in case thou takest an interest
in the skilful optician and automaton-maker, Spalanzani, that he was
completely healed of his wounds. He was, however, obliged to leave the
university, because Nathaniel's story had created a sensation, and it
was universally deemed an unpardonable imposition to smuggle wooden
dolls instead of living persons into respectable tea-parties--for such
Olympia had visited with success. The lawyers called it a most subtle
deception, and the more culpable, inasmuch as he had planned it so
artfully against the public, that not a single soul--a few cunning
students excepted--had detected it, although all now wished to play the
acute, and referred to various facts, which appeared to them
suspicious. Nothing very clever was revealed in this way. For
instance, could it strike any one as so very suspicious, that Olympia,
according to the expression of an elegant tea-ite, had, contrary to all
usage, sneezed oftener than she had yawned? "The _former_," remarked
this elegant person, "was the self-winding-up of the concealed
clockwork, which had, moreover, creaked audibly"--and so on. The
professor of poetry and eloquence took a pinch of snuff, clapped first
the lid of his box, cleared his throat, and said, solemnly, "Ladies and
gentlemen, do you not perceive how the whole affair lies? It is all an
allegory--a continued metaphor--you understand me--_Sapienti sat_."
But many were not satisfied with this; the story of the automaton had
struck deep root into their souls, and, in fact, an abominable mistrust
against human figures in general, began to creep in. Many lovers, to
be quite convinced that they were not enamoured of wooden dolls, would
request their mistress to sing and dance a little out of time, to
embroider and knit, and play with their lap-dogs, while listening to
reading, &c.; and, above all, not to listen merely, but also sometimes
to talk, in such a manner as presupposed actual thought and feeling.
With many did the bond of love become firmer, and more chaining, while
others, on the contrary, slipped gently out of the noose. "One cannot
really answer for this," said some. At tea-parties, yawning prevailed
to an incredible extent, and there was no sneezing at all, that all
suspicion might be avoided. Spalanzani, as already stated, was obliged
to decamp, to escape the criminal prosecution for fraudulently
introducing an automaton into human society. Coppola had vanished also.

Natha