bêtifiants, stupefying

Page 87. 1. 7. coulons à fond, let us definitely settle. See also note to p. 7, 1. 6.

1. 12. les roturiers comme moi, men from the ranks, like myself.

1. 15. a de V esprit comme les quarante, has as mucli wit as ail the forty members of the Academy put together. The Académie française was founded by Richelieu in 1634 with the object of fixing a standard of French language and style. A new member is elected on the démise of one of the forty members of which the Académie is composed, the new-comer being charged with the duty of making his discours de réception in honour of his predecessor. (See also note to p. 47, 1. 10.) Popinot evidently does not understand the allusion.

1. 29. la xérasie et la calvitie. The first, from ^rjpaaia, dryness, is a disease which causes the hair and eyebrows to fall off. Calvitie, from the Latin calvities, derived from calvus, bald, is the technical term for 'baldness \

Page 88. 1. 15. le coryza, the technical name for a cold in the head.