A Street of Paris and Its Inhabitant | Page 4

together at the return to Paris of the expedition to
Egypt. Ah! It was then the Institute of France and not a mass of
disunited Academies.
"The Emperor had preserved," said Marmus to himself, "the saintly
idea of the Convention. I remember," he muttered aloud, "what he said
to me when I was presented to him as a member of the Institute.
Napoleon the First said, 'Marmus, I am the Emperor of the French, but
you are the King of the infinitely little and you will organize them as I
have organized the Empire.' Ah, he was a very great man and a man of
wit! The French appreciated this too late."
The professor replaced Malus and the essay on him in the ten-sous stall,
without remarking how often hope had been lit and extinguished
alternately in the gray eyes of an old woman seated on a stool in an
angle of the quay.
"He was there," Marmus said, pointing to the Tuileries on the opposite

bank of the river. "I saw him reviewing his sublime troops! I saw him
thin, ardent as the sands of Egypt; but, as soon as he became Emperor,
he grew fat and good-natured, for all fat men are excellent--this is why
Sinard is thin, he is a gall-making machine. But would Napoleon have
supported my theory?"

V
FIRST COURSE
It was the hour at which they went to the dinner table in the house of
Marmus's sister-in-law. The professor walked slowly toward the
Chamber of Deputies, asking himself if his theory might have had
Napoleon's support. He could no longer judge Napoleon save from that
point of view. Did Napoleon's genius coincide with that of Marmus in
regard to the assimilation of things engendered by an attraction
perpetual and continuous?

VI
SECOND COURSE
"No, Baron Sinard was a worshipper of power. He would have gone to
the Emperor and told him that my theory was the inspiration of an
atheist. And Napoleon, who has done a great deal of religious
sermonizing for political reasons, would have persecuted me. He had
no love for ideas. He was a courtier of facts! Moreover, in Napoleon's
time, it would not have been possible for me to communicate freely
with Germany. Would they have lent me their aid--Wytheimler,
Grosthuys, Scheele, Stamback, Wagner?
"To make men of science agree--men of science agree!--the Emperor
should have made peace; in time of peace, perhaps, he would have
taken an interest in my quarrel with Sinard! Sinard, my friend, my pupil,
become my antagonist, my enemy! He, a man of genius--
"Yes, he is a man of genius. I do justice to him in the face of all the
world."
At this moment the professor could talk aloud without trouble to
himself or to the passers-by. He was near the Chamber of Deputies, the
session was closed, all Paris was at dinner--except the man of science.
Marmus was haranguing the statues which, it must be conceded, are

similar to all audiences. In France there is not an audience that is not
prohibited from giving marks of approval or disapproval. Otherwise,
there is not an audience that would not turn orator.
At the Iena bridge Marmus had a pain in the stomach. He heard the
hoarse voice of a cab driver. Marmus thought that he was ill and let
himself be ushered into the cab. He made himself comfortable in it.
When the driver asked, "Where?" Marmus replied quietly:
"Home."
"Where is your home, Monsieur?" asked the driver.
"Number three," Marmus replied.
"What street?" asked the driver.
"Ah, you are right, my friend. But this is extraordinary," he said, taking
the driver into his confidence. "I have been so busy comparing the
hyoides and the caracoides--yes, that's it. I will catch Sinard in the act.
At the next session of the Institute he will have to yield to evidence."
The driver wrapped his ragged cloak around him. Resignedly, he was
saying to himself, "I have seen many odd folks, but this one--" He
heard the word "Institute."
"The Institute, Monsieur?" he asked.
"Yes, my friend, the Institute," replied Marmus.
"Well he wears the red ribbon," said the driver to himself. "Perhaps he
has something to do with the Institute."
The professor, infinitely more comfortable in his cab than on the
sidewalk, devoted himself entirely to solving the problem that went
against his theory and would not surrender--the rascal! The cab stops at
the Institute; the janitor sees the Academician and bows to him
respectfully. The cab driver, his suspicions dispelled, talks with the
janitor of the Institute while the illustrious professor goes--at eight in
the evening--to the Academie des Sciences.
The cab driver tells the janitor where he found his fare.
"At the Iena bridge," repeats the janitor. "M. Marmus was coming back