


EDITORS HERALD-CRIMSON.-In reading in Tuesday's HERALD-CRIMSON the article entitled "Student Duels in Germany," I noticed some slight mistakes. In the first place a German university knows no distinction of classes, since you go to the university and listen to the lectures, till you think you are ready for an examination; and these duels are fought not by classes, but by corps which are clubs formed for the pursuit of dueling. A student wishing to join a corps gives in his name to some member of it; if he be elected he becomes a Fuchs so-called; in this condition he remains until he has acquired sufficient dexterity in fencing, when he is admitted to the full privileges of a Bursche. Each corps has three officers, a president, called Dux; a secretary, and a vice president. Each corps fights twice a half-year with each other corps, and it is very honorable to fight more if possible. As regards choice of men for mensur, the name of a student duel, the regulations are as follows: when the secretary announces to the president that on such a day so many duels must be fought, the president calls for volunteers, if none step forward he drafts men for the duty, the secretaries of the opposing corps arrange the pairs for the mensur. The regulation requires that every duel shall continue fifteen minutes, unless terminated sooner by the exhaustion of one of the parties. However, if one of the combatants feels himself superior to the other, he is at liberty to say "I am tired," thereby ending the duel; and this is generally done, unless there was some personal reason for the duel. The nose is usually not protected, and is sometimes cut completely off. A good but rather exaggerated account of this subject can be found in "Mark Twain's Tramp Abroad." The regulations of the mensur above stated were given to me by a member of the Hannovera corps in Gottingen; Bismark was formely in this corps and fought more than thirty-five duels.

R. S. C.