DEUTSCHER NATURFORSCHER 11 



call it the Reception Room) at Hamburg in 1830 : 

 ' . . . I consider it a strong inducement to be early 

 in repairing to the place of meeting, that the scenes 

 which ensue on every fresh arrival may be seen and 

 enjoyed. A man in his travelling-dress walks into 

 the room, and goes straight up to a group on his 

 left, where he recognises a well-known face. A 

 scream of joyful recognition, and a host of loud 

 exclamations, and a mutual behugging and beslob- 

 bering with salutations, first on one side of the 

 face and then on the other, with various shaking of 

 hands and other such gestures attract the general 

 attention ; and " Who is that ? who is that ? " goes 

 from one to another ; and then there is a move of 

 the men who know him, or who have heard of and 

 wish to know him, and the rest are beginning to 

 resume their conversation, when a second inter- 

 ruption arises from the entrance of a great man in 

 another science, and another set of men is set on 

 the qui vive, and thus perhaps an entire hour may 

 be most delightfully spent in merely looking on, in 

 studying the physiognomy, and in watching the 

 phases of expression and deep interest that pass 

 over the countenances of different individuals by 

 the mere presence and contact of others, votaries 

 of the same branch of study, whom they have 

 hitherto known only by their labours, but whom, 

 though unseen, they have deeply venerated/ The 

 study of physiognomy (always of some interest) 

 appears in another connexion, which is familiar 

 also to this day and has many a time led the 

 local caricaturist to take cognisance of a British 

 Association meeting when our narrator pictures 

 the scene at a Hamburg cafe, where f at the cry 



