He felt that in the depth of his soul something had been put in its place, settled down, and laid to rest.

He heard Agafea Mihalovna talking of how Prohor had forgotten his duty to God, and with the money Levin had given him to buy a horse, had been drinking without stopping, and had beaten his wife till he'd half killed her.

He listened, and read his book, and recalled the whole train of ideas suggested by his reading.

It was Tyndall's _Treatise on Heat_.