According to Jane Austen in Persuasion: "Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynchhall in Somerset was a man who for his own amusement never took up any book except the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour."
But let us not mock with disdainful smile: scientists, too, can spend their time in the very strangest way - as was brought home to me recently when I refreshed my memory about the effects of sleet and cold on man and other animals. I came across two recipes.
The instructions concerned experiments which the reader was invited to undertake to illustrate the effect of temperature changes on the behaviour of flying insects. They were described with a precision which would have done justice to the great Mrs Isabella Beeton herself, and I pass them on for what they may be worth. They may serve you well if you mislay your copy of Debrett.
For the first experiment you must take a large transparent container, one of the largest size that will fit comfortably into your refrigerator. You must cover the container with a sheet of cardboard, and suspend inside it a small thermometer. So far, so good! The professor takes up the lesson: "Introduce a few individuals of any suitably sized flying insect - house flies, mosquitoes or midges, for example - and place the container in the refrigerator. When it has cooled sufficiently to render the insect immobile, remove it and allow it to warm slowly to room temperature. Note the temperature at which spontaneous flight takes place and record your observations of the insects' behaviour during the pre-flight period."
And, of course, you must repeat as necessary with different kinds of insect. The second exercise is more complex, and investigates the important relationship between "thermal gradients and temperature preferenda".
For this you need a block of metal about 2 ins wide and 2 ft long, together with a purpose-built Perspex cover to prevent your flying insects from taking wing and disappearing, which the sensible creature would do at the very earliest of opportunities. Next you place a tray of ice on one end of the bar and light a candle under the other, thus establishing a gradient of temperature along the length of metal. Here's the professor again: "Put the experimental animals - house flies or meal-worm larvae - into the chamber, scattering them at random along its length. Leave the apparatus under uniform lighting conditions and plot the distribution of individual animals at regular intervals."
What better occupation could there be to fill the idle hour?