allied! Otherwise his condition manifested itself by complete loss
of memory;--the impossibility of concentrating his attention upon
anything, lack of judgment, delirium and incoherence. He no longer
even possessed the natural animal instinct of self-preservation, and
had to be watched like an infant whom one never permits out of one's
sight. Therefore a warder was detailed to keep close watch over him
by day and by night in Pavilion No. 17, at the end of Healthful House
Park, which had been specially set apart for him.

Ordinary insanity, when it is not incurable, can only be cured by
moral means. Medicine and therapeutics are powerless, and their
inefficacy has long been recognized by specialists. Were these moral
means applicable to the case of Thomas Roch? One may be permitted
to doubt it, even amid the tranquil and salubrious surroundings of
Healthful House. As a matter of fact the very symptoms of uneasiness,
changes of temper, irritability, queer traits of character,
melancholy, apathy, and a repugnance for serious occupations were
distinctly apparent; no treatment seemed capable of curing or even
alleviating these symptoms. This was patent to all his medical
attendants.

It has been justly remarked that madness is an excess of subjectivity;
that is to say, a state in which the mind accords too much to mental
labor and not enough to outward impressions. In the case of Thomas
Roch this indifference was practically absolute. He lived but within
himself, so to speak, a prey to a fixed idea which had brought him to
the condition in which we find him. Could any circumstance occur
to counteract it--to "exteriorize" him, as it were? The thing was
improbable, but it was not impossible.