to be blamed for this. It is
part of the system that as much further punishment as possible must be
inflicted by the doctor, and the ideal medical man might hardly care for
such job. How the student bears the dressing of his wounds is as
important as how he receives them. Every operation has to be performed
as brutally as may be, and his companions carefully watch him during the
process to see that he goes through it with an appearance of peace and
enjoyment. A clean-cut wound that gapes wide is most desired by all
parties. On purpose it is sewn up clumsily, with the hope that by this
means the scar will last a lifetime. Such a wound, judiciously mauled
and interfered with during the week afterwards, can generally be reckoned
on to secure its fortunate possessor a wife with a dowry of five figures
at the least.

These are the general bi-weekly Mensurs, of which the average student
fights some dozen a year. There are others to which visitors are not
admitted. When a student is considered to have disgraced himself by some
slight involuntary movement of the head or body while fighting, then he
can only regain his position by standing up to the best swordsman in his
Korps. He demands and is accorded, not a contest, but a punishment. His
opponent then proceeds to inflict as many and as bloody wounds as can be
taken. The object of the victim is to show his comrades that he can
stand still while his head is half sliced from his skull.

Whether anything can properly be said in favour of the German Mensur I am
doubtful; but if so it concerns only the two combatants. Upon the
spectators it can and does, I am convinced, exercise nothing but evil. I
know myself sufficiently well to be sure I am not of an unusually
bloodthirsty disposition. The effect it had upon me can only be the
usual effect. At first, before the actual work commenced, my sensation
was curiosity mingled with anxiety as to how the sight would trouble me,
though some slight acquaintance with dissecting-rooms and operating
tables left me less doubt on that point than I might otherwise have felt.
As the blood began to flow, and nerves and muscles to be laid bare, I
experienced a mingling of disgust and pity. But with the second duel, I
must confess, my finer feelings began to disappear; and by the time the
third was well upon its way, and the room heavy with the curious hot
odour of blood, I began, as the American expression is, to see things
red.