1885.1 "^^^ [Aguew. 



the petrified forest near to Cairo, the writer had found a large stony frag- 

 ment of one of the trees whicli originally formed a part of the grove. 

 Placing the piece before him on the neck of his donkey, he determined to 

 bring it with him to America. After wrestling for some time with the un- 

 wieldly mass, he became disgusted, and cast it down upon the sand. The 

 temptation to recover the valuable specimen was too great to be resisted 

 by Dr. Beadle, who, after a few moments' reflection, dismounted, and 

 placing the precious stone before him, on the withers of his beast, at 

 length, after allowing it a number of times to roll over the head of the 

 stumbling donkey, succeeded in bringing it into camp, from which it was 

 shipped home, and, after being polished by the wheel of the lapidary, it 

 was allowed to grace the cabinet ot its owner, "a thing of beauty and joy 

 forever." 



It Avas during this excursion that another little incident occurred, 

 which revealed' the happy vein of subdued humor which lay just 

 beneath the surface of our naturalist's character.. A fatiguing day's 

 march over the burning sands, had brought the little company, 

 sufiering from the combined effects of thirst and exhaustion, to an 

 oasis in the desert, where with joy they had hoped to cool their 

 parched mouths with the limpid water which lay under the shadow of a 

 few palm trees. Before, however, they were able to dip their vessels, the 

 camels, attracted by the scent of water, rushed impetuously into the pool 

 and befouled it with mud. While the thirsty travelers stood dazed with 

 surprise and disappointment. Dr. Beadle, as if enjoying the dilemma, and 

 with a half mischievous smile on his face, though suffering equally with 

 his companions, began to expatiate on the delicious qualities of Philadel- 

 phia ice cream. 



Notwithstanding his great fondness for the natural sciences, Dr. Beadle 

 did not allow subjects belonging to this realm to charm him a-vyay from 

 other studies. Traveling and living as he had been for several years 

 among peoples of diverse speech, it was natural that he should seek to 

 obtain a knowledge of different languages. With the same facility with 

 Avhich other subjects were mastered, he acquired an excellent understand- 

 ing of both ancient and modern tongues, some of these he spoke with a 

 fluency little inferior to that of his mother speech. 



His desire to accumulate new stores of knowledge increased with age, 

 and seemed to be unappeasable. Though reading in all directions, this was 

 nevertheless conducted methodically. His habit was to keep five irons in 

 the fire at the same time. These were theology, science, biography, his- 

 tory and travels Like Baron Larrey, the great surgeon who followed for 

 many years the fortunes of Napoleon Bonaparte, when contemplating a 

 visit to some new country or district, he would gather from all acceptable 

 sources whatever could be learned of the region or its inhabitants, so Dr. 

 Beadle prepared for all his excursions, scientific or otherwise, by prelimi- 

 nary study. 



His industry was remarkable and always regulated by system and dis- 



