In the latter part of the morning the apothecary's shop became a pleasant rendezvous for the city gentry. There, politics and city news were discussed along with small glasses of _eau de vie_; and from the ceiling and upper cornice, the old frippery attire of exploded quacks and worm doctors, also skeletons of sharks, stuffed apes, and other horrors, looked down goggle-eyed upon the eager disputes of the society. Besides the city gossip, politics had already become a favourite subject of discourse, which was carried on no longer with the calm of mere wise maxims, but with heartfelt interest. Whether King or Empress, whether Saxony or Prussia, were principally discussed, it could be discovered to which party each individual present belonged. A few years later, these kind of disputes became so vehement that they destroyed family life and the peace of households. Meanwhile the imaginations of the lesser citizens, the servants and children, were filled with other ideas, for the old superstition wove its web round their life. There was scarcely an old house that had not its haunted room; ghosts showed themselves on the graves and within the church doors; even the engine-house was haunted before a fire broke out; still was the mysterious wail of lament heard, a variation of the belief in the wild army which had entered into the souls of the people through the great war; still were old cats considered as witches; and apparitions, presentiments, and significant dreams were discussed with anxious faith. Ever yet was the search after concealed treasures an affair of importance; no city was without a credible story of a treasure trove which had taken place in the neighbourhood, or had been frustrated by untimely words. But the prudent father of a family already tries earnestly to enlighten his children and servants on such points. The enlightened man does not deny unqualifiedly the possibility of a mysterious connexion with the other world, but he regards every single case with distrust; he admits that behind the ruined altar of the old church and in the ruins of the neighbouring castle something curious may be concealed, and that it might well repay a person to dig for it; but he holds in sovereign contempt the flames and the black dog, and he recounts with special pleasure numerous instances where this faith of the "olden time" had been misused by deceivers. Seldom do the months pass without bringing a periodical containing well-written treatises, in which the mountain sprite is entirely put out of the question, fiery meteors are explained, and thunderbolts are considered as petrifactions. In no city are excited people wanting who are tormented by apparitions; the clergy still continue to pray for these poor people; but not only physicians and literary laymen, but also clever citizens, maintain that such kinds of devils are expelled by medicine and fasting, and not by prayer, as they are only produced by the morbid fancies of hypochondria.