A Journey into the Interior of the Earth

He was professor at the Johannaeum, and was delivering a series of lectures on mineralogy,in the course of every one of which he broke into a passion once or twice at least.

Not at allthat he was over-anxious about the improvement of his class, or about the degree ofattention with which they listened to him, or the success which might eventually crown hislabours.

Such little matters of detail never troubled him much.

His teaching was as theGerman philosophy calls it, 'subjective'; it was to benefit himself, not others.

He was alearned egotist. He was a well of science, and the pulleys worked uneasily when youwanted to draw anything out of it.

In a word, he was a learned miser.