"With Leverrier's bad English and my bad French we talked but little,
but he showed me the transit instrument, the mural circle, the
computing-room, and the private office. He put on his cloak and cap, and
said, 'Voila le directeur!'
"One room, he told me, had been Arago's, and Arago had his bed on one
side. M. Leverrier said, 'I do not wish to have it for my room.' He is
said to be much opposed to Arago, and to be merciless towards his
family.
"He showed me another room, intended for a reception-room, and explained
to me that in France one had to make science come into social life, for
the government must be reached in order to get money.
"There were huge globes in one room that belonged to Cassini. If what he
showed me is not surpassed in the other rooms, I don't think much of
their instruments.
"M. Leverrier said he had asked M. Chacornac to meet me, but he was not
there. I felt that we got on a little better, but not much, and it was
evident that he did not expect me to understand an observatory. We did
not ascend to the domes.
"Leverrier has telegraphic communication with all Europe except Great
Britain.
"It was quite singular that they made such different remarks to me.
Leverrier said that they had to make science popular.
"Airy said, 'In England there is no astronomical public, and we do not
need to make science popular.'
"Jan. 24, 1858. I am in Rome! I have been here four days, and already I
feel that I would rather have that four days in Rome than all the other
days of my travels! I have been uncomfortable, cold, tired, and
subjected to all the evils of travelling; but for all that, I would not
have missed the sort of realization that I have of the existence of the
past of great glory, if I must have a thousand times the discomfort.
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