The Life of the Fly 



informs us, is a retort. He pours into it, from 

 a screw of paper, some black stuff that looks 

 like powdered charcoal. This is manganese 

 dioxide, the master tells us. It contains in 

 abundance, in a condensed state and retained 

 by combination with the metal, the gas which 

 we propose to obtain. An oily-looking liquid, 

 sulphuric acid, an excessively powerful agent, 

 will set it at liberty. Thus filled, the retort is 

 placed on a lighted stove. A glass tube brings 

 it into communication with a bell-jar full of 

 water on the shelf of the pneumatic trough. 

 Those are all the preparations. What will be 

 the result? We must wait for the action of 

 heat. 



My fellow-pupils gather eagerly round the 

 apparatus, cannot come close enough to it. 

 Some of them play the part of the fly on the 

 wheel and glory in contributing to the success 

 of the experiment. They straighten the re- 

 tort, which is leaning to one side; they blow 

 with their mouths on the coals in the stove. 

 I do not care for these familiarities with the 

 unknown. The good-natured master raises no 

 objection; but I have never been able to en- 

 dure the thronging of a crowd of gapers, who 

 are very busy with their elbows and force their 

 way to the front row to see whatever is hap- 



434 



