MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL. 435 



the assembly, from his stroiisr resemblance to your father as he was fifteen years ago, though 

 Dr. Ware was the superior-looking man of the two. 



Leverrier, whom you probably did not particularly notice, as he has come to his fame since you 

 were here, is quite an ordinary -looking man, — not a single strong mark of superiority that I could 

 see either in head or face, but an appearance somewhat like a New England railroad conductor, 

 or the bustling keeper of a country store. He has taken a great part in all the meetings that I 

 have attended, in one of which he read a paper of an hour on comets. He speaks very plainly and 

 distinctly, so that I could follow him in a part of his paper. After he had concluded his piece on 

 comets, old Biot took exception to some of his statements, and there was a little passage of iconh 

 between them. At another meeting Arago checked him for finding fault with Mr. Hind's obser- 

 vations of his (Hind's) new planet. Leverrier became very impatient both times, and evidently 

 feels his importance. His merit is no doubt great, but his luck has been greater. The medical 

 members of the Institute struck me as a particularly rough-looking set. With the exception of 

 Roux, I did not see one who would be taken for a first-rate gentleman, or aristocrat, in England. 

 Indeed, the whole body appear little attentive to dress, and many small observances which arc 

 thought indispensable with men of the higher classes in England. Their coats wanted brushing, 

 and their hands seemed unused to gloves, — contrary to American and Englisli notions, as we 

 have considered the French as highly artificial in dress and manners, whereas the same class 

 seem to me much less so than in England. This is of course of no more importance as affect- 

 ing tiie character of the Institute than the color of Milton's coat affected the character of 

 Paradise Lost, but I notice the fact as so. 



W. Morton's man is here with a memoir on Morton's behalf as the discoverer of the use of 

 ether. It seems to be Morton's last paper, translated into French. The Institute have referred 

 it to a commission. Ether is in universal use here. I was at the Hotel Dieu a few days ago, 

 and the operating-room was full of its odor. I asked the attendant if they used it in all opera- 

 tions. " Oui, toujours, toujours," was his reply. In England B. C. will not use it at Guy's 

 Hospital. He says the patients do not do as well when it is used, and Dr. Boott told me that L. 

 some time since gave it up, as he found it would take more time than it would to perform the 

 operations without it, — and this is probably the cause of C.'s not using it, — but afterwards, 

 finding that the public would have it, he was obliged to resume the use of it. Many of the first 

 dentists will not use it, on account of the trouble and the offensive odors in their houses. 



I see instances every day of the French character, particularly in the lower orders, where 

 national character is alone to be found, which I admire ; amongst these is the willingness to get a 

 livelihood by any means of honest industry, without being ashamed of their calling. The boot- 

 black and the cJiiffonier do not lose their self-respect by their trades, and I honor them for it. 

 Again, the kindness of all classes for horses and dogs is beautiful. I saw twenty of the best- 

 dressed men go off the Boulevard the other day to help up a poor horse who had fallen under a 

 load. Who ever saw a like sight in London ? 



When this reaches you, the United States will be in a fever of excitement for the action of 

 Congress upon the Mexican War. The noise of this, however, will not be attended to on this 

 side the water, as the affairs of Italy, Switzerland, and above all Great Britain, will for some 

 time form the chief subjects of interest here. Parliament is to assemble soon, when the dread- 

 ful state of the poor in England and Ireland will be brought before them in some form, with 

 attempts to give relief by legislation ; but the evils, if there is any truth in the accounts that are 

 universally told of the condition of Ireland, are beyond the reach of constitutional laws, and can 

 only be overcome by a recurrence to a division of property, or an entire change in the manage- 

 ment of the proprietors. 



