24 THK NEW ART OF BREEDING FISH. 



the discovery of a sure mode to prevent all diseases 

 incident to the potato or the grape ; for potato-roots 

 saved from destruction would assuage much human 

 misery, while the knowledge of the existence of Le- 

 verrier's planet lessens not a single pang of a single 

 human creature. 



Leverrier has been loaded with honors and crosses, 

 he and his, and he earned these rewards. But .what 

 has society done for Gehin and Eemy 7 It has given 

 them both together the one sixth part of the sum 

 offered to Mr. Gehin by the Spanish ambassador if he 

 would take his invention to Spain. To Mr. GeHn 

 the government has given an appointment to travel, 

 as it may direct him, and spread abroad through 

 France a knowledge of his discovery, and this office 

 has a salary about equal to that of a petty commer- 

 cial traveller. But, modest as is the salary, it 

 suffices Mr. Gehin, who is distinguished for modesty 

 and sobriety — qualities which add tenfold to any in- 

 come. All the gold in the world cannot bring to such 

 a man the riches which he finds in the moderation 

 of his desires. 



But when we see so many men filling honorable 

 and well-paid functions, loaded with pensions and de- 

 corations after a few years' service, as if it were diffi- 

 cult to find men capable of doing such duties, we 

 naturally inquire how it is that the great work of 

 Gehin and Eemy has not obtained for them a cross 

 of honor. What social fact of our time can be put 

 in comparison with their discovery ? 



