ndy had not thawed him; but he stared very
hard at me, as much as to say, I would speak if I could.

Number Three put into my hand the sixteenth card, and made a rash
attempt at a bow.

Having seen them fairly outside my door, I bolted it, saying with
Shakespeare--

"O! that a man
Should put an enemy in his mouth
To steal away his brains!"

I have been this morning to visit an establishment founded by two
brothers, of the name of Van der Maelen. It comprehends natural
history, botany, geography, and statistics, and they have, moreover, a
lithographic press for maps and plates. It is a very curious, and very
spirited undertaking. As yet, the whole has been effected by their own
means, which are extensive, and without any assistance from government.
How few people in this world employ their money so usefully! This
establishment is but yet in its infancy, and the collections are not
very valuable, although rapidly increasing, from the interest felt by
every one in its welfare.

Of all collections of natural history, the fossil department is, to me,
the most interesting; there is room for speculation and reflection, till
the mind is lost in its own wanderings, which I consider one of the
greatest delights of existence. We are indebted to the vast,
comprehensive mind, and indefatigable labour of Cuvier, for the gleams
of light which have lately burst upon us, and which have rendered what
was before mere speculative supposition now a source of interesting and
anxious investigation, attended with results that are as satisfactory as
they are undeniable.

That there was a period when the surface of the earth was almost
entirely covered with water--a state between chaos and order, when man
was not yet created (for that then the world had not yet been rendered
by the Almighty a fit receptacle for man), appears to be undoubted. Yet
the principle of life had been thrown forth by the Almighty hand, and
monsters had been endowed with vitality, and with attributes necessary
for their existence upon an intermediate world.

These were the many varieties of the Ichthyosauri and the Plesiosauri,
of whose remains we have now such abundant specimens--all animals of the
lizard species; some supposed to have been supplied with wings, like the
flying fish of the present day.

But imagine an animal of the lizard species, one hundred and twenty feet
long--imagine such a monster--the existence of which is now proved
beyond