, which is much more to the
purpose. At dessert the doctor made the coffee, as was his custom; he
intrusted this task to no one else; he made it at the table, in an
alcohol machine, and served it boiling hot. He wanted it hot enough to
scald his throat, or else he did not think it worth drinking. That
evening he drank it so hot that his companions could not imitate him.

[Illustration]

"But you'll burn yourself, Doctor," said Altamont.

"O no!" was the answer.

"Is your throat lined with copper?" asked Johnson.

"No, my friends; I advise you to take counsel from me. There are some
persons, and I am of the number, who drink coffee at a temperature of
131 degrees."

"One hundred and thirty-one degrees!" cried Altamont; "but the hand
can't support that heat!"

"Evidently, Altamont, since the hand can't endure more than 122
degrees in the water; but the palate and tongue are not so tender as
the hand; they can endure much more."

"You surprise me," said Altamont.

"Well, I'm going to convince you."

And the doctor, bringing the thermometer from the parlor, plunged the
bulb into his cup of boiling coffee; he waited until it stood at a 131
degrees, and then he drank it with evident joy. Bell tried to do the
same thing, but he burned himself and shouted aloud.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

"You are not used to it," said the doctor.

"Clawbonny," asked Altamont, "can you tell me the highest temperature
the human body can support?"

"Easily," answered the doctor; "various experiments have been made and
curious facts have been found out. I remember one or two, and they
serve to show that one can get accustomed to anything, even to not
cooking where a beefsteak would cook. So, the story goes that some
girls employed at the public bakery of the city of La Rochefoucauld,
in France, could remain ten minutes in the oven in a temperature of
300 degrees, that is to say, 89 degrees hotter than boiling water,
while potatoes and meat were cooking around them."

"What girls!" said Altamont.

"Here is another indisputable example. Nine of our fellow-countrymen
in 1778, Fordyce, Banks, Solander, Blagden, Home, North, Lord
Seaforth, and Captain Phillips, endured a temperature of 295 degrees,
while eggs and roast beef were cooking near them."

"And they were Englishmen!" said Bell, with an accent of pride.

"Yes, Bell," answered the doctor.

"O, Americans could have done better!" said Altamont.

"They would have