74 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



The change from the attics was the more necessary, 

 as the younger of the brothers, John Miller, had taken 

 to himself a wife with a view to bettering his position, 

 so that the rent now fell upon two instead of three. 

 Although it was not a heavy rent in itself, the change 

 of incidence was quite sufficient to tell heavily on 

 their small means. 



In the new room there were two large wall-presses, 

 the one suited to hold their food, the other their 

 cooking apparatus. They had heard of folding beds, 

 and thought that, if such a one could be procured, 

 they would be completely equipped. Hunting among 

 the brokers' shops, they chanced to find what they 

 wanted a bedstead, which, when folded up, looked 

 like a wardrobe. The first thing they did was to 

 paint on it " Academy Library." This innocent piece 

 of deception does not appear to have troubled the 

 conscience of either the medical or the divinity 

 student. On the contrary, they rejoiced in it, and 

 felt that they were now all right. They folded down 

 their bed at night-time, slept comfortably in it, rose 

 in the morning, folded the bed up again into an 

 Academy Library, washed themselves, made break- 

 fast, and were ready to go to their college classes. 

 They both shared in the domestic work as before. 

 It was important that this should be done in the 

 shortest time possible. In the matter of boiling 

 potatoes, Robertson found, by experiment, what 

 quantity of water was required to "boil dry," that is, 

 entirely to evaporate just by the time the potatoes 

 were sufficiently done. The small quantity of water 

 needed only a little time to reach the boiling point, 



