professor, is the most neglected of modern sciences. Excuse me if I
take from under you, for a moment, your doctoral chair, and land you
on one of the forms of the primary department. I would ask a simple
elementary question: How many parts of the globe are there?"

"Before the loss of Alsace and Lorraine," said the professor with
plaintive humor, "I always reckoned six."

"Very well: on this point we agree."

"Six!" said the Scotchman in great surprise. "You are liberal: I make
but five."

"Not one less than six," said the patriot, vastly encouraged with the
support he got: "am I not right, sir? We have, first, Europe--"

"Ah, professor," said the silver-gray, interrupting him, "how is this?
You, such a distinguished scholar--you still believe in Europe? Why,
my dear sir, Europe no longer exists--certainly not as a quarter
of the globe. It is simply, as Humboldt very truly remarks in his
_Cosmos_, the septentrional point of Asia."

The surprise seemed to pass, at this point, from the face of the
Scot to that of the Strasburger. After reflecting a moment, "Really,"
murmured he, "I recollect, in _Cosmos_--But how, then, do you reach
six parts of the globe?"

"Only count, professor: Asia, one; Africa, two; Australia, three;
Oceanica, four; North America, five; and South America, six."