Genre:

Regular Feature, Short Fiction, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Archaeology, Geology, Invention, Publishing, Controversy, Mineralogy

    The narrator describes his friend, Dr Gregory Grubworm, who is a member of many learned societies, and has, 'after many years of anxious study, made several grand discoveries in the arts, which he is convinced will greatly benefit mankind' (412–13). He is shy of disclosing them in his lifetime, although he intends to leave his manuscripts for publication after his death. The narrator offers an account of his 'recent invention for discovering gold and silver buried in the earth', of which he learned after finding his friend in a warm dispute on the subject with 'Professor Mouldy, Member of the Geological Society of Amsterdam'. Gives Grubworm's account of his invention—a divining rod—and his use of the rod to find a silver horseshoe which 'belonged to Cæsar's own horse'. Promises a true account of 'the forthcoming argument between my friend and another learned professor (which is expected to take place next month)'. (413)