Rennes on the subject? Really, I almost think there must be some truth
in all this. The instinct of universal man is rarely far at fault.
Already you have a semi-comic "gold-cure" for alcoholism, and you have
heard of the geophagism of certain African tribes. What if the
scientist of the future be destined to discover that the diamond, and
it alone, is a specific for cholera, that powdered rubellite cures
fever, and the chryso-beryl gout? It would be in exact conformity with
what I have hitherto observed of a general trend towards a certain
inborn perverseness and whimsicality in Nature.'

_Note_.--As some proof of the fineness of intuition evidenced by
Zaleski, as distinct from his more conspicuous powers of reasoning, I
may here state that some years after the occurrence of the tragedy I
have recorded above, the skeleton of a man was discovered in the vaults
of the Manor-house of Saul. I have not the least doubt that it was the
skeleton of Ul-Jabal. The teeth were very prominent. A rotten rope was
found loosely knotted round the vertebrae of his neck.




THE S.S.

'Wohlgeborne, gesunde Kinder bringen viel mit....

'Wenn die Natur verabscheut, so spricht sie es laut aus: das Geschöpf,
das falsch lebt, wird früh zerstört. Unfruchtbarkeit, kümmerliches
Dasein, frühzeitiges Zerfallen, das sind ihre Flüche, die Kennzeichen
ihrer Strenge.' GOETHE. [Footnote: 'Well-made, healthy children bring
much into the world along with them....