MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL. .j 



the assembly, from his strong resemblance to your father as he was fifteen yean ago, though 



Dr. "Ware was the superior-looking man of ihe two. 



Leverrier, whom you probably did not particularly notice, as he has come to hi fan inoeyou 



were here, isquitc an ordinary-looking man,— not a ingle strong mark of superiority thai I ■ add 

 see either in head or face, but an appearance somewhat like a New England railroad conductor, 

 or the bustling keeper of a country store. He lias taken a great pari in all the meetiu liat I 

 have attended, in one'of which he read a paper of an hour on comets. He speaks rv j.l inlj and 



distinctly, so that I could follow him in a part of his paper. Al'i- r he had concluded his p ce on 



comets, old Biottook exception to some of his statements, and there was a little pa»n of wo h 

 between them. At another meeting Arago checked him for finding fault with Mr. Hind's olwr- 



o fi 



vations of his (Hind's) new planet. Leverrier became very impatient both times, and evidently 

 feels his importance. His merit is no doubt great, but his luck has been greater. The medical 



members of the Institute struck me as a particularly rou gh -1 ooking set With <h.- exception <'f 

 Roux, I did not see one who would be taken for a first-rate gentleman, or aritb . in England. 



Indeed, the whole body appear little attentive to dn I, and many small observances which an 



thought indispensable with men of the higher classes in England. Their coats wanted hrusbing, 

 and their hands seemed unused to glo\ s, — contrary to Ameri in and English notions, as \\< 

 hare considered the French as highly artificial in dress and manner-, whereas the same class 

 seem to me much less so than in England. This is of course of no more importance ;ig affect- 

 ing the character of the Institute than the color of Milton's coat affected the character «>f 



Paradise Lost, but I notice the fact as so. 



W. Morton's man is here with a memoir on Morton's behalf as the di werer of the use <»f 



ether. It seems to be Morton's last paper, translated into French. The Institute ha\ referred 



it to a commission. Ether is in universal use here. I was at the Hotel Dieu a few days ago, 

 and the operating-room was full of its odor. I asked the attendant if they used it in all opera- 

 tions. " Oui, toujours, toujours," was his reply. In England B. C. will not use it at Guy's 

 Hospital. He says the patients do not do as well when it is used, and I>r. Boott i Id me that L 

 some time since gave it up, as he found it would take more time than it would to perform the 

 operations without it, — and this is probably the cause of C.'s not using it, — but afterwards, 

 finding that the public would have it, he was obliged to resume the use of it. Many of the first 

 dentists will not use it, on account of the trouble and the offensive odors in their hous ^. 



I see instances every day of the French character, particularly in the lower orders, where 

 national character is alone to be found, which I admire; amonirst these is the willingness to gel a 

 livelihood by any means of honest industry, without being ashamed of their calling. The boot- 

 black and the chiffonier do not lose their self-respect by their trades, ami I honor them 1 r it. 

 Again, the kindness of all classes for horses and dogs is beautiful. I saw twenty of the best- 

 dressed men go off the Boulevard the other day to help up a poor horse who had fallen under a 



load. Who ever saw a like sight in London ? 



When this reaches you, the United States will be in a fever of excitement for the action oi 

 Congress upon the Mexican War. The noise of this, however, will not be attended to on this 

 side the water, as the affairs of Italy, Switzerland, and above all Great Britain, will for some 

 time form the chief subjects of interest here. Parliament is to assemble soon, when the dread- 

 ful state of the poor in Endand and Ireland will be brought before them in some form, with 

 attempts to give relief by legislation ; but the evils, if there is any truth in the accounts that are 

 universally told of the condition of Ireland, are beyond the reach of constitutional laws, and can 

 only be overcome by a recurrence to a division of property, or an entire change in the manage- 

 ment of the proprietors. 



