518 THE MOUNTAIN. 



In these latter times we have heard much of commercial 

 feudalisms and merchant princes, an order of men who, by 

 handling commodities alone, creating no particle of value in 

 the world, but simply by huxtering and swapping garlic and 

 soap-fat, have come to handle the helms of financial worlds, 

 and, like the steeds of the ancient barbarians, become in- 

 stalled in the palaces of jbhe Caesars. But it has been re- 

 served as the peculiar glory of the North American conti- 

 nent to breed a new race of saurians of the commercial 

 deeps, a new order of colossal lizards and flying dragons, 

 whose food is human flesh, and whose coprolites in a thou- 

 sand years will show only the presence of human bones. 



This calls to the bar a host of parasites that infest the 

 medical profession in the shape of vendors of patent medi- 

 cines. 



Of course, "Hobensach" is infallible and sound, for 

 everybody takes his vermifuge, whether wormy or not. 

 Retire, " Hobensach 1" one worm you forgot in your cata- 

 logue of murdered victims maggot in the head. It was 

 well, however, to let him flourish as grand generator of 

 crotchets, else how otherwise could it come about that 

 everybody would take " Hobensach ?" 



Swaim has retired to the shades. Rappers notify him 

 that he left the earth too soon, that the sublime panacea of 

 scrofula and cancer has found a place in a sphere of uses 

 undreamed of by its illustrious discoverer.* 



And then there have been dukes of sarsaparilla, and 

 almost *****. Shades of Webster and Clay ! 

 creators of nostrums, vendors ***** grabbing 

 for the mantles you so sadly and hurriedly dropped. O 

 tempora, O mores J ***** anything for the vain- 

 glorious flash of the hour. Feejee Island cannibals on the 

 thrones of the world not half so anomalous, not half so 

 lost. 



* See Robert Smith's story of Aunt Katy's sweetening her cakes 

 with Swaim's panacea. AUNT KATY It was a panacea, else how 

 could it help the old man's cough, and make the best cakes in the 

 world ? 



