Why?
142. 31. Bacchanalian figures: figures dancing and drinking
wine at a celebration of the worship of Bacchus, god of wine.
143. 29. parchment. What is the difference?
147. 20. aqua regia: "royal water," so called because it
dissolves gold, is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids.
150. 15. Golconda: a ruined city of India, once famous as a
place for the cutting and polishing of diamonds; used figuratively in
the sense of a mine of wealth.
150. 30. Read Poe's article on "Cryptography," included in his
collected works.
151. 13. Spanish main: that part of the Caribbean Sea adjacent
to the coast of South America. It was part of the route of Spanish
merchant vessels between Spain and her new-world possessions, and was
infested with pirates.
THE PURLOINED LETTER (Page 160)
First published in 1845 (see comment on the detective stories in the
Introduction, page xxviii). This story is peculiarly original in its
incidents and subtle in its reasoning. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
should certainly be read also, and perhaps it will prove of more
sustained interest to the majority of readers.
160. Quotation. Lucius Ann?¦us Seneca (B.C. 4-A.D. 65) was a
celebrated Roman philosopher and tutor of the Emperor Nero. The
quotation means: "Nothing is more hateful to wisdom than excessive
acumen.
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