of a practitioner well known on the walls of Paris, and succumbed to

the effects of an overdose of mercury. His corpse was as black as a
mole's back. A devil had left unmistakable traces of its passage

there; could it have been Ashtaroth?
"The estimable youth to whom you refer has been carried away to the

planet Mercury," said the head clerk to a German demonologist who came
to investigate the matter at first hand.

"I am quite prepared to believe it," answered the Teuton.
"Oh!"

"Yes, sir," returned the other. "The opinion you advance coincides
with the very words of Jacob Boehme. In the forty-eighth proposition

of the Threefold Life of Man he says that 'if God hath brought all
things to pass with a LET THERE BE, the FIAT is the secret matrix

which comprehends and apprehends the nature which is formed by the
spirit born of Mercury and of God.' "

"What do you say, sir?"
The German delivered his quotation afresh.

"We do not know it," said the clerks.
"Fiat? . . ." said a clerk. "Fiat lux!"

"You can verify the citation for yourselves," said the German. "You
will find the passage in the Treatise of the Threefold Life of Man,

page 75; the edition was published by M. Migneret in 1809. It was
translated into French by a philosopher who had a great admiration for

the famous shoemaker."
"Oh! he was a shoemaker, was he?" said the head clerk.

"In Prussia," said the German.
"Did he work for the King of Prussia?" inquired a Boeotian of a second

clerk.
"He must have vamped up his prose," said a third.

"That man is colossal!" cried the fourth, pointing to the Teuton.
That gentleman, though a demonologist of the first rank, did not know

the amount of devilry to be found in a notary's clerk. He went away
without the least idea that they were making game of him, and fully

under the impression that the young fellows regarded Boehme as a
colossal genius.

"Education is making strides in France," said he to himself.
PARIS, May 6, 1835.

ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Aquilina
The Magic Skin

Claparon, Charles
A Bachelor's Establishment

Cesar Birotteau
The Firm of Nucingen

A Man of Business
The Middle Classes

Euphrasia
The Magic Skin

Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de
Father Goriot

The Thirteen
Eugenie Grandet

Cesar Birotteau
Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Commission in Lunacy

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Modeste Mignon

The Firm of Nucingen
Another Study of Woman

A Daughter of Eve
The Member for Arcis

Tillet, Ferdinand du
Cesar Birotteau

The Firm of Nucingen
The Middle Classes

A Bachelor's Establishment
Pierrette

A Distinguished Provencial at Paris
The Secrets of a Princess

A Daughter of Eve
The Member for Arcis

Cousin Betty
The Unconscious Humorists

End

• mercury [´mə:kjuri] n.汞；水银柱 (初中英语单词)
• admiration [,ædmə´reiʃən] n.赞赏，钦佩 (初中英语单词)
• amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
• impression [im´preʃən] n.印刷；印象；效果 (初中英语单词)
• investigate [in´vestigeit] v.调查(研究) (高中英语单词)
• quotation [kwəu´teiʃən] n.引用；引文；语录 (高中英语单词)
• edition [i´diʃən] n.版本；很相似的 (高中英语单词)
• philosopher [fi´lɔsəfə] n.哲学家；思想家；哲人 (高中英语单词)
• shoemaker [´ʃu:,meikə] n.鞋匠 (高中英语单词)
• distinguished [di´stiŋgwiʃt] a.卓越的，著名的 (高中英语单词)
• commission [kə´miʃən] n.委任(状) vt.委任 (高中英语单词)
• unconscious [ʌn´kɔnʃəs] a.无意识的；不觉察的 (高中英语单词)
• corpse [kɔ:ps] n.尸体 (英语四级单词)
• verify [´verifai] vt.检验；查对；证明 (英语四级单词)
• treatise [´tri:tiz, -tis] n.(专题)论文 (英语四级单词)
• provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)
• unmistakable [,ʌnmi´steikəbəl] a.明显的；错不了的 (英语六级单词)