Of all the sciences which have puzzled the sons of men, none had
such an attraction for the learned Professor von Baumgarten as
those which relate to psychology and the ill-defined relations
between mind and matter. A celebrated anatomist, a profound
chemist, and one of the first physiologists in Europe, it was a
relief for him to turn from these subjects and to bring his varied
knowledge to bear upon the study of the soul and the mysterious
relationship of spirits. At first, when as a young man he began to
dip into the secrets of mesmerism, his mind seemed to be wandering
in a strange land where all was chaos and darkness, save that here
and there some great unexplainable and disconnected fact loomed out
in front of him. As the years passed, however, and as the worthy
Professor's stock of knowledge increased, for knowledge begets
knowledge as money bears interest, much which had seemed strange
and unaccountable began to take another shape in his eyes. New
trains of reasoning became familiar to him, and he perceived
connecting links where all had been incomprehensible and startling.

By experiments which extended over twenty years, he obtained a
basis of facts upon which it was his ambition to build up a new
exact science which should embrace mesmerism, spiritualism,
and all cognate subjects. In this he was much helped by his
intimate knowledge of the more intricate parts of animal physiology
which treat of nerve currents and the working of the brain; for
Alexis von Baumgarten was Regius Professor of Physiology at the
University of Keinplatz, and had all the resources of the
laboratory to aid him in his profound researches.

Professor von Baumgarten was tall and thin, with a hatchet face and
steel-grey eyes, which were singularly bright and penetrating.
Much thought had furrowed his forehead and contracted his heavy
eyebrows, so that he appeared to wear a perpetual frown, which
often misled people as to his character, for though austere he was
tender-hearted. He was popular among the students, who would
gather round him after his lectures and listen eagerly to his
strange theories. Often he would call for volunteers from amongst
them in order to conduct some experiment, so that eventually there
was hardly a lad in the class who had not, at one time or another,
been thrown into a mesmeric trance by his Professor.

Of all these young devotees of science there was none who equalled
in enthusiasm Fritz von Hartmann. It had often seemed strange to
his fellow-students that wild, reckless Fritz, as dashing a young
fellow as ever hailed from the Rhinelands, should devote the time
and trouble which he did in reading up abstruse works and in
assisting the Professor in his strange experiments. The fact was,
however, that Fritz was a knowing and long-headed fellow.
Months before he had lost his heart to young Elise, the blue-eyed,
yellow-haired daughter of the lecturer. Although he had succeeded
in learning from her lips that she was not indifferent to his suit,
he had never dared to announce himself to her family as a formal
suitor. Hence he would have found it a difficult matter to see his
young lady had he not adopted the expedient of making himself
useful to the Professor. By this means he frequently was asked to
the old man's house, where he willingly submitted to be
experimented upon in any way as long as there was a chance of his
receiving one bright glance from the eyes of Elise or one touch of
her little hand.

Young Fritz von Hartmann was a handsome lad enough. There were
broad acres, too, which would descend to him when his father died.
To many he would have seemed an eligible suitor; but Madame frowned
upon his presence in the house, and lectured the Professor at times
on his allowing such a wolf to prowl around their lamb. To tell
the truth, Fritz had an evil name in Keinplatz. Never was there a
riot or a duel, or any other mischief afoot, but the young
Rhinelander figured as a ringleader in it. No one used more free
and violent language, no one drank more, no one played cards more
habitually, no one was more idle, save in the one solitary subject.

No wonder, then, that the good Frau Professorin gathered her
Fraulein under her wing, and resented the attentions of such a
mauvais sujet. As to the worthy lecturer, he was too much
engrossed by his strange studies to form an opinion upon the
subject one way or the other.

For many years there was one question which had continually
obtruded itself upon his thoughts. All his experiments and his
theories turned upon a single point. A hundred times a day the
Professor asked himself whether it was possible for the human
spirit to exist apart from the body for a time and then to return
to it once again. When the possibility first suggested itself to
him his scientific mind had revolted from it. It clashed too
violently with preconceived ideas and the prejudices of his early
training. Gradually, however, as he proceeded farther and farther
along the pathway of original research, his mind shook off its old
fetters and became ready to face any conclusion which could
reconcile the facts. There were many things which made him believe
that it was possible for mind to exist apart from matter. At last
it occurred to him that by a daring and original experiment the
question might be definitely decided.

"It is evident," he remarked in his celebrated article upon
invisible entities, which appeared in the Keinplatz wochenliche
Medicalschrift about this time, and which surprised the whole
scientific world--"it is evident that under certain conditions the
soul or mind does separate itself from the body. In the case of a
mesmerised person, the body lies in a cataleptic condition, but the
spirit has left it. Perhaps you reply that the soul is there, but
in a dormant condition. I answer that this is not so,
otherwise how can one account for the condition of clairvoyance,
which has fallen into disrepute through the knavery of certain
scoundrels, but which can easily be shown to be an undoubted fact.
I have been able myself, with a sensitive subject, to obtain an
accurate description of what was going on in another room or
another house. How can such knowledge be accounted for on any
hypothesis save that the soul of the subject has left the body and
is wandering through space? For a moment it is recalled by the
voice of the operator and says what it has seen, and then wings its
way once more through the air. Since the spirit is by its very
nature invisible, we cannot see these comings and goings, but we
see their effect in the body of the subject, now rigid and inert,
now struggling to narrate impressions which could never have come
to it by natural means. There is only one way which I can see by
which the fact can be demonstrated. Although we in the flesh are
unable to see these spirits, yet our own spirits, could we separate
them from the body, would be conscious of the presence of others.
It is my intention, therefore, shortly to mesmerise one of my
pupils. I shall then mesmerise myself in a manner which has become
easy to me. After that, if my theory holds good, my spirit will
have no difficulty in meeting and communing with the spirit of my
pupil, both being separated from the body. I hope to be able to
communicate the result of this interesting experiment in an early
number of the Keinplatz wochenliche Medicalschrilt."

When the good Professor finally fulfilled his promise, and
published an account of what occurred, the narrative was so
extraordinary that it was received with general incredulity. The
tone of some of the papers was so offensive in their comments upon
the matter that the angry savant declared that he would never open
his mouth again or refer to the subject in any way--a promise which
he has faithfully kept. This narrative has been compiled, however,
from the most authentic sources, and the events cited in it may be
relied upon as substantially correct.

It happened, then, that shortly after the time when Professor von
Baumgarten conceived the idea of the above-mentioned experiment, he
was walking thoughtfully homewards after a long day in the
laboratory, when he met a crowd of roystering students who had just
streamed out from a beer-house. At the head of them, half-
intoxicated and very noisy, was young Fritz von Hartmann. The
Professor would have passed them, but his pupil ran across and
intercepted him.

"Heh! my worthy master," he said, taking the old man by the sleeve,
and leading him down the road with him. "There is something that
I have to say to you, and it is easier for me to say it now, when
the good beer is humming in my head, than at another time."

"What is it, then, Fritz?" the physiologist asked, looking at him
in mild surprise.

"I hear, mein herr, that you are about to do some wondrous
experiment in which you hope to take a man's soul out of his
body, and then to put it back again. Is it not so?"

"It is true, Fritz."

"And have you considered, my dear sir, that you may have some
difficulty in finding some one on whom to try this? Potztausend!
Suppose that the soul went out and would not come back. That would
be a bad business. Who is to take the risk?"

"But, Fritz," the Professor cried, very much startled by this view
of the matter, "I had relied upon your assistance in the attempt.
Surely you will not desert me. Consider the honour and glory."

"Consider the fiddlesticks!" the student cried angrily. "Am I to
be paid always thus? Did I not stand two hours upon a glass
insulator while you poured electricity into my body? Have you not
stimulated my phrenic nerves, besides ruining my digestion with a
galvanic current round my stomach? Four-and-thirty times you have
mesmerised me, and what have I got from all this? Nothing. And
now you wish to take my soul out, as you would take the works from
a watch. It is more than flesh and blood can stand."

"Dear, dear!" the Professor cried in great distress. "That is very
true, Fritz. I never thought of it before. If you can but suggest
how I can compensate you, you will find me ready and willing."

"Then listen," said Fritz solemnly. "If you will pledge your word
that after this experiment I may have the hand of your daughter,
then I am willing to assist you; but if not, I shall have
nothing to do with it. These are my only terms."

"And what would my daughter say to this?" the Professor exclaimed,
after a pause of astonishment.

"Elise would welcome it," the young man replied. "We have loved
each other long."

"Then she shall be yours," the physiologist said with decision,
"for you are a good-hearted young man, and one of the best neurotic
subjects that I have ever known--that is when you are not under the
influence of alcohol. My experiment is to be performed upon the
fourth of next month. You will attend at the physiological
laboratory at twelve o'clock. It will be a great occasion, Fritz.
Von Gruben is coming from Jena, and Hinterstein from Basle. The
chief men of science of all South Germany will be there.

"I shall be punctual," the student said briefly; and so the two
parted. The Professor plodded homeward, thinking of the great
coming event, while the young man staggered along after his noisy
companions, with his mind full of the blue-eyed Elise, and of the
bargain which he had concluded with her father.

The Professor did not exaggerate when he spoke of the widespread
interest excited by his novel psychophysiological experiment. Long
before the hour had arrived the room was filled by a galaxy of
talent. Besides the celebrities whom he had mentioned, there had
come from London the great Professor Lurcher, who had just
established his reputation by a remarkable treatise upon cerebral
centres. Several great lights of the Spiritualistic body had
also come a long distance to be present, as had a Swedenborgian
minister, who considered that the proceedings might throw some
light upon the doctrines of the Rosy Cross.

There was considerable applause from this eminent assembly upon the
appearance of Professor von Baumgarten and his subject upon the
platform. The lecturer, in a few well-chosen words, explained what
his views were, and how he proposed to test them. "I hold," he
said, "that when a person is under the influence of mesmerism, his
spirit is for the time released from his body, and I challenge any
one to put forward any other hypothesis which will account for the
fact of clairvoyance. I therefore hope that upon mesmerising my
young friend here, and then putting myself into a trance, our
spirits may be able to commune together, though our bodies lie
still and inert. After a time nature will resume her sway, our
spirits will return into our respective bodies, and all will be as
before. With your kind permission, we shall now proceed to attempt
the experiment."

The applause was renewed at this speech, and the audience settled
down in expectant silence. With a few rapid passes the Professor
mesmerised the young man, who sank back in his chair, pale and
rigid. He then took a bright globe of glass from his pocket, and
by concentrating his gaze upon it and making a strong mental
effort, he succeeded in throwing himself into the same condition.
It was a strange and impressive sight to see the old man and the
young sitting together in the same cataleptic condition.
Whither, then, had their souls fled? That was the question which
presented itself to each and every one of the spectators.

Five minutes passed, and then ten, and then fifteen, and then
fifteen more, while the Professor and his pupil sat stiff and stark
upon the platform. During that time not a sound was heard from the
assembled savants, but every eye was bent upon the two pale faces,
in search of the first signs of returning consciousness. Nearly an
hour had elapsed before the patient watchers were rewarded. A
faint flush came back to the cheeks of Professor von Baumgarten.
The soul was coming back once more to its earthly tenement.
Suddenly he stretched out his long thin arms, as one awaking from
sleep, and rubbing his eyes, stood up from his chair and gazed
about him as though he hardly realised where he was. "Tausend
Teufel!" he exclaimed, rapping out a tremendous South German oath,
to the great astonishment of his audience and to the disgust of the
Swedenborgian. "Where the Henker am I then, and what in thunder
has occurred? Oh yes, I remember now. One of these nonsensical
mesmeric experiments. There is no result this time, for I remember
nothing at all since I became unconscious; so you have had all your
long journeys for nothing, my learned friends, and a very good joke
too; "at which the Regius Professor of Physiology burst into a roar
of laughter and slapped his thigh in a highly indecorous fashion.
The audience were so enraged at this unseemly behaviour on the part
of their host, that there might have been a considerable
disturbance, had it not been for the judicious interference of
young Fritz von Hartmann, who had now recovered from his lethargy.
Stepping to the front of the platform, the young man apologised for
the conduct of his companion. "I am sorry to say," he said, "that
he is a harum-scarum sort of fellow, although he appeared so grave
at the commencement of this experiment. He is still suffering from
mesmeric reaction, and is hardly accountable for his words. As to
the experiment itself, I do not consider it to be a failure. It is
very possible that our spirits may have been communing in space
during this hour; but, unfortunately, our gross bodily memory is
distinct from our spirit, and we cannot recall what has occurred.
My energies shall now be devoted to devising some means by which
spirits may be able to recollect what occurs to them in their free
state, and I trust that when I have worked this out, I may have the
pleasure of meeting you all once again in this hall, and
demonstrating to you the result." This address, coming from so
young a student, caused considerable astonishment among the
audience, and some were inclined to be offended, thinking that he
assumed rather too much importance. The majority, however, looked
upon him as a young man of great promise, and many comparisons were
made as they left the hall between his dignified conduct and the
levity of his professor, who during the above remarks was laughing
heartily in a corner, by no means abashed at the failure of the
experiment.

Now although all these learned men were filing out of the
lecture-room under the impression that they had seen nothing of
note, as a matter of fact one of the most wonderful things in the
whole history of the world had just occurred before their very eyes
Professor von Baumgarten had been so far correct in his theory that
both his spirit and that of his pupil had been for a time absent
from his body. But here a strange and unforeseen complication had
occurred. In their return the spirit of Fritz von Hartmann had
entered into the body of Alexis von Baumgarten, and that of Alexis
von Baumgarten had taken up its abode in the frame of Fritz von
Hartmann. Hence the slang and scurrility which issued from the
lips of the serious Professor, and hence also the weighty words and
grave statements which fell from the careless student. It was an
unprecedented event, yet no one knew of it, least of all those whom
it concerned.

The body of the Professor, feeling conscious suddenly of a great
dryness about the back of the throat, sallied out into the street,
still chuckling to himself over the result of the experiment, for
the soul of Fritz within was reckless at the thought of the bride
whom he had won so easily. His first impulse was to go up to the
house and see her, but on second thoughts he came to the conclusion
that it would be best to stay away until Madame Baumgarten should
be informed by her husband of the agreement which had been made.
He therefore made his way down to the Graner Mann, which was one of
the favourite trysting-places of the wilder students, and ran,
boisterously waving his cane in the air, into the little
parlour, where sat Spiegler and Muller and half a dozen other boon
companions.

"Ha, ha! my boys," he shouted. "I knew I should find you here.
Drink up, every one of you, and call for what you like, for I'm
going to stand treat to-day."

Had the green man who is depicted upon the signpost of that well-
known inn suddenly marched into the room and called for a bottle of
wine, the students could not have been more amazed than they were
by this unexpected entry of their revered professor. They were so
astonished that for a minute or two they glared at him in utter
bewilderment without being able to make any reply to his hearty
invitation.

"Donner und Blitzen!" shouted the Professor angrily. "What the
deuce is the matter with you, then? You sit there like a set of
stuck pigs staring at me. What is it, then?"

"It is the unexpected honour," stammered Spiegel, who was in the
chair.

"Honour--rubbish!" said the Professor testily. "Do you think that
just because I happen to have been exhibiting mesmerism to a parcel
of old fossils, I am therefore too proud to associate with dear old
friends like you? Come out of that chair, Spiegel my boy, for I
shall preside now. Beer, or wine, or shnapps, my lads--call for
what you like, and put it all down to me."

Never was there such an afternoon in the Gruner Mann. The foaming
flagons of lager and the green-necked bottles of Rhenish circulated
merrily. By degrees the students lost their shyness in the
presence of their Professor. As for him, he shouted, he sang, he
roared, he balanced a long tobacco-pipe upon his nose, and offered
to run a hundred yards against any member of the company. The
Kellner and the barmaid whispered to each other outside the door
their astonishment at such proceedings on the part of a Regius
Professor of the ancient university of Kleinplatz. They had still
more to whisper about afterwards, for the learned man cracked the
Kellner's crown, and kissed the barmaid behind the kitchen door.

"Gentlemen," said the Professor, standing up, albeit somewhat
totteringly, at the end of the table, and balancing his high old-
fashioned wine glass in his bony hand, "I must now explain to you
what is the cause of this festivity."

"Hear! hear! " roared the students, hammering their beer glasses
against the table; "a speech, a speech!--silence for a speech!"

"The fact is, my friends," said the Professor, beaming through his
spectacles, "I hope very soon to be married."

"Married!" cried a student, bolder than the others "Is Madame dead,
then?"

"Madame who?"

"Why, Madame von Baumgarten, of course."

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Professor; "I can see, then, that you know
all about my former difficulties. No, she is not dead, but I have
reason to believe that she will not oppose my marriage."

"That is very accommodating of her," remarked one of the company.

"In fact," said the Professor, "I hope that she will now be induced
to aid me in getting a wife. She and I never took to each other
very much; but now I hope all that may be ended, and when I marry
she will come and stay with me."

"What a happy family!" exclaimed some wag.

"Yes, indeed; and I hope you will come to my wedding, all of you.
I won't mention names, but here is to my little bride!" and the
Professor waved his glass in the air.

"Here's to his little bride!" roared the roysterers, with shouts of
laughter. "Here's her health. Sie soll leben--Hoch!" And so the
fun waxed still more fast and furious, while each young fellow
followed the Professor's example, and drank a toast to the girl of
his heart.

While all this festivity had been going on at the Graner Mann, a
very different scene had been enacted elsewhere. Young Fritz von
Hartmann, with a solemn face and a reserved manner, had, after the
experiment, consulted and adjusted some mathematical instruments;
after which, with a few peremptory words to the janitors, he had
walked out into the street and wended his way slowly in the
direction of the house of the Professor. As he walked he saw Von
Althaus, the professor of anatomy, in front of him, and quickening
his pace he overtook him.

"I say, Von Althaus," he exclaimed, tapping him on the sleeve, "you
were asking me for some information the other day concerning
the middle coat of the cerebral arteries. Now I find----"

"Donnerwetter!" shouted Von Althaus, who was a peppery old fellow.
"What the deuce do you mean by your impertinence! I'll have you up
before the Academical Senate for this, sir; "with which threat he
turned on his heel and hurried away. Von Hartmann was much
surprised at this reception. "It's on account of this failure of
my experiment," he said to himself, and continued moodily on his
way.

Fresh surprises were in store for him, however. He was hurrying
along when he was overtaken by two students. These youths, instead
of raising their caps or showing any other sign of respect, gave a
wild whoop of deligilt the instant that they saw him, and rushing
at him, seized him by each arm and commenced dragging him along
with them.

"Gott in himmel!" roared Von Hartmann. "What is the meaning of
this unparalleled insult? Where are you taking me?"

"To crack a bottle of wine with us," said the two students. "Come
along! That is an invitation which you have never refused."

"I never heard of such insolence in my life!" cried Von Hartmann.
"Let go my arms! I shall certainly have you rusticated for this.
Let me go, I say!" and he kicked furiously at his captors.

"Oh, if you choose to turn ill-tempered, you may go where you
like," the students said, releasing him. "We can do very well
without you."

"I know you. I'll pay you out," said Von Hartmann furiously, and
continued in the direction which he imagined to be his own home,
much incensed at the two episodes which had occurred to him on the
way.

Now, Madame von Baumgarten, who was looking out of the window and
wondering why her husband was late for dinner, was considerably
astonished to see the young student come stalking down the road.
As already remarked, she had a great antipathy to him, and if ever
he ventured into the house it was on sufferance, and under the
protection of the Professor. Still more astonished was she,
therefore, when she beheld him undo the wicket-gate and stride up
the garden path with the air of one who is master of the situation.

She could hardly believe her eyes, and hastened to the door with
all her maternal instincts up in arms. From the upper windows the
fair Elise had also observed this daring move upon the part of her
lover, and her heart beat quick with mingled pride and
consternation.

"Good day, sir," Madame Baumgarten remarked to the intruder, as she
stood in gloomy majesty in the open doorway.

"A very fine day indeed, Martha," returned the other. "Now, don't
stand there like a statue of Juno, but bustle about and get the
dinner ready, for I am well-nigh starved."

"Martha! Dinner!" ejaculated the lady, falling back in
astonishment.

"Yes, dinner, Martha, dinner!" howled Von Hartmann, who was
becoming irritable. "Is there anything wonderful in that request
when a man has been out all day? I'll wait in the dining-room.
Anything will do. Schinken, and sausage, and prunes--any little
thing that happens to be about. There you are, standing staring
again. Woman, will you or will you not stir your legs?"

This last address, delivered with a perfect shriek of rage, had the
effect of sending good Madame Baumgarten flying along the passage
and through the kitchen, where she locked herself up in the
scullery and went into violent hysterics. In the meantime Von
Hartmann strode into the room and threw himself down upon the sofa
in the worst of tempers.

"Elise!" he shouted. "Confound the girl! Elise!"

Thus roughly summoned, the young lady came timidly downstairs and
into the presence of her lover. "Dearest!" she cried, throwing her
arms round him, "I know this is all done for my sake! It is a
RUSE in order to see me."

Von Hartmann's indignation at this fresh attack upon him was so
great that he became speechless for a minute from rage, and could
only glare and shake his fists, while he struggled in her embrace.
When he at last regained his utterance, he indulged in such a
bellow of passion that the young lady dropped back, petrified with
fear, into an armchair.

"Never have I passed such a day in my life," Von Hartmann cried,
stamping upon the floor. "My experiment has failed. Von Althaus
has insulted me. Two students have dragged me along the
public road. My wife nearly faints when I ask her for dinner, and
my daughter flies at me and hugs me like a grizzly bear."

"You are ill, dear," the young lady cried. "Your mind is
wandering. You have not even kissed me once."

"No, and I don't intend to either," Von Hartmann said with
decision. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Why don't you go
and fetch my slippers, and help your mother to dish the dinner?"

"And is it for this," Elise cried, burying her face in her
handkerchief--"is it for this that I have loved you passionately
for upwards of ten months? Is it for this that I have braved my
mother's wrath? Oh, you have broken my heart; I am sure you have!"
and she sobbed hysterically.

"I can't stand much more of this," roared Von Hartmann furiously.
"What the deuce does the girl mean? What did I do ten months ago
which inspired you with such a particular affection for me? If you
are really so very fond, you would do better to run away down and
find the schinken and some bread, instead of talking all this
nonsense"

"Oh, my darling!" cried the unhappy maiden, throwing herself into
the arms of what she imagined to be her lover, "you do but joke in
order to frighten your little Elise."

Now it chanced that at the moment of this unexpected embrace Von
Hartmann was still leaning back against the end of the sofa, which,
like much German furniture, was in a somewhat rickety
condition. It also chanced that beneath this end of the sofa there
stood a tank full of water in which the physiologist was conducting
certain experiments upon the ova of fish, and which he kept in his
drawing-room in order to insure an equable temperature. The
additional weight of the maiden, combined with the impetus with
which she hurled herself upon him, caused the precarious piece of
furniture to give way, and the body of the unfortunate student was
hurled backwards into the tank, in which his head and shoulders
were firmly wedged, while his lower extremities flapped helplessly
about in the air. This was the last straw. Extricating himself
with some difficulty from his unpleasant position, Von Hartmann
gave an inarticulate yell of fury, and dashing out of the room, in
spite of the entreaties of Elise, he seized his hat and rushed off
into the town, all dripping and dishevelled, with the intention of
seeking in some inn the food and comfort which he could not find at
home.

As the spirit of Von Baumgarten encased in the body of Von Hartmann
strode down the winding pathway which led down to the little town,
brooding angrily over his many wrongs, he became aware that an
elderly man was approaching him who appeared to be in an advanced
state of intoxication. Von Hartmann waited by the side of the road
and watched this individual, who came stumbling along, reeling from
one side of the road to the other, and singing a student song in a
very husky and drunken voice. At first his interest was
merely excited by the fact of seeing a man of so venerable an
appearance in such a disgraceful condition, but as he approached
nearer, he became convinced that he knew the other well, though he
could not recall when or where he had met him. This impression
became so strong with him, that when the stranger came abreast of
him he stepped in front of him and took a good look at his
features.

"Well, sonny," said the drunken man, surveying Von Hartmann and
swaying about in front of him, "where the Henker have I seen you
before? I know you as well as I know myself. Who the deuce are
you?"

"I am Professor von Baumgarten," said the student. "May I ask who
you are? I am strangely familiar with your features."

"You should never tell lies, young man," said the other. "You're
certainly not the Professor, for he is an ugly snuffy old chap, and
you are a big broad-shouldered young fellow. As to myself, I am
Fritz von Hartmann at your service."

"That you certainly are not," exclaimed the body of Von Hartmann.
"You might very well be his father. But hullo, sir, are you aware
that you are wearing my studs and my watch-chain?"

"Donnerwetter!" hiccoughed the other. " If those are not the
trousers for which my tailor is about to sue me, may I never taste
beer again."

Now as Von Hartmann, overwhelmed by the many strange things which
had occurred to him that day, passed his hand over his
forehead and cast his eyes downwards, he chanced to catch the
reflection of his own face in a pool which the rain had left upon
the road. To his utter astonishment he perceived that his face was
that of a youth, that his dress was that of a fashionable young
student, and that in every way he was the antithesis of the grave
and scholarly figure in which his mind was wont to dwell. In an
instant his active brain ran over the series of events which had
occurred and sprang to the conclusion. He fairly reeled under the
blow.

"Himmel!" he cried, "I see it all. Our souls are in the wrong
bodies. I am you and you are I. My theory is proved--but at what
an expense! Is the most scholarly mind in Europe to go about with
this frivolous exterior? Oh the labours of a lifetime are ruined!"
and he smote his breast in his despair.

"I say," remarked the real Von Hartmann from the body of the
Professor, "I quite see the force of your remarks, but don't go
knocking my body about like that. You received it in excellent
condition, but I perceive that you have wet it and bruised it, and
spilled snuff over my ruffled shirt-front."

"It matters little," the other said moodily. "Such as we are so
must we stay. My theory is triumphantly proved, but the cost is
terrible."

"If I thought so," said the spirit of the student, "it would be
hard indeed. What could I do with these stiff old limbs, and how
could I woo Elise and persuade her that I was not her father? No,
thank Heaven, in spite of the beer which has upset me more
than ever it could upset my real self, I can see a way out of it."

"How?" gasped the Professor.

"Why, by repeating the experiment. Liberate our souls once more,
and the chances are that they will find their way back into their
respective bodies."

No drowning man could clutch more eagerly at a straw than did Von
Baumgarten's spirit at this suggestion. In feverish haste he
dragged his own frame to the side of the road and threw it into a
mesmeric trance; he then extracted the crystal ball from the
pocket, and managed to bring himself into the same condition.

Some students and peasants who chanced to pass during the next hour
were much astonished to see the worthy Professor of Physiology and
his favourite student both sitting upon a very muddy bank and both
completely insensible. Before the hour was up quite a crowd had
assembled, and they were discussing the advisability of sending for
an ambulance to convey the pair to hospital, when the learned
savant opened his eyes and gazed vacantly around him. For an
instant he seemed to forget how he had come there, but next moment
he astonished his audience by waving his skinny arms above his head
and crying out in a voice of rapture, "Gott sei gedanket! I am
myself again. I feel I am!" Nor was the amazement lessened when
the student, springing to his feet, burst into the same cry, and
the two performed a sort of pas de joie in the middle of the
road.

For some time after that people had some suspicion of the sanity of
both the actors in this strange episode. When the Professor
published his experiences in the Medicalschrift as he had promised,
he was met by an intimation, even from his colleagues, that he
would do well to have his mind cared for, and that another such
publication would certainly consign him to a madhouse. The student
also found by experience that it was wisest to be silent about the
matter.

When the worthy lecturer returned home that night he did not
receive the cordial welcome which he might have looked for after
his strange adventures. On the contrary, he was roundly upbraided
by both his female relatives for smelling of drink and tobacco, and
also for being absent while a young scapegrace invaded the house
and insulted its occupants. It was long before the domestic
atmosphere of the lecturer's house resumed its normal quiet, and
longer still before the genial face of Von Hartmann was seen
beneath its roof. Perseverance, however, conquers every obstacle,
and the student eventually succeeded in pacifying the enraged
ladies and in establishing himself upon the old footing. He has
now no longer any cause to fear the enmity of Madame, for he is
Hauptmann von Hartmann of the Emperor's own Uhlans, and his loving
wife Elise has already presented him with two little Uhlans as a
visible sign and token of her affection.