early dawn, to old Roman.
and TO earlier times, and speak in voice
less words Of the struggles and wars OF
Goths, Vandals, Barbarians and Anglo
Saxons.
Count Ohio established his seat Of gov
eminent here in 122S, making il the capt.
tai of the Palatinate, and it so continued
for several centuries. or until after the
expulsion from Bohemia Of Frederick. who
was, as Protestant, its Prince or Elec-
tor-Palatine. and whose wife was Eliza
beth, daughter Of James J. Of England.
Heidelberg is situated in a narrow val
ley, at the base Of Handicapped noun
tains, the Neckar river flowing through
the valley here, separates the town from
the mountains on the opposite side. Just
below the city, the river opens into the
wide plains, or valley, Of the Rhine and
its background of "blue AIsatian noun
tains," stands boldly silhouetted against
the southern sky.
Immediately above and overlooking the
quaint old town with its gabied roofs of
tile. from q projecting spur of the noun
tain stands the terraces and preserved
ruins Of the Castle of Heidelberg, which,
after the Alhambra of Granada, is the
most extensive ruins of Europe. Much of
the early history of the castle has been
lost. or mingled with legends or traditions.
Rudolph I, in 1894 built the most substan-
tial part, and the various kings and nrin-
ces who succeeded him added TO it, and it
reached its greatest glory just prior to
the invasion of the French armies in the
Thirty Years War In its present cOndi-
diuQn the castle shows what splendOr in
scufptured art and architecture, spacious
cOurtyardS and parks, secret statrWays,
tunnels and dungeons, towers and echo
ing halls, served to make life happy or
miserable for the inmates.
In the cellar of the castle stands the
great fass, or barrel. or Heidelberg, the
largest of its kind in the world and was
annually filled with JOhannisberger or
WaChenheimer. the spurest juice of grapes
-ripened on the sunny hillsides and prop
erly fermented, served to stimulate the
mind to poetry, song or revelry, or to cause
a simple, everyday drunk.
The Thirty Years War whose champion
on one side was the Lion of the North"
and the German PrOtestants, and on the
other the French Generals lilly, Wal
leustein, Marshal, Turenne, involved all
of these German castles and strongholds in
one common ruin. Tilly captured the
town and the Castle of Heidelberg, which
were later captured again by the trench'
who sacked, burned and blew up the cas-
tie and town, the old hotel Ritter, whose
proprietor at that time was tTenchman
was left standing, its ancient architecture
is one of the sights of the place.
On the great terrace, above the castle,
Is a bronze statue of SChemel, the Ger
man song writer born IN Heidelberg, ana
author, among other things, of THE
Trumpeter of Sackengen,' now an oper-
attic composition, and the famous AIT
Heidelberg du Stadt du Fem" Below the
terrace is one of the most beautiful con-
ifera gardens of the world, where Whis-
pering pines from our own sunny south,
from ''Dixie's land" nod and breathe forth
their sweet incense, TO their relations from
the Sierra Nevadas. the far off Himalay-
as, the mountains of Altai and from be-
meath the snowy peaks of the Andes and
the valleys and plains of the sunrise
Kingdom"
Heidelberg is the cradle of science Of
South Germany, and its university, Ru-
perta-Carola, IS very celebrated and an
cient having been founded in 1856
The number of students who attend
annually is a bout three thousand, mostly
German students; but a number of for
eigners are always present, especially in
the chemical and medical departments.
Like all German universities, five facul-
ties compose its body: Theology, law,
medicine, philosophy and the sciences, in
cluded under one head OF chemistry, math-
ematicS and astronomy. The professors,
in their respective branches, are men Of
famous names. Prof Bunsen, now retir-
ed on account of advancing age, was for
many years at the head of the chemical
laboratory, and was made an eXcellency
for his classical studies and discoveries
in company with Kirchoff, in spectrum an
alVsis, and the perfection OF the spectre
scope His name is familiar in every lab
oratOry in connection with the Bunsen
gas burner His worthy successor, Victor
Meyer, upon whom his mantel has fallen,
is well known in the new synthetic chem
istry and as the father Of a process of
making bread from wood; sugar from saw
dust, and discovery of the peculiar prln-
eipie in homely turpentine that gives to
altar of roses its sweet and costly odOr.
Coal has yielded under his magic touch
again, to gladden. our eyes and dye our
garments, many Of the beautiful simmer
ing cOlors absorbed from prehistoric sun
light. Heidelberg has the best organic
chemical laboratory in the world. At the
head of the Krankenhaus or hospital, are
PrOfs. CZeTny and Wilhelm Erb. on
the death of Bielroth. Czerny was
called to fill his chair of surgery in the
Royal Hospital Of Vienna, but declined,
saying Heidelberg was good enough for
him." He performs wonderful operations,
that only a man with a great name would
dare attemDt: his patients come from eve
rywhere. Erb is known for mis- work IN
therapeutics, and nervous uiseas-
es. Kraepelin is an authority on psychol-
ogy and mental diseases and is at the
head of the irrenklinik, or insaneclenic,
s. the asylum.
Konigsberger delights in adding the
brains of students with problems in inte-
grail and diferential calculus, quaternes
and all but Squaring the circle. lie found
more than his equal. however, in that Won
derful Russian woman, Sonia Kovalevsky,
who asked admission to the university,
and was given only a set of the most diff
ficult problems that he himself could
scarcely work ont in days. Sonia Ko-
valevsky solved all of these in a few
hours, but she was a woman and a ge-
Nous, the doors were not open to her.
There is no end of red tape and formal
ity in entering as well as leaving a Ger
man university. Although foreigners may
graduate and receive their diplomas after
one or two semesters, or whenever able
TO pass the examinations. A semester is
a university term, or session, of five
months for winter and four for the sum-
mer season; March, August and Septem-
Der are holiday months.
While thorough in their own branches,
the writer would not call them all men of
broad general knowledge, as, the most
celebrated of the professors have never
been out of Europe, and they are, as a
rule, brusque and sometimes actually
gruff and what seems to Americans inn
polite. Many of the Germans lack that
polish and politeness so conspicuous in
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