410 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



grew bolder ; and Gazette's prophecy ' had not as yet cast its ominous 

 shadow over this gay and brilliant coterie. Moreover, what was there 

 now that man might not do, after Montgolfier had ascended in the air, 

 and Franklin had subdued the lightning ? 



The company talked first of the great American citizen ; then of the 

 great Frederick, who also was conceded to be somebody ; next of Vol- 

 taire, with whom Frederick seemed to be fully reconciled. But, with all 

 their worship of Voltaire, and with all their willingness to recognize 

 his services in the cause of enlightenment, there was no getting over 

 the fact that, in truth, he was an incorrigible deist.^ 



" How childish," remarked the host, '^ is his conception of the uni- 

 verse as a watch from which we may infer the watch-maker ! Inasmuch 

 as nothing is certain save the existence of matter, why look for any 

 other causes than the forces of matter ? What is there so inconceiv- 

 able in the idea that an infinity of atoms, acting upon one another from 

 eternity, should assume a definite arrangement, and so form worlds ; 

 that when in these worlds light, heat, moisture, and certain elements 

 were present in the right proportions, the phenomenon which we call 

 life should first appear as a germ, and then expand into ever-widening 

 and more varied circles ; that in this way the animal mechanism, and, 

 finally, that of man himself, should have come into being ?— a Avell-con- 

 trived mechanism, indeed, but not without many an imperfection ; en- 

 dowed with strength and beauty, but also afflicted with many a sad in- 

 firmity ; capable of enjoying many a pleasure, but also threatened, alas ! 

 with still crueler sufferings." 



There was general assent, but then were heard coming from a cor- 

 ner the piping tones of Galiani's voice : 



" Ladies and gentlemen, for Heaven's sake, no metaphysics to-day ! 

 Let us talk of something else. Suppose I tell you of an occurrence I 

 once witnessed on the Marina at Naples. A juggler had set up his 

 booth, around which stood a group of lazzaroni and other folk, myself 

 among them. After performing sundry tricks which have escaped my 

 memo°ry, the fellow offered us a wager that he could every time, with 

 Ms dice, throw sixes. One or two of the gapers took up the bet.^ He 

 did, in fact, throw sixes the first time, the second, third, fourth—" 



« But, monsignor, this is a farce ; either you are joking, or else the 

 dice were cogged." 



» Of course they were," Galiani replied. He had, as was his wont, 

 climbed into his arm-chair, on which he squatted with his legs doubled 

 up beneath him ; he had his wig poised on his left hand, for the weather 

 was hot, and, with his right, he gesticulated wildly, after the maimer of 

 his countrymen. " Of course they were cogged, and that was just the 

 trick. The juggler did not say that he would throw sixes every time 



' " (Euvres choisips et posthumes de M. de la Harpe," Paris, 1806, tome i., p. 62. 

 2 E. du Bois-Reymond, " Voltaire in seiner Beziehung zur Naturwissenschaft," Berlin, 

 1868, p. 19. 



