Industrial Chemistry 



on which everybody dances; 1 he smiled at my 

 impatience to get back to the thyme-scented 

 hills and the grey olive-yards rich in Grass- 

 hoppers. 



'What!' said his father. 'Won't you visit 

 our museums, our collections? There are 

 some very interesting things there.' 



'I know, monsieur le ministre, but I shall 

 find better things, things more to my taste, in 

 the incomparable museum of the fields.' 

 'Then what do you propose to do?' 

 'I propose to go back to-morrow.' 

 I did go back, I had had enough of Paris: 

 never had I felt such tortures of loneliness as 

 in that immense whirl of humanity. To get 

 away, to get away was my one idea. 



Once home among my family, I felt a 

 mighty load off my mind and a great joy in 

 my heart, where rang a peal of bells pro- 

 claiming the delights of my approaching 

 emancipation. Little by little, the factory that 

 was to set me free rose skywards, full of 

 promises. Yes, I should possess the modest 

 income which would crown my ambition by 

 allowing me to descant on animals and plants 

 in a university chair. 



'The old, partly-demolished bridge at Avignon, which 

 figures in the well-known French catch: 

 'Sur !e pont d'Avignon, 

 Tout le monde y danse en rond.' 



469 — Translator's Note. 



