oO ■ LOOSE r.EAVE> 



Ihc tail was composed ? — lie wanted to know my opinion about the ges- 

 tation of the opossum, and wheliier we had more than one species of 

 rattle-snake ? — and finally wound up with an invitation to dinner next 

 day at five o'clock. I went. Imagine my surprise at seeing a man of 

 forty, punctiliously dressed, — his room a very pattern of neatness, — his 

 bed as clean as a new washed shirt — his furniture, if not splendid, yet 

 showy and glistening with varnish and wax, — his pipes hung around 

 the walls in perfect order — and every thing betokening the man of pre- 

 cision and system. He rushed up to me like one possessed, he would 

 liave kissed me, if I had let him — he reiterated his expressions of regret 

 at his yesterday's absence and drew up two chairs for me to sit on. — 

 He immediately took down two pipes which were perfectly innocent of 

 the odor of tobacco and filled them for me, — he capered about the room 

 as if under the influence of nitrous oxide gas, until I begged him to be 

 composed and he finally sat down just in front of me and as near as he 

 could get. Then began the conversation. I asked him why he had not 

 sent a box of JYaluralien in return for one an American friend had sent 

 him .' He said he had, but that it came back to him again ; and on fur- 

 ther inquiry I learned that he had forgotten the name of the gentleman, 

 but he thought it was Hcrr Fidler and so directed it ; — secondly, he 

 had forgotten whether to send it to Bremen, Hamburg, or Lubeck for 

 .shipment, and finally, that he had just sent it off by the public coach, 

 leaving it to take its chance, just as sailors throw a bottle overboard at 

 sea, without any particular designation ! ! No wonder it was returned 

 to him. 



lie told me he soon expected to receive a Professorship, and walked 

 about the room in ecstacy at his prospect. It seemed as though he was 

 already preparing to go, and I asked him when he expected to set out 

 for the University. "Ah! — said he — I hav'nt got the appointment yet 

 — ein gewisser Herr muss erst slerlen ! ! ! " He was reckoning on the 

 death of a Professor who is likely to live as long as himself. He in- 

 formed me that he was about embarking on the tempestuous sea of poli- 

 tics and thought it was perfectly consistent with his zoological researches 

 to write on political economy. He said he was preparing a pamphlet 

 tliat would make the government tremble, for he could endure the out- 

 rageous oppression no longer without uttering his sentiments. 1 be- 

 sought him to abandon the project, for he would get himself into trou- 

 ble ; no ! — he would be a politician and was determined to sonnd the 

 trump of alarm and call on the people to assert their rights. From his 

 representation of the vast importance of the matter, 1 thought that his 

 Majesty's ministers might well tremble for their safety and that the throne 



