8 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. I. 



old dwelling — its subdivision into many small 

 rooms — is much as it was ; the fittings and furni- 

 ture in a gayer Parisian style. . . . The morning 

 occupations of our jury are curious and various, 

 each one well adapted to its end, but performed 

 amidst a scene of gesticulation and action and a 

 Babel of seeming altercation which renders the 

 result, when we come afterwards coolly to sum 

 up the notes, surprising to me. Take the fol- 

 lowing as an example : Time, 7 a.m. ; subject, 

 Wines of Austria ; scene, Grande Exposition, in 

 a small whitewashed chamber with a skylight ; 

 a table with green cloth, and books, papers, 

 writing materials ; another with rows of bottles of 

 wine, corkscrews, &c. Hampers of wine on one 

 side of the room. President and two or three 

 members of jury in green velvet fauteuils ; three 

 experts seated in a corner of the room with a tin 

 pail before them, each with a silver chalice like 

 a Highland quaigh, and a small napkin. The 

 Austrian Commissioner and the representatives 

 of the several wine-growers ; a man in green and 

 silver uniform to uncork ; a grinning negro to 

 serve the wine to the tasters ; a worthy ' blouse ' 

 to hand and take back the sample-bottles. Com- 

 missioner calls out the number and vintage-year of 

 the sample. A juryman enters it in a ruled book, 

 the uncorker uncorks the bottle ; the grinning 

 negro pours a little into the pail, then fills the 

 chalice. Each taster agitates the wine, carries it 



