despair that the sole remaining chance of verifying his theory by a huge experiment and proving its soundness to the whole world was slipping away from him. The discussions continued a long time, and the longer they lasted the more heated became the disputes, culminating in shouts and personalities, and the less was it possible to arrive at any general conclusion from all that had been said. Prince Andrew, listening to this polyglot talk and to these surmises, plans, refutations, and shouts, felt