incapable of defending himself. He fails to realise what is said against
him or the significance of his own words.

His brain is the first to succumb to the strain, utter loneliness
speedily conducing to this result, aggravated by a sensation which is
produced by walking the cell, and which I will describe later.
Consequently he invariably achieves with his own mouth what his
persecutors desire--his own condemnation. To make their devilry
complete German justice resorts to a final phase which seals the fate of
the poor wretch irrevocably, as I will narrate.

I had been deprived of every belonging. I was denied paper, pencil and
reading material. Solitary confinement in Germany is carried out in
strict accordance with the interpretation of the term. One is left alone
with one's thoughts. At intervals of ten minutes the gaoler opens the
peep-hole and peers within. Consequently you are under constant
surveillance, and this contributes towards the unhinging of the mind.
Night and day, without a break, the peep-hole opens with mechanical
regularity. Not only is all mental exercise denied but physical exercise
as well. All that one can do towards stretching one's limbs is to pace
the tiny cell. The method is typically Prussian, and is complete in its
Prussian thoroughness and devilishness.

I sat down upon my bed with my bleeding, aching head in my hands, an
object of abject misery. Not a sound beyond the clanging of doors was to
be heard, punctuated at frequent intervals by the dull thud of blows, as
some hapless wretch was being clubbed, the shrieks and howls of
prisoners, and the groans of those on the verge of insanity. It was just
as if all the demons of the Nether Regions were at work worrying and
harrying their victims. While rocking myself to and fro I heard the