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I have no personal knowledge of either story; but as the poor man had to endure the first, it is but right that the second should be told with it.

The second fragment reads as follows:

“The Moon Hoax; or, the Discovery That the Moon Has a Vast Population of Human Beings.” By Richard Adams Locke.—New York, 1859.

This is a reprint of the hoax already mentioned. I suppose “R.A. Locke” is the name assumed by M. Nicollet. The publisher informs us that when the hoax first appeared day by day in a morning newspaper, the circulation increased fivefold, and the paper obtained a permanent footing. Besides this, an edition of sixty thousand was sold off in less than one month.

This discovery was also published under the name of A.R. Grant. Sohnke’s “Bibliotheca Mathematica” confounds this Grant with Professor R. Grant of Glasgow, the author of the “History of Physical Astronomy,” who is accordingly made to guarantee the discoveries in the moon. I hope Adams Locke will not merge in J.C. Adams, the codiscoverer of Neptune. Sohnke gives the titles of three French translations of “The Moon Hoax” at Paris, of one at Bordeaux, and of Italian translations at Parma, Palermo, and Milan.