194 THE RURAL SOCRATES. 



* The curejf performed by the Fleuriots are alntoft 

 ^incredible, and have often excited envy. 



' The firfttime I was at Plombieres, i informed my- 



* felf particularly of what related to them ; and as I 



* ccfmmanded in that part of Lorraine, it was eafy for 



* me to invefligate the truth of all I wanted to know. — 



* Some with whom I converfed, talked ofthe Fleuriots 



* with as much regard, as admiration ; whilfi: a very 

 ^ fmall number, who, I thought, ought to have under- 



* ftood the fubjci^t heft, feemed-^defn-ous to varniOi with 

 ' fuperftition and ignorance the procefs of the Fleuri^ 



* ots in their furgical operations. Truth appeared to 



* me cleareft in the mod favorable reports : — I regard- 

 ' ed it then as an honorable duty to examine fadi^s with 



* my own eyes, and to take pi-oper precautions not to 



* be deceived. 



' As I have always, at leifure hours, made anatom.y^ 



* one of my ftudies ; I underftood enough of it to dii*- 

 ' tinguidi real fcience from impoflure. 



' I went to Valdajon privately, with only one attend- 



* ant, in a plain drefs ; as a fir anger whom chance had 



* brought to their habitations, I flopped at one of the 

 ' fird: houfes, and, on my entrance, every thing I faw 



* edified and affecfted me.— It is with difficulty I refrain 

 ' from defcribing the neatneis and regularity of each 



* article, with the obliging manners of the inhabitants. 



* True hofpitaliry Hiewed itfelf in its mod: natural and 



* touching forms. 



^ My objetTt being to know the degree of information 



* ofthe more flcilful among them, in an art founded on 

 ' afccrtained and corre<^ principles ; I had no fooner 

 ' refrefhed myfelf, and noticed with admiration what- 



* ever refpedled their rural economy and domeflic go- 



* vernment ; than 1 a(ked if thv?y had any books. They 



* anfwered, that their principal books were depofited 



* in a neighboring houfc, occupied by an aged chief of 



* the family. Being condniiled thither, I was received 



* by a rdpe(^able oldman, who under a ruAic form 



' pofleiFed 



