54-6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lum bound books lining the walls seemed quite in harmony with the 

 dryness of some of the discussions, though the way our authorized an- 

 cestor Adam was unanimously ignored might have made the worthy 

 old monks' hair stand on end. At one end of this hall a gx-eat throne 

 was erected, with ermine and the Braganza arms all complete. Oppo- 

 site a band was stationed ; in the gallery around admiring natives were 

 congregated. All the male representatives of science were in evening 

 dress, gibus in hand, and resplendent with orders. M, Capellini, of 

 Bologna, a great man though small of stature, was noticeable for the 

 number of his decorations. With four full-blown crosses and ribbons, 

 besides a dozen lesser stars glittering on his shirt-front, he was a gor- 

 geous sight. The only English member yet arrived was conspicuous 

 for the unrelieved black and white of his attire. 



With royal punctuality, precisely at one o'clock, the band struck 

 up the national hymn, and their Majesties entered : Dom Fernando, 

 the tall Dowager King Consort (if that is his official title), and Dom 

 Luis, the dumpy reigning King, his son. Every one, it is to be hoped, 

 knows Thackeray's " Rose and the Ring," and if they do not they 

 should know it, so it is needless to describe their royal highnesses 

 further than by saying that the courteous Dom Fernando is the image 

 of the old king in that charming tale, and the accomplished Dom Luis 

 its hero Prince Bulbo in person. There was no mistaking the fact, 

 the immortal Bulbo stood before us on tiptoe mostly, to add height 

 to his august jDresence and we were duly impressed accordingly. 

 With royal patience he and his father sat under their ermine awning, 

 listening to inaudible speeches, with homme miochie as their refrain 

 what a long course of boring it must take to teach any one to bear it 

 so patiently ! who would choose to wear a crown ? and then with 

 royal courtesy they descended from their eminence to be introduced 

 to the leading members present. That over, they had to begin again 

 Avith the Literary Congress, whose session here also opened that day ; 

 while the archaeologists and anthropologists escaped to examine the 

 bony and stony treasures of a museum illustrating these sciences, es- 

 tablished in the same building. In this arid region many warm dis- 

 cussions as to the antiquity of man took place, and as to how far some 

 undetermined flakes of flint, with dubious bulbs of percussion, found 

 in a questionable stratum, went to prove his existence in Tertiary 

 times. This was the main question of the Lisbon session. 



Two days afterward an excursion was made to Otta, the above- 

 mentioned haunt of this doubtful Tertiary being, to test the value of 

 the evidence. By 6 a. m. all on science or amusement bent were 

 steaming out of Lisbon. An hour later all had left the special train, 

 and were distributed among twenty-two carriages and omnibuses, 

 draAvn, as a rule, by four fine mules, the manners and customs of which 

 were cui-ious and unexpected. The leaders would suddenly bolt round 

 and stare at their scientific load with superhuman curiosity. It re- 



