Thursday, October 9:
The evening ended in melancholy mood, I believe vivisection is proving the most dismal of occupations! All the same, once he has at last managed to get to sleep, R. sleeps well, and he goes off to his work, which today is devoted to additions to his article and, at last, its dispatch. I have to stay in bed, and the evening is spent in my little room.
To start with, R. reads to us some extracts in the Revue from an American book about animals - some splendid features, which grip and please the children as much as they do us. Then we finish Plutarch on terrestrial and marine animals.
(Richter recommends an American tenor; R. writes to him.)