“Yes, but not through a _Megaloscope_!” the Professor eagerly replied. “You know you can’t see a _Flea_, properly, without a _magnifying_-glass—what we call a _Microscope_. Well, just in the same way, you ca’n’t see an _Elephant_, properly, without a _minimifying_-glass. There’s one in each of these little tubes. And _this_ is a _Megaloscope_! The Gardener will now bring in the next Specimen. Please open _both_ curtains, down at the end there, and make way for the Elephant!” There was a general rush to the sides of the Pavilion, and all eyes were turned to the open end, watching for the return of the Gardener, who had gone away singing “_He thought he saw an Elephant That practised on a Fife!_” There was silence for a minute: and then his harsh voice was heard again in the distance. “_He looked again_—come up, then! _He looked again, and found it was_—woa back! _and, found it was A letter from his_—make way there! He’s a-coming!” [Illustration: ‘HE THOUGHT HE SAW AN ELEPHANT’] And in marched, or waddled—it is hard to say which is the right word—an Elephant, on its hind-legs, and playing on an enormous fife which it held with its fore-feet. The Professor hastily threw open a large door at the end of the Megaloscope, and the huge animal, at a signal from the Gardener, dropped the fife, and obediently trotted into the machine, the door of which was at once shut by the Professor. “The Specimen is now ready for observation!” he proclaimed. “It is exactly the size of the Common Mouse—_Mus Communis_!” There was a general rush to the tubes, and the spectators watched with delight the minikin creature, as it playfully coiled its trunk round the Professor’s extended finger, finally taking its stand upon the palm of his hand, while he carefully lifted it out, and carried it off to exhibit to the Imperial party. “Isn’t it a _darling_?” cried Bruno. “May I stroke it, please? I’ll touch it _welly_ gently!” The Empress inspected it solemnly with her eye-glass. “It is very small,” she said in a deep voice. “Smaller than elephants usually are, I believe?” The Professor gave a start of delighted surprise. “Why, that’s _true_!” he murmured to himself. Then louder, turning to the audience, “Her Imperial Highness has made a remark which is perfectly sensible!” And a wild cheer arose from that vast multitude. “The next Specimen,” the Professor proclaimed, after carefully placing the little Elephant in the tray, among the Crystals and other Things, “is a _Flea_, which we will enlarge for the purposes of observation.” Taking a small pill-box from the tray, he advanced to the Megaloscope, and reversed all the tubes. “The Specimen is ready!” he cried, with his eye at one of the tubes, while he carefully emptied the pill-box through a little hole at the side. “It is now the size of the Common Horse—_Equus Communis_!”