AN OVERDOSE OF PROSPERITY j 



much, and was a man of great judgment.' He had been 

 an army doctor ; his present line of pursuit was history 

 and antiquities. He died at Osterhoot in 1747. 



The other members l were ' Lieberkuhn, 2 a Prussian, 

 having in his possession incomparable microscopes ; 

 John Kramer, a German, who had written a treatise on 

 the docimastic art, who possessed a wonderful talent of 

 remembering everything that was read to him, and who 

 had been a student in all the faculties; and Johan 

 Bartsch, a genteel, handsome, ingenious, and well- 

 behaved young man. They assembled at one another's 

 houses, and the person at whose house they met was 

 required to demonstrate something in his own line of 

 pursuit, as Gronovius in botany, Van Swieten in theory 

 and practice of medicine, Linna3us in natural history, 

 Lawson in history and antiquities, Lieberkuhn in micro- 

 scopies, Kramer in chemistry, and Bartsch in physics.' 



They sought positive truth first i the grand means 

 of expelling error ' ; their second object was social enjoy- 

 ment. 3 'Had natural history been more scientifically 

 known, Milton would not have described the whale as 

 a scaly animal, nor the snake as having a hairy mane.' 

 Even in this year of universal knowledge, 1887, some 

 careful housewives assert that the tortoise climbs the 

 currant bushes for the fruit, and hedgehogs go further 

 they will climb an apple tree, shake it, then jump down 



1 Diary. 



2 A famous man, honoured by medical students at this day, 1887. 

 a Turton. 



