228 THE HISTORY OP THE HEN FEVEE. 



• — the mass who fill every corner of the land, and who watch 

 for something continuously " new under the sun," out of 

 which money can be made, — I say, for years, this por- 

 tion of the public believed what they saw and read of, and 

 responded to this sort of thing with a gusto equalled only 

 by the zest with which, in years before, they had encour- 

 aged and supported the score of other "hums" that had 

 been current around them. 



But the delusions of moras multicaulis, and Merino 

 sheep, and patent bee-keeping, and Berkshire pigs, and 

 tulip-growing, had passed away ; and the hen fever, at last, 

 subsided, too. Unpronounceable names and long-winded ad- 

 vertisements would n't do ! " The people " had ascertained 

 that there was an end even to Shanghae and Brahifia-ism ! 

 And this flimsiest of ctll bubbles was now inflated fully to 

 bursting. 



