or
since the best period of Greek art is attractive enough in itself to call
travellers of taste to Copenhagen. After spending some hours in
Thorwaldsen's Museum I went to see the study of Oersted, where his most
important discovery of the _deflection of the needle_ by a galvanic
current was made, which laid the foundation of the science of
electro-magnetism, and without which my invention could not have been
made. It is now a drawing school. I sat at the table where he made his
discovery.

"We went to the Porcelain Manufactory, and, singularly enough, met there
the daughter of Oersted, to whom I had the pleasure of an introduction.
Oersted was a most amiable man and universally beloved. The daughter is
said to resemble her father in her features, and I traced a resemblance
to him in the small porcelain bust which I came to the manufactory to
purchase."

"_St. Petersburg, August 8, 1856._ Up to this date we have been in one
constant round of visits to the truly wonderful objects of curiosity in
this magnificent city. I have seen, as you know, most of the great and
marvellous cities of Europe, but I can truly say none of them can at all
compare in splendor and beauty to St. Petersburg. It is a city of
palaces, and palaces of the most gorgeous character. The display of
wealth in the palaces and churches is so great that the simple truth told
about them would incur to the narrator the suspicion of romancing.
England boasts of her regalia in the Tower, her crown jewels, her
Kohinoor diamond, etc. I can assure you that they fade into
insignificance, as a rush-light before the sun, when brought before the
wealth in jewels and gold seen here in such profusion. What think you of
nosegays, as large as those our young ladies take to parties, composed
entirely of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and other precious
stones, chosen to represent accurately the colors of various flowers?--
The imperial crown, globular in shape, composed of diamonds, and
containing in the centre of the Greek cross which surmounts it an
unwrought ruby at least two inches in diameter? The sceptre has a diamond
very nearly as large as the Kohinoor. At the Arsenal at Tsarskoye Selo we
saw the trappings of a horse, bridle, saddle and all the harness, with an
immense saddle-cloth, set with tens of thousands of diamonds. On those
parts of the harness where we have rosettes, or knobs, or buckles, were
rosettes of diamonds an inch and a half to two inches