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132 unanimity of thought or sentiment in the island. The genii of apathy and indifference sit on the tops of her mountains and rule over the land. Her House of Assembly is one of inflated millionaires. Have you a famous drug here which has the effect of puffing out the patient who swallows it, and making him think he is a great being, who is raised immeasurably above all mean and contemptible ideas of care, caution, and economy?'

'I have the very thing—taxacorum puffinalis, extracted from the cube root of electric fire.'

'A very appropriate name and derivation,' said I, laughing, although I was more inclined to cry. 'And have you another which has the opposite effect—which reduces the unfortunate creature until he is a mere bag of bones, and deprives him of all energy, bodily comfort, and mental peace?'

'Yes, another very powerful medicine—taxacorum soueezatalis, distilled from the concentrated essence of flea and scorpion broth.'

'It is another most appropriate name and derivation, and I think that the very first thing which our House of Assembly does, before it enters upon any public business, is to administer a strong dose of the first medicine to itself, and a dose of the last, equally strong, to the unhappy people who elected it.'

The Doctor laid down his pipe, used his pocket-handkerchief with a startling report, and laughed again.

'I wish I could see you, Ubertus, at the bar of your House of Assembly,' he said. 'I'd like to see you on your knees apologizing to the Honourable Members. But, seriously, you know there must be a Government of some kind, and the people must be taxed to pay its expenses.'

'Undoubtedly, sir—moderate, sensible, and necessary taxation; but, unhappily, we are being governed at a ruinously fast and extravagant rate. We must appear before