THE WALKS ABROAD OF 



of these infamous creatures, I keep them separately, 

 mounted between two glass plates, and we will look 

 at them under the microscope. Here, to begin with, 

 is the common louse." 



" Oh, horror ! And well it justifies the common 

 saying : ' As ugly as a louse ! ' 



u And here now, on this other slide, is quite a collec- 

 tion of fleas : the human flea, the cat flea, the dog 

 flea, the flea of the chicken, and that of the pigeon, 

 with the complete arrangement of lances that. serves as 

 their stock in trade. You see that the lord of the crea- 

 tion, man, has by no means a monopoly of these pests." 



"Do not let me look 1 nger at these disgusting 

 creatures, the mere sight of them makes me itch. 

 They are all of them, if animals at all, destitute of 

 physical and mental powers." 



" This is certainly not true in the case of the fleas. 

 For instance, they have remarkable physical powers, 

 extraordinary strength and agility, so that they make 

 leaps of one thousand or fifteen hundred times their 

 own length. If a man could perform a proportional 

 feat he would be able to clear Mont Blanc with two or 

 three bounds." 



" Then, according to you, the most hyperbolic of 

 compliments to an athlete would be to say to him, ' You 

 are as capable as a flea.' And their moral qualities ? " 



"They certainly possess one maternal affection." 



Kene* now looked at his cousin with an expression 



