EMERITUS 259 



me as lost arts, I believe that I remember on many occasions 

 to have seen Jupiter and Venus walking out together of a 

 pleasant evening arm-in-arm as honest family folks do, now 

 and then, and just as Dr. and Mrs. McD. do, I dare say ; and 

 I recall very distinctly that Jupiter looked quite inferior to 

 Venus, as I don't doubt the Dr. is quite outshone by your 

 brave little mamma. To be sure, both Jupiter and the Dr. 

 are larger than their spouses, but the latter are both nearer 

 the center of their respective solar systems, and both I sup- 

 pose "keep the inside track" as they perambulate the zodiac, 

 and for these or other satisfactory reasons, they Venus and 

 Lois are far more brilliant than any creature can be who 

 goes on the street in a black hat and tan gloves. Yes, Venus 

 and her milliner are a long way ahead of Jupiter, who I fear 

 gets his clothes secondhand, no matter who Dr. McD's tailor 

 may be. 



Now, if what I have written shows any competence to give 

 information on matters astronomical, I fear that your botani- 

 cal quiz will bury me out of sight. 



Your second question is Why does the sensitive plant shut 

 up when we touch it? That is a very difficult question to 

 answer if one wishes to tell concerning "the truth, the whole 

 truth and nothing but the truth." I can give a variety of 

 answers, e.g. The sensitive plant shuts up for the same rea- 

 son that the naughty boy doesn't "shut up." It shuts up 

 because it can't help it. It shuts up because it was made to 

 shut up ! It shuts up because it can 't stay open ! I fear that 

 you don't find these answers satisfactory. Now I will give 

 you an answer that if not satisfactory to you will be perhaps 

 conclusive, and it will be a pleasure to think of something 

 besides the sensitive plant. This sublime answer is, "I don't 

 know!" But, the first answer, above given, in which the sen- 

 sitive plant and the noisy naughty boy are classed together, 

 has a large measure (say a milk-panfull) of truth in it. The 

 boy and the plant have in all their live young parts a good 

 supply of what biologists call protoplasm. Now, assemble 



