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the celebration of your 68th birthday, and let us hope, that itmay please Him, who is the sovereign Lord of our life, togrant the return of many more. Generali}' speaking a longagc is rather an cquivocal gift and in the most favorable caseaccompanied with many evils, which human flesh is hcir to,amongst which not the slightcst one is the feeling and con-sciousness that we have lost the buoyancy of youth. Hutthere are some privileged men, whose mind, in spite of carryinga heavy load of years upon their back, remain clastic andgreen, continuing to take the livclicst interest with every thing,regarding the higher and nobler aims of mankind. Either Iam entirely mistaken, or you are such a man. May your bodybe a little broken down, your hairs have turned grey or white,your countenance be furrowed by wrinkles, pcrhaps even yourwalk and step somewhat tottering, what is that to you, whoare still soaring in the highcst regions of philosophy, vvhilstyoungsters, rcplete with bodily powers are crawling upon thelowest ground. A little more or less of memory, precious asthis gift is, does not matter much, and after all, aecording towhat you have aecomplished during your career of life, youare more than an}' other man entitled to enjoy the "otium cumdignitate". There is a german sa}'ing "Fünfzig Jahre Stille-stand, sechzig Jahr fängt's Alter an" and aecording to it, yourfriend must now also be called an old man, having the eighteenthof this month aecomplished his sixtieth year. It is ccrtainlywith some reluctancc, that I acknowledge myself to be a"senex", but my grey hairs give but two obvious an evidencein favor of the truth, and I must submit to what [ cannotchange. Although far advanced in the career of life, I never-theless feel still rather youthly and have not yet lost to aperceptible degree my ancient lovc for science and philosophicalresearch, and that I consider as an invaluablc boon, reeeivedfrom Him, who is the Givcr of all good things, and as calcu-lated to cheer up the evening of my life. Like you, 1 have

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