What did the professor do with the piece of the paper that Axel put on the table?

At the
beginning of chapter 2, Professor Liedenbrock is a very excited man. He just bought a very old
bookseven hundred years old, to be precisewhich he is perusing enthusiastically in his study as
Axel walks in. The beautifully bound quarto is an original chronicle of the exploits of the
Norwegian kings who once ruled Iceland. It is a Runic manuscript meticulously handwritten
in...