JET. 65.] TO MRS. GRAY. 661 



" How do you prevent insects from destroying 

 them ? ' They are all poisoned. 



" What do you poison with ? ' Corrosive sublimate 

 dissolved in alcohol. 



" How do you use it ? ' 



Here I ran off and brought back the poison-bottle, 

 and applied the liquid to a specimen under the impe- 

 rial nose. 







I then ran off to set down the bottle in a safe place 

 on the middle table, when he followed me up and asked : 



" How strong do you make the solution ? ' 



I gave him the answer as well as I could, when he 

 turned to one of his suite : 



" Please write that down." 



And it was done accordingly. In the library I had 

 displayed, enough to attract the eye, the bound vol- 

 umes of " Flora Brasiliensis," which he glanced at, 

 and asked : 



" Have you the work on the botany of the vicinity 

 of Rio Janeiro ? ' 



I answered, Yes, thanks to Mr. Agassiz, to whom 

 the emperor had given it. 



But he seemed uneasy until he saw it, and I put 

 two of the folio volumes into his hands, which seemed 

 to satisfy him. 



Then, as he was passing on to the lecture-room, I 

 slipped off. At head of Common, in Boston, I met C., 

 who told me Dom Pedro was down at his museum at 

 7J- A. M. C. was not going to Hunnewell's. . . . 



I amused them with the account of the conversa- 

 tion with the emperor. 



The rhododendrons, and azaleas too, most splendid. 

 Nothing like it at Philadelphia. The best as well as 

 the most he ever had. 



