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Title: Another World
       Fragments from the Star City of Montalluyah

Author: Benjamin Lumley (AKA Hermes)

Release Date: August 10, 2005 [EBook #16503]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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ANOTHER WORLD;

OR

FRAGMENTS FROM THE STAR CITY

OF

MONTALLUYAH.


BY

HERMES.


[Illustration.]


LONDON:
SAMUEL TINSLEY, 10, SOUTHAMPTON ST., STRAND,
1873.

[_The right of Translation is reserved._]


LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.




PREFACE.

The fact that there is a plurality of worlds, that, in other words, the
planets of our solar system are inhabited, has been so generally
maintained by modern astronomers, that it almost takes its place among
the truths commonly accepted by the large body of educated persons. As
two among the many works, which bear directly on the subject, it will be
here sufficient to name Sir David Brewster's 'More Worlds than One, the
Creed of the Philosopher and the Hope of the Christian,' and Mr. B.A.
Proctor's 'Other Worlds than Ours.'

A fragmentary account of some of the ways peculiar to the inhabitants of
one of these "star worlds," and of their moral and intellectual
condition is contained in the following pages.

When the assertion is made that the account is derived, not from the
imagination, but from an actual knowledge of the star, it will at first
receive scant credence, and the reader will be at once inclined to class
the fragments among those works about imaginary republics and imaginary
travels which, ever since the days of Plato, have from time to time made
their appearance to improve the wisdom, impose on the credulity, or
satirize the follies of mankind.

Nor can the reader's anticipated want of faith be deemed other than
natural; for, although tests applied daily during a period extending
over nearly a lifetime have proved the source of the fragments to be
such as is here represented, the Editor feels bound to say that,
notwithstanding much confirmatory evidence, many years passed and many
facts were communicated before all doubts were completely removed from
his mind.

One great obstacle to the reader's belief that an authentic description
of another world is before him will arise from the circumstance that the
means by which such extraordinary experience was acquired are not
included in the sphere of his knowledge, and that any attempt to explain
them at present would only increase his incredulity. He would only see
one enigma solved by another apparently more insoluble than itself. The
Editor, therefore, would call especial attention to the practical value
of the revelations here communicated, convinced as he is that they are
so replete with instruction to terrestial mankind, that the difficulty
of giving credence to them ought not to be augmented by premature
disclosures. Ultimately satisfied as to the origin of the fragments, he
entreats the reader not, indeed, to surrender, but simply to suspend his
judgment until he has carefully examined them, conceiving that, apart
from all external proof, they rest upon an intrinsic evidence, the force
of which it will be difficult to resist. Nay, he is even of opinion that
an impartial student will find it easier to believe in their planetary
origin than in their emanating from an ordinary human brain. The
practical value of the facts, considered apart from their source, will
excuse his request not to be too hastily judged.

The people to whom the fragments relate are, it will be found, not only
human, but constituents of a highly civilized and even polished society.
Their notions of good and evil, of happiness and misery correspond to
ours, and though they employ different means, the objects they pursue
are the same with those sought by terrestrial philanthropists. Health,
education, marriage, the removal of disease, the prevention of madness
and of crime, the arts of government, the regulation of amusement, the
efficient employment of physical forces--themes so often discussed
here--have equally occupied the attention of our planetary brethren,
although, as will be seen, in the results of our studies we differ not a
little. This is not a story of Anthropophagi, or men whose heads do grow
beneath their shoulders, which can merely excite wonder, but a record of
actual men, who, widely separated from us in the ocean of space, are
beings with whom we can sympathise much more than with the inhabitants
of the uncivilized portions of our own globe.

The reader will now begin to understand what is meant when the Editor
calls attention to the practical value of most of his communications,
and invites consideration of the fragments, as suggestive of much that
concerns the welfare of mankind, the question as to their source being
provisionally left open. The man of science, the poet, the
metaphysician, the philanthropist, the musician, the observer of
manners, even the general reader who merely seeks to be amused, will, it
is hoped, find something interesting in the following pages. Let all,
therefore, taste the fruit and judge of its flavour, though they do not
behold the tree; profit by the diamonds, though they know not how they
were extracted from the mine; accept what is found to be wholesome and
fortifying in the waters, though the source of the river is unknown.

Lest, in thus expatiating on the value of his communications, the Editor
should be thought to have overstepped the bounds of good taste, he would
have it perfectly understood that he is not speaking of his own
productions, and that whatever the merit of the fragments may be, that
merit does not belong to himself. He is an Editor and an Editor only;
and he therefore feels himself as much at liberty to express his opinion
of the contents of the following pages as the most impartial critic.

He will even admit that he is not blind to their defects and
shortcomings. If the fragments had been less fragmentary, and fuller
information had been offered on the various subjects which fall under
consideration, he would have been better satisfied. Nevertheless, he
reflects that it would be hardly reasonable to expect in facts made
known under exceptional circumstances, that fulness of detail which we
have a right to demand, when on our own planet we essay to make
discoveries at the cost only of labour and research. He looks upon the
fragments as "intellectual aerolites," which have dropped here,
uninfluenced by the will of man; as varied pieces detached from the mass
of facts which constitute the possessions of another planet, and rather
as thrown by nature into rugged heaps than as having been symmetrically
arranged by the hand of an artist. Want of unity under these
circumstances is surely excusable.

One observation as to a matter of mere detail. Words, in the language of
the Star, are occasionally given in letters which represent the sounds
only, and will often be found to resemble words in some of our ancient
and modern languages. The very name of the City "Montalluyah," to which
all the fragments refer, is apparently compounded of heterogeneous
roots, one of Aryan the other of Semitic origin. These seeming
accidents, if such they be, must not be attributed to either
carelessness or design on the part of the Editor; nor does he attempt to
explain them. The reader may, if he please, account for the causes of
resemblance by considering that the number of articulate sounds is
limited, and that, therefore, the variety of words cannot be altogether
boundless; or he may take higher ground, and assume that in whatever
planet spoken, all languages have the Same Divine Origin.

In conclusion: When these revelations or others derived from the same
source have succeeded in establishing a confidence between the Editor
and his readers, it is more than probable that the secret of the source
itself will be disclosed. That disclosure made in due season will bring
to light some unprecedented, but most interesting facts, and will
establish the important truth, that the soul of man is IMMATERIAL and
IMMORTAL.




CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTION      Page xxiii


I.--MONTALLTUYAH.

     One of the Star worlds--Strangeness of its customs--The Narrator
     and his aspirations--Former state of Montalluyah--Wars--Increase of
     population and decrease of supplies--Can man be brought to seek
     knowledge as ardently as money?--The Narrator's meditations,
     labours, and advancement--Faith


II.--VYORA.

     The beggar seeks admission to the Palace--The incident which brings
     him to the Narrator--Some account of Vyora--Appointed Chief of the
     Character-divers--Reflection


III--PERSEVERANCE.

     Maturing plans--How received by the Counsellors--Narrator's
     resolution--Prepares for death--His triumph--Subjects of
     Legislation


IV.--LIGHT FROM DARKNESS.

     Secret powers in Nature--Effectually wielded by the Good
     only--False Prophets--Narrator carries out his plans without
     bloodshed--Great feature of the System--Mighty consequences--Evils
     forced to contribute to Good--Examples--Insects--Hippopotami--The
     Fever Wind--Lightning--The Sun--Seasons of Darkness--Fears of the
     People--Darkness changed to Light--The City radiant--Music and
     rejoicing


V.--CHARACTER-DIVERS--EDUCATION.

     Grave duties entrusted to them--Stronghold of evils to be
     eradicated--Men of Genius following antipathetic
     occupations--Early eradication of faults and development of
     qualities--Visits to Schools--Defects--One routine for all
     characters--Neglecting minor qualities in Boys of
     Genius--Precept-cramming--Bad habits--Character-divers
     created--Sole occupation to discover Child's early
     tendencies--Duties distinct from those of Preceptors or Fathers of
     Knowledge--Germ of evils destroyed


VI.--CORRECTION OF FAULTS.

     Remedies employed vary with characteristics--Absence of violent
     punishment--Children to be raised, not degraded--Animals not
     corrected by blows--Example--Pupil not corrected by the imposition
     of tasks--Child encouraged to regard study as a
     privilege--Correction effected by gentleness--Time, labour, &c.,
     bestowed unsparingly--Even when fault seems eradicated fresh tests
     applied--Adult offenders--Child of genius watched with reference to
     superior refinement--Economy of sparing nothing in educating the
     future man--Lists of faults occupying attention of the
     Character-divers--Results--Small beginnings lead to incurable vices
     and disease


VII.--CHARACTER-DIVERS.

     Secondary position of Tutors in former times--Now honoured--Aid
     given by the Character-divers, &c., to Narrator--Young men of
     special aptitude educated for the office--Their
     astuteness--Example--Subjects of tesselated pavements--Zolea--Early
     evidence of artistic talent often deceptive--Narrator's early
     talent indicating him as a harpist--Guided to other studies


VIII.--THE STAR CITY.

     Power of the Sun--Colours and forms in the sky--Situation of
     Montalluyah--External World Cities--Reasons for uniting them--
     Peculiarities--Straight lines--Variety of colour, &c.--Subterranean
     seas--Great cataract and water-lifts form background of palaces and
     statues--Hanging bridges--Health studied--Baths--Violet streams--
     Trees--Birds--Artificial nests--Perfumes--Harmonious
     sounds--Chariot wheels and horse's hoofs noiseless--Red light--City
     full of animation--Recurring change of scene


IX.--THE SUSPENDED MOUNTAIN.

     Elevation of tides immense--The aerial mountain--Electric
     agencies--Sea carries away the heart of the mountain--Receding
     waters leave upper part suspended--Mountain arm stretches out
     through the air over land below and over the sea--THE GREAT
     CATARACT--Upper City built on Suspended Mountain--The Middle and
     Lower Cities built on indent and foot of mountain--PAST
     CATASTROPHES--Threatened dangers--Terrible consequences--Principle
     of preventing evils--Stupendous work undertaken--The wonder of
     Montalluyah


X.--THE MOUNTAIN SUPPORTER.

     Dimensions--Thickness of walls--Interior area--How utilised--Means
     of ascending and descending--Stages constructed at different
     heights to facilitate works during progress--Materials, provisions,
     &c., raised by electric power--HUGE HEAVY BLOCKS LIGHTENED BY
     ELECTRICITY--Ornamentation of the Tower--Ravine-metal--Episodes of
     the Narrator's reign--Ascent and descent--Great difference of
     atmosphere above and below--Peculiarity in Electric
     Telegraph--Colour of atmosphere at different heights--Animalculae
     and ova--Grandeur of the Mountain Supporter---Curious effect when
     viewed from a distance


XI--ELECTRICITY IN MONTALLUYAH.

     Important facts formerly unknown--One electricity only supposed to
     exist--Not then utilised for locomotion, &c.--Paucity of
     contrivance for collecting electricities--How the scientific men
     supported their theory--Like causes produce like effects--Many
     kinds of electricity--Means of drawing out and concentrating
     electricities discovered--Man, beasts, birds, &c., possess an
     electricity of their own--All differ--Huge fish--Docks for
     extracting electricity from--Electric store-house--Non-conducting
     pouches--The attracting electricity adapted to each body is well
     known--MODE OF CATCHING WILD BIRDS

XII.--THE PAIN-LULLER.

     Means formerly employed--Vivisection and surgical operations
     painless--Nerves of sensation only, affected by the luller--Energy
     of the functions considered essential--Pain-luller, how
     discovered--The Nebo bird and the child--The broken limbs and
     absence of pain--Discovery


XIII.--THE MICROSCOPE.

     Properties of optical instruments increased by electricity--
     CONCENTRATED LIGHT--The illuminated worm--Light attracted by the
     enticer-machine--Concentrated light in Music--Human voice and
     musical instruments--Union between the soul and perishable portions
     of man--Concentrated light within us--Similarity of terms applied
     to the brain and to vision--Strength to the intellectual
     powers--EXPERIMENT ON LIVING MAN--Electrical currents in brain--How
     agitated--Rarity of the experiments--Serious consequences to
     patient--Conditions imposed, and advantages secured, to him--Not
     allowed to marry


XIV.--PHYSICIANS--DISEASE GERMS.

     High rank of Physicians--Former and present duties--Periodical
     visitations--Microscopes--Perspiration indicating disease--Exact
     nature of disease not shown--Example--Ordinary appearance of
     perspiration--Lung disease and consumption--Lung dew--"The
     Scraper"--The breath


XV.--MADNESS.

     Minute divisions of brain examined by microscope--Former
     neglect--Early indications rarely noticed--Supposed lunatics often
     wiser than their keepers--An instance--The man's statements laughed
     at--World believe him a confirmed madman--Madness not now assumed
     from seeming absurdities--Thoughts formerly scoffed at, now
     acknowledged facts--Minute divisions of brain responding to trains
     of thought--Effectual remedies for earliest symptoms--Cure of
     developed madness--Former error which prevented cure--The disease
     does not exist in the _overworked_ portion of the brain


XVI.--THE DEATH SOLACE--INSECTS.

     Insects contain valuable electricities--Whole crops destroyed by
     them--Mode of capturing, &c.--Impurities removed by insects--The
     DEATH SOLACE


XVII.--INTERNAL CITIES--SUNSHINE PICTURES

     Special precautions against excessive heat in the extreme
     season--_Internal cities_ built in galleries--Their advantages--How
     light admitted--Flowers--Beauty and odours increased by
     electricity--Communication between the palaces in the External and
     Internal World--Narrator's summer-palace--The pictures
     representing principal events of his reign--Sun power
     utilised--Sunshine: how _fixed_ on the canvas


XVIII.--THE PICTURES.

     Subjects of some of the pictures in the Narrator's "Internal World"
     Palace


XIX.--WOMAN.

     Tendency of her education--Happy and contented--Marked difference
     in education of the two sexes--Beauty aided by early care--Former
     practices and consequences--Ravages of time--Women now lovely in
     age as in youth--Beauty regarded as a precious gift from
     Heaven--Cosmetics for its "preservation"--Wrinkles--Skin and
     complexion--Hands and feet--CHOOSING BY HAND--How
     effected--CHOOSING BY FOOT--Expedients used when hand or foot
     inclined to coarseness--GIRL'S DORMITORIES--Cleanliness--Separate
     sleeping-rooms--Reasons--Communication with
     night-watchers--Precautions--Mode adopted to ensure early rising--
     Prayer not till after repast--Reason why old custom
     changed--Careful discipline until marriage--Luxurious habits
     permitted to married ladies--Instance of the elastic "frame"
     cushion--The self-acting fan


XX.--CHOICE OF A HUSBAND.

     Means taken to secure congenial husband--Marriage councils--Choice
     of husband, how arranged--Maiden's right to nominate--The
     thirty-one evenings--The girl, how distinguished--Gentlemen who
     wish their pretensions to be favourably viewed--The
     unwilling--Efforts of pretenders--Agitation on the thirty-first
     evening--How the maiden proclaims her choice--The presentation of
     flowers--Subsequent meeting of the parties--Betrothal--Consequence
     of maiden failing to declare preference--Second meeting--Third
     meeting rare


XXI.--THE DRESS OF SHAME--SUN COLOURS.

     Trust reposed in marriage councils never abused--The dress of
     shame--Rich costumes of married ladies--Brilliant colours imparted
     by the sun--The silver-green silk--Sun silk--Women instructed in
     the ART OF PLEASING--Former habits of married women--Example on
     children--Deceit


XXII.--COSTUMES.

     LADY'S COSTUME--The
     waistcoat--Tunic--Trousers--Anklets--Trimmings--
     Colours--Sandals--HEAD ORNAMENTS--Soles to protect the feet--The
     fan--Precious stones--Turbans--Canopy--Long veils--Distinctive
     feature for the unmarried--Elaborate costumes allowed after
     marriage--GENTLEMAN'S COSTUME


XXIII.--PREPARATIONS FOR THE MARRIAGE.

     The civil marriage--Purification of the bride--The hair--The
     tree-comb--Marriage costume--Marriage ceremony repeated after
     birth of each child--Religious ceremony--Suspended in case of
     dissensions--Efforts for reconciliation--Contingencies provided
     for--An instance


XXIV.--FLOWERS.

     Very beautiful--Their names given to Stars and to Women--Flower
     language: long conversations carried on by means of
     Flowers--Instances of Flower Language--Displeasure expressed
     through the medium of Flowers--Instances of Flowers with meanings
     attached


XXV.--FLOWERS IMPROVED BY ELECTRICITY.

     Mode in which nature operates--Vitality of seed--Consequence of
     injury--Production of leaves--Of colour--United electricities form
     gatherings--Important discovery--Sap, the reservoir of
     electricity--PROCESS FOR CHANGING FORM--PROCESS FOR CHANGING
     COLOUR--For giving fragrance--THE LUANIA--SUN-FORCING


XXVI.--SONG OF ADMIRATION.

     (_Explanation of terms used in the Song of Admiration._)

     The Spangled Mountain--The reviled beauty--Slander and its
     promulgators--The Legend of Zacosta--Fall of her
     Tormentors--Happiness of the higher order of Spirits--Slander
     regarded with horror--Motives of the Slanderers--The King of the
     Air--The loving little animal--The ingenious instrument for
     discovering diamonds--The pet animal--The Meleeta--The Turvee
     Insect--Shooting Stars--Whale Electricity--The Martolooti--The
     Flower of Grace--The Chilarti--The Allmanyuka--The perfume of the
     everlasting gulf--The Hippopotamus hide--Fat of the Serpent's
     head--The Mestua Mountain--Wet thy feet--Stainers' fount--
     Water--The Mountain Supporter


XXVII.--SYLIFA.


XXVIII.--THE YOUNG GIRL RESTORED.

     Madness not formerly recognised until violence shown--The GIRL
     AFFECTED WITH MONOMANIA.


XXIX.--THE LITTLE GOATHERD.


XXX.--DECORATIONS FOR AGE AND MERIT.

     Worn as distinctive marks--Age entitles woman to privileges--Age
     regarded as an honour--Orders of the Matterode, and Mountain
     Supporter--Qualified decoration, &c.--ADVOCATES of the individual
     and of society--Privilege belonging to every woman


XXXI.--BEAUTY.

     How ideal of beauty formerly obtained--Not equal to the actual
     living model--Beauty now the rule--Longevity--Beauty in old
     age--Summary of expedients--Value of the course adopted--Importance
     of care from earliest infancy--Subject of babies--Importance of
     little things--Maladies owing to injudicious treatment of
     children--March of "small" effects--Precautions now taken


XXXII.--INFANTS' EXERCISE-MACHINES.

     Value of minute precautions--Diseases caused by want of healthy
     exercises--Accidents to the infant--Blows on the head--The
     inventions of Drahna--The four sets of machines--The TEETH--The
     eye--The nostrils--The tongue--Air, &c.


XXXIII.--GYMNASTICS.

     An essential part of the boys' education--Formerly same exercises
     for all--Now adapted to physical organization--Medical man observes
     effects--The heat of the brain a test--Bathing--Leaping--TREE-EARTH
     BATHS--Qualities of the earth about various trees--The oak, the
     weeping-willow, elm, horse-chestnut, &c.


XXXIV.--THE AMUSEMENT GALLERY.

     Description--Girls' amusement gallery--Boys--Different natures and
     characters revealed--The Character-divers


XXXV.--PRAYER.

     For Children are short--Services adapted to different ages--Evils
     attendant on former system--Present course--Subjects of Sermons--
     Children encouraged in affection to Parents, &c.--Preacher assisted
     by method of education--Objections to Parrot-like repetitions


XXXVI.--FLOCKS AND HERDS.

     Care taken of animals--Change of pasture--Irrigation--Causes of
     diseases formerly prevalent--Shade--Illness--Great increase of
     flocks and herds--THE MALE ONLY USED FOR FOOD--Consequences of
     killing the mother--In slaughtering, all painful process
     avoided--Mode adopted--Wholesomeness of meat tested by analyzation
     of blood--PROTECTION OF MEAT FROM INSECTS--Protective
     Infusion--CRUELTY TO ANIMALS--Punishment


XXXVII.--THE ALLMANYUKA.

     Determination to discover the germ of disease--The people afflicted
     with a painful malady--Children not
     attacked--Hypothesis--Stimulating spices--Anatomical
     examination--Decree forbidding use of favourite condiments--The
     spices collected--Temporary substitute provided--Meditation and
     prayer for help--The grafting and the eventual result--
     Incomplete--The cream-lemon vegetable--Mode of proceeding--The
     "Insertion"--The root-oil--The little white bud--The anxious
     watching--The basket and its contents--The testing--Qualities of
     the Allmanyuka--The people's praise--The Tootmanyoso's
     gratitude--Results different from any before obtained--Description


XXXVIII.--PAPER.

     Made from leaves of trees--Peculiarities--Process of manufacture--
     Healthful fragrance--Colour--"Natural" paper--GOLDEN COLOURED
     PAPER--Its connection with the Allmanyuka--The incident which led
     to its discovery


XXXIX.--CONSUMPTION--THE ÉMEUTE.

     Consumption--Why generally beyond cure--Erroneous views--The
     patient--Examination by the doctors--Their mistake--Narrator's
     belief--Potion administered--Death--Cause discovered--Mode of
     detecting and curing the disease in its germ--Assemblage of the
     multitude--Episode of the mother and the child--The sequel


XL.--THE HARP.

     The principal musical instrument--Description--Four sets of
     chords--Strings of electricity--Marvellous variation and
     depression of the notes--Echoes and responses--Diapason changed to
     an extraordinary extent--Different characters of sound
     produced--Examples--Harp language; how taught--Accompaniments--Harp
     beautiful as a work of sculptural art--Movement of birds, flowers,
     and foliage, and exhalation of perfume in accord with the
     music--How idea was suggested


XLI.--SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.

     Amusements enjoined--Learned men prone to seclusion--Wisdom of
     requiring studious men to cultivate social relations
     questioned--Twenty men selected for the experiment--Result--The
     works of the "Seclusionists" and of the "Society-Sympathisers"--The
     MONOMANIAC--His eccentricities and cure--Convert to the Narrator's
     views


XLII.--THEATRES--ENTERTAINMENTS.

     Arenas--Electricity--Why arenas open to the sky--Games exhibited--
     Beautiful effects produced--MAN and HORSE--The FLYING
     CHILDREN--WILL--DEAF AND DUMB CHILD--The MONKEYS--Tragic
     Drama--Races and public games--Parties for children--Labouring
     people--The aged--Districts--The middle-aged--INTRODUCTION of
     strangers--Ceremony observed--ATTRACTING-MACHINE


XLIII--SHIPS.

     Peculiar form and construction--Former shape--Effective model
     sought--"Swan Ships"--Dangers of navigation--Ship sometimes
     submerged--Sufferings of the passengers for want of
     air--Remedy--The swan's head--Captain's quarters--Vessels propelled
     by electric power--Machinery--Steering and stoppage of the
     vessel--TIMBER FOR SHIPS--How seasoned--How protected against
     insects in every part--The COMPASS--The ANCHOR--Peculiarity of its
     formation: how let out and hauled in--The Bison ropes


XLIV.--PICTURES FROM WATER.

     Interesting discoveries--Microscopic pictures transmitted from a
     distance--Picture made of a landscape and persons afar off--Picture
     of swan-vessels and passengers--How effected--Bottom of the sea
     rendered visible


XLV.--THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

     Invaluable--Antipathy to human beings--Hippopotamus'
     hide--Impervious to water--Resistance to destroying forces--All
     parts of the animal utilised--Parts subservient to the
     beautiful--Hippopotamus' land--Numerous herds--Their keepers--How
     attired--The herb antipathetic to hippopotami--How
     discovered--Experiment with the young beast--Antipathetic solution
     keeps animals away from cities--They love fresh-water rivers--The
     Aoe waters prejudicial to man--Mode of rearing
     Hippopotami--Precautions adopted--Why they have not been able to
     rear animal in Western Europe--Recommendations--Habits of the
     animal--The hippopotami--dance--How the young one is separated from
     the mother--How a hippopotamus is removed from the herd--The food
     of the hippopotamus in general


XLVI.--WILD ANIMALS.

     The Serpent--The Boa--Professors to examine medicinal and other
     properties--Modes of capturing wild beasts--Huntsmen--The iron-work
     net--The watch-hut--The bait--Dead animals not allowed in the
     city--Habits of the tiger--THE TIGER AND THE CHILD--THE UNICORN


XLVII.--THE SUN.

     The palace--Communication with auxiliary tower--Observatory--STAR
     INSTRUMENT constructed--Secrets revealed--Inhabitants and
     atmospheres of the stars differ--Invisible beings--The SUN-OCEAN,
     Mountains, and Continents--Winds--Attracted by the heat--Brilliancy
     increased by reflection--Every planet has electricity sympathetic
     or antipathetic--Different appearance in Montalluyah--Fixed
     stars--Comets--Overflowings of the waters--Waters in
     space--Conclusion




INTRODUCTION.


By introducing the reader to "Another World," the Editor does not lead
him into a region to which the Earth has no affinity. The Planet to
which the following fragments refer not only belongs to the same solar
system as our own, but also presents like physical aspects. In it, as
here, are to be found land and water--mountains, rivers, seas, lakes,
hills, valleys, ravines, cataracts alternating with each other; though
in consequence of more potent electrical agencies the contrasts between
these various objects are frequently abrupt and decided to a degree to
which we can here offer no comparison. The other world about to be
described is, in fact, essentially another Earth--widely differing,
indeed, from ours in its details, but still subjected to the same
natural laws. Its inhabitants, like devout persons here, look forward
with reverent feeling towards the abode of the blest. To a purely
spiritual or angelic region these fragments do not relate.

The name of "Montalluyah," which more immediately belongs to the chief
city in the planet, is not incorrectly extended so as to include the
entire sphere. This new world is not made up of separate countries and
mutually independent states like those of the Earth, but, forming one
kingdom, is governed by one supreme Ruler, assisted by twelve kings
inferior to him in rank and power.

The speaker in the fragments (which may almost be said to take the form
of an autobiography) was the son of one of the twelve kings, who by his
genius and worth became "Tootmanyoso," or supreme Ruler. In the planet
his name is mentioned with even more reverence than, by different
peoples, is paid to that of Zoroaster, Solon, Lycurgus, or Alfred; but
he has this peculiarity that he does not fade, like many other great
legislators, into mythical indistinctness, but is himself the exponent
of his own polity.

It must not, however, be supposed that this great legislator was the
first to rescue his world from mere barbarism. The founder of
civilization in Montalluyah seems to have been a very ancient sage named
Elikoia, to whom brief reference is made in the following pages. Prior
to the reign of our Tootmanyoso the people had passed through various
stages of civilization, under the guidance of many wise and good men.
Still the polity was defective, for the country remained subject to
crime, misery, and disease.

The proverb that "Prevention is better than cure," to which everybody
gives unhesitating assent, but which is often forgotten in practice,
lies at the root of most of the reforms, both moral and physical,
effected by the Tootmanyoso. The policy of prevention--that is, of
destroying maladies of mind and body in the germ, before they had been
allowed to spread their poison--was one of his leading principles. Under
his influence, the physicians of Montalluyah made it less their duty to
cure than to prevent disease, therein differing widely from our
practitioners, who are not usually called to exercise their skill until
a malady has been developed, and has perhaps assumed large proportions.

Under his influence likewise it was thought better to diminish moral
evil by extirpating faults in the child, rather than by punishing crimes
in the man.

Another prominent feature in the polity of the great Legislator of
Montalluyah is the occupation of every person in the intellectual or
physical pursuit for which he has been fitted by natural qualifications,
developed and fortified by culture. Nobility, position, and wealth are
made to depend on merit alone, ascertained by a mechanism which neither
favouritism, ignorance, nor accident can affect. These laws may for an
instant seem to partake of a democratic tinge; but it will be clearly
perceived that the regulations concerning the institutions of property
and marriage are diametrically opposite to those which have rendered the
theories of Communists so generally hateful.

Many of the Tootmanyoso's reforms resulted from an application of
extraordinary scientific discoveries to the purposes of life. Under the
law which determined that the "right man" should, in the most extensive
sense of the phrase, always be in the "right place," discoveries were
made of which the most acute investigators of earlier times had had no
conception, and the newly-acquired ability of wielding electrical,
mechanical, and other forces had momentous political consequences. Armed
with powers previously unknown, the Tootmanyoso found comparatively easy
the successive steps towards the happiness and well-being of his world,
where a series of insuperable obstacles would have been presented to the
wisest of his predecessors.

Of the physical agencies mentioned in the following pages, that of
electricity will be found especially prominent. Both the knowledge and
the manipulation of electricity have assumed in Montalluyah proportions
far beyond those known to us. The electric fluid is there employed for
the most various purposes: for locomotion, for lightening heavy bodies,
for increasing the power of optical instruments, for the detection and
eradication of the germs of disease, for increasing the efficiency of
musical instruments--in a word, for the advancement of the world in all
that belongs to morality, science, and art.

To some readers the plural form, "Electricities," which frequently
appears in the following pages, might seem a strange innovation. The
Editor therefore states, by way of anticipation, that in certain
important points the electrical science of Montalluyah differs from, if
it is not opposed to, some of the principles accepted here. In
Montalluyah it is an ascertained fact that everything organic or
inorganic possesses an electricity of its own, each kind differing from
the others in one or more important properties. Glimmerings of the
progress effected in electricity and other sciences, including the
knowledge and application of Sun-power, may be deduced from the facts
contained in the fragments. Still, those glimmerings are but as
scattered rays of light in the horizon, which, in the belief of the
Editor, are mere precursors of other revelations at least equally
interesting. It may be said generally that by the fragments here given,
showing how the Narrator, uniting in his own person all the highest
qualities of a Legislator and a Ruler, occupied himself with the
discovery and application of means for the reduction of evils to their
smallest possible proportions, not only giving new laws of wondrous
grandeur and beauty, but eventually rendering compliance with them easy
and even delightful--that by these fragments a truly stupendous polity
is but partially revealed.

The Editor has reason to believe, though it cannot be stated with
confidence, that Montalluyah is the world known to us as the planet
Mars. Even in the following pages indications will be found of physical
features harmonizing with observations made here on that planet. On the
other hand, there is the seeming objection, that whereas Mars is more
distant than the Earth from the Sun, the Sun appears much smaller, and
its heat and light are less intense, on the Earth than in Montalluyah.
These facts would, in the first instance, seem to indicate, not a
longer, but a shorter distance of Montalluyah from the central luminary,
and to point rather to Venus or Mercury than to Mars. But, according to
the scientific theories of Montalluyah, the amount of light and heat
received from the Sun, and the aspect of that luminary, are governed,
not so much by proximity, as by the nature and electricity of the
recipient planet and its surrounding atmosphere. In illustration of this
point the fact is stated in one of the fragments, that in Montalluyah
the power of the telescope is regulated, not by the distance, but by the
attractive or repulsive electricity of the planet under observation, and
that more power is often required to view a nearer planet than one which
is far more distant.

The question as to which of the laws and customs of Montalluyah can be
beneficially imitated, wholly or partially, on our Earth, and which of
them merely pertain to physical accidents or to a peculiar state of
society, will afford matter for reflection. It must not be supposed
that, by relating the facts revealed to him, the Editor would recommend
all the laws which they suggest as capable of imitation here. Although
they are based on the principle of securing happiness to the community,
more especially to its worthiest members, he would no more think of
recommending them for adoption in their entirety than of upholding the
"Swan-Ship" of Montalluyah as a model for the steamers that cross the
Atlantic. Nevertheless, he trusts that his record of the "regulations"
of "Another World," even where they do not admit of imitation, may serve
to call attention to the evils which they were intended to remedy in
Montalluyah, and which certainly nourish in all their bad luxuriance
here.




ANOTHER WORLD.




I.


MONTALLUYAH.


     "You forsake this earthly form which goes to dust, but you still
     live on for ever and ever....

     "This life is but the shadow of what your future lives will be."


The Heavens are studded with stars, works of an Almighty Creator; their
pale rays give but a feeble indication of the glorious brightness of
worlds, many peopled by beings of a beauty, goodness, and power
excelling all that human understanding can conceive.

By the grace of Him whose might embraces the universe, I will speak of a
star where the inhabitants are formed like the people of the Earth, and
as the dawn of day gradually discloses earth's marvellous beauties, so
shall my revelations throw light on the customs of that star-world for
whose well-being I worked with devoted love.

Some of my world's ways will appear strange to you. Remember that they
belong to another planet, another country, another people, so that like
wise travellers in a distant land, you should for a time lull your own
world's prejudice, and accompany me in thought to Montalluyah, for such
is the name of the city where I lived.

I was the son of one of the twelve kings called Tshialosoli, rulers of
the country.

These Tshialosoli are less powerful than kings in your world, there
being a ruler with full power over them and the whole State, who is
called in our language "Tootmanyoso," or "The Father of the World."

All my youthful zeal and strength were applied to study and deep
reflection. The most able men were appointed to superintend my
education. I outstripped my masters.

The extent of my knowledge, judgment, and foresight filled with wonder
the most learned and powerful in the land. Their approving praise did
but encourage me onwards in the search for knowledge.

People related everywhere how wondrous were the gifts of the heaven
favoured student.

Early inspired by the desire to benefit my fellow-creatures, I often
asked myself why, in a world teeming with blessings, so much suffering
existed? and why endless riches in the seas, in the air, in the earth,
remained unworked as though they did not exist for the use of man?

At that time the state of civilization and knowledge in Montalluyah was
in many respects not unlike that of the most civilized countries of your
world. The religion of fire had long been replaced by the worship of the
living God, and morality and goodness were respected by most, preached
by many, and practised by a few.

Wars were waged with relentless cruelty by brother against brother, bad
passions ruled, the rich oppressed the poor, and became in turn the
victims of their own excesses, and vice, disease, and misery were
rampant throughout the land.

We had money of various metals and precious stones. The greed to possess
money was the cause of great crimes and loss of power. I asked myself
whether men could not be brought to seek knowledge and goodness as
ardently as they sought money?

I could not then answer the question, but saw that, could this be done,
the boundaries of intelligence being everywhere extended, the discovery
of never-ending fructifying resources would follow, with the means also
of multiplying those already known.

Notwithstanding wars and pestilence, the numbers of our people had
largely increased, whilst our stocks had seriously diminished, and
scarcity and dearth afflicted my world.

The increasing numbers of the population would, I saw, become a means of
plenty, by supplying additional numbers and power to the phalanx of
nature's workmen, each, with redoubled skill fitly applied, joyfully
labouring in his sphere to create abundance and secure the general
well-being.

I applied myself with unwavering perseverance to the study of humanity
and the arts of government, and soon found that like aspirations had
ruled many wise and good men in the different ages of my planet. I
applied myself to the knowledge of their great wisdom and many precepts,
and sought to discover why, notwithstanding the truthfulness and beauty
of the golden lessons of these sages, and the eloquence and persuasion
of their words, corruption and ruin still so largely prevailed.

Not content with meditating on what had been done and written, I
attended the schools, observed the children's ways, and the mode of
educating and rearing the husbandmen of Nature's vineyard. I visited the
hospitals for the sick, and the theatres of anatomy. I examined into the
causes of disease, and the effects of the existing remedies. I visited
the prisons, and studied the results of punishment and the causes of
crime. I visited the poor in their hovels, the rich in their palaces; I
observed mankind in various phases, and as it were dissected men's minds
and passions. I saw everywhere never-ending power in man and nature
recklessly wasted or turned against the community.


My labours were rewarded by frequent advancement. Honours did but
stimulate me to further exertions; the greater I became the more I
applied myself, ever thirsting for knowledge and the power of doing
good, till at length, after passing the severest tests, I became
Tootmanyoso (Father of the World), and head of the State.

Then indeed my real labours began. Light from Heaven had enabled me to
see the causes of the evils afflicting my planet. I had now to apply
remedies for changing the poisoned torrents into sources of fertility,
refreshment, and delight.

The dangers and obstructions before me were immense. I felt that no
unaided mortal power could overcome them; but I was encouraged to
believe that, "like a chariot at full speed, which turns a narrow and
dangerous corner, so would I pass over my mountains of difficulty, and
run free in the wide space beyond."

I resolved with all the concentrated ardour of my soul to persevere.

Day by day I applied myself to the work, and invoked the aid of my
Creator.

My harp was my constant companion. I was a great harpist; and when
gratitude for some new light choked my utterance, I made the harp speak
in accents and in language[1] that gave fresh inspiration to my soul.

     [Footnote 1: Musical sounds in Montalluyah have a
     meaning as easily understood as spoken words. Our harp
     is different to yours, and will be described
     hereafter.]




II.


VYORA.


     "The humble and the proud are equally subject to the decrees of
     Heaven; and often one is raised and the other brought low."


The system of education which I early inaugurated soon gave to my hand
men of wondrous intelligence, fervid and eloquent emissaries, having at
heart the success of my doctrines.

These men, themselves convinced, and earnest to convince others, I sent
in all directions to prepare the people, and to discover genius and
intelligence under whatever garb concealed, for I had determined that
all should be encouraged to use their powers for their own and the
general good, and be advanced accordingly.

Many things had happened to strengthen this, my early resolve. One
incident I will now relate.


A beggar made many attempts to gain admission to my palace, but was
turned away with blows; his prayers that he might speak with me were
received with derision,--he was looked upon as a madman, and not allowed
to pass the outer gate.

This same beggar--Vyora, by name,--saved the life of a little boy, the
child of one of my leading men called Usheemee, "Men of truth."

The child would have been crushed to death under the wheels of a
chariot, moved by electricity and drawn by fleet horses,[1] had not this
same beggar rushed forward, regardless of peril, and saved the boy.

     [Footnote 1: The beauty of our horses, the desire that
     the chariots should not be cumbersome, and the steep
     hills everywhere in Montalluyah, are the reasons why
     electricity is not used alone. When the horses stop,
     the electric action is suspended, and the momentum is
     neutralized simultaneously by a governor or regulator.]

The man refused money, and for his sole reward requested that he might
be brought into my presence. The father told me of this, which seemed to
him the more strange inasmuch as the petitioner refused to say what he
required of me.

When brought before me, I asked Vyora what he sought? He replied that
his whole desire, his soul's longing, was to be appointed a teacher,
that he might instruct youth, and see little children grow wiser around
him.

I regarded the man attentively, and put many searching questions. He
answered all in a remarkable way, and gave proofs of intellect,
knowledge, and perception beyond the masters who had passed through the
required ordeals, and was so gentle and modest withal, that it was
delightful to speak with him.

The father of Vyora had possessed wealth, but from the cruelty and
oppression of an enemy mightier than he, had lost both fortune and life,
and at his death left a family dependent on charity.

The widow, a woman of remarkable gifts and keen sensibilities,
prostrated by grief, died soon after, carried off suddenly by a disease
called, "Karni ferola," "Absorption of the vitality," [1] which at that
time baffled the skill of the physicians, who indeed had seldom
suspected its presence till the disease was beyond cure.

     [Footnote 1: Answering to "consumption;" this disease
     is now detected and cured in its germ.]

Vyora, himself an emaciated boy, unfitted for physical labour, was the
eldest of many brothers and sisters, who looked up to him in their
hunger. He was driven to beg their food.


After the poor man had passed easily all the ordeals, I appointed him "a
Character-Diver," to discover the qualities and detect the faults of
little children,[2] and raised him from indigence to affluence.

     [Footnote 2: See p. 19.]

The ability, industry, and wisdom of the man, and the good he did were
beyond all praise, and I soon appointed him head of all the
Character-Divers in Montalluyah.

This incident, with many others, engaged my most serious reflection. But
for an accident, the powers of a truly superior mind would have been
lost to humanity! Vyora was but the type of numbers, evidencing how
capriciously wealth and honours were then distributed.




III.


PERSEVERANCE.


     "Go onward! lose not faith. Let the goodness of God support you,
     and the beauty and fruitfulness of the work cheer you; and when you
     are blest with success forget not the source whence all blessings
     come."


Several years passed before my plans were matured. I reduced all to
writing. On one side of the page I noted my resolutions, with the means
of carrying them out; on the other side, every objection that could be
raised: on a third page I wrote down the answers. Every objection was
invited, every difficulty anticipated, and every detail thoroughly
weighed; nothing was thought too great or too insignificant.

I submitted the whole to my wisest councillors, and encouraged them to
speak their inmost thoughts. They were lost in admiration, but entreated
me to abandon my design. My life, they said, would be the penalty were I
to attempt to carry out any part of my projects.

Some said that the design would be beautiful as the subject of a poem--
as the aspiration of a great mind to arrive at an ideal perfection,
which could not however be realised until evil itself had ceased to
exist. That to attempt to move the Mestua Mountain[1] would be a task
not less hopeless: that I might as well endeavour to walk up our great
Cataract[2] without being engulfed in the sea of foaming waters! Not one
offered encouragement to proceed with the good work.

     [Footnote 1: Supposed to be the largest and firmest of
     mountains, which, since its first upheaving, has
     resisted the inroads of our mighty seas, as well as the
     most violent electrical disturbances of our world.]

     [Footnote 2: See p. 44.]

Neither their arguments nor their prayers deterred me. I proceeded
cautiously, but with a resolution that feared not death.

Aware, however, of the deadly peril besetting me, I selected twelve men,
remarkable for wisdom in council and energy in action, on each of whom
in succession the authority should devolve if I were cut off. I
initiated them into my plans, and thus hoped that one devoted man would
always be ready to advance the good work.

Whilst providing for my death, I took measures for protecting my life
against any sudden outburst of fury. I turned my palace into a fortress,
that I might not be cut off in a moment of sudden unreasoning wrath,
that myself and my adherents might not be scoffed at as madmen, and my
plans for the good of all retarded, if not wholly frustrated. These
motives I proclaimed to the people.

The opposing obstacles were stupendous. I braved death in every shape. I
passed one mighty peril only to meet another more formidable, but
fearlessly stood every trial, and did not hesitate to act where danger
was greatest. Nothing appalled me. I never faltered from my resolves,
and after years of mighty struggles, my triumph was complete. I was
blessed and adored by all the people, small and great, and my name will
live in Montalluyah through all generations.


I gave Laws, and indicated the precautions to be taken to secure their
observance. I initiated discoveries. Inexhaustible stores of abundance
were called into existence, enriching the poor and making the rich happy
in their possessions. And the eventual result of the organization I
completed was the removal of the incentives to war, strife, avarice and
other evils, the triumph of good, and the moral and material well-being
of the community.

Amongst the many subjects to which I successfully devoted my attention
were:

The care and protection of Woman, the development of her capabilities
and graces, the preservation and increase of her beauty, Marriage and
its incidents.

The birth, growth, and education of the future Man and of the Mother of
Men; the enlarging and ennobling the moral and intellectual powers.

Preservation of health--prevention and cure of disease--prolongation of
Life, and augmentation of the faculties of appreciation and enjoyment.

The increase of our flocks and herds, and of other sources of supply for
the food of man. The discovery and creation of new means of sustenance
and the amelioration of the old.

The discovery of the properties of birds, beasts, fishes, insects,
reptiles, and creeping things, and their application to the service of
man.

The invention of new instruments, the enlargement of the powers of those
already known, the development of electrical and mechanical powers, and
the subjecting the workings of nature to the uses of man.

The care and protection in health and in sickness of the lower orders,
and of those whom nature had not qualified to take care of themselves.

Occupation for all, each according to his capabilities and the bent of
his genius, as ascertained and developed by education.

The government of the country; the enlargement and improvement of the
cities with a view to the health, comfort, and progressive elevation of
the community.




IV.


LIGHT FROM DARKNESS.


"Let the mighty works of God stimulate all to industry."


My task at first seemed never-ending; but good is ever fruitful, and
each conquest aided every subsequent effort.

I was greatly assisted in my progress by the knowledge of powers in
nature of wondrous value, but permanently effective for good only;
secrets to be entrusted to those alone whose goodness, discipline, and
self-knowledge enable them to stand firmly against the varied attacks of
temptation, and rise above the motives by which men are ordinarily
ruled, the chosen High Priests of the Science who would never use for
evil purposes the secrets imparted.

Similar powers have been exercised for good in different ages of your
planet, but the mighty trust having become known to weak minds was sadly
abused, the charm was thus broken and the secret lost; for, when the
knowledge of man exceeds certain limits, his power, like that of good
angels, can exist only while linked with noble aspirations.

The false prophets who used the dying embers of occult science for vile
purposes have been properly looked upon with horror as delegates of
evil; for the death-struggle of the expiring secret had wrought great
mischief on the earth.

The power which had been entrusted to me was exercised for the good of
my planet, and aided me in consummating my plans without bloodshed;
those who were deaf to words yielded to influences whose depths could
not be fathomed by ordinary vision.


In the system I founded, every one--his natural powers disciplined to
that end--is occupied in the pursuit adapted to his genius and
inclination, ascertained by ever vigilant and scrutinising observation,
and tests ofttimes repeated during his early and later career.

These tests are applied in a variety of forms, and by different
examiners, at different times; and there are so many checks and
counterchecks, that the boy is effectually protected against the now
scarcely possible ignorance or favouritism of "the knowledge testers,"
and even against himself.

Every one having the occupation most congenial to him, all worked
cheerfully in their pursuits; and I was soon aided by a never-ending
phalanx of great men. The progress of science was marvellous, for as
soon as the impeding obstacles were removed, and we allowed her to be
wooed by the lovers of her predilection, Nature seemed to lend herself
eagerly to the advances of her votaries.

The precept exhorting all to industry stood at the head of this portion
of my laws, but the lesson was no longer needed.

I was indeed ofttimes obliged to exhort to recreations and amusements,
and to turn many--particularly men of genius--from the too incessant
pursuit of their labours of love.

I set an example in my own person, for I was a frequent attendant at the
public games and diversions.

One discovery was pregnant with another; invention followed invention
almost in geometrical progression; the secrets of nature were disclosed;
and power, being wielded only by men intent on good, disease and crime
were soon reduced to almost imperceptible proportions. Wisdom and joy
ruled where before folly and misery prevailed, and towards the end of my
reign the happiness of Montalluyah was more like the joys of a celestial
star than of a planet inhabited by mortal beings.

When the causes of affliction themselves could not be removed, they were
often made to contribute to my world's well-being.

The myriads of insects that formerly ravaged our fields are now
intercepted in their work of destruction,[1] their properties having
been discovered and applied to purposes redundant with good.

     [Footnote 1: See p. 76.]

The hippopotami, who in earlier ages were looked upon as the incarnate
enemy of mankind, formerly overran the country, trampling down
vegetation, and attacking man and beast. These creatures are now
dominated, and their breed is encouraged, for they have become the most
valuable of our wild beasts, the hide, fat, and nearly every part of the
carcase being applied to very many purposes of the highest utility to my
people.[1]

     [Footnote 1: See p. 279.]

The advent of "the fever wind," which formerly blew disease amongst the
people, now conduces to the healthfulness of those it would otherwise
lay low.

The lightning, formerly destructive, impelled--as was told in our
legendary lore--by the anger of the Fire God, is rendered innocuous, and
collected for use.[2]

     [Footnote 2: See Electricity, p. 54.]

The sun's scorching force is compelled to minister to our delights, to
assist in our arts and manufactures, to supply a power which cannot
otherwise be obtained, and even to protect us from the sometimes too
dangerous influence of his own rays.

The sunlight is powerful in our world beyond anything in your Indian or
African climates; even the shades are not black, but of a reddish hue.

The sun, going down, leaves a red light, so that, except when at night
this is completely shut out from the houses, there is ordinarily no
darkness in your sense of the word.

At certain times, however, Montalluyah, both by day and night, is
overspread with thick darkness. Formerly, during this visitation, no man
could see his neighbour; fear seized the people. They believed it to be
the reign of bad spirits, and so it seemed; few dared venture from their
houses even to obtain food, and numbers died from terror and exhaustion.

Light is now made to displace darkness, and joyfulness to take the place
of mourning.

My scientific men discovered a means by which the causes that produced
the darkness are now used to remedy its inconveniences.

The City is made gloriously radiant. Forms of trees, birds, vases of
flowers and fruit, fountains, and other designs of many tints and great
beauty are transparent with light, rendered more beautiful by
combination with a peculiar electricity emitted by the earth--an
electricity which, be it observed, is the cause of the darkness.

The very birds by their warbling seem to greet the change, and the trees
and flowers emit a more delicious perfume.

There is music and rejoicing everywhere in the City. Many of the
electrical amusements provided appear grander from the contrast with the
darkness they are made to displace--a contrast scarcely greater than
that depicted by our "Nature Delineators" when, in allegory, they paint
the present contrasted with past times; the later years of my reign
contrasted with the beginning.




V.


CHARACTER-DIVERS.

EDUCATION.


     "Let none but skilful workmen elaborate precious material."


Think not that the truly great Vyora was but little honoured by being
appointed to an office connected with little children.[1]

     [Footnote 1: _Ante_, p. 8.]

The character-divers were entrusted by me with grave duties, on the
proper discharge of which depended the enduring success of my polity.

The education of the young of both sexes engaged from the first my
deepest study, for I had early convinced myself that the many evils to
be eradicated had their stronghold in the mode in which education had
been conducted, and soon after the commencement of my reign I put into
execution a portion of my laws for making education a powerful lever in
the regeneration of my world.

Men of genius had been compelled by ignorance or driven by necessity to
follow occupations for which they were not fitted, and which they,
indeed, often loathed; the really valuable tendencies of these men, bent
in an opposite direction, were allowed to run to waste, or perhaps be
used to the injury and destruction of others.

I felt that to do justice to all and effect good incalculable, evil
tendencies must be destroyed in their birth, the germs of the
imperfections and crimes of the man, detected and eradicated in the
child; whilst valuable qualities and good tendencies must be searched
out, and effective means devised for their healthful development.

The most ordinary men, those even who would otherwise be swayed by gross
passions, would become contented workmen in the cause of good when
occupied with pursuits for which nature and education had fitted them;
whilst the power and works of men of genius would be many times
increased and multiplied if their education were adapted to strengthen
and develop their talents, eradicate their faults, and generate
auxiliary excellencies.

But how could all this be effected if the first step to so desirable an
end were wanting?


In my visits to the schools I had been struck with the fact that little
account was taken of the characters of children,--their qualifications
and natural tendencies physical or mental: the attempt was to force the
boy to the system, not to adapt the system to the boy.

One routine existed for all pupils, whether for the inculcation of the
love of study or for the correction of faults. The earnest and
passionate nature was treated in the same way as the cold and
phlegmatic; the boy of genius or talent, as the dullard; the one who
loved, as he who disliked, or had a tendency to dislike, study; the
weakly, as the strong. They were all driven together like a flock of
sheep, with scarcely any regard to individual capabilities, bent of
genius, or physical constitution, which indeed little effort, and that
ill-directed, had been made to discover.

I had observed, also, boys with the germs of great genius, who, for want
of some minor quality, were rejected and perhaps placed in some lower
division, humiliated and discouraged, although with care the deficient
quality could have been supplied. The want of this perhaps would make
the boy a recruit to the ranks of evil, or at least unfit him, when a
man, for the real business of life. It was the small bolt wanting to
enable the machine to do its work properly.

I saw the sad consequences of all this mismanagement.

Many precepts, beautiful indeed in intention, were crammed into the
pupil, the process being repeated until they often became irksome, and
he was expected to become moral and religious. I saw that precepts were
of little use unless those whom they were meant to benefit were
educated, fortified, and disciplined in the practical means of observing
them.

It was at that time painful to see children, with many good natural
tendencies, leave school with bad habits, and vices so marked and
developed, that even the exertions of the most skilful physicians, the
discourses of the most learned of our clergy, failed to effect a cure.


The first thing necessary was to devise effective--it may be said
unerring--means to search out the characters and dispositions of
children.

I created the office of "character-divers," and selected for the
discharge of its duties eminent men of great sagacity and gentleness,
skilled in the knowledge of the mind and heart, their sole occupation
being to discover the qualities, tendencies, and incipient faults of
children, and act accordingly; to dive, as it were, into the secret
imaginings of the child; to detect the early germ of evil, and note the
presence of good; to indicate measures for eradicating the one and
developing the other.


These character--divers, called in our language "Djarke," are distinct
from the masters, called "Zicche," or fathers of knowledge, able men,
who have charge of the boys' studies.

The qualities which enable a preceptor to impart literary and scientific
knowledge differ widely from those fitted for searching out,
discriminating and correcting faults of character, interpreting the real
qualities that nature has implanted in the youthful aspirant, and
devising the measures to be taken for correction or development.

Even if the necessary qualities for both duties were united in one
master, there would be many objections to the duties being entrusted to
the same person.

The character-divers are as it were moral physicians, skilled in the
detection and cure of the hidden germs of mental maladies; for, as you
will see hereafter, I was not content to wait till a disease, whether of
the mind or body, had developed itself, spreading contagious poison
through the veins and arteries of society, and propagating evil without
end; the germ was destroyed before it had acquired force to injure.

In our planet neither the faults nor the good qualities of children show
themselves in the same way; the indications vary in each child according
to his temperament and the circumstances in which he may be placed.
Faults and qualities are often of a kind seemingly opposed to what they
actually demonstrate to the character-diver--particularly in children
endowed with genius.

Fair and even beautiful outcroppings are sometimes indications of
noxious weeds hidden below the surface. Weeds are not unfrequently born
from the very richness and exuberance of the soil, whilst many a dark
and seemingly sterile stem conceals the embryo of fruit and flowers
which a genial sunshine will call into life and beauty.

These and other considerations demand great--almost constant--attention
on the part of the Djarke.


Another reason for separating the two offices of fathers of knowledge
and character-divers is that the child's peculiarities are generally
shown out of school-hours. Hence, for the purpose of detecting or
tracing their real cause, and suggesting the remedy, the character-diver
is often obliged to enter into terms of intimacy with the children,
particularly those of tender age, to obtain their confidence, perhaps to
be their playmate and friend, that the little ones may be at their ease,
conceal nothing, and almost look upon him as they would upon some tame
animal.

The younger children with us require more watchfulness and skill in
their treatment than those of maturer age. The defects of the young,
like incipient disease, are less obvious, and their intelligence is less
developed.




VI.


CORRECTION OF FAULTS.

CHARACTER-DIVERS--_continued_.


     "Let the remedies employed be adapted to the complaint and to the
     constitution of the patient, and be careful that in curing one
     disease you do not sow the seeds of another more dangerous."


One of the duties of the character-divers is to suggest, and often to
carry out, the measures for curing the child, for in our planet the mode
of correcting faults is a matter of great solicitude, lest the means
adopted, instead of checking and eradicating, tend to confirm and
develop the evil tendency, or, it may be, implant other evils more fatal
than those eradicated.

The remedies employed for curing the boy's faults vary with his
temperament and general characteristics. The same fault would be treated
very differently in the stupid and in the intelligent boy. Where there
was difficulty of impression, the labour would be like working on stone,
whilst the lightest touch and mildest measures will often suffice with
the intelligent.

The remedies vary again with the kind, degree, and cause of the fault:
take for instance the ordinary fault of laziness. This would be treated
very differently when it arose from mental defects--from a tendency to
love other things, great or grovelling, or from a sluggish or overactive
digestion.

I may here mention that a general feature in the correction of faults is
the absence of violent punishment. We wish to raise and not degrade our
children, and perhaps implant the seeds of cruelty. We do not correct
even our animals by blows. Horses, for instance, are never struck.
Whips, with a small thong at the ends, are used only to flourish and to
make sounds which the horse knows, but they are not used to strike the
animal. Other modes are employed for curing viciousness, each according
to the nature of the vice. In the case of a kicking horse, he is placed
in a machine which is closed on him, the machine being so constructed
that when shut it effectually prevents the animal moving, and he is kept
there in the same position for hours. If, when taken out, he again kicks
he is placed back again immediately. The process is repeated when
necessary over and over again, until the very sight of the machine will
completely cow the animal, and he is effectually cured.

The laws are very severe against those who would ill-treat an animal,
but there is now no need to put them in force.

We never punish by the imposition of tasks, our aim being to inculcate
the love of study, and encourage the child to regard his work as a
favour and a privilege. On the contrary we now punish the student rather
by taking away the old than by imposing new school work; and this is so
effected that the boy, though at first delighted, soon thirsts to resume
his studies.

In many cases the pupil is not allowed even to know that he is
punished,--_i.e._, why the discipline is changed,--lest he should become
attached to a fault for which he has suffered and, as it were, paid
dearly; lest, too, the excitement of eluding detection should make it
pleasurable to transgress when the immediate pressure is removed, and he
should thus become schooled in untruthfulness and deceit.

The character-divers generally effect the child's correction by
gentleness, and eventually bringing him to loathe the bad and love the
good. Time, labour, and attention are bestowed unsparingly, and, however
small the germ, the evil tendency is never left until, when this is
possible, it is completely eradicated. In certain cases, where the
footprint of nature is too firmly impressed, the efforts are continued
until other and opposing qualities have been developed, and the moral
patient has acquired such control over himself as to be able, in moments
of temptation and impulse, to dominate the disturbing propensity.

Even after the fault seems to have been eradicated, the patient is for
some time subjected to various tests and temptations before he is
pronounced cured. We do not trust to superficial appearances.

Similar precautions were taken in the cure of adult offenders against
the laws, but as soon as my plans had time to operate, offences by
adults were of rare occurrence.

When a child gives evidence of remarkable genius, he is watched with
more than jealous care, with a view to his superior refinement, and
other qualities which we like to see in harmony. We do not like to see,
as it were, a garment made partly of rich brocade and partly of common
material.

The character-divers, too, are greatly assisted in their observations by
an establishment attached to each school called "The Amusement Gallery,"
in which after a certain time the bent of the child, his versatility,
capriciousness, constancy of purpose, and other qualities and defects
are shown in his selection and continued or interrupted pursuit of any
particular occupation or amusement.


It is scarcely possible to overrate the importance of acting with
judgment towards children.

From the smallest beginnings, incurable defects of mind and permanent
disease of body will gather strength, grow and obtain the mastery, till
they carry off the sufferer, or implant vices that, like evil spirits,
will torture the victim during his life's career.

Nothing is spared in the education of the future man and mother of men.
In the child is seen the parent of other generations, one who, as he is
well or ill-directed, will strengthen or weaken the great work of human
happiness, bearing with him a blessing or a curse for the community.
Therefore whatever may be the pains or expenditure required in the cure
of incipient faults, as of incipient disease, we know that society will
be repaid more than a thousand-fold in the happiness of its members, in
evil prevented and good propagated, in the numbers of men of talent and
genius whose works, teeming with great results, will be thus saved to
the State.

But for the character-divers the services of numbers of men of
extraordinary genius would have been lost to the State, and our world's
progress in science, inventions, and happiness retarded for centuries.
Nay, perhaps the then comparative civilization would have been thrown
back into barbarism, through the destructive play of bad passions and
disappointed hopes.

Numbers who, if their early faults had grown into confirmed vices, would
later have led a life of crime, and become inhabitants of dungeons and
emissaries of evil, now grew into men of great eminence. The germ of
evil propensities was destroyed, the exuberant motive power of their
nature regulated and turned to good, by means which the character-divers
thoroughly understood.


Amongst faults, the germs of which occupied the attention of the Djarke,
are the following:

Untruthfulness, dishonesty, discontent, pride, vanity, boasting,
cunning, envy, deceit, whether prejudice, self-deceit, or the wish to
deceive others; nervousness or fear, inducing reticence and concealment
of faults, excess of modesty or the occasional tendency of persons of
genius to underrate their own powers, inattention to studies, want of
application, power to learn too easily, lack of retentive memory,
exaggeration and boldness, bad temper, sullenness, disposition to
quarrel, cowardice, cruelty, caprice as distinct from versatility,
selfishness, greediness, laziness, and its various causes, and generally
the germs of all faults and vicious propensities, which, if not cured at
an early age, would grow into tenacious vices.


From the precautions taken in Montalluyah the schools have become real
nurseries, where the pupil is endowed with knowledge adapted to his
capacity and natural bent, strengthened and graced with valuable habits
and stores of physical and intellectual power.




VII.


CHARACTER-DIVERS--_continued_.


     "Respect those who would enable us to obtain the respect of
     others."


In former times the education of our children, even of the most gifted,
was entrusted to preceptors who occupied less than secondary positions.

We did not respect or love them much; nay, they were not unfrequently
treated with indignity, and yet it was expected that our children would
respect and love them and the learning they professed to teach.

All, whether men or women, entrusted with the education of the young are
now honoured in Montalluyah, and are high in the State as persons
charged to bring about great and valuable results.


The aid given me by the character-divers and preceptors in carrying out
my plans was incalculable. Their sagacity selected disciples apt for the
duties I required; men with vast powers impelled by good. These men
propagated my doctrines, and vigilantly watched their observance, and a
new vigorous generation soon sprang up, educated to obey my laws, and
further to increase and multiply their beneficent effects.

These moral physicians were chosen at first from men of great sagacity,
gentleness, and powers of observation, and of polished manners.[1]

     [Footnote 1: In Montalluyah children are supposed to
     acquire so much by imitation, that the candidate for
     the office of Djarke and others must possess refined
     manners; and even the quality of speaking with elegance
     and accuracy is considered necessary both in them and
     in the Zicche. The art of speaking and writing with
     correctness is imperceptibly acquired from the language
     of the preceptors and other models with whom the boy
     comes in frequent contact. Grammar, with the exception
     of a few leading rules, is not needed, and the boy's
     brain is saved much dry and fruitless labour.]

Young men of special aptitude were soon educated to the office, and it
was then that character-divers of marvellous powers sprang up, whose
knowledge of the human mind, and skill in diving into the hidden
currents of character, became so great that no incipient quality, or
defect however minute, could escape their observation.

There is a man whom the sagacity of Vyora discovered, whose wondrous
power in his art is the admiration of Montalluyah. The good he has done
and the greatness of his work in searching out and developing hidden
qualities and genius in children, who to the unskilled eye gave no
promise, is celebrated in pictures, in sculpture, and in song, and his
portrait is repeated in the highly finished and artistic mosaic pavement
of our palaces and dwellings.

We delight to enrich our houses and public places with subjects which
daily inspire great and pleasureable thoughts.

The subjects of the tesselated pavements include wise kings, inventors,
and discoverers, character-divers and preceptors, physicians, great
electricians and chemists; astronomers, men skilfully learned in the
power of the sun; men versed in the knowledge of the human mind; eminent
painters, sculptors, and architects; men skilled in the properties of
birds, beasts, fish, and other living things. Moral qualities are
greatly estimated; and we have many portraits of women famous for their
virtues, gentleness, and superiority; even of servants distinguished for
remarkable cleanliness and other qualities. Every house has its
tesselated pavement, more or less elaborate, but always beautifully
executed, for all our artists are great, and occupy high positions.

Where a young man evinced qualities which, when tested, showed that he
would make but a second-rate artist, the character-divers demonstrated
that these youths possessed natural tendencies better fitting them for
some other pursuit.

I have in my thoughts at this moment a favourite subject of the artistic
pavement;--a man--Zolea by name--who as a boy was inattentive to his
studies, while his talent for sketching from nature[1] was so
remarkable, that even during school hours, with his eye seemingly on his
book, he would occupy himself in sketching those around him. Every one,
except the character-divers, thought that Nature intended this boy for a
great artist. These demonstrated that as an artist he would never attain
a high position; and after observing how he occupied himself in
play-hours, and subjecting him to numerous tests, so completely cured
him of his want of application and other defects, that he became the
wisest and greatest among our kings. He aided me much in the devising
and carrying out many things for the well-being of our planet.

     [Footnote 1: All students, even beginners, sketch from
     nature, no other sketching is allowed.]

Had I not been the son of a king I should probably have been educated as
a harpist; for even as a child I showed great disposition for the harp,
and composed both words and music for my favourite instrument; but my
father's chief councillor, a man of great sagacity, saw in me the germ
of intellectual powers far beyond those required for the most perfect
execution of the harp, and, counselled by this sage, I was led to other
studies by judicious treatment, to the doubting surprise of my early
tutors.

       *       *       *       *       *

I will now give you some account of one of the great works begun and
ended in my reign.

This work, called 'The Wonder' of my Planet, was by our poets often
spoken of as resembling my polity in the strength of its foundation, and
in beauty, grandeur, and stability, as a work which, like my laws, they
said had saved a world from destruction, and would endure for ever!




VIII.


THE STAR CITY.


     "The City of delights. The beloved of the Angels."


The power of the sun in my world is great, and the heat and light are
excessive. The great heat being, however, tempered by cooling,
refreshing winds, and gushing waters, is to our constitutions generally
agreeable, except at the period called the extreme season.

The colours in the sky are in great variety, and of exceeding
transparency and brightness, some parts presenting masses of gorgeous
reds, golden colours, rich greens, and pinks of many shades.

The skies present also the appearance of a most irregular and uneven
surface--as though there were high hills, some with their peaks, some
with their bases, towards the earth, and with large spaces between, so
that whilst in one part these hill-peaks and bases appear only a few
miles off, other parts of the sky seem very distant.


In vast mountainous and rocky regions is built our great city called
Montalluyah, that is, "God's own City."

What are called the _External World Cities_ are built on the base sides
and summits of many peaked mountains, rocks, hills, and promontories,
girded, intersected, and undermined by the sea.

The City is divided into 200 districts each known by a name indicative of
the situation:--

     The Upper Mountain City,
     Summit City,
     Topmost Point City,
     The Lower City,
     Down City,
     Side City,
     Lower Under City,
     Sea City,
     Vale City,
     Ravine City,
     Side Country,
     The Internal City,

and similar designations.

Before my reign each of these districts formed a separate city. Great or
rather petty jealousies existed between them, and much evil was the
result; for they treated each other as rivals, and often as enemies. I
decreed that all the districts should be called by one name, that the
inhabitants of all should enjoy the same system of laws and government,
the same customs and polity, and form as it were one family. I did many
things to cement the union. I executed, too, numerous great works which
assisted in promoting the growth of universal brotherhood. Many cities
which formerly lay at immense distances from each other, separated by
intervening mountains of immense height, I united by perforating the
rocks, and building spacious galleries through the hearts and bases of
the mountains, and by throwing "aerial" bridges from one mountain peak
to another. Henceforth I shall speak of all these cities as
"Montalluyah."


Palaces and edifices of various forms, their gilded spires and minarets
inlaid with many coloured transparent stones which sparkle in our
brilliant sun, stand on undulating sinuous ridges, peaks, and terraces,
rising one above the other in endless and irregular succession.

The houses are mostly curved, oval, or round. In Montalluyah straight
lines are avoided. The houses are built principally with a white stone,
mingled with a peculiar stone of a bright sky-blue colour, both stones
repellent of heat.

Gardens and verdure separate the houses one from the other. Most of the
gardens are arranged in curvilinear lines, the houses being placed at
the central point of the inner and outer curve alternately, so that each
alternate house is on the outer centre of the garden curve, and each
alternate house is on the inner centre of the adjoining curve. The
undulating lines of terraces are broken by gigantic masses of rock of
various colours, red, green, golden, white, blue, silver, brown, and
variegated--rocks of carbuncle, lapis lazuli, malachite, gold-stone, and
many-coloured marbles.

These rocks and undulations are intersected by ravines, rivers, inlets
of the sea, lakes, and cataracts, reflecting the many tints of the
gorgeously coloured sky and the rays of our vividly bright sun, filling
our city as it were with aureoles of glory.

In many parts the sea has made itself a hidden way, and runs its course
for miles under the rocks, appearing again at great distances in one of
the interior inland cities, perhaps at the bottom of a deep ravine or
open space; and the waters are often raised and collected for use and
ornament in fountains and artificial cascades called water-lifts: whilst
springs of fresh water gush out of the rocks, affording refreshment to
the sun-parched and many-coloured grasses, flowers, and vegetation.

Great cataracts and artificial cascades often form the background to a
great building or colossal statue. The effect of these large masses of
water viewed from all parts is extremely grand and beautiful.

Sometimes the ravines, rivers, cataracts, and sea-arms are passed by
huge bridges of the natural rocks, perforated by the sea, or opened by
man to render navigation possible. Sometimes bridges miles in length are
thrown across a great cataract or immense chasm where the rocks have
been relentlessly torn asunder by the lightning and other electrical
disturbances.

All the large bridges are covered with houses and gardens, which at a
distance seem air-suspended cities, hanging without support over rivers,
cataracts, large cities, and aggregations of houses.


Everything conducive to health is attended to: the supply of water to
every part of the city is unlimited, and in each house, whether of rich
or poor, is a bath, for sea and for fresh water.

We have "violet streams," which run for miles over beds of violets white
and blue. The water of these is preserved in tanks erected at the end of
the streams, trenches being cut to assist the flow. It has a delicious
flavour, and is used for various beverages, but not for culinary
purposes, since, when mixed with certain things, it turns black and
loses its fragrance.

Trees, plants, and flowers perfume the air with their fragrance; whilst
birds of endless variety and richest plumage have their nests in the
tall and wide-spreading trees of varied-coloured foliage and fill the
air with their music. In the trees are placed artificial nests to entice
the birds; these invite others, which build their nests spontaneously.
The trees are large, their branches and rich foliage spread themselves
in graceful lines to a long distance on every side and afford pleasing
shade, their gauzy leaves subduing the light and producing the effect of
soft rainbow tints. The trees also emit perfume.

The music of the birds harmonizes with the refreshing sounds of the
running waters, cascades, and fountains; and that the effect on the mind
of these beautiful harmonies may not be disturbed, the wheels of our
chariots as well as the horses' hoofs are bound with a peculiar hide
which, besides possessing great toughness and durability, has the
property of deadening sound. Thus none but the most agreeable sounds
reach the ear, whilst the senses are charmed with aromatic odours and
the eye is pleased with beauty of every kind.

Arched galleries and passages through the hills and mountains, partly
perforated by the sea or electric fire, and enlarged by the industry of
man, have a subdued light and make an impression of another kind, the
red light in these perforated roads answering to the red shade of the
outer world. These galleries and openings in the rocks are used to
shorten distances from one side of a mountain to another.


The whole city is full of animation. The illuminated sky, the variegated
plumage of the birds, the moving myriads of human beings, clad in rich
costumes of divers colours; horses, elephants, camels, and camelopards,
richly caparisoned; carriages gorgeously decorated, the golden domes of
the houses, the many-coloured rocks reflecting themselves in the waters
and in the brilliant skies, with their own aerial peaks and mountains
brilliant and bright with our powerful sunlight--all these combine to
produce a gorgeous spectacle. Moreover, the constantly recurring
undulations and tortuousness of the ground are so great that it is
difficult to proceed for a few minutes without meeting an entire change
of scenery, as though one had reached a new city.

At one moment are seen mountain peaks rising almost perpendicularly to
the skies in varying height, then a little turn brings the spectator on
forests of houses, with ornamental gilded domes and hives of human
beings.

Overhanging rock and mountain-forms of varied colours, the skies now
scarcely seen, now reflecting their gorgeous tints in the sparkling
rivers, cascades, and upheaving masses of water, these and much more
form a picture of which words of fire would fail to convey a sufficient
idea to those accustomed to the sober, though beautifully subdued tints
of your skies.




IX.


THE SUSPENDED MOUNTAIN.


     "The uplifted Mountain Arm, as though raised in anger, threatens
     you and your little ones with destruction.....Let all hearts unite
     in prayer, that Heaven may inspire your Tootmanyoso with the means
     of saving the world from so dire a calamity!.."


The ordinary elevation of the tides is immense. They advance and rise to
a height far beyond any similar phenomenon in your planet, and the
waters retire in proportion, leaving at low water many miles of seashore
uncovered.

In Montalluyah the sun's electricity is very powerful. It is the power
of the sun, and not of the moon, which principally influences the tides.


A huge mountain mass projects from the elevated continent of Montalluyah
for miles above the sea.

The heart and base of the mountain mass had been carried away from under
the higher mass by some great convulsion of nature, leaving the upper
part of the mountain without support, except by its adhesion to the main
continent, of which it formed part. From the point of juncture the
suspended mass extends itself out horizontally in the air over cities
built on the ridges, sides, and foot of the parent mountain-chain, and
far beyond the extreme bounds of these cities, for miles over and
parallel with the sea, at a height which from the lower cities makes the
superincumbent mass rarely distinguishable from the illuminated clouds
above.

The electric agencies in our world are very powerful; and it is supposed
that at an early age of our world's history the mountain-foot covered
with cities extended considerably beyond the land on which stand the
present lower cities, and for many miles beyond the actual point to
which the sea now recedes at low water, and that through a great
electric disturbance, the upheaving seas of mighty waters rolled on,
and, rising to an immense height--some think above the summit of the
great mountain--with resistless force carried away miles of intermediate
rock-land, which had till then formed the heart of the mountain.

When after some time the waters receded the mountain mass above the
point of their ravages was left suspended, deprived of the support of
the intermediate and nether strata, which before the upheavings of the
waters had connected the plateaus and peaks of the mountain with the
land beneath.


The suspended or aerial mountain stretches from the high lands of the
continent horizontally through the air, just as one of your largest
continents stretches into the sea. Between it and the sea below,
however, is a space to be measured by miles.

The sea in subsiding did not recede to its old limits; for a part only
of the miles of the lower lands between the scooped-out mountain heart
and the sea was restored to the world by the retiring waters, and the
heart of the mountain having been carried away and engulfed for ever,
the projecting mountain mass was left suspended not only over the land
now covered by the lower cities, but for miles over the sea. Neither can
be approached except by proceeding first for a long distance in an
opposite direction inland, until the extreme point is reached where the
sea stopped its ravages on the mountain's heart; the road then leads by
circuitous bendings to the land below.

On the rocky ridges of the heart or indent of the mountain, and on the
part of the mountain foot restored by the sea, now stand the middle and
lower cities of Montalluyah.

The hanging mountain mass, with its promontories and high hills,
presents all varieties of shape and outline, and is itself intersected
by rocks, ravines, cataracts, and torrents.


One great torrent runs on for many miles, and having been swelled by
tributaries into an immense gathering of mighty waters, rushes
impetuously seaward, to the extreme point of the suspended mountain,
whence from its aerial height it falls into the sea beneath, the spray
bringing refreshment to the parched atmosphere of the lower and
intervening cities, built on the ridges and peaks of the sea-worn heart
of the mountain. This torrent, called the Great Cataract, forms a
feature of great grandeur and beauty.


On the suspended mountain itself is built a city larger than your
largest capitals, called the Upper city of Montalluyah. The Lower city,
nearer the sea-level, is distant vertically about three miles from the
nearest under part of the projecting mountain-arm above. The cities
swarm with human beings, whilst the wealth of the districts is
incalculable.

Before my time many of the under parts of the suspended mountain had
broken from the parent mountain arm, burying cities and their
inhabitants under the masses of rock.

In the then state of science these catastrophes could scarcely have been
prevented, but at that time the inhabitants of Montalluyah rarely
thought of preventing accidents till after they had occurred!

Although in my reign the suspended mountain did not threaten immediate
danger, I saw that unless means could be devised to support it, like
catastrophes would at some time recur, and perhaps the whole mountain
arm would give way, hurling the upper cities to destruction, and
crushing the nether cities under its falling masses. The terrible
consequences that would ensue were more appalling even in their
remoteness than the most vivid imagination dared realize.

Acting therefore on the principle governing my polity--that of
preventing evils--I determined to use the immense mechanical and
electrical powers with which the marvellous progress of science had
supplied me, to construct a work strong and durable enough to support
the suspended mountain.

I assembled from all parts the mighty men of our world, men of truth and
wisdom, fathers of science and knowledge, chiefs in all the principal
departments; for it was provided by one of my laws that before any great
work was undertaken these men should be consulted, and that, so far as
was in accordance with the chief intent, the work should be carried on
in harmony with the requisitions of the principal sciences.

After much thought, deliberation, and study, a stupendous work was
undertaken; a work so great in the parent thought, and so wondrous in
the execution, that it is looked upon by the people as the wonder of our
world.

With your limited mechanical appliances, and backwardness of electrical
science, you will perhaps have difficulty in realizing the practicability
of such a construction.




X.


THE MOUNTAIN SUPPORTER.


     "Let all hearts unite in gratitude to Him who sent His angels to
     aid us in this work.

     "He inspired the directing mind, and gave strength to those that
     executed. He created the fire that married the two substances into
     one indestructible compound mass.

     "Behold, and wonder!"


A circular tower, whose base above the foundation is more than a mile in
diameter, and whose round walls are more than a hundred feet in
thickness, is carried up from the lower land nearest to the sea-level
until the head of the tower reaches and supports the projecting mountain
mass above.

The diameter of the tower-head is one-third of the diameter of the base.
The diminution being very gradual is scarcely perceptible, and appears
to be the effect of distance. The height of the tower is the same as its
circumference at the base. Our ordinary powers of vision generally
exceed yours, and the light in our world is more intense; and yet the
head of the tower can from the lower cities seldom be distinguished from
the illuminated clouds above.

The area in the interior of the tower at the base, and for some distance
above, is divided horizontally and vertically, and the compartments are
used for storehouses, including the storing of scientific instruments,
and for experiments connected with science. The different strata and
incidents of the atmosphere at various elevations are there studied with
peculiar advantage, as there are numerous landings at different
distances, and we have the means of ascending and descending the whole
distance, or of alighting on any of the landings by means of a machine
raised and lowered by electric power.

As the work progressed, stages were constructed at different heights on
which buildings were erected, where the workmen and their families lived
until the task was completed, the materials and electricities used, as
well as provisions and necessaries, being raised to these stages by
electric power. The principal material used is the hardest and most
durable substance known in our world--an amalgamated material consisting
of certain proportions of iron and marble fused into a solid compact
mass by the action of fire and electricity.


HEAVY MATERIALS LIGHTENED BY ELECTRICITY.

The blocks used were of immense size, so huge, that even with our
electrical and mechanical levers, many expedients were employed to raise
them to their assigned places.

Electric science had greatly advanced in my reign, and electric powers
had been discovered by which the heaviest masses could be lightened
temporarily, so that their specific gravity, called by us the "tenacious
electricity," and its tendency to seek the sympathetic electricity of
the earth was temporarily diminished, if not entirely neutralized,
without injury to the mass subjected to the operation.

Though the means and end are different, the principle is not unlike that
by which you often lighten the specific gravity of bodies, and even
change their nature by chemical combination, the action of fire, and
other expedients, the bodies often resuming their specific gravity and
original form. The means we employ for lightening bodies are far more
rapid and effectual, and, at the same time, the materials acted upon are
less abruptly or violently changed.


Notwithstanding all our knowledge of electric and mechanical powers, our
thousands of artificers employed, and all the industry and energy
exerted in obedience to my will, nine of our years[1]--more than thirty
of yours--were spent in the completion of this stupendous work.

     [Footnote 1: Our year is not calculated like yours. The
     year is marked by a peculiar appearance which the sun
     assumes at equidistant epochs.]

The tower of itself is an object of great grandeur and beauty, and is
richly ornamented. The external walls of the plinth at the base of the
tower are overlaid with gold and ravine[1] metal, inlaid with large
transparent stones of varied colours. The ravine metal--a metal prized
beyond gold--possesses beautiful veins of colour, which change with the
temperature--veins of watery green, of purple, blue, and steel. When
refined, it is most beautiful. The colours are sometimes so bright that
it is dazzling to look at them.

     [Footnote 1: So named from being found in the great
     ravine, the largest ravine in Montalluyah.]

On the tower are scrolls and images of peculiar meaning, and of large
characters in gold and ravine metal, ornamented with transparent stones.
The sun's rays playing on these stones, and particularly on a large
yellow stone like an amethyst, illuminates the column with what may be
called a supernatural light.

Alternating with the scrolls are designs representing episodes in my
life and reign. These designs are in pure white marble in relief, and
with the light of our world stand out prominently from the iron-marble,
sufficiently large to be plainly seen at great distances from nearly all
parts of the city. The proposal for thus recording the events of my
reign came from the kings and people who loved me greatly.


As before observed, a person can be raised from the base to the top of
the column, and through a shaft into the Upper city. The movement is
rapid, and takes less than half an hour either way, whilst the journey
by our external roads, by reason of the circuits to be taken, and the
ascents and descents would, even to descend, occupy two days on a fleet
horse. The passage through the Tower, however, is seldom used either for
ascent or descent, except in cases of great emergency, because the great
difference of the atmosphere above and below materially affects the
health of the passenger.

The machinery, too, in the descent requires much care and calculation,
for the weight of the descending body would otherwise increase to such
an extent, that accidents would occur.

The difference of the atmosphere and the effect on the human frame
between the Upper and Lower cities is remarkable; those accustomed to
live in the Lower city have a disposition to spring from their feet when
first arriving in the Upper city. I recollect a lady--rather weakly--who
seemed mad, but was rational enough; only she could not for some time
resist the impulse of springing upwards.

This mode of communication would perhaps have been more resorted to had
we not possessed the telegraph. The electric telegraph is, in its
rapidity, not unlike that used in your world, but is different in
construction and mode of working. What is written at one station is
reproduced in its exact size and form at another. Even a portrait
designed at one end of the telegraph with the electric acid would be
instantaneously reproduced at the other end, perhaps many hundred miles
distant.

At different stages of the Tower the colour of the atmosphere sensibly
changes. This phenomenon is caused by certain minute particles which
contain animalcula, or their ova, and exist at different distances in
layers, and which as they are developed and become heavier have a
tendency to fall into lower regions of the atmosphere, till they awaken
into life under the influence of the sun. Blights, called by us Viscotae,
"infectious visitors," are often thus generated, falling from layer to
layer till they settle on plants and trees.

These ova, moved by the winds, are sometimes mixed together, but when
the winds subside the more advanced and heaviest tend to settle in the
lower regions of the air just as the heaviest particles of a mixture
have a tendency to sink and settle below.

All this has been shown beyond doubt by a quantity of air being
collected when falling fast, and at different times and altitudes. Each
portion of air being secured in a separate glass case, the ova were then
viewed through our powerful microscopes, and subjected to various tests.

The Mountain Supporter, which can be seen from nearly every part of the
Middle and Lower cities of Montalluyah, is an object of inconceivable
grandeur and beauty, its appearance varying according to the point
whence it is seen.

This great work often seems broken into numerous parts of varied length,
by mountains, rocks, and ravine sides, raising their heads between it
and the spectator. Often, particularly when the clouds have been high,
and the sky has been clear, I have seen from a distance parts of the
huge Mountain Supporter seemingly broken into vertical lines towards the
middle and lower parts in a way that, in conjunction with the upper
parts, has produced an effect like that of an immense flower raising its
head towards the skies, supported by a long stalk resting on many
elegant but slender tendrils.

The grandeur and beauty of the tower is, if possible, heightened by the
Great Cataract, in conjunction with which it is almost invariably seen.
The falling waters vie with the Mountain Supporter in breadth, and
overtop it by the height from which they are hurled; the one firm,
stately, and magnificent in its solidity and repose, the other vapoury
and grand in its gracefulness and movement; both inconceivably
beautiful; the Cataract, a work of all-powerful Providence, whose wise
purposes no one can scan in their entirety; the Supporter symbolizing
the inspired genius of man, who, with the beneficent purpose of saving
innumerable lives from destruction, had, by the sweat of his brow,
constructed a work more stable than the solid rock,--work whose head
might be said to "reach unto Heaven."




XI.


ELECTRICITY

IN MONTALLUYAH.


     "A spark of Heaven power."


In the construction of the Mountain Supporter you will have perceived
that we were greatly aided by our extended knowledge of electricity.

Before my reign, although electricity was used for some purposes, the
existence of varieties in electricity, and the manifold uses to which
their wondrous powers could be applied, were unknown.

Electricity was not then utilised for locomotion either on land or sea,
or for raising ponderous bodies to an immense height, or in the various
products of manufacture and art, or, in short, for any of the almost
innumerable purposes where the various electricities are now employed,
either separately or in combination.

This could not well be otherwise; for beyond a contrivance like your
Leyden jar, for collecting "air electricity," no means of collecting,
still less concentrating, electricity of any kind then existed.

The belief once generally entertained was, that there were but two
electricities, or rather two varieties of the same electricity, one
repellent and the other attractive, answering in a measure to your terms
of positive and negative. Some, indeed, thought that several different
kinds existed; but the renowned electricians--truly great men, for they
had opened the gates of science--proclaimed that all electricities were
in reality one and the same, modified only by accidents.

They referred to certain phenomena always resembling each other in
whatever way the electricity producing them might be generated; and they
argued, with an appearance of truth, that the electricity which produced
these similar phenomena must be one and the same: for, asked they, are
not like causes indicated by like effects? The principle was right, but,
as was subsequently shown, the application and the conclusion were
wrong. The error had arisen from the fact that electricities of every
kind possess certain properties in common: thus, air electricity enters
into the composition of them all. These common properties produce
phenomena varying only in degree, but so similar to each other that, in
the absence of further knowledge, the electricians concluded that their
theory was correct, and, in consequence, many valuable discoveries were
retarded for centuries.


MANY KINDS OF ELECTRICITY.

In my reign, however, tangible and visible proofs established beyond
doubt that every kind of body and substance, whether animate or
inanimate, contains an electricity of its own.

Although all electricities contain air electricity, and are similar in
some other respects, yet each differs from all others by reason of some
properties peculiar to itself, the species being different, though the
genus is the same. As in the case of the blood of animals, which is
called by the common name of blood in spite of material differences,
when the species is different, so we have a generic name for all
electricities, a term signifying "A spark of Heaven power."

Some electricities are diffused and attenuated; some are concentrated;
others are so tenacious of the body to which they belong that they are
all but steadfast. Some are sympathetic; some antipathetic, attracting
or repelling each other; some mingle gently; others, when brought into
contact, cause violent explosions.


DRAWING OUT AND CONCENTRATING ELECTRICITIES FOR USE.

WE discovered the means of drawing out the various electricities from
the body to which they are appetent, and of concentrating and preserving
them for use.

Man, beasts, birds, insects, fish, reptiles, trees, plants, water, in
short, all substances organic and inorganic, possess each its own
peculiar electricity. In naming fish, I refer to each species, and not
merely to those already known to you as electrical, and which have the
power of emitting strong currents of their own peculiar electricity. A
huge fish, well known on your earth, supplies us with the most powerful
of all electricities--an electricity of immense value. Docks
sufficiently large are built expressly where the sea monster is driven,
there to be subjected to the process by which he is made to yield up the
electricity contained in his huge frame.

The different kinds of electricity collected and concentrated are stored
ready for use in a large building called "The Electric Store-house,"--
the electricities, secured in non-conducting pouches, being placed in
separate compartments. This is the more necessary, since explosions
arise when antagonistic electricities come into contact with each other,
and the commingling of sympathetic electricities deteriorates their
quality. For that reason care is taken to keep out light. By the
electricity of light most other electricities are affected.

To the storehouse are attached extensive grounds for experiments and for
exhibitions, which at the same time delight and instruct the people. I
should observe that beautiful as well as humorous effects are produced
by certain electrical combinations. By means of sympathetic action
living bodies can be attracted and raised without removing their
inherent electricity, as you attract light substances with the magnet or
the electricity known to you.


WILD BIRDS CAUGHT BY ELECTRICITY.

The kind of electricity by which the body to be operated upon will be
best attracted is well understood in Montalluyah. As a simple example, I
will state that wild birds are caught by means of a sympathetic
electricity. For this purpose a long, hollow metal tube is used, at the
bottom of which is a globe containing a powerful acid. A receptacle at
the top of the tube contains seeds much liked by the birds. They hover
about these seeds, and, when they are within a certain distance, a
slight pressure on a wooden spring causes a drop of the acid in the
globe to escape into the tube, and so to set in movement a current of
electricity, which, being very sympathetic to the bird, acts as an
attractor so powerful, that it cannot get away. The tube is then gently
lowered, and the birds are gradually drawn near to the earth, when a
light net is thrown over the captives, and they are shaken into a
cage-net at the bottom. Calmed by the electricity, they do not flutter or
struggle when thus secured. It is very interesting to see the birds come
nearer and nearer as the rod is lowered towards the ground.


For electrical purposes it is necessary to catch the birds alive. Those
required for food are also caught in the same way, that they may be
killed without pain, as, indeed, are all birds and animals used for
food. Birds supply an electricity for lightening ponderous bodies; and
by means of this, the immense blocks of iron-marble used for the
construction of the Mountain Supporter were temporarily lightened, that
they might be raised to their assigned places.




XII.


THE PAIN-LULLER.

VIVISECTION.


"Cause not pain, lest you yourselves be afflicted."


From a small pet-bird of pink and green plumage, called in our language
the Nebo, is extracted an electricity known as the "Pain-luller."

The preparations previously used, though very serviceable, did not
fulfil all requisites, and they so seriously suspended the vital action,
that the patient often died in consequence. By means of the
"pain-luller" vivisection and the most difficult surgical operations can
be performed safely and painlessly, without any part of the system being
affected by the action of the "pain-luller," with the exception of the
nerves of sensation. We knew that the feeling of pain in animals depends
on the action of a particular set of nerves. When this pain-lulling
electricity is introduced into body, it is attracted to the nerves of
sensation, and the sense of feeling remains suspended during several
hours, whilst the other nerves and muscles--as, indeed, all the rest of
the organization--continue to perform their functions as in their normal
state.


VIVISECTION.

In vivisection the animal's eyes are bandaged, so that he does not even
know what is going on, but is free from pain, whilst all the springs of
action, with the one exception, remain in their normal state. This would
not be the case if the animal suffered from acute pain and terror during
the operation. The continued energy of the functions is thought
essential to the complete success of the operation, whether on the human
frame or in vivisection.


HOW DISCOVERED.

The efficacy of the "pain-luller" was discovered by an accident. A
little girl carrying a pet Nebo was knocked down, and the wheel of a
chariot passed over her legs. In a convulsive effort to save her pet,
the child pressed it to her bosom with so much force that she broke, the
bird's skin. When the people ran to her assistance, and lifted her up,
they found that both her legs were broken. To the surprise of all, she
did not cry, but only asked to be taken to her mother, and continued to
press the bird to her breast. From kindness, those near wished to take
away the bird, but the girl would not loose her hold.

The doctors were astonished; for the severity of the fractures would
ordinarily have caused acute pain, more particularly during the setting
of the bones. The child, however, though quite conscious of what was
passing, did not suffer in the least, but continued to pet her little
bird.


After many experiments, my scientific men found that this entire absence
of pain was due to the Nebo's electricity, which had escaped by the
breaking of its skin. This electricity, attracted by the nerves of
sensation, had entered the child's body when she pressed the pet
convulsively to her bosom, the seat of great sensibility. The
electricity only suspended the sense of feeling, but did not affect any
other part of the child's system.




XIII.


THE MICROSCOPE.

CONCENTRATED LIGHT--MUSIC--EXPERIMENT ON
THE LIVING MAN.


     "The same Almighty Power that governs the universe of worlds
     governs the minutest particles of creation....In both is shown His
     infinite power."


The properties of our Microscopes (as of other optical instruments) are
wondrously increased by the aid of an electricity called "concentrated
light." [1]

     [Footnote 1: In Montalluyah light in the ordinary state
     is said to be a highly attenuated electricity.]


In our fields is found a little worm, whose body is surrounded by a
beautiful and powerful light, visible by day and by night.

While meditating on the cause of this phenomenon, it occurred to me that
the light was probably attracted and concentrated round the little
creature by its own electricity. After many experiments, my great
electricians found that this was the case, and many valuable discoveries
were the result.

A machine, called the "Enticer," charged with electricity abstracted
from this worm, is placed in a high open spot, and light is attracted
and concentrated in a marvellous manner. When the pouch for receiving
the concentrated light is fully charged, and secured against the action
of other electricities, it is detached from the machine, and its
contents are preserved for use. The appearance of concentrated light is
that of a beautiful halo.


MUSIC.

The power of music, beyond that derived from its mere execution, is
greatly influenced by the amount of electricity infused into the sounds
by the performer; and in our planet the human voice has often been known
to soothe, and sometimes to restore, a disordered brain, by awakening
the powers of some dormant division, when the electricity accompanying
the sounds is sympathetic with the light in the brain of the listener.
The human voice, other things being equal, is more electrical than
sounds from musical instruments; for in the one case the emanations of
light come direct from the living singer, whilst in the latter instance
the electricity coming from the executant passes by contact with the
instrument, and is thus transmitted through an intermediate conductor.
The beauty and effect of many of our musical instruments, and
particularly of the harp, are greatly increased by the application of
electricity.

A skilful executant on our harp can assuage the passions of a
multitude,--nay, he can excite many of the aspirations and sensibilities
ascribed in your legends to Orpheus and other mythical personages.

It is thought in Montalluyah,--though it was never demonstrated,--that a
modification of concentrated light forms the point of union between the
immortal soul and the perishable portions of man.


INTERNAL CONCENTRATED LIGHT.

There is concentrated light--the very essence of light--within
ourselves, particularly in the brain, to which the light, having
travelled about the body, is conveyed, through the instrumentality of
the blood, to the nerves and other organs.

In speaking of the brain, we often use words belonging to vision. Until
the discovery of "concentrated light," we did not know how truthful were
these expressions, one of which in our language answers to the "mind's
eye." The eye as well as the brain contains concentrated light, and
physical impressions received through the visual organs are by this
electricity immediately conveyed to the sympathetic "light" of the
brain.

By the application of concentrated light we can even increase for a time
the intellectual powers, or, rather, we can strengthen the instrument
through which the intellectual powers are manifested.


EXPERIMENT ON THE LIVING MAN.

The possession of concentrated light led to the discovery of the exact
mode in which the brain acts in the living man. By experiments on
transparent fish of the zoophyte class, and on the eyes of animals, we
discovered the means of making a living body for a time transparent. The
skull was rendered transparent accordingly, and by the aid of
concentrated light and of an instrument called an "electric viewer," the
currents of electricity in the brain were made visible.

These currents include myriads of electrical lines--literally composed
of electricity--lines the nearest approach to your definition of a
mathematical line, that which hath length without breadth.

The filaments, as we may truly call them, are of different forms,
straight, spiral, and otherwise curved, and of varied length and
colours. They are set in motion by the impulsion of thought. When we
talked to the patient on a particular subject, one series of lines would
be set in motion with indescribable rapidity; other topics would call
into play other series of straight or curved lines. They can also be set
in motion under the influence of certain electricities.

Although the experiments on the living man proved very valuable, they
could not be conducted with impunity, and were therefore not often
repeated. The man operated upon was insensible for some time afterwards,
and felt the effects for years. He was, however, cared for during the
rest of his life, and was not expected to work. Moreover, every kind of
comfort, luxury, and amusement was provided for him and for a certain
number of relatives and friends whom he selected as companions. Still he
was not allowed to marry, that being one of the principal conditions to
which he subscribed on being chosen for the experiment from amongst a
host of candidates to whom all the serious consequences attending the
operation were made known.




XIV.


PHYSICIANS.

DISEASE GERMS.


     "Cure all evils in their early germ, so shall ye be spared endless
     suffering."


Physicians take very high rank in Montalluyah; they are furnished with
palaces and gardens; their revenue is great; they are wholly provided
for by the State, since on their knowledge and efforts depend greatly
the prolongation of life, the prevention of disease and suffering, the
preservation of beauty, and of invaluable nerve and brain power. As in
the moral, so in the physical constitution, the aim is to discover and
crush evils in their germ, before they have taken proportions dangerous
to the individual and to the community.

Formerly the chief duty of physicians was to wait patiently until
disease had worked great and even fatal mischief. Their chief occupation
now is to preserve the patient's health and prevent disease, and if,
from any but accidental causes, any one fell ill, it would be a disgrace
to them. They were formerly called by a name answering to "Disease
Doctors," whilst they are now known by a term signifying "Health
Guardians."

Prior to seasons formerly unhealthy, the physicians make visitations
from house to house. With the aid of powerful microscopes, they examine
the minute particles of the perspiration issuing through the pores. The
perspiration, being the result of efforts made by the system to throw
off impurities, indicates whether the patient is in good health, or
whether there is a tendency to disease. The state of the perspiration,
though varying greatly, does not always show the exact nature of the
malady; for many diseases present the same appearances, and, in that
case, tests are applied, which do not fail to indicate to what malady
the impurities belong.

To give an instance: There is a disease of the lungs called Scrofiuska,
which impedes respiration, and is besides often attended with cough,
emaciation of the body, and other symptoms like those that accompany
consumption, for which indeed it was formerly mistaken. It is now well
known to be a different disease, requiring different treatment. In
scrofiuska the lungs swell inwardly, but tubercles are not generated,
and, unlike consumption, this disease can be cured even when at its
height. I recollect a bad case, early in my reign, where our physicians,
mistaking the complaint for confirmed consumption, declared that the
right lung was gone. A short time afterwards the real nature of the
disease was discovered, and the patient was completely restored to
health.

In both complaints, however, the perspiration, when viewed through our
microscopes, presents exactly the same appearance. In consumption, and
to a greater extent in scrofiuska, the lungs are covered with a web-like
moisture, portions of which are thrown off by the system with the
perspiration.

The ordinary appearance of perspiration in a healthy state is that of an
oleaginous liquid consistency resembling, say, a thin cream; but the
water exuded by the lungs has the appearance of dew, and is indeed
called by a term signifying "lung-dew." It does not amalgamate with the
oleaginous part of the perspiration.

Our doctors at first thought that they could detect incipient
consumption from the appearance of this dew, whilst they had only
ascertained that the germs of some one of several diseases existed in
the system. For although the presence of lung-dew in any quantity gives
intimation that all is not right, the specific malady is not indicated
with certainty. The application of certain tests to the patient is
necessary to discover the particular disease with the incipient germs of
which he is afflicted.

Disease and contagion difficult to deal with in their advanced stages,
when they have already made their presence known by symptoms too
palpable to be disregarded, are easily mastered in their germ.

To collect the perspiration, a little instrument, called "the scraper,"
is passed over the skin, and at each turn deposits the perspiration in
an air-tight receptacle attached to the instrument.

The blood was found to be but a partial test of disease, for there is
much in the body which does not mingle with the blood, whilst the
perspiration contains impurities thrown off by every part of the
organization, and, when examined through our microscopes, never fails to
give warning.

At the same time the blood is the subject of deep study in Montalluyah;
and every point connected with its component parts, colour, circulation,
heat, quality, purification, is thoroughly understood.


The physicians sometimes examine the breath. With this view, the patient
breathes on a little instrument saturated with a preparation which
condenses and retains the breath. Ample opportunity is thus afforded for
its microscopic examination, and for the discovery of the unhealthy
particles with which the breath may be impregnated.




XV.


MADNESS.


     "Think not others blind because ye will not see....The concentrated
     light of the soul is not visible to the naked eye."


The microscope also led to the discovery of the incipient causes of
madness, by the facility it afforded us for the dissection and
examination of the minutest portions of the numerous divisions of the
brain.

Before my laws came into operation the incipient symptoms of monomania
were rarely noticed, and many were driven into confirmed madness and
crime by neglect or improper treatment, whilst some of the supposed
lunatics were really wiser than their keepers or the doctors who
attended them. It often happened that the aspirations of a superior mind
were mistaken for indications of the malady, and led to the
incarceration of the supposed lunatic. For instance, a poor man, who
lived in the reign of my predecessor, thought, and truly thought, that
electricity might be used as a motive power for the heaviest bodies, and
supply the place of wood used as fuel in manufactures. He also thought
that electricity, then impalpable to the senses, was the material
ingredient affecting the weight and coherence of bodies. People laughed
at what they supposed to be illusions, and there the matter might have
stopped; but the poor man persisted in his assertions that the sun
contained electricity, which could be attracted, concentrated, and
applied to various purposes. He appealed to the well-known fact, that
the sun ripens the fruits of the earth, changes the colours of
substances, affects the brain, and produces many wondrous phenomena
without visible contact. His lucubrations, instead of suggesting
experiment, were received with derision, and the man himself was cruelly
treated, his very persistency in the truth convincing the world that he
was a confirmed madman. In vain he appealed to the officers charged to
visit the monomaniacs, and, in spite of all his efforts, he died in a
lunatic asylum.

So dangerous, indeed, was it formerly to announce new ideas opposed to
those already received, that we had a proverb to the effect, that he was
not mad who had "droll" thoughts, but he was so who told them to the
world. The proverb is now somewhat reversed, and he is thought wicked
who, being favoured with gleams of light, allows them to perish with
him.

Accompanying all laws, I gave to the people my reasons at length for
their promulgation, together with answers to anticipated objections; and
in the exposition of the laws relating to madness I bid them recollect
that had I endeavoured to put my thoughts into action some years
earlier, I should undoubtedly have suffered similar persecution to those
under which many others had succumbed.

Monomania is not now assumed, as formerly, from the seeming extravagance
or supposed absurdity of people's words; for it is well known in
Montalluyah that thoughts which a few years before were scoffed at as
the height of absurdity are now acknowledged facts, and they who could
doubt the existence of the now familiar phenomena would alone be thought
mad! It is known, too, that people often say strange things from
confused or indistinct recollections of what has befallen them in a
prior state of existence, or from prenotion or intuition of things as
yet unknown to others; and although in the sciences we accept nothing as
conclusive that is not confirmed by experiment, the vastness or
strangeness of the thought, far from attracting ridicule, generally
leads to inquiry, experiments, and results. Many of our great
discoveries have been suggested by hints which formerly would have
seemed the ravings of a disordered mind.

With our microscopes we have been enabled to examine and dissect all the
minutest divisions of the brain, each of which responds to certain
trains of thought, and to ascertain the physical cause of madness.

This knowledge enables us to discriminate with certainty, to detect the
existence, nature, and locality of the germ, and apply effectual
remedies during the earliest tendency to the malady. Until this