Professor Cohn's Reminiscences.

Yesterday afternoon, Professor Cohn gave as a closing lecture in French 11 an informal account of a portion of his experiences during the Franco-Prussian war, 1870, when, as a member of the Garde Mobile he assisted in the defence of Paris. In the early part of the war, under the government of Napoleon III, all military operations were marked by an incredible amount of carelessness and ignorance among those in authority. Army officers were appointed who knew nothing of military operations, and were far surpassed in knowledge, capacity, and even intelligence by many of the privates; the movement of parts of the army was delayed for days for lack of proper orders; at the end of long marches the soldiers found that no preparation had been made for feeding them, and a large body of men had to given leave of absence upon their arrival in Paris because there was no means of taking care of them otherwise. Professor Cohn's descriptions of the events which accompanied the fall of the Empire and of life during the siege were extremely interesting and it is to be hoped that the lecture will be repeated on another occasion, when more students will be able to enjoy it.