The Life of the Fly 



and reseen with the eye of the mind before 

 being seen with the eyes of the body. I de- 

 light my little rascals by making the hydrogen- 

 flame sing in a glass tube, which trickles with 

 the drops of water resulting from the com- 

 bustion ; I make them jump with the explosions 

 of the thunderous mixture. Later, I show 

 them, with the same invariable success, the 

 splendours of phosphorus, the violent powers 

 of chlorine, the loathsome smells of sulphur, 

 the metamorphoses of carbon and so on. In 

 short, in a series of lessons, the principal non- 

 metallic elements and their compounds are 

 passed in review during the course of the year. 

 The thing was bruited abroad. Fresh 

 pupils came to me, attracted by the marvels 

 of the school. Additional places were laid 

 in the dining-hall; and the principal, who was 

 more interested in the profits on his beans and 

 bacon than in chemistry, congratulated me on 

 this accession of boarders. I was fairly 

 started. Time and an indomitable will would 

 do the rest. 



446 



