"What do you think of the Ormthorhynchus? My brain's in a 'muss' From thinking of this '_cuss_' (Excuse me for using such a word). If it lived at _Nahant_ With this heat it would pant, For surely't is a curious bird. You may think me a 'muff', And declare I talk stuff, But I hope you'll not doubt my word. For though out in all weathers Its coat's not of feathers But of fur,--at least so I've heard. But 'by this _illumination_' (Kant's ratiocination?) 'I don't see it,' though it may seem quite absurd." The company, strange to say, hit upon Elsie for this, and are evidently surprised that one so given up to pomps and vanities should display such knowledge of natural history; but they evidently suspect her of shining by reflected light, as she sits next to the Philosopher; and I heard her ask him a question about this animal with the jaw-breaking name. By this time the party have become so brilliant, having polished each other up as by diamond cutters' wheels, that it is "moved and seconded" that we "try again". The laughter has brought down the Chemist from the laboratory, the Fisherman from his den; besides rousing the Astronomer, who scintillates in the corner to such a degree that all others expect to be totally eclipsed. This time the Fisherman, who is also an amateur gardener and farmer on a small scale, draws an appropriate question, in regard to which he enlightens us as follows; and what he says must be true, as we know he has had experience with pigs and hens:-- "Which knows most, a pig or a hen? 'Tis hard to tell in rustic _rhyme_ What pigs or hens may know. A cabbage-head in olden time Sure knew enough to grow. If _Balm_ and corn to them were thrown By _parsimonious_ Bill I think the fact would then be shown, For Piggy'd eat his fill." Next comes the Chemist with the question:-- "Do you like peanuts? Peanuts are _double_, And so is the trouble Involved in _effort_ To answer it. Hand over a few, And see if I do Not like peanuts Better than _Sanskrit_" Any one who had heard the Chemist warbling,-- "He who hath good peanuts and gives his neighbor none, He sha'n't have any of my peanuts when his peanuts are gone," would not have doubted this. The Philosopher next airs his learning in the following:-- "What do you admire in a fool? Water has such _combustibility_ That one may rightfully admire The happy lack of wise ability Which never rivers sets on fire. _Truth_ needs no _recapitulation_ To make what's simple plainer still. Folly courts our admiration Wherever Fashion has her will." Part of this is so abstruse that I fear the company do not fully appreciate it; so the next is quite startling; and after hearing it we learn, the cause of the Astronomer's silent merriment in the corner, and rejoice that Dr. Holmes's experience in "writing as funny as he could" has proved a warning to this individual:--