280 Mr Johnston's Reply to Professor Muncke. 



forth, or that science even there should not have its rare yet faith- 

 ful votary, — and T have not been backward in giving her credit 

 for now possessing such men, — yet, even with these exceptions, 

 the people are not the less a mercantile people, — heedless of sci- 

 ence, — and in whom, however ludicrous total ignorance of scien- 

 tific matters may occasionally have appeared, yet ignorance is in 

 a great measure excusable. 



The Doctor is a matter of fact man, and cannot tolerate the 

 many irrelevant and absurd observations I have introduced ; 

 especially about the Hamburghers and their fear of being burden- 

 ed by the arrival of so many strangers ; and to set me right, he 

 gives the result of his coriect, which is in sum and substance just 

 the same as my incorrect statement. I have introduced a few 

 sentences of colloquy which the learned Professor did not hear, 

 and therefore, forsooth, they are incorrect. One must not, it 

 seems, enliven a dry account of a meeting of naturalists with a 

 few on dits, but out steps one of your German professors, — ex- 

 claims against their absurdity, and wonders you should give 

 credit to them. Poor calumniated Hamburghers ! I shall never 

 be able to face you more. 



Now, regarding our opportunities for information, let me com- 

 pare notes with the Doctor. By his own confession he never 

 was in Hamburgh before, and he has no connections through 

 whom he could have obtained information regarding the city or 

 what was going on. He talks, indeed, of a valet de place hav- 

 ing been very useful in telling him about Bauer's garden and 

 various other matters ; but that is what the stranger who visits 

 Hamburgh for the first time cannot do without. He arrived, I 

 believe, on the first day of the meeting, and he spent about eight 

 days in all, during which time he was occupied, as all were, with 

 the proper business of the assemblage. I had visited Hamburgh 

 previously ; I spent nearly a month in it at the time of the 

 meeting, and I have visited it since. My opportunities of ac- 

 quiring information, therefore, both concerning the place itself, 

 and what passed about the time of the meeting, I am entitled to 

 say were superior to those of the Professor. — Alas ! he will ex- 

 claim, that you should have made so little use of them ! 



But the Doctor cannot read without indignation " that a very 

 unfortunate and unsatisfactory choice was made in the person 



