BONN

a city of the Pru ian province of the Rhine, capital of a government of the same name, formerly the residence of the Elector of Cologne, on the left bank of the Rhine. Pop. 26,020. It is pleasantly situated, walled, and surrounded by ganiens, but has narrow irregular streets'. It has, however, a large and finely planted square, part of which is occupied by an ancient Gothic cathedral. The town-hall is perhaps the handsomest of its modem edifices, but aU other buildings and institutions are eclipsed by the celebrity of the university, the charter of which was given Oct. 18, 1818, at Aix-la- Chapelle, by the King of Pru ia, who at the same time endowed it with an annual income of 80,000 Pru ian doUars (£12,000), 16,000 of which are appropriated to the botanical garden. The former residence of the Elector of Cologne was bestowed on the university. It has been fitted up at great expense, and is surpa ed in extent and beauty by no universitv building in Europe. It contains all the lecture-nails, a library of more than 200,000 volumes, a museum of antiquities, a collection of casts of the principal ancient statues, a cabinet for natural philosophy, clinical institutions of uncommon extent and oxtler, to which have been added a Catholic theological seminary and a refectory. The paintings in the Academical Hall (among others, the great allegorical picture, the Christian Church) were executed by some pupils of Cornel i us. To the liberality of the king the university owes also an anatomical hall, a new riding-school, and an edifice, once a royal palace in Poppelsdorf, ten minutes* walk from the city, which contains the mineralogical and zoological collections, and before which lies the botanical garden. Adjoining it are lands and buildings for tibe use of the agricultural institute. The tower of the old custom-house, which commands a fine view, is destined for an observatory. The teachers of the five faculties, of which the university consists, are above a hundred. Particular advantages are afforded for the education of young men intended for instructors. Many men dist in gui ahed in various branches of science are connected with the • Vol. L 641 university. The historian Niebuhr, previous to his death in 1831, delivered lectures here. The exertions of the government to collect in Bonn all the means of instruction, united with the charms of the place and the beauties of the scenery, have made the university very much frequented. Its average attendance of students is above 900. The manufactures, which are not very important, consist chiefly of cottons, silks, and vitrioL The means of communication are ample, both by the steamers which ply upon the Rhine, and the railway connecting it with Cologne. Prince Albert studied at Bonn, and Beethoven was bom there. Its antiquity is considerable, and, as the residence of the Electors of Cologne, it makes some figure in history.