elebrated professors in Europe,
especially in the departments of law and medicine. Its library contains
some very rare and valuable works, printed and in manuscript."

"What about the duels, sir?" inquired Haven.

"The students here are noted for the duels which take place among them.
Four or five have occurred in a single day, and perhaps they average a
dozen a week. But I wish to say, in the beginning, that duelling and
other vicious practices charged upon the University of Heidelberg are
confined to about one fifth of the whole number of students. They are
not all duellists, nor all inordinate beer-drinkers. Probably they are
no worse than the residents at other universities, though the duels are
certainly exceptional. Four fifths of the students here are devoted to
their studies, improve their time to the utmost, and never engage in,
or even see, a duel.

"These combats--which they are, rather than duels--take place at the
Hirschgasse, a lonely hotel on the other side of the Neckar. The
fighting and dissipated students form themselves into clubs, called
'chores,' among which a great deal of jealousy and ill feeling
prevails. The fights are to avenge insults, to 'see who is the best
fellow,' or between representatives of different chores, who battle for
the honor of their clubs. The champions fight with blunt swords ground
sharp on the two edges. They slash each other, but do not thrust, so
that the combats seldom result in mortal wounds.

"In a fight for the honor of the clubs, the parties tie up their necks
and right arms in bandages and cushions. When they fight for the
satisfaction of an injury or insult, they have no protection. The
combat, in all cases, is decided in fifteen minutes; and at the end of
this time, the one who has the fewest cuts is declared to be the best
fellow. If one of the champions is severely injured in less than
fifteen minutes, so that he cannot continue the fight, it is finished
up on another occasion. A surgeon is always in attendance to decide
whether a wounded contestant is able to go on. The police are on the
watch for these fights; but the students station sentinels for some
distance from the arena of contest, and the approach of an officer is
communicated to them in season to enable the combatants to escape. I
need not add, that these duels are brutal and disgraceful. It looks as
though the police winked at them.

"In some of these clubs, the ability to drink from a dozen to t