Fid. Ibus. S. D. N. H. Hodie hora vii. a. v. s. That is, Fidelibus fratribus salutem dicit N. hospes. Hodie hora septima (apparebit in museo meo, herba Nicotiana) abunde vobis satisfaciam. As soon as they all were assembled, they placed themselves in a circle, and each lit his pipe with his bill, as a Fid....ibus offering--whence arose the term Fidibus. The inconsumable Fidibus is a new invention with which our English friend, Mr. Traveller, was struck in the lodging of Freisleben, and in his notes thereon very graphically described. When we have smoked a while, it is necessary to press together the mass which has expanded itself proudly in the pipe head, and for this purpose is used a sort of stamper, or stopper, also furnished with a knob of wood. This instrument has received a variety of names. In Heidelberg it is called _Dentsch_,--a name coined for the cogent reason that it will rhyme with _mensch_, without which the poet would find himself in what the Americans call, an "eternal fix." Another name is Melibocus, after the mountain on the Bergstrasse. In this instrument there is generally contained a wire, which you can draw out in order to give air to the clogged up part of your pipe. It is thus at once a stopper and an opener. The process of smoking is a species of distillation, whereby the water-sack, as a receiver, takes off the fluid product, while the fume passes into the still-head, and is thence conveyed to the mouth, where it achieves its narcotic purposes, and thence is again discharged into the air. It is to be expected that this chemical apparatus will from time to time require cleaning; and for this end is used a small feather for the shorter tubes, and for the longer ones the fine clear stalk of a peculiarly tall and strong kind of grass (Luzula maxima) which grows in the woods. Some poor imp, unfit for other work, undertakes to furnish the smoker with this necessary article, and those who gather them in the woody hills round Heidelberg, even extend their trade in them as far as Mannheim and Karlsruhe. When the stranger mounts up to the ruins of Heidelberg castle, he is often accosted by this _Binsen-Bube_ or _Blumen-Bube_, Rush-boy or Flower-boy, as he is called, who, with most graceful obeisances, presents him with a small nosegay, and patiently waits for a substantial token of its acceptance. This is the great gatherer and furnisher of the _Binsen_, or rush, as it is unbotanically called, for the fumiferous public. The cigar, which we must not forget, is much less affected by the student. Yet he sometimes prefers it to a pipe, over a cup of coffee; and then is he accustomed, with great satisfaction, to drive forth the smoke through his nostrils, in order to make himself thoroughly conscious of his luxury.