From The Mark Twain Archives; An Idiot Of The 33rd Degree

This old gem of a Mark Twain Letter appeared in Letters of Note. This one is definitely worth reading.

I guess Twain felt the urge to respond to a mail order solicitation for some kind of patent medicine.

Who else would write;

". . . without doubt the most ignorant person now alive on the planet; also without doubt he is an idiot, an idiot of the 33rd degree, and scion of an ancestral procession of idiots stretching back to the Missing Link."

Read, enjoy, and discuss amongst yourselves.

Don't miss the picture of Twain goofing around in Tesla's lab. How cool is that? Why does it seem like all creative persons in the 19th century hung out with each other?

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.